The Predator in the Hunt
The dirty war had begun. Andersen fired the first shot, striking first and setting the signal flare in motion. They might have thought that seizing the initiative would give them the advantage, but the side that had taken control of the battlefield was Wraith, and Andersen was paying for it dearly.
“While Wraith lost four regular guild members and six non-regular members, we lost twenty people from the Executive Division. Five of them were squad leaders, and two were team leaders.”
“Crazy... What the hell kind of nonsense is this...”
At his secretary’s report, Andersen Guild Leader An Seong-jin let out a hollow laugh, along with a curse.
“The evidence...?”
The fact that the Executive Division had completed the operation and withdrawn meant that evidence destruction was already finished, but he asked anyway, grasping at straws.
“Nothing was left behind. The Special Police Bureau even said this was the closest thing to perfect evidence erasure they’d ever seen.”
Since the evidence had been wiped away using Hashashin’s protection, even the Special Police Bureau had no choice but to throw up its hands.
“How can twenty people from the Executive Division, which is supposed to be the elite of the guild, go down in just two days? Seven of them were senior officers above squad leader level, too... Don’t you think this is an impossible situation? Anyone who has a mouth, speak up already.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I have no face to show.”
The guild executives bowed their heads and apologized. Lee Gyu-hwan, the man most responsible of all, could say nothing at all. He only bit down on his lip so hard it bled.
“I believe I heard a report yesterday that the Executive Division had detected a direct threat and was beginning an aggressive response... What happened? Executive Chief, if you have something to say, then say it.”
“I’m sorry. We mobilized every possible measure to respond to the attack, but the enemy’s stealth was so complete that with our level, a counterattack was out of the question. We couldn’t even detect them in return.”
It wasn’t perfect yet, because synchronization still wasn’t high enough, but it was still the power of Hashashin, who had taken control of one dimension from the “background.” Hunters who were little more than C-class or B-class had no chance of coping with it. Before a predator named Kang Hyun-jun, wielding Hashashin’s protection, they stood in the position of prey.
“At dawn today, Team Leader Park Yong-gyu and three B-class hunters from the Executive Division laid a trap and tried to strike back, but they were the ones who got taken out. According to a hunter who survived because he happened to be at the scene, the ambush came out of nowhere, and by the time he came to his senses, everyone, including Team Leader Park Yong-gyu, had been knocked down.”
Gyu-hwan said.
“Team Leader Park Yong-gyu is an A-class hunter, isn’t he? You’re telling me one A-class hunter and two B-class hunters turned into corpses in a matter of seconds? And you expect me to believe that?”
Seong-jin said, barely suppressing the anger surging up inside him. In common sense, it was a situation that made no sense at all.
“The subordinate under Team Leader Park wasn’t lying. I sent people to investigate the scene, and the conclusion was that not only the hunters who accompanied him, but even Park Yong-gyu himself, an A-class hunter, couldn’t resist and died from a single blow.”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m asking you. Does that sound like a situation that makes sense? Wraith isn’t even anything more than a Bronze-tier guild, is it?”
“But their guild leader is a second-awakener. And according to the information coming in, there appears to be another second-awakener as well.”
BANG!
Unable to hold in his rage any longer, Seong-jin slammed his hand down on the table. Though he was a mage-type, the force of an A-class hunter was behind it, and the wooden table was shattered to pieces.
“Enough with this second-awakener nonsense! Why can’t you see that the important thing is that we’re being attacked right now?”
“Guild Leader. You need to calm down.”
Seong-jin was throwing a fit like a spoiled child, but Gyu-hwan tried to soothe him in a calm voice. He was used to it; this was hardly the first time Seong-jin had acted far too immature for his age because of his hot-blooded temper.
“Right now, there’s evidence that one A-class hunter and two B-class hunters were killed helplessly in a single strike. Do you know what that means?”
Seong-jin didn’t answer. Instead, he let out a harsh, uneven breath, trying to cool the anger in his chest. Gyu-hwan gave a short sigh and went on.
“In the worst case, it means an S-class or higher, or at the very least an A-class hunter of considerable standing, has intervened.”
“So... what of it?”
“Until now, Andersen has never lost.”
Guild Leader An Seong-jin was hot-tempered and short on thought, but as a guild founded with the backing of a mid-sized company, its finances were solid, and thanks to Executive Chief Lee Gyu-hwan’s ability, the Executive Division’s combat strength was higher than that of guilds of the same tier. As dissatisfaction inside the guild decreased, internal cohesion improved as well. Before Gyu-hwan joined, there had been many Executive Division hunters who resented Seong-jin.
“Up until now, every guild we’ve clashed with has been weaker than us. But Guild Leader...”
Gyu-hwan paused. Not only the other executives, but even Seong-jin fell silent and fixed their gaze on him.
“In this hunt, we are not the predator.”
*
Hyun-jun’s relentless hunt continued, and the mental state of Seong-jin and Andersen’s Executive Division hunters began to crumble rapidly. Every time they sent Executive Division hunters out to hunt Wraith guild members, more than half of them died before returning, and as a result, it was not Wraith that had been swallowed by terror, but Andersen’s Executive Division.
“Nine more hunters from the Executive Division died in the past twenty-four hours. Guild Leader, this is no good. We need to take extraordinary measures.”
At the words of Yoo Ji-ah, who served as Andersen’s guild secretary, Gyu-hwan bit his lip slightly.
This irritating bitch...
He barely stopped the insult from escaping. Ji-ah was one of Andersen’s founding members and close to Guild Leader An Seong-jin. Over the past year, Gyu-hwan had realized that she had been using her beauty to influence Seong-jin from behind the scenes.
“Ji-ah thinks so too?”
“Yes, Guild Leader. I don’t think we can just keep getting beaten like this. We need to go all out.”
“Guild Leader. And Secretary. Right now, our Executive Division’s strength has been severely weakened. If we go head-to-head with Wraith’s Executive Division, only we’ll be the ones struggling.”
Unable to keep listening to the two of them, Gyu-hwan shot to his feet and spoke his mind. He had no choice but to step in, because if he kept watching quietly, the situation was only going to get worse.
“Executive Chief.”
Ji-ah’s gaze turned to Gyu-hwan. Blood leaked from the corner of Gyu-hwan’s lips. He didn’t like that loathsome smile. It was infuriating.
“I’m listening.”
“Did I just say to attack Wraith’s Executive Division?”
“If not the Executive Division, then where in the world are you talking about... Don’t tell me...”
“That’s right. Intensify the terrorism against Wraith’s regular guild members. Looking at the records so far, the entire Executive Division hasn’t even been deployed to the attacks on Wraith’s guild members, has it? We can do better than this. Isn’t that right?”
The way she said it, with her eyes half-curved in a smile, was devilish.
“If the attacks on civilians become any more extreme than they already are, the Special Police Bureau will move.”
“Isn’t preventing that exactly the job of the Executive Division? I thought our Executive Chief wasn’t incompetent... or am I wrong?”
Her sarcasm was of a very high caliber.
“Executive Chief. Put some muscle into it.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Don’t fail this time.”
Seong-jin patted Gyu-hwan on the shoulder in encouragement. If the Executive Division went all in and launched the terror campaign, then Kang Hyun-jun, the guild leader of Wraith, would grow afraid and back off, and in the end Andersen would win. But they did not know that the shadow attached to Gyu-hwan’s back was relaying every word of the conversation to Kang Hyun-jun.
*
“So that’s how it is...?”
Hyun-jun had been listening in from start to finish on Andersen’s executive meeting through the shadow he had attached to Gyu-hwan again. He heard their insane plan to unleash indiscriminate terror against Wraith guild members, but he did not get angry. On the contrary, he was frighteningly calm.
This is a good opportunity.
If indiscriminate terror against ordinary guild members intensified further, the Special Police Bureau would have to step in as well. They were already under pressure from the “background,” but if the situation became severe enough and turned into a public issue, they could not simply sit back and watch. Since the dawn of the dungeon raid era, public order had worsened, but in South Korea, the authority of the state still had breath in it, at least for now.
Looks like Andersen is in a hell of a hurry too.
Even an Executive Division that specialized in destroying evidence was bound to make mistakes if it moved too hastily. One single mistake would lead them straight down the road to ruin.
“Executive Chief.”
He leaned back against the chair, the corners of his mouth lifting. In his left hand he held a smartphone connected to Kim Tae-min.
“Yes. Speak.”
Tae-min’s voice flowed out of the phone.
“I’ve obtained information that Andersen is planning to expand the scale of its indiscriminate attacks on our guild members. The Executive Division should prepare a response.”
“They’re expanding the scale of the attacks? With the Executive Division alone, it’ll be hard to respond to all of them. No... impossible.”
Without knowing the exact targets of the attacks, a perfect response was difficult.
“You don’t need to respond to everything. What we need is to show that we made the effort. I believe the Executive Chief understands what I’m trying to say.”
If a total blockade was impossible, then they had no choice but to turn this into an opportunity.
“Still, do your best. You must attempt to defend as much as possible.”
- Understood. Just in case, I’ll contact the Special Police Bureau as well.
“That would be best. It’s good if they move, and even if they don’t, once the terror starts, we can shift the blame anyway.”
- I’ll move at once.
And the call ended. Tae-min moved immediately. He deployed the Executive Division hunters and requested support from the Special Police Bureau, but as expected, their assistance had not arrived by the time the terror campaign began.
“We’re under attack. Five regular guild members are dead, and eight non-regular guild members are dead.”
The door to the guild leader’s office opened, and Jong-seo rushed in to report. The damage was greater than expected, and Hyun-jun had no choice but to frown. If the Special Police Bureau had sent support, casualties like this would not have happened.
“Go support the Executive Chief. I’ll handle the Special Police Bureau issue.”
“Yes. Understood, Guild Leader.”
The moment Jong-seo left, Hyun-jun picked up his smartphone. Then he called someone.
“Who’s this? It’s the hotshot Kang Hyun-jun these days, isn’t it?”
The owner of the playful voice was his friend An Seok-gyu, whom Hyun-jun called the “Bureau old-timer.”
“You doing well these days?”
- I got transferred to Investigation Team 3. I’m swamped.
“Can I ask you for a favor?”
- Why are you being weird? Just say it. Why are you dragging out the preamble between us?
He had been busy lately, so even though it had been a while since he’d called, his friend still treated him the way he always had. Hyun-jun felt grateful. It warmed him.
“You know a reporter at a major newspaper or TV station, right?”
- I know a few.
At Seok-gyu’s answer, a smile spread across Hyun-jun’s mouth. Just as expected. He wasn’t high-ranking, but he was still an employee of the Dungeon Management Bureau, so he was bound to know a few reporters. Since the dawn of the dungeon raid era, people’s attention had been fixed on dungeons and raids.
“I’ve got a story for you. A big one.”
The media, too, was a fine weapon in modern warfare.