Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Secrets and Scars
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Super Tanker (3)
Children were gathered in front of an old TV.
The screen was too small for fifty of them to watch at once, so they had to sit huddled closely together.
Though they were of various ages, in that moment, they were all of one mind.
“Don’t lose!”
“You have to defeat the space monsters!”
“Get up!”
Just as the children, who had been holding their breath, began to grow rowdy, the five figures in spandex suits on the TV screen came together as one.
The children all cheered in unison.
“Transform!”
“Combine!”
Their words varied, but their faces were alight with joy and elation.
As if they themselves were the heroes on screen.
The video that had once played on that small, old screen now graced a luxurious 80-inch wall-mounted TV.
*Earth Defense Video Man*.
It was a show where the heroes transformed into super-powered warriors in spandex by inserting the videos they wore on their belts into a slot on their chests.
The highlight was when the five warriors merged their videotapes to create a massive screen from which a giant combined robot would emerge.
“A real man should at least protect the Earth.”
Repeating the same words he’d said ten years ago, Wang-sik rose from the sofa, stretched, and went to the bathroom.
*Shaaa.*
He turned on the shower, and as he stood beneath it, cold water washed over his body.
Just as the refreshing sensation lifted his spirits, blue lines appeared on his body.
Strange, tattoo-like magic circles materialized all over his body, except for his face, then faded, repeating the process.
The Mark of the Guardian.
Wang-sik was already used to it and paid it no mind.
After finishing his shower, Wang-sik stood before the mirror.
The tattoos that had pulsed like a heartbeat were gone. In their place were horrific scars that looked as though he had been hacked to pieces.
There were countless marks from being cut and stitched up, burns, and blemishes left behind where necrotic skin had regenerated.
Looking at the scars that covered so much of his body it was hard to find an untouched spot, Wang-sik remarked.
“Much better now.”
He dried himself off and left the shower.
After showering and changing into some light clothes, Wang-sik lowered the blinds covering the wall.
Instead of a picture or a pattern, the white blinds were covered with 300 names.
Of those, 202 were crossed out with a red line, and exactly 27 names were circled. The remaining 71 names had no marks at all.
“I will save you, no matter what.”
Wang-sik made the same vow he made every day.
The US Hunter Management Bureau.
Smith stood up from his seat as an agent entered the Bureau Director’s office.
“Sit.”
As he sat on the black leather sofa with a stoic expression, the agent began his report immediately.
“We found something unusual in Bae Wang-sik’s record. Do you remember the missing persons case in Korea ten years ago?”
“You mean the one where children under fifteen at an orphanage went missing? Three hundred of them disappeared without a trace, wasn’t it?”
It was impossible not to know. The case had made international headlines.
—Monsters abducted people and took them to a world beyond the Gate.
The incident had caused a wave of abduction phobia to spread across the globe.
“Yes. Bae Wang-sik’s name is on the list of the missing.”
A look of doubt crossed Smith’s face.
“The man I saw wasn’t a ghost, was he? Could it be someone with the same name?”
“It seems he returned. This is the record from our investigation seven years ago.”
A person, not a monster, had emerged from a Gate. The information was officially classified, but it hadn’t escaped the intelligence network of the US Hunter Management Bureau.
“I remember now. The investigation was halted because he suddenly vanished.”
“Yes. A congressional hearing about the returnee was scheduled, but he disappeared while in transit. There are no records of him after that.”
“Those crazy bastards. A congressional hearing, when they should have been investigating him in secret.”
Smith scoffed at the Korean politicians and listened as the report continued.
“The returnee from that time was Bae Wang-sik. We’ve confirmed it through one of our contacts.”
“Hmm.”
Smith was lost in thought.
“So he’s been to the world beyond the Gate? That information alone would be of great value.”
The agent nodded in agreement and handed over another document.
“There’s something else you need to see.”
The agent skipped past the pages filled with complex equations and explanations, handing Smith the final page with the conclusion.
“These are the results of the scan we performed on Bae Wang-sik when he entered the White Dome.”
The blue light that had been sprayed at the entrance of the White Dome was for a detailed analysis of Bae Wang-sik’s body.
“Hmm?”
Smith’s pupils, which rarely showed surprise, widened.
“A C-class Hunter?”
The first line of Bae Wang-sik’s scan results read ‘Class C’.
“The bio-scan results are definitively C-class.”
“And I’m supposed to believe this?”
This was a man whose skills had left even America’s top tanker speechless. Having seen it with his own eyes, Smith couldn’t accept the C-class result.
“I expected him to be an S-class Hunter, but he’s only a C-class.”
“It might be because of this.”
The agent pointed to one of the results and said.
“Yes. Among his items, one was of an unclassifiable grade. A detailed analysis confirmed it to be a shield.”
It might have happened in the early days of the Gate era, but with current technology, an unclassifiable grade was unheard of.
“You’re saying it’s because of the item?”
“That’s our hypothesis. The rest of his equipment consists of B-class and C-class items. Since the measurement was based solely on his mana levels, we couldn’t determine their options.”
Smith didn’t answer, his expression grave as he read through the results. He had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t just because of an item.
Then, another result caught his eye.
“What is this? Mana signature? Isn’t this a reading you’d get from a monster?”
“Yes, it is. A reading this high would be at the highest threat level.”
“Are you saying Bae Wang-sik is a monster?”
“That’s what took us so long. A further analysis of his body concluded that he is not a monster. It seems he possesses a very unusual item.”
“An unclassifiable item could explain it. But a reading like this… what kind of item could it be?”
“This is all we’ve found so far.”
Smith looked up from the documents and closed his eyes.
“A C-class Hunter with an ultimate item…”
He replayed his meeting with Bae Wang-sik in his mind, then shook his head.
“No. His actions weren’t those of someone who just relies on their items. No matter how powerful an unclassifiable item is, it’s impossible to gain that kind of strength from it alone. And it makes no sense for a C-class Hunter to control that much mana. There’s definitely something we’re missing.”
“Shall we continue with the plan to naturalize him?”
“We have to. I need to find out what secrets and information he holds.”
“Then we will continue to monitor him. However, there is one more thing you need to verify.”
“Speak.”
“It’s said that Bae Wang-sik wasn’t the only one who returned at that time. There were three in total, but two of them disappeared during the Bureau’s investigation. It was a direct order from the Bureau Director, so no one knows what happened next.”
“Find them too.”
“Understood.”
Even after the agent bowed and left, Smith remained on the sofa, lost in thought for a long time.
Globally, Hunters were closely tied to a nation’s competitive strength, and as such, the Hunter Management Bureau’s building was the largest single structure in the country, second only to the Blue House.
The four-story building, spread out like a crane’s wings, enclosed a grass park devoid of trees.
Passing through the entrance inevitably led one through the park, where countless CCTV cameras would turn to face the visitor.
Despite its splendor, the Hunter Management Bureau, with its thorough security and 500 vetted agents, was going through a difficult time.
Though it had launched ten years ago as the nation’s highest authority, it was now in a difficult power struggle with the guilds.
This was a global trend; it was a natural outcome, as Hunters could gain far more by belonging to a guild than to the state.
“Please, go in.”
The agent guarding the entrance recognized Wang-sik’s face before he could even take out his ID and opened the door for him.
As he walked down the corridor and entered the Bureau Director’s office on the fourth floor, he immediately heard the voice he’d expected.
“Welcome! My lucky charm!”
The moment he saw Wang-sik, the Bureau Director rushed over and embraced him.
“Is this some new assassination technique?”
“Hahaha! I do it because I love you.”
Wang-sik dodged the loudly laughing Bureau Director and placed a piece of paper on the desk.
“Here’s the list of treasures from the White Dome. I’ll be going now.”
“Hey, what are you talking about! If I just wanted that, I would have sent an agent! Come on, have a seat.”
“You look dangerous today, so I’ll have to decline.”
“Aren’t you curious about the child you saved?”
“Which child? I’ve saved more than one or two.”
“The one you saved yesterday! Han Yu-ra!”
“As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters. There’s no need for me to know her personal details…”
“Come, come. Sit down.”
As Wang-sik reluctantly sat down, Kang Il-seop filled a teacup for him.
“You’ve heard of the Guseong Group, right?”
“Every person in the Republic of Korea has heard of them.”
They were a giant in the distribution industry, famous for their department stores, hotels, and hypermarkets. After major success in their overseas business, they had entered the top 20 conglomerates in the country.
“The Han Yu-ra you saved is the daughter of the Guseong Group’s chairman.”
He had thought the car looked luxurious. Still, he wasn’t particularly impressed.
“Han Young-im contacted me this morning.”
Han Young-im was the woman who had led the Guseong Group’s overseas expansion. Known as the Iron-Blooded Empress for her charismatic leadership, she had recently become chairman at the young age of her early forties.
The news had made such a fuss about it that Wang-sik could naturally recall her face.
“She was on her way home from school when you saved her. So, about that…”
“Why the sudden change in your tone?”
“Han Young-im said she wants to thank you in person.”
“And?”
Wang-sik stared intently at the Bureau Director’s face.
“You have more to say, don’t you?”
“Save me!”
“What am I saving you from now?”
“Guseong Group contacted me and promised a donation. A whole ten billion won! Ten billion!”
“So that’s why I’m your lucky charm? Then you should just accept it.”
“Well, you see. She was curious about you, so I told her you were an agent of the Hunter Management Bureau.”
“But I’m not an official agent. To be precise, I’m an adjunct member. A mercenary, basically. What you’d call a contract worker.”
“You’re practically an official agent. I value you the most. You know that, right?”
“Director.”
“You know the Bureau’s budget is shrinking, don’t you? If word gets out that the Guseong Group donated ten billion, more donations will pour in! Donations beget donations! I can use this as leverage to secure a bigger budget! I want to provide our agents with good equipment too! Don’t you feel sorry for me, always worrying that our agents might get hurt?”
“Alright, that’s enough.”
As Wang-sik nodded, Kang Il-seop’s face brightened.
Knowing the kind of person Kang Il-seop was, Wang-sik didn’t find it unpleasant that he was securing donations this way.
‘He always makes sure I get my share, anyway.’
He was compensated well enough that he had no complaints about his rewards. The basic reward stipulated by law was small compared to other countries, but Kang Il-seop always ensured fair distribution based on performance.
And he knew that Kang Il-seop fought fiercely in the political arena to make that happen.
“So, can I schedule the meeting?”
“I’ll just go and meet her myself. No need to drag it out.”
“Oh! That’s a great idea! I’ll let her know!”
Wang-sik left the Bureau Director’s office, leaving behind Kang Il-seop, who was needlessly dusting off his clothes.
After seeing Kang Il-seop go back inside, Wang-sik approached the chief secretary, who was bowing by the door.
“Could I ask you a favor?”
The chief secretary, a woman in her mid-thirties who was on friendly terms with Wang-sik, smiled and nodded.
“Of course.”
“Please use this to get the Director some herbal medicine.”
Wang-sik handed an envelope of cash to the chief secretary.
“From an anonymous donor again?”
“Yes.”
“The Director knows it’s from you, Mr. Wang-sik. He won’t take it if I say it’s from someone else.”
“So he’s taking it well?”
“He shares everything else, but he always takes the medicine you get him all by himself.”
“That’s a relief.”
Wang-sik glanced back at the door to the Director’s office. A memory from three years ago naturally came to mind.
Three years ago.
The car heading from the Hunter Management Bureau to the National Assembly stopped in a busy downtown area.
“Get out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re free.”
“Aren’t we going to the hearing?”
“A hearing for a victim? The politicians’ tongues would just rip your life to shreds. My principles won’t allow that.”
“Your principles?”
“All citizens have the right to be protected by the state. That’s my principle. And you are a citizen who deserves protection.”
“But this will cause trouble for you, Director.”
“I’ll consider it the price of upholding my principles.”
The Bureau Director took out his wallet, pulled out a thick wad of cash, and gave it all to Wang-sik.
“The choice is yours. This should be enough to give you time to sort things out.”
“And if I don’t show up again?”
“I would hope so. It would mean you’re living well.”
The Bureau Director smiled, got out of the car, and personally opened the door for Wang-sik.
“Thank you for enduring the difficult investigation, and I’m sorry. Please understand.”
That was the moment the investigation, which had lasted over a month, came to an end.