Chapter 91

Chapter 91

“Come forth, Rupa.”

—Grrrrr…

A translucent shape in the form of a wolf surrounded the man like a barrier. The bullets Hunter Joo Minju fired were blocked by that translucent membrane shaped like a wolf and couldn’t advance any further. And that wasn’t all.

With a sound like something cracking, the man who had been in the room across just moments ago was now right in front of Hunter Joo Minju. Hunter Joo Minju’s long rifle spat fire toward the thug who had suddenly charged in. Bang, bang, bang, bang! But after four shots, a different kind of roar and a groan burst out instead.

“Aagh!”

The man had dodged Hunter Joo Minju’s attack, flanked her, and spun around to kick her body. Hunter Joo Minju, taking the man’s blow head-on, was slammed into the wall across the hall.

The man didn’t stop there. Even as he coughed dryly, he lunged at Hunter Joo Minju, who was struggling to get back up. It seemed he intended to subdue her completely so she couldn’t rise again.

“Pay the price and execute, Beth!”

But this time, the man’s attempt didn’t succeed. A red wall generated by Hunter Lee Yoomyeong’s urgent voice split the space between the man and Hunter Joo Minju. The man showed no regret for the prey he’d lost to the sudden obstacle. Instead, he immediately charged toward a new target.

“…Kuh!”

“I had a hunch, and I was right. That trick of turning into bats… most of it is a decoy, and the real core is somewhere else.”

Hunter Lee Yoomyeong tried to evade the man’s attack by turning into bats like before, but this time he failed without recourse. The man had grabbed his ‘core’—the grimoire. The man tightened his grip on the book as if he might pierce straight through it, while his other hand seized Hunter Lee Yoomyeong’s throat.

“Must be a real pain. Normally you could just stash it in your Inventory and hide around, but in an actual fight, you can’t hide it if you want to use attack curses… and looks like you’re paying the price like a proper curse user, huh?”

“Fuck, let go, you bastard!”

Crack. The hand gripping Hunter Lee Yoomyeong’s neck was torn away at the same time as Hunter Joo Minju’s shout, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot. The man tilted his head just enough to dodge a bullet that would have pierced him clean through, then stepped back two paces.

And, unfortunately for me, the spot he stepped back to was none other than where I was standing.

“Got you.”

“Uh, ah?!”

The man’s smooth hand grabbed my arm in an instant. I felt a sensation like my arm had been bitten by a beast. In truth, it wasn’t far off—if the man decided to, my arm could end up torn apart like an animal’s prey right now.

“Yoon Seohee!”

“Ah, stop right there. I don’t have a hobby of putting scratches on valuable things.”

“Ngh…!”

The hand holding my arm tightened for a moment, then loosened. It seemed he really didn’t intend to harm me—the pressure was no more than an ordinary person tensing and relaxing—but the warning was clear enough.

“If the situation gets too annoying… I figure it’s unavoidable, as long as it doesn’t impair the function.”

If that ‘function’ meant my ability as an ‘Equipment Adjuster,’ then his meaning was obvious. Don’t move, don’t make a fuss, unless you want to get hurt. Hunter Joo Minju and Hunter Lee Yoomyeong seemed to catch on immediately, their expressions hardening.

“…Hey, let me ask you something. What the hell is this shit? Huh? Do you even realize what you’re doing is kidnapping? Fuck, even if the world’s gone crazy, I’ve never heard that being an S-Rank hunter means you can just commit crimes.”

“You’re being way too obvious about stalling for time.”

“Then have some respect for people’s sincerity and just stay put.”

Did the man find Hunter Joo Minju’s words funny? A faint smile flickered across his face. But aside from that momentary smile, he didn’t seem inclined to listen to her.

“Uh, ugh?!”

The hand gripping my arm yanked me toward him in an instant. Before I could even resist, I found myself slung over his shoulder like a sack of rice. What the hell. I twisted my body to fight back belatedly, but his hand pressed lightly on my back.

“Stay still, Equipment Adjuster. I don’t want to leave any marks on you.”

“……”

If an S-Rank hunter wanted to, I’d be done for in a second. As a rational person who knew exactly how strong an S-Rank hunter was, I had no choice but to stop resisting and obediently relax my limbs. The man seemed satisfied with that, letting out a small laugh. Damn it. Kidnapping someone and still having the nerve to laugh.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking, but do you really think this will be tolerated? Say you drag Yoon Seohee away right now. Then our S-Ranks and Adam Rogers will come after you. Can you handle that?”

“Well… do I really need to handle it?”

The man’s deep blue eyes, utterly devoid of emotion, stared at Hunter Joo Minju and Hunter Lee Yoomyeong.

“If no one knows I took the Equipment Adjuster, then it’s over.”

“What? What kind of crazy bullshit is that… Lee Yoomyeong!”

What the hell is going on? I flinched at the urgent shouts coming from behind me, my body trembling. I didn’t know what was happening back there, but it was clearly something serious.

“H-Hunter Joo Minju, Hunter Lee Yoomyeong! Are you—!”

“I’m here, Andres~”

“Where did you leave the earpiece? I told you to prepare it for the ‘negotiation’ with the Equipment Adjuster.”

“Ugh.”

Just as I decided to set aside my safety for a moment and figure out how this situation was unfolding, a strange man’s voice suddenly rang out. And not only that—someone abruptly lifted me up and then cradled me in their arms. Startled, I flinched and looked up at the man holding me.

“Hello? Yoon seo—hee.”

The hallway light cast shadows over the man’s golden hair, and his olive eyes curved mischievously. I stared up at him in a daze before snapping back to reality and looking toward where Hunter Joo Minju and Hunter Lee Yoomyeong were.

“Hunter Joo Minju, Hunter Lee Yoomyeong…!”

The moment I shouted, *bang*—something massive slammed into the hallway wall. I realized belatedly that it was a beast’s front paw. And at the same time, *bang*—another explosion rang out as the beast’s paw, swung toward the wall, was knocked back.

“We’re fine, so stay still! Don’t move and get yourself hurt!”

As the beast’s paw withdrew, the hallway wall was revealed, and there stood Hunter Joo Minju and Hunter Lee Yoomyeong, both looking battered. I was so shocked by their state that I instinctively tried to run to them. Of course, my attempt ended there. The mysterious man holding me tightened his grip.

“Olive. Put on the earpiece.”

“Oh… ok.”

The man called Olive, though clearly reluctant, obediently did as he was told. He pulled an earpiece from his pocket, fitted it into his ear, then stared down at me for a moment as if testing it before opening his mouth.

“Hello, Yoon Seohee?”

The greeting that had been in English just moments ago was now perfectly translated into Korean. I stared at the two men with a tense expression, knowing they could harm me anytime they wanted.

“…What exactly is your purpose in doing this?”

“Huh? Obviously, it’s to take you away. …But honestly, I don’t really know the details of why this is happening. The guy who planned it is over there doing that.”

As Olive said that, his chin pointed toward a man with bright red hair and a woman with multicolored hair standing nearby.

Among them, the red-haired man was fighting Hunter Joo Minju, occasionally pulling out beast-like limbs like the one I’d seen before, while the woman with striking multicolored hair was swinging a skull-shaped staff as she fought Hunter Lee Yoomyeong.

“Edward, Hazel. Kill them properly. If you can’t even clean up after a failed plan, I’ll discard you without mercy.”

“……! ……!!”

“Shit! …, ……!”

The man and woman called Edward and Hazel each replied to his words, but their answers didn’t reach me. The explosions Hunter Joo Minju was creating drowned out every other sound.

But Olive and that man seemed different. They nodded as if they understood what the two had said, then immediately started heading toward the room across the hall.

“Uh, w-wait a moment! If you have something to say, we can do it here…!!”

“It’s useless to try and stall, Equipment Adjuster.”

The man walking ahead of Olive, who was holding me, slowly turned his head to meet my gaze.

“Adam Rogers is roughly several dozen kilometers away from here right now, and Korea’s number one, who never once tried to leave your side, is probably facing a trap we set up separately.”

“…A trap?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s nothing too impressive. No matter how small a country they come from, someone who’s ranked first among S-Ranks in their nation can’t possibly be weak… So we set up a trap meant to buy time.”