The Stranger (2)
I took a car to the Dio Guild Busan branch.
The one behind the wheel was Heo Da-yeong.
"The car’s a little cramped, huh? Haha."
We were riding in a compact SUV, an old model called Good Morning, now discontinued.
Recent training had left me more muscular than before, so my broad shoulders brushed against the car door and made the ride awkward.
"I’m fine."
My stomach gave a low growl.
I hadn’t eaten anything since morning, and I was starving.
"Haha. I guess I should’ve taken you to a restaurant first."
"I’ll eat with the guild members."
Worse still, the car jolted hard every time it hit a bump in the road.
It really drove home the fact that I was in Busan now.
In Seoul, I’d always ridden in a large van whenever I was sent out.
There used to be snacks piled high in there, too.
Heo Da-yeong smiled brightly and said, "Hunter Choi, you can speak casually with me. I’ll be your manager from now on."
"I’ll get used to that gradually."
Heo Da-yeong treated me with her usual cheerful energy.
"Oh, right. As for your main schedule, Hunter Choi, there’ll be a fan meeting about a month from now."
Lee Yu-seol had already told me about that.
They’d thrown it together in a hurry because they needed a pretext to send me to Busan.
"How many people are supposed to show up?"
"Hmm. Maybe about a thousand?"
A thousand people would gather just to see me?
It didn’t feel real at all.
"We’ll take pre-reservations first and hold an event. Only the people who win a lottery will be able to buy tickets!"
"How many have signed up so far?"
"Umm. About twelve?"
"……."
Heo Da-yeong smiled sweetly, completely oblivious to my mood.
"You’re kidding, right?"
The words slipped out before I could stop myself.
"Nope. It’s true. There’s still plenty of time, you know. If it’s Hunter Choi, I’m sure you can pull it off! Of course you can! Absolutely!"
"……."
She kind of sounds like she’s roasting me.
With a crackling hiss, a low-quality voice came through the radio.
"This is Silenos! Heo, where are you right now?"
It was the radio installed in the car.
Silenos was a figure from Greek mythology, a water spirit.
He wore a wreath, carried grapes, and was usually depicted as a drunken, potbellied old man.
For the record, Silenos was also the foster father of Dionysus, the call sign of Seo Gwang-pal.
Heo Da-yeong picked up the radio with practiced ease.
"Team Leader Mun, I’m on my way back now, escorting Hunter Choi from headquarters."
Using such outdated communication gear in this day and age...
As someone from the old days, I couldn’t help finding it oddly romantic.
"Headquarters? Oh, right, today was the day?"
"I told you yesterday. You already forgot again."
"Anyway, call the other guilds and ask for backup. If possible, get a high-rank hunter!"
"Huh? You’re already out on a deployment?"
"A damn Bullet Bird just burst out in Seomyeon, and it’s a total mess!"
Bullet Bird was a bit of hunter slang.
Its official name was Bullet Bird.
It was a bipedal monster with a sharp, elongated beak, and it moved as fast as a bullet.
"Hey! Sang-teak! This way! I’m busy, so I’m hanging up!"
Crashes and shouted voices spilled out from the other end of the radio.
I couldn’t see what was happening, but it sounded like a desperate situation.
"Hunter Choi. Hold on a moment."
Heo Da-yeong asked my permission and pulled the car over to the shoulder.
I’d roughly figured out the situation.
When a crime happened, the police responded.
When a fire broke out, the firefighters responded.
And when monsters appeared, hunters went out.
Heo Da-yeong made a few calls to different places.
"Hello, this is Heo Da-yeong from Dio Guild. Would it be possible to request support?"
Her voice grew smaller and smaller.
"Ah, I see. No, it’s all right."
After several calls, Heo Da-yeong’s shoulders slumped.
"What’s going on?"
"A Gate broke open, but I think our team is short-handed."
Just because the Hunter infrastructure outside the capital was weaker didn’t mean Gates opened less often.
Just like Seoul, Busan desperately needed capable hunters.
So not only was I probably not getting a proper meal, I was also apparently not going to get a proper introduction to the guild members, either.
Heo Da-yeong lowered her head.
"I’m sorry. Ms. Lee kept telling me to take good care of Hunter Choi."
A long sigh slipped from her lips.
If they were willing to welcome me as an outsider, I was grateful enough for that.
But I had come here as a hunter, nothing more.
I wasn’t here to sightsee.
Still, since I’d been sent on assignment, I should do what I came here to do.
"Let’s go."
"Huh? Where to...?"
"You said you were short-handed."
Realizing what I meant, Heo Da-yeong’s face lit up.
"Yes!"
She pressed the accelerator, and the Good Morning shot forward.
For a while we tore down the road, and then Heo Da-yeong turned her head.
"By the way, Hunter Choi... aren’t you D-class? The team leader said to bring back a high-rank hunter."
"……."
Yep. She is definitely roasting me.
"Eek!!!"
Seomyeon Underground Shopping Center.
A woman’s shriek ripped through the air.
Since this was Busan’s largest commercial district, it was always packed with people.
"Damn it! Over there!"
Mun Dal-su, the team leader of Dio Guild’s Busan branch combat unit, ran frantically with his team.
The goal had been to drive the monster that had escaped the Gate out of the city center.
But the Bullet Bird was so fast they could barely lay a hand on it.
By the time they arrived on the scene, a woman was already collapsed before the monster.
The Bullet Bird moved at blinding speed, slashing wildly with its beak, which was as hard as titanium.
The woman trembled as she looked up at the birdlike monster towering over 2.5 meters tall.
"P-please... someone, s-save me."
The Bullet Bird lifted its beak.
Mun Dal-su charged in at once and snatched the woman away.
"Team Leader Mun!"
His team shouted when they saw his condition.
Blood flowed from the arm that wasn’t holding the woman.
In an instant, the Bullet Bird had not missed its chance and pecked viciously at his elbow.
"Get to somewhere safe, now."
"Y-yes, thank you."
The woman bolted in the opposite direction the moment she finished speaking.
The frightened civilians also scattered in a panic, scrambling away from the monster.
Mun Dal-su calmly assessed the situation.
This was the underground first floor.
There was another Bullet Bird rampaging on the ground level as well.
Other team members were holding it in check, but they were having a hard time pinning it down.
From where they stood, the passage split left and right.
There were only those two routes.
If the Bullet Bird broke through again, there was no way to know where it would run this time.
Mun Dal-su said, "Sang-teak. Block the path."
"Yes, Team Leader!"
The dark-skinned hunter darted back and forth, thrusting out his hands.
Then smooth walls of mana sprang up on both sides.
His talent was Sleek Wall.
Anyone he did not personally allow could not pass through the walls.
The Bullet Bird sprinted to the right at full speed.
But it bounced off the invisible wall and flopped onto the ground.
"Kree?"
The monster cocked its head as if it couldn’t understand what had just happened, then got back to its feet.
That meant it couldn’t escape now.
The problem is...
Mun Dal-su glanced around.
There were only five team members with him.
The rest were struggling on the ground level.
Mun Dal-su was a B-class hunter.
His team members weren’t much different.
At best, they were C- to D-class.
There wasn’t anyone among them, himself included, who could take down a Ruin-class Bullet Bird.
We need an A-class hunter!
He had made the support request with the desperate hope of catching even a single lifeline, but he hadn’t expected much.
Another Gate had opened in Dongnae District, Busan.
Another guild must have already been dispatched there.
The Bullet Bird spread its wings wide and lowered its body.
"Kree."
It was the motion it made right before launching itself into an assault.
At first glance, it looked like a mouse trapped in a jar.
But the ones trapped here were them.
"What should we do now, Team Leader?"
Sang-teak swallowed hard.
Mun Dal-su gave the order.
"Hold the line for now. Do whatever you can until the bastard runs out of steam."
The instant he finished speaking, the Bullet Bird sprang again.
The shriek of grinding cement echoed through the narrow space.
Red lines were slashed through the air again and again at sharp angles.
That was the light pouring from the monster’s pupils.
They could only barely make out its trajectory.
"Gah!"
"Ugh!"
"Tch!!"
Not one of them could even lay a finger on the damn bird.
"Kree."
The monster suddenly stopped moving.
The ceiling lights flickered, and sand rained down from above.
The smooth mana walls were now lumpy, like crushed cans.
Those were the spots where they had slammed into the monster’s hard beak.
It was a miracle the Bullet Bird still hadn’t escaped.
But...
"Ugh..."
His team members had been forced into combat incapacitation and were collapsing one after another.
Mun Dal-su checked on them.
"You all all right?"
Holding his stomach, Sang-teak opened his mouth.
"I’m fine."
He wasn’t fine.
The armor Sang-teak had been wearing was shredded to pieces.
The last line of defense that had barely protected his abdomen was gone.
If the Bullet Bird’s beak pierced his stomach next time, it was obvious his ribs would break and his insides would spill out.
"Kree."
The Bullet Bird spread its wings again.
Sang-teak spoke in terror.
"Team Leader. We should keep the wall up, right?"
Mun Dal-su checked the passage.
In the chaos, not all of the civilians had escaped yet.
Worried about being trampled, they were all moving out slowly and in order.
They had barely survived one round.
But if they took the same attack again...
We’re done for.
Mun Dal-su clenched his teeth.
Damn it. Damn it! Damn it!!!
It was a dilemma.
What do I do?
If he dropped the wall, the Bullet Bird would obviously turn on the civilians.
If he didn’t, his team members would...
Mun Dal-su closed his eyes.
He knew it.
Dio Guild was hated by the public for all kinds of filthy crimes.
Criminal records, lack of skill, character issues, and more.
He himself had never been innocent of that.
There had been a time when he was a severe alcoholic.
If Dio Guild hadn’t taken him in, he would have rotted into a worthless wreck.
Mun Dal-su opened his eyes.
"I’m sorry, guys."
The decision he made was sacrifice.
If the many were to be protected, the few had to pay the price.
His team accepted his decision.
"Don’t be sorry."
"This is the kind of job where we always put our lives on the line."
The Bullet Bird lowered its body once more.
It was the routine it used right before charging.
Just as the tension reached its peak...
Tap. Tap.
Someone knocked on the mana wall.
Everyone turned their heads.
Even the Bullet Bird did.
On the other side stood a man.
He was tall, with slanted eyes and a sharp, cutting face.
The man calmly tapped the mana wall again.
It was almost like he was knocking on a bathroom door.
Standing beside him was a familiar woman.
"Ms. Heo?"
The Sleek Wall also blocked sound as well as entry.
"Goh tingjanning! Wuo-eeeng!"
Since the noise was cut off, I couldn’t understand a word Heo Da-yeong was saying.
Could it be...
Backup?
My gaze locked onto the unfamiliar man’s hand.
He was gripping the Bullet Bird’s neck in one hand.
He had already wiped out the monster rampaging on the surface and come straight down here without a pause.
He must have been an impressive fighter for Heo Da-yeong to bring him.
An elite hunter!
Hope surged through Mun Dal-su.
"Sang-teak! Open the..."
Before he could even finish.
The tall man tore the mana wall apart with both hands.
Then he strolled in as if nothing had happened.
"Sorry for the trouble."
Everyone, Mun Dal-su included, stood frozen in shock.
The Sleek Wall hadn’t been broken by the Bullet Bird, let alone anything else.
Unless a person possessed superhuman strength, there was no way to destroy a mana wall.
Who the hell is he? Which guild is he with? I’ve never seen that face before.
As the mana wall was forcibly dispelled, Heo Da-yeong shouted, "Team Leader Mun! Hunter Choi, who was dispatched from headquarters, is here!"
At that moment, a heavy silence fell over the crowd.
The hunter they had expected to be sent was only D-class.
He had gained some fame from the Gangnam Station multi-Gate incident, but his actual skill was another matter entirely.
Disappointment flickered across Mun Dal-su’s face.
"Ah, I left my sword in the carrier."
Ignoring all of that, the man muttered calmly.
"Kree!"
The monster looked furious at the sudden intrusion, as if it were enraged to have an uninvited guest crash the party.
Maybe it was simply anger at the one who had killed its kin.
Either way, it spread its wings wider than ever and aimed its beak at its new target.
"No helping it, then. I’ll use this."
The man already had the dead Bullet Bird’s neck clutched upside down in his hand.
Its sharp, elongated beak looked almost like a knife.
He said to the team, "I’m hungry, so let’s finish this quickly."