145. Vacation (4)
145. Vacation (4)
"H-Hey, th-that's, that's Jin Yu-ha!!!"
"I-I saw the, the video of him... tearing that Demonized Human apart..."
"Holy shit, we're all fucked, aren't we!? Hey, Kim Hye-ji!! What the hell are we gonna do!! You said the Utopia Party wasn't coming!!!"
A strikingly handsome man walked out from behind the hastily arrived Lee Yu-ri.
The moment he appeared, Kim Hye-ji's crew's eyes flew open as if they might tear.
But no one was more horrified right now than Kim Hye-ji, whose wrist was caught in Lee Yu-ri's grip.
Goosebumps raced down her spine.
'Why, how the hell is the leader of Utopia coming out here...!! That bitch, with her personality, would never ask anyone else for help!!?'
And he wasn't even alone.
A woman with spring-green hair and a large chest,
and another woman with a model-esque tall, slender figure and flowing golden hair.
"Haaah— haah—, h-hoobae, you're too fast...!"
"Haaah.... You're seriously way too fast."
But.
"Hey. Where do you think you're looking?"
Lee Yu-ri's icy voice snapped her gaze back.
"I'm asking you. Did you try to hit my little brother?"
"Th-that's not it, I was just, just trying to pat his head...."
Kim Hye-ji answered, cold sweat dripping down her face.
Lee Yu-ri let out a hollow laugh, as if she couldn't believe the audacity.
"That your last words?"
At that moment, Jin Yu-ha, who had been standing behind her, strode forward.
"Hey, Jin Yu-ha."
"Yeah?"
"Stay out of this. I'll handle these bitches."
Jin Yu-ha let out a snicker, as if to say what kind of nonsense was that.
"Why would I step in?"
He turned his gaze to the small girl and boy standing behind Lee Yu-ri.
"Yu-na, it's been a while, hasn't it?"
Lee Yu-na, who had been standing there with a dazed expression, opened her eyes wide as lanterns and answered in a delighted voice.
"Yu-ha oppa!"
"Come over here. Bring your little brother too."
"Okay!"
Jin Yu-ha took Lee Yu-ri's little siblings and stepped back.
"Gukbap, I'll be watching from back here. Make it good."
"......."
And so, Lee Yu-ri's reeducation session began.
* * *
Whoosh—
Crash!
"Guh!"
"Aack!"
"Urgh!"
Lee Yu-ri, still holding the caught wrist, hurled Kim Hye-ji bodily into the rest of the group.
Kim Hye-ji's body collided with them, scattering their formation.
"Wow, I didn't know you'd all be here. What is this, high school reunion day? Long time no see?"
Only then did Lee Yu-ri realize who had gathered there, and she spoke as she cracked her knuckles.
The other bastards in front of her were the trash who had always harassed her during her school days.
Lee Yu-ri had wanted to get through school as quietly as possible, so she had simply endured their bullying.
Dumping dirty mop water on her in the bathroom, soaking her textbooks in milk, scribbling "beggar bitch" on her desk, ostracizing her, spitting in her food tray. Hitting her on the head whenever they were bored.
It was bullying straight out of a picture book.
Of course, the moment they started running their mouths about her siblings and family, she hadn't held back anymore, so the tables had turned immediately.
But that didn't mean the memories from that time had vanished.
"...I told you clearly. Back at graduation, didn't I say I hoped we'd never have to see each other's faces again?"
As if the trash talk they'd been spewing about Lee Yu-ri moments ago was a lie, they trembled like rabbits before a tiger.
"Y-Yu-ri, th-that's..."
"W-We're sorry!"
"W-We were just...!"
"Ughhh...."
Then Lee Yu-ri looked at Kim Hye-ji, who was picking herself up off the ground at the front, and a look of realization crossed her face.
"Oh, I get it. So Kim Hye-ji was in cahoots with you bastards all along?"
"N-No! I-If anything, Kim Hye-ji was the one behind it all—!"
"Th-that's right, Yu-ri! This thing now, and back in high school too, it was all, everything was because Kim Hye-ji made us do it!"
Lee Yu-ri felt a fresh wave of hollow disbelief.
'The fuck. No wonder. Every time something happened to me, that bitch always managed to slip away unscathed.... So that's how it was?'
She and Kim Hye-ji had been friends for a long time, in their own way.
Her personality was selfish, and their conversation rhythms never really meshed,
but even so, Kim Hye-ji had been there even when she was being bullied, and they'd spent so much time together that they even operated in the same party after graduating high school.
Lee Yu-ri had considered her a friend, in her own way.
That was why, even when she ran off with a huge sum of a million won despite her nonexistent finances, she hadn't taken any real measures against her.
In return, for her not having turned her back on her back then.
'But that bitch Hye-ji was actually the one who instigated it all?'
Honestly, the fury she'd felt when she heard Kim Hye-ji's name from the neighborhood kid—it was probably because, in some corner of her heart, she'd still trusted her.
She'd thought she'd cut ties back when Hye-ji unilaterally shattered that trust during that dangerous gate subjugation and ran off with the money, but apparently not.
And that same bitch had gone on to rob her house, and kidnap her siblings too.
The sense of betrayal churned and surged up inside her.
'Wow, this backstab feels so clean I can't even curse.'
If anything, she was honestly grateful that it had neatly severed any lingering attachment she might've had.
Lee Yu-ri took a heavy step toward them.
* * *
Smack—
Smack—
Smack—
"Gah!"
"Aghk!"
"S-Spare me!"
"We're sorry!!!"
Lee Yu-ri beat them mercilessly.
"......Th-that's brutal."
"H-Hoobae was a scary person...."
"P-Please move your hands! Oppa!"
"Hyung, your hand!"
Jin Yu-ha covered Lee Yu-na and her little brother's eyes.
It was satisfying to watch, but it wasn't exactly an ideal scene for their emotional education.
Lee Yu-ri overwhelmed her opponents without even picking up her shield.
With nothing but her fists.
Of course, as a top-tier Tank, Lee Yu-ri had gone all-in on defense, and her talent as a Damage Dealer was low.
So at first, the bastards had taken up fighting stances, probably thinking they could take her on if it was four against one.
But Lee Yu-ri evaded every single one of their attacks, and only her violence hammered in, ruthless and brutal.
And if any of them even looked like they might try to run, she immediately deployed her Mana.
"F-Fucking shit.... I said we're sorry!!!"
By now, Lee Yu-ri's skill had risen to the point where she didn't even need to strike her shield to land a Taunt on pathetic scum like them instead of monsters—she could do it with Mana alone.
No matter how low Lee Yu-ri's attack power was, and even if they were hunters who'd built up experience in their own right,
what do you think happens when you get beaten without a moment's rest for hours on end?
Huff—
Huff—
"Haaah...."
"Bleargh—!"
"W-We're sor...."
"S-Sowwy.... S-Save us...."
Their entire bodies were bruised black and blue, and they were a miserable sight with several teeth knocked out each.
And the one who'd gotten it the worst of all was the short-haired woman named Kim Hye-ji.
A wretched sight, collapsed on the ground.
Her body was trembling violently.
But as if she still couldn't accept it, she lifted her head and forced strength into her eyes.
"......Y-You think you'll, g-get away with this!!??"
Kim Hye-ji shrieked, blood streaming from her mouth.
"What?"
An eyebrow twitched on Lee Yu-ri's expressionless face.
"I said, do you think you'll get away with this!!!!"
"What kind of bullshit is that?"
"You, all of you! You're Velvet Academy cadets responsible for citizens' safety!!!!"
When Lee Yu-ri paused her beating for a moment,
Kim Hye-ji, as if seizing the momentum, screamed at the top of her lungs with veins bulging in her neck.
"But, a cadet from that academy!! Beat up civilians one-sidedly like this! What are you gonna do when this spreads all over the internet and the news!!!!!"
Watching from behind, I let out a hollow laugh at the sheer absurdity.
'Wow, this person says the funniest shit. Anyone would think she's not a hunter herself.'
In the first place, if you mess with a hunter's family, that means you want to die.
Ding—
A message came in on my phone just at that moment, and I let out a chuckle.
"I'm gonna, I'm gonna, spread what happened today... all over the news, all over the internet. And then, then.... I'm gonna expose Utopia for what you really are to the whole world!!!"
Step.
Step.
"Go ahead. Try it."
I stepped forward and spoke to her.
"What?"
Kim Hye-ji looked surprised—she apparently hadn't expected me to step in.
"Do everything you can. Everything you want to do."
"......Jin Yu-ha."
Lee Yu-ri grabbed my wrist, looking slightly flustered.
I turned back to her like she was being ridiculous.
"What, are you seriously worried that she might actually do it?"
"......."
Lee Yu-ri shut her mouth.
"Jeez, it's a bluff, and not even a good one."
I turned my head back toward Kim Hye-ji.
And crouched down in front of her.
"Report it wherever you want, post it online, tip off the news, spread rumors. Go ahead, please, do everything you can. But I wonder if you'll be able to."
Thunk—
I stabbed Moonlight into the ground right before her eyes.
"Eek!?"
"Not a single person is going to believe a word you say."
Kim Hye-ji's eyes, looking up at me, quivered like aspen leaves.
"Why? Because I'll make sure of it. Because I have the power to do that. And if my power isn't enough, then even if I have to borrow Cheonhwa's power, the Fighting Dog's power, or the Chairwoman's power, I'll still make it happen."
"......Wh-why, why, would you go that far, f-for a bitch like her!!"
Blood that flew from Kim Hye-ji's mouth as she screamed splattered onto my cheek.
Wipe—
I wiped my face with my arm.
"I just got the intel on you. Your crimes to date. Fraud, assault, extortion, and so on and so forth. A total of 3,154 counts. How the hell have you not been caught yet? Just that lucky?"
"......!"
"And on top of that, you messed with the house of Lee Yu-ri, a current student at Velvet Academy and the sole Tank of Utopia. Kidnapping her family members, no less. Add threatening her family and assault to the list while you're at it."
"Wh-what are you...!"
Sure, the family kidnapping and assault weren't actually true.
But I could easily weave her into those charges and send her away.
"And let me ask you one thing. Back when you were in school, did you bully our Gukbap?"