The Rat in the Association
p>“You stupid son of a bitch!”
Crash. Clatter.
The moment Siheung Branch Leader Choi Geon-sang heard that Gwangmyeong Branch Leader Kim Min-hyeok was dead, he started frantically scooping up documents.
I told that idiot to be careful…!
He’d always figured the guy would die like this someday. Drunk on his own power, forever arrogant, looking down on everything and everyone as if they were beneath him. Still, Choi had never expected him to die this soon.
And why would he? Kim Min-hyeok had been genuinely strong. That strength was the only reason New Age had tolerated his swagger even inside the organization.
And now that bastard was dead.
I have to run… I have to get out of here, now.
A full day had passed since Kim Min-hyeok’s death. The Anyang Branch Leader had died, and a day later Kim Min-hyeok had followed. That meant Choi was next.
“Goddamn it! This is exactly when I should’ve been able to reach the higher-ups!”
Contact always came one way — from above. There was no method for anyone on his level to call upward. If there had been, he could at least have begged the organization’s elder-class members for help. Convenient as the one-way system was for cutting tails, it was pure misery for the people stuck on the receiving end.
“Branch Leader! Everything’s packed!”
“Good! Then move — now!”
At his subordinate’s report, Choi Geon-sang grabbed his bags and bolted from the building.
And above that same building—
“Slow bastards. Finally crawling out.”
Baek Do-ha sat perched on the rooftop railing, chewing bread and washing it down with milk. He had slipped over to the Siheung branch hours earlier and simply waited.
“Do-ha, those guys don’t even know where New Age headquarters is. Why bother with this?”
Canteas tilted his head beside him. Why not just finish them off right here? Letting prey run and then chasing them only made sense when the prey knew the way home. But these people only ever received one-way contact, didn’t they?
“That’s exactly why we still don’t have the higher-ups’ contact info. Isn’t this guy the same?”
“Yeah. He probably doesn’t know the upper contacts or the other branch locations either.”
“Then why are we sitting here?”
“Because if we leave him alive, we’ll find out where the other branches are.”
“Huh? You just said he doesn’t know.”
What was that supposed to mean? Hadn’t Do-ha just said the Siheung Branch Leader wouldn’t know the other locations or numbers either?
“More precisely — if we leave him alive, the one who does know will come crawling out.”
“And who’s that?”
“The rat hiding inside the Association.”
On the surface the man would look like one of Choi Geon-sang’s subordinates. In reality, he was the liaison. An organization this massive running on purely one-way communication? Impossible. Cutting tails was convenient, sure, but one-way contact eventually gutted internal cohesion.
“The rat inside the Association probably knows every branch location in Korea. And he’s sitting pretty in the perfect nest — the Association itself.”
The moment Do-ha had overheard yesterday’s call between Kim Min-hyeok and Choi Geon-sang, he had understood. The rat in the Association was the one running the whole Korean operation.
Belhart had plenty of rats like him too.
In the end, every last one of them had been wiped out by Do-ha’s own hand.
“Time we moved.”
Whoosh!
The figure sitting on the railing vanished in a blink.
“Manager, aren’t you heading home?”
“I’ll finish up the work I was doing first.”
“Then we’ll head out ahead of you.”
“Good work today.”
Hunter Association Dispatch Team Manager Han Jeong-soo smiled and saw his staff off.
That fucking idiot Choi Geon-sang.
The gentle smile vanished the instant he turned his back; his face twisted into something demonic. His true identity was New Age’s Korean Branch Overseer. Years ago the organization had assigned him the mission, and ever since he had been issuing orders to every New Age branch in the country.
Then, an hour ago, Choi Geon-sang had shown up right in front of the Association, dragged him outside, and spouted some garbage about laying low for a while and to report anything unusual immediately before vanishing again.
Bang!
“That worthless bastard actually came all the way to the Association…”
He wasn’t angry that Choi had run. He wasn’t even angry that Choi had given him orders — after all, he was still publicly posing as the man’s subordinate. What made his blood boil was that the fool had come to the Association itself.
How can a branch leader act this stupid?
What if someone had seen the two of them talking? If the sharp-eyed Association President or his secretary had spotted them, the questions would have started immediately. An Association manager chatting with an outsider late in the evening was anything but natural.
Thank god no one was around…
One careless move had nearly set off a disaster.
Rattle.
Anyway — who the hell is it?
Han Jeong-soo slid his work documents into a desk drawer and stroked his chin. What kind of monster was going around dismantling New Age?
Han Se-ah?
No. That woman cared about nothing except her own training.
Then Kang Ji-hwan?
An SS-rank Hunter from the Meteor Guild could certainly smash a New Age branch. The man was openly hostile to the organization. The problem was that even Kang Ji-hwan could not beat the Gwangmyeong Branch Leader.
Kang Ji-hwan can’t take Kim Min-hyeok.
It wasn’t organizational bias talking — cold assessment said Kang Ji-hwan was simply outclassed. And yet Kim Min-hyeok was dead. Kim Min-hyeok’s master was an SSS-rank Awakened, one of the organization’s elders. Someone like Kang Ji-hwan could never have beaten a man like that.
Could it be the newly appeared Cheonwaecheon… that one…?
Flutter.
Han Jeong-soo pulled a file from the drawer, scanned the contents, and narrowed his eyes.
No. When the branches were hit, that one was inside a Gate.
He checked the Gate entry logs and shook his head. These were Association staff reports — no room for fabrication. Meaning the Cheonwaecheon had definitely entered a Gate.
I was hoping it wasn’t him, honestly.
If the Cheonwaecheon had been the one killing branch leaders, the situation would have been terrifying. With no elders currently in Korea, a rampaging Cheonwaecheon would have wiped them all out.
“Haa… things are getting complicated.”
If the higher-ups learned of this, he would be held responsible. No — a simple reprimand would be lucky. He could easily lose his head.
“For now I need to tell everyone to keep their heads down.”
Sss.
Shhk.
Han Jeong-soo stood, walked to the windows, and lowered every blind in the office. Then—
Squeeze.
Wearing a plain white mask with no markings, he drew something from inside his coat.
Clack.
Tap. Tap. Taptap.
Zzzzaaang.
He rapped a square stone fragment several times. An opaque screen bloomed into the empty air. This was the network he used to contact the other branch leaders — an artifact, to be precise.
“….”
A few seconds after the screen appeared—
Flashflashflash!
Multiple screens bloomed at once, each showing a regional branch leader.
“Do nothing that draws attention for the time being. Keep your heads down for a month or two. The climate is bad. Also, every one of you is to relocate your branch.”
[Yes.]
[Yes, understood.]
[Understood.]
The instant Han Jeong-soo finished speaking, the figures beyond the screens nodded in unison. For the next thirty minutes he received critical reports, relayed orders, and exchanged information at high speed.
Shuuuu.
Pop.
Sss.
When every conversation ended and the screens vanished, Han Jeong-soo removed the mask.
“For now I need to start hunting whoever’s been hitting New Age.”
“Ah, no need for that.”
Han Jeong-soo flinched mid-rise from his chair and froze in an awkward half-crouch, staring at the sofa in the corner.
“…Who are you? You can’t just walk in here like this.”
“Wow, straight into the act. I knew you had talent the second you put that mask on. You’re a natural.”
“…Who are you.”
Click.
In answer, the figure lounging on the sofa — Baek Do-ha — reached over and switched on the desk LED lamp.
“A…”
The moment the light revealed the face, Han Jeong-soo’s pupils shook. As an Association employee he knew A’s features. The man always wore a mask, but Han Jeong-soo knew those eyes and brows well.
“I was curious how the New Age branch leaders were receiving their orders… so it was an artifact. That’s why there was never any call history on their phones.”
“…It was you.”
Now that he knew who had been attacking the branches, Han Jeong-soo’s expression sank into cold stillness. Of course it had. The opponent was a Cheonwaecheon.
Goddamn it. I prayed it wasn’t…
It really had been the Cheonwaecheon killing the branch leaders. How was he supposed to handle this? How did he get out of this situation? Fight an SSS-rank Awakened? Call Association agents? Or just run right now?
“You look like you’re thinking hard.”
“…What do you intend to do with me now?”
“Hmm? What do you think I’ll do?”
“If I die, the higher-ups will sense something wrong and move. The branch leaders will also dig in even deeper.”
“I’m not exactly scared of your higher-ups.”
“You must know that our New Age killed the SSS-rank Hunter Brian.”
“Are the New Age members who killed Brian standing in this room right now? Didn’t think so. Those would be executive-class, sure. But I can’t leave you alive right this second, so how strong they are doesn’t matter much, does it?”
“….”
“And I can find every other branch in Korea whenever I want. I could even just pretend to be you.”
“You think you can impersonate me?”
Squeeze. Shift.
At the question, Do-ha gripped his own throat and worked his larynx this way and that.
“Ah. Aaa. Aaaa. How’s that — close enough?”
“?!!”
Do-ha’s voice kept shifting until it became a perfect match for Han Jeong-soo’s. Horror flooded the manager’s face. That wasn’t magic — what kind of grotesque technique was that?!
Sss.
“You’re always wearing a mask anyway. Even if I walk around as you, no one will know the difference.”
Do-ha rose from the sofa and walked slowly toward Han Jeong-soo.
Shwaak!
Grab.
“Ghk—!”
In a single instant Han Jeong-soo’s throat was seized and he choked out a strangled gasp. He was an A-rank Hunter himself, yet he hadn’t reacted at all.
“Any last words?”
“S… spare me…”
“Sure.”
Sss.
“???”
Do-ha released his grip. Han Jeong-soo coughed, his face twisting with pure confusion. What…? The words had spilled out on pure terror of death. And the man had actually let go?
Why…?
“Why…”
“Why? You asked me to spare you. So I’m sparing you.”
“….”
“Of course, sparing you comes with a price. From now on, you move on my orders.”
“You can’t mean…”
“That’s right. You’re going to play double agent.”
Do-ha’s lips curved in a thin, cold smile. If he killed Han Jeong-soo right now and took his place, he could erase every branch in Korea. But that would only be a temporary fix. As long as New Age itself remained intact, they would eventually stretch their hand back into the country. Worse, the organization’s high executives might immediately notice he was not the real Han Jeong-soo.
So he would use this man as a ladder and climb straight up to New Age headquarters.
“New Age will be annihilated. I guarantee it. But I will pull you out of that death. So choose. Follow me and live — or die like the rest of your organization.”
Sss.
Do-ha extended a hand toward Han Jeong-soo, face utterly expressionless. If the man took that hand, Do-ha truly intended to spare this one life.
“Choose.”
Rumble…
Staring into Do-ha’s abyss-like eyes, Han Jeong-soo’s face went completely blank with shock.