098. Perfect Timing (1)
098. Perfect Timing (1)
Ryu Jin-ju's eyes flew open at the sight of the black-clad figure who had suddenly appeared before her wearing a puppy mask. Then her face twisted and she ground her teeth.
"You said you had no personal grudge...?"
"Right. So far, anyway."
"...What the hell are you?"
"Huh?"
"...What did you do with my staff?"
"Hmm, they're probably all taking a nice nap right about now?"
"Put them to sleep... I see. So that's how it is..."
Ha... Hahahahaha!!!!!
Ryu Jin-ju let out a booming laugh.
But the meaning behind it was closer to hollow resignation.
So the operation was already underway. I was already too late.
The whistleblower who had risked danger to inform her of the truth about the Hunter Management Bureau.
They had noticed that the situation was taking a strange turn and had desperately delivered the information to her.
But all of it had already been within the enemy's grasp.
The whistleblower was already under surveillance. So they must have tracked the package they sent and come here...
The basis for that conjecture was solid.
Otherwise, some shady bastard couldn't have shown up the moment she received the information as if he'd been waiting.
"So, who are you?"
"Huh?"
The puppy mask with its tongue sticking out tilted its head to the side.
"Who's behind you? Is it Kim Ji-won?"
"Kim Ji-won? Ah, the Director of the Hunter Management Bureau. Her! Hmm, I don't really know her. I just know the name."
Ha.
At that shamelessly casual voice, Ryu Jin-ju let out a scoff.
Playing innocent, are you...? Your intentions are painfully obvious.
The situation was the worst possible.
Her subordinates had all been taken out, and the fact that this guy had appeared here meant that all of this had already reached Kim Ji-won's ears.
But if she could capture this guy, there might still be a chance.
He took out all my subordinates with sneak attacks, then revealed himself in front of me. Don't tell me he wanted to see my reaction?
She didn't know where this assassin had been raised, but he was making a mistake right now.
Still, he's just a man. And judging by his voice, he sounds pretty young.
Yes, there was no reason she should lose.
"Enough chatter. Let's get this over with. I'm not exactly swimming in free time either."
Glance.
Jin Yu-ha spoke after seeing Fox Mask, who had moved behind Ryu Jin-ju, gathering up and stuffing papers into her arms.
*
While Jin Yu-ha revealed himself and kept Ryu Jin-ju occupied in conversation,
Number 5 of the Demonized Human Extermination Squad, the woman wearing the Fox Mask, had erased her presence, circled behind, and succeeded in securing the papers Ryu Jin-ju had been looking at.
She immediately moved to an empty space in the ceiling and handed the stack of papers to Baek Seol-hee.
"Commander, these are the things Ryu Jin-ju was looking at until just now."
Baek Seol-hee accepted the papers.
Currently, a bulldog mask with round-cut eye holes covered her face.
"Hmm..."
Flutter—
Flutter—
Baek Seol-hee began examining the ledgers Ryu Jin-ju had been viewing, turning them over one by one.
"Commander, but can the kid actually handle her?"
Fox Mask glanced down below and spoke with a voice tinged with worry.
"He's not our youngest member."
Baek Seol-hee, her gaze still fixed on the documents, cut her off as if uninterested.
"No, someone like Ryu Jin-ju isn't someone you can just brush off. Even at a new recruit level, she seems tough to handle... Maybe we should help out a little, even now..."
Slowly.
Baek Seol-hee raised her head and looked at Fox Mask.
"My student can't handle a punk like that?"
Inside the bulldog mask, Baek Seol-hee's eyes sank coldly, as if offended.
At that, Fox Mask flustered and waved her hands in denial.
"Ah, no. No, that's not what I... It's just, don't we have a time limit? I mean, it's good to check the kid's skills, but we can do that later, and if this drags on too long it'll be hard to move to the next phase..."
"Time won't be a problem. The Hunter Management Bureau won't have the bandwidth to pay attention to this place. The timing was perfect."
Baek Seol-hee gave a faint chuckle as she flipped through the fabricated corruption ledgers.
"...Timing? What do you mean by that?"
"You'll see. And who said my student would take long against that one?"
"Well, the kid is still a first-year..."
"He's not our youngest member."
Tap. Tap.
Having instantly finished confirming all the information, Baek Seol-hee straightened the stack of papers and glanced down below.
"My student."
*
Shiiing—
Ryu Jin-ju gripped the handle of the massive greatsword that had been leaning beside her and aimed it at Jin Yu-ha.
A monstrously large greatsword as tall as a person.
The large-framed woman holding it, and a man facing her holding only a single thin sword.
At this bizarre standoff, silence fell over the interior of the office, and a suffocating tension settled in.
The first to break the silence was Ryu Jin-ju.
Whoosh—!
Crrrunch!
Her sword smashed through the ceiling and came straight down from above.
Had this been an ordinary spar, Ryu Jin-ju would have ceded the first strike.
After all, she was the head of the Hunter Management Bureau's Gate Field Management Department.
Her reputation and pride were too high to go all-out against a frail man.
But right now, every second counted, and there was no need to extend such courtesy to an incredibly suspicious bastard who covered his face.
The long blade, a monstrously huge greatsword, wrecked the ceiling.
Despite its size, the extended tip of the sword came crashing down toward Jin Yu-ha's face in the blink of an eye.
Just as that overwhelming mass seemed about to bear down with its weight and crush Jin Yu-ha's skull whole—
Jin Yu-ha's Moonlight moved.
Clang—!!
Jin Yu-ha swung his blue sword, deflecting the heavy blow of the massive blade to the side.
But the sword he held was so thin that it looked like it would have no impact at all.
And just as that concern predicted, Jin Yu-ha's sword barely managed to nudge the greatsword's trajectory, and then nothing more.
Ryu Jin-ju's sword kept closing in on Jin Yu-ha without losing speed.
The unexpected turn came then.
Clang!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!!!
The sounds of short, chopping strikes rang out in rapid succession at brief intervals,
and simultaneously, the incoming sword strike twisted diagonally.
BOOOOM—!!!
An explosion that shook the ground.
Ryu Jin-ju's sword gouged deep into the floor, carving out a long crevice.
But aside from a few strands of Jin Yu-ha's hair being cut, not a single scratch was left on his body.
"...!"
It was only their first exchange.
But at that first clash, those watching from hiding couldn't help but widen their eyes.
"...Whoa, what the hell was that!"
"Damn, the new recruits... Is the kid going to reshuffle the ranks the moment he joins?"
"Clearly, Ryu Jin-ju is stronger in raw power... But he's deflecting it with speed and number of strikes..."
"So the Commander really meant it when she kept saying we were worse than academy first-years."
"...We need to drill the kids harder."
Whispers of admiration broke out all around.
These were all members of the Demonized Human Extermination Squad, elites who had undergone Baek Seol-hee's hell training.
That was why they possessed the discernment to evaluate just how clean the sword path Jin Yu-ha had just shown was, and just how high-level the method of neutralizing it was.
Among them, the woman wearing the Squirrel Mask spoke up in a hesitant, timid voice.
"...But still, wouldn't it be hard for him to win...?"
At that, the other animal masks also nodded in agreement and answered with skeptical voices.
"Winning is hard. Though not impossible."
"Hmm, if he really exploits an opening, well, I guess he could win by luck..."
"Still, it'll probably take quite a while..."
"Hmph, watch."
Baek Seol-hee dismissed their concerns with a calm voice,
and the Demonized Human Extermination Squad members settled in to watch the fight again.
When her first attack came to nothing, Ryu Jin-ju bit her lips and swung her sword once again.
Whoosh—!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
This time too, five strikes met her single swing and deflected it.
At that sight, Ryu Jin-ju marveled inwardly.
He has skill... His sword is chillingly precise, his stance fluid, his sword path clean, and his strikes fast.
It was almost the highest praise she could give an opponent.
But that was all.
The difference was still self-evident.
Because every time she swung once, he had to swing five times.
Is he planning to keep... matching me like this?
Ryu Jin-ju's lips stretched wide into a grin.
I've won.
The match hadn't been decided yet, but she was certain.
With a man's body, he couldn't keep this up forever.
In the end, it was she who was superior in both stamina and strength.
In other words, the difference in efficiency was obvious.
Wanting to finish this quickly, Ryu Jin-ju drew up even more Mana and loaded it into the tip of her sword.
Whoosh—!!
CRUNCH—!!!
Her horizontal swing smashed through the office furniture and tore toward her opponent.
Again, her opponent responded by layering his sword strikes.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!!
In that instant, Ryu Jin-ju's brow furrowed.
Because something felt off compared with before.
And she soon realized the source of that dissonance.
It was the number of parrying strikes.
One fewer...?
The metallic sound that had been layered five times until now had dropped to four.
Ryu Jin-ju dismissed it as coincidence and amplified her Mana further, loading it into the tip of her sword.
"Haaah!!"
With her battle cry, a roaring mass of Mana gathered at the sword's edge and shot toward her opponent.
A ferociously swung strike, as if to split her opponent's body in half.
But.
Whoosh—
Clang—! Clang! Clang!
Three metallic sounds rang out.
"...What in the..."
Whoosh—!
Clang! Clang!
Two metallic sounds rang out.
"How can..."
Whoosh—!
Clang!!!!
Now only a single metallic sound rang out.
The enormous greatsword came to a complete stop before the thin sword.
Silence descended.
"..."
At last, all composure vanished completely from Ryu Jin-ju's face.
As if beholding something incomprehensible.
Her eyes, tinged with fear, turned toward her opponent.
"...How is this possible?"