Chapter 453: Do It for Me (1)

“Haa.”

Choi Kanghyuk let out a sigh and cleared away his distracting thoughts.

He could prepare for problems that might arise later when the time came.

For now, he needed to focus on the problem in front of him.

And there was one enormous headache still lying before Choi Kanghyuk.

The villain named Seo Yonggwang.

'Do I kill this bastard? Or keep him alive?'

It was not because he had an aversion to killing.

He had served in the special forces and had even reached the very top of the turbulent martial world.

The problem was this.

This was the modern world.

Korea, in particular, was a country where one could go to prison even for killing in self-defense.

Of course, even if he killed this man inside the gate, there would be no evidence left behind.

The bastard had been roaming around using stealth in the first place.

He was a criminal whose traces neither the police nor the Hunter Association had managed to find.

However.

'If I kill him and keep my mouth shut, the situation will not improve.'

The crimes he had committed would remain unsolved.

Civilians would continue living in fear.

The victims’ stolen property would remain missing.

And the Association President would keep taking the blame.

“Wait. This whole rumor started because I got involved with the Association in the first place.”

Rumors about qi treatment were spreading.

The flies would never stop swarming around him.

But blaming the Association President would also be absurd.

After all, the Association President was a good man who had been working for public safety and the protection of civilians in Korea.

Choi Kanghyuk considered the various circumstances for a moment.

Then he scratched his head roughly and nodded.

“Right. Instead of wasting time using my head over something like this, I should spend another hour lifting iron.”

Most problems could be solved if one had a strong enough body.

Had he not already experienced and proven that personally in the martial world?

He could simply dump this sort of concern onto someone else.

And if everything went completely wrong, he could deal with it physically when the time came.

That was all the more reason to lift iron diligently every day.

Having reached a decision, Choi Kanghyuk immediately began walking.

Toward the outside of the gate.

After leaving the gate, Choi Kanghyuk immediately took out his phone.

He searched through his contacts for a moment, then called the number saved under [Association President Kang Youngchan].

***

Around midnight.

A vehicle sped down the roads of Seoul.

Vroooom.

A fairly famous figure in Korea sat behind the wheel.

Association President Kang Youngchan.

It had been a very long time since he had personally driven a car.

He could hardly summon his secretary at such a late hour and make him drive.

On top of that, there was a reason he had to go alone.

A few minutes earlier, the Association President’s phone had vibrated just as he had fallen asleep.

The caller was Hunter Choi Kanghyuk.

—There is something confidential I need to discuss with you. I would prefer it if you came alone, Association President.

To the Association President, Choi Kanghyuk was practically a benefactor.

A man who had never contacted him regarding anything outside official matters had suddenly called him.

Then surely there had to be a reason.

“I will get ready and leave immediately.”

The Association President had washed his face with cold water to wake himself, dressed, and immediately left his home.

A short while later, his vehicle stopped in front of a building.

The Association President stepped out and headed straight inside.

When he reached the gym where Hunter Choi Kanghyuk stayed, Choi Kanghyuk was waiting for him.

“I apologize for contacting you so late.”

“Not at all. You must have had a reason, did you not?”

It was also a question asking what that reason was.

But Choi Kanghyuk did not immediately get to the point.

“Let us talk inside first.”

With that, Choi Kanghyuk walked ahead.

Toward the office door in one corner of the gym.

Though puzzled, the Association President willingly followed him.

Choi Kanghyuk threw the office door wide open.

An entirely unexpected sight appeared before him.

“A gate? Ah! Did you summon me because a gate opened inside your office?”

The Association President assumed it must have only just appeared.

It had actually appeared long ago, and Choi Kanghyuk had been hiding it for several months.

Such a thought never occurred to him.

It was far too unreasonable a sequence of events.

Instead of answering the Association President’s question, Choi Kanghyuk pointed toward the gate entrance.

“Let us enter together first. I will explain inside.”

It was still full of mysteries.

Did he mean that the two of them should clear the gate together?

Did he want to hide this gate from outsiders?

Why go that far?

Why?

Could they not simply clear it?

Questions flooded his mind, but the Association President willingly followed Choi Kanghyuk.

And the sight that appeared before him left him speechless.

It was not because of the tranquil forest illuminated by soft moonlight.

“.......”

Amid that peaceful scenery, a man dressed in flamboyant clothes lay restrained with his hands and feet bound.

“Hunter Choi Kanghyuk? I believe I truly need an explanation now.”

“First, that is the man who has been appearing frequently in the news lately. The villain who used stealth to steal and murder people.”

“Th-that villain? Why in the world is he here? Do not tell me you personally went out and captured him!?”

“I did capture him, but I was not the one who found him.”

“???”

“He came here on his own. To this gym.”

“....... The gym?”

Had he wanted to exercise or something?

An absurd thought crossed his mind.

Fortunately, Choi Kanghyuk answered immediately.

“He said he planned to capture me and sell me.”

“You? Why in the world?”

“Because of the qi treatment. Apparently, he thought he could sell me for a great deal of money to foreign criminal organizations or rebel forces.”

“!!”

The Association President’s eyes widened on their own.

He was not a fool either.

He had simply failed to consider such a possibility because he had always prioritized the safety of the public above everything else.

The Association President immediately bowed his head to Choi Kanghyuk.

“I am sorry, Hunter Choi Kanghyuk. I never imagined that something I pushed forward thoughtlessly would bring this kind of harm upon you.”

“It is fine. You did not do it intentionally, Association President.”

“Even if it was not intentional, this happened because of my own greed.”

Choi Kanghyuk concealed a smile inwardly.

If the Association President apologized first, the conversation that followed would become much easier.

“So I would like to ask you for a few favors.”

“Speak freely. I will do everything within my power to help.”

“First, there is the matter of how to handle that man. It would be right to bring him before a court and have him receive legal punishment, but there are many complications.”

The Association President showed a bitter expression.

Villains.

People who used their awakened abilities to commit crimes.

Punishing them had been a headache from the very beginning.

“You are right. Even if we send him to prison, what meaning would that have when we do not know when he might escape?”

There was no way to suppress an ability.

Furthermore, prison guards or other inmates could become caught in the ability and be killed or seriously injured.

There were rumors of special artifacts capable of sealing abilities.

However, obtaining such items merely for criminals like that was absurdly expensive.

That left only one method.

They would have to inflict injuries severe enough to make it impossible for the villain to use his ability, just like what had happened to the retired hunters.

Such a thing was unthinkable in a modern constitutional state that respected even the human rights of criminals.

In the end, Korea had no choice but to establish a prison exclusively for awakened people.

Unlike ordinary inmates, they were kept in restraints covering their entire bodies.

Additionally, hunters dispatched by the Association took turns standing guard in case of an emergency.

It was an enormous waste of manpower and tax money.

It had been around five years since awakened people first appeared.

For now, the number of imprisoned villains was not particularly large.

But if that number continued increasing, it would inevitably become impossible to manage in the future.

However, that was not the issue Choi Kanghyuk had in mind.

“That is also a problem, but there is no way to silence this man. Rumors about the qi treatment and this gate will continue spreading.”

“....... I understand the qi treatment, but what do you mean by rumors about this gate? A gate can simply be cleared and removed, can it not?”

“The thing is, the qi treatment is only possible because this gate exists.”

“???”

That was the greatest reason Choi Kanghyuk had revealed the gate’s existence to the Association President.

It would be impossible to keep hiding it alone no matter how hard he tried.

The flies would continue swarming around him.

Therefore, he needed someone else to draw the aggro in his place.

Just as he tanked from the front inside a gate.

Of course, there was a possibility the Association President might refuse to cooperate.

'I can think about that when it happens.'

Trying to consider every possibility only gave him a pointless headache without producing an answer.

So he planned to act first and deal with the consequences later.

After all, if the Association President refused to cooperate, hiding the gate would become impossible anyway.

It was a simple calculation that nothing would change even if he stubbornly tried to conceal it alone.

Moreover, he had also thought of a method, in his own way, to secure the Association President’s cooperation.

“Qi treatment literally requires qi. Extremely clear and pure energy. But the air in Korea is far too turbid. In contrast, the air inside this gate is exceptionally clear and clean.”

Because he possessed the excellent bait known as qi treatment.

“....... Are you saying that all the qi treatments you have performed until now were carried out using energy brought from this gate?”

“Yes.”

“Even the qi treatments performed at the Association?”

“Yes.”

“The treatment you gave Kim Jicheol and all the others before I became involved as well?”

“Yes.”

“....... Then how many months has it been since this gate opened?”

Choi Kanghyuk answered in an indifferent tone.

“I believe it has been around two or three months.”

“Y-you left a gate unattended for more than two months!?”

“Ah! I thoroughly inspected it from the first day, but there was not even a trace of a monster. So I decided to leave it alone for the time being. Hahaha. I suspect this place may also be a kind of abnormal gate.”

Would that not make it even more dangerous?

The words stopped at the tip of the Association President’s tongue.

Choi Kanghyuk continued speaking with a confident expression regardless.

“In any case, qi treatment is impossible without this gate. The problem is that if this fact becomes known, the situation will likely become quite complicated. Ah! It would also be troublesome if rumors about qi treatment continued spreading.”

After finishing his explanation, Choi Kanghyuk silently stared at the Association President.

His eyes said that he did not know what to do, so the Association President should handle it somehow.

The so-called ‘do it for me’ strategy.

How long did the Association President silently meet Choi Kanghyuk’s gaze?

The Association President sighed, raised both hands, and rubbed his dry face.

Countless thoughts and worries crossed his mind.

“Haa.”

The Association President lowered his hands.

His face looked as though he had aged several years in only a few dozen seconds.

“First, let me ask just one thing.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Are you absolutely certain that man truly is the notorious villain from the recent incidents?”

“Yes. He is. He seemed so delighted by killing people that he proudly bragged about it himself.”

Then Choi Kanghyuk remembered something and continued.

“Ah! He also said he had a partner. Apparently, that partner laundered the money he stole. He also said the partner knew a great deal about something called the dark web.”

For some reason, the Association President’s exhausted face brightened slightly.

“If we capture that partner, we may be able to locate other villains in Korea as well.”

“Yes. That is correct. I will also give you the address where that partner is staying.”

The Association President tilted his head.

“How do you know the address, Hunter Choi?”

“....... Ah! Because that bastard is an attention seeker! Did I not say that he even revealed himself to be the villain? He kept spouting all kinds of pointless nonsense throughout the fight.”

Seo Yonggwang, who lay restrained on the ground, merely blinked.

'Me? When?'

He had only spoken because of the torture.

He had never volunteered any of it himself.

Except for the fact that he was a murderer.

Unfortunately for him, the Association President was not looking at Seo Yonggwang.

“That is fortunate, at least. If he truly is that villain, then it is not as though there is no solution.”

Choi Kanghyuk’s eyes gleamed.

He had planned to dump everything on the Association President without a solution, but apparently there truly was one.

“What solution?”