NOVEL NEXT Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Lee Si-hyun quickly racked his brain to understand the current situation.
There are two people in the house. Not just anyone, but notorious Awakened Beings.
They must have sensed his presence too.
Going in? That’s insane.
First, he had to get out of there quickly.
Si-hyun turned his gaze and peeked at the living room window, but there were no signs of anyone entering. Without the insight of a skilled guard, he wouldn’t have noticed a thing.
Feeling a chill run down his spine, Si-hyun carefully and slowly began to back away. After cautiously reaching the front door, he turned in the opposite direction and quickened his pace. Once he was a fair distance away, he started to run.
Destination?
He hadn’t thought about that. The only thing on his mind was getting as far away as possible.
“Huh?!”
Just as Si-hyun was about to turn a corner, suddenly, a human figure shot out in front of him. Si-hyun tried to dodge, but their speeds matched too closely, and they collided.
Thud.
The person rolled on the ground. It was a short, skinny girl. She had brown hair and brown eyes, looking like a foreigner.
Even after colliding with her, Si-hyun stood there with a blank expression. His eyes seemed to be focused on empty air, but in reality, they were fixed on a notification window.
[Warning: Detected a certain notorious individual nearby.]
Another warning notification popped up.
What is this?
…Could it be a glitch?
With the absurdity of the unfolding situation, Si-hyun couldn’t collect his thoughts.
‘No.’
The system had never given him incorrect information before. Then what?
He cast one last glance at the fallen girl and started running again swiftly. Before long, he had disappeared down the street.
The foreign girl scratched her head and slowly got up.
“Wow… how did I get caught?”
She muttered to herself with an expression of disbelief.
◈ ◈ ◈
Near the front door, two men waited.
Han Kyung-jin and Jeon Hee-seung. They didn’t move a muscle, huddled together like statues.
They held their daggers tightly, ensuring no light leaked out. Their breathing was so faint it was almost nonexistent. In darker lighting, they would have appeared to be mere shadows.
For an assassin, the ability to conceal presence was essential. They were using that very skill to lay in wait.
‘Here he comes.’
Kyung-jin felt a presence approaching the front door and signaled Hee-seung with his eyes.
‘Understood.’
Hee-seung twisted his lips into a sardonic smile. He seemed excited about the events that were about to unfold. They waited for the front door to open, anticipating their target’s entry.
However, the door did not open quickly.
‘What’s going on?’
Irritation flickered across Hee-seung’s face. He was eager, but their target was stalling.
Kyung-jin focused silently on the target’s presence. The target stood still for a moment.
But soon, he felt that presence begin to drift away.
‘Huh?’
Kyung-jin wore a puzzled expression as a thought crossed his mind.
Did he catch their scent?
…No, that can’t be.
The opponent was an E-rank Hunter. No matter how he thought about it, that shouldn’t be possible.
“Ugh… so annoying.”
Hee-seung muttered in a low voice. It was unbearable for assassins to be made to wait. And now, it seemed their wait would only grow longer.
“…He didn’t notice, did he?”
Kyung-jin said that even though he didn’t believe it. His logic told him no, but his feelings were strangely uneasy.
“What kind of crap are you spouting? An E-rank noticing anything?”
Hee-seung shot a glance at Kyung-jin as if questioning his sanity.
“Well…”
Kyung-jin also felt he might have gone too far.
“Maybe he suddenly thought of something he had to do. After all, he’s not a homeless person, so he’ll have to come back in at some point, which is frustrating, but let’s just wait.”
Just then, Hee-seung’s phone buzzed.
Kyung-jin stared at Hee-seung with disbelief.
“Did you put your phone on vibrate while working?”
“…Sorry. It didn’t seem like a big deal, so I was relaxed.”
Apologizing with a gesture, Hee-seung answered the call.
“What’s up?”
“Hey, you idiots.”
A woman’s voice came through.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“The prey has already sensed something and taken off.”
“Are you kidding?”
“It’s real. I checked! When he paused at the door, I felt it immediately. If I hadn’t noticed a bit sooner, the Jin-gyeong would have slipped away.”
“What?”
Hee-seung’s voice rose.
Did he really catch on?
That can’t be.
“Get out now. If you dawdle, you won’t catch him today.”
The woman hung up.
“Was that Rebecca? What did she say?”
Kyung-jin asked.
“Damn it. He noticed and ran.”
“What?”
Kyung-jin’s face mirrored his disbelief. Could he have truly caught on?
“Still, Rebecca covered his trail, so even if he runs, it’s all in the palm of our hands.”
Hee-seung said as he tucked his dagger back into his clothes.
◈ ◈ ◈
“Phew…”
Once he felt he had distanced himself sufficiently, Si-hyun took a moment to breathe.
Are they going to come after me?
Those are people who can sneak in and hide at home. They wouldn’t easily give up. Considering that the foreign girl noticed him escaping, it wouldn’t be surprising if she chased after him immediately.
Si-hyun resolved to act again. If they were pursuing him, he had no time to waste. He needed to find a place to hide out of sight.
He quickly thought about potential hiding spots.
There were two options.
He could hide somewhere secluded, where no one would ever think to look, or slip into a crowded area and get lost in the sea of people.
Si-hyun decided to go with the latter. It was dinner time, and the busy area was full of people. A cafe, a restaurant, a PC room—anywhere would do. If he just stepped into any building, amidst the throngs of people and structures, how could they find him again?
Si-hyun caught a taxi and headed for the bustling area. He purposely avoided the closest location, opting for somewhere a bit further.
After getting out in the busy district, he took a look around and headed to a cafe on the 5th floor of a building. He was parched from his hurried movements and wanted to secure a good vantage point in case of emergencies.
Si-hyun sat down at a table near the wall and ordered a drink. Outside, the view was clear, but he was hidden from sight below by the wall.
He thought there was no way they would truly find him, but just in case, he acted with utmost caution. Then, finally relieved, he began to ponder this sudden twist of events that had occurred after work.
What could this be?
If they weren’t Awakened Beings, he could have imagined them as thieves or robbers. But they were Awakened Beings.
Did an Awakened Being just break into someone’s home for robbery?
That didn’t make any sense. It was more appropriate to think that there was a completely different intention.
“…”
Si-hyun bit his lip, deep in thought. If only he could have used insight to see information about his adversaries, perhaps he could have found a clue.
But there wasn’t any time for that now. All he could do was theorize based on the limited information he had.
An Awakened Being. One really moved.
Was there any reason to harbor a grudge against them?
Nobody knew that there was a Legendary Item in his possession. Even during their raids, he couldn’t recall ever taking actions that would foster enmity.
There might be one person.
The Face-avoidance Technician.
With them, it was conceivable that they could act out of baseless malice, but he couldn’t imagine them moving again, especially after being utterly defeated by Hyris.
Then again…
Wait a moment.
Si-hyun suddenly looked serious.
‘…Unique?’
He suddenly remembered that he owned a Unique Item. Unlike the legendary ones, there were quite a few people who knew about his Unique Item.
Putting aside Min-jun and Eun-hye, there were also members from the Black Tiger Guild and Bai Long Guild—Na Hyung-cheol. He thought they didn’t seem like the type, but that was just his opinion. It wouldn’t be strange if rumors had spread somehow.
Taking a sip of his ordered drink, Si-hyun continued to ponder. Although he hadn’t had the chance to read the detailed information, the warning message had stated “a certain degree of notorious individual.” Last time, a “quite notorious individual” was B-rank, so this one should be lower. It seemed reasonable to infer that it could be C-rank.
A Unique Item was worth at least a couple billion. While a B-rank hunter with a high income could entertain ambitions, a C-rank would certainly be tempted by treasure.
In general, Unique Items were so rare and expensive that only strong hunters, like A-ranks, typically owned them. If these strong hunters owned such items, they wouldn’t even dare to covet them.
But an E-rank Hunter with a Unique Item? Where was there a more delicious prey?
…Perhaps he should have renewed his license to quickly advance to D-rank. No, thinking about it, even D-rank wouldn’t have made much of a difference. What mattered now was devising a countermeasure.
“Hmm.”
Si-hyun frowned and ruffled his hair. His thoughts were now leaning towards the Unique Item. If it weren’t for that, he couldn’t think of a compelling reason for the Awakened Beings to act.
Killing an Awakened Being would cause all the items in their inventory to drop. Alternatively, one could threaten an Awakened Being to forcefully remove items from their inventory through extortion. There were reports that such incidents happened every year without fail.
Surely, there wouldn’t be a shortage of hunters imprisoned for committing such crimes among those in Special Ward.
“What should I do?”
Si-hyun muttered quietly.
Should he report to the police?
While lost in those thoughts, something caught his eye.
Was that the foreign girl he bumped into earlier?
Thinking it was unlikely, he widened his eyes and looked carefully.
Brown hair, brown eyes; her face and the style of her clothes looked similar.
Si-hyun unconsciously pressed himself against the wall.
‘Is it really her? How could she possibly find me…?’
His head was still tangled in confusion. It could just be someone who looked like her.
In this sea of people, amongst numerous buildings, how could she find him? No, more importantly, how did she even know to come here?
Si-hyun kept his eyes peeled on the foreign girl’s every move. He observed to see if she had any companions. If that girl was the same one from earlier, her company would have to be the two who snuck into his house.
But he saw no one with her.
Where is she going?
Si-hyun watched her closely, determined not to miss any movement.
After standing still for a while, glancing around, the girl formed a peculiar smile before she started walking. Then she turned her body toward the direction of the cafe building where Si-hyun was sitting.
‘This way? How could she…?’
Si-hyun’s expression hardened. He felt a frantic question surging within him: how did she discover him? But right now, that wasn’t the priority. Escaping this place came first.
She also recognized his face. Therefore, he couldn’t just calmly remain among the crowd. He had to find a way to hide. Just because he was in a crowd didn’t guarantee his safety.
The opponent was notorious. There’s a chance they could be a crazy murderer, like the Face-avoidance Technician. There was no guarantee that they wouldn’t use deadly or covert tactics in front of people.
Si-hyun stood up quickly and hurried out of the cafe.
Stairs? Elevator?
Which way should he go? Si-hyun pondered rapidly.
Just then, the door of the elevator on the 5th floor opened. Si-hyun quickly glanced inside to check for her presence. If she was there, he planned to dash down the stairs immediately.
At that moment.
“I got you.”
He felt a hand gripping his shoulder from behind.