P.S. No Comment on My Disappearance
Standing in front of the reporters was something she could pass on. If they needed proof... well.
Kwon Yul absently rubbed the back of her neck.
She could just post something vague on the forums after all this time. It was a shocking leniency that made Jeon Se-han suck in a breath.
Was this really the end of it? After everything that had happened?
She was forgiving them with such magnanimity that they should be the ones ashamed. While he kept his head bowed, unable to meet her eyes, Yul headed toward the gaping hole where the window had been.
Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' is whining, "Is this really the end?"
"How about blowing away at least this floor on your way out? Hands clasped in prayer."
'Should I? But if I blow it away, that guy down there might die.'
Jeon Se-han wasn't a hunter. To Yul, he was just a civilian, fragile as tofu. That was why she was letting him off easy right now.
'If he were a hunter, I could give him a proper thrashing, but a civilian...'
A urgent voice pulled her attention back.
"Ah, LeeSeonjwaKiller Hunter."
"Anything else to say?"
"...This is the answer to why I was so eager to meet you earlier."
Jeon Se-han's tone grew a bit grave.
"Lately, the gates that had been quiet for a while are showing unusual fluctuations."
"..."
"As you've experienced, there have been two burst-type gates in the past few days alone, and they're no pushovers in rank or form."
"..."
"Gates were always unpredictable to begin with, but..."
He trailed off. Yul stayed silent. She had found that odd herself.
"If something similar happens again, let's check it out with RecordFucker. And talk to that Kim Jae-won hunter while we're at it."
"Do as you like. I'll be waiting downstairs."
"Then bow your head now."
"Pardon?"
Crash!
Before Jeon Se-han could even properly ask, the glass from every direction exploded inward all at once. The so-called reinforced glass rained down like a shower. Desks shattered, papers tore to shreds, and debris scattered across the carpet. The destruction was perfectly confined to the top floor—to his office.
Jeon Se-han, who had instinctively covered his head and crouched, gasped at the bomb-blasted surroundings.
"The building collapsing would be a problem, but your office? Nah... This is my star's due."
"..."
"Call it even for this mess."
Next time, don't think this'll cut it.
With that, Yul leaped straight out the window.
Downstairs, in the conference room.
Two men sat at the wide table: Gu Se-ji, guild master of Daewhanjang Guild, and the new recruit Kim Jae-won.
Kim Jae-won, with his light brown hair and eyes, glanced cautiously at the ceiling and muttered.
Is it over?
The building-shaking vibration had them panicking for a moment, but it quickly subsided.
"Has she gone...?"
"Who knows. They might still be talking."
Gu Se-ji shrugged. Kim Jae-won, fidgeting as if watching his mood, spoke in a crawling voice.
"Um, mind if I grab some water real quick...?"
"Do what you want."
"I-I'll be right back...!"
He bolted from the conference room. Gu Se-ji clicked his tongue at the bumbling Kim Jae-won.
If it weren't for his trait, he'd have ditched him ages ago.
'And he's only been useful once anyway.'
He thought of Yul. He'd expected her to show up eventually.
'But damn, she got here fast. Nowhere to be seen when we were looking, though.'
He sneered. Guess the world's top rank didn't like someone playing her part.
Over half the public opinion had trusted and waited for her during her absence, but a vocal minority grumbled about it. They were the ones irked by her reappearance now—and Gu Se-ji was one of them.
The rewards from the Hunter Management Bureau: exclusive entry and loot rights to fifteen high-rank gates, first dibs on five A-rank items at auction, and massive financial backing besides.
No reason to turn down easy gains for a little effort.
'Where's the gig with zero risk?'
Guilds like his prioritized profit over "civilian protection duties" anyway—it was an open secret. Sticking to that wasn't wrong. Even if everything came to light, public sentiment? Popularity didn't pay the bills.
Even if a mere C-rank like Kim Jae-won died, same deal. There were other illusion hunters, and he'd volunteered for this.
Above all, the real top rank wouldn't waste her power on a fellow hunter.
It was a calculated gamble that had paid off nicely—or so he'd thought.
Crack!
"...!"
Until shards from the exploding window right in front of him grazed his cheeks and embedded in the wall.
"Ah. Wrong room."
Yul muttered as she burst in through the broken window. She hadn't really had business here.
Her voice was utterly indifferent.
"...No business here?"
Gu Se-ji forced a laugh as he said it. He lightly wiped his cheeks. Blood smeared on the back of his hand.
Yul sounded nonchalant, but for some reason, her low voice...
"Should I?"
"Well, no must, of course, but..."
"Better if there isn't. For you too."
"..."
"If there was, you wouldn't be talking right now."
...She felt far less human than expected. Way less.
His bloodied fingertips twitched.
Yul brushed past him without a second glance and left the room. Beating down Gu Se-ji could wait—meeting Kim Jae-won and Lee Yu-na came first.
Truth be told, it was ambiguous who deserved the brunt of her anger. Everyone had their own gains, multiple culprits in the mix.
'Right in front of me.'
Yul averted her eyes from the status window where her constellation was glaring daggers. Aigoo, it's on fire...
Even in stiff text, the window practically screamed explosion.
'Still not to your liking, huh.'
Her constellation hated nosy, rude types like that. Despised them, really. So ending things here probably chafed.
'If you could step in, the bureau chief's head would've rolled by now.'
Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' grumbles, "If I could, more than a few heads would've rolled by now already."
'Yeah, true.'
From the bureau chief to Kim Jae-won, all of them... gone. Dead, crossed the Jordan, heads lopped off.
Plain and simple: they'd all be corpses. Some might've even high-fived the grim reaper in the afterlife by now.
As she pondered who among those to drag back, Kim Jae-won appeared, muttering to himself before gasping in shock.
"Gasp...!"
"Ah. Found you at last. Hey, hold up a sec..."
"S-Sorry!!"
Kim Jae-won bowed deeply, face drained of color. Yul stared at him blankly.
If his torso were any longer, his head might've drilled through the floor. Looked like he'd already been told to shut up and grovel if he met the bureau chief.
"I-It was me, I..."
"Skip the apology. Just some advice."
"Ad-Ad-Advice...?"
Kim Jae-won still couldn't lift his head. Yul briefly wondered if her image was that brutal.
I thought I'd lived a pretty normal hunter life.
She spoke.
"...Don't blindly follow what the bosses say."
"...Ah."
"Do that, and you might actually croak."
A mere C-rank, barely scraping the top hundred domestically, sent alone against hell's gate. Whatever show they wanted to stage, one slip and he'd be dead for real.
'Dying scamming right after awakening—what a joke.'
Impersonation aside, it'd be a dog's death. Ryu Shin-ah himself acknowledged it: low rank but rare class, lucky break into a top guild.
So he'd followed orders. Bureau chief and higher-ups involved too.
Hunter life meant mortal danger daily, but this was embarrassing.
In that sense, Yul's advice was utterly sincere. Even kind, for her.
"Got it?"
"Y-Yes, yes... Yes...!"
"...?"
Why did he look more terrified? Yul puzzled.
"Let me check... Yeah, this is it."
Yul muttered, pulling out her phone. 1:20 AM. The dead of night, but who among modern folks wasn't up?
She strode confidently to the top floor.
ReturnMyDailyLifeShoes—or DailyLife Guild for short. Lee Yu-na's guild HQ, her final stop tonight.
'But seriously, why these guild names?'
Weird guild names cropped up everywhere, worldwide, at a reliable rate. Guild masters named them, so tastes got... eccentric.
Case in point: America's F-king, led by an S-rank. God knows what they were thinking—hunters weren't exactly normal to begin with.
No rules against curses (loopholes like that worked), but why name something that'd hit every headline?
'...Not like I can talk.'
LeeSeonjwaKiller.
Yul recalled her own nickname and quietly rubbed her face.