Chapter 231 – The Inside Story (2)

“Ugh, this is insane. Blondie, why are you so tough?”

“Hoo, haah. You’re stronger than me. But you’re way weaker than Bini-hyung and that doll fetishist.”

Karl was being pushed back by Kim Tae-yang, who was charging at him while spouting incomprehensible words.

The invisible arrow, Muyeongsi. Karl’s strength was his close-quarters combat skill, utilizing that very technique.

But even when hit by Muyeongsi, this tough guy charged like a rhino. He would inevitably counterattack and land a blow of his own.

‘If this goes wrong, I could actually lose.’

Karl was genuinely breaking out in a cold sweat.

Back when they had tried to hunt a 6-star together, he’d thought the kid was pretty good, but now he seemed like a completely different person.

His youth meant his skills were growing by leaps and bounds.

“So you’re Lee Hyunbin’s disciple.”

Thanks to Lee Hyunbin’s training, these once-unknown rookies had improved their skills remarkably.

It was a system of growth through systematic training, different from the hunters of the previous generation.

The first generation relied on the power of pure talent.

The second generation were hunters who added a process refined through experience to their pure talent.

And now, the third generation of hunters was emerging.

Innate talent, a process forged through experience, and on top of that, endless training.

“Is this the price for being lazy, believing only in my own talent?”

“What are you talking about? Shouldn’t we be wrapping this up? I can go all day.”

Karl laughed at Kim Tae-yang’s words. The kid really did have incredible stamina. To be this fine after taking quite a few of his Muyeongsi shots…

“I can’t go all day. I just don’t have the stamina for it.”

“Then you should quit smoking. You admit defeat? Scared?”

Kim Tae-yang taunted Karl, who was putting a cigarette in his mouth while complaining about his stamina. He didn’t get angry, only smiling sardonically.

“Shouldn’t you stop now? The more of a mess you make, the more trouble it’ll be for your friend Lee Hyunbin.”

Kim Tae-yang frowned at Karl’s words.

Snipers armed with anti-hunter magic bullets were taking aim at Seo Hyun-ji and Kim Tae-yang.

He had heard the news that the Guarders had recently been developing weapons to deal with Villains.

To be precise, they were for assassinating uncontrollable hunters, not Villains.

“What, you’re calling for help from the Guarders now after getting your ass kicked by your junior?”

“Taunting me won’t work. I’m not the type to obsess over winning like some sportsman. As long as I live a long, quiet life, that’s all that matters.”

Karl replied with an air of nonchalance. Kim Tae-yang scanned his surroundings. It seemed impossible to drag this out any longer.

-Hyun-ji, Tae-yang. I think you can stop now.

Just then, Kim Min-ah’s voice came through.

The Guarders on site. And the radio transmission reaching Yeomje and Karl.

“Mission complete, I repeat, mission complete.”

Following the radio transmission, Kim Min-ah’s voice reached the two of them.

-The situation is resolved….

* * *

-Don’t engage them, just get to safety for now!

I knew what she meant.

But the Union bastards had shown up here.

A talisman that absorbs human souls and converts them into magical energy.

Those things that paraded it around as if it were their own ability.

I felt as if I could see the souls trapped in their bodies, writhing in agony.

I didn’t know if I was going crazy.

And more importantly, for them to show up openly armed in another country, brazenly appearing in a restricted zone… it meant this country had already been devoured by the Union.

I dismantled the Union soldiers as if they were assembly-line toys.

Without leaving a single one.

The stench coming off these things wasn’t human.

When I kicked the helmet of a dead one, I could see sharp fangs and vertical, snake-like pupils within.

A Main wouldn’t have come here just to cosplay as a human soldier.

“No way, those people, they look like…!”

I could hear the shocked voices of the special forces members as they watched the global rankers transform by the power of the talisman.

To their eyes, it must have looked like humans were turning into monsters.

In fact, the boss monsters I saw when I first cleared dungeons were often inhabitants of other worlds.

The line between a person and a monster isn’t all that significant.

I took care of the two so-called global rankers right then and there.

They were the type of scum better off dead.

-Sir Hero, you have to run, now…!

Olivier kept nagging me. I had no intention of running away, anyway.

I turned on my phone. Then I opened the messaging app, which was flooded with a crazy number of notifications.

The Hanul Team 3 group chat was in an uproar. Acquaintances, people I knew from here and there. My messages were flooded, and news links were popping up.

I checked the news, and there was a clip of me cheerfully slicing through the Wizard Children.

The pixelation actually makes it look scarier, doesn’t it? But besides my face, everything else is blurred out. Is a video like this helpful in any way?

They’re treating me like a full-blown Villain.

The same media outlets that couldn’t praise me enough just a few hours ago had all turned against me. But in stark contrast, my acquaintances were all worried about me.

But there was something really strange here.

There were no messages from Katrinne.

<Lee Hyunbin: ?? >

Since there was no reply, I tried calling her. The call didn’t connect. Her phone was off.

Did something happen to her?

No, that couldn’t be.

“Hunter Lee Hyunbin! You are under arrest as a flagrant offender!”

More special forces troops were deployed. And around me were the corpses of the Chimera members. On top of that, the bodies of two hunters revered as heroes around the world.

“Wait a minute, this situation is…!”

“Hunter Lee Hyunbin!”

All that was here was the scene of a gruesome massacre.

A dimension travel stone.

The special protein wasn’t the only thing I could buy with points. I could also buy an item that allowed me to travel to coordinates I remembered.

In truth, very few people knew I had this ability. To be precise, just Katrinne?

In other words, if I used a dimension stone to fly to that floating island, they wouldn’t be able to find me, let alone surround me.

“Why am I only thinking of doing something so simple now?”

I muttered bitterly.

The floating island was gone.

“Hyunbin hyung!”

“Director!”

I don’t know when they arrived, but Kim Tae-yang and Seo Hyun-ji were here.

Seeing how disheveled they both looked, it seemed they’d just come from a fight somewhere.

They’d done something pointless.

I walked across the blood-soaked ground and obediently followed their instructions.

To go so far as to sacrifice even the Union’s rankers just to capture me. It was quite an honor, wasn’t it?

I spoke with a low laugh.

“Let’s go.”

“…!”

There was only one reason I hadn’t been able to deal with a situation like this.

There was no reason for them to do this. I became curious as to what they hoped to gain from such a profitless act.

“Something is wrong!”

Captain Lee Sang-cheol, who had participated in the battle, was giving his testimony.

“Why was the Union’s private military company at our operation site?”

From start to finish, it had been a suspicious mission.

Who was Lee Hyunbin, the Delivery Man?

He was the hero who had saved people without regard for his own life when a giant dragon appeared in Seoul.

And their mission was to arrest that man. He didn’t like it, but it was an order from above, and he had no choice but to follow it.

That was why he had requested Lee Hyunbin to come with them voluntarily. But Lee Hyunbin had refused.

Instead, he had bent all their gun barrels to prevent them from attacking.

Other than losing their weapons, they had suffered no harm.

“In the first place, if Hunter Lee Hyunbin was a Villain, he would have killed us all. But instead, he protected us from the Chimera people!”

There wasn’t a single shred of falsehood in his words.

When Chimera launched a one-sided attack, Seol Ji-hoon had defended, and Lee Hyunbin had wiped out the enemy.

“And those people they called rankers even transformed into monsters. There’s a high probability that the murder charge Hunter Lee Hyunbin is accused of was wrong from the start!”

The man from the investigative agency listening to Captain Lee Sang-cheol’s testimony said nothing, merely twirling a pen in his hand.

“We need to re-investigate.”

“Captain Lee Sang-cheol, your promotion review is coming up soon.”

The investigator spoke for the first time. But what he said was rather strange.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“A promotion or a disciplinary action. I’m saying you can choose one of the two.”

Watching the silent captain, the investigator continued.

“Good, that’s what I like to see. Just stay silent. It’s better to be recognized for successfully apprehending a Villain than to bear the disgrace of a failed mission where heroes from another country died right in front of you.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you calling a Villain…”

“We’re having an adult conversation here. Just stay quiet. We’ll take care of everything.”

The investigator feigned a smile. Seeing it, the special forces captain’s face twisted naturally.

“Why in the world are you doing this…!”

“Don’t be curious, and don’t talk about this matter. I told you. Keep your mouth shut. Get rewarded. Simple, right?”

With that, the investigator gathered his documents and stood up.

The documents didn’t contain a single word of the captain’s testimony.

“You wouldn’t want your newborn to grow up without a father over some petty sense of justice, would you?”

“…What?”

“Your wife is nice and pretty, too. The other squad members already get it. That with the media making such a fuss, it’s useless for you to speak up alone. We’re all adults here, we know how it works, right?”

After saying that, the investigator smiled and made a zipping motion across his lips.

The special forces captain watched him, biting his lip hard.

He was being told to play a part in burying a man who had sacrificed himself to save others.

It came with an implicit deal and a threat.

I was locked up in the Disaster Agency.

Since I was a special-grade hunter, I wasn’t in a regular prison but a high-security facility.

“Kekeke.”

The prisoner in the cell across from me laughed.

“What an honor. The famous Delivery Man, locked up in the same place as me.”

The heinous criminal said, sneering.

I must have looked ridiculous, with my arms and legs all bound in seals.

Ah, I suppose I do look ridiculous. Definitely.

“How does it feel to be locked up like me after being so high and mighty?”

“Who are you, again?”

“You don’t remember? Keh-heh. Let’s just say I’m one of the many people who hold a grudge against you.”

Ah, now I remembered.

“You’re the pathetic loser who got caught after taking a family hostage.”

“If it weren’t for you, I’d still be living freely.”

The guy looked ecstatic to see me.

“What crime did you commit? We have plenty of time, so tell me slowly. It’s really boring in here.”

Boring, my ass.

It was about time. I flexed, putting strength into my body to break the restraints.

I could feel my muscles writhing as if answering my call.

“You fool. Do you think those are ordinary restraints? They’re special restraints for Villains. A magitool. No matter how hard you struggle…”

*CRACK.*

“They can never be broken…”

*SNAP.*

“Or not.”

I broke the restraints.

Being locked up in here was my choice, after all.