* * *
-We can see you two. I’m in the tree right above you.
At Anise’s words, Kang Yigeon raised one finger above his head.
Whish!-Anise threw a potion.
The surrounding air hummed, and a thin film formed, circling the tent.
It was a type of barrier designed to prevent any internal noise from being heard outside.
Normally, one would have to make a deliberate noise to check the integrity of the barrier, but doubting Anise’s potions was like doubting if it’s winter while looking at heavy snowfall.
Without a signal, the three moved instantly.
Rip!-They tore through the tent and stepped inside.
The resting cultists jumped up in shock.
“Wh-What is this?”
“Damn it, Awakened! Kill them! Attack!”
They pulled the triggers of their firearms, unleashing a hail of bullets.
Crackle!-Anise threw a potion, forming a dense net.
The bullets struck the net and fell in heaps.
Whoosh!
Kang Yigeon used his natural ability to incinerate the bullets.
As for Seohwa…
“Gosh, I almost turned into a honeycomb. Thank you, Mr. Kang Yigeon.”
“…….”
Kang Yigeon glanced back at Seohwa hiding behind him and silently burned the incoming bullets.
“You—you’re Kang Yigeon? Kang Yigeon and Saint Anise… Are you the Danbaek bastards!”
“Except for me, these two are indeed from Danbaek. Those crude weapons are no match for us. Give up and kneel quietly.”
“Vile Awakened scum. You’ve come to interfere with our grand cause!”
A cultist who appeared to be the leader spat out a curse and commanded, “Guns won’t work on them. Bring out that!”
The cultists frantically overturned a wooden crate.
Dozens of round objects poured out.
These were notorious homing bomb items that would not stop chasing a target until they made contact, at which point they would latch onto the body and explode.
They had been modified so that even non-Awakened people without soul power could use them.
“Those crazy bastards…!”
Anise gritted her teeth and scurried behind Kang Yigeon.
There was already a guest there.
“Mr. Mercenary, what are you doing here?”
“The same thing as you, Hunter Anise. Isn’t the safest place behind Mr. Kang Yigeon?”
When Seohwa winked, Anise gave him a suspicious look.
Kang Yigeon raised one arm, seemingly indifferent to the two people hiding behind his back.
Blue flames, like will-o’-the-wisps, were summoned.
“Throw them!”
“Kill them! Throw them now!”
The cultists hurled the bombs recklessly.
However, as the blue flames swept past, the bombs vanished without leaving a trace.
While the terrified cultists scrambled in confusion, the flames whipped through them with blinding speed.
“Aaargh! It’s hot!”
“Fire! I’m on fire!”
“An Awakened is killing people!”
The cultists screamed and ran wild.
“Uh-oh, you can’t run away over there!”
Amidst the chaos, Seohwa spotted a cultist trying to bolt outside.
He pulled out a deck of cards and flicked them.
“Gaaaah!”
The cultist was pinned to the floor like a butterfly mounted with tweezers.
Of course, unlike a butterfly, the cultist was perfectly fine with no injuries.
He still thrashed about, begging for his life, though.
A moment later, only the cultists remained in the tent, kneeling dejectedly in the nude because all their clothes had been incinerated.
“Mr. Mercenary, you’re quite good at throwing cards.”
“Hunter Anise’s potion was truly impressive. Even with all these loud explosions, no one came to look. How perfect is that soundproof barrier? It’s amazing.”
“It has to be perfect since my future self taught me directly.”
“Your future self?”
“Don’t you know Hunter Seohwa’s Epsilon training method?”
“Ah, I know. You mean the [Puppet skill?”
“Yes. Hunter Seohwa called my future self using [Puppet]. The potion techniques I learned were from sparring with her. So, this soundproof barrier is fundamentally thanks to Hunter Seohwa’s skill.”
When they were training, she was one of the two most disobedient hunters along with Tuyen.
Now, she had become a student who gave credit to her master.
Seohwa felt proud and his shoulders puffed up a bit.
At the same time, he felt sorry and embarrassed.
He had only been a medium… he didn’t feel he deserved the praise.
The future Anise had explained her skills in detail so they could be used effectively through [Puppet].
It wasn’t just Anise; every hunter who became a Puppet did the same.
Therefore, the people who deserved the praise were the versions of them from the distant past, not Seohwa.
But even if he wanted to tell them, there was no way now…
Just as he was starting to feel a bit bitter, Kang Yigeon spoke.
“Hunter Lee Yuje. Please bind them.”
“Pardon? Asking for a ‘binding play’ so suddenly here. I mean, I don’t mind, but…”
“…….”
“Wait a moment.”
Seohwa summoned a gimmick and pulled out a rope.
Not wanting to touch them directly, he used a C-class wand for Lee Yuje’s use to manipulate the rope and tie up the cultists.
Kang Yigeon reported to the Enterra team.
“Subjugation complete.”
-Were there any Evil Humans?
“None.”
-That’s a relief. We just finished here too. No Evil Humans either. Now we’re about to find out how they entered the Market. Please share if you find anything on your end, Vice Guild Leader.
“Understood.”
Kang Yigeon nodded toward Anise.
She took out five bottles from her robe.
The murky grey bottles were potions Seohwa knew all too well.
Truth serum.
If he lined up all the bottles of truth serum he had drunk over time, they could probably cross the Korean Peninsula.
‘Ugh. I feel sick.’
When Seohwa turned pale and stepped back, Kang Yigeon looked over.
Seohwa grinned as if asking why he was looking.
He expected Kang Yigeon to frown and turn away, but instead, he narrowed his eyes and stared even more intently.
“Just kill us instead!”
“I will say nothing!”
The cultists shouted resolutely, but not even a minute after swallowing the truth serum:
“We have broken into the Market three times so far… and stole forced gate opening items… It was hard to find Awakened who would cooperate with us… so this was the only way…”
They talked smoothly with glassy eyes. Such was the power of the truth serum.
“Who are the ones currently infiltrated in the Market?”
“Three elders and fifteen soldiers entered the Market…”
“Where is the cult leader?”
“We… don’t know his location…”
“Will the cult leader visit Incheon Port personally?”
“To Incheon Port in Korea… the cult leader decided to proceed personally… Leading a great army… he will finalize the last stage for that day…”
Through the connected communicator, they heard the cultists on the Enterra side also answering, “The cult leader will come to Incheon Port himself.”
Unable to contain his curiosity, Seohwa asked:
“What exactly is ‘that day’? What is the exact date of D-day? What on earth do you plan to do that day?”
“That day is when the old humanity perishes and a new world begins… Before the fallen leaves come… We only follow the cult leader’s instructions…”
These people didn’t know the specific plan either.
“What crime did Gaius Jung commit?”
“We don’t know…”
“Do the elders know?”
“If it’s the elders… probably.”
It seemed they would have to catch and interrogate an elder who had entered the Market.
“How do you enter the Market?”
“The NPC…”
“The NPC?”
“Inside that box…”
The cultist stared with vacant eyes at a wooden box in the corner.
There were many wooden boxes in the tent, but most were empty; only the one in the corner was covered with a lid.
They were going to search everything one by one after the interrogation anyway.
Anise, who was closest, opened the lid.
“……!”
The S-class hunter, who was rarely surprised, couldn’t even make a sound.
Her eyes widened, and she scrambled back.
“O-Oppa… there’s a person in here…”
Anise usually called Kang Yigeon “Vice Guild Leader” in professional settings, but she was so shocked she called him “Oppa.”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Seohwa nervously checked inside the box.
What was inside were human body parts.
A palm with all five fingers cut off, a wrist, a thigh, a chest and torso, and a head with eyes rolled back, dead…
There were twelve pieces in total, and the skin was peeled off in places.
There was no blood, and it was clothed.
“These bastards… they killed someone! How could they do it in such a cruel way… these sons of bitches!”
“It’s not like that.”
Seohwa blocked Anise, who was about to charge at the cultists.
The moment Seohwa saw inside the box, the word ‘dismemberment murder’ had crossed his mind too.
But looking closely, he could tell it wasn’t a murder.
“This person is an NPC.”
No blood flowed from the severed parts.
It wasn’t that they had taken special measures; they were just discarded in the box, yet there was no decay or smell.
Above all… tiny pixelated parts could be seen between the flesh.
The bones, joints, and blood vessels looked exactly like a human’s, but the edges weren’t perfect, sparkling like cubic zirconia.
The one cut into pieces wasn’t a human, but a Market NPC.
* * *
