The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 210
“Wake up the kids next to you. We haven’t even had lunch, but they’re already dozing off.”
Click, the sound of a pen’s tail being pressed. Scratch, scratch, the sound of someone doodling on paper. Rustle, the sound of clothes brushing against each other. Snap, the sound of a compact mirror closing. Giggle, giggle, the sound of stifled laughter shared quietly.
Even during class, the classroom was filled with all sorts of noise, apart from the teacher’s voice.
‘I can’t concentrate…’
Snap, the lead of her mechanical pencil broke. Yoon Ga-eul let out a small sigh. She pressed the tail of the pencil. The spring popped. The most annoying thing after her awakening was this; having to hear things she didn’t want to hear. Suppressing the urge to cover her ears, Yoon Ga-eul glanced toward the window. The curtains fluttered in the breeze blowing through the half-open window.
The wind stopped, and the curtains settled.
“…”
Da-yeon, sitting by the window, was staring vacantly outside, her face oddly grim, her hand reaching up to touch her neck. What is she looking at? Is something there? Yoon Ga-eul followed her gaze to look out the window as well. And then,
She saw the group dressed in white.
[Overcome the end of the world with human power]
For a moment, her breath caught in her throat. The red letters struck her eyes like a bolt of lightning. The end. Instinct screamed at her. No one can see this. But how? There’s still a long time left before class ends.
Just then, the teacher tapped on the blackboard.
“Alright, alright, stop looking out the window and focus here. Did an idol show up outside or something?”
Yoon Ga-eul snapped her head up. But it was too late. The students’ attention was already drawn to the window. At the same time, Yoon Ga-eul slammed her mechanical pencil down on her desk. This is driving me crazy! She shot up from her seat. However,
“…”
She froze on the spot.
A white hole was shining ominously bright in the sky. It hurt to look at, like staring at the sun with bare eyes. Yoon Ga-eul squinted.
The third apocalypse, following two previous destructions. Even though time had been rewound, the soul remains the same. And in that soul, fear is imprinted. A primal instinct.
A chill ran down her spine. Her stomach churned, and cold sweat trickled down. Every hair on her body stood on end. Yoon Ga-eul slowly looked around. Everyone was wearing strange, uncomfortable expressions.
Some were rubbing their necks, some their arms, others holding their eyes. Some were stamping their feet restlessly… everyone was touching some part of their body. And none of them seemed aware of it.
Yoon Ga-eul rubbed her chest, then suddenly jerked her hand away in shock. This isn’t the time for that. She hurried to the window and yanked the curtains shut. Whoosh, a loud sound echoed, but no one paid her any attention.
After closing all the curtains, she gripped the white fabric and tried to catch her breath. It was eerily quiet. Her vision started spinning. Am I scared right now?
No, it’s not me. To be precise, it’s the part of her that had melded into…
‘I’m scared…’
Yoon Ga-eul, who had experienced the apocalypse, was afraid. Instinct warned her. The apocalypse was coming.
Yoon Ga-eul hastily pulled out her phone. Her vision kept flickering.
***
Boom—
A cloud of white dust billowed like a cumulus cloud and slowly settled. The massive goat, entangled in thick vines, collapsed. Kang Ji-soo dusted off her hands after pulling them out of the dirt. Bae Won-woo lowered the shield he had been holding in front of him. The research team, who had been standing back, rushed toward the goat. The hired gathering guild followed in a hurry behind them. Bae Won-woo scratched his head.
“…Maybe I should have followed them?”
“Why would we follow them, Vice-Guild Leader?”
“Still, sending Sa-young off alone makes me a bit uneasy. What if he breaks someone’s shoulder again…?”
“That’s… something to worry about, I guess.”
Kang Ji-soo scratched her head. It was Bae Won-woo who had attended the council meeting in Lee Sa-young’s place while he was unconscious. Bae Won-woo didn’t have any issues since he got along well with most of the hunters, but Lee Sa-young…
Bae Won-woo glanced anxiously at Kang Ji-soo.
“He wouldn’t pick a fight, right?”
“Wasn’t this meeting directly hosted by the Director? You think the Director would let that kind of behavior slide?”
“But still…”
“You’re overprotective. Instead of worrying about that, why don’t you think about lunch?”
“Hangover soup…”
“Ugh. The hangover soup restaurant is closed.”
“I know. That’s why I stopped myself mid-sentence.”
Bae Won-woo looked troubled as he watched the goat being steadily dismantled. The skilled gatherers were carefully separating the goat’s hide, horns, bones, organs, and mana stones. The research team from the Pado Guild watched eagerly, their feet shuffling in excitement. Kang Ji-soo yawned out of boredom and muttered.
“Let’s just cook some instant noodles. I’m feeling lazy.”
“Sure…”
“Wait, you’re okay with instant noodles? That’s unusual. Are you still worrying about the Guild Leader?”
“No… I’m just worried the Director might call us if Sa-young causes a scene. I don’t want that…”
“Think positively. Even if you’re with him, you can’t prevent accidents.”
“Vice-Guild Leader.”
At that moment, the team leader of the research group hurried over. Dressed head to toe in a thick white protective suit, he bowed his head with sparkling eyes.
“We’ve finished the gathering! Thank you for bringing us here. Thanks to you, we should be able to collect significant comparative data.”
“Oh, well, good work. Anything else you need to check? Last time, you were even collecting stone fragments.”
“Ah, the gathering guild members are collecting those as well. Haha, things are finally looking up. And it’s all thanks to you, Vice-Guild Leader, for sticking by the Guild Leader and getting the hiring approved.”
“Nah, it was the Guild Leader who signed off on it.”
Bae Won-woo waved his hand dismissively. Despite being middle-aged, the team leader beamed with the excitement of a child.
“I’ll take this to the lab right away to examine it. Thank you again!”
“Yeah, we’ll be off too.”
The two left the dungeon with light steps and got into the van parked near the dungeon entrance. Bae Won-woo started the engine and let out a long yawn. Sitting in the passenger seat, Kang Ji-soo shrugged her shoulders.
“How about we grab some pasta?”
“I don’t eat Western noodles.”
“Fine. Then go stuff yourself with banquet noodles.”
The black van rolled smoothly down the road. Kang Ji-soo, sitting cross-legged in the passenger seat, began searching for restaurants on her phone. Once she filtered out all the “Western” food, there wasn’t much left to choose from.
Sure, the hangover soup restaurant was always a safe option, but she was sick of it from eating there too much. Kang Ji-soo clicked her tongue. Then she looked up. The car was moving strangely fast.
“What are you doing, Vice-Guild Leader? You trying to get a ticket?”
“…”
“…Vice-Guild Leader?”
Kang Ji-soo glanced to the side. Bae Won-woo had a pained expression on his face. Beads of cold sweat glistened on his temples. His hands, gripping the steering wheel, were trembling uncontrollably. And then, he slumped over the wheel. The van’s horn blared loudly.
“What the hell! What’s going on…! Vice-Guild Leader! Bae Won-woo! Hey, you bastard!”
Kang Ji-soo hurriedly shoved her hands under Bae Won-woo’s torso and grabbed the steering wheel. The crosswalk at the intersection was right in front of them. For some reason, there were strange white shapes on the road, but she didn’t have time to look. That wasn’t important right now. She couldn’t let the van crash into other cars or pedestrians!
“Damn it, I don’t even have a license!”
Kang Ji-soo gritted her teeth and yanked the steering wheel as hard as she could. Screech— her body was flung to one side. Thick vines suddenly sprouted up, blocking her view. Her scream was swallowed by the blaring noise.
***
Cha Eui-jae glanced at his wristwatch. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell the time; the hands just kept moving, but offered no clear reading. Inside his mask, Cha Eui-jae puffed out his cheeks. Despite being called a “general assembly,” the gathering was chaotic with raised voices, and the same points were repeated tediously. Most of the complaints came from small to mid-sized guilds that had lost hunters. Someone raised their voice;
“At this point, shouldn’t the Bureau step in and find a solution? What, are you going to wait until only rankers are left? Are low-ranking hunters not even considered hunters anymore?”
“Please calm down…”
“Don’t act like we don’t know. People are mocking us, saying hunters who get kidnapped deserve it!”
“That’s absolutely not the case. I’m not sure where you heard such rumors, but—”
“Yeah, yeah, I understand your frustration. Many hunters from guilds allied with our Samra Guild have also been kidnapped…”
Song Jo-heon interrupted with a deliberately sorrowful expression. He stood up and approached the hunter who had vented his frustration, patting his shoulder in sympathy.
“We, both I and the Awakened Management Bureau, have made various efforts to track them down, but we’ve failed to catch their trail. It’s all due to our incompetence.”
“…”
“I sincerely apologize on our behalf. I’m truly sorry.”
“Oh, no, it’s not that…”
Song Jo-heon bowed deeply. At the same time, Ham Seok-jeong spoke up;
“It seems the Samra Guild hasn’t found them, either.”
“…”
Song Jo-heon straightened up and shot a sharp look at Ham Seok-jeong. Ham Seok-jeong simply shook her head.
“What I mean to say is…”
“The Awakened Management Bureau has indeed identified the group responsible for kidnapping hunters. However, we can’t move hastily against them. You all know about the drug circulating among hunters, right?”
“…”
“You’ve probably heard about it, known as a drug that gives hunters the gift of peaceful sleep.”
Cha Eui-jae looked at Ham Seok-jeong, then shifted his gaze to Jung Bin, who was standing behind her.
“The group kidnapping hunters and the one manufacturing and distributing this drug are one and the same.”
Jung Bin was rubbing the back of his neck.
“…”
No, he wasn’t just rubbing his neck. He was clutching it. As if choking himself. His face was strangely pale. Cha Eui-jae quickly turned to look at Lee Sa-young, who was seated next to him.
“…”
Lee Sa-young had his head bowed, as if he was about to collapse onto the table at any moment.
Note: I have now re-uploaded all the episodes that were deleted, now I am in the process of adding footnotes. Unfortunately, I am unable to upload the episodes in the frequency I use to do in Wattpad due to college, so it’ll be a slower update from now on. Please inform me if any buttons or links don’t work. Thank you.
