The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 9

-Signal lost. We completely lost him.

“What?”

At the voice flowing through the communicator, Kim Hyunwoo frowned with displeasure. Deep wrinkles formed on his forehead as displeasure spread throughout his body.

“You lost him? Even after mobilizing the family’s tracking system?”

-W-we’re terribly sorry. But the lower residential district has so many people, there are just too many signals being transmitted. To track all these signals…

“Tsk.”

Kim Hyunwoo, who’d been listening to the surveillance agent’s report, cut off the communication with an irritated sigh.

Incompetent fools.

They didn’t even try to do something more—just kept repeating that they couldn’t do it, making it impossible to entrust them with work.

To think these things were in charge of our family’s surveillance network.

Thoughts about how to handle these incompetent fools endlessly surfaced in his mind.

“Young Master.”

But that was brief.

At the voice from behind him, Kim Hyunwoo’s expression softened slightly.

His guard, Hocheol.

One of the few useful ones he’d found among the incompetent vermin.

“The plan went awry. That guard bastard Seo Taewoong seems to have been far more useful than expected.”

“No. That’s not all.”

A voice as precise as a machine.

Hocheol who spoke like that transmitted a video to Hyunwoo.

“This is…?”

His puzzled expression was brief.

Kim Hyunwoo’s eyes widened as he watched the video.

What appeared before his eyes was the battle that unfolded after the missile struck Changwoon’s car.

The sight of Changwoon handling a military-grade compound bow like his own limbs.

Smooth and accurate shooting.

Anyone could see this wasn’t trained in just a day or two.

“Seo Taewoong is someone who’s served the family loyally for a long time. I know his level best.”

Kim Hyunwoo nodded silently.

He’d reviewed Hocheol’s assault plan himself after all.

How much power Seo Taewoong could produce.

What actions he would take, and how he could be brought down.

It was a plan executed with optimal personnel after calculating all those countless variables.

“But the plan failed. That means…”

“The factor that twisted the plan wasn’t Seo Taewoong, but Young Master Changwoon.”

As if driving in a wedge to his thoughts, Hocheol’s voice grated on his ears.

“Moreover, by burning the assassins, he even covered up the fact that he was assaulted at all. This… is no ordinary matter. Young Master.”

Tsk.

No ordinary matter.

Hearing Hocheol’s words, Kim Hyunwoo clicked his tongue with displeasure.

The bastard he’d thought of as a pitiful lowborn had humiliated him to his face, and now he was operating outside his plans, scheming things he didn’t know about.

It was truly unbearably unpleasant.

The mosquito that had been flailing in his palm had suddenly disappeared, buzzing around his ears.

“If this series of events reaches the Lord’s ears, his view of Young Master Changwoon…”

“Enough.”

At Kim Hyunwoo’s brief word, Hocheol closed his mouth.

“The Andong Kim clan is a prestigious phase-wielder family. There’s no way that powerless bastard Changwoon would catch Father’s eye.”

“…I see. My thoughts were short.”

Kim Hyunwoo spat out with a rough voice.

As if sensing that mood, Hocheol took a step back.

He’d noticed his master’s displeasure.

Displeasure?

No. Rather than that…

‘Anxiety would be more accurate.’

Reading Kim Hyunwoo’s true feelings, Hocheol opened his mouth while swallowing a faint smile.

Just a little.

Should he provoke him just a little more?

“However, it’s certain Young Master Changwoon is scheming something. Completely ignoring him like before isn’t the best course of action.”

“…Right. That’s true.”

As if reading his thoughts, Hocheol naturally continued speaking.

Nodding at those words, Kim Hyunwoo was soon able to organize his thoughts.

“Attach someone. A person who can monitor his every move and report.”

“…”

Because once is enough for him escaping beyond my sight like this time.

As if understanding Kim Hyunwoo’s meaning, Hocheol bowed with a respectful posture.

“You’re telling me to plant an insider. I’ll arrange someone immediately.”

When he turned his gaze, Hocheol’s figure was already gone.

“Hmm.”

A tool that doesn’t question, has perception, and works well.

If there were just one more like that, his plans would become much easier.

Thinking that briefly, Kim Hyunwoo turned his body and quickened his steps.

His destination was the phase power training facility prepared at the very center of the mansion.

A place where only the main family’s successor was permitted entry.

‘One month until the face-to-face meeting… time is tight.’

Crackle. Crackle.

As if representing his displeasure, minute electrical currents swept past Kim Hyunwoo’s body.

During that one-month period, he had only one task.

To secure even slightly higher-level phase power.

The large-scale sparring that would proceed at the face-to-face meeting.

He needed to firmly imprint himself on the Joseon power-holders gathered to watch it.

Who the next master of the Andong Kim clan would be.

And who the true master of this Joseon would be.

---

“Nnngh—!”

It had already been a week since Mooyoung signed the guard employment contract.

The Andong Kim clan’s main house positioned atop a skyscraper that seemed to pierce the heavens.

The mansion’s atmosphere, usually quiet, was quite bustling unlike before.

The reason was one—preparation for the face-to-face meeting that would occur in a month.

A massive event where young people who’d awakened phase power gathered once every five years.

As it was a place where all the young rising talents who would bear Joseon’s future assembled, this event was an extremely important occasion for the power-holders.

Aristocrats, Joseon’s entrepreneurs, the heads of Japanese corporate cities, and even the leaders of numerous warlord factions established in the Central Plains.

A massive festival where figures from all sectors gathered and interacted.

Especially since the host of this face-to-face meeting was the Andong Kim clan, which held the greatest power among Joseon’s nobles.

This face-to-face meeting would have even more guests visiting than before.

So then, while the entire family was busily moving about preparing for the face-to-face meeting, what was I doing and where?

“Phew…”

What else? I had to make money.

My personal room prepared in one corner of the mansion.

The large, spacious room was filled with several monitors covering the walls, and displayed on them were the stock markets of Joseon, Japan, and China unfolding in real-time.

Countless numbers and complex graphs dizzying the eyes.

My examination of those numerous numbers and graphs was brief.

“I can’t keep doing this.”

I exhaled a sigh and turned my gaze from the monitor.

The profit rate wasn’t bad.

As a result of immersing myself in the stock market for a week, the total profit I’d obtained was about 10% of the invested amount.

Looking at the money deposited in my account naturally warmed my heart, but this was ultimately the limit.

‘Making money itself isn’t that difficult.’

Second life.

With monopolized knowledge of the future, the methods I could use to make money were infinite.

I could invest in promising companies or people, or create new businesses and absorb them.

‘The problem is time. It takes too long.’

I fell into thought with my chin propped.

Normally, I would’ve sung while using my steadily rising account balance as accompaniment, but right now I didn’t have time.

The time remaining until the face-to-face meeting was one month from now.

If I couldn’t secure the necessary equipment and weapons within that time, I couldn’t proceed with the plan.

“Moreover, though I gained the cards called Mooyoung and Taewoong, I still lack people.”

There were two urgent matters.

First, equipment to use immediately at the face-to-face meeting or funds to purchase that equipment.

Second, talents with cause and goodwill who could participate in my plan while being unrelated to power clan families.

Even if I somehow resolved the first, the second was utterly daunting.

Goodwill?

In this damned Joseon.

And I had to find ‘good people’ of all things in the bottom of this Hanseong?

There was no more insane notion.

Where on earth could I find such people?

My immersion in thought was brief.

“Young Master.”

I raised my head at the voice from outside the door.

What entered through the opening door was the guard Taewoong.

Standing beside him was Mooyoung neatly dressed in black martial attire.

The face that had looked deathly just a week ago was now quite presentable.

Those pitch-black clothes seemed to just be his preference.

“Your right arm is still empty? Don’t you plan to get an artificial body or something?”

I had no intention of forcing it if he said it wasn’t necessary, but I asked since I was curious.

At my question, Mooyoung seemed to hesitate briefly, then nodded slightly.

“I do think it’s necessary. However…”

It couldn’t be that he lacked money to buy an artificial body.

When I added that while looking at his right arm hidden beneath his martial attire sleeve, Mooyoung glanced around briefly before lowering his voice.

“Because all the artificial bodies I can obtain are managed by ‘the Administration.'”

“…Ah.”

The Administration.

Hearing that name, I nodded and looked out the window.

Hanseong’s night view visible beyond the window.

At the top of this massive mechanical city existed ‘the Administration,’ the supreme management organization overseeing all the city’s functions.

Vrrrrooom—

Countless buildings and thousands of transport drones constantly traveling between them.

Surveillance cameras installed without fail in every city alley and the security maintenance combat bots moving in conjunction with them.

The Hanseong citizens they monitored, even their artificial bodies.

The central hub of Joseon that could monitor, manage, and remotely stop all electronic devices in Joseon.

‘Since I told him my purpose was revolution, he’s reluctant to use artificial bodies managed by the Administration?’

Unexpected.

I’d thought he was just a brute who only knew physical work, but he was this deep a thinker.

This Mooyoung might be a far more capable guy than I’d thought.

“Even so, to work as a guard while one-armed. Are you saying that with one arm, you can sufficiently protect someone like me? Hm?”

“N-no! That’s not what I meant…”

I deliberately made a mischievous expression while teasing Mooyoung, but even while grumbling like that, my gaze didn’t leave Mooyoung’s right arm.

‘Certainly, considering the plans ahead, he’s right.’

It wasn’t just the upcoming face-to-face meeting.

The organization with management authority over ‘the Administration’ was the Royal Investigative Bureau.

What manipulated that Royal Investigative Bureau at will were none other than the power clan families.

Using an artificial body in this Joseon meant my location and power of life and death would be managed by them in real-time.

“However, an artificial body not monitored by the Administration. Where could there be a physician who can make such a thing…”

“…Wait.”

Taewoong’s muttering was brief.

After mulling over Mooyoung’s words, I immediately stood up.

“Young Master?”

“…?”

There was one.

Someone who made artificial bodies not monitored by the Administration.

And someone who provided the starting point of revolution by delivering that technology to the revolutionary army.

“Prepare the car, Taewoong.”

“Where will you be going?”

Without any particular doubt, Taewoong who straightened his posture asked.

That was obvious.

I smiled triumphantly and opened my mouth.

“Hanseong’s lowest level. The waste disposal district.”