The Natural Enemy of Ghosts
Furious, Sobeom explained everything that had happened.
Bori, who had heard the full account of what occurred while she was unconscious, shouted in disbelief.
“You mistook a ghost for a hunter?!”
“From the outside, there wasn’t much difference from a human. She even saved people!”
“No difference? Are you blind, Captain? How the hell does that thing look human?! That selfishly perfect face looks like someone cherry-picked only the best male features. There’s no way something like that occurs naturally!”
“Hey, just because someone’s unrealistically beautiful doesn’t automatically make them a ghost!”
“Really?”
Bori’s expression turned dead serious.
When she asked with genuine curiosity, Sobeom faltered.
Had he truly not suspected anything?
Even after seeing that beauty that seemed forged from condensed darkness itself?
Even after witnessing those utterly incomprehensible words and actions?
Everything made perfect sense if Mu Yeonghui was a ghost.
“…If you’d given me a proper description sooner, I would’ve figured it out right away.”
They spent a brief moment blaming each other before reaching the same conclusion.
“Whether Mu Yeonghui is a ghost or a hunter, one thing is certain. She’s a dangerous individual who crushed our city’s Ghost Countermeasures Division, then had the audacity to casually offer to help us while pretending she had nothing to do with it!”
Sobeom ground his teeth.
Having no idea about Mu Yeonghui’s true circumstances, he assumed every action had been deliberately orchestrated.
“What the hell is she plotting? Is there some kind of conspiracy at play, or is she just a straight-up psychopath?”
“Her motives don’t matter. Whatever her goal is, we still have to capture her immediately.”
Bori spoke with firm resolve, but Sobeom remained silent, deep in thought.
How, exactly?
What possible method could they use to capture Mu Yeonghui?
“Let me be honest. It’s impossible. You saw her abilities yourself, so you already know.”
“Ah, so that’s why we need to gather allies. Spread the word immediately that a disaster-level ghost has appeared in Korea. We’ll rally every hunter in the country.”
“…You’ve lost your mind.”
Sobeom shot Bori a look of pure irritation at her completely unrealistic suggestion.
“You still seem to be misunderstanding, so let me correct you. I agree that Mu Yeonghui is dangerous, but I do not agree that she’s a disaster-level ghost.”
“You’re still saying that?”
“You must have been so terrified by her presence that you’re overreacting. Disaster-level isn’t a rank you just slap on any strong individual.”
Disaster-level was essentially shorthand. The official designation was ‘Catastrophe Grade.’
It was a title reserved exclusively for the absolute worst and most powerful ghosts capable of threatening human civilization.
“If you just call every strong ghost a disaster-level threat, no one will take it seriously enough to mobilize.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“We start by gathering whatever combat forces we have left.”
Sobeom spoke reluctantly as he summoned every available fighter still stationed at headquarters.
And then—
“I’m resigning.”
“Thank you for everything up until now.”
The reserve members.
Every single person who had gone to the mansion with Mu Yeonghui submitted their resignation.
“What the hell is this?”
“It was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. You need at least some chance of survival when you risk your life. This is just suicide. Honestly, I’m not even sure that person is actually a dangerous ghost.”
The reserve members’ voices carried a cold, calculating judgment far beyond what one would expect from rookies.
“We’re against it too!”
The awakened first-string combatants all shouted their opposition in unison.
“Why? Have you not fully recovered yet?”
“That’s not it. Strangely enough, I actually feel even better than before. But even if we’re in peak condition, there’s no way people like us could even touch a single hair on ‘that thing.’”
They had all been taken down by Mu Yeonghui.
Simply being looked at had knocked them unconscious for days, so they had every reason to be cautious.
“From what I hear, that being pretended to be a hunter and even saved people. It might be a friendly ghost, so let’s just leave it alone. Playing along with a ghost’s act is actually one of the more effective methods of containment.”
They were openly suggesting they should appease a ghost.
That alone was ridiculous, but what was even more absurd was that Sobeom had nearly agreed with them for a split second.
“…No. No matter what, we can’t just surrender without doing anything.”
Sobeom steeled his wavering resolve and continued.
“I didn’t want to use this, but it looks like I have no choice. I’ll call in a favor.”
“A favor?”
Leaving the puzzled Bori behind, Sobeom made a call.
A few hours later, someone entered the Ghost Countermeasures Division headquarters.
It was a well-built man with bleached blonde hair.
Dressed like he was on vacation, he wore sunglasses over his eyes.
The man waved casually at the division members.
“Hey, long time no see, sis Bori! You been well? Captain Sobeom, it’s been a while too!”
Though his tone was flippant, the greeting was friendly. The reaction he received, however, was explosive.
“Lee Gyeongun, you son of a bitch! Who the hell said you could just walk in here?!”
Bori immediately started cursing. The moment the fighters heard the name, they flinched.
“Lee Gyeongun?”
“One of Korea’s top hunters!”
Lee Gyeongun.
The man known as the Natural Enemy of Ghosts.
One of the five strongest hunters in all of Korea,
and someone with a very bad history with the Monghwan City Ghost Countermeasures Division.
Back when Bori was still a rookie.
Gyeongun had joined as her junior.
With a record that lived up to his reputation as a future top-tier hunter, he had initially been welcomed.
But then—
“You bastard! You’re the asshole who secretly stole and sold the ghost corpses we had in storage, and now you have the nerve to show your face?!”
His corruption had been exposed midway, leading to his immediate expulsion.
“Get the hell out of here right now!”
“I’d love to, but Captain Sobeom called me~.”
Gyeongun pointed at Sobeom with a lazy smirk.
“Sis, I really am sorry about what happened back then.”
“If you were sorry, why’d you do it in the first place?”
“Money, obviously. Is there anything more important than money?”
Gyeongun shrugged shamelessly as if asking to be forgiven.
“But I really do feel bad. I owe both of you from my rookie days. That’s why I told Captain Sobeom before I got kicked out—I’d help him for free three times, no matter what the job was.”
Bori’s mouth fell open at the revelation.
Since there was a limit on the number of favors, he couldn’t be called lightly, and there hadn’t been any situation serious enough to warrant it until now.
“Captain, have you lost your damn mind? You kept this a secret from me the whole time and now you’re calling in this traitor?!”
“Yeah, I figured you’d react like that, so I didn’t tell you.”
Sobeom spoke coldly, but deep down he felt bitter.
Truthfully, he hadn’t wanted to call Gyeongun either, but Mu Yeonghui had left him no choice.
Swallowing the humiliation of having to borrow the hand of a traitor, he spoke directly.
“I’ll cut to the chase. Can you kill Mu Yeonghui?”
“You mean this woman?”
Gyeongun, who had received a brief explanation over the phone, pulled up a video of Mu Yeonghui he had saved on his device.
“I was pretty shocked. The gothic lolita who’s been blowing up the internet lately is apparently a ghost.”
“Stop wasting time and answer the question.”
“I don’t know.”
Gyeongun answered without hesitation.
“How am I supposed to make a judgment from just one video? Even I have my limits.”
“Besides the wendigo in that footage, she defeated numerous other enemies. She instantly overpowered Bori here and even sliced apart a crack ghost that was essentially space itself.”
“So what exactly are her abilities?”
This time it was Sobeom’s turn to admit ignorance.
Since he couldn’t figure it out at all, he simply described the phenomena he had witnessed.
After listening to the string of unbelievable explanations, Gyeongun fell into thought.
“Doesn’t that sound like spatial manipulation?”
“Spatial…?”
“Invisible attacks, striking distant enemies… If she’s using some application of power that bends space, it makes sense. The movement at speeds the eye can’t follow could also be explained by teleportation.”
Sobeom listened carefully as the surprisingly plausible theory emerged.
“Now that you mention it, that fits. The way she blocked Bori’s attack with an invisible barrier—maybe she fixed the space in place? If she can turn space itself into a shield, it explains why physical attacks don’t work.”
“And cutting down a crack ghost would be possible if she manipulates space the same way.”
“But then what about knocking people out with just a glance, or twisting the weather?”
“She probably has several secondary abilities in addition to her main one. Or maybe some kind of trick.”
Gyeongun spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Anyway, no matter what her abilities are, as long as she’s a ghost, I can handle her. Besides, I won’t be fighting alone.”
“Of course. Our team will support you with everything we have.”
“Great. Then the only thing left is to go meet this Mu Yeonghui woman.”
There was one problem.
Right now, Mu Yeonghui was living in the same house as Ryeonhwa.
“Contact that Ryeonhwa girl and tell her the truth. Have her sneak out.”
“No can do. If we contact her and Mu Yeonghui is right there, we’ll basically be telling her that we’ve figured out her identity.”
“Hmm, then I guess we’ll have to trick that Ryeonhwa girl too.”
Gyeongun came up with a scheme.
“Send Ryeonhwa a message saying a ghost has appeared and that she needs to bring Mu Yeonghui. Choose a location where there won’t be much collateral damage. When the two of them show up, we pull Ryeonhwa out and take down Mu Yeonghui.”