Chapter 85

A few minutes earlier.

“We’ve secured Jang Jongsik!”

“Cough, cough... Ugh, the smell of gunpowder.”

Once the planned arrest operation had been completed—

‘Huh?’

Seonwoo Yeon belatedly realised that Kiryeo was missing.

Until then, she had been too occupied dealing with the gang members who had gone berserk under the influence of Blueshell.

‘Where did he go?’

Thinking the appraiser might have lost his way inside the warehouse, she hurriedly set out to find Kim Kiryeo.

“Aaah!”

But something was wrong.

“Help me!”

The closer she came to the location indicated by her ability, the more clearly she could hear a woman’s desperate screams echoing through the corridors.

“I’ll tell you!”

By the time Seonwoo Yeon reached the correct hallway, she had already realised something disturbing.

“I’ll tell you everything! I won’t hide anything! I’ll remember whatever you asked me before, somehow. Please!”

Among the woman’s frantic pleas, Seonwoo Yeon could hear a familiar male voice.

‘What?’

Kiryeo was speaking so quietly compared to the woman’s screams that she could not make out his words.

‘What is happening?’

An unexpected sense of dread crept over her.

Seonwoo Yeon quickened her pace and soon entered the room.

“Ah.”

“...!”

The sight that greeted her brought her to an immediate halt.

“You arrived quickly.”

“Eek!”

The bloodied woman caught sight of the Association identification badge hanging from Seonwoo Yeon’s neck.

She sprang to her feet, rushed forward with all her remaining strength, and clung desperately to Seonwoo Yeon’s legs.

“Y-you’re from the Association, aren’t you? Please help me! I’ll surrender! I’ll turn myself in for using Blueshell!”

Seonwoo Yeon’s heart sank.

It did not take much imagination to reach a conclusion.

‘Did he attack her?’

She stared at Kim Kiryeo in shock.

‘An ordinary civilian?’

All she received in return was his cold, impassive gaze.

“This woman has completely misunderstood the situation...”

Tap. Tap.

The Hunter rose and approached them.

Then he turned towards the trembling woman.

“Excuse me. No matter how frightened you are, you should still speak accurately.”

“Eek!”

“When exactly did I hit you?”

The mysterious civilian immediately corrected herself.

“Y-yes! That’s right! This person didn’t do anything to me!”

But how convincing could words spoken in such obvious terror possibly be?

“...”

Seonwoo Yeon’s mind went blank.

Perhaps...

Perhaps Kim Kiryeo was far more dangerous than she had ever imagined.

Maybe she had made a terrible mistake.

Otherwise, how could a complete stranger have been reduced to such a state?

“Seonwoo Yeon-ssi?”

The B-Class Hunter raised her head at the sound of his voice, but found herself unable to meet his eyes.

As she felt the Awakened man’s gaze settle upon her, emotions she had long forgotten slowly resurfaced.

“What’s wrong? You’re breaking out in a cold sweat.”

Fear.

Revulsion.

“Are you injured? Would you like me to examine you?”

A considerate manner.

Bloodstained hands.

A calm voice.

A sobbing woman.

“No. I’m fine.”

What in the world was she supposed to believe?

***

“My goodness, everyone is working so hard!”

A young man’s cheerful voice rang through the dim warehouse corridor.

It was the voice produced by Kim Kiryeo’s corpse.

“You must be exhausted. Here, let me help. We can carry it together.”

“What? Hunters, you can sit down too.”

“Why are you only making the officers work? It’s fine. Give it to me.”

I approached the police officers in an unusually bright mood.

They readily handed me the box they had been carrying.

Inside were the Blueshell fruits I had come all this way to obtain.

“If the officers carry everything themselves, won’t they collapse from exhaustion?”

“Haha. You’d be surprised how quickly the work gets done when everyone helps.”

And so I carefully searched the warehouse and assisted in confiscating every trace of Blueshell we could find.

“Ugh.”

Thud.

When the final box had been loaded into the truck, I turned towards a commotion nearby.

“Damn it! Open the door! Open it!”

“Good grief. That drug addict is causing trouble again.”

Looking more closely, I saw one of the arrested criminals thrashing around in the back seat of a police car.

What was his name again?

Jang Jongsik?

“Does this window open?”

I walked over to the police car and tapped on the glass.

“Could you lower it for a moment?”

“Is this enough?”

“Yes, thank you.”

The unnecessary barrier between us disappeared.

Now I could finally get to work.

“Who the hell are you, you bastard?”

Ignoring the shouting, I stared intently at the man in the back seat.

Although he was clearly non-Awakened, I could sense a faint trace of magical energy emanating from his body.

‘Oh.’

Magical power inside an ordinary person could mean only one thing.

‘You’re under a spell, aren’t you?’

Just as I had suspected.

The Rakshasa Temple’s brainwashing sorcerer had interfered with this man as well.

I had caught them red-handed.

‘Hoho.’

Now, how should I test this?

I took out the magical stimulant I had concealed and drank it, preparing to trace the spell back to its caster.

“Hunter Kim Kiryeo, wait.”

A voice from behind forced me to stop.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Ah, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi.”

What was I trying to do?

Wasn’t it obvious?

“As I promised, I’m going to identify the high-ranking member of that criminal organisation.”

I answered calmly.

Seonwoo Yeon frowned as though she found something suspicious, but ultimately said nothing.

It was a strangely ambiguous reaction.

‘Is she worried that I’ll fail?’

No wonder I felt a chill running down my spine.

Under Seonwoo Yeon’s watchful gaze, I resumed my work.

It would be over in three seconds anyway.

“What? What are you staring at? Look away! What the hell are you looking at?”

I rolled up my sleeve and clenched my left fist.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three.

That should have provided enough mana for the magic circle I had prepared in advance.

“Huh?”

Rustle.

The Blueshell addict abruptly fell silent when he saw the palm I extended towards him.

How surprising.

I had expected far more resistance.

Could he somehow have realised that I had concealed a magic circle beneath the skin of my palm, embedded within the dermal layer?

‘Is that even possible?’

I dismissed the pointless thought and focused on the task.

Hummm.

I activated a high-level spell designed to extract the information I needed from the person before me.

“Aaargh!”

“What is happening?”

“Don’t worry. He’s only making a fuss.”

To explain it simply, I was stealing his memory of the exact moment the brainwashing spell had been placed upon him.

‘Ordinarily, the proper method would be to follow the magical trace back to the caster, but that’s impossible with an F-Class body...’

As long as you reached Seoul, it did not matter which road you took.

I had not stayed awake for three nights for nothing.

In the end, I had found a way to give the Rakshasa Temple a taste of its own medicine.

“Stop screaming. I know it doesn’t hurt.”

Tap, tap, tap.

I knocked against the side of the car to urge the Blueshell addict to compose himself.

Now it was time to get to the point.

“Jongsik, let me ask you something.”

“Hng... huff...”

A name surfaced from the memory I had stolen.

“What kind of person is Soo Yehwi?”

***

I had intended to keep searching until I succeeded, but surprisingly, the answer came almost immediately.

Fortunately, the man’s memory still contained a clear image of the sorcerer who had brainwashed him.

“Their name is Soo Yehwi. Approximately one hundred and sixty centimetres tall, with white hair and unusually large eyes.”

I sifted through the stolen memories and described the Awakened person’s features.

Seonwoo Yeon listened attentively, then nodded.

“That is an extraordinary ability.”

“Yes, well.”

“What a relief. For a moment, I thought I might be accused of allowing another bloodbath in front of the detectives...”

“What?”

“Oh... It’s nothing.”

Good.

It was fortunate that it was nothing.

“In any case, that is all the information I can provide for now.”

We were currently sitting on the steps outside a police station in Seoul.

Seonwoo Yeon had suggested that we go to a café, but I had firmly resisted.

“Can we prove that this person truly belongs to the Rakshasa Temple? That may be difficult at the moment...”

In the end, however, I could not escape my fate of being forced to drink coffee.

A short while later, an urgent summons from one of the detectives brought us back inside the station.

As thanks for returning, someone handed me a cup of vending-machine coffee.

“Hunter Seonwoo Yeon, could you check this document?”

“Ah, yes.”

“For now, our search found only one registered Hunter named Soo Yehwi.”

I sat nearby with the coffee in my hands, feeling increasingly uneasy despite the ongoing explanation.

“Let’s see. Soo Yehwi. C-Class Hunter. Registered abilities include something called Water Ball...”

“I believe the photograph matches.”

That, however, was something I could not ignore.

“C-Class? That’s impossible!”

The words escaped before I could stop myself.

Every eye in the room turned towards me.

It was rather uncomfortable.

“Something is wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“A C-Class Awakened wouldn’t possess enough mana to maintain brainwashing spells on that many people.”

The rest was simple arithmetic.

“To accomplish something on that scale, they would need to be at least A-Class based on the required mana output. No... perhaps even bordering on S-Class.”

After thinking for a moment, I made a suggestion.

“Hunter Seonwoo Yeon!”

“Y-yes?”

“Begin by requesting a reassessment.”

One thing was already certain.

This person had lied about their rank.

“Soo Yehwi cannot possibly be C-Class. We should first investigate the possibility that their awakening level was deliberately concealed.”

“Ah!”

“Misrepresenting one’s rank is already a serious crime, isn’t it? The brainwashing charges can be investigated afterwards.”

What followed proceeded with remarkable speed.

The Blueshell distributor gave his testimony.

Suspicious gaps were discovered in Soo Yehwi’s gate-entry records.

Then information found in the auction-house transaction history gave the Association sufficient grounds to order an official reassessment.

[September 29 — Infinite Power Core Auction]

[Winning Bidder: Soo*hwi]

‘Hahaha! I’ve caught you now, you bastard!’

If the Awakened person named Soo Yehwi was arrested, the Rakshasa Temple would undoubtedly suffer a devastating blow.

“Well, at least this one didn’t get confiscated.”

I returned home feeling thoroughly satisfied.

Three Blueshell fruits rested inside my pocket.

Then came the following day.

“Are Earthlings gods?”

It was late lunchtime when I first discovered the concept of food delivery.

“The meal you desire comes directly to your home with a single movement of your finger. As expected of Earthlings. No, perhaps Koreans are gods...”

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Only after hearing the phone vibrate against the table did I finally pick it up.

Unfortunately, the news coming through the speaker was not encouraging.

“What did you say?”

According to Seonwoo Yeon, Soo Yehwi had disappeared immediately after learning about the reassessment order.

“You mean even tracking abilities can no longer locate them?”

In the end, the Korean police publicly issued a wanted notice for the suspect connected to the cult.

From my perspective, it was an extremely unsatisfying conclusion.

‘After all that, we only managed to issue a wanted notice?’

Wait.

Under ordinary circumstances, the call should already have ended.

—Kiryeo-ssi.

The connection remained open.

I listened closely to the voice coming through the speaker.

—I have something I would like to ask you.

“Yes?”

—Why were you so interested in the Rakshasa Temple investigation?

“What?”

—Now that I think about it, you’ve never involved yourself this actively in other cases.

What an abrupt question.

—Why did you personally insist on participating in this investigation? I would like to know your reason.

Still, there was nothing preventing me from answering.

“So you’re asking why I specifically targeted the Rakshasa Temple?”

Rustle. Rustle.

I carried the delivered stir-fried pork over to my desk as I spoke.

“There was no special reason.”

My tone remained light.

But the answer itself was more sincere than anything I had said in a long time.

“I simply dislike what they do.”

Immediately afterwards, for some reason, a sudden coughing fit erupted from the other end of the line.