Chapter 8
I rolled down the window and answered.
“This is Gu Hae-ju, Director of Special Operations from the Korean Hunter Administration Bureau.”
“And your companion?”
“My companion is Kang Gi-baek, team leader of Special Operations Team Three. We were dispatched for a joint Korea–China investigation.”
When I took out my ID and handed it over, the man’s face clearly showed panic.
Judging by his reaction, he hadn’t been informed who was coming.
“Wow, Director. Your reputation really is something. Even those proud Chinese guys look flustered.”
At Gi-baek’s teasing, I let out a flat sigh.
I watched for a moment as the man started talking urgently over his radio.
No matter where you go in the world, it’s always the underlings who suffer.
“Sorry. Please wait a moment while we verify your identity.”
Where did that stiff, arrogant attitude go?
Seeing his face now full of nerves, I nodded, thinking he must be having a hard time.
“Doesn’t this feel like being a power-tripping jerk? Want to try acting like a difficult customer and ask for a cup of coffee?”
“Shut up.”
I ignored the guy who had started chattering again.
“There he comes.”
After killing some time, a man of fairly high rank came running toward us in a hurry.
“I’m Seo Jeong-pyeong, Deputy Director of the Chinese Heavenly Capital Defense Bureau.”
A deputy director of the Heavenly Capital Defense Bureau, one of the three major organizations in the Chinese Hunter Association.
A bigger name than expected.
“We never imagined someone like Director Gu Hae-ju would arrive so quickly. Our reception was lacking.”
What surprised me was that, despite his position, he had no sense of authority at all.
“Hey! Clear the barricade!”
On top of that, he was the type who bullied the weak and bowed to the strong.
It wasn’t hard to guess how he’d climbed that high.
“Hehe, please come in.”
Flattery and scheming, most likely.
Something like that would be unthinkable in Korea.
At Cheonhwa, the director would have physically taken his head off for acting like that.
“Hm. Deputy Director, you say?”
I wasn’t interested in interfering with another country’s personnel choices, but still—
“You just came from the incident site, didn’t you?”
The stench was unbearable.
“Pardon?”
The thick smell of blood stabbed at my nose.
And that sticky, rotten aura clinging tightly to him.
“This smell… I recognize it.”
I’d hoped it wasn’t the case.
“How annoying.”
Humans really were more vile than I’d like to believe.
“Gah!”
Startled by the sudden surge of killing intent, the deputy director jumped back and fell flat on his rear.
“Director?”
Gi-baek, who had been sitting beside me, flinched and called out.
“What’s going on?”
Even in his panic, Gi-baek raised his presence and prepared for combat.
At least the training paid off.
“No, it’s nothing.”
I slowly tied my hair up and opened the car door.
“Just remembered something unpleasant.”
Step. Step.
As I got out of the car, the concentrated pressure spread outward.
With every step, a blade-like aura rippled through the air.
“S-Stop!”
People sucked in sharp breaths everywhere.
The Chinese hunters, tense and sweating, raised their weapons.
Not that their weapons posed much of a threat.
“…Honestly.”
I glanced over the frozen hunters, then reached out my hand toward the deputy director still sitting on the ground.
“Eek…!”
He let out an ugly scream and squeezed his eyes shut.
Looking down at his crumpled, pathetic figure, I smiled gently.
“You seem quite startled.”
At the same time, my killing intent vanished as if it had never been there.
Confused murmurs spread among the onlookers.
“Sorry. A bad thought crossed my mind for a moment.”
I looked down calmly at the deputy director, who couldn’t even bring himself to take my hand.
‘Hold it together, Gu Hae-ju.’
No matter how rotten it was, now wasn’t the time.
“I’m Gu Hae-ju.”
I forced a smile, though I wasn’t sure how natural it looked.
“If I scared you, I apologize.”
With a low chuckle, I tapped the gun barrel aimed at me.
“Could you put that away now?”
The deputy director gulped and hurriedly ordered the weapons lowered.
“You’re more timid than I expected.”
Leaving him behind, still unable to stand, I slowly turned away.
“Team Leader Three.”
I smiled at Gi-baek, who was just as tense, and whispered quietly.
“That bastard ate a Blood Pellet.”
A cursed elixir created by condensing hundreds, thousands of lives.
A fruit borne from the Blood Tree.
That foul stench was coming from inside the deputy director.
“We need to find everyone involved.”
Not on his hands or body, but down his throat.
“Man-eating monsters deserve to be beaten to death.”
***
There was some commotion, but we managed to get into the investigation headquarters.
And we picked up a pretty filthy lead.
Now all that was left was to investigate the source of this disgusting smell—
“So, you’re saying you can’t grant investigation permission?”
It seemed they really didn’t want to give me that chance.
“You do know that anything related to the Oedo requires mandatory international cooperation, right?”
For two days now, they’d been blocking me from inspecting the site with every excuse imaginable.
“Yes, which is why we requested cooperation. However, we need to complete identity verification for Ms. Gu Hae-ju first.”
They were using the absurd excuse that my identity wasn’t fully guaranteed.
“I already submitted the cooperation request, my registration, and my ID.”
They claimed those could be forged, and that they’d only grant permission after experts arrived to verify them.
An excuse so ridiculous even a passing dog would laugh.
And at the same time, one thing became clear.
‘These bastards are definitely hiding something.’
The Blood Pellet’s aura, plus this shameless obstruction.
They were acting out the saying “a guilty conscience needs no accuser.”
“Don’t you recognize my face?”
As a last resort, I pointed to my face, which had been plastered all over the world.
It was a bit embarrassing, but any hunter should recognize me.
“Of course we know. Who wouldn’t recognize the famous Gu Hae-ju?”
Maybe not as much as in Korea, where my face was everywhere, but—
My face alone worked as ID almost anywhere in the world.
“Still, you know how easy it is to imitate a face, don’t you?”
That response made their intention obvious.
They wouldn’t let me near the site until they finished destroying the evidence.
‘Should I just tear everything apart and force my way in?’
Listening to the deputy director talk with that fake smile, reeking of Blood Pellet, my suppressed killing intent boiled up.
“Our verification expert will arrive in two days. Please rest comfortably until then.”
In other words, they’d be done cleaning up in two days.
I clenched my fist for a moment, then slowly let out a breath.
“You’re stubborn for someone with such weak nerves.”
The sight of him pretending to be calm after jumping at my killing intent annoyed me.
“My patience lasts until tomorrow.”
We had to catch them before they erased everything.
“If permission isn’t granted by tomorrow, I can’t say what I might do.”
So we needed a solution today.
If it came down to it, I’d just smash everything and deal with the fallout later.
It wasn’t like I’d ever worried about cleanup before.
The director would sort it out.
“What happened?”
When we left the deputy director’s office, Gi-baek asked.
I slowly shook my head.
“They seem pretty determined.”
“They’re making how shady they are painfully obvious.”
At this point, even someone as dense as Team Leader Three could sense it.
Gi-baek didn’t avoid thinking because he couldn’t. He just didn’t like to.
“We need a way in before they erase everything…”
I pressed my throbbing temple as I looked at the tall temporary barriers around the site.
“If it comes to it, should we break through?”
There was a last resort, but it really was the last resort.
One wrong move and it could turn into a diplomatic incident.
“If there’s truly no other way… huh?”
As I was considering options, something odd caught my eye.
“What are you looking at… Oh, there’s even a monk here. Must be support personnel?”
A closely shaved head gleamed in the light.
Among the uniforms and suits, the yellow robes and red sash stood out.
The surrounding hunters treated the monk with extreme caution.
‘Someone important?’
As I tilted my head, puzzled, the monk glanced back.
That face looked strangely familiar.
“Hey. I think I found our way in.”
They said my identity was the problem, right?
Then what if a rock-solid guarantor showed up?
“Amitabha. It’s been a while.”
The middle-aged monk looked confused when our eyes met.
But only for a moment.
With a gentle smile, he raised a hand in greeting.
“It has been a while, Master.”
I returned the greeting with a confident smile.
Life really is all about connections.
