Chapter 13
Rain poured down fiercely as if it would destroy the ground.
The black smoke from the fire that had consumed the entire Huiseon Guild building covered the entire sky, making the whole world as dark as midnight.
Hundreds of workers in black raincoats were mobilizing equipment to dig through the pile of debris searching for Eunseong, but it was an impossible task. The site where the high-rise building had collapsed was like a graveyard where a giant had fallen and lay down. Finding Eunseong here was like finding a needle in a haystack.
“Fuck, I’m going to terrorize those Huiseon bastards. I’ll kill them all.”
Joo Hyeonwoo sat collapsed on the wet street, muttering with bloodshot eyes. The site was expected to have secondary collapses, so no one except workers could even approach nearby. The countless items and weapons developed over many years were only useful in rifts, utterly useless for finding a single person at an accident scene like this.
“Since he had Seorin, he must be alive.”
Yeon Seokchun said as he helped Joo Hyeonwoo up. It was also comfort for himself. In the current situation, there seemed to be no hope to rely on except Seorin.
“This all feels like a lie to me right now… Team Leader, does this really make sense!”
Joo Hyeonwoo was practically screaming. Yeon Seokchun, looking in the direction he was pointing, felt similarly.
Huiseon Guild building had completely collapsed with just one explosion. The building that was like a symbol of District 1’s safety, into which all kinds of technology had been poured, had crumbled so futilely that it didn’t feel real at all.
The only evidence that Eunseong was inside that pile of concrete was Baek Mujin standing nearby, pale as a corpse. Yeon Seokchun could easily tell that his Hwanghwa was the cause of the explosion.
Baek Mujin stood motionless without blinking even once, occasionally clutching his chest and collapsing, spitting up clots of blood each time.
When he said Eunseong must be alive because he had Seorin, the look in his eyes was unusual, so Yeon Seokchun also guessed that Eunseong hadn’t simply been caught in the accident while staying in the building.
Once the scene was controlled, they would need to hear precise explanations about the incident’s circumstances from Huiseon, but currently victim rescue was the top priority.
Since most of the victims buried under the collapsed building were Huiseon Guild’s lower-grade hunters, Baek Sangyeon, the Huiseon Guild leader, also seemed out of his mind. He looked like he could barely stand while holding onto his dying son, and none of the reports coming in about the rescue work were hopeful.
The media was reporting that it was fortunate the entire city had been in evacuation, and that there were actually no civilian casualties thanks to the major rift.
“You know that being here doesn’t help at all, don’t you, Mujin? You need to get treatment first and pull yourself together.”
Baek Sangyeon looked anxiously at his son’s mood.
“If I pull myself together, what will change?”
“Mujin…”
“Tell me! What will change!”
When he shouted, Baek Mujin’s energy waves fluctuated roughly. All the surrounding hunters’ attention focused on him.
“Please calm down, okay? At this rate, you’ll die too.”
When Baek Mujin spat up blood again, Baek Sangyeon’s face turned pale. He made a pained expression as if he himself were vomiting blood. His son’s eyes looking at such a father were utterly cold.
“You knew this would happen and still drove Eunseong to this. If so, you should have brought Eunseong out instead of me. How can you still call yourself human, Father?”
“That was beyond my capability. Don’t you know? The Hwanghwa…”
“I’m sorry to interrupt.”
Yeon Seokchun interjected into their conversation.
“We’d also like to hear about the situation. While we sincerely regret Huiseon Guild’s accident, our guild leader’s life and death are at stake, so even in this situation, I believe we have the right to demand an explanation.”
Yeon Seokchun looked back once at the Yuseong Guild members standing behind him and continued speaking while maintaining his composure. As he said, this was an incident where the ‘guild leader’s life and death’ was at stake, yet not a single Yuseong executive had appeared at the scene, which he was barely holding back his grinding teeth about.
Mujin lowered his head, avoiding the gazes of the Yuseong Guild members looking at him in the rain.
Having just been shocked in the core, his body was trembling helplessly. It was certain that his body was recovering thanks to the Hwanghwa leaving, but he could clearly feel that his mythical-grade ability hadn’t disappeared either. What kind of miracle was this? His head was a complete mess with facts that couldn’t be sorted out at all.
The fact that Eunseong was buried under that debris didn’t feel real either.
‘Since he had Seorin, he must be alive.’
Mujin gripped Seorin, whose activation time had ended, so hard his palm tore. Blood dripped through his fingers and was washed away by the rainwater.
He couldn’t accept it. That Eunseong was dead. Until he saw even a fragment of evidence with his own eyes…
“Mujin!”
“Hunter Baek Mujin!”
Baek Sangyeon and Yeon Seokchun shouted simultaneously at Baek Mujin as he suddenly left his spot. Even as the resentful gazes of the Yuseong Guild members stuck to his back, Baek Mujin paid no mind and moved his steps. Then he leaped without hesitation into the collapsing disaster site.
Accept it. Die without regrets. He realized that he, who had said such things, had actually driven Eunseong to the cliff. He had been too stupid to know that the world after a friend’s death would be so hopeless. Only now, only after experiencing it, did he understand.
* * *
A black shadow appeared faintly in the air above the high barrier at District 1’s boundary line, then staggered and landed.
He threw down the heavy burden he had been carrying on his shoulder like slamming it to the ground, then immediately knelt. He tore off and threw away the black mask covering his face, then retched with difficulty. Viscous saliva mixed with stomach acid was washed away by the pouring rainwater.
“Ha, fuck… thought I was gonna die.”
With trembling hands, he took out a recovery potion from his chest, drank it, and collapsed to catch his breath. His gaze naturally turned to the ‘burden’ he had thrown down.
Just then, his phone buzzed to notify him of an incoming message.
[Request situation report]
“Fucking pushy.”
The man panted as he flipped over the black mass. Eunseong’s face was revealed, with his melted protective suit stuck to his skin.
Despite maintaining his body’s form after experiencing the explosion, there was no sign of life anywhere. The man took out a small device and scanned Eunseong’s biometric information. Vital signs zero – information showing he was definitely dead appeared.
“Okay, good.”
He then began searching Eunseong’s body with greedy, gleaming eyes. But after searching through his two clenched fists and body under the protective suit in turn, when nothing worthwhile came out, the man’s face contorted viciously.
“Ah, this fucking idiot… A guy who’s the Yuseong Guild leader doesn’t have a single thing on him?”
Fuck, fuck, curses continued endlessly along with his frantic movements.
Every time he tore off the stuck protective suit, steam rose from Eunseong’s skin. It was like pouring water on heated metal. When white vapor traced across the dark sky, the man anxiously looked around.
It didn’t make financial sense to have no side income from a life-risking commission. Unable to let go of his greed and searching for something profitable, the man’s eyes suddenly caught sight of Eunseong’s finger.
“This, could it be…”
He applied force to his hand to get a closer look, but the ring wouldn’t come off as if it were glued to the finger. The man frowned deeply and checked Eunseong’s hand again.
Right. It was definitely a valuable item. He couldn’t remember the name right away, but he remembered seeing it. It was definitely among the top group of items on the list that must be stolen if found.
Finally, something like a smile appeared on the man’s face. If it wouldn’t come off no matter how much he twisted it, he could just cut off the finger. It was the moment he pulled out the dagger stuck at his thigh.
“Ah, hot!”
The hand he was holding suddenly became hot and he dropped it. Startled, he looked at his hand to find that his glove had instantly burned through with holes. It had even been a glove soaked in rainwater.
“…He’s definitely dead.”
The man’s instincts sounded a danger alarm. Since he was Yuseong’s guild leader, the items on his body were certainly worth billions, but his soaring greed cooled completely from the small burn.
The client wanted ‘confirmation kill’ followed by ‘disposal.’
The man aimed the dagger he had intended to cut Eunseong’s finger with at his heart.
“Ha… fuck… suddenly feeling really uneasy, what should I do.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
