Chapter 14
When the blade tip pressed firmly against his skin and drops of blood seeped out, the man’s hand trembled. An inexplicable uneasiness made the back of his neck go cold.
“Fuck.”
The man who had put strength into the hand gripping the dagger hesitated briefly before putting it back. He didn’t know what kind of item or potion with unknown effects might have been consumed, so he couldn’t rashly take the risk.
Since it was the Yuseong Guild Leader’s body, there might be some powerful damage prevention effect on it. It was already a dead body. Wanting confirmation kill was nothing more than the client bastard’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he couldn’t gamble his life on that desire. What if he stabbed the knife in and it went boom!
He kicked and pushed Eunseong’s body with his foot, finding it disgusting to even touch. Even when he reached the edge of the barrier, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation. Thud-! With the final kick, Eunseong’s body fell helplessly into the black night sky.
[ Processing Complete ]
The man who sent Eunseong’s death information along with the message immediately smiled broadly at the deposit notification that flew in. After double-checking that untraceable digital currency worth tens of billions of won in dollars had been deposited into his account, he glanced over the wall.
Due to the high altitude, Eunseong’s body fluttering as it fell looked exactly like a feather.
“Go to a good place. It’s not because of any personal grudge, so don’t resent me too much.”
Just then, from far away in the northern area of District 1, from the direction where Huiseon Guild’s building had been, came the rumbling sound of a building collapsing. The sound of the secondary collapse was like someone’s scream.
“What a spectacular view.”
The man who whistled disappeared as if melting into the darkness.
* * *
“Does that mean our country can maintain its qualification for auction bidding priority?”
When the major rift was successfully subjugated and District 1 was returned without any damage, this was the first topic of conversation among citizens returning home.
It meant more people reacted to the news that Baek Mujin had returned alive and well than mourned for Yoo Eunseong, who was treated as missing after Huiseon Building collapsed.
Not only was it surprising that he succeeded in dealing with the major rift’s core within the designated time, but there were hunters who witnessed his rampage, so people’s attention was inevitably drawn to him.
When exclusive news footage of Baek Mujin appearing at the scene where Huiseon Building collapsed was released, everyone poured out questions in the comment section.
“I don’t know how it happened, but he survived even after going berserk. Isn’t this a new case?”
“Is Baek Mujin going to dehumanize? According to hunters at the scene, it seems like his grade increased. Is there a grade above mythical?”
“If our auction priority gets upgraded, can we build new residential districts again?”
“Wow, looking at it that way, Huiseon Guild’s building collapsing becomes nothing special. If it happened during Baek Mujin’s revival process, it’s cheap. Is this what they mean by ‘a blessing in disguise’?”
Although the collapse of Huiseon Building put District 1’s safety on the chopping block and property values were visibly declining, no one could refute it.
“If Baek Mujin’s grade increase is true as rumored, our country will become the highest-grade nation by Nova standards in the Asia-Pacific region. Not only auction bidding priority, but even the rift energy possession limit will be lifted. The current property value drop in District 1 isn’t the problem. Won’t it become possible to build new areas and even relocate?”
“We could always build more residential districts. The reason we don’t is maintenance costs. We never knew when or how hunter grades might decline. Didn’t everyone know the risk of the Baek family? After all the panic from predicting the situation after Baek Mujin’s death, if we build more now that things are good and something goes wrong with Baek Mujin in the future, who takes responsibility?”
“Ah, fuck it, I don’t know. Our country now possesses a new-type grade hunter. Keu- New type hunter Baek Mujin, how awesome.”
“At this point, it’s cautious to ask but… what happened to Yoo Eunseong? If they still haven’t found vital signs, wouldn’t he already be dead even if he’s a hunter?”
“He was originally weak. Couldn’t even enter rifts.”
“Let’s speak properly. What hunter can’t enter rifts? Their guild just avoided them.”
“If he got caught up when Baek Mujin went berserk, there’s no way vital signs would be detected. Baek Mujin’s fire isn’t nicknamed ‘karma fire’ for nothing. When cremating people, the fire temperature is 1,000 degrees, but the fire Baek Mujin creates is much hotter, so he probably burned without a trace.”
“His abilities weren’t good enough, but he kept following around. He brought disaster on himself.”
“What are you saying like that? That’s too much. I feel so sorry I could die.”
“It’s pitiful, but if you knew how anxious people were because of Yuseong Guild’s foolish actions, you couldn’t speak so easily, could you? We’re all laughing and talking because Baek Mujin survived, but if we didn’t have the ability to win bids for rift energy to run residential districts, thousands might have died.”
“Thousands what… it would probably be millions.”
“An entire city would have been blown away, so you could predict even more than that. And it’s not simply a matter of people dying. Resources would be drained from population loss, the economy would collapse, and it would have fallen like dominoes.”
“Shit, does it make sense for an entire country to depend on one hunter in the first place? It’s disgusting to live like this.”
“Shouldn’t we find a way to live where we originally lived, even now? With ordinary people taking the lead instead of relying on hunters.”
“Let’s speak properly. Originally, the top 1% of humans lead the world. I’m listening to such stupid talk that I can’t stay still because it’s pathetic. Those who give opinions about ordinary people leading and whatnot can never become hunters, so because it’s a tree they can absolutely never climb, they get upset and make such sounds while dividing people with ‘ordinary people leading’ and whatnot. One hundred percent of such people can’t become top 1% even among ordinary people even if they try. What effort, my ass.”
“The place we originally lived? If you want to go live on the ground, you go. I can’t. Humans who disappeared after being eaten by rifts, frankly speaking, don’t even know how they died, so would you be able to sleep if you built a house on the ground?”
“If that’s the problem, it should be possible since there’s Do Yeongmyeong-nim’s prophecy.”
“Cult members are banned. Once the cult leader starts living on the ground first, then you get speaking rights.”
“Even pigs and dogs would decline living on the ground.”
“There are definitely people still living on the ground because they couldn’t come up to residential districts, but the words seem a bit harsh.”
Someone mentioned people still living on the surface, but everyone ignored those words as if by agreement and changed the topic.
“What happens to Yuseong now? The assets they possess are enormous, so how will succession work… Isn’t the severing of Yuseong hunters’ lineage also a big loss?”
“Social return. Sweet.”
“Won’t Huiseon absorb them?”
“Did Baek Mujin and Yoo Eunseong get married or something, for them to absorb it.”
“The Rift Control Agency will step forward. They’re probably already scheming about who will take more.”
“If you mismanage a household, collapse happens in an instant. Can’t be helped. It’s unfortunate since it’s an unprecedented incident.”
“Taking what happened to Yuseong as a lesson, the Baek family should also research Hwanghwa more deeply now. How long do they plan to rely on other families’ power?”
“If there was a method, they would have done it. Kids who don’t know anything sure talk a lot.”
“If Baek Mujin has a child, what happens to that kid’s Hwanghwa? Will that kid also re-awaken and reach god-tier like Baek Mujin?”
At the base of fear that had lost reason lay anxiety about the future. Since their own children’s futures felt uncertain, it was hard for anyone to maintain reason. With the ground beneath their feet shaking, there was no way they could spare sympathy for the dead Yoo Eunseong.
How long could they avoid rifts?
Huiseon Guild promised compensation far exceeding the damage amount to residents in the area who suffered property damage from the collapsed building. At the same time, they didn’t forget to answer about the future that District 1 citizens were worried about.
They promised to do their best in cooperation with the Rift Control Agency and to constantly listen to citizens’ opinions to prepare measures that would guarantee future peace. Simultaneously, they announced news that Huiseon would take the lead in establishing a 100-year plan for attracting rift energy and would also build new residential districts to accept relocation applications. Naturally, people flocked like blind flies.
Yoo Eunseong and Yuseong Guild were quickly forgotten. Even Baek Mujin, the party involved in the incident, the new survivor, and the center of this entire situation, gradually fell out of everyone’s attention.
Baek Mujin, who had constantly appeared at the accident scene, suddenly disappeared when all investigations down to the bottom of the wreckage were completed. Huiseon Guild announced that he was devoted to training and preparing for new grade registration.
Some suspected that Baek Mujin’s seclusion meant he had actually lost his abilities, but when the ranking rose by 3 grades in the bidding priority nation list announced by Nova, the rumors were dismissed.
The incident that had once been noisy and precarious enough to turn the world upside down was quickly forgotten, and people returned to their daily lives. The opinion that they should look back at the surface, the ‘ground’ where they originally lived, was also cleanly forgotten.
As the routine of hunters dispatching when rifts opened and naturally dealing with them continued as before, the fierce anxiety about the future gradually faded.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
