Chapter 60

After the meeting with the director, the two immediately moved to the conference room on the same floor. Before the two left, the director called the PR department through the company's communication network, and the answer was so lively that the voice saying they would come right away was heard by the two even beyond the receiver.

The two, who arrived a little early at the conference room, sat side by side at the rectangular table.

"Is this your first time meeting the head of the PR department?"

"Yeah."

"She's the most influential person in the external cooperation department. She'll probably decide your first CF this time too. That image will follow you for a long time, so choose well. Hunters just go to the scene and come back, so their impression rarely changes through broadcasts like celebrities."

"What kind of person is the head of the PR department?"

"Uh, well... I didn't know before, but... she's a unique person."

Soram, who rarely hesitated to speak about anything in the world, spoke vaguely. Then, Lee Hye-seung, the head of the PR department, came to the conference room where the two were sitting.

"Hello, oh, it's nice to see you. I made a good choice in picking this job. The job is a civil servant, so it's a stable job, but the work is as glamorous as an agency, isn't it? There's probably no other ordinary person who sees as many hunters as I do. No need for introductions. I'm also a citizen of this country and an employee here, so I know who both of you are. I'll just introduce myself."

The head of the PR department entered, overwhelming the two 1st-grade hunters from the moment she appeared. After stating her position and name, she sat down and raised her lips to the fullest, waving the bundle of documents she brought.

"You two, what do you think this is?"

"Did we get a lot of advertisement offers?"

"I really like Hunter Jin Soram. We communicate so well."

"I like you too, Head of PR. Your honest and unrestrained desire."

"It's good to see this unfiltered side of you everywhere. Our kids suffer a bit, but isn't that Chief Jin's charm?"

"Uh-huh, I feel really sorry about that. I told you from the beginning that the church oppa concept was too much, didn't I?"

"The face is perfect, but I didn't know the personality would be this much of a stretch. These days, the image has completely solidified, so it's comfortable. People also think, 'That's how he is,' so there's less to deal with."

"Wow, that's great. I'm glad."

Tae-un immediately realized what Soram's slightly subtle reaction from earlier was. It was probably the awkwardness towards his own kind.

A very similar atmosphere flowed between the two, whose conversation flowed without hindrance. They each prioritized only themselves, but they had no particular malice towards each other. It was like they were spitting out knives with their mouths, but the knives were toys...

"But Chief Jin has had a really cute image recently, right? Like a princess in his arms."

"Who says that? Whoooo?!"

"Well... the 50 million citizens who were in front of the TV cheering for Chief Jin that night?"

"...It's because of Han Tae-un ssi!"

Today, there was a lot of emphasis on the "ssi" after the name. When Tae-un didn't respond, Soram couldn't decide whether to glare at Tae-un or the head of the PR department, so he just sputtered and stopped.

It was quite a rare sight for Soram to lose to someone in words. Tae-un stared intently at Soram and then turned his head forward again.

"Chief Han is usually expressionless like now, right? That's his original personality?"

"...Yes. Probably."

"That's right. I'll push him as a taciturn and reserved man in the future. Now, let's cut to the chase. Chief Han, you look at this first. Chief Jin, you look at this side."

The stack of documents placed in front of Tae-un was five, and the one placed in front of Soram was seven.

"Chief Han, you don't know how hard it was to narrow it down. I wanted to wrap you in luxury brands and send you out glamorously like Chief Jin, but you also have a strong image of an untainted country man, right? Evoking the male lead vibes from 《The Shower》. So for now, I chose the ones that don't harm the image and have a good price among the proposals."

Country, shower, what? Tae-un lowered his gaze to the documents without understanding anything.

"Our Chief Jin and I have worked together for a while, so I've received proposals for two places he won't refuse. Look at the remaining five."

"I'll do both that you've chosen. The rest, I refuse. I was confined in the guard floor and hospitalized for a long time, so I think I need to relax my body for a while."

Originally, the 3rd Great Rift would occur in the second half of next year. However, this time, there was an anomaly where the Bukhansan fire rift occurred half a year earlier than the schedule he knew. There was no guarantee that the Great Rift would also break out at the time he knew.

He had no hope for this life, but he wished for this time to last as long as possible. And since they had successfully blocked the fire rift, perhaps they could... survive safely until the 3rd Great Rift.

...Although it was a belief close to a wish.

"It's unfortunate, but it can't be helped. Chief Jin's main job is being a hunter. What about you, Chief Han?"

The topic turned to Tae-un. Ah, Tae-un reacted a beat late. While thinking that the head of the PR department was really similar to Soram in the way she quickly backed off from things that couldn't be done.

"Can I also choose from these?"

"You can do all five. We'd be so happy. It would be so good for Chief Han's bank account too."

Tae-un repeatedly looked at the five documents from one end to the other, unable to easily make a decision. After all, he was an ordinary person until recently. He was not familiar with the media and appearing there.

"By the way, the amount of contact that came for Chief Han was really like a mountain, and the ones that were even a bit lacking in conditions were all eliminated, leaving those five. So it doesn't matter at all which one you choose."

A little later, Tae-un asked seriously.

"Which one... requires the least acting from me?"

"Ahem. That's important."

Soram openly suppressed his laughter.

"That would be this one."

The head of the PR department pointed to the fourth document. And she pulled up the first document.

"But it would be a shame to do just this one, so I can try to request this one to be done with minimal acting. How about these two?"

"Wow, both are really sti... no, modest. Really..."

Soram said something that sounded like admiration or not after seeing Tae-un's documents. Honestly, even if he said that, it wasn't understandable, but he nodded, saying he got it. There was also a slight thought that it wouldn't be harmful since the person recommending this had a personality similar to Soram's.

For now, it seemed like a decision had been made, so she said.

"Now, lastly, if you refuse this, I'll cling to your pant legs from now on."

The head of the PR department presented a document she had hidden. The place she put it down was right in the middle of Soram and Tae-un.

"We received an advertisement request asking for both of you to appear together. They really didn't want to miss this opportunity, so they accepted all conditions and offered an unprecedented amount."

"Ooh, impressive. Where is it?"

"It's a company with a good reason for that."

Her smile deepened.

* * *

In the first week of May, the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters was busy with follow-up measures for the 1st-grade dungeon incident. Moreover, as some hunters were absent due to injuries, naturally, the dispatch of others became more frequent, and it remained in a chaotic state.

Ten days after the outbreak of the 1st-grade dungeon on Bukhansan, Soram and Tae-un were the last of the injured to return. The two took off their hospital gowns and returned as civil servants in black suits and dark ties.

Ayoung said she had been in Team 1's office because she didn't like being alone in Team 7's office. The Team 7 office, which had been dark for a while, was now lit up again.

The headquarters thus returned to its previous state.

However, for Soram and Tae-un, broadcast schedules were added in addition to the previous hunter activities.

"Oh my, it's been a while since I've been in this hallway too."

On an early morning of a weekday, the person who stood behind the camera with a happy smile was the main PD [Producer-Director] of the TV program "Let's Go to Work!"

"Let's Go to Work!" was a variety show that followed the daily work life of citizens with various occupations to find out what they do. The range of cast members varied from common occupations seen around to a 70-year-old soy sauce master. The show observed and showed the interesting aspects of various people living their own lives. Therefore, even though it was the same variety show, it had a somewhat more modest side compared to shows where everyone chatted noisily in the studio.

Tae-un, who was opening the dormitory door and coming out, flinched when he saw the camera in front of the hallway. Soram opened the door and came out of the next room at almost the same time. Soram grinned and tapped the frozen Tae-un's shoulder. Then the two walked towards the camera director and staff.

"Are you filming from here?"

"Yes. Please say hello."

Soram and Tae-un stood in front of the camera. The round lens shone brightly right in front of their faces. There was a world of difference between seeing it on TV and actually standing in front of the camera. Instead of the stiff Tae-un, Soram waved his hands first to greet.

"Hello. This is Jin Soram. It's morning now. We are now leaving the 26th floor dormitory and going to work on the 13th floor."

Soram then turned to Tae-un.

"Hello. This is Han Tae-un."

Tae-un stiffly bowed his head and raised it. The director asked, "Ah, is that all you have to say?"

"...I will do my best."

Hmm, so this is his character. The director and staff finished assessing him. There would be a lot of work to fill in the empty audio and add subtitles guessing his taciturn inner thoughts at the editing stage.

"When there's no dispatch, we usually do report work."

Soram said a lie without even wetting his lips. His precious blanket had already been put away in the corner of the team leader's office. As soon as he arrived at the office, he straightened his slouching body and tapped on the laptop.

"Chief Jin. Don't you train? You even introduced the training ground 3 years ago."

"Of course we train. But both Han Tae-un ssi and I are injured now, so if we go down to the training ground, we'll get kicked out."

The PD nodded. It was also a reason that couldn't be helped.

"Then can you show us how reports are used in the Field Operations Bureau of the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters?"

"...Hmm, how about Han Tae-un ssi, who is making his first appearance, explain it?"

"Ah."

Soram lightly kicked Tae-un's foot under the table and diligently made eye gestures. His report couldn't be shown on broadcast. Not because it was confidential, but because of the notorious half-heartedness that was said to be written with his feet.