Ch.80Forced Interrogation Is Dangerous (3)

When Baek Eunha first met him, she hadn’t recognized him, but Joseph actually knew who Baek Eunha was.

‘What an extraordinary coincidence…’

A few months ago, Joseph had investigated Song Hayeon, a rising star in Korea, at the request of Helena, an S-rank hunter from England. That was when he first learned about Baek Eunha’s existence.

However, he never imagined that she would turn out to be the internet friend he occasionally played games with during his downtime.

‘They say fortune favors the bold. Heaven helped me out.’

In the end, Joseph had saved his life from Hades’ grasp thanks to a misdirected message. It had been quite tumultuous, but the outcome wasn’t bad at all.

But there was a problem. After battling with members of Hades, they had been captured by Italian hunter authorities and become subjects of investigation.

“Isn’t this enough? I think I’ve told you everything there is to tell. There’s no point in questioning me further.”

“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you go until we receive instructions from above.”

At first, Joseph didn’t question the investigator much. Given the scale of the incident and the seriousness of the situation, he couldn’t complain about their slow processing.

However, when an unwelcome visitor claiming to be sent from above arrived and began pressuring them excessively with an aggressive attitude, Joseph sensed that this wouldn’t be easily resolved.

‘These guys don’t seem to have any intention of letting us go quietly.’

Meanwhile, Baek Eunha, who was in another location, caused a disturbance, and Joseph followed the man who left to assess the situation.

Now, as Baek Eunha and the Parbosa members faced off, Joseph, who had been waiting for an opportunity in the back, began secretly activating his ability.

‘Whatever it is, I can’t just stand by and let them pull the wool over our eyes.’

Fortunately, this kind of situation was his specialty.

As Joseph activated his skill to scan the surroundings, he detected a communication device signal from the leader at the very back and connected his consciousness to it.

‘This guy is the only one with a communication device. There must be something to it.’

As he infiltrated with his consciousness and dug through various records, information related to the current situation began to appear quite frequently.

After a few minutes of frantically collecting records, Joseph could roughly understand how the current situation was unfolding.

‘…They plan to use this incident as a political tool.’

Currently in Italy, two factions were vying for power.

It seemed that one of those factions had influenced Parbosa’s movements.

‘They have two objectives.’

To extract any new information using forceful methods if necessary. And to keep us here as long as possible.

There was one more concerning detail.

‘They want to create friction with Korea?’

He couldn’t discern their intentions as no other records could be found. But whatever the case, it was clear that this wasn’t a good situation.

Just as he was about to disconnect, a new piece of information he hadn’t checked caught his eye. After confirming it, Joseph ended his skill activation and his expression hardened.

‘An S-rank is coming here?’

As alarming as it sounded, it was no joke. This was extremely troublesome.

The moment the S-rank arrived, everything would unfold according to their plan.

As Joseph fell into deep thought, Michele, the head of the special operations department, shouted as he passed by.

“Everyone calm down first! The situation is too heated. You all know that fighting with force won’t benefit either side, right?”

“Hey, Michele.”

“No matter what orders come from above, I’m the one in charge here. I won’t allow the situation to be ruined.”

“Tch.”

The situation seemed to be entering a lull, but it was obvious that things would revert once the S-rank arrived.

Because of this, Joseph hurriedly stepped between the two with Trione and spoke.

“No, continue. We need to get out of here now.”

“What?”

“I’m saying we can’t trust you anymore.”

Given Baek Eunha’s skills, which he had confirmed during the battle with Eric, she could certainly handle Parbosa and escape from here.

Joseph, who had quickly approached Baek Eunha, spoke again.

“Their intentions are sinister. Let’s just take them all out and leave.”

However, Baek Eunha, with a displeased expression, threw away the opponent whose collar she had been gripping.

Boom!

“…You’re, arrogant too.”

“What?”

Seeing Baek Eunha’s sudden loss of motivation, Trione, who understood the situation, quickly provided support.

“We’ve been trapped here all day. Haven’t we been patient enough?”

“…Don’t know, it’s annoying. I’m sleepy.”

Plop.

Joseph and Trione exchanged bewildered glances as they looked at Baek Eunha, who had just flopped down on the ground.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Uh, it might be a side effect of the new artifact…”

As the situation changed, the Parbosa members who had stopped their actions began to exchange glances, and Joseph, realizing the urgency, quickly racked his brain.

Recalling Baek Eunha’s usual habits, he urgently spoke.

“Hey, when we get back, I’ll play all those games you wanted to play last time.”

“…Games?”

“Yeah. The ones you’ve been whining about every day. So let’s get out of here.”

“Bolt Action 4 too?”

“Damn it, why that crappy game… Fine. I’ll play them all.”

Hearing those words, Baek Eunha finally got up and started moving.

In the midst of this, as if she somehow remembered the person in charge here, Baek Eunha made a unilateral announcement as she met Michele’s gaze.

“…I’m leaving, don’t stop me.”

The one who responded to those words wasn’t Michele, but Pietro, the leader of Parbosa.

“If you try to leave this place on your own, I will eliminate you as per instructions.”

“…Eliminate?”

Baek Eunha, with a dazed expression, repeated the word, then smirked and responded to the other party with disdain.

“Everyone who’s said such things to me, they’re all dead. Heh.”

Simultaneously, a black mist made of mana erupted, and someone began to walk out from within it.

Whoosh!

Step.

Step.

Boom.

“Lowly humans who don’t know their place and try to climb up.”

A body made of pure white bones, mostly covered by a black robe. Plus a staff filled with ominous energy.

It was Gordon, the lich.

“…A, a lich?”

At the appearance of another powerful undead, even the Parbosa members couldn’t continue speaking.

Although it was recorded as B-rank in the database, this was essentially no different from handling an undead army.

Even an A-rank necromancer would find this impossible.

In the end, Baek Eunha, who had completely dominated the place with her presence, began to leave with Joseph and Trione.

Just then, someone appeared as the entrance door leading to the ground level opened.

A young man with short blonde hair and a distinctive hood.

Seeing him, Pietro, the leader of Parbosa, sneered and spoke.

“Ha, it seems your pathetic games are over now.”

Pietro raised his hand as if to give an order, and Joseph, who knew the situation, silently hardened his expression.

That man was the S-rank hunter of Italy, known as the Butcher, Fabio, whom the other side had been waiting for.

However, for some reason, Fabio’s face wasn’t bright.

The reason was something anyone could understand without having to wait.

“As expected, it’s chaotic here.”

It was because Helena, also an S-rank hunter and known as the power behind Calliope, a major guild in England, had entered with Fabio.

Everyone’s expressions turned to surprise at this fact, and Helena, approaching with elegant steps, looked at Pietro and continued.

“It’s been a while. Is this the first time since the S-rank dungeon in Piedmont?”

“You, why are you here…”

“I received a call. It seems I’m quite late though.”

Her appearance alone had turned all of Parbosa’s plans to dust.

Pietro glanced at Fabio, but he too could only gauge the situation without taking any action.

“Um, sister? We have our position…”

“Do I really need to add anything more?”

“No, that’s not it, but…”

Though they were both S-rank hunters, Fabio and Helena were clearly of different calibers. Seeing Fabio unable to even put up a fight, Pietro bit his lip and shouted.

“No matter who you are, this is crossing a line. Can you handle the consequences?”

To such a Pietro, Helena responded with a smile full of amusement.

“When have I ever cared about such things?”

Unable to stop those who were leaving, Pietro could only watch helplessly as the entrance door closed.

Bang!

Pietro, who had violently punched the wall with his fist, asked Fabio in a chilling voice.

“…How are you going to handle this?”

“Hey, don’t get too angry. What could I do when that woman followed along, having caught some scent? If you’re that dissatisfied, why don’t you face that monster yourself?”

However, despite the plan having gone to waste, there was a subtle smile on Fabio’s face as he turned slightly.

And on the inside of his wrist, a strange engraved symbol was emitting an ominous light.

#

When I regained consciousness, my body was lying somewhere.

‘…’

Despite missing most of my memories, I quickly grasped the situation.

For some reason, the effect of the ring had been canceled, and as a result, I had fallen unconscious due to the accumulated side effects.

‘They said there was no time limit…’

Well, given that I, already a special case, had been using the ring for such a long time, it wasn’t strange for unexpected problems to arise.

I slowly moved my body and opened my eyes.

Then, I saw Seoha sitting in a chair, looking at me for some reason.

“Why, why are you here…”

“…”

Seoha remained silent. With his arms crossed, his expression contained a hint of relief and a considerable amount of irritation.

“…Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. No problem.”

“Then, explain this.”

Swish.

On the smartphone screen that Seoha handed to me, numerous articles containing my name were listed.

[Korean B-rank Hunter Baek Eunha’s Impulsive Actions During Investigation, Three Anonymous Hunters Severely Injured]

[What Connection Does She Have to the Brenner Terror? Italian Hunter Association Continuously Demands Her Custody.]

[Baek Eunha’s Mana Traces Detected at Fire Site Near Brenner Mountains? What’s the Truth?]

Incredulous, I clicked on the articles to check them directly, but the photos uploaded there clearly showed me and my undead.

Sensing that I had caused trouble while unconscious, I could only offer the ultimate defense while gauging the situation.

“I was drunk, so I don’t remember well…”

It was the miraculous excuse known as the criminal’s pardon.