Episode 72
“Welcome.”
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Not at all. I heard you were in Jeju Island, so I’m grateful you came straight here.”
I arrived at Crystal Workshop late at night.
Following Hong Su-jeong, I went inside the workshop with Ji Sang-wook.
As I stepped in while tapping at my smartphone screen, I found a man in the workroom.
I’d seen his face before.
A-rank Hunter Choi Hee-seok.
He was the older man I’d run into when I went to Seoul World Cup Stadium to pick up Arca and the pine cone.
Why was he here?
“Hello,” I said.
When I greeted him, he came toward me.
As he approached, towering over two meters tall, he filled my entire field of view.
Then he held out a hand and greeted me.
“It’s good to see you again.”
“Likewise. Good to see you too.”
“And this one is?”
“Ah, this is-”
“Good evening! My name is Ji Sang-wook! I’m currently a B-class Hunter!”
Ji Sang-wook, who had been following behind me, bowed so deeply his upper body practically folded in half.
Choi Hee-seok saw that and chuckled warmly.
He extended a hand to the young man as well.
“Good to meet you. I’m Choi Hee-seok.”
“I-It’s an honor!”
Ji Sang-wook quickly wiped both hands on his clothes and took Choi Hee-seok’s hand with great formality.
Who was this courteous young man supposed to be?
I stared at Ji Sang-wook in disbelief.
The way he looked at Choi Hee-seok was full of admiration.
He almost seemed to be sparkling.
Apparently, he was a fan of Choi Hee-seok.
Which, really, wasn’t that hard to understand.
Choi Hee-seok was the veteran of veterans, a Hunter who had been doing the job for twenty years.
And not just someone who’d kept his Hunter license on life support for twenty years, either, but a Hunter from the Association who had spent those years earnestly taking on monster extermination, rescue operations for the injured, and all sorts of other quests.
Both Ji Sang-wook and I had grown up watching Choi Hee-seok in action.
It didn’t affect me all that much, though.
“Ah, may I ask what your relationship is? It feels like we’re about to discuss something important.”
“Yes! I’m Lord Do-woon’s sworn younger brother!”
Sworn younger brother? Since when?
I’d never made any kind of brotherhood pact with Ji Sang-wook.
If I had to define our relationship, it would be more accurate to call us benefactor and beneficiary.
I was about to correct him, but I couldn’t get a word in.
Ji Sang-wook and Choi Hee-seok were chatting so amiably it looked like a fan meet-and-greet.
It was such a pure meeting between star and fan that I almost felt guilty interrupting the soft, friendly mood.
“I called them,” Hong Su-jeong said, completely unconcerned with whatever warm atmosphere the two men were making.
Without paying any attention to the mood at all, she kept talking.
“Because of the research results on Violet Violence.”
“Hm?”
Violet Violence.
So that really was why she’d called me.
A question came to mind.
The results of the potion analysis I’d requested were in, so why had she also called Choi Hee-seok?
Did my confusion show on my face?
Hong Su-jeong nodded and offered a polite apology.
“I’m sorry for not asking permission first. The matter was too important, so I couldn’t help it.”
I wasn’t really angry or upset.
I was just curious why Choi Hee-seok was here.
Rather than accept the apology, I decided to keep the conversation moving.
“What exactly is going on?”
“First, before I explain the research results, I want to ask you one thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do-woon, have you ever heard of something called Violet Powder?”
Violet Powder?
Literally, it sounded like purple powder, but I’d never heard of it.
“No, this is my first time hearing about it. What is it?”
“It-”
Just as Hong Su-jeong was about to answer, Ji Sang-wook, who stood beside her, spoke up.
“It’s a drug for Awakened beings, Lord.”
“You know about it?”
“Yes. It was sold as a set with the stuff I bought for Violet Violence.”
“Vava?”
“Violet Violence. People also shorten Violet Powder to VP.”
Vava, VP.
What a completely inconsistent naming system.
So they used the first letters in Korean for Vava, but for VP they went with the English initials?
And it was an Awakened-beings drug?
I narrowed my eyes and looked at Ji Sang-wook.
“So you really were a drug addict?”
“Huh? No! I don’t do drugs!”
“Really? Funny, then. Back in the Trial Tower, you sure seemed suspicious when they called you a junkie.”
“L-Lord, I’m serious!”
Ji Sang-wook waved his hands frantically, his eyes shaking.
It wasn’t the guilty tremble of someone caught in a lie.
He kept looking back and forth between me and Choi Hee-seok.
“I just lost my temper then! Your teasing expression, Lord, it was, uh, no, I mean-!”
Maybe having his idol, Choi Hee-seok, there was making him even more flustered.
He probably didn’t want to show his fan side in a bad light.
He was trying not only to convince me, but Choi Hee-seok as well.
“I didn’t want to buy drugs, so even though it was much more expensive, I didn’t get the cheaper set and bought it individually!”
“Is that true?”
“Yes! It is, please believe me!”
Ji Sang-wook looked close to tears as he stared at me and Choi Hee-seok.
Judging by that face, it really did seem to be true.
If that was acting, then he had chosen the wrong line of work.
He shouldn’t have become a Hunter; he should have become an actor and gone after an Oscar.
Choi Hee-seok must have had a similar thought, because he just laughed.
“Anyway.”
Hong Su-jeong tossed out a single word.
It was to gather our attention.
The three men, myself included, all turned to look at her.
“Hunter Choi Hee-seok asked me to investigate Violet Powder.”
“Strictly speaking, it was an Association request. I was only asked to deliver it.”
“The Association made the request directly? So it’s not just some ordinary drug?”
“That’s right. Do-woon, your guess is correct. The drug is causing problems because it raises the aggression of whoever takes it.”
It was a drug for Awakened beings.
Awakened beings were mostly Hunters.
And when those Hunters’ aggression went up?
“...That’s horrifying.”
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of accidents had happened.
Even a Hunter’s casual strike could be fatal to an ordinary person.
But if their aggression rose and they lost control of their strength...?
“Why hasn’t this been in the news?”
“Because Korea’s been noisy for other reasons lately.”
“What reasons?”
The three of them didn’t answer. They just looked at me.
So it was because of me...?
“Actually, Violet Powder wasn’t all that different from ordinary drugs for Awakened beings.”
“Then...”
“There was only one thing we’d never seen before. I was researching that when Violet Violence happened to fall into my hands.”
“Ah.”
A sigh escaped me.
Now I understood why research that had supposedly needed another day or two had finished so quickly.
“That substance was in Violet Violence too?”
“Yes. That’s exactly why I asked to meet the two of you together.”
Now I understood why she’d gathered both Choi Hee-seok and me in the same place.
Choi Hee-seok must not have known why he’d been called either, because he muttered the same thing.
“I thought it was just a similar name, but those two were the same thing.”
Violet Powder.
Violet Violence.
As he’d said, the two names were similar.
Ji Sang-wook had said they were sold as a set.
In that case, the source of VP was probably Crowd, just like Vava.
“Have you found out exactly what it is?”
“Yes. That V-substance doesn’t get excreted when it’s taken; it gradually accumulates in the head and around the heart. And once it builds up, it can’t be detoxified either.”
“What happens when it accumulates?”
At Choi Hee-seok’s question, Hong Su-jeong swallowed.
I could guess what she was going to say next.
Carefully, she said, “The body gradually changes, and the person develops mental disorders too. Kind of like a monster.”
“So, to sum it up, if someone takes a lot of it, they’ll turn into something like a monster?”
“Yes.”
At her words, I immediately looked at Ji Sang-wook.
He looked back at me with eyes as wide as fists.
He must have been thinking the same thing I was.
“L-Lord...”
“Yeah. It seems your body changed because of that V-substance.”
“What are you talking about?” Hong Su-jeong asked.
Choi Hee-seok also looked at me with curious eyes.
I pointed at Ji Sang-wook with my thumb.
“This guy’s body changed after overdosing on Vava.”
“What? What did you say?”
The two of them stared at Ji Sang-wook in shock.
Choi Hee-seok asked again, as if he wanted to be sure.
“Is that true?”
Ji Sang-wook nodded.
“Yes, my body changed to look like a Black Manticore.”
“Really? How much did it change? Your whole body?”
Hong Su-jeong pressed him with questions.
She had in front of her the actual result of the substance she’d been researching.
It was only natural that she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“Y-Yes. My whole body changed.”
“Whoa, so your body really did change?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Oh, hold on!”
Hong Su-jeong stepped closer to Ji Sang-wook.
She’d gone beyond simple curiosity and was now practically exploding.
She examined him the way she would appraise an item.
Apparently, she studied him from every angle, sniffed him, and even touched him.
At least she didn’t lick him or try to suck on him the way she did with World Tree materials.
After about a minute of appraising him, she stepped back and tilted her head.
“You’re saying you really changed? He looks normal to me.”
“Ah, well...”
Ji Sang-wook started to answer, then looked at me.
He was asking whether it was okay to explain what had happened.
I nodded to tell him it was fine.
Once I gave him permission, he immediately spilled everything that had happened to the two of them.
“Lord Do-woon turned me back.”
“What? Do-woon did? What do you mean? How?”
“Su-jeong, calm down a little.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“Sang-wook, could you explain in detail?”
“Yes! That was exactly what I was about to do.”
I watched Ji Sang-wook explain everything to the two of them.
At Hallasan Gate, he had been nothing but a monster.
There had been no trace of humanity in him, and he had viewed everything except himself as prey.
Until I fed him the World Tree’s morning dew, I couldn’t even have a conversation with him.
He had simply been a single monster greedily devouring food.
“...Those Crowd bastards. Is their goal to turn people into monsters? Why?”
Do-hee’s words came back to me.
She had said their goal was to “overturn the world.”
I’d wondered why she used overturn instead of conquer, but now I thought I understood.
Turning people into monsters was definitely better described as overturning the world than conquering it.
Hm?
Wait. Then did Do-hee and Tae-cheon already know what those guys were after?
Why hadn’t they told me?
Well, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why.
They weren’t just anyone. If it was those two, then they must have had a reason for staying quiet.
“......?”
It was quiet around me.
Had the explanation already ended?
Choi Hee-seok was staring at me with his eyes wide.
The other two looked confused, first at Choi Hee-seok, then at me.
“What is it?”
“What did you just say?”
“Just now?”
What had I said?
“Ah. That their goal is to turn people into monsters-”
“No, the part before that.”
“Crowd bastards?”
“Yes, that!”
Choi Hee-seok raised one finger.
It looked like he was pointing straight at the word Crowd.
“What about it?”
“Do you know Crowd is a globally wanted terrorist organization?”
“Yes, that’s why I said it.”
“Hah, so the source of these things is them?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No. I knew about the middlemen, but not that.”
His face carried a clear look of surprise.
If he didn’t know, then that meant the Hunter Association didn’t know the source either.
The Association wouldn’t have failed to tell someone like him, one of the top Hunters in the organization, about something this serious.
“Then the Association, about this matter-”
The World Tree’s young sprout sensed a disgusting presence.
“Huh?”
The moment I saw that message, I looked at Ji Sang-wook.
He was staring back at me with a face that seemed to ask, “What is it, Lord?”
The owner of that disgusting presence wasn’t him.
Well, if it had been Ji Sang-wook, Saessak would have said it sensed a gaze instead of a presence.
He was looking at me.
Which meant...
“We have a guest.”
That meant Crowd was nearby.
I didn’t know why they were here.
They might have come after me, but Choi Hee-seok, the 79th-ranked Hunter, was also here.
Who would they be targeting, the two of us?
“A guest? No one’s supposed to be coming today.”
“I don’t think that’s the kind of guest you mean.”
“What?”
“It’s an unwelcome guest. Isn’t that right?”
Choi Hee-seok took equipment out of his magic pouch and put it on.
Sure enough, the presence of a 79th-ranked Hunter radiated from him.
It was reassuring, like having Taecheon right beside me.
“Shall we go greet them?”
No matter how unwelcome a guest was, a guest was still a guest.
In that case, shouldn’t we go out and welcome them properly?