Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Recognizing a Fake Face isn’t all that difficult.

Its distinctive toxin can’t fool my Intuition. In my past life, the bastards who used one in front of me always tore off their face skin along with it.

Back then, I figured anyone sneaking around with a Fake Face was someone with something to hide, and someone with something to hide was someone I could kill.

I don’t have that madness now, but nine times out of ten, anyone hiding their face is a villain. Fake Faces are illegal to begin with, so there’s no reason to hold back. Occasionally there’s a bold villain who walks around without one, but that’s a problem for later.

Watching the horrified expression of the villain whose identity I’d exposed, I broke his limbs on the spot. Carefully regulating my strength so it wouldn’t turn into a fatal wound—clean bone breaks only—just as Jung Dahyun had ordered, making sure his life wasn’t in danger.

“Kyaaaagh!”

“Villain arrest in progress. Everyone, please stand back!”

While Jung Dahyun shouted at the citizens, I crouched in front of the writhing man.

“Where’s the hideout?”

“……”

Crack!

I crushed his pinky knuckle.

“Kgh!”

“Every time you don’t answer, I take one. Where is it?”

“D-Dangsan 1-dong……”

“Good. Next……”

Amid the pain of his shattered bones, he started spilling information. Whenever he hesitated, I broke another bone, and before long he stopped stalling and I got everything I needed.

Making a villain compliant isn’t about a warm touch. It’s about making them recognize you as an absolute superior in the law of the jungle. Making them understand that the moment they let their guard down, they could be shattered like an insect and die.

It was my first attempt, but I regulated my strength carefully enough that his life wasn’t in danger. He’d live as a cripple for the rest of his life, though.

When I stood up, Jung Dahyun approached with a stunned expression. Somehow, that face looked even prettier than before.

“Junho, what on earth are you……”

“I found their hideout. Let’s go.”

“We need to report to the higher-ups and request support.”

I shook my head and met her eyes.

“That’ll be too late. The moment they realize their comrade is in trouble, they’ll abandon the hideout. We need to hit them fast. That’s the only way.”

“……”

“You want to catch as many villains as possible, don’t you? Isn’t that your goal, Dahyun?”

In that brief moment, several emotions flickered across Jung Dahyun’s face. She agonized for only a moment before making her decision and nodding.

“……Fine. Speed it is. Let’s go.”

“I’ll take the lead.”

We handed the villain over to the public service Hunters who arrived belatedly, then headed for the hideout.

* * *

Wearing the hat Choi Junho had handed her, Jung Dahyun followed behind him.

It was a strange experience. She never thought that after becoming a public service Hunter, she’d be raiding a villain’s hideout like this.

She’d joined the National Guard Bureau to catch villains, but ideals and reality were different things. Rather than preemptively taking down villains, her role was closer to cleaning up after they’d already run rampant.

Even if she produced results, the higher-ups would probably dislike it. What mattered to them was procedure, and the chain of command operating under the name of “the system.”

This way, catching villains was difficult. That was what made it hard for Jung Dahyun.

In that sense, Choi Junho was truly remarkable.

Even though he’d only just become a public service Hunter, he pushed things forward with bulldozer-like drive.

Recognizing a Fake Face, extracting the necessary information on the spot, and using on-site judgment to give the villains no time to prepare—none of it seemed like something an ordinary person could do.

Above all, the way he treated villains with ruthless severity wasn’t like a public service Hunter at all. It was almost like the worst, most vicious villain of urban legend—the kind who crushed even fellow villains like insects.

‘But he catches villains.’

What matters isn’t what kind of blade it is, but what that blade is used for. She was afraid of what kind of disaster might come if this man, who’d reached Level 7, were simply let loose on the world.

In the meantime, the two arrived at the villain hideout in Dangsan 1-dong. It was an old pub, the kind you’d find in any back alley.

“Going in now.”

“Okay.”

The two entered the pub. Despite it being daytime, there were three people inside.

Choi Junho strode forward and reached out.

Crunch!

“Gahk!”

“Wha—what?!”

“It’s an ambush!”

The other two tried to react, but Choi Junho closed the distance as if stepping through space and reached out. The two caught by his gift, Arc Mine, collapsed with their shoulders caved in.

Jung Dahyun, who’d been about to help, just watched blankly and asked,

“Didn’t you know the password?”

“I thought about it, and since they’re all going to prison anyway, I figured there was no need.”

“Ah.”

“And once you know the location, finding a hidden space isn’t difficult.”

Choi Junho looked around where the master had been, touched a few things, and a passage leading underground revealed itself.

How on earth did he find things like this? Amazing.

“There’s something I need to do before we go.”

Choi Junho stepped forward and broke the villains’ limbs.

Already unconscious, they groaned in agony and their bodies twitched.

“Is this really necessary?”

“This way, they can’t run.”

“……”

She wanted to ask, ‘Why the arms too?’ but his method was the most certain.

In the past, she would never have dreamed of doing such a thing, and would have considered it crossing the line.

But why was that hand, so free of hesitation, so appealing?

Choi Junho’s unwavering principle toward villains burrowed deep into Jung Dahyun’s heart.

“Let’s go, then.”

Watching Choi Junho’s back as he moved forward without hesitation, Jung Dahyun followed.

* * *

Villains are, fundamentally, a blight on society. Pests that serve no purpose by existing in this world. Every one I see needs to be exterminated, or they’ll become obstacles to the ordinary life I’m pursuing.

Villains operating inside the city latch onto various interests and suck the blood out of them.

The connections between villains, politicians, businessmen, and Hunters are no longer a secret. Their biggest sources of income are drugs and the black market.

Among those, drugs had an endless demand from Awakened.

Awakened who handle Force are beings for whom senses matter more than in any other profession. There are those who use drugs to gain stronger power, and that sustains a steady demand.

These drugs steal not only your humanity but your very addiction.

Before I went completely mad, I indulged in drugs to forget the pain of going berserk from my gift. I killed the ones who tried to bargain with drugs, and I killed the ones who tried to put a leash on me. I sought drugs like a beast to forget the pain, so when it came to drugs, I was more knowledgeable than most.

These bastards cut ties and vanish the moment their tail is exposed, so speed was essential.

“The drug is called Prune.”

I said that to Jung Dahyun, who was following behind me.

“Prune……”

Jung Dahyun’s expression turned serious.

By then, we’d reached the end of the underground passage. I reached toward the firmly shut door and tore it off, revealing a spacious interior with over twenty people inside.

“Who are you?!”

I reached out instead of answering. Arc Mine’s advantage is that a single contact can unleash 100% of its power. The Force that burrows inside triggers a violent explosion, rendering the target combat-incapacitated.

The downside is that it requires contact, but for me, that’s not much of a problem.

“Kyaaaagh!”

Two went down in an instant, and the rest each grabbed their weapons.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out as Jung Dahyun and I began dealing with the villains.

The villains’ level wasn’t very high. Most were barely scraping by at Level 1, and the highest was only Level 2.

Jung Dahyun, with her ‘Intuition,’ disabled the villains with her sword, and I crushed limbs to avoid fatal wounds.

Crunch!

“Kgh!”

When the last villain was subdued, silence fell. I turned my gaze to Jung Dahyun as she approached.

“Junho.”

“Good work, Official.”

Before that, I walked over to the villains Jung Dahyun had subdued and broke their ankles.

Crunch!

“Kyaaaagh!”

“Kgh, kegh!”

“I’d like to say your methods are excessive, but… I can’t defend them. I’ll request support.”

“To the Special Team?”

“That’s the way, isn’t it?”

“Don’t do that. Go directly to the Director.”

“Why?”

“This involves villains and drugs. Do you think these drugs could be distributed with just these guys’ abilities alone?”

“There must be an inside collaborator.”

“In that case, can you trust Team Leader Wang?”

Wang Juyeol, leader of the Special Team.

A textbook careerist who pursues office politics and credit-hogging. Despite being in charge of the Special Team, which should be focused on villain arrests, he’s neither enthusiastic nor does he use his position to build connections—a prime example of uselessness.

There was no way Jung Dahyun hadn’t picked up on what I’d noticed in just a few days.

“……I can’t trust him. Understood.”

Jung Dahyun nodded and contacted Jung Juho directly, while I looked around, searching, and found a space where a gift had manifested.

“A barrier.”

When I disrupted the flow of Force with Arc Mine, the barrier dissolved and a safe revealed itself.

Click.

Inside the safe were densely stacked drugs, cash, and a single ledger.

I picked up the ledger without hesitation.

I opened it and scanned the names written inside. Wang Juyeol’s name was in there too.

If I were an ordinary public service Hunter, what would I do with this ledger? Public service Hunters eat the nation’s rice and protect the safety of its citizens. Naturally, the people in this ledger are social evils who’ve taken drugs.

They’ve already worn away their humanity on drugs, so considering the cost of rehabilitation, it’d be better to wipe them all out.

As I pocketed the ledger, Jung Dahyun gave me a puzzled look.

“Junho, why that?”

“I think we should take this and deliver it to the Director ourselves.”

“Why?”

“As long as there’s an inside collaborator, there’s a high chance it disappears somewhere in the middle. Team Leader Wang’s name is in here too. With internal personnel involved, do you think everyone in the National Guard Bureau will move to eradicate drugs?”

“That’s……”

Jung Dahyun’s expression was confused. She’d become a public service Hunter with a sense of mission to catch villains, but not everyone is like her. Some public service Hunters are worse than the villains, and far more work simply for career advancement or a paycheck.

Sharing information only with people you can trust and taking action to produce certain results—that’s the answer I’d settled on.

“Our choice is for the citizens living ordinary lives.”

“……”

“Keep it simple. Catching villains and dismantling the drug cartel is what a public service Hunter is supposed to do.”

Even if we bend the rules a little in the process and some people get passed over, as long as the result is good, isn’t that enough?

“……Is this really the best way, in your view, Junho?”

“I think it’s an extremely ordinary and commonsense conclusion.”

“……”

Jung Dahyun was wavering. Her emotions shifted again and again. Her own justice, a process that deviated from her principles, but the results that would emerge. She was caught in the confusion between them.

If she accepted this, it would mean my struggle to be ordinary was the right one.

And after a long deliberation, she nodded.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

* * *

Over twenty villain arrests. And the drug supply route, scorched to the ground.

It was a result achieved by just the two of us, Jung Dahyun and me.

Coming so soon after becoming a public service Hunter, the way people around us looked at us had changed considerably.

Officially known as Level 5, and producing results on top of that, I’d earned recognition within the organization.

Meanwhile, some said the villains were left half-crippled and that it was excessive suppression, but honestly, I couldn’t understand that. I’d gone to considerable lengths to carefully regulate my strength so their lives weren’t in danger.

“How does your thought process even flow that way?”

Jung Dahyun, who’d overheard my muttering, said with an incredulous look.

“We subdued the villains for certain, so isn’t what they’re saying correct?”

“But you didn’t follow a single one of the Special Team’s protocols.”

Reporting on-site immediately, requesting reinforcements, waiting for the higher-ups’ judgment. Not a single one of those was followed in this case.

I knew that, and Jung Dahyun also knew that if all those procedures had been followed, we wouldn’t have achieved these results.

Above all, I had faith in one thing.

“That’s why being a public service Hunter is good.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t get fired for this.”

“……”

Watching Jung Dahyun’s speechless expression was one of the fun parts too.

“Jung Dahyun! Choi Junho!”

Just then, Wang Juyeol burst out of the Director’s office and shouted.

The atmosphere turned cold in an instant.

“Do you have something to say to us?”

“You’re saying you want to hear it from my own mouth?”

“Yes, I’d like to hear it.”

“You little bastard……”

When I didn’t mention having bypassed him, his face flushed as if it would burst. I didn’t answer and just quietly watched.

It was definitely a familiar face.

In my past life, after my gift opened, I was mad the entire time, so there were hardly any faces I remembered.

What I mainly remembered were the ones who died by my hand, or the ones I’d judged deserved to die.

Meaning anyone with an ordinary impression didn’t stick in my memory.

Then a face suddenly flashed through my mind.

An older face than now, with a heavier build.

I remembered a public service Hunter who, on a day when I’d been worn down after three days and nights without a single meal, shaking off the Hunters’ relentless pursuit, came swaggering in with a crowd of subordinates, saying he’d kill me.

What was it he said—that the encirclement was his handiwork, and that if sacrificing his useless subordinates as bait could catch me, he’d sacrifice a hundred thousand, a million of them.

He’d shown up to capture me because he thought I was out of strength.

Not that it mattered—at the time, he was nothing but a minnow to me.

For the record, I was hungrier than usual after three days and nights without food, which made me even more vicious.

Though honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference between being mad and being mad and hungry.

In the end, he lost all his subordinates and fled, only to be caught by me, his head bursting open—and that face was right in front of me now.

It was Wang Juyeol.

“Ah, I remember now.”

“What?”

“There are things like that.”

It seemed Wang Juyeol wasn’t going to cooperate with my plan to live as an ordinary public service Hunter.

Then I’d just have to remove him.