By Zephyria “I really have to go. There’s an elementary school student wandering outside at this hour. Aren’t you worried about a child roaming the streets alone at night?”
It was a line so touching it could have been a public service announcement narration.
Please work. Eui-jae prayed inwardly while looking at the impenetrable black Gas mask.
“Right, that’s true.”
But despite Eui-jae’s desperate hope, the Gas mask’s voice remained leisurely. It almost sounded like he was saying such tactics wouldn’t work. The Gas mask, who had been tilting his head a few times, pulled a phone from his pocket, typed something, and then shook the phone triumphantly.
“Mia, our kids will find her. Just wait a bit?”
But this time, Cha Eui-jae was quick to take the next step. He shook his head firmly.
“No, I refuse. I’m going to call the police. I’ll ask for help from the people’s cane.”
“Hmm… Then I’ll call the Awakened Management Bureau.”
“Why call the Management Bureau?”
“Because Hunters using their abilities can find her faster than the police. Do you like Jung-bin? If I call, he’ll come right away. Should I call him?”
At the Gas mask’s immediate retort, as if asking why he was asking about such things, Eui-jae was momentarily lost for words and stared openly at him.
Are you serious?
Yeah, I am?
After quickly reading each other’s eyes, Eui-jae felt all his energy drain away, leaving him with no strength to deal with this any longer. He first raised both hands slightly as if to say he understood.
If there was a Hunter specialized in tracking, then as the Gas mask said, finding Mia would be easier than with the police. But Eui-jae’s step back wasn’t just for that reason. It was also because this guy’s offer to call Jung-bin didn’t sound like an empty threat at all.
Judging by the skill that suggested he’d beaten up a person or two before, the Gas mask was definitely recorded as a person of interest in the Awakened Management Bureau’s database. Jung-bin, with his strong sense of lawfulness, would rush over here the moment he got his call. Then the situation would get even more serious, clear as day.
Okay, just from this brief conversation, I’ve concluded that this crazy brat in front of me is someone I shouldn’t get involved with.
Haa… Eui-jae let out a deep sigh and irritably swept his hand through his hair. Time kept passing, and if he kept nitpicking like this, the conversation would never end.
“What do you want from me.”
Dropping the formal speech, his direct question made the Gas mask burst into a light laugh. The Gas mask, who had stepped a little closer, whispered low.
“I’ll just ask two questions.”
“……”
Eui-jae gave a slight nod as if to say go ahead.
“First question. Choose.”
The Gas mask made a V-sign with his large, straight hand. Whether it was because of the moonlight, his hand was clearly visible even in the darkness. The tips of his thrust-out fingers were all stained black.
Perhaps not intending to drag out the silence, the Gas mask spoke first even though Eui-jae hadn’t chosen.
“One, that ladle is an S-Class Weapon unknown to the world. Right?”
A status upgrade for a 6,900 won ladle, insane…
Just because I knocked off some thorns, he’s overestimating the ladle this much. Does the Gas mask have a naive side, or is he just a fool? Eui-jae deliberately entertained useless thoughts, keeping his hands behind his back and giving no answer.
When no answer came for a long while, the Gas mask let out an explosive sigh, slowly folded his index finger, and rotated his wrist half a turn to show the back of his hand. With a face as composed as when he’d made the V-sign earlier, he tensed his middle finger and asked.
“Two, you are an Unregistered Awakened Being. This one?”
“No manners…”
Have all the Hunters these days lost their damn manners? Eui-jae made an incredulous face looking at the annoyingly long, outstretched middle finger.
Eight years ago, when Cha Eui-jae was active, such insubordination was unimaginable. Whenever this guy had Awakened, he couldn’t be his senior. Of course not, because I’m Korea’s first S-Class Awakened!
Even if it’s the Great Hunter Era, they probably didn’t throw away centuries of Confucian ideology. As Eui-jae suppressed his anger at this cheeky junior from who-knows-when, the Gas mask drove the final nail in with a laughing voice.
“Well… Since that doesn’t look like an S-Class Weapon, you must be an Unregistered, right?”
“I’m not an Unregistered.”
Anyway, since he was technically registered as an Awakened, strictly speaking, he wasn’t an Unregistered. …He might have been processed as missing or deceased with his records expunged, but since he was registered eight years ago, his conscience was clear.
But the Gas mask snorted as if hearing nonsense.
“If you’re going to lie, at least put some effort into it…”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Before the answer was even finished, the Gas mask vanished from his sight. And the very next moment,
KAAANG—!!
Eui-jae blocked the sudden attack from behind with the ladle. Beyond the Gas mask’s lenses, purple eyes flashed sharply. Even though his attack was blocked, the Gas mask didn’t withdraw his hand but instead tightly gripped the ladle. Crunch, the already dented ladle crumpled under the applied force.
Sssss—
A moment later, the ladle, which had been crumpling in the Gas mask’s hand, began to melt into a pitch-black liquid. The pungent smell of burning metal stabbed at his nose.
‘An ability related to corrosion or decay?’
Drip, drip, the black liquid fell to the ground, and wherever it touched, the surface immediately turned black. Eui-jae had recently seen a similar sight. Wherever the Basilisk Fang from the West Sea Rift’s Master touched, everything melted like that.
‘It’s Poison.’
Moreover, it’s a virulent poison comparable to the Basilisk’s Poison. I thought the Gas mask was just a concept, but…
As Eui-jae frowned, he could feel the face behind the Gas mask grinning widely. Whether he had gotten the answer he wanted, he didn’t press further but shook his hand and took a step back.
“It’s an ordinary ladle.”
“……”
“And you’re an Unregistered Awakened Being who blocked my attack…”
“I told you, I’m not Unregistered.”
“Because.”
Beyond the Gas mask’s round lenses, the purple pupils were shining brightly.
“There’s no way I wouldn’t know about someone of this caliber.”
It was a statement that could be taken as a compliment, so why did it feel strangely unpleasant? Eui-jae met the persistent gaze without avoiding it and thought about the reason. Soon after, he easily realized one fact.
This crazy brat, his speech has been informal since a while ago.
When did we meet for you to use informal speech? To the ears of the former J, current Cha Eui-jae, who had lived a proper Hunter life basically only hearing extreme formal speech, this behavior was highly irritating. Even cold water has its hierarchy, for heaven’s sake. Eui-jae tilted his posture and raised his eyes.
“Hey,”
“Yeah?”
“How old are you?”
At the abrupt question, the Gas mask tilted his head, then immediately dropped his earlier momentum and answered innocently.
“Twenty-four.”
Twenty-four? Twenty-four? Cha Eui-jae shifted his weight even more to one side and assumed a stance with one leg slightly bent.
“See, a young punk using informal speech from the first meeting.”
“You look about my age too.”
“Hey, I’ve eaten at least five thousand more bowls of rice than you,”
Of course, Cha Eui-jae still couldn’t believe he wasn’t twenty but twenty-eight, and he hadn’t actually eaten five thousand more bowls either! But since he had the age, he had to use it effectively. The only thing he could beat the Gas mask with right now was the eight years of life he’d gotten for free.
At the sudden old-fashioned remark, the Gas mask tilted his head again. Despite the ominous Gas mask, his actions were cutely mismatched, making him seem almost childlike.
“Aha… So?”
“Your speech is too short, you.”
“I see…”
The Gas mask gave a short laugh, then slightly bowed his head toward Eui-jae. His eyes beyond the lenses curved as he whispered.
“Shall I use formal speech for you?”
Perhaps because he was someone who had just been beating people, the Gas mask had a strangely exuded aura. If Eui-jae hadn’t had the experience of fighting Monsters as a Hunter, he might have been a bit intimidated.
But Cha Eui-jae was a veteran Hunter who had been through so much he was on the verge of wearing out and disappearing. In fact, looking at the Gas mask who was subtly sharpening his edge within his soft tone, his first thought was just how tired he was. Of course, he hadn’t grown enough to calmly handle a situation where someone four years his junior was using informal speech with him.
His body was still twenty, but his mind was beyond twenty-eight, having become 280 years old. Perhaps his crotchety temperament suited the age of 280 better.
Whether he knew about Eui-jae’s boiling insides or not, the Gas mask fiddled with the black surface with his fingertips and added.
“Is it a problem? Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve used things like formal speech.”
Is this what they mean by being given more than asked for? Even though he got the formal speech he wanted, Eui-jae actually felt displeased. It felt like being a grandfather faced with a disobedient grandson who, when told to bow once, goes ahead and bows twice.
Cha Eui-jae forcibly calmed his mind and reminded himself.
I am a civilian now. A civilian. Not Hunter J. That person is a precious, esteemed Hunter, and I am a civilian. To find Ha-eun quickly, I am a civilian who absolutely needs his help. Remembering his purpose for coming out today, his head seemed to be cooling down bit by bit.
―Ha-eun has gone somewhere and is nowhere to be found, oh my. I don’t even know when she went out, without a mouse or bird knowing. The world these days is so scary, and she went out alone, oh dear…
But, in the time I’m arguing with this guy, couldn’t I have already found Ha-eun? Once that thought reached him, the cracks began to form in Eui-jae’s self-hypnosis. It felt like something was about to surge up from within.
I am not J now, I am a good, ordinary civili…
“Even twins born a minute apart distinguish between older and younger brother!”
In the end, Eui-jae’s old-fart power exploded.