Chapter 31 - Rotten Meat (1)

Chapter 31: Rotten Meat (1)TL: SHW

Strictly speaking, it’s not wrong to call it an international crime organization. In fact, it’s accurate.

Ark isn’t some cult gathering in a small room; it’s big enough to run a secret lab five stories underground. That’s all money, money.

Exactly.

Any organization needs money to operate.

What do you think the Ability Management Agency was constantly being summoned to hearings for? It was all about money. They would talk about the taxpayers’ money this and that. But in reality, the agency ran more on the money earned from dungeon byproducts than on taxpayers’ money.

Anyway, Ark isn’t just an organization in Korea.

Its main base was in East Asia, but it wasn’t like it didn’t operate in Europe or across the ocean in America. They primarily funded themselves from over there and funneled the money into the lab.

In some ways, that side might be larger in scale. So, Hong Seok-young’s misunderstanding, which isn’t really a misunderstanding, isn’t strange.

Hong Seok-young furrowed his brow and opened his mouth.

“Teacher Woo, where do you think I could have learned about Ark?”

“…Where did you learn about it?”

“In the black market in South America.”

According to Hong Seok-young, two years ago, there was an incident where a raid party in the U.S. was completely wiped out. Hong Seok-young knew one of the victims, and the families wanted to at least recover the remains of their loved ones.

So, chasing traces, he ended up in the South American black market, and there he witnessed Ark.

In the process, he learned that the dungeon massacre incidents, which frequently occurred in the U.S. and became a social issue, were the work of Ark.

As Ark’s atrocities grew worse, the U.S. created a special investigation team.

“I agreed to help too.”

I frowned. This is the first time I’m hearing this. It wasn’t in the report the old man wrote either.

It either got omitted when transferring materials to the agency, or the old man deleted it. If not that, he hid it from the beginning.

“But as I dug in, it was much bigger than expected, and each victim country was conducting its own investigation. It was the same in Korea.”

“Was Hunter Lee Mi-seon one of them?”

“Yeah. And Teacher Kim here too.”

Kim Chae-min nodded with a heavy expression.

Seeing them like that… I feel like I’m missing something.

What is it? Why do I have this uneasy feeling?

“Uh….”

“Hmm?”

“…Never mind.”

I was about to ask when Mr. Kim infiltrated the organization but stopped. There’s no need to do something that might cause distrust now that I’ve finally gained their trust.

But something… felt off.

Something….

What if the Ark that Hong Seok-young was chasing and the Ark I know are completely different organizations?

I’m not saying it’s a coincidence that there are two criminal organizations with the same name, Ark.

Ark conducted separate fundraising and research. Due to the cell-like structure, many might not know anything about the research.

And that would be the same for those chasing them.

Even if you interrogate the captured criminals, they can’t tell you what they don’t know.

So if Hong Seok-young didn’t know?

“What is it? Why did you stop talking?”

“…Then what do you think was the reason for kidnapping the kids?”

Hong Seok-young answered without hesitation.

“Ransom?”

Why does the end sound like a question?

“Weren’t you sure?”

“No one contacted us asking for ransom.”

Hong Seok-young stroked his chin. Stories he had hidden from me or told differently began to spill out.

“That’s why the initial investigation was so delayed. The parents also thought it was a kidnapping and waited for contact.”

“And after waiting and not hearing anything, they reported it?”

“Yeah.”

“What about when you saw the lab at the training center? Didn’t that make you suspicious?”

“Rather than suspicion….”

“Did you have no thoughts?”

“If you put it that way, what does that make me?”

Hong Seok-young furrowed his brow.

“It was also related to illegal Awakeners, and most of the drugs distributed in South America came from these guys. I thought it was related to that.”

“Drugs?”

“Besides that, they dealt in many things… even the kids….”

Hong Seok-young trailed off.

I roughly understand what you’re saying.

Hearing it this way, it’s not incomprehensible.

Everything actually makes sense. It’s more plausible that they stumbled upon a crime organization while investigating, rather than immediately chasing a cult-like group.

I understand why Officer Kim, Kim Yoo-hwa went undercover.

As for Hong Seok-young in front of me, he knows because I’m telling him now.

When did my old man learn about this fact? Before raiding the lab? After raiding the lab?

Did he find out only after adopting me?

…Or maybe.

He never found out.

Did he only eliminate Ark as an international crime organization and miss the other side?

Is that why the remaining members kept feeding the centipedes in the Bangi-dong Dungeon? Did the centipedes, which grew by eating corpses, cause the dungeon break?

I don’t know. It’s something that can’t be known now.

Here, even if I speculate about what happened or what will happen, there’s no way to find the right answer.

However.

There are things I can change.

If that’s the case. If Ark really fed and raised the centipedes.

If they raised not just one or two monsters that way.

If the ones that burned Seoul were among them.

“….”

I can stop it.

If it’s in this timeline, I can stop it.

* * *

It’s been almost two months since I came to the past.

Sometimes it feels like time is flying by, but then I’m surprised that it’s only been two months.

“I’m here!”

A yellow sports car entered the playground. Kim Chae-min greeted cheerfully while unloading luggage from the sports car.

“Hey everyone! It’s lunchtime. Come eat!” S~ᴇaʀᴄh the N0vᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

The zombies rolling around on the dirt ground stood up abruptly.

“Food!!”

“Oh no, why do these kids look like this again?”

Kim Chae-min looked at me in horror. I shrugged my shoulders pretending not to know as I put down my wooden sword.

Do you know what dungeon raids and Hong Seok-young have in common?

You can’t predict where they’ll go next.

As soon as the story ended, Hong Seok-young went to Seoul. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Lee Mi-seon, but he had to see it with his own eyes. He didn’t say much about Yoo Ji-eun… he’ll handle it on his own.

We were actually kicked out of the pub because it was closing time.

Today too, Hong Seok-young isn’t at school. To be precise, it’s just me here.

Even if I passed the final exam, leaving someone like me with the kids is questionable. Even Kim Chae-min dropped off the kids in the morning and then drove off in her sports car parked in the corner of the playground.

Even though I asked her to do something for me… isn’t this crazy?

“Why the face?”

“What’s with my face?”

“Did you eat bugs?”

“….”

“Since you replenished your protein, cheer up.”

“….”

Kim Chae-min burst into laughter.

It’s not just Hong Seok-young who’s acting strange. He’s always been odd, but Kim Chae-min is unusually high-spirited too.

Maybe she thinks she can relax now that all the unseen probing is over?

I’m incredibly grateful that they trust me this much, but at the same time, it makes me want to cry.

Is this really okay? Is it alright to be so unguarded?

Neither Hong Seok-young nor Kim Chae-min are in their right minds.

I will never become an adult like that. And of course, I haven’t. That’s what’s important.

It’s really fortunate that it’s me.

After all, the old man can’t do without me.

“…You didn’t just bring the lunch, did you?”

“Of course not!”

Kim Chae-min proudly handed me a bag.

“I bought everything properly.”

I checked the bag Kim Chae-min handed over.

It was a plastic bag with the logo of a nearby supermarket. Given what was bought, it was quite heavy.

I sneakily checked the contents and saw chunks of meat still retaining their chill. I had told her to buy the cheapest ones since they wouldn’t be eaten anyway… but why are they all beef? This is why mages are no good. They have no sense of money.

It’s not my money being spent, it’s their own money, so I can’t really say anything. I took the meat Kim Chae-min bought and laid it out on the parasol table.

Then I handed a notebook to Kim Chae-min.

“What’s this?”

“Just draw this.”

“Rune?”

Kim Chae-min tilted her head as she checked the rune drawn in the notebook.

“It’s the one from the photo… but there are several?”

“The runes aren’t precise, so these are the shapes that seem most likely.”

“Wow… Teacher Woo, did you actually create these runes?”

“I told you, a mage I know drew them. I’m not a mage, so I can’t use runes.”

“It feels like even if you’re not a mage, you would know how to draw runes, Teacher Woo….”

“…….”

Sharp as always.

I pretended not to hear Kim Chae-min’s comment.

“Anyway, just draw the runes quickly. It’s not difficult.”

“Hmm…. What do you think this effect is?”

Kim Chae-min twirled the pen in her hand and started drawing the rune following my sketch.

Unfortunately, the Mana Watch had no information about the runes drawn on the corpse. But I had some guesses.

“It’s probably for attracting bugs or accelerating decomposition.”

“Ew, a monster that eats rotting corpses. I hate it.”

“You’ll see worse ones when raiding dungeons.”

“I usually handle post-dungeon break cleanup more than actual raids. The monsters that come out of dungeons usually….”

“Prefer fresh meat?”

“Don’t say it like that!”

Kim Chae-min pouted. But she continued to draw the rune diligently.

“That’s wrong there.”

“Oh, seriously!”

While Kim Chae-min groaned and worked on the rune, I checked the lunch boxes. The ones Hong Seok-young brought were packed with meat, and the ones Lee Mi-seon brought looked like fancy gourmet meals from the containers.

But the lunch boxes Kim Chae-min brought were….

Packed with thick sandwiches, neatly arranged fruits, and salads.

It was amusing how each person’s personality was so clearly reflected.

“Done! Should I draw the support runes too?”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“Let’s try to make the runes as identical as possible. Adding auxiliary runes might strengthen the effect too much….”

I had her draw five runes in total. If none of these work, it would become troublesome. More complex runes are difficult to reverse engineer.

I carefully checked if Kim Chae-min drew them correctly. After confirming there were no problems, I placed the runes on the beef.

“Activate it now.”

“Teacher, what are you doing right now?”

Just as Kim Chae-min activated the rune, a voice interrupted.

“Is this a rune? What kind of rune is it? We haven’t learned this, right? Oh, they all look quite similar.”

Choi Jin-woo widened his eyes as he examined the rune Kim Chae-min drew.

“But why are they stuck on the meat?”

Behind Choi Jin-woo, Park Seo-hyun was lingering. She couldn’t come closer and was just hovering… If you’re going to come, just come, why are you acting like that? I felt bad and was about to call her, but she ran away.

What am I supposed to do?

I should have taken a course on child psychology in college or something. I didn’t since I planned to join the Ability Management Agency, but it turns out learning anything can be helpful. The price I pay for mocking a colleague who took that course is too high.

“Teacher?”

“…Hmm. I have something to experiment with.”

“An experiment? With runes?”

Choi Jin-woo’s eyes widened.

“Are you developing a new rune? Ah, so that’s why they all look similar!”

I can’t explain to a kid what these runes are for. I didn’t deny Choi Jin-woo’s excited assumptions and just let him talk.

“Oh! Did Teacher Chae-min make the runes? By the way, how do you make runes? Does each shape have a specific meaning?”

Words continued without giving me a chance to respond.

…I fleetingly thought that perhaps it was better when they found me difficult to approach.

“Teacher Kim hasn’t eaten yet, so don’t bother her and go play.”

“Oh, you haven’t eaten yet. I’m sorry, teacher.”

“Huh? No, it’s okay.”

The kind Archmage Teacher, Kim Chae-min, pointed to an empty chair.

“Jin-woo, you said you recently became a mage, right? And there are no adult mages around you?”

“Yes. Among my family and relatives, I’m the first Awakener.”

“Oh my…. Mages usually come in family units. It must have been hard to learn magic. Is that why you entered this academy?”

“I didn’t originally plan to become a Hunter…. But I saw on a documentary that if mages don’t learn to control their mana, accidents can happen. So I thought, oh, this can’t be good, and I started looking into it! Then the principal came to see me.”

Choi Jin-woo paused and wrinkled his nose.

“But, teacher, don’t you smell something strange?”

“Huh?”

While Kim Chae-min looked puzzled, I found the cause faster than Choi Jin-woo did.

A musty smell that sensitive senses of an Awakener would catch.

I frowned.

How long has it been since the rune was activated, and already?

One of the five chunks of beef had gone bad.