Chapter 367: The Fetters of Karma (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 367: The Fetters of Karma (9)
When faced with a great shock, a person’s thought process tends to freeze for a moment.
However, for high-ranking Hunters, the probability of this happening is significantly lower than for ordinary people.
The threat of death, visiting just when you think you’ve forgotten it.
Their mental fortitude, forged by twisting and clawing their way out of deadly situations, has been reforged to desperately seek a way out, no matter the circumstances.
But when was it?
Since becoming an A-rank and then an S-rank Hunter, there was only one time my mind had ever gone blank.
It was shortly after Seo-yeon was born.
When the doctor told me she was born congenitally weak and might not live for long.
Back then, my mind truly went completely white.
“…”
And now, once again, my mind has gone blank.
Hexagram.
By a name I have never once heard in my entire life.
If there were influential figures from the Republic of Korea among those they controlled in various countries, there’s no way I wouldn’t have at least heard the name…
“No way.”
There was just one possibility.
One way my eyes could have been covered.
“…Han Ju-hee.”
What if the person who controlled the influential figures in Korea for Hexagram was none other than her?
Then it would make sense.
Among the S-rank Hunters in Korea, she was the only one with deeper political connections than me.
If so, is she a member of the organization called Hexagram?
Or is it merely a transactional relationship, a simple give-and-take?
No, more important than that…
“Just since when…”
Since when has my wife been involved with this unknown group?
Could it be… that the reason our relationship began to grow distant was because of them?
“This feels fucking disgusting.”
I don’t know.
I don’t know if she got in bed with those Hexagram bastards or if it’s just a business deal.
I don’t know if they’re a criminal organization plotting something dangerous, or just a bunch of shy guys who are too embarrassed to show their faces and operate from the shadows.
Not knowing makes it feel even more disgusting.
“Fuck… what the hell do I even know?”
I am her husband.
No, I was her husband.
It wasn’t a political marriage; we married because we were passionately in love.
I kept no secrets from her, and I believed she did the same.
I was sure of it.
I was.
“When did you become so full of secrets, Ju-hee…?”
What was it that you had to hide from me so desperately, and what did you want so badly that you got involved with people like them?
Whatever you wanted, whatever you were trying to do.
If you had just told me first, I would have been on your side.
I’m the kind of person who would never turn his back on family, no matter what.
“Ha… this is a strange feeling.”
I thought I’d thrown all that away when I decided to live on in this body.
But strangely, I feel like something’s been stolen from me.
It’s not a problem with the body, but with the mind.
Were those Hexagram bastards more trustworthy than her own husband?
Just how great are these sons of bitches?
“They’re making me curious to see their faces, those bastards.”
I was furious.
But strangely, my mind was cold.
No, not just cold—it was chilling.
Now I think I get it.
I know where I need to dig to find out why we had to end up like this.
“I just have to dig into these bastards.”
Hexagram.
I just need to uncover the identities of those veiled bastards.
Who are their members, and why have they gathered?
And… what does Han Ju-hee want from them?
Worry comes first, wondering how to investigate an organization I only know by name, but it doesn’t matter.
I just have to show them.
“I’ll have to show them how Son Si-woo became an S-rank Hunter.”
Just how venomous a man who crawled his way up from the very bottom to stand at the pinnacle of a nation can be.
Where should I start?
After a moment of thought, I found the answer.
Han Ju-hee.
If she has some kind of connection to Hexagram, there could be no better starting point.
I pick up the smartphone on the desk and send a message.
[Kim Do-jin: There’s something I’d like to experiment with regarding our research. Could you spare some time?]
She won’t be able to refuse my offer.
* * *
A demanding life, moving according to a schedule planned down to the minute.
A schedule that would send even someone with exceptional stamina to the hospital with exhaustion in a matter of days had no effect on her.
That was what it meant to be an S-rank Hunter.
A transcendent being who had breached the realm of impossibility, a line humans could not and should not cross.
Even now, she was in the process of gradually expanding her own domain within that realm of impossibility.
By personally manifesting, one by one, the things deemed impossible.
Exploring the incomprehensible and seemingly impossible was at the very top of her few pleasures in life.
So much so that if she ever got fixated on something, she would cancel her entire schedule.
And that was the case now.
“Cancel all my appointments starting tomorrow.”
An incomprehensible and seemingly impossible problem, one that stimulated her pleasure more than anything else, had just reached out to her.
[Kim Do-jin: There’s something I’d like to experiment with regarding our research. Could you spare some time?]
“Kim Do-jin…”
A man who manifested magic—something she firmly believed to be a realm of thorough calculation and understanding—in the realm of the senses.
The reason she hadn’t been able to call him to the lab for a while was that she didn’t know how.
She had been frustrated, unable to figure out what kind of research was needed to uncover his secret or where to even begin.
To think he would be the one to contact her first.
Her secretary, realizing her boss’s research drive had been triggered, sighed inwardly and asked.
“…Until when should I clear your schedule?”
She replied to her secretary’s question.
“Until I say I’m done.”
“Understood.”
Rearranging the schedule was easy enough.
The demanding, minute-by-minute schedule was something she had wanted for herself in the first place.
The reason for pushing herself so hard?
It was nothing special.
It was to keep herself from being cooped up in her lab all the time.
And… to forget, even for a moment, the complex thoughts that surrounded her.
The next day, after finishing all of her scattered appointments.
She greeted Kim Do-jin in her lab on the 77th basement floor.
“It’s been a while.”
“It’s good to see you.”
A greeting exchanged without any particular emotion.
And yet, it was quite fascinating.
Ten out of ten, a hundred out of a hundred.
Everyone who met her was busy shrinking away, but he alone remained unchanged.
He didn’t shrink, nor did he puff himself up.
Watching his endlessly authentic self, a certain person suddenly came to mind.
Back when everyone was trying to get on her good side.
-If you’re a mage, act like one and deal damage from the back, you mana-spoon bitch!
The man who had cursed at her without hesitation.
Forcibly pushing the dusty old memory to a corner of her mind, she asked.
“You said there was something you wanted to experiment with.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Try anything you want. This lab is equipped with every machine needed for research.”
Her tone was filled with pride.
And it was true.
This place was equipped with all the latest facilities necessary for magic research, without exception.
In addition, protective magic circles she had personally designed were infused into the walls everywhere, ensuring that whatever happened here would not affect the outside.
But Kim Do-jin shook his head.
“No. What I need for this experiment aren’t those cold machines.”
A look of puzzlement appeared in her eyes.
“If not machines… then what do you need?”
A strange smile formed on Kim Do-jin’s lips as he pointed a finger at her.
“What I need this time is you, Hunter Han Ju-hee.”
Her expression crumpled.
* * *
I had thought about it a lot.
To dig into her, I needed to make some progress in our research.
That way, she would become more engrossed in our joint research and pay more attention to me.
Facing Han Ju-hee, who stood there with a scowl after I said I needed her, I calmly laid out what I had been thinking.
“Hunter Han Ju-hee, you said you wanted to uncover the principles of my magic and learn it.”
“…I did.”
“As you may have already guessed, my magic is far from the realm of theory.”
My magic is thoroughly sensory.
I freely command the mana I can see with my eyes, the mana I can feel distinctly on my skin.
That is how I shape countless forms of magic.
“I concluded that it’s impossible to investigate such a sensory realm with machines.”
“…Then what’s the method you have in mind?”
Her tone was slightly sullen.
My words could easily be misconstrued as looking down on her magic.
Something like, My magic is different from yours, so it can’t even be researched with mere machines.
But it was the truth.
“You have to feel it directly.”
Every domain has a method that suits it.
In my opinion, the realm of the senses cannot be unraveled by machines.
In a way, my magic is closer to swordsmanship, which is honed and built up over a lifetime.
The theoretical aspects are of course important, but what’s more important is what you feel by doing it yourself.
“…I’m not so sure. Whether a method like that will work.”
For her, who had always thoroughly researched and calculated magic, it was likely a difficult method to accept.
But she knew, and I knew.
“To enter a new domain, new attempts must follow.”
That to pull the impossible into the realm of the possible, into one’s own grasp, one cannot insist on only familiar paths.
At my answer that hit the mark, her expression softened slightly as she spoke.
“…You, you’re similar.”
“To whom?”
It was obvious who she meant, but I asked with an innocent expression, pretending to know nothing.
At that, Han Ju-hee squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“No, it’s nothing. Anyway… fine. Let’s do it your way today.”
Han Ju-hee turned away to hide her slightly softened expression.
And I found her act… utterly detestable.