The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 15

“Wh-what are you all doing! Young Master! Attend to Young Master Hyunwoo! Quickly!”

“The face-to-face meeting ends here! H-honored guests, please exit the venue swiftly…!”

What came after the nightmare-like silence was even greater chaos.

The belatedly hurried end to the face-to-face meeting.

Royal guards hastily evacuating honored guests and power clan heads gathering in groups of three to five, disappearing somewhere.

Something was off.

It was an unnatural scene, like watching a play.

“Dad!”

“Arin!”

Yoo Sanghyeon immediately descended to the training hall and took care of Arin.

The heir of the Andong Kim clan boasting the greatest power among power clans.

The girl who’d shattered Kim Hyunwoo, called the greatest among this generation’s late awakeners, in a single blow.

But the person responsible seemed not to know what meaning her actions held, only showing an innocent smile.

“Dad, look at my phase power! It was super strong, right? Right!”

“Y-yeah. That’s right.”

“How strong am I? With this, I can protect Dad and all our uncles too…”

Just as she was bouncing around saying that—

Thud!

Arin collapsed without finishing her words.

There were no external injuries, but having just used her newly awakened phase power, the backlash had arrived.

Yoo Sanghyeon caught Arin in her discharged state.

But to such a Yoo Sanghyeon, a cold voice sunken low reached him.

“General. We will secure the person of your beloved daughter, Miss Yoo Arin. Please follow instructions.”

Hearing the voice, Yoo Sanghyeon turned around.

Joseon’s greatest military force composed of phase power wielders, the royal guard.

Those who’d been protecting the training hall were surrounding him, demanding he hand over Arin.

“Securing her person—what do you mean by that?”

“It’s an order from above. To verify Miss Yoo Arin’s abilities, to our side…”

“Verify? So in other words, you’re saying.”

Yoo Sanghyeon, who’d cut off their words, slowly rose from his seat.

The royal guards became wary hearing his heavy voice, but at that moment—

“Do you dare say you’ll take my daughter from me, the Iron Tiger General?”

Wooom—!

Along with his razor-sharp voice, phase power intense enough to make their senses tingle overwhelmed them.

“Try it if you can.”

“…!”

A critical situation.

Just as the royal guards who’d exchanged glances were taking combat stances and putting hands on weapons—

“Your beloved daughter used phase power above regulation levels. She violated the rules of the face-to-face meeting’s group sparring.”

Another voice intervened, cutting the tightly drawn string of tension.

The royal guards immediately withdrew their weapons and showed respect.

When Yoo Sanghyeon turned his gaze, the Andong Kim clan head Kim Jungheon stood there.

“She released enough phase power to make the arena like this, injuring the power clans’ honored guests and my son. This is a grave violation of regulations.”

“She’s still a child. Moreover, Arin… my daughter just awakened her phase power! Detaining her like this is…!”

“Whatever the reason, rules are rules. We cannot make exceptions.”

“This is unreasonable!”

“Unreasonable. If that’s so.”

After cutting off Yoo Sanghyeon’s words, Kim Jungheon displayed his presence while speaking.

“Is the Iron Tiger General now raising objections to the royal guard’s exercise of authority?”

“…!”

Only then did Yoo Sanghyeon look around.

Gooooooo—!

In the air, armored helicopters’ heavy machine guns were aimed at him, and Training Command forces arrayed behind the royal guard were monitoring the situation with activated artificial bodies.

Moreover, above all, Kim Jungheon’s presence was also a burdensome situation.

‘Surrounded on all sides.’

Yoo Sanghyeon gritted his teeth and slowly withdrew his phase power.

This place was no different from the Andong Kim clan’s domain.

Resisting would be futile.

“We also have many questions for the General about that power your beloved daughter showed.”

From both sides of Kim Jungheon, those wearing red clothes walked out.

Agents belonging to the Royal Investigative Bureau.

Seeing that, sparks flew from Yoo Sanghyeon’s face.

Weren’t they treating a young child who’d merely shown her strength like a criminal!

“Not only are the royal guards taking my daughter, but you’re mobilizing the Royal Investigative Bureau to detain me? This is…!”

“They were deployed because they were nearby, that’s all—the investigation will proceed lawfully. If you cooperate obediently, both you and your daughter can be released without problems.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll ask just one thing.”

While raising both arms saying he’d comply with the investigation, Yoo Sanghyeon looked at Kim Jungheon and asked.

“What exactly is this ‘problem’ you speak of, my lord?”

“…”

Kim Jungheon didn’t answer those words and turned his back.

Yoo Arin carried away by the royal guard, unconscious and collapsed.

While watching that in a daze, the Royal Investigative Bureau agents tried to grab Yoo Sanghyeon’s arms.

“Let go. I’ll walk there myself.”

“…”

The agents stepped back a pace and showed respect.

Watching Yoo Sanghyeon walk following their guidance, the nobles exiting the venue began murmuring.

“What just happened? For Young Master Hyunwoo to be like that…!”

“More than that, that child called Arin just now, the power she showed, could it be…?”

“Shh! Shh! The Royal Investigative Bureau is watching! If you run your mouth wrong…!”

The nobles who’d been blabbering shut their mouths tight in case someone heard and fled the face-to-face meeting venue.

Vermin-like tribes.

Watching that sight, I thought—

‘They can’t make proper judgments at all. They’ve gone blind and deaf with fear.’

Why does this nation of Joseon enjoy the status of the world’s sole superpower?

And why could those old pigs remain at the pinnacle of Joseon’s power for three hundred years?

Joseon’s brilliant economic power and its boundless technological prowess?

No, that’s not it.

The civil war in the Central Plains continent was gradually stabilizing. The military corporations dominating the Japanese archipelago were rapidly catching up to our technology.

Then, the phase power wielders being ‘produced’ through strict quality control like this face-to-face meeting?

No.

While power clan-born phase power wielders being powerful was true, other countries—even non-aristocrats—also possessed phase power.

Despite an already insufficient population, Joseon selecting talent by status and bloodline would soon be caught up in phase power wielder numbers as well.

Then why really?

As they all insist in unison, is it because the great King Gwangjo protects this Joseon from Geunjeongjeon Hall?

Insane nonsense.

The reason I think is just one.

An absurdly simple reason.

‘Because they were lucky.’

The Rift Incident that swept across the entire world.

Joseon was the only civilized nation not swept up in that catastrophe.

‘Even when the rift opened in Beijing and tens of billions in the Central Plains population were annihilated. Even when the Tokyo rift turned the entire Honshu region into a living hell teeming with monsters… nothing happened to Joseon.’

Just as a fox plays boss in mountains where tigers have died.

And when even that fox dies, a passing stray cat pretends to be a tiger.

Because they survived.

And because they were the strongest among survivors, they stand in that position.

Nothing more, nothing less.

‘Therefore what they fear most is change. New possibilities that could collapse their vested interests.’

Yoo Arin.

If she were simply a girl with strong phase power, they wouldn’t react this oversensitively.

Rather, they’d buy her with money, devise some conspiracy to bring her in.

Use whatever means to absorb that phase power into their bloodline.

But that girl Arin’s phase power was different.

The king’s power.

The hero’s power still sitting in Geunjeongjeon Hall watching over Joseon.

Because it had now appeared again in an unknown girl.

The golden radiance that once made them kneel beneath it long ago.

The fact that it appeared again was more frightening to them than anything.

Even now after three hundred years had passed.

“But in the end, it began.”

In the middle of the chaotic face-to-face meeting venue, I watched them exit like sheep.

The forgotten.

No, the king’s power that had to be forgotten had revealed itself again.

The old, sick cats would fear the newly born mountain lord and bark while holed up in their dens.

That the king had returned.

That the power they’d built up over long years would crumble like a sandcastle.

The stopped clock was moving again.

The revolution that would swallow this corrupt Joseon whole.

That massive typhoon had begun.

Then what I needed to do was one thing.

‘I have to enter the eye of the typhoon.’

The instigator who would trigger the typhoon.

Stick right beside her and mock those idiots who’d be swept away by the typhoon.

Having finished my thoughts, I hid my body in the crowd.

With Kim Hyunwoo knocked out and all the nobles’ nerves focused there now—

No one would pay attention to me.

---

Thud-thud-thud-thud—!

Along with rough rotor sounds, one armored helicopter was flying through Hanseong’s airspace filled with lights.

Riding inside were enhanced soldiers belonging to the Training Command and one royal guard leading them.

The mission they’d received was disposing of the girl ‘Yoo Arin’ collapsed in a corner, somewhere out of sight.

“Time remaining to target point?”

“About 5 minutes. But…”

The pilot kept glancing sideways at the cargo hold corner while gripping the controls.

With an unpleasant expression, he asked his superior, the royal guard.

“A-are we really going to… dispose of that child? Even so, someone that young…”

“Orders from above are absolute. Don’t question them carelessly.”

“Y-yes.”

With that brief exchange, the pilot shut his mouth.

Standing behind him was a royal guard.

If he ran his mouth one more time, his neck might fly off then.

“…Huh?”

While tensing up like that, something entered one corner of his vision.

A high-rise building in Hanseong’s outskirts.

Something seemed to be flying from there.

Strange.

The warning devices weren’t sounding at all?

Just as the pilot thought that and narrowed his eyes—

Crack—!

An arrow embedded in the dead center of his forehead, and the pilot died instantly.

The cockpit armor with a hole punched through it.

The helicopter’s armor that blocked even anti-tank rifles without issue had been pierced by an arrow.

“Ambush?! Dammit, what’s suddenly happening…!”

Crackle-crackle—!

The moment the pilot’s breath stopped, the signal device attached to the arrow tip emitted an electromagnetic pulse.

The helicopter’s cockpit filled with red warning windows.

Seeing that, the royal guard gritted his teeth.

That arrow had just hacked all the helicopter’s control devices.

‘Equipment with first-grade security modules got hacked in an instant. Only Royal Investigative Bureau agents could pull this off…!’

Though it was a sudden situation, the royal guard quickly grasped it.

Considering the ambush timing, what they were after was only one thing.

He immediately turned his gaze and shouted while looking at the unconscious Yoo Arin.

“Dispose of the target! Right now…!”

But that was brief.

“No, too late.”

With a quiet phrase, the enhanced soldiers guarding Yoo Arin fell one by one.

What was looking at him from among them was a masked assailant.

A man wearing a strange mask with the mouth part missing—an ‘Imae mask.’

“Hahoe…! Traitor bastards who wouldn’t be relieved even torn to death!”

BANG—!

The ambush wasn’t just that.

The transport helicopter’s ramp door exploded, and masked assailants squeezed through the hole.

Those picking up Arin, who’d been a disposal target, trying to jump out of the helicopter.

Seeing that, the man flew his body without delay, but—

“Where do you think you’re running off to?”

CLANG—!

The Imae mask-wearing attacker immediately flew his body and blocked his charge.

Appearance entering the helicopter without any warning.

And this tingling sensation flowing through the body.

A phase power wielder.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!

In the blink of an eye, dozens of exchanges passed.

“Tsk.”

To think they could receive the power of himself, a royal guard member.

They weren’t simply drifters who could use phase power.

‘Among Hahoe organization members, they’re elite. I should judge them as executive-level.’

The intruders who’d jumped first had already descended to the ground.

The royal guard’s expression hardened after encountering an obstacle.

At this rate, he’d lose the target.

He couldn’t let that happen.

The royal guard who’d adjusted his stance concentrated his phase power throughout his body after controlling his breathing.

Flash—!

The next moment, the shockwave bursting from his body blew away the entire back of the helicopter.

A technique releasing phase power concentrated at one point all at once.

A divine skill only some among the royal guard could perform.

“Dammit! As expected of a royal guard, seriously damn strong…!”

Though he’d blocked the shockwave with both hands, the man wearing the Imae mask had also been blown into the air.

Confirming that, the royal guard emerged without delay and rushed to the ground, stepping on debris floating in the air.

‘The bastards are inside the vehicle.’

The Hahoe organization members who’d spirited away the disposal target had already transferred to a vehicle.

Turning his eye scanner, the target Yoo Arin was also in that vehicle.

At this rate, he’d be late.

The man who’d gritted his teeth immediately drew the pistol at his waist and fired at maximum output.

KRAKOOM—!

The vehicle hit by the high-pressure plasma round exploded on the spot.

The vehicle wrapped in flames, turned to ash.

No matter how much life support equipment was used, it couldn’t survive that explosion.

Thud—!

The royal guard fell from the sky afterward.

He hurriedly checked the burning vehicle.

What remained in the back seat was a child’s charred corpse.

Even amid the terrible scene, the man scanned the remaining corpse’s teeth and hair one by one.

Identity information matched.

Two Hahoe organization members and the disposal target Yoo Arin had died inside the burning vehicle.

“I was planning to dispose of her anyway, but who knew Hahoe bastards would sniff it out…”

Moreover, what was that arrow that flew just now?

The man thought that and looked toward the helicopter, but it was futile.

The wreckage of the helicopter that exploded in midair would have fallen all over the city—checking all that wreckage one by one was impossible.

“Enough to make ghosts weep. What on earth…?”

“Royal Guard, sir.”

He shifted his gaze to the voice heard from behind.

Agents wearing the Royal Investigative Bureau’s red clothes were saluting him.

“We’ve confirmed Miss Yoo Arin’s death. Subsequent case investigation has been transferred to our Royal Investigative Bureau.”

“…I see.”

Saying that, the agents scattered throughout the vehicle.

Changwoon, who’d been watching that from a distant building rooftop, put away the bow he’d been holding and muttered.

“Right. You guys did your job.”

There was a Hahoe ambush during transport, but they repelled it with the royal guard’s efforts.

They directly destroyed the fleeing vehicle and killed two Hahoe agents as well. There’d be no room for doubt.

While thinking that, one old passenger car stopped in front of the building where Changwoon stood.

Going down to the first floor and opening the door, the unconscious Yoo Arin lay there.

“Mmm… D-dad…?”

“Ooh.”

She slept through the helicopter exploding and phase power wielders fighting, only waking up now?

Quite the strong heart.

Watching Yoo Arin groggily opening her eyes brought an involuntary smile.

“Did you just wake up, young miss?”

Primary objective, Yoo Arin secured.

The operation was a success.