Chapter 110: Masterpiece
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: Masterpiece
Hyeok-seo had been with Girasung until recently.
That made him the one who knew the most about them, and the most suitable person to take them down.
Above all, he was the most cooperative of the Girasung members.
Now that the issue with Eva was resolved, he had no reason to remain with them.
As an S-rank returnee, his power was undeniable, making him the best possible asset for the World Returnee Association.
He was the perfect man to clean up his own mess, I guess.
Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to Eunnamu.
I briefly thought of her, since I hadn't heard anything since that day, then went back to typing in the chat.
[ Doremi Fasol : That's great. I'm so relieved. ]
He was an acquaintance, after all, so the thought of him being locked in a basement had been bothering me in many ways.
I didn't know what he'd do with the hour I'd bought him, but it felt like I should do everything I could for him.
[ Ediknorjeva : It's all thanks to you, isn't it? In all my life, I've never seen that Iron-Blooded woman act so kindly. ]
And just as I expected, the conversation turned to Seol-hyang.
[ Ediknorjeva : And what's-her-name, that Thunder Dragon woman. Why's she like that whenever someone mentions you? ]
[ Doremi Fasol : There's a bit of a story there. ]
Remembering how she went from 'Thunder Dragon' to a flustered mess, I figured her trauma hadn't healed yet.
[ Ediknorjeva : Well, it's easier for me since she listens well. Ah, hold on. ]
Hyeok-seo's messages stopped for a moment before continuing.
[ Ediknorjeva : Gotta get back to work. I just logged on to say a quick hello since I saw you were online. Thanks again. ]
[ Doremi Fasol : I heard you say thanks plenty of times back then. You don't have to keep saying it. ]
[ Ediknorjeva : Oh, and Se-hee was talking about you. If you get a chance, visit the hunter company she and I started. You can use that business card I gave you. ]
It seemed Eva was quite busy these days, too.
The card he gave me… it was the one with the word "Beom" on it.
Considering what Hyeok-seo said, it seemed like a good idea to pay them a visit.
Seeing this, I felt a sense of relief, as if that whole affair was finally coming to a close.
‘All that's left is my sister's case.’
The matter of my sister, who had just appeared, and Seol-hyang, who could see worldlines.
The former seemed difficult to resolve for now, and for the latter, I just needed to ask Seol-hyang. For the time being, it seemed I could just focus on training and my work at the company.
‘I hope things stay quiet from now on.’
But I knew all too well that the world's affairs were never that simple.
And it happened after October 20th, as the latter half of the month began.
“So, you’re saying Alterz has started to move?”
[ Yes. ]
Sitting in front of my company monitor, I scratched my head at the voice coming from the other end of the phone.
The person I was talking to was none other than Seo-ho, Si-ho's older brother.
The reason Seo-ho had called me was because of Alterz, the organization said to be composed of S-rank hunters from all over the world.
They were the group Jo Si-a had mentioned once, a collective centered around high-ranking hunters.
And now, through Seo-ho, I was hearing that they had started to make a move.
“When you say move, what exactly are they doing?”
[ Do you remember what that Jo Si-a woman said on her own accord last time? ]
“That you and I were forming a team, right?”
[ Yes. ]
“Don’t tell me Alterz thinks so too?”
[ No. They aren’t that foolish. ]
That's a relief.
For a second, I thought they might actually believe it.
[ But it seems they are thinking along similar lines. To be precise, they don't see it as a personal team, but as Korea's independence. ]
“Why Korea?”
I questioned him at his words.
Just because they were Korean hunters didn't mean they hadn't joined Alterz.
So why this sudden talk of Korea's independence?
[ It seems the recent events have created that misunderstanding. During the Jung-gu incident, didn't the reputation of hunters get a huge boost alongside the returnees? ]
“Well, that’s only natural since everyone worked so hard.”
The hunters back then went through such fucking hell.
Facing the dimensional entities pouring from the sky was no ordinary task.
[ It seems the problem is that returnees and hunters were involved together. ]
“Are you saying they think the returnees and the Korean hunters are collaborating?”
[ Yes, given the number of incidents, I believe that's what they're speculating. Kwak Sa-yeon's company, JMC, originally had strong ties with Alterz, but it practically collapsed after what happened with us, which reduced Alterz's influence in Korea. ]
The conversation was starting to take a strange turn.
[ In that situation, I heard that Rodri, a new hunter company established with connections to returnees, has grown in size as many hunters from JMC have moved over. ]
“Uh, umm.”
Come to think of it, I had seen a lot of new faces around. Was that why?
Maybe because I was involved, it left a strange, unsettling feeling.
[ On top of that, another hunter company called Beom was recently established in Korea. ]
And just like that, another matter related to me came up.
[ The hunters belonging to that company are quite famous in the underworld. Their individual combat strength is also considerably high, so Korea's overall hunter power has suddenly skyrocketed. ]
“Ooh…”
I let out a small sound of admiration.
[ Haa, and finally, that fool, Jo Si-a, recently left Alterz, didn't she? Besides Si-ho and me, there are only four other S-rank hunters in Korea, and one of them, the Director of the Management Bureau, was never part of Alterz to begin with. ]
So with Jo Si-a also leaving, it meant that effectively half of them had defected from Alterz.
“So from Alterz’s perspective, it could look like the Korean hunters have completely turned their backs on them.”
[ Yes, that's about right. ]
Haha, well now.
“……Seo-ho, will this cause any problems?”
[ I think it's possible Alterz might impose some kind of sanctions on the Korean hunter market. Or they might dispatch personnel to monitor the situation. ]
“I’m sorry. This might be my fault.”
I wanted to think I was just being self-important, but every single one of these incidents was connected to me.
There was no way I could say it wasn't my fault.
After all, the fucking starting point for all of it was me.
[ What? Hyung-nim, what fault do you have? It would be troubling for you to apologize when all you did was try to help us. ]
I was grateful he said that, at least.
[ What I'm worried about is you and Si-ho. ]
“Me and Si-ho? Isn’t Si-ho registered as an A-rank hunter?”
[ She was operating on such a large scale in Jung-gu, wasn't she? Alterz has probably noticed her by now. ]
Was he saying Alterz might try to pull something with Si-ho?
I frowned, wondering if Si-ho was just fated to be caught up in all sorts of trouble.
“Why can’t they just leave the kid alone?”
[ I feel the same way. ]
Si-ho had only just recently started to rest after going through so much for us right after her mother's incident.
I didn't want her to get entangled in anything else, so I sighed and spoke to Seo-ho.
“Alright. Si-ho aside, why did you mention me?”
[ You shot at the dimensional entity, didn't you? ]
“You saw.”
[ Any hunter with a decent level of skill probably noticed. ]
He had a point. Thanks to Baeksan, my firepower was abnormally high.
Since I was a registered hunter, it wasn't strange for Alterz to be keeping an eye on me.
If they dug deeper, they would soon discover my connection to the returnees.
‘Is this things going just as Baeksan said?’
The masterpiece that completes the puzzle of the returnees.
I was gradually realizing that was me.
But this world was different from Baeksan's.
I had Baeksan, my biggest trump card, and I'd gotten a lot stronger recently.
Plus, Eunhyeon was secretly protecting me.
I'd even greeted her when she passed by in her fox form the other day, so she had to be around here somewhere.
“Okay, I understand everything. Seo-ho, I’m sorry to ask, but can you keep me updated if you hear any more news about Alterz?”
[ I will. Please be careful too, hyung-nim. Those guys have a tendency to be quite reckless. ]
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
With that, I ended the call with Seo-ho.
First it was the returnees of Girasung, and now it's the hunters of Alterz.
Good grief, the troubles never end.
“Baeksan, what do you think?”
I asked Baeksan, who was letting out a huge yawn beside me. Licking his lips, Baeksan answered.
“Those Alterz bastards self-destructed on their own, so I don’t know much. Besides, things have changed so much from what I knew that my advice probably won’t be very useful anymore.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
I slowly recalled the world of Baeksan that I had heard about and pieced together.
In Baeksan's world, Girasung succeeded in kidnapping Si-ho. When JMC's director, Kwak Do-reon, refused to sell them artificial dimensional gates, Girasung made a deal with his sister, Kwak Sa-yeon, instead.
The condition they offered Kwak Sa-yeon was that they would make Seo-ho hers in exchange for her brokering the sale of the gates.
With Si-ho's safety guaranteed, Seo-ho was forced to marry Kwak Sa-yeon.
Meanwhile, Hyeok-seo used Si-ho's ability to bring back Eva, but without Juksim, he failed to save her.
After that, Hyeok-seo went on a rampage, lived as part of Girasung, and was eventually killed by the World Returnee Association.
During that time, Si-ho was being blackmailed by Girasung, with Seo-ho as leverage.
As time went on, Si-ho's powers would have grown stronger, making it difficult for even Girasung to control her.
Seo-ho somehow found out and, deciding he was a burden to Si-ho, killed himself.
Kwak Sa-yeon went mad over it, and Si-ho, upon learning of Seo-ho's death, finally went berserk.
…That was Baeksan's world, as far as I understood it.
‘Just imagining it is horrifying.’
I let out a sigh of relief, knowing I had prevented a world that should never have come to pass.
Everyone I was connected to had been swept up in the events of Baeksan's world.
At the same time, this also made me understand why the person who could see worldlines had specifically designated me as the masterpiece.
I was in a position where it was all too easy to get involved with them.
“But there’s one other thing I’m worried about.”
“Worried about what?”
“In my world, after Girasung succeeded in their Dimensional Invasion, the rifts between dimensions became extremely severe. Earth's coordinates became widely known, and a flood of dimensional invaders came pouring in.”
“…What the. That’s a hellscape.”
“It was a world with no hope. That’s why I’m here now.”
“What about the others? Seol-hyang wouldn’t have just stood by and done nothing.”
Hearing my question, Baeksan gazed at a distant mountain.
“A point where everything is resolved eventually comes. It’s just that, even when the problems are solved, the matters of the human heart are not so easily fixed.”
The chasm that forms in people's hearts.
Baeksan said that was something so deep it could not be filled, even after everything was resolved.
“That’s why you’re important.”
“Me?”
“You have an exceptional talent for filling those chasms.”
Hearing that, I made an awkward face.
At the very least, I now knew well that I was an important person to those around me.
“By the way, what’s the date today?”
“It’s October 20th.”
“So, it’s almost time.”
Baeksan suddenly stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought.
“Almost time for what?”
“For me to return.”
