Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Gowon
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Looking over the commission fee details, Haon recalled Nova, who didn't seem to know anything about 'Eun Haon'.
'Did she think Halo had to maintain her power to keep her place by Nova's side? She must have known Nova wasn't serious...'
The tangled situation gave her a headache.
'Eun Haon' was someone who conducted horrific human experiments for her Awakening Sphere research. She wasn't a person Haon could ever hope to understand.
Setting aside the unresolved questions, she decided to look into 'Eun Haon's' relationships with other villains.
"Blue. I need to see the recent transaction records with other villains."
[Understood!]
As Haon carefully examined the list of records on the monitor, she froze upon spotting a familiar name.
"Gowon? This person is definitely..."
The arsonist Juyeol had gone looking for. Probably the notorious arsonist from the time of the fire at Juyeol's house.
But why was there a record of 'Eun Haon' sending money to that arsonist? And quite recently, too.
'Could it be that the culprit 'Eun Haon' found in that case was Gowon?'
Haon's eyes lit up at the sudden thought, but then she tilted her head in confusion.
'She might have known the culprit had returned to Korea and planned to use that to strike a deal with Juyeol... but why did she give him money?'
It felt like she was one step closer to a significant clue, yet the case remained a mystery.
She had boasted that she would help Juyeol find the culprit, but even after fixing the phone, she hadn't found anything conclusive.
'Juyeol has been looking for the culprit, too. Thinking back on the question he asked Chacha, it seemed like he was having trouble finding Gowon, right?'
She didn't know if he was the culprit Juyeol was looking for, but it was worth a shot.
"Blue. Look up Gowon's contact information. I don't know why she paid him, but he probably won't refuse a call from the person who gave him money."
* * *
*Screeeech—.*
A rusty iron door opened, and footsteps approached, making no effort to conceal their presence.
The figure that stopped in the middle of the abandoned factory was shrouded in a faint glow, standing alone in the darkness.
The woman, who appeared to be in her early fifties, brushed back her faded blonde hair and chuckled.
A scar, not fully covered by her eyepatch, and eyes as black as a black hole stood out.
"Has Hero Headquarters decided to start poking at me now, too?"
At the same time, light burst out in all directions, swallowing the darkness.
The pitch-black shadows receded, revealing Ghost.
Seated on a wooden crate with his helmet on, he showed no signs of surprise.
"You know that's not it, so why bother testing me? You must know perfectly well that I came alone and why I'm here."
Juyeol tilted his head, watching the woman approach him.
Wielding destructive light, she was Halo, the 'Order of the Villains'. She was merely standing still, yet her presence was incredibly intimidating.
"Why would a suspended Hero be looking for Sniper?"
Sniper was a marksman, considered Halo's right hand, and a non-Awakened villain.
She had never committed any crimes on her own, but rumor had it she would do anything Halo ordered.
They said Halo had brought her over while she was training as a spy in Russia and raised her, and her skills were excellent.
Juyeol took off his helmet and stood up. A strange light glinted in his black eyes, which had a different feel from Halo's.
"I just have something to ask. Let me meet Sniper, and I'll leave quietly."
"Quietly?"
Halo glanced at her subordinates sprawled on the floor and scoffed.
"You caused all this commotion just to catch some arsonist who joined a gang? What will you do if Hunter finds out?"
At the mention of 'Hunter's' name, Juyeol scowled and glared at her.
"Just letting me have a quick chat isn't too much to ask, is it?"
"Why are you looking for the arsonist? He's been living quietly since returning to Korea."
"That's what's strange. Why did a guy who left for Macau suddenly come back, and why is he being so quiet?"
Halo, who had been staring at him as if observing him, muttered, "Come in," and retracted the light.
Only a dim light remained around Halo.
And then he felt it—silent footsteps.
A quiet, indistinct presence.
Someone was approaching, cutting through the darkness.
Juyeol, helmet back on, straightened up and watched ahead in infrared mode.
The villain, whose face was completely hidden by a balaclava and night-vision goggles, had a long rifle slung over her back.
It was Sniper.
She stopped about ten paces away. Even with her face already covered, she seemed reluctant to show herself.
Juyeol kept his eyes fixed on Sniper, not a single strand of her hair visible, and asked.
"You know a guy named Gowon, right? The arsonist. Where is he?"
Silence filled the darkness of the abandoned factory.
Though both Ghost and Sniper's faces were hidden, Juyeol had the strange feeling that she was looking into his eyes through his helmet.
Feeling more bewildered than displeased, a sharp tone escaped him.
"Don't say you don't know. Someone saw you talking to Gowon."
"Is this about what happened ten years ago?"
"What?"
"Are you doing this because your house burned down?"
"..."
Sniper's voice, which he was hearing for the first time, was a woman's.
Dressed in an outfit that revealed not a single strand of hair and rarely speaking, opinions about her gender had been divided. Her height, which seemed to be around 175cm, had also fueled the debate.
Of course, the reason Juyeol was momentarily speechless wasn't because Sniper was a woman.
He had been searching so loudly for the person who set fire to his house ten years ago that it was plausible no one in this world didn't know about it.
But he never expected someone like Sniper, famous for keeping her mouth shut, to be the one to ask.
"Why I'm looking for him shouldn't matter to you."
"It does."
Juyeol glared at Sniper at her monotone response.
"...Don't tell me you're backing the Halla Gang?"
"I saw it."
"What."
"That day, ten years ago. I saw Gowon set fire to a house in the old city's District 3."
"...!"
For a moment, Juyeol's strength left him, and he almost dropped his gun. A whirlwind of emotions churned inside him.
"He's... the real culprit?"
Feeling as if the ground beneath him was giving way, he tensed his entire body and took a step forward.
It felt like he had finally taken the first step toward finding the identity of the culprit he had been searching for for ten years.
"Are you sure? Tell me in detail."
"..."
Sniper maintained her distance, taking a step back.
The clue that had just come into view seemed to be slipping away, and an anxious Juyeol strode forward, ignoring any safe distance from Halo.
"Speak clearly."
"That's enough, isn't it?"
Halo stretched out her arm, blocking Juyeol. In an instant, his gun was aimed at her.
"Move. Don't interfere."
"I think I've tolerated your arrogance long enough."
A corner of Halo's mouth lifted in a contemptuous smirk; she was completely at ease, even with a gun pointed at her.
Meanwhile, seeing Sniper getting farther away, Juyeol lost his cool.
"I told you to move!"
The moment he swung his gun toward Halo's head, a bright light suddenly exploded.
"Ugh—."
His vision, set to infrared mode, was washed out in white, and his eyes squeezed shut instinctively.
Juyeol barely managed to steady his staggering body and took off his helmet.
His optic nerves felt like they were being flash-frozen and then seared by fire, making it impossible to open his eyes.
"You son of a bitch...!"
He bit back a curse and waited cautiously for his vision to return to normal.
He wasn't a rookie who would waste bullets by firing blindly just because he couldn't see.
He sharpened his senses, focusing on his hearing and any presence. He could hear the clinking of chains hanging in the abandoned factory. It wasn't close.
By the time his vision finally returned, both Halo and Sniper were gone.
"Ghost has grown up. You know, right? I'm letting you live for Hunter's sake."
Hearing the amused voice, he looked up and saw two figures perched on the steel beams of the ceiling. The area around them was bright with Halo's light.
His eyes still stinging, Juyeol glared at Halo and growled.
"Don't give me that bullshit. You and Hunter don't even get along."
Then, Halo's image shattered like glass and reappeared on the railing below.
"Stop messing around and get out while I'm letting you live."
When facing Halo, an Awakened of light, the high heat and explosions from her light weren't even the most annoying part.
What you really had to watch out for were the optical illusions caused by the refraction of light. Those very hallucinations.
Juyeol didn't rashly charge into the illusion, but he gritted his teeth in frustration.
"If you'd told me where Gowon was, I would have left quietly long ago."
Halo chuckled, and the two figures' positions changed again. This time, they were on the opposite railing.
Sniper, whether an illusion or real, leaned her arm on the railing and spoke.
"If you want to catch Gowon, why don't you go see Dr. Eun?"
"...What?"
His brow furrowed at the sudden mention of Haon's name.
He wondered if she meant he should ask for her help with tracking, but Sniper's next words sent him running straight out of the abandoned factory.
"I heard Dr. Eun summoned Gowon to the research institute."
* * *
"So..."
Sitting across from Gowon on the first floor of the research institute, Haon mulled over his words.
It wasn't Bani's shift, so the two of them were alone in the café.
"You're saying you came back to Korea because of me...?"