Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Capturing Paul
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After entrusting the item Richard had used to open the gate to Jae-in, I headed back to the hotel.
Morning had come, so they must have started their schedule by now. I was curious how Helen would explain Richard's disappearance.
"Mr. Yoo."
I asked Mr. Yoo, who was keeping watch on the rooftop of the building next to the hotel.
"Ugh!"
Mr. Yoo startled and rolled across the floor.
"What are you so surprised about?"
"...If you approach without a sound like that, of course I'm startled."
"With nerves that fragile, how do you make a living as a gangster?"
"We're not gangsters; we're information brokers..."
"Same difference."
I didn't have time right now, but once this incident was over, I'd have to give Mr. Yoo and his crew some proper training. They needed to be useful if I wanted to give them more work.
"So, what's the atmosphere like over there?"
"Because that Richard guy disappeared, the number of guards has more than doubled."
Mr. Yoo said as he brushed off his pants and stood up.
"The guards are probably there to protect them, but it also serves to keep the otherworlders from wandering freely."
"Those bastards won't be able to move easily for a while. Perfect."
"But what about that guy? Isn't he coming back?"
"Who knows? I lost him while chasing."
There was no point in Mr. Yoo digging around.
"I see."
Maybe because of that prior incident where I smashed Seo Kyung-hyun's head, he didn't believe me at all. At least he knew I wasn't some crazy murderer, but the kind who killed guys like that, so it didn't matter.
I turned my gaze to the hotel. Just as Mr. Yoo said, people were bustling about busily, but it wasn't a huge commotion. They probably couldn't publicly announce a disappearance.
While their unwanted protection made it hard for them to move, this was the time to find all the internal gates they'd set up.
I first went to the gate where the Giant Stone Golem had appeared. The gate had reset after I cleared it recently.
No other hunters had entered besides me, probably because of the recent fatality.
While taking down the golem, I searched every corner of the gate's internal space.
And I found an internal gate cleverly hidden behind a rock. It was in a spot so hard to find that even when I deliberately looked, it took me quite a while.
I memorized the location, cleared it, and exited.
Then I went around all the gates where accidents had happened, marking the ones with internal gates on my map.
"Damn bastards made a ton of them."
Jae-in said, looking at the spots I'd marked on the map. Twenty so far.
"How's the development going?"
"I'm analyzing the items, but this is tech that doesn't exist on Earth."
"You think you can't do it?"
"Who said I can't? It's just a bit difficult."
Her pride as an engineer wouldn't let her give up. Jae-in was someone who became Korea's top craftsman in the future. She might lack a bit of experience compared to her peak in my past life, but her insight for R&D was unmatched. If she couldn't do it in Korea, no one could.
"We don't have much time. I'm prioritizing and clearing gates with internal bridges to prevent breaks, but one slip-up and hunters will die, and if it goes worse, it'll be a break. You know the casualties from the last break, right?"
"I'll hurry."
Jae-in returned to her workbench, and I left the workshop.
"Oppa."
As I headed to a gate, Na-young called out.
"Is something going on lately? You always went to gates a lot, but you've been too busy recently. And your expression looks off."
Na-young's face was full of worry. Even if I tried to hide it, it was hard with close people.
After a brief moment of thought, I decided to tell everyone. I'd need Na-young and Sang-hun's help soon anyway.
"Want to get Sang-hun and talk for a bit? I have something to say."
I called Sang-hun and Na-young to the workshop and repeated the story I'd told Jae-in.
"Do we really not need to go to the Awakening Bureau?"
Sang-hun asked cautiously.
"They're releasing magic knowledge we don't know about. Stuff that would take Earth decades or centuries to research independently. That's why governments worldwide are extremely friendly to them. Hell, there might even be countries that know about the internal gates and still want to bring them in. If I report without evidence, I'll end up the one detained. I need ironclad proof to go hard."
My explanation seemed to land well; Na-young and Sang-hun were convinced.
"Sang-hun, I made this item for you too, so take it."
Jae-in handed a newly made sword to Sang-hun.
"Huh? For me?"
"You'll need it from now on. The sword itself isn't super rigid, but I infused it with light attributes. When you use your skill, it'll be tougher and sharper than any other sword."
"Thanks!"
"This is armor engraved with magic. It has some resistance to impacts and magic."
"Is it my birthday today or something?"
He'd completely forgotten the bad news and was engrossed in the new items.
"And for Na-young, this. Since you'll mostly be in the rear, I focused on magic defense and projectile defense with this cloak."
When Na-young, who had a good eye for clothes, draped the cloak over her shoulders, it looked great.
"Jae-in, thank you."
"If I had more time, I could've made better stuff, but we don't."
"I'm already grateful you made this much in such a short time."
With Na-young and Sang-hun joining, preventing breaks became a bit easier. It was worth raising them up till now.
* * *
Over a month of blocking breaks had pushed Sang-hun and Na-young to their limits of fatigue. I'd told them to only take easy gates and hide and wait for me if it was dangerous, but handling several times more gates than regular hunters was tough physically and mentally.
Of course, I'd cleared several times more than what they had.
Thanks to clearing gates, our levels had gone up too.
After finishing the day's schedule, I started nighttime surveillance.
Helen and her group must be freaking out right now. They'd lost their info source, and not a single break had happened.
And right on cue, the guards returned to normal numbers today. Maintaining that many for surveillance was unsustainable. And Paul moved. The moment the guards decreased, he acted—must've been desperate.
I was watching the hotel window when a flash of light appeared and vanished. Thinking he used an invisibility cloak again, I focused my senses and spirit, scanning around, but saw nothing.
Then, I caught his scent on the blowing wind.
"Mr. Yoo, keep eyes on the remaining two."
I instructed Mr. Yoo and jumped off the building toward the scent without waiting for a reply.
At the end of the trail was a man with a hat pulled low. His blond hair peeked out from under it. He'd gotten clothes from somewhere.
No need to guess the destination.
No point waiting for him to enter a gate—I could snatch him in a suitable spot.
Finally, he entered a deserted back mountain.
No sign he'd noticed me.
I surged forward in an instant, grabbing his nape with my hand.
Or so I thought. I definitely swung my hand and felt it brush him. I clenched my fist, but he vanished.
My sharp senses picked up something flying at me from behind, so I quickly ducked.
Space warped at my neck height. The tree next to me twisted as if crushed at that exact level and toppled.
Space teleportation skills were already rare among Earth's hunters, but distorting space to attack? Never heard of it.
"Why are you attacking me?"
Paul pointed his dagger's tip at me and asked.
"You don't know? Clean up your own world's messes yourself."
"...I don't know how you found out, but being here alone means no one else knows."
"Why try to kill me to shut me up? Richard was a pushover."
"It was you... I'll twist your limbs."
He slashed his dagger through the air, and invisible attacks came again. I zigzagged toward him. I swung, but he teleported to evade.
This time, I kept tension and extended my senses everywhere, detecting where he appeared. Just a few meters behind—I spun and attacked.
Before my hand reached his neck, an invisible barrier pulled my hand and wrung it like laundry. My fingers and wrist bones, which wouldn't break even under a troll's foot, snapped and twisted.
As he thought he'd won, I smashed my left fist into his side.
"Kek!"
A crunch sounded as his ribs broke, and he clutched his side, staggering to his knees. The space distortion on my hand released.
"Impressive? You twist space to ignore defenses and attack?"
I said, looking at my twisted hand.
"How... it shouldn't have held..."
"Oh? You were trying to cut it off?"
I reset my twisted fingers and wrist to normal. Then, with my regeneration skill, it healed perfectly without a scar.
"You're the monster..."
"The monster is you, killing innocent people. Dozens died in the break incident, and at least dozens more hunters from your gate tampering. If I hadn't stopped it, even more would've died."
It pissed me off hearing "monster" from the real monster.
"No need for words. You have your mission, I have mine."
He aimed his dagger tip at me and stood. Richard would've struggled to breathe from a side wound like that, but with desperate resolve, he slashed the air.
Each swing unleashed space distortions from all directions.
I focused my senses to feel the incoming attacks and darted through the gaps. When I closed in, he teleported away.
Annoying technique. But his teleport distance wasn't long to begin with, and it was shortening—he was nearing his limit.
I swung my fist at his appearance point again.
He spread a massive space barrier in front and smirked. Hitting that might suck my whole body in and twist it.
In that instant, I infused my fist with aura, thrust forward, fired it off, and pulled back.
The shot aura clashed with his space barrier, creating a deafening roar like tearing air and a shockwave that raged everywhere.
I covered my face with my arm and crouched against the impact.
The force pushed my body back; Paul flew into a tree.
"Damn... can't die again..."
Fortunately, he wasn't dead up close, but he was a mess. I pried open his mouth and pulled a differently colored molar.
Then I took a potion from my pocket and fed it to him.
Nothing I could do if he died, but please live.
I stripped all his items, slung him over my shoulder, and returned to the workshop.
* * *
I moved him to the workshop basement. The tough bastard was a mess—face mangled, limbs broken—but alive.
"No one comes down here from now on. If there's trouble later, I'll take full responsibility."
I had to torture the info out of him if needed. If things went wrong, we could all get dragged in.
"Boss, we're in too deep to back out now."
"I'll say you were threatened."
"Sang-hun..."
Na-young glared at Sang-hun.
"Kidding, kidding. Haha."
"Why doesn't it feel like a joke... Oppa, don't leave us out. We're in this together now."
They all seemed resolved, which touched me. I'd had comrades in my past life too, but survival was day-to-day, so bonds weren't this tight.
"Thanks. But it's fine now. I'll head down first."
No need to show them the ugly side.
I sent everyone out and closed the basement door.