Chapter 87: Let the Game Begin (1)

26th of December, 1 a.m.

Three women stepped out of an elevator and slowly walked down a hallway. It was pitch black with the lights turned off, but none of them seemed particularly bothered.

"We're probably going to be the last ones there. Is it really okay for us to be this late?" Lee Ji-Yeon asked in a worried tone.

After a brief rest, fifty Hunters had returned to the guild in two groups: thirty through the front entrance and twenty via a secret passage. Under Kim Ki-Rok's command, they had scattered at once. Some checked ambush points, while others followed the technical Hunters to inspect and set traps.

Lee Ji-Yeon, Yoo Seh-Eun, and Cha Min-Ji had taken longer than the others to finish because Kim Ki-Rok had given them a special order.

"The Guildmaster did say it was okay to take our time," Yoo Seh-Eun reassured.

Lee Ji-Yeon was still concerned. "But wasn't that just him being polite?"

"Ji-Yeon," Yoo Seh-Eun said gently.

"Yes, unnie?"

"He's our Guildmaster, right? You know, our resident lunatic. The Crazy Bastard who is actually our Guildmaster."

Kim Ki-Rok was a very difficult person to get the full measure of. But oddly enough, that made things easier in some ways, because he never sugarcoated anything. His words always matched his intent, without pretense or flattery.

If he said "take your time," he truly meant it. That was why, despite missing the scheduled time by a decent margin, Yoo Seh-Eun still walked with confidence.

Casually turning the doorknob, she stepped into the main conference room and suddenly froze. Lee Ji-Yeon and Cha Min-Ji, following right behind her, did the same as soon as they passed through the doorway.

Because of the special blackout curtains, no light shone outside; flipping the switch wouldn't alert anyone beyond. That was why the conference room was in utter darkness.

Or more precisely, there was a light source—one small candle, set in the middle of the rectangular table, flickering faintly.

"A candle?" Yoo Seh-Eun said, perplexed.

Meow.

The three women slowly turned their heads toward the source of the sound coming from the shadows.

"

Wah!

I've definitely seen this in a movie somewhere," Cha Min-Ji exclaimed, completely dumbfounded by the sight.

The Guildmaster's chair, which had been set at the very head of the table, was turned away from the table so that no one could see who was sitting there.

"You're late," a voice said as the luxurious office chair slowly spun around.

Clad in a black suit, Kim Ki-Rok had a cat sitting in his lap, kneading away at his thighs. In his left hand was a cigar.

As the women remained silent, Kim Ki-Rok repeated himself, "You're late."

Yoo Seh-Eun just snorted. "You're the one who told us to take our time."

"Ah, I did say that, didn't I," Kim Ki-Rok calmly admitted. "My apologies."

Yoo Seh-Eun opened her mouth to say something, only to become lost for words and fall silent as Kim Ki-Rok casually pet his cat.

"Guildmaster, sir." Cha Min-Ji raised her hand.

Kim Ki-Rok nodded. "Yes. Miss High School Girl?"

"Is that your cat?" Cha Min-Ji asked.

Kim Ki-Rok shook his head. "Nope, I'm not its owner."

"In that case, where did you get it from?"

"You know that there's a warehouse behind the guild headquarters, right?"

"Yes...?"

"Well, this is a stray cat that lives next to that warehouse."

Cha Min-Ji frowned doubtfully. "But for a stray cat, it seems to be very obedient to you, Guildmaster?"

"That's because I've been feeding it."

"Ahah!" Cha Min-Ji nodded in understanding, having satisfied her curiosity about the identity of this never-before-seen cat.

Lee Ji-Yeon was next to raise her hand. "Guildmaster?"

"Yes, our DG Guild's representative beauty, Miss Ji-Yeon?"

"Did you always smoke?" she asked.

"Never," Kim Ki-Rok firmly denied.

"Then what's that in your hand?"

"It's a cigar-shaped candy that's sold overseas."

Crunch.

After chewing up and swallowing the "cigar," he took out another one from the box on the table and held it in between his index and middle finger.

Yoo Seh-Eun interjected, "You sure know how to have fun, huh?"

Everyone gathered in the conference room suddenly burst into laughter, as if that plain remark summed him up perfectly.

"

Kah! Haha...

"

"P-please... s-stop laughing...

Hahaha!

"

"What? I can't hold it back!"

While watching the antics unfold, Yoo Seh-Eun reddened with embarrassment. The conference room was not just filled with DG Guild members. At various times during the night, volunteer Hunters from the Association, Shine Guild, and Golden Lion Guild had made their way into the building discreetly and were now gathered here.

Why, oh why, did she feel like all the shame in the room was piling on her alone?

Yoo Seh-Eun then cleared her throat. "Guildmaster."

Kim Ki-Rok nodded. "Yes, Miss Seh-Eun?"

Yoo Seh-Eun growled. "Could you maybe knock it off now?"

"I'm not done yet."

"W-what else is there?"

Regardless of Yoo Seh-Eun's protests, Kim Ki-Rok continued on, undeterred. "Awakened criminals do not have any real sense of camaraderie among themselves. Or more precisely, there is no mutual trust."

To state the obvious, they're criminals. They gave society the middle finger, so how could they possibly trust other criminals? There was neither trust nor loyalty between these scattered individuals, forced to band together because it boosted their odds of success.

Since that was the case, why had the Awakened criminals who had survived the failed raid on the UK Department Store chosen to retaliate against the DG Guild? Was it to take revenge for all the captured or slain Awakened criminals?

No, not at all.

They each had their own reasons for participating in a retaliatory strike, but the most important one of all was their frustration over failing to line their own purses because of the DG Guild's interference.

"We'll exploit that. We'll use it against them to minimize losses and hunt these Awakened criminals," Kim Ki-Rok explained.

The people who were gathered in the conference room all nodded at this.

The assembled Hunters nodded in agreement.

Satisfied, Kim Ki-Rok reached to stroke the cat's back again—

Hssss!

The cat bared its teeth, clearly annoyed at having its nap disturbed.

"Ah... Sorry, sorry." Kim Ki-Rok quickly raised both hands into the air.

After kneading his thighs a few more times, the cat settled down and closed its eyes.

Kim Ki-Rok cleared his throat. "Ahem... now where was I?"

"Hunting, you were talking about hunting the Awakened criminals," Yoo Seh-Eun impatiently reminded him.

Kim Ki-Rok just couldn't keep up a serious impression to save his life. For some reason, even when he tried his best to act serious, the act would immediately fall apart.

"Yes, hunting. Let me say it again: we're not subduing these criminals; we're hunting them. There's no need to strain yourselves trying to capture them alive. Their worthless human rights are not more precious than your well-being," Kim Ki-Rok sincerely advised them.

The DG Guild members nodded firmly.

"Ah, and the same goes for everyone from the Hunters Association, the Shine Guild, and the Golden Lion Guild," he added.

One of the Hunters from the Association spoke up, "The higher-ups told us to try and subdue them as much as possible."

"Who was it?" Kim Ki-Rok asked. "There's no way it would be the Association President, Kang Man-Ki who said that..."

"The order came from the Intelligence Department," the Hunter revealed.

Kim Ki-Rok frowned. "From the chief of the Intelligence Department?"

"Ah, yes," the Hunter hesitantly confirmed.

"Just a moment please," Kim Ki-Rok said as he took out his smartphone.

He quickly tapped on the screen a few times before setting it back down. Ten seconds later, Team Leader Min Gwang-Cheol, who was to partner with Kim Ki-Rok on this operation, felt his phone vibrate. Receiving a single nod from Kim Ki-Rok, he apologized to those around him and took out his phone.

"What is it? Don't you know that this isn't the..." Team Leader Min Gwang-Cheol began scolding, only to trail off with a bewildered expression on his face.

A Hunter from the Awakened Criminal Pursuit Team who had been sitting behind Min Gwang-Cheol carefully raised his head up to peek Min Gwang-Cheol's smartphone.

"Holy..." Kim Jin-Hyuk gasped, his expression similarly frozen in shock after seeing what was on the screen.

"

Ha, hahaha...

" After finally coming to his senses, Min Gwang-Cheol let out a hollow laugh as he looked back up at Kim Ki-Rok. "The request from the Intelligence Department has been retracted."

"That's good," Kim Ki-Rok calmly said with a smile.

"W-what did you do?"

"Just mentioned a certain secret that the Chief of Intelligence would rather keep hidden. Let's call it a gentle reminder."

"You threatened him?" Min Gwang-Cheol's face paled.

"I just asked for his cooperation while mentioning that I knew something that had to do with his position as the head of the family."

A man's position as the head of the family... So either a father or a husband...?

"N-no way!" Kim Jin-Hyuk gasped, realization dawning.

What on earth was he imagining?

"It's not an affair," Kim Ki-Rok said flatly, quickly correcting any assumptions.

"Oh!" Kim Jin-Hyuk sounded almost disappointed, but he was still dying of curiosity. "Then what is it?"

"Are you confident that you can keep it a secret?"

"That's..."

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Well, you would only need to keep it secret for about a week."

A week? So, in seven days, it would no longer be a secret?

Kim Jin-Hyuk seemed torn. "Ah... if it's only for that long..."

"It's his son," Kim Ki-Rok bluntly stated anyway.

"His son?" Kim Jin-Hyuk blinked in confusion. "Are you talking about the chief's official, biological son?"

"Nope, not exactly." Kim Ki-Rok paused for thought. "Hm, I guess it would be best to describe the person I'm talking about as his illegitimate son?"

"That means he did have an affair!" Kim Jin-Hyuk loudly protested.

Kim Ki-Rok shook his head. "The child was born from an accident that took place before his marriage, and the mother hid it from him, so it can't really be called an affair, now can it?"

The Hunters from the Hunters Association, including Kim Jin-Hyuk, were all flustered by this revelation. But now that the seal had been lifted, Kim Ki-Rok's mouth just wouldn't seem to stop.

"To be more precise... just as the chief was about to get married, a week before the wedding in fact, he went on a business trip and had a little

accident

after getting drunk with a foreign beauty," Kim Ki-Rok elaborated.

"How do you even know about the details..." Kim Jin-Hyuk marvelled in surprise.

The Hunters were all eagerly staring at Kim Ki-Rok, as if they were watching some early morning drama.

"Okay, we understand the nature of the secret... but what does any of that have to do with it being revealed in a week...?" Kim Jin-Hyuk asked, still confused.

Although everyone in the room now knew that the Chief of Intelligence had made a mistake a week before his wedding, they failed to see the connection between that and his secret getting out.

"A week?" team Leader Min Gwang-Cheol muttered to himself as he carefully considered the implications behind the span of time that Kim Ki-Rok had specified.

Before they could think about it for too long, Kim Ki-Rok went ahead and revealed the truth, "In a week, the chief's son will be entering the country."

"No way!" Team Leader Min Gwang-Cheol gasped.

"In that case, the question remains, how did I find out about this fact?!" Kim Ki-Rok dramatically exclaimed.

Everyone's eyes were sparkling with interest once more. If they had known to prepare popcorn for this meeting, everyone would have already been gorging themselves on it.

"Well, you know the B-Class American guild, Persona? They're right on the verge of A-Class and famously support all kinds of government initiatives."

People nodded. Persona was known for its philanthropic deeds and never refusing government calls for assistance.

"Their Guildmaster, Ares, is the one who has inherited the blood of the Chief of Intelligence."

They stared at Kim Ki-Rok, open-mouthed. If that was true, then the greatest philanthropic guild in the U.S. was led by the child of a high-ranking Korean official. It might as well be a morning drama plot.

After giving everyone enough time to process the news, Kim Ki-Rok continued, "Ares will be visiting Korea in order to meet with his father, after which the latter will be handing in his resignation."

"B-but why?" Kim Jin-Hyuk stuttered.

"Because the Guildmaster of the Persona Guild, which has close ties with the American government, is his son," Kim Ki-Rok stated simply.

In order to prevent any information leaks, the Hunters Association would have no choice but to request for the Chief of Intelligence's resignation.

Just at that moment, Min Gwang-Cheol carefully raised his hand and asked, "So, in other words, Guildmaster, you were actually able to find out about all this while gathering information on Persona Guild?"

"Where else could I have found out about it?" Kim Ki-Rok said confidently.

Min Gwang-Cheol hesitated. "Well, that's... On the other hand, with the cooperation of the Chief of Intelligence, wouldn't it be possible to persuade Ares to naturalize into Korea?"

Kim Ki-Rok shook his head. "Ares's mother isn't just some random person. When they first met, the chief—well, he was still just the deputy chief back then. Anyway, on his business trip to America, he wouldn't be meeting with just any regular employee, even as a deputy."

"So who is she?" Team Leader Min Gwang-Cheol carefully asked.

Kim Ki-Rok answered his question, "Back then, she was working for the United States government, as a high-ranking employee in their Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"Ah!" Min Gwang-Cheol let out another gasp.

Kim Ki-Rok continued, "It's because his mother is a civil servant that Ares and his guild has such close ties to the United States' government."

The Hunters from the Association stared blankly at Kim Ki-Rok, still processing the news that the Chief of Intelligence would be replaced in early January.

He clapped his hands to snap all of them out of it, then said with a devious grin, "Now then, let's get back to the main topic of this meeting and focus on our plan to hunt down the Awakened criminals."