To ask about the whereabouts of “Seo Jehyun” of all people.
‘Is it a coincidence that I’m the one hearing this?’
Either way, it was pretty interesting. From Ryu Taeyoung’s point of view, it was a pretty ironic situation...... but that wasn’t really my problem.
I narrowed my eyes behind the mask and took a mont trying to read what Ryu Taeyoung’s expression ant.
“Do you have a reason for looking for him?”
The mont I asked him directly after watching his face for a while, Ryu Taeyoung lowered his gaze to the table and stared for a long ti at the spot where the water had spilled before speaking.
“To be honest with you, I need to know whether Hunter Seo is involved with the people inside before I can proceed with what cos next.”
“What cos next?”
“My younger brother is a follower of the Church of Heavenly Decree. And it’s been quite a long ti since he disappeared. ...To be even more honest, that’s why I have a grudge against the Church of Heavenly Decree.”
Ryu Taeyoung said he had a grudge against the religion with almost absurd frankness. To be this honest even while thinking I was one of the Church of Heavenly Decree’s followers.
In a way, it was...... impressively consistent, and that made it interesting. I pulled my comfortably reclined body forward a little, closing the distance between and Ryu Taeyoung.
“You’re telling you have a grudge against this religion right to my face.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ryu Taeyoung apologized imdiately, though honestly, he didn’t look sorry at all. I let out a small laugh, cracked my stiff neck a few tis, and stood up from my seat. I could see Ryu Taeyoung’s gaze following the whole way.
“Follower.”
“...I’m not a follower. I just....”
“Does the title matter? Anyway, you ca here because you had a concern, so I’ll just call you sothing consistent.”
“.......”
At that, Ryu Taeyoung fell quiet and slowly nodded. I watched him in silence, then smiled faintly and spoke in a calm voice.
“The fact that your younger brother is one of our followers doesn’t matter at all.... Then your biggest goal is to find your younger brother, isn’t it?”
“...That’s right.”
“Whether your younger brother has gone missing, or died, or perhaps... whether you can get him out of this place. That’s what you want to know, right?”
“.......”
“You should want to know.”
Wasn’t that the case? If Ryu Taejun’s disappearance was what was still giving him headaches, it would be far more helpful to ask about Ryu Taejun’s whereabouts instead...... so why the hell was he clinging to out of nowhere?
With one corner of my mouth pulled crookedly upward, I looked down at Ryu Taeyoung in silence.
“Then why are you suddenly looking for Hunter Seo’s whereabouts?”
“Because Hunter Seo is probably the last person who saw my younger brother.”
“.......”
“And if Hunter Seo really is a follower of the Church of Heavenly Decree... then all of his past actions would beco suspicious. ...To be honest, when I saw the article correcting Hunter Seo’s Rank, I was almost certain. That he really was in league with the Church of Heavenly Decree.... Or that he had been deceiving from the start.”
“Isn’t that just personal betrayal? It doesn’t seem especially important.”
The mont I answered lightly, the strangely pained look on Ryu Taeyoung’s face flattened out again. Staring into empty space as though thinking sothing over, Ryu Taeyoung slowly opened his mouth after a pause.
“If that’s the case... then putting aside my personal feelings, I’ll have to restrain him by reporting him as an illegal awakened person.”
“Hmm....”
“But the personal sense of betrayal is also true. Hunter Seo is the kind of... person who seems a little too much the sa on the surface and underneath, so I thought that regardless of how he acted outwardly, deep down he was actually a pretty decent person. Which might be why I dislike it even more.”
Well, this is bullshit.
If you really break it down, the only one affiliated with the Church of Heavenly Decree was that idiot bastard Ryu Taejun, and I was an innocent civilian....
‘No, well, does it count in the end?’
Considering I was currently riding along with this whole project to beco the leader of the Church of Heavenly Decree and sitting here listening to sothing that was basically his confession, maybe it wasn’t completely wrong.
“Yeah, well. Quit slipping into that vague half-formal speech, would you.”
“...Ah, I. ...Sorry.”
“Right. To give you only the conclusion, Hunter Seo is not a follower of the Church of Heavenly Decree.”
“.......”
At that, Ryu Taeyoung’s expression turned strange again.
‘He ca here already convinced.’
Sure enough, after hearing , Ryu Taeyoung took his phone back, played sothing, and turned the screen toward again.
“...Please look at this.”
And on the screen Ryu Taeyoung showed , footage that looked like CCTV from sowhere was playing.
There were three people total in the CCTV footage. One seed to be soone running so kind of business, one looked like so kind of custor, and the last one was....
‘Nobody’s got any fucking eyes.’
The video quality wasn’t especially good, so at a glance it really could have looked similar. A man about my height and build was walking over with his hands in his pockets, lazily swaying as he approached the shop owner and started talking.
The man was wearing a mask, and though he looked around, he didn’t seem particularly interested. He acted like he was ticulously imitating “,” but...... if you looked closely, there was always sothing a little sloppy about it.
And the real problem was that I thought I knew who this man was.
‘This fucking bastard Im Haekyung... he impersonated ?’
It was true that Im Haekyung and I had similar builds, but Im Haekyung was, to begin with, soone who almost never fought hand-to-hand. Even if he worked out consistently and took care of himself, the act of using muscle was bound to be different from people who actually fought in real combat.
That was only natural. Im Haekyung was primarily a ntal-type Hunter who had little need to use his body.
More than anything, Im Haekyung had a distinctive way of moving that was neatly controlled. Like the way, when leaning over a table like this, he’d naturally lift one leg and cross his ankles.
‘Unbelievable.’
Co to think of it, when Ryu Taeyoung had called before, he’d said there was a man wearing a mask going in and out of the “shop,” and that man had frequently been in contact with Ryu Taejun.
At the ti I hadn’t cared, so I never even thought to look into it, but seeing it now like this made it feel different.
Slowly, I recalled the conversation from then.
—...And among the testimonies from soone who worked in that building, there was a part about a person wearing a mask going in and out. It was also soone who had frequent contact with my younger brother.
—I thought so too... so I checked the CCTV I managed to obtain.
‘Right.’
—...But from what I could tell, the build and overall impression felt a lot like you, Jehyun, which is also why I brought it up like this.
Yeah. Except that...... for it to be Im Haekyung of all people.
Honestly, because it was such an unexpected person, it was almost funny. Then just when had Im Haekyung started eting Ryu Taejun and laying the groundwork? To the point of even creating footage like this that would so openly make Ryu Taeyoung suspect ....
No, before that, what exactly had his goal been, making it look like soone suspected of being “Seo Jehyun” was a follower of the Church of Heavenly Decree?
The answer was obvious.
‘He screwed over.’
Erasing trust was simpler than you’d think. If you just handed soone one thing to doubt, the human brain would naturally start trying to fit the rest of the situation around it.
In other words, Im Haekyung had severed my relationship with Ryu Taeyoung very simply, without even having to touch it directly. Even if I told Ryu Taeyoung right now that this was all a misunderstanding, there was no way this bastard would believe . I’d be lucky if he didn’t arrest on the spot.
On top of that, my Rank had in fact risen to B, and I had actually t Ryu Taejun last, so there was no escape route left anymore.
I looked quietly at Ryu Taeyoung’s calm face, then smiled again.
‘I wanted to stay on good terms, but that’s a sha.’
In this situation, trying to deny that Seo Jehyun belonged to the Church of Heavenly Decree didn’t an much. And since it had only been a few days since I’d cleanly run Kwon Taehan over with a car, the only likely outco was that the bad public opinion would flare up all over again.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I gave the one answer that at least had so aning.
“I can’t know every follower. Even if Hunter Seo were a follower, it would an I couldn’t know his identity either. Since people wear masks.”
“...I see.”
Only after a delay did Ryu Taeyoung answer, then he calmly nodded. As if he had nothing more to say, he pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to , then stood up from his seat and bowed his head lightly.
“If by any chance... later on you happen to cross paths with Hunter Seo, or sothing like that, I’d appreciate it if you contacted at this number.”
“Yes, well....”
“And as much as possible, it would be best if you kept today’s events to yourself.”
To threaten soone this solemnly.
I answered with a light smile.
“Yes, of course.”
Staring at Ryu Taeyoung, who kept watching quietly right up until the mont the door closed, I lifted the corner of my mouth behind the mask.
Click. The door shut again, and silence settled over the room for a mont. In that silence, I slowly erased the expression from my face.
‘I think I need to stop relying on Im Haekyung.’
Co to think of it, I’d been making too active a use of Im Haekyung just because his abilities were a cheat key. I’d known side effects would show up soday, but the timing had co faster than expected.
I sorted out my thoughts, then calmly called for the next follower.
“All right, next!”
User Comments
0 comments from readers