Chapter 46: Hunter Crime
Ahn Yoon-seung hesitated and moved in the direction given.
“Two more steps forward!”
“Okay!”
“Turn right from there.”
“Here?”
“Uh, yeah.”
There was a hint of panic in the direction of the Invisible Man, but it was too late.
“Go straight and tackle!”
A-Class physical abilities are beyond what can be dealt with by mere eyesight.
Moments later, a dull noise echoed through the shopping center lobby.
Thud!
“Huh! Something’s caught on my arm…!”
“Ugh!”
With the shock, the invisibility cloak was lifted.
It was the moment when the identity of the Invisible Man and all the items he had stolen from the shopping mall were revealed.
“Oh, this, this.”
Ahn Yoon-seung’s face hardened as he looked at the pile of items that had spilled onto the floor.
The Awakened who had turned invisible.
A large number of items found on that Awakened.
At this point, not knowing the situation was just plain foolish.
“Thief!”
“Eek!”
It didn’t take long to capture the invisibility user.
The security guards from the Hunter Market rushed in after hearing the commotion.
And after the uproar subsided.
“Indeed! You’re amazing, hyung! To spot a criminal that even the police struggled to catch in a glance!”
Ahn Yoon-seung’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
However, I had no particular thoughts about this incident.
‘Dude, the problem is with those who didn’t notice.’
The Invisible Man Thief.
How impressive he seemed, but in reality, he was just an amateur mage.
“But this shopping center has a magic detection device, how did he sneak in?”
“Only the entrance is installed, it doesn’t monitor the whole building.”
“Ah.”
“He probably climbed in through a window or something.”
Fortunately, the theft damage wasn’t too great.
Initially, this shopping mall keeps high-priced items in a separate warehouse and only shows customers the catalog.
“I’ve looked around, but there’s nothing worth buying. Ahn Yoon-seung, let’s just go. Today, I’ll treat you to a meal as a thank you for showing me around.”
It had been a tiring day.
I thought it was time to end this magic tool browsing.
“Oh.”
But as I headed toward the back door on the first floor, something caught my eye at a stand.
The items laid out for sale were usually cheap.
“What’s wrong?”
I closely examined the items laid out there.
[Reflection Mirror]
[Effect: Reflects light property magic back to the caster for E-Class attacks and below.]
“I’ll take one of this!”
And without hesitation, I pulled out my card as soon as I saw the mirror.
I could see Ahn Yoon-seung tilting his head beside me, but I didn’t care.
‘Primitive earthlings don’t recognize true value and sell things for cheap!’
Indeed. Such examples exist.
This magic tool would possess amazing abilities with just a little adjustment.
‘I got something good! With the remaining money, I’ll get a few more necessary tools and fix this!’
I should withdraw my statement about coming out for no reason.
Finally, I got another weapon to protect myself, and the Chinese restaurant I stopped by before going home was satisfactory.
‘Delicious!’
It had been a fruitful day.
Perhaps because I was absorbed in the magic tool and sweet and sour pork, by the time I went to bed, I couldn’t even remember the thief incident.
*
[‘Invisible Man Thief Incident’ Suspect Apprehended]
[Breaking news just in. At around 6 PM today, a 20-something Awakened who had been repeatedly committing thefts across department stores and shopping complexes was caught…….]
Beep.
In a dark room.
A man watching TV on the sofa pressed the mute button on the remote.
“That was too quick to catch.”
No reply came back.
So he spoke again.
“I thought with the magic detection device, this boring observation would finally end.”
He looked to the side of the sofa.
There, a skinny woman was kneeling and trembling.
“How on earth did we get caught? Is that guy Ahn Yoon-seung really that sharp?”
“U-Um, no.”
“Then what?”
“It wasn’t Ahn Yoon-seung Hunter, I got caught by someone else.”
I noticed her fingers were painted with black nail polish.
The person kneeling pointed to the TV with her index finger.
“That guy over there, the blond one.”
True to her words, a dyed-haired man was mixed into the news material.
“That person noticed the invisibility first and directed Ahn Yoon-seung… um.”
The murmuring woman didn’t look well-nourished.
She looked haggard and shabby as if she hadn’t eaten for days.
“Anyway, it’s true we were caught by an Awakened.”
The man sitting on the sofa didn’t even give that witness a glance.
A mysterious man with well-styled brown wavy hair soon revealed his true identity.
“Jun-tae hyung! I brought the goods.”
“Stack them over there!”
Burly men with tattoos began to enter the dark warehouse one by one.
They bowed respectfully to the young man named ‘Jun-tae.’
As could be guessed, ‘Jun-tae’ was the head of some organization.
“Hey, just tear off the packaging on top of the boxes. We’ll just pass them straight to the intermediary anyway.”
Who was this man using the alias Jun-tae?
His true identity was that of an illegal unregistered Awakened. Pyo Na-gil.
This Hunter, who had awakened the skill [Cutting] that could slice through anything, was currently rallying other unregistered individuals to commit various crimes.
From trafficking items on the black market to gate skimming. Habitual robbery.
And if you just gave him money, even murder.
“If the equipment gets scratched, you’re dead?”
Unregistered Awakened.
What a convenient position to be in.
“Yes! Hyung!”
“I’ll check everything later~”
After awakening, Pyo Na-gil had lived his life doing whatever he wanted.
He was strong enough that if he were to officially take the awakening test, he’d easily score A-Class.
At first, he resorted to robbery because he wanted money.
But once he used this overflowing power, theft felt so easy that it was laughable.
Soon, Pyo Na-gil began doing things he couldn’t do because of the law.
Harming people and killing them.
Wielding power as he pleased was nothing short of exhilarating.
This criminal organization consisted of individuals who were mostly intoxicated by such omnipotence.
“Ah, wait, where were we in our story?”
But there’s an old saying: “If the tail is long, it gets stepped on.”
They were currently faced with some kind of problem.
“Ah, right. We mentioned there’s an Awakened who noticed our invisibility?”
Having changed names dozens of times to avoid law enforcement and frequently changing hideouts.
Pyo Na-gil had lost two members of his organization this month alone.
Although he didn’t know where the minor leaks originated, he could certainly name who killed them.
Seo Esther.
‘The Guild Master of the Korean Magic Tower…’
That S-Class Hunter was a fearful being to unregistered individuals above all.
‘Some crazy woman.’
Under the pretense of preventing social chaos caused by psychic powers.
A serial killer that went around slaughtering fellow Awakened while claiming to protect innocent citizens.
Her actions were akin to a reign of terror, yet unexpectedly effective.
As long as Esther’s eyes lit up, no one would dare to blatantly commit violent crimes.
Huff…
Esther was a thorn in his side.
Moreover, with the organization’s tail caught recently, even he, the leader, could no longer consider himself safe.
Hence, this man had come to a conclusion after much deliberation.
“I guess I should postpone the assassination for now.”
The murder of an S-Class Hunter.
What had initially seemed like a mere thief incident was, in fact, a test of some plan.
“I was told it would be a perfect invisibility, but what is this? Did the supplier cheat us? No, it would be too ridiculous for that.”
“Hmm.”
“They boasted about demonstrating the true value of the skill stone. They didn’t get caught even against an S-Class.”
Not long ago.
Pyo Na-gil had barely acquired the high-class invisibility skill stone [Night Walker] from a compatriot in the underworld.
But in this underworld, where trust was scarce.
He naturally suspected the performance of the skill called [Night Walker].
When Pyo Na-gil questioned, ‘No matter how high-grade the invisibility is, if it doesn’t work against Esther, isn’t it pointless?’ the compatriot who brought the skill stone responded.
Then we will show you the power of that skill. See for yourself with your own eyes.
‘The idea of doing a rehearsal with a proxy wasn’t bad at all.’
They used a skill replication item to double the owners of [Night Walker].
The duration of the replicated skill was only three days, but who cared?
The performance verification was successful.
S-Class Hunter Jeong Ha-seong hadn’t recognized the invisible Awakened at all.
Even deliberately attracting attention by going around the same department store, the investigation agency couldn’t do anything against the Invisible Man.
“The shopping mall was really meant to be the last test.”
The magic detection device in the Hunter Market was a sort of final obstacle.
Having deceived even that, he thought there were no more obstacles in the world.
“This is strange. Even an S-Class and the Association’s detection couldn’t catch the invisibility… some punk I’ve never heard of…?”
But amidst all this, a new hindrance appeared.
The man who had exposed the Invisible Man, an unknown age.
“Go and find out what he’s up to.”
Up until that point, Pyo Na-gil hadn’t taken the situation seriously.
Getting caught wasn’t a big deal.
In fact, it felt fortunate that a flaw was revealed before carrying out their plan.
“If I investigate further, I could find out how he saw through Night Walker.”
After all, the opponent was just a passing Hunter.
What could possibly come of this?
However, in stark contrast to that expectation, the reported content was shocking.
“What is this?”
Connections to A-Class Hunter Ahn Yoon-seung.
Completion of the Magic Tower Maze.
Suspect in the Jeong Ha-seong assault case.
With such an impressive record, how could his awakening level measured only F-Class?
“It seems the Association had their suspicions since there are inspection records from last year and this year.”
A typical trait of grade disguisers.
At that moment, Pyo Na-gil’s instinct told him that this opponent was of the same ilk as him.
“Is he from this industry?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve inquired, but no one seems to know his face.”
“Hey, and what’s with these records? Is it just a single sheet?”
What kind of scheme is this that requires such thorough concealment?
F-Class Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo.
Aside from a record stating he underwent an awakening test in June last year, his past was like a ghost.
Everything was too clean.
There wasn’t even the usual item transaction record.
No, there was one recent record.
Still, the amount of items consumed was excessively low for a Hunter.
‘Evidence of using the black market.’
Pyo Na-gil furrowed his brow. The more he glanced over this Hunter’s information, the more uncomfortable he felt.
‘Well, the proxy for that Invisible Man thoroughly sealed the lid with a contract item, so that alone shouldn’t reveal our plan…’
But then.
From the torn sofa brought into the warehouse, someone raised their head.
It was the woman with black nail polish from before.
“This person’s name…”
As she murmured, the members turned their gaze.
“What’s the name?”
“I think it’s the name I heard before…”
“You heard? Where from?”
“But I’m not sure, so it could be nonsense…”
“Hey, stop being vague and just say it.”
The organization leader urged his subordinate with annoyance.
But.
“That was the human trafficker trying to do business with us. Just before he got arrested, he asked us for the address of a certain appraiser in our area.”
As the sentence progressed, the leader’s composure drained away.
“This Hunter… wasn’t he the last person they kidnapped…?”
It was information they had forgotten about.
According to what they heard.
An S-Class Hunter was responsible for killing their organization’s runner and assaulting their boss, leading to their destruction.
Hidden behind Kang Chang-ho’s actions, they hadn’t noticed until now.
But thinking it over, that day.
There had been one more outsider at the scene…
