Chapter 84
Chapter 84
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: Side
Chapter Title: Violence is the Best Means of Communication
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was about three days ago.
Right after Seolgi reclaimed her position as Princess through the succession blood battle once more.
Even for Kim Yongchan's sake—the man who had given her the courage to fight—she had been racking her brain for a way to eliminate his bounty.
"Ugh... If I could, I'd just pay that 100 million dollars myself. But as a Princess, I still haven't had the chance to wield that kind of sum..."
It pissed her off. It made her skin crawl.
Those branch family bastards, of all things, slapping a bounty on her Yongchan without a second thought.
Part of her wanted to storm over there right now and tear the place apart.
But at her current level, that would just end with her getting wrecked instead—leading straight to her own downfall.
In the worst case, she could even lose her Princess title again for inciting internal strife.
"Ughhh...! Why won't Mom take my side, especially now of all times?!"
Another reason for Seolgi's frustration was her mother Lee Yul's recent change in attitude. She seemed somehow different lately.
Whenever she claimed to think of Yongchan like her own son, that is—lately, Mom felt more bound by rules than ever.
It was like she'd shifted from a warm-yet-cool person to someone straight out of the Ice Age.
"If only Sister Lee Gok were around, we could've teamed up and done something..."
Lee Gok had been kind to her two younger sisters in the succession fight, unbefitting a rival.
And, though it grated on her... they shared the same feelings for Yongchan.
As the saying goes, yesterday's enemy is today's ally. If one Princess wasn't enough, then two!
Excluding Sister Lee Miran, who felt too slimy and unreliable, if the two of them submitted a joint petition, even the branch family couldn't outright ignore it.
"But where the hell has Sister Lee Gok gone...?"
She knew Lee Gok had entered the secret dungeon portal beneath the Supreme Lee Clan's estate.
But after that, her whereabouts were as mysterious as a pirate's.
Now, in the clan library where she sat.
At the desk piled high with books on wanted criminals, even a barely-hanging-on Princess couldn't protect the one man she loved.
"Haa..."
Lost in such thoughts, Seolgi sighed once more, realizing her own powerlessness yet again.
Right then.
"...Seolgi?"
"W-Who?"
"It's me..."
"Auntie Heeja!"
The person who made Seolgi's heavy-lidded eyes snap wide open.
She had run into the Princess by chance in the library. Lee Heeja was Lee Yul—the current Clan Head of the Supreme Lee Clan—'s younger sister, now leading the branch family.
She'd lost one eye in a dungeon long ago and stepped back from combat, but she still served the clan as an elder.
"You look like you're dealing with something tough."
"Yeah... something like that."
"Hmm. Why don't you tell your auntie about it? Giving hints for tough problems has always been my specialty."
"Ah......"
Like all hunter clans, the main and branch families could never get along, divided as they were by power and authority.
Yet she had voluntarily retired from the front lines and gone to the branch family, where she now supported Clan Head Lee Yul from behind the scenes—a true ally.
Even as a branch family leader, Elder Lee Heeja remained on friendly terms with the main family's Princesses, in that ambiguous position.
Which was why.
'Hmm... But honestly, this mess happened partly because Auntie wouldn't help...'
Her auntie had played with her instead of her mom since she was little.
Even though she was now the branch family head—and one of those responsible for slapping Yongchan with that bounty.
"Want me to guess?"
"Huh?"
"Seolgi, you're upset over that Kim Yongchan kid, right?"
"!!"
Her auntie had always blocked direct clashes between main and branch families.
A truly neutral figure. She had already seen through Seolgi's goal, so in the end, Seolgi could only sigh and spill the truth.
"Yeah... Specifically, because of my 'boyfriend,' who got that bounty slapped on him by you—the branch family head."
"Ah, um... Sorry about that. But he barged into our clan territory uninvited, ruined the succession blood battle, and cast magic on a bunch of our main family troops and the branch side..."
"True, but..."
"I tried to let it slide as much as possible, but that was the best I could do. I didn't even form a 'pursuit squad,' did I? Isn't that your auntie doing well enough?"
"......"
Fair enough. What clan was theirs, anyway?
Not some upstart that had barely hit 100 or 200 years.
The Supreme Lee Clan—one of the world's top ten, representing the Korean Peninsula.
They hadn't caught Kim Yongchan yet not because of any lack of skill.
"Sigh, originally, the branch family planned to invite three S-rank Hunters from the American Hunter HQ to nab that Yongchan kid."
"Th-Three S-rank Hunters?!"
The shocking revelation that followed.
Korea only had two S-rank Hunters total right now—Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon and her mom.
And they'd planned to bring three just to catch one male hunter?
'Whoa, Auntie Heeja really is on my side...'
She'd blocked it brilliantly!
If even one had set foot in Korea, some region outside Seoul might've turned into a sea of fire by now.
It wasn't a problem she could solve agonizing alone anyway.
"A-Auntie..."
In Seolgi's eyes—the standard Yongchan used—Heeja, the branch head who had stopped three S-rank Hunters from coming, was an undeniable benefactor.
She poured out her heart to her.
"...So all I want is to somehow get rid of Yongchan's bounty!"
"Ugh, you've brought me the trickiest problem of all."
Just as expected—a problem with no easy answer.
Disrupting the succession blood battle and attacking the branch family.
On top of wiping out a chunk of the clan's forces (even with an accomplice) and fleeing without taking responsibility—a male hunter who was both a 'hated foe' and a 'treasure' by Supreme Lee Clan standards.
For him to reclaim his normal life...
"Hmm, the surest way is still to crush the branch family itself—the ones eyeing him—with raw power..."
"With... power?"
"Yeah. But honestly, we don't have that kind of strength. Even Clan Head might've managed it, but she's been eerily quiet lately..."
"Ugh......"
Crush the clan that slapped on the bounty using the Clan Head-level might of a hunter clan.
That would've solved it quick—violence being the ultimate conversation tool, after all.
But Seolgi didn't have that power.
'Power, power, power...'
She had been doomed to die in the last succession blood battle.
And the one who gave her a second life was Yongchan.
Fighting a hunter clan as a male hunter couldn't have been easy, yet he'd probably stepped onto this land prepared to die.
'...Right. Prepared to die.'
Whoosh.
"Huh? Seolgi?"
Thud, thud.
Born a woman, my ass.
How could a pussy-wielding creature hide behind one with a dick?
At least Seolgi wasn't that kind of 'pathetic woman.'
Even in sex, she was the one pounding from above, not below.
That was her.
'Kim Yongchan, you just lie there and get hard.'
Having unwittingly gleaned that hint from Auntie Heeja,
Seolgi left the library in a trance that day. Under the pretext of an evening stroll beneath the night sky,
"......"
The clan said to have been born alongside King Taejo Wang Geon, founder of Goryeo.
In the basement of the Supreme Lee Clan's thousand-year estate lay the Korean Peninsula's greatest treasure trove.
A place only the Clan Head could enter—yet she waltzed in and began neutralizing the guards one by one.
"Sorry, everyone."
"Guhk?!"
"Princess...?"
Thud.
Back before she'd even met Yongchan—just once, she'd visited this treasure vault.
Now, as if drawn by fate, the moment she arrived, she felt an inexplicable power seeping into her body.
And so, in the treasure vault lined with hunter-exclusive gear,
she eyed the particularly empty outer wall.
"This is the place."
Even after over ten years, the sensation was unforgettable.
Boom!
Led by that 'red energy,' she punched through the wall into the Supreme Lee Clan's hidden 'treasure vault'—one even the current Clan Head didn't know about.
And before her stood the entity that had lured her here like a spell.
A mysterious red potion filled a vial, prominently placed atop the altar.
Thump, thump, thump.
What was this?
Just holding it made the blood surging through her body flow even faster.
Was this fate?
Or coincidence?
Either way, this power would be more than enough to smack those old foxes down.
So.
Gulp, gulp.
Crash!
"Gahk?!"
For Yongchan.
Without hesitation, Seolgi downed the potion. She soon dropped the glass vial, writhing in agony across her entire body,
spewing blood from every orifice and slamming her head onto the altar like she was dead.
But.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
When the supposedly dead girl rose again,
the Supreme Lee Clan had desperately wanted to seal away this treasure-that-wasn't-a-treasure.
Seolgi, who had monopolized it alone, donned the helmet and cloak inside before leaving the vault, fully armoring herself.
And once battle-ready.
Hummm.
She sent every treasure-grade weapon flying to the surface, instantly blanketing the estate's sky in gray.
Cock-a-doodle-doo.
Just in time—dawn was breaking.
Then there was only one thing left to do.
"If you won't submit, I'll smash you all."
Anyone who dared get between her and Yongchan.
She would kill every last one without mercy.