Chapter 77
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: If You're Sorry, You Should Die (2)
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*CRASH.*
Not long after I’d keyed in the password and entered the apartment, the door was violently thrown open.
Thrown open wasn’t quite right. It was more like it had been smashed to pieces.
“Hey, are you crazy? Seriously? What were you going to do if this wasn't his place?”
“You snuck in too. You're an accomplice, you punk. And what? ‘He bolted’? Is that something you say over the phone?”
“Well, what else do you call bolting if not bolting?”
“You’re giving me a heart attack.”
Choi Soo-hyun, who had barged in without even taking off his shoes, pressed a hand to his forehead.
The apartment's interior was ordinary.
Or maybe not so ordinary. There were traces here and there of someone having moved out in a hurry.
“Search every inch.”
“Search for what? It’s obviously empty.”
“Just look! There could be something behind the wallpaper, or what? A secret passage or something.”
Has he been watching too many movies?
There's no way a normal place like this would have something like that.
Grumbling, I opened the door to the inner room.
A lone teddy bear sat on the bed.
‘A teddy bear?’
Without much thought, I picked up the teddy bear and went back to the living room.
Through the doorway, I could see Choi Soo-hyun and a police officer.
That figures.
You smash a door down that loudly, would it be normal for the police *not* to show up?
“Haha, no. It’s an investigation. Top secret.”
“Well, even so…”
Top secret, my ass.
You’d have better luck selling snake oil, you bastard.
“You know how it is, right? Hunter-related investigations don't require a warrant. It’s nothing major, so you don't need to worry. Huh? My department? What does that matter? We’re all public servants here. Ah, I seem to have left my ID. I’m from the Bureau. The Management Bureau.”
An Association employee breaking down someone’s door to catch an online stalker—of course it matters.
And how is this in any way public service!
From the Bureau? This guy is openly impersonating an official. Are you even human!
“Haa, please be more careful next time.”
“Yes, yes. We’ll just take a quick look and be on our way. Take care.”
Once the officer left, Choi Soo-hyun scratched his head and came back inside.
“Ah, damn it. They never show up when you call them, but they’re lightning fast at times like this. Find anything?”
“I told you, there’s nothing.”
“Nothing my ass, what’s that in your hand?”
“It’s a teddy bear.”
“Why is there a teddy bear here?”
Now that he mentioned it.
Before I could even tilt my head in confusion, Choi Soo-hyun snatched the teddy bear from me.
But it’s just a normal teddy bear…
Why is he making a fist?
“What are you doing to a perfectly fine doll!!”
『Aaaaaaah! No! The camera will break!!』
“Huh?”
That wasn’t me.
And it certainly wasn’t Choi Soo-hyun.
Choi Soo-hyun grabbed one of the teddy bear’s arms and shook it.
A mechanical-sounding voice continued to stream from the bear.
It was an androgynous voice, making it hard to guess the speaker’s gender.
『C-could you please pretend you didn't hear that? Ahahahahaha. Why is the mic on?』
If you were me, would you pretend you didn't hear it?
“Do teddy bears talk these days?”
“As if.”
Choi Soo-hyun poked the teddy bear’s black button eye with his finger.
The voice immediately piped up again, “Ah, the camera! The camera!”
It looked like a perfectly normal teddy bear’s eye, but it was a camera. It was a reminder of how much technology had advanced.
Silence fell over the apartment.
The silence was broken by none other than the voice from the teddy bear.
『Um, you’re… Hunter Choi Soo-hyun, right?』
“Can’t you tell by looking? Get out here, now. You want to die?”
Choi Soo-hyun snapped, leaning his face close to the camera.
『I-I’m sorry!!!』
Just then, Choi Soo-hyun dropped the bear, making it land in a strange pose that looked like it was bowing in apology.
“If you’re sorry, you should die. Couldn’t find anyone else to stalk, so you dared to stalk me? Who are you? Huh?”
『Hic, I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!』
“I said, who are you!”
『It’s not like I really wanted to do it, I mean… I’m sorry! Please, just d-don’t arrest me! I’ll tell you everything I know!』
Maybe it was my imagination, but the voice coming from the bear sounded like it was on the verge of tears.
I sighed and placed a hand on Choi Soo-hyun’s shoulder.
“What? Why…”
Following my nod, Choi Soo-hyun glanced behind him and then tossed the teddy bear to me.
The police had come and gone, but the other residents of the building were now peeking through the doorway out of curiosity.
Halfway out the door, Choi Soo-hyun pointed at the teddy bear in my arms.
“Bring it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Of course you would.
I took the teddy bear and got into the car, which was parked a short distance from the apartment building.
The moment I sat in the passenger seat, Choi Soo-hyun snatched the bear back.
He gripped the bear’s head, his eyes fixed on its face.
Before he could say anything, a tearful voice came from the bear.
『*Sob,* I… I really didn't mean to…』
“Anyone would think I’d hit you. Be grateful I’m even talking to you without seeing your face. Explain.”
『Um, well… I don’t know where to start. T-to put it simply, about a year ago, I went to a guild for some business…』
The teddy bear began to speak.
Or more accurately, the voice coming from the microphone inside it.
The important thing was,
‘I can’t understand a single thing he’s saying!’
He was being bullied at a guild, had his money stolen, and was on the verge of starvation when some strange guy showed up and beat up all the Hunters who were tormenting him. That guy was Yoo Ji-han. And that’s when his damn fate with Yoo Ji-han began…
I gave up trying to follow around that point.
In any case, it seemed clear that this guy was the accomplice helping Yoo Ji-han.
“Which guild was it?”
『I can’t say.』
“Your name?”
『I, uh, don’t really have a name worthy of mention. You can just call me Gomdolos the Third… Ehehe.』
“‘Ehehe’ my ass. Are you kidding me?”
『Agh! I-I can’t tell you! If I do, you’ll find me! I really, r-really won’t do it again. As I said, that Yoo Ji-han guy blackmailed me! He’s crazy about the god Soter!』
Choi Soo-hyun popped a few pieces of candy from the car’s console into his mouth and sighed.
“What the hell is his deal, anyway? Where did he even come from?”
『I don’t know either.』
“…”
『Even if you look at me like that, I really don’t know! Do you think I… I haven’t looked into it? It’s impossible unless he literally fell from the sky!』
“Why does he hate the god Soter so much?”
『I don’t know that either. Tehee. Ahh! Gomdolos the Third! The camera!』
So that wasn't your name, but the bear's name?
I didn’t know the details, but it seemed Choi Soo-hyun had quite a knack for programming and hacking.
No.
More than just a knack.
He might be criticized for being a narcissist with an oversized ego, but Choi Soo-hyun was truly exceptional.
If this Gomdolos the Third fellow had managed to outsmart him, he was clearly no ordinary person either.
Choi Soo-hyun hadn’t been able to get a single piece of personal information from the guy—not his gender, not his name, nothing.
In contrast, that guy had known we were coming and fled, leaving the doll behind.
This was a clear defeat.
Choi Soo-hyun grabbed the teddy bear’s head and shook it.
“Anyway, huh? If you ever secretly touch my computer again, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth! You know it’s not because I can’t find you that I’m not coming for you, right?”
“Isn’t it because you can’t find him?”
“Kang Han-gyeol, whose side are you on?”
『*Sob, sniff.* I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again.』
Honestly, I didn’t quite get it.
There was no way Choi Soo-hyun could find this guy right now.
He might be able to find him if he invested enough time, but it didn’t seem worth the effort.
‘Why is he so scared?’
Gomdolos was terrified, as if every single word from Choi Soo-hyun was a sincere threat.
It wasn’t that he was scared Choi Soo-hyun would find him; it seemed he was scared of Choi Soo-hyun himself.
『S-so, anyway. Did that bastard Yoo Ji-han finally kick the… I mean, ahem. Is he dead?』
So you wanted him to die too, huh?
Then again, it didn’t seem like that guy would tone down his personality just because he had an accomplice.
He hadn’t seemed like that when I first met him. Lately, every time I heard someone curse Yoo Ji-han, I felt like a parent who had raised their child wrong.
No, the one I’m raising is the Yoo Ji-han in the Tower. The Transcendent Yoo Ji-han is the one I’ve disowned.
It’s a bit weird to even call him my child in the first place.
I regretted not beating him up more back then.
“Probably not dead.”
Choi Soo-hyun was convinced Yoo Ji-han wasn’t dead.
『Why?』
“You bastard! How should I know! Are you really on Yoo Ji-han’s side or not?”
『Y-yes! I am! But… not completely. Could you please not put me on the same level as him? I’m an incredibly talented individual!』
“Shut up.”
『Aaaah! Gomdolos the Third!』
Choi Soo-hyun threw the teddy bear straight at the windshield.
The doll bounced off the glass and landed on my lap.
The mood in the car chilled as Choi Soo-hyun’s voice turned cold.
“Let’s make a deal. You were with Yoo Ji-han that day, weren’t you? Though ‘with’ might not be the right word.”
『C-can a lowly person like me be of any help?』
“Cut the crap.”
Choi Soo-hyun bounced his leg as he chewed on the candy.
“You probably know the situation, so I’ll be brief. Who is he? The god who took Song Eun-young and Choi Soo-hyun. Got any ideas?”
『Huh? Why are you asking me that?』
“What did you say?”
『No… I mean, um… Didn’t you already know? I thought you did. I thought you came after me because of a personal g-grudge!!』
What does that mean?
At Gomdolos’s incomprehensible words, Choi Soo-hyun and I stared blankly at each other.
After swallowing his candy, Choi Soo-hyun shook the teddy bear on my lap.
『Agh! The camera’s shaking! Stop! Stooooop!』
“Explain.”
『The god Veritas! The… Great Cataclysm from seven years ago! Ah, but was that really a Dungeon Break?』
Choi Soo-hyun put the bear down, his expression changing.
“This bastard…”
“Veritas… you mean…”
That was the god Park Si-woo had named as the one behind Eun-young-noona’s kidnapping.
Thinking back, Park Si-woo never explained why he pointed to the god Veritas as the culprit.
“What kind of god is this Veritas, anyway?”
“Ah, well…”
Choi Soo-hyun glanced at the teddy bear for a moment before continuing.
“There was an S-rank Hunter named Yoo Chae-young. She served the god Veritas.”
“Yoo Chae-young?”
Though it was the first time I’d heard the name, it felt strangely familiar.
“You know, the one from Aria Guild? Yoo Se-yeon. She’s Yoo Chae-young’s younger sister. And Yoo Chae-young was Park Si-woo’s ex-fiancée.”
“What? Fiancée?”
“Yeah, one of those pointless things families decide on their own. Why are you so surprised?”
Choi Soo-hyun muttered as if it were nothing.
Normal families don’t decide on pointless things like engagements.
“What kind of person was this S-rank Hunter, Yoo Chae-young?”
“Doesn’t matter what kind of person she was. She’s gone.”
I quickly understood what ‘gone’ meant.
“Officially, she was declared dead in a dungeon.”
“She’s alive?”
“As if! Didn’t I tell you to stop reading so many novels!”
This guy!
I don't even have time to read if I wanted to!
Besides, you're the one who reads novels during work hours, not me!
“So, is she really dead?”
“She’s dead. Definitely dead, but…”
Choi Soo-hyun sighed and scratched his head.
“Park Si-woo killed her.”