Hajin stood on the metal grate with his ruined shirt hanging off one shoulder while three medics argued over who got to scan him first, and the antiseptic smell coming off their kits making his nose burn.
"Hostile population eliminated, nest core destroyed and solo clear confirmed," the gate clerk said without looking up from her tablet, stamping his wristband with the same bored rhythm she used for everyone. "Your rating is exceptional, so your payout will process within forty-eight hours."
He nodded once and kept his mouth shut while the medics finally settled on a blood pressure cuff and a quick mana-density scan. The numbers came back low, making one of them frown, but the gate system's clear record was already uploaded, so no one could argue with a solo F-rank clearing a nest core variant.
Bibi sat on his shoulder in her usual spot, surface back to silver with only faint dark traces left from the fight. She watched the medics with a kind of stillness that made him suspect she was memorizing their faces.
'Probably wondering if they have snacks,' he thought, adjusting the strap on his broken camera rod.
The stream overlay had auto-closed when he crossed the exit threshold, but his phone was already vibrating in his pocket with enough notifications to make the device feel warm through the fabric.
He did not check it yet since the medics were still hovering, and he wanted out of the extraction zone before the scouts found him.
He failed at that within four minutes.
The first one approached while he was signing the exit form, a man in a navy blazer with a guild pin on the lapel and a smile that looked rehearsed in a mirror.
"Kwon Hajin-ssi," the man said, extending a card before Hajin even finished writing his name. "I'm Manager Park from Dawnline Guild. We've been watching your stream since the Seongbuk run, and I have to say, what you did in there was remarkable."
Hajin took the card with two fingers and glanced at it. Dawnline was a minor guild, E-tier at best, the kind of operation that recruited F-ranks and sent them into beginner gates with a camera attached.
"We'd like to offer you an exclusive contract," Manager Park continued, lowering his voice just enough to make it sound confidential. "Base salary of three hundred thousand won per month, full gear sponsorship, and a forty percent stream revenue split. In exchange, Dawnline would handle your scheduling, gate reservations, and brand management."
Hajin looked at the card again, then at Park, and felt something cold settle in his chest.
'Forty percent stream split,' he thought. 'They want to take almost half of what I make and call it management.'
"I'll need to review the terms," he said, keeping his tone neutral.
"Of course," Park said, smile never wavering. "The contract is standard, but I should mention we have a three-year exclusivity clause. It's for your protection, of course. We invest heavily in our hunters, and we need to ensure that investment is secure."
Bibi made a low sound near Hajin's ear, one she only made when something felt wrong, and her surface darkened just enough for him to notice.
'Even she can smell the trap,' he thought.
Before he could answer, a second voice cut in from his left, and a woman in a sharp gray suit stepped into the space beside Park like she had been waiting for the exact moment he finished speaking.
"Manager Park, you're crowding him," she said, not looking at the man at all, her eyes staying on Hajin. "I'm Director Choi from Viper Guild. I'll be direct because you don't have time for the polished version. We're offering five hundred thousand won base, sixty percent stream revenue on your end, and access to our D-tier gate queue. The contract is eighteen months with an opt-out clause at month twelve."
Park's smile twitched, but he did not step back. "Director Choi, Viper's reputation for hunter retention is—"
"We don't coddle our hunters," she said, glancing at him with a smug look. "We train them so they produce results. Kwon Hajin-ssi just cleared a nest core variant solo with an F-rank class. He doesn't need coddling, what he needs is a platform that won't waste his time."
She slid her card onto the counter next to Park's, and Hajin looked at both of them while the medics finally gave up and packed their equipment away.
'Five hundred thousand base sounds better,' he thought, 'but sixty percent stream revenue means they still take forty, and Viper's reputation for burning through rookies is not exactly a secret.'
He had seen the clips, Viper signing hungry hunters, pushing them into gates they were not ready for, and dropping them when the numbers stopped climbing. The opt-out clause probably had conditions buried in the fine print that made leaving expensive.
"I appreciate the offers," he said, picking up both cards and tucking them into his pocket without committing to anything. "I'll review them and get back to you."
Director Choi nodded once, already turning away. "Take your time but don't take too long. The market moves fast, and so do we."
Park lingered for another thirty seconds, repeating the base salary and the gear sponsorship like those words alone should convince him, before he finally walked away with his rehearsed smile intact.
Hajin exhaled through his nose and headed for the exit, but the hallway outside the extraction zone was already filling with people who had seen the stream numbers and wanted a piece.
Three more scouts in the next ten minutes, two from guilds he had never heard of, one from a streaming agency that wanted to "manage his brand identity" in exchange for twenty-five percent of all revenue including donations and tips.
'Hah, even my tips,' he thought, jaw tightening,' these people have no shame at all.'
By the time he reached the street, his pocket was full of cards, his phone was full of messages, and his mood felt dangerously close to disgust.
He ducked into a convenience store two blocks from the gate district, bought a bottle of water and a triangle kimbap, then sat on the curb outside while he finally opened his phone.
The notifications were a wall.
Stream analytics showed 2,104 peak viewers, 847 new followers, and a total donation count of 147,230 won after platform fees. Clips had already been uploaded to three different hunter forums, and one of them had 48,000 views in two hours.
His follower count sat at 5,639 and climbing.
'Damn, five thousand people?' he thought, staring at the number. 'That many people actually watched an F-Rank solo clear a gate?'
He opened the messages folder and skimmed the contract previews the scouts had already sent through the platform. Each one looked professional, with clean formatting, terms and polite language. Each one also contained clauses that added up to ownership.
Exclusivity restrictions, revenue splits that favored the guild, content control provisions that let them decide what he streamed and when. Non-compete clauses that would lock him out of independent gate runs if he left.
'They're not even hiding it,' he thought, scrolling through page after page of polished language that all meant the same thing. 'They want to own the stream, my summon, and me as well.'
Bibi shifted on his shoulder, and he felt her tap his cheek with one soft nub.
"Yeah," he said quietly, cracking the water bottle open, "these people want to fuck us over and milk us until we are dry."
He finished the kimbap in three bites, recycled the wrapper, and stood up, deciding it was time to head home.
'If I sign with any of them, Bibi will become data to them,' he thought, 'they'll want to test her limits, record her growth and figure out how to replicate it.'
Bibi made a small sound, almost a whimper, and pressed closer to his neck like she had heard the thought and did not like where it went.
He reached up and tapped her surface with one finger, feeling the faint warmth she always carried, 'we may have not spent a lot of time together but I still feel I strong bond to her, so I am never giving her up.'
He pulled out his phone again, opened the Hunter Association gate listing, and started scrolling past the beginner gates he was interested in.
There were a lot of F-rank, F+ and E-minus gates, 'hmm, they all seem safe enough, and judging by today, running solo is the way to get viewers interested,' he thought, looking up at the hunters on the massive screens.
'Though, I need something that won't be dismissed as a fluke, something that would force the industry to see me a threat,' he smiled, getting excited.
His thumb stopped on a listing with a yellow caution icon and a difficulty rating that made his pulse jump.
[Gate ID: IR-D07]
[Type: Combat Gate]
[Name: Ironroot Depths]
[Rank: D-]
[Recommended: D-C party]
[Special Condition: Anti-summon field detected in lower chambers]
A D-minus gate was a full two tiers above his current clearance. The recommended party size was four to six hunters, and the special condition flag was a warning that made most rookies close the page and walk away.
'An anti-summon field will be a problem. That means Bibi will be suppressed, weakening her abilities, which could lead to both out deaths.'
He stared at the listing for a long moment and decided, 'yeah, no, that gate is way above my rank, let's not get ahead of ourselves here.' He thought, scrolling past it while a nervous smile tugged at his mouth.
He kept scrolling, filtering back down to F+ gates, ones that sat right on the edge of beginner territory without tipping into actual danger. The listing narrowed, and his thumb stopped on one with a green clearance icon and a description that made his pulse settle.
[Gate ID: GB-F12]
[Type: Combat Gate]
[Name: Goblin Forest]
[Rank: F+]
[Recommended: F+ to E- party, 2-3 hunters]
[Special Condition: Goblin pack tactics observed. Alpha variant present.]
[Notes: High loot density. Goblin cores drop rate 18%. Popular with streamers.]
'This one works,' he thought, reading the details. 'Goblin packs mean actual tactics, not just mindless rushing. Viewers like watching coordinated fights, and an alpha variant gives me something to build a clip around.'
He tapped reserve.
[Gate ID: GB-F12 reserved]
[Entry window: Tomorrow, 14:00]
[Solo entry: Approved - Waiver required]
[Warning: Solo entry reduces clear rating ceiling by one tier.]
He confirmed the waiver, watched the timer lock, and slid the phone back into his pocket, "Haaah, now that we got our next gate, why don't we go and treat ourselves to a nice meal." He said, squishing Bibi a little, with her responding happily.