The Rumored Son

Everyone was riding high.

"Boss! This much in one shot! One shot!"

The chameleon-type had coughed up six cores in all. A tremendous haul. Even so, you could hardly call it cost-effective—not once you counted the manpower committed, the special rounds burned through, every other strategic store they'd spent, and the dozens of lives laid on the line.

"Keep earning like this every day and we could found a whole country someday, couldn't we!?"

"That's a bit much."

Still, as a payout from a single fight, it was the greatest in the history of the Gwanghwamun gang.

"We took down a boss-class! Us!"

"Didn't anything drop? A bone chip or something? Let's make a souvenir! A souvenir!"

That wasn't even the real prize. The fact that they had killed a boss-class mattered more than any material reward.

"Agh! It kills me that we're the only ones who saw this historic moment."

"Right? No witnesses. That's a problem. Think anyone'll believe us if we tell them?"

"Tsk..."

"So what if they don't? It's the truth!"

"Exactly! We saw it!"

"Yeah! I saw it!"

"We did it!"

Thrilled, the lot of them.

I'd been the one who killed it. Alone. Well—the crew had helped with the preparation up to that point, and the finishing blow had only landed thanks to the Boss's gear. Without hunter equipment, one strike would never have dropped a boss-class. Looked at that way, I hadn't really taken it all by myself.

"If we just leave that corpse, think it'll rot away to nothing?"

"Before it rots, drag every last one of those Dongdaemun and Dongnimmun bastards over to look!"

"Just those assholes? The army ought to see it too! No—call the hunters!"

"Uh... even so, for hunters, bagging things like that is just another day—"

"You idiot, Jeonggu took it alone! Hunters don't run solo!"

"Then what about that hunter who went to the Geofront? He takes boss-class down by himself—"

"Oh, shut it! That man's got the years, you moron. If Jeonggu were his age, he'd be taking them two at a time!"

Well. Whatever.

A good thing was a good thing.

"Son Jeonggu."

The Boss, silent through all of it, finally opened her mouth.

"Yeah?"

"No dinner for Jeonggu tonight. He fasts."

The rowdy crew went quiet.

"Boss?"

"A fast?"

"I mean... he's a slave, sure, but on a day this happy—"

"Happy is happy, but Jeonggu's showing today—"

Were they all taking my side? They didn't have to.

"All right."

I had a fair idea why she was doing it.

"That's the price for running wild without my permission."

Yeah. That tracked.

"Son Jeonggu. Don't forget you're a slave. Understood?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Then let's see whether you actually know what that means. Son Jeonggu. What is a slave?"

"Dunno... an errand boy?"

"A slave is a thing."

She came toward me, step by steady step. Right up in my face, looking down, she went on.

"And before you are Gwanghwamun's slave, you are mine. I paid your price myself. Special."

She didn't bend her knees to meet my eyes the way she usually did.

"You are my property. Don't run wild without my say-so."

There was an edge in her eyes.

"Don't you cost me."

The racket never came back. That was the end of it. Everyone rushed to clear the site and returned to the hideout.

The moment we arrived, they stuck a guide on me. And not just anyone—one of the real talents, the kind who handled the organization's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truly important work.

"Head Cook."

"Yessir!"

"Show this one around the inside of the hideout. When you're done, lock him in the cell."

"Yessir~!"

The Head Cook was the second-biggest eater in Gwanghwamun, right behind the Boss. By weight, he was the undisputed champion. The only time the man ever weakened was on an empty stomach, so he managed himself with religious rigor, bolting upright even out of sleep to fill his belly and keep his fighting strength intact.

"Jeonggu! Follow me!"

"..."

He'd seemed a little strange. That was only the first impression. Cooped up in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the kitchen cooking all day, he got bored, he said. That was all.

"It's exactly like an anthill."

"Mm, could be. We built the hideout on a similar philosophy."

"Since when do ants have a philosophy?"

"They don't! You just build wherever your feet take you!"

The place had been expanded one room at a time, whenever they happened to need another. From the outside it was an ordinary ruined building. Inside, it was a maze.

"The new walls are to stop intruders. And see this here? Every one of these is where we punched through a wall that was already standing."

"So you expanded."

"Like ants! Whenever we needed to, we grew the place one room at a time, just like this."

"You could've just taken one of the other ruins around—"

"Open a second branch and you get hit easy. The reason we've survived this long is that we stick together tight. That's the whole of it!"

An intruder who didn't know the layout would suffer, no question. If you meant to take the place, though, smashing it flat would be faster.

"Here. This is where you'll be staying for the time being. Er... well. Whether it's only for a time, I couldn't say."

The cell. A small room sealed behind bars, with a narrow gap cut along the bottom—a slot, by the look of it, for passing food through.

A creak. The bars were the door.

A clank. The moment I stepped inside they swung shut, and the Head Cook set the lock.

Behind the hideout, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two mercenaries had shifted off onto a secluded back lane.

"What the hell. Nobody's here. You sure this is the spot?"

"Weird... I'm sure of it."

"Them changing the place to begin with already stinks."

The Gwanghwamun gang had moved the meetup. The original spot had been the approach to the hideout's front entrance, and at the appointed hour the lady boss had never appeared.

"Think about it. They said they'd be on the way back from an operation, right? So how does it make any sense that she doesn't show?"

"Operation must've run long."

"What if they took a detour on purpose, because they didn't want to see us?"

"Ah, come on..."

"It's not 'come on.' They've changed the meetup again. That means they're already back at the hideout, doesn't it? We were waiting on the road home. How did they get back?"

"...Ah. No way."

What the mercenaries wanted from Gwanghwamun's boss was the Rumored Kid. They had begun to wonder whether the hidden son of the hunter who had gone to the Geofront might be that very kid.

Of course, it was widely known that the son was a weakling. The story had come from the hunter's own mouth, no less. By rights the Rumored Kid should have been struck from the list of candidates at the outset, and everyone searching for the hidden son had paid him no mind. These two mercenaries alone had him pegged as a likely one. They had their reasons.

"You the ones who asked to see me?"

The voice came from above. The Boss had shown herself on the hideout roof.

"Well now. Isn't this a touch too much caution?"

"Come down and let's talk."

"I don't imagine this needs to be long. We'll keep it short and be done."

From her manner, walking away with the Rumored Kid already looked like a lost cause. Even so, they couldn't simply withdraw.

"We'll buy the kid."

"Name what you need. Money? Cores? A slave to take his place? Tell us whatever you want, and we'll match it as best we can."

"I've already heard why you want him."

The mercenaries had never meant to hide their intent. From the very start they had laid out, plain as day, what they knew of the kid and what he was worth.

The mercenaries were already certain.

"What's the reason? The reason you think that kid is the hunter's son."

She wanted to know whether they had anything under it.

"Heh heh... We have solid information. Something only we know."

"Before that hunter left for the Geofront, it seems he spoke of his son to someone. Asked them to see to what came after."

"He would have told them how to recognize the boy, wouldn't he?"

Enticing.

"And who was that someone? Who did he leave the story with?"

"That far, we don't know. Sounds like someone fairly high up. He passed the fact down to his subordinates, and that is how it reached us."

"Unfortunately, we don't fully know the method for identifying the son either. Only a sliver. At any rate, that sliver seems to match the Rumored Kid."

Either way, the shape of it had grown clear.

"So. This information that matches?"

That the weakness was only how he looked, and a matter of the body he had been born with. That the hunter had trained him for years, until he overcame those inborn limits and gained real fighting power. That he was handsome, in a fine-boned way. And on top of that—

"This part we would have to confirm by meeting him, but—"

"He ought to have gained a core ability recently. And it will not be an attack ability. Nor a defense ability."

The decisive clue.

"..."

"It is something we must check in person, so let us meet him first."

"If the Rumored Kid truly is the hunter's son, we will see you properly compensated!"

The Boss held her silence. The mercenaries waited on an answer, gazing quietly up at her. A half-moon rested on the crown of her head.

"The Rumored Kid, son of the hunter who went to the Geofront... If that were true, what would be the point of taking him?"

"Endless. Beginning with how the strongest hunter in history educated his son—"

"Or any secret he might have kept hidden—"

She heard the mercenaries out, and then she reached her conclusion.

"So in the end, you need the son in order to learn about that hunter. The kid himself isn't what matters."

"That's right."

"Isn't that obvious? A kid is only a kid. Of course the strongest hunter in history is what matters!"

"Either way, you're buying the kid to sell him on for more, aren't you?"

"We are. We mean to offer him to the hunters aiming for the top."

The Boss finished her judgment.

"Fine. If what you're saying is true, then the Rumored Kid I hold is worth whatever I ask."

"We won't deny it."

"The kid is no use to you anyway. Hand him over, make a fortune—that will profit the Gwanghwamun gang as well."

"Of course we still need to confirm he is the hunter's son we are looking for. Understand that much."

She nodded, and made ready to leave the roof.

"Understood. We'll meet here again in the morning. I'll have the kid ready. We haggle after you've inspected the goods. Payment in cores only."

The mercenaries bowed as well.

"As expected of Gwanghwamun's Goyo-ran."

"Glad we understand each other. Until morning, then."

Just as they turned to go—

"Ah. But I'm curious. This seems like rather high-grade information. Among mercenaries like you, would there be others likely to know it? That the Rumored Kid might be that son."

"Not a chance."

"We got it through a secretary of the Governor-General's office. Not a place just anyone can approach. You may as well consider the information ours alone."

A soft scoff.

"I see. Morning, then."

"Understood."

A bolt clicked.

The shot cracked. The round punched through the back of the skull of the mercenary who had turned away.

"What!?"

Another click. Another crack. The follow-up shot drilled the forehead of the second mercenary as he jerked his head toward the Boss.

The bolt worked once more. Her sniper rifle ejected the second casing.

At the sound, her men came out and hurried to clear the bodies away.