254. Shin Do-hwa (3)
254. Shin Do-hwa (3)
AEEEEEEEEEEENG─
An untimely disaster alarm wailed across Guangdong Province.
"This way!"
"Intruders' location pinpointed!"
"......But why sound a disaster alarm? Are these intruders that dangerous?"
The hunters assigned to Guangdong Province had been ordered to locate the intruders.
They moved toward the designated location but couldn't help being bewildered.
Because right before their eyes, an utterly black cloud had massed thickly.
A black cloud surged forward, blanketing both sky and earth.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Dull metallic clangs rang out from within, and the black cloud slowly drew nearer.
And at last, the identity of that black cloud began to emerge into the hunters' view.
Insects.
Countless living, crawling swarms of insects.
From flying insects like flies, mosquitoes, and moths to ground insects like cockroaches, ants, and camel crickets, just the ones roughly visible looked to number in the thousands.
"KYAAAAAAAH!!!"
"Wh-what the hell are those swarms of insects!?"
"So creepy, disgusting!!"
"Insects......? Normally no insects get in here?"
Staring at those revolting insect swarms, the hunters could only voice their panic.
In recent years, Guangdong Province had undergone transformations so massive that you could say the landscape itself had flipped.
Under the absolute authority of the Landlord Ryu Jin's radical push, it had long since been converted into a cutting-edge magi-engineering city equipped with a brutal drone surveillance system.
The atmosphere was constantly kept pleasant, and not even monsters could encroach into this place.
Furthermore, a Repellent Barrier enveloped the entire city, keeping insects out too.
Because of this, the hunters employed by Guangdong Province had no preparations whatsoever for dealing with insects.
"Pfft ptoo! In, in my mouth!!"
"Ack! G-get off! Get off! I think one got inside my clothes!!"
"Dammit, what is this!! Where'd all these insects come from all of a sudden!!"
"KYAAAAAAAH!!!!"
Given the situation, chaos was naturally a foregone conclusion.
Even though these hunters had received Guangdong Province's full backing and possessed power far greater than ordinary hunters,
they were helpless against insects smaller than a finger.
Tatatatatatatata─
While the hunters were panicking under the insect assault, flailing and shaking them off—
a group of people slipped right past them.
But none of them noticed.
* * *
KWAANG─!!!
Shin Do-hwa's Underground Laboratory.
"Shin Do-hwa!!!"
A woman kicked the door open violently and strode in.
"What in the world is going on?! Posts trashing Guangdong Province keep flooding the internet! The central government has started scrutinizing us!"
A woman with thick-lidded eyes and a down-turned mouth.
Shasha Pong's mother, Ryu Jin.
"On top of that, insect swarms suddenly started pouring in! Is all this your doing!?"
She shouted, spittle flying, but—
Shin Do-hwa's expression as she looked at Ryu Jin was icy cold.
Without a word, Shin Do-hwa pointed a finger at her.
Fwooruk─
Piyung─!!!
A thin red line streaked across Ryu Jin's cheek.
Drip.
At the sudden attack, blood trickled down her cheek. Ryu Jin's face flushed with fury as she screamed.
"Shin Do-hwa, what do you think you're—!"
"There was an insect."
Ryu Jin followed her gaze.
On the floor, a cockroach lay belly-up, wriggling grotesquely.
"......."
Ryu Jin bit her lip hard.
"It's not my doing."
"How do you expect me to believe—"
"Shut up. You're loud. By the way...... did you forget who gave you that power...... I warned you not to set foot carelessly into my domain, and you bring insects along with you?"
Shin Do-hwa spoke in a chillingly frozen voice.
Gulp.
At that, Ryu Jin could only shut her mouth like a mute who'd swallowed honey.
'I shouldn't have taken this crazy bitch in!'
She was the investor who had provided the money, the time, and even the location.
In other words, she was the superior, and this bitch was the subordinate.
But this crazy bitch had been acting like the one in charge for some time now.
Still, Ryu Jin couldn't raise her voice at Shin Do-hwa regardless.
Because this woman was a genuinely dangerous bitch.
A venomous snake who'd devour even herself if things went wrong.
Shin Do-hwa stared blankly at the cockroach burning to death beneath Ryu Jin's feet, then opened her mouth.
"Posts trashing Guangdong Province went up on the internet?"
"......Yes."
"Then that must be part of the intruders' plan, too."
"......The intruders? Haven't you caught them yet?"
Gazing at the dizzying holographic screens floating in the air, Shin Do-hwa snapped her head away as if disgusted.
The drone's feed was showing nothing but the revolting, bristle-covered legs of insects.
"Yeah. Drones are no good. Those insects are in the way."
"Th-then what do we do?"
"I'll have to catch them myself."
"......Who?"
"You."
Again, Shin Do-hwa pointed a finger at Ryu Jin.
"......Me?"
"Yeah, I gave you power, didn't I? Earn your keep."
Shin Do-hwa was once more speaking down to her like a subordinate.
Ryu Jin didn't want to show a cowed front in front of her.
"I-I—!"
"I know it's beyond a moron like you. So I'll lend you my Guard."
"What?"
Snap!
When she snapped her fingers.
Sseuk─
Ten women draped in black cloaks appeared behind Ryu Jin.
'When on earth?!'
No presence at all; she hadn't sensed them until the moment they appeared.
A cold sweat beaded on Ryu Jin's forehead.
"The Shin Family Guard. These ones should be able to flush out those rats. Find them and kill them without fail. It's been a very long time since I've been this angry."
Shin Do-hwa's red-tinted eyes surged with fury.
* * *
"Arghhhh─! Ptui! Appft ptoo ptoo ptoo tooey─!!!!"
Lee Yu-ri was gargling and spitting and rinsing her mouth over and over.
Since she was the one who'd drawn the insects and sprinted at the very front, a few must have touched the corners of her mouth.
"Ugh...... I think one barely got inside my mouth earlier......."
Aeeeng─
Overhead, the insects Lee Yu-ri had drawn swarmed thickly in the sky.
Luring the insects had been easy.
Because there'd been a glut of insects drawn by the stench wafting from the decaying chimeras' bodies.
Dispose of those failed experiments,
then just draw all the insects
and head toward Guangdong Province. A simple job.
"......Hm. Feels like we've ended up on the villain's side with this."
"For real...... Feels like we've become the villains who unleashed a disaster in some apocalypse movie......."
Kang Do-hee and Sofia spoke while staring up at the sky with looks of disgust.
Even with all those insects,
none of them came near our Utopia Party.
Because we'd sprayed down our whole bodies with high-performance hunter-grade insect-repellent spray.
Swaswash─
That didn't mean they were invisible, though.
I could still spot an occasional cockroach trying to creep closer before veering off and hiding inside a building.
"......To clean all this up, we'd basically have to set the whole city on fire, wouldn't we?"
"Well, I mean...... They're just going back to how they originally were. It's only thanks to Shin Do-hwa that there were no insects lately. Guangdong Province used to be a region full of insects."
I had no idea if that was true, but I said it shamelessly.
"Really?"
"And besides, this is how we can handle things most quietly. I said before we left, didn't I? That we'd keep things as quiet as possible in China."
"......This seems pretty damn far from quiet, though."
Lee Yu-ri looked flabbergasted as she called me out on that.
"Nah. This is the quiet way. Fighting China's hunters here would be the truly loud way. Damage from insects can be dealt with, but if fighting caused casualties on the Chinese hunter side, it'd blow up into a big deal."
"That's right. We should avoid fighting China's hunters as much as possible. They're merely hired hands. It could become grounds for an international dispute. Driving away insects just takes some time. In this day and age, that's nothing."
Shin Se-hee nodded in agreement with what I said.
"And we've already instructed the Indian Rain Dance to spin public opinion so it looks like Ryu Jin caused all these insects."
Oh. I hadn't thought that far ahead.
Anyway.
"Well...... We cleared out the hunters in front of us with the insects, but the real ones should show up now."
"......The real ones?"
"Yeah, there they are."
I said, jerking my chin toward the other side of the alley.
Thud.
Thud.
A woman with a mean, slovenly face strode forward in large steps,
and behind her, ten cloaked silhouettes emerged.
The Landlord of Guangdong, Ryu Jin, and the Shin Family Guard.
"......M-Mom?"
Shasha Pong, who had looked that way, spoke with a face jolted in fright.
"The Shin Family Guard......?"
Shin Se-hee spat out with a tense expression.
Ryu Jin glanced sidelong at Shasha Pong, then let out a scornful laugh.
"Ha. Shasha Pong."
Then she called her in a voice utterly devoid of warmth.
"......Was this. All your doing?"
"......."
Shasha Pong's body began to tremble as if in convulsions.
Facing her mother in person, fear had apparently surged up.
"Huh, like father, like pathetic daughter. I let you enjoy everything, and this is how you repay that kindness...!?"
Between Ryu Jin's thick eyelids, a cruel glint emerged.
"I never expected I'd have to discipline you at home like this...... But so be it."
Schlirrng─
A long katana was drawn from her waist.
"Deal with them all. Leave Shasha Pong alive and drag her before me."
Taat─!
With that, the Shin Family Guard behind her kicked off the ground straight for us.