Chapter 29

Chapter 29

ED: Cheerycheri



“Ugh...”

“Hey, Eden!”

Eden’s scarred face frowned. When I called his name again, his pinkish black irises came into view. His trembling and dazzling eyes opened a little wider when they saw me.

“...Han Yi-jin?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Luckily, Eden recognized me and opened his mouth.

“Is this a dream?”

“...”

As expected, he’s still out of his mind. I clicked my tongue and looked at the system window floating in front of me.

[Incubator in use. Time remaining: 19 minutes and 57 seconds.]

“Hmm.”

It’s a bit risky to wait for it to finish. After thinking for a while, I helped Eden up.

“Let’s get out of here, now. We shouldn’t be here.”

“What?”

Soon the people from the association will barge in and discover this hidden room. I have to take Eden out before then. Otherwise, Eden, who acted as Jang Tae-san’s hands and feet, will be arrested. I have to prevent that.

“The people from the association and the police have caught that bastard Jang Tae-san. We need to get out of here as well.”

“W-wait, just what ha... Ugh.”

“Hey, get a grip.”

I wanted to slap him on the cheek a few times to wake him up, but there was no uninjured place on his scarred face to hit. With the body of an A-class hunter, wounds like these should’ve healed in an instant, but currently, it seemed that his body had become like that of an ordinary person by the use of a sealing item. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have gotten the unlocking item from Sim Dante along with the incubator.

“Anyway, let’s get out quickly. Where’s your contract?”

“...”

“Eden?”

I looked at Eden who didn’t answer. Eden, whose face turned white, muttered something I didn’t understand.

“No, I can’t... if I leave here... can’t...”

“What?”

I didn’t hear him well and asked back, but Eden closed his mouth with his pale complexion. Ha, Jang Tae-san, you bastard. You gave him PTSD. Damn it, really.

I had no choice but to give up on trying to force Eden to come to his senses and search the room. In the novel, there are several hidden compartments that Jang Tae-san has in this corporal punishment room, it was said that their purpose was to serve as a storage for dirty things he had to hide.

Personal inventories are limited in terms of what they can store, so people have to hide things in the classic way. Like in this suspicious vault, for example.

“Wait, don’t tell me he put it here.”

I didn’t think Jang Tae-san would leave them behind so carelessly, but I found it, so I opened the vault door. It seems the door works by entering a password, but I forced it open. Surprisingly, the door of the vault opened with the strength of Han Yi-jin’s weak body.

“Oh.”

I reached into the vault with a bit of admiration. ‘Did he put money in there?’ I thought it was real money because there was the sound of rustling paper, but it wasn’t.

“Uh?”

It was hard to describe how I felt when I easily found something I thought would be hard to find.

The high-level hunter contracts were really in the vault. Is it okay to store it so poorly? When I roughly skimmed over the contract, I saw Eden’s name on the third page.

“No, but...”

Why can’t I take the contract out of the vault? I gave up trying to remove it and simply held the contract with a whimper, and started to read the contract. Then the system window appeared.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Eden blinked slowly and lowered his head. He let out a shallow sigh and muttered in a low voice.

“Right, I... already knew.”

“...”

“But I pretended not to know... If I do what mister tells me... I feel like my mother is still alive.”

Eden always looked worried. He empathized with Han Yi-jin, whose younger brother was being held captive like his mother, and expressed his anxiety all the time, even when acting as a watchdog.

“...You can leave now.”

“...”

“Come with me, Eden.”

Right when Eden raised his head, and slightly moved his lips—

Bang!

I turned my head in surprise. The door was roughly opened, broke away from its hinges, and flew away.

“...!”

“There you are, in a place like this.”

A sharp gaze was pointed at me. It was Baek Si Hoo, an S-class hunter from the Loki Guild. I looked at him in surprise.

Wasn’t he arrested with Jang Tae-san? Even if his identity was different from what was publicly known, the association would not leave Baek Si Hoo, the strongest hunter in the Loki Guild, alone.

“Why are you here... Kugh!”

“You did something stupid.”

Baek Si-hoo, who shortened the distance instantly, grabbed my neck with one hand. It was unexpected and I didn’t have the strength to stop him, an S-class, so I was seized helplessly. I groaned and glanced at the open system window.

[Incubator in use. Time remaining: 3 minutes and 51 seconds.]

I need to buy a little more time. I managed to open my mouth, and lowered my head towards Baek Si Hoo.

“Ugh, the Laufey guildmaster... Has he noticed it already?”

“What?”

Baek Si Hoo’s eyes glowed conspicuously. His face that was prettier than a woman’s showed interest in me.

He was actually the henchman of the Laufey Guildmaster. His identity was originally revealed in the middle of the novel when Eden betrayed the Loki Guild. When Jang Tae-san was captured and the Loki Guild collapsed, Baek Si Hoo escaped the association’s pursuit and returned to the Laufey Guild.

“Was your stupidity all an act? I’m astonished. Han Yi-jin.”

“Ugh...!”

“I should take you to the guildmaster as a trophy.”

“Who... wants to!”

I aimed the gun I took out from the inventory at him. But before I could shoot, my body was flipped over. Baek Si Hoo grabbed my neck with one hand, lifted me up, and threw me to the ground.

“Kugh, kuh...!”

The gun bounced out of my hand as a result of the impact, rolling away on the floor.

Pow, Baek Si Hoo’s foot pressed down against my chest. That alone made me unable to move.

“Well, you’ve always been rebellious. It’s troublesome.”

“Argh, this–bas–tard.”

“Were you planning to go to the Odin Guild this time and rely on Kang Yoo-hyun?”

Baek Si Hoo’s eyes glistened as he looked at me. Baek Si Hoo, who has an inferiority complex towards the main character, is disgusted with Kang Yoo-hyun. In episodes where the two fight, the surroundings will always be destroyed. Baek Si Hoo looked down at me coldly as I struggled under his feet.

“You wouldn’t think that if I cut off one of your legs.”