Hunting Season
"Please... I need you to tell me the truth."
The tear tracks still marked Yoo Ji-ah's cheeks as she sat there. Her tears had not even finished drying. Yet her eyes were more serious than he had ever seen them.
"Is it really... Seong-min...?"
Her instincts had already spoken. The man in front of her was Seong-min. Compared to the boy she remembered, he had matured so much that as an adult he was almost unrecognizable. But those eyes looking back at her—that gaze—told her it was him.
"It is... isn't it? You're really... Seong-min... right?"
"...Yeah."
"Ah... aah..."
Her body began to tremble. She had already believed it was him, but the moment the truth stood confirmed, the shock crashed over her again like a tidal wave.
"Ugh... hic..."
She covered her face right there and poured out her tears. Of course she did. She had missed him so desperately. She had truly wanted to see him again. But she could never have met Seong-min like this. She had never wanted him to see her in this state. If she could have remained only a happy memory—the bright first love of third grade—she would have considered even that a blessing. At least then, in Seong-min's mind, she would still have been someone different from the woman she had become.
"Ugh... uuugh...!!!"
She sobbed as if her heart would break, face buried in her hands. Through all of it, he simply waited in silence, letting his old class president cry as long as she needed.
How much time passed, he could not say. When she had finally calmed enough, Yoo Ji-ah wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Seong-min... you can see what kind of situation I'm in now. I'm not the class president you used to know anymore. I've fallen all the way to the bottom. I'm not someone who has any right to sit face-to-face with you like this. So please... stop putting yourself in danger for me. Just let me go back. If I go back, no harm will come to you."
She believed that was the right choice. These people were gangsters. Seong-min could never handle them alone. If she simply returned to her place, he would be safe. She could deal with the aftermath herself.
"Thank you... Seong-min. Even so... for trying to help me like this..."
She forced the words out. She did not know what he had done while he was outside, but if she went back now—back to the Yonggolpa—she could reclaim her old position.
"And what do you plan to do once you're back? Sell your body to more strangers?"
"I've already been sold to the Yonggolpa. They call them VIPs, but my body is already filthy. Moving me to Sichang Street doesn't change anything..."
Outstanding beauty could be a weapon, but it could just as easily turn a person into merchandise. After the loan sharks sold her to the Yonggolpa, she had entertained their VIPs. Recently she had been transferred to Sichang Street. It was her first client after the VIPs, yet she had washed herself calmly and gone out to receive him. Whoever it was, her body was already soiled. She had taken that first client on Sichang Street—and now she was here. The client who had brought her turned out to be Seong-min. More than joy at seeing the boy she had longed for, the sheer wretchedness of the situation crushed her. She could show this face to anyone else, but never to him. She had never wanted a reunion like this.
"If I just go back... you'll be fine, Seong-min. I'll talk to them. If I persuade them..."
"There's no need."
Seong-min's expression hardened.
"Those bastards won't be coming after you anymore."
"What... are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said. The Yonggolpa isn't the organization you knew anymore."
"......?"
Yoo Ji-ah could not make sense of his words. Did he not understand how terrifying the Yonggolpa was? They controlled Cheonan and Asan. Their influence in the region was overwhelming; even local politicians felt the pressure.
"You saw it yourself, didn't you? What I did to the one who came here to drag you back. That pimp who was over a hundred ninety centimeters—I put him down with a single hit."
"S-Seong-min..."
"I finished it. With these hands. I just came back from sending them all off."
"......!"
"You think they're going to mobilize to catch you again when they can barely keep their own house standing? Impossible in their current state."
If some other faction moved, maybe. But the Yonggolpa had no room to breathe. Twelve executives and the boss himself had been crippled and hauled off to the hospital. The organization was a power vacuum. The idea that they would waste energy chasing down a runaway hostess was absurd.
"No... you... don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
"The men I dealt with... were the Yonggolpa's VIPs. Not ordinary people. They would never just let someone like me go free. I heard things in bed—things that could destroy them."
She knew exactly how the women who serviced the VIPs were handled. Girls like her were shipped to Sichang Street and placed under constant watch. That massive pimp over a hundred ninety centimeters had not been some ordinary brothel keeper; he was the supervisor the Yonggolpa had assigned to monitor and control her.
"Even without the Yonggolpa... the VIPs I met will still be worried about my existence."
"So you're asking me to send you back there?"
"......"
"I can't. I won't. The VIPs you entertained might try to snatch you again? Let them try. No—before that, I'll punish those bastards myself. Every last one of those arrogant pricks who played with you, Class President. With my own hands."
Yoo Ji-ah shook her head hard.
"No... you can't, Seong-min...! You'll be in terrible danger...! If you do that..."
"You're worried about me?"
Seong-min gave a bitter smile. He cupped her face in his hands and gently stroked her cheek as she looked up at him with trembling eyes.
"Class President... you're still the same. Even in a situation like this, you worry about me first..."
Fresh tears welled in her moist, shaking eyes.
"I'll make them regret it. Every person who put you in this position. Every bastard who used you like this... I'll pay them back thoroughly."
She did not know. She had no idea what he had become. He was now a being who feared nothing in the world. A Martial Power of 300 was overwhelming. Through this hunt he had once again grasped the full measure of his own strength—power that had left the realm of ordinary humans behind. He wondered whether he even still belonged in the category of "human." He had become a superhuman. Even while hunting, he had barely needed to exert himself. No matter how many enforcers or bodyguards stood in his way, subduing them had been effortless. Some had charged with weapons—baseball bats, iron pipes, wooden clubs. He had dealt with them without the slightest strain. Their movements had looked slow, childish. A Martial Power of 60 had already been impressive; 300 inspired awe. Gangsters no longer even registered on his radar. But his old class president, who knew none of this, could only worry for him.
"For now, just rest and recover. Leave the people who hurt you to me. I'll punish every last one of them with my own hands."
"Seong-min, I..."
Yoo Ji-ah could not finish the sentence. Emotion choked her voice. The misery of her reality left her unable to speak.
That night, Seong-min stayed by her side for the sake of her peace of mind.
"Don't think about anything else... just sleep well tonight."
He laid her on the bed and drew the blanket up over her shoulders.
"Will you... stay here?"
She looked at him with anxious eyes.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."
He gave her a gentle smile. Whether from exhaustion or from the simple fact that he was beside her, Yoo Ji-ah soon began to breathe evenly and slipped into sleep.
"......"
He watched her for a while, then quietly stepped out onto the balcony, closed the door behind him, and opened the window. Night had already fallen; the sky was dark. He took a cigarette pack from his pocket, put one between his lips, and lit it.
"Hooo..."
He exhaled a long stream of smoke.
It had been his turn for cleaning duty. After finishing, he was heading home when the class president suddenly popped out from around the corner of the stairs.
"Huh?"
He looked at her with mild surprise. Her cheeks puffed out in a pout.
"What? That's no fun. You didn't even jump."
"I was surprised."
"Tch... liar. Your face doesn't look surprised at all."
Faced with that sulky expression, he scratched the back of his head.
"So what's up?"
"What's up? I was waiting for you, Seong-min."
"Why?"
"So we can walk home together, of course."
"Home?"
"Yeah."
He had been genuinely startled that she had waited for him even though it was not her cleaning day. They went down the stairs, out the main entrance, across the playground, and through the school gate. Then she suddenly stopped.
"Let's go eat tteokbokki."
"I don't have any money..."
"Ta-da!"
She pulled a cute character wallet from the pocket of her skirt.
"It was my birthday this weekend, remember?"
"Yeah."
He had been invited that day too.
"So Dad gave me extra allowance. I'm rich now~~! Jealous?"
"Yeah."
"Are you really jealous?"
When she puffed up again, he nodded once more.
"Okay~ I'll let it slide just this once!"
Then she beamed.
"I promised I'd treat you again next time, remember? So since I'm rich today, I wanted to go eat with you again."
She took his hand.
"Come on, Seong-min~~ Today we're having tteokbokki and dumplings too~!"
And just like that, she pulled him along to the snack shop once more.
"......"
Class President had always been like that. She had looked after him, cared for him. Unlike him—gloomy and dark—she had been brighter than anyone, a girl like radiant sunlight.
"Hooo..."
Even as he smoked and exhaled, Seong-min felt the tightness in his chest, the sharp ache, refuse to fade.
Class President—Yoo Ji-ah—had been the one who brought hope into the dark life of an orphan like him.