The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 339

338. Side Story – Episode 16

Support Team, Hunter Support Division.

This was also my first time contacting the deputy director of that place directly.

Although I often ran into her for work, we usually only exchanged emails.

“By the way… if it’s something like that, why don’t you report it to the police? Why specifically ask us for help?”

She asked, sounding puzzled, after receiving all the details from Team Leader Pyeon.

“A pretty big figure is involved in this. It’s not easy to touch them directly… and more than anything, we don’t even know who’s behind this. In this situation, the police won’t be of much help.”

“Ha, so even the hunters from Task Force 1 have something to be afraid of.”

A blatant taunt.

It was clearly meant for me to hear, but I didn’t bother to react.

“I’ll say this in advance, considering what the task force has been doing, I don’t really want to help.”

“…….”

“But well… the new recruit from the investigation team hasn’t done anything wrong. I don’t like it, but I can’t just ignore it.”

I heard her sigh once.

“I checked briefly after getting a call from Team Leader Pyeon, and there was an accident on Sejong-daero [a major street in Seoul] right before the time you mentioned. A car hit a taxi while driving in reverse… Ha Eun-hye was caught on CCTV escaping from that taxi.”

“So that means…….”

“Whoever is chasing Ha Eun-hye must have deliberately caused the accident. I’ll start tracking based on the description of the man who caused the accident.”

Soon, I could hear the sound of a keyboard from the other side of the phone.

Time passed like that for a while.

“Around 12:40 AM, both of them went into an alley. There are no CCTVs there, so I can’t confirm… but after about 5 minutes, only the man came out of the alley?”

“Does he have anything with him? Like a big bag…….”

“A suitcase. A travel suitcase.”

“So, where did he go?”

“Just a moment. First, he got into another parked car… and moved along Gangbyeonbuk-ro [a major riverside road]. After that, he entered the Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway towards Namyangju IC [interchange].”

A clean and clear briefing.

As I was drawing the route in my head, she continued immediately.

“It seems like he’s heading towards Gangwon-do [a province in South Korea]… I’ll send you the location, so go after him right away.”

“Understood.”

Just before hanging up the phone with those words.

“…Thank you.”

I carefully conveyed those words.

However, her reaction was quite cold.

“Tch. When you guys always ignore us and call us the errand team, and now you’re saying thank you……. Don’t try to act all grateful just because you’re in a pinch, and treat us better normally.”

“…….”

I had nothing to say, so I just remained silent.

Then, the call ended without any further ado.

At the same time, the expected route was sent to my phone, and I immediately got in the car and started moving.

A considerable distance.

As she said, the expected route was heading out of Seoul towards Gangwon-do.

After driving along the road for about two hours, a rural road appeared out of nowhere.

An unpaved road with no streetlights.

As I entered the place where I couldn’t see anything to the point where I wondered if I had come to the right place, a text message came from the support team.

“Tracking is no longer possible from this location. There were no signs of the same vehicle on nearby CCTVs, so they probably got out of the car and moved on foot. They couldn’t have gone far, so search the surrounding area.”

I got out of the car and started walking.

A very dark rural road.

Rice paddies and fields continued endlessly on both sides, and the occasional houses looked like they weren’t even inhabited.

‘I have to search all of this…?’

It was a daunting situation, but there was no time to dawdle.

3 AM.

5 hours left until the subjugation.

Considering the time to return, I had to find Ha Eun-hye by at least 6 AM, no matter what.

‘First, from the areas away from the houses…….’

Looking around, I roughly divided the search area and started rummaging through here and there without any plan.

Old greenhouses and warehouses.

Containers and abandoned houses.

I looked for any place where a person could be hiding, but Ha Eun-hye was nowhere to be seen.

I thought about shouting, but if the man who kidnapped her was still with her, it could be even more dangerous.

So, I had to move as secretly as possible without making any noise, which further delayed the time.

How much more time had passed?

‘Shit…….’

The sun began to rise between the distant mountain ridges.

As I took out my phone to check the time, a phone call came at that moment.

“Deputy Team Leader, the control team is trying to do the final check now, but have you not come to work yet?”

It was none other than Hunter Kim Min-ju.

“Do it without me. I think I’ll be a little late.”

“Yes? Then when will you be able to come?”

“…I’ll be there before 8.”

“Yes, yes? Even if you can’t do the final check, you have to come by at least 7:40 to check the equipment and the dungeon…….”

“I know, damn it! I know, so just shut up and wait!”

“…….”

My voice rose without me realizing it.

But Kim Min-ju asked in a rather calm tone.

“Is something wrong…?”

“…….”

I hesitated to answer for a moment.

“Mind your own business.”

I hung up the phone unilaterally.

Soon, the time appeared on the phone screen.

6:30 AM.

It was already long past the time to return.

‘Damn it, really…!’

I frowned and gnashed my teeth.

Then, I scanned the still empty rural landscape.

I had searched almost an entire village for several hours.

I even searched the barns and pigsties, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.

It goes without saying, but the subjugation cannot be postponed.

Isn’t it a dungeon that could rise to Omega rank if it’s delayed even a little?

‘Should I report it to the police and go back to Seoul…?’

No… if Chairman Woo Seok-ho had taken action in advance, those guys wouldn’t move on time.

Then what should I do?

Damn it, what should I do…….

‘…….’

It was at that moment.

As the surroundings gradually brightened with the sunrise, things that I hadn’t seen until just now began to come into view.

Halfway up a mountain far from the houses.

A dilapidated cabin visible in the distance.

A spark flashed in my head.

I ran madly towards it as if possessed by something.

Arriving in front of the cabin like that.

I slowly took a breath and then.

Bang—!

I threw open the door.

***

“Haa…….”

Yang Min-ho’s safe house located somewhere in Gangwon-do.

Yang Min-ho sighed with a rather troubled expression.

“How did I come up with this idea at that moment, geez…….”

He muttered, looking at Ha Eun-hye, who was lying face down on the floor, completely tied up.

In his hand, he held the USB that she had.

But.

“To think she’d be carrying a fake.”

Crack—.

He smashed the USB he was holding.

Ha Eun-hye, who was watching the scene, had an even calmer face than before.

The moment she received a call from Eom Kyung-hoon, Ha Eun-hye had to make a choice.

She was just an ordinary person, not a member of the task force or a hunter.

If someone was chasing her to recover the file, it was only a matter of time before she was caught.

Of course, she could run to the police station with the file before that… but if she failed, she would have the file taken away and be in danger as well.

That’s why she didn’t bring the real file from the beginning.

She assumed she would be caught from the start.

And that was the only way to prevent the evidence that Kim Jun-woo’s file had been manipulated, the only evidence that her father had been framed, from being taken away.

And one more thing.

“You thought I wouldn’t hurt you until I found the real file……. Was that it?”

“…….”

Her mouth was blocked, so instead of answering, she just stared at him.

As he said.

Their goal was to recover the file she had stolen.

Of course, now that she had seen the contents of the file, her safety was at risk, but that was ultimately after the file was recovered.

So… she just had to buy time until they found the file.

Then he would definitely come.

“If it were a normal person, they would have been scared and wouldn’t have been able to do anything… to make this decision in such a short time. Amazing. Shouldn’t you have joined the investigation team?”

“…….”

“Ha, then it’s even more of a problem. What should I do now? Well, it’s not difficult to make you talk… but that’s also annoying in its own way.”

Yang Min-ho looked at the air and sighed.

But only for a moment.

“……Should I just kill you?”

The moment his fierce gaze was fixed on Ha Eun-hye, he muttered those words casually.

A calm look.

An expression that didn’t feel any emotion.

“If you’ve hidden it on purpose, it seems difficult to find. And more than anything, if there’s no one to find it, it won’t be discovered.”

“……!!”

“Right?”

“Ugh, euubeup!!”

Yang Min-ho asked that and slowly approached Ha Eun-hye.

Ha Eun-hye started to struggle violently as if sensing danger, but with her whole body tied up, it was meaningless.

With each step he took, she fell into more and more panic.

By the time he came right in front of her, her body was completely frozen, and she was just trembling in place.

Soon, as Yang Min-ho reached out his hand, Ha Eun-hye tightly closed her eyes.

At that moment.

Bang—!

The door of the cabin burst open.

Yang Min-ho and Ha Eun-hye’s gazes turned to the same place at the same time.

Soon, what appeared from the darkness was.

“…How could you come all the way here?”

The chief of the Task Force Truth Investigation Committee.

It was Chairman Woo Seok-ho.

“Wrap it up and move to another place.”

“Do we really have to? What’s so important about a task force scrub noticing something.”

“That bastard is different.”

Chairman Woo Seok-ho replied in a rough voice.

“He’s a guy who doesn’t know what he’ll do when he goes crazy. Especially after the Lizen Dungeon, it’s gotten worse.”

“No, well, he’s just a hunter…….”

“Hey! Don’t you want to get paid?”

Chairman Woo Seok-ho glared at Yang Min-ho and said firmly.

Then Yang Min-ho shrugged with a faint sigh.

A look as if to say, what can I do.

Chairman Woo Seok-ho didn’t provoke him any further at that jest.

“Move.”

“Yes, yes.”

That’s how they were preparing when.

“Ah, what should we do with that girl? Looking at it, the USB is fake, and it seems like the file is hidden somewhere else.”

“…….”

At Yang Min-ho’s question, Chairman Woo Seok-ho stared at her blankly.

“Well… doesn’t it matter?”

“…….”

At those words, Ha Eun-hye’s pupils began to shake greatly.

“Then…….”

“Get rid of her. Of course, not here, but somewhere else.”

Chairman Woo Seok-ho waved his hand as if he couldn’t be bothered to think.

At the same time, Yang Min-ho lifted her up and headed for the car.

Chairman Woo Seok-ho glanced around the cabin where everyone had left, and then closed the door.

***

Bang—!

I burst into the cabin, throwing the door open.

And there.

“……Shit.”

There was no one.

“Shit, shit…!!”

Bang, bang—!!

Uncontrollable anger engulfed my whole body.

Along with that, I threw punches so hard that the walls broke, but that didn’t make the missing person appear.

‘Hoo…….’

I tried to calm my trembling breath and quickly looked around the inside of the cabin.

It didn’t seem like anyone lived here at all.

Because there were no furniture or belongings.

Not only did no one live here, but there wasn’t even a trace of anyone staying.

‘Is this not the place…?’

The moment that question crossed my mind, my gaze turned to the floor.

‘…….’

Dry sweat stains on the floor came into view.

And the sweat stains continued to the entrance of the cabin…… and at the end of that.

“Shit…….”

A trace that I hadn’t noticed at all until I entered the cabin.

There were wheel tracks that hadn’t been made long ago.

It’s certain.

Ha Eun-hye was here.

Then someone moved Ha Eun-hye to the car, and they hadn’t left this place long ago.

And until the moment of moving, Ha Eun-hye was alive.

The moment I confirmed that, strength returned to my eyes.

Yes.

I can find her if I chase after her now.

With that conviction, I was about to contact the support team again to get help.

“…….”

The phone started ringing.

Pyeon Chang-hyeon, the control team leader.

It was a call from him.

“…Hello.”

I answered the phone with a trembling voice.

“Hunter Kim Jun-woo… the dungeon’s etheric power is rising rapidly again.”

Devastating news came.

“At this rate, it will rise to Omega rank [the highest threat level] within the next 4 hours. It will be dangerous if you don’t subjugate it quickly now.”

“…….”

At those words, I closed my eyes.

“You… have to come right now.”

At the words that followed, my breath began to tremble.