Chapter 06
‘This slick bastard.’
That was what Hong Jae-gyeol thought.
But it was an undeniable fact.
The fact that the sketch was good. And the fact that Pi So-won was the type who never said something without reason.
“And the bomb?”
“The disposal squad successfully dismantled it and is currently analyzing it.”
“And the culprit?”
“He’ll be treated first, then interrogated. Though he’ll never use his hands again.”
At that, Captain Hong narrowed his eyes.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you? With your skills, you could’ve shot just a finger. But instead, you deliberately…”
Deliberately blew off the entire hand.
And the reason was probably—
‘Because he doesn’t want to lose another partner again.’
“Our team’s rookie is fine. End of report.”
Pi So-won cut Hong off.
But Captain Hong merely let out a dry laugh and didn’t press further.
Instead, he stared at the personnel file lying atop the folder stack.
There was a photo of Lee Yu-ji with her youthful-looking face.
‘Former Taekwondo national reserve athlete in high school, huh…’
Hong had also checked the CCTV footage.
The scene where an F-rank investigator kicked down a terrorist who was supposedly D-rank.
Of course, she got overpowered afterward in terms of raw strength, but that didn’t matter.
Even that alone showed insane control over her power.
Sometimes people like that existed.
Their measured stats and rank were clearly lower, yet through absurdly refined control, they displayed strength far beyond their evaluated numbers.
Hong Jae-gyeol recalled something the HR department had said when they handled Lee Yu-ji’s recruitment exam.
“Sending Investigator Lee Yu-ji to Team 5 is probably the right call, but honestly, it feels like a waste.”
“What about her?”
“To be honest, if you looked only at her rank, she should’ve failed the physical test. But she somehow passed. Barely. Maybe because she used to be national team material, but her control is on another level.”
And from those words, he felt as if the phrase ‘just like someone else’ had been omitted.
And that “someone” was standing right in front of him now.
Captain Hong smiled.
“Maybe this partner will last a long time, Investigator Pi So-won.”
At those words, Pi So-won’s eyebrow twitched.
“Team 5 finally pulled off something worthwhile. Do you know how many years it’s been since we had results like this?”
Right as Captain Hong chuckled—
The spider-shaped surveillance machine crawling beneath his desk was transmitting every single conversation to someone else.
“So the rookie investigator completely ruined Grandfather’s plan.”
A rough smile spread across the lips of the man listening to the voice relayed by the machine.
His name was Choi Woo-jin.
His other name was “Gamer.”
Up until now, he had secretly inserted himself into the Hunter Investigation Unit’s operations to help them, yet ironically, all he’d gained was notoriety.
Because he treated everything like a “game,” people called him Gamer and classified him as a top-tier criminal.
Of course, he didn’t really find that unfortunate.
It was more like—
“Bastards who can’t even take what’s handed to them.”
That was simply how he saw them.
“So if it weren’t for Lee Yu-ji, they all could’ve died together.”
As he said “that woman,” Choi Woo-jin manipulated the countless monitors inside his “Black Room.”
Soon, one of the monitors displayed the CCTV footage from inside the captain’s office.
Captain Hong Jae-gyeol, now alone after Pi So-won had left, was reviewing Lee Yu-ji’s application form.
[Will she become Team 5’s treasure… or its biggest headache…?]
Listening to Hong’s muttering, Woo-jin expressionlessly zoomed in on her application.
Then he slowly examined its contents.
“Lee Yu-ji. Specialty. National Taekwondo athlete.”
At that, a strange light flickered across Woo-jin’s face.
“So you used to do Taekwondo.”
His thin lips curved upward.
Like someone delighted to have found new prey.
Or perhaps—
Like someone meeting an old friend after a long time.
Woo-jin soon tore his gaze away from the application and checked Team 5’s CCTV through another monitor.
The internal surveillance system of the Hunter Investigation Unit had long since fallen under his control.
‘Eyes that can see everything.’
‘Someone who exists everywhere and nowhere.’
That was the bizarre skill he’d acquired after regressing.
Soon, he pulled up the footage of the moment Lee Yu-ji subdued the terrorist with a kick and downloaded it.
Immediately, Choi Woo-jin began editing the video and adding a title.
BREAKING! D-Rank terrorist infiltrates Hunter Investigation Unit headquarters!
F-rank civil servant and former Taekwondo national athlete subdues him with a kick!
It was the title of a video destined to hit 3 million views within days.
He sent it to a fairly famous YouTuber while transferring a huge amount of money.
Along with a request not to reveal the source.
For this kind of thing, those cyber-wrecker YouTubers were the best. As long as you paid them, they’d do anything.
That was the kind of man Choi Woo-jin was.
Someone who never cared about the means as long as it served the goal.
And right now, his goal was to send chills down the spine of the people behind the attack on the Hunter Investigation Unit.
Well, his grandfather Choi Jun-gu—the one truly at the top—probably wouldn’t feel even slightly threatened.
But the underlings beneath him would surely panic.
After all, more than a few people were involved in this incident.
“Our grandfather’s about to get a little annoyed.”
Woo-jin grinned.
At the same time, his hands moved busily again.
The monitor screens rapidly switched until one particular scene caught his eye—
A man in handcuffs being transferred.
The very man who could have died in this explosion.
The owner of the Black Market.
True to being the owner of a subspace ability, he’d been caught carrying various possessions “inside his body.”
“…This bastard’s subspace skill is disgusting.”
Voices of the special auxiliary police transporting villain hunters from detention to prison echoed out.
And in their hands were several items that appeared to belong to the Black Market owner.
Among them, Woo-jin’s “spider” approached a small fox keyring.
“Ah, so sundae soup today?”
“Ugh. After all that crap today, you still want sundae soup? Let’s eat something else. Searching this bastard’s body nearly made me puke.”
While the officers chatted, his “spider” quietly hooked the fox keyring onto its thirteenth leg and carried it away from the pile of belongings stuffed carelessly into a bag.
The officers, oblivious, remained focused solely on deciding what to eat.
‘Government employees, seriously.’
Careless enough to be convenient.
Careless enough to be infuriating.
That was what Choi Woo-jin thought as he watched his spider leisurely leave the transport vehicle.
Soon, he looked away from the screen and spun slowly in his chair with his eyes closed as though they hurt.
“Lee Yu-ji… Lee Yu-ji…”
He murmured the name.
As if the words themselves contained some kind of clue.
Of course, if the idiots at the Hunter Investigation Unit weren’t so incompetent, the terrorist would never have infiltrated the building in the first place.
But then again, the one who had leaked the Black Market information to the Unit from the beginning was him.
And the one who stopped the resulting terrorist attack had been Lee Yu-ji.
Quite a coincidence.
That a rookie investigator happened to stop the attack so perfectly.
And at the same time—
That the person happened to be “Lee Yu-ji.”
He recalled hearing that name in passing during his previous life.
For a brief moment, memories and connections from that past life swept through his mind.
But only briefly.
Soon, he opened his eyes again.
And as always, a trace of madness swirled within them.
“Shall we go enjoy the next game?”
Now there was no lingering emotion left in his voice.
His goal was only one thing.
To use that fox keyring and begin the next “game.”
