novelraw Chapter 265 : Chapter 265
Chapter 265 : Chapter 265
Chapter 265: Jeong Se-ah
Se-ah muttered, wiggling the hand tightly grasping the steering wheel.
"What bastard could it be?"
At first glance, it seemed like a question about the thief who stole the monster's corpse.
But it was also a question directed at the person who had turned her car into half a wreck, separate from the theft.
"Why would someone do this to my car?"
"Well."
Ho-cheol, resting his chin on the slightly lowered window, answered without hesitation.
"To buy time, they probably smashed it up so we wouldn't follow."
"How dare they turn someone else's car into this just for something like that!"
Se-ah shouted nervously and stepped on the pedal.
It almost worked.
The ominous squeaking sound coming from beneath the chassis every time I forced the pedal suggested it was quite effective.
The car didn't stop well either, judging by whatever trick they pulled with the brakes.
However, the one thing the thieves overlooked was that Se-ah was an Augmentation Trait Awakened.
Controlling the car's minute movements wasn't difficult, even with the brakes broken and a flat tire.
As we entered the intersection, Ho-cheol said briefly.
"Left turn here."
Se-ah immediately turned the wheel as he instructed.
"You can see all that?"
"Vaguely."
Our pursuit proceeded without any hitches.
The thieves hadn't exactly left clear tracks, but they wouldn't know that.
The monster's corpse still held a powerful energy, and it wasn't going to disappear quickly.
Chasing it via the strong residue was no problem at all, no matter how far away it was.
That's why I laid the trap for anyone to take it.
"Who could they be, the guys who stole it?"
"I don't know."
Ho-cheol couldn't answer that clearly either.
Not because there were no suspects, but because there were too many immediately suspicious groups to pick just one.
First, I narrowed it down to those who had information about this hunt, and then I filtered it again, considering the capability to monitor my movements.
Three groups immediately came to mind.
"It could be the Hero Association."
"...Definitely."
She had mentioned that they tried to capture her just a few hours ago, so they had sufficient information and the manpower to monitor me.
Their original goal might be Ho-cheol's arrest, but it wouldn't be strange at all for them to change that goal if they noticed the monster's corpse.
The value of the monster's corpse made Ho-cheol's arrest "merely" a trivial matter.
"It could also be Villains."
Ho-cheol's organization, Unhappy, was one of the largest villain organizations in the country and wielded enormous influence, but in terms of overall market share, there were more villains beyond its reach.
But if there were groups more suspicious than those two.
"It could be the Society remnants."
Se-ah had, of course, heard the story from Ho-cheol about what kind of organization the New World Trait Liberation Society was.
And her simple assessment of them was...
"Ah, those crazy bastards you mentioned then?"
Lunatics.
There was no better way to describe them.
Ho-cheol also nodded in agreement.
"They're the most suspicious. Since I didn't manage to pull out the roots completely."
They were people who naturally acted secretly and cautiously.
The three factions that were the heads had all been smashed, but far more of their branches were still intact.
Although I captured and tortured—no, interrogated—the leaders and executives of the Society, even they didn't know all the branches.
Thanks to that, even though I crushed the head, the remnants remained in a bizarrely larger form.
"If it's really as you said, it wouldn't be strange for them to pull a stunt."
The Society viewed the concept of Transcendence as a kind of evolution, surpassing the categories of human or monster.
And this monster was probably the catalyst that made them realize and obsess over the concept of Transcendence.
Their obsession with the monster's corpse was not surprising.
If Ho-cheol hadn't smashed all three factions of the Society, they would have probably joined hands exceptionally and attacked with all their might to steal the monster corpse from Ho-cheol.
No matter how capable Ho-cheol was, he couldn't handle an organization of that magnitude attacking with full force.
Thinking about it that way, crushing them sequentially was a stroke of genius.
"It would be best if it were the third group for me."
How often would the remnants of the Society gather again?
In fact, they probably didn't have much power left, but my genuine wish was to pull out the roots cleanly.
"They probably won't have professional combat personnel. Still, we might have to fight. Are you okay, condition-wise?"
"Is that what you should be saying to me? Aren't you the one who's going to fall over unnecessarily?"
"I'm fine, I got some sleep earlier."
"When?"
"I dozed off briefly during the sheep-head meeting, while you two were having your war of nerves in the kiln."
Even though a fight was imminent, the atmosphere between the two of us was utterly relaxed.
In fact, getting tense about facing remnants whose head had been torn off, who weren't even a proper villain organization, would be more ridiculous.
After driving for a long time, we arrived at the edge of an isolated national road.
They left a distinct tire track on a side road, clearly intended to confuse the pursuit.
"Straight ahead."
It was merely a meaningless deception to Ho-cheol, who was tracking only the residual energy left in the monster's corpse.
A shabby building, either a warehouse or a factory, was visible in the distance.
The monster's energy abruptly cut off right in front of it.
"That's the place."
The monster's corpse was inside that factory.
Ho-cheol confirmed this and got out of the car.
"Sigh. It's totally wrecked."
Se-ah, who got out of the car after him, tapped the car's hood with a bitter expression.
Of course, she wasn't the type to name her car and obsess over it like So-hee.
(Se-ah had honestly questioned So-hee's sanity when she heard that story. Naming a car, not an emotional support doll? Was she crazy? Even the name was bizarre: Boong-boong-i! A plagiarism of Gom-gom!)—Still, naturally, it was regrettable that a perfectly fine car was ruined.
Ho-cheol tore off the chains wrapped around the construction site door and went inside.
The interior was dark without a single light on.
Dust flew up with every step, and a musty smell permeated the air.
"...There's nothing here?"
Se-ah, covering her mouth with one hand, frowned and looked around the inside.
There were absolutely no signs of people inside.
However, Ho-cheol didn't panic and turned on his phone's flashlight function, carefully scanning the floor.
He spotted a corner and stopped in front of it.
"It's here."
"What do you see?"
"The way villains think is obvious."
They tried to erase the traces by filling it with new dust, but.
Ho-cheol lowered his phone, bringing the light closer.
"See how the light doesn't pass through this dust properly, as if someone pressed it down?"
Ho-cheol pushed the dust aside.
A faint square was revealed beneath it.
Ho-cheol placed his foot on it.
When he pressed the floor, a clank sound was heard, and a staircase leading to the basement opened up next to it.
Se-ah's eyes widened in admiration at the sight.
"Oh."
Her career as a Hero wasn't short, but this kind of tracking was handled by Detection Trait Heroes.
Even they usually just scan the entire space and look for suspicious areas; it was rare for them to nitpick about dust and so forth.
Tracking a villain using one's eyesight, which was a skill entirely separate from his Trait, could only elicit pure admiration.
As we went down the stairs, a completely different scene unfolded in the basement compared to the abandoned factory above.
A research facility that was beyond modern—it was futuristic, with white walls and floors.
Inside, all sorts of mechanical devices and strange tools that were difficult to even describe were lined up.
The researchers, wearing white gowns, were startled when they discovered Ho-cheol and Se-ah.
"H-how did they get here!"
"We were told we didn't leave any tracks!"
Of course, Ho-cheol showed no interest in the researchers or the facilities.
His gaze was directed further inside.
The monster's corpse was already inside a large cylinder.
The cylinder was filled with green liquid, and with electrodes attached all over it, it was unmistakably a test subject.
Were they trying to resurrect it?
Or perhaps, extract the remaining power?
Either way.
Ho-cheol couldn't help but feel displeased that they had brazenly stolen the monster he had struggled to catch and were using it as they pleased.
However, Ho-cheol suppressed that emotion and lightly raised his hand, wiggling his index finger up and down.
"Alright. Most of you look like non-combat personnel. If you politely bow your heads to the floor right now, I'll treat you as humans."
Ho-cheol offered them the correct answer in an incredibly generous mood.
I quite liked the Korean spa, which I went to for the first time, and I didn't want to break this faint languid feeling I still had with a fight.
Offering this level of kindness to criminals was a truly rare favor for Ho-cheol, almost equivalent to winning the lottery.
Indeed, for them, it was luck greater than winning the lottery.
However, even such luck could only be enjoyed by those who knew how to recognize it.
Unfortunately, these people didn't even have the minimum qualification.
Whether they didn't have separate combat personnel or if it was their standard operating procedure.
The people wearing white gowns like researchers all pulled out weapons and aimed them at Ho-cheol.
"They were both in critical condition anyway! Just kill them!"
"Hold them off for three minutes! The security team is returning!"
At that sight, Ho-cheol lightly tilted his head from side to side.
"Even when I tell them the right answer, they insist on choosing the wrong one. How foolish."
"Well, is it the first time villains have been stupid? And they won't understand when you only warn them with words."
Se-ah, who was looking around the research facility, let out a relaxed yawn.
"Well, this level doesn't look like we need to step in."
They were armed merely with firearms.
At that level, not only I, but Ho-cheol didn't even need to intervene.
Gom-gom, who had been riding on Ho-cheol's shoulder to avoid stepping on the dust, suddenly dropped off.
Pyok— Ppik— Tong— Tung— Kung—
With every step he took, Gom-gom's body gradually grew larger, eventually reaching the size of a real bear.
"When I was a Hero, I had to worry about others' gazes, so I only used Gom-gom for simple close-quarters combat. But today, I brought plenty of Hunter-use equipment."
Se-ah lightly snapped her fingers.
Jii-ik—
Gom-gom opened the zipper on his back.
And what he pulled out from inside was.
"...They aren't toys. This completely breaks my childhood innocence."
"You can't be a Hunter with something lukewarm like childhood innocence."
Two guns were held in Gom-gom's hands, their jet-black muzzles aimed at the enemies.
"If they get ten holes in their legs, they'll bow their heads to the floor themselves, I bet."
The muzzles spat fire along with a brutal prelude.
***
The research lab became a total mess.
The security team the researchers had trusted belatedly returned after erasing their traces, but the situation didn't change.
They managed to defeat Gom-gom, showing a decent level of combat ability, but they were no match for the perfectly fine Ho-cheol.
Se-ah squatted down, looking at the monster's corpse.
"I wonder why they'd be so desperate to steal this. Really."
"Resurrecting the dead, fusing monsters and humans, possessing multiple Traits. Even combining all of that is inferior to this monster. It's understandable why they'd be greedy."
Se-ah chuckled.
"If you look at it that way, it's practically omnipotence."
"Looking at the fact that I killed it, maybe it's not quite that much?"
"Then half-omnipotence."
"Saying it that way makes it sound a bit foolish."
Ho-cheol, a few steps back, alternately looked at Se-ah and the monster's corpse.
Stroking his chin, he pondered for a moment, then walked over and stood right next to Se-ah.
"Hey. You take this."
"Huh?"
Se-ah let out a foolish sound and asked back, momentarily failing to understand him.
Ho-cheol calmly continued as if it were a trivial matter.
"Thinking about it, it's going to be really annoying for me to sell this, right? Getting a proper price assessment, finding a buyer, negotiating the price, and all sorts of things. It would take years for the money to come in properly. And if I keep this at home until then, I'll get yelled at endlessly for it being gross."
For those reasons.
"Just take it. It's perfect to keep as your payment for your trouble on this job."
"...You, what are you..."
Se-ah was flustered and stammered.
It was a ridiculous reason.
Ho-cheol had the skill, connections, and knowledge to ensure he wouldn't be ripped off or taken advantage of.
The fact that it would take a long time was only natural, considering the monetary value.
Her voice trembled, sounding ridiculous.
"Do you know how much this is worth?"
"If no one accurately prices it, right now it's just 0 won."
"You called it your retirement fund?"
"Money can be earned anywhere else, even without this. I've been diligently putting into a pension for months now."
"Who knows? If you brew and drink it like deer antler velvet, maybe you'll suddenly grow taller?"
Se-ah's physical appearance was a kind of disease caused by the Gate accident.
The solution was treatment involving a time-related Gate, or a monster related to it.
"This monster. It even swallowed my Time Compression. It probably had a time-related Trait too."
Of course, there was no guarantee it would cure her.
It was merely a faint probability, enough to write a small number on a roulette wheel that was already 0% full and spin it again.
But that alone was enough hope.
Her current state was closer to a curse than a constitutional issue or a disease.
If she could fix this miserable condition, she would pay any amount of money, but the value of this monster was beyond her life savings, or even selling her parents' company outright.
After pondering for a long time, Se-ah finally shook her head.
"...Even as a friend. This is too much."
"If it's really too much of a burden, well."
It was right to refuse, she was about to say, but Ho-cheol cut her off first.
"Just buy me dinner sometime later."
For some, it was just money, but for another, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill a lifelong wish.
Just today alone, I risked my life and emptied my pockets for complete strangers whose faces I didn't even know.
To do it for a friend, it was just a few coins.
This was a minor consideration, almost too insignificant to call a sacrifice.
Then, as if he had no intention of speaking further, he turned around and walked away.
Se-ah bit her lip and said.
"I will definitely repay this kindness. Someday."
"...That's a bit troublesome then."
Ho-cheol stopped and scratched the back of his head in an awkward tone.
"The reason I gave you this monster was partly to repay the kindness I've received from you already. If you regard my belated repayment as a debt again, what will that make me? And most importantly..."
Ho-cheol chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.
"What are friends for?"