The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 86

“Then, I’ll be in touch once the matter is settled. Young Master!”

“Take care. And don’t get caught up in any suspicious places.”

Japan, Kyushu, Port of Kagoshima.

After seeing off Father Jeong Suhan as he waved farewell, I looked out at the corporate city of Kagoshima spread before my eyes.

High-rise buildings wrapped in glass and metal, streets immaculate as a sterile room, citizens uniformly dressed moving in perfect unison.

Above, security drones floated and drifted, managing traffic routes, and even the traffic signals were controlled by a central computer system. A fully automated city.

An inhuman perfection, a smooth and seamless landscape. It felt not as though humans were living here, but as though a single vast organism were drawing breath.

‘Unsettling. Are even the people components of the city?’

As I stood for a moment, lost in that strange sight, someone approached me quietly and bowed their head.

“You are Kim Changwoon, yes? We have been expecting you.”

A woman dressed in a neat kimono.

The wheel-shaped name tag pinned to her chest gave a hint of her identity.

She was an attendant of the Shimazu family, which ruled this corporate city of Kagoshima.

“Young Master Kim Hyunwoo and his staff, who are accompanying you, have already proceeded to the banquet hall. A vehicle has been prepared, so if you would follow this way…….”

Movements smooth as flowing water, a bright smile held firmly in place.

Just as she moved to guide us along with that same fluid composure.

Catching sight of Mizutani, who had not been on the list of companions, the guide maintained her characteristic smile and asked.

“I beg your pardon, but this person is?”

“Ah, a local guide hired on our side.”

“……I see. Noted.”

A brief silence.

Those few seconds resonated in my ears like the frequency of displeasure.

But as though even that short silence were a breach of etiquette, the guide bowed once more and led me toward the corridor.

[She’s displeased about it, right?]

A passageway exclusively for foreigners, completely separated from regular access routes.

Following the guide through the corridor, Mizutani, walking alongside me, quietly sent a message.

The way his mouth stayed shut while only his fingers moved quickly said he intended to avoid spoken conversation.

[Obviously. It’s not just that you’re an unexpected addition, but you’re a wako. A suspicious figure who doesn’t even come up in their security system lookups.]

Saying that, I continued sending messages.

[No matter that we came in the name of cooperation, from their perspective we are outsiders. They want everything in hand, from the moment we enter their domain to the moment we leave.]

The ship we had boarded to get here was prepared by the Japanese side, and the corridor we were walking through now was a foreigner-only passage.

That being so, bringing in Mizutani, this wako, would be quite grating to them.

Knowing that full well, I had pushed the variable that was Mizutani on them anyway.

A position where they couldn’t show their displeasure even if they felt it.

That was precisely how important the prospect of Kim Hyunwoo was to them.

“You’re late.”

The moment we arrived at the banquet hall, the first thing I encountered was Kim Hyunwoo.

There he was, maintaining Joseon-style dress while attended by numerous people.

Looking at each face, they were entrepreneurs with business interests in this Kagoshima.

“As this is an important occasion, I told you not to be remiss in your preparations. To miss the most important hour. Father would have given you an earful had he known.”

Well, he came right out and said it without so much as flinching.

Seeing the characteristic sneer hanging from his lips, a sigh naturally escaped me.

‘Was he this petty at every turn in my past life as well.’

But I had no choice but to conceal that feeling and greet him with proper courtesy.

What could be done. If you don’t like it, you should have been born a legitimate son.

“I heard the news. It seems you intend to enter the succession competition.”

Yet at those words Kim Hyunwoo spoke as he approached my side, the pretense I had been maintaining nearly cracked.

This reckless fool.

In a place like this, with foreign businessmen everywhere, to bring up sensitive family affairs aloud?

“This is not a game that someone like me could enter simply by wanting to. You know that better than anyone. It is the lord’s intention.”

“But it was your judgment to accept.”

Of course.

Because doing so lets me get under your skin, just like this.

When I only smiled without offering any particular response, Kim Hyunwoo sneered as though he’d been waiting for it.

“I have a good grasp of Father’s intentions, but I will not stand idly by on this matter. When this business is concluded, you will pay dearly for dreaming a dream above your station.”

“Yes, yes. Well, I wish you the best of luck.”

I let Kim Hyunwoo’s murderous tone slide off me.

Continuing an exchange this intimate on foreign soil in a distant land would produce nothing useful.

Just as I was trying to end the conversation quickly.

“Oh! Young Master Kim Hyunwoo! There you are!”

A cheerful voice.

And stepping in, a figure dressed far too precisely to match it.

A man wearing a classic haori over a yukata.

White hair and dark eyes, a well-proportioned build.

Shimazu Masahito.

The head of the Shimazu family that ruled the corporate city of Kagoshima, and the leader of the corporate city coalition participating in this operation.

“I’m not sure if the banquet I’ve prepared will be to your liking.”

“Thanks to the president’s preparations, I feel I’ve been treated to far more than I deserve.”

“Haha! You flatter me so.”

Polished pleasantries. Stiff smiles. Conversations that unfolded as though scripted, scene by scene from a play. With each pour of wine the atmosphere warmed somewhat, but the eyes of those speaking thawed not at all.

Behind the neatly trimmed smiles, sharp calculations and mutual checks flashed.

This is what the social gatherings of people in high places typically amount to.

“And who might this be?”

“Ah, I was late in making the introduction.”

Masahito shifted his gaze toward me. His expression was calm, but the direction of the question was sharp. At this, Kim Hyunwoo stepped forward naturally and extended a hand toward me.

Family disputes cannot be aired before outsiders.

The sharp tone of moments ago had vanished entirely, and a pleased smile was fixed on his face again.

Duplicity, once sufficiently trained, becomes an art.

He patted my shoulder and played the part as though we were old friends.

“This is a talent who will serve as strategic adviser in this expedition. He accompanies us having combat experience against monsters on the Northeast Frontier.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Kim Changwoon.”

“Oh?”

When I bowed my head politely, Masahito’s eyes shifted slightly.

He then looked back and forth between me and Kim Hyunwoo with a meaningful smile, and.

“With the two brothers cooperating for this operation, I feel as though I’ve gained a thousand troops.”

“…….”

Brothers.

At that single word that followed, the smile Kim Hyunwoo had been wearing developed a crack.

A man who was the head of a corporate city would have no way of not knowing that I was an illegitimate son.

Deliberately going out of his way to mention brothers and family, rubbing at Kim Hyunwoo’s nerves, could not be passed off as a slip of the tongue from a clueless old man.

‘A provocation meant to agitate Kim Hyunwoo. And deliberately poking at Kim Hyunwoo means…. there are other intentions behind this.’

This expedition was carried out on Kim Jungheon’s orders, so there was no chance of Kim Hyunwoo turning back over something as trivial as this slip of the tongue.

Knowing that, he could afford to play games like this.

Well then, the question was how Kim Hyunwoo would react.

“……Your words lend me greater strength, President.”

Unexpected. The Kim Hyunwoo who would have flushed red in the past and snapped ‘who do you think you’re—’ was now composing his emotions and facing his interlocutor with a smile.

Well done, our young Hyunwoo.

You’ve grown a little now that you’ve aged.

“In living up to the expectations you have shown us, I hope our two families will grow closer as well.”

“That it will. It will indeed.”

With that, one round of nerves ended, and the pleasant pretense resumed.

Kim Hyunwoo and Masahito continued the performance of meaningless familiarity, exchanging pleasantries and small talk.

That I, having intruded as a mere ornament, would naturally be pushed to the background was an expected outcome.

And so there I was, chewing through the lavish dishes and taking in the banquet hall, when.

“Shimazu Masahito!”

Someone’s shout cut through the air. One of the guests, who had been smiling freely, suddenly produced an unidentified metal device and began charging toward President Shimazu.

[Unexpected situation detected. Intervening immediately.]

An escort on standby activated their artificial body and moved to block them, but in the very next moment.

Slash—!

The phase power that erupted from the assailant carved through the escorts’ bodies in an instant. With the sound of flesh tearing, metal frames clattered and rolled across the floor.

“Kyaaaak—!”

“Wh, what is this?! A terrorist attack?!”

“A phase-power user! Security! Why aren’t you stopping that person already……!”

The banquet hall became chaos in an instant. Guests and attendants tangled together, tables were overturned, and wine and food flooded the floor.

Yet even within that chaos, Shimazu Masahito himself did not move a muscle.

He simply looked down at the charging assailant, phase power unleashed, with a cold gaze.

As though enraged by that composure, the assailant’s wakizashi drawn from their person reached within arm’s reach of him, but.

“I did not expect to receive assistance this quickly.”

Crunch—!

In the next instant, another phase power that tore through the air slammed the assailant’s body straight into the floor.

Kim Hyunwoo, still seated in his chair, extended his hand lightly. The pressure of the phase power radiating from his fingertips pinned the assailant’s body to the ground, motionless as a doll glued to the floor.

“G, ggh……!”

The assailant screamed as though their lungs were collapsing and thrashed. Arms and shoulders were bent, and their ribs had likely been snapped by the aftershock of the phase power. Yet they still had their eyes open. Twisting their bloodied face, they glared toward us with those animal eyes.

“The vermin have gathered at a fine occasion. Are you unhurt?”

“Yes. Thanks to the Young Master’s efforts.”

Masahito nodded with an unhurried smile. The escorts who had been restoring order caught their breath, and the guests raised their heads one by one. Eyes still glazed with fear swept through the hall, but the center of it all remained beneath Kim Hyunwoo’s foot.

“And that person?”

“Well. Ordinarily I would assume the Mori family sent them, but they have also joined the coalition for this expedition, so the likelihood of them plotting something this outrageous is low…….”

As they conferred, the assailant, teeth clenched, slowly opened their mouth.

“You would even summon Joseon’s monsters to seal the Rift…! Do you truly think you can stop us with that……!”

“What?”

The assailant, who had been muttering madly, forced themselves up.

More precisely, they wrenched their broken body and forced it upright.

The sound of bones screaming, the sensation of muscle tearing reached us from here.

The agony of every muscle in the body twisting.

Yet even through all of that, they were smiling.

“Fools who reject the truth and are deceived only by what is before your eyes……!”

With incomprehensible muttering, the assailant slowly threw off the yukata.

Explosives and wiring covered the entire upper body.

In the hand raised high above their head was a trigger to activate the explosive vest strapped to their body.

“Witness this……!”

Too late to stop it.

Seemingly certain of this, the assailant bared their teeth and shouted, coughing blood.

“The Rift will…… save us……!”

And at that very moment.

Thwack—!

An instant before the bomb switch was pressed, a single arrow cutting through the sharp air pierced the assailant’s hand.

More precisely, it had shattered entirely the neural wiring connecting the fingers to the trigger.

“A through-shot, Young Master.”

Taewoong’s quiet voice.

With those words, I slowly lowered the bow I had been holding.