Early evening.
As Ariel's husband, I attended the funeral with her.
Originally, hunters were people who were overly accustomed to funerals.
Alice also attended in a modest manner, wearing clothes that gave off a more modest vibe than her usual attire.
The person who is leaving today is an A-rank hunter belonging to Winter Kingdom.
He was a man who married a guild colleague and was also popular.
His death was a complete accident, and also heroic.
He threw himself into a situation that could have turned into a disaster at any moment and saved his colleagues and citizens.
The hero's spouse greeted us at the wedding hall, looking exhausted from crying.
Behind her were people who appeared to be the victim's father-in-law and mother-in-law.
According to what I heard, they don't have any children yet.
"Yeriel... thank you for coming."
"No. Of course you should come."
On the other hand, the male bereaved family members were not seen separately.
The funeral home is not empty, but the spouse and in-laws are the only ones suffering.
Ariel immediately set out to clean up the situation with the Winter Kingdom's executives.
I, who had been doing a great job as a decoration next to Ariel, asked Alice quietly.
"Are there no family members of the deceased?"
"Yeah. I don't have any siblings, and my parents divorced when I was young. My father is already dead."
"I see."
I thought it was a good thing I didn't bring Tia here.
It's also true that he once stood up to members of the Winter Kingdom...
If the cola ghost Tia had changed into the Yukgaejang ghost, it would have been really hard to hold out.
Yeriel stayed until the funeral and helped with the funeral with all her heart.
Quite a few other hunters also attended and expressed their condolences.
As business partners, it would not feel like someone else's business.
No matter what the media says, hunters are always crossing the threshold of the afterlife.
Their mortality rate is beyond the imagination of the general public.
After the funeral, the ceremony was finally over and they were about to leave.
Suddenly, the spouse, who I thought was the deceased's only surviving family member, received a phone call and then suddenly frowned.
She was stamping her feet, not knowing what to do, when suddenly she came towards me.
"Uh, what should I do? Lawyer... Oh, no. Detective!"
"What's going on?"
"You were originally a prosecutor, weren't you?"
"He was a former prosecutor."
"Then can I ask you a question?"
"Ask me anything."
We moved away for a moment and started our consultation.
The deceased's spouse, Hyejin Lim, was very anxious and explained the whole story to the guild master, Ariel, and me.
"Do you happen to know anything about inheritance law?"
"W-W-It's inheritance law. No way..."
"I just got a call from his... biological mother."
She hesitated a great deal before saying the word "mother of the deceased," and then said it reluctantly.
I didn't understand at all, so I asked again.
"Are you talking about your biological mother who didn't even attend the funeral?"
"That's right! You divorced a long time ago and have never been a mother, yet you suddenly ask for the inheritance!"
It was only natural that Ms. Im Hye-jin would be very indignant.
If you suddenly ask to divide the inheritance without even showing your face until the day of the funeral, you will be embarrassed and have no choice but to divide it.
I immediately looked for related materials.
The deceased's biological mother divorced before the deceased was even two years old, and she had not been seen for nearly 30 years.
“There was no contact at all before that?”
"Yes. He would get upset every time he drank. He said he felt sorry and embarrassed because his parents' seats were empty at the wedding, and that his father had a hard time raising him alone."
"..."
But, even if you've gotten divorced and never showed your face...
The fact that she is the deceased's biological mother remains unchanged.
The problem is the order of inheritance.
I felt my head pounding and tried to explain it as simply as possible.
"I see. Listen carefully. The direct descendants of the deceased... that is, the parents have the right to inherit. Legally, a reserved portion is guaranteed, and honestly, I don't know much about pensions. The national pension and civil servant pensions have different inheritance methods, so which one is Hunter's pension... I'll ask a lawyer about that."
"Yes, even pension?"
Yes, that's right.
If an active hunter dies during an operation, the hunter's pension is converted to a survivor's pension.
Money is paid out monthly to the remaining family members.
"I told you the Hunter Pension is a really good system. But people are protesting against it..."
I continued my explanation, grumbling to myself.
For reference, the amount of Hunter's survivor pension is approximately 3.5 million won.
3.5 million won per month may seem like a small amount, but considering that the survivors' pension for firefighters is around 2 million won, it is a fairly generous amount.
In addition, survivors' benefits in the hundreds of millions of won are paid out at once.
Since the deceased in this case was an A-rank hunter, his family will likely receive a pension that is slightly higher than average.
Considering that fellow hunters are even collecting money under the pretext of special donations, the bereaved family has no need to worry about money.
However, this time, there are no direct descendants... children of the deceased.
This is where the problem arises.
"But that woman divorced her father a long time ago and has never been a parent before."
"From now on, it's important. The first order of inheritance is direct descendants, and the second order of inheritance is direct ascendants."
In other words, the first in line for inheritance are the deceased's children.
And the second in line of inheritance are the parents.
However, this time, the deceased had no children, so there is no first priority.
And among the parents in second place, the biological father is already deceased, so he is also excluded.
But... my biological mother is still alive.
Therefore, she becomes second in line for inheritance.
"Then what about your spouse??"
"That's the part that's ambiguous."
I don't know much about inheritance laws in other countries, but...
The treatment of spouses in our country's inheritance law is quite ambiguous.
It is true that the proportion of the reserved portion is high, but the order of inheritance is not properly determined.
The spouse of the deceased is treated as the higher of the first and second order of inheritance, and becomes a joint heir.
In other words, if you have children, you will be ranked the same as your children, and if you only have parents, you will be ranked the same as your parents.
If neither exists, he becomes the sole heir of the first order, but this does not apply in this case.
"If the two of you had children, the biological mother would have had no right to inherit."
However, since there are no children, the biological mother and spouse are currently joint heirs of equal rank...
The ratio will be slightly higher for the spouse, but the conclusion is that the biological mother should also be given a reserved portion.
Naturally, Ms. Im Hye-jin strongly opposed my explanation.
"That's ridiculous! He even had a will."
As hunters were always on the brink of death, they would write and update their wills.
They say that the part that most new hunters run away from is when the guild asks them to write a will.
"Oh, I didn't explain the reserved portion well enough. Regardless of what the will says, the biological mother, who has the right to inherit, is entitled to a certain percentage of the estate. This is the minimum percentage guaranteed by law."
"Why on earth is there such a law?"
To explain the existence of oil spills, we must go back to the 1970s.
At that time, there were cases where women were not able to properly receive an inheritance simply because they were daughters, so there was a need to legally guarantee a reserved portion.
Of course, in modern times, there is no small amount of public opinion that it is an outdated and evil law.
Isn't it strange at first glance that the deceased cannot distribute his property as he pleases?
Personally, I would also like to oppose the oil spill.
The law is the violence wielded by the state!
The case that best fits that definition is this oil spill.
A system that forces an unconditional distribution of a certain percentage regardless of the deceased's will.
Even this ratio is not that low.
If the deceased's mother is recognized as having a legal share, she will receive hundreds of millions of won and more.
The deceased, who worked for the best guild in Korea, had a fortune that was by no means enviable.
Ms. Im Hye-jin finally held back tears.
"Th, th... I don't really need money. But I don't want to give his fortune to a person like that!"
Since she is also an A-rank hunter, it can't be just a bluff.
But even if you just count the assets that were in her husband's name, it is quite a lot.
Fortunately, it wasn't all bad news.
The guild master, who had been consulting with lawyers, brought good news.
"You don't have to share the Hunter's survivor pension. Apparently, your spouse is always given first priority."
"It was the national pension system."
"Ah... Then, what about the inheritance?"
No matter what you do, you can't completely ignore the oil spill.
Even if you ignore this, it's obvious that you'll end up in a lawsuit.
Luckily, I had a clever idea.
"I have a good idea. Would you like to hear it?"
"Huh? What..."
"If they want to do it legally, then we should do it legally too."
When I explained the method in detail, not only Im Hye-jin and the guild master, but even Yeriel was slightly impressed.
In fact, from my perspective, I'm just doing what I usually do to criminals.
It is my small pleasure to ruin the illusions of those who think that such expedients are their exclusive property.
"I see. That's certainly a good idea. I... I'd like to donate the rest of my inheritance to the Frost Foundation!"
"That's not a good idea."
Yeriel smiled bitterly and took Hyejin Lim's hand.
"Don't be too hasty in handing over what the deceased left behind. Today, I will only accept your heart."
"Really... thank you so much for helping me with everything."
We parted ways after sharing words of comfort and wisdom in a fairly warm atmosphere.
As soon as I got home, I looked for information about the deceased's biological mother.
"What, there's a record of entry and exit to Kangwon Land? More than 40 times... I guess I don't really need to look into this."
"What are you going to do?"
"You'll know when you see it."
He answered Alice and handed the Yukgaejang he had packed to Tia.
The guy immediately turned into a Yukgaejang ghost.