The Price of Greed
In the interview room, Cheon Yooshin and Park Haesu sat across from a man named Lee Yeongbeom. His eyes were unstable, yet they were filled with a desperate yearning. "I'm not crazy. I'm really not! So please, just let me get out of here." As the man sat in the chair, he kept glancing around as if wary of his surroundings.
"Please, calm down. I am Team Leader Park Haesu from the Hunter Management Department. And this is Hunter Cheon Yooshin."
"The Hunter Management Department? Why would you…?"
"We are investigating the hit-and-run incident that occurred five years ago."
At the word "hit-and-run," the man’s eyes wavered. It seemed he finally understood why they had come to find him.
"I’m the victim here, Detective."
Park Haesu did not correct him when he called him "Detective." It was actually more comfortable for the current situation if the man thought of him as one. "Tell us everything you know. We have plenty of time."
"They just… they told me to push an empty car that had no one in it. So… so I did." Tears welled up in Lee Yeongbeom’s eyes. "It was only later that I found out. That there was someone inside. *Haa…*." After a deep, heavy sigh, Lee Yeongbeom continued.
"I wanted to turn myself in. I really did. But…." His voice cracked. "The person who gave me the job found out I was going to confess and locked me up here. They treated me like a madman."
"Can you say exactly what you just told us in court?"
His eyes trembled. "That’s…." Lee Yeongbeom hesitated. He was terrified. He couldn't even begin to imagine what might happen to him if he did.
It was then that Cheon Yooshin, who had been watching him quietly from beside Park Haesu, finally spoke.
"So it was you. The person who turned me into a vegetable and made it so I could never see my father again."
Lee Yeongbeom’s pupils dilated, and the color drained from his face. A moment later, his mouth opened. "You… it was you?"
His memories began to drift back to the past. Two men in a car. The driver was the father, and his son was in the passenger seat. And finally, his memory locked onto Cheon Yooshin’s face.
"Aah…!" Lee Yeongbeom, mouth agape and unable to speak, suddenly stood up from his seat and fell to his knees. His shoulders shook, and tears poured from his eyes like a waterfall.
"I, I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry!" His voice was filled with sobs. "I, I really didn’t know. I swear to heaven… I really didn’t…."
Cheon Yooshin sat there, silently looking down at him. The playful expression he usually wore was nowhere to be found. Only anger, sorrow, and a complex web of emotions beyond understanding flickered across his face. A heavy silence descended upon the interview room.
The person who committed the hit-and-run, and even the person who ordered the job, had all been caught. Then, who was left? They had to catch Cheon Yeonwoo, the man who gave the money to Kang Docheol. But he was currently at Incheon International Airport.
The departure hall of Incheon Airport was crowded with busy people. Amidst them, Cheon Yeonwoo was moving with a desperate expression. Ever since Section Chief Kang Docheol, his accomplice, had been arrested, he had realized something. Something was going wrong. He had to get out of Korea immediately. To a country without an extradition treaty. Not just Cheon Yeonwoo himself, but all of his kin. They didn't say a word, carrying no luggage other than the passports they gripped tightly in their hands.
Cheon Yeonwoo reached the immigration desk and handed over his passport first. The officer took it and stared at the computer monitor. Then….
"I apologize, but there seems to be a system error. Could you please wait a moment?"
Cheon Yeonwoo’s face crumpled. "No, what do you mean error! My flight is leaving soon! If I miss it, are you going to take responsibility?! Let me through, now!"
His relatives also raised their voices. Thanks to this, the attention of everyone waiting for immigration was drawn to them. However, the officer, perhaps experienced with such things, didn't even blush. "Yes, yes. I apologize. I will process it as soon as it is restored."
Not long after, a man’s voice came from behind them.
"Are you Mr. Cheon Yeonwoo?"
Cheon Yeonwoo frowned at the voice calling his name and turned around. But the owners of the voices were airport police. Instinctively sensing that something had gone wrong, Cheon Yeonwoo’s face stiffened.
"Yes. I am Cheon Yeonwoo. Why do you ask?"
"An exit ban has currently been placed on you and your relatives. Therefore, departure is impossible."
"W-what are you talking about? Why would I be under an exit ban?!" Cheon Yeonwoo raised his voice, but it was trembling slightly.
"Unfortunately, your relatives are also restricted from leaving. You will have to come with us."
"Dammit!" Cheon Yeonwoo looked around with desperate eyes, but there was nowhere to escape. New airport police had appeared, watching them with sharp, piercing gazes.
"Why did you do it?" Yooshin sat facing his uncle. What was unusual, however, was that Cheon Yeonwoo’s wrists were shackled in silver.
"I…." Perhaps due to the intense mental stress, his face looked haggard. He even had white gray hairs. It was a world of difference from the face he had during the holidays. This is why you shouldn't live a life of crime.
"So, you and the rest of the relatives all conspired to commit a crime just to snatch my father’s company?"
Cheon Yeonwoo shook his head. "N-no! Not my son. So please…!"
But Cheon Yooshin replied coldly. "I heard that even just knowing about it makes you guilty. As an accomplice."
Before coming here, Yooshin had already heard everything from Park Haesu. His relatives had either stood by and watched Cheon Yeonwoo’s crimes or directly participated in them, and thanks to that, they had all secured comfortable positions in his father’s company.
"I heard from a legal expert that we can recover the assets transferred to you through forged powers of attorney, right?"
Cheon Yeonwoo’s eyes flashed wildly. "N-no! That’s my company now! I’m the one who built it up!"
Back when Cheon Yooshin’s father ran it, the company was nothing more than a small-to-medium enterprise. Just a factory dealing in ordinary steel. But now, it was on the verge of becoming a major conglomerate, beyond a mid-sized firm. He had laid every single cornerstone of that success. And now they were going to take it all away? That was impossible!
Yooshin smirked. "From the beginning, that was never your property, Uncle. You extorted it, didn't you? And instead of worrying about the company, you should be worrying about how you’re going to live in prison with your relatives. What a shame. I feel sorry for your relatives, who had such bright futures ahead of them."
Cheon Yeonwoo’s face turned pale. Cheon Yooshin was now a national-power-level hunter in name and reality. Even though it happened five years ago, the truth behind the death of such a person’s father was being laid bare in every detail. Therefore, the price of the crimes Cheon Yeonwoo and his relatives would have to pay would be the maximum level allowed by law, by both the prosecution and the judiciary.
Seeing him in despair, Yooshin stood up. "It’s too late for regrets. Just receive the judgment of the law, and live happily ever after with your relatives in prison for a long, long time. As for the company, whether I sell it off or do whatever I want with it, that’s my business."
Yooshin opened the door and walked out. He could hear his uncle’s voice crying out his name from behind him. But this was the moment the blood ties connecting him to them were cleanly severed.
Dokdo is currently a restricted area. A few years ago, a B-class gate opened on Dokdo. Even now, clearing it is impossible, so you can imagine how it was back then. Consequently, the uncleared gate caused a Gate Break, and the Apocalyptor emerged from it. The creature seized Dokdo in an instant.
The government tried desperately to reclaim the lost Dokdo. Thanks to that, the Hunter Management Department, which included the strongest hunters at the time, attempted a challenge, but an incident occurred where the hunters were wiped out. Since that day, an entry ban was placed on Dokdo. The only fortunate thing was that the monster named Apocalyptor could not cross the ocean. That was what everyone clearly believed.
Like any other day, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis destroyer Kirishima was patrolling the sea, cutting through the calm waves of the Pacific. Lieutenant Miko, who was on guard duty on the bridge, caught sight of the radar screen. Something was approaching rapidly from a place where there should have been nothing. And it was something incredibly massive.
As soon as she sounded the emergency bell, a warning alarm echoed throughout the ship.
"Captain! An unidentified object is approaching the ship!"
Captain Toyota’s face stiffened. But only for a moment; Toyota put his mouth to the microphone and issued orders at high speed.
"All crew, emergency standby! Prepare the weapon systems!"
However, before the crew could even follow Toyota’s orders, the sea in front of the ship split, and a massive monster revealed itself. Toyota muttered as if he couldn't believe it.
"That… that is the Apocalyptor of Takeshima!"
He couldn't believe it. It should have been unable to leave Takeshima. While everyone was stunned by a reality that didn't feel real, Toyota quickly issued an order.
"Fire! Fire!"
Sparks flew from the naval guns. The shells hit the Apocalyptor’s body with a tremendous roar. But the creature just shook its body as if bitten by a mosquito and charged even more fiercely toward the Kirishima.
If they stayed like this, they would collide. And if the ship collided with that thing? It would sink. No matter how much of an Aegis destroyer it was, he didn't think it could handle that massive, ferocious beast. The captain swallowed hard and shouted again in a desperate voice.
"Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!"
At the same time, the ship turned sharply. But ships are heavy. No matter how fast it maneuvered, it was far too slow to outrun the Apocalyptor. In an instant, the Apocalyptor’s fist struck the ship’s deck. The hull, made of steel alloy, was shattered miserably. Screams erupted from the crew on the deck. But the Apocalyptor’s roar, which overwhelmed everything else, rang out, shaking the ship.
"Kuwahhhhhhh!"
"F-fire torpedoes!"
To escape the monster’s grasp somehow, the captain bit his tongue and ordered. *Kwang!* The torpedo hit the Apocalyptor’s body directly. The Apocalyptor’s body shook for a moment. The impact seemed quite significant. But the shock of the torpedo exploding at such close range was also transmitted to the Kirishima.
The Apocalyptor disappeared.
"D-did it work?" the captain muttered, looking at the now-calm water. But before he could even let out a sigh of relief, the entire ship moved.
"W-what is this?" Suddenly, the Kirishima began to tilt. A crew member staring at the radar shouted.
"It’s the bottom! The thing is underneath the bottom!"
"What?!"
And the Kirishima began to sink into the water at high speed. The creature was cunningly pulling it from the bottom of the ship, where there were no turrets.
"Abandon ship! Abandon ship. Forget the weapons! Prioritize your own lives and abandon ship!"
The captain’s final order rang through the ship via the microphone like a scream. But it was already too late. The Aegis destroyer was already tilting, unable to withstand the Apocalyptor’s strength. Before long, cold seawater began to flow into the command room. In the final moment, the captain met the Apocalyptor’s massive eyes flashing in the deep sea through the command room window. At that cold and ruthless gaze, the captain lost his will to fight.