Chapter 67
“Come here, it’s okay.”
Eunseong got up from the floor and spread his arms toward Mujin.
“I’m not hurt.”
Mujin approached slowly and cupped Eunseong’s face with both hands. Despite his earlier shock, his movements were extremely careful and slow. His eyes darted back and forth as if tracing the outlines of reality.
“…”
“I’m really fine. Were you worried?”
When Eunseong tried to wrap his arms around Mujin’s shoulders, Mujin bent down for him. Eunseong held the large body that filled his embrace and patted his back.
“Yoo Eunseong.”
The voice muttering against his mountain-like shoulders was unbearably fragile.
“Eunseong-ah.”
Mujin’s slightly trembling breath made Eunseong uncomfortable. He could feel all the pain and anxiety of how Mujin had lived during the three years he had run away, and all he could think to do was hold him close.
“I’m right here. I didn’t go anywhere. You don’t need to worry.”
While continuing to stroke his back, Eunseong heard footsteps landing behind Mujin. Someone had jumped down through the hole in the ceiling. Judging by Mujin’s calm reaction, it must be Woo Nayeong.
The cool breeze he emitted cleared away the dust that had filled the entire space. Eunseong peeked his head to the side and surveyed the surroundings. Only then did he clearly see the completely devastated ceiling.
“Oh no, Mujin… do we have enough money to pay for that?”
It looked like a hole made by a giant finger poking through. The fact that someone could break through a underground bunker made of layers of concrete and steel so easily was both impressive and concerning.
“You didn’t punch through all the way from Team Leader Woo’s office, did you?”
When Eunseong asked in a trembling voice, Mujin gave no answer. He just breathed with his head buried in Eunseong’s shoulder.
A protruding bent rebar gave way under gravity, causing precariously balanced debris to shower down. Thanks to Woo Nayeong summoning his power to deflect it all, there was no harm done, but seeing the damaged building through the now-larger hole was shocking. Eunseong’s mouth opened as round as the shattered ceiling. Woo Nayeong’s low muttered curses sounded as loud as thunder.
Just then, a siren began blaring, shaking the entire building. Simultaneously, the bunker door opened and armed hunters from the Rift Control Agency rushed in. Finding themselves suddenly surrounded, Eunseong was alarmed as Mujin immediately began drawing up his energy.
In this tense moment, Eunseong glanced at Woo Nayeong, but he too seemed to have no good solution as he only held his forehead.
* * *
Woo Nayeong’s office was on the 10th floor. Mujin had broken through a total of 13 floors from there to the underground rift laboratory. While it was fortunate he hadn’t started from the very top floor, the destruction was still too severe to call it lucky.
Eunseong and Mujin were escorted to a conference room on the 5th floor. Not being forcibly detained was the best Woo Nayeong could do with his authority. Of course, if the other side had used force, Mujin would have gone berserk too, so it was partly for safety reasons.
Seated at a large round table, Eunseong carefully observed the Rift Control Agency executives entering the conference room.
Five more people entered and sat down, led by the Deputy Director who was standing in for the ill Director. Each one had a striking appearance and emitted unusual energy currents.
‘Deputy Director, Director of External Cooperation, Director of Rift Experimentation, Special Inspector from the Security Bureau, Head of the Legal Team… The pink-haired one must be the Acting Director. Everyone’s here…’
Eunseong took a deep breath while mentally reviewing the organizational chart of the Rift Control Agency he had studied.
Facing these impenetrable individuals made his mouth go dry. They felt completely different from Woo Nayeong, who had approached him with goodwill from the start.
Unlike him, the executives’ gazes were sharp and cold. Called in because of the sudden accident, they quickly flipped through the stack of reports handed out by the Acting Director, reading through them rapidly.
More troubling to Eunseong than the tense atmosphere and everyone’s silence was the huge hole in one corner. The Acting Director casually stepped across the boundary of the gap where ceiling and floor had been breached, allowing wind to pass through.
Eunseong realized they had chosen this location for the meeting to intimidate him.
But still… it was absurd that a building with its center vertically pierced was still standing, and equally absurd what Mujin had done.
“The elevator would have been faster…”
“When I broke through the first floor, the accident alarm shut down all the elevators.”
When Eunseong muttered without thinking, Mujin earnestly provided an answer.
“Ah, I see…”
But it wasn’t helpful. Eunseong rubbed his forehead with four fingers. This was a moment when he desperately missed Team Leader Yeon Seokchun. He would be waiting for Eunseong to return home with his new identity… he never would have imagined the guild leader demolishing the Rift Control Agency and facing interrogation.
Eunseong fidgeted with the items Joo Hyeonwoo had made for him, especially those on his hands, trying to think of an escape route. One that wasn’t the hole Mujin had created!
“…”
Mujin still had his chin on Eunseong’s shoulder with his arms around his waist. Below the waist, their four legs were thoroughly intertwined. This scene wouldn’t be visible above the table, but it was embarrassingly intimate.
However, it was Mujin’s strong expression of intent to go with Eunseong if he were to be kidnapped again, so he couldn’t simply push him away.
“Typical of Team Leader Woo to act first and report later. When did you register him as a hunter? Even changing his name.”
The Director of External Cooperation was the first to speak.
He was among the first to know about Yoo Eunseong’s return. As the head of the department focused on relationships with external guilds and hunters, especially coordination with special hunters like Baek Mujin, he viewed Eunseong’s acquisition of official hunter status positively. He preferred hunters to remain “manageable assets.”
“Since there was already a report about an unconfirmed skill user being registered with the Rift Control Agency, I thought someone should step up quickly and handle it,” Woo Nayeong replied brazenly.
Looking incredulous at his response, he turned to Eunseong with an artificial smile.
“I was planning to extend a formal invitation, but I was too late. Hunter Yoo Eunseong. But we have established procedures, you know. I didn’t expect you to rush here before a week had passed. You must have been in a hurry too, causing this accident and demolishing the Rift Control Agency.”
His voice had an edge to it. Eunseong composed his expression and responded calmly.
“I’ll pay for the repairs to the Rift Control Agency building. If you need to relocate, I’ll cooperate with that as well.”
“Do you think moving the largest agency costs just pennies? Do you have any idea how much money went into building that rift bunker? And what about the rift energy that went into it? And with Yuseong Guild completely torn apart, where would that money come from? Please explain how you intend to pay for this.”
The Director of Rift Experimentation raised his voice, thumping the desk with thick fingertips. As the supervisor of the core facilities that had collapsed—the bunker, artificial rifts, etc.—he was understandably the most furious about the situation.
But his words provoked Eunseong.
“As the guild leader of the ‘torn apart’ Yuseong, let me ask: wasn’t it the Rift Control Agency that swallowed Yuseong? Moreover, this was a kidnapping that occurred inside the Rift Control Agency. You cannot avoid responsibility.”
He could have immediately filed for reinstatement and sued for restitution by proving he was alive. But Mujin had judged that Eunseong should take his time proving the facts and facing the public directly. During this window when Eunseong was choosing the right moment, the Rift Control Agency would also have time to prepare their response.
So Baek Sangyeon especially shouldn’t have attacked him today. Wasn’t he essentially in league with the Rift Control Agency?
Mujin had said that Baek Sangyeon was closely tied to the core power of the Rift Control Agency. Baek Sangyeon had certainty about the skill to open rifts, and Eunseong wondered how widely this fact was shared.
As if to counter Eunseong’s inner thoughts, the Security Bureau representative spoke up.
“The crimes committed by Baek Sangyeon, the leader of Huiseon Guild, have absolutely nothing to do with the Rift Control Agency. However, since it happened inside our facility, we do acknowledge responsibility for the security breach.”
“Linking criminals with the Rift Control Agency is a reckless statement, Hunter Yoo Eunseong. I find it deeply offensive.”
The Special Inspector and the Legal Team Head showed intense reactions, as they were directly connected to the responsibility. With these two starting, everyone added a word or two, and the meeting room quickly became noisy.
Amidst this, Eunseong felt his mind becoming confused. Was Baek Sangyeon not on the same level as the Director of the Rift Control Agency after all?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
