Chapter 117: Alterz’s Reformist Faction
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 117: Alterz’s Reformist Faction
After the movie, I walked out with Yu U-jeong, who was rubbing her hand as if it were tingling.
Seo-ho and Jo Si-a were nowhere to be seen.
It seemed they had left right away.
I had no intention of disturbing them, so I didn't pay it much mind and turned to Yu U-jeong.
“So, what are you going to do now?”
“We’ve seen the movie, so should we rest a bit before we go?”
Her gaze drifted toward a hotel right next to the movie theater.
I knew what she meant, and as the light slowly died in my eyes, she flinched and pointed to a café in front of the hotel.
“There! I heard the desserts at that café are delicious!”
Right.
I nodded and said, “Shall we?” taking the lead.
“…Why is it that whenever I’m with you, Ha-chan, it feels like our roles are reversed?”
“Because I’m an egalitarian.”
I kindly answered her muttered question as we headed to the café.
The dessert Yu U-jeong bought with a coupon was quite good.
“I’m going to use the restroom for a moment.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
After chatting with her for a while at the café, I went into the restroom.
As I was relieving myself, I heard footsteps.
Then, despite all the empty urinals, a foreign man came and started doing his business right next to me.
He wore a bucket hat pulled down low and pants that looked like they would drag on the floor, giving off a hip-hop vibe.
As I was feeling an unexplainable sense of discomfort, he suddenly spoke.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kang Ha-chan.”
The moment I heard his fluent Korean, I glanced over at him.
He was quite tall, and contrary to his appearance, his manner of speaking was very polite.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Caprina Orliz, and I am a member of Alterz.”
In response to my question, he immediately identified himself as a member of Alterz and even handed me a business card.
The card really did have the name Alterz on it.
Why of all places in a bathroom?
I didn't quite understand the reason, but I zipped up my pants and asked.
“What business does a member of Alterz have with me?”
“I believed a conversation was necessary with you, Mr. Kang Ha-chan, as you are connected to the recent series of events. That is why I have come.”
Hearing this, I showed my confusion.
Yu U-jeong was already by my side.
Yet despite her presence, another member of Alterz was deliberately approaching me?
The situation was starting to feel suspicious.
“A conversation about what?”
“So you already knew about Alterz.”
“I have many acquaintances. You approached me because you know about me, didn't you?”
“That is correct. We are aware that you, Mr. Kang Ha-chan, are the new SS-rank hunter that the Korean Hunter Management Bureau is hiding.”
…It seems they don’t know anything at all.
How on earth did I become an SS-rank hunter being hidden by the Korean Hunter Management Bureau?
I didn't understand the situation, but for now, I decided to play along.
“And?”
“Although I am a member of Alterz, I am, in fact, one of those who are dissatisfied with its customs.”
Was he saying there was discord even within Alterz?
This was the first I’d heard of it, and my eyes narrowed.
“Alterz’s practices and customs oppress hunters, and the established powers monopolize the authority. We could not stand by and watch this situation in Alterz unfold. So, we have been secretly gathering those who share the same opinion from within.”
Just looking at Ha Seo-ho and Jo Si-a, it was plausible that there were many hunters dissatisfied with Alterz.
That’s why I wasn’t having a hard time understanding his story.
But that was a separate issue.
“So what is the reason you’ve come to me, telling me all this?”
“It’s simple. We wish to express our intent to join the revolution that Korea has started.”
…This situation was starting to take an unexpected turn.
“Korea’s declaration of war against Alterz will surely usher in a new era for hunters. We are well aware that you and Ha Seo-ho are at the center of it.”
War with Alterz?
Suddenly, the scale was blowing up again.
And the fact that I was heavily involved in it gave me a headache.
How did Korea end up declaring war on Alterz?
At the same time, I now understood why Alterz had been destroyed in Baeksan’s world.
The bastards had self-destructed by fighting an internal war amongst themselves.
“Would you not allow us to join your team?”
Team? There was no such thing.
But hearing this, I sensed a major problem.
Alterz was already keeping a close eye on the situation, especially after Jo Si-a followed Ha Seo-ho in leaving the organization.
What would happen if other Alterz members started leaving one after another to join the Korean side?
Alterz wouldn't be able to just stand by and watch anymore. At that point, it might really become a war between Alterz and Korea.
I had no intention of letting Alterz’s tyranny continue, but there was no reason to be completely hostile either.
But at this rate, it looked like we were headed for an all-out war without finding even a single point of compromise.
“Wait. I don’t think there’s a need to make such a hasty judgment.”
“You must not trust us. That is fine. We came today to prove ourselves.”
The word “we” meant he hadn’t come alone.
Sensing the situation was taking a turn for the worse, I hurriedly asked him.
“What do you mean by ‘prove’?”
“There is already a member of Alterz hostile to us hiding by your side.”
He was talking about Yu U-jeong.
“We will kill that person with our own hands and bring her to you. Please, trust us.”
The moment I heard those words, I burst out of the restroom.
I lifted my head, and my eyes fell on the empty seat where she had been just moments before.
“…Eunhyeon.”
Seeing that, I immediately called for the returnee who would be closest to me.
Already at my call, Eunhyeon appeared from the café floor in her silver fox form and looked at me.
“I need your help.”
The instant Eunhyeon’s tail swayed, I dashed out of the café.
*
Camila Agatha.
Currently known as Yu U-jeong, she was now running through the city, gasping for breath.
Because five people were relentlessly chasing her.
‘I finally got a date, and now this happens.’
Yu U-jeong had been looking forward to her date with Ha-chan today.
At first, she thought she could win him over easily.
But Ha-chan’s walls were higher than she’d expected.
No matter how exceptional a man was, he was bound to waver when a beautiful woman acted this way.
But he had just bashed her with his shield like some unmovable stone statue.
It had even made her wonder if Ha-chan really was into men, just as he had first claimed.
But seeing him with Si-ho or Ji-eun, that didn't seem to be the case.
The subtle atmosphere between them made it impossible not to think he liked women.
And yet, for some reason, he only ever bashed her with a shield. She just couldn't understand it.
‘That’s why I got even more competitive.’
Seeing Ha-chan refuse to yield no matter what she did only fueled her determination.
Her pride and everything else no longer mattered.
She became so fixated that she forgot her original objective, determined to make Ha-chan finally look her way.
But there’s a limit to everything.
As she reflected on her increasingly desperate actions, even she felt a flush of embarrassment.
At some point, she had started fawning over him with all sorts of coquettish acts, as if she were begging for love.
‘I shouldn’t have done that.’
People are naturally more drawn to those they like than those who like them.
Yu U-jeong’s usual method of seducing men was to give them a slight opening and reel them in with a flick of her tail.
For her, who knew this so well, to be pleading for love…
Even if she came from the gutter, the sight of herself—a woman once called an empress—begging for love was laughable even to her.
‘I was thinking of stopping around here.’
She admitted that, caught up in Ha-chan’s pace, her own approach had been wrong.
The way she was acting, it was obvious to anyone that Ha-chan would never give her an opening.
For a man as stoic as him, such behavior would have been more of a burden.
So, she had thought of mentioning the movie tickets one last time and then giving up.
She had decided it would be better to slowly build a relationship with him by blending into the team rather than continuing like this.
But then, Ha-chan accepted the movie tickets.
She was stunned at first, but then joy began to well up inside her. He had finally accepted.
A surge of accomplishment and happiness washed over her, and she didn't know what to do with herself.
How long had it been since she felt such joy?
She was so happy it made her pause and wonder.
So she prepared even more thoroughly.
This was the chance she had finally seized.
With the determination to capture Ha-chan’s heart no matter what, she had dolled herself up and prepared for the date.
Meeting Ha-chan, talking with him, watching the movie—she was overjoyed through it all.
Then, it suddenly hit her that she was getting too excited, and her body stiffened.
What am I doing right now?
Why am I getting all dressed up and feeling so happy, as if I’m genuinely going on a date with my boyfriend?
My objective was to either seduce Ha-chan or dig up information on his circle, wasn’t it?
Even so, is it normal to be this excited?
A moment of confusion washed over her, and while Ha-chan was in the restroom, she wiped her face with her hands.
Some of her makeup smudged onto her hand, but she didn't care, keenly feeling a wave of sobering clarity.
She felt like an idiot.
To be so swayed by one stoic man.
‘Being that stoic, I guess he wouldn’t cheat.’
Seeing how he put up a wall even when she was coming on to him this strongly, he probably wouldn't be swayed by just any woman.
That had only fueled her fire and brought her to this point, but realizing her situation, she snapped back to reality.
She was here on a mission for Alterz.
She wasn't some young girl begging for love.
It was at that moment.
Her senses detected something flash in her presence.
‘Four A-ranks and one S-rank.’
Having grown up in the slums of Brazil, Yu U-jeong had a natural talent for sensing danger.
The moment she detected them making suspicious moves in the café, she shot up from her seat and fled.
And just as she expected, they began to chase her.
‘This is bad.’
Although Yu U-jeong was an S-rank hunter, her opponents had the numerical advantage.
She might be able to handle four A-ranks on her own, but the problem was that one of them was an S-rank.
S-rank hunter Baeksa.
A martial artist from Hong Kong, famous for hunting other hunters.
He was one of the individuals within Alterz who specialized in interpersonal combat.
He was so skilled in one-on-one fights that people said he could probably fight a returnee.
‘Why are they after me?’
Just as she was wondering that…
Swoosh!
A blade of wind rushed toward Yu U-jeong.
She knocked the incoming wind blade away with her beastified arm, and a kick immediately followed.
But Yu U-jeong was faster.
Her leg shot out, meeting the incoming kick precisely where it was aimed and countering it.
Her opponent was an A-rank.
There was no way he could withstand the power of an S-rank like Yu U-jeong.
“Kuh!”
“Brave of you to try hand-to-hand combat against a beastification user.”
Even as she watched her opponent retreat, clutching his leg, Yu U-jeong’s expression was grim.
They were all Baeksa’s disciples.
Trained by the martial artist Baeksa, they were skilled in interpersonal combat, though not to her level.
That meant they were meticulous bastards who knew how to corner a person.
‘I’m getting away for now, but…’
Kicking off the side of a building, she began to run across the rooftops.
Immediately, Baeksa’s disciples followed her from all directions.
‘If I get tied up even once, it’s over.’
Yu U-jeong moved across the buildings, focusing as much as possible on Baeksa’s movements.
Baeksa, who was slowly closing in behind his disciples, seemed to have no intention of attacking rashly.
He was likely aiming for a battle of attrition, using his numerical advantage.
Baeksa knew he would have to risk injury to subdue her, so he was clearly playing the long game.
‘Should I contact Alterz?’
Even if she did, how many people in Korea could help her?
She would probably be caught and killed by these guys before any help could arrive.
‘I have no choice but to keep running.’
It was at that moment.
As she leaped up the exterior wall of a building, she thought she saw something flash in her eyes.
The instant that thought crossed her mind, her entire body began to beastify.
Her gray hair transformed into something like a whale’s tail, and her skin took on the surface of a whale as her body grew larger.
As soon as her beastification was complete, she twisted her body in mid-air.
Ziiiing! Psh!
In that instant, a beam of light shot past, piercing a hole through her thigh.