Chapter 107
Seoul's District 2 Bureau of Superpowers.
Inside the office of Special Affairs Division Chief Baek Dojun.
Baek Dojun had stayed up all night to deal with the flood of work.
Yet even though it was already ti for people to arrive at work, the stacks of docunts on his desk showed no sign of shrinking.
No, in truth, from the mont daybreak ca, Baek Dojun had been perched by the window, locked in a aningless staring contest with the piles of paperwork.
“How can there be this many complaints?”
What tornted Baek Dojun was the wave of complaints filed by Seoul’s citizens.
Normally, it was exceedingly rare for complaints to co directly to the Special Affairs Division. Most of them were routed upward through Dispel first.
Which ant every last docunt on his desk was a complaint forwarded from Dispel.
Unsurprisingly, the topic was tip-offs related to Demonic Beings.
With reports about Demonic Beings continuing to surface recently, the citizens’ vigilance rose higher by the day.
In a society that shuddered at the very ntion of Demonic Beings, it was understandable, but because most of the reports were aningless, they were ironically obstructing the Special Affairs Division’s real work.
It would have been fine if Baek Dojun suffering alone in his office was the end of it, but if even a small part seed suspicious, he had to dispatch investigators.
“And we are already short on personnel.”
Moreover, he could not order the lower-level staff in the Special Affairs Division, such as Park Chaeshin, who specialized in information processing, to examine the stacks.
It was the manual that the Special Affairs Division Chief had to review complaints that ca up through Dispel personally.
If not for that manual, he would have hauled the piles to a nearby incinerator and burned them long ago.
Of course, he would obviously have been stopped by his attendant, Kim Seyeon, before he even got that far.
“It is still a mountain of them, is it not?”
As Baek Dojun lanted his lot, Kim Seyeon entered the office with yet another stack of docunts hugged in her arms.
From the look of it, she must have stopped by Dispel on her way in.
Baek Dojun silently let out a sigh and sat back down.
“Is this another batch of complaints related to Demonic Beings?”
“Yes.”
“When I start thinking there are as many Demonic Beings as there are docunts, I feel it might be better to abandon any lingering attachnt to this world.”
“I am sorry, but whether it is this world or your lingering attachnt, we cannot delay processing complaints any longer. I would appreciate it if you considered my position as well, since Dispel is pressuring .”
“If they want the complaints handled quickly, should they not help?”
“Unfortunately, it is not my assignnt.”
“Even if it is your superior’s order?”
“Yes. Those docunts are a promise between the citizens and you, Chief. I would not dare insert myself.”
Baek Dojun thought of dozens of things he could say to counter Kim Seyeon’s argunt.
But he judged that speaking them aloud would only make his own mouth hurt.
In the end, he picked up the file he had left unfinished and leaned his chair far back.
Kiiiiik-.
As he resud working, Baek Dojun’s face settled into a rather serious expression.
After about ten minutes, Kim Seyeon, who had been quietly working at her own desk, suddenly asked,
“However, it seems unusually late for Investigator Bayliss and Probationary Investigator Ji Seokhyeon to contact us. Nothing has happened, has it?”
“No news is good news. In the first place, among our investigators, the only one who reports on ti is Fredo.”
“That saying applied to an era without ans of contact. I think it is different now, when everyone carries a smartphone in their pocket.”
Baek Dojun lifted his eyes from the docunts for a mont and looked at Kim Seyeon.
“There is sothing I am curious about. Which of the two are you worried about?”
“Pardon? Of course, I an Probationary Investigator Ji Seokhyeon.”
“And why is that?”
“He is the youngest, and therefore inexperienced… and he is still a cadet, is he not? Moreover, since his na is known, soone could give him trouble.”
“Heh. I did not realize he had such a devoted fan.”
“It is concern as a mber of the sa organization. The public believes he exterminated the Demonic Being Allie, but we know it was sothing Cadet Lee Eunho did. In truth, he has practically no real experience.”
“If it is rely concern, you need not worry. I already told Bayliss beforehand.”
“…What do you an by ‘told her beforehand’?”
“I told her to let Ji Seokhyeon handle the investigation.”
Kim Seyeon’s brow tightened.
“When did you say such a thing? The last ti you t with Investigator Bayliss, I believe I was present as well.”
“Hm? Is that truly so important?”
“N-no, it is not, but…”
Baek Dojun returned his tilted chair to its proper position.
“I did not say it because there was no need. More to the point, is it not strange for to report every trivial detail to you? I am the one seated in the position of making judgnts and decisions.”
“That was a misstatent. I apologize.”
“Well, you are as overwheld with work as I am, so it is natural to be sensitive. Do not take it too harshly. The closer the relationship, the more one must watch one’s words.”
“……”
Baek Dojun looked back down at the docunts.
Even after he withdrew his gaze, Kim Seyeon kept her eyes fixed on him for a mont longer.
The office held a mood that was difficult to describe.
Eventually, Kim Seyeon turned her head back to resu her work.
At the sa ti, she unconsciously grasped the mug on her desk, only to find it had no water, just the dried traces of coffee.
Kim Seyeon stood up with the mug in hand.
Just then, Baek Dojun’s voice flowed out.
“Ah, about that report that the Phantom Thief appeared yesterday. I would like you to gather so materials on it. That timing was after Bayliss and Ji Seokhyeon left Seoul, was it not?”
“Yes, it should have been. I will deliver the relevant materials as quickly as possible.”
“Then I will leave it to you.”
***
Go Minhwa and I walked beneath the moonlight.
With her guidance, the village looked different.
Seen not from a traveler’s standpoint, but through the eyes of a resident, the village truly had, as she said, a distinct atmosphere.
The kind of warm, comforting mood one could only feel in the countryside.
After looking around, we left the neon signs behind and headed beyond the village.
We began walking along a path I had already examined once, yet now a tranquil, secluded atmosphere unfolded—sothing I could not have felt during the day.
Moonlight scattering through the leaves.
A dirt road that, for so reason, made want to walk barefoot.
And the awkward tact of soone trying to match my pace.
Following Go Minhwa like that, I arrived at an abandoned temple where human traces had long since vanished.
At a glance, it looked like a place that had been neglected for at least ten years.
During the day, there had been no mana visible through the Demonic Eye, so I had passed it by quickly, but Go Minhwa went beneath the temple’s eaves as if she visited often and then sat down demurely.
“You did not know a place like this was hidden behind all those noisy lights, did you?”
She lightly patted the spot beside her, offering a seat, but I started to sit and then stopped, choosing instead to lean my back against one of the pillars under the eaves.
I did not want to create an unnecessarily embarrassing mood.
“Do you co here often?”
“When I have ti.”
“Mm, when you have ti…”
“More importantly, I want to hear your stories soon. Your adventure stories.”
“I am sorry, but I do not have anything that could be called an adventure. I only just started patrolling the barrier.”
“Is that so?”
“But what happened in Geumgorae Village could certainly be called an adventure.”
Go Minhwa spoke with her characteristic smile.
“I am truly glad it beca a good mory for you.”
It was an attractive expression.
But perhaps because I saw Do Minyeong and Cha Yeri every day, I did not feel any particular stir.
Turning my head away, I asked,
“Then why are you so fixated on adventure?”
“Um… it is complicated. I have stayed in the village for so long, and I want to have new experiences I cannot have here.”
“If it is a matter of experience, it might be good to set aside ti and visit a city.”
Was that too careless an answer?
Without replying, Go Minhwa lowered her head for a mont.
Watching her, I habitually pulled the hood of the Cloak of the Alluring Hermit forward.
Because a strange tension had begun to creep in.
After a while, Go Minhwa spoke.
“To be honest, bringing you here was my selfish desire.”
“……”
“I an…”
Go Minhwa looked up at with eyes that could not have been more earnest.
In that instant, my shabby clothes were reflected clearly in her pure eyes filled with moonlight.
“Could you… take and leave the village?”
Her voice was as desperate as her gaze.
Without any need for to ask why, she continued.
“I was born here, in this temple. No, I suppose it would be more accurate to say the villagers found when I was a newborn baby. So I did not know my parents, and without knowing where I ca from, I was raised in this village.”
An abrupt revelation.
I listened in silence.
“At first, everyone was kind. But in the year I turned eighteen, I began to sense mana.”
“So you awakened?”
Go Minhwa cupped her hands together, then ignited a blue fla within them.
“All the other children my age who grew up with went to the city, but I stayed here because the villagers opposed it. It was because the villagers started treating as special. They said I was a blessed child born in a temple.”
“They would not have been ignorant of what awakening was.”
“That is right. The villagers always said the village’s decline was because of awakening. They said that the village’s young people left for Seoul because they wanted to awaken.”
“……”
“But I was an awakened being who was born in this village and first manifested my ability here. Perhaps because of that, everyone began to treat with particular reverence, and eventually a sinister rumor spread that if I left, the village would collapse.”
A village that had fallen behind after the Great Rift, unable to keep pace with the flow of the era.
Go Minhwa’s story was difficult to believe, but as the original author, I could not dismiss it as pure nonsense.
The world was wide, and there were plenty of strange people in it.
And in an isolated community, it was even easier for lies to beco collective belief.
“I am only telling you this because you are a guest, but I am not the ‘sothing’ people believe I am. I can only light flas, and in reality I am no help at all, so I just make candy.”
“If you believe that, then why not leave the village on your own two feet?”
“I tried at first. But the longer I stayed, the more the guilt of betraying the villagers grew. Along with that guilt, my courage slowly faded. And besides… I have no connections anywhere.”
“Then why are you asking to help you without any thought?”
“Because you were different from everyone I have seen until now. The mont I overheard your conversation with the village chief, my head filled with the thought, ‘It is him.’”
“……”
Well, I had certainly been different.
Among all the Hunters who had visited the village, I was probably the only one who had not gotten drunk.
Go Minhwa rose to her feet.
“It may be selfish, but you are all I have. I have a feeling that if it is not you, I will never escape this shackle.”
Then she suddenly threw herself into my arms as if clinging to .
“So please… will you take outside the village?”
***
A building where the “ga” was in full swing.
Monica had already lost every bit of cash she had brought and had only one final chance left.
The ga was cards.
Amid the grim atmosphere created by the Hunters seated at the table, the cards began to be dealt once more.
As she watched the cards being distributed, Monica kept repeating the thought that she should at least recover her principal.
Returning to Seoul penniless like this was sothing her pride would not allow.
Of course, considering her past, it was not a particularly honorable pride, but she found it hard to accept that she had co all the way out to the countryside and still had not won even once.
“Just once. Just one big win, and that is enough.”
Soon, the dealing ended.
The Hunters seated at the table cautiously checked their hands.
Monica, too, lifted her cards with a fairly practiced motion.
And then—familiar yet strange numbers and symbols ca into view…
“Uh…?”
It was a royal straight flush.
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