Chapter 053
When Han Sang-ah arrived in Dover, she came face to face with the Descendants of Dangun who were smashing up the harbor.
"So you're that b*tch daughter of the Geumyang Group?"
That part was true, but—
"'Daughter' already implies female. There's really no need to add the word 'b*tch.'"
Calling her the Geumyang Group's btch would work just fine, and calling her the Geumyang Group's daughter would also be fine. She had no idea where on earth the word daughter-btch even came from.
Han Sang-ah drew her sword. There were five enemies facing her, and none of them looked easy. It would probably be a tough fight.
At least, that was her judgment—and in fact, the Descendants of Dangun facing her were thinking the same thing.
"…?"
But less than thirty seconds after the fight began, Han Sang-ah felt something was off. Two of the Descendants of Dangun she had been fighting already had their heads separated from their bodies.
There was no way this fight should be this easy.
"Y-you… what are you?"
The Descendants of Dangun were visibly shaken. They had thought the fight would be roughly even, or that they might even have the upper hand.
Instead, they were getting beaten senseless by a single hunter. Not Lee Se-eun or Yoo Chan-seok, who were considered priority threats, but Han Sang-ah—someone who had been relatively underestimated aside from her title as the Geumyang Group owner's daughter.
"I'm Han Sang-ah."
They hadn't been asking her name. After tossing out that flat reply, Han Sang-ah spotted an opening and lunged forward like lightning. With that charge, another Descendant of Dangun's head was launched from his body, floating through the air.
It was a precise, clean strike. The speed and power left the opponent no chance to resist, and there wasn't even the slightest waste of magical energy.
The training had paid off. Han Sang-ah could now be certain of it. Realizing that all the time she had poured into training was finally bearing fruit, she felt a faint sense of exhilaration.
After finishing off the remaining Descendants of Dangun, she took a moment to catch her breath.
"You think too much about useless things. When you fight, focus on the fight."
Yoo Chan-seok's voice came from behind her.
"How long have you been watching?"
"I just got here."
Yoo Chan-seok's expression looked complicated.
"What, got something to criticize?"
"No. You did well. I was just thinking about something else, so don't worry about it. More importantly… is that a barrier?"
Out in the waters before Dover, a shimmering, translucent blue wall had been erected. After staring at it for a moment, Yoo Chan-seok let out a small sigh.
"Yep. Comb-pattern pottery."
At his words, Han Sang-ah shot him a look. She had no idea why the term comb-pattern pottery had suddenly come up.
Seeing the barrier generator in operation, I gave it a simple evaluation: comb-pattern pottery. To be honest, it's pretty crude.
It's not that the barrier isn't sturdy. The problem is that it feels like they're compensating for poor cost-efficiency with sheer quantity.
And this isn't even something being mass-produced—it's only at the stage of initial field testing. It honestly makes my chest ache.
Unfortunately, I don't know much about magic. To use a scientific analogy, I'm a racer who drives a race car, not the person who builds one.
I can instantly tell what kind of performance the car has and how I should drive it, but tearing it apart and improving it is a completely different field.
"For now."
We succeeded in protecting the barrier generator. The assault led by Kim Ji-hyun had effectively failed the moment she died.
The Descendants of Dangun fled, and the hunters and soldiers defending Dover pursued them.
I didn't chase after them. The situation was already settling down.
"Oh, you're here?"
Lee Se-eun was perched on a chunk of broken concrete, a pipe in her hand, blowing out a thick puff of smoke. As if it were some kind of trigger, a large exterior panel that had been barely hanging from a nearby building dropped with a thud.
Exploded corpses were scattered all around.
"You handled things pretty roughly."
At my comment, Lee Se-eun replied simply.
"If they'd been a little more skilled, I might've been able to keep my appearance intact."
I agreed with that assessment. In any case, that wasn't the important part…
I was about to continue when I suddenly found myself at a loss for words. Damn it—how was I supposed to explain this?
If I told Lee Se-eun and Han Sang-ah everything I'd learned, they'd naturally ask the obvious question: How do you know all that? Then I'd have to explain the long, arduous journey I took before returning to Earth.
Explaining it wouldn't be hard. I'd just have to say it.
"Actually, I went to another world, saved that world, and came back to Earth as a reward. But Earth's a mess, and I even got fired from my job, so I decided to become a hunter."
Wow… how many people would actually believe that? Even if they treated me kindly, I'd probably just get referred for psychiatric counseling. Wouldn't anyone who believed that be an idiot?
Let's see. Back in that other world, the priests used to spout nonsense they called oracles, right? What if I tweaked some of that nonsense and reused it here?
"While I was fighting Kim Ji-hyun, I was enveloped in black smoke… and I heard a voice."
At my words, Lee Se-eun showed interest.
"A voice? What kind of voice?"
I'd just made it up, so I didn't really know myself. With that thought in mind, I hurriedly started improvising.
"Destruction is approaching. Beyond the veil cast over the darkness, know that we are there. He wears garments woven of sulfur fire and holds a black golden chalice filled with bitter wormwood juice…"
I started stringing together random nonsense. The point was simply to hint that there was something even more suspicious lurking beyond the Descendants of Dangun.
But apparently it sounded convincing enough. Then again, priests manage to rake in donations while saying this kind of nonsense all the time—there's probably a knack to it.
"Sounds like there's something going on among the Descendants of Dangun."
"We can't just dismiss them as a fringe group of extreme nationalists."
Fortunately, Han Sang-ah and Lee Se-eun understood the intent behind my story. After thinking it over, Lee Se-eun spoke up.
"I thought it'd be over if we just beat up whatever was in front of us. But this doesn't feel like a few hornets that wandered into the house—it feels like there's a hornet's nest hidden somewhere inside."
"Is there anything we can do about it?" I asked.
Lee Se-eun nodded.
"The transfer market will be opening soon."
Ah. I'd completely forgotten. I nodded at her words. The hunters' transfer market was coming up—but why bring that up now?
Lee Se-eun looked at me and continued.
"The transfer market isn't just about hunters moving from one company to another."
Representatives and famous figures from all the hunter companies gather at the Association and exchange all kinds of information.
"That means we can talk about the Descendants of Dangun too."
And if a hunter of Lee Se-eun's stature spoke up, it wouldn't be easy for the others to just ignore it.
For now, we'd just have to see how things played out. Still… the transfer market, huh.
I couldn't help thinking of my friends at Taebaek. But at this point, it would be hard for Yoon Seong-hyeon to force me into Taebaek. If you typed my name into the internet, all kinds of articles popped up now.
I was something of a public figure. If you excluded people who'd already been famous, and asked who had risen to fame the fastest over the past few months, I'd probably be the first name mentioned.
"Still, it feels like he's going to pick a fight."
Yoon Seong-hyeon's half-threatening "suggestion" was still stuck in my head. And from what I'd looked into, that wasn't just Yoon Seong-hyeon's personality—it felt like a deeply rooted trait of Taebaek as a company.
People like that don't kindly release fish that try to slip out of their hands. They think it damages their reputation.
"Of course, even when the transfer market opens, not every hunter is obligated to head to the Association. But in Yoon Seong-hyeon's case…"
Lee Se-eun continued as she cleaned her pipe.
"He'll probably come all the way to England just to see your face."
"Ah, what am I supposed to do with all this popularity?"
At my comment, Han Sang-ah—who'd been listening nearby—replied,
"Hunter Yoon Seong-hyeon is already married. And his spouse is a woman."
I put on a look of exaggerated disappointment.
"This can't be! I fell in love with Hunter Yoon Seong-hyeon at first sight!"
Han Sang-ah glanced over at Lee Se-eun. When Lee Se-eun gave a small nod, Han Sang-ah let out a quiet sigh. She'd realized she was being teased again.
"It's okay. And it's not like you've ever harmed anyone."
At Lee Se-eun's attempt at comfort, Han Sang-ah's shoulders drooped even further. It didn't seem to be helping much.
"Still, you're not the type to get scammed wherever you go."
Han Sang-ah wasn't naïve or overly trusting.
If someone came to her with a pitiful expression asking her to co-sign a loan, she wouldn't do it—she'd explain the personal bankruptcy process instead. And if someone tried to rope her into an illegal pyramid scheme, she'd calmly point out all the flaws in the business model and send them on their way.
Me? I'd probably just tell them to get lost.
"Yoon Seong-hyeon won't come alone. And it won't do Jannabi any good to clash with Taebaek."
That meant it was a problem I had to deal with on my own. I responded to Lee Se-eun's warning.
"It's fine. This is my problem anyway."
Han Sang-ah replied to that.
"If it really comes to it, we could try crushing them with the Geumyang Group."
I snorted.
"Hey, does the Geumyang Group not need hunters' cooperation?"
There were exactly three hunter companies that could openly ignore even the mighty Korean government: Jannabi, Taebaek, and Mugunghwa.
No matter how enormous the Geumyang Group was, it wouldn't want to provoke Taebaek's temperament. That didn't change even if Han Sang-ah was part of the owner family.
"I'll handle it myself, so you don't need to worry. Focus on other things."
Even if Han Sang-ah or Lee Se-eun got involved in my conflict with Taebaek, there was nothing for them to gain. Asking for help while offering nothing in return would just make me a leech.
Inside a room draped in red curtains, the heavy scent of incense filled the air. A man wearing a deep red shirt and black trousers set down the violin he'd been playing moments ago and spoke.
"Yoon Seong-hyeon. You have something to say to me."
"…I'm sorry."
As he carefully placed the violin into its case, the man lightly flicked his fingers toward Yoon Seong-hyeon, who was bowing deeply.
With a choking sound, Yoon Seong-hyeon's massive body was lifted into the air.
"That's not what I brought you here to hear."
His tone was gentle, but what was happening was anything but.
"I-I'm sorry… but he became more famous than expected—"
Thud.
With a dull impact, one of Yoon Seong-hyeon's thighs caved in as if a stake had been driven through it. His eyes flew open as he forcibly swallowed back a scream.
"I don't recall asking for excuses."
If you say you can do something, you're expected to produce results. But Yoon Seong-hyeon had failed.
"Seong-hyeon. If you can't even handle something like this properly, what do you think people will say about Taebaek? And about me, the owner of Taebaek?"
When the man released his power, Yoon Seong-hyeon collapsed to the floor.
"That's enough whining. Bring me results. If the boy has no intention of joining Taebaek, then make him belong to Taebaek even without that intention."
That was the end of it. With a casual flick of his hand, the man sent Yoon Seong-hyeon's body flying toward the door. The door opened on its own, and Yoon Seong-hyeon was flung outside, rolling across the floor.
The door slammed shut with a heavy thud.
"A-are you… all right?"
At the guard's question, Yoon Seong-hyeon pushed himself up and said,
"Get lost."
He spat out those words, then forced his barely functioning leg to move and left the area. The representative of Taebaek—the owner of Taebaek—was furious. If this matter wasn't handled properly, it wouldn't end with mere anger.
"Son of a bitch."
During this transfer period, he had to make Yoo Chan-seok, who was in England, belong to Taebaek—no matter what.