25

Lee Ho’s eyes looked mysterious. Jong-Geun never knew what he was thinking, but he knew that he could trust Lee Ho. It had been like that from the beginning. Those eyes were the reason why Jong-Geun had decided to follow him.

“Yes, I will, but…”

“But?”

Jong-Geun simply smiled. “I need a higher salary.”

Lee Ho had to laugh at his chief secretary’s words. “I will definitely do that. Also, before I forget, will you reconsider making a guild?”

Jong-Geun took that in a different way.

“Do you think Gi-Hoon is not suitable to be my successor?”

They both knew that Gi-Hoon was undoubtedly a talented man. But was he not suitable? Jong-Geun wondered. Ho shook his head.

“No, he definitely is great. Though I think he would be better with my brother.”

“Oh…”

“I’ll give you some time to think about it.”

“No need for that. It’s your order, Master, so I guess there’s a good reason for it. I’ll remain as your chief secretary.”

At Jong-Geun’s affirmation, Lee Ho nodded in approval. He then asked him to do something.

“Please gather the other members of the guild, I mean the heads of each department.”

Cheon-Myeong was not just an ordinary organization. Everyone must know of their CEO’s decision. Even if they were far away, they must hear the news through a call, at least. That was the order from the Guild Master.

Jong-Geun nodded and was ready to do his task, but he noticed that Lee Ho was not lighting up a cigarette, which he usually did.

“Are you not lighting it? I have a lighter for you.”

Ho smiled before answering. “There’s no need for that. I’ll quit smoking.”

“Oh… That’s a surprise. You never did when I told you so.”

Jong-Geun awkwardly touched the lighter. Ho looked out the window and absentmindedly told him the reason.

“Well, I don’t need it anymore.”

***

“You jackass!”

“Son of a bitch!”

And so on and so forth. The man and woman in front of me was screaming out loud.

I was just standing quietly, listening to their voices.

“How dare you do that to my son!! I will do everything in my power to kill you!”

“I’ll rip apart every part of your body! You son of a bitch!”

Wow, they did know a lot of curses. Even the Hunters who were holding them wanted to shut their mouths up.

I let them speak as they want; I wanted to hear what they had to say. Although what they said next was unexpected.

“You Hunters are always like this!”

I had to ask what that meant. “What do you mean?”

“Just because you have that power, you Hunters think you can do whatever you want!”

Considering that this was coming from a member of the Hunters’ authority, that was quite an intriguing point. “Isn’t that a stereotype? You know that those are not words that should be coming from a person who works for the authorities.”

I bet they thought I was just joking around. They were furious.

“You killed my son! He was a pure and innocent boy, but you killed him! You fucking Hunter! My son should never have been killed.”

The man continued to curse. Honestly, I was quite surprised that he still had the strength to continue.

“You are just a lucky boy who was chosen by the system!”

A laugh came out of my mouth. I knew the type of people they were. They didn’t feel sorry for the crimes that they had committed; they never even mentioned Mr. Gu. That was their nature.

I approached them and was ready to finish the job, but I guess I had something to say before that.

“There are Hunters who do those things you mentioned, those who use their power to threaten someone else and act wild.”

I raised my foot and stomped on the man’s head, exerting a lot of power on it. He was screaming in pain, but that did not matter.

“But you must know that it comes down to that person’s nature. Not all Hunters act like that.”

“….”

“Accusing all Hunters just based on the actions of some? That’s a stereotype. I thought you were head of the department managing weapons. It’s a shame that such words came from a man with such a high position.”

Though he couldn’t say anything about it, I still decided to correct his statement.

“It’s that specific criminal’s fault, not the entire Hunter population.”

I had already said a lot. That was enough. “Got any last words?”

“$#@%@$%^##$!!”

His face was a mix of pain, fury, and hate. It was interesting to see all three different emotions clearly expressed on his face. Even when he was about to die, he still wore that expression. It was quite interesting.

“No?”

“@#^$#^#$&%$^*%^*”

“Speak the human language. Although I hate to say it, but that was your last chance.”

I stomped on his head with a bit more force, and that was it. My foot crushed his head into a pulp. That was his last breath. The woman next to him definitely had a face full of fear.

I didn’t know her name, and didn’t want to know. “How about you, any last words? I can still endure some curses.”

She then showed me a sad expression.

“I… don’t know this man.”

“Hmm?”

“…I’m not a part of this.”

I burst out laughing. This woman was a great actress. For a moment there, I thought she might be a professional.

“You were just cursing in front of me. What changed?”

“I was just following the man with me… Trust me…”

Wow. That was a surprise.

First, I ordered the Hunters to let her go. I had seen this case quite a lot. Usually, one person acted as if they had a secret weapon to show you. I was curious about it. What exactly was she thinking?

As the Hunters from Cheon-Myeong let her go, she stood up straight. Then she rummaged through her bag, searching for something.

“This…is my gift…”

Her eyes were spinning around maniacally as if she were plotting something.

She then pulled out a circular-shaped object and quickly threw it at me. It happened so suddenly that the other Hunters did not have time to react.

The circular-shaped object hit my torso and exploded upon impact. Thick, black smoke came out from it and covered my body.

“Die, you son of a bitch!” I could hear her shouting clearly.

***

Yoo Ee-Na’s eyes widened.

The smoke coming out of the device definitely looked dangerous. But what happened next was even more surprising.

“Die, you son of a bitch!”

After about five seconds, the black smoke dissipated and Lee Hwan was left standing, unscathed. The only change that happened was to his shirt, which had completely disappeared. The poisonous smoke had melted his shirt, but did no harm to Lee Hwan.

It was hard to describe, but his body seemed to be covered by light. To be more specific, a light was falling toward his body.

However, what was even more interesting was his body itself. His muscles were moving as if they were living creatures. Yoo Ee-Na was surprised to see that, and it was not just her. The Hunters from Cheon-Myeong and the woman herself were also surprised. Those spectating the scene from afar craned their necks to try to see him better.

He had horrifying scars on his body. It was not from this poison attack; those scars had been formed ages ago. There were scars showing that his body had been penetrated by a sword. His arms had scars showing that they had been roughly chopped off before. There seemed to be no part of his body that was free from scars.

There was a process of breaking the bones in the entire body and rebuilding them to gain power. When A-rated Hunters become S-rated, they underwent that process. However, during that process, their scars usually get healed.

Lee Hwan had definitely gone through that at least two or three times. But what were those scars?

It meant that he had continued to fight on extreme battlefields. He continuously got scarred from intense battles and near-death experiences.

How was that possible? Could such scars even exist? What kind of life did he have?

Yoo Ee-Na covered her mouth. She felt that a scream might come out of her if she didn’t.

He was strong. He was not like a regular Hunter who had gained the power to use skills. Lee Hwan had gone through such a process and gained that power several times over. That was Lee Hwan.

Everyone was staring at him in shock. He was touching the dust on his chest, the traces of his melted shirt.

“That’s interesting.”

Lee Hwan pointed out two Hunters from the group. “Investigate his body.”

He gestured to the body of the man whose head he had crushed. Without hesitation, the two chosen Hunters investigated the man’s corpse. They managed to find another one of the circular objects that the woman had used.

With his aura, Hwan scanned and analyzed it. He then grabbed the woman’s throat tightly.

“You are supposed to be an authority for the Hunters.”

“…I—I…”

“This is like a weapon to kill Hunters. A poison to kill them.”

Yoo Ee-Na and the Hunters from Cheon-Myeong Guild were surprised. They had a lot of experience, but they had never seen this type of weapon before.

They had never even heard that such an object was being developed secretly.

Black smoke? It was the first time for them to see it. Lee Hwan sensed something important from that.

“Tell me the reason why the Hunter authority is developing an ‘anti-Hunter poison.’”