27
027 ― Return Home
Holding his sword in confrontation, he groped behind with his opposite hand. There was an emergency bell there that would immediately contact the hotel security team.
Click.
He pressed the button. No sound came out.
Is it supposed to be like this? There's no reaction at all.
"If you're talking about the emergency bell, I cut it off in advance. I have a cautious personality, you see. Wherever I go, I cut off all such signals."
"......They say the security is top-notch, but it's completely useless."
It seemed he had taken precautions and infiltrated in advance. Not only that, but a thin energy was spread throughout the entire room, which appeared to be for preventing sound from leaking out.
He said he would come briefly and leave quietly, but he's thoroughly prepared.
"By gift, are you talking about this head rolling around on the floor?"
There's no choice. For now, I have to try talking.
"That's right. There are more heads I didn't bring. Should I give you those too?"
"I don't need them, so take them all away."
Jin-woo kicked the head with a thud, rolling it toward the old man. The head with its horrible face rolled rrrroll and disappeared swoosh into the darkness.
Jin-woo still couldn't see the scene of the head disappearing or the old man's appearance. He couldn't see anything with his naked eyes and couldn't hear anything with his ears either.
Jin-woo's senses had become quite sharp, to the point where he could hear heartbeats at this distance. However, no presence leaked out from where the old man was.
The only reason he could locate the old man's position was that he could see the blue flames.
"Actually, I'm a bit surprised. I was just thinking that some talented guy appeared in Seoul, but to think you're at a level where you can see me."
The old man spoke cheerfully, as if he truly believed Jin-woo was seeing him.
"Since I've been caught anyway, let me apologize directly. I'm sorry for making you experience an unpleasant incident."
"Are you talking about the attack I received yesterday?"
"You came as a guest to provide support, but you had an unpleasant experience. This city doesn't have good internal control, you see."
"It wasn't something you deliberately left alone?"
Jin-woo's question was sharp.
Kurenai Masato. The head of Tokyo's top assassination guild and a man called the godfather of the current mayor.
If he's in that kind of position, there would be many who would move on their own by reading his mood, even without him giving direct orders.
The question was whether the Tsukikage Guild was also one of such people.
"That's a misunderstanding. It would be troublesome if you think our Kurenai is entangled with such thuggish bastards. Besides, when I want to kill someone, I kill them myself and don't order my subordinates to do it. I can't trust them at all."
"That's hard to believe."
"Then there's nothing I can do."
The old man spoke lightly as if it was nothing. Certainly, whether Jin-woo believed it or not was of no concern to him.
"In any case, I'm not trying to treat you poorly. Rather, I welcome you to come to Tokyo. Did you have a good meal today?"
"Guild Leader of Shirata took me to a yakiniku restaurant. I tried beef tongue for the first time, and it was fantastic."
"Hahaha! A young man who knows taste. Next time, try going for eel. Should I tell you about a delicious restaurant?"
"......No thanks. I can ask Ayaka."
When food recommendations and everyday conversation suddenly came up, the atmosphere seemed to relax a little.
But that was an illusion. Masato was still hiding in the darkness without revealing himself, and Jin-woo's sword was sharpening its blade aimed at the darkness.
With a snicker, the flame headed toward the window. The tip of Jin-woo's sword also slowly moved following the flame.
"Let me give you one piece of advice. Be careful of David from New York."
"David?"
"He's the director of the New York Hunter Management Bureau. He put a bounty on Shartia in Tokyo. An S-rank assassination request - he's lost his mind. The thugs who attacked recklessly, blinded by the reward, aren't in their right minds either."
He put a bounty on Shartia?
"There's no bounty on you, but from what I hear, he doesn't seem to view you very favorably either. There might be some action soon."
The window opened with a rrrr. The flame leaped up and perched on the window frame.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Before leaving, Jin-woo voiced his final question. The assassin's head or restaurant recommendations might be understandable, but there would be no obligation to tell him this much.
"I've met David before, and he couldn't see me even if he died and came back to life. When that guy who was full of pride, saying he was the best, realized he couldn't see me, he made such a subtle expression. It was a masterpiece kekeke."
Kekeke giggling laughter could be heard. After a moment, when the laughter died down, the old man left his final words.
"It's been a while since I had eye contact and conversation with someone. It was quite enjoyable in its own way."
Unlike his cantankerous behavior up until now, those words alone seemed somehow sincere.
The flame jumped down below the hotel. Jin-woo approached the window and looked down.
The fallen flame disappeared somewhere. All that was visible was the late-night Tokyo cityscape seen from the 24th floor.
***
The Erosion was resolved, and the matter with the Tsukikage Guild was also resolved in an unexpected way.
With nothing left to worry about, Jin-woo stayed four more days in Tokyo to enjoy sightseeing.
He contacted Ayaka to tour restaurants recommended by locals and followed Shartia around Tokyo's tourist spots.
Shartia knew more about Tokyo's streets than expected, as Tokyo had also been one on the list when she was looking for a city to naturalize in.
"In the end, Tokyo was excluded from the list, though."
"Why? The streets are clean, the food is delicious, and it seems like a nice place to live."
The people were also kind, so wherever they went, they could enjoy themselves without experiencing any unpleasantness. Every store had a solid service spirit embedded in it, so if you had money, it really seemed like a great place to live.
"You know, too, Jin-woo. It's only clean on the outside, not all the way inside."
"Ah."
By inside, she probably meant the night streets dominated by assassination guilds.
Tokyo's night streets were completely different from the day. A place where killing people was considered normal.
If even life were treated that way, other things couldn't be good either. A city overflowing only with alcohol, drugs, desolate entertainment, and shallow relationships.
Shartia said she really liked Tokyo's daytime but couldn't like the night as well.
In that sense, she got along very closely with Ayaka, who had become a new friend. Ayaka's Shirata Guild was one of the few guilds that belonged to the legitimate side.
Ayaka also didn't reject her new foreign friend, so the three of them often went sightseeing together.
"Jin-woo. Look this way here. Cheese~"
Click click.
She constantly took photos and selfies of the group, and her smartphone never left her hands all day.
Whenever they went to eat something, she would always take photos of the food and tap the touch screen at high speed, and when asked, she said she was posting on SNS.
'That's addiction, pure addiction.'
Still, having a hobby to be passionate about was a good thing. Just like how Shartia was absorbed in growing plants while traveling the world.
During the four days of sightseeing, there were no attacks.
It was so quiet it was almost excessive, and it seemed like everyone was holding their breath while watching each other.
Perhaps Kurenai Masato's massacre of the Tsukikage Guild served as a kind of warning.
Thanks to that, he smoothly finished his first overseas trip, and now it was time to return.
Jin-woo shook hands with Ayaka, who had come to the airport to see them off.
"Have a safe trip, Jin-woo. Thank you so much, and it was really fun. Please take care of me if we meet at the Gate!"
"That's what I should be saying. Ayaka is A-rank and I'm E-rank."
"You'll reach A-rank soon enough. What are you talking about?"
Ayaka laughed giggle giggle while saying goodbye to Jin-woo, and then also extended her hand to Shartia, who had been interpreting.
Shartia grabbed her hand, gave her a light hug, and patted her shoulder.
"Take care, Ayaka. If you ever want to have a garden, contact me anytime."
"Oh, that sounds great. If I find some decent land, I'll definitely contact you."
Jin-woo and Shartia boarded the private jet and took off from Tokyo.
The flight time was just over two hours.
When coming from Seoul to Tokyo, even that seemed short, as he was busy reading various materials and documents.
But on the return trip, they each reclined their seats to make beds and fell fast asleep. The flight attendant tucked their blankets in well and went to the crew cabin to rest as well.
In his sleep, Jin-woo thought.
'There wasn't much trouble, contrary to expectations.'
Just one attack and one Erosion. And he had some conversation with the number one assassin, who was Tokyo's behind-the-scenes power broker.
'......Well, there was actually quite a lot.'
Thinking about it again, there have been quite a lot of incidents.
***
Jin-woo and Shartia, who returned to Seoul, received an enthusiastic welcome from the Management Bureau.
They had handled the job well, but apparently Tokyo had paid Seoul a considerable amount of compensation.
According to Ma Du-sik, the Tokyo guys had almost never paid compensation so obediently before. Usually, they would make excuses or drag it out, pulling them into a mud fight.
The compensation received mostly went to the Management Bureau and was transferred to Jin-woo's account through the Management Bureau.
What the Management Bureau took was about the commission fee, but even that commission was a considerable amount, so they seemed happy.
"The money aside, the mayor specifically asked me to tell you he ob... Obtained this."
While listening to the person in charge, she handed him a long object wrapped in cloth. When he opened it, there was a Japanese sword inside.
Since Jin-woo also used swords himself and had watched Bulkar's work from the side, he had an eye for swords.
It wasn't at the level of a dwarf craftsman, but this sword was also a masterpiece forged by a considerable artisan.
"Mayor Ma Du-sik got this?"
"It's called Wado Ryu Ken. It's said to be a sword made directly by a craftsman, called a living cultural heritage. That craftsman's swords are treasures of which there are only a few in all of Tokyo."
"This is nice. Looking at my bank account, a lot of money came in too. Working for the country really is good after all."
"Haha, I suppose so."
He had just crossed over to a neighboring country briefly, swung his sword once, and earned more money and treasure than most Gate expeditions.
With this, Jin-woo now had five swords. The standard-issue iron sword he received from the Management Bureau on the first day, the white gem sword, the fang dagger, the sky sword, and now the Wado Ryu Ken.
Actually, even with so many, most were for display purposes.
The standard-issue iron sword was just kept as a keepsake, and the sky sword was difficult to use until he gained appropriate abilities. The Wado Ryu Ken was similarly sharp like the sky sword, but seemed to have low durability, making it disappointing for actual combat use.
The fang dagger was useful for exploration and various situations, and combat was almost entirely handled with the white gem sword. It was the most solid, and there was nothing this sword couldn't cut.
It would be fine to sell the unnecessary swords, but he didn't particularly think of doing so. Most were received items anyway.
'Even as display pieces, they're sufficient. I might use them someday.'
After that, he heard about the follow-up procedures from the person in charge, cleaned up the work, and left the Management Bureau.
Jin-woo, who returned home, dove straight onto the bed without even taking off his socks.
He had only done business in Tokyo for a single day and spent the rest just sightseeing, but once he got home, appropriate fatigue came along with travel weariness.
Lying face down on the bed with his face buried, Jin-woo checked his smartphone.
He remembered Ayaka enthusiastically using SNS and also recalled that the trigger for going to Tokyo was an email. So he casually opened his email inbox.
[Inbox 999+]
"Huh?"
For some reason, his inbox was on the verge of exploding.