Ha Ildo Hunts the Witch # 3
After hearing the shocking revelation that the Witches might, in fact, be nymphs.
To be precise, it was the following morning.
I had prepared myself in every possible way to hunt down the Witches.
“Keong-keong. Give this a good sniff. Think you can track it?”
I held the owl feather I'd acquired right up to Keongkeongi's nose.
The dog-squirrel Keongkeongi was said to possess an extraordinary sense of smell, after all.
There was no doubt in my mind that once it caught the feather's scent, it could chase down the feather's owner.
━Keong-keong…!
Sure enough, Keongkeongi began hopping back and forth, bouncing around the yard with abandon.
That meant it could track the scent.
“Attaboy. Ang-ang! You're coming too! Kwang-kwangi! You follow along as well!”
I set Angangi and Kwangkwangi down on either of my shoulders.
The preparations for hunting the Witch were now truly complete.
“Senior! I'll come along too, of course!”
Yu Ari walked into the yard lugging a bag crammed full of medical equipment, like a doctor making a house call.
It was a tempting offer, but I had to shake my head.
“Ari, you've been out of active duty for a long time now. It'd be better for you to stay here and treat us when we get back.”
The right person for the right job—it mattered.
The entity known as the Witch was far too much of an unknown for me to drag a retired friend like Ari into danger.
For exactly the same reason, Seo Yerim had to stay behind too.
“Seo Yerim, you stay as well. If a Witch who's transformed into you shows up and things get confusing, that's just one more variable I don't need.”
“Excuse me?”
Seo Yerim's brow furrowed deeply.
Before long, she let out a long sigh.
“Fine.”
When had Seo Yerim ever given in to someone else's opinion that easily?
That alone told me just how grave and serious this situation had to be.
“Mwehehe, then the Fist of Honey, Nymph Illinoi, shall be together with you, so do not worry about it, it is so…! Punishing naughty nymphs is also the duty of the nymph sisters, it is so…!”
“This Coris shall come along too, it must be said…! This Coris wishes for the nymph sisters to reclaim their names and become good, so that they can play minicars together with Coris, it must be said…!”
In place of Yu Ari and Seo Yerim, Illinoi and Coris would be joining my pursuit.
Someone might well ask if I'd lost my mind, bringing nymphs along to face the terrifying Witches.
But if the Witches really were nymphs, then companions like Illinoi and Coris would surely prove more helpful than anyone.
“This Oinoi shall also come together with you, it is so…!”
Oinoi, her bag stuffed to bursting with luggage, would be joining us as well.
Whether to call it reassuring or something else entirely, the feeling was a strange one.
“Will they really be okay?”
Seo Yerim narrowed her eyes.
Just then, Cha Yura—who had been contacted early that morning and rushed over—thrust her ample chest proudly forward and lifted her haughty chin even higher.
“Don't you worry! This is S-Rank Awakener Cha Yura you're talking about, and I'll be right there with you! And don't forget—you promised to appoint me an Honorary Nymph once this matter is resolved!”
“Mwehehe, you must simply believe in this Illinoi, it is so…!”
━Keong-keong…!
Keongkeongi barked from a distance.
It sounded like it was telling us to hurry up and follow.
The place where Keongkeongi finally came to a stop was Macheon City.
A twenty-first-century demon realm, where towering skyscrapers and slums buried deep underground stood side by side.
Before it, Keongkeongi froze mid-step, glancing left and right.
━Keong-keong…!
“Hey, what's wrong?”
Cha Yura, who had been walking alongside, tilted her head as she looked down at the little beast.
I lifted Keongkeongi onto my palm and stroked its head and tail as I answered simply.
“Looks like the scent ends somewhere around here.”
Keongkeongi's nose was remarkable, but it wasn't omnipotent.
Still, the fact that it had managed to determine the Witch was hiding here in Macheon City was fortunate enough.
“Keong-keong, good work. Here, have a peanut.”
When I handed over Keongkeongi's favorite macadamia nut, it quickly stuffed it into its cheek pouch—the sight was absolutely delightful.
Watching, Cha Yura flushed a little.
“S-so cute. I want a dog-squirrel of my own.”
Dog-squirrels were the pets everyone dreamed of owning.
Keongkeongi in particular was unusually large and richly colored among its kind, and there were plenty of people who envied it.
But—now was hardly the time to be dwelling on that.
“There's really no city better for criminals to hide in than Macheon. The problem is that snooping around openly in this city is all but impossible….”
What to do?
That was when Illinoi let out a wicked little laugh—mwehehe.
“This Illinoi is the big boss of the gang Fairytail…! It was this very nymph who caught on to the workings of this Macheon City, it is so…! Simply wait and see, it is so…!”
Shwk—.
Illinoi drew a phone out of her pocket.
Coris and Oinoi watched the sight with envious eyes.
“Coris wants a phone too, it must be said…!”
“This Oinoi believes that the device known as a phone is a most nymph-friendly tool, and is quite fond of it, it is so…!”
Come to think of it, neither Oinoi nor Coris had a phone of her own.
And living in the twenty-first century required one.
Once this business is wrapped up, I should get them set up with phones.
I was thinking exactly that when—vrrroooom—a huge truck screeched to a halt right in front of us.
Clunk—.
Then a rough-looking man climbed down.
He was bald, his head shaved smooth.
He looked exactly like one of the guys I'd seen at Fairytail's hideout.
“Boss! It's been too long since you reached out! So I hear you're looking for these Witches—but, much to our regret, our gang Fairytail has been disbanded, so we have no information! We are now the Nymph Goods Foundation. We sell the paintings you used to draw, Boss.”
“Hyehehek…! How utterly useless, it is so…! So this is the lax discipline that set in once this Illinoi was gone, is it, it is so…! Punishment—! Shall be dealt—! Nymph Secret Art: Wild Beatdown!”
Doom, doom-doom-doom-doom—.
The nymph Illinoi pummeled the bald thug with her fists, blow after blow.
The thugs who'd ridden in on the truck watched, their eyes shining, muttering things like “Whoa, that's incredible,” or “I'm so jealous.”
What a bizarre bunch of people.
After taking a long pummeling, the bald gangster finally spoke up.
“These days, most of Macheon City's information is controlled by a gang called Flower. Their power's been growing at a frightening rate. If anyone knows about a giant owl, it'd be them.”
Flower.
For a gang's name, it seemed far too gentle.
But apparently, true to their name or not, they had been seizing territory across the district with ruthless efficiency.
“How would we go about meeting them?”
I asked.
The bald man looked me over and answered as if it hardly mattered.
“Your nymph over there is acquainted with one of their executives, so a meeting shouldn't be hard. One of Flower's founding members is family to that Coris of yours.”
“Ahh—, I had no idea at all, it must be said…!”
Coris threw her hand up in the air.
Family of Coris's?
I had no idea what was going on anymore.
“Would Lee Jina know?”
Ever since our cruise trip, I'd lost track of what Lee Jina had been up to.
She was the most independent and busiest woman I knew, after all.
━Hey, I'm nearby, actually.
And as it turned out, Lee Jina was working in Macheon City, in a way I never would have guessed.
I headed for the office where she was supposed to be working, and there I found Lee Jina, gloved and sweating, hauling a refrigerator.
“Jina, do you know anything about Flower?”
“Sure do. They're the crew my sister used to hang around with back in the—ah.”
Shwk—.
She cut herself off mid-sentence.
Beside Lee Jina stood a mild-mannered-looking man.
“Brother-in-law. Could you step away for a minute?”
“Huh? Oh. Sure. Take a break.”
So Lee Jina was running a handover at a moving company—now that was a fact I hadn't known.
Word had it that this brother-in-law of mine had already filed the marriage paperwork with Lee Seona and moved in with her before they'd even held the wedding.
Before long, Lee Jina stepped out of the building and looked us over.
“What's with this party? Why'd you drag a bunch of nymphs along?”
Shwk-shwk—.
With practiced ease, Lee Jina stroked Coris's forehead.
Coris looked genuinely pleased as she cried, “Kore-to-be Jina is so kind, it must be said…!”
I explained the whole situation to her in detail, and Lee Jina gave a thoughtful hum.
“So the Witch is hiding out in Macheon City, and this gang Flower probably knows where. Flower was founded by people my sister used to run around with back in the day. Not that my brother-in-law knows that.”
So that was how it was.
Still, having connections never hurt.
“I've got personal reasons for not wanting anything to do with those guys, honestly.”
Scratch-scratch—.
Lee Jina scratched the back of her head.
She'd been working hard until just moments ago, so beads of sweat were breaking out across her forehead.
“But eh, you've done a lot for me. There's the whole thing with Mom, too. Fine. I'll be the one to contact Flower.”
Shwk—.
Lee Jina tapped at her phone and made the call.
“Yeah, it's me,” she began, and the conversation went on for about five minutes.
Click—.
She hung up and came back over.
“Apparently some place hauled a whole bunch of animals over from the States recently. Sounds like a gang illegally buying and selling them. Wouldn't be surprised if there was an owl among them.”
Animals brought in from America, in bulk?
Was this some outfit trading in protected species for money?
Could it be connected to the Witch—?
I was still mulling it over when Lee Jina added one more thing.
“A friend of mine moved some cargo into their office recently, and he says he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a giant owl there—an owl the size of a person. I'd bet the owl you're looking for is that one.”
“Oh!”
People really do need to know a lot of others.
I counted myself lucky to know Lee Jina.
“Jina, thanks for the help!”
“Eh. People help each other out, that's all.”
Shwk—.
Perhaps because she wasn't used to receiving thanks, Lee Jina turned her head away with a slightly reddened face. Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she added casually:
“If you're that grateful, then how about coming with me to the, uh… Awakener Shop sometime. I'm due to prep for my B-rank promotion soon, and I was thinking this might be a good chance to get myself fitted for a new weapon….”
The Awakener Shop!
One of my absolute favorite places.
Weapons, drones, suits, cameras—the mega-mall in Myeongdong that sold every tool an Awakener could dream of!
“Sounds good. Wait—you've been prepping for B-rank? Must've been busy scraping together the Rune Engraving fee, huh?”
“I mean… yeah.”
Shwk-shwk—.
Lee Jina rubbed the bridge of her nose.
Having promised to hit the Awakener Shop together, I set off again.
The building where the giant owl had reportedly been seen.
It was an abandoned pharmaceutical plant.
Its entrance sign read Ohsa, so it had to be one of Ohsa Pharmaceutical's factories.
Word was that with Lee Jeonghun's fall from grace, Ohsa Pharma had undergone restructuring of every kind—maybe this was a plant abandoned back then?
“Is it really a coincidence that the Witches are tied to the Ohsa Group…?”
Cha Yura narrowed her eyes.
As the President's daughter and an S-Rank Awakener, she seemed to be sensing something—a hunch.
“Kwang-kwang. You're up.”
━Hio-ong…!
I strapped the camera to Kwangkwangi's back and sent the spider into the factory.
Inside, the plant was piled high with containers of unknown origin.
And animal fur lay heaped everywhere as well.
“Just like Jina heard.”
The factory never saw even a ray of sunlight.
After wandering the floor for a while, Kwangkwangi at last came upon a great scattering of feathers.
They were enormous—and they matched, feather for feather, the owl feather Oinoi and Illinoi had discovered long ago.
Having seen the camera footage, Oinoi spoke.
“Those are without doubt owl feathers, it is so…! This Oinoi can distinguish between the feathers of owls and those of night owls, it is so…! There is no question that the naughty nymph is hiding somewhere within this factory, it is so…!”