Who Are You Calling a Shitty Brother?
In the heat of the chase, Roun gazed down at the streets from the rooftop. Dragging this out into a battle of attrition would put him at a clear disadvantage. He had to find the intruder fast.
"You made the barrier solid, right?"
"Don't worry. No one can escape from here."
The woman beside Roun was a fellow A-class hunter and a barrier specialist from the Haeyeon Guild. She was also one of the club's co-founders.
"But how did you know about the intruder?"
"Would the name American Prophet mean anything to you?"
"…!"
The American Prophet was the true power behind the United States, the greatest contributor who had saved the country from being overtaken by China as the world's top nation during a monster invasion. Even the U.S. president was famous for being unable to defy his words.
"You finally got through to him?"
"Don't even start. After all the friend fees I paid, he gave me one line and hung up."
According to him, watch out for room 1808, the sewers, and the waiter. His lifelong secret might get exposed.
Those words sent a chill down Roun's spine. He immediately detonated an EMP and deployed his subordinates across all of Hongdae. But even that wasn't enough to catch the guy.
"Can't you contact him again?"
"Probably not. He told me never to reach out again because my breath stinks through the speaker."
"…."
In six years in the entertainment industry, he'd never been insulted like that.
'What an unlucky bastard…!'
After taking that much money as a friend fee, treating him like this made Roun want to punch the guy in the face.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. When he answered, his manager's urgent voice came through.
"You lost him because he turned into a cat?"
"Yes! What should I—"
"Is your head just for decoration?"
Roun scolded the manager. The man was all size and no brains.
"Capture the cats with owners alive. Kill every stray."
"All the cats? But…."
"I hate repeating myself."
"…Yes, understood."
The manager immediately backed down. After ending the call, Roun let out a sigh. There was no time. He had to catch the intruder before this incident leaked, before the S-class hunters mobilized.
Ha-im and Rona examined the cat Su-ha was holding.
"What's so fascinating about it?"
"It's holding a phone in its mouth! Isn't that amazing?"
"Isn't it just a stray cat?"
"Maybe?"
The three of them studied the cat closely. There wasn't anything particularly special about it. If they had to pick one thing, it was that it was ridiculously cute.
Su-ha's gaze soon drifted to Roun on the rooftop.
"Shouldn't we help that guy?"
"I'm not that close to him. Let him handle it himself."
Rona shrugged. Seong-a's words from that morning had bothered her, but it was probably just some scandal. No need to worry about it.
Rona glanced at Ha-im, who was fiddling with cat treats.
"More than that, I didn't expect you to stay out of this."
"Me?"
"Yeah."
She had thought Ha-im—who usually dove headfirst into terrorist hunts—would jump right in.
"Aish, how am I supposed to find someone with zero clues?"
"Fair enough."
Besides, the guy seemed to want the spotlight. Ha-im had no interest in stealing it from him. Of course, if citizens were truly in danger, she wouldn't hesitate. But right now, it didn't seem necessary.
"Nyaang!"
"…!"
The cat suddenly charged at Ha-im, snatched her bracelet, and bolted. Su-ha looked apologetic, clearly caught off guard.
"Ah, sorry. I lost my grip for a second…."
"…No way."
"What?"
"That's a five-hundred-million-won bracelet!"
"…!"
"…!"
The bracelet Ha-im wore was a spatial storage artifact with no capacity limit, something she'd bought to hide her weaknesses. The lack of restrictions made the price astronomical—she had spent her entire fortune on it.
At the words "five hundred million," all three of them broke into a full sprint. The fastest by far was Su-ha, the civilian.
"Stop right there!"
I can't lose five hundred million!
The cat darted into a clothing store. Perfect—it had run into a dead end. The three rushed inside. Unlike the other shops, the lights were off.
"Meow!"
A cat's cry came from inside a fitting room. Su-ha approached cautiously and yanked the curtain open.
"Shh~!"
"…?"
Where the black cat should have been, a mysterious naked woman now stood.
Is this some new kind of transformation?
Ha-im and Rona, who had followed, stared at the naked woman in the fitting room.
"Um… ugh!"
Before she could explain, Rona's dragon hand clamped around Ha-yul's throat.
"Are you the terrorist?"
"Th-that's not—! The person he pointed to was me—! Ack!"
Without giving her a chance to finish, Rona squeezed harder. Just as Ha-yul began to feel suffocated, Ha-im intervened.
"Hold on."
"What is it?"
"I think I've seen this person at the Association."
"At the Association?"
"Yeah."
Ha-im slowly pieced together her memories. This looked like the original face of the criminal who had been knocked out by Muryeong.
"My brother mentioned something about him getting amnesia from a small mistake…?"
She hadn't listened closely, so she wasn't sure.
Sensing the danger, Rona quickly released her grip. A vivid blue bruise in the shape of a dragon's claw now marked Ha-yul's neck.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were from the Association!"
"Huk…! It's fine! That's not what's important right now!"
"…?"
Ha-yul's urgent expression made the three of them sense something was off. Something more important than getting choked? What had happened?
"Everything I'm about to tell you is true, so listen carefully!"
The three nodded and focused as Ha-yul recounted the events. From infiltrating Roun's club at Seong-a's request to eventually getting caught and fleeing. Ha-yul shared every piece of information he had.
Their reactions differed.
"Wow! For real?"
"Yes! He's completely insane! Setting off an EMP right in the middle of Seoul!"
Using an EMP just to avoid leaving evidence was beyond unhinged. While Su-ha listened in pure admiration, Rona clutched her head.
This was the first time her head had hurt this badly.
'Ha… that damn bastard…!'
She never imagined that bastard would go as far as doing drugs. Honestly, if it had just been him, she could have cut ties cleanly. The real problem was the high likelihood that he had recommended drugs to other guild members.
True to his celebrity nature, Roun was on friendly terms with everyone in the guild. The chances were very high.
'I need to tell the guild master about this.'
She had a feeling that once this incident exploded, it wouldn't just be the Haeyeon Guild—the entire company would face a massive shakeup.
Rona sighed and looked for Ha-im's reaction, but the girl was nowhere to be seen.
'Ah, crap….'
It seemed their apostle of justice couldn't hold back and had charged off.
On the rooftop of a tall commercial building, a man and a woman were locked in fierce combat.
"Have you lost your mind?!"
"You're the one who's lost it, you drug-dealing bastard…!"
A massive black scythe and spear clashed, sending sparks flying.
"There seems to be a misunderstanding. I came here to save the citizens—"
"Stop with the lies. Rona already knows you're a drug dealer."
"…Puhahahahaha!!!"
Roun suddenly stopped fighting and burst into laughter. Ha-im eyed him suspiciously.
"Did your brain finally snap?"
"No, it's just funny. What makes you think you can take me on?"
"…."
She had no response. It was night, and Seoul's city lights created almost no useful shadows. For Ha-im, who forged weapons from light-born shadows, this was an overwhelmingly bad matchup.
"…Doesn't matter. I can crush trash like you any time of day or night."
"Hmm. Then I guess I have no choice."
"…!"
Black wings erupted from Roun's back as dark aura formed a pitch-black sphere. Inside it, only Ha-im and Roun existed.
"You know what my ability is, right?"
"Necromancer…!"
Roun was a world-renowned necromancer who wielded dark aura. And at night, its power was amplified even further.
"Tell me where that cat is right now and I'll let you go."
"Sorry, but that's never going to happen…!"
She could never yield to someone so evil.
"How about you give up? Rona's here too, you know."
"You think I wouldn't know that? This sphere is completely isolated from the outside."
No matter how strong Rona was, without sound, scent, or sight, she couldn't recklessly unleash her breath.
"Why did you want to see me so badly?"
"Why? Scared?"
"Fuck off."
Ha-im flipped him the middle finger. It felt like she'd endured every possible humiliation an idol could face today.
"Sorry, but there's absolutely no way you'll beat me in this space."
As Roun released his dark aura, thousands of skeletons began crawling out of the ground. These weren't ordinary skeletons—they were all heavily armored.
Roun sat on a throne made of bones with a relaxed smile. Ha-im took a deep breath and prepared for battle.
"Doesn't matter."
The subspace bracelet currently held roughly a thousand weapons. She had made up her mind. Even if it cost her life, she would take him down no matter what.
Rona summoned her spear and engaged the thousands of skeletons. Blades rang against armor. Each one was at least C-class level? How did creatures with nothing but bones have such strength?
'I'm going to lose this….'
Ha-im wasn't stupid. During the day, when she could freely create weapons from light, maybe. But in this lightless space, she couldn't handle endlessly regenerating undead.
Still, she had no regrets. An evil man stood before her—she couldn't just walk away.
Even so, she wanted to make him suffer at least a little. Ha-im poured every ounce of her strength into one final throw toward Roun.
The spear shattered hundreds of skulls as it flew, finally embedding itself in the back of his bone throne and leaving a small cut on his left cheek.
Roun glared at her with clear displeasure.
'Yeah… I should be satisfied with this much….'
For an idol, life was their face. She'd left a mark on that life. That was enough.
Now she could fight without any distracting thoughts.
Ha-im smashed through the skeletons one after another. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. But it was pointless. Even when she shattered their skulls, they simply reformed.
Still, she didn't give up. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands again.
Roughly two hours passed like that. Her breathing grew ragged.
"Huk…!"
Her stamina was running out. She had no idea how much time had passed. The number of undead she'd destroyed easily exceeded four digits.
'Kuk… is this the end…!'
As death closed in, memories flashed through her mind. Her family, her friends, and the shitty brother she had finally met again after eight years—she wanted to say goodbye…