Catching the Thief (2)
We moved fast in the van. The sea rolled by on the left, while on the right there were low stone walls and fields of flowers stretching out under the Jeju sun.
Only then did it really hit me that we’d arrived on Jeju Island.
Ryu Su-hon drew in a long, shaky breath and let it out again, the nerves plain on his face. “We get here and we’re already heading into a showdown with Quarter? Man. I’m trembling. We’re gonna be okay, right?”
Ryu Su-hon was an ordinary prosecutor, here as the face of the operation so the hunters could work together with the press and expose the incident to the public.
Bang Su-hwan jumped in at once. “Brother, that’s not right if you leave me out of it. I’ll support you as hard as I can.”
As he spoke, he flexed his bulging arms for all to see.
Ryu Su-hon wasn’t about to let him have the last word. With a loud sound effect of his own, he pulled a domestically made K5 third-generation pistol from his waistband. “A noncombatant? Please! I’m gonna go bang bang and shoot every last one of those bastard villains!”
Like hell a regular bullet would do anything to Quarter, an S+ rank monster. Even so, Ryu Su-hon’s eyes were gleaming with fighting spirit. “Heh. My blood’s boiling. Feels like I’ve gone back to my twenties. Back to those days when I was still righteous.”
I let Ryu Su-hon bang away on his own drum and stared quietly at the Witch Mirror.
Since I’d already used it once today, I couldn’t ask it anything else.
Even if I could, it wouldn’t matter. The only people I’d touched today were my team, the reporters, and a few female fans, so it would’ve been a useless exercise. The Witch Mirror only pointed to the location of the bucket-hat man.
While I was still studying the mirror, Bang Su-hwan, who had been watching from the side, asked, “Brother, do you really think that guy is Quarter?”
“Hmm. Hard to say.”
The Witch Mirror had only identified him as the strongest person I’d met today.
It never said he was definitely Quarter. Still, considering the circumstances, the odds were high.
“Even if he isn’t, he’s connected somehow.”
Jeju was in a situation similar to Busan’s. Hunter facilities were poor, and the Dio Guild didn’t even have a branch here. There were only a few small local guilds to be found.
A man of that caliber would be a big shot on Jeju.
“He’s worth meeting.”
I was already considering another possibility.
“If he’s not Quarter, then it’s someone on a different side of the board.”
Bang Su-hwan tilted his head. “A different side?”
Just then, a message arrived on my phone.
It was from Ha Se-na.
I showed it to Bang Su-hwan.
“Brother... it looks like something happened to Se-na. Should we head over right away?”
Ryu Su-hon, who had snatched the phone to check it as soon as he sensed the serious mood, stammered, “R-Run? She said don’t come? That means he’s dangerous. Of course! He really is Quarter.”
I took the phone back from his limp hand and sent a reply.
What happened?
But no matter how long we waited, there was no answer.
Detective Gong, who was gripping the wheel, turned his head toward me. “What should we do?”
The answer was already decided.
Our goal was to catch Quarter, yes.
But the team coming back alive was the first priority.
I held up the Witch Mirror. On the map of Jeju Island, a single dot kept flashing, showing the bucket-hat man’s position.
“Keep going.”
“Yes, sir!”
The car tore down the road at full speed.
“We’re here.”
Detective Gong killed the engine.
Samda Resort
A building with faded sky-blue paint on its outer walls came into view. A large sign stood at the entrance.
The gardens were choked with weeds in places, and moss had gathered around the fountain. It was an old resort with age written all over it.
I picked up my phone and called Ha Se-na.
The ringing went on for a long time before a mechanical voice finally told me the call couldn’t be connected.
All at once, a bad feeling crept up my spine.
No way...
I shook my head without meaning to. I decided to put the anxiety and worry aside for now.
“Let’s get out.”
Detective Gong stayed in the car. The three of us — me, Ryu Su-hon, and Bang Su-hwan — went into the resort.
The door opened with a shriek, a screech so ugly it raised gooseflesh across my skin.
The lobby was dark and quiet. There were water stains all over the ceiling as if the place had sprung a leak, and the chandelier had gone gray beneath layers of dust. The old leather sofas were peeling in places, and the carpet was worn thin in several spots.
We headed straight for the front desk.
“Welcome to Samda Resort.”
A young woman in a uniform greeted us.
Unlike the musty resort around her, her uniform was neat and clean.
“Do you have a reservation?”
At that point, I checked the Witch Mirror again.
The flashing dot overlapped with my own location.
The man I suspected to be Quarter was here.
But...
I still couldn’t tell where in the resort he was.
The mirror’s effect lasted only half a day. If I couldn’t find him in time, I’d lose him.
I glanced at Ryu Su-hon.
Ryu Su-hon nodded and shoved his business card forward. “I’m Prosecutor Ryu Su-hon from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. Please cooperate with our investigation. Has a man wearing a bucket hat come in here by any chance?”
The receptionist took the card and thought about it for a moment before answering. “No. I haven’t seen any suspicious person wearing a bucket hat.”
For the record, I’m good at lying.
I have a knack for making things sound convincing, even when they’re completely false, without so much as blinking.
The reason I’m bringing that up now is simple.
The better you are at lying, the easier it is to spot a liar.
No suspicious person wearing a bucket hat, huh?
Then that meant one thing.
I rested one arm on the desk. “So you did see your boss come in here.”
“……”
The receptionist pressed her lips together and lowered her gaze.
It was a simple deduction. The bucket-hat man was definitely inside, and if the receptionist was hiding that fact...
Then they were in it together.
With Ha Se-na possibly in danger, I didn’t have time to waste on polite persuasion.
“Start talking before I check the CCTV and haul every one of you in.”
At my threat, the receptionist finally swallowed hard.
Then, as if surrendering, she said, “Seventh floor. Go to the event hall.”
I turned and walked quickly away.
Bang Su-hwan, hurrying after me, glanced back and said, “Brother, that employee is making a call to somewhere.”
She was probably notifying the bucket-hat man.
“Doesn’t matter.”
I got into the elevator and headed for the top floor, the seventh.
7th floor.
The elevator was wrapped in silence.
Then ding.
At the same time as the announcement, I heard Bang Su-hwan swallow hard right beside me.
When the doors opened, a group of sturdy men was waiting outside.
There had to be thirty of them, maybe more.
They glared at us with sharp, hostile eyes.
Ryu Su-hon stepped behind me and reached for his holster. “I-I’m Prosecutor Ryu Su-hon from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office!”
But the men didn’t budge an inch.
Farther ahead, someone was standing there.
Ha Se-na.
Her eyes were closed, her body limp, as if she’d fainted. She was tied tightly to a chair.
“Se-na!”
Bang Su-hwan followed my gaze and shouted.
A man appeared from behind the chair.
“Don’t come any closer.”
It was the bucket-hat man.
He had taken off his mask, but he still wore the horn-rimmed glasses.
“If you want your teammate back alive, answer my questions.”
The situation was tense enough already.
Ha Se-na was being held hostage, and the bucket-hat man was threatening her life.
And yet, for some reason, an odd sensation had seized my entire body.
Something feels off.
Let me say it again: liars can spot liars.
There was something fake about the bucket-hat man’s behavior.
No, fake is too soft a word. Staged is closer.
I slowly looked around and assessed the sturdy men with him.
In terms of raw ability, they were far below Ha Se-na.
So that’s what this is.
I started walking forward.
“I told you not to come!” the bucket-hat man shouted, but I didn’t stop.
“Why? Planning to kill my teammate?”
The bucket-hat man drew a knife.
Then he pressed the blade to Ha Se-na’s throat.
“B-Brother!”
Bang Su-hwan’s frantic voice came from behind me.
I kept walking, steady and unhurried.
“Don’t come any closer. I’ll really stab her!”
“Go ahead. If you can.”
At last I came to a stop directly in front of him.
Looking at him up close, my impression was simple.
He has kind eyes.
The bucket-hat man’s pupils gleamed brightly behind the horn-rimmed glasses.
“You’re not Quarter.”
“……”
I pointed at Ha Se-na, who was still slumped unconscious in the chair. “And she’s not Ha Se-na either.”
Ha Se-na was an A-class hunter.
Even as a healer, her combat stats were far from shabby.
The men besides the bucket-hat man were pathetic at a glance.
They were all awakeners, sure, but they were low-rank ones; I could see the faint trickle of mana in them without even trying.
If a fight had broken out here, some of them would have ended up critically injured by Ha Se-na.
But everyone’s fine.
There wasn’t a drop of blood or a trace of a fight anywhere, and not a single one of them looked injured.
Most importantly...
“Ha Se-na wouldn’t have sent me a text telling me to run. If anything, she would’ve said, ‘I’m here! Hurry up and get over here!’”
The instant the words left my mouth, the face of the bound “Ha Se-na” changed.
The woman’s face transformed in an instant into a bearded man’s.
The bearded man lifted his head and looked up at the bucket-hat man. “Boss. What do we do? I think we’ve been found out.”
“Tch.”
The bucket-hat man sliced through the ropes with his knife.
The bearded man got up from the chair and hurriedly retreated.
“Where’s Ha Se-na?”
At my question, the bucket-hat man lifted the knife and cut the air.
From top to bottom.
A vertical seam split open, and a pocket dimension formed.
Beyond that gap, the real Ha Se-na was pounding against a transparent invisible wall.
I couldn’t hear her voice, probably because the soundproofing was perfect, but I could tell from her lips what she was shouting.
Damn it! I’m trapped!
It was an astonishing ability.
Opening a false pocket dimension and locking a person inside it.
“A Dimensionalist?”
The bucket-hat man took off his glasses.
“You’re a Typhoon Hunter, right? You came here to catch Quarter.”
Only then could I be certain of his identity.
“You’re a Dark Alliance executive on Jeju Island.”
“That’s right.”
The bucket-hat man nodded.
“All the mainland executives of the Dark Alliance are dead except for me, they say.”
I was curious.
It wasn’t as if Quarter had been merciful enough to spare him until now. And this guy certainly wasn’t stronger than Quarter.
“You survived pretty well. Was it because of your ability?”
“Yeah. Every time they came to get me, I’d run off with dimensional movement. I’m starting to get tired of it, though.”
Before coming here, I’d already looked into the Jeju executive of the Dark Alliance.
This guy was different.
Unlike the other executives, there was something special about him.
To stand against the Dark Alliance’s human trafficking, drugs, and the extortion and beatings of ordinary people...
He had become a villain on his own.
Born on Jeju, raised on Jeju, and having spent his whole life protecting the island.
“They call him Hareubang.”
That was what people called the man with the surname Ha.
Ironically, Hareubang meant both “grandfather” and the stone guardian deity who protected Jeju’s peace and order.
I didn’t know the full story behind him.
But if my instincts were right, Hareubang had probably had no choice but to join the Dark Alliance.
Quarter was chasing Hareubang.
I was chasing Quarter.
If I used this right...
Hareubang was someone who could be useful if I took his hand.
Let’s solve this with words.
I pointed at Ha Se-na, trapped inside the pocket dimension.
“First, let her out.”
“Not if I don’t want to.”
For some reason, Hareubang’s childish pettiness didn’t annoy me.
He reminded me a little of Gi Yeong-cheol, the leader of the Yeong-cheol Suho-dae. There was a certain rough warmth to him.
Getting close to another man isn’t complicated.
Either you spend a long time together...
Or you fight, then make up.
I rolled my neck from side to side, clenched my fist, and let my bones crack.
“Okay. Let’s have it out, then.”
Hareubang snorted. “Hmph! This is why I hate hunters. Every one of you is arrogant and insufferable.”
I took out the Witch Mirror and held it up to him. “I asked it a question. ‘Who’s the strongest person I met today?’ That’s what I asked.”
I angled the mirror so it reflected Hareubang’s face.
“And the answer was you.”
Hareubang’s lips curled upward. “Of course. I’m the strongest one in Jeju—”
“Are you sure about that?”
He didn’t know one thing.
The person asking the question isn’t included in the mirror’s answer.
I turned the Witch Mirror slowly.
In the polished silver surface, my own face looked back at me.
“The questioner doesn’t count. Which means the strongest one here is me.”
Hareubang pursed his lips and tightened his grip on the dagger. “Then let’s see.”
“Fine by me.”
I kicked over the chair in the center of the room and charged at Hareubang.