Chapter 62

Chapter 62

The call continued for nearly five minutes.

Eunseong, while speaking with his mother, was an exceedingly gentle, polite, and considerate son.

Drip, drip.

Even though blood that had not yet cooled was still dripping from the blade soaked with it....

“Yes. I will text you when I head back later. And I might be late, so please do not worry too much and go to bed first today. Yes, yes. I love you, Mom.”

After ending the call, Eunseong put his phone into his pocket, then looked back at Choi Yura.

“Lower it.”

“L-Lower what?”

“The lantern. Lower it.”

“Ah.”

A flustered Choi Yura hurriedly lowered the lantern.

“Do not shine a lantern in someone’s face. It is blinding.”

“......”

“It is military-grade, so do you know how strong the output is? It will damage my vision.”

“Hah.”

Choi Yura scoffed as if she found it absurd.

Generally speaking, it was true that military lanterns had strong output, and it was also true that shining one into someone’s eyes could negatively affect their vision.

However, there was no way a Hunter’s eyesight would be damaged by this much glare.

“You, you know.”

“Yes?”

“You are a psychopath, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Eunseong furrowed his brow.

“You can talk to your parents looking like that? Here?”

“Why would I not be able to?”

“......?”

“I have to do what needs to be done. Being a Hunter is unfilial enough. Imagine if I did not even answer their calls. How worried would they be?”

“What a filial son you are.”

Choi Yura mocked him as if she were sick of him.

It was not simply because of the slaughter.

He had committed this massacre, then calmly spoken to his parents without his voice trembling even once.

Whether his ability to control his emotions was excellent, or whether he had always been numb.

Whatever the reason, the fact that it was chilling did not change.

“But is this all right?”

“What is?”

“They are all dead. Shouldn’t we have kept at least one alive and extracted some information?”

“Ah.”

A look of belated realization appeared on Eunseong’s face, then vanished.

“It does not matter. This is not their only office anyway.”

As Eunseong said, this was not the only office Nine-Tail Crew had around Bucheon Station.

That was how Nine-Tail Crew was structured to begin with.

In an ordinary Clan, the Clan Master would usually be at the center, and everyone would move as one body.

But Nine-Tail Crew was a kind of federation formed by small organizations ranging from as few as three or four members to as many as ten.

Naturally, their offices were scattered here and there as well.

“Then do you know where the other offices are?”

“I only know this one.”

“Are you joking?”

“Then I can find out from now on.”

Eunseong took a tablet from his Plate Carrier, then scanned the dead men’s phones one by one.

“Are you seriously hacking their phones?”

“As you can see.”

“Where on earth did you get equipment like that?”

It was easy to say, but hacking a phone was by no means simple.

No matter how far technology had developed, there was no way hacking a phone with one small tablet could be easy.

If that was possible, it meant the device was something no civilian could ever obtain.

Even if he was a Hunter, how could he possess equipment used only by state institutions capable of mobilizing extralegal authority and means, like the Defense Strategy Department...?

Eunseong did not answer.

He merely picked up the phones of the dead Nine-Tail Crew members in silence and repeatedly scanned them with the tablet.

“There are a lot of offices nearby.”

Eunseong smiled while looking down at the tablet after finishing the scan.

“Then let us go.”

“Wait.”

Choi Yura was about to leave the office when Eunseong raised a hand to stop her.

“I cannot go out looking like this.”

“Ah.”

Choi Yura understood what Eunseong meant and nodded.

Eunseong was currently covered head to toe in blood, making him look utterly unfit to walk around outside.

It was probably unavoidable when fighting at close range with a machete.

“Let me wash up, change my clothes and equipment, then we can go.”

“Hurry.”

Choi Yura leaned at an angle against the doorway as she spoke.

***

As it happened, there were shower facilities inside the office.

Judging from the layout, the place seemed to have been operated as a gym in the past, but now it was being used as an office for criminals....

Eunseong did not wash immediately.

WHOOOOSH!

Weasels came out of the [Looting] card and brought him the items and Spirit Swords possessed by the dead Nine-Tail Crew Hunters.

[You have obtained a Spirit Sword.]

[You have obtained a Spirit Sword.]

[You have obtained Etherium.]

......

[You have obtained an item.]

“What are you doing?”

“Can you not tell? I am looting.”

“......”

Choi Yura furrowed her brow as if she found it absurd.

Runes and items were one thing, but Eunseong was probably the only Hunter who looted even Spirit Swords.

“Hmm.”

After the looting was finished, Eunseong’s gaze slid across the machete in his hand.

‘It really does look ominous.’

Slaughter Game.

A 5-Star Spirit Sword Eunseong had created using the [Alchemy] card.

Perhaps because Instructor Kim Sangeung’s [Bloodslaughter Ghoul] had been among the Spirit Swords used in the combination, it seemed to slosh, as though blood were inside the blade.

‘Hmm.’

Eunseong tried to gauge how much blood [Slaughter Game] had consumed.

‘About one-fifth, perhaps.’

He did not know the exact figure, but that was how it felt.

‘How many people do I have to kill for a single Blooming....’

Eunseong furrowed his brow and looked back at Choi Yura.

“I will wash and come out. Call me if something urgent happens.”

“Why, are you going to come charging out naked?”

“If necessary.”

Eunseong answered briefly and headed for the shower room.

“What a complete madman.”

Choi Yura shook her head as if she were sick of him.

In her eyes, Eunseong was an extremely dangerous person.

He was so dangerous that even Choi Yura, half-mad with revenge, felt compelled to give him a wide berth.

What was even more frightening was that Eunseong was a madman without emotion.

Eunseong was by no means reckless.

In fact, he was the opposite.

He was coolheaded, meticulous, and rational.

A man who would use any means and methods and do anything to achieve his objective, yet was terrifyingly clever and composed.

That was Choi Yura’s assessment of Eunseong.

***

At the same time.

“Bucheon?”

Minister Ahn furrowed his brow.

“Yes, Minister.”

Captain Im showed Minister Ahn the data received from the Mobile Carrier.

“We confirmed that Eunseong spoke with his mother a short while ago. He seems to be using the number written there, and the cell tower was near Bucheon Station.”

“Why on earth would he go to that rough neighborhood?”

“We are looking into it.”

“He is truly giving us a headache.”

Minister Ahn covered his face.

His frowning face was etched with deep irritation and extreme fatigue.

How many days had it been since the Jebudo incident, and now it was Bucheon Station?

The Bucheon Station area was a lawless zone even the Defense Strategy Department had given up on.

Because of Nine-Tail Crew and Incheon Union behind them, not only Bucheon Station but all of Bucheon had been reduced to a slum for over ten years.

“Does he even know what kind of place he crawled into....”

A mutter close to a groan slipped from Minister Ahn’s mouth.

The momentary stress hit him so hard that Minister Ahn reflexively put a cigarette in his mouth.

“Put the QRF on standby for deployment, and dispatch agents to the area immediately. Track that number so we can determine his location data in real time.”

“Yes, Minister.”

“You go personally.”

“Yes......?”

“If that reckless brat dies in Bucheon, it will be a problem. Take the Hunters with you and bring him back.”

“......”

Captain Im’s expression rapidly darkened.

“Why? Do you not want to?”

“N-No, sir.”

Captain Im hurriedly shook his head.

“Then I will depart immediately.”

“Do not forget to report in along the way.”

“Yes, Minister. Loyalty.”

Captain Im snapped a salute to Minister Ahn, then hurried away.

His shoulders sagged as he went, making him look like livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

“He takes after his father completely.”

Minister Ahn recalled the days when Brigadier General Cha Geunwoo had served in the Naval Special Forces.

He had been a capable Special Warfare Officer and an outstanding field operative, but he had occasionally pulled unexpected stunts that left his commanders flustered.

When they sent him to infiltrate North Korean waters for reconnaissance, he unexpectedly brought back a North Korean naval officer (commissioned officer).

While arresting an industrial spy who was smuggling himself out of the country, he killed every agent from China’s intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, punctured their lungs, and sank them in the sea.

When he thought back to how the military, the National Intelligence Service, and even the Presidential Office had been thrown into chaos at the time....

“Urgh.”

Minister Ahn shuddered as if the thought still made him dizzy.

“So blood really does tell. Phew.”

Minister Ahn recalled that not only Eunseong’s father, but also his grandfather, had been known as a legend of the Naval Intelligence Unit, then shook his head as if there was no helping family traits.

***

After finishing his shower, Eunseong changed into clean clothes and equipment from his Inventory.

Given the nature of their profession, Hunters were used to rough work, so many of them carried spare clothes and equipment in their personal Inventories.

“I am done washing, so let us g...... huh.”

Eunseong came out of the shower room and flinched in surprise when he saw the scene before him.

The office itself was already so horrific that there was nothing left to be shocked by.

The reason Eunseong was surprised was that Choi Yura had wrapped a chain around the neck of some tattooed pig.

Drip, drip....

Perhaps because of the blades attached to the chain, blood flowed steadily from the tattooed pig’s neck.

“Who is he?”

Eunseong asked while tapping his wet hair with a towel.

“No idea.”

Choi Yura shrugged as if asking why he was asking her.

“He just came into the office, so I caught him.”

“Then we can ask him.”

Eunseong drew the [Bolt Cutter] card from his deck.

It was the very cutter he had used back when clearing [Cursed Citadel].

“P-Please spare me! I was wrong.”

“For what?”

“That is......”

“Straighten your fingers.”

“Urgh!”

“Relax. If you do this, you are only making it harder on yourself.”

CRACK!

“Gaaah!”

A sound like a pig being butchered burst from the tattooed pig’s throat.

Eunseong pushed the tattooed pig’s finger, bent at a grotesque angle, between the blades of the cutter.

“From now on, every time you do not answer a question I ask, or I get an answer I do not like, I will cut off one. Understood?”

“Grrgh!”

“Did you understand, or did you not?”

“I-I under......stood. Ngh!”

“Name.”

“M-My name is Yeom Taeksu.”

“Yeom Taeksu......?”

“Yes. If you do not believe me, my driver’s license is in my card wallet....”

Eunseong did not listen to the tattooed pig—no, Yeom Taeksu—to the end.

“Ah, so you are him.”

“Yes......?”

“You are Yeom Taeksu, the one who runs Golden Sun, right?”

“How do you know that......?”

Yeom Taeksu’s face turned deathly blue.