What Kind of Scheme Is This?
Lights streaked past the window, drawing luminous lines through the dark.
I tore through the heart of Seoul in a limousine van, five Association tactical vehicles close behind. Our destination was Belgriff Guild headquarters.
When we finally arrived, I opened the door and stepped out.
And then the voices hit me.
"You sons of bitches! Get your asses out here!!"
"Are you even human?! Arrest them right now!!"
"What the hell are you waiting for?! Drag those bastards out!!"
Thousands of citizens had ringed the headquarters, screaming themselves hoarse. They were shouting for the people inside to be punished. Dragged out. Arrested.
Handmade pickets dotted the crowd, slogans scrawled across them, and some of the protesters were hurling whatever they could find at the front gates, shrieking with rage.
And thanks to them — thanks to those citizens — everyone still inside Belgriff Guild had been stripped of any chance to flee. They were completely cut off.
"Mr. President."
That was when Lee Jaehoon spotted me and came over. He must have reached the scene ahead of us. Tension was written all over his face.
"You've arrived, sir. As you can see, this is the situation."
He glanced toward the front gate, then asked in a voice thick with worry.
"But... do you really think those bastards will come quietly?"
It was a fair question. Belgriff was a guild headed by an S-Rank Hunter, with over a hundred Hunters on its roster. If they felt like it, they could flatten the Association's tactical units in a heartbeat.
I met Lee Jaehoon's uneasy eyes and let out a quiet chuckle.
"They won't."
"Sir?"
He looked at me as if he didn't understand. I spoke softly.
"If they resist here — if they try to hold this building with force — that would be a gift to the Association. We'd have every justification we need to classify them as Villains on the spot."
"Ah..."
A short breath escaped him.
"Right now, they're nothing more than social criminals. People who need to stand trial and be punished within the bounds of the law. But..."
"...Ah."
"The moment they're classified as Villains, everything changes."
"Anyone could kill them and it wouldn't even be a crime."
"Exactly. The instant they're labeled Villains, enormous bounties go on their heads. And anyone who kills them would be acting perfectly within the law."
"They'd become walking prey. No matter how strong they are, I don't believe they'll take that kind of risk."
Which meant they would never try to fight back. The only options they had ever had were to run, or to hide and wait for another day.
But.
Lee Jaehoon looked around at the people hemming us in and let out a dry laugh.
"Running's off the table too. Thanks to these folks."
"That's right. The citizens have them boxed in."
I said this and gestured toward the tactical commander waiting behind us.
The moment the signal dropped, dozens of heavily armed officers moved as one.
Click. Clack.
And then something remarkable happened. The instant those furious citizens saw the tactical units advancing, they parted of their own accord, opening a path. Far from interfering, they erupted in cheers and encouragement.
"Wipe those pieces of trash out!!"
"Make damn sure you crush them!!"
"Please — show us you're different!"
Just a few months ago, this would have been unimaginable. People had always met the Association with distrust and mockery. Now that had turned into support, into fervor, into actual cheering.
A boom, then the shatter of glass. The tactical units smashed through the front gate and poured inside. A cascade of thunderous noise followed, then frantic shouts from deeper in the building.
I stood still for a while, measuring the time, listening to the chaos. Once I judged that the first floor had been more or less secured, I glanced at Lee Jaehoon.
"Shall we go up?"
"Sir? Oh...! Let's go!"
Lee Jaehoon clenched his fist and pumped himself up. We stepped inside, broken glass crunching under our feet.
The interior was a mess. Climbing the stairs to the second floor, we found Hunters already subdued by the tactical team — both hands on their heads, kneeling. We passed them and started up toward the third floor.
"Um... Mr. President."
Lee Jaehoon glanced around, then asked in a voice that had shrunk to almost nothing. Uneasy.
"Is... Hunter Jo A-young not coming? This place... I just thought it might be safer if she were here..."
"Ms. A-young has gone to handle something else. And as I already told you, there's no need to worry."
"...Yes, sir."
He answered, but he still looked anxious. Which was fair enough. We were heading toward an S-Rank Hunter, after all. Facing that monster without Jo A-young as a deterrent would be enough to scare anyone.
I glanced back at him and asked, half-teasing.
"Getting cold feet?"
Lee Jaehoon's shoulders jumped. He hurriedly squared his chest and shouted.
"H-haha! Of course not! Even if the Guild Master of Belgriff is an S-Rank monster, you think I'd be scared? Ha, hahaha... ahahaha."
A laugh so forced that anyone within earshot could have heard the bluff in it. I snorted.
"Glad to hear it."
The third floor wasn't much different from the second. Tactical officers were herding Hunters against the walls and snapping on handcuffs. We walked the corridor and stopped before the door at the very end. The Guild Master's office.
I drew a short breath and turned the handle.
Click.
The door opened onto a lavish office, and there, in the center of the room, a man sat reclined on a leather sofa.
The Guild Master of Belgriff. The man truly responsible for the human experiments. And one of the handful of S-Rank Hunters in the entire country — Kim Younghoon.
Despite the chaos outside, he looked thoroughly at ease. When his eyes met mine, he spoke as if greeting an honored guest.
"So we finally meet."
He paused, then lifted the corner of his mouth and called my name.
"President Lee Jun-young."
He raised a hand and pointed to the sofa across from him, as if telling me to sit. I sat without a word. Lee Jaehoon took up a position behind me like a bodyguard.
"You've come a long way... Can I offer you a cup of coffee?"
Whether he genuinely failed to grasp the situation or was picking a fight knowing full well, I couldn't tell. Lee Jaehoon bristled at Kim Younghoon's insolent tone and stepped forward.
"Do you even understand what's happening here?! Talking to the President like that...!"
"Stay out of it, small fry."
Kim Younghoon didn't even look at him. He just flicked his hand dismissively.
"I'm talking to the President right now. Isn't that right?"
Lee Jaehoon's face went red. I raised a hand to hold him back, then leaned back myself, just as unhurried.
"You seem awfully relaxed... I take it you've already prepared a way out of this."
"Kahaha! Well, something like that."
"I'm not particularly fond of long preambles. Let's get to the point."
"Haha! Fine! That's the kind of straightforwardness a man ought to have!"
Kim Younghoon sat up, rummaged inside his jacket, and pulled out a small box. He pushed it to the center of the table. Thunk.
I looked down at the box, then lifted my gaze.
"What is this?"
"What do you think? It's the human experiment data from the Forced Awakening Project."
Human experiment data. The words sent an involuntary chill down my spine. Why was he offering this to me? I looked from the box to him, trying to read his intent.
"You asked if I had a way out? This is my answer. I'll hand over every last bit of this data. In exchange... pin the ringleader of these experiments on Park So-jeong and let me walk. Clean, right?"
So brazen. So shameless. It was so absurd I let out a short laugh and stared him down.
"Did you actually believe that would work?"
"Of course I did."
He didn't hesitate for a second.
"Why? Because I'm an S-Rank Hunter."
"Let's be honest with each other, President. Is the Association really going to throw an S-Rank Hunter in prison? Really? And what happens when another S-Rank rift tears open somewhere in the country?"
"You going to drag us all through hell again like a year ago because there's no one left to stop it? And when that day comes, if you come crawling to me in my cell asking for help — you think I'll give it? You think that's even possible?"
I listened and said nothing. He seemed to take my silence for something else, because his voice rose.
"So let's drop the hypocrisy and be straight with each other. You came after me with some pretty-sounding justification, but what you actually want is something else, isn't it?"
"I thought it over. What could this arrogant Association President possibly want from me. What's the Association most lacking right now... aha."
"The Association has always been a pathetic organization that has to tiptoe around the guilds because it doesn't have enough force of its own. So... maybe what you need is this Forced Awakening Project data — the kind that can mass-produce Awakened."
The data, huh.
"In the end, you were going to pin the human experiments on me, bury me, and walk off with the data. Am I wrong?"
Honestly, Kim Younghoon's reasoning was a fairly rational deduction. I genuinely thought so. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have been right.
Under ordinary circumstances.
"And if that's not it."
He narrowed his eyes and leaned toward me.
"Then how. How did you manage to show up at this exact moment — right when our experiment was in its final stage, right on the verge of success. Almost as if... you already knew the future."
"Meaning you planted a mole inside our alliance a long time ago. And the second we were about to finish, you barged in to steal the credit. That's the real nature of this situation. Well?"
A fairly rational deduction. A valid judgment. And a nearly perfect prediction. If I had truly been an ordinary human, the way he described, his thinking wouldn't have been wrong.
But there was a fatal flaw in his reasoning.
That I really did know the future.
He didn't know that, so he had arrived at this conclusion and was drunk on his own victory. In other words, he genuinely believed I had come here for that experiment data.
That was when he went on.
"Well, fine. I wasn't planning to negotiate empty-handed anyway. Along with this data... I'll also hand over the first test subject currently being held in the lab. With the data and that thing, the Association should be more than satisfied with the resul—"
"That thing, you said."
I cut him off, my voice low.
"...What?"
"I asked if you called them 'that thing.'"
Kim Younghoon shrugged as if it were nothing.
"What's with the sudden attitude? What else am I supposed to call it? Its brain's completely fried. It's just a lump of meat that can't even function as a person anymore."
His words — and the complete absence of even a shred of respect in them — sent hostility surging through me before I could stop it.
I let out a long breath, pulled out my phone, and hit a speed-dial number. Then I switched it to speakerphone, making sure Kim Younghoon could hear every word.
"Hello?"
"Yes, it's me, Ms. A-young."
"Yes, Mr. President."
"How did it go?"
The moment I asked, Kim Younghoon furrowed his brow, looking puzzled. And then her answer came.
"The underground laboratory you directed us to has been secured. And... protection is complete."
"Well done. We'll join you shortly."
I ended the call. And in that instant—
For the first time, Kim Younghoon lost his composure. His face twisted as he stared at me.