Life is Sometimes Hazy
"How could you!" In truth, even she hadn't thought he—an A-grade hunter—would remain locked away for long. A-grade hunters were exceedingly rare among the countless awakened, and Gu Gang-woo stood out as one of the strongest among those elite few. Still, this was far too quick. Especially when special laws governed crimes committed by hunters.
"Have you forgotten? I'm an executive at Hanshin. It wasn't murder, just an attempt. They say a hefty bail is all it takes."
"Hanshin...!"
Hanshin was the guild both Gu Gang-woo and Lee Mina belonged to. One of the most prestigious hunter guilds in Korea, it had clearly pulled strings to secure his release. She had expected them to value him more than her, but now that it had happened, she felt a sting of betrayal.
She tried to secretly gather her magic power, but—
"Urgh!!"
"Don't try anything funny. Consider how I've been waiting for you all this time, won't you?"
At such close range, even the slightest movement of her magic drew Gu Gang-woo's notice. He seized her other hand as well and shoved her against the observatory wall.
"It's going to end up like this anyway. Because of that strange bastard, I got slapped with unnecessary disciplinary action and my reputation's taken a hit. Happy now?"
Those words made Lee Mina shake with fury. Was he really saying that his petty inconvenience outweighed the humiliation she was suffering?
She glared at Gu Gang-woo as his hand crept closer—when suddenly—
"Urk!? What the hell?!"
The unfamiliar roar echoed through the empty observatory, ringing in her ears. As Lee Mina blinked in a daze, Gu Gang-woo released her, clutched the back of his head, and ground his teeth viciously.
"Blood?"
At the dripping sound, she looked down. Blood was falling from Gu Gang-woo. The sunset had already faded and, for some reason, the observatory lights remained off, leaving the space dark—but she wasn't mistaken. The sharp metallic stench confirmed it was definitely blood.
The next sounds were an empty casing rolling across the concrete floor and the cold, metallic click of a reload.
"Didn't I tell you? How formulaic."
Following the noise, her gaze shifted. The man who had stepped away briefly after taking a call now stood aiming a smoking gun.
Shot after shot rang out. The muzzle flashed with each round, followed by the icy clack-ting, clack-ting of reloads and the clatter of spent casings.
"Argh! Damn it!"
"Kyaa?!"
Gu Gang-woo immediately yanked Lee Mina in front of him as a human shield against the oncoming bullets. The searing pain in her wrist made her want to thrash, but the sound of rounds grazing past her leg and slamming into the wall left her trembling, forcing her to stay perfectly still.
"Mana Piercing Bullets?"
Lee Mina felt revulsion at the sensation of Gu Gang-woo's breath brushing her nape, but she finally understood why the bullets were hurting him. Monsters possessed natural resistance barriers; to pierce them, you needed opposing magic power. That was why awakened hunters were necessary to fight them.
Yet even while relying on hunters, modern firearms still had their uses. Across nations, the result of that realization was the development of Mana Piercing Bullets—MPBs for short.
I heard that project was a failure.
The MPB initiative had indeed been scrapped. At first, headlines had celebrated how modern weapons could now defeat monsters, but coverage gradually dried up until it was relegated to minor footnotes. The bullets worked, but each one cost so much to produce that commercialization proved impossible. The project had become a ghost—existing in name only.
Still, if these were genuine MPBs, they would affect hunters just as effectively as monsters.
"Mana Piercing Bullets? Even a B-grade resorting to something like that? The title of 'hunter' really has lost all meaning."
"Isn't it laughable that a so-called elite A-grade hunter would use a woman as a shield out of fear of mere Mana Piercing Bullets?"
"What did you just say?!"
Gu Gang-woo bristled at the provocation, grinding his teeth, but he didn't act rashly.
"Hah. Did you think I'd fall for cheap taunts like that? Go ahead and shoot. If you're fine with hitting our Mina, that is."
"Who are you calling—kya?!"
Lee Mina tried to protest, but the burning pain searing her wrist cut her off again. What disgusted her even more was how Gu Gang-woo's free hand began pressing and prodding her side, as if toying with her body.
"Ugh... ugh."
"Come on! Shoot! I dare you!"
The situation had become utterly dire. Since the Mana Piercing Bullets worked on Gu Gang-woo, they would work on her just as mercilessly. The man couldn't fire recklessly.
If only I had a little more magic power left!
If she'd had even a moment to recover a fraction of her strength, she wouldn't have been reduced to a hostage so pathetically. The moment Lee Mina bit her lip in bitter frustration—
"Then I'll grant your wish."
"Huh?"
"What?"
The sudden calm voice of Seok-jun startled both Lee Mina and Gu Gang-woo at the same time. She saw his gun muzzle swing toward them and squeezed her eyes shut.
"You crazy son of a bitch!!"
"Ow!"
Three more shots. Gu Gang-woo, realizing his hostage was useless, hurled her to the floor and rolled aside to dodge. As Lee Mina tumbled across the ground, she realized where those three bullets had been aimed.
The bullets struck the observatory glass, cracking it, and an emergency alarm began to blare. The man hadn't aimed directly at Gu Gang-woo—he had targeted the window behind him.
Clack. Clack.
Lee Mina tensed at the approaching footsteps while still dazed, but she quickly relaxed. The man had run straight to her and scooped her up from where she'd been thrown.
"Fuck! This bastard tricked me!? Hand over Mina right now!"
The way he shouted as if she belonged to him made the last traces of any lingering affection vanish. As Lee Mina grimaced, she noticed something strange. The man carrying her showed no sign of stopping.
"W-wait! Up ahead is...!"
This was an observatory. The spot where she'd been standing was right beside the railing. If he didn't stop, the outcome was obvious.
"Kyaaaaaaa?!"
Crash!
Amid the ceaseless wail of the emergency alarm, the man kicked the cracked glass. It shattered, and the two of them plummeted out of the observatory. The city she had looked down on moments ago now rushed upward. Lee Mina instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and screamed—
"...Whoa."
At some point the rush of air from below ceased along with the recoil. When she opened her eyes, Lee Mina forgot their dire circumstances and simply marveled. The view wasn't drastically different from what she'd seen inside the observatory, yet feeling the wind directly while soaring through the night sky gave it an entirely new, breathtaking quality.
"Hold on tight."
"Huh!?"
She wondered why he'd said that, but the reason became clear immediately.
"Get over here right now!"
Gu Gang-woo, wreathed in flames, had burst through the broken glass and was flying after them. Molten shards of glass melted by his blazing magic power rained down like fiery droplets above their heads.
The man dodged the glass shower, extended a rope from his free hand to latch onto a nearby building, and dissolved the line he'd created earlier. At the same time, buildings, streetlights, and neon signs blurred into streaks rushing past them. Like a scene from a movie, they were flying above the city.
Though the city's glow hid the stars, the moon still hung bright and full, illuminating them. They leaped from building to building, trying to shake Gu Gang-woo, but—
I knew it was versatile, but this is something else.
When she glanced back, Gu Gang-woo wasn't falling behind at all—he was steadily closing the distance. Having worked at the same company, Lee Mina knew about his Red Flare magic, but she had never imagined it would let him fly with such freedom.
"Descending!"
The man dropped toward the center of a road. They rolled across the pavement from the impact, but Lee Mina remained safely cradled in his arms and took no injury. The moment their roll stopped, he drew his gun in one fluid motion and fired at the pursuing Gu Gang-woo.
"Son of a bitch!"
Remaining airborne would have made him an easy target, so Gu Gang-woo dove behind a parked car on the roadside.
"Step back for now and treat that wrist first."
"R-right."
During the brief lull, the man handed her a small first-aid kit marked with a green cross. Her wrist still burned as if being branded; tears stung her eyes just from taking the kit. Swallowing the pain, Lee Mina accepted it.
She retreated while keeping an eye on the car where Gu Gang-woo hid. First aid was important, but if he charged first, they would be in trouble.
"You rat bastard! Is running all you know how to do?!"
"Look who's talking. Do you have any idea how pathetic you look, shouting from behind cover?"
At the man's mocking tone, the sound of teeth grinding furiously drifted from behind the car. Having lived arrogantly as an executive, the blow to his pride must have been severe.
Lee Mina watched the standoff with quiet satisfaction.