The Tyrant's Hunting Method (1)
The next day, I went to work at Dio Guild.
As soon as I tapped my employee card and stepped through the entrance, a thunderous cheer went up.
WELCOME BACK TO HEADQUARTERS, HUNTER CHOI YONGKI!
A giant banner was hanging on the wall.
For a company that was on par with a major conglomerate, this was a pretty childish little event.
There was no doubt someone had ordered it.
Needless to say...
Someone came walking out.
A man in a neat suit, his hair slicked back with pomade.
It was Dio Guild Representative Go Pil-hun.
“Kyaa! There you are, Hunter Choi!”
Go Pil-hun spread his arms wide.
“The savior of Haeundae! Dio Guild’s pride! Come now, take this first.”
He hung a flower garland around my neck.
Employees gathered all around us.
I saw a few familiar faces.
People from the information team, for instance, and Lee Yu-seol.
Go Pil-hun went on, “The moment I first laid eyes on Hunter Choi, I knew it. Ah! This man is no ordinary person. One day, he’ll surely contribute to Dio Guild’s prosperity!”
There were hunters in the crowd too.
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na looked at me with faint smiles.
Because of this incident, my classmates had been pulled into the spotlight as well.
He’d become a hot topic under the nickname the Round Table Hunter.
I could also see the white-haired hunter Lee Ji-jun.
He had his arms folded and his lips pushed out in a pout.
He seemed unhappy that I was the one getting all the attention instead of him.
And then there was...
I don’t see Na Sang-min.
Well, with Na Sang-min’s personality, there was no way he’d show up for a clown show like this.
Go Pil-hun turned to face the employees.
“As you all know, because of this incident, Hunter Choi Yongki has been promoted two ranks. We’ll also be paying out a generous bonus, so use your vacation days as much as you like. Go on, take a trip overseas if you want. And is there anything else you’d like?”
The company representative had come out in person and praised a man’s achievements right in front of the employees.
Go Pil-hun’s true purpose was obvious enough.
Work obediently and steadily, like a cow, just as Choi Yongki does.
And we’ll feed you tasty fodder.
That was what he meant.
I bowed my head to Go Pil-hun.
“That’s enough for me, sir. I’ll work even harder for the guild instead of taking leave.”
For a master of lies like me, a bit of smooth talk like that was nothing.
Go Pil-hun raised his voice with exaggerated enthusiasm.
“Ha! Did you hear that, everyone? Hunter Choi here is so deeply devoted to the company. Take a page out of his book!”
Inside, I let out a dry laugh.
What an amusing bastard.
He was talking about loyalty while secretly planning to sell Dio Guild off to foreigners.
I had built myself a frame as a hero.
Thanks to that, Dio Guild’s image had been refreshed.
The higher the guild’s value climbed, the better it was for Go Pil-hun.
I must seem like a lucky windfall that dropped into his lap.
A photographer shoved a camera toward us.
“Representative. I’m taking the picture now.”
“Oh, sure. Photos are great. Hunter Choi, a handshake is too impersonal. Come on, let’s give each other a hug.”
As Go Pil-hun and I embraced, our bodies drawing close, a harsh wave of cologne washed over me.
Then the dazzling flash of a camera burst in front of us.
“Hunter Choi.”
Go Pil-hun lowered his voice so only I could hear.
“From now on, I’ll be relying on you completely. That’s fine, isn’t it?”
I slowly raised my head.
Meeting Go Pil-hun’s eyes, I smiled a smile with plenty of meaning behind it.
“Of course, sir.”
Representative Go Pil-hun Suspected of Tax Evasion and Embezzlement?!
Dio Guild Boss Accused of Taking Bribes from Police
Signs of Sexual Favors for Foreign Buyers Found Around Go Representative
It wasn’t just newspapers.
From pseudo-media outlets to YouTube and social media.
All kinds of channels that had been quiet until now suddenly started spitting out my list of crimes like strings of candy.
“Manager Lee! What the hell are these fucking articles?”
Go Pil-hun flew into a rage, taking out his frustration on Lee Yu-seol as he ranted and raved.
Lee Yu-seol did her best to look troubled.
“I’m looking into it as well.”
Dio was one of the three major guilds in South Korea.
Back when Go Ju-hun had been in power, there’d never been attacks this blatant.
And now that the regime had changed, the media was already charging in?
Go Pil-hun gritted his teeth.
This is planned.
He jabbed the newspaper with an irritated finger.
“Where the hell is this coming from?”
“It’s the Guguk Ilbo.”
Guguk Ilbo.
It was a paper that had long been publishing the occasional negative article about Dio Guild.
“And especially that reporter Kang In-han. He’s been churning out articles that are suspiciously similar.”
“Shit. That fucking hack...”
Go Pil-hun ground his teeth.
No matter how much money you fed to the people above, and no matter how corrupt the police were, if public pressure piled up like this, there was no escaping a prosecutor’s investigation.
And besides...
Where the hell is the source material coming from? Who tipped them off?
This wasn’t some baseless smear piece.
Who, when, where, and how.
The evidence attached to the articles was disturbingly credible.
It was as if someone had traced Go Pil-hun’s every move from start to finish...
His brow twitched.
An insider?
Countless names flashed through his mind.
“Ugh.”
A groan slipped out of him.
Lowly employees, hunters, board members—
There wasn’t a single corner of this place that wasn’t rotten.
There were more enemies around Go Pil-hun than allies.
“This is definitely information that leaked from inside. Don’t you think so?”
“……”
Lee Yu-seol fell silent with an ambiguous expression.
For a moment, Go Pil-hun glared at her.
Could this bitch be the traitor?
Then he shook his head.
No matter how dark the lamp’s underside was, that was still unlikely.
Lee Yu-seol had been the one who had made a major contribution to getting him into the representative’s seat.
If not for her help, Go Pil-hun would never have climbed into that position so easily.
And besides—
She doesn’t have the chops for it.
From what he’d seen of Lee Yu-seol so far, she wasn’t the sort of woman who had the stomach to weave an intricate plot on her own.
Unless someone was helping her, that is.
Go Pil-hun shot to his feet.
“First, I’m going to crush this bastard.”
“……Who exactly are you referring to?”
“That Guguk Ilbo reporter. If we beat the piss out of him, he’ll probably spill everything.”
Unlike the former Dio Guild representative, Go Ju-hun, this was a different kind of approach.
Go Ju-hun would have left the Guguk Ilbo alone, even if it had been slandering Dio Guild.
Go Pil-hun chose a far more violent method.
“But Representative, given the timing, we should be careful...”
“Fuck that! Do what I tell you.”
Go Pil-hun ran a hand through his hair.
“We need to make an example of what happens when someone dares to touch Dio.”
“……Understood.”
Lee Yu-seol lowered her gaze.
“Who would be best for the job? How about the twins?”
They were the ones who usually handled all the dirty work—the so-called cleanup crew of Dio Guild.
“I haven’t been able to reach them for months.”
“Damn it. Just when you need dog shit, there’s none to be found.”
Lee Yu-seol sneered inwardly.
The day Go Ju-hun died, the twins had died too, their heads severed from their bodies.
...I almost died too.
Lee Yu-seol swallowed a bitter smile.
Go Pil-hun waved a hand.
“Then pick three retired hunters and send them after him.”
Retired hunters were Dio Guild hunters who had been automatically forced into retirement because they’d gotten too old.
Those who had been pushed out because of alcohol or drug addiction were also lumped in with the retired hunters.
Still, their ranks were usually no higher than D-class.
“Aren’t they too weak?”
“There’s no need to send high-spec hunters after an ordinary civilian. We’ll save money too, so it works out.”
Go Pil-hun spent money lavishly when it was for himself, but when it came to other people, he was a miser through and through.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Go Pil-hun curled one corner of his mouth.
“That fucking reporter. I’ll make sure he never picks up a pen again.”
“Then I’ll be leaving.”
Lee Yu-seol turned away.
Her expression changed completely.
Idiot. You just kicked a hornet’s nest.
A giant purple hornet’s nest.
Guguk Ilbo reporter Kang In-han hurried home after work.
“Haaah. I’m beat.”
Kang In-han yawned so widely his jaw nearly split in half.
It wasn’t as if a reporter’s salary was anything special.
To make a living, he worked overtime so often it had practically become a meal in itself, and fatigue piled up naturally.
His phone vibrated.
- Honey, where are you?
The sender was his wife.
It was a message with a video attached.
He tapped the video, and it started playing.
“Daddy! When are you coming home?!”
“Daddy! Daddydaddydaddy!”
Two boys, one five years old and one seven, laughed brightly at the camera.
“Daddy! Uncle bought this for us!”
“It’s Uncle Purple!”
Even though the camera angle didn’t catch him directly, a grown man’s hand holding crayons flickered into view.
“Uncle? Ah.”
His two sons were waiting for Kang In-han with aching impatience.
Kang In-han let out a small snort of laughter.
No matter how hard and exhausting life got—
Well, what else could he do?
He just had to keep going for these little troublemakers.
That was the life of an ordinary husband.
And the weight of being a father.
Kang In-han sent a reply.
- I’m almost home. I’m just outside.
He lifted the plastic bag he was carrying.
Inside was a warm fried chicken he’d bought for the kids as a snack.
Kang In-han turned into a dark alley where the streetlamps cast a soft, uneven glow.
Then, suddenly, a foul shadow fell across his path.
“Sniff, sniff. Smells like oil!”
“Is that fried chicken? Perfect, we were hungry.”
Two thugs blocked Kang In-han’s way.
Their hair was scruffy, their beards unkempt, and one of them was missing a front tooth.
They looked like homeless men.
“Who are you...?”
Alarmed, Kang In-han took a step back.
This was a terrifying world, with Gates opening, monsters appearing, and villains swarming everywhere.
If things went south, he needed to be ready to run immediately.
“What, you want introductions all of a sudden?”
Someone else blocked his escape from behind.
A new thug.
That made three in total.
The alley was now sealed off front and back.
The toothless thug said, “Where do you think you’re running off to? If you did something wrong, you’ve got to be punished.”
“...What did I do wrong?”
The thug jerked his chin toward Kang In-han’s hand.
“You wrote those nasty articles with those filthy hands of yours, didn’t you? Didn’t you? Come here.”
The thug grabbed one of his companions.
“Wait a sec. Didn’t somebody tell us to find out who was behind this?”
“Oh, right.”
The two thugs exchanged a shameless comic routine as if they were old stage partners.
“If we beat him up a little, he’ll start singing.”
“Yeah? Then let’s do that.”
One of them stepped closer to Kang In-han.
Unrestrained violence, abduction, and torture.
The horrific things that were about to happen to Kang In-han were obvious enough to see.
And yet.
Kang In-han no longer backed away.
He wore a strangely confident expression.
“Idiots. Dio bastards really never deviate from the script, do they?”
It wasn’t because he was stronger than the thugs.
It wasn’t because he was an Awakened one, either.
Kang In-han went on, “Except for one person.”
Thud.
The moment he finished speaking, the thug standing behind him collapsed.
“Huh? What’s wrong with him?”
“Looks like he passed out.”
The remaining pair tilted their heads in confusion.
That was when it happened.
A man emerged from the darkness.
“Hi.”
The man waving cheerfully looked anything but normal.
Hoodie and sweatpants.
Nike sneakers.
His face was covered by a bread bag.
The tan paper bag had been crudely colored over with a purple crayon.
It looked as if some child had doodled all over it.
His eyes and mouth had been drawn in crooked red lines, like something from a Picasso painting.
That’s right.
The identity of the “uncle” who had been playing with the kids just now—
Was none other than Choi Yongki.
“What the hell is that, some psycho?”
“Is he crazy?”
Kang In-han quickly hid behind the bread-bagged hero’s back.
“You came.”
He let out a sigh of relief.
“Just like you said. You predicted they’d attack me... and you were right.”
“That’s their specialty. They solve everything with their fists whenever they get the chance.”
The man with the bread bag cracked his neck from side to side until the bones popped.
“Not that I really hate that, mind you.”
The two thugs snorted.
“Hey. You know who we are?”
“We used to make it all the way up to C-class...”
A streak of violet split the darkness.
Then a series of heavy impacts followed one after another.
Blood droplets splattered onto the pavement, and teeth rolled across the ground.
“Ghk! P-please, spare us!”
“W-wait! We’re sorry!”
Screams rang out through the dark alley.