Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Hunter Management Bureau, first floor.

It was late at night, but the corridor lights were on in full.

At the end of the hallway — a blank white wall.

A large zipper materialized out of nowhere.

ZIIIIIP—

The zipper parted the wall as if slicing it open.

"After you."

Bisu shuffled out of the zipper with servile, mincing steps.

Iwon followed with a faint smile.

Once both were in the corridor, the zipper vanished without a trace.

Iwon scanned the Bureau hallway, then produced a Mana Crystal the size of a thumbnail from his subspace.

"Here."

When Iwon held it out, Bisu bowed and extended both hands reverently.

"Ooh!"

He pinched the crystal delicately between thumb and forefinger, grinning ear to ear.

"How much does one of these go for, I wonder~"

Bisu hummed as he inspected the crystal.

Iwon let out a quiet chuckle and walked on.

[Director's Office]

He stopped a short distance away.

KNOCK, KNOCK—

A neat knock, and from inside came the signal to enter.

He opened the door. The Director, seated at his desk, greeted him warmly.

"Well, well! Hunter Iwon! Back already?"

"Yes. I came to give a brief report."

He spoke with a mild smile.

A-rank Gates and above required written reports, but occasionally oral briefings were given instead.

Usually the method of choice for hunters looking to curry favor with the Director.

Iwon preferred written reports.

He had no need to impress the Director at this point, and he disliked wasting time. The reason he'd come today was something else entirely.

"—That concludes my report."

Iwon, finished with the Gate mission debrief.

"Well done! Clearing an A-rank Gate in eight hours — that's our Guild Master Baek for you! I'll contact the press first thing tomorrow!"

The Director laughed with satisfaction. Iwon returned an awkward smile and moved to his real purpose.

"...By the way, Director. About the Creature Falcon that appeared in Seocho while I was away."

The smile on the Director's face cracked, ever so slightly.

"...Ah, that?"

The Director bit his lip with a strained expression.

He let out a clumsy, deflecting laugh.

"Well, it was handled without major damage. Nothing to worry about."

A face that hinted at displeasure and discomfort.

'There's definitely something.'

Iwon pressed on.

"I heard it was taken down in thirty minutes. Has a new S-rank Awakened emerged?"

There were currently only three publicly known S-rank Hunters in South Korea. With Lee Haje dead, only two remained.

If a new S-rank had appeared under these circumstances, it was headline-worthy cause for celebration.

Under normal conditions, the Director's office would be in a festive mood.

The current reaction was telling.

"Well, it's not a new Awakened, per se......"

When the Director trailed off, Iwon pressed his lips shut and waited.

The Director, enduring Iwon's silent pressure, finally let out a long sigh and spoke.

"This is classified. It must not leak."

"Of course."

Iwon nodded.

The Director wiped his forehead with an anxious hand, then slowly began.

"...As you well know, after what happened to Hunter Haje, defending the key cities became much harder."

Iwon confirmed with silence.

"So......"

The Director lowered his voice to a whisper.

"The Association President paid a visit underground."

"...!"

Iwon responded a beat late.

"...Underground, sir?"

"The Association President paid a visit underground."

There wasn't a hunter alive who wouldn't immediately understand what that meant.

The Hunter Penitentiary, located underground.

There were plenty of A-rank criminal hunters incarcerated there, but none who could subdue a Creature Falcon that easily.

'Then......'

The only one left was the person who managed all those criminal hunters — the Interrogator.

The Mirror Mask had come to the surface.

"Right, so that wild-card Mirror bastard is out — I'm sure you're worried too. I understand."

The Director, reading Iwon's rigid expression, rambled on.

"He's something else, I'll tell you. Just one Falcon to take down, and he trashed every car on the road to scrap level! He causes the mess, and I'm the one who has to clean it up. Honestly."

"......"

"The Association President is reckless. No matter how desperate the situation, pulling a disaster out with his own hands?"

At the Director's continued comments, Iwon's gaze settled into something calm and steady.

"He's been sent to the Academy to train new recruits, apparently. I just hope they don't pick up bad habits."

The Director clicked his tongue.

'So he did go where Haje-seonbae was stationed.'

Iwon had been holding his words, and was slowly parting his lips when his gaze caught on something — the empty space beside the sofa.

'...As expected.'

Just as Iwon was swallowing an internal sigh—

RING RING RING—

The Director's phone buzzed on the table.

"Can't even go home because of this morning's mess...... calls just keep coming."

The Director glared at his phone screen with a pained expression.

"Please take your call. I'll be on my way."

"All right, get some rest!"

"Yes, sir."

Iwon left the Director's office with a bow.

The moment the door closed, the smile that had been drawn on his lips dissolved without a trace.

"Guild Master!"

Bisu — apparently waiting — sprang up from his crouched position beside the Director's office and scurried over to Iwon.

"What'd he say?"

Iwon let out a small sigh, then raised an eyebrow and looked down at Bisu.

"You already heard everything."

The faint outline of a small zipper that had been visible beside the sofa in the Director's office.

Bisu had been eavesdropping on their conversation through his skill.

"Knew you'd catch that."

Bisu shrugged with brazen composure and added.

"I mean, you borrowed my skill just to rush over and see the Director — how was I supposed to sit out here and not listen?"

His face lit up with excitement.

"But is the Mirror really out? For real?"

"It's classified. Keep your mouth shut."

"Come on~ that goes without saying!"

ZIP — Bisu made a show of zippering his own lips shut.

Iwon shook his head with a dubious expression and started walking.

"Where to now?"

Bisu watched him go and called out. Iwon waved without turning.

"I'll be in touch."

Iwon headed straight for the building exit.

Left alone in the quiet corridor, Bisu tapped his chin with one finger.

"Even if I keep quiet, it'll spread like wildfire soon enough."

These days, online communities were crawling with armchair detectives.

The press would be tripping over itself to find the hunter who'd taken down the Creature Falcon, too.

Bisu pulled out his phone.

'The Interrogator has come to the surface?'

His lips curved upward into an arc.

***

DING—

[Monster Kill Count]

Tae Euno — 7

Go Gyeol — 5

Ha Jaeyun — 3

.......

DING—

[Monster Kill Count]

Ha Jaeyun — 4

Tae Euno — 7

Go Gyeol — 5

Scores seesawing back and forth.

The test seemed to be progressing smoothly.

'At this rate, I won't have prepared enough monsters.'

Should've topped them up before leaving.

Sahyeon's feet flew across the sand as he scanned the field with care.

'Shouldn't take long anyway, so it'll be fine.'

The "reddish light" Lee Haje had mentioned.

If it wasn't at the Gate entrance, it might mean somewhere inside the Gate.

Sahyeon had passed through Gates countless times.

A reddish light inside a Gate.

He had no memory of one.

'Nothing here either......'

Still, worth a look.

A vast, seemingly endless field.

Covering all this ground on foot would be inefficient.

So then.

'I just need to summon the one who knows this field best.'

In front of a large rocky hill.

"About here."

Sahyeon stopped before a massive cave entrance.

A D-rank Gate — predictable.

He ran his hand along the stone pillars at the cave's mouth.

This should do.

Having gauged the position, he raised his foot.

Then drove his heel into the pillar without hesitation.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE— CRASH—!

The pillar split in two.

The cave began to collapse in a chain reaction.

The entrance, sealed by rubble.

Then—

BANG, DU-DU-DU-DU-DU—!

A massive tremor rumbled from deep within the cave.

Even so, Sahyeon leaned casually against the cave wall beside the entrance.

"Quick reaction."

The tremor intensified instantly.

Rubble bounced off the blocked entrance.

BOOOM—!

The boulder pile blasted outward.

The source of the noise revealed itself.

A massive body evoking a dragon. Sharp spines covering its entire frame.

A lizard-class monster.

DING—!

Right on cue, a system chime sounded.

'Obviously, the one who knows this field best......'

['Arid Dunes' Boss has appeared.]

'...is the one who runs it.'

Sahyeon finally pushed off the wall.

Enraged at the destruction of its lair, the boss monster's jaws gaped in threat.

Surging flames roiled in its throat with every exhale.

Its slit pupils narrowed, and it stamped its massive feet, charging hard—

"Pardon me."

Sahyeon darted sideways to dodge the attack, then grabbed a spine on the boss's head and vaulted onto its crown.

Standing on two feet, he bit the tip of one glove to pull it off and pressed his bare hand to the creature's skull.

[Memory Sharing (S-) skill has been activated!]

A skill that could share the caster's memories.

"Ever seen a light like this around here?"

Sahyeon forced the image of a reddish glow into the boss's mind.

Whether it sensed the gap in power, the boss went dead still.

Its pupils quivered — then it lifted its tail high for Sahyeon to see.

The tail tip, glowing in mottled reds and oranges from its own body heat.

"?"

What am I supposed to do with that?

"So what. You want me to cut it off?"

"!!"

The lizard's pupils blew wide with shock. Its tail curled protectively beneath its belly.

As if I'd be looking for your tail.

"Think again."

When Sahyeon smacked its head as a prompt, the boss flinched into a tight curl, then whipped its head rapidly left and right. Suddenly it swung east and looked up at Sahyeon.

Did it remember something?

"Lead the way."

An oasis in the middle of the desert field.

The boss stretched its neck out and peered into the water.

Sahyeon dismounted from its head.

SNAP—

A spine broke off where he'd been gripping on the way down.

"Pardon me."

Leaving a brief apology, Sahyeon closely examined the spot the boss had been studying.

Water that mirrored the sky. Beneath it, a depth that seemed to go on forever.

Deep, deep in the water — faintly spreading through the gentle ripples—

"...!"

The afterglow of a reddish light.

'A Mana Crystal? Or an item?'

Sahyeon's lips curled.

Whatever it was, the fact that it was suspicious remained unchanged.

Looks like it's at least a hundred meters down......

Sahyeon slowly turned to look at the boss.

"You going or not?"

"?!"

He tilted his head toward the water. The boss's slit pupils quivered.

Its tongue flicked nervously as it hesitated.

Needs a little encouragement, does it.

The moment Sahyeon readjusted his gloves—

The boss let out a bizarre wail and reluctantly slid into the water.

The massive body glided down into the depths.

"It's pretty deep."

Sahyeon planted the broken spine into the ground like a cane and watched the boss swim at his leisure.

At last, the enormous body reached the reddish glow.

The instant the boss clamped its jaws around the mysterious stone—

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE—

The water suddenly turned violent.

"What now?"

Sahyeon's brow creased.

Then—

CRAAAASH!

An eruption — as if a volcano had detonated.

An unexpected phenomenon.

'Did I find the right thing?'

The instant Sahyeon's instincts fired—

BEEEEEEEP—!

"!"

The system blared a warning.

Of course it would spit out some awful message at a time like this—

[Warning! A mutation has occurred in the Boss monster.]

His prediction was on the money.

"A mutation?"

The instant Sahyeon's eyes crumpled—

BEEEEEEEP—!

Another warning.

[Gate grade has changed (D→B).]

"...Ha."

Sahyeon thought of the chicks he'd left behind and let out a long sigh.

We're screwed.