Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Preliminary Reconnaissance
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A building on the outskirts of Donga Village.
It was an ancient structure, reduced to little more than its steel skeleton and crumbling concrete remnants.
Yet a large number of personnel were stationed throughout the building, each carrying out their assigned tasks.
"Tally up the requested quantities!"
"We're shipping out tomorrow!"
The Sanggye branch of Miru Guild.
Hunters gathered under the leadership of Branch Chief Kim Dae-wook moved with frantic efficiency.
"New request came in! Delivery officer, come get it!"
Their public-facing work was straightforward.
They assembled cleanup crews to collect monster corpses from nearby dungeons for profit.
Or they escorted travelers heading to other cities for a fee.
"Why the hell isn't the factory picking up?!"
Of course, that was only on the surface.
Behind the scenes, Miru handled most of the crime in Sanggye-dong.
Stealing dungeons discovered by other hunters was something they considered mere child's play.
"We need two more hearts and one kidney—get them on the line now."
"Process that immigrant we brought in yesterday, quick!"
The business that Miru valued most highly—and the one that brought in the biggest profits.
It was illegally procuring organs that people would otherwise have to wait years for legally.
Thud.
"Brother! You're out!"
As the massive Kim Dae-wook, his head dyed bright red, appeared, the working hunters bowed their heads.
His vicious features made even strangers avert their eyes, and his temper matched his looks perfectly.
Even fellow guild members feared falling out of his favor, so they bowed without needing any prompting.
"Hmmm."
Creak.
Kim Dae-wook's left arm was abnormally enormous.
Beyond massive—it was encased in all sorts of machinery.
An arm capable of crushing anything it grasped.
Fidget.
Kim Dae-wook toyed with the blue gem in his right hand.
It was the magic stone obtained by defeating the boss in the Yullas's Garden dungeon.
A gem emitting a beautiful glow that seemed to draw the viewer in.
Not yet appraised, but it was certain to fetch a high price.
"No issues, right?"
A dungeon found after a long search, and the gem obtained from it.
Kim Dae-wook was in an exceptionally good mood today.
"Yes, sir! None at all!"
"Do it right. If we fall even slightly short on quotas, support or not—everything gets cut. We're the priority here! Got it!?"
"Yes, sir!"
Kim Dae-wook flashed a satisfied smile at his diligent subordinates' responses.
Nowon-gu, Sanggye-dong, Seoul Special City.
Their current location—and Kim Dae-wook's favorite area.
'Heh... smooth sailing.'
Unlike Seoul's central districts, flooded with government and corporate attention,
Sanggye-dong was a declining city, increasingly pushed to the periphery.
The reason Kim Dae-wook loved such a place was simple.
'A neighborhood where one or two people vanishing raises no eyebrows!'
It was perfectly optimized for his line of business.
Unlike Gangnam, where a single death or body sparked chaos,
here, missing persons reports and discovered corpses were dismissed as monster work and brushed aside.
The local police were all demoted rejects anyway, with no ambition for results.
'Dealing with the central areas would just give me headaches.'
That didn't mean the guild ignored them, either.
Among Miru Guild's Nowon-gu branches, this one received the most care.
Kim Dae-wook knew full well the important role he played.
'I'm living like a king here.'
Just one floor down was a restaurant reserved for him, and a simple stroll outside had people bowing and scraping.
Over a hundred hunters under his command.
They knew crossing him meant rough treatment or exile from Nowon-gu.
Everyone feared Kim Dae-wook and bowed accordingly.
'Truly perfect.'
Ring ring—!
As Kim Dae-wook basked in contentment with his position,
his phone rang from his pocket.
Ha Hee-yeon, the District Chief overseeing all of Nowon-gu.
She wouldn't normally call.
"Why's this bitch calling again."
Kim Dae-wook despised Ha Hee-yeon.
For starters, she was younger yet held a far higher position, which grated on him.
And somehow, every conversation soured his mood.
"Yes! This is Kim Dae-wook!"
Kim Dae-wook answered with a voice opposing his true feelings.
Ha Hee-yeon cut straight to it.
"What do you mean? Nothing's happened."
Her sigh from the phone furrowed Kim Dae-wook's brow.
'This bitch...!'
It was always like this.
Ha Hee-yeon treated him like a mere underling.
'Someday, I'll show her.'
No matter how long it took, he'd crush her underfoot and spit on her, Kim Dae-wook vowed.
'TV...?'
"Hey, turn on the TV."
"Yes, sir!"
One of his subordinates rushed to flip on the TV mounted in the workshop.
"!!!"
The screen immediately showed a location Kim Dae-wook knew well.
Beyond familiar—it was one of the most crucial sites for Sanggye-dong operations.
A place he'd kept hidden by bribing police and council members.
"Hang up."
Crunch.
Before Ha Hee-yeon could continue,
Kim Dae-wook crumpled the phone in his hand.
"Drag out the bastard who just said no problems."
Until moments ago, Kim Dae-wook had been in high spirits.
His plummeting mood terrified the subordinate hunters.
Hesitate.
The subordinate who'd shouted "no problems" loudest to curry favor approached hesitantly.
"S-sorry, Brother! The factory hasn't contacted us at all—mmph!"
Creak.
Kim Dae-wook seized the man's head with his massive left hand.
"Pl-please spare me, Brother!"
"Shut up before I crush you right now."
With a small sigh, Kim Dae-wook turned to the news on TV.
Dozens of police and even news crews swarmed the factory for coverage.
At this level of exposure, bribing to cover it up was past the point of no return.
"The rest of you, contact the guild. Tell them to delete everyone from the factory off the branch roster."
"Yes, sir!"
Swish.
Kim Dae-wook turned to the subordinate still gripped in his left hand.
"You explain. Why are reporters and cops crawling all over that place."
"...!!"
There was no way to know.
He'd been working inside the building the whole time.
No one short of a god could explain why the distant factory had been raided.
"S-spare... me...!"
Creeeak... snap!
After extinguishing the pleading subordinate's life, Kim Dae-wook surveyed the frozen hunters.
"What are you standing around for? Everyone except the building guards—get out and find out what happened!"
"Yes, sir!!"
Terrified subordinates poured out of the building.
Left alone, Kim Dae-wook bit his lip.
'Which bastard did this!!'
The news seemed chaotic, as the site had only recently been discovered.
Who ran the factory, and why Miru hunters lay dead inside.
Not that it mattered.
As he watched,
Rush!
Miru hunters poured out from the building he'd been observing.
Likely fallout from the news.
Guess it was important after all.
The hunters sprinting from the building looked pale as ghosts.
"Dear me. Something must've gone down again. Hope the sparks don't fly our way."
An old man who'd sidled up beside him clicked his tongue at the fleeing hunters.
"Young man, don't stare so openly. Lock eyes with them, and you're in deep trouble."
Noticing him staring fixedly at the building, the old man warned him.
His reaction alone hinted at the extent of Miru Guild's villainy.
"There's a guy named Kim Dae-wook in that building. Especially watch out for him. Otherwise, you're dead in seconds!"
"I heard he's some Heavy Arm. You seen it?"
"Seen it? He rampages through the village nearly every day! Left arm's huge, and he smashes anything he grabs with it!"
Kim Dae-wook's left arm seemed tied to the Heavy Arm that Lee Myung-ho had mentioned at the factory.
Second job change, he'd said.
Made him wonder if there were branching class trees beyond the first choice.
But that wasn't important now.
Glint.
He turned his gaze to the light tracing a path along the street.
Fate of the Engraver, activated the moment he entered Donga Village.
Still pointing inside the building—so the magic stone was there.
If Lee Myung-ho hadn't lied, Kim Dae-wook, the branch chief, had it.
The factory bust hadn't moved him from the building.
"Huh? You still here?"
He bowed his head to the approaching middle-aged man after the old man.
-Have you ever repaired that building, by any chance?
The man ran an electrical shop in Donga Village.
A couple hours ago, he'd asked about the building's layout.
"Yeah, haha. Still got time left anyway. By the way."
He turned, staring in one direction.
"Wasn't there a woman named Debi there? Pretty sure she was until yesterday."
"Oh, that immigrant girl from a few days back? Yeah. She was always in that spot lately, but gone since last night."
After arriving in Donga Village that afternoon, he'd sought Debi first.
Having met her briefly before, he'd planned to ask about Miru Guild and the building.
She hadn't been there, though.
"She leave? Some villagers were telling her to get out before things got ugly."
"Ugly?"
The man glanced around before leaning in close.
"Immigrants show up here, and poof—they all vanish."
"...?"
He perked up at the man's ominous words.
"Few days ago, bodies turned up in the nearby stream. One was an immigrant from our village! Thought he'd just left when he vanished one day—who'd guess he'd wash up there."
"Is that stream close to the factory on the news?"
The man nodded after a moment's thought.
"Yep. Probably runs down from the factory up the mountain."
"I see."
Immigrants from another world entirely, not just out-of-towners.
Prime targets for those treating people as merchandise.
Even if they vanished overnight like Debi, folks just assumed they'd left—no one bothered searching.
"Anyway, isn't it getting late? You've been here a while."
"I'm waiting."
"For what?"
At the man's question, he looked up at the sky.
The sunset dyed the heavens, preparing for night.
Feeling time approach, he spoke.
"The night..."