Search
"Deputy Director, that's not the way."
"…"
"Deputy Director?"
"Just leave it like this."
Kang Jiye stepped onto the round platform glowing pure white.
Ma Jitae, the entry control officer of the Hunter Administration's Incheon Branch, tilted his head.
Why is she suddenly getting on the visitor scanner?
The place Kang Jiye had climbed onto was the special inspection machine reserved for visitors. It was used to check for hazardous elements inside and outside the human body, and for the most part it only formally scanned adult visitors. There was no reason for the deputy director of an entire branch to step onto it out of the blue.
…She must have something in mind.
"Please stay still for a moment."
Ma Jitae entered Kang Jiye's personal information and pressed the scan button. A doughnut-shaped band of light rose from the platform and began sweeping over her body.
Pong—
When the scan finished, the band of light vanished and the platform turned green. Ma Jitae nodded.
"You're clear."
"Anything changed?"
Ma Jitae, still peering at the screen, answered,
"Well, as always, you've got an incredible body."
The screen he was looking at displayed Kang Jiye's body in raw, unfiltered detail. Color wasn't rendered, but every hair and every sensitive area of the subject was reproduced with perfect accuracy—in 3D, no less. A single button press could even strip away the hair for a closer look. That was exactly why Hunter Administration staff, especially the women, hated using the visitor scanner.
"Save that look for the person who's going to be your wife."
Kang Jiye stepped down from the machine and approached with a smile—a smile that carried a faint trace of relief. Ma Jitae, who had unconsciously been absorbed in the screen, gave an awkward laugh.
"Sorry. Honestly, your figure is just that good."
"Heh. So I still look like I'm in active service, huh?"
"In my eyes, at least. But what's going on all of a sudden?"
Despite the warm atmosphere, a thread of tension crept into Ma Jitae's tone. Kang Jiye was a superior who never left gaps when she handled work. Suddenly scanning her own body meant there had to be a solid reason.
Kang Jiye let out a sigh.
"Deputy Ma."
"Yes."
"This scanner. It catches mind-control skills too, right?"
"That's right."
"And I'm definitely clean."
"If anything had been wrong, the machine would've lit up red."
Kang Jiye nodded.
"From now on, we're making this mandatory."
Ma Jitae blinked both eyes.
"Mandatory?"
"On the way in and on the way out. Everyone gets scanned, no exceptions—staff and visitors alike."
"…!"
Ma Jitae's face drained of color.
"If we do that, all hell will break loose. The Director will go ballistic first thing."
"I'll talk the Director around. Tell the other staff it was my order."
Ma Jitae forced himself to stay calm and asked,
"…May I ask why you're doing this all of a sudden?"
"…Why, huh."
Kang Jiye gave a bitter smile.
"You overheard a plan to turn the Academy into ruins?"
"Yes."
"How is something like that even possible?"
"I'm a high-rank monster, after all. I can pick up on the major plans the monsters are cooking up to a certain extent."
"…"
Kang Jiye stared at Pecia with her eyes wide open. The news was nothing short of a bolt from the blue. The Academy was the single most critical facility for training the next generation of hunters. It was packed with some of the country's top hunters as instructors, and the security forces guarding it were all powerhouses in their own right. For a fortress like that to become ruins would mean that every one of those capable people had either died or been rendered combat-incapable.
What do I do?
Of course, it was only talk for now. She couldn't put complete faith in the monster Pecia, and there was always the chance Pecia herself had it wrong. But what if, by some slim possibility, this actually came to pass?
…A catastrophe.
It would be an unprecedented disaster in the history of South Korea.
"What do you want me to do for you?"
She swallowed once and asked carefully. Pecia opened her mouth.
"First, keep quiet about the teddy bears. Helping me sell them would be even better."
Kang Jiye's tension drained away and she laughed.
"Teddy bears…?"
The image of the D-class monster waddling around flashed through her mind. In the middle of talk about the Academy being destroyed, it was an almost adorable request. But Pecia continued with complete seriousness.
"I know it puts you in a tough spot, Auntie. But if the worst happens, I can guarantee they'll be a real help."
Kang Jiye clicked her tongue.
"Well, asking a hunter to help monsters with their schemes is one thing. How far can those toys of yours actually go?"
Collapsing the Academy was practically impossible unless an S-class Gate appeared. And the monsters that poured out of an S-class Gate were B-class at minimum—at least a hundred A-class ones would come flooding out. That meant dozens of D-class Party Bears would have to throw themselves at a single grunt just to take it down. No matter how she looked at it, they wouldn't even buy time.
"Heh."
But Pecia wore a meaningful smile. She had grown somewhat used to Kang Jiye's repeated treatment of her as a little kid.
"Before I answer, there's something I'd like to ask of you."
"A favor?"
Pecia nodded.
"I'd like you to help me absorb the essence of other monsters."
Kang Jiye tilted her head.
"Essence… what?"
In other words, experience points. Pecia intended to grow by processing the experience gained from defeating monsters.
But I can't just say that outright.
She had papered over it with the word "essence." Naturally, no such thing as "essence" existed in this world.
"As you know, Auntie, I'm weak. My monsters are weak too. But by hunting other monsters, I can create much stronger ones."
"Growing by using monsters… fine, I'll buy that. Do you have any toys besides those little bears?"
"Of course I do."
A chilly smile settled over Pecia's face.
"If they're made properly, an S-class Gate won't even be worth worrying about."
…!
Kang Jiye flinched inwardly. For a moment, Pecia had felt genuinely threatening—something that never happened even in front of most high-rank monsters.
Just what is she imagining?
…Of course, right now scenes from the game were playing through Pecia's mind. The horrific monsters she had faced while clearing the amusement-park stage. Dolls made from peeled human skin. Clowns that carried the severed heads of the dead. They were strong, yes, but their combat styles were so vicious that allied morale would plummet. And she knew: in the lore of Gate Apocalypse, fear was not the exclusive property of humans.
I'll give it right back to them.
These were monsters that had poured out of a mid-boss-level Gate. There was no way they wouldn't work on other monsters.
Pecia let a sly smile slip.
"…"
Watching her, Kang Jiye snorted a laugh.
"Looks like you've got something real after all."
"You believe me?"
"At least I can tell it's not empty bluffing."
From the start, Pecia had been different from other monsters in many ways. The idea that becoming S-class was difficult was purely a human sense of Kang Jiye's; from the perspective of the monster Pecia, things might look different. At the very least, she could vaguely feel that this girl would become far stronger than she was now.
Kang Jiye took a deep breath and spoke.
"All right. I'll seriously consider the teddy-bear matter."
"Yay!"
"But people I trust will step in and keep watch together."
Pecia's eyes went round.
"Uh, that—"
"Don't worry. They're reliable. And I don't plan on telling them straight out that they're monsters."
No matter how much she trusted Pecia, Kang Jiye was still a hunter. She couldn't push things forward relying solely on her own judgment. Pecia understood that at once and nodded.
"I understand."
"Anything else you want to request?"
"There is. The Hunter Administration entry scan—the one that can do mental evaluations too."
"Huh?"
Kang Jiye asked back, bewildered.
"How do you even know about that?"
Pecia grinned bashfully.
"I have my ways. Anyway, please make it mandatory from now on. Ideally other agencies would do it too… but at the very least, every Hunter Administration employee has to go through it."
"That's…"
"You were planning to use it tomorrow morning anyway, weren't you? To check whether I cast some weird mind-control magic on you."
"…"
Kang Jiye fixed her gaze on Pecia. She had just decided to do exactly that. She had been uneasy about how calm she remained even with a monster right in front of her. For a hunter, it was the natural step.
Kang Jiye crossed her arms.
"Thanks for understanding in advance. But is there a reason you need other people to go through it too, not just me?"
The visitor scanner was only used on people who seemed threatening or suspicious. Using it carelessly could seriously upset the staff.
Pecia answered,
"Simple. There's a chance mind control will be involved in the Academy incident."
"…Mind control?"
"I guarantee it. If my prediction is right, a plant is going to pop out of the Incheon Branch of the Hunter Administration tomorrow."
Kang Jiye's eyes cooled a little.
"Well, you might not know this, but we've already run the checks once each. We do them periodically."
"That's wrong."
"Huh?"
"Don't do it that simply. Put a fixed image up on the scan screen beforehand—preferably one from someone who already showed an anomaly."
"…?"
"You'll catch a big one! A really fat one!"
And back to the present.
I hope Yena's doing all right.
Kang Jiye sat at her office desk and stared blankly into empty air. She had confirmed she wasn't under mind control, and she had checked Pecia's humanity several times, yet she still couldn't stop worrying. What if she had been deceived? What if Pecia suddenly went mad? Or what if those teddy bears started moving on their own and caused an accident? With every kind of thought churning through her head, she couldn't get any work done.
How did I end up taking in a monster… and a good one, at that.
Kang Jiye pressed her forehead, looking thoroughly exhausted. A hunter taking in a monster, and that monster boldly revealing its identity—it was a farce beyond farces.
That was when it happened.
The door to the deputy director's office burst open and a man with a bear-like build charged in.
"Deputy Director Kang!"
It was the entry control officer, Ma Jitae.
"…?"
To the blinking Kang Jiye, Ma Jitae spoke with a face drained of all color.
"We got a staff member who tripped the scanner."
"Already? Who?"
"Kim Hanna, head of International Cooperation."
…!!!
Kang Jiye's body locked up on the spot. Kim Hanna, head of International Cooperation. She was none other than the eldest daughter of Incheon Branch Director Kim Hansu! In other words, the family of her superior.
Stay calm.
Kang Jiye smoothed her expression and asked,
"…What did you do?"
"I pretended not to notice and let her go for now."
"And the image?"
Ma Jitae swallowed hard.
"It changed. I had a fixed image with a red color tone up from the start, but for some reason it suddenly switched to a normal green. The 3D image also changed from a pot-bellied middle-aged man into a woman. I only ran the scan—I never touched the screen."
"…When did it change?"
"The instant the scan finished."
Kang Jiye's eyes began to gleam sharply.
It was real. But this isn't just a big fish—it's a whale, you little shrimp!