The Ice King's Core
The village residents' faces, once filled with venom like a protest mob, softened thanks to what the Ice Bear Lee Jun had done atop the vehicle. "Once again, I must inform you that you are currently obstructing an investigation. This could result in charges of interfering with official duties and conspiracy to aid and abet."
Seeing their momentum visibly wane, the police officer's voice boomed through the megaphone, capitalizing on the opening. Confusion spread across their expressions.
"Hey, what's that thing making everyone act like this? And what's this 'god' business?" Detective Lee asked, eyeing Lee Jun standing boldly on the car.
"One of the backers these people were relying on."
"A backer? Looks expensive, at least."
Detective Lee muttered something about how money could buy one's way out of breaking a law or two, then shook his head as if reconsidering. "What exactly happened here?"
"Do you remember the Ice King?"
"What? Why are you suddenly bringing up an S-rank monster..."
He trailed off, then whipped his head around as realization dawned. "Wait, don't tell me that's—"
"It's well known that Hunter Yu Seongjin failed to obtain the core after defeating the Ice King, isn't it?"
"That's right."
Yu Seongjin had slain the Ice King yet never claimed its core. After all, he had targeted it directly to bring the creature down.
"It seems he didn't manage to destroy the core completely."
"You mean someone just picked up the core from the ground?"
Detective Lee shot Seok-jun a skeptical look before shaking his head. "No, if that were the case, someone would've found it and sold it long ago."
Countless people had scoured the site where the Ice King fell, digging through every inch in hopes of finding even fragments of the core to sell, yet no one had succeeded. The conclusion had always been that Yu Seongjin's attack left nothing behind—not even shards. That left only one possibility.
"Don't tell me the Ice King was still alive?"
Detective Lee looked as though he couldn't believe his own words.
"It was practically on the brink of death, but doesn't that explain why this region has remained winter all this time?"
"It does, but... hold on, Hunter Mina?"
"Hyat?! Yes?"
Mina, who had been half-asleep while listening to the conversation from Seok-jun's back, jolted awake at the serious tone in Detective Lee's voice.
"Did you really defeat the Ice King?"
"W-well, yes, we did defeat it..."
Still unconvinced, he turned to Seok-jun. "You have that recording file, right?"
"I've been checking it whenever necessary. Start from file number six."
Detective Lee accepted the chip Seok-jun handed him and inserted it into the device. After listening intently through the headset, his eyebrows twitching several times, he paused and spoke.
"Hey, this is getting way too big. Doesn't this qualify as sedition or something?"
"That's for the court to decide. Try listening to file four as well."
At Seok-jun's words, Detective Lee pressed the button twice more, focused on the headset again, then clicked his tongue. "Nitrous oxide? They were smuggling pharmaceuticals too? Those photos from earlier weren't their first time doing this either. Who was responsible?"
Mina scanned the crowd of villagers at his question. They must be among them.
Sure enough, her eyes soon found the man who had let them stay the night. He looked far more anxious than the others, his head swiveling frantically. The moment his gaze met Mina's, he startled and made to flee.
"It's that man over there!"
"Hey! Grab that bastard!"
By the time she pointed him out, he was already running, but officers stationed nearby rushed in and tackled him to the ground.
"That guy's got nitrous oxide at his place, right? Search for anything else suspicious."
"Yes, sir."
Following Detective Lee's orders, several officers headed toward the man's house while the villagers stood frozen, unable to move or speak.
"W-wait a moment!"
Just then, a man wearing a cap pushed his way out of the crowd in a panic. "You hunters I requested, right? Looks like you took care of that monster I asked about. Ah, well done! Well done indeed!"
When the riot police blocked his approach, he began speaking just loud enough to be heard. "I had no choice back then either. They threatened me, said I'd die if I didn't cooperate. What was I supposed to do?"
His words sounded as though that had been his original intent all along, but the desperate, hurried delivery carried no sincerity. The piles of clothing they had seen in the cave suggested far more visitors than a few lost hikers would explain. And with the village clearly visible just below, anyone staying in the area should have lodged there instead.
"I'm just so relieved you took care of it! Truly relieved!"
Even as sweat poured down his face, his relieved smile was painful to watch. Mina turned her head away—only for him to vanish from her sight first.
"We'll be heading back to the resort now."
"Ah, right."
Seok-jun turned first. As Mina watched his retreating back, Lee Jun appeared beside them like a ghost. She had grown used to it by now.
"...Understood. I'll collect it later."
She couldn't help but comment on the sight of him still pointing his rapier.
"I'm placing you under emergency arrest for attempted murder, obstruction of official duties, and conspiracy to aid and abet. You have the right to an attorney..."
"Arrest?! I was only following orders! That's why I hired the hunters! Hunter sirs, please don't do this...!"
Detective Lee's voice reciting the Miranda rights overlapped with the village head's protests, but both faded into the wind as they walked away.
They finally flagged down a taxi on the now-cleared road and returned to the resort. Worried that Bomi and Gromit might have escaped or caused trouble, Mina checked the pet hotel first.
"Kuuu..."
"Krrrng..."
"Looks like they got along just fine."
Contrary to her concerns, the dogs were snoring peacefully side by side on their cushions.
"Ah! Welcome back! The front desk staff hadn't returned, so I was wondering if something had happened. You're back!"
"We, ah, got stranded for a bit."
"Stranded?"
The pet hotel employee looked surprised at their explanation, but there was nothing to be done. This request had been confidential.
After watching the dogs sleep soundly again, Mina asked just in case. "They didn't fight or anything, did they?"
She saw no injuries, but these weren't ordinary dogs, so she couldn't be sure what a fight between them would look like.
"Fight? They were both so well-behaved and gentle. It was easy!"
Maybe because they both have short legs? Mina felt relieved at the employee's chuckling remark. At least they hadn't caused any trouble while left alone.
"Kyaaak?! What's this hole doing here?!"
The employee screamed upon discovering an inexplicable hole after Mina and the others left for their room, but Bomi and Gromit merely exchanged glances, lightly bumped their front paws, and closed their eyes peacefully once more.
"Yeeun?"
"Ice Bear!!"
"Dduheuk?!"
When Lee Jun opened the resort room door and called out to Yeeun—who had been lying on the bed, kicking her feet while watching a tablet—she launched herself at him and sent him crashing down.
Wow, still terrifying no matter how many times I see it.
Seok-jun, carrying Mina, had already moved away the moment he saw Yeeun charging, as if accustomed to such scenes.
"Where did you go this morning? You just left a note and that was it?!"
"Kkueng, Grizzly called me."
As Yeeun sat atop him and tapped his armor, Lee Jun looked toward Seok-jun.
"Waaah! Grizzly! Is the job all done?"
Facing Yeeun's bright smile upon spotting him, Mina felt a smile spread across her own face as if it were contagious. Nothing's more pleasant to see than a child's smile, she thought—until Yeeun's eyes widened.
"Why is big sister being carried by Grizzly?"
Mina was still on Seok-jun's back. Embarrassment flooded her, and she was about to ask him to put her down when—
"I knew it, you two are dating!"
"Pueup?!"
She buried her face against Seok-jun's back. Children really couldn't be underestimated for even a second.
Regardless, they gathered in one room.
"The case will be properly resolved, right?"
"We'll have to wait and see, but it should be."
Mina sat on the bed, talking with Seok-jun. Lee Jun and Yeeun were somewhere playing with a Jenga set, building and toppling catapults and buildings. Watching their peaceful scene, she murmured, "I still can't believe it. That we defeated the Ice King."
Even if it had been on the verge of death, it was an opponent only S-rank hunters could face. It felt like a dream—yet the Ice King's core that Lee Jun had placed outside his armor glowed ruby-red on the table. To think the core had remained intact, let alone that the creature had still been alive. The footage of Yu Seongjin's battle clearly showed the Ice King's chest pierced by a massive beam of light at the end. Researchers often lamented this online. Monster cores were used as materials for special weapons and equipment, but the truly high-grade ones were primarily used for energy production. Given the Ice King's power and size, calculations suggested its core could generate electricity equivalent to several years from two or three nuclear power plants, which only deepened the regret. Few people blamed Yu Seongjin, though. It had been Korea's first S-rank monster, and wherever it walked, dozens of kilometers around became buried in cold and snow, turning the land into an Antarctic wasteland. The massive icebergs that occasionally formed had taken four years just to clear, costing hundreds of millions in taxes. The situation had been that dire, and people understood. Yet now that core sat before them. Even if only a portion remained after Mina's sword had pierced it...
"What would have happened if we hadn't defeated the Ice King?"
"Nothing good. No one wants word getting out that something terrible occurred at a tourist destination."
That was why so many people vanished from this world without a trace.
"If it weren't for Detective Lee's request, we would've ended up just like them."
"Besides, hunters disappear without a trace all the time in similar incidents. Even when hunters go missing like that, the locals rarely speak up."
"The village head's request was never going to be an official record anyway. We would've been marked as missing, plain and simple."
Missing and dead were separated by a hair's breadth.
"That's why it's always important for us to leave official requests and records. Otherwise, even if people who received favors from hunters stay silent, no one will ever know."