On a mid-slope of Cheonggye Mountain. According to the information on the device, Dr. Jin was there. It was a place about 20km away from here.
He's living in a place with more foot traffic than I thought. No, is it even possible to live there in the first place? I turn on the map app to check the route to the location.
It seemed I would have to take public transportation to get nearby, then follow the GPS.
“……”
I stared blankly at the money in my hand, then shoved it into my pocket. It was the money Kiril had given me. She had told me it was ‘voluntarily given by the people whose lives I saved.’
But thinking of her smirking face, I couldn't believe it at all. Could she have swiped it from the wallets of the dead? That thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I soon erased it.
Even if it were true, it wasn't like I could return it to the dead. After briefly finishing my test of the Black Ether, I started walking towards the subway. I must have walked for about 10 minutes.
I witnessed an unexpected scene.
“What is this?”
“Hey! I told you, you can't pass without a clearance permit!”
I saw a man and a woman bickering ahead of me.
‘What’s going on?’
Judging by the radio on his hip and his attire, the man appeared to be an employee of a security company. Behind him stretched a long red line, and when a young woman in a two-piece suit tried to cross it, he immediately blocked her path.
“I'm late right now! I told you I'm busy!”
“Goodness. I said you can't. Miss, do you want to be arrested for obstruction of justice?”
“You're not even a public official, what obstruction of justice? Do you want me to report you to the police?”
“We're just doing our job at the request of the Glory Guild. If you have a problem, take it up with them.”
Glory Guild.
The moment I heard those words, my eyes shot open. Sure enough, the man's uniform had a radiating emblem patch symbolizing the Glory Guild. I walked over to the woman who was stomping her feet in frustration and asked the man.
“Is passage restricted?”
The security company employee turned his head toward me with an annoyed expression. Then, he flinched and startled. It was a familiar reaction.
The expression people always made when they saw me up close. It was because of the birthmark that covered half my face.
“Hmph. That's right. No one can enter or leave until the health screenings for the residents of Gaebang District are complete.”
The security guard said, puffing out his chest. The already large man's nose seemed to pierce the sky. It was a rather ridiculous sight.
He wasn't even a member of the Glory Guild, nor likely a Hunter. The act of controlling people itself seemed to give him great satisfaction. The type of person who gets arrogant when he puts on an armband.
He seemed to be that kind of person.
“How long are the health screenings planned for?”
“Well, I hear it'll take about half a month or so.”
At that, the woman next to me glared fiercely.
“Half a month? You're telling me I can't leave this neighborhood for half a month?”
“Damn it. I told you already. Go to a public health center or a hospital and get a certificate saying you're fine, okay? If you keep bothering me, I won't let it slide!”
His patience seemed to have run out as the security company employee's tone turned sharp. The woman, intimidated, took a step back, and I asked again.
“Why wasn't there any prior notice? There were no articles about this last night or early this morning.”
“This wet-behind-the-ears punk…… How should I know, kid? I just do what I'm told from above.”
It wasn't that he didn't know; he just wanted to hide it. It would be troublesome if it became known that they were now controlling a neighborhood they had ignored while protecting the wealthy districts. It was a story that the Glory Guild, which valued ‘honor,’ particularly needed to conceal.
“Alright, alright! Stop talking and get lost! I don't want to waste any more breath on dangerous elements who haven't even been screened.”
I wasn't going to get anywhere talking to this guy anymore. Although Gaebang District was a small neighborhood, managing an entire district was not an easy task. In fact, besides the security employee in front of me, I couldn't see anyone else.
They must have divided the area into sections and stationed employees. In short, it meant that if I could get past this one man, there would be no other obstacles.
“You said your company is affiliated with the Glory Guild, right?”
“Yeah. Why. You got a problem with that?”
A suitable provocation was needed. I decided to spew out the thoughts I had been holding back without any filter.
“It's more than a problem……. It's fucking disgusting.”
“What?”
The man's eyes widened. He probably never expected to hear something like this from a punk(?) who looked at least ten years younger than him.
“Isn't that right? You guys were nowhere to be seen when people were dying on the streets. Now you're sealing off the area, it's fucking pathetic.”
“You little shit……. You want to die?”
The security company employee glared and strode towards me. He was a head taller than me and looked to be well over 100kg. In the past, I would have been terrified.
No, to be honest, I'm still a little scared. It hasn't sunk in yet that I've become stronger.
Grab.
The security guard grabbed me by the collar. Being naturally skinny, my body was helplessly pulled forward.
“Say that again. What did you say?”
I thought I would suffocate, but it was just a bit tight, not painful. Even without the Black Ether, compared to when I used to have a strange heat sickness, this was child's play. Now that he'd grabbed my collar, there was no need to be nice.
“Let go.”
I grabbed the man's arm with one hand and squeezed.
Squeeze.
“Ugh……!?”
Was it because of my unexpected grip strength? The security company employee's face twisted ugly. He must have found it absurd himself.
Who would have thought that a beanpole who looked at least 50kg lighter could overpower him with sheer strength? If it weren't for the curious gaze of the woman next to us, he would have let go of my collar long ago. But the strength had already drained from the hand holding my clothes.
I pushed the man's arm back. The man stumbled back a couple of steps.
“You……!!”
When people experience something unbelievable, their reactions usually fall into two categories.
Face reality.
Or deny reality. It seemed the man chose the latter.
“They say a good beating is the only medicine for the beggars of Gaebang District……!!”
The security employee pulled a baton from his waist. At this sight, the woman next to me frowned before I did.
“Are you really going to use a weapon on that student? Are you crazy?”
“Shut the fuck up and get lost. Unless you want to get beaten to a pulp too.”
The woman's face turned pale at the man's menacing tone. This was unbelievable. No matter how much the world revolved around Hunters.
To think he would openly beat a civilian with a weapon like that. Seeing the man's unhesitating actions, it seemed he had something to rely on. I casually asked the security employee.
“Is a security company employee allowed to assault a civilian?”
He must have thought I was scared. The man bared his teeth and laughed.
“Ha! So you were acting tough because you trusted the police. You'll learn the hard way after this beating. That Glory is above the law.”
So that's how it is. You see one thing and you know ten, as they say. It seems the Glory Guild is an organization that exists above the law.
Otherwise, how could a mere security employee think of assaulting a civilian? I stirred the Black Ether within my body and watched the man. The man's eyes gleamed as he raised one arm.
Despite the significant difference in our physiques, he swung the baton with all his might.
Whoosh.
But the baton failed to strike my body. It didn't even graze me.
“……??”
However, I was so tense that I ended up more than five meters away from the guy. I had intended to just step back a little to dodge. It turned out looking ridiculous.
Still, this was my first real fight(?). I guess this much is excusable.
“This bastard……!!”
There were two positive outcomes. One was that I could see the man's movements in great detail. I had turned the black toad's core into Black Ether and spread it throughout my body.
My various senses, including my 'vision,' must have been enhanced. At this rate, as long as my opponent wasn't a Hunter, I felt I could see and dodge most attacks.
Conversely.
What if I were to strike with all my might?
Smack!
After dodging another attack from the infuriated man, I chopped his thigh with the side of my hand. The reason I specifically aimed for the fleshy thigh was because I was worried I might cripple the bastard.
“Aaargh!!!!!”
The man let out an ugly scream and collapsed to the ground. I'd unintentionally conducted a live experiment(?). Kiril may be a bluffer, but at least I now knew the black toad's core was top-notch.
I had only created and absorbed the Black Ether once, yet I was able to handle an opponent with a much larger physique as if he were a child.
“I'm gonna kill you……!!”
Astonishment, rage, pain. And immense embarrassment. A mess of emotions, the man pulled something else from his waist.
Seeing the object, I couldn't help but sigh.
“Are you really going to use a taser on a minor?”
“Fuck off, you bastard!!”
The man charged at me, limping, and I sidestepped and lightly kicked his other thigh.
Thwack!!
“Kraaaagh!!”
This time, he completely rolled around on the ground. While the man was foaming at the mouth, I checked the buildings beyond the red line. Including the area around here, there weren't many places with CCTV installed.
It hadn't been long since the Gate burst, so they wouldn't have been repaired yet. The woman who had been arguing with the man seemed to have gotten fed up and was gone. Having roughly assessed the situation, I walked steadily toward the man.
“You…… you bastard!!”
The man crawled backward in fear from his seated position, but his mouth was still running.
“A good beating is the only medicine for the beggars of Gaebang District, you said?”
“……!!”
“I'll let you off this once, so be careful next time. People with nothing to lose don't know when to stop.”
The man's face turned beet red. It must be humiliating to have been beaten by a skinny kid much younger than him, even with a taser. That meant this was an incident he couldn't easily speak of anywhere.
Because it was embarrassing. If I crossed that red line, the man would have no choice but to report it, but if I disappeared like this, my existence wouldn't be discovered. I stepped in front of the man and clenched my fist.
The man then shouted with a look of utter injustice.
“You, you said you'd let me go!!”
“Bite down hard.”
As I twitched my shoulder, the man covered his face with both arms.
Good.
Now's my chance. I focused all my strength into my legs and executed 'Poison Step'.
Pssh!
My target was the rooftop of the nearest building beyond the red line. Thanks to the Black Ether rooted throughout my body, it was now easier to maintain my balance. There would be no more unsightly landings from now on.
“???????”
The man, who had expected another blow, slowly lowered his arms. Then, with a dumbfounded expression, he looked around in all directions. It was understandable he'd be baffled, as the man who was right in front of him just a moment ago had vanished without a trace.
Without even thinking of getting up, he hastily checked behind him. But there was no way he could see me. He would never be able to assume that I had leaped to a building's rooftop in a split second.
“Let's see……”
Beyond the building, I could see bustling cars and people. It was a completely different scene from the ruined Gaebang District. I wanted to keep leaping between rooftops, but it would be troublesome if people spotted me.
I took the stairs down and boarded the subway heading to Cheonggye Mountain.
“Is this really the right place?”
The direction the GPS was pointing was definitely here. But I had to ask the device again. A facility that used to be so common you'd trip over them, but was now hard to find.
A public phone booth was right in front of my eyes.
“What's going on. Is it a bug?”
Hmm.
I should watch what I say. I couldn't help but hesitate in front of the sky-blue, rectangular booth.
“This…… is his ‘house,’ you say.”
I was lucky to have found this place at all. It was a remote spot, far from the hiking trails people used. The people I happened to run into had tried so hard to stop me, saying that wasn't the way to go.
But to finally arrive and find that the house was a phone booth…
“Well, I might as well give it a try.”
I stepped into the phone booth and examined the machine. I had seen pictures of it a few times as a child, but this was the first time seeing one in person. They said the red one was the emergency call button, and the black button was…….
Hmm?
I'd never heard about a black button. As if drawn by something, I pressed the black button.
Clunk.
“Whoa!!!”
I couldn't help but let out something close to a scream. The moment I pressed the button, the floor inside the booth opened up. My body was instantly sucked into a dark passage.