Ch.51Come Out, Culprit!

[Warning! Warning! There is a monster roaming the city! Citizens are advised to evacuate to nearby shelters immediately!]

The moment the lower half of the Angel’s corpse appeared on the ground, breaking through the asphalt road.

The peaceful streets of Yeongdeungpo instantly became a scene of chaos.

Roads were paralyzed, and people passing by abandoned even their cars and began running frantically toward nearby subway stations or shelters.

And from the Hunter Association branch located in Yeongdeungpo, an enormous force of Hunters could be seen deploying immediately to contain the situation.

“Did we overdo it?”

“No. The leader said that unless we cause this much commotion, that ‘Monster of Jamsil’ won’t show up.”

The intersection was becoming packed with Hunters and heavily armed police forces.

Two people were looking down at the road from a tall high-rise building.

One was an elderly man wearing a black suit that showed his years of experience at first glance.

He wore half-broken glasses around his eyes that looked like they needed replacing soon, and at his waist hung a pitch-black sword with its blade completely painted black.

And the other person.

She was a woman with blue ribbons in her twin-tailed hair.

She had dull white hair and blood-red emotionless eyes, and her outfit was the same black suit as the elderly man beside her.

“Riverine, so what’s the next part of the plan?”

“As you can see, we’ll continue causing disturbances like this until the Monster of Jamsil appears.”

“Just with that half-dead corpse?”

The old man gestured with his chin toward the lower half standing motionless behind them.

More precisely, the dead Angel’s lower half connected to magical threads from the fingertips of the woman called Riverine.

“Is there nothing for me to do?”

The old man was stretching his body with cracking sounds as if he was still an active Hunter.

“Paul. The leader always warned us.”

“Hmm…”

“Our ‘Villain’s Troupe’ must always move in the shadows.”

Riverine cautioned him as always.

“If you start rampaging here too, it would essentially announce the Villain’s Troupe’s presence in Korea.”

“Well, this is a ‘Hunter-advanced country’ after all. Being cautious won’t hurt.”

Hearing those words, the old man Paul relaxed his body as if realizing he had been reckless.

“So are you going to rampage with that corpse again soon, Riverine?”

“No. The security has become too tight. Let’s retreat for now.”

“Understood. Then I’ll fulfill my original role of escorting you.”

With that, Riverine and Paul leaped from the rooftop to another high-rise building’s roof, gradually moving away from Yeongdeungpo.

However, at the same time.

“……”

Among Riverine’s threads, the one that had been severed—the thread from her index finger that had been controlling the lower half of a National Disaster-Level monster through a gap invisible to human eyes, reaching all the way to the cooling chamber in the underground research facility.

She momentarily felt something strange, but.

‘I felt like someone touched my thread… must be my imagination?’

Since her threads were so fine that even the seven National Authority-Level individuals in the United States couldn’t properly detect them.

She thought there was no way her threads could be exposed in such a small country, so she soon forgot her worries and continued flying calmly between buildings.

***

“Can you see this?”

“This is… a thread?”

“Can you see it too, Mr. Seokgyu?”

“Me? Well, I think I can see something, but also can’t really see it…”

Contrary to Riverine’s thoughts, Lee Jin-ah was currently preserving her severed magical thread as evidence.

And naturally, the first people she showed it to were the couple, Sophia and her husband, who were known as National Authority-Level Hunters in Korea just like herself.

“Wow, this is really well-made! You can’t see it unless it’s right in front of you.”

“Indeed. Even though I’m touching it right now, honestly I feel my fingers more than the thread itself.”

Rolling and Lee Seokgyu couldn’t hide their amazement.

They were sitting at the kitchen table in the detached house, which had been repaired and returned to them, with serious expressions on their faces.

“So the presence of magical threads means…”

“Yes. The culprit is a Marionette Hunter. In short, a ‘Puppeteer.'”

“…! But Puppeteers are extremely rare Hunters, aren’t they? I believe there aren’t any in Korea?”

“Exactly. That’s why we’re currently working with all airports in Korea to investigate foreigners who have entered the country in the past month.”

But Jin-ah clicked her tongue as there had been no significant findings yet.

Marionette Hunter.

Also known by the alias Puppeteer, they were Hunters capable of controlling anything with magical threads emanating from their bodies.

“But why would a Puppeteer suddenly do something like this? Has the motive been discovered?”

“No, that’s what I’d like to know too.”

In terms of rarity, they were considered the second most difficult to find after Beast Hunters.

As a result, Marionette Hunters received special treatment in any country and any branch due to their scarcity.

So why would such a Puppeteer choose the hard mode in life by committing this kind of terrorism against the Hunter Association… specifically the Korean branch?

Could there be a Puppeteer with a deep grudge against Korea?

“Maybe I should check the list of Korean criminals separately…”

Just as Jin-ah’s face showed concern because she couldn’t think of a good solution this time.

“About the culprit. May I track them down?”

“Honey?”

“Mr. Seokgyu?”

Lee Seokgyu stood up confidently from his seat.

But he wasn’t a Detective Hunter, and as a Beast Hunter with no connection to this case, his words didn’t seem very credible…

“Ah, I misspoke.”

“…?”

“We’ll take on this mission.”

“We?”

“Yes.”

It seemed that way, but.

After going upstairs and returning shortly after wearing a military uniform with four stars, Lee Seokgyu approached them.

But on one of his arms was an armband that read ‘Military Police.’

“There are specialists who excel at catching deserters or those who harm the nation, even if they’re on the opposite side of the earth.”

“Honey. You don’t mean…”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Since this clearly looked like a national emergency situation!

“I’ll deploy the Military Police!”

Lee Seokgyu confidently gave a thumbs up and laughed heartily toward the two women at the table, as if telling them to expect results.

***

An unfamiliar ceiling.

I opened my eyes with a slight headache, feeling an unpleasant sensation like ants crawling all over my body.

“Where am I…?”

When I tried to get up, I couldn’t control my body due to the pain that started from my right arm and spread throughout my entire body.

So, with a frown, I painfully turned my head to look around.

“Is this… a hospital room?”

I could see the interior of a hospital room equipped with all kinds of state-of-the-art medical devices.

Could this be what they call a VIP hospital room?

Well, for my parents, that level of wealth would be nothing.

‘I wonder what happened to Princess Kurumi? And I think I saw Ms. Cheran right before I collapsed…’

Even though I wanted to know, I couldn’t move a finger.

I didn’t even know how many days I had been asleep, and there was no one in the room to ask.

It would be nice if anyone was here.

Just then.

Knock. Knock.

“…?”

Could it be Sophia?

Well, it wouldn’t be strange if it was Sophia, since she always stuck by my side.

Originally, VIP hospital rooms were special rooms where only authorized visitors were allowed.

So I thought it must be someone connected to me, and.

Click.

“Sophia…”

I was about to call her name, thinking it might be her.

“Hmm. You’re awake.”

My smiling lips closed in an instant.

“Friend, sorry, but can I ask you a few questions? I don’t plan to eat you or anything, I just came because I’m curious about some things.”

A woman smoking openly in the hospital room.

Under her black coat, she wore only a revealing bra, and through her flowing black hair, red glowing eyes were staring intently at me.

And I knew this woman.

Her name was Katarina Volit.

She was the leader of the Villain’s Troupe, the official villain organization in the original “Hunter’s Blood,” and one of the representative villains of the “actually a good person” cliché.

‘But why is she here?!’

She was supposed to appear only in the middle to late parts of the story.

She was also a character who naturally became the protagonist’s mentor if you followed the Villain’s Troupe route.

I still vividly remember the memories from beyond the screen—laughing together, fighting together, standing back to back.

And despite her outstanding appearance, she never made it to the heroine position, making her an ill-fated female supporting character that I couldn’t forget.

‘Since it’s still the early stages, her “Monster Disease” probably hasn’t fully developed yet?’

Katarina Volit.

A woman who gradually lost control of herself as the story progressed toward the latter half, eventually becoming one of the original work’s boss monsters, a fate worse than death.

I carefully examined Katarina, avoiding looking at inappropriate areas.

Her arms were hidden by the Villain’s Troupe’s distinctive long coat, so I couldn’t see them well, but from the atmosphere, she seemed fine for now.

Meanwhile.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Since you’ve examined me so blatantly, you should answer my questions in return.”

Did she notice my gaze that way…

But to be fair, I did look somewhat blatantly.

I nodded while blushing.

“Yes… go ahead and ask…”

“Good, then I’ll ask.”

The leader of the Villain’s Troupe who only appeared much later in the original story.

What question could she possibly have that would make her illegally enter Korea and destroy the original storyline?

As I waited with a nervous heart.

“You see, I’m looking for something called the ‘Monster of Jamsil.'”

“The Monster… of Jamsil?”

“Yes. So I’ve been tracking down all the witnesses one by one, and that led me to you, who was injured in the aftermath of the monster’s appearance at the amusement park.”

“Ah, yes…”

The Villain’s Troupe is interested in the Monster of Jamsil?

As I became interested in something that never happened in the original story, I tried to listen more.

“So, come with me for a bit.”

“……What?”

“You’re being kidnapped right now.”

Suddenly, Katarina walked up to me and grabbed the hospital bed I was lying on.