You're 404, Right?

"You're here! Qingfu! Hurry up and kill that bitch who took my arm!"

Even with blood pouring off him in sheets, Lin Yuan was bellowing at the top of his lungs. Had he awakened some gift where the more he bled, the louder he got?

A Red Pole in charge of the Qilin Association's muscle would land somewhere between an A-rank hunter and an S-rank. This had just gotten a little annoying. If I asked Enuk to get serious, it wasn't a fight we couldn't win—but the collateral damage worried me.

"Heh heh. You'll have to wait a moment, young master. I've a few words for that big sister over there."

"What? Big sister? What are you even—"

"Me?"

For a second I thought he meant Enuk. But the Chinese man called Qingfu was looking straight at me.

"You're forty at the youngest, aren't you? That's what the face says."

I had no interest in being called big sister by an ajusshi like that.

"Heh heh heh! There's no order to who walks ahead, is there? What's age matter? Stronger than me, and you're my elder brother—or my elder sister."

"That's not how that saying works. And I don't want to hear 'big sister' out of you."

"Kahaha! Then this little brother had better start playing the part!"

If all he had were jokes like that, maybe he hadn't come for revenge. I'd just as soon this ended nicely on my end, too.

"Stronger than Qingfu...?"

Whatever Lin Yuan made of it, Qingfu's eyes stayed on me alone. He spoke as if it were nothing, but that gaze had a strange wariness laid under it.

"That aside... let's say this little brother buys the sweet-and-sour pork later. We ought to do what we came to do, no?"

Without warning, Qingfu dropped to his knees in front of me. The way he knelt on the bare ground was, in every sense of the phrase, a penitent's prostration.

"Big sister, our Qilin Association has committed a grave mistake. The merchants who suffered because of us—I, Qingfu, stake my name on it. They ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠will be paid what they are owed."

"You're the ones apologizing? Not here to receive an apology?"

This was seriously unexpected. Had the Qilin Association gotten word that our side wasn't to be taken lightly? Whatever the reason, things were going better than I'd expected.

"What apology would I demand from a big sister stronger than I am? The Dragon Head's eldest sister already gave me leave, so don't doubt it."

That settled it.

"Wait—the Dragon Head? What—what kind of bullshit is that! The Dragon Head, our boss, threw me away? My dad, too...?"

From Lin Yuan on down, every small fry who had come here was about to be cut loose. Sending this Chinese uncle was, on the surface, probably for a purge.

"Tsk, young master. The more you keep talking, the longer I have to stay on my knees. What are we to do with our poor young master, who doesn't know how the world works~"

"Shut up! Answer what I asked!"

Lin Yuan had no idea he was one breath from being purged, and he kept yapping like a chihuahua.

"Heh heh..."

"Aaaagh!"

Qingfu seized the hand clamped on his collar, crushed it until the bones should have given, and flung it roughly aside.

"So, big sister. Won't you please accept this little brother's apology? If you order the three kneelings and nine kowtows, I'll do ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them."

He really was about to press his head to the ground.

"I'd rather you didn't. Just get on with what you came to do. You're being a nuisance to the merchants."

"Aigoo! Big sister, you really do know how to enjoy yourself!"

Only then did Lin Yuan seem to grasp his situation. The color drained from his face.

"The White Paper Fan knows nothing of this. Young master, you've worried your father long enough—let's show a little filial piety. Kahaha."

Smiling all the while, Qingfu tossed a dagger toward Lin Yuan with a coldness that didn't match the grin at all.

"I've seen plenty of these. If you want my advice, the soft, tender part of the neck is best. Less noise, too. Two birds with one stone."

Even a fool could read what he meant.

Kill yourself. Right here.

"Don't look. It's not a pretty sight. You can just close your eyes for a moment."

I waved off the trembling merchants, and the woman Lin Yuan had been tormenting earlier. But from the instant my hand moved, they had already squeezed their eyes shut and were shaking. Hunters and syndicate men saw something burst open every day; for ordinary people, this was the kind of thing that left a scar. Of course they couldn't watch.

I, of course, meant to ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠watch to the end. For civilians it was trauma. Even for a first-year hunter with no taste for gore, it was still the sort of thing you sneered at and called well deserved. What about Lin Yuan was cute enough that I'd call this cruel, or say I didn't want to see it?

"If you're going to do it, finish it properly. Survive halfway and come back for revenge, and it just gets tiring."

Even with me saying it, Lin Yuan only stood there with his pants soaked, hands shaking.

"Young master."

Qingfu took Lin Yuan's hand by force.

"One stroke and it's over. All this whimpering is a bit much, don't you think?"

"Auuu..."

The blade tip, forced in Qingfu's grip, bit into skin. Blood welled out.

"I—I said I'll fucking do it! Just let go of this!"

"Heh heh, our young master's a man now! Come on, quickly."

His hands rattled. But for all his shouting, Lin Yuan froze just like that. Three seconds, maybe.

"Heh heh! What a shame! Time's up."

Qingfu struck the dagger's hilt the way you'd drive a nail with a hammer, slamming it home with the flat of his blade. Steel punched in with a wet, heavy thunk.

Lin Yuan's mouth gaped wide, but the sound that came out was terribly small. ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠All you could hear was wind, and blood leaking through.

"Our young master looks like he's having a hard time. Shouldn't I lend a hand~?"

Qingfu drew a blade like an executioner's sword, his own name carved into the steel. The edge flared with orange heat, roaring like molten iron coming to a boil.

"Japanese style, I'll admit. But good is good, isn't it? What does the country matter? Big sister, and you brothers over there—this may smell a bit like burning meat, so you'd best pinch your noses."

This wasn't suicide anymore. It was a full purge.

In that moment—

"Th-that might be bad for you. Emotionally. Nabi."

Enuk's voice came with a gentle hand covering my view. So she still thought of me as a kid, at least a little.

"I don't mind watching. But if that's how you feel."

A hiss of searing flesh. The smell of burning protein was foul enough.

When Enuk took her hand away, all that remained was bone ash dusted with embers, scattered everywhere as if someone had just held a cremation.

"Rest in paradise, young master. Amen. Kahaha!"

While Qingfu laughed heartily, Enuk dropped into a low, wary stance.

"...Shall I deal with him now? No matter how you look at him, that man can't be trusted. Better to cut off future trouble while we can."

Qingfu paid it no mind. He came closer with the blade—easily past a thousand degrees—resting casually across his shoulder.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Aigoo. How rude of me."

The moment Enuk shouted, Qingfu dropped the sword with a clang and raised his hands.

"My apologies, big sisters. This little brother never learned his letters, so he commits rudeness. And so..."

A warped smile sat on Qingfu's face, and a cold, dark air coiled around it.

"Is there something else you want? Just say the word. Say it, and I'll take every Qilin Association brother here and send them along on the young master's road to the underworld. When it comes to carving meat, my hands are second to none."

The usual stray-mutt act was nowhere to be seen. In this moment, that cruelty was unmistakably the Qilin Association's Red Pole.

"No. That's enough. You can go."

"Just say the word. This little brother will help as far as his strength reaches."

If I'd run into him at the Chinese place I usually went to, I really might have asked him to buy the sweet-and-sour pork. The mood here was simply too murderous for that. I wasn't enough of a psychopath to say something like that here.

"Clean up after yourself and get going. You're scaring people."

"What a shame. And here I meant to treat you not to sweet-and-sour pork, but to Peking duck and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall."

Just before Qingfu turned to leave—

A gust tore through, as if on cue, and blew away every grain of the paralyzing powder I had scattered.

When I looked back, hunters and police had the place surrounded, and they were already hauling off the paralyzed Qilin Association members. The crowd parted before two figures like the Red Sea. At the center stood a black-haired beauty with a dissipated air and deep dark circles under her eyes, and an orange-haired woman who looked as if her chest had been robbed of every last drop of growth hormone.

"You're Qingfu, Red Pole of the Qilin Association, correct? I'm sorry, but you'll need to come along quietly."

The moment the woman with the dark circles spoke, the police closed in around him.

"Quite a lot of big sisters around here, aren't there? Feels like we'll meet again. How about we exchange names?"

"Hehe. Sorry. I'm tired of dealing with anyone older than me."

"Well now. That's a shame."

When Qingfu reached out, the officers flinched and stepped back. Most of them already had their hands in their pockets. For some reason, the orange-haired woman beside the one with the dark circles was already well back—and she retreated even faster. Qingfu's hands, by contrast, were neatly folded.

"I'll impose a little. Put the cuffs on me. Brings back old times—I like it. Thank you, big sister."

"Don't mention it."

"Well then, let's go, officer brothers. My arms hurt. We'll push that dinner back! Big sister! Kahaha!"

Qingfu cuffed himself, laughed as if nothing were wrong, and vanished after the police.

I had a feeling I'd just gotten tangled up in something annoying.

As expected, the woman with the dark circles and the orange-haired woman came over. A light wave of the first woman's hand, and every officer and hunter packed themselves into the corners.

So she was the one with real power.

"Would the two of you come with us for a moment as well?"

Ah. This was going to be a pain.

"But I gotta go to English academy? I'll get scolded if I don't."

"Oh my. Our little one gets scolded if she doesn't go? Your mother raised quite a daughter. Fighting the Chinese mafia and everything."

"Ehehe."

......She'd seen all of it.

For now, stall as long as I could—and if that went nowhere, slip away? Think rationally. If we decided to run right now, no one who showed up could catch us. Standing up to Enuk's strength wouldn't be easy, and unless they'd laid traps along my flight path in advance, stopping my escape would be impossible too. We were living on the run anyway. Shaking off pursuers was something we'd have to do eventually, wasn't it? Stay calm.

Maybe she caught the wariness in my eyes. The woman with the dark circles smiled prettily, her eyes curving like crescent moons.

"We came to say thank you, so please don't worry too much."

"A thank-you?"

Did she not know who we were, or did she just take us for ordinary hunters?

Hope was just starting to rise.

"We're late with introductions."

She set a hand on the shoulder of the orange-haired woman, who stood about my height.

"I'm the Sage, and this is the Hunter Gallery admin."

"You're saying that here?! Wh-why am I the Hunter Gallery admin again? I'm a hunter in charge of the Gyeonggi region, too!"

Wait. Those two were the Sage and the Hunter Gallery admin?

The Sage only ever appeared in the media wrapped in a black cloak that hid who she was, so there had been no way to recognize her. More than that—the Hunter Gallery admin was a woman? The one who insisted she was a pretty middle-school girl. Who told the gallery users what color her panties were. The admin who slapped the word sex onto every gasp of admiration in her brag posts was actually a woman?

"H-Hunter Gallery is just a hobby..."

And this person, just because a kid looked at her for a second, ducked her head like a complete amateur and mumbled?

I couldn't believe it.

"Hehe, sorry. I got playful. My real name is Baek Hanyul. This is Hyeon Gyeongju."

Baek Hanyul covered her mouth and burst out laughing—then, all at once, wiped the expression clean and stared at me with lifeless eyes.