Chapter 57
Park Hyun-young could only wait for news.
In fact, he had already recruited every talent he could.
If he now tried to forcibly poach talent from other guilds, it would become an all-out war between guilds.
“If this was going to happen, I should’ve at least helped my underlings.”
For once, these guys had done a good job.
“Get over there and stand by now!! Prepare the contracts and gifts!”
This was the foundation for luring in a future S-rank hunter.
He couldn’t afford to prepare carelessly.
* * *
I looked up at the sky.
Through a narrow gap between the buildings, I could see a black silhouette.
“Observation Eye.”
[Byeong Jin-ho]
He is a B-rank criminal and belongs to the criminal syndicate [Beomsu Gang].
He isn’t very strong, but he uses a variety of tactics based on his high agility.
[Durability(B)] [Stamina(C)] [Strength(C)] [Agility(B+++)] [Mana(C++)] [Technique(B)]
“Oh? Sturdy... and fast.”
A typical rogue-type stat spread.
The opponent’s agility was high.
Then.
There was no choice but to go in with one clean stab.
When I stomped my foot, the scenery changed.
From between the alleyways, onto the rooftops of the buildings that made them up.
And then.
I was standing within arm’s reach of the guy, close enough that he could reach me if he stretched out his arm.
“Hyaaah!”
I spun and kicked through the air.
“What...!”
—KWAAAANG!!
“Aaaagh!”
He’d looked down on me, so his reaction was too slow.
He was kicked straight into the wall.
I’d kicked hard enough to send debris flying and crack the wall, but.
“That felt good! You’re sturdy.”
In that case, I’d have to use a sword.
Tier 2 was in my hand.
Dragon Eye activated.
The moment his blade seemed slow, I instinctively knew where to thrust.
“Awakened are great—you can aim for the vitals and they’re still tough enough to be fine.”
His short sword and my straight sword clashed, producing a series of sharp cracks.
Sword met sword, and sparks flew everywhere.
“Hmph, you’ve got a little skill!”
He put on an air of ease.
But my strength and the quality of my weapon were far superior.
His agility was higher than mine, but I could make up for the stat gap with technique.
“Huff, huff!”
At this point, the bastard would be going insane.
In fact, Byeong Jin-ho was barely managing to block.
Even so, he kept looking for openings and stabbing in.
I dodged lightly, but a fairly sharp attack brushed past the corner of my eye.
“Yeah, this is exactly what I wanted.”
I brought my sword down, and down, and down again.
I thrust only at places he absolutely had to block, leaving him no opening to counterattack.
—KANG! KANG! KANG! KANG! KANG!
I kept driving him back.
Until he made a mistake.
A misstep.
Maybe it was an injury from his earlier carelessness, or maybe not.
But he misstepped and backed away.
I stepped where he should have stepped and thrust in.
“Check.”
Just as I was about to smash his head in.
“S-Shadow Doll!”
The mana in his body twisted abnormally and split apart.
Before I knew it, he was over there, panting hard.
Ah.
I missed him.
I should’ve fought with Dragon Eye active.
“Who the hell are you?”
“What do you mean, who am I? I’m the hunter here to catch you.”
“W-what!? That wasn’t in the deal! I was only told it was a young female Awakened...”
“I don’t know who your client is, but how about I start by punching you first?”
“Damn it, I need to get out of here first...!”
He turned his back and started running toward the open area.
“You little bastard?”
Can’t be helped.
“There’s no way I’m getting caught by some little bitch like you!!”
“What?”
What did this green kid think he was saying?
'I may get called big sis anywhere, but I don’t go around getting called a kid!'
[Stat Selection Enhancement Ticket (SSR, 10th Floor) is used! Agility greatly increases! (B+ → A)]
He kicked off the building wall and tried to make it out to the main street, but.
“Where do you think you’re rushing off to? Let’s play a little longer, noona.”
I grabbed the back of his neck as he tried to bolt for the main street.
If he took civilians hostage, it would just become a pain.
It was better to use the stat enhancement ticket and finish this quickly.
It absolutely wasn’t because I was getting irritated at being called a kid.
“Urk!”
He turned around stiffly, hesitantly.
“Uh... hold on a second, noona?”
“Who’re you calling noona? It’s hyungnim, you punk.”
“Huh? If you could, maybe hit me a little softer...”
“Why would I?”
—SMACK!!
My fist slammed into his face.
The follow-up assault came right after.
“Hyah-hyah-hyah-hyah!!”
As I kept raining punches on him.
“He’s passed out.”
...I’ve ended up with one more piece of non-combustible trash.
* * *
So I had no choice but to go to the White Tiger Guild’s front desk.
Even if an Awakened criminal is unconscious, he is still a proper hazardous object that must be handled according to hazardous-materials procedures.
No matter how much I’d trashed my professional ethics, I couldn’t just leave him by the roadside.
By the way, I kept the non-combustible trash safely in my inventory.
So if you knock them unconscious, they count as non-hostile, huh.
'Good to know.'
That’ll be useful if I ever need to capture or abduct someone later.
I went up to the front desk and poked my head out.
“Could you call Hunter Isera for me?”
“Kid, Hunter Isera-nim is busy protecting civilians, so she can’t come out. Oh, want a candy?”
Busy protecting civilians, huh.
The Sera I knew would be off work by now, at the time she’d be sadly cracking open a can of beer.
I had dozens of photos on my phone of her bragging about how well she could drink, only to end up completely plastered.
Should I just shatter that image completely?
“What’s with that kid?”
“He said he came to see Hunter-nim.”
“Oh my, how cute.”
“I’m not a kid...”
It had been a while since I got a reaction like that, and it felt oddly flat.
In Reinhart, the only people who still saw me as a kid were the upperclassmen I didn’t even know.
“Yeah, yeah, the awesome big sis Isera is right now...”
I couldn’t hold out any longer, so I made a call.
“Hey.”
[Hm? Why are you calling at this hour.]
“Let me in.”
[You’ve got your dorm pass.]
“No, the other entrance.”
[…I’ll come down.]
Over there, the guessing about my identity was still in full swing.
“Who did she call?”
“She definitely looks like a daughter from a good family and has that child-actor face, right? She probably called her manager.”
“Want some candy?”
I accepted the candy for now.
If it’s good, it’s good.
And a few minutes later.
Sera came running out.
“Hey, what’d you call me out here for...?”
Only then did the employee who had given me the candy keep glancing back and forth between Sera and me.
I sucked on the candy and gave a smug shrug.
Ah, this is good.
As expected of the White Tiger Guild—they even give out good candy.
I should bring some back to Reinhart.
“See that?”
“I-I’m sorry! I had no idea she was really your friend...”
“Be more careful next time.”
“Ah, it’s fine. She needs to get a little of this kind of treatment. She acts like she’s seen everything the world has to offer.”
Sera, what do you mean by that?
* * *
“So you brought this guy in, huh.”
“Yeah. We need to figure out how to deal with him.”
Byeong Jin-ho, beaten black and blue.
I showed Sera my trophy.
Sera nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of Byeong Jin-ho slowly sliding out of my inventory.
“You pulled a wanted criminal out like you were yanking a radish from a field... wait. Isn’t this guy Byeong Jin-ho?”
“That’s what it says.”
I’d only looked at the information provided by Observation Eye, though.
“...Hold on. But a wanted criminal?”
A wanted criminal.
A wanted criminal, I said.
This bastard—was he not non-combustible trash, but someone I could actually turn into money!?
“He didn’t have much cash, did he? Perfect.”
Sera said with a smile.
“But if you want the money sent to your account, we first have to register the result. Is that okay?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t like having your whereabouts exposed, do you?”
“I don’t really care.”
If they dug into my background anyway, everything worth finding would come out.
And if it got too troublesome, I could just run to Reinhart.
* * *
An abandoned factory in Chuncheon.
It was far too large for one person to live in, but it hadn’t been built as a residential building in the first place.
There were even wild animals around here often, and if you went into the mountain behind it, you were liable to get lost.
So there were ghost stories about the place, and the land was cheap.
“So... this is somewhere people actually live?”
This... didn’t seem like a building meant for living in.
“The registered address was definitely listed like this, though...”
Indeed.
Park Hyun-young investigated the background of the abandoned factory.
For one thing, the water and electricity were still on.
Meaning the maintenance fees were being dutifully withdrawn from someone’s bank account every month.
“...It really does seem to be where someone lived.”
“Would they really come to a place like this? There are plenty of nice accommodations provided by the Hunter Guild, after all.”
His subordinate spoke skeptically.
But Park Hyun-young cut him off.
“No, he’ll definitely come.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“A home is a place you return to. Even I felt stifled and wanted to get out whenever I was at home.”
The subordinate looked stunned.
'Another story from the old days...?'
“Home felt suffocating, and gates were opening every other day... I even wondered if I really had to go home at all...”
“I-I see.”
Park Hyun-young recalled the past and added a few more words.
“But in the end, you do come back. To the home where your wife and daughter are waiting for you.”
'That’s a bit short today.'
Just then, someone called out to him.
“Oh, you came here too, senior?”
“...What the hell, Jung Myeong-su. Why are you here?”
It was Jung Myeong-su of the Blue Wolf Guild.
More precisely, formerly Cheonmyeong Guild, now Blue Wolf Guild.
He had been a promising A-rank talent, but he took Blue Wolf Guild’s recruitment offer and left.
Thanks to that, Cheonmyeong, which had been able to surpass Blue Wolf, had to remain in second place.
Naturally, the looks directed at him were unfriendly.
“So why is a guy who betrayed the team and left here?”
Park Hyun-young growled, but Jung Myeong-su showed no particular change in expression.
“Team Leader, you really are inflexible. Do you think I left for no reason?”
At this point, it was nothing but a pride contest.
That slick bastard had also brought a whole crowd of Blue Wolf people with him.
If they were going to recruit Hunter Yumia, they absolutely could not lose this fight!
Jung Myeong-su seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“So, you want to give it a shot...”
Then his subordinate called out to Park Hyun-young.
“Team Leader, hold on a second.”
“What is it?”
“Uh... the criminal I’d been chasing has been caught.”
“And? That’s not important right now—”
“No, I mean... the name on that result is...”
[Yumia, XX years old, D-rank Hunter, White Tiger Guild (provisional contract)]
...Huh?