Found You
Found it.
The ghost hound pressed swiftly toward where the beastmen were, and as it went, it wasn't merely advancing — it was laying down blue markers along the way.
The Named survivors had only one thing on their minds: wrap this up fast and get paid.
Ten gold coins.
Even for Named survivors, that was no small matter. Normally, earning that many coins meant putting in a matching investment — pouring in enormous time, or vast resources, or else staking your own future on the line.
"Director."
"What is it, Hye-ji."
"The Pathfinder. Did you tell him he's on our side?"
"Didn't tell him."
"Is that going to be okay?"
"As long as he doesn't get cocky, nobody touches a Pathfinder. That's the rule of the trade out here. And Seokbong knows it damn well himself — the guy's got his own dirt buried. Soon as something pops off, he'll slip away on his own without being told."
"Ah……"
"Hye-ji."
"Yes."
"And out here, you never burn an informant. Reveal where your information came from even once, and it costs you credibility. Every single time."
"Ah……"
"Trust no one who isn't family. That's the classic lesson, handed down since before the world ended."
Hye-ji gave a small nod at that.
"Want one more classic tip?"
"What is it?"
"Hide your hand as long as you can. Cheol-su!"
"Yes, sir!"
"No need for the capsules today, so pack them in."
"Understood……"
"Instead, keep your eyes sharp. On that masked one from earlier, the one called Ghost. And the guy in the red hat hanging back there — you see him?"
"Yes."
"Both of them are summoner types. Watch the red hat especially closely. Study where he positions himself and how he inserts himself into a fight. That could be your position before long."
"Understood, Director."
"This doesn't come around often for any of you. Watch how true professionals with a defined role actually work. Got it?"
The Chicken Beastman spread its wings and hurled itself at Yeom-gwi.
A blindingly fast, threatening attack.
"Psychic-type Gifts rank near the top across the board. That rare, and that much room to grow. Telekinesis especially is classified as top-tier in human-to-human combat. Charge in carelessly and you end up exactly like that."
The Chicken Beastman's movement snapped to a halt. It looked for all the world like a man being electrocuted.
Its body shuddered and shook — not from shock, but from straining to tear itself free of the telekinetic grip.
"Wh-why is it doing th-that?"
"It wandered inside the range. How many things do you think are faster than they look? That's telekinesis for you — step into the field and you're caught, plain and simple."
"So there's no way to counter it?"
This time it was Jeon Hye-ji who asked.
"There is. Stay so far away it can't reach you and grind it down. Move faster than it expects. Or else brute-force your way out of the telekinesis itself."
"None of the three sounds easy."
At Jo Mu-sa's words, Won-goo gave a small nod.
"None of them are. Why do you think they call telekinesis the anti-human specialty? Going head-to-head with a telekinetic is asking for trouble. Pick a fight with a psychic at that grandma's level and you'll be shaking hands with King Yama in no time."
The Chicken-headed Beastman showed signs of adapting to the telekinesis, beginning to move again — but it was already too late.
Combat was a matter of one second deciding life and death.
Some of the region's Named survivors were gathered here, and none of them would let an opening like that slide.
When Yeom-gwi pinned the beastman in place, another Named stepped forward.
The triplet brothers known as Sam-ssang.
Their chains coiled around the Chicken Beastman's neck and dragged it to the ground, and all three of them swarmed in and beat it into ground meat.
Thud! Crack! Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Their Gifts are nothing special, but the three of them work as one. And they don't have bad relationships with people, either."
The hunt proceeded simply, and easily. The Named knew exactly what they needed to do — and exactly what not to do.
"Blood drawn!"
A voice rang out from a spot some distance from Won-goo. Immediately, the Named survivors shifted toward it at speed.
"Shit. I said be careful. This isn't some event where they pay out a bonus per corpse. It's a fixed-rate job — why the hell is everybody bleeding? Who is it? Who's bleeding?"
"Fresh."
"Ha…… You're not some rookie handling your first job. How are you this careless? Tell him to pull out."
A man with one arm severed came stumbling out, propped up on either side. At Won-goo's glance, Jo Mu-sa sprang into action at once.
"Sliced in three, huh? What did it look like?"
Won-goo asked, studying the wound on the arm.
"A rat. Looked like a squirrel. Wearing claws."
"They fly in invisible, right? What's the range?"
"Over a meter."
"A meter? You're telling me it threw enough energy to carve through a human arm from a full meter out?"
A nod.
"Whew. Nice gear. Everyone, move. We found the bastard who killed the Trainer. Jo Mu-sa, you handle the wound."
"What should I do about the arm? It's a clean cut, but…… he was sliced into three."
"You know that adhesive from the pharmacy. Stick it on with that."
"There's a piece missing, though."
"Glue it anyway. He's due for proper treatment when we get back regardless. Hey. Fresh. You good with that?"
"I'm good. Stick it on however you can."
"Okay, he says go. Glue it up."
"Thanks, Director Gong."
"I brokered this job. This much care comes standard."
"Right."
"Get yourself treated."
Won-goo moved toward where the squirrel beastman was.
"The intel was a little off, wasn't it? You said the cat beastman was the leader."
"The one who rolls the head and the one who works the body being different has never been strange, not since the old days. Complete packages are rare. Grandma. Got it pinned?"
"Not yet. But one leg's finished. Good hit landed in the belly, too."
"Good to hear. Sorry, everyone — we're taking the last hit on this one. That bastard's the one who carved up the Trainer."
At that, they all nodded. Parting the undergrowth, they pushed deeper into the forest.
There, a beastman with the face of a squirrel stood on one leg, breath tearing raggedly out of its lungs.
"Good timing. You're the one, aren't you? The one who killed the Trainer."
"And you would be. The one they call Gong Won-goo."
"Sharp ears. Someone's been whispering to you, have they?"
"I heard it from the Trainer."
"……"
"None of this was supposed to tangle up like this, you know. All we had to do was take the money and hand over one goblin. But he kept saying no, that bastard, right up to the end — so the deal went sideways."
"When it's no, you're supposed to accept that it's no. You tried to force it anyway. That's why you're in this state."
"So the Shelter Master told you to kill us?"
"Side business. You going to resist?"
"Let's just end it here."
"Kkuk-kkuk."
"……?"
"You little bastard. Who do you take for a sucker? You say let's end it, and yet why are your claws tense as hell? Is that how you carved up the Trainer too?"
"……"
"You know a guy called Fresh? Well-rounded stats, solid across the board. But his evasion isn't anything special. And you only managed to take one arm off him. Which means your skill is exactly that mediocre. At that level, there's no way you took down the Trainer like that. Which means you pulled some dirty trick."
"……"
"And anyway, it's already over. Look up."
The squirrel beastman's eyes darted to the sky in an instant.
At that moment, a chain appeared and coiled around its remaining leg.
Wheeeing!
The claws flashed, scattering a storm of blade-wind into empty air.
But the angle was wrong, and they cut nothing but vacancy.
The squirrel beastman screamed as it was dragged scraping across the ground.
Won-goo's crew swarmed it as if they had been waiting for exactly this.
THUD-THUD-THUD-CRACK!
Merciless beating.
In the blink of an eye, the squirrel beastman was disarmed. What remained was a mangled, ragged ruin of a body.
Won-goo watched it and smiled a cold, fishy smile, exhaling a long stream of cigarette smoke.
Then he leaned his face in close to the beastman.
"Patient? Since you wouldn't come to the clinic, I've made a house call myself. Treatment doesn't end quickly, you understand."
Sssss-t.
With that, he pressed the ember of his cigarette into its eye.
KYAAAAAAAK!
A scream like tearing metal.
"We've only just begun and you're already enjoying yourself that much? Ttugi. You packed what I asked for, right?"
"Yes, Hyeong-nim."
Lee Hyun-sung was already there, handing over the torch as if he'd been standing by for the word.
FWOOOOSH!
Fierce flame roared up from the torch.
"Since the old days, this has been the medicine for anything with fur."
The squirrel beastman screamed like a man seeing a demon from hell.
Having secured the beastmen's corpses, Kane handed over the gold coins without a moment's hesitation. Director Gong, in turn, distributed them to the Named survivors immediately. Ten apiece, no questions asked, no haggling. No delays. Perfectly clean.
"Grandma's not leaving?"
"Found myself some pocket money. No rush."
Won-goo was tallying the payout in his ledger. The Named survivors who'd collected their full share left without lingering a second.
"Even if you stayed, there'd be nothing more coming. We hosted this job, but there's almost nothing left over."
"I know. What's left over would just be whatever you skimmed off the loot. Kkuk-kuk."
"We handed over all the loot too. They said they needed it to make the job happen."
"And I'm sure you pocketed a few useful pieces along the way."
"Are you supposed to involve yourself in that too? You've got to respect the people who set the table a little. What, you going out a lot these days? Hurting for money?"
Won-goo, who had been looking over the ledger, lifted his head and stared straight at Yeom-gwi. She was smiling right back at him, unblinking.
"Director Gong."
"What is it."
"Do you know why the world ended up in this state?"
Won-goo leaned back in his chair. At that precise moment, Sanghae appeared bearing a tray of pajeon — green onion pancakes — with beer.
"Take the beer back and bring makgeolli. Don't match them up wrong like that. And step out for a minute. I think the lady here wants to set a mood. Grandma, what was that you just said?"
"You understood me well enough. Why ask? I asked whether you know why the world ended up like this."
"Since when did Grandma sell snake oil?"
"Sly as ever. If it weren't for that personality of yours, I'd have recruited you to our side long ago."
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're going on about. What exactly are you trying to say?"
Won-goo scowled and pulled out a cigarette, tucking it between his lips.
"I mean the world didn't end for no reason."
"Was Grandma with Cheonmok?"
"Tch! How dare you compare me to those mongrels!"
"You talk the same color, though."
"If you want to look upon the source of it all, you'll have to come with us."
"You mean trust you the way people trusted Cheonmok……"
Yeom-gwi shook her head, the smile never leaving her face.
"No. We are the ones who foresaw the end. Do you think I awakened my innate Gift after the end came?"
"Shit. Grandma, you were 3B?"
"Director Gong knows a great deal, doesn't he."
"3B, then. Those people call Gifts 'innate talents,' don't they? And abilities 'acquired talents' — powers awakened after the Latter Heaven Opening."
"You seem to know so much, so allow me to correct you properly. It's true that 3B was cut from a similar cloth as us. But they were mongrels. They spent their power stuffing their own private greed, nothing more."
"Grandma, you're plenty suspicious yourself right now. You've got the same feel as the people you call mongrels."
"Say you'll come with us, and you'll understand how we're different."
"So that's the pitch? Grandma, you sell that medicine to little kids. You haven't opened a single thing that matters, and you're asking me to join you on what? So what are you, exactly?"
"The ones who knew the end was coming. The ones who prepared for it. And the ones who hold the answer to why it came at all."
"……"
"Kkuk-ku. Why do I make this offer, you ask? Because you have a talent for leading people. No matter how fine a Gift a man carries, drawing others after him is something you're born with. That sort of thing is rare."
"Hold on. Listening to how you talk, I'm getting a bad feeling that you've been watching me for a long time. Is that right?"
"Kkuk-ku. Curious?"
"Just give me the name of your organization."
"Come inside, and you'll know."
"You're giving me nothing?"
"I didn't expect you to jump over right away. I'll come find you again. Or Director Gong will come find me."
With that, Yeom-gwi rose from her seat.
Won-goo made an uncomfortable face, but once she had vanished from sight, a thin, cold smile crept over his lips, and he murmured low.
Finally found them. Those bastards.