Chapter 275

You’re naive.

That one sentence I’d heard the day before wouldn’t leave my mind.

I sat in the caregiver’s chair beside the bed, staring blankly at the humidifier spraying mist. Then a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I said it aloud.

“No. It wasn’t naivety.”

Murim was a world that lived up to the phrase a mountain of sabers and a forest of swords.

Bloodshed was commonplace, and death was part of daily life. Might made right, and whoever survived was the winner.

Whenever I witnessed Murim’s cruelty, I thought of the modern world.

An organized welfare system and laws. People’s sense of ethics. A civilization incomparably more advanced than Murim.

But I had been wrong.

“It wasn’t that I was naive. I was just stupid.”

Murim people wore swords at their waists, but modern people hid daggers up their sleeves.

Monsters weren’t confined to Gates. They existed outside them, too.

People wrapped in expensive clothes and wholesome public images who ruled over the concrete jungle. The moment those bastards began drawing the daggers hidden in their sleeves, they revealed themselves as the monsters outside the Gates.

Like Won Myunghoon.

I’d been too soft in my thinking. Even though I knew the world was unfair and fucked-up, I hadn’t been able to let go of my complacency.

This is the modern world. A democratic society in the twenty-first century.

There might be a vicious struggle to prove one’s abilities, but I’d believed something like this could never happen here.

And this is what that got me.

I stared at Im Kkeokjeong sleeping on the bed. Both arms, severed below the elbows, had been treated with recovery magic from a high-ranking healer and advanced potions.

He probably wouldn’t have much trouble with daily life, but there was no guarantee he could return as a Hunter. Potions weren’t a cure-all.

Which bastard was behind this?

Various thoughts swam through my cold mind.

Who had sent the Black Hunter, and why? What were they after?

Cutting off Im Kkeokjeong’s arms could have been a warning to stop here. Or it could have been the opening shot.

I’ll find out what they meant soon enough.

Until then, I had no intention of sitting around and waiting.

Neither did Team Leader Choi.

“Get some rest, Uncle.”

I had just pulled the rumpled blanket over Im Kkeokjeong when—

Bzzzz.

A vibration broke the silence, and my smartphone lit up the darkness.

A short text message from Team Leader Choi.

Team Leader Choi: Come to the Guild House.

I left the hospital as soon as I read the message. It was the dead of night, and two people were waiting for me at the Guild House after everyone else had gone home.

“Ah, Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

“Welcome.”

Team Leader Choi and Song Song.

Butler Kim, whom I’d naturally expected to be there, was nowhere to be seen.

Team Leader Choi noticed my gaze and spoke first.

“He stepped out for a moment.”

“Really?”

It was unusual for Butler Kim to leave Team Leader Choi’s side when he usually followed him like a shadow, but that wasn’t important right now.

I got straight to the point.

“What happened?”

“I should offer you a cup of coffee before I explain, but… take a look at this first.”

Instead of a coffee cup, Team Leader Choi held out his smartphone. The screen displayed the country’s largest online portal.

His long finger tapped an internet article, and a stream of articles divided into different categories appeared.

Among them, I skimmed the article at the very top.

[The Judiciary Bows Before the Fame the Public Has Created. Where Is the Fairness?]

[United Party Supreme Council Member Assemblywoman Yoon Seoyoon: “A Death Brought About by One Individual’s Rash Actions. Won Myunghoon Should Have Faced the Judgment of the Law.” Strong Condemnation…]

[Self-Defense or Murder?]

The articles dominated the politics and society sections. They didn’t mention my name, but it was obvious who they were talking about.

“When was this posted?”

“An hour ago. And it already has over a hundred thousand views and more than five thousand comments.”

“An hour ago? That would’ve been around four in the morning.”

“Apparently, netizens are more diligent than we thought. Or perhaps I should say the paid commenters are.”

“Interesting.”

Team Leader Choi took a sip of coffee that had gone as cold as the smile on my lips.

“There’s an even more interesting article.”

“More interesting than this?”

“Scroll down a little. It’ll be more than you expected, Taekyung.”

He was right. My finger stopped moving before I realized it.

I stared silently at the bold headline.

[Exclusive Preview of Interview with Former Colleague K: “Famous Hunter J Is a Vile Human Being.”]

When I tapped the article, a preview video of an interview lasting just over three minutes appeared. After a fifteen-second advertisement for a cosmetics brand, the screen filled with the image of a potbellied man in a sharp suit.

His face had been lightly pixelated, but I recognized him at a glance.

“Ha.”

The moment I realized who the middle-aged man—or rather, “former colleague K”—was, a hollow laugh escaped me.

That face was all too familiar. Someone I’d thought I would never see again was right there on the screen.

“I didn’t expect to see him again like this.”

Song Song, looking at the phone over my shoulder, asked, “You really know him?”

“Of course. How could I not?”

“If things were bad enough for him to give this shitty interview, you obviously didn’t get along.”

“No.”

“Then were you close?”

“It’s not that…”

What word could describe the relationship between that man and me? I thought about it for a moment before answering.

“It was fucking awful.”

“Oh.”

No matter how I thought about it, those words fit perfectly.

Our relationship had been that terrible. Considering everything we had been through together, it was almost strange that we had never crossed blades.

I stared at the face that had somehow grown even fatter since the last time I’d seen him.

Mr. Common Sense. Long time no see.

Kim Sangshik, Team Leader of the Sopung Guild.

Back when I was an F-Grade Hunter, he had been the one who goaded the Guild Master into firing me.

The last time I’d seen him was when I ran into him at the Association while getting my Grade reassessed. And now, here he was again.

I heard he got fired from the Guild afterward.

Kim Sangshik was short on ability and overflowing with greed. Despite his name, he was short on common sense, too. He’d gone around doing every idiotic thing imaginable until the Guild finally fired him.

He was the very definition of a petty little man, so there was no doubt he’d been grinding his teeth at the thought of me ever since.

That was probably why he had even filmed an interview like this.

Let’s hear what kind of bullshit he’s spouting.

Right on cue, the reporter began asking questions.

“I hear you have something to say about the recently famous Hunter J. First, is it true that you were his former colleague?”

Kim Sangshik nodded with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

“That is absolutely true. I was Jin Tae… No, I was J’s direct supervisor.”

“More specifically?”

“He was on my team. I became team leader after the Gate accident two years ago. I was also the one who informed J of his dismissal this summer.”

“Oh dear. Was there a reason?”

“There wasn’t just one reason.”

Kim Sangshik then launched into an indignant tirade about why he had fired me.

Every single excuse was a gem of bullshit, but his final exchange with the reporter was the crowning touch.

“I was falsely accused of employment corruption and driven out of the Guild where I had worked for more than twenty years. But I did not fire J for personal gain.”

“Are you saying there was another reason?”

“Yes.”

There had been a reason they had released only a three-minute preview. Kim Sangshik ended it with the solemn expression of a martyr for the nation.

“During the mutated Gate accident two years ago, J threw his teammates to the monsters as prey and fled. He is the kind of man who won’t hesitate to do any ugly and dirty thing to survive…”

I couldn’t properly hear what came after that.

Even after the video ended with a caption promising that the full interview would be released soon, I continued staring silently at the screen.

As if Kim Sangshik might leap out of it if I stared long enough.

Team Leader Choi broke the heavy silence.

“What did you think?”

Ah, what did I think?

Well. I felt like I’d been clubbed in the back of the head, but part of me wanted to laugh. At the same time, something was boiling in my gut.

“Very interesting. Just like you said, Team Leader.”

“I laughed when I first saw it, too. I have a rough idea of what K—or rather, Kim Sangshik—is like. The problem is…”

“The public won’t find it very funny.”

“Exactly.”

The comments section was already on the verge of exploding.

There were more than ten thousand comments now, and I didn’t need to read them all. The most upvoted comment caught my eye.

└ (Best comment): I knew it. I heard it through the grapevine and thought, No way, but I always had a feeling this would blow up someday.

What vine? And what the hell is supposed to blow up?

I didn’t know what kind of asshole had written it, but it was a relief he wasn’t standing in front of me.

If he had been, I would have made sure that at the very least, he heard the next rumor from the overpass to the Yellow Springs.¹

“Well, I don’t think there’s any need to read more.”

I closed the comments with a hollow laugh.

Team Leader Choi took back his smartphone, loosely folded his arms, and spoke.

“This is organized. It’s clear now that they planned to send the Black Hunter from the very beginning.”

“And they’re the ones creating the hostile public opinion, too.”

“That’s how people are. Once someone starts muddying the waters in earnest, it’s hard to keep your bearings.”

“And I doubt there will be even a single line in the news about Uncle Kkeokjeong being attacked in the middle of all this.”

“You understand the situation well.”

“If I didn’t, I’d be a fucking idiot. Has the investigation team handling the case said anything?”

Team Leader Choi shook his head slightly.

“Don’t tell me they’re in on it, too.”

“There seems to be outside pressure. The CCTV footage is in the other side’s hands, too.”

“Didn’t you say there were witnesses?”

“We’ve lost contact with all three.”

That’s just fantastic.

My fist clenched without me realizing it, and my knuckles cracked.

“They’re really coming at us with a plan.”

“They seem intent on isolating you completely. The interview with Mr. Kim Sangshik is part of that.”

We weren’t dealing with some Third Rate media company that made its money selling gossip.

This was one of the country’s ten largest media outlets.

They would wrap even the most ludicrous bullshit in glossy packaging and present it as credible. Then they would use money and power to lend it even more weight.

For example… testimony from people who knew me well.

“Looks like I’ll get to see my old coworkers again. Though I guess they’ll be hard to recognize once their faces are pixelated.”

I asked Team Leader Choi, who was looking at me with an unreadable expression,

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“As I recall, Jin Taekyung had a good reputation within the Sopung Guild.”

“I got along with everyone. It was such a dinky little Guild.”

“Then why did you think that?”

“Because there’s one thing that works on everyone. This. And this.”

I brought my thumb and index finger together and wiggled them.

In the end, it all came down to cash. Money was everything.

And for Hunters who risked their lives to make money, the temptation would be even stronger.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve been stabbed in the back so many times in a row, but… these are people I spent seven years laughing and joking around with, and I still can’t trust them.”

If this had happened a few days ago, I might have naively believed in my old coworkers.

But not anymore. The world where dreams, friendship, and common sense meant anything had already vanished from my mind.

“Looking at how the article made it into the politics and society section, it seems like they greased some lawmaker’s palm, too. You think they couldn’t buy off a few low-Grade Hunters who are struggling to make ends meet?”

“…”

“It’s obvious. I’ll become the worst bastard alive and get carved up all over the internet. The image I’ve built up until now will come crashing down, and our Guild will come crashing down with it.”

Team Leader Choi, who had been wearing that strange expression the entire time, let out a quiet laugh.

“You’ve improved a little. You can think like a jaded adult now.”

“Are you taking back what you said yesterday about me being naive?”

“I’ll decide after I see what you do from here.”

“What?”

“We can’t just stand by and let them do this to us.”

As he spoke, he tapped his smartphone screen. The phone rang, and someone answered.

“I found it. The tail.”

Butler Kim’s low, smooth voice flowed through the speaker.