The first stop was the clothing section.
It was fall, but winter was coming soon, so the store was in full swing with winter clothing sales.
"Sangwoo, what kind of clothes are you going to buy?"
"It's going to be winter soon, so I'm thinking of getting some jackets to keep warm."
"Jackets are good, then we'll have to go up one more floor, follow me!"
Hayeon wandered around the store like fish in water, even though it wasn't her local department store.
Talking about brands, prices, value for money, and current trends, she picked out padded jackets for Sangwoo's parents and sister.
The sizes were all based on Hayeon.
"What size is your mom?"
"Umm--- a little smaller than you."
"And your sister?"
"About the same as my mom."
"And your father?"
"My dad is a little bigger than my mom."
"Wow. So you're the biggest in the family?"
"Yeah"
That's how he ordered three jackets.
San-woo chose the same brand to give them a sense of family.
However, the jackets are expensive, costing a whopping 1,000,000 won each, so he paid 3,000,000 won in one fell swoop.
Hayeon was surprised to see how much Sangwoo spent.
"Is that a lot of money?"
"No, it's not. I told you, I'm making a lot of money these days."
"Wasn't that a lie?"
"It's true. Besides, I'm a self-made man. Hahahahaha~"
"--- Idiot."
The jackets were quite bulky, so he ordered them to be sent by courier to his home in time for the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
And Sangwoo was so grateful that Hayeon had a woman's eye for detail that he wanted to buy her a jacket as well.
"Hayeon, I'll buy you one. Pick it out."
"Awesome! Are you serious?"
"Yes. Really."
Hayeon was excited about the offer.
But then she thought about it and declined.
"Um, I don't think I'm getting it, and I have one at home that I bought last year."
"Get rid of last year's, and get a new one. I'll buy you one."
"That's okay, it's still good, and I don't like it when men spend money so poorly."
"Mm-hmm, okay. Don't regret and ask me to buy it later."
"--- I already regret it. Can you just buy it for me?"
"Should I?"
"Just kidding, hehe."
Hayeon laughed and said no.
It was a ridiculous back-and-forth between one who wanted to buy and one who didn't.
Eventually, the two finished shopping for clothes, except for Hayeon's jacket.
"The food department is underground, right? Let's go underground."
They then went to the food department to look for health food.
Sangwoo was looking for a red ginseng set that would make a great Mid-Autumn Festival gift.
When they got to the basement, the store was filled with delicious smells.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival just around the corner, the store was filled with festival food and festival gift sets.
However, the two of them were not very interested in eating because they had already eaten enough.
They went to a red ginseng store with the intention of buying something quickly.
They bought two red ginseng sets worth over 300,000 won.
"Why are you buying two?"
"Eh? Eh--- just for me. One for mom and one for dad."
In fact, one was for Hayeon's parents, but Sangwoo was sure she wouldn't accept one.
"Aren't you spending too much money?"
Sangwoo's card has a daily limit of 5 million won.
However, he had spent nearly 1,500,000 won on food, 3,000,000 won on jackets, and nearly 300,000 won on red ginseng.
'Was my card's daily limit 5 million won? I didn't know this before, but as my spending grew, the limit became quite small.'
Sangwoo decided to go to the bank and increase the limit.
After shopping, Sangwoo was about to leave the store with Hayeon with two sets of red ginseng.
But then his eyes caught sight of a health protein supplement on a shelf.
'I heard that you need to take some supplements to grow, so let's take care of my clones.'
'It's important to take care of their diet, because the skills and experience they gain become mine.'
Muscles grow by eating and resting.
However, he hadn't been paying attention to the clones lately because they were resetting every other day, so he didn't have to feed them separately, but when he reached the third level, the resetting time became three days, so he had to take care of their meals.
"Hayeon, wait, let's take a look over there."
"Yeah!"
The display case with the supplements was small, and it didn't seem to be very popular in the grocery store.
Sangwoo looked at the supplements in peace because there were no employees.
'The Label says it's for bodybuilding, and then there's WPC, WPH, WPI, BCAAs, creatine--what's all this, I don't know what to buy.'
Sangwoo didn't know what was good and what was bad because he didn't have the expertise.
He was about to turn away when a word caught his eye.
One word caught his eye.
The words on the supplement's packaging were,
[No steroids!]
Steroids.
"Yeah, steroids are bad for you, so you shouldn't have them. --- Wait, steroids?
Steroids were supposed to help with muscle growth, and the difference between taking them and not taking them was supposed to be enormous. But they were also dangerous to use, with many side effects, including lowered immunity, hormonal fluctuations, and deteriorating kidney function.
'--- But what if you fed it to your clone?'
Sangwoo's expression changed.
It was as if he had discovered an interesting toy.
* * *
At that time, in the World Hunter Association (WHA).
Michael Harris, a middle-aged white man in a well-tailored suit.
He is the president of the World Hunter Association, with a furrowed brow that is threatening to slip.
He was receiving a briefing from his deputy.
"The Oracle has predicted a disaster."
"--- About what?"
"The appearance of a unstable portal and the invasion of hundreds of large monsters."
"What kind of monsters?"
"Of the ones identified, the highest risk monsters were Class A. No more were identified."
"Has the location and estimated date been confirmed?"
"According to her, most of the victims in the vision were Korean-speaking Asians. It's believed to be in the Korean Peninsula. And while the time of day is hard to predict, she said the victims she saw in her vision were dressed lightly for fall. It's likely to happen in the near future."
"I see. Issue a disaster alert immediately."
"What's the rating---?"
"--- City level."
The city-level disaster warning was immediately forwarded to the Korean Hunter Association.
When they received the alert, they were immediately stunned.
"Yes! It just came down from the WHA!"
"Send a cooperation letter to the guilds right now. Now!"
Byeong-hun Oh, the head of the Korean Hunter Association, shouted.
An hour later.
In the conference room of the Korean Hunter Association building, the heads of Korea's most prominent guilds arrived one after another.
Shin Hyeseong, leader of the number one guild in Korea, Hyeseong Guild.
"I have to be near that wallflower, Wontae Park ...ugh.
Ilgon Kim , leader of the Sun Guild, the 2nd place domestic guild.
"How long are you going to keep people waiting for this!"
Wontae Park , leader of the Cainus Guild, ranked 3rd in the domestic guilds.
"--- Shin Hyeseong, you've grown stronger.
Hwang Yun-hye, leader of the Phoenix Guild, ranked 4th in the domestic guilds.
"Hmph, men are---.
Bae Chul-man, leader of the fifth-ranked domestic guild, Goguryeo Guild.
"A city-level disaster warning, this is a big deal. I hope everything will be okay."
Korean Guild #6, Yolo Guild leader, Miho Han.
"Yikes, I'm getting a rash on my skin---."
---
---
---
Kim Yoo-shin, 20th ranked domestic guild, leader of the Hwarang Guild.
"---.
The conference hall quickly became noisy, as if it was a marketplace for slaughtering animals.
Fortunately, the leaders of the top guilds soon arrived, and the meeting could begin.
"Now, everyone, please be quiet. We will proceed with the meeting."
The room quickly quieted down.
The head of the association, who was in charge of conducting the meeting, spoke up.
"Thank you for your cooperation. As you have been informed, a city-level disaster warning has been issued as of this hour, so we are requesting the cooperation of the guilds in the Hunter Association of Korea to---."
"When will it happen, and where is it?"
Shin Hyeseong interrupted and asked.
Shin Hyeseong.
His neatly pomaded hair and taut skin made it hard to believe that he was in his fifties. But he had sharp eyes, and as if something didn't sit right with him, his eyes narrowed even more sharply.
He was clearly in a bad mood.
Maybe that's why.
Despite the rudeness of cutting him off, the association chairman, Byeong-hun Oh, couldn't even make a sound.
"--- There is no specific location or time of the incident, but it is said to be on the Korean Peninsula."
Then Ilgon Kim, the leader of the Sun Guild, shouted.
"'Does that mean that the guild wants us to cover the entire Korean Peninsula!"
There was a murmur, as if his words had incited some of them.
"That's right, we don't even have enough Hunters to go out and prevent a disaster that could happen at any moment. And the entire peninsula---our guild can't do it."
"We're out, too."
"Our guild is also---."
The lower-ranked guilds began to shout that they too would withdraw.
However, the guilds in the top 10 seemed cautious in their statements.
Byeong-hun Oh, the chairman of the association, was at a loss for words.
Wontae Park, the leader of the Cainus Guild, who had been sitting in silence, spoke up.
"Mr. Chairman, I have an idea how we should do this."
"Yes, Mr. Wontae Park. How?"
"Let's have each guild prepare an emergency response team, prioritize patrols in their own strongholds, and when a disaster strikes, everyone should step up to help regardless of the area."
"--- I think that's a good idea, any other ideas? If not, we'll vote by show of hands."
The majority of the directors agreed with Wontae Park.
Even though Shin Hyeseong looked a little uncomfortable, he raised his hand and agreed.
"It's decided. Each guild will defend their strongholds and maintain close cooperation. The state of alert will be maintained for three months, thank you."
With that, the meeting was dismissed.
As the leaders of each guild rushed out, someone called out to Wontae from behind as he was leaving the meeting.
"Hey, Wontae-kun."
It was Shin Hyeseong.
Wontae turned around at the sound of his voice calling out to him.
He was only in his early 30s, but he was already the guild leader of a guild, and he was calling him 'Wontae-kun'. Wontae's expression was already stiff as he turned around.
However, Shin Hyeseong was smiling as if he didn't care about his expression.
"--- Do you have an agenda?"
"I've noticed how neatly you've organized the meeting today. I see you're from the Hyeseong Guild."
"--- If you have nothing else to say, I'll be off."
"Whoa, wait a minute. Didn't you go to Odin's Tower with the Cainus Guild's first team?"
Wontae Park's face started to turn grim as he heard that.
He hadn't heard from the Cainus Guild's first team since they entered the Tower of Odin.
"It's been almost a month, and I haven't heard from them, so I'm wondering if they're still working on the strategy. So, how's the strategy going?"
"--- Get lost."
Wontae Park muttered in a low voice.
"Huh? What did you say, I can't hear you."
"Shut up, asshole!"
Shin Hyeseong's expression stiffened.
But then his face turned into his trademark twinkling smile.
He said leisurely.
"You haven't learned manners, have you? You should respect your elders, and if you talk like that, you'll get in trouble, but---."
Shin Hyesung walked to Wontae Park's side and patted him on the shoulder.
"I'm the adult, I should understand, and you should wear a suit. And shave your beard, too. Hahaha."
With that, Hyeseong left.
Wontae Park was left alone.
His clenched fists were white and shaking.
* * *
Sangwoo and Hayeon finished shopping at the department store.
After their date, they took a taxi to Hayeon's house.
After getting off, Sangwoo went up to Hayeon's house and presented a set of red ginseng to her mother, Mrs. Jang.
"The Mid-Autumn Festival is soon, so I came to say hello."
"Thank you, Sangwoo, I'll eat well~"
"Thank you, ma'am!"
"If you're not busy, come in and eat some fruit."
"Haha, no, I have work to do--- See you next time, happy holidays."
He gave her the red ginseng and left Hayeon's house.
Hayeon saw him off and went into the house.
He walked back home.
Sangwoo called Junmo Kang.
"Hello? Agent. Sorry to call you in the middle of the night. I had an idea that suddenly popped into my head---."
-No problem, what idea?
"Well, since the damage of my clones can't be transmitted to me, why don't I feed them steroids. They won't have any side effects on me, and I'll benefit from the muscle growth."
-Steroids?