The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 7

“I really have to go. There’s an elementary schooler wandering outside at this hour. Aren’t you worried about a child roaming the streets alone this late at night?”

It was a heart-stirring line that would not have been out of place as a public service announcement narration.

Get through this. Looking at the black gas mask whose thoughts he could not read at all, Wijae prayed silently.

“Right, you did say that.”

Yet, as if to mock Wijae’s earnest wish, the gas mask’s voice remained just as leisurely. It almost sounded like he was saying that kind of tactic would not work. After nodding his head a few times, the gas mask pulled out his phone, typed something, and then waved it ostentatiously.

“Our guys will find the missing child. Can you wait just a bit?”

But this time, Cha Wijae was quick to take the next step. He shook his head and said firmly,

“No, I’ll decline. I’m going to call the police. I’ll request help from the people’s staff.”

“Mm… Then I’ll call the Awakened Management Agency.”

“Why would you call the Agency?”

“Because Hunters using their abilities to search is faster than the police. Do you like Jeongbin? He’ll come right away if I call. Want me to call him?”

At the gas mask, who parried as if asking why he would even ask such a thing, Wijae was momentarily speechless and openly glared at him.

Are you serious.

Yeah, are you serious?

After quickly reading each other’s eyes, all strength drained out of him and he had no energy left to deal with this. Wijae first raised both hands slightly as if to say okay.

If there was a Hunter specialized in tracking, finding a missing child would indeed be easier than through the police, just as the gas mask had said. But that was not the only reason Wijae had backed off. It was because the gas mask’s offer to call Jeongbin simply did not sound like an empty boast.

Judging by his skill at beating people up—clearly not his first or second time—the gas mask was certainly recorded as a person of interest in the Awakened Management Agency’s database. Jeongbin, with his strong law-abiding spirit, would come running the moment he received the call. Then the situation would escalate further—it was obvious without even looking, as predictable as YouTube.

Good. From just that brief exchange, he had determined that this bastard in front of him was someone not to get entangled with.

Haah…. Letting out a deep sigh, Wijae irritably swept his hair back. Time kept flowing, and if he kept getting caught up in the other’s words, this conversation seemed like it would never end.

“What do you want from me.”

Throwing away formal speech and asking bluntly, the gas mask let out a light laugh. Drawing a little closer, he whispered low.

“Just two questions.”

“…”

Wijae tilted his head as if to say, go ahead.

“First question first. Pick one.”

The gas mask made a V-sign with his large, straight fingers. Thanks to the moonlight, his hands were clearly visible even in the darkness. The tips of his extended fingers were all stained black.

Apparently not intending to draw out the silence, the gas mask spoke first even though Wijae had not chosen.

“One, that ladle is an S-class weapon unknown to the world. Yes or no?”

The 6,900-won ladle’s social rise—crazy….

Just because he had knocked away some spines, the ladle was getting this much praise. Was the gas mask more naive than he looked, or just an idiot? Wijae deliberately entertained useless thoughts, hands clasped behind his back, giving no answer at all.

When no response came for a long while, the gas mask let out a heavy sigh, slowly folded his index finger, and rotated his wrist half a turn so the back of his hand was visible. With the same nonchalant face as when he had made the V-sign earlier, he stiffened his middle finger and asked,

“Two, you’re an unregistered Awakened. What about this?”

“Cheeky bastard….”

Do all Hunters these days eat manners for breakfast? Wijae stared at the obnoxiously extended middle finger with a look of disbelief.

Eight years ago, when Cha Wijae had been active, he could never have imagined such insubordination. No matter when this bastard had awakened, there was no way he was Wijae’s senior. Of course not—I’m the Republic of Korea’s first S-class Awakened!

Even in the great Hunter era, they couldn’t have thrown away centuries of Confucian values. While Wijae was suppressing his anger at this audacious junior, the gas mask drove the nail in with a voice laced with laughter.

“Well… it didn’t seem like an S-class weapon, so you must be unregistered, right?”

“I’m not unregistered.”

In any case, he had been registered as an Awakened before, so strictly speaking, he was not unregistered. …Though he might have been listed as missing or deceased and his records erased, he had been registered eight years ago, so he had no guilt about it.

But the gas mask snorted as if hearing nonsense.

“If you’re going to lie, at least put some effort into it….”

“I’m telling the truth.”

Before the answer was even finished, the gas mask vanished from his sight. And the very next moment—

Clang!!

Wijae blocked an unexpected blow from behind with the ladle. Beyond the gas mask’s lenses, violet eyes flashed fiercely. Even though his attack was blocked, the gas mask did not withdraw his hand; instead, he gripped the ladle tightly. Creak—the ladle, already dented, crumpled further under the applied force.

Tsssss—

After a moment, the ladle, collapsing in the gas mask’s hand, began to melt black. The acrid smell of burning metal stung his nose.

‘A corrosion or decay-type ability?’

Drip, drip. Black liquid fell to the ground, and wherever it touched, the floor turned black. Wijae had seen something like this recently—everywhere the fangs of the West Sea Rift’s master, the Basilisk, had touched, it had corroded just like that.

‘It’s poison.’

And a potent poison comparable to the Basilisk’s venom. He had thought the gas mask was just a concept addict, but….

As Wijae frowned, he could feel the face behind the mask grinning. Having apparently gotten the answer he wanted, the gas mask did not press further, instead flicking his hand and stepping back.

“Just an ordinary ladle, then.”

“…”

“And you—an unregistered Awakened who blocked my attack….”

“I’ve told you several times, I’m not unregistered.”

“That’s right.”

Beyond the round lenses, violet light blazed fiercely.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know someone of your caliber.”

It could be taken as a compliment, but for some reason, it felt oddly unpleasant. Wijae met the persistent gaze without flinching, pondering the reason. Soon, he realized one fact without difficulty.

This bastard has been speaking informally since earlier.

When had they ever met for him to use banmal? Having lived a Hunter life hearing only extreme honorifics as former J, now Cha Wijae, such behavior was deeply grating to his ears. Even cold water has its proper order. Wijae shifted his posture crookedly and rolled his eyes upward.

“Hey,”

“Hm?”

“How old are you?”

At the unexpected question, the gas mask tilted his head, then promptly dropped his previous aggressive demeanor and answered innocently.

“Twenty-four.”

Twenty-four? Twenty-fo-ur? Cha Wijae shifted more weight onto one leg and stood with his hip cocked.

“Now listen here, you brat—using banmal on a first meeting.”

“You look about my age, though.”

“Hey, I’ve eaten at least five thousand more bowls of rice than you,”

Of course, Cha Wijae still could not believe he was twenty-eight rather than twenty, and he had not actually eaten five thousand more bowls! But since age was something to be leveraged, he had to use it effectively. The only advantage he had over this gas mask was the eight years he had gained for free.

At the sudden elder-like remark, the gas mask tilted his head again. For someone wearing a menacing gas mask, his actions were incongruously cute, making him seem like a pure child.

“Ah ha… So?”

“You talk too informally, that’s what.”

“I see….”

The gas mask laughed briefly, then slightly inclined his head toward Wijae. The eyes beyond the lenses curved as he whispered,

“Shall I speak formally for you?”

Perhaps because he had been beating someone up just moments before, the gas mask carried a peculiar aura. If Wijae had not had experience fighting monsters as a Hunter, he might have been a little intimidated.

But Cha Wijae was a veteran Hunter who had rolled and rolled until worn down to the point of extinction. Upon seeing the gas mask subtly sharpening his edges beneath a soft tone, his first thought was simply that he was tired. Of course, he had not grown enough to calmly let a brat four years his junior speak to him informally.

His body was still twenty, but his heart had surpassed twenty-eight and reached two hundred and eighty. Perhaps his crotchety temper was better suited to the age of two hundred and eighty anyway.

Whether or not he knew Wijae’s seething insides, the gas mask traced his fingertips over the black surface and added,

“Or not? Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken formally.”

So this was what it felt like to have someone prostrate themselves before you? Even after hearing the formal speech he had wanted, Wijae felt even more annoyed. It was like being a grandfather whose disobedient grandchild, told to bow once, instead bowed twice.

Cha Wijae forced himself to calm down and reminded himself:

Right now, I’m a civilian. A civilian. Not Hunter J. That guy is a precious Hunter, and I’m a civilian. A civilian who desperately needs his help to find Haeun quickly. Recalling the purpose for which he had come outside made his head cool down a little.

—Haeun is nowhere to be seen, Wijae. I don’t know when she slipped out without me noticing. The world is so dangerous these days, and she went out alone, oh dear….

But wait—instead of bickering with this bastard, might he have already found Haeun by now? Once that thought reached him, cracks began to form in Wijae’s self-hypnosis. Something seemed to surge up from inside.

Right now I’m not J, but a law-abiding, ordinary citi…

“Even twins born a minute apart distinguish between older and younger!”

In the end, Wijae’s elder-like fury exploded.