A Narrow Escape
I, who had claimed to be one of the Defenders of Humanity, thought, 'Should I grab some herbs too? Ah, whatever.' Too lazy to sort through anything, I simply swept up everything in the office—herbs, experimental tools, and hundreds of small mana stones. This haul would fetch a decent price. I could put it toward paying off Yeonhee's debt. The ones who reviewed the CCTV later would be in for a shock. Just imagining their faces improved my mood.
'Time to go.'
Descending the emergency stairs, I glanced toward the sixteenth floor. 'I figured we'd end up fighting at least once, but luck's holding.' The man called Isa had not yet arrived, and people were still scattered about, chatting in small groups.
'...... Should I try one more time?' Greed stirred. If the department head was only A-rank, then whoever held the director's position was likely a higher-ranked hunter. Still, corporate titles did not always match actual strength. 'Might be more useful information to gather.'
Having made up my mind, I was about to step onto the sixteenth floor when a massive presence surged toward the building through my sensory waves.
───!
'Damn it!'
I activated Lightning Step the instant I felt it.
'Already cast!'
Acceleration followed. The moment the presence registered, I leapt downward as though flying and hurled myself out of the building in a sliding roll. Just to be safe, I sprinted to the opposite side of the café where Yeonhee waited and paused to assess the situation.
'Huff— hah— I nearly died.'
That overwhelming presence belonged unmistakably to an S-rank hunter. I must have lost my mind for a moment. If there had been even the slightest chance of encountering someone like that, I should have withdrawn without hesitation. Even now I kept my sensory waves tightly compressed, terrified that spreading them might alert him.
'He definitely sensed me the same way I sensed him.'
The reaction had been instantaneous. The moment I perceived him, he had registered the anomaly. If even the red-haired elf had noticed me, a far stronger being would never have missed it. At least I had descended the stairs quietly; he had probably continued at his original pace, uncertain. Had he smashed through the building to reach me faster, he would have arrived at full speed and obliterated me on the spot.
I circled the area at a leisurely pace for roughly thirty minutes before entering the café. I immediately signaled to Yeonhee that we should leave.
Only after we had put considerable distance between ourselves and the building did we speak.
"What? It lets even non-awakened people use abilities? This thing?"
I nodded. Yeonhee frowned at the bottle of Evolution Water I had stolen.
"This… doesn't even have a description?"
Clack clack.
Most items displayed system explanations, yet this one remained blank—perhaps because development was incomplete, or for some other reason I could not determine.
'Which means we can't use it carelessly either. Not that I intended to.'
Was there any way to soothe the spirits of the sacrificed children? Someday such a day might come, so I would keep the bottle safe.
"Children were sacrificed to make this……"
Yeonhee could not finish the sentence and simply stared at the bottle in a daze.
'Just when I got her spirits up again, she's sinking back down. Anyway, it's getting late. Time to return to the hotel.'
I would visit Cha Jin-hyeok tomorrow before we left the area. For today, rest came first.
"We should stay somewhere else than the place we used yesterday, right?"
I nodded. No reason to linger where the trio had stayed. We relocated to a different pre-selected hotel and began examining the stolen items related to Evolution Water.
* * *
At the same moment, a burly man whose build reminded one of a shot put stood on the sixteenth floor of the building Ilwol had infiltrated, his expression grave.
"So it was that bastard. It really was him. I should have come running right away."
The man, wearing a white jumper with the letters DOH embroidered on his left forearm, muttered while propping his chin on his hand. Dozens of high-ranking hunters stood in a line before him, heads bowed, awaiting their fate.
One of the few branches that handled both research, development, and sales had been cleaned out without a sound—right before a high-ranking official's scheduled visit.
The hunters' craned necks made them look like chickens waiting to be slaughtered. Among them, Department Head Bang squeezed his eyes shut, recalling the grim rumors that anyone caught leaking secrets was turned into a test subject. Though he had been with the organization since its founding and accumulated countless achievements, dark thoughts kept surfacing before the monster standing before him.
While Bang trembled, Eom Sang-uk's mind was elsewhere.
'…The chairman definitely said evening. Why was the time moved forward?'
He had arrived several hours earlier than the chairman's predicted time, yet the visit had been a complete waste. DOH—Defenders of Humanity. The grandiose name of the organization led by the chairman whose foresight had never failed. That fact alone made S-rank hunter Eom Sang-uk's expression grow even heavier.
Moreover, the chairman had foreseen a great battle against a formidable enemy and prepared accordingly. Yet the intruder had merely stolen goods like a rat and fled. It made no sense.
"A perception-type ability user…… Aside from the earliest awakeners, there are almost no known perception users……"
The energy he had felt on the way here was unmistakably that of a perception ability. He knew the signature from past encounters with such users.
'From the building to my location—over three kilometers. Is that even possible?'
Circumstantially, the culprit had entered in stealth and swept the place clean.
'Perception, stealth, and even a [Warehouse] ability capable of storing massive quantities…… Can such a person exist? His vessel would overflow……'
Rare abilities were said to have strict limits on how many one individual could possess.
'Hah. Truly baffling.'
He set the incomprehensible matter aside for now and looked at the trembling hunters with bowed heads.
'How should I handle the punishment? Bang has contributed greatly to the organization. The subordinates are one thing, but given his personality, harsh punishment might cause them to defect.'
Eom Sang-uk stroked his beard, finished his deliberations, and spoke in an even tone.
"Hmm. What's done is done. Nothing we can do about it now. Besides, everything here was only half-finished anyway, wasn't it?"
He addressed Bang, who had served the chairman loyally for years, as though the loss were trivial.
"Y-yes! They were all diluted to less than one percent of the original solution. The D-series sold out completely when several hunter teams came at lunch."
The D-series referred to products made by mixing a high concentration of the Evolution Water essence obtained through child sacrifice.
"The customers who bought at lunch—through what channels were they recruited?"
"Ah, through 'non-hunters'……"
"I see. Government employees acting as brokers. Doesn't sit well."
"Th-that's correct…… But it does help raise credibility."
"Well, that's just my personal feeling. I won't criticize the method. Just keep the buyer list secure and continue gathering information. That's our top priority."
"Yes, sir! It's registered on the server. The buyers seem a bit sensitive today, so we'll assign tails starting tomorrow."
"Good. Hmm—just in case, let's all stay here together tonight. In the meantime, explain the formulated products to me."
"Of course!"
Bang had braced for severe punishment, yet Director Eom's unexpectedly calm reaction brought immense relief.
'Whew—thank goodness. Even with the financial loss, replacing us wouldn't be easy.'
Still, Eom Sang-uk did not forget to add a warning.
"Department Head. If that stealth user had sold everything he stole at full price, it would have exceeded two hundred billion. That's the equivalent of roughly twenty artifacts gone. I know you've all worked hard, but punishment is unavoidable. I'll do my best to keep it at a pay-cut level, though."
At the assurance that the punishment would not be harsh, smiles finally appeared on the gathered hunters' faces. Eom Sang-uk's true aim was to secure their loyalty for the future, and the immediate surge in goodwill showed his approach had worked.
"If we only cared about money, starting a guild would have been far more profitable. You all understand that, right?"
""Yes!!""
Pleased by the spirited reply that shook the room, Eom Sang-uk nodded and continued.
"That doesn't mean we're only chasing honor, either. We will safeguard the world's safety while never neglecting our own gains. Efficiency is low right now, so we're at this stage, but just watch. Eventually, we will control this world."
The hunters' mouths curved upward even more.
"Good. I hear quite a few products remain on the sixteenth floor. Let's sort those first. And clear the entire building within an hour."
"Understood, Director."
As soon as he finished speaking, Eom Sang-uk leaned back on the sofa. His posture was relaxed, yet the mana surrounding him grew sharper still. Bang felt goosebumps rise across his entire body.
'A monster…… This is no longer human.'
S-rank hunter Eom Sang-uk, a body-enhancement type ranked within the top two hundred in the country. No one who entered his grasp would ever escape. Bang believed it with certainty.
* * *
"Evolution Water, stones that appear to be Evolution Stones, and nothing else noteworthy."
Back at the hotel, we laid out the stolen items, but neither of us were experts. Looking at them told us nothing concrete—only guesses.
"Haa……"
Yeonhee let out another deep sigh while stroking one of the stones. She had no desire to learn how they were created. The method Kang Yeonsu had described was surely the foundation, but the subsequent processing steps were likely varied. The red-hatted mutant had spoken as though the children had been consumed directly. Now nothing made sense anymore. The only certainty was that children were being sacrificed.
'They even mentioned automation, so they must have sufficient materials. There were probably limits to kidnapping children, though. Is there another method?'
"How pitiful…… I'm reporting this right now! The special division of the management agency will definitely arrest every last one of them."
Yeonhee did not hide her fury and reached for her smartphone as if to call immediately. My thoughts, however, differed. There could not be only one powerhouse on the level of the director I had sensed earlier. Ultimately, this meant multiple S-rank hunters were involved in the operation. Would the management agency or the association truly have remained ignorant of a venture of that scale? These were organizations that claimed to hold Korea firmly in their grasp. Moreover, the special division did not maintain forces capable of opposing S-ranks who wielded absolute power.
'Circumstantially…… they may be involved. At the very least, we can assume they turned a blind eye.'