Chapter 85. One’s True Nature Is Unknown
A few minutes ago.
“I’ve secured Jang Jong-sik!”
Cough, cough! Ugh, the smell of gunpowder.
After the planned arrest operation ended.
‘Huh?’
Seonwoo-yeon realized a bit late that Gi-ryeo was missing.
She had been too distracted by the commotion caused by the organization members intoxicated by Blueshell just moments ago.
‘Where did he go?’
She started searching for Kim Gi-ryeo, wondering if the appraiser had gotten lost or something.
AHHH!
But something felt off.
Please, save me!
As she got closer to where the skill was pointing, the screams of a woman echoed more and more…
I’ll tell you everything!
Finally, as she reached the problem corridor.
Seonwoo-yeon realized one important fact.
I promise I’ll tell you everything without hiding anything! I’ll remember what you asked earlier. Please…!
Amidst the desperate plea, she recognized a familiar male voice mixed in.
‘What?’
However, compared to the screams, Gi-ryeo’s voice was too soft to make out what sentence he was saying.
‘What the hell is going on?’
An inexplicable anxiety crept in.
So, Seonwoo-yeon quickened her steps, and shortly after, she entered the room where they were.
“Ah.”
“…!”
But as soon as she arrived in the room, this was the scene she was met with.
“You got here quickly, huh?”
Kim Gi-ryeo was squatting on the floor, gripping someone’s hair. There was no sign of him hiding that appearance anymore.
And what about that bloodstain?
The woman being held had her face completely covered in blood.
As if she had knocked her head on something…
Hik!
At that moment, the blood-soaked woman saw the association ID hanging around Seonwoo-yeon’s neck and jumped to her feet.
Then, with all her might, she ran over and grabbed her pants leg, shouting.
“A-Are you from the association? Please help me! I’ll confess! I’ll confess to what I did with Blueshell!”
Seonwoo-yeon’s heart sank for a moment.
It didn’t take much effort to understand the situation.
‘Did he hurt someone?’
She looked in the direction of Kim Gi-ryeo with stunned eyes.
‘And it’s a civilian too?’
But the only thing she received in return was his gaze, as cold as hardened wax.
“This person is really making a misunderstanding sound…”
Step, step.
The hunter finally stood up and approached her. He then addressed the trembling woman.
“Hey, even if your mouth is crooked, you should speak properly.”
H-Hik!
“What do you mean by me hitting you? Huh?”
Then the bewildered civilian immediately corrected her statement.
“Y-Yes! He didn’t do anything to me!”
But how credible could such a terrified statement be?
“……”
Seonwoo-yeon’s mind turned blank.
Perhaps.
Perhaps Kim Gi-ryeo was a far more dangerous person than she had ever thought.
Maybe she had been making a huge misjudgment all along.
How else could a stranger be brought to this point…?
“Ms. Seonwoo-yeon?”
The B-Class Hunter looked up at the call of her name.
But she couldn’t meet the other person’s gaze.
As she looked at the Awakened’s condescending stare, forgotten emotions slowly began to bubble up.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’re sweating buckets.”
It was terrifying and unpleasant.
“Are you hurt? Do you want me to take a look?”
His thoughtful demeanor. The blood-stained hands. The calm voice. The sobbing woman.
“No, I’m fine.”
What on earth was she supposed to believe?
*
“Ouch, everyone’s working hard!”
In the dim corridor of the warehouse.
Suddenly, a young man’s voice rang out. It was the voice generated by the corpse of Kim Gi-ryeo.
“Tough time, huh? Hand it over. I’ll help carry it.”
“Uh? The hunters can just sit down.”
“Why should it only be us? It’s okay. Hand it over.”
I cheerfully said as I approached the police officers.
They willingly handed over the box they were carrying, which contained the problematic Blueshells.
“We’ll be here all night if we move everything, you know?”
“Haha, to be honest, it’ll be done quicker than you think.”
So we searched the warehouse thoroughly and confiscated every last Blueshell.
Ugh.
Thud.
And just as the last box was loaded onto the truck.
I turned my attention to the noisy sound coming from somewhere.
“Open up! Let me out!”
“Ugh, that junkie is at it again.”
Upon closer inspection, the arrested criminal in the back of the police car was flailing about.
What was his name? Jang Jong-sik or something?
“Can this window be rolled down?”
I approached the police car and lightly tapped on the glass. Asking them to open it for a moment.
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
With the unnecessary partition gone, it was time to start my work slowly.
“What the hell are you! You crazy bastard!”
I ignored the outbursts and focused intently on the man in the back seat.
Then, I sensed a faint magical energy emanating from him. This guy was definitely a Non-Awakened.
‘Oh.’
Feeling magical energy from a civilian means only one thing.
‘He’s under a spell!’
Prediction confirmed.
The cult member’s brainwasher had worked on this man as well. They stepped on the tail.
‘Hehehe.’
Time to show off my skills.
I took out the power-increasing magical substance I had stashed away to trace the spellcaster.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, hold on a moment.”
But I had no choice but to pause my actions at the voice coming from behind.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Oh, Ms. Seonwoo-yeon.”
What do I intend to do, you ask…
“Well, I’m going to find out about the high-ranking members of that evil organization as promised.”
Seeing me reply so straightforwardly, Seonwoo-yeon squinted her eyes as if she found it suspicious, but she soon fell silent.
It was a response that was hard to decipher.
‘Is she worried about failure?’
Something felt off about this.
And thus, I began my work, along with Seonwoo-yeon’s glares.
It would only take three seconds.
“What the hell? Are you staring? What are you looking at?!”
Rustle, rustle.
I rolled up my shirt sleeves and clenched my left hand into a fist for a moment.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
By this time, enough mana should have circulated in the pre-drawn magic circle.
“Uh?”
Swipe.
The Blueshell addict suddenly quieted upon seeing my outstretched palm.
Surprising. I thought he would resist fiercely.
Did he somehow figure out that I had hidden a magic circle under the skin of my palm…?
‘No way.’
I finished my brief musing and focused on the task.
Szzzzzz.
I activated a high-class magic and extracted the necessary information from the human in front of me.
“AHHHHH!”
“What, what is it?”
“Don’t worry. That’s just a bit of acting. Acting.”
To explain further.
I had peeked at the moment the brainwashing skill was activated.
‘Normally, the proper way would be to trace the mana to find the sorcerer, but for an F-Class, that’s impossible…’
As long as you can get to Seoul, it’s fine. I mean, I’ve stayed up trespassing for three nights for nothing, right?
In the end, I managed to find a way to mess with the Nachalsawon.
“Hey, I know it doesn’t hurt, so stop the fuss.”
Tap, tap, tap.
I knocked on the car wall, pressing the Blueshell addict.
Now comes the main point.
“Jong-sik, can I ask you one thing?”
Hah, cough…
Then the name I had glimpsed in the memory spilled from my lips.
“Who exactly is ‘Su Ye-hwi’?”
*
I intended to keep trying until I succeeded, but unexpectedly found out quickly.
Luckily, there was the self-introduction of the brainwasher in his memory.
“Her name is Su Ye-hwi. She looks about 160cm tall, with white hair and very big eyes.”
I described the features of the Awakened I’d stolen from the memory.
At that, Seonwoo-yeon nodded along.
“You have quite an interesting skill.”
“Yes. Well.”
“I’m relieved. I thought there would be a bloodbath in front of the detectives…”
“Yes?”
“Ah… It’s nothing.”
Nothing? Well, thank goodness for that.
“Anyway, the information I can pull out right now ends here.”
For reference, we were sitting in front of a police station in Seoul. Seonwoo-yeon suggested going to a café, but I was reluctant to agree.
“As for whether she’s actually a member of the Nachalsawon, proving that is a bit…”
But I ultimately couldn’t avoid the fate of drinking coffee.
A little while later.
Once I re-entered the police station at the urgent call of a detective, I suddenly received a vending machine coffee as payment for my visit…
“Ms. Seonwoo-yeon, could you check this data for me?”
“Uh, okay.”
“First, according to our search, there’s exactly one Hunter named Su Ye-hwi listed.”
I sat with my coffee in hand, a sour expression on my face, no matter what they said.
“Let’s see, Su Ye-hwi, C-Class Hunter, registered skills include something like Water Ball and…”
“The photo seems to match.”
But this statement couldn’t be let go easily.
“C-Class? No way!”
I couldn’t hold myself back and burst out. Suddenly, everyone’s gaze was fixed on me. It was uncomfortable.
“There’s something wrong with this.”
“What do you mean wrong?”
“A C-Class Awakened wouldn’t have enough mana to control so many people’s minds.”
What followed was simple math.
“To pull off that kind of thing, you’d at least need to be A-Class. Or maybe—just barely S-Class.”
After thinking briefly, I proposed one idea.
“Seonwoo-yeon Hunter!”
“Y-Yes?”
“For now, let’s go for a re-assessment.”
It was clear that the other side was hiding their rank.
“There’s no way Su Ye-hwi’s a true C-Class, so let’s try to call out any disguised Awakening Levels.”
“Oh!”
“That’s quite illegal, isn’t it? Right? We’ll look into the brainwashing later.”
What followed was swift and decisive.
The confession of the Blueshell distributor.
Questionable gaps in Gate entry records.
And due to the information uncovered in the auction house records, the association confirmed a re-assessment of that Awakened.
[September 29th, Infinite Power Core auctioned – Su*Hwi]
Hahaha! Gotcha!
Once that Awakened named Su Ye-hwi was apprehended, the Nachalsawon would take quite a hit.
“Well, no harm done in the end.”
With a sense of relief, I returned home.
In my pants pocket, three Blueshells were tucked away.
The next day.
“Are Earthlings gods?”
Late lunch. Just as I was experiencing delivery food for the first time.
“When food comes to your home with just a point of a finger, surely Earthlings—or rather, Koreans—are gods…?”
Rumble, rumble.
I belatedly picked up my phone as it vibrated on the table.
But what came through the speaker was not particularly good news.
“No, what?!”
Seonwoo-yeon on the line told me that Su Ye-hwi vanished the moment the re-assessment report came through.
“So, she’s not even caught by the Seocher skills?”
In the end, the Korean police announced a public search for that cult member as a suspect. It wasn’t a pleasant conclusion for me.
‘Is it just a suspect in the end?’
Wait, but normally by now, the call would’ve ended.
Gi-ryeo-ssi?
The call was still connected. I leaned in to listen to the voice coming through the speaker.
–…I have something to ask.
“Yeah?”
–By the way, why were you so interested in the Nachalsawon investigation?
“Uh?”
–When I think about it, you weren’t like this before…
Sudden.
–I’d like to know what your intentions were in directly getting involved in this case.
But, I had nothing to hide, really.
“So, you’re asking why I specifically targeted the Nachalsawon?”
Rustle, rustle.
I moved the delivered spicy pork stir-fry to my desk as I spoke.
“Not much to it.”
Though my tone was light, it was the most genuine answer I’d given.
“I just didn’t like what those guys were up to.”
But right after this, for some reason, a cough echoed from the other end of the receiver.
