Chapter 23

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: A Vile Plot
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“This is… really uncomfortable.”

Kang-jun grumbled under his breath as he stood before a full-length mirror, checking his appearance.

For the first time in a while, he was dressed neatly in a suit to attend the ‘Memorial and Award Ceremony’ for the recent disaster-grade Gate, alongside Kim Bong-gu.

“Why? You look handsome.”

Lee Su-bin replied curtly, adjusting the collar of his suit jacket and lightly flicking dust from his shoulders before asking another question.

“You said you were planning to go with just the young lady, right?”

“Yeah, because Sir Crabslie has to go to work at the convenience store.”

“I see. Make sure to tell Mr. Bong-gu I said congratulations.”

Nodding vaguely in response, Kang-jun looked at Iriel and spoke.

“Hey, let’s go.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Just as the two were about to leave through the front door.

“Dada!”

Seol-i, who had been sitting on the living room floor drawing, toddled over in a hurry, gave a deep bow, and said.

“Have a saaafe trip.”

Lee Su-bin then crouched in front of Seol-i, gently stroking her hair as she spoke.

“Oh, my, what a good girl our Seol-i is.”

She then looked up at Kang-jun and explained in a soft tone.

“Actually, a kids’ show on TV this morning was about ‘the etiquette of greetings.’”

“A kids’ show?”

“Yeah, you know, programs like ‘Ding Dong Dang Kindergarten’ or ‘Boni Boni.’”

She then added with a smile.

“You used to love kids’ shows when you were little, Kang-jun.”

“Huh? I did?”

“Don’t you remember? You used to write them heartfelt letters and send them in.”

“Hmm, did I?”

Kang-jun cracked a smile and gently stroked Seol-i’s hair.

“Alright, Daddy’s leaving now.”

In that moment, a silly question popped into his head.

Since when did the words ‘come back soon’ feel so… ticklish?

Inside the convention hall at Seoul’s COEX, a veritable sea of people had gathered.

“It’s packed.”

Kang-jun muttered to himself, looking around and taking in the scene.

Countless people were exchanging greetings and handshakes with smiling faces, engaged in pleasant conversation.

It wasn't just officials, either; it seemed many ordinary people had come to the event as part of a field trip.

Just then, a child passing by Kang-jun looked up at his mother and asked cautiously.

“Mom, do we not have to hide anymore?”

“Of course not,” the mother replied, looking down at her child with a calm expression.

“The amazing Hunters defeated all the scary monsters for us.”

“Wow! Then I’m gonna be a Hunter who defeats monsters when I grow up, Mom!”

Kang-jun’s gaze then fell upon a booth selling posters, figurines, and toy replicas of famous Hunters’ weapons.

Long lines of people stood before nearly every booth, their faces filled with anticipation as they waited for their turn.

It was a peaceful scene.

He’d felt something similar before, when he visited the area near Guro Digital Complex Station, but…

‘It feels dissonant.’

Wasn’t this a perilous world where TV news anchors were constantly busy reporting on ‘tragic incidents’ happening all across the globe?

At first, he had wondered if everyone was suffering from a severe case of complacency…

‘That’s not it.’

It now seemed as though everyone was acting out a ‘false peace.’

Praying that the kind of ‘misfortune’ the news anchors spoke of would never befall them…

Hypnotizing themselves into believing the world wasn't so dangerous, desperately trusting that the Hunters would guarantee their safety…

They were merely acting out a ‘stolen peace.’

“What a damn screwed-up world.”

At his words, Kim Bong-gu, who had been taking a sip of water, suddenly choked. “Keck, keck!” he coughed.

Then he asked.

“Sir…?”

Kang-jun dismissed it nonchalantly as if it were nothing. “It’s nothing,” he said, then asked.

“Anyway, seeing this many people flock here just to watch, this must be a bigger event than I expected.”

Kim Bong-gu, looking visibly nervous, nodded once and replied quietly.

“Well, the suppression of this disaster-grade Gate is a historic event for humanity. I heard many famous Hunters are scheduled to attend…”

“Is that so?”

“Apparently, this is the first time in history, across all cases worldwide, that a disaster-grade Gate has been successfully suppressed with such minimal casualties.”

Kim Bong-gu’s gaze shifted to the foreign press correspondents stationed in the distance.

“Thanks to that, it seems to be drawing interest from overseas as well.”

Kang-jun nodded as if it were no big deal and began to scan the faces of the Hunters attending the event.

Although most of them looked pathetic at a glance, a few among them gave off a sense of being ‘somewhat better.’

After a brief survey, Kang-jun looked at Kim Bong-gu and asked with a puzzled expression.

“But are you okay?”

It was because Kim Bong-gu’s face was deathly pale, and he was continuously breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Sir, the thing is, I’m the one who has to go up on the podium alone today, representing all the Hunters who made it back alive.”

“Alone?”

“The others haven’t regained consciousness yet, they say. And even if they have, they’re not in any condition to attend an event like this.”

Just then, a staff member approached them abruptly and said.

“I’m very sorry to interrupt your conversation, but the Memorial and Award Ceremony is about to begin.”

“Ah, yes,” Kim Bong-gu replied. He looked back and forth between Kang-jun and Iriel once before speaking in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

“Well, I’ll be going.”

“Yeah, do a good job.”

The staff member’s gaze then turned to the other two.

“Excuse me, but would you two be able to take your assigned seats now?”

With that, Kang-jun and Iriel entered the convention hall.

The massive 7,000-seat venue was already nearly full.

The seats assigned to them were in the front row, close to the stage.

“Oh, these are good seats.”

As guests of Kim Bong-gu, the man of the hour, they had been given ‘VIP seats.’

Just then, Iriel, settling into her chair, remarked casually.

“My lord, it seems the event is about to begin.”

All the lights in the hall suddenly went dark, and an announcement began to play over the speakers.

- We thank our distinguished guests once again for taking the time to be here. The Memorial and Award Ceremony will begin shortly. We ask any guests who have not yet taken their seats to please do so promptly…

“Haaah…”

Kang-jun yawned, unable to hide his boredom.

The schedule was a tedious succession of formal, cookie-cutter procedures.

‘Tsk, they should just hand out what they need to and get it over with…’

Why on earth were they wasting time explaining the history of the Bureau or its grand ‘founding principles’?

After that, they even took the time to introduce every public official present at the event.

Just when he thought the memorial was finally about to start, the man named Seo Do-cheol, the Bureau Director, even gave a speech about his thoughts on the disaster-grade Gate suppression.

“Damn, they’re really dragging this out.”

Kang-jun, unable to take it any longer, was grumbling under his breath when…

- And now, representing all the surviving Hunters, Hunter ‘The Filial Son, Kim Bong-gu’ will deliver a eulogy for the Hunters who died in the line of duty during the suppression.

As the announcement ended, a thunderous round of applause erupted from all corners of the hall.

“It’s Bong-gu!”

In the next moment, Kim Bong-gu appeared on stage, his face frozen stiff.

For a moment, Kang-jun let out a chuckle at the sight of Kim Bong-gu walking as awkwardly as a robot.

“Huh?”

Like a meerkat, Kang-jun began to rapidly whip his head left and right.

Iriel, who was sitting demurely right beside him, also sensed that something was wrong.

“My lord…?”

From not too far away, an intensely massive and dense killing intent had begun to emanate uncontrollably.

“It seems there are those who are plotting a vile scheme.”

To Iriel’s exceedingly calm words, Kang-jun replied, “Looks like it,” and paused.

“Hmm…”

As if deep in thought, he began to tap the armrest of his chair lightly with his long fingers. “Tap, tap.”

It was because…

The scene he had witnessed before the event began flickered in his mind.

- Mom, do we not have to hide anymore?

The question, asked by a child who looked two or three years older than Seol-i, echoed in his mind.

He suddenly became curious about the identity and purpose of those who were now plotting this scheme and radiating killing intent.

‘Actually, their purpose is obvious.’

He could say with certainty it was for fleeting illusions no different from greater wealth and fame, unshakable power, or vast territory.

Kang-jun prided himself on knowing quite a bit about those who lived their lives chasing such empty desires.

They inevitably preached that power was authority and that chaotic times were times of opportunity.

Enthralled by pathetic words like ‘survival of the fittest’ or ‘the law of the jungle,’ they went through life committing cruel and atrocious acts without a second thought.

Kang-jun despised such people.

Their ambitions and beliefs, which they brandished as if they would never break, would invariably bend and shatter before a greater power.

“I don’t like this.”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t like this.”

An image of his daughter seeing him off that morning suddenly flashed in his mind, causing Kang-jun’s brow to furrow slightly.

He remembered her bright smile, revealing teeth that hadn’t fully grown in, and her lisping voice saying, “Have a safe trip.”

No matter how he thought about it, this was a pathetic world that didn't suit that child one bit.

“I hate playing the half-assed hero…”

Truthfully, this wasn't a situation where he absolutely had to step in and resolve everything himself.

There were a number of ‘somewhat better’ Hunters in the venue, and if something were to happen, they would surely step up.

However.

If he didn’t intervene personally, there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be innocent casualties.

And he didn't want to see any news that would put a damper on his mood, at least not during dinner with his family tonight.

Today.

He didn’t want to see the somber face of an anchor reporting on the day’s incident, nor the back of his daughter’s head as she watched that anchor, knowing nothing…

“I’m really not in the mood to see that.”

Muttering to himself, Kang-jun shot up from his seat.

People sitting in the rows behind him began to murmur.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing, standing up so suddenly?”

“You should either sit down quickly or get out, don’t you think?”

“Hey, I can’t see the stage at all because of you!”

Kang-jun, however, paid them no mind, simply looking down at Iriel, who had been sitting beside him, and continuing to speak in a quiet tone.

“Minister of the Royal Court, Iriel, hear my command.”

At his words, Iriel also shot up from her seat, bowing her head slightly as she responded with the utmost formality.

“Yes, my lord.”

She had instantly realized that her lord was about to issue a command of great importance.

“From this moment, we will stop those who are plotting this scheme.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Kill any you encounter on sight, but leave the leader alive for interrogation.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Then, in a tone brimming with solemnity, Kang-jun declared.

“Subdue them with all your might.”