Chapter 10

10

He was flabbergasted. No wonder why. He thought that I was just an ordinary person, but I obviously am not.

"Wh—What the hell are you?"

He tried to move back, but his reaction proved to be slow. I was way faster. I shot out my hand and quickly grabbed his neck.

He panicked for a while before enhancing his arm and trying to pry my hand off, just like Gi-Hoon did. The way they tried to defend themselves was similar. Enhancing their arms to try to pry my hand off with power.

He was confident in his skill, but he was unlucky. I managed to take an S-rated hunter down. It was far easier for me to deal with an A-rated hunter like him.

"@#%@^#$%^#$%^#$!"

He was trying to say something, but his voice would not come out properly and his face was turning red. Choking was working quite well.

I just realized that hunters couldn't really do anything if they couldn't use their mouths. Didn't they have another method to cast magic without using spells?

I could assure you that the standards of hunters were quite messed up.

"Any last words?"

"@#%@^#$%^#$%^#$"!!"

"None?"

"@#%@^#$%^#$%^#$!!!"

"Are you sure?"

"@#%@^#$%^#$%^#$!!!!!!"

"I'll take that as a no."

He was violently shaking his body, his arms and legs moving around. I did not like that at all, so I stomped on his leg to stop it from moving. As I stomped on it, he knelt. My foot forcefully pushed his knee to the floor.

"[email protected]#%@[email protected]!!"

I twisted his arm as if I was manipulating a doll. There, that looked way better. He was crying and begging for me to spare his life. It was such a worthless and pathetic attempt.

"I didn't mention it, but my acts of revenge are always harsh."

"Please..."

"It was the first day I returned to Earth. I tolerated your rudeness, but you went too far. Using me to criticize Ee-Na publicly? I was wondering if you have more than one life."

No one would dare use me as a tool to achieve something. There was no more need to hear his request.

"If this were Valhalla, you'd be dead immediately."

This was a fresh experience; no one dared to stab my back like this in Valhalla. I laughed loudly.

"I tried to ignore that, but I failed."

His eyes were starting to roll back in his head, but he was still conscious. I suppose he was an awakener, after all. However, I had to admit that the fact that he was still conscious meant that his mentality was stronger than I expected.

"Are you sure you don't have any last words?"

I asked with a quiet voice. His eyes were full of tears and fear. I, on the other hand, was laughing.

"Farewell. It was nice to meet you."

He finally fainted. I grabbed him and held him up for a while. This was it. I had probably already wasted too much time on him, so I slowly unleashed an aura in my hand.

Crack.

And that was the end of Joo-Heon.

Chapter 3

As he leaned on the wall, Gi-Hoon raised his hand to shield his face. It was raining. He sighed. The forecaster had told him that it was not going to rain today.

"As always, the forecast is wrong."

It was never right. Gi-Hoon sighed again and moved back, trying to hide from the rain. Luckily, he had found shade and was safe from getting wet.

While he looked around in relief, a voice from the back called out to him.

"I thought you already left."

It was Hwan. The man who called himself the master's brother was shivering as if he was cold. In such hot weather as this? He was even wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

"It's summer right now, but today is freezing. I might catch a cold."

Gi-Hoon stared at Hwan's face. He hesitated for a while before opening his mouth to ask a question.

"May I ask a question?"

"What is it?"

"How did you deal with Lee Joo-Heon?"

Hwan smiled mysteriously. "Why would you ask? Are you curious?"

"...You went in there for a minute, but there were no sounds of fighting or traces of skill usage."

Gi-Hoon paused for a moment and observed Hwan's reaction. The man was still smiling. He did smile a lot; that, he noticed. With that impression, he asked again.

"Is Joo-Heon's dead body inside?"

That was the main reason why he was still here.

"What if it is?"

Gi-Hoon did not answer this. He was going to do anything to hide that dead body. In this world, there were no clean people. It looked peaceful when you look at the surface, but on the deeper side, it was all very dirty and bloody. This had accelerated when hunters started to appear.

Hwan's actions might backfire on the name value of Ho Lee; that is why he must finish his job.

Hwan smiled at his reaction.

"We just had a conversation inside."

"Conversation?"

"He told me that he was leaving for Siberia Mountain. He said he bought a ticket for an airplane ride."

Gi-Hoon was lost for words. What kind of excuse was he making?

"A gate appears on the land or in the sky. Because of that, airlines have stopped their operations."

Hwan did not care much about the facts, but he was interested in the information Gi-Hoon had just said.

"Cheon-Myeong was able to expand its power by using airlines. Back in that time, the stock of airline companies dropped significantly. Master Lee bought these airlines and revived them. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Hwan shrugged. Upon seeing this, Gi-Hoon sighed and continued.

"You have to reserve a ticket for the flight, a preventive measure for the gate. You must book your ticket at least three days in advance. Aside from this, Cheon-Myeong manages the airlines. We would have known if he had booked a ticket."

That was Hwan's mistake. He should have made another excuse other than Joo-Heon using the airlines.

"You said he will never return to Korea. You should have said that he was riding a ship. If you can't trust me, then let's go inside together."

Gi-Hoon and Hwan opened the bathroom door with a bang.

Slam!

A man, the poor guy who was minding his own business, jumped up in surprise.

"Excuse me!"

Gi-Hoon ignored him and looked around. The bathroom was spotless. There was no blood anywhere, and it was sparkling clean as if nothing had happened.

Joo-Heon had disappeared without leaving a trail.

Hwan was beside him, smiling as usual.

"How did you do it?"

"It's a secret."

Gi-Hoon glanced at Hwan. The man was extremely hard to read.

He was not a hunter, but he was way stronger than them. Aside from that, he could also move secretly and easily hide a dead body without leaving any evidence.

How was this possible?

Gi-Hoon was not a fool. Hunters could sense other hunters instinctively. There was proof of that in research conducted by an acknowledged research team. When faced with other hunters, there was a vivid feeling like an electric shock. That was just common sense, but common sense seems to be broken.

Hwan had pressure, but it was different from the hunter's instinct. It was more like fear. Gi-Hoon had to admit that when faced with Hwan, what he felt was fear. Suddenly, Hwan opened his mouth to ask.

"Are you going to report that to Ho?"

"...I haven't done it yet."

"Will you?"

Gi-Hoon did not know what to say. What kind of answer did he expect?

"What do you want me to do?"

"Do as you wish?"

"...Do you mean that?"

Hwan answered with a smile, an indirect way of saying yes. "I don't usually lie, so do as you wish. I don't care."

Gi-Hoon nodded slowly. That proved to be the end of their conversation.

However, someone interrupted the mood.

"Excuse me. If you are done, can you move? I need to go."

It was the man who was in the bathroom when they barged in. Gi-Hoon, with an awkward smile, moved back while Hwan laughed out loud like usual.

***

It had already been mentioned multiple times, but the Cheon-Myeong guild was more like a corporation. The one who supported Ho Lee, the CEO and leader of the guild, was the chief secretary. He didn't do it all by himself, for the chief secretary mostly did the job. Hence, we could say that the chief secretary was the second leader of the guild.

Cheon-Myeong's affiliated guilds were all created by former chief secretaries. That was the unique feature of the Cheon-Myeong guild. Every chief secretary took on the same path.

Hong Jong-Geun was also taking this same route. Trained by the former chief secretary, he was now the current chief secretary. His successor was Gi-Hoon Jeong.

If Jong-Geun left to create a guild, Gi-Hoon would continue his job as chief secretary. He would also do as Jong-Geun did and gain experience.

That was the system Ho had made. Ho was Cheon-Myeong itself.

However, his brother had appeared. That in itself may have caused chaos to Cheon-Myeong.