The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 8

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

As Wijae, having flared up, spoke huffily, a docile answer flowed from the gas mask.

“Okay. I understand, hyung.”

Hyung, he says. At the address term that suddenly shortened their kinship, Cha Wijae looked up at the gas mask with a bewildered expression.

“Suddenly hyung?”

“If you don’t like it, will you tell me your name?”

“No.”

“Then should I call you Apron?”

“Not that either.”

“Hmm, how about Ladle?”

“You just melted my ladle.”

When he answered “no” to everything asked, the gas mask spoke in a sullen voice as if there was no getting through to him.

“You won’t even tell me your name. If you don’t like Apron or Ladle either, the only thing left is hyung.”

“No, just don’t call me anything.”

“Shall I call you hyung?”

“I said don’t.”

“Yes, hyung.”

The gas mask pretended not to see Cha Wijae’s dumbfounded expression and smoothly settled the address term like a snake gliding over a wall. Wijae’s plan to cut off the conversation with him had completely failed. An intuition arrived that if he responded any more here, he would be swept up in this guy’s pace.

He could fight more, of course, but Wijae had a lot to do. He had to find Haeun, and he had to finish preparing for the morning business before sunrise.

To ask whether he would take responsibility if today’s business was ruined because of him—this guy’s appearance made it obvious that far from trimming green onions, it would be a blessing if he didn’t break the cutting board. There was no way the gas mask could trim green onions, mince garlic, boil broth, drain blood from meat, and boil it in his place. His face wasn’t properly visible because of the gas mask, but anyway, that was how it was.

“Let’s stop dragging this out by nitpicking at my words. Playing along with you ends here too.”

“I never did that.”

“The two questions are already over.”

“One was a lie, and one you didn’t answer.”

“I told you it wasn’t a lie. You’re the one who doesn’t believe it, so why is it my fault? And you didn’t attach a condition that I absolutely had to answer your questions.”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, nitpicking for nitpicking. Wijae decided to act childishly to match his opponent’s level. If the gas mask showed signs of being flustered or dumbfounded, he planned to go find Haeun just like that.

However, the gas mask was looking at Wijae as if this situation was rather entertaining to death. Just as he was about to snap at him asking what he was staring at, a phone vibration rang. It was the gas mask’s phone. He slowly answered the call while keeping his gaze fixed on Wijae.

“Hello.”

“…”

“…Ah, is that so? Come this way.”

“…”

The gas mask smiled without hiding his good mood.

“Yeah, then I’ll send the guardian there.”

“…”

“Keep her well. Don’t make the kid cry…”

After hanging up, the gas mask paused for a moment before speaking.

“They say they found hyung’s niece.”

“Where is she?”

“The playground next to the church near here.”

It was close to the alley they were in. If this guy’s presence had been even a little fainter, he could have taken Haeun without wasting time facing him like this. The gas mask continued speaking.

“I told them to bring her here, but… the kid seems to want to stay there. The guardian is here, so we can’t force her to come…”

Right? The gas mask shrugged.

“Go ahead. Our guys will be next to her.”

“Yeah.”

Actually, Wijae had been half turned toward that direction ever since the gas mask said the playground next to the church. It was only that he had held back from moving his feet because cutting off someone’s words was impolite. He waited dutifully like a well-trained dog and turned around immediately the moment the words ended.

Oh, right. Wijae, having taken a few steps, subtly glanced toward the gas mask.

“…Thanks.”

After throwing out the thank-you he had almost forgotten, he hurried to move his feet, but the gas mask lightly grabbed Wijae.

“Hyung.”

“What.”

“Lee Sayoung.”

“Who is that.”

“My name.”

The eyes within the gas mask curved thinly.

“See you next time.”

No, let’s never meet again. I’m grateful you found Haeun, but I don’t want to run into a crazy bastard like you again. Wijae urged his steps without bothering to return the greeting. When he reached the end of the alley, Wijae subtly looked back to see if that guy was following.

Lee Sayoung was still standing in that same spot. Without moving in the slightest.

“…”

And Wijae somehow couldn’t get that image out of his mind.

∞ ∞ ∞

Lee Sayoung stood in that spot until the young man’s back had completely disappeared. Even after that, he waited a little more time, and only after the young man’s presence had completely faded did he move his feet.

The place he headed was in front of the motionless corpse sprawled on the ground. Sayoung grabbed the hair of the corpse, with thorns protruding all over its body, and lifted it without hesitation.

“The frequency of their appearance has increased lately…”

Sssss… From the part his hand touched, the hair began to burn and the flesh began to melt pitch black. Before long, the corpse disappeared without a trace, leaving only a small black puddle in its place.

A black cat lightly leaped onto the narrow alley wall behind Sayoung. From the shadow of the cat licking its front paw with its tongue out, a round head suddenly popped out. It was a man wearing sunglasses.

“Guild Master.”

“Yeah.”

Lee Sayoung wasn’t surprised even at the presence of someone suddenly appearing. When he bent down and swept the puddle with his hand, the black puddle that was the corpse’s last trace disappeared cleanly, leaving only a shallowly dug mark. The man who had crawled out of the shadow spoke while holding the cat in his arms.

“I report. The guardian just arrived at the playground and joined the child. I confirmed that the child happily called him uncle and clung to him.”

“Any other unusual findings?”

“No. Shall I follow them just in case?”

“Follow. Check where they go, then report immediately.”

“Understood.”

The man stroked the black cat’s soft fur with his hand and bowed to Sayoung.

“And a message from the Vice Guild Master. He asks if a meeting at 11 AM the day after tomorrow is fine regarding the dungeon bid matter.”

Sayoung nodded as if to say understood.

“Yes, then I’ll relay that.”

“Seo Mingi.”

Once the business was finished, Mingi, who had set the cat down on the floor, was about to crawl into the cat’s shadow when he suddenly popped his head out.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Let’s find a person with me.”

“Please tell me.”

“Search the Awakened database and compile a report on men aged 25 or older, early 180s in height, awakened rank B or higher. Exclude anyone with a weird-looking face.”

“What? The Awakened database?”

Mingi pointed at himself with his thumb.

“Me?”

“Why, can’t you do it?”

The Awakened database. It was data storing information on all Awakened in Korea, implemented in accordance with the Awakened Special Act’s mandatory registration system enacted a few years ago. Although directly managed by the Awakened Management Agency, its very existence was treated as a national secret, so most regular people didn’t even know the database existed, and its security was extremely thorough.

And he was being told to raid a place like that? Seo Mingi, Hunter Name A Tiny Little Miracle Mingi, responded with a bewildered face.

“If you give me some time, I can raid it, but…”

“Then raid it.”

Sayoung’s attitude was as if asking why he was making a fuss over nothing. Mingi secretly shed tears for his future, already feeling overwhelmed at the thought of raiding that heavily secured place. Company life really isn’t easy…

Min Gijeok nodded with sagging shoulders. But the tyrannical boss Sayoung didn’t stop giving orders.

“And the elementary schooler we just found. Did you get her name too?”

“Park Haeun, Saetbyeol Elementary School, 2nd Grade, Class 2.”

“Check that kid’s family relationships.”

Somehow it was nothing but increasingly baffling orders. He might get chewed out for prying unnecessarily, but Min Gijeok decided to ask steadfastly anyway.

“Why… family relationships?”

“…”

Lee Sayoung slowly put on his black leather gloves and answered nonchalantly.

“I’ve become a bit interested in the person who’s her uncle.”

∞ ∞ ∞

The grandmother and Haeun’s house was the first floor of an old residential building. After barely taking Haeun home, who was protesting to play more at the playground, and confirming the grandmother scolding her stubborn granddaughter, Wijae finally felt relieved. As he was catching his breath for a moment, the grandmother handed him barley tea and asked.

“Wijae, are you going to sleep over today?”

“Ah, no. I need to go to the shop now and prepare for tomorrow’s business.”

“Is the business doing okay? I should go out too…”

“Yes. It’s fine, Grandmother. You know I’m strong. I can handle it alone. How’s your leg these days?”

“My leg? It’s almost better.”

A lie. Wijae silently watched the grandmother’s back as she walked toward her sleeping granddaughter. Pretending to be fine was something anyone could do as much as they wanted, but unconsciously shifting the center of weight onto a leg that didn’t hurt was something that couldn’t be hidden.

The grandmother stroked the head of Haeun, who had quickly fallen asleep under a blanket in the living room, and sighed.

“My heart nearly jumps out of my chest so many times because of this girl. What is she doing crawling out of the house at night? Not even knowing how scary the world is…”

“I’ll scold her properly when she wakes up tomorrow, so don’t say too much to her.”

Wijae laughed haha and set down the cup, then subtly turned his gaze and checked outside the window. Something had seemed suspicious for a while now. When he headed to the playground to pick up Haeun, he hadn’t felt any particular presence, so it seemed a tail had attached on the way home.

‘Did that guy order it?’

No wonder he let him go so obediently. Wijae stood up from his seat still wearing a smiling face.

“Please sleep, Grandmother.”

“Are you going now?”

“Yes. But may I borrow the window for a moment?”

“The window, why?”

“There’s something I need to do. I’ll call to check on you tomorrow.”

Wijae headed to the window on the opposite side of the entrance, holding his shoes in both hands.

<Soundless Footsteps!>

Using the presence-concealing skill, Wijae scrunched up his body as much as possible and went outside. After quietly closing the window, he roughly shoved on the shoes he had brought out and listened carefully to his surroundings.

Two watching the front door, two waiting in the alley. Seeing there was no particular movement… it seemed his escape this way hadn’t been noticed.

‘I could beat them all up, but… cleanup would be annoying.’

Judging by how they had followed right behind him, it was a group with some kind of command structure. There was no need to make trouble and antagonize Lee Sayoung and his group for nothing.

‘Just… let’s subdue them only to the point of losing consciousness.’

Wijae rubbed the back of his neck and let out a tired sigh. All hunters have a duty to protect regular people. So if those guys had their heads on straight, they wouldn’t touch the grandmother and Haeun.

But in extreme situations, law and discipline play no role, and beneath the worst exists a greater worst. That’s why Wijae always tended to assume the worst and act accordingly. That was the same this time too.

‘I should give them a warning.’

He loosened his wrists with stretches, then vanished from sight in an instant.