An Approaching Shadow
The headquarters of Dioysine in Gangnam was a sky-piercing tower of glass and steel.
The female employee in Dio Guild’s information division clicked her gum impatiently, all too happy to show her annoyance.
Seo Gwang-pal scratched his bald head hard enough to draw blood, his nails rasping across his scalp and leaving angry red welts in their wake.
It had already been two weeks since he’d been ordered by combat team leader Lee Yu-seol to find the man known as the Purple Devil.
He had chased the bastard’s trail until his feet practically bled, but not a single useful lead had surfaced. The man’s movements were as elusive as a ghost’s, and Seo Gwang-pal was starting to panic.
At this rate, not only would his year-end evaluation be ruined, but next year’s contract renewal was as good as dead.
In a hurry, he decided to change tactics.
“Miss Kim. We’re all on the same side here, so do me a favor. Come on, this is a bribe. First, take a long sip.”
Seo Gwang-pal pulled a canned coffee from his chest, popped the lid, and held it out to her.
The employee he called Miss Kim had been put through the wringer by some bald bastard pestering her first thing in the morning, and her stress level was already through the roof.
In times like this, caffeine was king.
She spat out her gum, took the coffee, and drank it as if she were doing him a favor.
“Please, just one more search. I’m begging you!”
Seo Gwang-pal clasped his hands and bowed his head.
That was enough to soften Miss Kim’s heart.
Or rather, to make her annoyed enough to give in.
“Fine, fine. Just back off a little. It’s hot.”
She took hold of the mouse.
After a few clicks, the screen changed.
“Here. Look.”
On the pixelated screen, a man wearing a purple mask appeared.
The masked man casually swept a hand across the back of his own hand, and Seo Gwang-pal was sent flying into a car, where he immediately blacked out.
Miss Kim barely held back the laughter bursting out of her.
“Pfft! Hunter Seo, you know this clip’s been making the rounds, right?”
Veins bulged on Seo Gwang-pal’s gleaming head.
Pfft? This bitch gone nuts?
In fact, the scene of Seo Gwang-pal being struck by the Purple Devil had become a meme and was circulating all over the internet.
And the comments were even worse than the clip itself.
Dio Guild’s standing had already been slipping, and Seo Gwang-pal was only making things worse by dragging the guild’s name through the mud.
Before he realized it, Seo Gwang-pal was backed all the way to the edge of a cliff.
This is all that purple freak’s fault!
Seo Gwang-pal forced himself to stay calm.
“Skip this part. Anything after it?”
“That’s everything.”
After that, the masked man moved in the opposite direction from the people running toward the ambulance, then vanished in the blink of an eye in the middle of the city.
Seo Gwang-pal said, “That doesn’t make sense. Did he fly into the sky, or sink into the ground? What, is that bastard some kind of god?”
“How should I know? Just leave already. I’ve got a mountain of work to do.”
Gate analysis, tracking villain movements, reviewing documents for recruiting new hunters...
Dio Guild’s information division was busy enough already to be drowning in work.
They had only humored Seo Gwang-pal because he was throwing such a fit; the assignment he’d dragged them into was far down the list in terms of priority.
Damn it. No choice.
Seo Gwang-pal pulled out his trump card from inside his jacket.
Another canned coffee.
“Drink this first.”
“No thanks. You think I’m obsessed with coffee or something?”
“Come on. This isn’t just coffee. It’s the top of the bribe food chain.”
Only then did she notice that ten 50,000-won bills had been wrapped around the can with a rubber band.
Her eyes changed at once.
“Seriously. What do you take me for?”
Her words said no, but her actions said the opposite.
Miss Kim quickly checked the position of the CCTV, then opened her desk drawer with practiced ease.
“I’ll drink it later. Thanks.”
“Good. Good!”
Seo Gwang-pal tossed the canned coffee into the drawer.
Deal sealed.
Miss Kim hung her IC card around her neck and stood up.
“Wait here. I’m going to the traffic division.”
South Korea was a small country.
And when you narrowed it down to the Seoul metropolitan area, it was even smaller.
Dio Guild’s traffic division existed to track road congestion caused by Gates appearing across the city.
At least that was the official explanation.
In reality, they hacked into the National Police Agency’s traffic investigation team under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and collected information favorable to Dio Guild.
“Take your time. I’ll wait, babe.”
“Ugh, why is he like that?”
Once Miss Kim disappeared, Seo Gwang-pal flattened his broad ass into the chair she had been using and drank down the canned coffee she’d left behind.
Then, after checking for prying eyes, he whistled softly and opened the drawer.
He reclaimed the 50,000-won bills tucked beside the coffee can.
“Take it and snatch it back. What a bitch.”
With a low snicker, he looked over at the monitor again.
Seo Gwang-pal was still being shown getting blown backward by the Purple Devil over and over.
Just watching it made his blood boil.
Without realizing it, he crushed the paper cup in his hand.
“You purple-headed son of a bitch. Just you wait until I catch you.”
Team Leader Lee Yu-seol had ordered Seo Gwang-pal to recruit the masked man into Dio Guild.
But Seo Gwang-pal had no intention of listening to her.
“I’m going to kill you with my own hands. Absolutely.”
A moment later, Miss Kim returned.
“What the hell? You drank my coffee? After giving it away yourself...”
“Hey! I’ll buy you another one! I’ll buy you a whole box! Anyway... did you find anything?”
“Sigh.”
The female employee sat back down and began typing at her computer.
“Traffic division found a man with a similar appearance. We couldn’t pin down his exact route, though.”
Since the First Gate incident, the road network in Seoul had recovered at a painfully slow pace because of monster appearances.
Especially once you got outside Seoul proper, there were huge blind spots with no CCTV at all.
“This is him, right?”
A black-and-white image showed someone riding on the back seat of a motorcycle.
The face couldn’t be seen because the shot caught him from behind, but judging from the worn jacket he was wearing, he looked very much like the person Seo Gwang-pal had been searching for.
“Found him.”
The corners of Seo Gwang-pal’s mouth lifted.
“This is the final data. We can’t tell where he went after that.”
“Good enough. Print me just this one page.”
Miss Kim handed him the printed sheet.
Seo Gwang-pal stared hard at the tuned motorcycle in the photo.
Bright LED lights flashed across its frame, and a banner had been planted on it.
Dalbong Quick Bullet Service!
Seo Gwang-pal bared his teeth in a vicious grin.
“You rat bastard. Just wait.”
* * *
Grandmother had been admitted to Sejong Cancer Center.
After changing into the hospital gown, she had insisted on one thing before we said our goodbyes.
“Don’t you dare tell Sungmin. Just say Grandma went on a trip. You get me?”
She didn’t want to worry my younger brother for no reason.
“What trip? At least make the lie sound believable.”
“Then I’m not going in here!”
“Fine, fine. Just go inside already.”
We bickered for a long while before finally parting ways.
Once she underwent carbon-ion therapy, Grandmother would be completely cured.
After returning to my daily life, I went to work as usual.
Kiigiiiing!
Helmet on, I threw myself into welding, sparks flying as I concentrated on the work.
The boss had gone quiet after that day.
He didn’t curse at the workers anymore, and as promised, he even replaced the press.
It was an old used model, but it cut the safety risk down a lot.
Either way, it was a good thing.
Karki came over to me.
“Boss. What’s our afternoon work schedule look like?”
“Make parts on Line A, then assemble on Line B.”
“Got it! Boss.”
It was the sort of ordinary conversation that happened in a factory.
But I lowered my voice and asked back, “What about the real work?”
Karki leaned close, discreetly.
“Prototype complete, hehe.”
Then he jerked his chin toward the rusty container at the edge of the factory.
It had been abandoned for a long time.
It had originally been used as a break room for the workers.
But after one employee died of heatstroke there in midsummer because there wasn’t even a fan, let alone air-conditioning, it was sealed off.
For our purposes, it was the perfect secret hideout.
“Show me after work.”
“Got it, boss!”
We were still in the middle of that whispered exchange when someone approached from far away.
Tall enough to clear 190 centimeters, with a lean, gaunt frame.
I recognized him at a glance.
It was the gang’s second-in-command, Kkeokdari.
In an instant, the atmosphere inside the factory froze over.
Everyone’s eyes went to the boss.
He jolted in surprise and flapped both hands.
“It wasn’t me! I didn’t call him here!”
He didn’t seem like he was lying.
Then why had that bastard come here?
Was he here to get revenge on me?
Or just to cause trouble?
Could be.
Still, something was odd.
Unlike before, Kkeokdari had come alone.
He hadn’t brought a single subordinate with him.
Kkeokdari stood in front of me.
We’d had our share of scraps, but truthfully, I didn’t hate the guy all that much.
I wasn’t glorifying gang violence or anything, but he had a certain rough charm to him.
Guys like Seo Gwang-pal, who bully the weak, are way more disgusting.
I took off the safety gloves I’d been wearing.
“What, you want another round? Let’s go outside.”
Kkeokdari shook his head.
“I’m not here to fight.”
He looked at the boss.
“Mr. Kim. Mind if I talk to Mr. Choi for a bit?”
“Of course, of course.”
In front of gangsters, the boss was all bows and scraping.
“Boss.”
I patted Karki’s shoulder, whose expression had turned worried.
“It’s fine.”
Even if Kkeokdari tried something by surprise, I didn’t think I’d lose.
If I used Aura of God, he wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on me.
I followed Kkeokdari over to the wisteria arbor nearby.
The pillar I had broken earlier had been roughly repaired, with some leftover lumber slapped onto it in a half-assed patch job.
Kkeokdari bought two machine-coffee drinks from the vending machine and handed one to me.
We sat side by side and sipped at the coffee.
“I was wrong before. I didn’t understand the situation inside and just pushed ahead like a bull. I’m sorry.”
When I didn’t say anything, Kkeokdari kept going.
“Do you believe in karma?”
“...”
“I do. I’ve done too many bad things so far. So I’m trying to switch tracks while I still can.”
Kkeokdari chewed on the rim of the paper cup.
“I’m quitting the gang. I finally realized it this time. I’m not suited for this kind of work. I’m going to go somewhere quiet and farm or something.”
So that was what he had come all this way to say?
To repent in front of me?
“Hey, Choi Yongki.”
Kkeokdari looked at me.
“Run. Our boss is coming back soon. That man...”
He shuddered, gooseflesh rising across his arms.
“How do I put it? He doesn’t smell human.”
“You mean he’s that strong? Stronger than me?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. It’s more like looking at a living, breathing devil. I know I’m the one under him, so I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but...”
The image of a gang boss rampaging around with a sashimi knife flashed through my mind.
“Thanks for the warning.”
I crushed the paper cup and tossed it into the trash can.
After watching it land cleanly, I brushed my ass off and stood up.
“I’m not running.”
“What? Did you even hear what I said? Our boss is—”
“I don’t care about karma or bosses or any of that. There’s only one thing I know for sure.”
Kkeokdari tilted his head.
“What’s that?”
“That bastards who do bad things always get what’s coming to them someday.”
Even if karma never caught up with those bastards on its own...
In this life, I would become the hero myself and serve as karma for the villains.
At that, Kkeokdari snorted and stood.
“Yeah. That’s the answer a man who beat me would give. I just came to say my last goodbye. Make sure you survive. Don’t die.”
Leaving words that sounded like they belonged on a battlefield, Kkeokdari walked away on unsteady legs.
In the red sunset, his shape seemed to waver and blur like an illusion.
* * *
That night.
After everyone at the factory had gone home, Karki and I were the only ones left.
The container door groaned open with a miserable screech.
With both hands spread wide as if unveiling a treasure, Karki shouted, “Ta-da!”
There, in a place thick with spiderwebs, a costume made just for me finally came into view.