Jinhyuk raised his head.
Even while watching it, it felt unreal.
An explosion like this in a quiet, peaceful tourist spot.
Because of it, the surrounding area had turned into a chaotic mess.
Startled people were running toward this side, away from the blast site.
"About 800 meters away, sir!"
"Let's get out of here for now."
Right at the moment they were trying to slip away to avoid being swept up in the commotion,
Jinhyuk's eyes widened.
Momo was staggering out from a dim alleyway.
Not only were her clothes in tatters, but her whole body was covered in soot.
"Momo!"
Jinhyuk rushed over and scooped Momo up.
There were no major injuries, but she had many small wounds.
And for some reason, she seemed completely drained of energy.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Momo is sturdy, so just a little hurt. I went whoosh flying and then rolled around a lot."
Jinhyuk let out a sigh of relief.
Momo, who lacked combat-related abilities, instead possessed various traits for suppressing her presence and self-protection.
Thanks to that, even though she was caught in the blast and sent flying, she got off with just this.
"Momo's clothes are all torn."
Momo looked down at her torn clothes with a deeply dejected expression.
She had loved this outfit from the moment they bought it, saying it was just for her.
It seemed she was sad that it was now completely ruined.
"I'll buy you an even prettier one."
After soothing her by patting her head, he entered a deserted alley.
"The wounds aren't deep, so they'll heal quickly."
Elria, who had gone into the Star's Workshop, brought out various potions and medical supplies.
Jinhyuk took them and began carefully tending to Momo, stitch by stitch.
He applied the potion to her wounds and stuck on band-aids.
"Phew, all done."
He wiped the sweat from his brow.
He'd broken a sweat doing something he wasn't used to.
Jinhyuk, who had been staring at Momo, scratched his head.
"Sorry, Momo. It looks more painful now."
Perhaps because they were applied so crookedly and messily, her condition looked worse than before treatment.
"Looks like I got hurt a lot, sir."
"Our Master lacks skill with his hands, it seems."
Jinhyuk knew it too.
That his hands weren't very deft.
But what could he do?
His friends were each far beyond the ordinary.
Since their daily routine was to erase enemies before getting hurt, none of them knew how to do this kind of treatment.
'I hope the next friend is a healer.'
The current party was far too combat-oriented.
Since unexpected situations like this could occur, having a healer type would be very reassuring.
Leaning against the alley wall, Jinhyuk sat Momo on his lap.
"What happened, Momo?"
"The street was pretty, so I was just walking around exploring, and some lady and man called Momo."
"They really called you? People usually have a hard time finding you because of your Presence Suppression, Momo."
"Yes. But the lady's eyes were super sparkly. She found Momo easier than other people with that."
Momo's presence was almost at air-level due to her Presence Suppression.
That didn't mean her form was completely hidden, though.
Once someone recognized her, whether intentionally or by chance, Momo's Presence Suppression lost its effectiveness.
"So you went, and then what?"
"The man stretched his hand out. And then it went boom and exploded."
It was most likely a class skill.
Since it wasn't a physical bomb, Kancho hadn't been able to detect it in advance.
"Hmm."
Jinhyuk let out a low hum.
Momo wasn't just unlucky enough to be caught in an explosion.
It was clear someone had targeted Momo, approached her, and set off the blast.
"So I released my Manifestation right away. But if I appeared right next to my Master, someone might see, so I manifested in this alley! Momo did good, right!"
"Momo is smart, as expected."
"What part of Momo being smart!!!"
Momo puffed out her chest proudly, as if she'd never been downcast.
Finding that cute, Elria, who had joined them, roughly patted Momo.
"Kancho, how is it? Can you catch the scent?"
Kancho, the captain of the Yodleranger squad and an expert in explosions.
Kancho's senses skyrocketed in sensitivity the moment explosions were involved.
With these senses, he had easily discovered dozens of bombs on the New Calypso.
After checking the scent on Momo and sniffing a few times, Kancho turned his head.
"Found it, sir."
"Go after them."
"Should I blow them up right away, sir!? They hurt our little item-collector Momo, so we should turn them to dust, sir!"
"Item-collector sounds cool! Momo is an item-collector!"
Momo smiled brightly without knowing the meaning.
Jinhyuk chuckled briefly and turned his head in the direction Kancho's eyes were fixed.
Momo's wounds weren't deep.
And her mood seemed to have improved.
But he had no intention of letting this slide.
'How dare they touch our cutie Momo.'
He was going to make them properly regret laying a hand on his friend.
"Just follow them for now. There must be someone who gave this order. Let's turn them all to dust."
"As expected of the Commander, sir! Roger! Yodleranger Squad Captain Kancho! Deploying, sir!"
Kancho, now stealthy, dododododo ran off toward the explosion site.
Jinhyuk let out a quiet sigh and looked at Momo.
It was unlikely Momo had done anything to earn someone's grudge, so only one possibility remained.
Someone targeting Jinhyuk, for reasons unknown, had chosen Momo as their first target.
Two likely candidates came to mind.
Hosaka, whom they'd recently clashed with, and Vesta, whom they'd wiped out on the New Calypso.
In the former case, he had his doubts.
No matter what happened at the exchange meeting, the Hosaka were one of Japan's representative families.
An explosion in the heart of Kyoto, of all places?
It was an action he couldn't consider rational at all.
The latter possibility, where remnants of Genex—though being pursued and eliminated, not yet fully wiped out—were involved, seemed more likely.
"Let's head to the inn for now."
After putting Momo on his back, he left the alley.
Whether it was the former, the latter, or a third party,
it wouldn't take long for them to surface.
After all, the one following them was none other than Yodleranger Squad Captain Kancho.
Sannomiya, Kobe, Japan.
A man got out of a car and entered an old traditional house.
The headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza organization representing Kobe.
Men with menacing looks, lined up in rows, all bowed in unison.
"Anagi-san! You've worked hard!"
"You've worked hard!"
Anagi, the fixer of the Yamaguchi-gumi, waved his hand dismissively.
Shortly after, Nishida, Anagi's partner, entered through the gate.
The yakuza bowed to Nishi as well, just as they had done before.
"Ugh, gloomy, so gloomy. Really, can't we do something about that thug-like greeting?"
Nishi let out a deep sigh and walked over to Anagi's side.
Walking side by side into the inner courtyard, an old man on the veranda raised his hand.
This time, Anagi and Nishi bowed their heads deeply.
"I've received the work report. You handled it very well."
"Yes. You told us not to touch the target, so we just sent the kid nearby on their way and returned."
Togan, the boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi, wore a satisfied expression.
The two men, who had never failed a single mission in their long careers,
once again did not disappoint.
"Tsk tsk, that kid had it rough too. Picking the wrong friend and suffering such a nasty fate."
Togan clicked his tongue and sipped his tea.
Even for yakuza, they usually avoided targeting children, but...
the client this time was such a big shot that there was no way to refuse.
The request was to erase people around the target first, as painfully as possible.
"The Hosaka must be really angry this time. Didn't they refrain from such requests after growing in size?"
"They did. Because they had more to lose."
Togan raised the corner of his mouth and pulled out a photo from his pocket.
The main target sent by the Hosaka: Yoo Jinhyuk.
Why Hosaka Judo was targeting this young man out of the blue was unknown.
But for this young man, he had truly stepped in something nasty.
Hosaka Judo, the chairman of Ronia and the patriarch of the family.
Togan knew what kind of man Judo was better than anyone.
A cold-blooded man who would remove any obstacle in his path by any means necessary.
As evident in this request, Judo made no distinction between men, women, or children.
Black and white, ally and enemy.
If he judged they needed to be erased, no matter who they were, he would gift them the most horrific end.
"Did you find the target's home? I heard he wanted it blown up before killing him."
"We're inquiring, but it might take some time. Whoever did it..."
"Wait!"
Nishi, who had cut off Anagi, raised her head.
In an instant, Nishi leaped up onto the roof of the house.
"What is it?"
Anagi, who had followed her, looked around.
The empty roof.
After meticulously checking every spot, Nishi furrowed her brow.
"Something was peeking from the roof."
"What?"
That was impossible.
The security level of the Yamaguchi-gumi house was stronger than any other yakuza organization.
Not only did hundreds of yakuza live there guarding it at all times, but it was also loaded with alarms and detection devices.
Even Anagi, who frequented this place, didn't know the locations of all the traps. For an intruder to have broken through and gotten in...
"Something? Explain properly. A child? Or what?"
"That's the hard part."
Nishi scratched her head.
The thing that had been peeking out had fluffy, bushy fur.
It was so small in size, it reminded her of the badger tower resident she'd seen in the lower floors of the Tower of Despair.
"Judging by its blurry form, it probably has a stealth skill or equipment with a similar option."
She didn't bother saying that she hadn't sensed its presence at all until she accidentally saw it with her eyes.
Because the senior before her, Anagi, hadn't sensed it either.
"Tch."
Anagi clicked his tongue.
If it was on the roof, that was right above where Togan had been sitting, and where he himself had been standing.
An unidentified creature had crawled all the way there, and he hadn't detected even the slightest presence.
How was this possible?
"Huh?"
Anagi, who had spotted something, bent down.
A single small footprint pressed into the roof tile.
He thought he understood why Nishi said it was hard to explain.
'A shape-shifting ability into an animal?'
In this world, nothing was strange, no matter what happened or what appeared.
It was reasonable to assume a rival organization had sent a skilled individual for intelligence gathering.
"Nishi. Notify all branch offices. Raise the alert level and tell them to stay vigilant for the next two or three days."
If they weren't planning to throw their lives away, they wouldn't storm the main base in Kobe.
For now, warning the comparatively less guarded branch offices was the right move.
Anagi, grinding his molars, glared at the mark left below.
Whoever it was, they would come to regret it.
Daring to mess with the Yamaguchi-gumi.
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T/N:
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