The Bureau's Sudden Inspection
The Hunter Management Bureau, next day at 2 PM. The peaceful air in the forge froze in an instant. It was because two black sedans glided to a halt beyond the shutter. The car doors opened, and four men and women in suits stepped out. Their chests gleamed with silver badges.
Hunter Management Bureau
The national agency that manages all hunters in Korea, operates dungeons, and monitors and controls unusual phenomena.
Above all, to hunters, they were no different from grim reapers.
Ding-a-ling— The wind chime rang out with unusual sharpness.
“Are you Im Seojun?”
The man in the lead asked. Square jaw, sharp eyes. His name tag read 'Investigation Team Leader Kim Hyungseok'.
“Yes, that's me.”
Seojun took off his work gloves and greeted them. The inevitable has arrived, he thought. The successive kaeyi appearances around the forge lately. There was no way they could completely evade the Hunter Management Bureau's radar.
“We've received reports from nearby residents. Strange noises every night, an eerie aura... And...”
Kim Hyungseok glanced around the forge before continuing. “There were also reports of a kaeyi appearing nearby.”
Seojun's heart sank. Mentioning kaeyi outright made him flinch. The warehouse was packed with kaeyi byproducts, after all. If they found out, it could lead to intense interrogation and investigation. Hunter license revocation was the least of it—in the worst case, he could be arrested for collusion with kaeyi. On top of that, since kaeyi transformation had occurred, a physical exam might classify him as non-human.
“The noise is natural for a forge... As for kaeyi, I wouldn't know. I've been holed up here with a huge workload lately.”
Seojun played it cool.
“We'll know once we check. We have a warrant. We request your cooperation in the search.”
Kim Hyungseok held out a sheet of paper. An official search warrant. There was no right to refuse. Resisting here would mean arrest for obstructing official duties.
“Go ahead and look.”
Seojun stepped aside without protest. The investigators pulled out detection devices.
Weeeeng— The devices hummed to life, red lasers sweeping every corner of the forge.
I sealed it so no aura leaks out, but...
The most dangerous spot was the warehouse. Where kaeyi byproducts were stored intact. No matter the seal, he wasn't sure it could fool the bureau's equipment.
Sure enough, one investigator headed toward the warehouse.
Beep... beep... beep... The detector's beeps rang out rhythmically.
The investigator opened the warehouse door and stepped inside.
Cold sweat trickled down Seojun's back. Time seemed to stop.
One minute, two minutes. Soon, the investigator emerged from the warehouse.
“Team leader.”
Kim Hyungseok turned.
“No anomalies. Readings are normal.”
“...What?”
Kim Hyungseok's brow furrowed. Seojun was equally stunned inside.
It didn't detect anything?
The warehouse shelves clearly held kaeyi materials. Yet the detector showed no reaction?
Suddenly, he recalled the Hahoe Mask's actions. It had tapped out its pipe in the corner of the forge. And the reddish-brown ash had melted into the space.
Could that be...
It wasn't ordinary ash. Likely a barrier that masked kaeyi auras. One even the Hunter Management Bureau's cutting-edge gear couldn't pierce.
Seojun nearly sighed in relief but caught himself. It was too early to relax.
“Strange. We definitely picked up a signal.”
Kim Hyungseok grabbed a detector himself and began scanning the floor inch by inch. The spot where the Kappa had spilled water, where Net Bag Grandpa had dragged his net bag.
Beep... beep... Still, the machine stayed silent. As if nothing had ever happened, perfectly clean.
The Hahoe Mask's pipe ash had turned the entire forge into a scentless void.
Naturally, Kim Hyungseok's expression hardened. He seemed reluctant to admit it was a bust.
His sharp gaze swept the workbench, then locked onto the anvil.
“What's this?”
He pointed to the weapon Seojun had reforged last night from the monstrosity born of kaeyi transformation. Too short for a sword, too thick for a dagger. Its overall shape resembled a sharp awl, but the irregular, twisted surface evoked a lightning-struck dead tree or a beast's bone.
“An... experimental piece.”
“Experimental?”
Kim Hyungseok picked it up with gloved hands.
“Heavy.”
He grimaced. Unnaturally heavy for its size. High-density compressed steel. But it wasn't just the weight. A bizarre discomfort emanated from the weapon. Not infused mana, not a curse. Readings normal. Yet an instinctive urge to let go.
Kim Hyungseok ran a finger along the surface.
Ssshh.
A chilling texture. Smooth yet rough, cold yet lukewarm.
“What material? Doesn't feel like standard alloy.”
“I hammered scrap metal thousands of times. Pushed the mana-infused forging process to its limit, and the properties changed.”
Not a lie. Just omitting the kaeyi transformation part.
Kim Hyungseok infused it with mana.
Humm— The weapon vibrated. But unlike normal mana conduction, it didn't absorb—it devoured his mana forcibly, then regurgitated it undigested, a repulsive backlash.
“Ugh.”
He dropped it, hand trembling. Palm tingling.
“Vicious temperament. Who'd use something like this?”
“That's why it's experimental.”
Kim Hyungseok's suspicious glare lingered. But there was no more leverage. No illegal materials, no kaeyi traces detected. Just a creepy weapon.
“Im Seojun.”
Kim Hyungseok powered down the detector.
“We work for citizen safety. If you see anything suspicious around or get a commission you can't handle, report it immediately. I've seen countless hunters ruin their lives chasing a few bucks.”
This was a warning. Seojun bowed his head.
“I'll keep that in mind.”
“Withdraw.”
At Kim Hyungseok's order, the investigators packed up. They fled the forge as if eager to leave.
Vrooom— The black sedans drove away.
Only then did Seojun exhale the breath he'd held.
“Hoo...”
His legs gave out, and he slumped into a chair. Heart pounding wildly. Without the Hahoe Mask's help, he'd be in cuffs in an interrogation room by now.
He carefully pulled a bundle of horsehair from his pocket. The black strands trembled faintly. Exhausted from blocking the bureau's detectors.
“Thank you, elder.”
Seojun murmured to the air. Kaeyi were capricious and dangerous, but sometimes they offered surer protection than human law.
He pocketed the horsehair and picked up the weapon from the anvil.
Vicious temperament...
He agreed with the investigator. He'd done his best to reforge the monstrosity, but it was still a failure.
It's remade from something a kaeyi essentially created.
Not true kaeyi, but undeniable kaeyi influence. Forged while eroded by kaeyi transformation, aura leaking out. No matter how covered, clear limits. Barely more than a trace, so it didn't show.
At best, kaeyi-scented additive?
Seojun eyed the failure with a complicated expression, then hung it on the display rack. A reminder to steel himself against kaeyi erosion.
“Still...”
He recalled the Hahoe Mask's words.
"It wasn't a lapse in focus. The vessel overflowed."
Clearly, a lack of capacity.
“If I could maintain that sensation, that feeling, with a sound mind...”
Conversely, expand the vessel, and he could handle kaeyi transformation. Especially abilities only possible in that state. To a blacksmith, a fruit sweeter than dreams. Piercing materials intuitively, transcending physical limits to reshape structures.
“I can surely touch miracles.”
Not empty words. A benefit for the qualified. Called miracles because they were miraculous.
“You're still alive, right? Not scared?”
Seojun's eyes darkened deeply.
It was five years ago. The 'Daegwallyeong Fog Incident' that shook Korea. Later announced as a dungeon break. But not an ordinary one. A kaeyi dungeon break.
His clueless parents and little sister vanished into the kaeyi tales. Rescue ops launched everywhere, but only missing persons piled up. In the end, even the government and Hunter Management Bureau gave up, declaring it a no-man's-land.
“Just wait a little longer.”
Trapped in kaeyi tales, one dies or becomes a resident. If a resident, shattering the kaeyi tale could free them. But if dead by some chance, the moment the kaeyi tale breaks—they escape its bonds and die eternally.
But if a miracle existed, even the dead in kaeyi tales could be revived. A rare hope, with survival cases on record.