The Warriors Gather (2)
He’d raced all the way from Seoul to Busan on a single phone call. That was one reliable guy.
The noona had to be Ha Se-na, one year older than Bang Su-hwan.
And the smartass was probably…
Lee Ji-jun?
The image of a hunter with white hair streaming behind him, manipulating bright red blood, flickered through my head.
That was a surprise.
I’d expected Ha Se-na to help without hesitation, but Lee Ji-jun, with his pride and his nasty temper, joining in too?
Works for me.
Recently, Lee Ji-jun had become an A-class hunter in the shortest time in Dio Guild history.
Among his peers, he’d been the one who stepped into gates the most before the outbreak.
He’d racked up achievements faster than anyone by playing a major role in wiping monsters out.
At a time like this, when high-rank hunters were desperately needed, his arrival was a huge boost.
A while earlier, Heo Da-yeong had driven over to Busan Station.
She was supposed to pick up the classmate arrivals on time and bring them here.
“All right, then.”
I picked up my phone and called somewhere.
It’s far too late to be calling. Do you know what time it is?
We should at least have some etiquette, you know…
Fine, I’m hanging up.
Hey! Wait, wait! What is it this time?
And don’t even think about hanging up on me after calling first.
Ah, all right. Fine. I’m sorry. Happy now?
A Dio Guild insider.
Lee Yu-seol, the one supporting me from headquarters.
If the guild workers in Seoul saw her acting like this, they’d probably be shocked senseless.
Lee Yu-seol treated everyone like ice, which was why people called her the Ice Goddess.
Come to think of it, it was funny.
Our first meeting had been a disaster.
She stormed into the industrial complex with guild members, trying to kill me.
I wasn’t about to trot out some stale nonsense about loving your enemies.
What mattered was that Lee Yu-seol was now as obedient to my orders as Karki.
If Karki was a grinning golden retriever, then Lee Yu-seol was…
Like taming a prickly cat.
Either way, though, we were on the same ship now, and if we were going to sail into the rough Atlantic, someone had to take the oars.
So let’s row.
“Listen carefully from here on out.”
I’ve got my pen ready. Talk.
“Starting tomorrow, we’re going to start exterminating monsters.”
I’d only told Lee Yu-seol to send me on assignment; I hadn’t given her the details.
“It’s a monster that borders on Apocalypse-class. Busan’s going to be in an uproar.”
Hmm. I see.
“I also called in my classmates. I haven’t gotten guild approval separately.”
What?
Hunters belonging to a guild were supposed to protect their garrison area. Nobody knew when monsters might burst out, or what kind of emergency might come up.
Dio Guild headquarters’ garrison area extended only as far as Gyeonggi Province. It was the outer limit from which reinforcements could race to Seoul quickly if something happened.
“Handle it however you need to.”
You want me to handle hunters illegally leaving their garrison area, too?
“Call it vacation leave. Then it’s not a problem by the rules.”
Ugh. Fine. What else?
“Tell Go Pil-hun about this.”
Silence stretched across the line.
She must have been startled by the unexpected name.
To Representative Go?
Lee Yu-seol asked again.
Her obedience to me was driven by one goal she wanted to reach.
Drive out Representative Go Pil-hun.
Take Dio Guild back from Go Ju-hun’s people.
It was a goal she couldn’t accomplish alone, which was why she had asked me for help.
And I, in return for cooperating, had used her.
I’d been lashing her with the whip for a while now.
Time to give her a carrot.
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“I’ve said it before, but this job is the spark that’ll drive Go Pil-hun out. Just do what I tell you.”
Then I laid out the plan in brief.
Lee Yu-seol was sharp and quick on her feet. She immediately went serious and listened carefully.
Yes, yes. I understand. What next?
The sound of her pen racing across paper told me she was taking notes without missing a single word.
“First, that’s enough for now.”
Whew. Incredible. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead. Honestly, deciding to side with you was the best choice I could’ve made.
It was about time I went to meet my classmates.
“If you need anything, call again. Stay by the phone.”
Wait, hold on. Can I ask you something?
Just as I was about to end the call, Lee Yu-seol stopped me.
“What is it?”
You came all the way down to Busan to exterminate monsters? How did you even know what would happen?
A sea monster close to Apocalypse-class would appear.
Busan would turn into a wasteland.
From Lee Yu-seol’s perspective, it was impossible to predict.
“Why wouldn’t I know? I got a letter, didn’t I?”
That was a lie.
Receiving Lee Chun-bae’s request to exterminate the monster was just an excuse.
I moved because I already knew the future.
You’re telling me you made all this happen over a single letter? Honestly, how can a person be that reckless?
My life in my first existence had been like a still lake.
Wake up, work, go home.
Go back out to work again…
I repeated the same life like a machine.
This life was different.
Tiny little accidents could turn into events that changed someone’s fate, or my own.
It was dangerous, sure.
But sometimes, it was exhilarating too.
Even here in Busan, I was meeting all kinds of people and having all kinds of experiences.
Maybe this is what it means to be alive.
Every day I rubbed shoulders with people and sweated blood alongside them, and it made me regret those thirty aimless years from before.
I was grateful for this second life, where I could feel joy, anger, sorrow, and laughter in full.
“I’m not being reckless.”
So I planned to use this chance to the fullest.
“I’m being thorough.”
Lee Ji-jun stood slouched in front of Busan Station, his face clearly displeased.
He’d refused Bang Su-hwan’s suggestion to go to Busan at once.
“You said Yongki-hyung called you? For real?”
But one magical name had held him back.
Choi Yongki.
It was a name that had kept snagging his attention ever since the Dio Guild entrance test.
I’m an idiot. I should’ve just ignored it.
Recently, Lee Ji-jun had been drawing attention in hunter circles as a super rookie.
Shortest-time promotion to A-class. Outstanding talent, excellent combat ability, exceptional gifts.
Lee Ji-jun himself believed he was better than most others.
And yet, in Dio Guild, someone else was talked about even more often than he was.
The hero of Gangnam, Choi Yongki.
Lee Ji-jun recalled the past.
The first time he truly felt Choi Yongki was in a different league had been when he entered his first gate.
Suddenly, Instructor Nike had started killing the interns, and Lee Ji-jun had run to survive.
That was only natural.
He hadn’t been ashamed of it at all.
Retreating in the face of a stronger enemy was even in the hunter manuals.
At the time, Lee Ji-jun had made up his mind.
At least I’ll survive and get out alone.
As if mocking him, Choi Yongki had stayed behind.
He fought Nike.
He struggled to protect the others.
Not only that, he had pulled the whole team together and commanded them like a leader until Nike was beaten.
If Choi Yongki hadn’t been there, everyone there, Lee Ji-jun included, might have lost their lives that day.
Choi Yongki had, in a sense, become Lee Ji-jun’s savior.
From that moment on, Lee Ji-jun had been carrying a debt in his heart.
Himself, extreme in his selfishness.
And Choi Yongki, who was willing to sacrifice himself for others.
From a hunter’s standpoint, the latter was the worst possible choice.
Altruism was useless in the field.
A hunter’s job was to cut down monsters quickly, close the gate, and collect the spoils.
Wasn’t that what hunters were supposed to do?
Then what exactly was Choi Yongki trying to become?
No, did he even have a goal as a hunter?
That memory wouldn’t leave Lee Ji-jun’s head.
Only later, after enough time had passed, did he understand what he had truly been feeling.
Comparing who was superior had been nothing but an excuse.
…Pathetic.
The truth was, Lee Ji-jun wanted to act like Choi Yongki.
Choi Yongki had been doing, step by step, in reality, what only a comic-book hero should’ve been able to do.
If wealth and fame were the values Lee Ji-jun pursued now, Choi Yongki was walking a completely different path.
No one could say which of them was right or wrong.
But—
Choi Yongki’s goal was set on a higher place than the one Lee Ji-jun was chasing.
Damn it!
Lee Ji-jun bit his lip.
To feel jealousy toward another person in the middle of a successful streak like this.
All of it was the result of choices and actions he himself couldn’t be proud of.
Bang Su-hwan pointed somewhere.
“Huh? I think that’s her.”
A woman was waving a placard covered in crooked, handwritten letters.
< p style="font-weight:bold;">Friends of Choi Yongki from headquarters! Welcome! Welcome ♥!
She had big rabbit-like eyes and skin white as paper.
Ha Se-na said, “You said rabbit. I think that’s her.”
As everyone stared, the woman ran toward them, then stumbled and went tumbling with a loud crash.
Bang Su-hwan rushed over to help her up, startled, but the woman got to her feet faster than he did and bowed quickly.
“Ah! Hello! You’re the Dio Guild hunters, right? I’m Heo Da-yeong from the Busan branch!”
“Nice to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you. The GoofyRabbit, right?”
“Haha! Did Hunter Choi say that?”
After exchanging brief greetings, the group followed Heo Da-yeong.
Then Bang Su-hwan turned his head.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Lee Ji-jun, still standing there, let out a breath.
“Haa.”
In the cool air, his exhale spread like cigarette smoke.
Choi Yongki. I don’t know what you’re planning to do here, but…
This time—
I will not lose!
Lee Ji-jun yanked his suitcase forward with a sharp, irritated motion.
The reunion with the classmates took place in a shellfish barbecue restaurant.
Clams grilled on the round table, rich with butter, were cooking into something delicious.
Bang Su-hwan was wolfing down a bowl of seafood ramen.
“Man, this is even better when you’re eating it with the sea breeze hitting you! We really came to the right place!”
Ha Se-na smacked him on the back.
“Hey! Did you eat all that by yourself?”
“Heh. Should I order another one, noona?”
“Agh, stop calling me noona like that, it’s disgusting! Just order another ramen!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
While Heo Da-yeong grilled the shellfish, she said, “All these hunters with headquarters-level skill are gathering here in Busan! Should we even name the team?”
She chewed on a carrot from the side dishes and went on.
“Since we’re gathered around a round table… how about the Hunters of the Round Table! What do you think? Round Table! Round Table! It’s a good chant too.”
“Oh. That’s not bad. How old are you, Da-yeong noona?”
“Ah, am I your noona now?”
“Hey! Aren’t you going to order ramen?”
As they chattered noisily, I picked up the soju bottle.
“Thanks for coming, everyone.”
I poured soju into Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na’s glasses.
Lee Ji-jun kept his mouth shut, looking mildly offended.
He barely touched the grilled shellfish at all.
Lee Ji-jun said, “Choi Yongki. You think I’m free, don’t you?”
“As if. You got promoted to A-class this time, right? Congratulations. You’re the fastest climber among us.”
I soothed him just enough to keep him from grumbling too much.
Lee Ji-jun let out a long sigh.
“So? What’s this about? If it’s nothing important, I’m not letting you off.”
“Hmm. Well.”
I got to the point.
After I finished explaining, Bang Su-hwan raised his hand.
“So I get the general idea, but wouldn’t it be enough to just not go out to sea?”
While the tentacles invaded the surface, the Dirty Kraken’s true body stayed in the ocean.
If no one sailed out, wouldn’t they simply never meet it?
It was a fair question, but—
It wasn’t that simple.
I couldn’t tell people like Lee Chun-bae, who made their living as fishermen, to stay off the sea forever.
After all, since the gates appeared, most of Busan had lived day to day from fishing.
The Dirty Kraken would pop up wherever boats were, attack people, flee, hide—
And then, just when everyone started to forget, it would come back again.
That was how stubbornly it tormented the people at sea.
For six whole months.
The city had tried restricting departures, of course.
At first the fishermen seemed to understand, but once the ban dragged on too long, they eventually rioted.
They said they’d starve to death before the monster could even get them.
The Dirty Kraken was as sly and vile as its name suggested.
It knew exactly how to make humans split apart. “Right. Starting tomorrow, we’ll stop all departures.”
I pointed at Lee Ji-jun.
“Just like the hunter who reached A-class in the shortest time.”
Lee Ji-jun glared at me.
“We have to finish this in the shortest possible time too.”
I’d prepared for that from the start.
I would reduce sacrifices, but I couldn’t eliminate them entirely.
I can’t use civilians as bait.
“I’m going to request cooperation from the coast guard and the navy. If the Dirty Kraken shows itself, I’ll go out there myself and kill it.”
That was the operation’s surest path to victory, and—
“the most efficient method.”
Lee Ji-jun, who had been listening quietly, cut in.
“...Efficient, huh. I didn’t know you could use a word like that.”
Despite the provoking tone, Lee Ji-jun broke into a grin, apparently pleased by something.
Only then did he lift his soju glass.
“All right. Let’s do it.”
On the moonlit night, the soju glasses came together above the round table.
“Nice. Then should we shout a slogan?”
Heo Da-yeong called out brightly.
“Round Table! Round Table! Fighting!”