Chapter 33

The article reported that Onwol had newly released an enhanced version of Embertic.

“What did you say? Onwol enhanced Embertic and re-released it?”

“Yes… According to actual product reviews, the effects are significantly better than before.”

“How is that even possible? Damn it, how did they upgrade it already!!”

It was enough to drive anyone mad.

The original Embertic was a doping agent slightly less effective than Filester.

That was expected.

No matter how advanced a company’s technology was, perfectly replicating something without the recipe had its limits.

But Embertic mk.2 was different.

It was more effective than the initially released Embertic.

It was a re-released product enhanced from the original, so naturally so.

The problem was that it surpassed Filester.

“How can a mere replica surpass the original!!”

Indeed.

Embertic was, strictly speaking, a replica of Filester.

Haind had planned a counter-strategy using this very fact.

It was self-evident that Filester would be more effective.

But with the release of Embertic mk.2, the situation reversed.

The only drawback—that it was less effective than Filester—had vanished.

Consumers who had been split between the two would now flock to Onwol’s Embertic.

And the bad news didn’t end there.

The transport routes that had been reinforced with additional personnel and security after the previous attack—one of them had been hit again.

As a result, Haind’s stock price, which had barely been recovering, completely collapsed.

* * *

Embertic mk.2, newly released by the pharmaceutical company Onwol.

The reason they could bring out an enhanced version of the existing Embertic so quickly was thanks to a single package.

“What’s this…?”

The person in charge received a package identical to the previous one.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been suspicious, but this time was slightly different.

This time, it bore Onwol’s logo rather than their competitor Haind’s.

‘Could it be…?’

The person in charge’s mind flashed.

The same method as before, similar contents.

It was something that gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

“Take this potion directly to the research lab and request a component analysis.”

“Understood.”

The person in charge didn’t dawdle like last time.

After a quick check for hazardous materials, he sent it straight to the lab.

Since it had been delivered to the company, testing was mandatory anyway.

If any problems arose, it would all fall on his shoulders.

But the potion, once its component analysis was complete, turned out to be something beyond everyone’s expectations.

“Huh? This potion is a more enhanced doping agent than the Embertic we already released!”

“What? Is that true?”

“Yes! It’s genuine!”

Onwol was abuzz with the results of the component analysis.

They had already replicated the Filester they received last time and profited greatly from it.

Even if its performance fell short of the original, Embertic was still a quality doping agent.

But now an enhanced version of Embertic had appeared.

Naturally, this was a potion that Siyoon had Enhanced through Enhancement.

It was a dagger aimed at inflicting further damage on Haind.

But Onwol, completely unaware of this, marveled at it.

Replicating it as-is would naturally make Embertic superior to Filester.

“Replicate it immediately! And flood the market the moment replication is complete!”

Onwol didn’t hesitate.

They ordered the enhanced Embertic to be replicated swiftly.

With the combined efforts of their replication ability user and the pharmaceutical company’s technology, Embertic was replicated in record time.

Of course, it was true that some performance was lost during the replication process.

But it didn’t matter.

Even with diminished performance, it still held an edge over Filester.

Thus, Onwol advertised and released the enhanced Embertic.

It was only natural that Haind was up in arms once again.

And so unfolded this chain of events.

* * *

The news traveled all the way to the top.

And upon hearing it, Haind’s president, Seo Jinhwan, was furious.

‘Of all places, why did something go wrong with Haind?’

Having entered middle age, he was both a hunter and an affiliate of a major conglomerate^[1].

With so many businesses under his management, he rarely showed his face.

But the pharmaceutical company Haind was one of the enterprises he cherished.

Seo Jinhwan’s face contorted as he reviewed the series of incidents and the holographic news articles projected before him.

“You couldn’t resolve a single incident and let it escalate into this?”

“…I apologize. I never imagined things would spiral this far out of control.”

“That’s what people call complacency.”

At Seo Jinhwan’s words, the secretary bowed his head deeply.

Unable to utter a word, his body trembled.

Kugugugugu…

The reason was the aura emanating from Seo Jinhwan.

A killing intent he had naturally acquired while crossing the line between life and death.

“Annoying.”

Eudeuk.

The armrest of the chair he gripped casually crumbled to pieces.

He was so displeased that he couldn’t even contain the aura he normally kept suppressed.

Haind was a company he had founded in its early days and grown into a mid-sized enterprise.

The very notion that their new drug had been leaked was absurd.

But the fact that a single incident could shake the company irritated him even further.

‘Something is wrong.’

Seo Jinhwan thought.

Though enraged, he was clearly the head of a corporation.

He was a man who knew how to assess the situation.

The current circumstances were clearly abnormal.

For starters, the new drug being leaked in the first place made no sense.

Haind preferred to obtain real-world data for their new drugs.

That was why they deliberately leaked them.

And they had always conducted experiments by eliminating all related witnesses.

If they had followed this exact structure, there should have been no leak whatsoever.

‘…Could there have been a Filester we failed to retrieve?’

It was plausible.

If so, it would also explain how the new drug ended up with Onwol.

Having grasped the thread, Seo Jinhwan immediately issued an order.

“Bring me the commission records from the operations we conducted to obtain Filester’s data.”

“Understood.”

The secretary rushed off, still trembling.

Despite his haggard appearance, the investigation was remarkably swift.

Within ten minutes, the secretary returned with documents.

“These are the commission records for Filester tests conducted over the past few months.”

Seo Jinhwan picked up the documents organized by date.

The ones at the front didn’t need reviewing.

They were all stamped as completed.

Then, Seo Jinhwan’s gaze stopped on one particular document.

“It’s this one. His rank was so low that we failed to spot him initially.”

Several months ago, Filester had been leaked to a D-Rank hunter.

A hunter hired to handle the situation.

The document bore the name Lee Siyoon.

He scrutinized the document carefully.

Rationally, it was hard to believe someone like this would dare target a corporation.

But for some reason.

The more he looked, the more certain he became that it was this man.

‘The agency that handled the commission was Min Seolah. But she died in an attack several months ago.’

He had known about the death of a fairly prominent agency figure.

He had dismissed it since there was no particular connection.

But thinking about it now, it was full of inconsistencies.

‘The records say he died in an explosion along with the assassins Min Seolah sent. But Min Seolah died approximately two weeks later.’

It was starting to make sense.

Lee Siyoon must have known that Min Seolah sent assassins after him.

That was why he didn’t reveal himself immediately and went into hiding.

To make them believe he had been caught in the explosion and killed.

And then he seized the opportunity for revenge and killed Min Seolah.

Figuring out that Haind was behind it would have been easy.

They hadn’t bothered to hide the client since they intended to kill him anyway.

‘I let my guard down.’

Ppadeuk.

The moment certainty took hold, fury surged up from his gut.

To think someone would dare try to ruin Haind, a company he treasured.

“This is an order. Find Lee Siyoon immediately. And bring him to me alive.”

“Understood.”

“Feel free to place a bounty on the black market. By any means necessary, don’t kill him—bring him to me. I will personally extract the price for attacking Haind.”

Udeudeudeuk.

Simultaneously, the chair’s armrest was ground completely to dust.

It crumbled, unable to withstand his strength and killing intent.

The secretary left the room without asking further questions, head bowed.

It was the moment Haind officially began its pursuit of Siyoon.

* * *

Swaaraaa.

As the seasons transitioned from spring to summer.

A torrential rain had begun pouring from the sky without warning.

Siyoon had already handed the enhanced Embertic over to Onwol.

As a result, Haind’s stock price had collapsed once more, plummeting further.

It was a satisfactory outcome, but Siyoon had no intention of stopping here.

This was merely the beginning of his revenge.

This much was not enough.

Haind had been brought to its knees by Onwol, but it hadn’t fallen.

Siyoon intended to bring Haind down completely.

‘Just as I’ve been doing, I’ll gnaw away at them while they’re reeling.’

Attacking Haind’s transport trucks had proven highly effective.

That alone caused problems across everything connected to it—potion production, finances, distribution.

Because of this, he planned to keep tormenting them within the limits of avoiding detection.

Gnawing and gnawing away would eventually expose an opening.

‘That’s when I’ll destroy Haind completely.’

That was the plan he was advancing toward.

Which meant he needed to think of the next step.

He was deep in thought when it happened.

Osak.

A chilling premonition ran through him.

His enhanced body and sharpened senses bristled to their limits.

Siyoon rolled to the side reflexively.

Tukwakwakwak!

Hundreds of bullets rained down on the spot where Siyoon had been standing just moments ago.

An ambush.

‘Where?’

The instant he realized this, he scanned his surroundings.

Beyond the rain-slicked signboards, dozens of laser pointers glowed faintly.

There was no need to look further.

Siyoon broke into a sprint.

Tududududu!!

Through the pouring rain, bullets flew in sheets.

Siyoon leaned his body forward.

Hwiiik.

The wind coiling around his hands tangled and twisted the bullets that had been fired first.

The bullets following behind were blocked, their trajectories veering off or dissipating entirely.

It was wind manipulation using the Wind of Horus.

‘Damn it.’

Siyoon cursed as he watched the men pursuing him from afar.

‘Haind finally caught my scent.’

In the dark, damp air, through the faint mist, their figures were clearly visible.

Helmets with a jet-black sheen and opaque goggles.

Along with outfits that projected a personality entirely opposite to his own.

Siyoon realized they were hunters sent by Haind.

It wasn’t difficult to identify them.

Their weapons varied rather than being standardized.

Additionally, the helmets were likely issued equipment.

A small Haind corporate logo was embedded on them.

He had been prepared for this situation for a long time.

But he never expected them to come charging in this recklessly.

“He’s over there! Get him!”

Tatatatatatang!!

In the brief moment he took his eyes off them, another volley of bullets was fired simultaneously.

A flawless hail of gunfire that made him want to curse.

Instead of manipulating the wind, Siyoon ducked behind a car right next to him.

Deflecting that many bullets like before was impossible.

Dodging was far wiser.

Tututututuut!

The sound of bullets embedding into the car was gruesomely visceral.

The gunfire showed no sign of stopping—they clearly intended to blow it up.

Siyoon kept his body low and sprinted toward the next cover.

At that same moment, the car exploded, a vivid crimson flame erupting upward.

‘Sure enough, hitting their distribution route last was the trigger.’

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