Chapter 22

Chapter 22. Back Alley (1)

The next day.

An email arrived at the Special Division from the Baeksu Guild.

“They really are going to tell us everything...?”

Oh Ha-seung stared at the email in disbelief.

The message from Baeksu contained an enormous amount of information about the current case.

Everything about Choi Yoon-seo.

Everything about Yang Chi-seok, the former Fourth Raid Team Leader.

Some of it could even be considered confidential Baeksu Guild information.

Yoo Min-a looked just as surprised.

“They said they'd cooperate unconditionally. I guess they meant it.”

“If that wasn't sincere, then I don't know what is.”

Choi Ji-woong muttered as though he'd expected this reaction.

There was no way anyone who saw Baek Hyeong-gyu that day could doubt his sincerity.

The man known as a raging lion in battle, and at his calmest still resembled a vicious beast, had behaved like a frightened puppy.

And the person responsible for reducing Baek Hyeong-gyu to that state...

Slurp.

Kim Si-hyeon was sitting in one corner of the Special Division office eating cup noodles.

He ate with such solemn concentration that the team members stared blankly for a moment.

“But why did he react like that?”

Yoo Min-a asked Choi Ji-woong after setting some kimchi beside Kim Si-hyeon.

“Hunter Kim Si-hyeon is hiding his killing intent really well now. Even I'm mostly fine around him.”

“Because he's a beast.”

“You mean Hunter Kim Si-hyeon?”

“No! What are you talking about?! Obviously I mean Baek Hyeong-gyu!”

Terrified that Kim Si-hyeon might misunderstand, Choi Ji-woong immediately corrected himself and glanced over.

Fortunately, Kim Si-hyeon was too focused on the combination of kimchi and cup noodles to notice.

“Watch what you say. I meant Baek Hyeong-gyu is like a beast, not Hunter Kim Si-hyeon.”

“Oh!”

“He's sensitive to killing intent because he's a Hunter who uses it himself. We're the same.”

Most Special Division Hunters could use some degree of killing intent.

That was exactly why being around Kim Si-hyeon had been so difficult.

Even now, their skin tingled.

Kim Si-hyeon was suppressing his killing intent enough that they no longer needed Illusion of Death.

But his mere presence still kept their bodies tense.

“Baek Hyeong-gyu is S-Rank, and because of the nature of his skills, he probably senses killing intent even more strongly than we do.”

There was a reason he was called the Raging Lion.

“Anyway, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon really accomplished something huge.”

Choi Ji-woong smiled with satisfaction.

“Guild Master Baek Hyeong-gyu got so scared that he promised to cooperate with anything involving the Special Division.”

Kim Si-hyeon had already gained a great deal from his first mission.

Whether he knew it or not...

Slurp.

He remained completely absorbed in his cup noodles.

“...But something about these records is strange.”

“What?”

Choi Ji-woong, who had been reviewing Baeksu's files, suddenly muttered.

Yoo Min-a and Oh Ha-seung leaned closer.

“Choi Yoon-seo? He did get fired pretty quickly.”

“Choi Yoon-seo already told us everything he knows and is begging us to spare him. Not him. I'm talking about Yang Chi-seok.”

Baeksu Guild's Fourth Raid Team.

Choi Ji-woong had thought something was strange from the moment Baek Hyeong-gyu mentioned a Fourth Raid Team Leader.

I've never even seen a Fourth Raid Team.

Part of the Special Division's work included inspecting Guilds.

That meant Choi Ji-woong knew most major Guild Hunters by face.

But he'd never met anyone from Baeksu's Fourth Raid Team.

And someone important enough to lead Baeksu Guild's Fourth Raid Team should have at least some reputation.

Yet even Choi Ji-woong, a man who practically lived at work, had never heard the name Yang Chi-seok before.

Of course, high-level Guilds sometimes hired and fired people quickly, as in Choi Yoon-seo's case.

So it was possible Choi Ji-woong had simply missed him.

Still...

“...Check the Association records.”

Choi Ji-woong's expression became serious.

“I think there's something here.”

There was a reason he had become the youngest Team Leader in the Special Division.

Once he bit onto something, he never let go.

He was the same man who had eventually gotten Kim Si-hyeon's signature despite everyone else being terrified of him.

People had a common misconception.

They believed instant noodles never expired.

Once, I had believed that too.

But instant noodles definitely had an expiration date.

After several years...

Or several decades...

The noodles smelled of stale oil and left a disgusting texture in your mouth.

So I could say with confidence...

Slurp.

Cup noodles that hadn't expired deserved to be called fresh noodles.

Eating them with kimchi tasted like heaven.

It would've been nice to eat together, but everyone else seemed busy with the Baeksu Guild case.

That Baek Hyeong-gyu was an unusual person.

An S-Rank Hunter.

Guild Master of Baeksu, one of the Top Ten Guilds.

He'd attacked me like he wanted to kill me the moment we met.

So I initially judged him to be dangerous.

But by the end, he was as docile as a puppy.

That was why I hadn't killed him.

It seems like his reaction was because of me.

Baek Hyeong-gyu hadn't attacked because he wanted to kill us.

He had attacked because he wanted to survive.

Considering he was still terrified even after I suppressed my killing intent, he must have extremely sharp senses.

Still, I had one reason to be grateful to him.

“It's all thanks to you, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon!”

Choi Ji-woong had praised me.

Everything seemed to have gone smoothly because Baek Hyeong-gyu became frightened of me.

Thanks to that, I could enjoy my cup noodle break without feeling guilty.

Should I eat one more?

Seeing the huge stack of cup noodles in the office made me happy.

So many fresh noodles.

There were all kinds too.

I was deciding between black-bean noodles and spicy chicken noodles.

Eventually, I poured hot water into both.

Right then...

“Damn it! How much did they take to pull something like this?!”

Choi Ji-woong shouted.

I flinched and quickly lowered the cup noodles.

Was eating two at once going too far?

I turned around awkwardly.

Choi Ji-woong slammed his hand against the desk.

“How much money did they take to do something like this?!”

“This makes no sense. He had to be insane.”

“Crazy...”

One by one, the team members cursed while staring at the screen.

So they weren't talking about me.

Trying to look completely calm, I asked,

“...What happened?”

“Ah, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon.”

Choi Ji-woong sighed.

“It's Yang Chi-seok. The Association's records don't match Baeksu's records.”

“...?”

“We think he falsified his identity.”

Falsified his identity?

“How was that possible? At a Guild as large as Baeksu, faking your identity shouldn't be easy.”

“We can't fully trust Baeksu either. Baek Hyeong-gyu might've hidden something.”

“Then what do we do? We can't just wait for Baek Hyeong-gyu to capture him.”

“Did Baek Hyeong-gyu do something wrong?”

At my question, Choi Ji-woong hesitated.

Then shook his head.

“...We don't know yet. For now, I don't think we can leave it entirely to Baeksu.”

He continued.

“If Yang Chi-seok and the Baeksu Guild deliberately falsified records, we don't know what they're planning. And a Gate they transferred illegally changed into an abnormal Gate.”

I later learned that abnormal Gates weren't actually this common.

Choi Ji-woong seemed to suspect that the Gate's mutation had something to do with me.

I disagreed.

Inside the Gate I'd entered as a mercenary, I'd felt Plague's energy from the boss.

That was also why I had viewed Baek Hyeong-gyu with suspicion.

If Baek Hyeong-gyu had transferred that Gate, I thought he might somehow be connected to Plague.

But when I met him...

He was just a frightened puppy.

“Can abnormal Gates be created intentionally?”

“We don't know. But if a Hunter falsified his identity, he's definitely trying to do something. Something involving Gates.”

Choi Ji-woong stood.

“Ha-seung. Put out a search for Yang Chi-seok.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“Min-a, monitor Baeksu.”

“Yes.”

“And I'll report this to Director Park Min-ho. Hunter Kim Si-hyeon...”

I stared at him.

Choi Ji-woong's eyes darted around quickly before he said,

“...You can go home for today. There's nothing you can do right now anyway.”

The team emptied the office in moments.

“...My noodles.”

The two cups I'd filled with hot water earlier were already swollen and soggy.

Even soggy fresh noodles still tasted far richer than rotten old ones.

But for some reason, they tasted bitter.

Do they still not trust me?

I sat at the computer while holding my noodles.

The file Choi Ji-woong had opened was still on the screen.

“Name... Yang Chi-seok.”

I couldn't just sit here.

Waiting around would never help me find Plague.

“...Some gambling debt.”

I quickly memorized the information.

“This should be fine for a little while.”

They told me to go home anyway.

I stood and headed toward one of the locations mentioned in the file.

Choi Yoon-seo was finally allowed to return home after being investigated by the Association Special Division.

It had been more than a week of intense questioning.

It was only a week in reality.

To him, it felt like decades.

...I avoided a heavier punishment than expected.

Transferring Gate clearing rights was illegal.

But it was something the Association tolerated to an extent.

Appearing Gates had to be cleared within a certain period.

If the assigned party couldn't clear one in time, handing it to someone else was often the only way to prevent a Gate Break.

The porter contract wasn't a huge problem either.

Giving a porter a contribution-based contract was technically fraud.

But it wasn't considered a serious crime.

It was a minor offense that could be settled with a fine.

And before leaving the Gate, Choi Yoon-seo had even changed his position and offered to give all the rewards away.

But there was another reason his punishment had been so light.

“W-Who the hell is that person?”

“Who?”

“That man! Hunter Kim Si-hyeon!”

“Do you have two lives?”

“What?”

“You're asking about him. I thought maybe you wanted to die.”

“N-No! I'm sorry!”

“Hmm. Actually, now that I think about it, you can probably just leave.”

“What? Why all of a sudden...?”

The Special Division Hunter looked at the confused Choi Yoon-seo with pity.

“You tried to scam Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, right?”

“Y-Yes. But then shouldn't you punish me even more? He seems like someone important.”

“Exactly. Even if we don't punish you, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon will...”

“What? What do you mean?! Punish me! Please punish me!”

“Get him out of here. And don't go around talking about Hunter Kim Si-hyeon. Unless you don't value your life.”

And just like that, the investigation ended and he returned home.

But now he was even more terrified.

I got involved with the one person in the world I absolutely shouldn't have!

Even the infamous Special Division pitied him.

The Special Division was famous for finding crimes that didn't even exist.

If even they decided punishment wasn't necessary...

That meant whatever future awaited him would be far worse.

“How... How did this happen?”

Rock bottom.

That was where Choi Yoon-seo felt he was standing.

And it was exactly what his future looked like.

“I need to run. But where? There's nowhere I can escape!”

Then an idea came to him.

“Prison! I'll go to prison! Surely he won't come kill me while I'm in prison!”

He decided prison was safer.

He would go back to the Special Division.

Cry.

Beg.

Ask them to imprison him.

They already felt sorry for him.

Maybe they would agree.

Then he could stay in prison for around three years.

Surely that monster would forget about him by then.

Forget about the idiot who tried to scam him.

Then...

Ding-dong!

The bell rang.

Choi Yoon-seo nearly stopped breathing.

Then he remembered he'd ordered food before coming home.

Just leave it outside! Why are you ringing the bell and scaring me?!

“Leave it at the door.”

Ding-dong!

“I said leave it outside!”

Ding-dong!

The bell rang again.

Annoyed, Choi Yoon-seo stormed to the door and opened it.

“Fuck! Can't you understand words? I said leave it— Huh?”

“Choi Yoon-seo.”

The Grim Reaper stood there.

A Grim Reaper named Kim Si-hyeon.