Chapter 79 – Villain Suppression (3)

Villains.

Criminals who had awakened abilities possessed physical prowess and powers that far surpassed ordinary people.

Fortunately, they were still vulnerable to bullets, which allowed special forces to conduct suppression operations.

To swiftly eliminate the orphanage villains, who had become a major social issue, elite hunters from various guilds took the lead, with the military providing support.

The Republic of Korea is a nation where firearms are strictly controlled.

Gang members carrying guns, a common sight in foreign movies, was pure fiction here. But despite these strict controls, a loophole had emerged thanks to the awakened ability known as the Inventory.

The orphanage villains were armed with guns.

It was absurd.

Common criminals wielding submachine guns.

As the hunters entered the orphanage to subdue them, the counter-terrorism unit waiting outside secured sniper positions and contacted Team Leader Lee Hyunbin.

“Hunter Lee Hyunbin. This is Alpha Team. Do we have permission to engage?”

A battle where lives would be lost was about to unfold.

But this was something they were always prepared for.

The squad members gripped their firearms, ready to provide suppressive fire at a moment’s notice.

-Just wait a moment. It’ll be over soon.

That was Hunter Lee Hyunbin’s reply.

The unit commander was baffled, wondering if he had heard correctly.

‘There are thirty villains. Ten of them are holding submachine guns, and he’s telling us to wait?’

He clearly intended to fight.

Hunters could use mystical powers due to their connection to the System, but that didn’t make them invincible.

They could be wounded by knives or killed by guns.

The villains got out of their cars and surrounded Hunter Lee Hyunbin. And one of them stepped forward.

As if preparing a ring for a one-on-one duel.

The one who came out to face Hunter Lee Hyunbin was a villain with ridiculously thick muscles.

Alias: One Punch.

A criminal with multiple convictions for beating people to death with his bare fists.

The confrontation between the two began.

The villains jeered and taunted as a tense exchange unfolded.

Or rather, it appeared to be an exchange.

After dodging a few punches, Lee Hyunbin landed a counter on One Punch.

That single blow decided the fight.

A silence fell over the villains as they watched One Punch collapse helplessly.

‘What is he planning to do?’

Hunter Lee Hyunbin drew a sword.

His blade sliced off the fallen One Punch’s arm.

“…!”

A provocation.

The act served as a trigger, and the villains raised their muzzles.

‘Dammit, this is dangerous!’

He should have just used the defeat of One Punch to intimidate them.

The unit commander raised his hand.

He was about to give the signal to move in, anticipating that Lee Hyunbin was in danger.

But he was forced to lower it almost immediately.

“Sergeant Yoon, what in the world is that?”

“……”

The special forces operative watching the situation spoke, unable to believe his eyes.

Lee Hyunbin threw a dagger.

The villain struck by it screamed, firing his submachine gun wildly into the air.

A comrade hit by a stray bullet clutched his bleeding shoulder and cursed.

The villains opened fire with their submachine guns.

*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*

Their accuracy was terrible, but the bullets from the MAC-10s, with their incredible rate of fire, continuously kicked up clouds of dust.

Hunter Lee Hyunbin moved as if he could see the bullets.

No, he was so fast they didn’t even have time to aim.

*Thwack, crack!*

“Guaaaargh!”

*Craaack!*

“My leg, aaargh!”

*Sliice!*

“Stop him! Kill him!”

The villain leader urged them on, but the tide had already turned.

The villains couldn’t bring themselves to charge at Lee Hyunbin.

“I… surren…”

“Don’t surrender. If you surrender, I can’t kill you.”

“…!”

The lucky ones lost an arm or a leg; the unlucky ones were decapitated and died instantly.

Korea’s self-defense laws are ambiguous. In fact, some clauses even favor the aggressor.

Public opinion often condemned hunters with superhuman abilities for using excessive force.

But right now, Lee Hyunbin was facing criminals armed with submachine guns all by himself.

No one could call this excessive suppression.

“Wow, is this for real? It’s like something out of a superhero movie.”

Sergeant Yoon couldn’t help but make the joke.

It really was over in an instant.

The special forces operatives were astounded, watching Lee Hyunbin fight while dodging bullets.

The remaining villains threw their submachine guns aside, dropped to their knees, and trembled.

The potent confidence their firearms had given them had crumbled before a true monster.

“Team Leader, we’re done in here… what the?”

“We’re finished too… who are all these people?”

The hunters who had gone inside to clear the orphanage came out to see the situation and were dumbfounded.

The number of villains outside was overwhelmingly greater than the number they had subdued inside.

The suppression operation ended more anticlimactically than expected.

Arrest vehicles arrived, and all the villains were bound and taken away.

One of the special forces operatives picked up his radio to get a status report.

“The other locations have been secured without any fatalities.”

“We’re probably the only team without any injuries.”

“I guess so.”

It felt a bit hollow to have nothing to do, but to have witnessed a famous hunter fight in a chaotic battle firsthand…

How should I put it? It was a real rush.

Just being part of the same operation as a man like that felt like something to brag about.

As the villains were being transported, an investigation team began to search the orphanage thoroughly.

Lee Hyunbin also asked for permission and looked around the orphanage.

On the desk of the villain leader, the director of the eastern orphanage, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

“Ugh, blargh!”

“You bastard, don’t puke in here!”

A rookie investigator who peeked into the basement room couldn’t hold back his vomit at the horrific sight inside.

It was an absurdly gruesome scene. An environment that looked like a human experimentation lab.

‘Just to create Mana Stone Bomb Humans?’

Hyunbin felt it was strange.

Of course, when a Mana Stone Bomb detonated, it could easily blow away an entire building.

The explosive power was certainly immense. In fact, Mana Stone Bomb Humans had existed in the other world as well.

But the most terrifying part was an innocent child approaching without any killing intent, only to explode like a bomb.

Above all, he couldn’t understand why they would use children to carry out such a mad scheme.

There were no documents of the kind Hyunbin was looking for inside.

A closer look might reveal some traces, but it wasn’t something he could find right away.

In Hyunbin’s mind, the images of the children sacrificed for the villains’ plot, their lives now on a timer, surfaced.

The thought of the children wasting away, not even knowing why they were dying, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Just then, a conversation caught Hyunbin’s ear.

“What’s this? What language is it?”

“We should collect it and take it to the agency… Ah, Hunter Lee Hyunbin.”

“May I take a look?”

He had a hunch.

A sealed document handed over by the investigators. It was written in a language that was, quite literally, not Korean.

‘The Continental Common Language?’

It was the language of the other world.

Secret contents within a secret document.

-…Product shipment due in early July. Necessary to paralyze state institutions for the Day of Unity, to unite the powers of the Awakeners.

The villains’ plan.

So, the plan to overthrow state institutions had been thwarted.

-…Special ability manifested in Product No. 2 from the Western Workshop.

Arrogant records treating children as products.

It dryly noted which child had which ability, and how many had died in today’s procedure.

-…10 submachine guns delivered.

-…Plan for additional equipment support delivery for the Day of Unity.

All directives in the document were issued by a single person.

‘K?’

A nickname, blatantly avoiding a real name. But something felt off.

The moment he turned to the next page.

Hyunbin couldn’t believe his eyes.

-…Detonate Mana Stone Human scheduled for disposal in Guild Town.

The beginning of this incident was the result of a child who had luckily escaped the orphanage, fighting to save his friends and expose the dangerous, illegal mana stones to the world.

Or so it should have been.

-…Disclose workshop information. Focus the attention of agencies and hunters.

His brow furrowed.

-…Minimal resistance during large-scale sweep.

The document detailed the villains’ movements up to this point.

And every single move had been made with the government’s response factored in.

From start to finish. As if perfectly scripted.

“Do you understand what it says?”

An investigator asked.

Probably because he had been staring at the document for a while.

Everything written so far had already happened.

But there was still more to the document.

Hyunbin turned the next page.

-…Occupy National Disaster Agency.

-…Announce statement of crime.

No wonder the sweep had been so easy, so simple.

A chill ran down the back of his neck.

The villains’ plan was still in progress.

No, even before that.

All the circumstances fit together perfectly. As if someone had orchestrated all of this.

No, as if they had already seen it all unfold.

It was right after that Hyunbin heard Olivier’s transmission.

-Sir Hero!

The National Disaster Agency had been taken over.

* * *

“It’s all on me, dig in!”

“Wow, Noona, you’re the best!”

“Thank you for the food, Unni!”

Karin had remained at the agency, looking after the children.

Watching the bright-eyed children tear into the heavily sauced chicken made her feel full and content.

If she said that, Ajeossi would probably scoff and say, “You, full?”

Karin’s lips curled into a smile.

“Wow, this is so good!”

It was worth emptying her debit card.

“I’m thirsty.”

“We’re out of drinks. Wait a sec.”

Karin got up from her seat to buy some soda.

“I’ll go with you, Unni.”

Iho scurried after Karin.

Iho had grown very attached to Karin, and Karin didn’t mind it one bit.

The two felt a sense of kinship.

Through an artificial mana stone awakening, Iho had gained the faint power of a priest.

A complex type, very similar to Karin’s.

Though they didn’t speak of it, they felt a deep bond just from sharing the same power.

“It’s so nice to see everyone eating and playing so well.”

Though just a child himself, Iho spoke maturely.

Despite being at an age where he should be running around and playing just like them.

“We were saved.”

Iho whispered with a bright smile.

Karin offered a faint smile.

It was difficult to offer any rash comfort. The artificially created mana stones would soon turn to poison and kill all the children.

There was no cure for it yet.

A week at the shortest. A month at the longest.

That was how much time the children had left.

“We lived only in darkness, and I thought we’d never get out. But then I saw a very faint light. In a dream.”

*Clink. Thunk.*

Iho inserted coins into the vending machine and pressed the button for a soda.

“It feels like a dream.”

To be able to walk around on his own like this.

To freely get a drink from a vending machine.

“It’s going to feel even more like a dream from now on.”

“You think so?”

“Amusement parks are super fun. There are ghosts and stuff, and trains fly through the air.”

“That sounds fun…”

“They also have Dippin’ Dots at amusement parks, you know?”

“That sounds amazing…”

“And they have, like, ginormous churros.”

“Wow…”

“And cotton candy as big as a person’s head. It looks like a cloud, and when you take a bite, it just melts in your mouth.”

“But Unni, ever since I met you, all you talk about is food…”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

Iho and Karin looked at each other and laughed.

*Step, step.*

Just then, someone was walking down the hallway.

“Mister Newbie?”

Iho, holding a bundle of drinks, spoke up.

“Huh? Who’s that?”

“Ah. He’s someone who was at my orphanage.”

“The orphanage?”

At that, Karin tilted her head.

The adults at Iho’s orphanage were connected to the organization.

That would make him a criminal.

But Iho’s reaction seemed genuinely happy to see him.

“He’s a good person. He was always nice to us.”

Karin nodded at Iho’s words.

The only kind adult in a place full of human trash.

It was no wonder Iho was so happy to see him.

‘But why is he walking around freely?’

Karin felt a flicker of suspicion.

She’d heard from Ajeossi that all the villains from the orphanage were locked up in the agency.

Even people with the slightest connection were in custody for investigation.

Yet this man who supposedly worked at the orphanage was strolling through the agency so casually.

“Ah, so this is where you were.”

The newcomer waved at Iho, looking very pleased to see him.

“Mister Newbie. You were here too?”

“Yeah. What about the others? Are the other kids here too?”

“Yes, they’re eating chicken right now. It’s my first time, and it’s super, super delicious.”

“Is that so? I wanted to buy some for you.”

The newcomer smiled affably and patted Iho’s head.

He was a man with a faint presence, someone whose features were hard to recall.

*Bang! Bang!*

Just then, the sound of gunfire echoed.

Followed by screams.

Iho, who had been enjoying a peaceful day, began to tremble upon hearing the all-too-familiar sound of someone dying.

Gunshots continued to ring out from all directions.

Karin pulled Iho into an embrace, her eyes wary of the man in front of them.

‘He’s not surprised at all.’

The man called “Newbie” was suspicious.

“Iho, do you want to come with me?”

“Ah, Mister. Th-there are bad men outside…”

Iho muttered, sensing something ominous.

The newcomer shrugged as if to say there was nothing to worry about.

Just then, a teacher from the nursery room ran out.

“You two, over here… Wh-who are you?”

In response to the teacher’s question, the newcomer introduced himself clearly and concisely.

*Pft.*

Something zipped past Karin and Iho.

*Thwump.*

The nursery teacher staggered, leaned against the wall, and slid to the floor.

Blood poured from the hole in her body like sewage backing up from a drain.

Iho screamed and clung to Karin.

“We were in the middle of a conversation, and you had to interrupt.”

The newcomer tucked the pistol back into his coat and gave an easygoing smile.

“Now, let’s go with me.”

Behind the newcomer, the sporadic sounds of bullets hitting their mark, and the death screams that echoed like an aria.

Karin saw the faint traces of mana flowing from the newcomer’s eyes.