episode_0053

‘Why… do I keep being one step behind?’

Hunter Association member, [Rare Hunter Protection-Kill Division] Team 1 leader, Ban Harin.

She was comforting her complicated feelings as she looked down at the three bodies abandoned in the alley behind the convenience store.

… … .

(Ah, Mr. Banharin. If a hunter dies, should I report it to the police or the association?)

A phone call from Eunha suddenly came.

Coincidentally, Banharin was also looking for her.

The location tracker I put in Eunha’s hoodie was spinning in the wrong place, and my cell phone wasn’t working today either.

And, the cell phone that had not been working properly until now was restored to its original state as if it were a lie with a phone call from Eunha.

As if now that the commotion is over, you can come visit.

In the alley behind the convenience store, there were three pale corpses that seemed to have drained all the blood from their bodies, and Eunha, leaning against a telephone pole with an equally pale face.

(Haha. We meet again. How did you know?)

Eunha was smiling as usual, covering the large injection mark near her carotid artery with one hand.

She said that while she was on her way home after having lunch at [Euncheon Restaurant], the loan sharks who had lent money to Nari Kang came to visit her.

Not only did he try to drag Eunha down for paying off Kang Na-ri’s debt, he threatened to take Eunbangul as well.

A moment of desperation.

Then, at that time, ‘someone unknown’ appeared, defeated them all, and suddenly disappeared…

(Are you telling me to believe that now?)

(But it’s true.)

The situation was so good.

Ban Harin’s cell phone suddenly stopped working,

The loan sharks who came just in time,

‘Someone whose identity is unknown’ appears just at the right time…

In a contrived situation like a novel, Ban Harin used ‘skill’ to ‘observe’ Eunha’s words.

Because I’m confident that I can tell lies.

Especially if the opponent is Eunha.

And then I realized.

There are no lies in what Eunha says.

What the loan shark threatened,

‘Someone unknown’ saved the galaxy…

It’s all true.

Because I don’t understand.

who? why? how?

‘I wonder how many mistakes I’ve made this time… This is the first time I’ve felt so incompetent.’

Eunha, who must have been seriously hurt mentally, called a taxi and sent her home.

Ban Ha-rin, who was left alone in the back alley, sighed uncharacteristically and fell into trouble.

It was from last month.

Banharin keeps missing the location of the galaxy.

A ‘scar’ of unknown origin appeared on Eunha’s body.

Losing your location can be like that. Even though it is 24-hour surveillance, there are definitely things that cannot be checked in the meantime.

However, forming ‘scars’ is a different problem.

Ban Harin recalled Eunha’s right thigh that he saw at [Euncheon Restaurant] today.

Pants cut off by a sharp blade, and beautiful bare legs exposed underneath.

And a scar carved into the thigh… as if the entire thigh flesh had been cut out.

The wound clearly wasn’t there when I left my apartment in the morning.

Did he harm himself due to stress about the promotion exam like usual?

No, the aspect is different. This is not the kitchen knife you normally use.

It is clear that the injury was caused by external factors.

But other than that, everything was normal.

Even though I searched the entire restaurant, I couldn’t find any traces of human blood.

Just in case, I even checked the restaurant’s CCTV… but Eunha just quietly sat at the table and ate and left. There were no other strange parts visible.

Was this the work of Hunter Jeong So-ra, who had a meal with Eunha?

No, she was a fairly discerning hunter. He wasn’t thoughtless enough to commit a stabbing attack in the city.

Then what on earth is it?

There is a person who has been hurt, but we do not know where, who, or how the injury occurred.

Eun-ha, who was the only party involved, seemed to not want to tell even if she died, which made Ban Harin’s head hurt even more as he had to protect her.

‘There is no process, only results… It’s the same as a month ago, when Hunter Kim Song-ah of the [Artifact Management Department] died.’

Ban Harin gently pressed his throbbing left eye.

I don’t know anything.

It feels like my eyes are covered with a hazy fog.

(『It’s a shame. My eyes stopped opening.』)

From then on, from when Hunter Kim Song-ah died.

Something invisible is hindering Ban Harin.

By hiding the location of the galaxy and rendering the cell phone unusable…

To arrive one step late in her crisis. There is something subtly disturbing.

‘Something’ seemed to be shouting.

Leave Eunha alone.

You should clean up and do it right.

(Don’t pry. It’s a problem you shouldn’t tell others.)

(It’s something I have to solve alone… so don’t worry about it.)

“Eunha…what on earth are you going through?”

The more I watch the scars engraved like graffiti day after day,

Because it was Ban Harin whose heart was growing more sore.

Even today, her cold face is distorted in complex ways.

“……black, crucian carp tattoo.”

Ban Harin, free from his unanswered worries, looked down at the corpses scattered in the back alley.

Corpses that have lost all their blood have become pale. Loan sharks from an organization called [Heukbungpa].

If you see that there are no blood stains around, it probably means that he was brought here after suffering a misfortune somewhere else.

I wonder if such an absurd act is possible in Euncheon-gu, where there is a lot of floating population due to the existence of [Euncheon Academy], but since there is an actual corpse lying in front of my eyes, I can’t help but think so.

… Well, that’s good.

These are the guys who dared to threaten and kidnap the galaxy.

Even if ‘someone’ had not stepped forward, Ban Harin would have gone and removed it himself.

We decided to contact the association to have the body removed, and Ban Harin to do what he had to do separately.

“Did you say heukbungpa…?”

Perhaps, the ‘something’ that is bothering the galaxy is related to the Black Bungpa.

Feeling frustrated because I couldn’t do anything, I came up with that assumption.

He is a pitiful person who even harms himself due to the stress of the promotion exam.

How difficult must it have been for you to come up with the crazy idea of passing a physical fitness test by physically reducing your weight?

But, how dare you touch someone like that?

Don’t you want to live?

“For now, let’s think about erasing Heukbungpa first.”

I don’t know why.

Why did the Black Bungpa approach Eunha?

But it doesn’t matter.

Whatever it is, clean it up.

Beep–.

ㅡ This is ‘mouse’. hello? Team Leader? ‘Target’ brought me home safely. I’m good at driving a taxi, right?

“From now on, we will be investigating an organization called [Heukbungpa]. ‘Mouse’ is asked to relay the information to the rest of the team.”

Ban Harin took out his cell phone and ordered his team members from the [Rare Hunter Protection-Kill] Department to investigate the ‘disturbing elements’.

Erase the heukbungpa.

Future plans.

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

“Elder. Can you put a sticker on this?”

Late afternoon.

The day’s work is slowly coming to an end and more and more people are leaving for work.

Eunha visited the apartment security office and presented her blood donation card to the security guard who made a clay doll again today.

A sticker I received from the blood donation bus today.

It was good to get blood donation cards from the members of the Black Bung faction who had their blood sucked.

But the sticker didn’t come off. Did you attach it with bond?

It felt like the card would be torn apart if I touched it wrongly.

So, I had no choice but to visit the security guard.

Isn’t this an old man who always makes clay dolls? He must be more dexterous than Eunha.

“Hehehe! Of course. Of course I have to help.”

The elderly security guard, who was listening to Eunha’s story with a kind smile, chuckled at how funny it was and readily accepted Eunha’s request.

After all, the only person you can trust in this apartment is the elderly security guard.

Eunha handed the blood donation card to the old man, and the old man took out a pair of tweezers from a drawer and began to skillfully move and stick the stickers.

I couldn’t help but admire the way the sticker, which didn’t budge when Eunha touched it, came off as easily as water-stained paper.

“Okay, that’s it, lady.”

“Aww! Thank you!”

The elderly man who quickly moved the sticker and gave it back to Eunha.

The corners of my mouth naturally rise as I look at my blood donation card with ‘6’ stickers on it.

Is it because the number of stickers increased from 3 to 6?

I feel like my blood donation card has become heavy.

It’s good because it’s heavy.

Don’t donate blood for this taste.

“Elder. Are you a person?”

“He’s just an old man. He sits here and guards the apartment.”

I had some time left, so I sat on the sofa in the security room and talked to the elderly man.

I must have been drinking the soymilk I gifted the other day every day, and there was a carton of unused soymilk sitting next to my desk.

“Aren’t you bored?”

“What’s there to be bored when you have a lady?”

I feel it while talking, but as expected, the elderly are different from ‘those’.

The identity is unknown, but it allows for conversation, and above all, it does not harm the galaxy.

The atmosphere itself feels different.

What is the difference between ‘those’ and the elders?

Perhaps, the old man in front of me is a much more dangerous being than ‘those’.

It wasn’t a problem that could be solved if I thought about it on my own, so I decided to move on.

it will work out somehow.

“So you’re just sitting in the security room all day?”

“That’s right. That’s my job.”

After having such a peaceful conversation, I got up from the sofa as the sun was slowly setting.

Because it’s obvious that when the sun goes down, it’s going to be a headache again.

Eunha calmed down her constantly throbbing right thigh by slapping it, said goodbye to the old man, and left the security room.

He is also a good old man.

I’ll have to buy you soy milk again next time.

Eunha got into the apartment elevator, fumbling with her well-filled old card.

My body feels particularly heavy today.

Maybe it’s because I’m tired.

Tiing ㅡ.

The elevator carrying her arrived at the 9th floor.

The 9th floor hallway with no lights on as always.

But today, there was a teddy bear in the corner of the hallway.

I wonder if someone left something behind.

I couldn’t think of any ‘rules’ for teddy bears, so I decided to ignore them.

I’m tired.

Dalkak-.

“I’m home…”

I passed the cute teddy bear that had fallen on the floor, grabbed the black suitcase that was lying next to me, and entered the house.

Clean entrance, clean ceiling, clean entrance hallway…

Eunha closed the front door, checking to see if there were any strange blades lying around.

Now I’m too tired to come home.

How did this happen?

‘Then now, after dinner… I’ll spend some time on the Internet…’

Slurp…

Eunha took off her shoes and took out [The Black Book] from her carrier.

While she was walking a few steps down the hallway… she fell down in the hallway from the intense dizziness that pounded her skull.

Did the tension go away just because it was home?

Not a single finger can move.

Eunha quietly closed her eyes, feeling the throbbing sensation in her right thigh.

I’m tired.

It feels like a sponge soaked in water.

Is this what it feels like to die of exhaustion?

[Euncheon Restaurant], and even a blood donation bus…

It was a natural result since I was tormented by ‘those’ twice a day.

“Whoa… I’m tired.”

It’s nice that the hallway floor is cool when your face touches it.

Shall I sleep here today?

She took out her smartphone from her pocket and checked whether she had set the alarm for tomorrow, then lost consciousness while holding the heavy [black book] in her arms.

It was a really hard day.

… … .

… … .

… … Grumble.

And as night falls,

The balcony door opened and ‘something’ came inside.

『… … .』

‘Something’ looked around the dark living room with the lights off, found Eunha collapsed in the hallway… and carefully picked her up and took her to the bedroom.

The night was deep.