The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 19

“Headquarters, this is Agent 21. The target is currently descending to Hanseong’s middle layer and has entered Highway 33. Continuing pursuit.”

-Confirmed, 21. Report immediately if there are any unusual circumstances.

The agent who’d been hiding his body with optical camouflage slowly revealed himself along with a brief radio transmission.

What he was watching was the vehicle carrying Hamgyeong Province Military Commander, Iron Tiger General Yoo Sanghyeon.

Having stubbornly refused the vehicle offered by the power clans, he was heading toward Seoul Station where trains to Hamgyeong Province departed, riding a taxi used by common citizens.

But that was brief.

Bzzt. Zzt.

“Hm?”

An abnormality occurred in the taxi carrying Sanghyeon.

The drone that had been tracking the taxi’s movements in real-time stopped operating, and at that moment the vehicle changed direction and began heading toward Hanseong’s lower layers.

“As expected, he had other schemes.”

He seemed to think he could escape by neutralizing the drone’s tracking, but that was miscalculation.

Agent 21 immediately connected communication with headquarters.

“This is Agent 21. The surveillance target has deviated from the expected route. Repeat. The surveillance target has deviated from the expected route…”

However, that too was brief.

The agent’s expression twisted as he checked the communicator.

“Headquarters? What’s happening? Communication isn’t smooth. Headquarters?”

The moment he asked what was happening—

Thump.

“Mmph?!”

Someone covered his mouth.

When he turned his gaze, what appeared behind him was a mask.

A ‘Bune mask’ with rouge painted on both cheeks and forehead.

‘Don’t tell me, Hahoe?! How did these bastards already…!’

“Shhhh…”

A shrill voice disturbed his ears.

How did they know his location?

He’d been hiding his body with optical camouflage until just now, so how on earth…!

“Don’t worry. We won’t kill you. If we killed you, the entire Royal Investigative Bureau would comb through this place like hunting lice.”

Hearing those words, the agent immediately put his mind to work.

“Then from the moment you found me, you’ve already lost.”

Because the fact that you stopped me would itself be evidence that Hahoe and Yoo Sanghyeon are connected.

Though he said that, the Bune mask who’d grabbed him from behind didn’t lose composure.

“We know that too. So…”

And the next moment.

“Let’s make it as if nothing happened. That you tracked Sanghyeon, that you met me. All of it.”

“…What?”

Along with those words, the strange figure wearing the Bune mask inserted his finger below the agent’s ear.

Crrrk—!

“Urk…! Uurgh…!”

What connected to Bune mask’s finger was a needle made of metal.

Where the needle penetrated was the core directly connected to the agent’s neural network.

Terrible pain.

And along with that pain, Agent 21’s vision filled with noise.

“Wh-who are you? Did Yoo Sanghyeon hire you?! Even if you touch the Royal Investigative Bureau, you won’t survive…! Aaagh?!”

“Shut your trap and just open your head. Just hearing you Royal Investigative Bureau bastards’ voices makes me want to kill you.”

A chilling phrase.

And the next moment, he realized what this Bune mask was doing.

“N-no way…?!”

The sensation of what had just happened melting away as if dissolving into shadows.

This person was now manipulating his memory data.

“Ugh. As expected of the Royal Investigative Bureau, plastered with security modules. At this level, isn’t there more machine than brain?”

“No, st-stop… P-please…!”

“Top-grade specs, but old-fashioned design. Thanks to that, kneading it is much easier.”

He could manipulate human memory data on the spot?

Without a data center or connection equipment?

A human alone?

It was impossible.

Something that would require dozens of professional programmers working together, doing it this simply…!

‘No, now isn’t the time to be surprised!’

At this rate, he wouldn’t remember Yoo Sanghyeon’s location or even why he was here.

He couldn’t let things go according to their intentions.

‘Even just a little. Even just a little resistance, I need to remember something…!’

Right. He needed to remember.

Remember, he had to… remember…

Re… remember… need to…

Remember…

Re…

…

Crackle. Crrckle.

-Agent 21? Communication status is still unstable. Please adjust current frequency. Repeat. Communication status is…

“…Ah.”

The next moment.

The agent who’d snapped to attention answered the voice coming from the communicator.

To have lost focus during a stakeout mission of all things.

If there’d been a superior at headquarters, he would’ve been severely reprimanded.

“This is Agent 21. The vehicle carrying Yoo Sanghyeon was loaded onto the Hamgyeong Province direct train as scheduled.”

-Any contact with outsiders?

“None confirmed. Yoo Sanghyeon returned to Hamgyeong Province alone.”

-Understood, Agent 21. Subsequent train tracking will be handed over to local agents. Surveillance mission complete. Return to headquarters.

Beep.

Mission complete with that.

Having finished his report, the agent unconsciously looked behind him.

“…?”

A space lined with buildings and no one else.

Looking at that empty space, the agent narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.

“It felt like someone was behind me…”

A sensation like fog had descended in his mind.

But even searching his memories, nothing particular came to mind.

Only an inexplicable sense of déjà vu remained, as if he’d forgotten something important.

---

-Mission complete. Ugh, my head’s burning up.

“Good work, Bune. Return directly to headquarters.”

The Bune mask’s voice flowed across the communicator, sounding ten years older.

-Don’t ever make me do this insane shit again. What? We need to neutralize the informant but can’t kill the pursuer? We need to shake off the pursuit but the pursuer shouldn’t even know they lost their target? Hey. What am I, a magic club? Gold, come out, whack, and it appears?

“But you succeeded. I believed in you.”

-Thanks to that, my neural network is on the verge of bursting. To cool down the overheating, I’ll need to rest for a week from now on, just so you know. And lastly! That noble brat!

The Bune mask’s voice, which had been rambling here and there, suddenly turned menacing.

-Tell that bastard clearly! If he makes me do this kind of shitty thing again, next time I’ll roast his brain instead! Got it?!

The communication ended without even listening to an answer.

‘Next time,’ he said.

Seeing him say such things to a noble he so detested, that boy must have really won him over.

“The message came through. We’ve handled the surveillance agent who was following from behind.”

Hanseong’s lowest level, the shabby church.

Having arrived there, Imae mask opened his mouth while looking at the middle-aged man following him.

“Tracking and even shaking off an Royal Investigative Bureau agent… as expected of Hahoe. Truly lives up to its reputation.”

“Thank you for the praise. So then, General…?”

Following him while maintaining a wary gaze was Iron Tiger General Yoo Sanghyeon.

As if uncomfortable with that menacing stare, Imae mask looked back at Sanghyeon and spoke in a reluctant voice.

“How about withdrawing your phase power now? While an ordinary person who can’t detect phase power might not notice, from another phase power wielder’s perspective, it’s killing me…”

Though Imae mask said that, Sanghyeon remained unmoved.

“Understand me. Now that I’m directly meeting a Hahoe organization member I’d only heard about in words, I can’t help but remain tense.”

“…”

Was he still not trusted?

Well, from Yoo Sanghyeon’s position, it was natural.

Just having the royal guard take his daughter to kill her was enough to drive him mad, and the ones who saved that daughter were Hahoe, the eternal traitor group?

And now that very Hahoe was even escorting him?

‘Not only his daughter but he himself was detained by the Royal Investigative Bureau and just released… his mind must not be keeping up with the situation.’

Having muttered that inwardly, Imae mask slowly approached the church entrance and opened the door.

Inside the building, neatly organized unlike the shabby exterior.

There was…

“Dad!”

There was his daughter, Yoo Arin, playing tangled up with a group of children.

“Arin!”

Sanghyeon who’d rushed over in one step embraced his daughter.

An uninjured, clean face with a bright expression.

Confirming that sight, Sanghyeon’s body finally began shaking little by little.

The tightly drawn string of tension had snapped.

“I’m sorry, Arin…! Dad… Dad…!”

“Huh? Dad, you crying? Why?”

Yoo Sanghyeon shedding tears while holding his daughter in his arms.

But since Yoo Arin had been unconscious throughout the rescue operation, she didn’t know what had happened.

“Did someone bully you again? Was it those grandpas you always bow to? Huh?”

She simply asked like that while patting her father’s back with an innocent expression.

“Oh, looks like it ended well from what I see?”

As Imae mask quietly watched that scene, a boy walked out from the door leading to the church basement.

It was Kim Changwoon, the mastermind who’d devised this escape operation.

“Bune mask… our comrade asked me to tell you. If you make him do this kind of shitty thing one more time, he’ll kill you.”

“For saying that, he did well, didn’t he? Not just anywhere, but toying with the Royal Investigative Bureau—as expected, the number 0 priority traitor for execution is truly different.”

Though Kim Changwoon said that and giggled, Imae mask only looked at him silently.

And after a moment.

“Thank you.”

“Hm?”

At the phrase that flowed from his mouth, Changwoon looked up at him with a strange expression.

“Thanks to your plan, we safely rescued the royal bloodline from those bastards. We also saved the Iron Tiger General who was a secondary objective, and he learned the nobles’ true nature.”

“Incidentally, lots of comrades survived too. Right?”

“Yes.”

Thinking about the operation content they’d originally planned, it was truly an incredible achievement.

Without the information and operation Changwoon provided, they would have lost incomparably more comrades than now.

“If you’re grateful, fork over money. From the disposable clone maker to clone production material costs… thanks to you I’m about to become a beggar.”

“Funds aren’t within my authority.”

“Authority, my ass, for a terrorist. What are you guys, civil servants?”

“I’ll speak to our elder. He’ll take care of you generously.”

Naturally he should.

Changwoon humming as if he’d gotten what he wanted.

Having alternately looked at Changwoon and Yoo Sanghyeon, Imae mask slowly turned his back.

“Since the operation succeeded, we’ll withdraw here.”

“What? You’re not even going to say a word to him?”

Aren’t you going to have lots to do together going forward?

When Changwoon pointed toward Yoo Sanghyeon and said that, Imae mask shook his head.

“No matter how much we shook off pursuit, this is Hanseong. Having detailed conversations in a place like this carries too much risk.”

Confirming each other’s existence and verifying we’re not enemies was sufficient.

Having said that, Imae mask looked back at the boy standing before him, Changwoon.

“What are you staring at like that?”

“…How did you know?”

“Know what?”

An abrupt question.

When Changwoon asked back, Imae mask asked in a serious voice.

“How did you know surveillance would be attached?”

The one who’d manipulated the Royal Investigative Bureau agent’s memory data was Bune mask, but what made it possible was the information this boy provided.

The tail routes the Royal Investigative Bureau frequently used.

The model name and specifications of the optical camouflage generator.

And decisively, even the location of access points connecting to the Royal Investigative Bureau agents’ neural networks.

All items were critical information corresponding to first-grade military secrets.

Not information you could know just by being a power clan’s child.

“No. Come to think of it, that’s not all.”

Even during the operation’s execution.

Even when first making contact and proposing a deal.

That boy acted as if he completely understood Hahoe’s operational process.

During the operation, there was no time to think properly, but looking back, it was truly strange.

“How could a child who’s only fifteen…”

“How could I do such dangerous things like it’s nothing?”

Having interrupted what he was going to say, Changwoon showed a mischievous smile.

“Well, there’s no particular reason.”

Having opened like that, Changwoon lowered his voice as if it were an important secret.

“Actually, I came from the future.”

“…Hah.”

At the phrase that followed, Imae mask unconsciously let out a hollow laugh.

Was he brushing it off as a joke?

You don’t need to know.

Roughly that meaning.

Hearing those words, Imae mask turned his back.

“See you next time.”

Leaving behind a brief farewell, Imae mask went outside the church building.

A moment later.

“…It’s true though, as expected no one believes me.”

Watching the direction Imae mask disappeared, Changwoon scratched his head awkwardly and added.

Even when speaking honestly, no one believes him.

How could he not feel wronged starting a revolution?

---

Thud. Thud.

Along with heavy footsteps, Kim Jungheon, dressed neatly in ceremonial robes, walked down a corridor made of old wood.

Following behind him were the power clans’ late awakeners including Kim Hyunwoo.

Their destination was Geunjeongjeon Hall at the top of Hanseong.

“Open it.”

At Kim Jungheon’s single phrase, two palace attendants who’d bowed their heads slowly opened the door.

Patterns splendidly drawn in old Joseon style and a dragon carved in the center of the ceiling.

And on the throne beneath it…

“…!”

The moment they confirmed what was before their eyes, everyone who’d entered the hall bowed their heads in unison.

The throne veiled with white.

Because beyond that veil, a human-shaped shadow was already seated.

The king who’d ruled Joseon for three hundred years.

The shadow of King Gwangjo Yi Cheolheon.

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

But while hastily showing courtesy—

Kim Hyunwoo and several other ability wielders felt a strange, indescribable sensation.

‘Phase power…’

‘I can’t feel it. Why?’

King Gwangjo Yi Cheolheon was the great hero who’d saved Joseon from the monsters’ hands.

But why couldn’t they feel phase power from such a person?

Just as they were thinking that, Kim Jungheon, who’d been staring intently at the throne, gestured toward the palace attendants.

The palace attendants who approached the throne with maximum courtesy drew aside the white cloth covering King Gwangjo’s body.

“Wh-what…?!”

Everyone standing there could only be shocked at the king’s revealed appearance.

“I-impossible. This is…?”

Right.

Any intellectual in this nation of Joseon would have doubts.

How could King Gwangjo, born in the early 20th century, rule Joseon for three hundred years?

No matter how developed Joseon’s medicine was, how could they keep someone from three hundred years ago alive?

And if King Gwangjo had been alive for three hundred years, why did the power clans’ high officials call the living king ‘Gwangjo’?

Attaching a posthumous temple name to a living king.

Why were they committing such absurd disloyalty so casually?

No, perhaps it was natural words.

Because this nation’s king.

The hero who saved Joseon, Yi Cheolheon.

“He’s a corpse… isn’t he…?”

“Now, now—!”

The moment some who doubted their eyes muttered that, a roar fell upon them as they stood dazed.

The one who’d shouted was none other than Kim Jungheon.

He maintained a solemn expression and ordered the late awakeners standing before him.

“Everyone, show proper courtesy.”

Along with Kim Jungheon’s voice, the late awakeners lined up in a row all swallowed dry saliva in unison.

The massive skyscraper Hanseong built with steel and machinery.

The throne positioned in Geunjeongjeon Hall at its summit.

What sat there was—

“This is His Majesty, the father of this nation.”

Surrounded by life support equipment.

It was the body of King Gwangjo Yi Cheolheon.