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An alley in Seoul, South Korea. Cold rain fell under a gray sky, as wet rainwater flowed on the ground and gathered in a remote place.

Splash! The sudden fluctuation of the rain cracked the air above.

Tsssss- Light leaked out in the middle of the air and pushed the rainwater on the floor from side to side. Kang Hyuk's hand slipped through the crack as he appeared and the light disappeared through the crack.

Swoosh! The heavy rain welcomed Kang Hyuk whose eyes were as red as blood. Desmond's voice could be heard as Kang Hyuk saw the alley, “My lord, you have safely returned to Earth.”

"Have you informed the Five Nobles?"’ Kang Hyuk replied in his thoughts.

“I have delivered all your instructions, they have said that they'll always answer your call,” Desmond reported.

"How much power can I use on Earth?" Kang Hyuk asked.

“You’ll have no problem using your power on earth because mana has already melted into the atmosphere,” Desmond answered.

Earth was already full of people who had awakened their abilities. Kang Hyuk had already seen a lot of metahumans, their powers, dungeons and monsters even before he was summoned. 16 years have passed, and during that time, mankind's metahuman abilities must have evolved a lot. 

“I will always update you as your eyes and ears,” Desmond added.

"Good job," Kang Hyuk responded. After Kang Hyuk's words, Desmond went silent. The rain became so intense that it was hard to tell whether Kang Hyuk was being welcomed or being rejected from coming back to earth. Rain water flowed down Kang Hyuk's face as the city center of Seoul was dark with clouds and rained heavily. Kang Hyuk felt different as he returned to Earth in the heavy rain. 

"The Association must already know about Kang Min’s death," Kang Hyuk muttered. His younger brother, who was a returner, was the most powerful being on Earth before he died. At least based on the words of the people who killed his brother, there was a high chance he served as a hunter. There were already hunters before he was summoned to Hela.

If a hunter, who had as much presence as his younger brother died, there was no way that the association would not know of it. Kang Hyuk decided to visit the Hunter Association in South Korea.

 ***

In Seocho-dong, Gangnam-gu, there was a Hunter Association building with more than 40 floors. 

Whirrr. The automatic door opened as Kang Hyuk walked in. There were two pretty women who were in charge of the information desk on the first floor who stood up as they saw Kang Hyuk enter.

"What brings you here?" One of them asked.

"Get me someone who knows about Kang Min," Kang Hyuk replied. 

The female staff looked at each other at the same time and answered Kang Hyuk, "Are you talking about Kang Min, the S-class hunter who died recently? My apologies, but how are you related to him?"

"He’s my younger brother," Kang Hyuk replied. The female employees looked at each other again after his reply.

"Your younger brother? But he’s not known to have any family members..." One of the receptionists trailed off.

"No. He once said that he had an older brother," the other receptionist corrected her.

"Are you perhaps that brother of his that chose not to return to earth?" The receptionist asked.

Humans known as returners were not unfamiliar to people on earth. Dungeons and monsters had appeared and there were quite a few metahumans who had returned after being summoned to another dimension. Kang Min was famous as the world's strongest hunter after his return, and sometimes mentioned Kang Hyuk's existence. He did not talk about Kang Hyuk's power, but he did not hide that he had at least one blood relative. He only mentioned that he had an older brother, but he did not choose to return like he did, and stopped right there. Since Kang Min had never spoken in detail about Kang Hyuk, everyone who watched him made all kinds of guesses with their own imagination. The same was true of the two female employees standing in front of Kang Hyuk.

"Please wait a minute," the female receptionist quickly turned on the intercom and pressed a button.

A minute later, someone rushed down the stairs next to the elevator in the lobby.

"Where is he?" that person asked.

"Over here, sir!” one of the receptionists replied. That man spotted Kang Hyuk as he stood near the female receptionists and ran over. 

"Huff... Huff... Oh, I'm sorry about this. I was too surprised... And there were a lot of people in the elevator, so I ran down the stairs... Huff... Cough... That’s why I’m a little late. Ahem..." the department head said after he took a breather.

"I'm sorry for introducing myself late. I'm Hwang Sangwook, head of the accident management department of the Korean Hunter Association."

Hwang Sangwook saw Kang Hyuk's eyes. The emotionless gaze that signified that he couldn't feel anything, caught his attention.

"Are you the elder brother of Hunter Kang Min?" Hwang Sangwook asked.

"Where's his body?" Kang Hyuk asked back.

Hwang Sangwook’s eyebrows wriggled at Kang Hyuk’s words and thought, ‘Why is he talking informally out of nowhere? Does he think that because Kang Min is the world's strongest, he's also the best? Sigh, I'm an A-Class hunter, so I'll put up with it. Anyway, he’s the bereaved family of Hunter Kang Min.’

Hwang Sangwook replied with a fake smile, "First of all, there are some things that the association needs to check to ensure that you’re Hunter Kang Min’s real brother.Will you come with me?" 

"Need to check?" Kang Hyuk replied curtly.

"After Hunter Kang Min passed, there were a few people who came to the association claiming to be his brother," Hwang Sangwook replied.

Kang Min had amassed a huge fortune as the world's strongest hunter and that caused confusion in society because there was no bereaved family to inherit property from Earth since Kang Min's death was abrupt. Humans who wanted to inherit Kang Min's property appeared after he died.

"The association knows about the basic information of Hunter Kang Min's older brother, so we conducted a control test and found that they were all fake. If you're really Hunter Kang Min's real brother, you should do a genetic test," Hwang Sangwook explained.

Kang Hyuk agreed to Hwang Sangwook's request for genetic testing. The genetic laboratory was located in the basement of the association. Hwang Sangwook brought the documents to Kang Hyuk, who had been waiting here for a while.

"Using a hunters' mana via genetic testing, we can see its results very quickly. You’re indeed a metahuman who has awakened his mana according to the test results. The results of the genetic test with Hunter Kang Min are out. You're indeed his brother. Haha. Now Hunter Kang Min's bereaved family test is done!"

“….”

Hwang Sangwook, who looked awkwardly at Kang Hyuk's cold gaze, said while he scratched his head, "Haha, let's go up first. I have a lot to explain. You’re not just any hunter but the only bereaved family of Hunter Kang Min, so I can't possibly just talk to you here. And your clothes are all wet. Hey, call the General Affairs Department and tell them to bring some change of clothes to the Accident Management Department."

The female receptionists dialed another number on the intercom, and Kang Hyuk followed Hwang Sangwook to the elevator.

 ***

Kang Hyuk, who had changed into new clothes, sat in Hwang Sangwook's seat. Employees nearby glanced at Kang Hyuk and whispered among themselves, "Hey, did you hear? That's the brother of Hunter Kang Min ."

"Kang Min had an older brother?"

"You didn't know? He mentioned it sometimes in interviews. But only Kang Min returned, and his brother didn’t return."

"Isn’t he supposed to be dead then? How is he alive?"

"I don’t know that either."

While the voices of the staff were soft, Kang Hyuk could hear them as if he was just right next to them. People on earth were informed that the reason for Kang Hyuk's refusal to return was because he was dead. People's curiosity grew because Kang Min did not want to talk about his brother. More female employees in the accident management department started to whisper among themselves.

"Kang Min was quite handsome, and so was his brother."

"He’s indeed handsome, but don't you think he’s a little pale?

"He’s simply fair, how’s that pale?”

"Hunter Kang Min looked quite bulky and strong, but he looks weak."

"Yes, he looks as fragile as a flower."

"Hey, go back to your work."

Hwang Sangwook, the head of their department, threw glances at them and the staff quickly turned to their desk monitors.

"Oh, I'm sorry. There are so many documents about Hunter Kang Min," Hwang Sangwook apologized. 

Kang Min was not an ordinary returner, Kang Hyuk didn't know that, but all humans on Earth knew about Kang Min. It caused a ruckus in the Hunter Association to hear that the older brother of Kang-min, the world's strongest hunter, was here. Hwang Sangwook immediately reported to the president of the association and asked for permission to disclose all data of Kang Min held by the association to Kang Hyuk. 

Since Kang Hyuk was a bereaved family member, he had the authority to see Kang Min's materials. Hunter's data were classified as confidential because its information was equivalent to a nation’s power. Particularly, if one was a hunter like Kang Min, all his information such as his ability, achievements, and missions he went through were treated as confidential information. However, since Kang Min was already dead, if his bereaved family had requested for a disclosure of various information such as human relationships, affiliated guilds, and what he worked as, it would be made available to them.

"Department head, I have received the materials for Hunter Kang Min that you requested for," one of the staff reported.

"Oh, bring it here," Hwang Sangwook replied and that staff brought a box containing documents. Kang Hyuk watched the documents pile up on Hwang Sangwook's desk.

"There is actually more data on Hunter Kang Min, but this is the data requested by you," Hwang Sangwook explained as he took out the documents and handed them to Kang Hyuk. Kang Hyuk opened the documents.

"Did you spy on my brother?" Kang Hyuk asked.

"No, it’s a little too much to call it surveillance. Haha. The association does not monitor hunters, but the power of hunters is still at the heart of a nation’s power, so managing them is necessary. We don't invade sensitive and private matters. We simply looked into basic information of Hunter Kang Min, like who he was close to when he was alive, the guild he belonged to, enemies he didn't get along with, the status of personal assets, and relationships," Hwang Sangwook explained.

What Kang Hyuk needed was information about his brother's guild and the relationships he had.

"What is the cause of my brother's death?" Kang Hyuk asked.

"He was on a mission. There was a huge dungeon that needed hunters internationally to work together. It was the largest raid of all-time involving Korea, Japan, Russia, the United States, and China. Hunter Kang Min had killed the boss of the dungeon, but eventually died." Hwang Sangwook clarified.

"Was it an accident?" Kang Hyuk questioned.

"Yes, it was an unfortunate accident," Hwang Sangwook responded. 

Kang Hyuk recalled the voices that he had heard, his brother didn't die in an accident. Before Kang Hyuk returned to earth, he had looked in on his brother and used the gaze of death. That was the ability to see what Kang Min had experienced before he died to determine the cause of his death. Kang Min's death, which Kang Hyuk saw via the gaze of death, confirmed that it wasn’t an accident, but a murder. He then thought to himself, ‘Min’s death was manipulated by someone then.’

Kang Hyuk did not ask Hwang Sangwook any more, all he needed was his brother's data. Hwang Sangwook showed Kang Hyuk another piece of information and added, "This is the house where Hunter Kang Min lived. The address is written there, and here's the key."

It was the address of the apartment where Kang Min lived and the key to it. Kang Hyuk visited the address written in the document along with Hwang Sangwook as he drove them there.

"This is the apartment where Hunter Kang Min lived. Now that you've returned back to earth, please have a good rest and I’ll see you around," Hwang Sangwook said as Kang Hyuk closed the door without answering him. Hwang Sangwook muttered, “Damn it, is he looking down on an A-Class because he’s a returner?”

Hwang Sangwook was annoyed by Kang Hyuk's informal speech, but he had to be careful with how he treated Kang Hyuk. Because all the returners who had returned to Earth had been strong so far. Particularly since the power Kang Min showed was different from other returners. And Kang Hyuk was summoned along with Kang Min. Based on his experience, Hwang Sangwook felt that Kang Hyuk was also quite strong.

Hwang Sangwook thought to himself, ‘The brother of the strongest hunter in the world and the hero who saved the earth... Very soon, not only the Republic of Korea but the world will be in turmoil.’

Kang Hyuk went into Kang Min's apartment after Hwang Sangwook left. Kang Min had lived in a luxurious penthouse. The spacious living room and the night view of the Han River welcomed Kang Hyuk. Kang Hyuk sat on the sofa and took out the documents and looked into them one by one to see what his brother had left behind. Something then caught his eye.