Chapter 37
“Hyung, wait a moment. I have a favor to ask.”
At that, Jurim sat back down and asked flatly,
“What is it?”
“Hyung, can I take Viat’s Void with me? I already cracked and ate Viat’s Aspiration… hehe!”
Jurim frowned deeply and pressed his fingers hard against his temple.
“Fine. Do it that way. But it’s with the Administration right now.”
“What? Why would they have it? The one who caught it was the two of us— I mean, Hyunak.”
At the words the two of us, Jurim’s expression stiffened, and Gidan quickly corrected himself.
The fact that Gru had participated in the Malikian raid was top secret, so he had to be extremely careful with his words.
“Watch what you say.”
“Yeees……”
Jurim hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Didn’t you notice anything strange about Malikian?”
“Strange? …Wasn’t it strange-looking from birth?”
Right. Remembering the grotesque three eyes, Gru silently agreed.
“I heard there was a rat bastard inside the Administration. That rat is the one who released Malikian into the dungeon.”
Gidan stared blankly, his mouth hanging open. He had thought that running into Malikian again after it escaped was just a horrible coincidence.
“That… is that even possible? Moving an S-rank monster around like that?”
Clearing an S-rank monster was one thing. Capturing it alive and transporting it wherever you wanted was unimaginably difficult.
Jurim rested his chin on his hand and tapped the armrest lightly.
“There is one place that could make it possible.”
That was when—
Jurim and Gidan simultaneously turned their heads toward the hospital room door.
“Huh? What is it?”
Gru looked back and forth between them, then stared at the door as well.
“There’s nothing there?”
Just then, knock knock—someone knocked and opened the door.
“Excuse me. I’m here to see Hunter Gidan. Would you have a moment?”
Gru’s face lit up with delight.
“Mister!”
Uncle Jin Siwon. The S-rank caretaker candidate she had met at the Awakened Registration Center!
She’d wondered if they’d ever meet again, but here he was, in such an unexpected place.
“H-hello!”
“We meet again, cute little princess.”
Smiling warmly, Siwon reached out to pat Gru’s head, but suddenly seemed to sense something and quickly withdrew his hand.
Gidan asked sharply,
“You two know each other?”
“We met briefly at the Awakened Registration Center before…”
Nod nod.
“Ah! I’m not a suspicious person—I’m Jin Siwon, Team Leader of the Special Investigation Division at the Awakened Administration.”
“Jin Siwon? That Jin Siwon?”
Enduring Gidan’s full-body glare, he forced a smile and lifted the corner of his lips.
“I’m probably that Jin Siwon. Here, my business card…”
He held out a card.
When Gidan still didn’t lower his guard, Jurim spoke slowly.
“Gidan.”
Gidan glanced at Jurim’s calm expression, then quietly put the dagger he’d drawn back into his inventory.
Siwon smiled awkwardly.
The moment he’d reached out to the child, the two of them had turned razor-sharp. The pressure of their refined killing intent was suffocating.
“Hunter Gidan, are you feeling alright?”
“What brings you here?”
Though he tried to be polite, Gidan’s reply was openly sulky.
“Well, it’s nothing urgent. I just wanted to ask a few questions as part of our investigation into Malikian.”
“Go ahead.”
Gidan raised an eyebrow.
“Do you happen to know about Gnosis?”
“Of course. Is there a hunter in the world who doesn’t know Gnosis?”
Gidan replied curtly, arms crossed.
“Haha, is that so?”
Siwon chuckled softly, his drooping eyes narrowing into crescents.
He said he’d ask a few questions and reached into his inner pocket for his phone—only to drop it.
Clack.
Jurim caught it and handed it back to him.
“Th-thank you, Guild Master On.”
Siwon bowed repeatedly, his face turning bright red.
Seeing his clumsy behavior, Gidan’s eyebrows shot up.
That guy is Jin Siwon?
Jin Siwon.
The man who caused a massive stir in the hunter world by shooting straight to Rank 2 the moment he defected to Korea.
It was said he had belonged to his country’s intelligence agency before defecting, and there had been controversy for some time over what he’d been doing prior to that.
Ranking points were normally earned by killing monsters in dungeons.
It was also possible to earn points by using skills, but the amount was negligible, so dungeon activity was considered the standard way.
That was what most people believed—but there was actually one more way.
By killing another hunter.
The killer absorbed all of the victim’s ranking points.
Still, since the only reward for accumulating ranking points was the title of “Ranker,” such extreme acts were rare.
To avoid encouraging such scenarios, the Administration didn’t make this information public.
Those few in the know had always wondered:
After the Great Cataclysm, Korea had become one of the world’s strongest nations.
No matter how talented a hunter was in their own country, surviving among Korea’s rankers was no easy task.
So how could a defector from a fallen nation’s intelligence agency rise to Rank 2 so quickly through dungeon activity alone?
Or perhaps…
Outside of dungeons, had he been engaging in “acts that earn points”?
Whether he was pretending not to know or truly didn’t, he simply smiled awkwardly and asked Gru,
“Want me to peel you an apple?”
Of course, after defecting, he stopped participating in all public activities, and interest in him soon faded. His ranking also dropped significantly.
His sudden Rank 2 debut had ignited fierce point competition among the top ranks.
“Our side believes Malikian was contaminated and mutated by Gnosis. I stopped by to ask if you noticed anything unusual.”
“Well… I don’t really know. Since I don’t know much, I can’t tell what would count as unusual.”
When Gidan shook his head, Siwon nodded gently.
“Then did you happen to see anyone else inside the dungeon?”
At that moment, Jurim tapped the armrest lightly.
“Team Leader Jin.”
“Yes.”
Siwon turned to him.
“We already delivered a clear, complete report of the Malikian raid without leaving anything out. Before repeating the same questions to a patient in his hospital room, perhaps you should first explain why that’s necessary. I’ll decide whether the reason is appropriate before answering.”
Jurim smiled thinly, lips tight.
“As you know, this one here is a minor, and I’m acting as his guardian.”
Siwon scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Ah, I’m just following procedures from above… If this made you uncomfortable—”
“It does.”
Jurim answered sharply on purpose, redirecting attention so they wouldn’t realize there had been one more person involved in the raid.
“Please understand. The higher-ups left Hyunak with nothing but cleanup work.”
“O-of course. I apologize. Once the Gnosis investigation is finished, we’ll do our best to return Hyunak’s items as quickly as possible.”
Just as Jurim intended, the slow-witted man panicked and offered an awkward apology.
Then Gru, who had been quietly listening, spoke up softly.
“Mister, what is Goo-nosis? Is Gnosis a bad guy?”
“Ah…”
Siwon rubbed his chin, hesitating over how to explain it.
Gnosis.
Though commonly known as terrorists, they differed from other terrorist organizations. They had no political or ideological goals, no demands.
The identity and purpose of their founder were unknown.
All that was known was that they were a “research group” that repeatedly conducted certain experiments using the “system” that appeared after the Great Cataclysm.
And those experiments were carried out worldwide, involved unethical methods without regard for means, and had produced countless victims.
