Chapter 44:

Chapter 44:

Chapter 44

The hunt went quite smoothly.

The other side was not incompetent, so they hunted down every phantom that appeared.

Of course, the most outstanding one was Kang Hye-rim.

She moved with light steps and slashed the phantoms with one stroke.

A plant-like phantom called ‘Swamp Root’ that was cut in half fell down.

“Good job.”

“Let’s take a break for a while.”

We had several battles on our way here.

It was not a bad idea to rest here.

The ground was full of water, but there were mosses floating like islands, so there was no problem.

“Wow. You’re amazing. You can take down the phantoms with one slash.”

“Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

The scavenger party members tried to lower our guard by praising Kang Hye-rim.

But Kang Hye-rim did not seem to be happy with their compliments and answered them briefly and coldly.

So they could not find a way to start a conversation, and naturally silence prevailed.

‘I can see that they are a little restless.’

They must have approached us with contempt at first, but they lost their words in the ensuing battles.

Because Kang Hye-rim was stronger than they thought.

They probably don’t realize it, but they are anxious.

‘The more impatient they are, the more likely they are to make mistakes.

They might move sooner than they thought.’

I thought to myself as I scrutinized the scavenger group.

They all had books in their hands, and the color was all brown.

The cover of the book was brown, and the light from the book was brown.

It was a book that was commonly seen by those who had low talent and reality.

‘Hmm. But what’s surprising is that one of them is fine.’

I stroked my chin as I looked at the book with the name Han Yongwoon written on it.

The other three were human trash without any excuse, but this Han Yongwoon guy seemed to be more like a victim who was dragged along like us.

He came without knowing what he was doing, and found out the truth too late.

He obviously didn’t like this situation, and that’s why his expression was very dark since before.

He must be pretending not to care by keeping a poker face, but I can read him.

‘Hmm. What should I do?’

Even if they came without knowing it, they were still allies who moved with the scavenger group in the end.

The fact that he adapted to reality even though he suffered from his conscience made him virtually the same kind as them.

‘Besides, the spirits won’t want me to forgive them.’

Now that I knew that those four were scavengers, the spirits were waiting for them to be brutally destroyed somehow.

If I said something like ‘This one is nice, so let’s spare him.’ here, there would be a riot in the message window.

‘More than anything, I’m worried about Hyerim.’

I joined them pretending to be fooled by the scavengers for one thing, but also to give Kang Hye-rim more experience.

She was strong, but still a novice.

It’s not about the power she has, but her mindset.

‘Collectors usually fight with phantoms, but that doesn’t mean they don’t fight with each other.’

It’s a profession where you swing weapons and fight for your life in reality.

Of course, if the atmosphere gets tense, they fight each other, and sometimes murder happens.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

At least Korea has laws for collectors and they are well protected, but that doesn’t mean these things don’t happen.

Just look at those murderers.

Someday Kang Hye-rim will have to fight not with phantoms, but with people.

And if she doesn’t expect it, she might have to kill them.

I was worried about that.

‘Killing is not as easy as it sounds.’

She always showed me more than I expected, but I wonder how she will handle this.

I’m not too bothered by killing because I’ve lived harshly, but it will look very different to Kang Hye-rim who grew up in a peaceful era.

She might live with a serious trauma for her whole life.

‘If it seems like a problem, I’ll step in.’

I already have a lot of blood on my hands. Adding four more won’t make any difference.

I got up from my seat.

“That’s...”

“And more importantly, why did they come to kill us in the first place? That’s still a mystery. Why are they doing this?”

Since he had already revealed everything, he answered honestly.

“I don’t know either, but Woo-hyun said so. A teller came to see him.”

“Oh, a teller.”

I deliberately added a hint of sarcasm.

Well, it was unfortunate for Han Yong-woon, but in fact, I already knew everything about this situation.

Even who was behind those scavengers.

Han Yong-woon, who didn’t know the truth, continued his explanation.

“I don’t know who it is either. But I heard that he belongs to a fairly famous department among the tellers. He said that if this succeeds, he would sign a library contract with us. That’s probably why.”

“A library contract.”

Han Yong-woon said with a guilty look, but in fact, this was not just his problem.

This series of events was a dark side that had been accumulated for a long time in this world.

Collectors who couldn’t get tellers, those who couldn’t sign library contracts couldn’t get the support of spirits no matter how hard they tried, and naturally, the gap widened with the collectors who signed library contracts.

There were too many collectors compared to the number of tellers.

For some high-ranking tellers, they signed library contracts with multiple people and had multiple main characters in their stories.

But they still couldn’t meet the excess demand.

Not everyone can be the protagonist of a story. In the end, the seats were limited. And those seats were always for the chosen ones.

“I know that too. We’ll never meet a teller even if we die and come back to life. We’re not qualified in the first place. But I thought maybe there was a chance and tried hard. I raised my collector rank and fought at risk somehow. But it didn’t work either.”

Before long, the story turned into Han Yong-woon’s personal lament.

“But this is too much. I want a library contract too, but not at the cost of killing someone else. This is... wrong.”

“But isn’t it just a matter of closing your eyes and doing it once?”

It was funny that I asked such a question, but he answered seriously.

“Of course it is. But I know that. If I do it once, will I be able to live with myself afterwards? I don’t think so. The first time is hard, but the next time will be easier. If that happens, I’ll become a monster that I can’t control myself.”

“I see.”

“So please run away. I’ll take care of things here.”

I didn’t feel any lies in his words.

His eyes looking at me were clearly trembling with fear but not trying to deceive me.

I glanced up and checked the reactions of the spirits.

Most of them seemed to have not expected Han Yong-woon to act like this.

Rather, there was some sympathy for him, judging by the atmosphere.

“Well, then I have no choice.”

“Yes. Then...”

“Yong-woon, you stay here.”

“What?”

Han Yong-woon didn’t seem to understand what I was saying.

“What do you mean by...”

“Well, it’s not my place to say this, but we were also lying to you.”

“Lying?”

“Do you think we’re stupid enough to trust people who suddenly approach us friendly?”

“That...”

He had a brain that worked, so Han Yong-woon quickly turned pale.

He looked like someone who had been hit hard on the back of his head.

If he had been a truly irredeemable villain, I would have mocked and laughed at him, but I didn’t.

“Then, you knew everything from the beginning...”

“I knew it. You followed me because Baek Woo-hyun told you to clean up after me, right?”

“...”

“Well, you don’t have to be too scared. You proved that you’re not a bad person by your actions just now. But those three over there are not.”

“Wa-wait a minute! Then it’s dangerous! That woman named Kang Hye-rim...”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

I heard a faint scream from afar.

It was muffled and mixed with the fog, but it was the scream of three people.

“They’re already taking care of things over there.”

When Han Yong-woon confessed to me with a guilty conscience and honestly told me everything, I had already sent a signal to Kang Hye-rim.

It hadn’t been three minutes since then, so let’s see.

“It should be over soon.”

As I smiled and said that, Han Yong-woon was speechless.