Chapter 410

But personal feelings of certain sea creatures aside...

'By the way, it was a good idea to infuse the gloves with a healing spell. Still, I should be able to move again soon.'

He was beginning to get an idea of which group had attacked his acquaintance on Earth. The mutated-world hunter had revealed a certain secret the moment he saw Ahn Yoonseung. And when he used a sorcery developed far overseas to read the deceased's memories, he found no particular grudges or entanglements involving the victims.

'Most likely, Ahn Yoonseung got himself into serious trouble while trying to report that thug of a corporation.'

The incident in the hills had to be closely connected to the [Faith] Guild. Although there were considerable gaps in the memories remaining within the corpse, the magus easily arrived at that conclusion.

'Besides, I even found the scene in his memory where he went to see Choi Jin...'

'Didn't Ahn Yoonseung suddenly bring up the words "slave contract," repeatedly pressing her for answers, only for Choi Jin's face to turn deathly pale before she immediately fell silent?'

When he had first extracted that memory from the corpse, the scene had been incomprehensible. But now, the conversation was beginning to make sense. After learning what had happened from Choi Jinhee, Ahn Yoonseung must have gone to see Choi Jin and questioned her closely. Yet the woman with the single-syllable name had remained silent—for reasons of her own.

'Because the clause in the [Knight's Oath] clearly stated that they must not ask for help. That's why, even when facing me, they mostly kept silent.'

For reference, Ahn Yoonseung had been quite frustrated by that silence at the time. Unlike Kim Giryeo, whose eyesight was sharp, Yoonseung perceived the world through slightly blurred vision. In other words, what remained in his memory was that hazy perspective. Lying flat on the ground, the Archmage retraced the information he had gathered and let his thoughts wander.

'What on earth did Ahn Yoonseung do after that conversation with Choi Jin?'

At the very least, it was certain that his deceased acquaintance had made contact with her cousin... And since Choi Jin knew that the [Faith] Guild was connected to illegal backers, she wouldn't have recklessly involved a third party, no matter how suddenly her younger sister had died.

'On the contrary, she was desperately warning Ahn Yoonseung not to get involved—afraid the sparks might spread to him.'

All of this was fact, pieced together from human memories. But then—what on earth had Ahn Yoonseung done afterward for him to suddenly become the central figure in a violent crime?

'And on top of that, I'm a little curious about how Yoonseung ended up losing his mobile phone in the first place.'

The blond man organized his thoughts. Even after two rounds of investigation, doubts still remained. However, for now, it was fine to postpone any further examination of corpses. Whether standing upright or staring up from the floor like this, one thing was clear: the true culprit behind the incident was none other than the [Faith] Guild.

'As long as I've identified the perpetrator, that's enough.'

Just as he reached that conclusion, a raspy sound suddenly echoed deep inside his ear canal. It was an unpleasant noise, like the phlegm-filled cough of someone suffering from the flu. But in truth, it hadn't come from anyone else—the sound had come from his own body. In fact, throughout the long stretch of time when other people's memories had been playing out before him, Kim Giryeo had been coughing nonstop.

'It sounds like something's caught in your throat. Are you okay?'

'It's just because I was lying down before my wounds had healed. Now that I'm standing, I feel fine.'

For further context, the place they were standing in front of was a refrigerated storage room for corpses—what Earthlings would call a morgue. The Archmage thought to himself that he fit into a place like this far too well. After all, he was practically a corpse himself. But he didn't bother voicing the grim joke. There were far more important matters to deal with right now.

Shaak!

Shak, shak, shak.

First, he had to clean up the blood he'd coughed up while using [Memory Search].

'Ah, so that's why you made some water over the dustpan earlier... I guess it's lucky there's a cleaning supplies cabinet nearby...'

The civil servant had followed him here out of concern, knowing full well that the magician would end up lying on the floor again. He felt sorry for her, but Kim Giryeo skipped the unnecessary explanations and stated his intentions first.

'First of all, I've figured out roughly where Ahn Yoonseung was targeted.'

'Where?'

'Right now, I don't know what clause Choi Jin is under, so I won't reveal anything.'

'Yes.'

'I think the best thing we can do is simply resolve this matter as quickly as possible.'

Resolve the matter. Of course, it would be nice if that were possible, but how could anyone possibly untangle a disaster that had already become so hopelessly snarled?

'First, I'll rest for just one day. I really don't want to, but with my respiratory system like this... just one day, so I can gather my thoughts a little more.'

Just as Seonwoo Yeon was about to ask a question, the blond rank-5 Hunter began muttering a few complaints about his outdated body. But he didn't even get the chance to finish his brief grumbling.

♪ ♬ - ♪ ♬

A ringtone quite familiar to a certain woman.

///

Eventually, a phone notification sounded from Seonwoo Yeon's pocket, and they stopped talking to look at the device.

'It's probably a loan advertisement.'

Seeing the area code beginning {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} with 02, Seonwoo Yeon assumed it was probably just a scam call. But when she decided to answer anyway, much to her surprise, the caller turned out to be a police officer in the capital.

Hello, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi. This is from the OO Police Station. You recently filed a report regarding Hunter Ahn Yoonseung, correct?

Normally, the police often contacted reporters again for various reasons. However, Seonwoo Yeon was an Awakener with close ties to investigative personnel in the capital. As a result, whether she wanted them to or not, those unusual connections led the police to promptly provide her with additional information.

'I wish you'd put it on speakerphone.'

'Yes?'

'So what did the police station end up saying?'

'Didn't you hear them?'

'The other person's pronunciation was too muffled.'

At his request, Seonwoo Yeon kindly relayed what she had heard.

'They said someone from the broadcasting station just arrived at the police station.'

'Who?'

'It's a producer in charge of the program [Hunter Review], and they recently received a message from Yoonseung.'

'A text revealing something about a relative?'

'Yes. That's roughly what it said... But as I mentioned earlier, it's difficult to legally prove that someone died because of the [Knight's Oath], so the situation has become complicated.'

What followed was a somewhat surprising story for an alien creature.

First, Ahn Yoonseung had intended to inform the broadcasting industry about the sisters' situation while they were still alive. Second, however, because there wasn't enough legal evidence to report the case immediately, he had taken another course of action to deal with the issue for the time being.

As the facts emerged through the testimony of those involved, it became clear why the [Faith] Guild had rushed to impose such an extreme silencing measure.

'Why didn't Ahn Yoonseung report it to the police first?'

Of course, another possibility immediately occurred to him.

'...And it seems Ahn Yoonseung had already submitted Choi Jinhee's testimony to the police station.'

'What did you say?'

'But when they checked, it turned out that the report hadn't even been properly filed. So now the investigators are in an uproar, wondering what exactly happened at the other station...'

This was one of the truths he had only come to understand after arriving on Earth: apparently, this world couldn't run on magic alone. Thanks to the report Seonwoo Yeon relayed shortly afterward, the missing pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place.

'Now that I think about it, Choi Jinhee's death didn't happen in Seoul. And of all people, the police officer who first received Ahn Yoonseung's report was connected to [Faith].'

Even though they were ordinary people without a single drop of mana, they stood against injustice, relying on a few inexpensive pieces of equipment provided by the state to safely carry out their duties.

Police.

As he had seen from examples such as Seonwoo Yeon, in this country called South Korea, there were actually quite a number of law enforcement officers with a strong sense of duty. It was simply that only the most sensational cases made the news. In reality, far more people were decent than the Alphaui had imagined.

'Oh, my.'

But who would have thought they would personally run into an unfortunate case of bribery?

'No matter how rare something is, if it happens to you, it's 100%, right?'

That was why Ahn Yoonseung had tried to contact the media. Furthermore, information had already leaked through intermediaries from an unexpected source, so it was hardly surprising that he had been attacked. Kim Giryeo quickly organized his thoughts as he listened to the news Seonwoo Yeon relayed.

'I haven't examined the living Choi Jin's head directly, but thanks to my innate ability to sense the flow of mana, I could more or less tell that she hadn't lied.'

So...

'So this must be exactly the situation the victim was worried about...'

The dragon hunter's efforts to prevent a relative from reporting the matter on her behalf did indeed seem to have stemmed from concern.

'Or perhaps, exhausted in both body and mind from old injuries, she simply couldn't bring herself to escape that quagmire.'

In any case, he had practically confirmed the entire story.

'Hmm.'

So now the question was how to handle the aftermath.

'Hunter Kim Giryeo, um, by the way, do you have any plans to take personal action in the future...'

Next came Seonwoo Yeon's question. She had already discerned the outline of the main culprit behind the problem, and at the same time, the alien had declared that he intended to gradually resolve the situation. Naturally, Seonwoo Yeon was briefly worried that such an extraterrestrial might cause a bloodbath.

Modern law—of course, it always seemed far too lenient to victims who had lost someone precious. Even if the principle of equivalent retaliation were somehow revived in this land, it still wouldn't be enough in a situation like this.

'Personal action?'

Nevertheless, Seonwoo Yeon insisted on adhering to the established laws. Ethics were far too complicated for any one individual to fully comprehend. From her perspective, she had no other choice—but upon hearing her question, the alien immediately answered.

'I don't do things like that.'

It was a reassuring answer.

'Huh? Really?'

'The problem I said I'd resolve concerns the contract artifact that's been imposed on Choi Jin.'

'Ah.'

'I'll investigate a little more using my skills, and if I find the person who assaulted Yoonseung, I'll hand them over to you here immediately.'

But whether it was truly safe to trust a mage who wasn't affected by the [Knight's Oath] in the first place...

'Is that so?'

Seonwoo Yeon's eyes were filled with trust.

'Anyway, let's call it a day. I won't be able to use my skills on corpses for the time being.'

'Yes.'

'And you can head up to Seoul on your own. I still have some work to take care of here. I'll contact you again soon.'

Kim Giryeo wrapped up the brief conversation and headed to a nearby inn. His mind was exhausted from concentrating on restoring his damaged lungs. Though he wished he could simply fall asleep right then,

'What kind of punishment did Ahn Yoonseung hope the person who harmed him would face?'

He still had a great deal to think about.

'I don't know.'

Soon, a few text notifications came in—messages from Seonwoo Yeon asking whether he had settled into his lodging, along with a few other pleasantries.

'I'm not sure how Earthlings think, but one thing's certain: he must have wanted to nullify the slave contract his relative was subjected to.'

Nullifying the [Knight's Oath] could, in truth, be fairly straightforward if handled the right way. Because it required the highly difficult ingredient of human consent, overriding it through magic alone was complicated. Conversely, the artifact could sometimes be undone simply by the death of one of the contracting parties.

'Old man Go Byeongdo, are you watching? I'll try walking the path you once chose...'

So—partly to protect an heir of that family, and partly to track down the perpetrator who had assaulted his beloved acquaintance—Kim Giryeo resolved to visit [Faith] in the near future.

'Hmm.'

However, if a rank-5 Hunter well known for being close to Ahn Yoonseung were to visit the company, anyone would immediately sense the danger looming over them.

'If they suddenly decide to flee overseas, it'll become far too much of a hassle.'

It looked like it was finally time to use that 'face' he'd been saving.

In fact, Kim Giryeo had a way to conceal his identity. Specifically, it was an artifact called the [Vampire's Mirror], classified under domestic law as prohibited from import.

'This item in particular is notorious for causing chaos in the world, so government agencies often go after it.'

Originally, it was an item that, when infused with the blood of another human somewhere on Earth, allowed the user to transform into that person's appearance. And the illusion magic inscribed into the tool itself wasn't anything particularly remarkable.

'Unauthorized replication of Gisimche magic.'

Since it was a cheap inn, the bedding laid out on the floor was paper-thin. The blond Alphaui immediately lay down and began organizing what needed to be done.

'But since they were the first to imitate creatures from my home planet, this makes us even.'

There wasn't much left to do before the objective of this outing was complete.