Min-jun knew Choi Jong-In was just trying to give him the absolute best. To a billionaire CEO, the market value of a normal residential apartment was basically pocket change compared to the multi-million dollar bow, the Arachne-silk blazer, and the B-Rank spectacles he had just handed over.
But Min-jun had a deep emotional attachment to his old, slightly rundown apartment. Furthermore, in purely tactical terms, the absolute safest place on the entire Korean peninsula was the apartment building where Sung Jin-woo lived. Having the future Shadow Monarch as a literal next-door neighbor was the ultimate free bodyguard insurance.
Not that Min-jun was actually terrified for his safety as an S-Rank. If any rival Guilds or angry villains wanted to take him down, they would have to find him first. And before they could even get within striking distance, he would just casually snipe them through the skull from a completely different zip code.
Kill or be killed.
It was a cold, cruel, and highly ruthless mindset, but Min-jun knew he had to be fully prepared for it. This world was filled with greedy, truly evil people. If he wanted to guarantee a peaceful night's sleep, he had to be perfectly willing to erase threats before they ever reached his front door.
Yet, if he were being completely honest, simply killing his enemies was the lazy way out. Death was too quick; it meant his enemies wouldn't have to suffer the exact torments and financial ruins they had inflicted on others. Plus, casually murdering people risked placing a permanent criminal stain on his flawless corporate record.
Fortunately, no one was stupid enough to try and assassinate an S-Rank on his first day, so he didn't have to worry about it yet.
As Min-jun turned down the offer to move into the penthouse, Jong-In didn't miss a beat. He immediately pulled out his phone, made a ten-second phone call, and casually informed Min-jun that the Hunters Guild was just going to buy the entire apartment complex he currently lived in and transfer the deed to his name.
Min-jun was entirely speechless.
"What do you think?" Jong-In smiled.
"...Thank you."
"Excellent! I'll have the legal team prepare the property transfer documents right away~!"
"..." Min-jun just shook his head.
The building was a solid asset. It legally cemented his ownership over the property where Jin-woo lived. But more importantly, it meant he didn't have to pack up and abandon the place where he had built so many warm memories with his late grandmother. Moving into some sterile, high-tech penthouse just because a CEO told him to felt wrong.
And besides, Jong-In suggesting he move into Cha Hae-In's apartment? What kind of ridiculous, cliché rom-com manhwa setup was that?
As Min-jun waved goodbye and headed for his waiting car, Jong-In watched him leave, letting out an impressed sigh. "He really is a good young man."
"Um..."
Cha Hae-In nodded slowly beside him, her feelings entirely conflicted.
On one hand, she was deeply relieved that Min-jun had immediately rejected Jong-In's highly inappropriate co-habitation offer. It proved he wasn't some aggressive, hormone-driven creep who just wanted to take advantage of her. He valued his family memories and his humble roots over luxury. It made him feel incredibly grounded and profoundly different from the other arrogant, wealthy S-Ranks.
But on the other hand... she felt a tiny, irrational sting of disappointment. Was there something wrong with her place? Did he not want to be around her?
"Yes, he is fantastic!" Jong-In beamed, completely ignoring Hae-In's internal crisis. He turned to her, his eyes gleaming. "So, instead of being wishy-washy, you need to go straight for it, Vice Master! Confess to him immediately before some other Guild tries to steal him away!"
"...." Hae-In glared at him.
Was it a crime to want to physically beat the life out of her own Guild Master?
"I... I don't even know if I want to confess anything to him!" Hae-In stammered, her face turning pink. "But... I do want to get to know him better. I want to get closer. So... what should I do?"
"You've asked the exact right person," Jong-In said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, looking terrifyingly similar to Gendo Ikari plotting a world-ending scheme. "I will immediately set up a dedicated corporate task force to optimize your love life."
"....Please absolutely do not do that."
Meanwhile, completely unaware of the corporate matchmaking conspiracy, Min-jun sank comfortably into the plush leather seats of his assigned Genesis G90.
For the first time in years, he didn't have to cram himself into a crowded, sweaty subway car. He could just sit back, enjoy the air conditioning, and relax. He used the quiet time to mentally review his psychology notes and strategize about replicating other Hunter abilities.
Just like his alternate self—Suzuki from the Jujutsu Kaisen and Naruto universes—who could analyze and perfectly mimic different cursed techniques and Jutsu, Min-jun was certain he could achieve the same results with Hunter classes.
If Sung Jin-woo eventually unlocked the powers of the Shadow Monarch, couldn't Min-jun theoretically use the Manager to find the exact "mana frequency" of that necromancy and copy it?
Hmm...
Jin-woo's Shadow Army was his iconic trademark. Min-jun felt like stealing that specific aesthetic would attract way too much unwanted attention from the higher beings. Plus, Jin-woo was a solo player who fought like a one-man army. Min-jun was now a highly public corporate asset; he didn't have the freedom to secretly summon an undead army in the middle of Seoul without causing a global panic.
Still, he definitely planned to pirate the "System" once it was active. Getting infinite scaling was simply too good to pass up.
For now, he needed to reflect on the mana frequencies of Jong-In and Hae-In. Jong-In was a devastating Mage, and Hae-In was a lethal Warrior. While the Manager could easily record their data, their aggressive, front-line fighting styles wouldn't be very useful to him right now. He was a backline Archer.
Who is the best template for an Archer? Min-jun wondered.
He decided to table the thought. Instead of aggressively grinding and stressing himself out, he was going to take a page out of the capitalist playbook: let the AI handle the heavy lifting. Just like billionaires invested in automation to decrease human labor costs, he was going to let the Manager passively calculate the combat data in the background.
Min-jun had spent his entire life working himself to the bone, sacrificing his sleep, his health, and his social life.
"I never realized just how nice it is to actually relax..." he murmured, watching the city roll by through the tinted windows.
South Korea was infamous for its "Ppalli-Ppalli" (Hurry-Hurry) culture—a societal foundation built on extreme speed, hyper-efficiency, and constant, suffocating urgency. If you stopped moving for even a second, society would leave you behind to rot in poverty.
That terrifying fear of failure had driven him to exhaustion. But now? He finally had the financial and physical power to just breathe.
As for actual combat experience? He didn't need to stress about that either. The Manager had successfully synced the brutal, life-or-death combat instincts of the Jujutsu Kaisen Suzuki directly into his nervous system. He already possessed the battle-hardened reflexes needed to survive a dungeon.
"Can you pull over up ahead?" Min-jun asked, leaning forward. "I want to pick something up."
"Right away, sir," the driver nodded, smoothly pulling the luxury sedan to the curb.
Min-jun hopped out of the car and quickly bought two boxes of premium, incredibly expensive pastries from a high-end bakery. However, realizing that pastries alone weren't quite enough to properly celebrate surviving his Awakening and landing a multi-billion Won corporate alliance, he made one more crucial stop. He picked up two massive boxes of crispy, golden Korean fried chicken—half coated in sweet-and-spicy yangnyeom glaze, half perfectly crispy—along with pickled radishes and a large bottle of ice-cold cola.
When the luxury sedan finally dropped him off at his familiar, slightly rundown apartment building, Min-jun smiled. The mouth-watering, savory scent of the hot fried chicken filled the hallway as he walked up the stairs. He was looking forward to washing his face, soaking in a hot bath, and finally visiting his neighbors next door to deliver the massive feast.
But the moment he unlocked his front door and pushed it open, a blur of motion burst out from his own living room.
A lively girl with a trademark purple ponytail bounded right up to him, a massive, bright smile lighting up her face.
"Welcome back, Oppa!" Sung Jinah cheered happily, her eyes immediately going wide as she zeroed in on the heavenly scent radiating from the plastic bags. "Wait... is that fried chicken?!"
"....."
Min-jun stood in the doorway, carefully balancing the delicate pastry boxes and the heavy bags of chicken, completely dumbfounded.
Wait, whose apartment is this again?
He looked around his own living room, then back at Jinah, shaking his head helplessly before a soft, genuine chuckle escaped him. A warm smile broke across his face.
"I'm back, Jinah. And yes, I brought chicken."
Despite how utterly terrifying and apocalyptic this world was destined to become, Min-jun felt a deep, profound sense of peace. He had wealth, he had unimaginable power, and most importantly... he had a warm, lively place to come home to.