Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Not bad at all. I like it."

Bomb Demon Lee Cheonguk wore a satisfied smile as he looked over the items he'd procured from the black market.

A villain with a Force-enhanced strength gift, he lived up to his alias by manufacturing bombs and killing countless people through long-range throws.

Making bombs was his hobby, and his life's joy was confirming just how much destruction his creations could wreak.

From throwing them in cities to scattering them across Hunters' hunting grounds, his victims numbered over a thousand. The government and major guilds alike had placed bounties on his head.

Sensing the pursuit growing more tenacious by the day, Lee Cheonguk had gone into hiding for over half a year. Once the surveillance slackened, he was able to buy the materials he needed for bomb-making from the black market.

His disguise was flawless, and he'd purchased the ingredients in several separate trips. No one would know it was him.

"This time I'll make it spectacular. I'll make them regret ever trying to catch me."

Lee Cheonguk smiled, anticipating the day Bomb Demon's name would echo in every corner.

Until a voice came from behind him.

"Bomb Demon? That's a cheap one."

Crunch!

"Gwaaak!"

Lee Cheonguk's arm twisted in a grotesque direction, and then both his legs broke, sending him rolling across the floor. Despite the high bounty on his head, his Level wasn't particularly high, and since he'd only ever attacked from a distance, his close-combat ability was nothing impressive.

"A five-hundred-million bounty. You've been running around causing quite a stir."

"W-who are you?"

Amid the excruciating pain, Lee Cheonguk desperately darted his eyes around. He'd realized his opponent was a major villain he couldn't possibly contend with.

"Public servant."

Thwack!

Lee Cheonguk died with his skull crushed before he could even beg for his life.

Having dealt with Bomb Demon simply, Choi Junho stomped on the items the man had purchased from the black market. Caught in the Arc Mine, they shattered to pieces.

"That makes five."

He checked the time. Four in the morning.

There was enough leeway to catch one more villain.

*

Once he'd decided to hunt villains, the criteria for selecting prey were simple.

First, if there were multiple targets, he skipped them. Not only was it harder to deal with them quickly, but the cleanup was a hassle too. And anyone affiliated with a corporation or guild was also excluded.

That left villains who operated alone.

Telling who was a villain wasn't difficult. I waited some distance from the black market, hunting villains who moved alone.

While choosing my final target, I spotted a man in his forties with a thin build and an ordinary impression—and smiled.

A bigger catch had shown up than I'd expected.

I hid and waited for him to pass. If he exposed his back, I planned to ambush and eliminate him.

The moment I suppressed my presence, approached, and reached for his neck, his body scattered with a flash of light and reappeared ten meters away. I'd missed him.

"I've seen ambushes in the black market a few times, but just now I really almost died."

"Blink. Na Gyeonguk."

A Level 6 villain with a danger rating of low. An unusual villain with no record of harming ordinary citizens.

"You know me? Then can you just let me go? I don't want to fight."

"Leave your neck and go."

"So you're the unreasonable type."

Even with a low danger rating, they said Blink was hard to catch because he wielded his ability so freely.

A space-type gift, too. Tempting.

Should I take it?

In that moment, Na Gyeonguk crossed through space and swung his dagger.

Crunch!

He dual-wielded daggers, and whenever I put distance between us, he threw them without hesitation. With no spatial constraints, it must have felt like a nightmare to deal with.

But they couldn't overcome the power of my Arc Mine, and the Force coating the daggers shattered to pieces.

Unable to withstand the aftermath, Na Gyeonguk was pushed back—and used Blink. I'd been waiting for that moment. I pulled out the bullets I'd picked up earlier and threw them at where he'd relocated.

"Keuk!"

The biggest weakness of space-movement users was that they were briefly defenseless after use. Pierced through the arm and side by the bullets I'd thrown, Na Gyeonguk's body wavered.

In that fleeting instant, I cut through space and tried to grab his head, but he used Blink once more.

Not that it mattered—it was the last struggle of a cornered villain.

"Stop! I surrender!"

"Don't need it."

He'd shown he had no will to resist, but that didn't matter. I would kill him here and take Blink.

"Why are you doing this?! Damn it! You used something like lightning on your hands, didn't you? Are you Head Breaker?!"

"Head Breaker?"

Pretty sure that's not me. What kind of alias is that?

"The public service Hunter crueler than villains! That's you, isn't it?!"

"Get your answer in the afterlife."

He used Blink again, but I caught up in an instant. He dodged the hand reaching for his head and gave up his shoulder instead—Na Gyeonguk, his shoulder caved in, twisted his whole body and screamed.

"S-stop! I said stop! I'm a public service Hunter too!"

"What kind of bullshit is that."

"I'm with the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau! Ch-check inside my clothes. There's an ID badge."

A villain who was a public service Hunter? Completely unexpected. I opened his coat and found the badge. The name was Han Sangmin.

"If you're lying, you won't die clean. I'll grind every bone you have to dust."

Na Gyeonguk trembled at my threat. I looked over the badge I'd found.

...I couldn't tell if it was genuine or forged. But the Intuition I possessed was telling me. The odds were high that he was telling the truth.

I took out my smartphone and contacted Jung Juho.

"Sorry for calling so early in the morning, Director."

—I don't know when 3:30 a.m. became morning, but tell me what kind of mess you've gotten into first.

He was speaking on the premise that I'd caused trouble. Ah, was this an unexpected accident?

"Do you know if there's a man named Han Sangmin in the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau?"

—Wait.

After that, Jung Juho could be seen making calls on another phone. At some point, he got on the line with the Director of the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau—the two exchanged warm insults—and then spoke to me.

—He's a Black Agent of the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau. How did you come across that name?

"He's currently in my custody."

—What?

"I'm sorry, but please confirm whether Han Sangmin is operating undercover as the villain Blink, Na Gyeonguk."

—......

Jung Juho called the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau Director again, and the final answer came through.

—It's true.

"Understood."

—You didn't kill him, did you?

"No."

—Then did you make him a half-cripple?

I looked at Na Gyeonguk for a moment. Holes pierced through his arm and side, and he'd lost so much blood that his face was pale—his shoulder was smashed.

"Not quite a half-cripple. More like a quarter-cripple."

—That's your assessment.

"...I'll do my best to restore him."

—Please. I'm begging you.

"Yes."

The call ended, and I poured the Shinseong Group premium recovery potion I carried for emergencies onto Han Sangmin's shoulder.

The dislocated shoulder blade seemed to restore itself—I could see it gradually returning to its original shape.

"Kkeuuuu!"

"Stay still. Unless you want to live as a cripple for the rest of your life."

One wasn't enough, so I poured it on his side and arm too, and when that still wasn't enough, I made him drink it. With that, aside from the bloodstains, the restoration was complete—good as new.

I'd been tempted by the Blink gift, but oh well.

Anyway—Shinseong Group, premium recovery potion. Highly recommended.

*

South Korea was a country that had succeeded in achieving balance through strong regulations on large guilds in the early days and support for state-employed Hunters.

Recently, the initiative had been gradually shifting toward the large guilds, but the government's three greatest pillars—the National Guard Bureau, the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau, and the Anti-Monster Defense Front Bureau—possessed combat power and authority exceeding that of most large guilds.

These three organizations moved in tight coordination, and when any one of them tried to pull ahead, they also served to keep each other in check.

As a result, the heads of each bureau treated one another as both collaborators and competitors.

Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau Director Yeom Gicheol was Jung Juho's classmate.

"Director Yeom, I told you it was a mistake, didn't I? A man's walking around, spots a villain, and sure, he might accidentally smash a shoulder or two."

"Oh, and that 'mistake' takes over half a year of treatment just to hold a spoon again? Push it any further and you'd have him breathing for the rest of his life and nothing else?"

"These things happen when you're fighting each other. At least he didn't kill him. And the bones were set properly, weren't they?"

"And now you want me to be grateful for that? How about I shatter all your bones and then set them back for you?"

"I'm saying let's keep things amicable. Come on, cut me some slack. My hair's been thinning because of that kid lately."

With the mention of hair thickness, Director Yeom Gicheol found himself overcome with a sense of shared suffering and could no longer press the attack.

"What the hell kind of creature is Head Breaker, anyway?"

"A troublemaker. A big troublemaker."

"I'd only heard rumors before, but I saw him this time and it was unbelievable. He's a complete mad dog."

Jung Juho let out a hollow laugh. Calling Choi Junho a mad dog? That was an insult to mad dogs.

He wanted to let Yeom Gicheol taste that for himself, but he couldn't just hand over his treasure.

He decided to accept it as the fate of one who holds a treasure.

Sure enough, Yeom Gicheol began steering the conversation in that direction.

"That sword of yours—you're liable to cut yourself if you mishandle it. How about sharing it?"

"Aren't you curious about the taste of my sword?"

"Greedy bastard. You call me at dawn like that and you don't even feel sorry? Do you know how much nagging I got from your sister-in-law?"

"I got nagged too. Who told you to get married?"

"You son of a bitch! You're the one who introduced us!"

"I didn't know you'd actually marry her. She's a good person."

"W-well, that's true."

Realizing that saying more would only make things harder for himself, Yeom Gicheol held his tongue. That bastard—his friend and his nemesis both—was the type to go running to his wife and report everything he'd said, word for word.

"Anyway, Sangmin's out of commission, so the mission he was supposed to run is about to fall through. Hand over Head Breaker."

"What mission?"

"Drugs are pouring in from overseas in massive quantities. Puppeteer's connected to it, and I believe the League is behind the whole thing."

"......!"

"I was going to keep it for myself, but now you're going to have to help."

"Fifty-fifty."

"Hey, I've got the whole table set here—are you joking?"

Jung Juho smiled slyly and dug at his ear.

"If you don't even have the strength to lift a spoon, you should be grateful just to be fed."

"You're the one who broke my arm!"

"So that's a no?"

"Ugh! This was supposed to be my chance to pull ahead solo... Fine. Deal!"

Jung Juho grinned broadly, sat down beside Yeom Gicheol, and patted his shoulder.

"As expected of the man my sister-in-law chose!"

"Falling for your schemes and getting married is the eternal regret of my life."

"But you're happy, aren't you?"

"Thanks to you, I'm fucking happy. You son of a bitch."

Yeom Gicheol clenched his teeth.

*

"That bastard. Let him suffer a bit."

Yeom Gicheol, who'd been playing dead until Jung Juho left, chuckled.

He'd handed it over to Jung Juho as if granting a favor, but this matter was never going to be easy. Given the value of the drugs being distributed, the number of villains belonging to the League was considerable.

Rooting them out would require mobilizing substantial forces, and by dumping that on the National Guard Bureau, he'd still claim half the credit.

"You shouldn't take the world too lightly, my friend."

It certainly wasn't because the man had gifted him a hellish married life.

Three days later.

A subordinate burst into the Director's office, face ashen.

"D-Director! The operation, the operation!"

"What, is the National Guard Bureau asking for help?"

"That's not it! Head Breaker went in alone and seized all the drugs!"

It was utterly unexpected. Yeom Gicheol shot up from his seat in shock.

"What were the men guarding the place doing?"

"They resisted and all ended up crippled."

"Casualties? Is that Head Breaker bastard so badly wounded he'll be crippled or forced to retire?"

"That's the thing... he's completely fine."

Faced with results beyond imagination, Yeom Gicheol sat back down with a hollow expression.

"...That lunatic."

*

Berserker Lee Gwangjin sat perched in an abandoned factory in Ansan. His expression was serene, like a meditating monk—the notorious name Berserker hardly seemed to suit him.

With his eyes closed, he spoke into the empty space.

"If you've come, state your business. Puppeteer."

A figure draped in a black robe appeared before Berserker.

"I had no intention of disturbing your meditation."

"You reek of corpses and yet you prattle on so well."

"I've applied the special solution how many times, and you call it a stench? Wouldn't you say this is fragrant by now? Don't distort the truth, my friend. Though—I see you never tire of this factory."

"It's the only place where Erasure's traces remain. Can't you see it? A slaughter scene so beautiful it's entered the realm of fantasy?"

This was where Bigteng had been annihilated not long ago. Berserker took in the factory's interior, recreating the scene of that day's massacre in his mind.

"So what's your business in coming here?"

"I heard you haven't found Erasure."

"Are you picking a fight?"

"Come now, we're both hopeful applicants for the same 'League.'"

"I've never once thought of you as a comrade."

"Still putting on airs, I see. Anyway—how about you stop your fruitless pursuit of Erasure, and you and I find a way to make it a win-win?"

"......"

To the silent Berserker, Puppeteer spoke.

"In the end, you and I are both bound for the League, and our goals differ. Among the Hunters who attacked the League this time, there's an interesting one. Not quite on Erasure's level, but he should make for good entertainment."

"Who?"

"Head Breaker. The type who smashes heads before anything else when his opponent is a villain. He's still in his twenties, and there are rumors he's Level 7."

"Twenties. Head Breaker."

Berserker's eyes flashed. Having succeeded in piquing his interest, Puppeteer smiled.

"Before I join the League and leave this country, I want to get my hands on as many talented puppets as possible. If word spreads that you and I have joined forces, they'll come flocking. For you, who's searching for Erasure, it should serve as a warm-up at least. Are you in?"

"......"

"Help me, and I'll lend my strength to your search for Erasure."

"Hand over the information on Head Breaker first."