The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

“Even twins a minute apart can tell each other apart!”

Feverishly, Ui-jae said, and an obedient reply flowed from the gas mask.

“Yes, I understand, hyung.”

At the suddenly diminutive title, Cha Ui-jae looked up at the gas mask man in disbelief.

“Hyung?”

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

“No.”

“Or do you want me to call you Apron?”

“Not that either.”

“Well, what about The Ladle?”

“You just melted my ladle.”

When I answered no to every question, the gas mask man said in a sullen voice.

“You won’t give me your name, and if I don’t want an apron or a scoop, hyung is the only one left.”

“No, just don’t call me hyung.”

“You want me to call you hyung?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Okay, hyung.”

The gas mask pretended not to see the incredulous look on Cha Ui-jae’s face, and gently arranged the titles as if they had never happened. His plan to cut him off had completely failed. He had a gut feeling that if he argued with him any further, he’d get caught in his pace.

He could have fought on, but he had a lot of work to do. He had to find Ha-eun, and he had to finish his morning business before sunrise.

If I lose business today because of you, you’ll be responsible, but I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t break a chopping board, let alone chop a green onion. There is no way the gas mask man can chop green onions, chop garlic, boil broth, and drain meat. I couldn’t really see his face because of the gas mask, but I did it anyway.

“Enough with the stalling. I’m done playing the long game.”

“I didn’t do that.”

“I’ve already asked you two questions.”

“One for bullshit and one for not answering.”

“I said I wasn’t lying, and I don’t blame you for not believing me, and I didn’t make it a condition that I had to answer your questions, you did.”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a tail for a tail. He decided to stoop to his opponent’s level and be childish. If the gas mask man showed any signs of embarrassment or ridiculousness, he would just go back to looking for Ha-eun.

The gas mask, however, was looking at him as if he was dying of amusement. Just as he was about to scowl at what he was seeing, his mobile phone vibrated. He slowly picked up the phone, keeping his gaze fixed on Ui-jae.

“Hello.”

“…….”

“…Oh, yeah? Come over here.”

“…….”

Gas mask man laughed, not hiding his amusement.

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

“…….”

“Take care of her, and don’t make her cry….”

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

”They found your nephew.”

“Where?”

“In the playground by the church around here.”

It was close to the alley they were in now, and if this guy’s presence hadn’t been so blurry, I could have taken Ha-Eun without wasting time running into him like this. The gas mask man continued.

“I told him to bring her here… Her guardian is here, and I can’t force her to come here….”

Right? The gas mask shrugged.

“Go ahead, the kid will be with him.”

“Okay.”

Ui-jae had actually half-turned towards him when he said she was in the playground next to the church. It’s not polite to interrupt someone, so I held my ground until he started to walk away. He waited patiently, like a well-trained dog, and then turned around as soon as I finished.

Oops. Ui-jae took a few steps and glanced at the gas mask man.

“…Thank you.”

He almost forgot to thank him and was about to take a quick step when the gas mask man lightly grabbed his hand.

“Hyung.”

“Yes.”

“Lee Sa-young.”

“Who’s that.”

“My name.”

The eyes inside the gas mask squinted.

“See you later.”

No, let’s not see each other again. I’m grateful that you found Ha-eun, but I don’t want to run into a lunatic like you again. Ui-jae didn’t bother to say goodbye and resumed walking. As he reached the end of the alley, he glanced back to see if he was following him.

Lee Sa-young was still standing where he had been earlier. Not moving an inch.

“…….”

And Ui-jae’s eyes were somehow drawn to the figure.

He stood where he was until the young man’s back was completely out of sight, and then waited for a few more moments to pass before taking his foot off the ground.

He stood in front of the corpse, which lay motionless on the ground. He casually grabbed the corpse’s head, which had thorns protruding from all over its body, and lifted it up.

“They’ve been showing up more frequently lately….”

Chiiik… The hair began to burn where he touched it, and the flesh began to melt away. Soon enough, the body was gone, leaving only a small black puddle in its place.

A black cat leapt lightly up onto the wall of the narrow alleyway with Sa-young’s back to him. A round head popped out of the shadow of the cat, which was licking its front feet with its tongue out. It was a man in sunglasses.

“Guildmaster.”

“Yes.”

When he stooped to run his hand over the pool, the black puddle, the last vestige of a body, disappeared, leaving only a shallow indentation. Crawling out of the shadows, the man cradled the cat in his arms and spoke.

“Report. The guardian has just arrived at the playground and joined the child. I can confirm that the child is happy to see him, calling him uncle and hugging him.”

“Anything else unusual?”

“None. Shall we follow him, just in case?”

“Follow him, see where he’s going, and report back.”

“Got it.”

The man ran his hand through the black cat’s bushy fur and bowed gravely to Sa-young.

“And a message from the Vice Guildmaster. He wants to know if a meeting at 11am the day after tomorrow is okay, regarding the dungeon bid.”

Sa-young nodded in understanding.

“Okay, I’ll pass it along then.”

“Seo Min-ki.”

When he was done, Min-ki, who had set the cat down on the floor, stuck his head out of the shadows.

“Yes? What is it?”

“I want you to find me a person.”

“Please tell me.”

“I want you to go through the awakeners database and get me a list of all the guys over 25, male, 180s cm, awakened, Class B or higher, no weird looking ones.”

“Yes? The Awakener database?”

Min-Ki pointed at himself with his thumb.

“Me?”

”Why, can’t you?”

The Awakeners Database is the data that stores the information of all awakened people in South Korea under the mandatory awakening registration system implemented several years ago under the Awakening Special Law. Although it is directly managed by the Awakening Management Bureau, its very existence is treated as a state secret, so the general public doesn’t even know it exists, and its security is extremely tight.

You want me to rob a place like that? Seo Min-ki, a hunter, replied with a puzzled look on his face.

“I can do it if you give me some time….”

“Then do it.”

Sa-young’s attitude was that it wasn’t a big deal. Min-ki secretly stole a tear at the thought of robbing such a secure place. Corporate life is not easy after all….

Min-ki nodded with slumped shoulders. However, the evil boss Sa-young didn’t stop giving instructions.

“And the elementary school student we just found. Did you get her name?”

“Park Ha-eun, a second grader at Saebyeol Elementary School.”

“Check her family connections.”

The instructions kept getting more and more esoteric. Min-ki felt like he was poking and prodding, but he decided to ask anyway.

“Why is family relation…?”

“…….”

Lee Sa-young slowly pulled on a pair of black leather gloves and answered nonchalantly.

“I’m kind of interested in her uncle.”

Grandma and Ha-eun live on the first floor of an old house. After finally getting Ha-eun home from the playground and watching the grandmother scold her stubborn granddaughter, Ui-jae relented. As he took a moment to catch his breath, the grandmother handed him a cup of barley tea and asked.

“Ui-jae, do you have anything to eat tonight?”

“Oh, no. I have to go to the store and prepare for tomorrow’s business.”

“What’s wrong with the business? I have to go out too….”

“Yes. It’s okay, Grandma, you know I’m strong enough to do it myself. How’s your leg?”

“My leg? It’s almost healed.”

A lie. Ui-jae watched in silence as the old woman walked back to her sleeping granddaughter. She could pretend to be fine all she wanted, but she couldn’t hide the fact that her weight was unconsciously shifting to the leg that wasn’t hurting.

Grandma sighed as she stroked Ha-eun’s head, who was fast asleep under the quilt in the living room.

“My heart is racing again and again because of this child. What are you doing crawling outside the house at night without a care in the world….”

“I’ll tie her well when she wakes up tomorrow, so don’t say too much.”

Laughing, Ui-jae put down his cup and glanced out the window. Something had been going on earlier. He felt like he was being followed on the way home because he didn’t notice anything when he picked up Ha-eun and headed to the playground.

‘Did he do it?’

Ui-jae stood up from his seat, still smiling.

“Good night, grandmother.”

“You’re going to eat?”

“Yes. By the way, can I borrow that window?”

“What window?”

“I’ve got some work to do. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Ui-jae grabbed his shoes in both hands and headed for the window on the other side of the porch.

<Silent footsteps!>

Using the skill of concealment, Ui-jae curled up into a ball and slipped out. After quietly closing the window, he crumpled up his shoes and put them on haphazardly, then listened to his stalker.

Two watching the front door, two waiting in the alleyway. Not much movement… so his escape this way was undetected.

‘I wouldn’t mind beating the crap out of them… but I’d hate to have to clean up the mess.’

Judging by the fact that they followed right behind me, they have their own chain of command. There’s no point in getting into trouble and pretending to be friends with Lee Sa-young and his group.

‘Just… Just enough to knock them unconscious.’

Ui-jae rubbed the back of his neck and let out a tired sigh. All hunters have a duty to protect the common people. So if they were human beings with their heads screwed on straight, they wouldn’t be messing with Grandma and Ha-eun.

But in extreme situations, laws and regulations play no role, and underneath the worst lies an even greater evil. So Ui-jae always tended to assume the worst, and this was no different.

‘I should warn them.’

Stretching his wrists, he disappeared for a moment.