C14
Foreshadowing
“Compensation?”
“Yes. So, Hunter, may I have your name and contact information?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected request, Gwanghyeon flinched slightly.
However, after thinking about it for a moment, he quickly regained his composure and nodded.
“…All right.”
Gwanghyeon could more or less understand why Min Hyeong-eun was offering compensation.
If Hunters belonging to their guild were killed, the guild would suffer tremendous losses, and he had essentially prevented that from happening.
When a Hunter died, it wasn’t simply a matter of the guild mourning the loss of a colleague. The consequences went far beyond that.
For one thing, the guild had to compensate the deceased Hunter’s family, while also recruiting a replacement. On top of that, the publicly reported number of “deaths during missions” would increase.
The “number of deaths during missions” was a publicly known indicator of a guild’s performance, and naturally, Hunters preferred guilds with lower numbers.
In other words, the guild’s popularity would decrease while it simultaneously had to recruit even more new members.
Hunters always worked while risking their lives, but actually losing a Hunter was still an enormous problem.
‘Either way, I did prevent that from happening.’
It hadn’t been his intention in the first place, but did that really matter?
The result was what it was, and since they had offered compensation first, there didn’t seem to be any reason to refuse.
Thus, Gwanghyeon gave Min Hyeong-eun his name and contact information.
“Yes. Hunter Choi Gwanghyeon, then we’ll contact you soon.”
Min Hyeong-eun smiled brightly and bid Gwanghyeon farewell.
Soon afterward, the special Villain Task Force that Gwanghyeon had called arrived at the scene.
This time, it wasn’t just Team Leader Ryu Se-yeong. The entire team had come.
Unlike before, when they had looked completely bewildered, they now appeared professional, as though they had finally become accustomed to this sort of situation.
‘Well, I suppose this is what they were normally like.’
Gwanghyeon gestured toward the Villain Task Force to indicate that he was over here, then briefly said goodbye to the Hunters from the Gyeongsin Guild who had been with him.
“Well then, I’ll leave you to deal with the villain.”
“Ah! Yes.”
“Thank you so much!”
As Gwanghyeon headed toward the Villain Task Force, he could faintly hear the Hunters from the Gyeongsin Guild murmuring behind him.
“Hey, isn’t that…?”
“Right?”
“Is that really Ryu Se-yeong?”
“I think it is.”
Gwanghyeon couldn’t make out exactly what they were talking about, so he didn’t pay much attention.
In any case, capturing the villain Uminhyuk was his priority, so he decided not to worry about it.
“Mr. Gwanghyeon.”
“Here we are again. He’s over there.”
“Yes, this way… Ugh?”
The moment Ryu Se-yeong saw Uminhyuk sprawled across the ground, her expression immediately hardened.
“Mr. Gwanghyeon, this…”
“Yes? What about it?”
“Well… This gate ambush villain, Uminhyuk—is he really the right guy?”
The right guy? What does she mean by that?
After thinking about it for a moment, Gwanghyeon realized why she had asked.
Uminhyuk had been punched in the face twice by Gwanghyeon, and his face was now completely caved in.
Even Gwanghyeon thought he was almost impossible to recognize.
“Well, we’ll be confirming his identity anyway… but still.”
“I had no choice. He put up quite a bit of resistance.”
In truth, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference even if Uminhyuk hadn’t resisted, but Gwanghyeon figured it would be easier to put it that way.
“That’s how villain arrests usually go. Anyway, thank you as always. We can request that the bounty be paid to the account you’ve been using, right?”
“Yes, please do that.”
The Villain Task Force quickly restrained Uminhyuk and loaded him into the transport vehicle.
With that, the cleanup at the scene was complete.
“Then I can leave now, right? Do I need to go to the task force headquarters like last time?”
“No, that’s fine. We’ll take care of everything.”
“All right, then. Goodbye.”
Just as Gwanghyeon was about to leave after everything had been settled, Ryu Se-yeong suddenly called him back.
“Um, Mr. Gwanghyeon.”
“Yes?”
Wondering if there was something else he had forgotten, Gwanghyeon tilted his head.
Ryu Se-yeong then cautiously asked,
“I’m only asking just in case, but was Uminhyuk the only villain at the scene?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Oh, then that’s a relief.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
Ryu Se-yeong hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking.
“The thing is, villains who ambush Hunters at gates often operate in groups. And sometimes those groups grow into organized criminal organizations.”
As he listened, Gwanghyeon remembered what Uminhyuk had said earlier.
Do you know who’s behind me?
It could have simply been a bluff, but Gwanghyeon decided to tell Ryu Se-yeong about it anyway.
After hearing what Gwanghyeon had to say, Ryu Se-yeong looked at him with a darkened expression.
“Hmm… Well, just like you said last time, it’s fortunate that you managed to catch him in one go without letting him escape. Still, you should probably be careful, just in case.”
“There is a possibility of retaliation.”
“Yes. If Uminhyuk really belongs to some organization, and that organization learns about what happened today, you could become a target, Mr. Gwanghyeon.”
A brief silence fell between them.
Ryu Se-yeong’s concern sounded quite serious.
“…”
“…”
However, Ryu Se-yeong soon broke the tense atmosphere with a cheerful voice.
“Ah, well, the chances of that are probably pretty low. There likely weren’t any witnesses either, and we’ll make sure Uminhyuk remains firmly in custody.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“Still, just in case, if anything happens, contact us immediately. You go to such lengths to help us every time, so if it’s something involving you, Mr. Gwanghyeon, we’ll come running to help whenever you need us.”
At Ryu Se-yeong’s words, Gwanghyeon chuckled and nodded.
“All right. Take care, Team Leader Ryu Se-yeong.”
“Haha, thank you. You take care on your way home too, Mr. Gwanghyeon.”
And so, Gwanghyeon successfully completed another villain arrest, and it seemed that the matter had more or less been settled.
“…”
—Rustle.
The next day.
Having exerted himself more than usual for the first time in a while, Gwanghyeon was somewhat tired and slept deeply, waking up rather late.
As soon as he got up, he picked up the smartphone he had left beside his bed and checked it.
There was a pleasant message waiting for him.
[National Police Agency — Special Villain Task Force]
— Bounty payment completed.
— Amount paid: 120,000,000 won
They really do process these things quickly. That’s nice.
Thinking that as he got out of bed, Gwanghyeon slowly walked into the living room.
There, he immediately spotted the two children, Seojun and Seoyun, sitting in the living room watching TV.
“Dad, you’re awake?”
“I’m hungry!”
Seeing them like that, Gwanghyeon couldn’t help but smile.
He walked over and gently ruffled both of their heads with his hands.
“All right. Let’s eat.”
After quickly washing his face, Gwanghyeon headed for the refrigerator.
He took out several ingredients and began putting his cooking skills to work.
Having spent a considerable amount of time living alone without his wife, his cooking skills had naturally improved to a fairly impressive level.
In fact, his cooking was good enough that colleagues who had tasted it once had even told him to quit being a Hunter and open a restaurant.
—Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
After preparing the side dishes one by one and placing them on the dining table, Gwanghyeon finally put a bowl of rice in front of each of the three seats and called the children over.
Seojun and Seoyun came running over and sat down at the table, their eyes sparkling as they looked at the food.
“W-Wow…”
“Thank you for the meal!”
Gwanghyeon smiled as he watched the two children happily eat their food.
While they were in the middle of their meal, his son Seojun suddenly raised his head as though he had remembered something.
“Dad.”
“Hmm?”
“School starts again soon.”
“School starts?”
“Yeah.”
At the mention of school starting again, Gwanghyeon flinched for a moment before slowly nodding.
Come to think of it, it was about that time.
After thinking for a moment, Gwanghyeon carefully spoke to Seojun.
“Seojun.”
“Yeah?”
“Would you be okay with transferring to the school right here in front of our house?”
When Gwanghyeon had moved previously, he had deliberately chosen a place with an elementary school nearby.
Naturally, this was so that his son, Seojun, wouldn’t have a difficult time commuting to and from school.
However, since he hadn’t discussed it with him beforehand, Gwanghyeon felt that he should find out what his son thought.
‘If he doesn’t want to, I can’t force him.’
Gwanghyeon wanted his son to transfer to the school nearby, but if Seojun didn’t want to, he had no intention of forcing him.
Besides, even if Seojun didn’t want to transfer schools, it wouldn’t be a major problem.
His current school was still much closer to their new home than the tiny one-room apartment they had lived in before.
“Hmm…”
At Gwanghyeon’s question, Seojun seemed to think for a moment, occasionally sneaking glances at his father.
After a short while, Seojun finally smiled broadly and nodded.
“Yeah! That’s okay.”
Gwanghyeon also nodded happily.
Then he picked up his completely empty rice bowl and stood up.
“Then how about we go buy you a new schoolbag and some other things today? We can also get some new clothes for Seojun and Seoyun while we’re out.”
At Gwanghyeon’s suggestion, Seojun and Seoyun happily stretched out their arms.
“Oh! Really?”
“Yay! I want to!”
Afterward, Gwanghyeon and his children were able to enjoy a rare family shopping trip together.
To Gwanghyeon, that ordinary day felt incredibly happy.
In a gambling hall at the center of the entertainment district, all sorts of people occupied the various seats.
And in a room located deep within the establishment, several intimidating-looking men were enjoying themselves.
“What the hell is going on? We can’t even get in touch with him.”
“If he’s been out of contact for this long, doesn’t that mean he’s planning to cut ties with us completely?”
The man who appeared to be at the center of the group chuckled at their questions.
“Is he really the kind of guy who’d do that? Someone’s gone to find out what happened, so just wait a little.”
The identity of these men was none other than villains.
They were members of the villain organization Raven.
They had lost contact with one of Raven’s members, Uminhyuk, and were currently trying to find out what had happened to him.
“Come on, aren’t you giving that bastard too much credit? When Uminhyuk gets back, I’ll straighten him out myself.”
“Sure. Do whatever you want.”
They continued laughing and chatting when suddenly, someone came rushing into the room from outside.
The man was panting heavily as he shouted at the members of Raven.
“B-Boss! We’ve got a big problem! U-Uminhyuk!”
The villains couldn’t help but become somewhat flustered.
A big problem? What happened all of a sudden?
Amid the confusion, the man at the center stood up and asked in a low voice,
“Uminhyuk. What about him?”
“Uminhyuk was caught and handed over to the police!”
At those words, every member of Raven was shocked.
Uminhyuk was caught?
Amid the murmuring villains, the stern-faced man asked once more,
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
