Chapter 157 A Blue Fog (1)
Yoohyun Han came out of the car in Minyui Kim’s appearance, and he had arrived in front of a large manor. There was no indication of anyone present in the surrounding houses. The inhabitants were not out, as the houses were empty from the first place. The houses must have been purchased for more security.
Yoohyun Han approached the door and rang the doorbell. The surveillance camera looked at his face instead of an answer, and Yoohyun Han raised his face without any hesitation. His face would be blurred on the monitor connected to the camera due to the effect of the glasses he was wearing. If he was not facing a living organism, he would appear like a mosaic.
A person came out from inside and opened the door after a moment. A high-class hunter confirmed Yoohyun Han as Minyui Kim.
“Come in.”
Yoohyun Han walked slowly, and his movements became slower, like he was hesitating when he entered inside after passing the garden.
The lobby he was escorted to was dark and smelled of new furniture. The house seemed to be unused, and Seokwon Choi appeared after a while. Yoohyun Han’s face showed surprise, as he had not expected this outcome. He had not thought that the MKC Guild leader would show himself this soon.
‘Is it because he wants to enlist me before I finish the dungeon conquest?’
Seokwon Choi would be hurrying since the last dungeon conquest period had been notably short. He walked up to Yoohyun Han with a pleasant smile.
“Hunter Minyui Kim, it’s nice to see you. I have heard a lot about you.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Guild Leader Choi.”
“I’ll cut to the choice. Help me kidnap Yoojin Han.”
Seokwon Choi spoke in a tone that showed that he had not lost his arrogance.
“It’s a surprise since I thought you would talk about enlisting me.”
“Enlist? How can you be a new S class hunter even if the rumors say so? That fox Simyeong Seok would not have let you go about like this if you were a real S class. Since you were placed to Yoojin Han, you can’t be a B class supporter and would be an A class attacker at the most.”
Seokwon Choi smiled confidently.
“If you were placed as Yoojin Han’s guard after spreading rumors about you being an S class, it would be similar to having a real S class. No one would rush at you, and it’s an effective method.”
“Do you believe that you are right?”
Seokwon Choi’s brow furrowed at the calm voice bordering on cold.
“You’ll be only a baby S class, even if I’m wrong. Just answer.”
Seokwon Choi spoke as he took out a contract.
“If you cooperate with us, you’ll have an adequate reward. Since you came here after refusing other guilds, it’s not like you don’t have some intentions to transfer.”
“Why are you rushing like this so hastily? Who are you going to deal with after kidnapping Mr. Yoojin Han?”
“You don’t have to know! Let’s make this pleasant for both of us. What do you want?”
Yoohyun Han stared at Seokwon Choi and saw that he was anxious despite being arrogant. He looked like prey chased by a predator, and he did not look like an S class hunter.
‘Is it because of his contract with the addicts?’
If he would not answer alive, Yoohyun Han only had to ask his corpse.
“Catch him.”
Seokwon Choi noticed that something was strange after he heard an order. There was another one in the room. However, the realization came too late. A poisonous nail touched him at the back of Seokwon Choi’s neck, and at the same time, a sharp blade touched Seokwon Choi’s Adam’s apple. While Seokwon Choi had to be slow in reacting at the nail, he had been unable to follow the movements made right in front of him.
He was not an A class nor a child.
“You…”
Seokwon Choi clenched his teeth as the blade was familiar to him.
“Yoojin Han-!”
The poison trapped him instantaneously, and Seokwon Choi bent his knees. Noah glared at Yoohyun Han as poison dripped from his transformed hand.
“Do not order me around. I’m working with you only for Mr. Yoohyun Han’s safety.”
Yoohyun Han looked down instead of answering. Noah’s poison was less lethal than other S class skills, but its paralyzing and restricting effects were quite strong. It would take quite a detoxicating skill to be able to fight against the poison.
“Break the contract, and I’ll let you live.”
Yoohyun spoke a lie. He would not let someone after his older brother live but beheading him now would probably lead to his corpse being reused like Gyeongsoo Yoon.
Yoohyun Han bent down to pick up the contract that had fallen down on the floor, and the parchment made from monster leather fluttered from his long fingers.
“I’ll sign the contract.”
While it was an illegal contract that would bind an S class, he would be able to easily nullify it if he borrowed his brother’s strength. Seokwon Choi strained his neck to look at the still young face. Yoohyun Han was standing there instead of Minyui Kim, and one of his cool eyes was red.
The moment his eyes met them, Seokwon Choi was certain he would die. The man frowned, as he was now sure that Yoohyun Han had killed Gyeongsoo Yoon. Just because he had gone after his brother, and Seokwon Choi had been quiet because he had known the reason.
That had been the case until the successor to Diarma had appeared.
[You failed your assignment, and now you’re useless. Why would I have to let you live?]
Seokwon Choi could not reply to the disdainful voice.
[However, since I need a pawn, I’ll give you exactly a month to rebuild your guild so it’s usable. If it doesn’t meet my standards, I’ll have to use them as ingredients~]
A month was too short to bring back an almost ruined guild, as Seokwon Choi’s reputation was in the gutter after being rescued from being arrested. While he had gone in to maintain at least MKC’s fame with the Association’s help, the Hunter Association had completely changed hands. That meant that Seokwon Choi had lost his high-class connections and now faced other guilds without any help.
He had been unable to overcome Sesung in the first place, and Haeyeon had two more S class hunters. Breaker had maintained its position without any damage, unlike MKC. He could clearly see that the second-ranking guild in Korea would fall straight to fourth in one sweep.
Seokwon Choi could not even ignore Hanshin, and he turned his eyes to overseas after being cornered.
‘We will rent you an S class hunter if you hand over Yoojin Han.’
China had made the offer. Seokwon Choi was allured by the proposal that they would lend him an S class attacker with two years of experience for five years who could go right into action and assign a certain percentage of the beasts and hunters Yoojin Han would raise.
Even as Haeyeon had two more S class hunters, they both had just become S classes. MKC could maintain its position as the second-ranking guild if they had an experienced S class attacker. Not only that, MKC could monopolize high-class riding beasts in Korea, and guilds that were responsible for protecting Yoojin Han from taking damage due to his disappearance was an added bonus. MKC did not have any responsibility since they could no longer involve themselves with Yoojin Han.
Seokwon Choi had move fast because he felt that it was the only certain exit, and the result was this situation.
“Fuck, Yoohyun Han. You’ll let me live? That’s a blatant lie.”
“Contracts do not lie.”
“I’m a guild leader even if I’m only a name. I know that you’ll be able to endure any contract cancellations. You’ll be able to persuade the saint.”
“I don’t have time to go overseas and leave my brother behind. Will you end things here if you can’t trust the contract?”
The blade changed directions, pierced the spot right next to Seokwon Choi’s hand, and thin cracks began to spread over the marble floor.
“Seokwon Choi, I only need your corpse.”
“Then why aren’t you killing me now?”
“I’m a bit sorry to place false charges of murder to the person I borrowed this appearance from.”
“You aren’t sorry.”
Seokwon Choi let out a bitter laugh, and if this was the end, he would at least twist a cocky child’s ankle.
“Yoohyun Han, I hated you at first sight. It wasn’t even laughable to see a violent kid who acted like no one could stand higher or even next to you act like you couldn’t live without your brother now. Is that for real? Fuck, you acted like you wouldn’t move a muscle at seeing your family being ripped apart.”
“Do you want me to kill you?”
“I do what I want with my life, you crazy kid.”
Seokwon Choi laughed and remembered the voice of the woman he had made a new contract.
[I’ll give a loser like you a choice since I like things burning to the end. There’s even a bonus.]
“…I like bonuses. I refuse the contract I made with Luga Peya.”
Seokwon Choi’s body eroded completely after he let out the designated words, and a faded blue fog immediately covered the surroundings.”
***
I called Haeyeon after borrowing a cell phone right after I got into a car. While I was treated like a petty merchant when I asked to be connected with the Human Resources Team Leader, I managed to get through to Simyeong Seok.
[Weren’t you at Sesung?]
“I came out for a walk because it was getting too stuffy in there. Where is Hunter Minyui Kim? Does it have anything to do with those transit restrictions and evacuation orders?”
[Of course not. He’s sleeping soundly, as you know.]
Would I have called to know what the real Minyui Kim was doing? He knew what I meant but was spinning things around.
“You have to prioritize Haeyeon over anything else. While I won’t say you should sacrifice your family, you should at least think the guild over an outsider like me. Isn’t that true?”
While it would be nice if I could ask Hamin Do to search Yoohyun, but he did not have anything with a number he used for a year.
“Also, I won’t go back until I see him, and I’m with four hunters I have seen for the first time.”
[…The orders are probably related to Hunter Minyui Kim.]
Simyeong Seok told me the truth like he could not help it.
[He went to meet the MKC.]
MKC meant Seokwon Choi, who is under a contract with an addict. Killing him as he was would result in that previous fiasco, and lifting the contract needed me there. Why did you go alone, little brother?
“Can you connect me to Mr. Noah?”
[Hunter Noah went with him.]
“Yoo, Minyui went with Noah?”
My lips went up despite the situation, as the two of them going about together without me meant that they have become somewhat friendly towards each other. It was rewarding after the effort I put in, and while I did not want to interfere when those two were working, I could not help it since the opponent was Seokwon Choi.
“Contact Department Head Taewon Song and ask him to bring Riette along. Actually, no. They would be already moving. I’ll have to make a request to the Association. Riette will come quietly if you tell her I brought Velare with me, and please notify Sesung where I am.”
While Yoohyun and Noah would easily win against Seokwon Choi, things would change with that jellyfish’s interference. If the Mermaid Queen had not given us a skill in the last dungeon, it would not have been an easy conquest.
Therefore, I brought in Riette and Hyunjae Sung just in case. I thought about Soyoung Kang, but I hesitated since she was an A class hunter.
“We cannot enter the restricted area since we’re low class hunters.”
The E class hunter that had been driving spoke, and I asked them to stop since there was no need to involve them. I took a card out.
“Buy a new car with this.”
“What…”
“An expensive car. You can go wild with sportscars, or just get one each. Make sure you buy them in a single payment.”
It was not my card, and I gave Hyunjae Sung’s card to a surprised C class hunter. I then made them get out of the car and moved to the driving seat.
‘It’s a manual transmission.’
I had a first class license, but it had been a long time since I drove a car like this. I turned on the engine and started.
“I wanted to protect the law with a fresh mind.”
-Shh.
Velare flicked her tongue as she wrapped herself around my wrist like she was criticizing me. I had not blatantly gone against the law, probably. My arrest was nullified, and others, well, I only talked.
I raised Velare over my shoulders and shared her sights with mine so I could search for relevant articles on my cell phone while I listened to the navigation. Normal people should never drive while using their phones.
Fortunately, Velare had better eyesight than me, and since she could sense heat at the same time, I could know the movements of the car behind me without looking at the back mirror. Her range was quite wide.
While the traffic had been heavy at first, the road became emptier as I went on. Other cars disappeared, and I saw a barricade that blocked the road.
‘I’m sorry, but I’ll have to pass.’
I had no time to stop and explain the circumstances and used my grace before raising the speed. With a loud bang, the shiny barricade flew away. While the shock had been quite strong, the car went running on with its speed the same.
They may have renovated the car a little since it was quite durable. Hunter vehicles could renovate according to their classes under authorization in case of dungeon breaks.
While I heard someone shout behind me, I ignored it. I would pay the fines. Wait, if I were caught driving without a license, would that restrict getting one? That would be a problem.
“…A fog?”
I drove for a while when my sight went foggy, and a murky blue fog began to spread.
