Chapter 96

One Friday afternoon.

“Phew...”

Seonwoo Yeon, an employee of the Association, was relaxing at home after finishing her shift. She held a cup of green tea in one hand and rested the other on her computer mouse, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

“Hmm?”

A post on social media caught her eye, bringing her hand to a stop.

***

They aired it like that, so now everyone’s going to think I defeated the boss~~

We weren’t the ones who killed the Baron!

***

If they were talking about the Baron, then the post had to be referring to yesterday’s incident.

Hmm.

Scroll, scroll.

Seonwoo Yeon slowly read through the comments beneath the post. Yet no matter how far she scrolled, she found no mention of Kim Kiryeo’s name.

Fortunately, it appeared that the public still had no idea who the appraiser was.

“Hmm...”

The thought suddenly occurred to her that even this small amount of attention might make Kim Kiryeo uncomfortable. After all, he had made it clear that he wanted to live quietly.

He only tried to help us, and all he got in return was unwanted attention...

Still, what could she do?

If she had to decide who was at fault, then the hunter himself was partly responsible.

How could someone with abilities like his possibly avoid attracting attention?

Gulp.

Seonwoo Yeon took a sip of tea and reflected once more on what had happened the day before.

She had certainly been shocked.

An F-Class hunter who had not appeared in public for some time had suddenly arrived at the scene of the incident.

—How long are you planning to struggle with a barrier like this?

From the moment he arrived, he had spoken as though their difficulties were incomprehensible.

Why are you wasting so much time on something so simple?

Yet after hearing his explanation, Seonwoo Yeon had been forced to admit that the Hanshin incident truly had been as absurdly simple as he claimed.

—You’re asking how I defeated the Flower Baron?

—Yes.

—It died from the cost of maintaining the barrier. Once it lost its magic stone, all of its mana was drained into the barrier.

—What? That can’t be...

—Why not?

—Because removing a magic stone has never caused anything like that before...

—Then the excessive expansion of its territory must have been the cause. After escaping, it secretly enlarged the barrier, didn’t it?

Judging by his actions alone, Kim Kiryeo had done nothing more than pick up a magic stone lying on the ground.

Yet that alone had been enough for Seonwoo Yeon to recognize the true extent of his abilities.

Hah...

Hadn’t he carried himself as though everything were easy from the very moment he appeared?

That could only mean Kim Kiryeo had understood the entire situation before he even entered the barrier.

In other words, the Baron’s seemingly accidental death had probably unfolded exactly as he had calculated.

That’s right. From the very beginning...

If that was true, then his insight was extraordinary, regardless of whether it came from an appraiser-type ability.

How in the world...?

She could scarcely believe that he had identified the barrier’s weakness after seeing only a brief television report.

She could no longer follow the course of his reasoning.

Kim Kiryeo always seemed to act as though he had already anticipated events two or three steps ahead.

His perspective itself is completely different from that of an ordinary hunter.

At this point, it was almost frightening.

Yes.

That awakened person was genuinely terrifying—the sort of man whose mere presence made others instinctively shrink back.

“I have no idea what he’s thinking.”

And yet, from time to time, he helped people without asking for anything in return.

That only made him more difficult to understand.

“Phew...”

Why did Kim Kiryeo keep going around doing good deeds?

Was he simply bored?

Whatever his reasons, there was no denying that things had ended well because of him. Thanks to his overwhelming victory over the Flower Baron, everyone had returned home safely and on time.

Now that I think about it, did I ever thank him properly?

But it was not only yesterday.

Whenever Kim Kiryeo became involved in something, events always seemed to resolve themselves favorably.

...

Then could that incident have been the same?

Seonwoo Yeon set down her teacup and sank into deep thought.

***

The next morning.

“You’ve said everything you wanted to say, haven’t you?”

“Is the security here adequate?”

“Please don’t drag this out for no reason...”

I had been arguing since early morning.

A dangerous creature was prowling in front of my door like a wild beast.

“First of all, thank you for your concern. But it’s rather inconvenient for you to come all the way to my house like this.”

It was difficult to explain properly, but I was currently attempting to bluff my way through the situation by using the Flower Baron incident as an excuse.

The reason was simple.

Kang Changho had suddenly appeared to check on my condition.

“If you didn’t want me coming here, you shouldn’t have acted so recklessly.”

To think that a primitive creature would dare pressure an Archmage like me!

There had not been any article naming me, yet Kang Changho had come straight here.

That meant the information had almost certainly come from that S-Class bastard inside the Association.

Still, this was not the time to go searching for the informant.

“Hunter Kim Kiryeo. Just open the door.”

“I haven’t cleaned the room, so that would be a little...”

For the moment, I tried to calm the S-Class standing outside.

To be precise, I attempted to reason with him.

“Wait. Please listen to me. I called you before going to the scene, didn’t I? You were the one who didn’t answer.”

“Oh.”

“And if I had hesitated, the Flower Baron might have reached this house. How could I simply sit back and do nothing?”

Kang Changho shamelessly cut me off.

“From now on, stay where you are until I respond. If the situation looks dangerous, I’ll come immediately.”

Do you think I’m insane?

Why would I rely on you?

You’d come running over and stab me in the back just to activate your enhancement ability!

Any trust I might once have placed in him had been thoroughly shattered during the incident with the [Dimensional Treasure House].

I had learned that there were far too many risks involved in trying to survive by depending on Kang Changho.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I promise. I really will come.”

I listened to him with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

Then a sound from behind me suddenly caught my attention.

Drrring, drrring.

Good grief.

The ringtone I had changed while half asleep was much louder than I remembered.

“Just a moment.”

I hurried into the room and checked the caller.

A familiar name appeared on the screen.

Seonwoo Yeon?

It was unusually early for her to call.

***

An hour later, I arrived at the park in front of my house.

The meeting had been arranged unexpectedly during our phone call that morning.

I sat on a bench to pass the time, and before long, the person I had been waiting for appeared.

“Hunter Kim Kiryeo?”

She wore her long hair loose, with neat bangs framing her face.

I rose from the bench and greeted Seonwoo Yeon.

“Hello.”

“Ah, hello.”

Well then.

It was time to hear what she had to say.

“What about the documents?”

I sat down again and took the initiative, bringing up the matter first.

I already had a general idea of what she wanted to discuss, since she had briefly explained it over the phone.

“Here they are.”

Seonwoo Yeon quietly removed a set of documents from the bag she had brought with her.

“As I mentioned earlier, these are the records concerning the terrorist attack carried out by the Rakshasa Temple. Please have a look.”

The pages she handed me were densely covered in printed text.

Moreover, the information seemed to share a common pattern.

***

[Minotaur]

[Grade: B]

[Origin: Labyrinth Labyrinthos

(Sejong-daero, Jung-gu, Seoul ###-#)]

[Mutant individuals have been observed using tools such as axes. Some specimens may also possess magical abilities.]

***

The later pages are all monster profiles?

At first glance, the documents resembled the results of a monster analysis conducted by an appraiser.

However, upon closer examination, I noticed an unusual entry that would not normally appear in such a report.

Origin.

Origin?

I tilted my head, unsure what it referred to.

Seonwoo Yeon finally began to explain.

“Do you remember the Dungeon Break terrorist attack in August?”

“Ah. The one where Jung Haseong was injured.”

“Perhaps because it was such a major incident, the Association has only recently completed its investigation.”

“...”

“During the investigation, they discovered something strange.”

She swallowed and continued in a subdued voice.

“The boss monsters that should have been inside the gates had disappeared.”

The bosses disappeared?

“When a Dungeon Break occurs, every monster inside the gate is supposed to emerge, correct?”

“Yes.”

“However, after investigating the August terrorist attack, the Association found that the bodies of most of the boss monsters were never recovered.”

“...!”

“Because of that, they conducted a thorough review of every artificially induced Dungeon Break recorded so far. They found many similar cases in which the boss monster had vanished.”

Only then did I fully understand the significance of the documents.

This was a list of bosses that had disappeared without leaving a trace.

Daejeon.

Ulsan.

Jeju.

The incidents had occurred across a wider range of regions than I expected.

“Hmm.”

When I remained silent, Seonwoo Yeon continued in a calm tone.

“Also, none of the monsters listed in these documents could be traced with my [Searcher] skill.”

“Ah.”

“The Association ultimately decided that it would be more practical to focus on other matters than to continue searching for them...”

Seonwoo Yeon placed her leather bag firmly on the bench.

“But honestly, the whole thing makes me deeply uneasy. That’s why I called you, Kiryeo-ssi. I thought an appraiser might notice something that the rest of us had overlooked.”

I doubt I can accomplish something even a Searcher couldn’t manage.

“Have you ever encountered any of the bosses on this list outside their respective dungeons, Kiryeo-ssi?”

“I’ll examine the records first.”

I carefully reviewed the documents before answering.

“Are these photographs of the bosses?”

“Yes.”

As expected, I had never personally encountered any of the monsters shown there.

However, two entries caught my attention.

***

[Imoogi]

[Grade: A]

[Origin: Reservoir Gate

(Daejeon...)]

[Possesses strong resistance to water attributes. Exercise caution: the boss’s magical power increases when it consumes nearby lesser monsters.]

[Great Turtle]

[Grade: B]

[Origin: Beach Gate

(Gangneung...)]

[Summons minions—small turtles—every four minutes after detecting an enemy.]

***

I stared at the descriptions of those two bosses.

Slowly, cold sweat began to run down my back.

I had started to understand what the terrorists were planning.

“What’s wrong?”

A monster capable of growing stronger under certain conditions had suddenly disappeared.

At the same time, another monster capable of continuously fulfilling those conditions had also vanished.

And the organization behind both disappearances—the Rakshasa Temple—possessed the ability to remove dungeon entrances.

Damn it.

I finally realized their objective.

“Could they be raising monsters inside sealed gates?”

Yes.

That was why they had repeatedly experimented with gates.

They were using sealed dungeons as nurseries for monsters.

To use a sealed gate as a cradle...?

Worse still, I could already guess where the fully grown Imoogi would eventually be deployed.

“This Imoogi begins at A-Class. If they’ve been raising it since August, it may already have grown close to S-Class.”

“What?”

“They’re preparing a terrorist attack far greater than the one in August.”

To Seonwoo Yeon, however, the conclusion must have sounded absurd.

She immediately stared at me in shock.

“Why would the Rakshasa Temple do something like that?”

“Ah.”

“C-could the rumors be true? Was their cult leader really a spy sent from another country?”

Why was the Rakshasa Temple committing these acts of terrorism?

That question had lingered for a long time.

Perhaps it was finally time to uncover the answer.

“That may be...”

I covered my mouth with one hand and sighed.

“Have you ever been handed one of those religious leaflets while walking down the street?”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you read them carefully, they contain the Rakshasa Temple’s doctrine.”

“Doctrine?”

“They claim that Dungeon Shocks are divine punishment meant to awaken humanity, and that the creatures inside the gates are disciples sent to enlighten us. Things of that nature.”

“Ah...”

“They also teach that hunters who suppress monsters are servants of Satan and must all be killed.”

Some members of the Rakshasa Temple might have regarded such teachings as little more than provocative slogans designed to attract followers.

Yes.

That would actually have been preferable.

As Seonwoo Yeon suggested, it would have been better if the cult were merely driven by money and power.

Unfortunately, the Rakshasa Temple had no choice but to follow its doctrine to its final and ruinous conclusion.

Because the person who truly controlled the organization believed in it completely.

As long as that man remained its leader, the group’s pursuit of wealth and influence was merely a transitional stage in service of a far more dangerous ideal.

“During the investigation into that drug dealer, I discovered that Soo Yehwi of the Rakshasa Temple is unquestionably using thought transference.”

“Transferring what?”

“He uses a form of brainwashing that copies his own thoughts and imposes them on others.”

Brainwashing magic could broadly be divided into two categories.

The first involved planting commands or propositions directly into the target’s mind.

The second was a thought-transference system.

The latter required significantly less mana, making it extremely effective for controlling large groups.

However, it had one important limitation.

The caster could only transmit ideas that he genuinely believed himself.

“Still having trouble understanding? Put simply, Soo Yehwi infects other people with his own convictions.”

And that limitation was precisely what made the situation so terrifying.

“But here’s the problem.”

“...”

“Every brainwashed believer I encountered was fanatically devoted to that doctrine. Do you understand what that implies?”

“...”

“And secondly...”

I lowered the documents slightly.

“What position did Soo Yehwi hold within the Rakshasa Temple?”