Chapter 189

"Well, well — look who it is. If it isn't the Deputy Guild Master of Nest Guild, the man of the hour. They say the main character always shows up late, but you really do take your sweet time, huh? Guess it's been a lot of work, paying off other people's debts left and right?"

The moment I opened the door, cheap sarcasm slammed into my eardrums.

Cheon Sangcheol — Guild Master of Korea's Rank Three Cheonun Guild.

He looked, chillingly, exactly the same as he had in the footage from eight years ago.

The bloated, ready-to-burst flesh, the greasy face, the smug, sneering look — all of it.

Ari's parents' killer…

And on top of everything with Inho, he was the bastard who'd been eyeing the kids lately too.

I wanted to grab that collar right then and there, but I clamped down on the boiling urge and instead flashed a slimy, thug-grade smile of my own.

"You really do stay busy, Guild Master Cheon. Sending men out to shake a guy down over pocket change. If you're this worked up over collections, business must be pretty rough these days?"

"…What?"

"Ah, well — thanks to you, we picked up a great hunter out of it, so honestly, we're just grateful."

Meeting the vicious glare head-on, I nailed the last word in easy.

"Oh, and it looks like you've been cooking up some other useless nonsense behind the scenes lately. Don't waste your energy on the wrong targets — just give it up. Before something bigger blows up in your face."

"Has this bastard lost his mind? Do you even know who I—!"

The bluff ran out fast — vein standing out at his temple, he was jabbing a finger toward me when —

"You're the one who ought to know who our Junhyeok is before you run your mouth. He's not somebody you get to talk to like that."

An easy, sly voice with real steel underneath cut in.

Han Jewoon, slouched crooked in the chair across from Cheon Sangcheol.

…!

At Han Jewoon's words, as if it had only just hit him whose backing I had, Cheon Sangcheol went the color of clay in an instant.

The finger he'd been about to jab into the air slunk quietly out of sight.

Having flattened the mood in one stroke, Han Jewoon looked over at me and flicked a playful nice work, right? wink.

It was ridiculous, but I was grateful to him for shutting that loud mouth up, so I gave a small smile back.

Nod exchanged with Han Jewoon, I turned naturally to the last person in the room.

A neat, well-worn martial-arts robe, straight out of a wuxia novel.

A middle-aged woman, eyes closed, not so much as stirring.

So that's the country's Rank Two — Namgoong Yeojin, Guild Master of the Rank Two Hwangryong Guild.

A reclusive ranker who avoided media exposure like poison.

The only thing out there on her was a short interview clip from ten years back, when Hwangryong had briefly been Rank One.

Seeing a figure that legendary in the flesh sent an involuntary little thrill through me.

But she didn't spare a scrap of interest for me walking into the conference room, or for Cheon Sangcheol yapping like a dog either.

She just sat there ramrod straight, sunk deep in meditation.

"Glad to see you all."

A calm voice came from behind me.

I turned my head — at the door stood Julia Morgan, with Leo behind her.

I hurried out of their path, pulled out an empty chair, and sat down.

Once everyone was seated, Julia walked briskly up to the front of the conference room and delivered a formal greeting.

"Thank you all sincerely for taking the time to accept such a sudden invitation."

Before she'd even finished, Cheon Sangcheol lolled back sideways in his chair and drawled.

"Look, this is supposed to be a gathering of the world's Rank One and Korea's Rank One, Two, and Three Guild Masters, isn't it? We're on the level, sure — but that guy over there? What are we bringing him along for? Don't tell me you came running your daddy's errand."

An offhanded, undercutting jab.

But Julia's expression didn't so much as flicker.

"No. I invited him because we need him."

A flat, no-quarter-given dismissal.

Face burning, Cheon Sangcheol clicked his tongue, irritable, and turned the glare on me for no reason at all.

Far from looking away, I lifted my chin and glared right back with a plain and?

Under my stare, the layers of fat around his jaw twitched.

He looked ready to explode into a shout any second — but when I didn't so much as blink, his eyes slid off to the side.

"Tsk… you don't step around shit because you're scared of it, you step around it 'cause it's filthy."

A muttered aside if there ever was one, thin as tissue.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, he tried to salvage his mangled dignity by turning on Julia with a swaggering bluff that wasn't going to work on anyone.

"Look, I'm a genuinely busy man, but I came out because it's you, Ms. Julia. A little gratitude wouldn't kill you, y'know?"

"How dare this bastard talk to—!"

Behind Julia, Leo bristled with killing intent, but Julia herself, entirely unmoved, swept her eyes off him like he wasn't even there.

That was when Han Jewoon, who'd been lounging crooked in his chair watching things play out, broke the silence in a lazy voice.

"So. What business does our world Rank One have that brought her all the way here? Don't tell me… still haven't given up?"

Cheon Sangcheol furrowed his brow like what's he talking about, but I caught his meaning at once.

My naturalization, obviously.

"I won't pretend that isn't part of it. But I brought the four of you together today for a different matter."

"A different matter?"

"By any chance, are you all familiar with the Awakened Liberation Front?"

My heart plunged.

The world's Rank One guild — how do they know about those bastards?

As if speaking for me, Cheon Sangcheol shot back, incredulous.

"Those crazy terrorist bastards? Don't tell me you came all the way here over them."

"I did. This is the group behind the Gate breaches across Seoul, the courthouse attack, and, most recently, the human trafficking case — that's the one we've come for."

Listening to Julia's rundown, one thing dawned on me.

Come to think of it, all three of those incidents tie back to me, don't they?

Realizing all over again just how wretchedly deep my ties to those terrorists ran, I felt a chill crawl up my spine.

"Yeah, but what's Veritas got to do with those bastards? What, going global now — America wasn't enough, so it's world peace next?"

Julia let the sneer glide past and gave a short command.

"Leo."

Leo pulled a small orb from inside his coat and tossed it lightly onto the table.

Wheeeen—!

Blue light poured from the orb and threw a huge hologram up into the air.

A vivid, three-dimensional scene unfolded in front of us.

"Whoa…!"

The setting was a peaceful little town somewhere in rural America.

Then, out of the clear sky, a black fissure suddenly ripped open, and grotesque monsters came pouring down like a waterfall.

Buildings collapsed, blood spattered everywhere — a hellscape unfolding in the space of a breath.

What the hell is this…

A Gate breach in the middle of America, without warning?

The FBA — American Federal Bureau — with the capital and intelligence machinery of the world's richest country behind it, couldn't have missed this.

"As you can see, a Gate breach."

Julia's dry voice went on.

"Not naturally occurring — someone artificially induced an overload. An engineered Gate breach, which is why it slipped right past the FBA's radar."

Someone deliberately triggered a Gate breach?

Don't tell me…

"The bigger problem is this: three retired S-rank hunters who went in to contain that Gate vanished without a trace."

"Dead?"

At Han Jewoon's question, Julia shook her head, firm.

"No body, no blood. It looks like they were abducted inside the Gate."

Three S-ranks, abducted?

Retired from old age or not, S-rank is S-rank.

Snatching up three monsters like that without leaving a trace meant the bastards had firepower beyond anything imaginable.

The scene shifted, and the hologram surfaced with the image of a subdued masked figure.

"While securing the site, we captured one alive. And inside his mask, we found this symbol."

A vast gray tower.

And a red bolt of lightning driving straight down through it, cleaving it in two.

The emblem of the Awakened Liberation Front.

"That's the reason Veritas made the trip to Korea — for these people."

Julia's blue eyes swept slowly across the rankers in the room.

"The three who were taken were like teachers to me. I have absolutely no intention of letting the men who dared touch them live."

The air in the conference room froze over in an instant.

Julia's terrifying killing intent was pressing down on the space when —

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Slicing through the silence, a round of cheap, easy applause.

Cheon Sangcheol.

He mimed dabbing at eyes that had no tears in them, big theatrical gestures.

"Oh, my — what a heartbreaking story! Well, of course we'll help, in that case! You can put your full trust in Cheonun Guild. So, what can we do?"

Not a shred of sincerity in any of it; Leo's face twisted, ugly.

But Julia's expression didn't shift a hair.

"The extermination of the Awakened Liberation Front. To that end, I'm requesting the full support of the three major guilds gathered here. And…"

Choosing her next words, Julia looked at me.

"I'd very much like Nest Guild to take part in this operation as well."

Huh? Us? Why?

Capital, hunter headcount, firepower.

Compared to the major guilds sitting here, we were a brand-new outfit with nothing to bring to the table.

Before I could open my mouth, Han Jewoon stepped in first.

"What kind of cooperation are we talking about, specifically?"

The answer came from Leo, standing behind Julia.

"Each of you scrapes together everything you've got on those terrorist bastards, and we meet once every three weeks to compare notes. Oh, and for your information — we'll be staying at Nest Guild for the time being, so from the next meeting on, come to us."

"What?! You're staying at our guild?"

The moment I said it, my eyes went round.

Zzzt—

Nngh!

Along with an eerie sensation stabbing sharply into my mind, a familiar voice flowed directly into my head.

[I know the offer's sudden and it's throwing you, but I'll give you what you need most right now, Deputy Guild Master — so please, give us somewhere to stay.]

Julia.

Is this something like the communication ability Dokgomin used before?

Startled, I flinched and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed; the calm voice came again inside my head.

[Not a communication ability — it's a communication artifact Leo made. Nothing shows on the outside, so don't say it aloud, just think it and it'll transmit.]

…An artifact that crazy exists?

The one Han Jewoon and I had used before at least needed both of us to have an earpiece in for the thought-sharing to work.

But this thing plugged straight into your brain remotely, with no equipment at all?

Inwardly reeling at the tech this genius artifact maker was capable of, I kept my face blank and threw a question back.

What I need most?

[You need a refined Chaos Mana Stone, don't you?]

How did you—!

I stared at her, floored, but not a flicker of unease showed in her eyes.

"That face of yours says you're not too into it."

In the meantime, Cheon Sangcheol — who'd missed the secret telepathy between me and Julia completely — was back to running interference.

"What're you hanging around some no-name guild for? Come to Cheonun. You know Cheonun Group's behind us, yeah? I'll set you up in a penthouse that'd put a five-star hotel to shame. VIPs like you shouldn't be sleeping in some dingy hole."

Tuning out the cheap noise, I fired another thought her way.

Veritas can obviously book its own hotel — that's not the issue. What are you really after?

A strange silence stretched out on the other end of the line inside my head.

Then, faintly threaded through with something close to pleading:

[I'll explain the details when it's just the two of us. Please — for now, accept.]

Haah…

Whatever her reasons, the most urgent thing for me right now was the refined Chaos Mana Stone.

If Julia could get one into my hands, there was no reason to turn her down flat.

I cleared my throat lightly and spoke up.

"Nest Guild welcomes both of you. Our spare rooms are limited, though — I'd like it to be just the two of you, no subordinates."

The head administrator's ability could stretch the interior out endlessly, sure — but bringing a pack of foreign hunters we'd never met into the place where the kids lived didn't sit right with me.

Julia gave a short nod at the condition.

"That's more than enough."

"No — hey! Excuse me? You not hearing me?"

Cheon Sangcheol, now getting the full invisible-man treatment, thrashed around, but nobody in the conference room turned a single eye on him.

"We've covered the main agenda, so we'll wrap it up here. You're all busy, so let's meet again at this time three weeks from now to work through the concrete plan."

A clean, no-frills dismissal.

Being frozen out from start to finish, Cheon Sangcheol's thin-skinned pride finally cracked.

Bam—!

Kicking his chair back, hard, he came stomping straight at me, huffing.

He ducked his head down and lowered a sour, oily voice right by my ear.

"World Rank One and country Rank One both throwing their arms around you — makes you feel like you're really somebody now, huh?"

"…"

"Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts. Won't be long before every one of those fancy lifelines you're clinging to gets cut clean through."