S-Class Awakeners
Kang Juhyuk had just received Choi Junhyuk’s call when a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth without him even realizing it.
Five hundred million won just to find one old man?
That was absurdly easy. In another world, a job like this would barely be worth five silver coins, that’s how low the difficulty was. Yet here in reality, people were treating it like some enormous undertaking.
Making money is stupidly easy.
Junhyuk’s voice came through the receiver. “That’s correct. As I mentioned earlier, the photo of Chairman Jung Myungchul was sent exactly as it is in the message. His daughter, Jung Heeyeon, may be with him as well.”
“Then if I rescue both of them, it’s one billion?”
“Chairman Jung Myungchul’s fee is five hundred million. Miss Jung Heeyeon was not separately listed in the report, but if the condition is that she’s with him as well, then I’ll make the bounty one billion.”
Juhyuk stopped talking for a moment.
One billion’s enough to buy not just a sword, but a full immortal armor set too.
He sorted his thoughts for a moment and answered. “Okay, got it. I’m not usually the kind of guy who moves for money, but I’ll make an exception this once and take the job since it’s you, Choi Junhyuk.”
“I’m sincerely grateful.”
“But the money goes in right after the job’s done, yeah?”
“Of course. I’ll transfer it to your account immediately, just like last time. If you want it anonymous, I can also pay in coins.”
No coins.
Juhyuk had less than five hours left before the auction ended, and turning coins into cash meant exchange fees, transfers, and more waiting on top of that.
“Tax doesn’t matter. Just wire it to my account.”
“Understood.”
Just as they were about to end the call, Junhyuk carefully asked one last question.
“May I ask… how exactly do you intend to find Chairman Jung Myungchul?”
The intent behind the question was obvious.
Did Kang Juhyuk perhaps possess some special ability in that area too?
Not only was he powerful in combat, but capable of taking on a request like this and solving it?
“That’s a secret.”
As expected, it was an evasive answer.
“I see. Then I’ll be counting on you.”
He had done this sort of work even in the other world.
The first quest he’d ever received in the Holy Capital of Dior: find a bishop who had been kidnapped by an enemy nation.
Something at that level had been easy enough to pull off back then, too.
With that thought, as soon as the call ended, Kang Juhyuk headed straight for the White Tiger Guild’s headquarters.
Vrrm.
The taxi brought them to Incheon, a high-rise near Central Park.
“What kind of rotten shit do you have to do to make this much money?”
Juhyuk pulled a cigarette from his pocket and clamped it between his lips.
Minho, already wearing the beginner hunter protective gear and trembling, answered, “U-uncle. I don’t think I needed to come here. Can’t you just go alone?”
“What are you talking about? You said you wanted to become a hunter. Then you need to experience this kind of thing too.”
What kind of thing, exactly?
“I can’t do everything for you forever. Use this chance to learn how to handle people.”
“You’re not planning to pick a fight with the White Tiger people again, are you?”
“Absolutely not! I’m just here to talk for a bit. Junhyuk said there might be a missing person here.”
“Missing?”
“Yeah. He said the NIS can’t get involved in an official matter, so they wanted us to handle it instead.”
Just hearing that made it sound insanely dangerous.
Missing person, my ass. That was basically kidnapping.
“We’re running out of time, so hurry up. It took us three hours just to get here.”
* * *
Chairman Jung Myungchul of the Far East Group had a sharp dagger pressed against his throat.
“Don’t get any funny ideas. Make one wrong move and I’ll kill you on the spot.”
As Jo Gwangwon, a hunter from the White Tiger Guild, hissed the words with an icy stare, Myungchul lowered his eyes and replied, “Hunter of White Tiger, how can you do this to me? If it’s money you want, I’ll give you as much as you like, so release us now.”
“You think we dragged you all the way here for money? You should know why you’re here by now.”
“……”
“We’re both busy, so let’s get straight to the point and wrap this up fast. If your answer’s good, you’ll walk out of here alive today.”
Jo Gwangwon gathered mana into his fist and clenched it.
Whoosh.
His skin darkened and gleamed.
“Otherwise, you’ll leave as a corpse. Same goes for your daughter. S-Class ability or not, it won’t make a difference.”
Myungchul swallowed hard.
“Please, don’t lay a hand on my daughter.”
“Then do what I said! Contract your daughter to the White Tiger Guild. She only has to work with us for three years!”
“T-that’s—!”
“You senile bastard, do you really want to die? How many times do I have to say it? If you don’t want to die, close your eyes and stamp that thing right now!”
Gwangwon shoved a recorder into Myungchul’s mouth and said, “If you don’t want to die, just say you understand. I don’t want to keep going back and forth with some old geezer either. I’m only doing this because of that fucking law.”
“My daughter, please….”
“Th-that's why I’m telling you! If you want to save your daughter, stamp that thing and say into the recorder that you agree to all of White Tiger’s terms!!”
From inside the same room, Jung Heeyeon screamed, “Dad!!!”
Jo Gwangwon glanced at her, then let out a long sigh and walked toward Heeyeon.
“Can’t be helped. That old man doesn’t seem to understand what I’m saying. Let’s knock some sense into you instead.”
“D-dad. Dad!”
Jung Myungchul shouted in a frantic voice. “I-I’ll do it! I’ll stamp it, Hunter! Please, don’t do this!”
“Haa, you’re finally going to stamp it?”
“Yes!”
“...You old fossil finally learned to speak properly. But it’s too late. As punishment, I’ll cut off one of your fingers first, then we can talk again.”
“Hunter!!!”
Jo Gwangwon cackled and grabbed Heeyeon’s hand.
“Damn, you must’ve grown up soft—look how smooth your skin is. Now then! Which finger should I take? You pick one.”
Heeyeon panted in terror, her face drained of color.
“Haa… haa… haa….”
She couldn’t answer him.
Fear had already frozen her body in place, and her mind was too rattled to think straight anymore.
“What, are you mute? Fine, then I’ll pick for you. Just stay still.”
“Ha….”
“I’ll make it hurt as much as possible, so scream plenty. I really love hearing a woman scream, khahaha!”
As Gwangwon drove the dagger toward Heeyeon’s hand—
BANG!
Someone shoved the door open so hard it nearly broke.
“Evening.”
Everyone’s gaze snapped over.
There stood Kang Juhyuk, cigarette hanging from his mouth, glancing at his phone screen, and beside him Lee Minho, clutching a gas gun with a petrified expression.
Kang Juhyuk?
This was White Tiger Guild headquarters.
A place rated more dangerous than hell.
A forbidden zone even the president couldn’t enter without permission.
And this interrogation room on the fifteenth floor was reserved for executives only.
How the hell did he get in here?
There should’ve been a passcode on the elevator.
Gulp.
Gwangwon’s hand trembled.
It wasn’t that he was afraid because he had seen Juhyuk. Rather, it was the body’s instinctive reflex, his own flesh reacting to Juhyuk before his mind could catch up.
“Oh, there you are.”
Juhyuk strode over and checked Jung Myungchul’s face.
Based on appearance alone, it matched the photo on the phone.
His nose had bled and smeared over his face a bit, but yes, it was the same person.
“Are you Chairman Jung Myungchul?”
Myungchul answered with a stiff expression. “Y-yes.”
“Excellent! See that, Lee Minho? That’s how you do things.”
Minho glanced warily at Gwangwon and said, “U-uncle, I think we should explain the situation to this man first.”
“To who?”
“That man over there. Don’t you think we should tell the White Tiger people what happened?”
Gwangwon’s brow furrowed hard.
“Hey. How did you two get in here?”
Juhyuk raised his eyebrows dramatically, then slowly walked right up to Gwangwon.
Thwack.
He lightly slapped the back of the man’s head.
No explanation was needed.
Thud.
Gwangwon was already out cold.
“Forget explaining. I already told Gu Jinwoo I was bringing these people with me.”
“Gu Jinwoo? You mean that person they call a calamity?”
“We agreed to call it even for the last incident. He said he’d explain it to the master himself, so I could do whatever I wanted.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then I guess it’s fine.”
Minho glanced at the unconscious Gwangwon.
Really, though… is this okay?
His worry was pointless.
In the end, the one making all the decisions was Kang Juhyuk.
“All right! Then let’s go. Five hundred million—no, Chairman Jung Myungchul, and… was this lady your daughter?”
This was clearly a chance to escape White Tiger’s grasp.
He didn’t know who that man was, but it was obvious he’d come to help them.
Jung Myungchul, who had grasped the situation in an instant, nodded. “Yes!”
Juhyuk untied the rope binding Heeyeon’s hands and said, “Good. One billion. No, two people. I’m busy, so let’s move.”
“U-um.”
“Yes?”
“Who are you?”
“Me?”
How should he put this?
“Kang Juhyuk.”
A simple, clear answer.
Heeyeon stared blankly at Juhyuk’s face.
What is this guy?
Was he seriously cracking jokes in a situation like this?
“Right. Now let’s go complete the quest.”
As Juhyuk headed for the door, Minho helped Myungchul to his feet and motioned to Heeyeon.
“Please hurry. If we don’t get out now, that scary man over there might wake up.”
* * *
Gu Jinwoo arrived at White Tiger Guild headquarters.
Starting from the first floor, he made his way up to the fifteenth, searching for traces of Juhyuk.
The hunters stationed to guard the lobby and upper floors were mostly B-Class or higher, but every single one of them was unconscious and sprawled on the ground.
And on top of that—
Not one had any visible external wounds. Since all of them had collapsed face-first, it looked like they’d been struck in the back of the head.
As expected. He’s incredible.
To be fair, Jinwoo himself could also handle this many hunters.
Still, among a crowd of B-Class and above hunters, some would inevitably be Awakeners, so they couldn’t be dealt with lightly.
Knocking out that many enemies cleanly without killing a single one was impossible.
Click, click, click.
Reaching the interrogation room on the upper floor, Jinwoo woke the unconscious Gwangwon.
“Bro, bro, don’t sleep in a place like this. You’ll wake up with your neck twisted.”
Gwangwon staggered to his feet like a drunk and asked, “What? What happened?”
That’s what I want to know.
“Did Kang Juhyuk come by?”
At Jinwoo’s question, Gwangwon’s face lit up.
“Right, that bastard.”
I was interrogating Jung Myungchul and his brat of a daughter, and then suddenly Kang Juhyuk showed up in the elevator and came upstairs.
“So he got away again?”
Jinwoo shook his head.
“No, I let him go. More precisely, I avoided fighting him. You could say I gave him what he wanted.”
“...You mean you allowed that bastard to take Jung Myungchul?”
“That’s right. I got permission from the master over the phone.”
Gwangwon shot to his feet.
His face red with rage, he grabbed Jinwoo by the collar and yanked him up.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“...What?”
“If you act like this, the guys below are going to think they can look down on me. Why the hell would you let the fish we already caught go?”
“Because I didn’t want to fight him. Fighting Kang Juhyuk because of Jung Myungchul’s daughter? The losses would be far greater than the gains.”
“Since when did White Tiger start calculating fights like that? If you don’t like something, shouldn’t you just kill it?”
Bro, if we fought, we’d be the ones dying first.
By now, after getting beaten three times already, shouldn’t you know that?
Jinwoo was about to say that, then shook his head.
“It’s already over. Let it go.”
“No! I’m not done. I’m going back now to bring them all back.”
“You’ll die if you do that.”
“The one dying won’t be me. It’ll be Kang Juhyuk. And if you’re White Tiger too, then you should be fighting your enemies with the mindset that you’ll always win!”
Gwangwon and Jinwoo glared at each other.
Right now, we have more important matters than a fight with Kang Juhyuk.
Jinwoo knew that too, which was why he hadn’t rushed into anything after the villa incident.
But.
They had to recover the White Tiger Guild’s honor and face, no matter what, after what they had lost this time.
Having come to that conclusion, Gwangwon stormed out of the office, huffing with fury.
“It’s an S-Class ability. S-Class. I’m not letting it slip away. Even if I die today, I’ll bring that woman back.”
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