Chapter 139: A Night Out
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 139: A Night Out
“You really went all out, didn't you?”
“…I know.”
“Weren’t you going there to apologize?”
“…”
In a quiet café, Choi Hyena sipped her coffee.
Across from her, Wendigo watched with an indifferent gaze while nibbling on a cookie.
“What are you going to do now? You completely wrecked his house.”
“About that…”
Drrr. Just then, her phone rang, and Choi Hyena took it out.
[Secretary Kim]
It was one of her aides.
“What is it?”
-Miss, I've handled it as you instructed.
“What about the villa residents?”
-Excluding the three households we couldn't reach, all residents have accepted the compensation plan. We'll have it all wrapped up by tomorrow morning at the latest.
“Alright.”
Click. Only then could Choi Hyena breathe a sigh of relief.
Immediately after leaving Kang Hyun-woo's house to do the bare minimum of cleanup, she had instructed her aide to purchase the entire apartment building.
In addition, to prevent the other residents from complaining to Kang Hyun-woo, she promised them a compensation package and building repairs.
She had also called for a Restoration Mage, so by tomorrow afternoon, Kang Hyun-woo's wrecked home would be returned to its original state.
All that remained was to figure out the identity of the rabbit-kin woman she'd met at his house and her relationship with Kang Hyun-woo.
“She called Hyun-woo ‘Master,’ right? Doesn't that mean they're either lovers or sex friends?”
“S-Sex friends??”
“Hm? Don't tell me you don't know what that is.”
“I know what it is!”
Sex friends. A relationship for satisfying each other's sexual desires without any emotional attachment.
For Choi Hyena, who had grown up in a conservative household, it was like something from another world.
“…I don’t think they’re sex friends.”
She didn’t know why the woman called him Master, but she could feel the affection the rabbit-kin woman had for him in her gaze.
Besides, Kang Hyun-woo didn't seem like the type to prefer such a casual relationship.
“…He told me before that he had another lover.”
“Hmph? Just as I thought.”
Unlike Choi Hyena, who was struggling with the conversation, Wendigo reacted casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Choi Hyena found her attitude rather displeasing.
“Doesn’t it bother you at all?”
Wendigo chuckled and took a sip of her coffee.
“Frankly, I don't see why you're so upset. Isn't it natural for a man of high social standing to have relationships with multiple women?”
“That’s…”
“Besides, I recall Sir Hyun-woo telling you beforehand that he had another lover, didn't he? Strictly speaking, you're the latecomer. If anyone has the right to be angry and upset, it's that rabbit-kin female.”
Stung by the irrefutable logic, Choi Hyena bit her lip.
But if logic alone could solve everything, the world wouldn't function properly.
Her personal investigation had revealed that Kang Hyun-woo didn't have a lover, or even any women he was close to.
That's why, for the past three days, a part of her might have felt relieved.
She'd thought that while she was away, no other woman would swoop in and take her place by his side.
But the thought that he was fooling around with another woman while she was agonizing in regret…
Bang!
Choi Hyena slammed her fist on the table.
Since she hadn't imbued it with magic power, the table didn't break.
“So, what's your plan?”
She hadn't been forgiven yet, and in fact, she'd just made another mistake, but she had no intention of giving up now.
“…I'll just have to do things my way.”
If she were going to give up, she would have done so long ago.
*
“Master?”
Noel, wearing a black mask that revealed only her blue eyes, approached him.
“Huh?”
“What's wrong all of a sudden? You've been standing still for a while.”
“…My ears are just itchy.”
“Your ears are itchy?”
It was a strange sensation, as if someone was talking about me.
“Should I clean them for you?”
“…Their structure is different from human ears. Do you think you can do it?”
I was worried she might end up piercing my eardrums.
“Hey now. I'm not some crude carnivore. I'm very delicate.”
“That's speciesist.”
“Still, it seems like the people here prefer having herbivores like us clean their ears.”
“…What?”
“I saw flyers for ‘Beast-kin Ear Cleaning Rooms’ all over the streets earlier. They were advertising like crazy, saying they had my species, goat-kin, and deer-kin women.”
“…”
I couldn't even ask when she'd had the time to notice something like that; Noel had been completely absorbed in sightseeing ever since we left the house.
She'd gasp in awe at every tall building and scamper over to beg me to buy her food whenever she smelled something delicious. It was like watching a country girl who'd just arrived in the big city.
‘…Then again, I'd probably rather have an herbivore clean my ears than a carnivore, too.’
Generally, carnivorous beast-kin tend to have violent dispositions.
Omnivores, like humans, are relatively normal, while herbivores are often kind and pure-hearted.
Of course, that doesn't mean they're naive pushovers who don't know how the world works.
“Anyway, what should we do with these?”
Noel pointed at the bodies sprawled on the floor.
Kang Changwon, Kim Yumi, and Kim Jangjun.
Members of the Seongnam City Council, they had committed various acts of corruption in the Taepyeong-dong redevelopment project, such as forcing related agencies to cooperate, manipulating the resident approval process, and distorting information about the project.
Not many city council members were directly involved in this redevelopment.
Most of them simply took bribes to stay silent.
But these three were different.
As expected of the shadiest members of the council, there was intel that they were close and frequented hotels together.
Based on that information, Noel and I raided a hotel on the outskirts of the city and found the three of them lost in a drug-fueled orgy.
‘So that's why they were so shady.’
I glanced at the leftover drugs on the table.
It was a drug made from a fruit called Paradise Starfruit, which only grows in a specific Gate.
Because its particles are star-shaped, it's known as P.S.
Its severe addictiveness and side effects were once covered extensively in the news.
However, I'd heard it disappeared after the company that distributed P.S. and several collaborating guilds were all taken down.
‘Where on earth did they get this?’
This wasn't something a mere city council member could obtain. I'd heard that even in South Korea, known as a drug-free country, several addicts had emerged, causing the government to foam at the mouth while cracking down on it.
“…Not my problem.”
I quickly lost interest. I wasn't a cop; digging into the source of the drugs wasn't my job.
“Noel, let's get going. I'll cast the invisibility magic on you again.”
Even for a summon like Noel, casting the ‘Phantom Shifter’ magic on someone else consumed a significant amount of magic power.
It was best to leave the crime scene before any trouble arose.
“Um, but Master.”
“What is it?”
“Why didn't you torture them?”
Noel asked with a pure, innocent expression, as if she were genuinely curious.
“You said you tortured the other two before killing them. But with these three, you just cleanly sliced their necks.”
Just as Noel said, the three had their throats slit while they were lost in their drug-fueled sex.
They probably didn't even realize their throats were being cut until the very moment they died.
“Was it… because you were worried about me?”
“You're being self-conscious.”
I pinched and pulled Noel's cheeks as she cupped her chin with her hands.
“Oww…”
“Don't be so dramatic.”
As Noel said, unlike with the district mayor and the chairman, this time I just finished it by lopping off their heads.
But it wasn't because I was being considerate of Noel. It's not like she's so fragile that she'd tremble at the sight of a corpse.
If anything, she's the type who couldn't care less if someone unrelated to her lives or dies.
“I'm not a psychopath. I'm only torturing the ones leading this whole thing.”
The Gyeonggi Province Governor, the Director of Urban Planning, the district mayor, and finally, the Chairman of the Redevelopment Committee.
I've already taken care of the last two, so now only the Gyeonggi Province Governor and the Director of Urban Planning are left.
“Besides, it's about time I threw some confusion into the investigation.”
Of course, there's the link to the Taepyeong-dong redevelopment, but the fact that these victims weren't tortured, unlike the first two, will make it difficult for them to be certain it's the same culprit.
Those bastards were so corrupt in the first place, a little digging will turn up plenty of other suspects.
“Hmm… Oh, right! Can we get a late-night snack on the way back??”
“…Didn't you eat before we came here?”
Two hours ago, Noel had devoured ten servings by herself at a Korean restaurant. And for the record, it was a famous place known for its large portions.
Someone had even asked if she was a mukbang NewTuber.
“Hehe.”
“…You already have something in mind?”
“Of course! Chicken!”
“Didn't we have that for lunch?”
“You can never get tired of chicken!”
Is that so? I get a little tired of it.
Then again, I've never been good with greasy food.
“Let's stop by somewhere else first.”
“Huh? Where?”
I stroked Noel's head and cast the spell. Both of our bodies turned invisible.
“To hunt some thugs.”
*
A weekend morning feels just as good now as it ever did.
No, objectively speaking, it's even better now.
When she was awake, Noel could be a bit noisy and was always busy eating something, but when she was asleep like this, she was perfect for cuddling.
She was soft all over, and she always smelled wonderful.
‘I was planning on going to the dojo, but maybe I'll just skip it today…’
Groping Noel's chest in my drowsy state, I had no desire to get out of bed.
Ding-dong—
But an uninvited guest shattered the pleasant silence.
‘…I'll just ignore it.’
Ding-dong—
A rather persistent guest.
“Ughhh… so noisy…”
“What, you were awake?”
“I just woke up…”
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong—
“Aahh…!”
Noel, who had been covering her long ear canals with both hands, finally dove under the covers.
Not that hiding would make the source of the noise disappear.
Honestly, it was absurd. Ringing someone's doorbell repeatedly on a weekend morning was practically a declaration of war.
“Sigh… I guess there's no choice. Noel, I choose you.”
“Huuuh…? You want me to go?”
“Should the master go, then?”
“…I'm confiscating your chest privileges for the day.”
Rustle. I scrambled out of bed.
“A summon threatening her master… It's the end of days.”
But I couldn't give up her chest.
Still groggy with sleep, I shuffled toward the front door.
Since the bedroom wall was gone, I could walk straight through the living room to the entrance.
Stepping on the debris I hadn't cleaned up yet, I felt a pang of bitterness in my chest.
Ding-dong—
“Yeah, I'm coming.”
If it was someone trying to proselytize, I was more than ready to add another corpse to my count.
Clack. Suppressing my killing intent, I threw open the door. An unexpected person was standing there.
“A-ahem.”
“…Choi Hyena?”
A sense of inexplicable anxiety began to well up inside me.
‘…There's nothing left to break, so it should be fine, right?’