episode_0023

“I can speak comfortably since no one is watching, Team Leader Banharin. How is your mission these days? Is it going well?”

Association’s second basement floor. Restricted access area.

As they passed through a quiet passageway without a single person, the head of the department and Ban Harin had a conversation.

“There is no problem… However, I think we will need to reissue the ‘Target’s’ ID card. We recently confirmed that the gender was entered incorrectly on the ID card.”

“Hmm? What, was she a woman? Well, her appearance would confuse anyone… I understand. I’ll take care of it.”

The first thing that comes to mind is Eunha, Ban Harin’s ‘protection/kill target’.

Ban Harin walked down the hallway with his face still covered with a pure white mask.

“thank you.”

“Isn’t she a treasure of our association? Of course we have to do this… Keep this in mind, Team Leader Ban Harin. She is the goose that lays golden eggs… she is the mother goose that lays the golden eggs. We will provide her with maximum convenience. so.”

Ban Harin lowered his head as if he understood what Director Go Young-in said.

The quiet hallway is filled with a feeling of pressure that makes it difficult to breathe.

A truly valuable treasure.

It is neither a golden egg nor a goose that lays golden eggs.

The mother goose that laid the golden egg.

A jewel more brilliant than anything else, with infinite possibilities.

Golden egg? You can share it with others.

The goose that lays the golden egg? You can show it to others.

However, I can’t show the mother goose to anyone.

You don’t even know it exists.

And… if by chance it gets stolen by someone else, I’d rather get rid of it with my own hands.

“It’s a work that took three years of hard work. The day is not far when our association will overcome the pressure of large guilds and stand tall.”

“…….”

“So, Team Leader Banharin, just like now, don’t think about anything and just protect ‘her’.”

“…All right.”

The head of the headquarters tells us to protect the galaxy with a kind face.

Ban Harin accepted the mission given to him like a machine.

she doesn’t know What value did the Hunter Association find in Eunha?

Why was Eunha designated as the ‘target’ of [Rare Hunter Protection-Death Division]?

Because she was only tasked with protecting and monitoring the galaxy, but was not given the exact details.

Just protecting the galaxy.

That was enough for Banharin.

‘Eunha… what are you doing right now? ‘I’m sure I’m doing something stupid that doesn’t work.’

Ban Harin recalled Eunha’s face with her usual languid smile.

Also, while going to a convenience store somewhere, you might be caught in a diversionary operation by stray cats and have your tuna cans stolen.

Even then, he would just sit there and say that he originally hated tuna, and lose his mind.

Or maybe you’re feeling sullen because you can’t open the lid of the strawberry jam you bought after so long.

Excited. Excited.

Why?

My heart is racing.

Her beautiful face, even the smile that makes everyone who sees it happy…

The more I think about it, the warmer my heart becomes.

Even though she is an A-class hunter, she is a weak person who crumbles to pieces with even the slightest effort.

A person who is weak and insignificant, like a light teddy bear, and is easily dragged around.

However, he is always positive and smiles easily.

… … The corners of Ban Harin’s mouth, which had always been expressionless, rose slightly.

“Thanks to her continuing to be an F-class hunter, I was able to pass the past three years quietly, but you never know. The moment a large guild or a foreign country notices ‘her value’, it’s a headache… Ah, half. Team leader Harin is still doing very well.”

“…….”

“When the time comes, I’ll give you a ‘kill order’, so you can handle it quietly considering the situation… Well, since she has no family, wouldn’t it be enough to just get rid of the boss of the cafe where she works? An ordinary person who hasn’t awakened any skills. “They said.”

“…….”

However, following the general manager’s words, Ban Harin returned to his usual cold face.

She didn’t answer.

“Haha, the stiffness is still the same. The problem is that Team Leader Ban Harin is too serious. People have to make jokes in their lives, isn’t it a waste of their long-awaited beauty?”

“…….”

“This is Won, it feels like I’m talking to a wall… I guess I’m not just watching ‘her’ from afar.”

“……Unnecessary contact with the ‘target’ will only hinder the mission.”

So the conversation ended,

The head of the Hunter Association and the Class A hunter walked silently through the restricted area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The place the two headed to was the ‘projection room’ in a restricted area.

A place to check and analyze top-secret videos stored by the association.

The interior of the projection room was shabby, perhaps because it was a place where people rarely visited.

Does the overall scene feel like a proper mix of a data storage room and a computer room?

A PC and printer are placed on a table near the entrance door, and behind the glass partition, a large server is making an eerie noise.

When the head of the headquarters and a woman wearing a pure white mask entered the projection room, a curly-haired young man who had been frantically looking at the PC jumped up from his chair and greeted them politely.

“Are you here, Chief!”

“I heard that the video of the incident has been restored. Have you found out anything?”

“Well… I tried to restore the videos somehow, but I couldn’t restore the CCTV of the artifact incinerator.”

“In other words, what was successfully restored was the management office, the association’s second-floor hallway, and the footage from the staircase…?”

The young man who greeted the two people in a straight posture stepped to the side and pointed at the PC he was looking at.

The PC monitor showed the scene of the ‘Artifact Management Department’ and Hunter Kim Song-ah sitting at the desk and cutting her nails.

Banharin smoothed the mask on his face and asked the young man.

“Is it safe to watch the video?”

“Yes, that’s right! Immediately after the video restoration was successful, we had the villain in the association’s custody watch the video. There was no problem.”

Did you show it to the villain first and check if it was okay?

It’s quite unforgiving.

Pajijikㅡ.

If safety is guaranteed, there is no need to worry too much.

Ban Harin, who used the skill, checked the video in question with sparkling golden eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the day of the incident. CCTV right before Hunter Kim Song-ah’s death.

In the video, Kim Song-ah was peacefully filing her fingernails, completely unaware of what would happen to her soon.

The person leaning back so that the chair’s backrest is bent looks like he hasn’t been hit once or twice.

Ban Harin looked at the CCTV footage until his eyes hurt.

I already know the arrangement and structure of items in the ‘Artifact Management Department’ by heart.

If there is anything strange or different from usual, you can immediately check it with her ‘skill’.

‘Nothing unusual is visible yet. A few minutes from here is when the incident occurred. What on earth happened to Hunter Kim Song-ah…’

Just like that, one minute passed, two minutes passed… and then three minutes passed.

Kim Song-ah is still sitting at her desk and joking around.

“……?”

what? Why is nothing happening?

So it was time for the incident to occur.

Kim Song-ah, who was playing a game on her phone, yawned loudly, got up and left the office.

I urgently played the video from the association’s second floor hallway camera.

Kim Song-ah, who came out of the office, put her hands in her pockets and trudged down the hallway before taking the stairs to the first floor.

I played the staircase camera video.

Kim Song-ah, who came down to the first floor, went down to the first basement floor and entered the artifact incinerator, which was the room on the left.

Just like that… the video ended.

“…….”

The video stopped, and she, who had been staring at the monitor screen, looked back at the curly-haired young man.

The young man, who was a bit frightened by Ban Harin’s murderous gaze, waved his hand and retreated.

“Well, that’s really the CCTV taken on the day of the incident! This is the video that the control manager risked his life to restore…! I also don’t know how this happened…!”

“……All right.”

There is no lie in his words.

After ‘observing’ whether the young man was lying, she watched the video again.

But it was the same.

Hunter Song-ah Kim receives her salary peacefully. Rain falling outside the window.

He soon leaves the office and heads towards the incinerator…

Ban Harin adjusted his mask and frowned subtly.

Why am I fine? Is it really just simple suicide?

… … No, that can’t be true.

His body’s core body temperature had dropped to 25 degrees.

There was clearly a ‘cold’ of unknown cause.

‘Wait… rain?’

And, as she was ‘observing’ the video until her eyes became bloodshot, she discovered a strange phenomenon.

The ‘Artifact Management Department’ office where Kim Song-ah gets her nails done.

It was raining outside the window.

Yesterday, it must have been clear all day.

‘Is that rain the cause of the cold? But if it had rained, other people would have known.’

Ban Harin’s agony deepens.

Whatever it is, this video is wrong.

Rain that never fell in reality.

Kim Song-ah Hunter is strangely sane.

The contradiction with reality is clearly revealed.

Grumpy!

Ban Harin increased the output of ‘Skill’.

As bright yellow lightning flashes around her eyes, she begins to carefully ‘observe’ and analyze the contradictions revealed before her eyes.

Yeah, this video…

Rather than watching the recorded video…

It’s like watching a pantomime with frighteningly constant movements…

『Don’t keep looking back. it’s hard.”

at that time. In the video, Kim Song-ah looked back at the camera and said.

Quick!!!

“Ugh…!”

Ban Harin, who felt extreme pain in his left eye, urgently stopped the ‘skill’.

Her eyes returned to their original black, and at the same time, bright red blood flowed down the mask.

“what a waste. My eyes opened and then stopped.』

Did I use the skill for too long?

Or maybe I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.

I couldn’t figure it out.

“Are you okay!!”

“……It’s okay. Could you please bring me some gauze and [Emergency Recovery Potion]?”

Concerned by the curly-haired young man, he took off his mask and gently pressed his left eye with his palm.

Pain as if a nail was stuck in the eyeball.

You’ll need to get a test to find out, but if you don’t use the recovery potion right away, there’s a high chance of losing one of your eyes.

Even if I succeed in recovering, I will have to wear an eye patch for a while.

I thought that as I put pressure on my throbbing left eye.

‘This… is quite dangerous.’

okay. Dangerous.

I felt like I was walking down the street in a daze when I stepped on a land mine and my ankle was blown off, and only then did I realize that the whole area around me was a mine field.

Ban Harin, who thought it was dangerous as it was, looked at Director Go Young-in to report what he had ‘observed’.

Come to think of it, the head of the department has been quiet since a while ago.

What’s going on?

“…….”

“Director?”

And then, at Ban Harin’s gaze as he turned his head to the side,

I saw the head of the headquarters frozen as ice.

… … .

“Director? Director Go Young-in!”

“……Uh, um?… W-what’s going on? Team Leader Banharin?… Wait, why are your eyes so bright?!”

From the moment he entered the projection room, Director Go Young-in was frozen while staring at the PC screen.

He barely came to his senses when Ban Harin shouted shaking his shoulders.

For a moment, I was taken aback by the sight of her taking off her mask and bleeding from her left eye.

As befits someone with the position of head of a division, he regains his composure in an instant.

“I’m sorry. I’ll call the medical team right away.”

“I administered first aid with a potion, so it’s okay. More than that, I have something to report to the branch manager.”

Banharin, wearing a gauze with the [Emergency Recovery Potion] given to him by the curly-haired young man, said as he put pressure on his left eye, which was bleeding.

Even though her eye was injured, she maintained her usual expressionless face without even frowning.

Is it really a machine?

Ban Harin explained his ‘observations’ in detail.

The restored video is strange,

It is raining outside the window of the video, which contradicts reality.

And, further investigation is dangerous.

“Rain… It was raining…?”

“……? That’s right. Weren’t you watching from behind?”

“I see. You guys look like that…”

However, the head of the headquarters is in a very strange state.

I guess I can say I’m a little sick of it… I keep glancing at the PC monitor and feeling restless.

An attitude as if he was looking at something different from Ban Harin.

Awarded.

Mulberry bread~♪ Mulberry bread~♪ Mulberry bread~♪

Then.

The moment Ban Harin, who was quietly ‘observing’ the head of the headquarters with his black eyes, quietly opened his mouth,

Her cell phone rang.

Mulberry bread~♪ Mulberry bread~♪ Mulberry bread~♪

A strange ringtone that makes you feel dumber the more you listen to it breaks the cold atmosphere.

Ban Harin, who was ‘observing’ the head of the headquarters with an ice-cold face, put strong pressure on his throbbing left eye and took out his cell phone from his pocket.

The caller’s name displayed on the woman’s cell phone was ‘Mouse’.

After checking the caller, she quietly answered the phone.

Beep–.

“This is a wolf. I got a call…”

-Team leader! We’re in big trouble! The ‘target’ has disappeared!!

“……what do you mean!!!”

It didn’t take long for the machine-like voice of the woman to become tinged with passion that couldn’t be hidden.

– We don’t know either! While walking down the street, suddenly… there’s a convenience store in front of Saetbyeol Apartments! As I was passing by, it suddenly disappeared! There’s no location tracking either!

“……‘Mouse’ will work with ‘Owl’ to conduct search operations, while the remaining personnel will control the roads of Euncheon-gu. I will also go there right away.”

Wow!!

Ban Harin crushed the cell phone with his bare hands and prepared to hurry back.

She didn’t have to worry about the scar on her left eye right now.

Her ‘target’… Eunha has disappeared.

You have to find it as quickly as possible, even if it’s just for one second.

“Hey, wait a moment. Team leader Ban Harin. First of all, the eye treatment department…”

“shut up!!”

Director Go Young-in, who was worried about her injuries, spoke carefully or not.

Van Ha-rin, who had lost sight of him, hurriedly left the projection room, full of anger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is so… Team Leader Ban Harin, I can’t stop him either.”

The projection room where Ban Harin hurriedly left after hearing the news that Eunha had disappeared.

Director Go Young-in, who also sent away the curly-haired young man next to him for safety reasons, frowned even more and pointed at his forehead.

In the lone projection room, the sound of the server running echoes eerily.

He quietly looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought… then pushed up his square horn-rimmed glasses and plopped down in front of the turned on PC.

His back, which has a sturdy, muscular body, looked unusually small today.

Director Go Young-in looked at the monitor with a complicated face.

The reason why he quietly stared at the monitor from the moment he entered the projection room.

The reason why I was restless without properly listening to Ban Harin’s report.

『Third from the right. Go down the stairs and left.』

CCTV footage displayed on the monitor.

In the Artifact Management Department office… ‘something’ is standing there.

A woman with large cracks all over her body, like a statue made of ice.

His skin is as blue as that of someone who has been frozen, and he is wearing the black-gray suit that is the association’s uniform.

‘Seeing as Team Leader Ban Harin didn’t mention ‘that’, I guess it’s only visible to me.’

‘That’ was looking straight at Director Go Young-in with his face close to the camera screen and muttering the same thing.

The unfocused eyes of the corpse stare at him.

Remnants of regret left behind in the past.

A stain on the Hunter Association that was so dirty that I had to turn a blind eye to it.

“……I see… Is it still raining?”

『Third from the right. Go down the stairs and left.』

Emotions overflow.

Regret, pain, sorrow…

And, the resentment that covers it all.

The enormous resentment held by ‘that’ made Go Young-in’s body stiffen.

Flash. Flash. Flash.

Eventually, the light blinked a couple of times and the PC turned off as if there was a power outage.

Does this mean that all the messages that needed to be conveyed have been conveyed?

‘That’ also disappeared before his eyes.

“…I was afraid of the dark, so I ran away to a bright place, and in the end, even the path ahead of me became dark.”

If you think about it, it was a long time ago.

About 20 years ago.

There was a suicide commotion similar to what we see now.

Was it a verb back then?

“…is it a grudge?”

After saying something meaningful, the director sat down in the empty projection room and stared at the turned off monitor.