Chapter 107

Chapter 107

Some time later.

Pitter-patter.

For several days, a heavy, persistent rain had been soaking the streets of Seoul at night.

The rain alternated between heavy and light, tapping against the large glass windows of Full Moon Restaurant.

It was 11 p.m.

Normally, the restaurant would have been filled with the lively voices of Hunters stopping by for a late meal.

But today, perhaps because of the terrible weather, the customers had stopped coming much earlier than usual.

"Aaaaaah! It's over! It's finally over!"

"Wooohooo!"

Cheers erupted from Kang Jae-min and Lee Yu-han in the kitchen.

They pulled off their rubber gloves and collapsed beside the sink.

"Seriously, how can there be this many dishes to wash? We must have served more than a hundred plates of Spicy Cream Jeyuk Rice Bowl at lunch alone. I thought my fingerprints were going to wear away from scrubbing off all that jeyuk sauce."

Kang Jae-min looked miserably at his palms.

The tough hands of a B-rank Hunter had become wrinkled from being soaked in water.

Lee Yu-han chuckled and teased him.

"Come on, Hunter Kang Jae-min. Aren't you exaggerating a little? You were beating monsters to death with your bare hands in an AX-rank dungeon not long ago, and now you're complaining about washing dishes?"

"You don't understand. At least monsters die when you hit them. But this damn grease keeps coming back no matter how much you scrub it! It's the real immortal monster."

The two had grown so close that they were practically friends.

Hearing Kang Jae-min's serious argument, Hong Man-gi burst out laughing.

He was putting away the last remaining container of broth when he spoke.

"Good work, everyone. It's raining, and the customers stopped coming early, so why don't we have a little staff dinner?"

"Oh! A staff dinner? What's on the menu, Chef?"

Kang Jae-min sprang up from the floor like a coiled spring.

"Since it's raining, how about pajeon and makgeolli? We can use plenty of the leftover seafood and green onions."

"Wow! As expected of our Captain... No, our Chef! A man of culture! I'm all for it!"

"Me too! If it's pajeon made by you, Hunter, I could keep eating until my stomach bursts! I'd welcome anything and be grateful for it!"

Lee Yu-han began arranging the chairs with sparkling eyes.

Just then, Poming, who had been floating around the ceiling inspecting the cobwebs in the corners, quickly came down.

"What about Poming? Don't I get anything? I can't drink makgeolli!"

"I'll make you a special mulberry ade. With slime jelly in it."

"Waaaah! How exciting! Chef, you're the best!"

Poming affectionately rubbed her soft cheek against Hong Man-gi's.

The restaurant was filled with warmth.

There was no trace of danger or crisis.

Cold rain was falling outside, but inside Full Moon Restaurant, the sweet rest that came after a hard day's work and the warmth of companionship made everything feel cozy.

Kang Jae-min hummed as he took bottles of makgeolli out of the refrigerator, while Lee Yu-han set out the chopsticks.

Hong Man-gi generously coated a frying pan with oil and poured in the batter.

Sizzle.

The sound of oil bubbling in the pan mixed with the rain outside, making the night feel especially pleasant.

It was then that Kang Jae-min, while passing around the cups of makgeolli, suddenly asked as though something had come to mind.

"By the way, Chef, hasn't everything been a little too quiet lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"Those bastards from the Association. Team Leader Cha Mu-jin... This silence feels like the calm before a storm."

Hong Man-gi calmly answered as he flipped the pajeon.

"It's a good thing if they're quiet. Besides, Master Song Hwa-rin has been taking such a strong stand for us."

"Well, that's true. The Mad Tyrant publicly declared that she'd kill anyone who laid a hand on her personal physician. Who would dare touch you unless they'd completely lost their minds?"

Kang Jae-min laughed heartily.

Lee Yu-han shuddered and spoke.

"We still need to be careful. That man, Cha Mu-jin, there was something unusual about his eyes. They were cold and unpleasant, like a snake's... Ugh, I get goosebumps just thinking about him. He's the kind of person I really don't want to meet again."

Hong Man-gi smiled bitterly as he transferred the finished pajeon onto a plate.

'That's right. He's not the kind of man who would simply give up.'

Cha Mu-jin.

From what Hong Man-gi had seen, he was the sort of person who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

His current silence was probably not a sign of surrender but an indication that he was preparing something much bigger.

But at least for this moment, Hong Man-gi wanted to set those heavy worries aside.

"All right, it's ready. Come and eat. It won't taste good once it gets cold."

Hong Man-gi placed the steaming pajeon in the center of the table.

The rich aroma of cooking oil filled the restaurant.

"Thank you for the meal!"

The three men and one spirit gathered around the table and were just about to pick up their chopsticks.

[CRAAAACK! RUMBLE! BOOOOM!]

An enormous thunderclap erupted outside the restaurant.

It was so loud that the building itself seemed to tremble slightly.

"That scared me! Looks like the rain's going to get even heavier."

Kang Jae-min grumbled as he looked out the window.

In the darkness, rain was pounding against the glass as though it were trying to break through.

It was at that moment.

[Sssssss...]

The atmosphere inside the restaurant began to change subtly.

The warmth that had filled the room just moments earlier gradually cooled and disappeared.

A damp, unpleasant smell began rising from somewhere.

Hong Man-gi's eyes narrowed sharply.

'This is...'

It smelled like an old sewer, or perhaps the strong stench of blood that could only be found in a slaughterhouse.

Poming was the first to react.

She covered her nose and hid behind Hong Man-gi's shoulder.

"Sniff, sniff... Chef, don't you smell something strange all of a sudden? Ugh, it smells rotten... No, it's blood! There's so much of it!"

Hong Man-gi stopped moving his chopsticks.

A chill crept down his spine.

'This feeling. It's not unfamiliar...'

It was the same cold sensation he had experienced whenever the many souls he had encountered came to visit him.

However,

'This one feels different... Rather than sadness or lingering regret, it feels much heavier and more overwhelming... What is this? This feeling...'

As Hong Man-gi thought about it, his eyes suddenly widened.

'Resentment?'

And an unbearable hunger.

Just then,

the unlocked restaurant door began to open slowly, even though there was no wind.

"...Welco...?"

Kang Jae-min instinctively stood to greet the visitor, but his voice trailed off.

The door was wide open, yet there was no one standing there.

"What the? Was it the wind?"

Kang Jae-min tilted his head and was about to sit down again.

But,

[Sssssss...]

There was something very wrong with the air flowing in through the open door.

A horrible, nauseating smell mingled with the scent of rain.

It was like the stench of an old sewer, or the intense smell of blood found in a slaughterhouse.

Lee Yu-han covered his nose and frowned.

"Ugh... What is that smell?"

"Chef, I think we should close the door. There's some strange smell coming from outside..."

Just as Kang Jae-min was about to walk toward the door,

"Stop."

Hong Man-gi's low voice brought him to a halt.

"Huh?"

Kang Jae-min looked back at him in confusion.

Hong Man-gi's gaze was fixed on the seemingly empty doorway.

[THUD.]

A vibration shook the floor.

An enormous figure, seemingly twice the size of an ordinary person, stood there.

Its body was so large that it almost completely filled the doorway.

But that once-imposing body was now in a terrible state.

Its gleaming armor was gone, and only a few pieces of tattered leather clothing barely covered its body.

The exposed skin was covered in dark blue bruises and deep cuts.

Red blood mixed with rainwater dripped onto the floor, forming puddles that could not be seen.

But the most horrifying part was its abdomen.

The enormous stomach it had always been so proud of, the stomach that had devoured every delicacy the world had to offer, now had a gaping hole in it.

It looked as though an enormous spear or claw had pierced straight through it.

The wound was so terrible that its internal organs were visible, and cold air passed freely through the opening.

His name was...

'...Bellok?'

The ruler of the Shadow Market.

The monster who had once been an A-rank Hunter, Gluttonous Bellok.

Not long ago, Hong Man-gi had obtained the materials he needed from this overwhelming predator.

But now, that same man stood before him as a soul in a miserable condition.

There was not the slightest trace of life in his body.

Instead, the cold, bluish aura characteristic of the dead surrounded his enormous figure.

And then there were his eyes.

The eyes that had once gleamed with greed were now hollow and unfocused.

Yet deep within that darkness, a single red flame continued to burn.

It was an unbearable hunger.

A hunger that could not be satisfied even after death, one that was eating away at his soul.

[Step... Step...]

Bellok's soul staggered into the restaurant.

Kang Jae-min and Lee Yu-han looked around, unable to understand what was happening.

"Chef? What's wrong? There's nothing there..."

"Did something come inside? It suddenly got so cold... Wait, don't tell me...?"

Bellok collapsed into the chair opposite Hong Man-gi.

[Creeeak.]

The apparently empty chair creaked under an invisible weight, making Lee Yu-han flinch in surprise.

"So something really did come in..."

Lee Yu-han retreated toward the kitchen.

Kang Jae-min also swallowed hard and stayed beside Hong Man-gi.

"Chef... Right now... In that chair..."

Instead of answering, Hong Man-gi raised his hand to calm them down.

His gaze remained fixed solely on Bellok.

Bellok looked down at the pajeon on the table.

Through the hole in his abdomen, the emptiness inside his stomach was plainly visible.

It was an eternal emptiness that could never be filled, no matter how much he ate.

He raised his head and looked at Hong Man-gi.

After spitting bloody saliva onto the floor, he formed a sinister smile.

"Heh, heh..."

His voice was rough and grating, like metal scraping against metal.

It sounded as though it were rising from the deepest part of an abyss.

It was the voice of the dead, one that only Hong Man-gi could hear clearly.

"You little low-rank chef."

"Look at me... What the hell has happened to me?"

He pointed at the hole in his abdomen and chuckled.

His laughter contained self-mockery, anger, and profound sadness.

"I came here hoping to get another delicious meal... But it looks like I've ended up needing food for my own funeral."

At those words, Hong Man-gi bit his lip.

'He's dead...'

Bellok, the ruler of the Shadow Market, had returned as a dead man despite all his extraordinary power.

The smell of rain and blood mingled inside the restaurant.

Hong Man-gi looked at him and slowly opened his mouth.