Ch.81Tyrant Lee Ji Cheol (1)

Trioné explained everything that had happened during that time.

To summarize, while I was stuck in Italy due to involvement with the Brenner terrorist incident, I apparently caused a disturbance in response to someone’s aggressive attitude.

After that, just as I was about to be in danger when a national S-rank hunter arrived, I was able to escape with Helena’s help.

“Hmph. What? Then it wasn’t really my fault.”

After understanding the whole story, I maintained a confident attitude throughout, and Korea’s Hunter Association actually questioned the Italian side and sent support.

Thanks to that, the commotion died down somewhat, but the associations of both countries engaged in lengthy debates, and the incident concluded in quite an unsettled atmosphere.

In this situation, I couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable uneasiness.

‘The Italian side deliberately tried to create friction with Korea?’

According to what Trioné told me, that information was contained in what Joseph had extracted.

I couldn’t think of any particular reason for this. It probably involved complex political interests and circumstances.

“…Whatever.”

There was no point in worrying about it; it would only give me a headache. This wasn’t my area of expertise.

Thud.

And so currently, due to my busy activities lately, I was spending the day holed up in my house, lying on my bed.

Doing nothing, literally like a zombie.

With my face buried in my pillow, I took time to slowly reflect on the recent events.

‘……’

Although I lost the most important result of the ritual, through this incident, I was able to learn something about the true nature of the organization called Hades.

‘…They’re doing interesting things.’

Hades is trying to summon an ancient being that has been passed down to the other world through some kind of ritual.

‘It sounds absurd, but I suppose it’s not impossible.’

In a way, it’s similar to how I was sent to the other world and how I returned to Earth with Serejia’s help.

‘But do they really have that kind of ability?’

The source of such knowledge is probably one of the members who is a founder and a returnee. However, it certainly wouldn’t be easy, and I question whether there’s someone amazing enough to make it possible.

‘The mastermind probably isn’t that Eric guy.’

Unfortunately, in Eric’s case, some kind of lock was placed on his soul, so I couldn’t extract information properly. But he doesn’t seem like the one who planned these things. You can roughly estimate someone’s capabilities just by looking at their skills.

Rather, from my perspective, the person who placed the lock on Eric was more suspicious.

‘I have a hunch.’

That person is probably a necromancer. The way they manipulated souls was quite similar to my methods.

Naturally, I’m interested in what otherworldly being such a person is trying to resurrect.

‘I’m sure the name was Gildeon? Hildeon?’

In the memories of Verdi, who was Eric’s colleague, that’s what they called the ancient being.

“I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before…”

But no matter how much I pondered, nothing more came to mind. As I was rolling around in bed, I received a call from someone.

It was Shin Doyun, a returnee.

I briefly activated the effect of the ring and pressed the call button.

“What?”

[I called because I have something to tell you.]

Come to think of it, this guy is quite amusing.

Of course, he definitely has skills, but looking back now, I wonder what kind of confidence he had to think he could take down S-rank Lee Jichul—it’s ridiculous.

“Weakling…”

[I didn’t catch that. What did you just say?]

“Nothing important.”

After a brief pause, Shin Doyun began to convey his business.

[Lee Jichul’s recent activities have been strange.]

“Lee Jichul? What’s strange about him?”

[He’s been continuously hiding his whereabouts as if he’s planning something. I tried to investigate, but couldn’t find out what he’s doing.]

I had forgotten about it since there was no news, but it seemed Shin Doyun had been continuously gathering information on Lee Jichul.

I asked Shin Doyun in a flat voice.

“Are you really going to catch him?”

[……]

“S-ranks are much stronger than you think.”

Just look at Chae Hwain, who cut the mighty Eric in half.

I’ve heard that there are particularly large individual differences among S-ranks, but Lee Jichul must also possess formidable skills.

[I never had a choice to begin with.]

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, that’s true.

Shin Doyun was in a position where he had to deal with Lee Jichul as payment for a contract with some entity.

Honestly, I’m also curious about how that entity will react when Lee Jichul is killed.

[He’s been wounded.]

“Injured? Why?”

[I don’t know. He might have been in battle with someone while he was out of sight.]

By this point, it wasn’t difficult to understand what Shin Doyun was trying to say.

‘So now is the opportunity, he’s saying.’

[If you’re still willing to help, come here next Tuesday night.]

To Shin Doyun’s words, I hesitantly gave an evasive answer.

“Well, about that. Right now…”

[If you don’t want to, fine. I guess it was just talk after all.]

“Th-that’s not it.”

I couldn’t bear being treated like a coward. So, swallowing my shame, I blurted out the honest reason.

“I’m currently under a no-sleepover restriction…”

[What does that mean?]

“And I have a tracker on me…”

It was because I had lost Seoha’s trust after causing problems by acting secretly several times recently.

Not only was a tracking app installed on my phone, but I had also promised to carry a special artifact for location tracking whenever I went out.

Therefore, if I did anything suspicious, there was a high chance I would be caught.

[If not now, who knows when another opportunity will come. I’ll have to go alone.]

“I think I’ll get caught…”

[Enough. I’m hanging up.]

Click.

With those final words, Shin Doyun ended the call. I pulled the disheveled blanket back around me and thought.

‘…I don’t really care what happens to Shin Doyun.’

I was just momentarily interested; he’s not that important of a talent to me.

However, the unidentified entity connected to Shin Doyun might also be related to whoever put me in this state.

Therefore, it felt a bit unsettling to think that my only connection might disappear.

‘Tuesday is four days from now.’

For now, I decided to wait and see how the situation develops.

#

After this incident, there were some changes in my life.

First, as I mentioned earlier, Seoha started watching me like a hawk.

“Oppa, are you going somewhere today?”

“N-no, I’ll just stay home.”

“…Alright.”

Every day when she left for work, she would stare at me with a distrustful look, and when she had to be away from home for a few days due to guild dungeon raids, she would call Song Hayeon to stick by my side.

I thought it was excessive worry, but honestly, I had secretly intervened in so many things behind Seoha’s back that I couldn’t really argue.

‘This is going to be troublesome if it continues…’

Still, this situation probably wouldn’t last for months, so it seemed like things would be fine if I just behaved for a while.

And in fact, there was another issue that really bothered me.

It was about Chae Hwain.

Crash!

Whoosh!

“…Damn. Here we go again.”

Click.

Clack.

“Why are you doing this? Please stop coming out.”

“…It’s suffocating.”

After I summoned her during the battle with Eric, Chae Hwain started emerging from the Book of Death at random times, complaining about how suffocating it was inside—a completely absurd complaint.

Normally this would be impossible, but somehow Chae Hwain could materialize at will whenever she wanted. Now it was becoming exhausting to force her back in.

‘……’

As I suspected before, some other law or rule must be affecting Chae Hwain.

Step.

Step.

“Where are you going now?”

“…A walk.”

“If you go outside looking like that, you’ll be mistaken for a monster.”

Fortunately, her face was half-covered by thin armor, but if someone were to recognize her, it would become a troublesome situation.

Thud.

As Chae Hwain turned around with a dissatisfied expression, I instinctively shrank back and protected my head.

“I-I warned you. Don’t touch me.”

“……”

Whenever I tried to command her like a minion, she would inexplicably flick my forehead, so I was swallowing my rising anger and coaxing Chae Hwain.

“D-don’t raise your hand, or I’ll drain your mana, okay?”

While she did basically acknowledge me as her master, influenced by the contract, in reality, our relationship was less master-servant and more like I was dealing with a little sister or a pet.

As I was living day by day in trepidation, my phone rang from my bedroom.

Checking it, I saw it was Shin Doyun, who had contacted me recently.

Click.

“What now?”

[Are you Baek Eunha?]

The tone was similar, but it wasn’t Shin Doyun. I lowered the phone from my ear and checked the name again. It was definitely Shin Doyun’s number.

“And who are you?”

[I’m Lee Jichul.]

At those words, I stared blankly at the phone and deliberately pressed the end call button.