The Exposé
The Ruler of the Hundred Thousand Mountains has sponsored 1,000 points!
The scolding had dragged on for a while. I sat on the bed looking glum, mumbling one apology after another, when the points suddenly arrived.
I let out a sigh of relief and lifted my head.
Phew. Thank goodness.
I had no idea why she sent them all of a sudden, but at least the picky constellation seemed to have finally cooled off.
“...Huh?”
The moment I looked up, the ones standing right in front of me were none other than Sister Seong-a and Sister Chae-rin.
“Hello, sisters!”
“......”
“Um, when did you come in?”
I studied their faces with a puzzled look for a second, then flashed my brightest smile and asked again.
“...Eh?”
The two sisters who had been quietly watching me suddenly wrapped me in a tight hug at the exact same time.
“W-why are you hugging me all of a sudden…?”
“......”
“S-Sister Seong-a…? Sister Chae-rin?”
Sandwiched warmly between them, I glanced around with a flustered face.
“I-I didn’t even do anything good this time.”
“Yeonwoo.”
“I-I didn’t bring any chocolate either….”
That was when Sister Chae-rin’s slightly lowered voice came from the side.
“Kids get praised even when they don’t do anything.”
“...Whoa.”
“So there’s no special reason.”
I still didn’t understand why they were acting like this, but being loved didn’t feel bad at all.
“Um, but…”
That warm feeling only lasted a moment. My face started burning, so I spoke up carefully.
“I’m getting embarrassed…”
“Hm?”
“E-everyone’s watching…”
The gazes of the hunter sisters behind the door were really bothering me.
Of course, I was also a little conscious of the constellations watching from somewhere.
“What are you all looking at?”
“……!”
“Get back to work.”
When I started squirming, Sister Seong-a turned around and spoke in an ice-cold voice.
“I-I’m still embarrassed though…”
“......?”
“N-never mind…”
Even without people watching, being hugged by both sisters at once was mortifying, but right now I was purely a nine-year-old. I decided to act exactly like one.
In the end I couldn’t really help punish the Second Coming Cult…
I lowered my eyes for no reason, then suddenly felt a bright light bulb go off above my head. My eyes widened.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, there was a way I could help the Association against the Second Coming Cult.
Why didn’t I think of that sooner?
After all, the Association’s protected zone had a victim of the Second Coming Cult right there.
“I-I’ll get up now.”
“Hm?”
“I-I have somewhere I need to go!”
Having thought that far, I urgently slipped out of their arms and hurried toward the door.
“Don’t worry, sisters.”
“......?”
“I’ll take care of the Association’s biggest headache!”
I had to go there to protect my safe haven and earn a little more love by helping the Association.
About twenty minutes later.
“Human. What is it?”
“Hello, Lady Wolfgel!”
“Yes, good to see you.”
I had run at top speed and reached the Association’s protected zone. After getting permission from the researchers, I approached Wolfgel inside and started talking.
“Anyway, answer the question, human.”
“Um, I’m really sorry but…”
“There’s nothing to apologize for, so lift your head.”
Fortunately, even after all this time since that day, Wolfgel still seemed friendly toward me.
“Lady Wolfgel, you were captured by the Second Coming Cult before, right?”
“......”
“C-could you tell me the details of what happened back then?”
The moment I brought up that topic, her expression froze over like ice.
“Why should I tell you about it?”
“That’s…”
“Give me the reason, human.”
After staying silent for a long time, Wolfgel finally scanned me with wary eyes and asked.
“To punish those Second Coming Cult bastards!”
“Those guys?”
“Yes! They dared to capture Lady Wolfgel and do horrible things!”
When I answered with the plain truth, Wolfgel looked at me with slightly widened eyes.
“By nature, we magic beasts are enemies of humanity.”
“......?”
“You want to punish an organization that captured and experimented on such an enemy?”
To her question I put on a slightly serious face and asked back.
“Lady Wolfgel, do you plan to attack humanity in the future?”
“Well, of course…”
She made a face like she was thinking for a moment and trailed off.
“Hmm…”
“You’re not going to, right?”
“...I wonder.”
Her answer was a little vague, but it had come from a magic beast whose only principle was to kill humans. That alone gave me real hope.
“Lady Wolfgel, I believe magic beasts can become comrades to humanity, not enemies.”
“What?”
“You’re proving it right now, aren’t you?”
I grabbed onto that hope and poured my whole heart into persuading her.
“And since your enemy is our enemy too!”
“......”
“Of course I’ll punish them!”
Wolfgel stared at me silently for a while, then the corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
“You’re spouting vague idealism, little human.”
“......?”
“It’s better to stop dreaming such dreams early.”
But those words couldn’t stop me anymore.
“Why should I stop?”
“Well…”
“Dreaming is a child’s privilege.”
After all, I was a nine-year-old now. It was an age when I could dream again the dreams I once thought were impossible.
“You talk pretty well.”
“Hehe.”
“Fine. I lose.”
Seeing my confident smile, Wolfgel finally sighed and sat down.
“When I asked around, quite a few of those guys were also captured by the ones called the Second Coming Cult.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’ll call them over and have everyone tell you exactly what we went through.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the magic beasts that had been wandering nearby—the ones I tamed during the last test—began gathering in front of me one by one.
“It will be rather horrific, so brace yourself.”
“...Yes!”
“Of course, there is one condition.”
Just as I lifted the paper and pen I had prepared to record every single testimony, Wolfgel spoke her condition.
“It’s more of a request than a condition.”
“A request?”
“Yes. It is a formal request from me, the Ruler of the Snowfield, to you.”
I listened with a slightly nervous face, then almost dropped the paper and pen in shock.
“Bring my children who are beyond the gate.”
“……!”
“If what you say is true, the humans here won’t harm them.”
Those words meant that the 2nd-grade magic beast Wolfgel had finally decided to trust both me and the Association.
“But to humans in other places, my children could be hunted at any moment.”
“T-that’s true.”
“Therefore, once you have the information you must begin work immediately.”
In other words, it was a historic moment—the first time a magic beast had shown trust toward humanity.
“...Yes! Leave it to me!”
“Good. I’m counting on you, little human.”
The joy of being the protagonist of such a historic moment lasted only a second. At Wolfgel’s next mutter I put on a serious face again and picked up the pen.
“No… friend.”
Since the responsibility had grown this heavy, I would do my absolute best to expose the Second Coming Cult’s evil deeds and help her.
About an hour later, in the conference room on the upper floors of the Association.
“I’m sorry, Mr. President.”
The meeting to designate the Second Coming Cult as a national subjugation target had resumed after a short break, but it had run into an unexpected wall.
“However… this proposal is far too radical.”
“......”
“A national subjugation target? Applying that to a mere group of interest would consume far too much manpower.”
That wall was none other than the government-affiliated Hunter Management Bureau.
It was a standing organ of the Hunter Association and a group desperate to restrain the power of hunters, which had grown too large to control.
“While the Second Coming Cult is indeed surrounded by many rumors, you must also remember that they donate considerable sums to child protection centers and welfare organizations nationwide.”
“......”
“Furthermore, every charge currently leveled against the Second Coming Cult is mere speculation. None of it has been proven.”
At the spokesperson’s words, the Association President sitting at the head of the table frowned deeply, his face twisting.
“For example, the researchers who supposedly captured magic beasts for experiments… were simply wearing clothes bearing the cult’s symbol.”
“Isn’t that decisive evidence!?”
“Do not interrupt. Such things can be forged easily. The detailed identities of these researchers have not been verified, correct?”
The spokesperson scolded the Association hunter who had cut him off, then continued.
“As for the terrorism charge, the cult has vehemently denied it. There is also evidence that it was the act of a radical splinter faction that broke away from the main group.”
“Are you planning to simply overlook the fact that Do Yeonwoo was victimized?”
“Mr. President, I was extremely angry when I heard those words as well…”
He sighed at the President’s chilly tone and went on.
“…Has the child Do Yeonwoo ever personally stated with his own mouth that he is a victim of the Second Coming Cult?”
The conference room froze in icy silence.
“This bastard…!”
“Chae-rin, calm down!”
“…I’ll kill him. You son of a bitch.”
The fellow hunters who hurriedly pulled Yoo Chae-rin back into her seat after she kicked her chair away were also glaring at the spokesperson with clear fury.
“Are you suggesting we interrogate a child who trembles and rambles incoherently at the mere mention of the Second Coming Cult?”
“Of course not. However, the Hunter Management Bureau cannot grant permission without concrete information.”
The President spoke with a chilling expression on behalf of the others, but the spokesperson refused to yield an inch.
“Heh heh. I wonder when you all started caring so much about verifying facts.”
“......”
“How much bribe did the Second Coming Cult stuff into your pockets?”
Association President Kwon Seong-muk’s patience finally ran out. He turned his head, openly radiating killing intent.
“All of you who have stayed silent until now—do you agree with that statement?”
He asked the question in a cold voice to the masters of Korea’s three greatest guilds, who had remained quiet the entire time.
“The Cheonghae Guild completely disagrees with the previous remark. However, we remain neutral on the matter of national subjugation designation.”
“The Seongun Guild expresses full cooperation in accordance with the President’s wishes. However, national subjugation designation falls under government jurisdiction…”
“The Baekhwa Guild will declare neutrality. It’s not as if the Association has only forged information and used us once or twice.”
Even the answers from the three guild masters representing the country carried some logic.
After all, the Second Coming Cult poured enormous donations into the government and various guilds. It was an organization tangled in complicated interests.
And even the top three guilds, which had no direct ties to the cult, had suffered so much under President Kwon Seong-muk that their current level of goodwill was practically a miracle.
In the end, decisive physical evidence was needed to designate the Second Coming Cult as a national subjugation target.
“Hoo…”
Facing that conclusion, Kwon Seong-muk let out a long, heavy sigh.
“…I suppose I must disclose it. The Identity Verification Device.”
“What? But, Mr. President…!”
The secretary beside him turned pale and tried to stop him.
“This time you will not be able to avoid disciplinary action.”
“Heh heh… is that my problem?”
“In the worst case, you could be stripped of your position as President.”
The information-gathering device developed in secret with Taeseong Workshop was a representative illegal tool designated as taboo in hunter society.
It was already problematic for forcibly reading people’s information without consent, but the greatest issue was the risk of leaking data on the abilities and weaknesses of hunters who were considered national assets.
Kwon Seong-muk himself had ordered that it only be used on the worst criminals who refused to testify, and only by a tiny number of trusted Association hunters.
“An Association that cannot protect even one child who suffered human experimentation just to hide a single secret technology is not needed.”
“......”
“I will take full responsibility for the disclosure.”
The secretary, knowing the weight of that decision better than anyone, could only lower his head in silence. At that exact moment—
“Um… excuse me…”
The conference room door opened and a very young voice rang out through the heavy air.
“…Gasp.”
Everyone’s eyes snapped toward the door at once. The small child who entered holding Do Seong-a’s hand opened his mouth in surprise and shrank back.
“Little one, what brings you here?”
“......”
“The adults are having a very important discussion right now.”
The Baekhwa Guild Master quietly smiled with her eyes and began to gently scold the child.
“U-um, my name is Do Yeonwoo.”
“…Yeonwoo? You?”
“Yes, I’m Do Yeonwoo…”
The moment the child introduced himself, everyone in the room—including the Baekhwa Guild Master—began to look shocked.
“Yeonwoo, hello~!”
“Ah, hehe.”
Meanwhile, Han Se-rin, who had been coldly glaring at the government spokesperson from the Seongun Guild seat, waved warmly at him.
“But what brings you here?”
“Ah, well…”
Only then did Yeonwoo snap back to his senses. He began handing out the papers he had been clutching tightly to everyone present, one sheet at a time.
“I wrote a lot on these papers.”
With Do Seong-a’s help, the freshly printed sheets contained words written in Yeonwoo’s own childish, slightly crooked handwriting.
1. They only feed us once a day. If we don’t listen, they take that away too.
2. They keep waking us when we try to sleep. Some friends died because they couldn’t sleep properly for days.
3. If we cry that it hurts, they inject us with shots that make us go numb.
4. If we’re caught trying to run, we get beaten badly and chained for a whole week.
5. As time passed, the friends with us disappeared one by one. No one knew where they went.
6. They put strange medicine in our bodies and recorded the reaction. It usually hurt terribly.
7. If we cried out that we hated it, we were immediately hit with something like electric shock.
8. They called us by numbers. They said we didn’t need names.
9. They made us fight each other on a regular basis. The friends who fell all disappeared too.
10. They said if we swore loyalty to the cult and its leader they would let us go. Of course that was a lie too.
At first people looked confused about what the cute handwriting meant, but the more they read the horrific content, the colder their faces became.
When most of them had finished reading, an eerie silence settled over the conference room.
“Yeonwoo.”
“Yes! Grandpa President!”
“What… is all this?”
The President, veins bulging on his forehead, barely kept his reason and asked. Yeonwoo answered with an incredibly bright smile.
“Everything written here is what the Second Coming Cult did!”
At the same time, sighs and the sound of papers being crumpled rose from every corner.
The government spokesperson who had been arguing with the President until moments ago had gone deathly pale and shut his mouth. The three greatest guild masters looked the same.
“I did well, right? Hehe…”
In the continuing silence, Yeonwoo glanced around at everyone and his still-bright voice quietly echoed through the conference room.