Cheong Harin's Lucky Day (2)
The Fixer Gallery was as active as ever.
The only difference was the migratory bird warning issued at dawn yesterday.
I was out for a run in the chilly dawn air, and holy crap.
Suddenly got goosebumps on the back of my neck, turned around, and this massive beak was right there.
If I hadn't hit the deck immediately, I would've been eaten alive.
Watch out for the migratory birds, everyone.
If all the Special-grades in the world teamed up to exterminate the migratory birds, they could do it.
Why aren't they doing it?
The Sephirah Invisibility Cloak hides humans from anomalies.
Thanks to the Administration, which secured and commercialized this technology, cities in Korea and around the world remain relatively safe from animal-type anomalies, commonly known as magic beasts.
As a result, many fixers frequently venture outside the boundaries of Seoul.
Hunting magic beasts and rescuing people stranded outside the boundary is the simplest and easiest way to earn contribution points, and there is also a small chance of obtaining a Sephirah related to the beasts.
However, the season when migratory birds fly back and forth is a slow period for hunting.
There are too many of them, and since they fly overhead, they are incredibly tricky to hunt.
Only fixers who can use the sky as their battlefield manage to avoid this off-season slump.
Yet, when this season arrives, some fixers choose to dabble in dangerous affairs.
I had a feeling he'd run soon since he kept talking about criminal organizations.
But this motherf*cker dared to touch our funds?
You're dead.
Since they couldn't just stop earning money during the off-season, some fixers quietly joined criminal organizations.
The kidnapping of Cheong Harin was also planned by low-level thugs who had joined an organization during the off-season to make some quick cash.
Inside a van rattling along a dirt road on the outskirts of Seoul.
Several men were busy tying up Cheong Harin's hands and feet as she struggled in the middle.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
"Hold her still, you idiots!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Do you think you'll get paid for doing such a half-assed job? Hold her tight!"
"We're sorry!"
So, how did Cheong Harin end up as the target of a criminal organization?
The reason was incredibly simple.
"Boss. Are you sure this girl is worth any money...?"
"It's not her. The kid she hangs out with is the one with the deep pockets."
"The kid? Ah, the one with the super long hair who came to buy jellies back then?"
"The terminal she was carrying wasn't something a kid would have. At that moment, my brilliant brain put two and two together."
It was the Haengbok Convenience Store, where the blood donation bus anomaly incident had occurred.
These kidnappers were the very ones who had handed over the Ddudda, disguised as jelly, to the store owner.
"As expected of you, Boss! I thought we were screwed after the Haengbok Convenience Store job went south... but you came up with this in the meantime. You're too fast for me to keep up!"
"If we don't do this, we won't be able to pay our dues to the organization. We have no choice..."
"Ugh... We're sorry! If only we had worked harder...!"
"No, it's not your fault. The problem was that idiot store owner..."
However, whether you were a broke fixer or a low-level thug, times were tough all around.
Although the organization members' tails weren't caught during the investigation of the Haengbok Convenience Store, the profits the store owner had promised to deliver were completely gone.
To fill that void, Kim Jung-ho, a low-level collector for the organization and a former Da-grade fixer, had an idea.
He would stage a kidnapping to extort the money!
Because of the blood donation condition, most of the people who bought the jellies from the convenience store—excluding a few liars—were non-awakened.
This meant they were highly likely to hand over money quietly if a kidnapping occurred.
Among them, Baek San-a stood out by far.
A young-looking girl was using a terminal that only agency representatives or wealthy CEOs would carry.
"Give me this bitch's terminal."
"Here it is, Boss."
"Wow, she actually managed to send a cry for help in that short amount of time?"
Even though they had put a sack over her head immediately after kidnapping her, Cheong Harin had somehow managed to send a message with her terminal.
But this was actually better.
It saved them the trouble of figuring out which contact was the young girl.
"Your cute little master, boss, or boss's daughter. I'm going to bleed her dry, you hear me?"
"Mmph. Mmmph!"
While Kim Jung-ho was sending the message, Cheong Harin was crying tears of blood internally.
She was supposed to sign her employment contract tomorrow, but she had gotten caught up in this incident before the day could even pass.
At this rate, I'm going to get abandoned...!
What was the point of being acknowledged and told they would make a good team?
The moment she got accepted, she ended up showing such a pathetic, helpless side of herself.
I have to do something. I have to at least try to escape...!
Cheong Harin still didn't know how to use her newly acquired power.
Her companion anomaly had told her she could attack with the needles at the end of the IV lines, but someone who used to fight with swords and guns had never used such a thing for combat.
Still, just like during the ability evaluation, her companion anomaly might help if she asked.
Rubina, who still resided in her subconscious and answered whenever Cheong Harin spoke to her.
Help me...! So I can get out of here...!
...Shall I kill all the humans in the vehicle?
N-No, don't kill them! Capturing them alive yields more contribution points!
Understood. I will simply incapacitate them so they cannot move.
What? Is that possible?
I know the pressure points that make it difficult to move when pierced. It will only hold them for a brief moment, so you must run away immediately.
O-Okay!
Immediately after, a series of screams echoed around her.
Inside the cramped van, the IV lines went wild, piercing the arms and legs of the kidnappers.
"Hey, hey! It's thrashing around! Grab those lines!"
"Argh!"
"Watch out, Boss!"
Even the leader of the kidnapping couldn't use his strength properly inside the vehicle.
If he used his power recklessly, the van would likely be destroyed, and they would all crash together.
Thanks to that, Cheong Harin had free rein over the vehicle.
"Whoa, whoa, hold the steering wheel! Hold it tight!!"
"N-No, Boss! The IV lines are turning the wheel!!"
"Aaaaah!"
Screeech— Crash!
The van rolled over onto its side with a massive impact.
Cheong Harin's body floated into the air before tumbling down. She was thrown toward the door that had burst open from the collision.
First, she swung the IV needles to shred and remove the sack covering her head, securing her vision.
"Hurry, hurry...!"
But her hands and feet were the problem.
They were bound so tightly that there was no sign of them loosening.
It seemed to be a Sephirah belonging to one of the kidnappers.
Even if I have to break my thumbs, I need to get out of this—
Just as Cheong Harin was about to free her hands even at the cost of injury.
"Ah!"
"Argh!"
"What the f*ck!"
"Aaaaah!"
Screams erupted once again from the direction of the van.
This time, a different sound was mixed in with the screams.
Flap, flap.
Cawww, cawwww!
"...What is that?"
A deeper, louder sound, like a low-pitched crow.
It didn't take long to figure out what kind of creature was making that sound.
"Ah."
The moment she turned her head, she saw a round eye with a round black pupil.
It was the size of Cheong Harin's head.
Snatch!
"Kyaah!"
A long beak clamped around Cheong Harin's torso, picking her up horizontally like a fish.
Then, *flap, flap.*
"Wh-Whoaaa?!"
Cheong Harin's body soared into the sky.
The screams of several people, including her own, drew closer to the moon.
"Aaaaaah—"
"Argh—!"
"Hieeeek!..."
"Ugh, argh! Save me!!"
"...?"
When I arrived at the location the kidnapper had given me, all I saw were bloodstains on the ground, scattered feathers, and a van crashed into a telephone pole.
Ah, and Cheong Harin's terminal, which was dangling precariously over a storm drain.
"What the. Where did the guy who wanted money go?"
However, considering that the bloodstains suddenly vanished, the size of the scattered feathers was extraordinary, and one of the bloodstains belonged to someone I knew... the direction they went was likely...
"Don't tell me they were dragged into the sky?"
The Invisibility Cloak protecting the city only hides humans from the eyes of magic beasts; it doesn't act as a physical barrier to stop people from crossing the boundary.
The cameras installed everywhere also ignore those leaving the boundary and only detect those coming in.
After all, fixers frequently go out to hunt.
Unfortunately, the place where the vehicle crashed was outside the boundary.
Nearby was Anyangcheon, which flows through southwestern Seoul.
It wouldn't be surprising if they were attacked by a flock of migratory birds that gathered after hearing the crash.
I immediately kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.
Fortunately, it was dark at night.
No one would see me flying around.
"But where should I go...?"
Let's not forget.
If I search the Fixer Gallery, I'll find the answer.
In spring, the birds that were originally here leave for the north, and the birds in the south come up.
In the case of Seoul, the Han River estuary and shallow urban streams like Cheonggyecheon and Anyangcheon used to be the main habitats.
Looking at the entire Korean Peninsula, the southern and western mudflats are the core habitats.
But right now, the inside of the Seoul boundary is protected by the Invisibility Cloak, right?
So the birds coming up to Seoul don't bother coming in and just bend to the west.
The ones coming up from the south end up going straight to Ganghwa Island.
It seems to be because the streams near Seoul have low capacity and they can't see any humans to feed on.
So during the migratory bird season, it's best to go hunting northeast of Seoul.
Of course, I can't say there are absolutely none there lol.
Just relatively fewer.
Then it must be Ganghwa Island.
Even if the location of my subordinate wasn't as precise as GPS, I could get a general sense of where she was.
If only I had given her the tracking device I received from Woo Cheon-yeop, her location would have popped up immediately.
What terrible timing.
Just how far-reaching was Cheong Harin's bad luck?
"First of all..."
*Cawwww.*
*Cawwww—!*
I needed to shake off this crazy flock of birds that had started chasing me.
"Wow. Is this a flock of birds or a swarm of locusts?"
I threw a blood droplet at the one chasing closest to me.
The droplet, flying in the opposite direction of my flight, accelerated and pierced through it.
Once my blood makes contact, I can make all blood expand violently.
Just as I had popped those cockroaches or locusts before, the giant herons were no exception.
More than anything, I didn't really like birds.
Huge ones like herons were a bit of an exception, but just seeing winged creatures made my skin crawl.
My natural enemies.
Right after I became a mosquito, the ones that sent the friends I made to the afterlife weren't humans, but mostly birds, spiders, and frogs.
"Die."
*Pop!*
"You too."
*Pop!*
"Next is you."
*Pop.*
*Pop, pop. Pop-pop.*
As I diligently popped the approaching birds one by one, a sudden chill ran down the back of my neck.
"Whoa."
*Whoosh.*
"...What was that just now?"
That beak that just lunged at me was actually dangerous.
Well, getting poked wouldn't have killed me—instead, the bird would have exploded—but it was still an unpleasant attack.
An attack that naturally slipped in by utilizing the blind spot created by the debris and feathers left behind by the birds I had just killed.
It was something highly sophisticated, on a completely different level from the movements of ordinary magic beasts.
It's almost as if someone is controlling them...