"Huh? Isn't that Yeon-seo?"

Lee Seung-hee had brought Kim Yeon-seo. The reason for her sudden appearance was likely due to the conversation at my house earlier. Kim Kyung-soo had wanted to see his daughter. I suspected this was her way of getting another meeting with me. A calculated move to get on my good side.

‘The effect of severing the tutoring.’

Severing the tutoring allowed me to reclaim the experience points they'd gained thanks to me, simultaneously making them emotionally dependent on me. Obsession and regret. I didn't know why this happened, but the ability itself was linked to the subject's emotions. Perhaps it reflected my own feelings. The desire to make them regret their actions.

Lee Seung-hee was unusually docile, far different from yesterday. It was more than just the loss of strength from her decreased rank.

The front door burst open, and a man rushed out.

"Yeon-seo!"

Kim Kyung-soo, who had been inside, heard his daughter's voice.

"Dad!"

Kim Kyung-soo rushed to embrace his daughter.

"Oh, Yeon-seo! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"What’s wrong? I was just in the dorm like the other kids. Why are you here, Dad?"

Apart from the loss of several days' worth of experience points, Kim Yeon-seo hadn't suffered significant setbacks. However, Kim Kyung-soo had been trying to get his daughter out of Alpha, and his struggles had been unsuccessful. Kim Yeon-seo, unaware of his efforts, seemed confused by her father's agitation.

Kim Kyung-soo addressed Lee Seung-hee with gratitude.

"Thank you, Chairman! If it weren’t for you, I might never have seen my daughter again!"

"You don’t need to be so grateful. Alpha can’t hold onto the students forever. There seem to be two reasons why they’re isolating the students. One you probably already know…"

Lee Seung-hee looked at me. The incident of the students suddenly falling ill. If this got out, the academy would inevitably face significant problems. There would be a mass protest from the parents. Considering Alpha’s reputation, it could easily become a social issue. Especially now, when they're trying to rebuild the academy's foundation after expelling me.

I was more curious about the second reason.

"The second… is an experiment being conducted within the academy. It’s actually a completed technology, but it lacked clinical trials. So, the academy seems to have suspected that the students' condition worsened due to this experiment’s side effects.”

“Experiment?”

“It’s an experiment known to very few people. Even the deceased former chairman didn’t know, and only a few people within the academy know about it, including the dean of the healer department.”

Lee Seung-hee sighed.

“I only found out right before I took office. I heard that one round of administration was already completed.”

“Administration? You mean they gave them medicine?”

A bad feeling washed over me. In the hunter world, extraordinary events happen frequently. Behind unethical and illegal incidents, there was always money and power. Those who sought them would stop at nothing. That's what hunters and the people surrounding them were like.

“A drug that accelerates a hunter’s growth. In other words, steroids.”

“Steroids?!”

These people had really gone too far. Steroids are prohibited substances commonly used by bodybuilders and athletes to enhance their physical abilities. In the hunter world, the term ‘steroid’ was more of a euphemism than a literal term for steroids. The chemical formulas and ingredients were completely different. Various materials from dungeons were chemically combined to enhance physical or mana abilities. It was actively traded on the black market but illegal above board. The reason was that while it effectively enhances abilities, the side effects are severe. Every year, every month, new steroids boasting better efficacy and fewer side effects emerged, but ultimately only severe aftereffects remained.

“Are you kidding me?! How dangerous is that?!”

Kim So-mi shouted.

“This steroid has high stability. They say it will be legally available in the next year or two. Alpha seemed to want to take advantage of that. They wanted to continue producing outstanding students even after Professor Han Hyun-ho left.”

I chuckled dryly. I thought they were simply stupid for trying to get rid of me, but now it seems they had their reasons.

“If it takes one or two years for legal distribution, it means the technology is still incomplete.”

“That’s right.”

Lee Seung-hee lowered her head as if it were her fault.

“No! That means that dangerous substance was injected into Yeon-seo’s body too?!”

Kim Kyung-soo exclaimed in dismay.

“They only administered it once, and they seem to have stopped after the students' condition worsened. That amount should be filtered out during the self-healing process.”

“Those bastards.”

She had been expelled from the academy, but the more she learned, the dirtier the organization seemed. To inject unverified drugs into students during their growth spurt… If this came to light, they would be the laughingstock of the world. Considering that Alpha had many international students, it could become an international incident.

‘They’ve really gone insane.’

Thinking back, it was all because I had helped the students grow so rapidly. Having tasted success, they didn't want to lose it.

“I’m sorry. I’m going to leave now.”

Lee Seung-hee bowed and turned to leave. Kim Kyung-soo quickly stopped her.

“Wait! You’ve come a long way. Why don’t you have dinner before you go!”

. . .

Silence hung over the dinner table. The people present were an unlikely mix. Especially Lee Seung-hee and Kim So-mi.

“The person who suggested dinner is different from the person who’s preparing it.”

Kim So-mi remarked. As an S-rank hunter, she handled the housework. An image unimaginable to an ordinary person.

“I’m sorry.”

Kim Kyung-soo said awkwardly, then looked at me.

“Professor, I have a proposal. Would you be interested?”

“A proposal?”

“Professor, you want revenge on those people at Alpha Academy, right? With all due respect, I believe the previous incidents weren’t unrelated to you.”

“Dad, what are you talking about?”

Kim Yeon-seo, with a curious expression, chewed on her steak.

“You don’t need to know. It’s an adult conversation.”

“What do you mean? I’m an adult too.”

“You’re still a child until you’re over thirty.”

“Wow, seriously!”

Kim Kyung-soo continued.

“This place is too far from Seoul. How about we use Hunter Lee Seung-hee as our informant at Alpha?”

“What?”

Lee Seung-hee was startled.

“An informant? I’m planning to resign as chairman.”

“It seems you want to reconcile with the Professor, don’t you? If Hunter Lee Seung-hee takes this on, it will be a great help.”

I pondered for a moment. A researcher’s thinking process, perhaps? If Lee Seung-hee acted as a false chairman in Alpha, it would indeed be easier to monitor their activities.

“How can we trust her!”

Kim So-mi objected, prompting Lee Seung-hee to bow her head deeply.

“No, I trust her.”

Lee Seung-hee was still under the influence of my abilities. She'd lost experience points, but the effect of severing the tutoring had left her emotionally dependent. The possibility of betrayal was slim. Even if she did betray me, there wasn't much an A-rank could do.

“You… really trust me, Professor?”

“Trusting you and whether you can do this are two different things. You have a good relationship with them, having been offered the chairman position. The same goes for DH.”

“No, it doesn’t matter! It’s all just work! You might believe they're on my side, but my true feelings aren't like that! I’m only on the Professor’s side!”

Her face flushed crimson as she spoke.

“I’ve also realized something through this. Only someone like you, Professor, should be teaching students. Those who casually inject illegal drugs need to be stopped!”

“Wow, how can someone change so much in a single day?”

Kim So-mi said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry for yesterday. You’re my senior in this field, and I was too rude. I sincerely apologize.”

As Lee Seung-hee stood up and bowed, Kim So-mi looked embarrassed, seemingly at a loss for words.

. . .

Lee Seung-hee left. Whether she'd truly become our informant, as Kim Kyung-soo suggested, remained uncertain. She said she would return to her position and continue as chairman.

‘It’s difficult to monitor their actions from my side.’

Park Seok-cheol and Kim Ho-geun were dead, and Kim Byung-soo had disappeared. They would inevitably try to eliminate me.

I couldn't arbitrarily choose targets to attack. Such indiscriminate attacks would easily backfire.

‘Making this place our base camp.’

I had the Awakened Beasts, and a powerful ally like Kim So-mi. Staying here and luring them out wouldn't be a bad strategy.

“Now that you’ve saved Yeon-seo, I’ll start the research right away, as promised!”

“No. Lee Seung-hee brought Yeon-seo. That wasn’t me.”

“Well, it’s the same thing. Anyway, I don’t plan on going back to SG. I never wanted to work with them in the first place, and Yeon-seo’s scholarship issue is resolved, so I plan to cut ties.”

“Hmm.”

My entourage seemed to be growing.

“What are you going to research?”

“First, I’m going to investigate the ecology of this place. Everything can be a research subject. Have you witnessed any unusual phenomena since you started living here? Besides the Awakened Beasts.”

“There was.”

The ‘mana berry trees’ would bear fruit if the abandoned dungeon was reactivated. But I wasn’t sure if reactivating the dungeon was something I should do casually. Who in the world has ever done this before? According to Kim Kyung-soo, this had happened once in Texas, where two abandoned dungeons revived simultaneously, forming an S-rank dungeon. I worried that reactivating just one of the three abandoned dungeons here might disrupt the balance. The consequences were difficult to predict. Kim Kyung-soo’s help would be essential.

“I’ll show you. Shall we go together?”

As I stood, Kim Kyung-soo stood up as well.

Then, a “Ke-gaeng!” sound echoed from outside. Curious, I stepped outside to find Kim Yeon-seo crouching, holding the front paw of one of the A-rank wolves. The bright light indicated she was using a ‘heal’ skill.

“Oh, don’t play so roughly~”

She spoke to the Awakened Beast affectionately, not showing any fear. It seemed the two Awakened Beasts were playing and one got hurt, and she was treating it. I had briefly explained the existence of Awakened Beasts. Kim Yeon-seo accepted it without suspicion. Like Kim So-mi, she showed great interest in and affection for the Awakened Beasts.

‘Kim Yeon-seo…’

She was a healer. If I could help her fully realize her potential, she had the talent to become S-rank.