By Zephyria “Even twins born one minute apart distinguish between older and younger siblings!”
Eui-jae, thoroughly infuriated, spoke vehemently, and a docile reply came from the Gas mask.
“Okay. I understand, Hyung.”
Hyung, he says. Cha Eui-jae looked up at the Gas mask with a dumbfounded expression at the sudden familial term.
“Suddenly Hyung?”
“If you don’t like it, will you tell me your name?”
“No.”
“Or should I call you Apron?”
“Neither.”
“Hmm, how about Ladle?”
“You just melted my Ladle.”
To every question, he answered no, so the Gas mask spoke in a dejected voice that didn’t get through at all.
“You won’t tell me your name. If you don’t like Apron or Ladle, the only thing left is Hyung.”
“No, just don’t call me anything.”
“Shall I call you Hyung?”
“I said don’t call me.”
“Yes, Hyung.”
The Gas mask smoothly settled on the term, pretending not to notice Cha Eui-jae’s dumbfounded expression. Eui-jae’s plan to cut off the conversation with him had completely failed. He had a gut feeling that if he responded any further, he would get caught up in this guy’s pace.
He could fight more, but Eui-jae had a lot to do. He had to find Ha-eun, and he had to finish preparing for the morning business before sunrise.
To ask if he would take responsibility if today’s business failed because of him, this guy looked like he wouldn’t even be able to trim green onions, let alone break the cutting board. There was no way the Gas mask could trim green onions, mince garlic, boil broth, drain blood from the meat, and boil it. He couldn’t see his face properly because of the Gas mask, but anyway, that was the case.
“Let’s stop wasting time by nitpicking. I’m only playing along this far.”
“I never did that.”
“Two questions are already over.”
“One was a lie, and you didn’t answer the other.”
“I said it wasn’t a lie. Why is it my fault when you didn’t believe me? And you didn’t make it a condition that I had to answer your questions, did you?”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, nitpicking for nitpicking. Eui-jae decided to act childishly to match the other person’s level. If the Gas mask showed any signs of being embarrassed or dumbfounded, he was going to go find Ha-eun right away.
But the Gas mask was looking at Eui-jae as if he was having so much fun with this situation. Just as he was about to yell at him for staring, his cell phone rang. It was the Gas mask’s cell phone. He slowly answered the phone while keeping his eyes fixed on Eui-jae.
“Hello.”
“……”
“…Ah, really? Come this way.”
“……”
The Gas mask smiled, unable to hide his good mood.
“Uh-huh, then I’ll send a guardian there.”
“……”
“Take good care of her. Don’t make her cry….”
After hanging up the phone, the Gas mask paused for a moment before speaking.
“Hyung, they found your niece.”
“Where is she?”
“The playground next to the church around here.”
It was close to the alley he was in now. If this guy’s presence had been a little less noticeable, he could have taken Ha-eun without having to run into him and waste time like this. The Gas mask continued to speak.
“They told me to bring her here… but she wants to stay there. I can’t force her to come when her guardian is here….”
Right? The Gas mask shrugged.
“Go ahead. Our kids will be next to her.”
“Okay.”
Eui-jae had actually turned his body halfway toward the church playground from the moment the Gas mask said it. He was just holding back from moving until the words were finished because it wasn’t polite to interrupt people. He waited diligently like a well-trained dog and turned around as soon as the words were finished.
Oops. Eui-jae took a few steps and glanced at the Gas mask.
“…Thanks.”
After giving the thank you he almost forgot, he hurriedly tried to move his feet, but the Gas mask lightly grabbed Eui-jae.
“Hyung.”
“What.”
“Lee Sa-young.”
“Who’s that?”
“My name.”
The eyes inside the Gas mask narrowed slightly.
“See you next time.”
No, let’s not see each other again. Thanks for finding Ha-eun, but I don’t want to run into a crazy bastard like you again. Eui-jae didn’t bother to return the greeting and hurried away. As he reached the end of the alley, Eui-jae glanced back, wondering if the guy was following him.
Lee Sa-young was standing there as before. Not moving at all.
“……”
And Eui-jae somehow felt uneasy about that sight.
Lee Sa-young stood there until the young man’s back completely disappeared. After waiting a little longer, he finally moved his feet after his presence had completely faded away.
The place he headed to was in front of the motionless corpse that was slumped on the floor. Sa-young fearlessly grabbed the hair of the corpse, which had thorns sticking out all over its body, and lifted it up.
“The frequency of appearances has been increasing lately….”
Chiiik… The hair began to burn from the part that touched his hand, and the flesh began to melt away black. Before long, the corpse disappeared without a trace, leaving only a small black puddle in its place.
A black cat lightly jumped onto the narrow alley wall that Sa-young had been facing. A round head popped out from the shadow of the cat licking its paw with its tongue. It was a man wearing sunglasses.
“Guild Leader.”
“Yeah.”
Lee Sa-young was not surprised by the sudden appearance of someone. He bent down and swept the puddle with his hand, and the black puddle, which was the last trace of the corpse, disappeared cleanly, leaving only a shallow dent. The man who crawled out of the shadow hugged the cat and said.
“Reporting in. The guardian has just arrived at the playground and joined the child. I have confirmed that the child greeted him happily, calling him uncle and hugging him.”
“Any other unusual activity?”
“No. Should we follow him just in case?”
“Follow him. Check where he’s going and report back immediately.”
“Understood.”
The man gently scratched the black cat’s soft fur with his hand and bowed to Sa-young.
“And the Vice Guild Leader has a message. He’s asking if a meeting at 11 a.m. the day after tomorrow regarding the Dungeon bidding is okay.”
Sa-young nodded as if he understood.
“Yes, then I will relay that.”
“Seo Min-gi.”
When the business was over, Min-gi, who had put the cat down on the floor, was about to wriggle into the cat’s shadow when he suddenly poked his head out.
“Yes? What’s wrong?”
“Let’s find one person with me.”
“Tell me.”
“Search the Awakened database and compile a report on guys who are over 25 years old, early 180s in height, and have an Awakening Grade of B or higher. Exclude anyone with a weird-looking face.”
“Yes? The Awakened database?”
Min-gi pointed to himself with his thumb.
“Me?”
“Why, can’t you do it?”
Awakened database. It is a database that stores information on all Awakened in Korea, which has been implemented in accordance with the Awakened Special Act for several years. Although the Awakened Management Bureau manages it directly, its existence itself is treated as a national secret, and most ordinary people do not even know of the existence of the database, and its security is very thorough.
And he’s telling me to hack into such a place? Seo Min-gi, Hunter name Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo, replied with a bewildered face.
“If you give me some time, I can hack into it….”
“Then hack into it.”
Sa-young acted as if it was no big deal, so why was he making such a fuss. Min-gi secretly wiped away tears at the thought of his future, which was already bleak at the thought of hacking into that highly secure place. Company life is not easy after all….
Mingi Seo nodded with slumped shoulders. But the vicious boss Sa-young did not stop giving instructions.
“And the elementary school student we just found. Did you find out her name?”
“Park Ha-eun, 2nd grade, 2nd class, Saetbyeol Elementary School.”
“Check her family relationships.”
Somehow, the instructions were getting more and more difficult. He might get chewed out if he kept asking questions, but Mingi Seo decided to ask anyway.
“Why the family relationships…?”
“……”
Lee Sa-young slowly put on black leather gloves and answered nonchalantly.
“I’ve become a little interested in the person who is her uncle.”
Grandmother and Ha-eun’s house was on the first floor of an old house. Only after finally taking Ha-eun, who was protesting that she wanted to play more at the playground, back home and confirming that Grandmother was scolding her stubborn granddaughter, Eui-jae was relieved. As he took a breather, Grandmother handed him barley tea and asked.
“Eui-jae, are you going to sleep over today?”
“Ah, no. I have to go to the store now and prepare for tomorrow’s business.”
“How’s business going? I should go out and help too….”
“Yes. It’s okay, Grandmother. You know I’m strong. I can handle it alone. How’s your leg these days?”
“Leg? It’s almost healed.”
A lie. Eui-jae silently watched Grandmother’s back as she walked toward her sleeping granddaughter. You can pretend to be okay as much as you want, but you can’t hide the fact that your center of gravity is unconsciously leaning on your uninjured leg.
Grandmother stroked Ha-eun’s head, who had quickly fallen asleep covered in a blanket in the living room, and sighed.
“That girl makes my heart flutter so many times. Why does she go out of the house at night? She doesn’t even know how scary the world is….”
“When she wakes up tomorrow, I’ll talk to her nicely, so don’t scold her too much.”
Eui-jae, who put down the cup with a laugh, glanced out the window. Something had been suspicious for a while. He didn’t feel any presence when he headed to the playground to pick up Ha-eun, so it seemed like he was being followed on the way home.
‘Did that guy order it?’
He wondered why he let him go so easily. Eui-jae still got up from his seat with a smiling face.
“Sleep well, Grandmother.”
“Are you leaving now?”
“Yes. But can I borrow the window?”
“Why the window?”
“I have something to do. I’ll call you tomorrow to see how you’re doing.”
Eui-jae held his shoes in both hands and headed to the window located on the opposite side of the front door.
Using a skill to hide his presence, Eui-jae contorted his body as much as possible and went outside. After quietly closing the window, he crumpled the shoes he had brought out and put them on haphazardly, then listened to his surroundings.
Two guys watching the front door, two guys waiting in the alley. Seeing that there was no particular movement… it seems like they didn’t notice that I escaped this way.
‘It’s okay to beat them all up… but the aftermath is annoying.’
Judging by the fact that they followed him right away, it’s a group with a command system. There’s no need to cause trouble and make enemies with Lee Sa-young and his group.
‘Let’s just… subdue them enough to lose consciousness.’
Eui-jae rubbed the back of his neck and let out a tired sigh. All Hunters have a duty to protect ordinary people. So, if those guys are humans with proper minds, they won’t touch Grandmother and Ha-eun.
But in extreme situations, laws and regulations play no role, and there is an even greater worst-case scenario beneath the worst-case scenario. So Eui-jae always moves assuming the worst. That was the case this time as well.
‘I have to give them a warning.’
He loosened his wrists with stretching and disappeared in an instant.