Chapter 278

The beautiful two-story house had been transformed into a haunted ruin.

If the dozens of layers of defensive barriers hadn’t absorbed part of the Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist’s impact, the entire place would have been reduced to ash.

Just then, I sensed someone approaching from behind, and a quiet voice sounded in my ear.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

I had been sitting on a half-charred sofa. Turning my head, I answered,

“Yes.”

Team Leader Choi, Butler Kim, and Song Song stood there.

Their expressions were complicated as they looked at me. Considering they had seen the bodies strewn miserably across the garden, it was only natural.

My appearance—completely drenched in blood—probably wasn’t particularly pleasant to look at, either.

Song Song carefully asked,

“Did you… kill all of them?”

“Yeah.”

“……!”

“I’m kidding. I spared the ones who surrendered.”

I added one gentle word.

“For now.”

I had answered Song Song, but my words were also directed at Team Leader Choi and Butler Kim.

Team Leader Choi asked with concern,

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“What about the survivors?”

“I gathered them in one place.”

“Without taking any other measures?”

“Of course I did. For the next few hours, they’ll be no different from corpses that can still breathe, so don’t worry.”

The personal measure I had taken was a Pressure-Point Strike.

After striking their Mute Acupoints, Paralysis Acupoints, and Sleep Acupoints, I had stacked the Black Hunters neatly inside the only room left standing.

I had used force to subdue them, but I wasn’t some blood-crazed murderer who intended to kill even those who surrendered.

More importantly, they might prove useful later.

“You did well. But…”

Team Leader Choi’s gaze shifted toward someone collapsed at my feet.

“Who is that?”

“The owner of this house.”

I turned the man over with my foot, revealing a man in his forties.

The homeowner and leader of the Black Hunters: Im Yeongjun.

His entire body was so covered in blood that he could easily have been mistaken for a corpse, but he was definitely alive. What was more, he didn’t have a single wound left on him.

Butler Kim examined him and muttered as though he already knew the answer.

“You used potions. Repeatedly, too.”

“Yes.”

“Did you torture him?”

“You have sharp eyes.”

“It was common during the Great Cataclysm. There were plenty of people worse than Black Hunters.”

Song Song’s expression darkened at the word torture. But soon, she let out a faint sigh and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“You worked hard.”

Feeling repulsed was only natural. Even I, who was accustomed to the ways of Murim, didn’t feel comfortable about it.

But Im Yeongjun had been far more tight-lipped than I had expected. Ordinary threats would never have been enough to make him talk.

“They aren’t ordinary opponents. Someone had to do it.”

“If you hadn’t done it, Hunter Jin Taekyung, I would have. Don’t take it too much to heart.”

Team Leader Choi and Butler Kim each added a word.

They were right. Just as they had said, it was something someone had to do. My hands were already stained with blood. There was no reason to hesitate over torture now.

I shook my head to clear away my troubled thoughts, then opened my mouth.

“There’s no physical evidence. Apparently, the moment I broke in and the alarm magic went off, they deleted all the relevant information.”

“All of it?”

“Yes. There weren’t even any computers in the house. Only two people, including Im Yeongjun, had cell phones. Even those were burner phones with no identifiable source.”

I showed them the remains of the cell phone I had collected beforehand.

Even someone as hopeless with this sort of thing as me could tell that recovery was impossible. Every component had been crushed, and they had burned the SD card, too.

Team Leader Choi clicked his tongue when he saw the wreckage.

“Thorough. At this point, there’s no way any documents would have been left behind.”

“Exactly.”

“What about the other Black Hunters?”

“Ten survived, but not one of them knows anything. The one who seemed to be their deputy was killed by me. Im Yeongjun recruited and trained every person who was here.”

From what I had gathered, they operated as a thoroughly compartmentalized organization.

Everything involving the Black Hunters, from laundering their identities to paying them, had been handled through Im Yeongjun.

“At least Im Yeongjun survived. What did he say?”

“That…”

I suddenly stopped speaking.

The one sentence he had screamed like a howl after experiencing Tendon-Splitting and Bone-Twisting three times still echoed in my ears.

“M-Myeongdong Guild! I said Myeongdong Guild!”

A major Guild that might not rank among the top ten in the country, but could easily be counted among the top twenty. And…

Jihoon.

It was also the Guild where an old friend I had met again recently belonged.

After thinking it over, I opened my mouth again.

“Could you give me a little time?”

“……?”

“There’s something I need to check personally.”

Team Leader Choi stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

“We’ll clean up the scene first. Check it and let us know.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s get started right away.”

At Team Leader Choi’s words, Butler Kim swung the staff he had been using like a cane.

The tightly closed door opened, and the ten Black Hunters whose acupoints had been struck floated into the air one after another before leaving the house.

Im Yeongjun was among them, of course.

“Everyone, stand back.”

After giving the warning in a low voice, Butler Kim began reciting an incantation.

As mana surged, enormous flames swallowed the two-story house that had barely managed to keep its shape.

The fire swept through the garden and would not stop until it erased everything.

Fwoooosh!

A cloud of acrid smoke rose along with the flames.

Yet the peace of the quiet rural village where the mansion stood remained undisturbed.

The mansion’s magic blocked all sight and sound. It would only be discovered much later.

“Will this do?”

“This is more than enough. Even if we didn’t, they would step in and erase this place themselves.”

People had disappeared overnight, and a house had burned down. But that was all.

The villagers would talk about it for a while, but nothing would happen.

That was how monsters with power and authority operated.

But there was only one thing I wanted to know.

Garam Middle School Classmate Park Jihoon

Which side did the owner of the number saved in my phone actually belong to?

It was still dawn, with the darkness not yet fully gone, when Park Jihoon got dressed and left his house.

A limousine driver in formal uniform was waiting at the entrance.

“You’re here, sir.”

“What’s going on? Why are you picking me up all of a sudden at this hour?”

“I’m not sure, sir. The Guild Master merely instructed me to come to your home and pick you up.”

Fair enough. What would a mere driver know?

Park Jihoon clicked his tongue softly and got into the car. Perhaps because it was still so early, the roads were empty.

After some time, the smoothly moving limousine stopped somewhere in Hannam-dong, where luxury apartments and villas stood in rows.

A massive mansion.

One of the guards stationed along the stone wall ran over and bowed to Park Jihoon.

“He’s waiting inside.”

Park Jihoon passed through the iron gates that reminded him of a European nobleman’s estate, then crossed a garden wider than an athletic field before finally meeting the person who had summoned him.

“Have you eaten breakfast?”

He was a man in his fifties with half-gray hair. Despite his age, he had an imposing build, and well-developed chest muscles were visible beneath his white robe.

Park Jihoon bowed his head and answered,

“Not yet.”

“Then come and eat. The beef-and-radish soup turned out very well today.”

It was only six in the morning. There was no reason to welcome a meal at this hour, especially after being woken from sleep.

Nevertheless, Park Jihoon picked up his spoon without complaint after offering his thanks.

“Won’t you eat, Guild Master?”

“I’ve already eaten. Don’t mind me and finish your meal.”

The man answered casually and unfolded a newspaper.

It was today’s morning edition.

On the front page was a photograph of a middle-aged man in a suit, bowing his head with a solemn expression.

Park Tae Seop, Guild Master of Myeongdong Guild, visits the wake of the late Hunter Jung Hyunwoo. “I can only feel grief. I bow my head and apologize to the bereaved family.”

Only then did Park Jihoon understand why he had been summoned.

The old geezer’s pissed.

The man who looked exactly like the middle-aged man in the photograph asked without taking his eyes off the newspaper,

“How’s the picture? Did I come out well?”

“Yes. You’re naturally handsome.”

“That’s your problem. No matter what you say, it always sounds like lip service.”

“I’m sincere.”

At the unhesitating answer, the middle-aged man—Park Tae Seop, Guild Master of Myeongdong Guild—raised his eyebrows.

It was a sign that his patience had run out.

“Jung Hyunwoo. Why did you kill him?”

Here it came.

Park Jihoon quietly set down his spoon and answered,

“I caught a whiff.”

“Then you should have stopped at covering your nose.”

“That was Myeongdong Guild’s role. Mine is twisting the necks of people who catch a whiff of something rotten before they start blabbing about it somewhere.”

“Without my permission?”

“Do I need permission, too?”

Bang!

Park Tae Seop slammed his fist into the dining table. With a splintering crack, the table broke apart, sending glass and food flying in every direction.

“Guild Master!”

The guards who came running were met by a furious shout.

“All of you, get the hell out! Don’t take a single step inside until I give you permission!”

“……!”

The guards froze for a moment, then bowed and withdrew.

Park Jihoon calmly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the soup splashed across his face.

“What a shame. It was delicious.”

“How dare a brat who still smells of his mother’s milk…”

“We both stink of something rotten anyway. A little milk on top won’t make any difference.”

“I built this Guild with my own blood. And some little shit like you kills a Guild member without even saying a word?”

“Come on, Guild Master.”

Park Jihoon’s smooth brow, still free of wrinkles, furrowed.

The handkerchief in his hand dropped onto the shattered remains of the table.

“What else was I supposed to do?”

“What did you say?”

“Don’t you know how troublesome it gets if the people who catch a whiff of something start opening their mouths? One spark, and the whole house goes up in flames. If it were only your own house burning, I wouldn’t have anything to say. But the fire spreads to our side too, so I stepped in.”

“Even so, you—!”

“And I’d appreciate it if you would state things accurately. A war hero who fought and bled during the Great Cataclysm? I’ll give you that. But insisting that Myeongdong Guild is your personal Guild is a bit…”

Park Jihoon let out a short laugh and rose from his seat.

“Thank you for breakfast. Though I barely got a few spoonfuls.”

Park Tae Seop trembled as he watched him, then opened his mouth.

“Sit down.”

“If you have anything else to say, call me. If you keep this up, I’m going to lose my respect for a great senior like you.”

“I said sit down.”

The air around them began to churn violently.

Park Tae Seop, the Guild Master of Myeongdong Guild, was a hero born from the Great Cataclysm and one of the top rankers in the country.

But Park Jihoon knew that he couldn’t lay a hand on him.

“I’ll see you next time.”

He bowed politely and turned away.

That was when Park Tae Seop spoke again.

“Because of the sparks you caused, the whole house is about to burn down. You didn’t know that?”

“What are you talking about? I handled Team Leader Jung’s matter so thoroughly that there wouldn’t be any loose talk.”

“Those Black Hunters. I heard they recently messed with a D-rank Hunter from the Peace Guild?”

Park Jihoon’s face hardened.

He instinctively realized that a serious problem had arisen.

“……What is it? What happened?”

At that moment, the phone in Park Jihoon’s coat pocket began to vibrate.

As though possessed, he pulled it out and stared at the name filling the screen, his eyes darkening.

Jin Taekyung