Chapter 69: The Trap of Cuteness
Jeong-kwon said to Sa-hyeok.
“Sit down. The tracking team will be composed of Hunters other than you. And it’s only been a few hours since you returned from the raid……”
“If there are monsters remaining, how can the raid be over?”
Sa-hyeok’s eyes were gleaming fiercely.
A deep hatred towards monsters that Sa-hyeok exhibited, the end of which could not be known.
Even Jeong-kwon felt a certain chill whenever he saw that look.
Jeong-kwon said.
“Do you really have to go?”
“Yes. In the case of Snow Wolves, they give birth to at least 2 pups, and up to 5, in a single litter. If these pups have scattered, a Hunter like me with wide-area detection abilities is needed.”
“Certainly, that’s true, but……”
Wide-area detection, high-speed movement, and mid-to-long-range killing ability.
It was no exaggeration to say that Sa-hyeok’s abilities were specialized for tracking and extermination.
“And there’s another really important reason.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Have you ever seen a Snow Wolf pup in person?”
“I’ve seen photos in the monster encyclopedia, but……”
“The real thing is quite different.”
“How so?”
“They are incredibly, almost seriously…… cute.”
Jeong-kwon was momentarily speechless at Sa-hyeok’s out-of-the-blue nonsense.
“……Cute?”
“Yes. Objectively speaking, they are quite cute. This is a big problem.”
“Why on earth is being cute a…… Ah.”
Jeong-kwon realized.
What danger Sa-hyeok was talking about.
Jeong-kwon said.
“Alright, I’ll contact the tracking team currently searching. Join them immediately.”
“Yes. I’ll be back.”
Sa-hyeok bowed lightly and left.
Just then.
Knock knock-
“Master, it’s Jang-hoon.”
“Oh, come in.”
Sa-hyeok’s senior disciple, Sung Jang-hoon, entered.
“Oh, brother.”
“Huh? Sa-hyeok, are you back from the raid?”
“I’m on my way to finish it now. See you later.”
“Huh?”
Thud.
Sa-hyeok went out of the office.
Jang-hoon asked Jeong-kwon.
“What’s up with Sa-hyeok? He looks sharp.”
“It’s because of the monster that escaped from the dungeon. You know he loses it when it comes to monsters, right?”
“That’s true.”
“And I heard he won against a Hunter who used Protective Aura during this raid.”
“……What?”
Jang-hoon asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Protective Aura means…… at least an A-rank Hunter, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Sa-hyeok, that guy…… No, but the last detailed examination clearly showed he was C-rank?”
“Shouldn’t you be used to him being outside the norm by now?”
“That’s true.”
No, but more than that.
“Why on earth was he fighting a Hunter in a dungeon……?”
“That’s what I called you for. Are Sam-gu and Jeong-su coming?”
“They contacted me on their way, so they should be here soon.”
Knock knock-
Soon, Sam-gu and Jeong-su also entered the office.
Sam-gu asked.
“What’s the matter?”
“I called you because I think we need to share what Sa-hyeok went through in the dungeon. Sit down.”
══════════════════
Rooftop of the Kwonmu-mun Guild Headquarters Building.
Current time 6:30 PM.
Sa-hyeok stood on the railing at the corner of the rooftop.
The drone carrying Bang-ul-i flew next to him.
[Aren’t you taking the car today?]
“I’m faster than the car anyway. And it’s not that far.”
Saying so, Sa-hyeok put wireless earphones in his ears.
“We’ll communicate with this during the operation.”
[You should have bought this earlier. Where did you get it?]
“The cell phone store on the first floor. Anyway, let’s go.”
Whoosh-
Sa-hyeok jumped down from the building without hesitation.
And at the same time as he pushed off this building’s wall, he pulled on that building’s wall.
Whooooosh!
Sa-hyeok’s body flew quickly.
High-speed movement using the repulsive and attractive forces of telekinesis.
Sa-hyeok flew through the high-rise buildings towards his target location.
Towards the place where the mother Snow Wolf was discovered.
Meanwhile, the tracking team leader had already arrived at that location.
The entrance of an alley on a certain main street.
The team leader called Sa-hyeok from there.
“Hunter Min Sa-hyeok?”
“Is that the tracking team leader? I’ll be there soon.”
The team leader unintentionally looked towards the entrance of the alley.
Sa-hyeok said.
“Not there, up above.”
“What?”
Crash!
Sa-hyeok fell from the sky.
The team leader screamed in surprise.
“Gah!”
“Did I surprise you?”
“Do, do you have flight abilities too?!”
“Something like that. Let’s assess the situation first. How many pups escaped?”
“Two in total. We cross-checked with two nearby CCTVs, so it’s confirmed.”
“Did both of them scatter?”
“Yes. The tracking team is currently on the trail of one whose path was confirmed by CCTV, but the other one is still……”
“Please send the coordinates of that tracking team to my phone. And I’ll catch the other one.”
“What? Uh, okay.”
As the team leader sent the coordinates to Sa-hyeok’s phone, he thought.
‘Wait, I’m the leader, but why am I being given orders……?’
The moment he looked towards Sa-hyeok while thinking that.
“……Where did he go?”
Sa-hyeok had already left the place.
Thud-
Sa-hyeok landed on the rooftop of a nearby building.
“Bang-ul-i.”
[We just need to hack all nearby CCTVs and find that wolf pup or whatever, right?]
Sa-hyeok said with a grin.
“Yeah. And search through vehicle black boxes too.”
[Okay.]
“Considering the size of Snow Wolf pups, their movement speed should be around 30km/h. Let’s calculate the search range using the time they started escaping and their average movement speed, and then quickly search.”
[I can finish that calculation in a flash!]
“Okay, I’m going to where the tracking team is.”
[But brother, is there really a need to go where the tracking team already went?]
“I have to. I guarantee those guys won’t be able to k*ll the pup.”
[Is it that strong even though it’s a pup?]
“It’s not about being strong. The problem is they won’t be able to k*ll it even if they catch it.”
[What? They can’t k*ll it even if they catch it……?]
“See you later!”
Whoosh!
Sa-hyeok jumped down from the building again.
══════════════════
A large shopping mall somewhere in Seoul.
Two Hunters and five Monster Special Forces personnel stormed in.
The eyes of countless shoppers were simultaneously drawn to them.
They were the tracking team chasing the Snow Wolf pup.
“Location confirmed!”
“Surround it!”
They surrounded the Snow Wolf pup in the middle of the first floor of the shopping mall, where shoppers were swarming.
The wolf pup could only growl, unable to move forward or backward.
Click.
From behind, the special forces personnel aimed their net guns, and the Hunters stepped forward.
The Hunters muttered as they looked at the wolf pup.
“It’s really just a pup……?”
The gray fluff softly covering its body, the bluntly protruding nose, the bright, round eyes.
Except for the ice mane on its neck, it was the spitting image of a puppy.
The surrounding shoppers all took out their phones and pressed the record button.
“What is that? A monster pup?”
“But it’s really so cute……?”
“Crazy, I want to raise it……”
Shing.
Regardless, the Hunters drew their swords.
Then the people started murmuring even louder.
“What? Are they going to k*ll it?”
“It’s a monster, but……”
“It’s still a pup, though?”
“Are they really going to k*ll a baby? Even if it’s a monster……”
The Hunters hesitated to attack even after drawing their swords.
Part of it was because of the shoppers’ murmurs, but the decisive reason was that they had similar thoughts.
‘It’s a pup…… Do we really have to k*ll it?’
‘Even if it’s a monster, how can we k*ll something this cute?’
The Snow Wolf pup looked into the Hunter’s eyes with its bright, round eyes.
The Hunter’s heart momentarily softened.
But they couldn’t delay any longer.
They had to make a decision.
Finally, the tracking team leader spoke.
“……We’ll capture the target alive.”
“But the order was clearly to k*ll……”
“I’m the leader! My orders……”
At that moment.
Swish.
A blade that flew from somewhere pierced the wolf pup’s neck.
The gushing red blood drew a long line on the white marble floor.
The shoppers screamed.
“Kyaaaak!”
“It’s, it’s dead……!!”
Step.
Sa-hyeok walked into the middle of the commotion.
“Yeah, I knew you’d all hesitate like this.”
Sa-hyeok retrieved the blade he had thrown.
The eyes of the shoppers, and even the tracking team members, simultaneously focused on Sa-hyeok.
“What, did you just k*ll it?”
“A pup?”
“Why……? Did you really have to k*ll it??”
The camera flashes of the shoppers’ cell phones went off incessantly.
But Sa-hyeok didn’t care in the slightest.
Sa-hyeok nudged the dead pup with his foot and said to the leader.
“Capture this alive? Are you crazy?”
“But it’s a pup!”
“It’s not just a pup, it’s a monster pup. And you’re a Hunter.”
Thud.
Sa-hyeok stepped closer to the leader and said.
“And yet, a Hunter like you is defending a monster?”
“But……”
“You know that the only good monster is a dead monster, right?”
The leader couldn’t refute.
After all, it was he who had arbitrarily changed the k*ll order from above.
Sa-hyeok picked up the dead Snow Wolf pup and handed it to the team members.
The leader put it in a body disposal bag and sealed it.
Just then, a communication came from Bang-ul-i through the wireless earphones.
[I found the other one too, brother.]
“Thanks. I’ll be right there, guide me to the location.”
Sa-hyeok said to the leader.
“Give me a new body disposal bag.”
“Here you go, but why……?”
“I’ve located the second pup.”
Sa-hyeok immediately walked through the shoppers towards the exit.
Just then, someone shouted from behind.
“You murderer!”
Sa-hyeok didn’t even listen.
It was a reaction he had expected.
Regardless of the danger a target poses, humans tend to feel affection for it if it’s cute and pretty.
Lookism doesn’t only apply to humans.
That’s why Sa-hyeok had told Jeong-kwon that ‘being cute is the problem.’
Of course, not everyone was like this.
“Murderer, my foot. That’s a monster, you idiot!”
“What, idiot? Hey, come here!”
“Even if it’s a monster!”
“Why are there so many complaints when a Hunter killed a monster!!”
The crowd instantly turned into chaos.
And-
Whoosh!
Someone threw something at the back of Sa-hyeok’s head.
It was a glass perfume bottle.
Stop-
The perfume bottle stopped in mid-air before it could even reach Sa-hyeok.
The person who threw it was flustered, and the perfume store employee was even more flustered.
Sa-hyeok put the perfume back on the display shelf with his telekinesis and said to the employee.
“You’re working hard.”
Leaving the chaotic scene behind, Sa-hyeok exited the shopping mall.
‘A murderer for killing a monster. Seriously.’
He couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter.
It had been a little over 3 years since the Gate incident.
And yet, there were already people who had forgotten the horrors of that time.
“……Let’s work, work.”
Whoosh!
Sa-hyeok jumped between the buildings.
══════════════════
Following Bang-ul-i’s guidance, he arrived at a residential area in Seoul.
A neighborhood full of quite large detached houses and an overall quiet atmosphere.
It was clearly a very affluent neighborhood.
Sa-hyeok stood in front of the gate of one of the houses.
Whirr-
Bang-ul-i flew next to Sa-hyeok.
“Is it this house?”
[Yes.]
Sa-hyeok rang the doorbell.
A man’s voice came through the intercom.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Hunter Min Sa-hyeok. I think a monster might have hidden in your house……”
“What nonsense.”
Click.
“……Why are there so many people without a sense of crisis today?”
Sa-hyeok jumped over the high fence and entered the yard.
“Is anyone home?”
“What?! You’re trespassing!!”
A middle-aged man came rushing out with a golf club.
“There’s a monster hidden in your house.”
“The dungeon leakage alarm didn’t even go off, what monster are you talking about! Get out of here right now!!”
“I’m here as a member of the Kwonmu-mun Guild. Please step aside.”
“Kw, Kwonmu-mun?!”
The man dropped the golf club.
This was the authority that the three words ‘Kwonmu-mun’ held in Korea.
“P, please come in!”
Sa-hyeok entered the house following the man’s guidance.
[You were cool just now, like a corrupt official, brother.]
‘Shut up.’
The inside of the house was so clean that it was suffocating, without a speck of dust.
The first thing that caught his eye were numerous trophies, certificates, and portraits that seemed to belong to a ‘daughter.’
‘……Huh?’
Sa-hyeok felt a strange sense of discomfort as he looked at them.
The man asked.
“Um, if a monster has entered, you should check the storage room or the basement……”
“No. The monster is inside this house.”
“Inside the house……?”
“Yes. Your ‘son’ brought the monster inside.”
