Chapter 414: Special (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 414: Special (5)
After the meeting.
I sat across from the Saintess and we talked.
“It went just as you said.”
“That’s a relief.”
The strategy meeting was the responsibility of each country's representatives. For me, who had to convey that Lu Bu had joined the enemy, it was a rather high wall to climb.
The representatives from Korea attending the meeting were Han Ju-hee and Son Si-woo. Han Ju-hee was one thing, but I was in a situation where I had to be cautious about even meeting with Son Si-woo.
It was obvious that their influence over the Japanese and Chinese representatives would be far greater than mine.
So, I was left with only one option.
“Thank you for granting my request.”
“It was hardly a request. If, as you say, Lu Bu has sided with the enemy, then it’s something I must prepare for as well.”
She was right.
If Lu Bu had joined the enemy, it was a crisis for every nation participating in the operation.
But there was another reason I was grateful.
“I’m grateful that you believed me.”
It’s not easy to say that the enemy is on the inside.
And even less so that the enemy is Han Ju-hee.
I still lacked what it would take to bring down someone with her considerable social standing.
Both reputation and evidence.
In this situation, all I could do was speak in terms of possibilities.
“Because few people would readily believe that Lu Bu might join forces with villains.”
“That’s true.”
Despite all the rumors, Lu Bu was a Hunter. An S-rank Hunter with worldwide recognition, at that. The number of monsters and villains who had died at his hands was almost impossible to count.
No matter how much power was at stake, considering the path Lu Bu had walked and his personality, the idea of him joining villains was hard to believe, no matter how plausible it sounded.
The Saintess probably wouldn't have believed it either, if not for the bond we’d formed while fighting Lu Bu together.
Setting down her teacup, from which a deep aroma wafted, she lamented.
“I’m worried. If Lu Bu appears as an enemy, the damage will be immense.”
“I’m sure it will.”
By having the Saintess bring up Lu Bu in the strategy meeting, I had succeeded in raising awareness about him.
However, we couldn't come up with a definitive solution.
The best plan we could devise involved Han Ju-hee, Son Si-woo, and Tanaka Masayoshi. With the Saintess’s support, they would do nothing more than tie Lu Bu down.
Even that could hardly be called a perfect solution.
Dealing with Lu Bu was one thing, but the Black Market was so vast and spread out that there was no telling when or where he might appear.
They said the plan was to stay in close contact and converge immediately if Lu Bu showed up… but there would undoubtedly be considerable losses in the process.
Honestly, I didn't care what happened to anyone else.
I was just worried that those losses might include me or my team members.
Just as I was racking my brain for a way to prevent that…
“…You really are an unusual person.”
Her words broke me out of my thoughts.
When I looked up, the Saintess’s veiled face was turned toward me.
I couldn't see her expression through the veil, which perfectly concealed her features, but I could clearly feel her gaze fixed intently on me.
Anyway, unusual?
“I don’t think I’ve shown any particularly unusual side of myself.”
To which she replied.
“There are things that can be seen without being shown. And…”
She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and continuing.
“…No, let’s talk about this later.”
What? How anticlimactic.
I thought she was about to tell me some important secret.
Just as my tension drained away and I lifted my teacup…
“Don’t be too disappointed. It’s just not the right time yet. The day will come when we can talk about it.”
“Someday…”
“Well… perhaps after this operation concludes successfully, it might be alright.”
A strange intuition whispered to me.
That the story she had to tell wouldn't be entirely unrelated to me.
Though I didn't know if it would be to my benefit or my detriment.
Anyway.
So, after the operation is over…
I set down the still-warm teacup and replied.
“I’ll be back before this tea gets cold.”
“Tea can’t stay hot for several days, you know. Hoho.”
“……”
No.
It was just a line…
Just like that, I’d been turned into an idiot with no common sense.
* * *
The operation was scheduled for two days after the meeting.
In reality, it was more accurate to say the operation would begin in one day, because it would take time to move from our current hotel to the vicinity of the Black Market.
The personnel participating in the operation changed their appearances and moved to their new locations.
Kim Do-jin and his team members disguised themselves as the college students on a trip—a cover they had tried to use once before and failed—and took a rather inconvenient route to the area near the Black Market, where they got a room in a cheap hotel.
“Ugh… staying here after that hotel feels so lame.”
“Is this what they call reverse culture shock…?”
“Hehe… it is a little uncomfortable, yeah.”
The team members grumbled, their faces full of disappointment.
Watching them, Kim Do-jin gave a bitter smile.
It wasn't that he didn't understand.
The hotel they’d stayed at in Beijing was five-star, whereas this place was so bad it was hard to even give it a single star.
Still, he found it absurd.
“The operation is literally tomorrow. Is this really the time to be complaining about our accommodations?”
The operation was tomorrow, for crying out loud. Weren't they a little too relaxed?
“Aren’t you guys worried at all…?”
Besides, up until now, all their growth had come from dungeons.
That meant they weren't used to fighting villains.
Of course, Kim Do-jin had put them through intense training to prepare, even playing the role of a villain himself.
“You might have to kill people.”
No matter how much they deserved to die, their shells were still human.
It would shock them in a way that was completely different from killing countless monsters.
In fact, that was Kim Do-jin’s biggest worry.
Every year, a significant number of Hunters struggled with trauma after their first kill.
He wondered if these fledglings, barely in their early twenties, could handle it.
“Well… it’s not that I’m not worried.”
“But?”
As if mocking his concern, Shin Yu-jeong answered nonchalantly.
“It’s something we have to do, isn’t it? And it’s unavoidable, as long as we’ve committed to living as Hunters.”
Many Hunters were reluctant to participate in operations to subdue villains. Conversely, there were also Hunters who didn't put much effort into clearing dungeons.
But none of them could continue their lives as Hunters doing only what they wanted.
Just as there was such a thing as force majeure, an unavoidable moment was bound to come for everyone.
As if agreeing with her, Im Na-eun added.
“I feel the same. I’m a little scared, but… I don’t think we should back down.”
They hadn't just blindly followed Kim Do-jin into this operation because he asked them to.
They had their own goals.
“We can’t rely on Do-jin forever.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Right!”
Shin Yu-jeong and Im Na-eun chimed in, agreeing with Elena.
They had become A-rank Hunters at an incredible speed.
Of course, that didn't mean their abilities were lacking compared to other A-rank Hunters.
However, if there was one thing they lacked, it was experience.
They didn't have that veteran aura that one naturally associated with A-rank Hunters.
Because of that, there was a lot of talk about them on the internet.
Half the people argued that experience would come with time and that their talent should be highly valued.
The other half criticized them, claiming that regardless of talent or effort, they had undeniably had it easy under Kim Do-jin.
Thanks to the latter group, they had even been stuck with a disgraceful nickname.
“‘The princesses raised by Kim Do-jin’? Hah, give me a break.”
“I’m gonna find the bastard who said that and ‘pat’ them on the head. Real nice and hard.”
“Hehe… I wouldn’t mind being Do-jin’s princess, though. Mmm…♥”
The princesses raised on Kim Do-jin’s back.
It was a derogatory term for them, implying they’d reached A-rank without any real effort, just by following Kim Do-jin’s lead.
And Kim Do-jin himself had been given a rather ridiculous title.
“I suddenly became the ‘Princess Maker.’”
Princess Maker.
The name of a classic game created long ago that was still kept alive by retro gaming enthusiasts.
He’d heard it was a game all about raising a princess to be beautiful. However, people said there was a subtle emotional reward in the effort you put in and in watching the princess grow.
‘…Is it really that wrong?’
Thinking about it that way, maybe it wasn't entirely inaccurate.
After all, watching these fledglings before him grow little by little did fill him with a sense of pride.
Anyway.
For them, this operation was a chance to prove themselves in many ways.
Although it was an unofficial operation that most people wouldn't know about, those gathered here would come to know.
That they were the real deal.
And just as there are no eternal secrets in this world, their re-evaluation would one day come about through the words of those present.
“Hmm…”
A faint smile played on Kim Do-jin’s lips as he watched them strengthen their resolve.
‘When did they grow up so much?’
He felt that sense of pride once again.
To think they had been talking amongst themselves and searching for ways to grow without him knowing.
He knew they weren't fools who only took what was given to them, but they were more impressive than he'd expected.
‘If this is how they are, I can afford to trust them a little more.’
Perhaps he was the one who had been underestimating them the most.
The next day finally arrived.
Just as they were about to leave the cheap motel to begin the operation.
A staff member from the Association arrived and delivered news that struck them like a bolt from the blue.
“…What did you just say?”
“I said that Hunter Son Seo-yeon will not be able to join you on this operation.”
The completely random and sudden news… no, the announcement, made them all freeze.