Chapter 90
Chapter 90: The Sweet Life of Hunters
In a luxurious suite room of a top-notch hotel in Seoul, a young man with a slender, nervous demeanor sat at an elegant wooden table, sipping wine with cheese.
That was Bayan.
A man with a smiling demeanor, lounging on the sofa, was watching him. It was Kashir, who had invited Bayan to South Korea.
“Is it really okay to check in under my real name like this?”
“Of course! I don’t just have one face.”
Bayan replied proudly to Kashir’s question. His claim to fame was the ability to create an unimaginable level of disguise.
With that skill, he could pull off any kind of concealment and act freely without revealing his identity.
Moreover, his mimicry skill allowed him to imitate someone’s voice after hearing it just a few times, adding an exquisite touch to his disguise.
The only downside was that he could only change his face and not his body shape.
But that wasn’t much of a problem, as those who knew him well would see through him, while those who didn’t would never catch on.
“Your confidence is remarkable. If someone heard that, they’d think you were Cheonbyeon or something.”
“Who’s Cheonbyeon?”
“Someone who can imitate hair color, eye color, face, skin, body shape, voice… everything. They could even eat your memories and mimic your actions.”
“Does such a person really exist?”
Bayan gave Kashir a skeptical look as if he couldn’t believe it.
“They do. Well, you probably won’t meet them, but…”
Knock, knock.
At that moment, a knock echoed through the room.
“Come in.”
Bayan downed the remaining wine in one gulp and spoke.
“Excuse me.”
In walked a man dressed in a black suit.
As soon as he entered, he bowed deeply to greet them.
“So, have you found out anything?” Bayan asked.
The man was an agent from the Information Bureau of the Chinese Hunter Association.
Using such an agent for personal matters was not something one should normally do.
It was the power of influence.
Just like in other countries, power held immense sway in China, a country where influence was particularly strong.
Thanks to his father’s power, Bayan could run around causing chaos without a care.
“Yes, I’ve found out the raid destination of the people you mentioned. It seems they plan to participate in a joint raid, except for one person.”
“Oh, nice! That’s good news. As expected, an agent from a major nation’s Information Bureau is quite capable.”
Bayan smiled, his mood evidently lifted.
They were moving together—it couldn’t get any better than this. They could obliterate the prey all at once.
One person could easily be dealt with later.
“So, where is it?”
“It’s on a place called Deaijakdo. They’re scheduled to raid there on Saturday.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s a small island near Incheon.”
“Oh? We’ll have to take a boat there.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Bayan speared a piece of cheese with his fork, chewing thoughtfully before speaking again.
“Find a boat immediately.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Oh, and…”
“Yes?”
Suddenly, Bayan’s cheerful expression turned dark in an instant.
He ominously opened his mouth.
“Make sure Lin Xue NEVER finds out I gave these orders, got it?”
“Yes, understood.”
“Do you understand? If Lin Xue finds out, you’re dead. For real. I’ll make sure of it. So always be careful.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good, now go.”
“Yes.”
The Information Bureau agent bowed and exited.
“Well, this job is going to be easy. Congrats.”
Kashir said with a perfectly pleasant smile.
“Well, since you said you’d help me, it wouldn’t have been hard anyway. But why did you decide to help me? Did you want to taste blood too?”
Bayan knew Kashir enjoyed slaughter as well.
The only difference was that Kashir could suppress it somewhat with his superhuman patience.
“Part of it. I could see the association head dotes on his only son. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“With your talent, you wouldn’t need to stand in line, would you?”
Bayan asked, perplexed.
Standing in line was for those with a mediocre level of skill.
Someone like Kashir, who surpassed that with ease, would rather be anxious about not being taken along.
Thus, Bayan didn’t understand Kashir’s statement.
“Hahaha, I’ve lived so wildly in that other world that I have a lot of enemies. If someone learns my true identity, there would be quite a few people who would come to kill me right away. So I need a solid barrier.”
S-Class beings can share the memories of their original owners.
This leads to an intermingling of identities, as if they’ve suddenly lived another life.
Which life they focus on or which they treat as secondary varies from person to person.
Or they might maintain a balance.
Either way, individuals like Kashir were almost as good as human beings from that other world.
All this knowledge came thanks to his father.
If his father had simply been an ordinary B-rank Hunter, he would never have access to such information.
“So that’s how it is. Good, make sure to tell my father properly.”
“Even the best swords are useless if you can’t wield them as you like. Take good care of it.”
Kashir winked knowingly.
Bayan immediately understood that the good sword referred to Lin Xue.
“It seems we’re going to get along just fine.”
Bayan smiled back, mirroring Kashir’s expression.
◈ ◈ ◈
In a thatched-roof house, a huge man and a small girl were sitting.
They weren’t in a folk village.
This was a traditional Korean restaurant with a thatched-roof theme.
They chose this place because To-ya argued passionately that they should first enjoy traditional cuisine after arriving in Korea.
“I’m sleepy.”
To-ya said, looking tired, possibly from travel fatigue.
“Close your eyes for a bit until the food arrives.”
William, the large man, suggested as he leaned back, pointing at the wall with his finger.
“Okay.”
To-ya leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
William smiled as he watched her.
Although she was an A-Class Awakened Being, being a sage was not a physically formidable profession.
It wasn’t suited for combat either.
While she had many useful abilities that others couldn’t use, she was still weak.
She always needed someone’s protection.
That’s why nations kept her status secret, hidden away.
To-ya’s case was quite special.
She lived quietly in the steppe as a nomad, keeping her identity as an Awakened Being known to no one.
It was known that the number of true sages was scant, no more than could be counted on one hand.
William, an S-Class Awakened Being, knew this was the case thanks to his memories from another realm.
On the Reiter continent, including the Great Sage who was considered the best among sages, there were only about ten who were evaluated as true sages.
Of course, if you included charlatans who falsely claimed to be sages, there would be more, but their power would hold little value even if they crossed over here.
In any case, it was an incredibly rare profession.
That’s why William considered meeting To-ya a divine encounter.
“Hmm?”
More blood tears streamed from To-ya’s eyes.
The blood flow was unpredictable. Even when sleeping, sometimes it flowed, and other times it didn’t.
As William moved to wipe the blood tears away, there was another knock at the door.
Knock, knock.
Exactly two knocks later, the door opened.
“Food is se—… Eek!”
The waitress who entered to deliver the food screamed in a high-pitched voice upon seeing the blood tears flowing from To-ya’s eyes.
“Don’t be alarmed. She’s just not feeling well. She has a unique condition,” William quickly covered.
Upon hearing his words, the waitress’s face turned serious.
“Oh my… I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s alright.”
“I’m sorry.”
After apologizing once more, the waitress placed the food down with a flustered expression and left.
At that moment, To-ya opened her eyes.
“Uncle.”
“What?”
“I saw.”
“Saw what?”
“That person you were talking about, doing that thing with a woman.”
The young girl calmly mentioned something too awkward for a child’s mouth.
The waitress froze mid-movement, her hand stopping awkwardly as she placed the food.
“Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough!”
William coughed nervously, a confused expression on his face.
“…Ah, that thing? I’ve tried it too; it’s quite fun. That person actually enjoys that game a lot, you know? Almost addicted, really. Does it with women, and men too, and calls people over to play that game every day.”
William started talking without knowing how to explain himself properly.
“With men too?”
To-ya’s eyes widened.
“Hem, hem! Hey, young lady. I’m really hungry here, so please just hurry up and leave.”
Ignoring To-ya’s line, William urged the waitress.
With her face a mix of confusion, the waitress bowed her head low before hastily leaving.
As soon as the door closed, William spoke again.
“To-ya, don’t watch stuff like that. You shouldn’t see things like that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Ahem, more importantly, where’s that bad guy now? After we eat, I need to go find him and take care of him.”
“Calm down. This isn’t Mongolia.”
“Huh?”
“There are many people around here.”
Mongolia is vast in land but has a very low population density.
In such a place, if someone was killed and buried deep enough, nobody would find out.
That’s why it was very easy for William to deal with bad people there.
But Korea was different.
It had a population density that couldn’t even be compared to Mongolia.
“Oh? Oh, you’re right.”
William scratched his head.
Now that he thought about it, he had come here with only a thought to eliminate his opponent but didn’t have any specific plan.
“Don’t rush it. You need to find the right opportunity.”
“…Got it.”
It was oddly amusing to see the conversation being led by the girl.
“I’ll let you know when the right opportunity arises.”
◈ ◈ ◈
At the Incheon ferry terminal.
Si-hyun parked the car and walked inside.
Deaijakdo wasn’t an island where a car was necessary.
It was small enough to explore on foot.
It seemed that because it was the weekend, there were quite a lot of people in the terminal from the morning.
Si-hyun looked around, searching for his companions.
“Si-hyun oppa.”
He spotted Eun-hye waving at him from afar.
Si-hyun greeted her back with a wave and walked toward her.
Eun-hye and Min-jun were seated together.
The other guild members couldn’t join this trip due to various circumstances.
Especially the guild leader, Sang-hyuk, hated boats because he would get serious seasickness.
“Hey Si-hyun, you look completely different!”
Min-jun jested as he looked at him.
“Can you tell?”
“Totally obvious. Now that you’ve become a hero, you’re oozing class!”
“Haha, I kinda live like that.”
Si-hyun replied with a smile.
While he was working on Ganghwa Island and going through various experiences, there had been changes in Grace Guild as well.
Eun-hye had graduated from Seoul National University and was pondering her future.
Whether she should continue as a Hunter or seek employment using her major.
She’d even received offers from entertainment companies.
Given her outstanding beauty, it was easy to understand.
Min-jun had become a father.
He couldn’t help but take out his phone whenever he had a moment, gazing at pictures of his child.
He seemed totally immersed in the joy of his cute child.
“Did we arrive first?”
Si-hyun asked.
Since it was a D-rank Gate, this wasn’t a solo operation by the Grace Guild.
It was a joint operation with the Black Tiger Guild.
Having been through two near-death experiences together with the Black Tiger Guild, they naturally formed a friendly relationship.
It was more comfortable to join forces like this than to awkwardly team up with an unfamiliar guild.
“We’re always ahead, right?”
Min-jun said while glancing at his watch.
“There they come.”
Eun-hye pointed towards the entrance of the terminal.
Familiar faces were walking in.
◈ ◈ ◈
“Are the locals on the island?” Si-hyun asked.
He sat next to Eun-hye on the boat.
Min-jun had practically pushed him to sit beside her, claiming he was fine on his own.
“Since it’s a D-rank Gate, it probably wasn’t significant enough to issue an evacuation order. They probably just blocked off the area around the Gate,” said Eun-hye.
“I see.”
He realized that he hadn’t heard any reports of residents being affected by the appearance of a D-rank Gate.
“Have you ever been to Deaijakdo?”
“No.”
The only thing he had seen about it was on TV or in travel bloggers’ posts.
“Neither have I. But I’ve heard it’s a great place.”
“I’ve heard the same.”
“Since we’re here, we should enjoy ourselves properly.”
Eun-hye clenched her fist in determination.
Seeing her like that brought a smile to Si-hyun’s face.
“Yeah, let’s do some healing while we’re here.”
