The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 258
At that moment,
“Oh dear.”
Swoosh!
A black shadow surged up from the ground and engulfed the “creature,” dragging it into the darkness. The middle-aged man— or rather, that
thing
— vanished without a trace. As onlookers began murmuring, the man who had collapsed on the ground noticed a pistachio-strawberry frappuccino topped with a mountain of whipped cream before him.
“Are you alright?”
The man struggled to look up. A young man dressed in a black suit and sunglasses stood there, holding the frappuccino. He extended an empty hand as if offering him to take it.
“Let’s get you up.”
With a trembling hand, the man took the offered hand, and the young man lifted him effortlessly. After taking a sip from his drink, the young man slid his sunglasses up with a flick of his hand.
“No injuries, I hope?”
“Y-Yes… Thank you. But just now, what…”
“Just a hallucination.”
“Pardon?”
“A rift opened nearby. Looks like a monster that casts hallucinations slipped out of it. Honestly, I nearly fell for it too.”
“Y-Yeah, um…”
“Oh, wondering who I am? Fair enough— I’m someone like this.”
The young man pulled out an ID badge from inside his jacket and displayed it. “Pado Guild, A Small Miracle, Seo Min-gi”. Seo Min-gi brushed the dust off the man’s shoulders and arms.
“The monster’s been taken care of, so you’re safe.”
“Yes… thank you…”
“All I ask in return is just one business card. Nothing major, just if you could help with a statement later. Oh, no need to pull it out— I already took it.”
Indeed, the man’s business card was pinched between Seo Min-gi’s index and middle finger. There wasn’t even time to wonder when he’d taken it. After tucking the card into the back of his ID, Seo Min-gi gestured with his thumb at the green bus pulling up to the stop.
“Looks like your bus, number 1113, has arrived. Wishing you a swift trip home. To everyone here!”
Seo Min-gi politely bowed, and then, as if melting into shadow, vanished from sight in an instant. The man stared blankly at the spot where he’d disappeared. A hallucination? No way.
That thing was real.
A real human turning into a monster…
Screech— the green bus came to a stop at the curb. The door opened, and people spilled out. Trying not to get swept up, the man quickly stepped back.
And that’s when he noticed the white droplets scattered across the ground.
The liquid gleamed in an unnatural hue.
***
The monster’s wail echoed through the conference room. Seo Min-gi picked up the remote and pressed the pause button. The screen froze on the image of a twisted, grotesque figure— something neither fully human nor monster, with its maw stretched wide open.
“…”
Only two people were seated in the Pado Guild’s meeting room. Seo Min-gi, stirring his drink with a straw in lazy circles, glanced at Jung Bin sitting across from him. Jung Bin’s face was unusually pale. His own, no doubt, looked similar. Seo Min-gi stopped stirring his drink and asked,
“Did the Awakened Management Bureau know about this?”
“…No, they didn’t.”
Jung Bin murmured, his fingers pressed together.
“All we knew was that a monster escaped from an eroded dungeon… That was the Rift Management Bureau’s assumption, too.”
“Well, none of us expected a human to transform into a monster.”
Jung Bin sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. Seo Min-gi adjusted his sunglasses, narrowing his black, empty gaze.
“This was an ordinary citizen who transformed. The form and process are different from those transformed by drugs.”
“…”
“Not that the average person would know the difference.”
“What’s the status of the person— no, the monster we caught?”
“I’ve trapped it in my shadow for now, but it won’t hold for long. It’s been thrashing so wildly, it’s making me nauseous.”
As if to emphasize his point, Seo Min-gi turned his head and gagged, covering his mouth. Jung Bin slowly closed and reopened his eyes.
“Could the Pado Guild keep it under custody for a while?”
“With both the Guild Leader and Vice-Guild Leader away, I can’t get immediate approval.”
“I’ll take responsibility.”
“If you say so.”
Seo Min-gi wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, lowering his voice.
“You’ll need to keep a tight lid on this.”
“…”
Jung Bin sighed instead of answering. Seo Min-gi began counting off on his fingers.
“First, contact the National Intelligence Service and Mackerel. Have them scrub all mentions of this online, even on the dark web. Manipulate public sentiment if needed.”
“…How much do you think it’s spread?”
“Well, it’s the information age; everything gets filmed.”
Seo Min-gi pointed at the screen with his index finger.
“Luckily, only the CCTV captured this scene. It all happened too quickly. Just delete everything but the preserved file. Though, I’m sure you know that best, Team Leader.”
“…”
“The thing we need to worry about most is…”
“Rumors. I know.”
It was certain that humans could transform into monsters. The proof was right in front of them. But if they revealed this without understanding who, under what conditions, or why the transformation occurred…
‘It would lead to even greater chaos.’
Rumors of Awakeners turning into monsters were already hard to suppress. If information about humans transforming into monsters got out now…
Not only would there be hatred toward Awakeners, but people who fit the transformation criteria would likely be isolated, and others would become so fearful they might even take their own lives. Jung Bin pulled out his phone from his jacket pocket and asked,
“You witnessed the transformation yourself, right? Did anything unusual stand out?”
“The person looked extremely unwell. Kept coughing, too.”
“Coughing?”
“Yes, kept coughing as if his lungs were tearing apart.”
“…”
Suppressing another wave of nausea, Seo Min-gi pushed up his sunglasses.
“Too common a symptom— that’s the problem.”
“I see…”
Jung Bin rubbed his neck. Every time he looked at the monster on the screen, a sense of dread rose within him. He finally blurted out a thought he’d been trying to swallow.
“If… the white monster is the result of a human transformation…”
“…”
“Then all the monsters that appeared in Corrosion Dungeons…”
“That’s enough.”
Jung Bin looked up. Seo Min-gi shook his half-melted frappuccino, and a pair of small shadow puppets appeared on the table in front of Jung Bin, wiggling their hips and drawing hearts over their heads.
“Too much thinking makes you age faster.”
“…”
“Live young— gotta keep you around a while, right?”
Jung Bin gave a slight smile, then extended his index finger toward the shadow puppets. They jumped in place and scampered away from his fingertip.
“Coming from you, that’s rich.”
***
Thud! Honeybee elegantly kicked aside the debris that had burst out. Fragments scattered in every direction. She put her hands on her hips, bent over, and groaned.
“Seriously, how did things get so scarce around here? I won’t even have enough to put in the report! ‘Explored 20 km, found nothing.’ Just one line and done.”
“Shall we… huh, head back? Hah… cough, cough.”
The young man carrying heavy equipment wheezed as he asked. Being a D-grade hunter in the HB Guild’s exploration team, his stamina was clearly lagging compared to the S and A-grade hunters. And on top of that, he was carrying heavy machinery. Honeybee, irritated, let out an annoyed sigh and then suddenly spun around to face Cha Eui-jae.
“There really isn’t a single one around, right?”
“Yes. Based on my abilities, there’s nothing.”
“Sigh… Alright, let’s head back. Going any further doesn’t seem like it’ll turn up anything. It’s not like I can conjure up monsters out of thin air.”
“Th-thank you… cough!”
“Why are you coughing like that? When we get back, you’re doing more stamina training. Here, drink some water.”
Honeybee took a bottle of water out of her inventory, opened it, and handed it over. The young man nodded repeatedly as he took the bottle with trembling hands. Was that machine really that heavy? Cha Eui-jae asked,
“By the way, what’s that machine for?”
“Oh, it’s for detecting monster density inside the dungeon. Thought it might work on eroded dungeons too… but it didn’t do much.”
“Cough! Cough…”
At that moment, the young man, while drinking water, suddenly started coughing violently, as if something had gone down the wrong pipe. Honeybee, looking concerned, patted him on the shoulder.
“What’s up? Did you drink too fast?”
“Hrk… k-huh… ugh…”
But the young man’s gasping didn’t subside. His shoulders began to shake more and more. Lee Sa-young, who had been standing with his hands in his coat pockets, staring off into the distant horizon, turned his head. His violet eyes settled on the young man, and his expression quickly hardened. He grabbed Cha Eui-jae’s arm.
“Step back.”
“What? Why?”
“Honeybee, you too, get away.”
“What?”
“Get away!”
The moment Lee Sa-young shouted that—
Drip.
A white liquid dripped down.
Honeybee stared blankly at the young man. A pale liquid was dripping from his nose and mouth. The young man extended a hand toward Honeybee.
Then,
A burst of blinding white light exploded out.
