<Episode 65>
The grand banquet hall glittered beneath dazzling lights cascading like chandeliers.
Today was the 7th annual “Future Hunter Talent” charity event.
Below the stage, seated among the honored guests, Park Jaemin anxiously bounced his leg.
‘Damn it. To think all this trouble started because we failed to deal with a mere F-rank girl.’
At two in the morning, he had received a text from the cleanup team leader.
The target had fallen from the building while escaping, but the body had disappeared.
‘The chances of her being alive are practically zero, but still…’
She had fallen from the fourth floor.
No matter how lucky she was, there was no way an F-rank, barely different from a normal civilian, could survive.
Even knowing that, the missing body left an unpleasant feeling.
‘Whew. It’ll be fine. She probably fell into one of those construction pits they dug for renovation work.’
Park Jaemin forcibly suppressed his anxiety.
Just in case, he had already assembled a legal team from one of the country’s top law firms.
Whatever happened, he had an escape route prepared.
“Team Leader Park Jaemin, are you alright? Would you like some water?”
A staff member asked with concern.
In an instant, Park Jaemin composed himself.
“Ah, of course. I suppose I’m a little nervous since I have to give a speech as the representative of all hunters. Thank you for your concern.”
As he smiled shyly, his eyes curving pleasantly, the staff member’s face immediately flushed red.
‘Yes. That’s right.’
‘People like me.’
‘I’m the chosen A-rank Hunter. A hero who practices noblesse oblige.’
And today was meaningful for him personally as well.
He had been chosen to stand on stage as the representative hunter instead of Lee Hyunwoo.
“Don’t be too nervous.”
“Yes, Father.”
Deputy Director Park Seongcheol patted his son’s hand with feigned affection.
Park Jaemin nodded with a dependable smile.
‘Father believes in me after all.’
No matter how powerful Lee Hyunwoo was, he was merely an emotionless human weapon.
He would never stand on a glorious stage like this.
Adjusting his tie, Park Jaemin straightened his posture.
Finally, the host announced his name.
“Now then, please welcome Team Leader Park Jaemin of the Hunter Management Bureau’s Alpha Team as our representative speaker!”
Waaaaaah!
Thunderous applause erupted.
Park Jaemin confidently climbed onto the stage.
Before him hung a tacky banner, while rows of children stared at him with admiration in their foolish eyes.
‘Future hunter talents? Please.’
‘These days every idiot wants to become a hunter.’
Suppressing a sneer, he took hold of the microphone.
“Today, I stand here with the honor of representing the hunters of the Republic of Korea. To me, being a hunter means–”
Just as his eloquent speech was building toward an emotional climax…
Murmur. Murmur.
Suddenly, the audience began stirring.
At first, it was only whispers, but they quickly spread like a wave.
Staff members ran about in panic, their faces pale.
‘What? Why is everyone making such a fuss?’
Confused, Park Jaemin stopped speaking and slowly turned around.
Behind the stage stood an enormous screen.
Normally, it should have been displaying footage of his achievements.
Instead, an unfamiliar scene appeared.
An abandoned building shrouded in darkness.
“……!”
A chill shot down Park Jaemin’s spine.
It was a familiar place.
The very building he had visited the previous dawn.
His own face, partially concealed beneath a cap, was clearly visible thanks to the camera angle, while the other person’s face remained hidden behind a pillar.
“Now then. Hand over that incredible evidence. Unless you want to get hurt.”
Park Jaemin’s voice boomed through the hall.
“W-What is this?! Staff! Do something immediately! STAFF!”
He practically screamed, but the video continued uninterrupted.
The footage clearly showed him threatening someone and crushing a USB drive beneath his foot.
“Park Jaemin! You killed people and don’t feel guilty? They were someone’s family! Precious human lives!”
“Hah. Precious lives? Why are weak, incompetent insects so precious?”
As Park Jaemin in the video burst into loud laughter, the entire hall fell silent.
Countless horrified eyes turned toward him.
Instinctively, Park Jaemin looked toward the VIP section.
There sat his father and greatest supporter, Deputy Director Park Seongcheol.
But Park Seongcheol’s expression had frozen cold.
He cast one icy glance at his son before standing up and turning away without hesitation.
‘F-Father…?’
No.
This couldn’t be happening.
How hard had he worked to earn his father’s approval?
Only now did Park Jaemin realize the true severity of the situation.
His trembling hand grabbed the microphone.
“T-This video is fabricated! You all know how advanced AI technology is these days! Someone is obviously trying to slander me–!”
He forced his lips upward into a smile.
But his twitching face only twisted into something grotesque.
Then the video’s climax arrived.
“No matter what evidence you have, once you’re dead, it’s over. Make sure there are no traces left. Handle it cleanly.”
The footage showed him calmly ordering a murder.
Then came the scene of the men charging forward.
The murmuring grew louder and louder.
People openly pulled out their phones and began filming him.
Panicking, he ducked beneath the stage.
It was truly a ridiculous farce.
‘There was definitely no one around.’
‘You’re telling me I failed to notice someone watching? Me, Park Jaemin?’
Oh Junhyuk had been filming from hundreds of meters away with a telephoto camera.
Lee Hyunwoo had also been waiting at a distance beyond detection.
Still, had Park Jaemin paid just a little more attention, he might have noticed something was off.
But after his awakening, he had spent years as the leader of an independent team, surrounded only by praise and support.
He had completely ignored the possibility that his judgment could ever be wrong.
This was the price of that mistake.
‘First, I need to leave here and figure out what’s happened…’
As he lowered his body and tried to slip out of the banquet hall…
BANG!
The banquet doors burst open.
Police officers in uniform and members of the Management Bureau’s Audit Team flooded inside.
“Park Jaemin. You are under emergency arrest on charges of soliciting murder, destruction of evidence, and the murder of civilians.”
Before he could even attempt an excuse, handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
As he was dragged away in a daze, his eyes swept beneath the stage.
Among the crowd stood a woman wearing a staff cap pulled low over her face.
She raised her head and looked directly at him.
It was Jung Haneul.
A faint smile touched her lips before she turned away and disappeared.
***
Watching Park Jaemin being led away, I adjusted my cap.
“Whew. Good thing I asked the Director for cooperation in advance.”
I glanced behind me.
Inside the audio control booth stood Producer Oh Junhyuk, wearing a staff vest.
‘Maybe it’s because he’s a TV producer, but his timing for playing the footage was absolutely perfect.’
When our eyes met, Producer Oh gave me a thumbs-up.
I grinned and flashed a V-sign back at him.
Of course, the surprise event we had prepared wasn’t over yet.
The very next day, I smiled while reading a text message from Producer Oh.
[We got a special broadcast slot immediately for next week. Since it’s an exclusive feature, they actually seemed happy about it lol.]
“Next week already? That’s even faster than I expected!”
As expected of a producer.
I had worried upper management might reject it, but not anymore.
Articles related to the case were already spreading like wildfire.
The broadcasting stations couldn’t afford to sit idly by.
And finally, on the day the program aired…
“…Yes, great! Please handle it that way. No, thank you for everything. I’ll call after the broadcast ends.”
After finishing my call with Producer Oh Junhyuk, I returned to my seat and sat down on the sofa.
“Once the commercials are over, it starts immediately! Why am I so nervous over this? Aaaaah! I should’ve taken a calming pill! Though it probably wouldn’t have helped!”
“Kangmin oppa, be quiet. You’re too loud.”
“Totally agree.”
“Hmph. Aren’t you two being way too harsh on me?”
Listening to Ari and Suhyeon teasing Hunter Kangmin, I quietly clenched my fist.
Beside me, Lee Hyunwoo lightly patted the back of my hand.
“Are you nervous?”
“…Yeah. I worked really hard preparing for this, but I don’t know if it was enough.”
“I’m sure it will turn out exactly the way you want.”
I nodded at his gentle encouragement.
At the moment, Ari and I were in Field Team 1’s office.
When I mentioned watching the program on my phone back at the dormitory, Lee Hyun-woo had suggested we all watch together on the office television.
As a result, the entire Team 1 naturally gathered around.
Ari came too because she was curious.
“It would’ve been nice if Seah unni could’ve watched with us.”
“Yeah. It’s a shame, but we’ll be able to talk next week.”
Seah had decided to watch Hunter X-Files — The Incheon Gate Incident Special together with other victims she had stayed in contact with.
‘I hope they like what we’ve prepared.’
I sincerely hoped today’s broadcast would provide comfort to people who had carried this pain for years.
Focusing on the screen, I prayed silently.
At that moment, Ari suddenly sat up straight.
“Oh? It’s starting!”
The program began with an introduction to the Incheon Gate Incident from five years ago.
The unseen battle of pride between the government and the Hunter Management Bureau.
And the horrific consequences it had caused.
The captions revealed everything mercilessly.
[This disaster resulted in 236 innocent casualties.]
Photographs from the scene flashed by.
Towering flames.
Collapsed building debris.
And even the blurry silhouettes of monsters captured on camera.
“I remember that incident. Didn’t the cleanup take over a year?”
“I was deployed afterward, and it was truly horrifying.”
Hunters who remembered the event spoke with visible sadness.
Then the screen slowly transitioned.
[However, not all of these victims died because of the Gate itself. Hidden behind the chaos of that day was a concealed truth.]
A subtitle appeared.
[Civilian Massacre — Does He Deserve to Be Called a Hero?]
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