143. Vacation (2)
143. Vacation (2)
Surprisingly, incidents targeting hunters' families were almost nonexistent.
Sure, some people tried to borrow money because they were the family of a famous hunter, or hung around hoping to leech off them.
But look at society today.
In this modern information age, power is more respected than law, and a hunter—the pinnacle of that power—can track someone down in no time if they seriously start looking.
It was safe to say no one would kidnap a hunter's family or take them hostage, unless they had a death wish.
And that was why Lee Yu-ri's words were so shocking.
The Utopia Party members who gathered at Jin Yu-ha's house when he called them honestly...
'Jin Yu-ha, h-how in the world did you come by this house?!'
'Yellow Dog, you had a place like this and you never—all this time...'
'Were you secretly some insanely rich guy who ran the Velvet Academy behind the scenes, hoobae? That explains the highest-grade Magic Stones...'
'Wah—. Someone of your stature really does live in a house like this... Ah! T-thank you!'
And so on.
They had so, so, so much to say about the staggering hidden wealth Jin Yu-ha had been sitting on!
They were getting another halo-effect vibe from Jin Yu-ha's looks, though by now they were more or less used to that!
They were still staring dumbfounded at a teapot floating around midair—the pinnacle of magic engineering—as it poured hot tea in front of them!
All true! But!
"M-my little siblings won't answer their phones... M-My parents won't either... And the apartment's been torn apart..."
They weren't clueless enough to indulge their curiosity in front of Lee Yu-ri, who was trembling and barely getting the situation out.
The party members did their best to ignore their surroundings and focus on Lee Yu-ri's words.
And Jin Yu-ha was just as flabbergasted as the rest.
He'd only called the party members to get advice on how to handle the ridiculously over-the-top gift Rina had suddenly dropped on him...
'Gukbap's family got kidnapped?'
Of course, in the Lee Yu-ri personal story I remembered, there was a part where loan sharks who'd lent money to the family got in touch.
— Uh, is this Lee Yu-ri? This is SWC Bank. The reason I'm calling...
But even those guys didn't have the nerve to throw their weight around with a Velvet Academy cadet who'd built up a certain reputation.
They couldn't even imagine holding family members hostage or making threats.
On the contrary, they approached as cautiously as possible, sticking to the strictest legal grounds to avoid pissing Lee Yu-ri off.
If I had to narrow down who'd actually pull something like this...
"Demonized Humans."
The party members sucked in a sharp breath at the word.
"D-Demonized Humans?"
"Demonized Humans, you say?"
"...!"
Lee Yu-ri bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
The vicious image of the Demonized Humans they'd faced during the Midterm Evaluation was still fresh.
I immediately stopped Lee Yu-ri before she could jump up from her seat.
"Hold on, Gukbap. Sit down. Demonized Humans are unlikely. They're the type who'd pull that, sure, but the timing's bad right now."
"Jin Yu-ha is right. This is exactly when they'd want to keep their heads down."
When even Shin Se-hee backed me up, Lee Yu-ri sat back down.
"What do you mean by that?"
Lee Yu-ri's voice had gone cold and flat.
If any Demonized Humans appeared in front of her right now, she looked ready to beat them to death as many times as it took.
"Explain it clearly."
Gulp.
At her murderous intensity, Shin Se-hee—who'd always been weak to Lee Yu-ri—broke out in a cold sweat.
"T-the Demonized Humans have gotten on Chairwoman Rina's bad side at the moment."
"Yeah. They royally screwed Rina over with the Midterm Evaluation. Even if the media and public are sucking up to her and spinning it as 'the Demonized Human subjugation was all part of Rina's test,' the fact that they screwed her over doesn't just disappear."
Shin Se-hee nodded.
"Right. The Magic Emperor is already combing through them with a fine-toothed comb. The odds they'd pull something that flashy right now are low."
"But if it really is Demonized Humans—!"
"Don't worry. It's not like we're out of options if it is."
Lee Yu-ri bristled and started to say something, but I cut her off.
"We've got an expert in that area."
"...An expert?"
"Yeah, someone who's an expert at tracking those bastards down. There's nobody in this country better at hunting down and killing Demonized Humans."
Tap-tap-tap—
Ding—♬
I shot her a text then and there.
The reply came back immediately.
"She got back to me. She'll look into it right away. She's even putting together a tracking squad."
"...!"
The party members' eyes went round.
The man's connections sent a shiver down their spines!
An expert in tracking those dangerous Demonized Human bastards—how had Jin Yu-ha built a pipeline like that?
'Ah, right. These guys don't know Instructor Baek Seol-hee is the head of the Extermination Squad, do they?'
Coming straight here really had been the right call.
Jin Yu-ha was helping like it was his own family's problem.
For Lee Yu-ri, the gratitude she felt was on a whole different plane.
"Th-Thank you... Jin Yu-ha..."
"The situation's not resolved yet. Save the thanks for later."
Jin Yu-ha looked around at the party members with a serious face.
"Everyone, I need you to take this seriously."
"Yes, understood."
"Got it."
Even the members who hadn't spoken gave heavy nods.
"We'll split the party to be efficient."
In a situation like this, everyone moving together would be inefficient.
It was better to at least assign individual roles.
"First, Shin Se-hee. Look up the identities of Lee Yu-ri's family and gather intel."
"Yes, I'm on it."
"Kang Do-hee, find hunters who specialize in tracking, and request cooperation from the police side as well."
"Understood."
Both Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee had their own reputations and networks, so putting them to work canvassing the area was a good move.
"...And Sofia and Ga-eul sunbae, you two are with me."
"Yes, yes! Got it!"
"Right, got it. Hoobae."
"Then, contact me immediately if you find anything."
I gave Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee a nod each, then headed straight for the scene.
* * *
Shin Se-hee lent us a car along with Secretary Kim.
Jin Yu-ha, Lee Yu-ri, Sofia, and Im Ga-eul departed for Lee Yu-ri's apartment to check the scene.
Lee Yu-ri's heart pounded violently from anxiety and tension.
'Please... nothing could have happened to my siblings or my parents, right...?'
They're definitely fine.
They will be fine.
Nothing happened to them.
She kept repeating it to herself, but she couldn't help her imagination spiraling in the worst direction.
That was how it was—her anxiety getting the better of her, making her fidget with her hands clasped tight.
"It'll be okay."
Slide.
Jin Yu-ha, sitting right next to her, covered her hands with his.
Lee Yu-ri turned her head.
"Don't worry. Everyone's going to be safe."
He said it like there wasn't a shred of doubt.
Even though there wasn't any real certainty behind it, those words had a strange power that made you want to just believe them blindly.
"Okay..."
Lee Yu-ri slowly nodded.
*
And so we arrived at Lee Yu-ri's apartment.
"Ga-eul sunbae, I need you to canvass the area."
"Yeah, got it! Hoobae. Leave it to me."
Checking inside Gukbap's apartment was for me and Sofia.
At the chaos that greeted us, my expression hardened.
The small, worn-down room had clothes strewn everywhere in a mess.
Every piece of furniture and every cabinet was thrown open and smashed.
The signs of rummaging—they hadn't even tried to hide it.
I took my shoes off and stepped inside.
And immediately checked the floor.
"Definitely, somebody came and went."
Footprints left in the room—they clearly hadn't thought about taking their shoes off.
Using the tracking skills I'd learned from Baek Seol-hee, I recited the intruders' characteristics.
"Four people. All of them female. And it doesn't seem like it happened very long ago."
"...!"
"They were in a hurry, it looks like. The door was forced open."
The kidnapping theory, which had felt ambiguous before, gained a measure of reality.
"A premeditated crime, targeting the day Gukbap was coming back?"
"U-Um, I-I don't think that's the case."
"Sofia?"
I hadn't expected her to say that, and my eyes went round.
When I tilted my head as if to say tell me more—
"U-Um, if it were a kidnapping, I-I don't think they'd have needed to toss the place this badly."
"They wouldn't need to?"
"Well, a kidnapping is about taking people, right?"
"And?"
"W-Would they really need to search the whole apartment if they were taking people? Even if they took them while they were sleeping, they'd be focused on the people—they wouldn't have the spare attention to care about stuff like valuables."
"Ah."
Now that she pointed it out, it actually made a lot of sense. If they'd really meant to demand a ransom from Lee Yu-ri, there'd have been no need to search the entire apartment!
Would they have really turned over a shabby little place like this while committing a serious felony?
Only then was I able to ease up just a little.
"First off, it doesn't look like the family was immediately subjected to anything violent."
"...Really?"
"Yeah. If there'd been any struggle, there'd be traces of it, but there's nothing like that. There's smashed furniture, but it wasn't used to attack a person—it looks like the furniture itself was the target. Not that we can be sure, of course. For example, they could have threatened the family and taken them out, while the ones left behind searched the place."
Lee Yu-ri's expression was still a little firmer than before.
"Hm, anyway, I need to look around outside a bit. Sofia, go over the room more with Lee Yu-ri."
"Yes!!"
Leaving them inside the apartment, I stepped outside.
"Squinting Mastermind! Squinting Mastermind! Squinting Mastermind!!"
The moment I came out, I heard the voices of little kids.
Whirrrrr—!
"Wah! Y-You're really fast!!"
"Unni! Unni! Unni! Me toooooo!!!"
"Aaaah!! Do it again! Again!!"
Neighborhood kids were all clinging to Im Ga-eul.
And in the middle of them, Im Ga-eul had covered half her face with a solemn look.
"With Black Karma upon my back, I channel the power of the Black Flame Dragon—granting me feet that outrun all others..."
I stared at her for a second, then laughed in disbelief.
"...Sunbae, what are you doing?"
"The hatred of the world—eep!? Eek!?"
Im Ga-eul's face went bright red, as if I'd caught her in something embarrassing.
Ordinarily I could have just watched this goofy act and found it cute, but this wasn't the time.
"...In a situation where Gukbap's family might have been kidnapped. You're playing around right now?"
"H-Hoobae! I—I wasn't playing! I was canvassing!! F-For real!!"
Im Ga-eul flustered, insisting I had the wrong idea.
"Canvassing?"
I mean, it was kind of hard to believe.
I looked at her with eyes full of disbelief.
"...I asked the kids at first, but they were really wary, so I-I... I played with them a little to get them to open up, and I m-maybe got a bit carried away!"
Im Ga-eul whispered to me in a tiny voice.
"Hmm?"
"Looking at these kids, I think they come here and play every day... So I thought maybe they might be able to tell me if they'd seen anyone suspicious..."
'She was actually doing it properly?'
I looked at Im Ga-eul with fresh admiration.
"...Hoobae, your eyes look a little weird."
"So, did you find anything out?"
"Ah, yeah? Yeah! J-Just a sec!"
Im Ga-eul stroked the head of one little boy who was hanging onto her.
"Hey there, little one. Have you, perchance, sighted a band of evil-doers entering this dwelling?"
"A band of evil-doers?"
"I am a hero who defeats such villains—the 'Squinting Mastermind'!"
'Isn't she embarrassed to say that stuff about herself...?'
Still, the words were incredibly effective on the kid.
"...A hero of justice! The S-Squinting Mastermind!"
"Yeah, yeah. Did you see anyone you don't normally see around? Anyone unusual?"
"Someone I don't normally see and who's unusual?"
The little boy thought it over for a moment, then stared right at Jin Yu-ha, who was standing in front of him.
"Ah, no! This big brother is an ally of the Squinting Mastermind! I mean someone else!"
"Ah! Those four old ladies who came here this morning?"
My eyes flew wide open.
Four women.
It exactly matched the traces I'd seen inside Lee Yu-ri's apartment.
My pulse quickened a little, and I asked the kid directly.
"Were there any other distinguishing features? For example, an eyepatch, or a limp. Or if one of them was called a name..."
Im Ga-eul looked at me like I was being ridiculous, as if to say, how would a kid this little know details like that.
Clap!
"Ah! The other old ladies who came with her called her Hye-ji! Hye-ji!"
"...Oh, he does know something?"
"...Hye-ji...?"
A chilling voice suddenly came from behind.
When I turned my head, Lee Yu-ri was standing there, her face twisted into a ferocious scowl.
"That... fucking bitch...?"
At her violent reaction, I thought for a second about who Hye-ji was.
Then my eyes went round.
"Ah, no way...?"
A now-hazy memory.
My very first meeting with Lee Yu-ri.
The memory of the E-Rank dungeon, Camela Forest, which we'd taken on with her party.
Back then, Lee Yu-ri's party had originally had one other Damage Dealer.
And when she'd bolted, I'd lucked into filling the empty slot as a replacement.
'That Damage Dealer who ran off... wasn't her name Hye-ji?'