Chapter 324: Political Maneuvering (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 324: Political Maneuvering (3)
Just as I succeeded in rounding them all up in one fell swoop with my meticulously laid net.
I handed the bastards over to the police and the Hunter Association, who had rushed over after hearing the explosion.
Then came the debriefing.
“So… you’re saying you were in Gangnam on business, heard the explosion, and came over?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And you witnessed the Paladin and the villains fighting, so you immediately moved to subdue them.”
“That’s exactly it.”
Cooking up an alibi wasn’t hard at all.
Who would ever suspect the rising star who had all of Korea buzzing, especially when he’d rushed headfirst into a crisis without a moment’s hesitation?
“Hmm… yes, I understand for now.”
“Am I free to go?”
“Yes, you may head home. I’ll report this to the Association immediately.”
“Please put in a good word for me.”
“Haha! You’ve already performed so admirably, I think just reporting the facts as they are will be more than enough.”
“Heh, you think so?”
The Association employee was nothing but friendly toward me.
This is exactly why you have to maintain a good public image.
“Well then, take care.”
“Yes, thank you for your hard work today.”
After exchanging goodbyes, I left the simple tent set up at the scene of the incident.
Outside, the cleanup was still in full swing.
They were arresting and transporting the villains tangled in the net, and clearing the debris of the building that had collapsed from the powerful explosion.
“Oh.”
I spotted a familiar face among them.
It was Priest Joo Kyung-tae, staring up at the collapsed church building with a look of utter devastation.
Ah, now this is hard to resist.
A smile crept onto my lips as I approached him with light steps.
“Father, are you hurt anywhere?”
He slowly turned his head at the sound of my voice from behind him.
When he finally saw me, Priest Joo Kyung-tae’s eyes widened.
“Y-You…!”
He pointed at me with a trembling finger.
It seemed the words I’d carelessly thrown at him yesterday afternoon had come flooding back to his mind.
Ignoring his reaction, I said what I came to say.
“The building is… well, it’s collapsed quite a bit, but it’s a true relief that there were no casualties.”
My concerned tone made his face flush red and then pale.
“Still, it was fortunate I happened to be passing by, wasn’t it? If I had been just a little later, who knows what might have happened… Phew, it’s horrifying just to think about…”
“Sh-Shut your mouth, you bastard!”
Unable to stand my hypocritical words any longer, he rushed forward and grabbed me by the collar.
“Wh-What are you doing all of a sudden?”
As if flustered, I let out a startled voice, which only made Joo Kyung-tae shake the hand on my collar more furiously.
“This was all your doing, wasn’t it?! You orchestrated this because you held a grudge against the church over what happened yesterday!”
“You’re saying I orchestrated this?”
“Yes!”
He was right.
It was all my doing.
I smirked, my eyes full of confidence as I looked at him and spoke.
“So… you’re claiming that I colluded with villains?”
His pupils shook violently.
The fury that had made him look ready to kill me just a moment ago began to subside.
The facts, once obscured by his anger, must have been coming back to him one by one.
“The top rising star in the Republic of Korea, an A-rank Hunter, colluded with villains to terrorize a church, and then subdued those same villains before the situation got worse and handed them over to the Association… That’s what you’re claiming right now, isn’t it?”
“Th-That’s…!”
Joo Kyung-tae’s lips trembled, but he couldn’t get the words out.
His position as a priest was holy and sublime.
But in terms of social standing, he couldn’t hope to challenge my position.
No, he’d be lucky to even come close to my shadow.
How could a mere priest from some church possibly overcome the name Kim Do-jin, a name that was already becoming known throughout the global Hunter industry after several major incidents?
To even be on my level, he’d need to bring at least a Cardinal from the Purity Cult.
That’s why Joo Kyung-tae kept his mouth shut. He knew that speaking rashly could backfire on him.
I twisted the knife with an even more triumphant voice.
“Father, that statement you just made… are you sure you can handle the consequences?”
At my single, ice-cold sentence, the strength in the hand gripping my collar drained away.
The small, sudden commotion was beginning to draw the attention of the people cleaning up the area.
He must have decided he couldn’t handle the situation and was now backing down.
But he hadn’t completely given up.
“Do you think I’ll just let this go?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Have I ever persecuted you, Father?”
I played dumb to the very end, and Joo Kyung-tae let out a cold laugh.
“Just you wait. I’ll make you pay the price for this.”
With that parting shot, Joo Kyung-tae turned and walked away.
“Hmm.”
Not a single person who’s told me to ‘just you wait’ has ever been frightening.
I wonder how our dear priest plans on surprising me.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Lately, I’ve been spending more time with Elena.
Well… we were already on the same team, so it’s not like we spent little time together before.
But whereas I used to spend a lot of time with the whole team, now I was spending more time alone with just her.
The reason, surprisingly, wasn’t me, but Elena.
“Haa… Puppy, Elena trained hard again today.”
After working up a good sweat and showering, she would press her fragrant body close to me.
It seemed her words about being horny for me were completely genuine.
I could tell by the way she unhesitatingly approached me, pulling one of my arms between her large breasts and hugging it tight.
“Yeah, you did. You worked hard.”
Thanks to her, I was the only one suffering.
I mean, what’s the point of constantly turning me on when we can’t even have sex?
If she were just teasing me, I’d push her away firmly, but that wasn’t it.
She was genuinely, purely enjoying the closeness between us.
That’s why I had to be careful about telling her to back off.
“Snnnff… haaah.”
Elena clung to my arm, taking a deep breath.
After savoring the scent, a satisfied smile spread across her face.
“Puppy… did you know?”
“…Know what?”
“Actually, Elena… likes smelling things…”
“Ah, right.”
Is that all?
I’d realized long ago that she had something of a scent fetish.
Sometimes, when we were training, we’d get close to check each other’s form.
Whenever that happened, Elena would subtly bring her nose close and take a deep breath.
Well, she probably thought she’d been doing it without me noticing.
“I already know.”
You were caught a long time ago.
“Huh…? How did you know?”
She asked back, her eyes wide with surprise, as if she hadn’t expected it at all.
“You used to smell me sometimes during training.”
That’s how I found out she had some feelings for me.
If she hadn’t liked my scent, or if she hadn’t liked me, she wouldn’t have been secretly sniffing me like that.
“Ugh… I didn’t know. I thought I was being so sneaky.”
Her face flushed red.
That unguarded expression she kept showing me was driving me crazy.
Ah, just as I was overcome with the desperate urge to continue this intense skinship without restraint…
I suddenly remembered a fact I had overlooked.
The Purity Cult’s vow was literally a promise to protect one’s virginity.
In that case… doesn’t that mean anything is fine as long as there’s no insertion?
“Ah.”
The flickering flame that had lost its strength instantly roared back to life.
My hand, which had been hovering in the air, unsure of what to do, shot out, wrapped around her waist, and pulled her even closer.
“Hah…!”
In the blink of an eye, our bodies were pressed together.
I could feel the firm muscle beneath her soft skin.
This is why I like a woman’s body.
Even if it’s muscular, it’s not just hard; it’s soft on the outside and firm on the inside.
The strange, alluring sensation from that contrast is incredibly attractive.
“D-Do-jin…”
She stared into my eyes, having forgotten even the name ‘Puppy’ that she always used when we were alone.
“Your eyes right now… they don’t look like a puppy’s at all.”
“If not a puppy, then what?”
“Uhm… they look like a wolf’s. Do-jin… do you see Elena as prey?”
That’s Elena for you.
Maybe it’s because of the lack of communication we had for a while, but she’s incredibly perceptive.
“Yeah, I do.”
Elena’s body trembled slightly, unable to move a muscle.
“B-But, Do-jin, like I said before, Elena is…”
“I know. You can’t have sex because of the Vow of Purity.”
“I-I’m sorry, Do-jin…”
“It’s okay.”
I gently stroked her downcast head to comfort her for a moment.
Then, as she pressed her face into my chest, breathing in deeply with a pleasant smile, I whispered in her ear.
“Elena.”
“Yes, Do-jin…”
“We might not be able to have sex, but we can still do plenty of lewd things, don’t you think?”
“Lewd things…?”
“Yeah. For example…”
I reached out with my other hand and gently squeezed one of her breasts that wasn’t pressed against my body.
Now I get it.
I finally understand why her breasts bounced so much during training, distracting me to no end.
It was because they were so incredibly soft.
“Hah…!”
Elena let out a sweet moan at the sudden, erotic skinship.
I continued to pour plausible words into her ear.
“Even without insertion, there are plenty of ways for a man and a woman to make each other feel good.”
All the while, I continued to knead her breast.
Ah, I think I could get addicted to this soft feeling.
Or maybe I’ve been addicted for a long time.
“Hah, haah… Dojiin…”
She panted, her breath hot, not knowing what to do.
“You can say no if you don’t want to.”
Even as I spoke with a nuance that said I would stop whenever she wanted, my hands were busy stimulating her sexual desire.
So that even if her mind refused, her body couldn’t.
I was engraving the concept of carnal desire, something she still knew nothing about, all over her body.
“Ah… th-that’s unfair.”
“What’s unfair?”
“T-To keep… hngh… stimulating me like this… and then tell me I can refuse…!”
“Well… that’s because, deep down, I don’t want you to refuse.”
“Ngh…”
Her chest pressed forward even more.
Proof that even if her mind was unsure, her body was gradually getting used to my touch.
She parted her lips, her expression full of longing.
“I-If Do-jin… can really be satisfied with just that… then I, hngh… I’m okay with it…!”
Finally, she gave her permission.
I was getting a little tired of just touching her breasts anyway, so this was perfect.
“Of course I can be satisfied.”
Because a beautiful woman’s face and body hold endless possibilities, even without her pussy.
Just as I was about to use my other hand to begin a more thorough exploration of her senses…
Bzzzzzt—
The smartphone in my pocket vibrated loudly.
“…You have a call, Do-jin.”
The well-timed vibration made Elena’s expression cool slightly as she spoke to me.
Ah.
What kind of bastard calls at a crucial moment like this?
“…Excuse me for a moment.”
Gritting my teeth, I stood up, pulled out my smartphone, and checked the caller’s name.
What the hell.
It was Manager Kim Seong-tae.
“……”
The rage that had been boiling just moments ago cooled instantly.
The call was that unexpected.
The man usually relayed messages to me through Yoon Ji-an. What could have possibly possessed him to call me directly?
Regardless, I knew something must have happened, so I immediately answered the call.
“Hello.”
—Mr. Do-jin, it’s me. Manager Kim Seong-tae.
“Yes, Manager. You must be busy. What’s the occasion?”
—Well, you see…
He trailed off.
What on earth was he trying to say that required such a long pause?
—An order came down from above.
“An order?”
—Yes. They said to pull some strings to ensure you face some kind of disadvantage, one way or another.
“……?”
What was this all of a sudden?
An order from above to make sure I face a disadvantage?
I’d only exchanged pleasantries with the higher-ups at the Association; I’d never had any real conversations with them.
Who could it be?
While I was puzzling over it, Manager Kim Seong-tae continued.
—From the sound of it, the order seems to have come from an external source, not from within the Association… Have you gotten on anyone’s bad side recently, or gotten into a dispute?
Gotten on someone’s bad side, or gotten into a dispute.
To be able to pressure the Association, it had to be someone pretty important.
…I can’t think of anyone.
“No, I haven’t even met anyone that high up recently…?”
Ah.
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
Joo Kyung-tae.
Could it be that bastard was trying to use his connections to pressure me?
I immediately spoke into the phone to Manager Kim Seong-tae.
“Manager, could you do me a favor?”
—What is it?
“Please find out who gave that order.”
So, he figured he couldn’t beat me with his own power and decided to use his connections.
—I’ll do my best.
Let’s see how this plays out.
Let’s see whose connections are stronger: a priest’s network built over decades…
Or those of a rising star carrying the hopes of the entire nation.