LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 26. Abduction (3)
I really don’t want to be in the same space as that chilly S-Class…
“Kang Chang-ho, thinking about it, I don’t think we need to fight. I’ll surrender.”
I raised my hands and slowly backed away.
On the other hand, Kang Chang-ho closed the distance, following me closely.
“Finally?”
Well, I wouldn’t trust the words of someone who escaped, either.
It’s a tense situation. Kang Chang-ho looked like he was about to charge forward any second.
Hik!
And then, at the moment when Kang Chang-ho’s ridiculously large fist was clenched…
I thought I heard the sound of wind leaking from somewhere in the room. Was it just my imagination?
“Boss~ I’m here.”
No, it wasn’t just my imagination.
A cold wind was indeed blowing from the right wall.
Clumsy Korean.
Everyone’s gaze whipped around at that.
On the wall we were looking at, a new gate that hadn’t been there just moments ago was now open.
To be exact, it looked like a yellow-green magical passage that resembled a gate.
“Oh my. Just at 12 o’clock. You really are thorough with your appointments.”
And then someone jumped out from the magical passage.
Seeing the old man being so friendly, he had to be a foe of some sort.
I stiffened, alert to the suddenly appeared Awakened, while Kang Chang-ho’s reaction was quite the opposite.
“Aha, is this the transporter?”
Kang Chang-ho disregarded our standoff and approached him warmly.
“I heard you’re one of the rare space-movers who can transport people as well. And here I am, seeing you in person.”
An S-Class Awakened, standing at the pinnacle of Hunters, bowed his head and shook hands amicably.
What a generous reception.
“Welcome to Korea.”
“Ah, yes.”
As Kang Chang-ho greeted him, the transporter sheepishly grabbed his hand.
“Hello…”
But little did they know this would be the last words of the transporter.
Right after that, I couldn’t believe what I witnessed.
Bam!
As soon as Kang Chang-ho grabbed the transporter’s hand, he yanked him toward the wall and slammed him against it…
“Gyaaaaaaaaa!”
Crash! The wall partially crumbled down.
Kang Chang-ho, as if making sure he was dead, firmly grabbed the transporter’s head and slammed it down onto the cement floor once more.
It all happened in about three seconds.
“Huff, wha?! What are you doing…!”
The wall and floor, stained red almost instantly, looked like a modern art piece.
As everyone was shocked, Kang Chang-ho brushed off the blood on his hands and said.
“Taking care of this pest has cost me quite a bit of time and money.”
“What did you say?”
“Space-moving Awakened escape at the slightest bit of carelessness.”
It’s hard to seize opportunities like this.
Kang Chang-ho mumbled that while looking down at the Awakened he had killed, then declared to the kidnappers.
“I originally didn’t want to bother with your smuggling or illegal gate occupation.”
The old man’s face turned pale at the words of the S-Class Hunter.
“But taking my Awakened out of the country is a different story.”
With those words, Kang Chang-ho attacked them.
“Ugh!”
“Run into the gate!…”
The criminals were utterly helpless against him.
Was there really any reason to have an S-grade designation at the Association?
Originally, the world only had Hunter grades A to F in alphabetical order, but due to the emergence of these shamans, new rankings were introduced in haste.
Hunters with powers beyond comparison to A-Class and below.
“Guh!”
That’s a shaman at the top of the food chain on Earth.
As I watched Kang Chang-ho take down the kidnappers one by one, I nodded.
For a primitive mage, he was pretty decent. Definitely don’t mess with Kang Chang-ho.
“Hmm?”
But wait a second.
Having been so engrossed in the bloody scene, I suddenly heard a strange sound coming from outside.
A loud, repetitive wee-woo siren.
“Police?”
Kang Chang-ho, who was busy half-killing the boss, stopped and turned this way.
“Did you call the police?”
Ah, that’s right.
“Yes, I did.”
As I quickly affirmed, Kang Chang-ho had a peculiar expression on his face.
It clearly seemed like he was unhappy with this situation.
He left the unconscious boss behind and approached me.
And gave me a light warning.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, just a heads-up: don’t tie me to this organization.”
“What?”
“I simply stopped some guys from selling Korean Awakened overseas. Understand?”
I could clearly see he had betrayed the kidnappers.
He’s likely become a VIP to ensure that they were off guard when meeting with the transporter.
“That’s something the police should handle.”
But I still had doubts.
According to Kim Gi-ryeo’s knowledge, there were professions specifically tasked with punishing criminals on this planet.
Wasn’t there no need to get involved personally?
“If you knew how slow they were, you wouldn’t say that.”
“What?”
“I’m not trying to badmouth the police. Most Awakened from public office have switched to the Hunter industry, so they’re understaffed and have no choice.”
“I don’t quite understand…”
“Don’t understand?”
Kang Chang-ho narrowed his eyes.
“Normally, it would have taken them days just to find this place.”
Hearing his words sent chills down my spine. What do you mean?
“But this time, they were alarmingly fast.”
“…”
“It seems our Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter has been doing something.”
The S-Class Hunter scanned me up and down before smirking and walking away.
“I’m quite curious about what you’re thinking, but it’s late, so I won’t ask.”
After heading down the corridor, it wasn’t long before he disappeared.
I stared after him blankly, only snapping back to reality three seconds later.
The guy had acted so naturally that I didn’t notice…
“Wait a minute.”
Now that I think about it, where is that guy going?
Wee-woo. Wee-woo.
As I heard the police car sirens nearby, panic set in.
The body of the space-moving shaman with a crushed head.
An old man bleeding profusely.
Plus, there were about three seriously injured individuals lying unconscious around the room.
That scummy S-Class had fled quickly.
So, naturally, the situation would turn out like this.
“Hands up! Police!”
“What the… what is this? It’s a bloodbath!”
“From now on, if you use any Awakening abilities, you’re looking at severe penalties. Do you understand?”
Before long, the arriving people surrounded the area.
The police looked back and forth between the fallen individuals and me, exclaiming in shock.
“What the hell did you do to the kidnapped victim?!”
I hoped this would end simply as, “I had a hard time testifying alone instead of Kang Chang-ho.”
“I’m the informant.”
“Don’t move! From this moment, you are in violation of the Special Law on Awakening Crimes…”
“I’m the informant!”
The police seemed to have a serious misunderstanding. They abruptly cuffed my wrist and started hauling me away roughly.
“This is ridiculous.”
Handling an innocent alien like this.
At least, the good news was that this criminal treatment didn’t last long.
A few minutes later, under police guidance, I came outside and encountered a familiar face.
The Hunter in front of the police vehicle was definitely…
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, why are you in handcuffs?”
I casually said to the earthling with a perplexed expression.
“Right? What a strange situation. Ms. Seonwoo-yeon.”
It seems that Ahn Yoon-seung received my message safely.
*
[Yoon Seung-ah, it’s Gi-ryeo. Sorry, but I’ve been kidnapped.
I don’t know where I am, so I reached out. Can you find me someone at the Association like Seonwoo-yeon?]
[I asked you because I thought an A-Class could contact the Association.]
[(Front camera photo attached)]
*
About 20 minutes ago.
Late at night, just before midnight.
A frantic call came to Seonwoo-yeon, buried in her bed.
“Hello?”
The caller was A-Class Hunter Ahn Yoon-seung.
They often met due to work and were on friendly terms.
“What? Someone was kidnapped… Kim Gi-ryeo? Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter has been kidnapped?”
But the news Ahn Yoon-seung delivered was shocking.
An F-Class Hunter had been abducted.
No matter how chaotic the world had become with gates, kidnapping incidents weren’t common.
“Ahn Yoon-seung Hunter, stay calm. I’ll contact Seonwoo right now.”
Ahn Yoon-seung was a polite university student.
He wouldn’t call late at night unless there was a special reason, and he certainly wouldn’t be playing pranks.
So, Seonwoo-yeon was convinced of the seriousness of the situation.
There was no hesitation afterward. She activated her skill immediately.
‘The location isn’t too far from here. With this, I can set off in my car and join the police.’
That was the reason Seonwoo-yeon showed up.
“Is there really a missing person in this direction?”
Also, Seonwoo-yeon’s presence turned out to be a brilliant move in another sense.
“Just keep going straight down this road. I’m sure.”
The place Kim Gi-ryeo was taken to was in a remote mountainous area where even mobile signals could barely reach, making the pursuit cumbersome.
They were almost about to miss finding the building altogether.
“This is the building! See that protruding part on the first floor? That room!”
What a rundown, collapsing building it had been all this time.
It was an anxiety-filled sight.
“Please hurry!”
Seonwoo-yeon wasn’t suited for combat as a B-Class Hunter.
The only skill she could use was tracking magic.
So she stayed outside to avoid interfering with the rescue operation….
‘Please be safe.’
Was this prayer reaching the heavens?
“A!”
Fortunately, the investigation team successfully rescued the abducted individual.
There were minor issues in the process, but…
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, why are you in handcuffs?”
“Right? What a strange situation. Ms. Seonwoo-yeon.”
Since explaining the whole situation was easy, Kim Gi-ryeo wasn’t held for long.
“Thank you for your help. But why doesn’t Yoon-seung show up?”
“Ahn Yoon-seung Hunter is currently handling a Dungeon Break in the suburbs. He received your message while on duty.”
At this point, everything seemed to be going well.
But shortly after.
As the identity of the kidnappers was revealed by a police officer, the atmosphere at the scene began to shift.
“Wait, aren’t these guys the wanted human traffickers?”
Recently, the police had a big headache.
A new crime organization appeared that abducted Awakened individuals for trafficking overseas.
Moreover, they cleverly concealed their identities from the leadership to evade trackers like Seonwoo-yeon.
Neither their names nor their nationalities were real, so it was no surprise their skills couldn’t be triggered.
Even after painstakingly finding a member, it only led to them cutting ties. As a result, the investigation dragged on for some time.
But this place was, indeed, their meeting point!
‘And the organization is already on the brink of destruction?’
Seonwoo-yeon was startled by the evidence that kept surfacing.
Excluding the few individuals caught fleeing, all the kidnappers present in the building were unconscious or severely injured.
“It wasn’t me; it was that crazy Kang Chang-ho who did this.”
Kim Gi-ryeo tried to explain that initially.
But as a plethora of fainted Awakened were discovered on the second floor, he slyly changed his statement.
“I acted that way to protect myself.”
…Come to think of it, this man had an unusually low number of injuries.
‘What’s going on?’
The organization members defeated by someone else.
The blood-soaked room of the organization’s boss.
Not at the exit, but in the problematic room where that F-Class Hunter was found…
As Seonwoo-yeon sorted her thoughts, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
Was Kim Gi-ryeo truly kidnapped?
Was there really no ulterior motive behind all of this?