The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 6

Wijae swung the stainless steel ladle he had brought along toward the empty air. It was, of course, more durable than a green onion, so it wasn’t a bad piece of equipment to prepare for any situation. Wijae continued twirling the ladle and thought of places Haeun might have gone.

There hadn’t been any emergency Rift notification text, so she wouldn’t have gone somewhere to evacuate leaving the grandmother behind… Did she go to a playground at this hour? Or maybe after eating one ice cream earlier, she secretly went out to buy more. Wijae turned his head busily and headed toward the main road.

He needed to find Park Haeun and take her home before it got too late. Wijae resolved and closed his eyes.

<Tracker’s Eye!>

Beneath the eyelids he opened again, both pupils glowed blue. The scenery before him simplified into lines and planes like an architectural blueprint, and soon even the interiors of buildings were seen through, revealing everything inside. ‘Tracker’s Eye’ was a skill that allowed one to see someone’s unique light, and it was useful for times like now when searching for someone.

In places where people had been, white light bloomed and flickered like candles instead of human silhouettes. A child’s light is a bit smaller than average. Wijae strained all his nerves and scanned the surroundings, but Haeun didn’t seem to be nearby.

That was the moment Wijae expanded the skill’s range a little wider.

Grasp!

An intense purple flame instantly caught his gaze. It was the brightest and largest flame he had ever seen in his life, burning fiercely as if to swallow its surroundings.

…A flame?

The deliberation was brief. Wijae headed toward the flame quickly.

A being that appears not as simple light but in the form of a flame is only an Awakened, including hunters. Although this neighborhood was said to have many hunters, if the light blazed brightly enough to be dazzling, it couldn’t be an ordinary-level figure. Rather than an ordinary hunter, it was sharp and massive enough to be close to a monster.

So he had to check for himself. Whether it was simply an imposing hunter, or a being that could be a threat. If it was the latter… Haeun might be in danger. Wijae gripped the hand holding the ladle firmly.

The flame was burning in an alley not far from the hangover soup restaurant. As the distance to the flame grew closer, thud, thud, thud… the dull sound of kicking and the suppressed groans of “urk,” “keuk,” grew louder. Someone was beating someone up.

Finally, at the end of the alley he arrived at, a place brightly lit by moonlight.

In the center of the fiercely burning purple flame, a large figure in jet-black clothing was mercilessly kicking someone crouched on the ground. The ominous energy radiating from it sharply pricked his skin.

And at the same time, Wijae’s sensitive intuition flashed. He could instinctively feel it. The size of the flame comparable to a monster, and the pressure of presence alone that crushed its surroundings. The figure before his eyes was…

The same S-rank as me.

The figure that had been kicking the man sharply turned its head toward him. Wijae hurriedly turned off the skill and flinched back. Only then did the figure that had been blurred by the flame become clearly visible.

A man wearing a gas mask that covered his entire face, black techwear, and leather shoes that gleamed as if stained with blood. He was dressed in a way that screamed hunter no matter where you looked. The gas mask, which had been silent for a while with its gaze fixed, precisely pointed at Wijae with a black-gloved hand.

“You.”

“…”

Wijae stood without moving even at the voice calling him. The gas mask spoke in a languid voice.

“You saw everything, you fuckin’ apron.”

“…”

As he took a step back into the shadows, the gas mask added as if telling him not to think about running.

“The ladle too.”

Wijae subtly hid the hand holding the ladle behind his back too. Was it visible because it was a stainless steel ladle? Sharp-eyed bastard, maybe I should wear a damn apron from tomorrow.

Just then, the fallen man writhed and moved, and the gas mask kicked the man’s stomach once more. His head was still turned toward Wijae.

“Keuk!”

“This bastard spots an opening and gets excited and crawls out again…”

The gas mask, muttering in an irritated tone, kept stomping on the stomach while staring intently at Wijae.

“A regular person?”

“Yes.”

“Working late…”

Whether he asked out of courtesy, the following words were dry. The gas mask, silent for a while, added a question.

“But what are you doing outside at this hour with a ladle?”

“I came out to find my niece. She’s not home.”

Wijae answered in a calm voice and waved his palm downward around his waist.

“By any chance, have you seen a girl about this tall? An elementary schooler with her hair tied in one bunch.”

When Wijae asked shamelessly, the gas mask shrugged.

“Don’t know.”

“I see. Then may I be on my way?”

“Wait. I’ll ask this one too.”

The foot that had been stepping on the man seemed to lift for a moment, then kicked his side again with a thud. But the man seemed to have already lost consciousness, only groaning “Ugh.”

“Sorry. This bastard doesn’t know anything. His brain is pickled in drugs.”

The gas mask, contrary to his words, didn’t sound sorry at all. At this point, it seemed like he just wanted an excuse to hit him one more time. But Wijae, for whom finding his niece was more important than the fact that some all-black weirdo was beating someone up, didn’t add any more words and shook his head.

“No, you’ve worked hard. Then I’ll be going.”

“Wait.”

The gas mask suddenly grabbed him as he turned his steps to leave the alley. The gas mask, who had been staring intently at Cha Wijae’s face for a while, tilted his head slightly. Perhaps because of his relaxed voice, every movement seemed slow.

“Strange.”

“…”

“Have we met somewhere before?”

“No, we haven’t.”

“…I see?”

Wijae stared blankly at the gas mask with a face that said, “Why ask something like that?” Without a single grain of falsehood, he and this person were strangers. There was no way he could forget a concept-obsessed person walking around wearing a gas mask so conspicuously. Wijae guessed that this jet-black concept-obsessed person must be a newly awakened hunter who had awakened while he was inside the Rift.

The gas mask, who had been scanning Wijae for a moment, placed one index finger to his lips. It meant to keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone what he had just seen. Well, getting tangled with the police or the management agency would complicate things.

Wijae, who also knew the struggles of beating people in back alleys without getting caught, gladly nodded. Besides, he had no one to tell anyway, so he could just pretend he hadn’t seen anything and move on. The gas mask waved his hand as if telling him to go.

That was when it happened.

Kikik… kkigik…

Swoooosh!

Sharp thorns that burst through the crouched man’s back flew toward Wijae in an instant. Wijae wasn’t surprised even seeing the fiercely charging shapes. Instead, he calmly stepped one step to the side, adjusted his grip on the ladle, and put strength into his arm. And then…

Kaang!!

He struck the thorns away with a perfect form!

Maybe I should have nurtured a dream of being a baseball player. I don’t know about a home run, but it seems like a triple at least. Wijae inwardly felt proud, clenched and opened his hand a couple of times, and inadvertently looked at the gas mask. He was clutching the thorn Wijae had hit away with his hand.

“…”

“…”

Did he… catch it for me?

Circumstantially, it seemed so. Hunters had the basic principle of protecting civilians, and by the setup, he was a civilian who had come out at night with a ladle to find his niece. No matter that he had just swung a ladle at the thorn, he was still someone who should be protected, so the gas mask had reason to shield him.

A stream of cold sweat ran down Wijae’s spine. An awkward silence continued.

“…”

“…”

Fuck.

What kind of civilian in this world swings at thorns flying madly at them? Wijae wanted to slap himself for failing to play the role of a good citizen trembling in fear before the thorns.

Running away right now would obviously be impossible. Then was there no choice but to knock out the gas mask? Where on his head and with how much force should he hit to make him lose only his memory appropriately and end it? An Awakened should be fine even if hit a bit harder.

The weapon he was holding happened to be a ladle, so it was hard to gauge the force. Just from the fact that he caught the thorn that suddenly changed direction with his bare hand, the gas mask was not an opponent to be taken lightly. Wijae was stuck like a broken robot lost in profound contemplation.

Meanwhile, the gas mask shoved his gloves into his pocket and slowly crossed his arms. As if waiting for a reaction, Wijae also came to his senses and faced him.

Hah…

Life is fucked…

Since it had come to this, it was a frontal breakthrough, no, a frontal escape. Wijae, staring into empty air, politely bowed his head.

“…I’ll be going. I urgently need to find my niece.”

Reality escape begins.

“Excuse me—”

However, the gas mask did not back down easily. Rather, he stretched out the end of his words and strode closer. Don’t talk to me anymore. Wijae stepped back two steps, but the gas mask, who had somehow come right up to his nose, clasped his hands behind his back and slightly bent his upper body.

The long shadow, as long as his tall height, completely covered Wijae. The voice leaking out from beyond the gas mask was filled with thick laughter.

“What’s your name?”

“I don’t have a name.”

“Aha… So you haven’t decided on a hunter name yet?”

“No. I just don’t have a name.”

“Then shall I make one for you?”

“Do you run a naming studio or something?”

“I’m thinking of opening one temporarily.”

It was a swamp-like conversation that grabbed his foot the more he tried to escape. Originally, the more you struggle in a swamp, the deeper you sink. There was no choice but to cut off this conversation somehow. Wijae took a deep breath and steadied his voice.