Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Revolution if Successful! Anyway, Revolution
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"Look here. This is the American bounty site that lists wanted criminals."
It's not like we're living in the Wild West or some golden age of pirates anymore.
Why the hell does something like this even exist?
The site neatly sorted bounties in dollars, stacking up from the bottom.
Originally, my face had been right at the top with a cool hundred million dollars.
But right now, as you can see...
Empty.
Clean as a whistle. Nothing there at all.
"Uh... this isn't some kind of trap, is it?"
"Nah, probably not. This bounty site's managed by the Hunter Association too, so faking or tampering with it is straight-up impossible."
Miran, standing next to me, fielded my skeptical side-eye with the explanation.
This bounty site was basically a global "warning label" plastered on every wanted criminal out there—you could be next if you're not careful.
And with the U.S. government and Hunter Association overseeing it, not even the muscle of a top-ten global powerhouse like the Supreme Lee Clan could mess with it on a whim.
"Th-then... does that mean I really don't have to run anymore?"
This easily?
Hell, I hadn't even done anything wrong to begin with?
What a hollow wrap-up.
Still, it ended well, so maybe I should just be glad...
...Feels off.
Really damn off.
And right beside me, Miran was scowling even harder, like she felt it twice as bad.
"Miran, you know something about this, don't you?"
"Eep?!"
Her full-on panic mode turned my suspicion into dead certainty.
"Come to think of it, you were still with the Supreme Lee Clan just a few days ago."
"Uh, w-well..."
"Exactly! Princess Lee Miran, you've gotta know what's up with all this, right?"
Buoyed by my prodding, even Mina jumped in to push her along.
With the two of us staring her down like that, relentless and weird...
"R-rebel..."
"Re..."
"bellion?"
It was gonna come out eventually anyway.
Miran caved and spilled it all.
"It was Seolgi... she started a rebellion."
"Wh-what?!"
"Seolgi? You mean that little princess?!"
"Yeah! She locked her mom up in the underground prison, crushed every last branch family punk, and flipped the entire clan to her side!"
...What in the actual fuck?
Okay, let's break this down. The childhood friend I knew took down the current Clan Head, Lee Yul, first.
And she didn't stop there—went on to wipe out the entire branch family that slapped a bounty on my head?
That Lee Seolgi?
"No way, that's..."
"She's not even built for that physically!"
I mean, come on.
Seolgi might rough up one or two people if they really pissed her off, sure.
But wiping out her whole family? She didn't have that kind of ruthless capacity.
The girl's a total softie, through and through.
For her to off her own mom and toss her in a dungeon? Branch family, maybe—but her mother?
Even if she wanted to, it was physically impossible.
Seolgi's just a D-rank hunter!
But nope—our assumptions got torched.
"Lee Seolgi... that girl's packing at least S-rank hunter power now."
"Huh?"
"What?!"
"She beat her S-rank mom and solo'd the branch family. Obviously she's that strong."
Miran wasn't bullshitting.
"I was there, okay?!"
"......"
...Yeah.
Thinking about it, Miran was an eyewitness—saw Seolgi with her own eyes that day.
Plus, as a clan princess, the only thing big enough to send her running all the way to Busan was exactly the kind of shitshow she just described.
In other words...
"Seolgi really did all that?"
Locked up her own mom and massacred the branch family?
Seolgi, drenched in blood, claiming the Clan Head's throne?
Impossible to buy it.
So I had to see it for myself—and now that the bounty's gone...
"Gotta head to Seoul right now."
"...!"
No time to waste standing around.
I started prepping to bail from Busan on the spot.
"Yo-Yongchan, you can't go!"
"Miran?"
"Why do you think she snapped like that? It's gotta be 'cause of you!"
Our eyes locked as she grabbed my arm, trying to stop me from leaving the Andong Kwon Clan grounds.
"You'll see nothing good barging into the clan like this!"
"...Let go."
"She's lost it! Not your Seolgi anymore—not the little sis I knew either!"
Sure, probably.
Haven't laid eyes on it myself, and just the stories alone made her sound like a total stranger.
But that's why I need to see her up close.
Might not be too late.
Seolgi might still have a shot at snapping back to herself.
So Seoul it was, danger be damned.
"Just run away with me."
That's why she'd said it back then—after the bath and our romp, dropping that line.
The little princess was already dripping tears from puffy eyes.
She brushed them away through those amethyst irises, begging me with her gaze to vanish somewhere together.
But...
Pat, pat.
"...!"
Dunno about this Earth, but back on mine, there's this saying:
If you're born a man, at least protect your woman.
Until now, I'd dodged those feelings to keep things friendly.
But losing Seolgi? Better a thousand times over to claim her as mine.
That's why I'm off to save my girl now.
And like she read my mind...
"All set?"
"Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon...?"
Right outside the Andong Kwon Clan gate.
Hunter Association Korea Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon had pulled up in her personal ride, devil tail swishing playfully as she waited.
"Alright then—off to Seoul?"
"...! Yes!"
The serpent that failed to become a dragon.
Imugi.
If they couldn't ascend after a millennium of training, they'd either croak naturally or twist into monsters—humanity's enemies.
Imugi lurked in dungeons, and those past 1,000 years? Ferocious as hell, topping the mid-layer threat list.
But this one wasn't just a pain in the ass.
One Imugi lived 10,000 years, etching its name across all East Asian history, Korean Peninsula be damned.
The beast that devoured even the dragon once dubbed the East's Jörmungandr.
Yeongno.
A thousand years back, it punched out of a black portal in China's Yellow Sea, rampaged across the continent to Korea, then hopped the ocean to Japan. Legendary monster.
One of the culprits behind toppling Balhae, East Asia's superpower at the time.
But surface monsters always get culled eventually.
The world's first East Asian alliance took it down; its corpse got dumped deep in the sea.
Even as thousands, tens of thousands of chunks got ripped off—no blood spilled.
Then, right at death's door, from its eyes—pure coincidence?—
Blood tears enough for one person to drink welled up.
"The Supreme Lee Clan will safeguard this."
The clan's founding Clan Head.
She who'd severed Yeongno's neck declared she'd personally handle this yokai blood—too potent to destroy, too risky to ditch.
For the sake of peace.
She built a secret vault inside a secret warehouse—not even her successor knew—
Sealing it tight so this power never saw daylight again.
...Or so it should've been.
But who could've guessed.
The sealed Imugi king
Spent 900 years rekindling its will to live,
90 years reclaiming its strength,
9 years hunting a 'vessel',
And 9 days to manifest anew.
The most alien power in the Supreme Lee Clan that'd caged it.
Yeongno's will lured Lee Seolgi—resonating perfectly with her burning desire to reclaim her man.
Thus, Yeongno merged with its perfect vessel: Lee Seolgi.
Two minds in one body? Normal outcome's shatter, die, or madness.
But this spirit? Overwhelmingly potent.
Seolgi, fused seamlessly with Yeongno, was now East Asia's 1,000-year-old destroyer reborn.
Perched where her mother belonged—
On the Clan Head's throne. Before her, the branch family head knelt,
Aunt Heeja first among the clan's full lineup spread out ahead.
Her warped mind plotted the next move.
"From now on, I..."
"...?"
"...will seize this country."
"Y-yes?!"
Just snagging Yongchan wouldn't cut it.
'Love' alone bought happiness, nothing more.
Money, command, power? Separate beasts.
I'd make my man the world's happiest.
To do that? Lock him in a 'cage' of my own making first. Manage him proper.
...Yeongno's whispers guided her; Seolgi commanded the entire Supreme Lee Clan to rebel against the nation.
"Deadline: five days from now."
"...!"
Full fusion with Yeongno: nine days total.
Four down.
Hold the line five more? National takeover was doable.
Plus, her other backers were nearly all flipped already.
"Yongchan... now just come to me."
Savoring the delights awaiting after those five days, the Imugi king closed her eyes—leisurely, like drifting into deep slumber.