Chapter 89 - Chapter 89 (1/2)

Screech.

A black sedan stopped by the side of the road.

The man climbing out of the driver's seat, kitted out in a pair of sunglasses and a black business suit, was none other than Woo Jin-Cheol, the section chief of the Monitoring Division, the Hunters Association.

Soon after his exit, three more men climbed out of the car from the passenger and rear seats. All of them were from the Monitoring Division as well.

"Chief, weren't we on our way back to the Association?"

"I just wanted to confirm something, first."

Woo Jin-Cheol shifted his gaze over the Gate, some distance away.

'A rank A Gate still gives me the creeps every time I look at it.'

Woo Jin-Cheol frowned deeply. If that giant hole opened up like a door and monsters trapped inside emerged outside.....

Just imagining that made him shudder.

'However, why did that man apply to become a miner in such a horrifying place?'

Not only that, for two days in a row, too.

Even if Association President Goh Gun-Hui hadn't asked him, Woo Jin-Cheol would have personally come here to find out, anyway.

'Investigating behind his back is.... impossible.'

The man in question was a rank S Awakened. A measly rank A like him going undiscovered while secretly investigating a rank S was, realistically speaking, an impossible dream.

That was why he decided to show up in the open like this.

Since he had a matter to attend to nearby anyway, he was thinking of greeting the youth while saying he was in the neighbourhood, and then ask a couple of simple questions.

'I hope he won't find me strange or anything.'

Anyone would get curious of the circumstances if a Hunter, already pretty much confirmed to be a rank S, chose to shovel the ground for some reason.

On top of this, wasn't Seong Jin-Woo someone the Association President was paying close attention to? The Association President must've found this young man very much to his liking, because he even focused all of his attention on everything Jin-Woo did.

'No, I'm not the strange one here.'

It was obvious that you'd get curious, and it was only natural to ask.

While telling himself that, Woo Jin-Cheol walked over to where the representative of the Hunters Guild was.

"I'm looking for your mining team."

"Who.... are you?"

"I'm from the Association."

The Guild employee confirmed Woo Jin-Cheol's identity and pointed in the direction of the waiting mining team.

"Please head over that way."

"Thank you."

Four Hunters from the Monitoring Division were now paying a visit to the mining team. As if he had received a heads-up already, Foreman Bae Yun-Seok hurriedly ran to meet them halfway.

"Aigoo, what brings the Hunters from the Monitoring Division to this place?"

The members of the mining team had been relaxing until then overheard those words, and tension briefly flashed by in their eyes.

The oppressive pressure Hunters felt from the words 'Monitoring Division' was rather huge.

The people whose job was to arrest the Awakened that the normal laws couldn't do anything about, they then either reformed the troublemakers or simply eliminated them. The 'Monitoring Division' was where those kinds of people worked for.

"What's going on?"

"Hunters from the Monitoring Division are here."

"Monitoring Division?"

"Something must've happened."

Feeling curious now, the mining team members began flocking around Foreman Bae.

Woo Jin-Cheol took his sunglasses off.

'…...'

He swept his gaze around the miners to locate Seong Jin-Woo, but in the end, he had to ask for that man's whereabouts from Foreman Bae.

"Do you know by any chance where Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is?"

"I bloody knew it!"

Suddenly, a man jumped out from among the miners. It was Lee Seong-Gu, who had run into Jin-Woo's shoulder yesterday.

Lee Seong-Gu passionately spat out his complaints, flying spittle accompanying his rapidly firing words.

"When that b*stard looked at me and began grinning, I was terrified that he might eat me alive or something, you know! Uh-whew, it's still so d*mn scary even when I think about it now...."

Woo Jin-Cheol's brows furrowed slightly.

'Terrifying enough to eat a person....?'

Just what on earth was this man talking about?

Murmur, murmur...

The voices of the Hunters rose up higher and higher. Woo Jin-Cheol ignored the background noise and asked Lee Seong-Gu.

"Did something happen?"

"Ah, well, that is...."

Lee Seong-Gu was about to answer him, but then, he rapidly realised that he was also at fault and quickly waved his hands around.

"Well, that isn't really important, but the main thing is, his eyes were really scary, man."

"...."

Woo Jin-Cheol's gaze shifted back to Foreman Bae.

"Where can I find Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

"Mister Seong is... He's inside the Gate right now."

Seong Jin-Woo was inside the rank A dungeon, where a raid was ongoing? Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes opened wider.

"Why did he enter the dungeon?"

"Well, the raid team's porter hasn't shown up today, you see. Nobody wanted to go in there, so Mister Seong volunteered as the porter."

"...."

"But, it's a wee bit weird, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's nothing particular, but... Cha Hunter-nim... no, I mean, Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim was also looking for Mister Seong, so she entered the Gate just now, you know? Isn't it just too weird...?"

Foreman Bae spoke up to there and tilted his head.

Meanwhile, the mind of Woo Jin-Cheol became a bit of mess after hearing that.

'The Vice Chairman of the Hunters Guild Cha Hae-In was looking for Seong Jin-Woo? Not only that, she even went after him into the dungeon, too?'

Just what was happening here?

He only stopped by to say hello to Seong Jin-Woo, but now, it felt like something big was afoot here.

'For the time being, I should head over to the Gate.'

That seemed to be the best choice he could make for the time being.

"We'll stop by at the Gate, and leave afterwards."

"Oh, sure thing."

Foreman Bae chuckled genially and nodded his head. Just as Woo Jin-Cheol and his subordinates turned around to leave, Lee Seong-Gu quickly grabbed his arm.

"Excuse me, Mister Hunter?"

Lee Seong-Gu had this expectant face for some reason as he hurriedly asked Woo Jin-Cheol.

"That b*stard, Seong Jin-Woo, did he do something bad? Maybe, he's killed someone? I mean, he looked like someone fully capable of that."

Woo Jin-Cheol frowned slightly again. He sort of could understand why Seong Jin-Woo glared scarily at this moron.

'A fool who'd get blown away into the weeds if Seong Jin-Woo snorts in front of him.....'

Still, there were too many eyes watching. As a Hunter working for the Association, he couldn't carelessly display his irritation at a stranger.

This was why working for a public organisation sometimes could get rather annoying. Woo Jin-Cheol spat out a long sigh and did his best to sound as diplomatic as possible.

"You'll find out when you take a look at tomorrow evening's news broadcast."

Perhaps that answered most of his own suspicions, Lee Seong-Gu raised his voice high as if he had correctly predicted this.

"I told you, didn't I? I told you that man is too suspicious!"

"But, he didn't look that way...."

"Right. And he worked so diligently, too."

Not minding the lukewarm responses of his colleagues, Lee Seong-Gu went on about how great his discerning eyes were.

'Tsk.'

Woo Jin-Cheol stared at that man making a fool of himself, before taking his subordinates towards the Gate.

However....