My Auto Cloning System

Episode 64: The Birthday Trap, the Transfer, and the Teacher

As the tall doors of the World Hunter Association's primary assembly hall groaned shut behind him, the atmosphere shifted. Not a single person needed to be told. Everyone in the room moved at once. Chairs scraped against the marble floor, and every hunter who had been standing stiffly until now lowered themselves into their seats as though the gravity of the old man who had just entered exerted more pull than the earth itself. This wasn't just another hunter. This was the leader of the Korean Hunter Association, a man whose age and fragile appearance misled only those who had never seen the devastation he could unleash.

He moved with the cautious stiffness of someone who had suffered more battles than most soldiers dreamed of surviving. Still, every step carried the weight of authority. No one interrupted. No one whispered. Even the more volatile guild leaders held their tongues. His presence smothered whatever chaos Miss Mio or Shin Hae-seong might have otherwise stirred. When he reached the podium at the front, he gave the room a measured nod and spoke with a quiet authority that somehow filled the chamber.

"Thank you all for gathering on short notice," he began, his voice aged but unwavering. "As many of you have already heard, the Oracle has spoken."

Several of the international representatives leaned forward, eyes narrowing. The Oracle. That wasn't a name you brought up unless something truly terrifying had been foreseen. It wasn't a prediction to be taken lightly.

"The details remain limited," the old man continued, folding his hands behind his back. "But what we do know is that a portal event has been prophesied. A convergence that will occur within South Korea's borders. Not a single gate. Not a dungeon. A tear in the boundary. A true opening."

Whispers broke out like static. A portal event was on another level entirely. Something that could rival the catastrophic Seoul Collapse from years ago, where three guilds were annihilated overnight. This wasn't a C-rank dungeon going out of control. This was hundreds, possibly thousands, of monsters spilling out across cities.

President Michael Harris of the WHA leaned forward, eyebrows drawn together. "Is there a timeline? A confirmed date? Any indicators at all?"

The Korean association head shook his head slowly. "No time frame. No fixed coordinates. Only the scale. The Oracle has seen A-ranked monsters crossing."

A fist slammed against polished wood. The sound echoed like a gunshot. A guild master from the European zone stood up, face flushed with frustration. "How the hell are we supposed to prepare for an event like that without a location or time? South Korea is not a village. It's a nation. A peninsula. We can't just throw a blanket over it and hope."

The old man didn't blink. He simply turned toward the man and replied with a faint, almost tired smile. "That is why we are having this meeting, my boy. To discuss what we can do with what little we have."

A few of the younger guild leaders scoffed. There had been rumors lately that the old man was losing his edge. That the stress of leading Korea's hunters through decades of wars had finally caught up. But if he was shaken, he didn't show it.

"Then let's get to it," said another voice, calmer but sharper. A representative from one of the Chinese guilds raised his hand slightly and stood. He looked around the room, pausing at each face as if weighing their reactions. "We all know the numbers. Even on a good year, there aren't enough active hunters to cover every city block. Not in any country. So here's my proposal."

All eyes turned to him.

"Each major guild forms a crisis-response team. We divide the country into sectors. Each team is responsible for patrolling or staying on standby in one assigned region. When the event starts, no hesitation, no politics. Every group deploys instantly to the breach zone, regardless of where it happens."

Someone scoffed. "And who decides the sectors?"

"The WHA does. Alongside the Korean Association," the speaker answered without hesitation. "We can vote on it now. But the bottom line is this. We need a unified response. Not twenty isolated ones. Any guild that refuses to participate should be considered in breach of international code and face full consequences."

There was a ripple of murmurs. No one openly objected. But plenty of glances were exchanged. Not every guild liked being told what to do. Especially not the bigger ones.

The old man's hand trembled slightly as he placed it on the edge of the podium. His voice remained calm, though. "Does anyone disagree with this proposal?"

The silence that followed wasn't peaceful. It was tense. But no hands rose. No voices called out.

Agreement, then. Even if begrudging.

---

The air outside the university gates was thick with the usual weekday buzz. Students streamed past on bicycles or chatted in small clusters while taxis honked their way through congested intersections. Kim Do-hyun had just stepped off campus, still adjusting to the uncomfortable normalcy of returning to school life after everything he had been through. His thoughts were a mix of training schedules, clone health reports, and wondering whether he'd remembered to turn off the stove back at the apartment when he caught the tail end of a scene unfolding across the street.

A guy in a varsity jacket was cornering a girl with a sloppy grin on his face. "Come on, cutie. Give me your number. You're too pretty to be walking alone like that. Let's not pretend we didn't make eye contact," the guy slurred with a half-drunk bravado. His posture screamed nuisance. He had one foot propped against a low wall and leaned in with a greasy kind of confidence that always made Do-hyun's skin crawl.

The girl, however, didn't miss a beat. She looked him dead in the eye, lifted one brow with practiced elegance, and responded with all the deadpan clarity of someone done with life. "You're ugly as hell, man. Get lost before you embarrass yourself further."

Do-hyun blinked twice.

Wait.

That voice.

That face.

Oh, no.

It was her.

Before he could even cross the street, her eyes locked on him like a sniper lining up a perfect shot. Without warning, she launched herself across the sidewalk, half-jogging over with the kind of urgency that made it look like she'd just spotted her long-lost fiancé returning from the war. She clung to his arm like it was routine.

"Oh! My love, you're here," she said sweetly, throwing herself into the role with zero hesitation and twice the enthusiasm. "Sorry I kept you waiting. This guy's been bugging me, but now that you're here, he can finally leave, right?"

Do-hyun could barely keep up. One moment he was walking toward the station, the next he had a teenage girl hanging off him like a purse with legs. The varsity guy stared in confusion, frowned, grunted, and then wisely decided to back off without a word.

Once they had walked a few paces past the scene and the creep had vanished around the corner, she finally let go, brushing her bangs out of her face with a sigh of relief. "Thanks for playing along," she said, still a little breathless. "That guy was seriously annoying. I thought I was gonna have to scream. You saved me."

Do-hyun gave her a sidelong glance. "You know, you're awfully good at lying under pressure. You ever think about going into theater?"

"Don't be dramatic. I didn't lie. I just… acted." She grinned and shrugged as if that explained everything.

He eyed her clothes next. "Also, why aren't you in uniform? You're not skipping classes, are you?"

"Excuse you," she replied, puffing out her cheeks. "Today is my birthday. You don't seriously expect me to wear that ugly school uniform on my birthday, do you?"

He gave her a slow look, still half in disbelief that she was dragging him into public without so much as a warning. "You could have at least told me."

She smirked again and tilted her head playfully. "What? Why are you staring so hard? You want my number too or something?"

"Min-joo. I already have your number," he said with a groan, rubbing his forehead. "I'm your teacher, damn it."

Her grin widened, absolutely unbothered. "Then act like it. Teachers are supposed to treat their students on their birthdays. That's practically a rule."

Just as he was about to launch into a proper lecture about boundaries and common sense, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. A message from Han Jin-woo blinked at him, crisp and to the point.

[Deposit complete. 50 million won transferred. Use it wisely.]

Do-hyun sighed. Right. Another sudden cash injection. Hunter business always came with aftershocks, even days after the actual fight. He opened his banking app and confirmed it. Fifty million. That made two large deposits this month. The number on the screen didn't even surprise him anymore.