#094
“Shin Jeongho!”
Moon Bora shouted loudly as she rushed to Shin Jeongho, who was lying on the ground. Han Cheolyong and Oh Seongeun also hurriedly sat down next to Jeongho to check his condition.
“He’s alive. He’s still alive.”
Bora kept muttering as she checked Jeongho’s breathing. Lying on a pool of blood like a carpet, Jeongho was as pale as a corpse but still maintaining shallow breaths. In his hand was a potion bottle. It seemed he had used his last bit of strength to pour the potion on his wound before losing consciousness. If he hadn’t used the potion, only his corpse would have remained by now.
“He’s been shot in the back. One bullet,” Han Cheolyong said in a gloomy voice after examining Jeongho. His words implied a lot.
Ordinary guns don’t usually inflict this level of injury on an A-rank hunter. The fact that Jeongho was in this state from a single shot suggested that the gun was not ordinary, but a special one made to deal with monsters. And as far as they knew, the only person who could have Jeongho let his guard down and possessed such a gun was Lee Eunseok.
“Where did Ji Taeuk go?” Bora asked anxiously, looking around. Though the potion had prevented immediate death, it was still a critical situation. They desperately needed the power of an A-rank healing hunter. But Ji Taeuk, who had clearly been left behind with Jeongho, was nowhere to be seen.
“Ji Taeuk!” Bora shouted loudly, but there was no response.
“Guild Leader?” Oh Seongeun called out to Choi Hanseo in a puzzled voice.
While the group was tending to Jeongho, Hanseo was looking down at the floor a short distance away.
“Hello? This is Moon Bora from the 1st Combat Team. Send a helicopter quickly to this A-rank gate where a break has occurred. Hunter Shin Jeongho is seriously injured. Have all healing hunters on standby in the treatment room. Hurry!” Bora urgently spoke into her phone, calling the guild.
Meanwhile, Hanseo had knelt down to examine a palm-sized bloodstain on the floor. Within the bloodstain was a crushed tracking chip, and a short distance away lay a guide’s watch. Next to it were a hunter’s watch and two phones neatly placed.
As Hanseo picked up the two watches to check them, all expression disappeared from his face.
A moment later, Hanseo raised his phone to his ear.
“It’s me. Guide Lee Eunseok has been kidnapped, so sound the alarm within the guild. The tracking chip implanted in his body appears to have been destroyed, but run a trace just in case. Also, put out an APB on Hunter Ji Taeuk through the Hunter Association for suspected involvement in Guide Lee Eunseok’s kidnapping and terrorism.”
Hanseo’s low voice echoed in the empty abandoned factory. Hearing his words, Bora lifted her head with an expression of disbelief.
“Ji Taeuk kidnapping Eunseok? And involvement in terrorism? That doesn’t make any sense! What grudge could Ji Taeuk possibly have to do such a thing?”
Bora protested with a cracking voice. Hanseo slowly turned his gaze towards her. Bora’s shoulders stiffened as she saw his expressionless and emotionless face and eyes that seemed inhuman.
“Was there anyone else here besides Ji Taeuk to whom Lee Eunseok would hand over his gun without any suspicion?”
“He could have been robbed of his gun or threatened by someone else…!”
As Bora defended Ji Taeuk, Hanseo tossed the watch and one of the phones he was holding to her. Reflexively catching them, Bora’s face froze as she checked the phone screen. On it was a messenger app screen, said to be used only for confidential conversations.
[Drug administration to S complete. Preparations finished.]
Bora’s face contorted horribly as she stared at the last message sent on the messenger.
“That can’t be… There must be some other reason. Someone as kind-hearted as Ji Taeuk couldn’t do such a thing…”
Unlike Bora, Han Cheolyong and Oh Seongeun remained silent.
The faint sound of an approaching helicopter began to be heard in the distance. A terrible period was beginning along with that sound.
***
Since the day the first A-rank gate break occurred, there wasn’t a floor in the Baekho Guild building where the lights went out for days. This was probably the same for other guilds as well.
Starting with the first gate break, gates that had been hidden from people’s eyes were bursting open every day or two. From conquering reported gates to responding to areas where breaks had occurred, both espers from the Ability Management Bureau and hunters from guilds were repeatedly engaging in battles until their levels reached their limits. The guides from each affiliation were also continuously guiding those who returned with drastically spiked levels, pushing everyone to their physical and mental limits.
[…Concerns are growing that a second crisis of human extinction may have arrived. Amid fears of being caught up in a gate break at any moment, citizens are rushing to supermarkets to stockpile supplies, leading to panic buying of essential goods. In response, the government is carefully considering declaring a state of national emergency.]
Beep-.
[…Meanwhile, as the identity of this terrorist group calling themselves the Apostles of the Apocalypse is partially revealed, public criticism of the Ability Management Bureau is intensifying. With most members of this terrorist organization identified as espers from the Ability Management Bureau, the Bureau and the government have issued a wanted notice for S-rank esper Park Sunwoo, who is suspected to be at the center of the terrorist organization, offering an astronomical reward. In particular, S-rank esper Park Sunwoo is known to have kidnapped S-rank guide Lee Eunseok, further increasing his threat level.]
Beep-.
[…This peace maintained by exploiting us ability users is a false peace. A society maintained without the power of ability users is a false society. We ability users will no longer be exploited for a false society and peace. People must now find ways to protect themselves with their own strength. If they fail, they will simply meet their end according to the laws of nature. We, the Apostles of the Apocalypse…]
Beep-.
With each channel change, the TV showed only emergency news screens and propaganda from the Apostles of the Apocalypse. Moon Bora finally turned off the TV.
The faces of the group seated around the conference room were deathly pale.
This was due to the continuous forced marches between gate break sites and gate conquests, day and night, without the mental shock from Ji Taeuk’s betrayal and Lee Eunseok’s kidnapping having subsided. Mental and physical fatigue had deeply engulfed everyone. The situation of having to endure these forced marches with less efficient A-rank guiding after being accustomed to S-rank guiding for a while also made things difficult for everyone.
“Jeongho… don’t you think it would be better for you to rest a bit more?” Han Cheolyong cautiously addressed Shin Jeongho, who was sitting in a conference room chair. Without A-rank healing hunter Ji Taeuk, it was beyond the capabilities of other healing hunters in the guild, so Jeongho had been transferred to the Ability Management Bureau for treatment and had just returned to the guild today.
“My body has fully recovered. I’ve been assured that there’s absolutely no problem with me being deployed in combat,” Jeongho replied in a stiff tone.
Saying his ‘body’ had recovered implied that the mental shock was still present. It was understandable. The 1st Combat Team had conquered numerous gates together, entrusting their lives to each other. It was natural for the shock to be great after nearly being killed by such a comrade.
Click-.
Finally, the door opened. Choi Hanseo, who they had been waiting for, entered the conference room.
Unlike the others with their deathly pale complexions, Hanseo was in his usual impeccable suit. However, his expressionless and emotionless face, which seemed inhuman, reflected his mood and state.
As Hanseo took his seat at the center of the table, everyone’s faces hardened. It was difficult to withstand the fierce and wild aura he was emitting. Hanseo seemed unaware that he was emitting such an aura.
“Any news on Eunseok’s whereabouts…?” Bora asked quietly. Her face was deeply stained with guilt.
In truth, Bora was not at fault at all. But she had been closest to Ji Taeuk. The fact that she hadn’t noticed any change in him at all was tormenting her.
“Lee Eunseok will be safe. They have no reason to harm an S-rank guide they’ve just acquired,” Hanseo said calmly.
Bora clenched her fist under the table.
Of course, Eunseok would be safe. At least physically. But would Park Sunwoo, who had obtained an S-rank guide, really leave Eunseok alone? Park Sunwoo was an S-rank esper still inexperienced in controlling his desires. The probability of him simply keeping Eunseok by his side without touching him was not very high.
“I know you’re all very tired from the continuous forced marches these past few days. But with many espers from the Ability Management Bureau having defected, if we also give up, the entire country will become a wasteland. Let’s try to hold on as much as possible while receiving guiding in between. The terrorists must have a limit to the number of gates they’ve been hiding. If we can endure until all those gates are exhausted, we’ll have a chance to catch our breath.”
“That’s when we’ll counterattack,” Han Cheolyong said in a heavy voice. Hanseo nodded and spoke.
“Analysis suggests it will take at most a week for all the hidden gates to burst. Let’s stay alert and endure for one week.”
Hanseo said in a low voice. Everyone nodded with grim faces.
As if on cue, their watches began to ring. It was time for another deployment.
