Chapter 84
"You do band vocals in Hongdae?"
"Yeah."
Oh Min-young — Howling — nodded as she answered. The woman who had made it all the way to the main rounds of the Rookie King tournament was sitting slumped in front of a vanishing gate, shooting the breeze with her teammates. Today she was having a casual chat about personal stuff with Kim Ju-sung, the newest addition to their recently formed team.
Kim Jin-pyo looked at Oh Min-young and said,
"I saw you. Your singing is fucking insane. You kill it."
The praise seemed to land well. Oh Min-young's mouth curved into a small smile. Kim Ju-sung watched her with genuine interest and asked,
"What genre?"
"Punk rock."
"Punk rock?"
Kim Ju-sung didn't know much about music. So instead of marveling or finding common ground, he said it the way someone greets a classmate's name they've never heard before. Oh Min-young caught the nuance immediately — he had zero interest in music.
"You know Ragebone?"
"Ragebone? Uh… is that a famous band?"
Kim Jin-pyo clapped and laughed, knowing Ju-sung had just taken a blind stab at it. Oh Min-young laughed too and said,
"Yeah, famous band. Give them a listen. Roughly that kind of genre."
"Ragebone? Will it come up if I search it in Korean?"
Kim Ju-sung pulled out his phone, ready to look them up right then. Oh Min-young was pleased by how game he was being. Beaming, she nodded and even rattled off recommended tracks.
"Oh, right. We do regular gigs every Tuesday and Thursday night at a club around here."
"At a club? Damn, so you're a real singer then."
That only made her happier. She shook her head at Kim Ju-sung.
"Singer? Please… I've still got a long way to go."
Kim Ju-sung looked at the shop she'd shown him in a photo and nodded.
"Place is farther out than I expected."
"Yeah. It's at the far end of Hongdae. Come by sometime if you're bored."
"Sure. I'll definitely go. I've always kind of liked concerts like that. When I was a kid I used to bug my grandma to take me to park concerts."
"Whose concert?"
"Can't remember. I was obsessed at the time, though. Anyway — looks like I get to go after all. Thanks."
Kim Ju-sung put his phone away and scanned the area. The soldiers treated them like part of the scenery, ignoring them while they dismantled the equipment. Ju-sung fidgeted with his fingers and looked around again. Kim Jin-pyo stuck a cigarette in his mouth with a bored expression and occasionally fired a weak beam from his fingertips up into the sky.
It looked just like the firework games kids used to play. Kim Ju-sung spoke up.
"Hey, so we're on the same team now."
"Yeah. About four months left, right?"
Oh Min-young nodded as she stated the remaining time. Kim Jin-pyo felt like she was drawing a line and pushed back.
"Four months? Come on. We should keep this going. Is that all our friendship is worth?"
"Who the hell knows how life's gonna go? Once I've saved enough money, I'm done with hunter work. I'm gonna grind hard, drop an album, and buy a truck. My dream is being a singer, not a hunter. For real — last time I was on TV, a shitload of assholes started flooding my SNS with the dumbest fucking questions. God, that Ada Destroyer motherfucker. Who the fuck picks a nickname like that?"
Kim Jin-pyo snickered. Oh Min-young snapped at him.
"Don't fucking laugh! You got roasted just as hard for getting your ass handed to you by Destroyer!"
"Hey, hey! Watch your mouth!"
As the two of them looked ready to start yelling, Kim Jin-pyo changed the subject.
"A truck?"
Kim Ju-sung latched onto the word. Oh Min-young nodded.
"Yeah. A truck. A mobile stage truck loaded with massive speakers. I'm gonna drive that thing around and perform."
"Doing punk rock with that?"
"Yeah. Punk rock shows, and just driving around healing people too."
"Sounds rough."
"It is. But it's my dream. I've wanted this since I was nine. Buy two big trailer trucks — one as a camper, one as a stage — and just tour. Sick, right?"
"That's amazing."
Kim Ju-sung said it with a smile. Oh Min-young felt good. Ju-sung checked the surroundings again. He watched the soldiers load the last of the gear onto a two-and-a-half-ton truck and climb aboard. Now there was truly no one left near the gate. He spoke in a low voice.
"Want to grab a meal and some drinks? I've still got prize money left from placing second last time, so it's on me today. Anyone got allergies?"
Oh Min-young raised her hand.
"I'm allergic to apples and shrimp."
Kim Ju-sung's eyes lit up as he smiled.
"Really? Her allergy's that bad?"
"Yes. I just asked once and she told me right away. Even a little apple and her throat swells up so bad she can't scream."
After a pleasant meal, Kim Jin-pyo and Oh Min-young headed off toward their respective homes. In a back alley between the glittering lights, Kim Ju-sung passed the information he'd gathered to a hunter from the Diamond Club. The hunter's voice was full of delight.
"That so? Then this gets a lot simpler. No need to bring extra people. I'll give you shrimp and apple juice in spray form that day — hit her with it when things get chaotic. Got it?"
Kim Ju-sung nodded, then asked,
"Yes, sir. Understood. But what about the academy instructors? There's a B-rank hunter holding the fort — will I even get a chance to shine?"
"Oh, you will. We'll handle that. You ever heard of Chariot?"
"Cherry?"
"Chariot, you idiot. Chariot."
The hunter repeated the name, clearly irritated. But Kim Ju-sung still had never heard of it. The Diamond Club hunter suddenly tapped at his phone screen and said,
"I sent you a photo. Check it."
Mid-call, Kim Ju-sung opened the picture — and grimaced without meaning to. What stared back at him was a monster. Even at a glance it looked terrifying and powerful. A long, heavily muscled body supported a head that looked like a virus, the whole frame held up by grotesquely swollen, naked muscle.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Kim Ju-sung recoiled after checking the photo. The Diamond Club hunter said,
"That's A-rank, kid. A-rank. We're going to drop a false alert that the bastard appeared near the training grounds. Then every instructor and drill sergeant over there will scramble that way. This thing is famous for being genuinely dangerous — not some ordinary job. They'll all go. The other kids will be freaked out just hearing an A-rank showed up. That's when you stand right in the middle, take control, calm everyone down, and show them what you're made of."
"Yes, sir. Understood."
"We've got one of our awakeners planted there. Curse-type. If someone's carrying his mark or crest, they get emotionally agitated for no reason, anxious, body won't move right — that kind of thing. We drew his crest small on the gate equipment. It fades over time, so no evidence left behind."
Kim Ju-sung had never known there were awakeners who could lay curses on people. When he made a small sound of surprise, the hunter continued, clearly pleased.
"So, to run through the plan again: news of an A-rank monster has the academy students 'a little too' terrified and on edge. Then, of all times, a gate suddenly opens and monsters come pouring out. And you, summoning every scrap of courage, with that righteous heart of yours — you drive the monsters back and save the kids."
Kim Ju-sung didn't answer. He frowned and walked through the plan again, checking for holes. Whether he could beat the monsters wasn't the real issue. The Diamond Club had already arranged to secretly attach a C-rank buff awakener to him.
What mattered was how cool, how trustworthy, and how naturally he became a hero. Holding the phone, Ju-sung hesitated for a moment. Jung Su-hyeon — Ada Destroyer — and Ichigaya Ichie had come to mind. Both of them had pushed him to the absolute limit even while he was buffed.
"Uh… what about Jung Su-hyeon and Ichie? Those two?"
"Them? Yeah, I'll mark them."
"Mark them?"
"Yeah. The second they enter a promotion gate, we start the operation. I'll pin them down inside and buy time. If those two go crazy and jump in, the whole thing falls apart."
"Will you be all right, sir? They roughly know your ability. That Ichie girl has seen your face and knows what you can do."
"Fuck that — they're still apprentices. Especially that Ada Destroyer bastard. He's already a meme online, so there's a real chance he steals all your spotlight. Might as well wipe him out this time, or at least cripple him. That Ichie bitch is a yakuza's daughter, so we bury her in there with him. Kill them, close the gate, and no one finds the bodies. No one even knows who did it."
The Diamond Club hunter talked about murder as if it were nothing. He was the kind of man who had already disposed of people he didn't like this way more than once. Kim Ju-sung tasted something bitter, realizing that if he ever slipped up, he could end up the same way.
He lifted his head. An ad for Urban Heavenly Demon Chronicles was playing on a TV across the street at a bar. Kim Ju-sung wanted to become a star like that. And he was about to take the first step toward becoming one.
He wanted to be a star. He wanted the world to recognize him as a good son. He had suffered enough for it — now he just wanted to live a little easier.
"Sir. I'm counting on you."
"Yeah, kid. Get going."