Chapter 28. King of the Back Alley (3)
After Kim Si-hyeon withdrew his killing intent...
Kim Kyung-il's voice rang out as though Park Se-min's corpse lying on the ground didn't even exist.
“I didn't betray the Back Alley! On the contrary, this man is the true king of the Back Alley!”
He shouted once again.
“He is the Dark King!”
At those words, Kim Si-hyeon and Choi Yoon-seo both froze.
“...Dark King?”
Even the approaching Special Division Hunters stopped.
“Dark King?”
“You mean... the person who created the Back Alleys?”
“What is he talking about? Isn't that guy Special Division?”
“That's a combat suit. It even has the Association emblem.”
“That!”
Kim Kyung-il shouted with half-crazed eyes.
“The Dark King slit a Special Division Hunter's throat and took it as a trophy!”
“What?!”
“After witnessing that killing intent, you still think he's Special Division?!”
The Back Alley Hunters began murmuring among themselves.
If some random Hunter had shouted it, everyone would've dismissed him as insane.
But this was Kim Kyung-il.
A veteran who had survived in the Back Alley for more than twenty years.
A familiar face to everyone there.
And more importantly...
The killing intent Kim Si-hyeon had unleashed moments ago was powerful enough that calling him the Dark King didn't even sound absurd.
Maybe because traces of that terror were still fresh...
The Back Alley Hunters chose to believe Kim Si-hyeon was the Dark King.
That was easier.
It was far more comforting to believe the man who killed Park Se-min in one strike was their legendary ancestor, the Dark King...
Rather than some terrifying Special Division Hunter.
“The Dark King!”
“The Dark King has returned!”
While excitement spread through the crowd, Kim Si-hyeon himself merely tilted his head.
“Over there! The Special Division dogs!”
Kim Kyung-il, swept up in the atmosphere, shouted even louder.
His finger pointed toward the Special Division Hunters.
Nobody knew why the Special Division, which usually ignored the Back Alley, had apparently all shown up today.
But nobody had enough composure left to think rationally about that.
“Capture them and offer them to the Dark King!”
“Offer them!”
“Sacrifice them!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
It was madness.
Hundreds of Hunters.
People who had struggled desperately just to survive in the Back Alley.
Their killing intent gathered into one enormous mass and began closing around the Special Division.
Then...
“Stop.”
Kim Si-hyeon's voice rang out.
It wasn't only his voice.
The red light he had just withdrawn...
WHOOOOOOM!
...erupted once more.
Time seemed to freeze.
Kim Si-hyeon moved through the stillness.
He stopped in front of the Special Division.
Gulp.
Even they looked tense.
Nobody understood what was happening.
And while feeling Kim Si-hyeon's killing intent at this distance...
Dark King?
Could he really be...?
Honestly... maybe?
Even the Special Division Hunters briefly wondered if Kim Si-hyeon might truly be the legendary criminal Hunter.
Then he said,
“I captured Yang Chi-seok.”
“...?”
“...You seemed to need him.”
Kim Si-hyeon walked past the Special Division with Yang Chi-seok slung over his shoulder.
At last, his true destination became clear.
Slide.
The Special Division bus.
Kim Si-hyeon opened the door, climbed aboard, then stuck his head back out and looked at them.
“What are you doing? Aren't we leaving?”
“Uh... Yes!”
“We're coming!”
The Special Division Hunters immediately boarded the bus despite having only just arrived.
Vroooom!
The bus drove away.
Choi Yoon-seo had quietly taken the opportunity to get on as well.
That left only one person behind.
“...You said he was the Dark King?”
“Kim Kyung-il!”
Kim Kyung-il stood alone.
“...Huh? This isn't right.”
What?
Was Kim Si-hyeon not the Dark King?
Why did he board a Special Division bus and leave with them?
The madness that had surged through the crowd now began changing direction.
Toward Kim Kyung-il.
Back Alley Hunters drew their weapons.
But Kim Kyung-il hadn't survived twenty years here by being easy prey.
“You idiots!”
His eyes looked completely unhinged as he shouted confidently.
“Can't you understand what you just saw?”
“...?”
“What are we supposed to understand?”
“The Dark King has returned! For some unknown reason, he appears to be moving with Special Division Hunters, but that's... that's the next stage of his plan!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Does that even make sense?”
“Shut up!”
Kim Kyung-il's presence surged.
“Remember the killing intent he released!”
“...!”
“That is undeniable proof that he is the Dark King!”
Kim Kyung-il stepped onto Park Se-min's corpse.
“From this moment onward, the Ganghwa Back Alley will await the Dark King's return!”
Under normal circumstances, it would've sounded absurd.
The desperate nonsense of a lunatic trying to survive.
But everyone there had experienced it personally.
“...The Dark King will return!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
The overwhelming killing intent that had covered all of Ganghwa.
A presence built from more deaths than anyone could count.
Kim Si-hyeon had caused a major incident.
Slurp.
He was currently eating cup noodles inside the Special Division building.
“H-Hunter Kim Si-hyeon... May I have one too?”
“Sure.”
With Kim Si-hyeon's permission, Choi Yoon-seo happily began pouring hot water into a cup of noodles beside him.
Choi Yoon-seo had been interrogated again after the incident.
He had complained that he was the one who'd been kidnapped, so why was he being questioned?
But...
“...”
The Special Division Hunters watching the scene didn't know what to say.
Everything felt unreal.
Even the Special Division couldn't casually enter a place like the Back Alley.
Yet they had personally witnessed Park Se-min, one of its rulers, die.
And then watched people scream about the return of the Dark King.
On top of that...
“Yes. It's Yang Chi-seok. I don't know whether that's his real name, but he's definitely the same man who served as a Baeksu Guild Raid Team Leader.”
Kim Si-hyeon had entered the Back Alley alone and successfully captured Yang Chi-seok.
How were they supposed to summarize this situation?
Then...
“May I eat one too?”
