๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐: ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ง
A man with seven bullet holes in his body staggered into the scrapyard.
“Dammit, why the hell are the guys at the entrance collapsed!”
Haku, who guarded the entrance to the office, pulled out a Colt 1911 pistol from his waistband and immediately pulled the trigger.
The .45 caliber bullet flew through the air and pierced the man’s abdomen.
Bang!
Blood gushed out of the intruder’s stomach as his body swayed.
“Ugh, it’s a pain to clean up dead bodies. Huh?”
However, the intruder did not collapse, die, or even scream.
He just stood there with a creepy gleam in his eyes.
“What, what the hell! Zom, zombie?!”
Haku raised his pistol again and fired repeatedly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With each pull of the trigger, the intruder’s body shook violently and blood spurted out.
However, with each bullet that pierced his body, the intruder was getting closer and closer to Haku.
“Hi, hiiiiiiik!!”
Haku finally dropped his gun.
The man’s eyes in the darkness seemed to pierce Haku with a deadly glare.
“P-Please spare me. Keuk!”
The man’s two hands wrapped around Haku’s head and twisted his neck in an instant.
“Damn it. . . If you want to ask to be spared, don’t shoot.”
Siwoo spat out the blood in his mouth.
He was now in a scrapyard in Gyeonggi Province, where the organization called <Crash> was based.
It was a drug distribution organization that was quite influential in Asia, so he had come to check it out.
Apparently, it was an organization made up of people from Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Siwoo stood at the entrance to the scrapyard office on one side.
The place was completely sealed off and blocked by a solid iron door, and it didn’t look like an ordinary office at all.
“Ah, annoying.”
Siwoo put his strength into his hands and twisted the iron door open.
Creeaaaak!
The thick door creaked and folded, revealing the scene inside.
“Hmm.”
A group of people counting money at a large table and a guy making out with a woman in the corner.
You could tell who the boss was without even asking.
[Shockwave]
Bang!
A sharp shockwave swept through the room like a wave, knocking the table, money, furniture, and people over to one corner.
“Why is dirty money always overflowing. . .”
He muttered to himself as a figure as bright as a ray of light appeared and swung its front paw at Siwoo.
Swish!!
A half-human, half-beast Awakener.
Its razor-sharp claws tore apart the upper half of Siwoo’s body like a rag.
“Keureureung! You dare invade my workshop?! Where are the others hiding!!”
The roar of a wild beast echoed through the scrapyard.
What Hwang Jeong-gu had told him was true.
Baba, the head of ‘Crash’, was a hot-tempered guy who would attack without thinking.
“I came alone, cat.”
Siwoo stood up from his seat while repairing his torn wounds.
“Alone? You came to Baba alone?”
“It’s generally considered a sign of mental illness to refer to oneself in the third person.”
With the roar of an enraged beast, a huge claw lunged at Siwoo’s neck.
Siwoo dodged the meaty attack and immediately drew his dagger, cutting off both of Baba’s arms.
“Kyaaaaak!!”
“It’s boring to just charge in like a cat.”
Baba growled and bared his teeth at such mockery.
“I’m not interested in your lousy organization, so tell me if you know anything about Awakener drugs or Jiang Chen.”
“. . .Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell a brat like you.”
“Is that so.”
Siwoo stabbed the dagger into the severed wrist and twisted it left and right.
A horrible scream erupted like blood, but Siwoo did not stop.
“Should I feel sorry for you?”
“Kyaaaaaak!! I’ll, I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!!”
Siwoo pulled out the dagger and stabbed it into the floor.
Then, he wiped the blood-soaked face of the other party and whispered.
“Tell me. You only get one chance.”
๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท
๐๐ธ๐๐ฃแนกฬแด๐ฌ๐ณiฬฬ๐ฆ๐ฌ.๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ
“When are you going to stop following me?”
Siwoo frowned at Hayakawa, who had been following him around every day.
“With Sir Siwoo from the Korean HSIU. . . .”
“I know that. Didn’t you have a plan for when you came here? Aren’t you investigating the drug case?”
“That’s simple.”
“What is it?”
Hayakawa answered surprisingly clearly.
Siwoo looked at her with a look of surprise.
No wonder she’s the head of the first investigation unit of the Tokyo branch.
“We’ll get information by killing the yakuza in Korea one by one. First, we’ll cut off their legs.”
“That’s right, sister! As expected, you are wise!”
“Were you kicked out of the Japanese HSIU? Or are you just an idiot?”
Siwoo expressed his sincerity at the nonsensical answer.
He didn’t really want to talk this much, but there was no other stupid duo when they were next to each other.
“What are you talking about! How competent my sister and I areโ”
“Ah, shut up. Hayakawa.”
“You called.”
“Let’s see each other tonight.”
Hayakawa nodded with a blush on her face.
Finally, she was going to get advice on her abilities.
“S-Sister?! No, no way with this villainous bastard. . .?”
“Kumo. This is my personal business.”
“But. . . Keup! I understand. . .! I wish my sister happiness!”
Siwoo decided to teach her how to control her powers when he had time.
If the ‘god’ didn’t listen when facing the enemy, the situation would become even more difficult.
‘๐’๐ข ๐จ๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฎ๐๐ฃ๐. ๐๐ฉ’๐จ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ก๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ช๐๐.’
In fact, even though he grumbled about why she was following him, it was a better deal from the HSIU’s point of view.
This was because there were quite a few cases where HSIU hunters who went on business trips acted out of line and caused accidents.
In comparison, Hayakawa was happy because she only had to bother Siwoo.
“By the way, I’ll call my acquaintance, so be aware in advance.”
“Yes, I will.”
Hayakawa smiled sweetly.
Except for her grandfather, she was so happy that someone had recognized her pain for the first time.
๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท
แด๐ฌ๐๐๐ด๐๐ แนฬiฬฬ๐๐ค.๐ ศฏฬ๐ข
That evening.
Siwoo put Hayakawa in his car and drove deep into the mountains.
Kumo saw them off with a very sad look, but Hayakawa didn’t want to let him know, so he couldn’t do anything about it.
The place they arrived at was an uninhabited temple on a mountain ridge.
“This is. . .?”
“It’s okay. No one lives here.”
Siwoo guided her and crossed the Iljumun, the entrance to the temple.
Hayakawa, who followed, could feel a strange feeling flowing through her body the moment she crossed the gate.
It was as if the space was separated.
“It’s just cut off from the outside. Just in case there’s any damage outside.”
“I see. I understand.”
She followed Siwoo, fluttering her modest kimono.
The temple seemed to have been empty for a long time, as the buildings, including the Daeungjeon, were half-collapsed.
The grass was lush, and the further in they went, the more dilapidated it became.
It was possible to see traces of where the tower had stood thanks to the pile of stones.
Several people were already waiting in the open space where they arrived.
“Didn’t I tell you in advance? Those two old men are my subordinates, and this young guy is my younger brother.”
“I heard from my brother. My name is Min Si-joon.”
“Nice to meet you too. I’m Hayakawa Hikari, chief of the 1st Investigation Division of the HSIU Tokyo branch. But you look familiar.”
Hayakawa felt like she had seen Min Si-joon’s face many times somewhere.
It seemed like he resembled Siwoo because he was his younger brother, but it wasn’t that kind of familiarity, but rather a feeling that she had actually seen him somewhere.
“I think you must know because of the [Imperial Guild]. I’m the Guild Leader there.”
“Ah-ah! Korea’s Great Mage!”
“I’m ashamed of that nickname, but. . . yes.”
Min Si-joon was also very popular in Japan.
One could call it the Korean Wave, but he had a kind of fandom.
Hayakawa felt grateful to Siwoo when she realized that the person helping her was someone so great.
“Thanks to Sir Siwoo, I got this opportunity. Thank you so much.”
“No. He has nothing to do anyway. I brought him here just in case.”
“Is that so. . .?”
“Hyung needs to learn the attitude of the person asking for help first.”
Min Si-joon made a fuss.
In South Korea, Siwoo was the only one who could treat an S-Rank Hunter like a piece of luggage.
“Then, as a token of my gratitude, shall we spar over the weekend?”
“. . .I’m sorry, hyung.”
And he immediately learned the virtue of humility.
“May I know the names of those people as well?”
Hayakawa asked the two old men.
Min Si-joon was naturally strong, but the energy emanating from the two old men was also extraordinary.
It was only natural to be polite to those who were so skilled.
“The old man in the black robe on the left is called Red Ear, and the muscular old man on the right is called Ah-sul.”
Red Ear and Ah-sul (No. 3) nodded slightly.
In fact, No. 3 said he had no real name.
However, his deceased wife called him ‘Ah-sul’ as a term of endearment, so he decided to use that name as his real name from now on.
Ah-sul inwardly savored the names of his wife and himself.
To bear a name was like bearing the full weight of life.
He looked up at the sky.
The faint moonlight that he had not noticed before touched his skin.
It was possible thanks to Siwoo who had healed both his eyes and his dantian.
He was the one who had pledged to serve Siwoo faithfully for the rest of his life.
“Shall we begin?”
At Siwoo’s words, Min Si-joon cast another barrier inside.
Red Ear and Ah-sul stood at the ends of the barrier, and Siwoo and Hayakawa took their places in the center.
Before Siwoo entered the spell, he asked her a question.
“Do you know why you can’t use the power you contracted properly?”
“My grandfather told me. . . that the god is too strong. That’s why the compatibility can’t be low. . .”
“That’s not wrong either. So the god you contracted with doesn’t cooperate and is eating away at your body.”
Hayakawa nodded sadly.
It was a contract to succeed her family, but her shortened lifespan was an unexpected side effect.
Her grandfather became very ill because of this, and he couldn’t shake the guilt at the thought that he had also hastened her granddaughter’s death.
If, if there was even the slightest chance of the situation improving.
Even if that possibility was smaller than a grain of sand in the desert, she would try for the sake of her grandfather who had taken care of her.
“Then, what method does Sir Siwoo intend to use?”
“What else could it mean that the god you contracted with is strong?”
“Well, I don’t know. . .?”
“The correct answer is that you’re too weak.”
Hayakawa blinked her doe eyes.
“So. . .?”
“Then there are two things we can do.”
Siwoo raised his right hand and held out one finger.
“One. From now on, we’ll make your ability stronger. But that will take too long.”
“Is that so. . .? Can’t we just take our time and do it steadily?”
“Of course we need to train. But you don’t have time.”
Hayakawa flinched at the words that she didn’t have time, but she nodded.
“Then what about the other one?”
“Two.”
Siwoo immediately brought his palm to her body.
The place where shamans give the most space to ‘power’ when making a contract.
Heart.
“Wh. . . What!?”
Hayakawa was startled when Siwoo touched the upper part of her chest.
The resolve she had made to endure whatever happened crumbled in an instant.
She flailed her arms with a bright red face.
“W-Wait a minute! I, if you suddenly do this-!”
“I’m really fanning the god you contracted with.”
“Wh. . .???”
Kuuuuuuung!!
The god, responding to Siwoo’s magic, revealed itself.