Chapter 294: Rage-13 (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 294: Rage-13 (3)
In the control room, accessible only to club staff.
A man sat alone, checking dozens of CCTV feeds one by one before clicking his tongue.
“Tsk… Not a single customer looks right.”
He was looking for a buyer.
A high-potential customer who would buy up the incredible drug he had tucked away safely in his pocket.
He'd love to sell it left and right to anyone and everyone, but he couldn't.
Strict orders had come down: it was a prototype, so he had to choose a buyer with the utmost caution.
“Not this one, these guys are… already on something else, and this one is… huh?”
As the man flipped through the feeds, one person caught his eye.
A woman sitting alone at a table—a rare sight in a club.
“Hooo… Damn, she's a knockout.”
Face, body—she was top-shelf, perfect in every way.
“Everything she's wearing is expensive, too… Daughter of a rich family?”
But unlike the usual docile, charming rich girls, this one had a wild streak.
Judging by the way she was fiercely shutting down any man who approached while chugging hard liquor, she was clearly having a bad day.
“…Not bad.”
What the man focused on were her eyes, visible through the CCTV.
He got the strong impression that she was the type to be ruled by instinct, not logic; by emotion, not reason.
“Okay, perfect. You're the one for tonight.”
The man pulled the hooded zip-up hanging on the back of his chair deep over his head and left the control room.
He could see the woman through the crowd of people swaying to the thumping music.
“Ahem, ahh-”
He cleared his throat lightly and started walking toward her.
Start with the brightest voice possible.
“Hello there, miss~”
The moment he spoke, her lowered head snapped up, and she shot him a piercing glare.
The man flinched, clutching his chest.
Whoa, fuck. I almost pissed myself for a second.
He'd seen a lot of people in his time, but never a woman like this.
Her face was already fierce-looking, but with her emotions pushed to the edge, she was on another level.
“What do you want.”
An icy voice.
The man forced his slightly tense body to relax and spoke in a friendly tone.
“You look like you're going through some stuff.”
“So?”
“I've got a lot of things that can make you feel better… How about I share some with you?”
Shin Yu-jeong shot back in a harsh tone.
“Let's see it, then. Show me just how good your stuff is.”
Just as the man reached for his pocket at her words...
“And let me tell you something first. Don't bother with any of that weak shit. Bring out the strongest thing you've got. I can't stand bastards who beat around the bush.”
Startled, the man let out an awkward laugh, impressed.
“W-Wow~ You really don't mess around, miss.”
The man thought.
I've hooked a big one.
Even drunk, most people showed at least some hesitation toward drugs, but this woman showed none at all.
Which meant she was either a regular user or had a few screws loose.
“Hehe, for you, miss, I'll show you something special. The best I've got.”
Excited, the man took out the drug he'd kept hidden in the deepest part of his pocket.
A blood-red pill inside a small, clear plastic bag.
“This is the newest thing on the market. It's to die for, seriously.”
“Aha... is that so?”
Shin Yu-jeong picked up the bag with the red pill from the table and grinned.
“I think this is the bastard.”
“……?”
Her words made no sense in the context, and her gaze was angled away, as if looking at someone other than him.
“What the f—!”
Sensing something was terribly wrong, the man tried to bolt from his seat.
“Freeze.”
“Urk...!?”
Something invisible wrapped around his entire body, preventing him from moving a single step.
“Fuck, what is this...! Let me go, right now!”
He panicked.
What the hell is this? Why can't I break free?
He may not have passed the Hunter exam, but he had stats on par with a B-ranker. Yet no matter how much he struggled, this binding wouldn't let him move an inch!
Who the hell is doing this?
Just as he was wondering, twisting his body desperately...
“Peekaboo.”
His eyes met with a man who suddenly peeked out from behind him.
His pupils widened as if they would tear.
“Y-You're...!”
It was a familiar face.
A face he had seen right here, just yesterday.
“K-Kim Do-jin?”
It was him.
* * *
Ever since Shin Yu-jeong sat down at the table, men had been coming and going nonstop.
Guys confident in their looks, guys who lived by their silver tongues, and so on.
It seemed like pretty much every guy with at least one redeeming quality had tried to make a move.
“Excuse me...”
“What.”
“Ah, never mind.”
Not a single one of them managed to have a proper conversation before leaving.
I mean, I definitely told her to act natural, so why was she so on edge?
With an angry expression added to a face that already radiated a frosty aura just by existing, most of them shrank away, completely intimidated.
At this point, a thought even crossed my mind.
“Am I the only man who could ever handle her...?”
Just as I was starting to think that might actually be true...
The procession of men ended, and Shin Yu-jeong began drinking alone.
“Kuh...!”
She started downing the expensive liquor we'd set out beforehand like it was water.
“…What's she going to do if she gets really drunk?”
No.
Actually, it might be better if she really did get a little drunk.
That way, the guy would feel more confident approaching her.
I was concentrating, not taking my eyes off her for a second, not knowing when or how things would go down.
“Ah.”
A man sat down across from her without even asking, just as she was bobbing her head like a sick chicken, seemingly drunk for real.
A gray hoodie, pulled down deep.
Beneath it, there was no face, only a shroud of black darkness.
The club was dark, but for a face to be completely invisible was highly unnatural.
“Magic.”
Looking closely, I could see mana tangled haphazardly around the hood.
It seemed to be clothing enchanted with perception-hindering magic.
Well, that settles it.
“That's the bastard.”
The guy who sold the drug to Kim Jeong-hun had finally shown up.
I was about to approach him when Shin Yu-jeong gave me a subtle hand signal to stop.
I wondered what was up and looked closer to see the man taking the drug out of his pocket to show her.
It seemed she wanted irrefutable proof that he was a drug dealer.
“I think this is the bastard.”
Shaking the plastic bag with the red pill, she finally gave the okay sign.
At the same time, the guy sensed something was wrong and tried to leave, but...
Not a chance.
「Hold.」
A rope made of thinly twisted mana wrapped around his entire body.
“Fuck, what is this...! Let me go, right now!”
His voice was thick with panic.
He looked to be about B-rank, so he was probably freaking out because he couldn't break free on his own.
I leaned in, peeking over the shoulder of the immobilized man.
“Peekaboo.”
The moment our eyes met, his body flinched.
“K-Kim Do-jin?”
He seemed quite shocked by the appearance of someone he hadn't expected at all.
I reached for the hood shrouded in darkness.
“Let's see your face first before we talk.”
You should make eye contact when you're having a conversation.
I whipped off the deep-set hood, and his face was finally in full view.
Slightly dilated pupils, scratchy-looking stubble from not shaving for a few days, and blotchy skin.
He reeked.
The strong stench of a junkie.
“Hey.”
“...”
He didn't answer my call, his mouth clamped shut.
I resisted the urge to smack him on the back of the head and continued in the gentlest tone I could manage.
“I'd like to have a calm conversation first. Is there a quiet place around here?”
“...”
Again, he didn't answer my question and just whipped his head away.
I guess this isn't going to work.
“You've been caught red-handed. You want to go straight to jail?”
When I threatened him subtly, he curled his lip as if he welcomed it and sneered.
“Hmph, go ahead. It's not a big deal. I'll be out in a year or two anyway.”
In any case.
The damn law is the problem.
Junkies like this, especially ones who sell to others, should be locked up to rot for a good twenty years so they don't act so cocky. But they always get a slap on the wrist.
How is that supposed to scare them?
“Okay. So you're not scared of jail? Got it.”
That's why I always have to be scarier than the law.
I turned to Shin Yu-jeong, who was watching us with a fascinated expression.
“Take that drug and go wait in the car.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to bury this bastard.”
“What...?”
“...!”
At my deadpan reply, both Shin Yu-jeong's and the junkie's faces hardened.
“I don't want you to see anything ugly, so go wait in the car.”
“Uh, uh-huh...”
Shin Yu-jeong nodded as if mesmerized.
That's unexpected.
I thought she'd insist on coming with me.
Maybe even the great Shin Yu-jeong was a little scared by this sudden, brutal dose of reality.
Well, that's not so bad.
You have to learn the harshness of reality early to survive long as a Hunter.
I grabbed the scruff of the man, who was still tightly bound by magic, and spoke.
“Now, let's go somewhere quiet.”
I dragged the man, who couldn't even struggle, across the club.
Soon, we reached the exit.
“What do you think you're doing, sir?”
The bouncers standing guard there blocked my path with menacing faces.
I knew it was going too smoothly.
I warned the guys, who stood firm as if they had no intention of moving.
“Official business. Step aside.”
I reached into my pocket, pulled out the emblem I'd received from Department Head Kim Seong-tae, and shoved it in their faces.
A golden star with eight sharp points.
It was something only a member of the Hunter Association's 'Hunter Special Investigation Unit' could possess.
The faces of the men who recognized the emblem soured.
They knew without being told what would happen if they didn't get out of my way.
“...Our apologies.”
Instead of blocking me and escalating the situation, they chose to step aside politely.
I followed the now-clear path out of the club and headed for a dim alley nearby.
No one should be coming in or out of here until I'm done...
「Illusion.」
After putting up a fake wall, I dragged him by the scruff of his neck deeper into the alley.
By this point, it seemed even this gutsy bastard was starting to get scared.
“H-Hey. Where are you taking me?”
The guy who hadn't said a single word on the way here finally asked me a question.
“Where do you think? A good place to bury you.”
I told you, didn't I?
That I was going to bury you.
I wasn't lying.
At that, he launched into a threat, his face pale.
“Th-This is a clear crime, you know?! It's extrajudicial punishment! Don't you know what happens when a Hunter uses their power recklessly?!”
“I know.”
Extrajudicial punishment is a clear crime.
The law applies even more strictly to Hunters, who can kill people with very little force.
But it's fine.
That's only if I were actually carrying out extrajudicial punishment.
“You resisted violently, so I had no choice but to use force. What can I do if you suddenly died in the process?”
“Wh-What kind of bullshit is that! You think I'm just going to stand by and let that happen?!”
“Yeah.”
I told you.
“You're getting buried here.”
“Y-You crazy bastard...!”
Hmm.
That's a little unpleasant.
“Being called a crazy bastard by a junkie feels pretty shitty, you know.”
Is this the pot calling the kettle black?
Reaching the end of the alley, I threw him to the ground and cast a new spell.
「Dig.」
It's a spell originally made for digging up dirt, but concrete doesn't matter.
As long as you can handle the mana drain from breaking through something harder, that is.
Kugugu...!
The more mana I poured in, the more the concrete crushed and cracked, and the dirt revealed beneath it was gouged out.
Soon, a large pit had formed.
“Heave-ho.”
I lifted him up and stood him inside it.
Then, using 'Fill,' the opposite of the Dig spell, I filled it back up.
“Gak...!”
His body was buried along with the excavated earth, leaving only his face barely sticking out.
“How does it feel? Being buried under a concrete floor.”
I asked in a light tone, and he began to beg, trembling in terror.
“Wh-Why are you doing this to me? Just send me to the police station. I'll pay for my crimes!”
This bastard still doesn't get it.
“Hey.”
“...?”
“Do you think what I want is for you to pay for your crimes?”
“Th-That's...”
He knows damn well what I want, so why is he playing dumb?
“Make a choice. Are you going to die buried here, or are you going to answer my questions properly and then pay for your crimes?”
I'd shown him by now.
That every single word I say is sincere, and that I can make even the most unbelievable threats a reality.
A situation where his life hung in the balance.
In a situation like this, a junkie's answer is obvious, isn't it?
“I-I'll talk! I'll tell you everything I know, so just get me out of here!”
“First, answer all my questions.”
At that, his face crumpled as he asked.
“What the hell do you want to know?!”
“Oh, lots of things.”
What should I ask first?
Right, that's a good place to start.
“First, tell me the name of this drug.”
With a deeply wrinkled face, the man answered.
“Rage-13.”
That was the name of the drug.