The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 320
In front of Nam Woo-jin, who stood with his arms crossed as if to say “Go on, explain this situation,” Cha Eui-jae muttered through the story. Right after Honeybee and Yoon Ga-eul had left, Lee Sa-young pushed his hand away, saying he couldn’t go. Feeling miffed, Cha Eui-jae had borrowed Yoon Ga-eul’s power to briefly check in on Lee Sa-young. Lee Sa-young didn’t recognize him at first but saw him at the last moment. Yoon Ga-eul had said Lee Sa-young seemed to be closely connected to that dungeon and probably couldn’t leave because of it…
“So.”
This time, Seo Min-gi, who had been making a butterfly out of orange peel, spoke.
“You’re saying the Guild Leader is in there, and that’s why the information in this notebook can be accessed, right? Without this, there’s no telling how long it might take to develop the vaccine. So we can’t just pull him out carelessly… is that correct?”
“Exactly.”
“And customer only paid a brief visit, but… hmm, the Guild Leader got agitated? Went crazy? Either way, he marked it like this as proof.”
“He went insane!”
“Right, anyway… then…”
Seo Min-gi muttered as he stroked his chin.
“Isn’t it fine if we just wait? He may be our Guild Leader, but right now, developing the vaccine is more important.”
He glanced at Cha Eui-jae for his reaction.
“Hm, should I put it nicely? For the sake of the world, let’s keep Guild Leader locked up.”
“You didn’t even try to put it nicely! What’s the point of checking his reaction after saying that?”
Nam Woo-jin smacked Seo Min-gi on the head with a clipboard. Unfazed, Seo Min-gi continued peeling his orange. Cha Eui-jae shrugged.
“No, he’s right.”
He had known a moment like this would come someday, the moment he’d have to weigh the world and Lee Sa-young on the same scale. In the past, Cha Eui-jae would’ve chosen to save the world without hesitation. Even if he were the one to be trapped, he wouldn’t have felt wronged and would’ve endured it. Better he be trapped than someone else.
But now…
Lee Sa-young, desperately sorting through preservation stones. Lee Sa-young, struggling inside the glass chamber. Lee Sa-young, who waited endlessly on a promise with no certainty. Lee Sa-young, who breaks down without him…
“…”
Cha Eui-jae couldn’t abandon Lee Sa-young. He couldn’t let go of the boy who was his only one, the one who had waited for him, breaking down all the while.
“…That’s true, but,”
Cha Eui-jae murmured quietly,
“I want to try finding another way.”
“Yeah, I figured. And I’d be in trouble if the person who pays my salary disappears. Here’s a gift.”
Seo Min-gi replied dryly and handed him an orange peel. It was shaped like a dragon… a dragon? He made a dragon out of orange peel? Whether Cha Eui-jae looked puzzled or not, Seo Min-gi reached for another orange.
“I also need my injury covered by worker’s comp, so we do need to bring back Guild Leader.”
“You’re not even asking my opinion, huh?”
Nam Woo-jin tilted his head. Oops. Cha Eui-jae glanced at him nervously. The notebook’s rightful owner was Nam Woo-jin. Plus, he was the researcher working on the vaccine at the frontlines for everyone. Nam Woo-jin sighed, arms still crossed.
“Well, I’m not going to object. Assuming someone’s sacrifice is just a given… doesn’t sit right with me.”
“…”
“Having the notebook will certainly make things easier. It helps reduce trial and error through past records. But in the end, I’m the one who has to complete it.”
Nam Woo-jin lightly tapped Cha Eui-jae’s head with the clipboard. It didn’t hurt at all.
“Do what you want. But…”
When Cha Eui-jae looked up, he came face-to-face with Nam Woo-jin’s face twisted like a goblin. Gone was the mature demeanor from moments before, Nam Woo-jin now pointed a finger at Cha Eui-jae’s face and shouted.
“Make sure to tell that bastard Lee Sa-young this. If he ever pulls this crap again, I’ll smear Kraken ink all over his annoyingly smug face! Who the hell ruins a perfectly good page with an ink terror like that?! There were plenty of blank pages, but nooo, he had to scribble right there!”
“…”
“Answer me!”
“Y-Yes, sir…”
“Hmph.”
Nam Woo-jin turned sharply. Cha Eui-jae quickly called out to him.
“Um, excuse me!”
“What?”
“If you don’t mind… could you leave the notebook behind…?”
Nam Woo-jin tossed it over his shoulder and shuffled toward the door in his crocs.
“Once you’re done, hand it over to my assistant.”
“Thank you.”
Click. The sliding hospital door shut. Cha Eui-jae let out a long sigh, notebook in hand. Seo Min-gi patted his shoulder as he munched on an orange.
“He’s been extra irritable lately. Please bear with him, customer.”
“…”
“If you make him mad, I’m the one who suffers. He literally channels his emotions into his treatment, you know.”
Cha Eui-jae, breathing in the sweet and tangy scent of oranges, opened the notebook again. The “ink terror” page was followed by blank ones. Apparently, nothing more had been written. He flipped to the very last page. In the corner, something small was scribbled.
[I’ll wait for you]
“…”
What a fool. A lovable fool. Cha Eui-jae sighed softly and rubbed his thumb over the corner.
Then, as he wiped his hands with a wet tissue, Seo Min-gi said.
“Well then… shall we start drafting a plan to rescue the Guild Leader?”
It was the declaration of return from the most meticulous man, the devil of strategy, A Small Miracle Seo Min-gi.
***
A dark monitor room filled with screens. Ga-young stood alone inside, her eyes obsessively fixed on something. Click, click, click… She repeatedly hit play and pause, again and again. The footage showed CCTV of Yoon Ga-eul lying on a bed. One moment, she was lying still, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished.
Timing the exact moment, Ga-young pressed pause and let out a groan with her head lowered. Yoon Ga-eul had disappeared in an instant. No devices, no traces left behind.
Bang!
Ga-young slammed her fist into the machine and gritted her teeth.
“The Pado Guild’s shadow awakened one is still recovering… and Mackerel is on a break too. Then who the hell took her?”
“…”
“If she vanished like that, she has to reappear somewhere… So? Any traces?”
A soldier, his entire face covered in a black mask, shook his head.
“Absolutely no sign.”
“Her home? School? Friends? Relatives?”
“We checked them all. Nothing. She’s truly gone.”
“Really? You’re not lying? A person can’t just vanish without a single—”
“Ga-young Sister-nim!”
The monitor room door burst open. A priest in a white robe rushed in and whispered urgently.
“The Prophet wishes to see you…”
“Shit, doesn’t that bastard know how to read the room?!”
Ga-young shouted as she shoved the priest away. The startled priest fell on his butt and looked up at her in shock.
“Si-Sister-nim?”
“Get lost!”
“…Please go.”
The soldier helped the priest up and escorted him out of the room. Ga-young turned her attention back to the monitors.
“Where the hell did you go…?!”
She began anxiously biting her thumb. The outside world was dangerous, especially for a young student alone. What if a monster attacked her? What if she couldn’t get medical help? What if she had to watch another life flicker out right in front of her again?
Gnaw, gnaw…
She chewed through the nail and into the skin. Blood started dripping down. Only then did she pull her thumb away, and a small gasp escaped her lips.
“Ah.”
Her dazed eyes stared at the screen. At the moment the girl vanished without a trace.
“…Ahh, ahhh… Right… She’s an awakened one, isn’t she? That’s right…”
A light flickered in her once-vacant eyes.
“…She won’t die just because she doesn’t get treatment.”
Her eyes glinted sharply, narrowing. A faint, red smile crept up her lips. Then, she clutched her stomach and started laughing.
“Heh… hehe, ahahahaha!”
“…Ga-young-nim?”
“Ahh~ Look at me. I’m not in my right mind these days…”
Still giggling, Ga-young staggered forward and grabbed the soldier’s shoulder tightly.
“Could you contact my friend? Haven’t heard from him lately… Shouldn’t he be offering regular updates?”
“Of course.”
“Tell him I want reports. What Nam Woo-jin is up to, how his recent research is going, new drug combination formulas, everything. Unless he wants to see his kid turn into a monster.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and…”
Behind her glasses, her eyes gleamed ominously. Ga-young’s lips curled upward.
“The Awakened Management Bureau, other guilds— I don’t care who. Ask every contact we’ve planted in the system if they’ve seen a high school girl show up anywhere. Even once.”
“Yes.”
“Great, great… I love it when people do their jobs right.”
Ga-young hummed a strange little tune as she exited the monitor room. The soldier quietly closed the door behind her.
Left alone, he approached the screens.
“…”
He stared silently at the monitors for a moment, then removed his black mask. Static-frizzed, light blue hair stuck out in all directions. His gray eyes scanned the screens with an amused glint, flitting from one to another.
“Oho~ Now that’s an interesting story…”
The young man, Gyu-Gyu, smirked.
