I said feverishly, "Even twins a minute apart can tell each other apart!"

An obedient reply came from the gas masked man.

"Yes, I understand, Hyung."

At the suddenly diminished title, I looked up at the gas mask man in disbelief.

"Hyung?"

"If you don't like it, can you tell me your name?"

"No."

"Or should I call you Apron?"

"Not that either."

"Well, what about The Ladle?"

"You just melted my ladle."

When I answered no to each question, the gas-masked man said in a grumpy voice, "You won't give me your name, and if you don't want Apron or Ladle, Hyung is the only one left.

"No, just don't call me Hyung."

"You want me to call you Hyung?"

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, Hyung."

The gas mask pretended not to see the incredulous look on my face and gently arranged the titles as if they had never happened. My plan to cut him off had failed completely. I had a feeling that if I argued with him any further, I'd be drawn into his pace.

I could have fought on, but I had a lot of work to do. I had to find Haeun and finish my morning business before sunrise.

If I lose business today because of you, you'll be responsible, but I'll be lucky if he doesn't break a cutting board, let alone chop a green onion. There was no way the gas mask man could chop green onions, chop garlic, boil broth, and drain meat. I couldn't really see his face because of the gas mask, but I did it anyway.

"Enough with the stalling. I'm done playing the long game."

"I didn't do that."

"I already asked you two questions."

"One for bullshit and one for not answering."

"I said I wasn't lying, and I don't blame you for not believing me, and I didn't make it a condition that I had to answer your questions, you did."

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a tail for a tail. I decided to stoop to my opponent's level and be childish. If the gas-masked man showed any sign of embarrassment or ridicule, I would just go back to looking for Haeun.

The gas mask man, however, looked at me as if he was dying of amusement. Just as I was about to scowl at what I saw, the gas mask man's cell phone vibrated. He slowly picked it up, keeping his eyes on me.

"Hello."

"......."

"Oh, yeah? Come over here."

"......."

The gas masked man laughed, not hiding his amusement.

"Yes, I'll send the guard over there."

"......."

"Take care of her, and don't make her cry..."

After hanging up, the gas masked man paused for a moment before speaking.

"They found your niece."

"Where?"

"In the playground near the church here."

It was close to the alley they were in now, and if this guy's presence hadn't been so blurry, I could have taken Haeun without wasting time running into him like this. The man with the gas mask continued.

"I told him to bring her here... Her guardian is here and I can't force her to come here..." The gas mask shrugged. "Go ahead, the child is with him."

"Okay."

I'd actually half turned to face him when he'd said she was in the playground next to the church. It wasn't polite to interrupt someone, so I held my ground until he started to walk away. I waited patiently, like a well-trained dog, and then turned as soon as he was done.

Oops. I took a few steps and looked at the man in the gas mask.

"Thank you."

I almost forgot to thank him and was about to take a quick step when the gas mask man lightly grabbed my hand.

"Hyung."

"Yes."

"Lee Sayoung."

"Who is that?"

"My name."

The eyes in the gas mask blinked.

"See you later."

No, let's not meet again. I'm grateful that you found Haeun, but I don't want to meet a madman like you again. I didn't bother to say goodbye and kept walking. When I reached the end of the alley, I looked back to see if he was following me.

Lee Sayoung was still standing where he had been before. Not moving an inch.

"......."

And my eyes were somehow drawn to the figure.

He stood where he was until the young man's back was completely out of sight, then waited a few more moments before lifting his foot from the ground.

He stood in front of the corpse, which lay motionless on the ground. He casually grabbed the corpse's head, which had thorns protruding all over its body, and lifted it up.

"They've been showing up more often lately..."

Chiiik... The hair began to burn where he touched it, and the flesh began to melt away. Soon the body was gone, leaving only a small black puddle in its place.

Behind Sayoung's back, a black cat jumped lightly onto the wall of the narrow alley. A round head emerged from the shadow of the cat, which was licking its front paws with its tongue out. It was a man in sunglasses.

"Guildmaster."

"Yes."

As he bent to run his hand over the pool, the black puddle, the last vestige of the body, disappeared, leaving only a shallow indentation. Crawling out of the shadows, the man cradled the cat in his arms and spoke.

"I report. The guardian has just arrived at the playground and joined the child. I can confirm that the child is happy to see him, calling him uncle and hugging him."

"Anything else unusual?"

"Nothing. Should we follow him, just in case?"

"Follow him, see where he goes and report back."

"Got it."

The man ran his hand through the bushy fur of the black cat and bowed gravely to Sayoung.

"And a message from the deputy guildmaster. He wants to know if a meeting at eleven the day after tomorrow is okay regarding the dungeon offer."

Sayoung nodded understandingly.

"Okay, I'll pass it on then."

"Seo Minki."

When he was done, Minki, who had put the cat on the floor, poked his head out of the shadows.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I want you to find a person for me."

"Please tell me."

"I want you to go through the Awakener database and get me a list of everyone over 25, male, six feet tall, Awakened, Class B or higher, no weird looking ones."

"Yes? The Awakener database?"

Minki pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Why, can't you?"

The Awakener Database was the data that stored the information of all Awakened people in South Korea under the mandatory Awakening Registration System that had been implemented several years ago under the Awakening Special Law. Although it was directly managed by the Awakening Bureau, its very existence was treated as a state secret, so the general public didn't even know it existed, and its security was extremely tight.

"You want me to raid a place like this?" Seo Minki, a hunter, replied with a puzzled look on his face. "I can do it if you give me some time..."

"Then do it."

Sayoung's attitude was that it wasn't a big deal. Minki secretly shed a tear at the thought of robbing such a safe place. Corporate life was not easy after all... ....

Minki nodded with slumped shoulders. But the evil boss Sayoung didn't stop giving orders.

"And the elementary school girl we just found. Did you get her name?"

"Park Haeun, a second grader at Saetbyul Elementary School."

"Check her family connections."

The instructions became more and more esoteric. Minki felt like he was being poked and prodded, but he decided to ask anyway.

"Why the family connection...?"

"......."

Lee Sayoung slowly put on a pair of black leather gloves and answered nonchalantly.

"I'm kind of interested in her uncle."

Grandma and Haeun lived on the first floor of an old house. After finally bringing Haeun home from the playground and watching the grandmother scold her stubborn granddaughter, I relented. As I took a moment to catch my breath, the grandmother handed me a cup of barley tea and asked, "Ui-jae, do you have anything to eat tonight?"

"Oh, no. I have to go to the store and prepare for tomorrow's business."

"What about the business? I have to go out too..."

"Yes. It's okay, Grandma, you know I'm strong enough to do it myself. How's your leg?"

"My leg? It's almost healed."

A lie. I watched in silence as the old woman walked back to her sleeping granddaughter. She could pretend to be fine all she wanted, but she couldn't hide the fact that her weight unconsciously shifted to the leg that didn't hurt.

Grandma sighed as she stroked Haeun's head, who was fast asleep under the blanket in the living room.

"My heart keeps racing because of this child. What were you doing crawling outside the house at night without a care in the world..."

"I'll tie her up well when she wakes up tomorrow, so don't say too much."

Laughing, I put down my cup and looked out the window. Something had happened earlier. I felt like I was being followed on my way home because I didn't notice anything when I picked up Haeun and went to the playground.

Did he do it?

I got up from my seat, still smiling.

"Good night, Grandma."

"Are you going to eat?"

"Yes. By the way, can I borrow that window?"

"What window?"

"I have some work to do. I'll call you tomorrow."

I grabbed my shoes in both hands and headed for the window on the other side of the porch.

<Silent footsteps!>

Using the skill of concealment, I curled up into a ball and slipped out. After quietly closing the window, I crumpled up my shoes and put them on haphazardly, then listened to my stalkers.

Two watching the front door, two waiting in the alley. Not much movement...so my escape this way would go undetected.

I wouldn't mind beating the crap out of them...but I'd hate to have to clean up the mess.

Judging by the fact that they were right behind me, they had their own chain of command. There was no point in getting into trouble and pretending to be friends with Lee Sayoung and his group.

Just... just enough to knock them unconscious.

I rubbed my neck and let out a tired sigh. All hunters had a duty to protect the common people. If they were humans with their heads screwed on straight, they wouldn't mess with Grandma and Haeun.

But in extreme situations, laws and regulations did not matter, and underneath the worst lay an even greater evil. So I always tended to assume the worst, and this was no different.

I should warn them.

I stretched my wrists and disappeared for a moment.