* * *
I tilted my head, not quite understanding what he meant.
“You know what Taehwan’s been up to lately?”
When I asked, Taeyang looked at me like I was the one being weird.
“What? Of course I do. Honestly, is there anyone in this country who doesn’t know what he’s been doing?”
“Uh… Taehwan hasn’t really been active publicly lately, right? I mean, I try to keep up with the morning news, but I haven’t seen anything.”
“Ah.”
After his reawakening, Taehwan — our country’s second S-rank — had made headlines for a brief moment.
He wiped out all the troublesome “M-Clear” dungeons that had been piling up, and then… silence.
Like nothing had ever happened.
No sightings, not even rumors online.
So now I was wondering: Did I miss something?
Or was Taeyang mistaking him for someone else?
I stared at him, hoping he’d explain — and then suddenly, Taeyang’s mouth dropped open.
“You seriously don’t know?”
“…Huh? Know what?”
“Ah, uh… Well… I mean… geez.”
“…?”
He scratched his head, visibly flustered.
“Right! Hey, Jehee — didn’t you like that chocolate drink from before? I’ll go grab one for you. Just wait here, okay?”
“Oh, okay.”
He was blatantly changing the subject.
This guy really couldn’t lie to save his life.
‘Maybe he just got confused for a second.’
No way Taehwan’s on some secret mission or something… right?
I hadn’t heard of him collaborating with anyone outside the guild on anything big lately.
Taeyang clearly looked uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to push it.
Besides, if I could get a tasty chocolate drink from that famous café near the Bureau out of it, I wasn’t about to complain.
A nice little mood booster.
“…Huh?”
It was peak hour, so there was a line.
While waiting, I noticed a group approaching the Bureau building across the street.
From their gear, they were clearly hunters.
In the sea of awakened individuals passing by, they strangely caught my eye.
‘Why do they look familiar?’
They weren’t from the Taeyang Guild.
I definitely didn’t know them.
And yet, something about them felt oddly familiar.
Where had I seen them before?
I searched my memory.
I hadn’t exchanged names with them, that much I knew.
My social circle was small enough that it didn’t take long to mentally check everyone off.
Especially among hunters — I barely knew any.
Only recently had my circle widened a little, tagging along with Taeyang guild seniors on dungeon runs.
Maybe it was just a coincidence, someone who resembled someone else.
I could’ve ignored it — but something kept nagging at me.
“Man, I should have gotten a good look at that bastard Gray Coat’s face that time.”
My suspicions clicked into place when I caught part of their conversation.
Maybe I was just sensitive to that particular word — Gray Coat — but even from a distance, I picked out their voices loud and clear, as they chuckled nastily.
“Yeah, watching that punk freak out was hilarious. Fucking hell. How long was that little shit acting like hot shit, huh?”
“I wanna see his damn face. Ugh, that mask is so fucking annoying. Seriously, what kind of loser wears something that tacky?”
“You think he wanted to wear it? Probably hiding that wrecked face of his.”
“Should we rip it off? If we got a picture, it’d go viral.”
“Picture? Screw that. We should get it on video.”
“Right? Today feels like the perfect day to finally expose that little shit.”
Their words made me instinctively grimace.
The sheer venom dripping from their voices left a pit in my stomach.
As my anger bubbled up, it hit me — their voices were familiar too.
I did know them.
I just hadn’t recognized them until now.
I focused on their features, their way of speaking, their posture.
And then it came to me.
“No way.”
I remembered where I’d seen them — what they were doing.
I hadn’t met them in person, but I’d seen them in a video.
‘They were the ones who bullied the Gray Coat Hunter.’
Who would’ve thought I’d run into those guys in real life?
It felt like a crazy coincidence — but I guess it made sense.
If you’re a hunter, you have to check in with the Bureau.
Unless you’re an unregistered awakened, you’re bound to show up here eventually.
“Let’s move. We’ve gotta catch him before he bolts.”
“Yeah. Probably about to run soon.”
The group started making their way into the building.
I was about to rush after them when a familiar face suddenly popped into view.
Cha Taeyang was back.
“Jehee, here! Ugh, that place is always packed. Just know that your loving mentor braved the crowd to get this, so our dear mentee better appreciate it!”
“Ah… thank you.”
I took it without thinking.
An iced chocolate smoothie with milk foam.
It was from a super popular place. I loved it.
And I was genuinely grateful that he’d lined up to get it for me.
But… right now, the chocolate drink didn’t matter at all.
Even in that moment, my eyes were still fixed on where that group was headed, following them with my gaze.
“What is it, Jaehee? What are you looking at? What’s going on?”
“Th-there. It’s just that…”
There wasn’t enough time to explain everything.
If I stopped to talk, I’d lose them.
There were even more people inside the building—if they got mixed in with the crowd, that would be the end.
I had a bad feeling about letting them go just like that.
Something about their conversation had rubbed me the wrong way, like a thorn stuck on the tip of my tongue.
Maybe I was just being paranoid… but now that I knew who they were, I couldn’t ignore it.
I wanted to know what they were up to, and why they’d come.
“Please, come with me for a moment!”
“H-huh?”
I grabbed Cha Taeyang’s wrist and took off running.
It was worth chasing after them right away.
Somehow, we managed not to lose them—it was close.
Luckily, Cha Taeyang, though clearly confused, followed me without complaint.
And the group we were following stopped for a moment, saying they were going to the restroom, which gave us some breathing room.
“Heukoh-bastard was here too. Starting the trace now.”
“You sure?”
“Everything’s matched up so far. You think people like that would waste money on something useless?”
“Damn, it amazes me every time. How much money does it even take to make something like that?”
“Just goes to show how much they hated the guy. Maybe that bastard caused a real mess somewhere. And yeah, this one’s a seriously big deal.”
“Shit. Seriously—this is why you gotta live right.”
“Let’s go. Might as well get a good look at that fucker’s face today.”
“Hey. Got the result. At this location, it’s probably…”
Listening to them snicker and chat, it all became crystal clear.
Their reason for visiting the Bureau was, unsurprisingly, to target “Gray Coat.”
I had no idea how they were tracking or stalking Gray Coat, whose identity and activities were supposed to be completely classified, but from what little I caught, they were using some kind of artifact to trace his movements.
“That kind of thing could be used to save someone or find a missing person…”
Why use it for something like this?
I couldn’t understand it at all.
Once Cha Taeyang finally caught on to the situation and I explained it to him, a wave of disgust spread across his face.
“So those assholes are the ones who were tailing Heuko?”
“…Yeah. That’s what it looks like.”
“Damn, and you actually recognized them? Weren’t their faces blurred in the videos or something?”
“…Ah, I was just so angry… I must’ve watched them so many times that I started to recognize them…”
It had only been a few days since I’d had that falling out with Taehwan when I first saw the video.
The first time I watched it, I was so angry I kept replaying it over and over.
I wanted to memorize exactly what they did, and analyze what kind of damage they caused.
I looked up whether I could report them, whether they could be punished.
But the Hunter world is so lawless, and resistance to regulation is strong, so the laws just aren’t there yet.
I found out the depressing truth that unless there’s actual physical harm, it’s hard to punish this kind of harassment between Hunters.
Even so, I kept watching, clinging to the faint hope that maybe—just maybe—I could be of help.
Maybe it was also my way of escaping, trying to forget what had happened with Taehwan, even if just for a while.
But thanks to that, I was able to recognize them.
Their faces and voices may have been blurred and distorted, but their way of speaking, the way they moved—that stuff can’t be hidden.
And to begin with, it didn’t seem like they were even trying to conceal their identities—they were wearing the same outfits as in the video.
I didn’t go looking for them or anything, but for people to talk about their crimes so openly in a public place like this…
If someone really wanted to find them, I bet they could.
Is this what they call an exhibitionist criminal?
After I finished explaining everything, Cha Taeyang let out an incredulous sigh.
* * *
