“Wow, I never thought I’d see coffee mix here.”
Kim Go-hyuk looked at the coffee mix with a hint of emotion in his expression.
Ludwig looked at him with a slightly displeased gleam in his eyes.
The Heavenly Dragon, Kim Go-hyuk, the hero who represented Korea and a hunter who had significant influence across the entirety of East Asia as well as the rest of the world.
This was Ludwig’s first time meeting him in person, but he already knew about his appearance as well as his achievements.
In all honesty, he looked forward to it. He thought he would be like Lee Jong-hak.
Although it could be called prejudice, he thought that all Asians were generally polite people.
But this man was disgusting.
And he didn’t mean cleanliness.
His vulgar attitude, which reminded him of the gangsters in the city, couldn’t help but make him frown.
He didn’t suit the noble name Heavenly Dragon at all.
Although Kim Go-hyuk noticed Ludwig’s displeased gaze, he opened his coffee mix without a single care in the world.
“This is made in Korea. Did you know?”
His gaze was on Nina.
When Ludwig couldn’t resist and was about to say something, Nicholas, who was beside him, spoke up.
“…how about being more polite in front of the President, Kim Go-hyuk.”
“Ah, sorry. It’s been a long time since I took a business trip abroad. I’ll do as you say, Sir Nicholas.”
Kim Go-hyuk responded in the same tone, with seemingly no sign of reflection in his voice. It was followed by a ‘slurp’ sound as he sipped some coffee from his cup.
Nina spoke with a cold voice.
“Why are you here? I already told you Lee Jong-hak’s whereabouts.”
“Hmm. Well, you did. Thanks to you, we were able to meet him.”
Nina looked at those standing beside Kim Go-hyuk.
‘Goddess, Sword Saint, Hwarang Leader…’
They were all big names.
Nina’s hand shook slightly. There was a bit of sweat on her palms.
‘Why do I feel nervous?’
Even if they were from another region, they were all bound by the large net known as the Hunter Association.
They should have considered themselves comrades to an extent, but the moment she looked into Kim Go-hyuks eyes, that feeling disappeared and she opened her mouth.
“What about Lee Jong-hak?”
“He went back to China.”
“…he just left so easily?”
“Of course.”
Nina was not convinced.
Lee Jong-hak had long wanted to work in Europe and had shown this passion to Nina. At least, the Lee Jong-hak whom Nina knew would not have returned to China simply because of a request from the President.
“Did Lee Jong-hak have urgent business?”
“Right. Well, it’s not that big of a deal. Just that the President of the East Asia Branch has changed.”
Nina blinked.
“…you mean President Cha Gung-hwan retired?”
Although he was in the same position as Nina, Cha Gung-wan was a man who Nina would willingly give way for, considering his status and experience.
Nina was speechless.
‘It’s naturally around the time for him to retire, considering his age, but…”
But even considering that, it was too sudden.
Furthermore, it wasn’t such a simple thing for the President of an Association Branch to retire. It was usually common for them to make an announcement through the Association headquarters.
“Then, the current President…”
“Ah. There’s no need for you to worry about that. An amazing guy took over.”
“…”
“In any case, he recently took office and he came up with ironclad rules.”
“…ironclad rules?”
“Yes. But before that, there is something I’d like to ask.”
Kim Go-hyuk continued in a relaxed voice.
“Do you know a man named Lukas?”
“I don’t. Who is he?”
Nina’s expression became cold, and then she stared at Kim Go-hyuk.
Kim Go-hyuk looked at Nina with an unknown smile on his lips.
“Kikiki. Your control of your facial expression is pretty good. If I didn’t know in advance, I might have been fooled by you.”
Those words caused a cold atmosphere to descend upon the room.
Ludwig and Nicholas stepped forward at the same time.
”This is the second time, Kim Go-hyuk.”
“Didn’t I warn you about being polite?”
“Can you two little punks shut up?”
“What did you say…?”
Ludwig couldn’t hide his shock at the sudden remark. He never expected that he’d be insulted straight to his face.
Kim Go-hyuk grinned.
“Why do you keep interrupting when adults are talking? Can’t you go sit in the corner? Do you want to die?”
“You… you crazy bastard!”
Crack!
Ludwig hurriedly ducked instead of continuing his swearing.
Something sharp brushed past his hair.
“You’re pretty good at dodging.
Sss….
This crazy guy had actually attacked him!
Rustle!
All of the European hunters, including Nina, rose up from their seats at the same time. They stared at Kim Go-hyuk with cold gazes.
“You’ve crossed the line, Heavenly Dragon Kim Go-hyuk.”
“Crossed the line? You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Kim Go-hyuk took out a dagger like he’d thrown at Ludwig. He threw the dagger casually into the air, as though he didn’t care about the tense situation.
“Our new President told us that the Demons appeared in this world because of that man named Lukas.”
“What the f**k are you talking about?”
“And that those who side with him are no better than the Demons. So, President Nina, I will give you another chance.”
Kim Go-hyuk sneered.
“Give us the man named Lukas. Otherwise, we’ll just assume everyone in this European Headquarters is collaborating with the Demons.”
* * *
This wasn’t a joke.
Ludwig swallowed heavily. Even though he knew it was wrong, he couldn’t help but look at Nina.
‘President…’
Lukas naturally knew whom this name belonged to. The blonde-haired man who came to the base together with Lee Jong-hak was named Lukas.
It wasn’t a unique name.
In fact, the name was quite common in Europe.
Nevertheless, Ludwig was certain that the man, whom they were looking for, was that blonde-haired man.
He didn’t know who this man was, but he did know that he was very important to their president, Nina Rednikova.
…That was all Ludwig knew.
Lukas had been staying in the base for about a month, but he hadn’t had any contact with any of the other hunters. He’d heard that he’d only interacted with two or three people, including Nina.
And since they’d first met, Ludwig didn’t think he’d exchanged more than five words with the man.
‘Is it really the right decision to hide this man?’
Of course, he found Kim Go-hyuk’s disrespectful attitude infuriating. In fact, he wanted to kill him. After all, he’d almost killed him. He wanted to ignore his ridiculous demands and just attack.
But he couldn’t act upon his emotions.
After all, the opponent was one of the Three Dragons, one of the most influential people in the entirety of Asia.
‘Dammit.’
This didn’t feel real. In the blink of an eye, a ridiculous situation had erupted.
He never would have expected that he might have to fight other human beings. This was something that he could never imagine.
‘Is that man named Lukas worth it?’
Was he worth them becoming enemies with the East Asia branch?
Ludwig wanted to ask Nina this question, but he knew that he could not speak lightly at that moment.
“Hmmm.”
Kim Go-hyuk hummed as he stared at Nina. He was no longer showing the same aggressiveness as in his initial attack.
It seemed he was waiting for an answer.
It was only then when Ludwig felt like he’d seen the true essence of this man named Kim Go-hyuk. Perhaps his frivolous attitude was only a mask to make everyone lower their guards around him.
Then he realised that he was the only one who had been perfectly fooled by his cheap provocation.
Nina had remained cool-headed to the end, and Nicholas also hadn’t made any real moves yet.
“Kim Go-hyuk, do you simply believe everything your new President tells you?”
“Of course.”
“What evidence did he give you? Tell me. If you can convince me… I will help you find the man named Lukas.”
“Haha.”
Kim Go-hyuk burst into laughter.
It was a very stiff, strange laugh, but he himself didn’t seem to notice.
With a shrug, he opened his mouth.
“Imagine. That there is a throne in front of you and sitting on it is a tyrant.”
“…what?”
Nina’s expression became slightly suspicious at the unexpected words.
But Kim Go-hyuk continued without any hesitation.
“Standing around this tyrant are hundreds of knights in brilliant armor. If he only lifts his hand once, your head will be chopped off.”
“…”
What was this man talking about all of a sudden?
All of the hunters, including Nina, looked at him with gazes filled with confusion.
“Suddenly, that tyrant pulls out an orange and says, [Doesn’t this apple look really good?]”
Kim Go-hyuk seemed to imitate the tyrant’s stern voice. But his expression and vocalisation were terrible.
No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like the actions of a third-rate clown, something that you would usually laugh at just because of how ridiculous it was. But the room was deathly quiet.
“So you answer, [My Lord, that isn’t an apple but an orange.] Then the tyrant says, [No. This is an apple.]”
“Pfft. Hahaha! Hahaha!”
Kim Go-hyuk suddenly burst into a loud, maniacal laugh. He laughed so hard that he was forced to hold his stomach.
Nina kept looking at him with a stiff expression on her face.
“Then I nodded, [Ah. Yes. It is an apple that looks very delicious.]”
“…”
“You understand, don’t you, President Nina? Even if Lukas was a senile old man or a gorgeous young woman, it wouldn’t matter. What is important is that Nodiesop told us Lukas was a disaster. So he is a disaster.”
“…”
Kim Go-hyuk then continued with a slightly strained voice.
“So how about you quit the bullshit and tell me where Lukas is?”
“…hoo.”
Nina closed her eyes and sighed. Then, she began to deeply consider Kim Go-hyuk’s request.
This wasn’t just her problem.
Nina owed Lukas her life and more. The grace he’d bestowed upon her was so great that she wouldn’t be able to repay him even if she devoted her entire life to him.
But Nina Rednikova was the President of the European Branch.
On her shoulders, she carried the fate of hundreds of thousands of European hunters.
…If she were to reveal Lukas’ location here and claim that she had nothing to do with him.
Lukas would probably, no, definitely, agree with her choice.
He wouldn’t even hold a grudge against her for it.
“…”
Kim Go-hyuk folded his arms and looked at Nina with interest.
Finally, Nina opened her eyes. From the look in her eyes, he could tell that she’d made a decision.
“Have you finished weighing your options?”
“Right.”
“So what’s your choice?”
Just as the corners of Kim Go-hyuk’s lips began curling upwards, Nina spoke.
“I don’t know.”
Kim Go-hyuk froze for a moment before he began to clap with a ridiculous expression on his face.
“What a selfish woman. With that choice, you’ve basically signed the ticket to send all European hunters to the underworld.”
“Cut the crap. You came here to devour this Russian branch in the first place.”
“Hoh. Why do you say that?”
“Because we have not been able to contact the control room since a while ago.”
Kim Go-hyuk chuckled when Nina pointed at her ear.
“I guess being so old isn’t such a bad thing after all. Old people tend to have such good insight.”
Nina didn’t show it at that moment, but she decided that she would turn Kim Go-hyuk into minced meat the moment she got the opportunity.
“That’s right. We received orders to annihilate this branch. But I never thought you’d figure that out.”
What a disgusting bastard.
He intended to kill them from the beginning, but he still pretended to give them a chance to live.
Nina didn’t have a particular reason for hiding Lukas’ existence. She just didn’t believe Kim Go-hyuk’s words.
And it seemed her judgment was correct.
“By the way, I met that man named Lukas before I came to this room.”
Kim Go-hyuk pointed to the door.
“We ran into him just after getting off the elevator. He doesn’t seem that impressive. But I pretended not to notice him.”
“Why…?”
“Why did I just pass by him?”
Kim Go-hyuk predicted Nina’s question and interrupted her.
“Naturally, it’s because I have something else planned.”