Chapter 57
“You lost track of Seo Jihoo⋯?”
The rooftop of the Korean Life Resources Administration branch.
Seoul’s lights spread beyond the railing.
But there was no trace of composure on Seomun Hui’s face.
Her brows were deeply furrowed, and the jaw she had clenched was so tense it looked ready to chew through and crush something at any moment.
“Ah, well, just like you told me, I kept people stationed around that man. But was it the Hyeonmu Guild? Once he entered their headquarters, his trail suddenly went cold⋯.”
“Suddenly?”
“⋯⋯.”
“I even told you the Ministry of Men and Family Affairs’ movements.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“As if that weren’t enough, we pushed our people into every birthing center to coincide with Concentrated Male Birth Day.”
“That was⋯.”
“Guardianship contracts. Special education agreements. Genetic preservation agreements.”
One by one, slowly.
“We even shoved documents designed to deliberately spark disputes in their faces, so that the Ministry of Men and Family Affairs, with its mere five members, couldn’t pull out of the birthing centers all night, save for one person.”
Ma Jaerim’s mouth closed.
“They got cursed out in the National Assembly.”
One step.
“They got chewed out in the press.”
Another step.
“Even while men’s rights groups held protests in front of the branch.”
At last, the distance between them narrowed until they were nearly face-to-face.
“After enduring all that and serving up the entire feast⋯ you couldn’t even eat it?”
“⋯⋯.”
From the outset, Seomun Hui’s plan had been simple.
If Jin Yeoryeong and Baek Sawol were hiding while seriously injured, they would eventually need a doctor.
And in Korea, the only doctor they would covet most was Seo Jihoo.
So she had planted Cheongryong personnel around Jihoo.
The moment the two women revealed themselves, they would track them, and once the current Cheongryong secured Jihoo, the Life Resources Administration would make its move.
The kidnapping of a Korean man.
The illegal use of force by one of the four major guilds.
Using that as a pretext to ‘protect’ Seo Jihoo, then trample the other side as well and swallow it whole.
The people, too.
The guild, too.
All at once.
But.
“I heard there was an inexplicable battle on the other side first. A barrier was even erected, and that would have been the best opportunity of all, right afterward.”
The attack was over.
Their guard would drop.
People would think the worst had passed.
That would have been the perfect moment to drive in a second blade.
And yet Cheongryong⋯.
“Why did you do nothing?”
“That⋯.”
“You just stamped your feet and watched Seo Jihoo enter Hyeonmu headquarters.”
“⋯⋯.”
“And then you lost him.”
Silence.
The last shred of expectation vanished from Seomun Hui’s face.
That might have been understandable if Jin Yeoryeong were still in charge.
But it meant that the Cheongryong of today was no longer worth investing in.
It had been a dirty guild from the beginning.
A place that looked after politicians.
A place that crushed corporate competitors.
A place that seized dungeon interests and, when necessary, erased people without a trace—but being dirty and being competent were entirely different matters.
Even a rotten organization could be useful if its blade was sharp.
But perhaps the Cheongryong of today was rotten and had grown dull as well.
Right then.
“But, you see.”
Ma Jaerim hurriedly opened her mouth.
“I found out something astonishing.”
“⋯?”
“The woman who attacked Seo Jihoo before us that day.”
She watched her reaction.
“I think she might be Baek Sawol.”
Seomun Hui’s brow twitched faintly.
“Baek Sawol?”
“Yes. That former vice guild master who dogged that Jin Yeoryeong bitch to the death.”
“What’s your evidence?”
My subordinate definitely saw her. Apparently, that woman’s identity might be that of a kunoichi.
“⋯What?”
Kunoichi.
The elite force symbolizing the Japanese branch of the Life Resources Administration.
Covert movement.
Tracking.
Kidnapping.
Protection.
And even the ‘bedchamber arts’ specialized in securing male reproductive resources.
Despite the fact that it was the twenty-first century, the Japanese branch still maintained harvesting techniques that used human hands and bodies.
The ridiculous part was that their efficiency was higher than that of machines.
That was why people even said that while China pushed forward with numbers and management, Japan extracted through technique and mastery.
But.
The former vice guild master of Cheongryong was a kunoichi?
“That’s why I don’t think our Cheongryong alone can manage this.”
“⋯Ah.”
Only then did Seomun Hui smile.
Ma Jaerim, not understanding the meaning of that smile, held out her hand.
“Our objectives are the same anyway, aren’t they? So this time, let’s join forces just a little more⋯.”
Crack!
“Guh-huk?!”
Her sentence had not even ended.
Ma Jaerim’s body folded in half.
She couldn’t even tell what kind of attack had struck her.
All she knew was that, with an impact that seemed to cave in the center of her abdomen, blood surged up her throat,
Boom!
and she slammed straight into the rooftop wall.
“Kkeu⋯ ggueuk⋯!”
The body of a professional Hunter that could withstand a tank shell.
And yet that body could not even properly rise after a single attack.
Click.
Click.
Seomun Hui slowly approached.
“I understand now.”
“Wha⋯ what⋯.”
“You knew from the beginning.”
Ma Jaerim’s eyes shook.
“That Baek Sawol was a kunoichi.”
“⋯!”
That reaction was enough.
The Life Resources Administration had its limits, too.
No, more precisely, each branch had its own ‘sphere.’
In principle, each branch managed only the men of its own country.
Of course, behind the scenes, they stole information from one another, coveted good genes, and committed all kinds of filthy acts.
Even so, they did not openly cross national borders.
That was the minimum rule they had established to keep each other from tearing one another’s throats out.
But a Japanese kunoichi had laid hands on Seo Jihoo, a Korean man.
And Ma Jaerim had known that fact and concealed it all this time.
She had intended to make the Korean and Japanese branches of the Life Resources Administration tear each other apart, then reap the results from behind the scenes.
“Looks like our cooperation ends here.”
Seomun Hui straightened up.
“Guild Master Ma Jaerim. Get out.”
Her cold voice fell.
“And one week.”
“⋯What?”
“I’ll give you exactly one week.”
Her head tilted to one side.
“The price for daring to use the Life Resources Administration, you mere garbage dump in a corner of the peninsula.”
“!!”
“I’ll come to Cheongryong myself to collect it. So have some gift prepared by then that will be enough to improve my mood.”
Ma Jaerim could not say another word after that.
Not until she left the Life Resources Administration building.
Not even when she got into her car.
Not until she returned to Cheongryong headquarters.
She endured it with her teeth clenched.
‘I’ll kill that bitch.’
Even though she herself had planned to use Cheongryong as a disposable pawn.
But perhaps because of the difference in power, that single attack had made her painfully realize one thing.
That, as she was now, she could do nothing.
“Kk⋯.”
Her anger leaked out.
But soon after.
“Heh heh heh⋯.”
It changed into laughter.
“You made a mistake.”
In the darkness, the corners of Ma Jaerim’s mouth stretched into a long grin.
“Branch Director Seomun Hui.”
The basement of Cheongryong headquarters.
A space that did not exist on the official blueprints.
Beneath the headquarters, a cluster of several old abandoned buildings, there was a secret chamber that had recently been excavated.
There were no windows.
There were no vents.
The walls were densely covered in unidentified incantations written in red, and the only thing in the center of the room was a head-sized crystal orb.
Ma Jaerim knelt on one knee before it.
Then she clasped both hands together.
“Blood Heaven Descends, All Life Returns to Blood.”
Vooooong──.
Red light spread inside the crystal orb.
At first, it was a tiny dot, like a drop of blood falling into water.
But soon, the red darkened to black.
The temperature in the room dropped.
“I pay my respects to the exalted Blood Demon.”
There was no answer.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
And at last, a voice came from beyond the crystal orb.
“Speak. Why should I waste my time listening even to your breathing?”
“Th-that is⋯.”
Her voice trembled of its own accord.
In front of Seomun Hui, she could force herself to raise her head.
But now was different.
A single crystal orb.
A voice alone.
And yet her knees would not straighten.
“This lowly one failed to carry out your command.”
“What command?”
“Jin Yeoryeong.”
In an instant.
The red light inside the crystal orb stopped.
“Continue.”
“That madwoman is still alive. Since she went into hiding with Baek Sawol, I haven’t been able to find her whereabouts either⋯.”
Ma Jaerim pressed her forehead against the floor.
“I even tried to use the Korean Life Resources Administration to dispose of her, but failed.”
“⋯.”
“Please!”
Then, mustering her courage, she raised her voice.
“Please grant this wretched insect one more chance!”
Silence.
“I can keep my promise!”
“Promise?”
“Gangdong.”
With that one word, desire spread through Ma Jaerim’s eyes.
“The dungeon business rights Cheongryong holds in the Gangdong region.”
“⋯.”
“The subordinate guilds.”
“⋯.”
“Even the logistics network and equipment distribution network.”
She swallowed.
“I’ll open all of them.”
There was no turning back now.
“So that businesses of the Blood Cult may enter, its martial artists may reside, and the capital of the great continent may take root in Korea, I shall make this the cornerstone of the East Asian Hunter Joint Development Plan.”
On the surface, it would be joint investment.
Dungeon development.
Hunter training.
Equipment exchanges.
But the reality was different.
Chinese capital would lay down the road first.
Chinese Hunter corporations would enter on top of it.
Martial artists would follow the corporations, and sects would follow the martial artists.
And finally, the ‘Blood Cult’ would settle in.
Ma Jaerim knew that.
And yet she wanted it.
If she could grow Cheongryong.
If she could become the strongest guild master in Korea.
She would use Gangdong as a disposable pawn.
“Please let the grace of the great nation descend upon even this small peninsula.”
For a long while, there was no answer.
Then.
“Ma Jaerim.”
It was the first time her name had been called.
“Yes!”
“You seem to be mistaken about something.”
“⋯Yes?”
Something inside the crystal orb laughed.
There was no sound.
And yet Ma Jaerim knew.
The Blood Demon was laughing.
“Does Gangdong belong to you?”
“⋯.”
“Land that isn’t even yours⋯.”
The red light writhed.
“How dare you claim you will offer it to me?”
“S-sorry⋯!”
“Enough.”
That single word closed her mouth.
“It’s laughable for an insect to presume to decide who owns the land.”
“⋯.”
“When the great nation lays down a road, a small nation prospers upon it. But I suppose I should collect a toll.”
A chill ran through her.
In that instant, Ma Jaerim’s heart froze.
“You said you couldn’t find Jin Yeoryeong.”
“Yes⋯.”
“Baek Sawol, either.”
“That’s right.”
“And the Life Resources Administration failed, too.”
“⋯Yes.”
A brief silence.
And then.
“Then.”
The red light inside the crystal orb became completely black.
“I’ll go myself.”
“T-the Blood Demon will go himself⋯?!”
“It is a path you failed to open.”
Two red eyes opened in the darkness.
“Then I shall open it with blood.”