I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over - Chapter 23

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈

Chapter 23: Surrounded on All Sides

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The day after Yoo Hyun achieved the Triple Crown.

Day 7 of the Magic Engineering Expo.

【 Korean Hunter Gallery 】

[Free] Shocking) A roundup of Yoo Hyun's achievements at the Magical Beast Creation Competition.

Author: LovesMagicBeastsLovesMagicBeastsLovesMagicBeasts

1. In the Design Division, he developed Duality and unlocked a new production tree. The magical beast industry was turned upside down for the first time, and the judges practically lost their minds.

Naturally, Magic Beast Alchemists around the world began paying attention to Yoo Hyun after hearing the news.

2. In the Cultivation Division, he developed the Buffering Array. Not only did it raise the overall upper limit of magical beast ranks, but it was stable enough to withstand high-speed Cultivation, massively improving magical beast productivity.

Its value would be astronomical if put into monetary terms, so naturally, the magical beast industry was turned upside down a second time.

Magical beast companies are currently throwing themselves at Yoo Hyun to get their hands on this Buffering Array, yeah.

3. In the Enhancement Division, he implanted a new power source, the Spirit Core, into spirit entity magical beasts. He broke through the limitations of the existing status window and revealed a whole new horizon of possibilities.

Fuck, I don't really get this either, but can you really do something like that with on-the-spot Enhancement?

Anyway... A completely unprecedented new lineage of magical beasts was born, and the industry was turned upside down a third time.

...Well, as you can see, all of this is incredibly innovative. They're achievements even major companies and famous alchemists couldn't pull off easily...

Yoo Hyun advanced the magical beast industry by over ten years all by himself...

What the hell is this guy...? Why was he making Jellykkos in Korea of all places?? Could he really just be a young man who likes Jelly Dogs?

[Comments]

GelatinAddict: Hey... Calling a god "this bastard"...! Watch your mouth...!

Level0Hunter: But seriously, the fact that a superhuman like that was making Jelly Dogs in Korea is a fucking horror story.

└ BayBayBay: Korea's regulations are completely fucked up lol...

└└ GelatinAddict: Then why not leave the country...? Maybe he really is just a young man who likes Jelly Dogs?

Anonymous (117.111): The scariest part is that all those techniques came pouring out in less than a week... I'm starting to suspect Yoo Hyun is actually an alien;

└ LovesMagicBeastsLovesMagicBeastsLovesMagicBeasts (Author): I also think Yoo Hyun might be something transcendent rather than human;;; The level of the technology is insane for something created by a single mind;

Anonymous (39.7): Ha... It's basically a foregone conclusion that Yoo Hyun will go overseas. This is depressing;;;

* * *

Over the course of the day, articles poured out, and the communities began burning even more fiercely.

People looked forward to the changes Yoo Hyun would bring, but the fact that Korea could not fully enjoy those benefits drove the public crazy.

In an era where the Hunter industry was national power, plenty of posts voiced frustration over how unlikely it seemed that the best pet maker could remain in Korea.

【 Korean Hunter Gallery 】

- [Free] Ha... I was going to get a pet for my C-rank Hunter ass, but seeing Yoo Hyun suddenly makes me feel empty...

- [Free] The foreign magical beast companies that entered the domestic market seem like total crooks. Their prices are insanely high, their after-sales service is slow, and even inquiries take forever lol.

- [Free] Isn't there any way to keep Yoo Hyun here? I can't let him go like this.

- [Free] The government is so fucking frustrating;;; They should at least pretend to move and try to hold onto him, but all they're doing is watching for reactions.

- [Free] There must be some timeline where Yoo Hyun develops magical beasts in Korea and Korea becomes a magical beast superpower. Holy shit.

- [Free] But I feel like he'd still make Jellykkos in that timeline.

There was one group even more desperate than them.

The lawmakers who supported magical-beast regulations had secretly gathered in a temporary crisis room.

Bang!!

A middle-aged man pounded the table.

“What are we supposed to do about this! What the hell are we supposed to do?! You said there wouldn't be any consequences for supporting magical-beast regulations!!!! Look what happened because of that bastard Kim Cheongsik!!!”

“Come on, calm down... Cursing someone who's already finished won't give us a solution. I never thought Kim Cheongsik wouldn't even last a week, but...”

Public opinion had formed that the country had driven away the world's greatest expert through its magical-beast regulation law. Kim Cheongsik's website and social media had been utterly destroyed.

That wasn't all.

The Korean stock market was being ignored amid a magical beast rally that sent related stocks soaring day after day. That alone was enough to make Korean retail investors furious.

And there was more.

The Hunters who could have directly enjoyed the benefits of Yoo Hyun, the Magic Beast Alchemist currently rising like a rocket, were the most enraged.

Considering Yoo Hyun's overwhelming performance at the competition and the rising status of magical beast pets, they couldn't even begin to estimate the potential benefits they could have gained.

Whether Yoo Hyun would have actually made incredible magical beast pets for them wasn't important. They were simply furious that even that faint possibility had disappeared.

A Hunter's value lay in their ability to clear Gates. The thought that they had to hand a genius capable of developing magical beast pets, tools that could improve that ability, over to another country made them sick.

In the end, both guilds and Hunters had turned their backs on the government in line with public opinion. The consequences of all the regulations used to keep Hunters in check had erupted all at once.

They were surrounded on all sides.

“...Well, if we can somehow hold on for a month or two, things should die down... Is there some huge scandal we can break? Something that would drive the public wild, you know?”

“No, Yoo Hyun is what's driving the public wild right now!!! Our heads are about to roll, so how are we supposed to hold on for one or two months?! Huh?! People are already saying they'll hang us up in Gwanghwamun Square!!”

“Ha... That's not the problem. If Yoo Hyun doesn't stop making waves, this won't end in a month or two. Kim Cheongsik can't serve as a meat shield anymore, so we need to find a way to calm public opinion as quickly as possible.”

Still, nobody could think of a solution, and time slipped away.

Bzzzzz.

Someone's smartphone vibrated. After checking the message, the person immediately cursed.

“Fuck...”

“What is it?”

“...A public petition calling for the repeal of laws related to magical beasts has already passed one million signatures... And...”

“Why are you dragging it out?”

“......Representative Woo Jangbeom exposed Kim Cheongsik's corruption ledger and transcripts to save their own skin.”

At that bombshell, the lawmakers supporting the regulations went pale.

Things were getting worse by the second.

The fire had begun spreading beyond Kim Cheongsik and toward them.

It was spreading at an alarming pace...

Someone was clearly pulling strings behind the scenes. A major guild? Another political party? No, that wasn't important right now.

“Everyone, calm down. How about this? Yoo Hyun is returning to Korea soon, so we all hold an event. We greet him together at the airport and hold a welcome ceremony. We take photos, apologize for failing to recognize such a valuable talent, ease the regulations... Wouldn't that make for a good picture?”

“...Do you think that would work?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

“Think about it. Yoo Hyun stayed in Korea because he didn't want to live overseas, didn't he? We can promise him various benefits and say the government will support his research from now on, that national funding for magical beast research will receive top priority. If we sweet-talk him with that sort of thing, Yoo Hyun will like it. Then, if he ends up staying in Korea, we can frame it like his success today came about because of the past regulations.”

“Hmm...? That actually does sound plausible...”

“It's true... There isn't much else we can try right away. He's still young, so if we treat him like a national hero, his patriotism may well be stirred.”

Representative Han Jeongwoo had remained silent, simply listening to their conversation. Hearing their plan, Han Jeongwoo broke out in a cold sweat.

‘...Are these bastards out of their minds?’

They should have immediately withdrawn every magical-beast regulation, pledged maximum support for policies friendly to magical beast pets, and publicly fallen to their knees. Even that would be far from enough...

What? Touch Yoo Hyun's heart with an airport welcome ceremony? A photo op? Easing regulations? Not repealing them, but easing them?

Han Jeongwoo made an excuse and slipped out of the room.

“Fucking lunatics...”

Han Jeongwoo knew. Yoo Hyun was raising his value right now.

He was returning to Korea to encourage competition among the companies that wanted him, not because he intended to remain in the country.

And they were offering national research funding? Special exemptions? Were they joking? Major foreign corporations were already pursuing him with blank checks. What use would such pathetic benefits be to him?

The American magical beast company Ouroboros looked ready to embrace Yoo Hyun even if he committed murder. The US president was no ordinary lunatic, so if Yoo Hyun went around killing people, the president might even see him acquitted for the national interest.

The scale of what they could offer was overwhelmingly different.

Han Jeongwoo dragged both hands down their face.

“...I wish tomorrow would never come.”

A terrible future was already taking shape.

* * *

At that time, before leaving Germany, Yoo Hyun prepared a gift for Luise.

After asking the competition organizers for permission, he used an Incubator still at the venue to synthesize a magical beast.

“Pant, pant...”

“Pant, pant, pant...”

A mint-colored Jelly Dog panted face-to-face with Haengbok, the spotted Jelly Dog.

“It’s complete. Jellykko MK-3!”

This Jellykko was the finest Jellykko I could make right now.