novelraw Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Chapter 73
While I recovered in the hospital, Han Sang-ah and Jung Oh-hoon kept training.
Our next target was Jaun Valley. Of course, we were aiming for Jaun Valley, but that didn’t mean I had set aside my questions about the chain of events since the Refrigerator raid.
Fraud through blank contracts, the beings carrying out those scams, and even the Descendants of Dangun.
“The Descendants of Dangun definitely aren’t behind it.”
At my words, Han Sang-ah nodded.
“I think so too. If you consider that organization’s roots, they wouldn’t pull something like this in the middle of Seoul.”
The first blank-contract scam I ran into had been Kim Ji-hyun from the Descendants of Dangun. But Sohwi didn’t seem to belong to them.
“For now, there’s nothing we can find out right away.”
Since Sohwi died, we had no way to learn through whom and how he agreed to that blank contract.
While he kept firing at the target, Jung Oh-hoon shook his head hard and spoke.
“So, your gear’s still in repairs?”
Ballea’s clubbing had wrecked my precious equipment. I asked Choi Seung-gi to fix it, but when he got the smashed pieces, even he told me not to expect much.
“He said he’d repair whatever he could by today, and for what couldn’t be fixed, he’d get me substitutes.”
I wasn’t expecting miracles. The plate that protected my body was shattered beyond restoration.
My phone buzzed. A text came in from Choi Seung-gi.
“Figures. So he failed to restore the plate I’d been using.”
Instead, he’d used slime byproducts we’d secured in Bratsk to make a new plate.
After a short wait, the item he sent arrived.
“I made this using slime byproducts secured in Bratsk.”
The delivered plate was a laminate, a transparent gel of processed slime mucus sealed between thin, flexible films.
“Would you like to test it once?”
I immediately drove a fist into the plate. On impact, the mucus flashed white and the area my fist hit hardened like stone.
“When it takes a hit, it hardens instantly, absorbs the shock, and protects the user’s body.”
A moment later, the gel that had turned white set returned to its original transparent, viscous state.
“After a short time it reverts to gel, so unlike your old plates, there’s no risk of shattering.”
“Mr. Choi Seung-gi must’ve worked hard huh.”
“I heard it was very difficult to process. Well, the raw material is what it is.”
He bowed and left. I slotted the new plate into my armor.
“So, are we done getting ready now?”
I shook my head at Jung Oh-hoon’s question.
“You’re the one that’s not done.”
“Tch, damn it,” he muttered, raking his hair.
“I feel like I’m better than before, though.”
“You’ve got a long way to go, man.”
As we rested, Han Sang-ah spoke up.
“There’s a rumor our next target is Jaun Valley.”
“It’s not a rumor, it’s true.”
I didn’t know which channel leaked it, but the word among people was that our next target was confirmed as Jaun Valley.
“Looks like quite a few Hunters are interested.”
“Interest is one thing, skill’s the problem.”
Lots of people wanted to do it, few could. It hurts to admit. On top of that, I heard something a bit disappointing.
“Se-eun noona isn’t joining this one.”
At that, Han Sang-ah responded in a bit of a disappointed tone.
“She was a huge asset.”
“She introduced someone instead.”
According to Lee Se-eun, the person was a bit scattered mentally, but the skill was top-tier.
“Yeah? What’s their name.”
“Adakawa Nanami.”
At that, Han Sang-ah let out an “Ah.”
“She’s the Japanese Hunter Lee Se-eun said she owed once.”
That debt had probably been repaid when she helped with the Bratsk cleanup, so her joining the Jaun Valley operation now was purely because she was interested.
“Sounds like she’s coming to Korea. The Japanese and Korean Hunter Associations already aligned on it.”
Listening, Jung Oh-hoon glanced between me and Han Sang-ah.
“Adakawa Nanami, isn’t she Sumire’s Partner Hunter?”
“Do you know anything about her?”
He nodded.
“Once a fight starts, she flies around with angel-like wings on her back and spams magic cannons. She calls herself a magical girl, and most Hunters just call her that too.”
“Magical girl? How old is she.”
“Thirty-two.”
Does she have no shame? At thirty-two, “girl” didn’t fit anymore. I watched a few videos of Adakawa Nanami fighting and scratched my head. Bottom line, those magic cannons she spewed were just her own ability.
At minimum, it wasn’t the same as the magic the magicians I knew used.
“She’s just a witch.”
Not magic, not a girl. Combine what’s left, you get a witch.
“Don’t say that to her face. A small Japanese Hunter firm tried to farm attention by mocking her age, and she wrecked the company building that day and beat them up.”
So her personality isn’t great huh. Still, if Lee Se-eun vouched for her skill, I could trust at least that part.
“What’d the building owner do wrong?”
“I heard the company owned the building.”
A flashy persona who blows up a building over one offhand comment was going to help us. I was already worried.
A few days later, I met that ill-tempered persona-holder in the training room.
“Hello~ Good morning!”
When I opened the door, a woman slipped into the training room with a bright voice.
She had a beaming smile and a beauty mark under her left eye. “Sophisticated” fit her, a striking beauty with the air of a successful career woman.
Then my gaze dropped, and her outfit, unlike the face, was jaw-dropping. White and pink, a riot of frills and ribbons, in short, a shocking costume.
“…Are you Ms. Adakawa? I’m Yoo Chan-seok.”
I’d seen plenty of outrageous sights. I wasn’t going to be rattled by this.
“Right now I’m Fantasia Pink. I’m in transformed mode.”
She was crazy. That thought flashed by.
“Do you have other Fantasias too?”
“Of course! There are five more besides me.”
Don’t tell me they all strut around calling themselves Fantasia Pink something-or-other too. Surely the entire Japanese archipelago wasn’t like this.
It was baffling but not beyond understanding. People who skirt the line between life and death all the time sometimes crack while coping with the stress, or crack because they can’t cope at all.
Among them, there were guys who secretly cross-dressed at night, ones who butchered people like livestock yet would never touch a dog or cat.
Honestly, this was pretty mild. There was even a guy who cut off the ears of people he killed, pickled them, and kept them.
Compared to that, playing magical girl was something I could let slide. Against the cases I just listed, she was definitely the mild one.
Looking around the training room, Adakawa Nanami asked in a chipper tone,
“You said you plan to clear Jaun Valley, right? So, funding? Who’s backing you?”
“Funding?”
When I echoed it back, the innocent, bubbly look on her face stiffened slightly. She crossed her legs on a bench, checked her nails, and sighed.
“Se-eun said there’d be a lot I could help with, and now I get what she meant. Geez, magical girls shouldn’t count coins. It stains the Pure Crystal. Cancelling transform.”
A pale light wrapped her for an instant, and the fluttery costume was gone, replaced by neat, normal clothes.
“Jaun Valley’s in Changchun, right?”
“Yes.”
With the wardrobe change, her voice changed sharply too. Gone was the forced brightness. Now it was like clear ice, hard-frozen.
“You need money to hire an operator team, bring on additional Hunters, and procure all the consumables and gear for the op. Naturally you squeeze the money out of companies.”
“Please be specific.”
She stood and spoke.
“There’ll be companies that profit if Jaun Valley in Changchun disappears. You get investment from them. Logistics firms, companies that want to develop nearby underground resources, and so on…”
There were plenty of companies that wanted Jaun Valley in Changchun smashed.
“If you succeed at removing a grade 1 Erosion Core, lots of companies make money. So of course you demand investment from them to cover costs.”
“If we fail, we won’t be able to repay any money we borrowed.”
She smiled.
“Companies too dumb to distinguish between equity and debt should go under. Investment is taking on the possibility of loss in anticipation of return.”
Listening, Han Sang-ah nodded.
“I agree. If Jaun Valley in Changchun disappears, many companies will benefit, just like Ms. Adakawa said. I don’t think it’ll be hard to approach them and get investment.”
As she spoke, she shot me a look.
“We’ve got a track record already. Finding companies willing to invest in this won’t be that hard.”
“Right.”
Honestly, for funding I’d planned to follow the same steps as before. But after hearing Nanami, there was no reason for us to take on debt or burn cash to hire an operator firm or other Hunters.
“Love and hope, clear minds as one. Fantasia Pink, transform!”
While we were having a serious discussion, Adakawa Nanami spouted crazy talk again behind us. This time, unlike before, her body flashed with spectacular light. When the storm of light cleared, she’d changed back into that same outfit.
“Let’s stop with the hard talk and do something else!”
Her voice shifted again.
“Something else? Like playing house?”
Instead of answering, she floated a handful of bright pink light sources into the air.
“We’re precious comrades fighting evil together, right? I want to see your resolve!”
In short, she wanted a bout.
“And I want to check how strong my magic is! Hunter Yoo Chan-seok is famous for skill, right?”
What she used wasn’t magic. It was a kind of blunt-force destruction where she converted her ridiculous power into kinetic energy and slammed it home.
“If you’re curious about skill, check it in the field. I’ve got things to do.”
Thanks to her advice, my to-do list had gotten longer.
“Things to do? What is it? If it’s not important, push it back!”
I answered.
“There were people who got caught up in my battle with Sohwi and died. I asked the head of the Korean Hunter Association to confirm the list and addresses.”
At that, Nanami’s face, which had been glowing as she urged a spar, shifted.
“Why… that?”
“I need to go say I’m sorry. I couldn’t save them.”
Han Sang-ah, Jung Oh-hoon, and Nanami all fell silent at that. What, why did it suddenly feel like a funeral in here?
“Chan-seok, you did your best. And they were in a situation where they couldn’t be saved.”
“I know.”
Even if I rewound time a few hundred times, I would’ve cut the throats of those people whose bodies had become a nest of bugs, to end their suffering. I had no regrets.
The reason I’d go find them in person to apologize was different.
It was suspicious.