A Hidden Agenda

“A favor?”

Oh Hyeonseong asked incredulously.

What kind of favor could someone as powerful as her in the National Security Bureau possibly have to ask of a retired Hunter?

But Baek Jisu nodded without even blinking.

“Yeah. A favor.”

He was speechless for a moment.

She’s still shameless as ever.

“What kind of favor could you possibly have for a washed-up Hunter recovering in the countryside?”

“A normal washed-up Hunter wouldn’t usually say something like that to themselves. You’re the only one protecting their meager pride, after all. More importantly, don’t you think it’d be better to talk inside? It’s cold out here.”

“…Yeah. Let’s talk inside.”

At Baek Jisu’s sidelong glance toward Joo Jihye, Oh Hyeonseong nodded.

Apparently, this wasn’t something they could discuss with her around.

Joo Jihye hesitated, looking worried, but Oh Hyeonseong reassured her and sent her into the annex.

The two of them then sat facing each other in the living room.

Baek Jisu spoke first.

“So you live here? It looks pretty spacious for one person.”

“That’s probably why the number of people in my household keeps increasing.”

“It’s strange. Seeing Senior Oh living like this in the countryside.”

“Does it look too shabby to you?”

“Of course not. Have you forgotten what kind of places we used to sleep and roll around in? As long as there was a roof over our heads, it was a five-star hotel.”

Oh Hyeonseong let out a hollow laugh at her words.

She certainly wasn’t wrong.

Back when they were carrying out countless operations, they’d seen plenty of things that were difficult to look at.

There hadn’t even been an environment where they could worry about things like whether they were men or women.

“How did you get that scar on your face?”

Oh Hyeonseong looked at her left cheek.

There was a long scar there that hadn’t existed in the past.

Normally, the bodies of high-level Hunters had excellent regenerative abilities, so they rarely retained scars.

Their wounds healed almost immediately.

Which meant that, conversely, the fact that she’d been left with a scar despite that was proof that she’d suffered an injury that had brought her incredibly close to death.

“I got it during the Queen Subjugation Operation. I may not have gone through quite as much as you did, Senior, but I saw some pretty nasty things back then too.”

Baek Jisu spoke with a cold smile.

She had participated in that operation as well, but she hadn’t been part of Oh Hyeonseong’s assault team that directly confronted the Queen individual. She had been stationed at another site.

But the situation during that operation had involved more than simply defeating the Queen.

It had been a hellish operation in which, despite the gathering of a massive number of Korea’s strongest forces, the overall survival rate had been in the single digits.

Baek Jisu was one of the survivors.

In the end, she too was a comrade who had shared life and death with him.

Just like Han Suyeon and Choi Jeongil.

But that fact alone didn’t resolve everything.

Even among comrades who had shared life and death, some became lifelong friends, some became enemies, and some became the objects of a twisted love-hate relationship.

“I’d like to get to the point. What was that favor you mentioned?”

Oh Hyeonseong said.

Baek Jisu nodded.

“A little while ago, an S-rank-scale wave was detected in this village. During the investigation, a burrowing-type monster was discovered. You know about that too, right?”

“I was moving around because of the evacuation, so there was no way I wouldn’t know.”

“You resolved the burrowing-type monster without a single casualty, so it’s no wonder the media kept talking about it. Thanks to that, people were calling it a victory for the initial response, the President’s approval rating went up, and everyone was celebrating. But… there was something strange about it.”

She tilted her head as she continued.

“The burrowing-type monster had absolutely nothing to do with the wave that was detected.”

Burrowing-type monsters had the characteristic of infiltrating other Gates and secretly escaping while avoiding the eyes of Hunters.

Afterward, they completely concealed their existence while secretly building up their strength.

There was no way the Bureau’s observation equipment, which detected the waves emitted by Gates, could have detected one.

“I read the report, and they didn’t even bother to check whether the detected wave was simply a malfunction of the equipment. They just glossed over it by conveniently lumping it together with the burrowing-type monster. What’s more, Han Suyeon personally confirmed the matter. Normally, she wouldn’t allow such sloppy handling.”

Baek Jisu continued.

“By principle, they should have investigated whether the thing detected by the observation equipment was some kind of enormous entity equivalent to an S-rank Gate… But, by coincidence, Senior happened to be living here.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Grimhel. You killed it, didn’t you, Senior? Have you recovered your powers?”

Her question was completely direct.

Seeing that she was still exactly the same as she had been in the past, Oh Hyeonseong let out a faint chuckle.

Apparently, she’d already figured everything out before coming here.

Well, if the National Security Bureau had seriously investigated an incident of that scale, there was no way it wouldn’t eventually come to light.

Of course, that didn’t mean he needed to give her a definite answer.

“So, is that favor you mentioned asking me to return to the field? You think I’ve recovered my strength, so you want me to work for the country again?”

“No. You retired back then, Senior. Even so, do I really look like such a rotten woman that I’d do something like that?”

Baek Jisu shrugged.

“I just want to borrow your name.”

“My name…? What does that mean?”

“You know that both the Disaster Management Bureau and the National Security Bureau have civilians, rather than Hunters, as their heads in the name of civilian control, right?”

“Of course I know that.”

There were still various political systems coexisting throughout the world, but there were also quite a few countries of a type that could only have emerged in the current era—countries where Hunters had seized political power.

The most powerful Hunter in such a country, commanding the greatest faction, would rise to the position of head of state and become a dictator ruling with an iron fist.

Korea, meanwhile, had an unusually high proportion of high-level Awakened relative to its population, perhaps because it had inherited its long tradition of developing the country by grinding its people down without natural resources.

Naturally, this must have been an even greater threat to the existing ruling establishment.

Those powerful Awakened could potentially turn non-Awakened people, including the ruling class itself, into second-class citizens.

“It’s an absurd policy where the intentions are painfully obvious, but it’s necessary. Still, after several such policies have been implemented, dissatisfaction has been building internally. We’re elite Hunters who risk our lives fighting inside Gates. So why should we have to take orders from non-Awakened people while being interfered with at every turn? That’s basically the sentiment.”

“From the sound of it… you’re on the opposite side of that opinion?”

“Let’s set my personal opinion aside. My job is to apprehend the subversive elements within the country and make them see reason. The problem is that one of those dissidents happens to be one of your juniors.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Kangseok. That crazy bastard.”

Baek Jisu spoke with a cynical smile.

“Some criminal organizations and radical terrorists have been running rampant, even sending out assassination threats, so things are a mess. But the real problem isn’t those small fry. It’s the enemy within.”

“Wait. You’re saying Kangseok is that enemy within?”

“You know that the Special Operations Division is already in his hands, right? The Hunters stationed at the front lines are dissatisfied. Judging by how unhappy they are, they look like they’re about to stage a coup at any moment.”

“Hah. Don’t exaggerate absurdly. He’s absolutely not the kind of person who would do that.”

“Have you forgotten what you taught me, Senior? There is no such thing as ‘absolutely.’”

Baek Jisu said it calmly.

But Oh Hyeonseong wasn’t naive enough to take her words at face value.

He shook his head and abruptly stood up.

“Senior, join the National Security Bureau.”

“…What?”

“I’m not asking you to return to the field, and I’m not asking you to get involved in politics either. We’ll give you an official position for external purposes. Just put your name on it and stay there. You don’t even have to come to work, and you’ll still receive your salary regularly. It’s a dream job. What do you think?”

“I don’t understand. What exactly would that accomplish?”

“Anyone who knows your name won’t dare try anything foolish just because of that alone.”

“Anyone who knows me well enough would think I’m a cripple who barely survived death and has a ruined leg.”

“Even so, I’m saying it’ll have an effect. The symbolic power of the three syllables in your name. Ironically, you’re the only one who doesn’t properly understand its value. At least among the first-generation Hunters.”

Baek Jisu stared directly at him.

But Oh Hyeonseong frowned and replied.

“I’m retired. Don’t drag me into a political fight. Just eat something and go home.”

Oh Hyeonseong turned his back and headed toward the kitchen.

But her next words made him stop.

“If a favor won’t work, how about a deal?”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Choi Jeongil walked down the road.

He had loaded all the samples they’d moved earlier into the researcher’s vehicle, which had just arrived.

As soon as the vehicle reached the research institute, research on the samples would begin immediately.

But there was something else that concerned him more right now.

What could have happened all of a sudden?

Oh Hyeonseong had suddenly received a message and headed home.

He’d said that he’d received a strange message from Joo Jihye.

If he’d headed here immediately after finishing his schedule, there was enough time for him to have already returned.

But what could possibly have happened in such a remote place?

“Hmm?”

Choi Jeongil stopped for a moment when he was almost home.

On the road a short distance from the front gate stood an unfamiliar black vehicle.

It was a suspicious vehicle with extremely dark-tinted windows.

Even from a distance, the people inside clearly didn’t look like villagers.

Thump, thump!

“Who are you, and why have you parked your car here?”

Choi Jeongil approached and knocked on the window.

The two men inside flinched at his sudden appearance, but then they saw his face and were startled all over again.

It was none other than Choi Jeongil, the CEO of Aegis, who had suddenly appeared in front of them.

The man in the passenger seat hurriedly lowered the window halfway and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t tell you. Please just go on your way.”

“Answer me before I drag you out and ask you myself.”

Choi Jeongil’s voice turned cold.

The two men flinched, exchanged glances for a moment, then nodded.

They had decided that cooperating to a reasonable extent was better than causing a commotion here.

“We’re from the National Security Bureau.”

“The National Security Bureau? Why would Bureau agents be here?”

Choi Jeongil was momentarily taken aback when they even pulled out their identification cards.

Their sudden appearance was completely unexpected.

He tried to question them further about their purpose for coming, but the men firmly shut their mouths.

They had clearly decided that no matter what he did from this point onward, they wouldn’t reveal anything.

If there’s a reason they’d suddenly come to Senior’s house… Could it be Baek Jisu?

Choi Jeongil thought of Baek Jisu and turned around.

Given her personality, there was no way she’d come just to see his face.

If she really had come here, there was undoubtedly some ulterior motive.

And at that very moment—

CRACK!

The entire vehicle crumpled.

The startled agents had already reflexively escaped from the vehicle, but at the same time, they felt an enormous pressure and collapsed face-first onto the ground.

RUMBLE!

“Gh… Guh!”

Their entire bodies were being crushed beneath the pressure, leaving them unable to move even an inch.

Then, in front of them, Han Suyeon appeared, radiating murderous intent.

“Where’s Baek Jisu?”