Chapter 63

"... What did you just say?"

Lim Taegyu, guildmaster of the Reaper Guild, couldn't believe his ears.

"Our people have gone missing?"

"Yes. To be precise, they're still disappearing."

"You're sure they're actually missing, not just passed out drunk somewhere?"

"Yes. It seems they've been abducted."

"How the hell does a hunter get abducted?"

It was absurd. All the guild members who had suddenly fallen out of contact over the past few days might have been kidnapped?

But Secretary Oh's expression was serious.

"I could hardly believe it myself at first, but the planning department obtained some security footage just now. You should take a look..."

"..."

Taegyu's expression was already hardening as he took the USB drive Secretary Oh handed him and plugged it into his computer. A video file could easily have been sent by email or messenger. Delivering it on a USB drive meant they were concerned about security.

And lately, there was only one situation within the guild that warranted such precautions: Vice President Lee Minsung, who had become a villain and gone into hiding.

'Don't tell me...'

That bastard alone had dragged the Reaper Guild's reputation in Korea into the gutter. No matter how often they insisted they had known nothing about it, people weren't about to take their word for it. The Hunters Association was also keeping up the pressure, insisting that Minsung must have accomplices within the guild.

"Damn it."

After watching the footage Secretary Oh had brought, Taegyu's face twisted with fury.

In the video, a Reaper Guild member stood idly on the street. Then, in a sudden blur of motion, someone snatched him away.

CLICK.

Secretary Oh pressed the space bar to pause the video, revealing a faint image of the abductor's face. The image quality was poor, but Taegyu had known Minsung far too long not to recognize him.

A tangled knot of emotions surged up in his chest.

"Lee Minsung... You fucking bastard!"

CRASH!

He slammed his fist down, splitting the desk in two. Startled, Secretary Oh hastily backed away. Despite having served Taegyu for quite some time, Oh had never seen him like this.

That was how deeply furious Taegyu was.

"Ha... Minsung..."

Taegyu sank limply back into his executive chair and let out a deep sigh. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickered unsteadily.

"How did you end up like this...?"

President and vice president, guilds and hunters—none of that changed the fact that Minsung was his longtime friend.

No, a friend he had been proud of.

Ever since they were young, Minsung had always shone. Once, Taegyu had been proud simply to call himself his friend.

Before the Cataclysm, when Minsung had asked him to become his driver, hadn't he readily accepted precisely because he enjoyed hanging out with him?

["Taegyu, why don't you drive my car for me?"]

["What? Where's this coming from?"]

["We hang out every day anyway. If you're behind the wheel, we can keep hanging out even when I'm working, right?"]

["You've got a point. So, do I get paid?"]

["I'll pay you more than a manager. I'm always buying the drinks anyway, so you can save up and buy yourself a house."]

The very reason Minsung had made him a driver rather than a manager was that a manager would have too much work to have any time to hang out.

After that, life really had been fun. Following Minsung around as he worked as a movie star, Taegyu had gotten to see film sets. He had even ended up marrying an actress Minsung introduced him to.

Back then, they had truly been the closest of friends.

When had everything become so twisted?

How had it ever...

No.

'I knew all along.'

He had merely pretended not to.

Taegyu remembered that moment clearly. After the Cataclysm had suddenly transformed the world, after he had abruptly awakened as an S-rank hunter...

'The day I bought the drinks for the first time.'

It had been the first huge sum he earned as a hunter. The moment that staggering amount landed in his bank account, the first thing Taegyu did was treat the friend he was so grateful to—the friend who had always bought him meals and drinks.

["Hey, I picked up the tab today."]

["... What?"]

["I felt bad about always letting you pay. From now on, I'll treat you too."]

["..."]

That awkward look on Minsung's face...

Taegyu still didn't know exactly what emotion it had held. But that was the day Minsung had begun to change.

Then, the moment Minsung awakened as an A-rank hunter—one rank below Taegyu—he truly became a different person. As though all the years of friendship they had built meant nothing, he suddenly began to display an immense inferiority complex toward him.

'He still had so much. Why...?'

They said the human heart was impossible to understand. How true that was.

Not once had Taegyu considered becoming an S-rank hunter a stroke of luck.

Fortune and misfortune were two sides of the same coin.

On that supposedly fortunate day, he had been lucky enough to possess a talent for mana and awaken at S-rank. But the wife standing beside him had been engulfed in blue mist and transformed into a Mist Burn.

And then... she had attacked his only son.

On the day of his awakening—that terribly lucky day—Taegyu had ultimately been forced to use that power to kill his beloved wife.

No, to kill something that had been his wife.

On that very day, when he had lost everything, the one friend who had at least remained by his side...

Had been Lee Minsung.

"Hah... How did it come to this...?"

Taegyu clenched his teeth, pressing his thumb hard against his throbbing head. Then he stared fixedly at Minsung's face on the monitor beside the shattered desk.

Even in the blurry image, his demonic expression was unmistakable. Not a trace of his former radiance remained.

"So."

Secretary Oh flinched at the utterly cold voice that emerged from Taegyu's mouth.

"Why do you think Lee Minsung abducted our guild members?"

"W-well... Revenge, perhaps? We cut ties with Vice President Lee Minsung as soon as the scandal broke..."

"No. If he wanted revenge, he could simply kill them. There'd be no reason to abduct them."

In fact, Minsung had recently been attacking hunters outside the Reaper Guild as well, and all of them had been killed on the spot.

Come to think of it, the Minsung captured on the security footage had something resembling insect wings attached to his back. According to the experts' analysis, of all insect wings, they most closely resembled those of a bee...

"A bee..."

With his head now cool, Taegyu thought about bees. They were insects that lived in colonies.

"... Could he be abducting them to increase his numbers? By turning them into bees like himself?"

"What? I've never heard of a skill like that."

Secretary Oh's eyes widened, and Oh shook their head in disbelief.

"Who knows? That greedy bastard might have paid a fortune for a Rune Stone containing some unusual skill."

"..."

After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Taegyu abruptly sprang to his feet.

"Tell the planning team to start looking for dungeons where bees might live."

"D-dungeons?"

"Yes. In a country as small as Korea, a dungeon is ultimately the only place a villain can hide."

"Yes, I'll pass that on right... Huh? Where are you going all of a sudden?"

"The armory."

Secretary Oh could only look on in bewilderment as Taegyu strode straight out of his office after issuing the order. An immense fighting spirit surged from his entire body as he headed toward the armory.

An enraged S-rank hunter had begun to move.

* * *

Meanwhile, Suho held the last surviving lancer by the throat.

"Gack! Gah!"

Dangling from Suho's hand, the lancer kicked its legs, its face filled with terror.

"Let me ask you one thing."

Suho looked it straight in the eye.

"Where is your master?"

"Krrk...!"

Struggling in Suho's grip, the lancer bared its teeth fiercely even as it gasped for breath.

"I-if you meet... our master... you won't escape unharmed..."

"I'll be the judge of that. Where?"

"Krrrk! You think I'd tell—!"

"Don't, then."

CRACK!

"...!"

Suho snapped its neck without mercy.

[You have defeated a Contaminated Lancer.]

[You have leveled up!]

THUD.

As the lancer's corpse crumpled to the floor, Suho spoke to it.

"I can just ask your shadow."

He looked at the black smoke creeping up from the lancers' corpses scattered around him.

[This target can be extracted.]

[This target can be extracted.]

[This target can be extracted.]

...

After canceling the extraction of five Shadow Mummies, Suho reached toward the lancers' shadows.

"Arise."

KIEEEAAAH!

At that moment, the lancers' agonized screams echoed all around him. Then the shadows began to bubble and seethe.

CRACK! CRACK!

Insect legs began to crawl out of the shadows, hauling their own bodies up from the depths of hell.

DING!

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

...

"Good. New members of the family."

Suho looked with satisfaction at the new shadow soldiers standing before him.

[Shadow Lancer Lv.1]

Normal Grade

[Shadow Lancer Lv.1]

Normal Grade

"I have a question."

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

At Suho's words, the five Shadow Lancers dropped to their knees in utmost deference.

"Where is your former master?"

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

In answer, the lancers all pointed their lances at the floor.

"Below?"

[Krrrk!]

"Hiding underground, then."

A faint smile crept across Suho's lips.

Just then...

WHOOOOSH!

Right on cue, a new swarm of lancers was gathering overhead. There were dozens of them.

[Contaminated Lancer] [Contaminated Lancer]

[Contaminated Lancer] [Contaminated Lancer]

...

[Kieek! Young Monarch, it seems those five were merely scouts!]

Beru was making a needless fuss. Yet for some reason, the corners of his mouth kept rising.

"The more, the better."

Suho, too, smiled faintly as he looked up at them.

"Krrrk?!"

The newly arrived lancers, on the other hand, could only stare in confusion. Down below stood Shadow Lancers guarding Suho. They looked just like them, except for the black vapor wavering over their bodies.

And Beru, the little ant standing tall atop their heads...

[Welcome, my new subordinates.]

Was snickering with the most wicked grin imaginable.