Alive or Dead
Today, after meeting with Kim Seok-bong, Won-goo headed for the central district.
The zone belonging to the beastkin — the district where the Shelter facilities installed by the Oversight Committee were clustered. Because those facilities had been allocated by the Committee itself, they were stuffed with useful tools, if only you knew how to make use of them.
And yet the heart of the Shelter was always quiet. It meant there were hardly any users. There was no other reason to it — simply that everything cost far too much. Even Won-goo, who never spared a single coin when investing in the future, rarely did business in the central district.
Entering the exchange in the central district, Won-goo slipped from there into a secluded back alley. It was a remote enough spot that few survivors even knew it existed. He stepped into a shop he had visited before.
The owl beastkin was waiting for him, as always.
"Seeing you often these days. Is it the same business as last time?"
Won-goo nodded, and the owl beastkin immediately showed him inside. He had come here to search for the Seal that Kim Yang-cheon had once owned. On top of that, Won-goo had been steadily collecting materials related to Seals, wanting to confirm the true nature of the one etched onto his own back.
Most of the records could be verified just by reading them, but a handful required a special process like the one here.
"Not very large, but a rare type, then? Even this place doesn't have it?"
He had already cross-referenced the materials he'd collected ever since he peeled Kim Yang-cheon's Seal off his body. Even so, nothing could be learned about Kim Yang-cheon's Seal. He had come all this way, and once again there was nothing to show for it.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"No. Nothing but empty hands lately."
"A lucky day will come around eventually."
The office.
"To what do we owe the late arrival?"
Mu Beob-sa asked as he shut his book. For a man who read a truly enormous amount, the books he actually read were limited — dense philosophy, nearly devoid of any entertainment value. And Won-goo was certain that Mu Beob-sa understood not a single word of them, since they were written in English, not Korean.
Still, Mu Beob-sa kept staring at those pages. It looked like a meaningless ritual, but Won-goo didn't care. He knew that focusing on one single thing helped untangle twisted mana circuits.
"I gave Seok-bong a job."
"And you have been to see Baek Seol as well?"
"Haven't met her yet. But Seok-bong's already moving, so word will come soon enough. Then we move. Everyone got their gear squared away?"
The crew answered in loud voices. The most relaxed of them was Mu Beob-sa, who by nature carried no particular equipment — a different position entirely from the others, who had to pack meticulously.
"Rafael."
Won-goo called out to Rafael, who was glued to Jeon Hye-ji's side. As she came closer, he pulled a pair of sunglasses from inside his coat — a different model from the ones she already carried.
"Keep this one safe too. Might come in handy."
"Understood."
He hadn't bought it for Rafael's sake. It was one of the sunglasses he'd all but robbed from the various tour companies on his rounds. Unless an item was enchanted, it wasn't particularly expensive, so there was nothing wrong with him taking it.
"By the way, Director Gong."
"What is it?"
"If a pathfinder is out searching, do we not have no need to stand by this early? It will take quite some time."
"If we wait for the call to get ready, that wastes time."
"Still, is this not too early?"
"This is training too. Out in the Field, there come moments when you fight without a second's rest, and moments when you have to hold vigil for days on end. Getting used to situations like this in advance — that's preparation for exactly those times."
"A simple miscalculation, more like——"
"Heh, honestly. Go back to your book, old man. You've got nothing to prepare, and yet you talk so much."
"I was not asking for myself. The others were uncomfortable, so I inquired on their behalf."
"Right, right. Anyone listening would think you dote terribly on your crewmates."
Slam.
"Those words were deeply hurtful, Director Gong."
Mu Beob-sa slammed the book he had just reopened shut again and glared at him.
"Fine. I take it back. Everyone heard that? This is training. Keep your heads in the game, and even if you're uncomfortable, you stand by exactly as you are. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
The call from Kim Seok-bong came six hours later. It was faster than any of them had expected, and everyone wore faintly surprised expressions.
"It can be found this quickly?"
"It can. Tour companies keep pathfinders on staff, but they also keep informants."
"Still... finding a person in an area this wide."
"If the target were from around here, it would've been hard. But the target isn't a local, is he? Then there's nothing we can't find."
"W-well..."
Even Suwon seemed unable to make sense of it and moved to ask — but one by one, the crew filed into the Trailer. Ever since Rafael had joined, space had grown cramped, so Won-goo had fed more coins into the machine and expanded the interior. The inside of the Trailer was now roughly the size of a proper room, and the whole crew could sit comfortably inside without any of them feeling squeezed.
"There's no need to overthink it. Even with monsters crawling everywhere and the weather all scrambled, survivors only move along a limited set of routes. If you're from around here, you adjust those routes as conditions change. Right?"
"And that's exactly why he's easier to find — all we have to do is follow the unnatural traces, isn't it?"
Jeon Hye-ji's clean summary. Anyone who wasn't a local simply couldn't know the routes the survivors here traveled by heart.
"But couldn't someone follow the existing traces well enough? With just a little awareness——"
"They get caught anyway. Noticing that is the pathfinders' whole job. Say you're walking a road for the very first time, following the signs. Would your footprints land exactly the same as someone who walks it every day? They wouldn't. On a first trip, you can't help looking around."
Only after hearing that explanation did they all nod in understanding.
As Won-goo's Trailer rolled out of the Shelter, the waiting pathfinder's motorcycle took the lead, guiding them, and the crew followed in its wake.
"By the way, Director."
Jeon Hye-ji, lost in thought, posed a question.
"What is it?"
"If the target had been a pathfinder, it wouldn't have been this easy, would it?"
"The target, you mean?"
"Yes."
"Then I wouldn't have taken the job. What's the most common Gift around here? Pathfinder. Is the Pathfinder Gift common because it's special? No. There are so many pathfinders because they don't die easily. In a world like this one, knowing how to find your way and read traces is enormously advantageous for survival. So if someone were hunting a pathfinder, I'd never take the job at this rate. Even a fat payment wouldn't make them easy to catch."
After about two hours of travel from the Shelter, Kim Seok-bong was waiting for them.
"Here it is. Two men, one woman. They match the profiles you handed over, Director."
Kim Seok-bong pointed at the traces as he spoke.
"Isn't this the area near Cheonchu Mountain? They didn't actually go in, did they?"
"They're not complete idiots. They know Cheonchu Mountain is dangerous. They only pretended to head for the mountain — they never actually entered."
"So they knew a pursuit had picked up their trail."
"Exactly. But here's the interesting part — following the traces, it turns out the targets stopped by the Shelter."
"They went into the Shelter?"
"Once you find one trace, identifying the rest is nothing. And I wasn't working alone, either."
Other pathfinders stood around Kim Seok-bong. Won-goo naturally didn't know any of them — but they knew him very well indeed.
"So the client did come looking properly after all."
"I don't know when the client entered the Shelter. But he's probably inside it right now?"
"The target?"
"Yes."
"Whether that's good luck or bad."
"Bad, of course. He ran into Director Gong, didn't he?"
"Is that a compliment or an insult?"
"It's high praise."
"Seok-bong must be excited — first job in a while. So, can you keep tracking? Our contract says we only pursue targets within twenty-four hours' distance."
"Well within the margin of error. We should have them inside that window."
"For a smart one, you're sure we can catch them?"
"They're using their head, in their own way. That doesn't make them smart. If they were truly smart, they would have hired a pathfinder at the Shelter. A good one."
At those words, Won-goo nodded as if in agreement. If the targets had hired a pathfinder, the difficulty would have doubled. And if they'd hired a genuinely skilled one, catching them anywhere near here would have been off the table entirely.
"Let's go. If they're inside the time limit, then we go catch them."
Gam Pyeong-hwa and Gam Na-ra were siblings. For quite a long time, the two of them had been watching for a chance to slip out of the gang. And when Na-ra fell in love with Ji Oneul, that resolve hardened into certainty. They made a plan and waited until they'd scraped together an escape fund. They even plotted out their escape route, and they believed they'd built a flawless plan — but it didn't take long to realize that flawless was exactly what it wasn't.
"Stop. Move, and your head leaves your neck. Don't waste your last chance."
A chilling voice drifting out of the darkness.
Click.
A light flared, cutting through the dark around them. In an instant, Na-ra, Pyeong-hwa, and Oneul were bound and gagged. Then the search of their bodies began.
"Director. I don't see a necklace anywhere."
"It's there. It's expensive — he'll have hidden it well."
With that, Won-goo loosened Ji Oneul's gag.
"Don't waste time. Talk. The client was very specific about bringing that back."
"Can you not let it slide, just this once? We——"
"Do you not grasp your situation? You're caught. The game is over. Weren't you risking your lives when you ran from the gang? Then walking out into the open like this is cheating."
"Please... I'm begging you. Then just take me. Me alone."
"..."
Won-goo's eyes turned to ice. This was not the situation he'd wanted, and he didn't like it either. And when the man's gaze grew even colder, Ji Oneul added one more thing.
"Then at least spare the woman. I'm begging you! Please! She's carrying a child! Please!"
Oneul sobbed, pounding his bound forehead against the ground — bam, bam — as he begged. He had come this far because he'd been gang. He knew all too well what happened to gang members when things went wrong.
Won-goo didn't answer. He called for Jeon Hye-ji instead.
"Hye-ji!"
"Yes, Director."
The two of them exchanged a few whispered words. When they finished, Won-goo turned back to Oneul.
"Where's the necklace?"
"The necklace..."
"The man who came out to catch you people — turns out it was a fellow called Band. And that man..."
"Ba... Band!"
At the name, all three of them reacted violently.
"He's famous, then?"
"Please, I'm begging you."
"I understand your circumstances. Do you want to keep making me repeat myself? You should realize that me talking this much already is me holding back an enormous amount. Where. Is. The. Necklace."
Then Ji Oneul pointed at his own shoe. There was a hollow space inside it, and the necklace was tucked away in there.
"So Band ranks fairly high in your gang?"
"..."
"Didn't hear me?"
"Ah! Yes! That's right. He is one of the Queen's loyal hounds."
"The Queen... that outfit has an interesting hierarchy. What do you know about this Band?"
And with that, Won-goo asked question after question, drilling down into even the most trivial details. At first, none of the crew could tell why he was asking all of it. He asked a staggering amount — like a man who had come specifically to gather intelligence on the Mosquito Gang. Its key figures, their Gifts and abilities where possible, even their equipment.
Only partway through did the crew grasp his intent. Maybe not a gang that operated near Sabbath, but one they could well collide with someday. So stockpiling information on it was hardly a bad choice.
Won-goo and Ji Oneul traded words back and forth for a long while.
"...So Band is that cruel a man, then?"
"He is. Please — anything but handing us over to him. Haven't I told you everything I know?"
"My read is a little different."
"What? Different how..."
"This Band fellow. I don't think he's only as cruel as you make him out to be."
"...?"
"He said alive or dead. As long as the necklace comes back, the job counts as done. Don't you understand what that means?"