Chapter 183 - Chapter 183 (1/2)

What were the odds of finding a familiar face occupying a seat next to yours after boarding a plane?

Jin-Woo was guided to the first class cabin by the stewardess, but before he could take his seat, he ended up staring vacantly at his temporary neighbour. He then spoke in a rather exasperated voice.

"I hope you aren't going to blame this one on coincidence."

"I'd be happy, very much so, if you did, but... yes, it does sound like a bit of stretch, doesn't it?"

Listening to a blue-eyed foreigner speak such fluent Korean still remained a rather disharmonious experience to Jin-Woo. He didn't take his eyes off the man as he settled down on his seat.

"We meet again, Mister Adam White."

"It's an honour to speak to you again, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim."

The Senior Agent from America's Hunter Bureau, Adam White, still carried that amiable smile as he bowed his head, just like the first time they met.

Jin-Woo scanned the rest of the first-class cabin.

'Ah, so that was why....'

He was wondering why there were two pretty strong Hunters present in the first-class cabin, but now he could venture a guess and say that they were also affiliated with the Hunter Bureau.

Two men kitted out in black business suits met Jin-Woo's drifting gaze and silently nodded their heads as their greeting.

Here was the thing, though – including the people of the Monitoring Division from the Association as well as these two, why did these 'agents' of something or rather all walk around wearing black business suits as if that was their uniform?

Were they trying to show off the fact that they were agents of some organisation?

Jin-Woo studied those two men with such needless thoughts swirling in his head. In the meantime, though, Adam White was letting out a sigh of admiration.

"We've only met once briefly, yet you still remember my name. I'm honoured."

"Well, let's just say that our first meeting had been too memorable not to remember."

"I'd like to offer my apology about that day's events. We certainly didn't expect there would be a Hunter Madam Selner's abilities couldn't reach...."

Jin-Woo lightly waved his hand about.

Because, as far as apologies were concerned, he heard plenty from the deputy director himself until he felt almost fed up on that very day. He didn't feel like bringing that subject back up again.

However, he was still curious as to why the agents of the Hunter Bureau, who seemed to have cleanly given up on reeling him in, had appeared before him like this.

"I thought our negotiation had broken down completely?"

Jin-Woo's voice became lower. It was at that moment the amiable smile disappeared from Adam White's face.

"We're aware that seeking you out like this without a prior heads-up is quite rude, but an urgent situation had developed and we had no choice but to contact you."

Jin-Woo abruptly recalled the news of a rank S Gate appearing somewhere in the eastern US.

"Could it be that you guys also failed to handle that rank S Gate....?"

"Mm? Ah, no. Not that. We took care of that one, no problem."

If this wasn't about the rank S Gate, then what other problem could there be? Could this matter be somehow related to him killing the King of Giants?

When Jin-Woo displayed his clear interest, Adam White didn't waste any more time and pulled out a notebook PC.

A video clip came up on the computer's screen and it showed thick rising plumes of black smoke as if a wide-scale wildfire had broken out somewhere. Adam handed the laptop over to Jin-Woo so that the latter could watch the clip.

He could see that the firefighters were struggling mighty hard to rein in the flames that were clearly getting stronger and stronger. Those flames definitely contained magic energy.

- What is up with this fire? We can't put it out!

- They can't be a normal blaze!

- Heeey! Over there! Get away from there! You'll turn into charcoal if you get brushed by the flames!

The firefighters were clearly in a panicked state. They seemed to be trying all sorts of methods but the raging inferno showed no signs of weakening at all.

No, it was actually only getting stronger and began to slowly box them in, instead.

A scorched tree toppled over, hitting another tree in the process and transferring the flames; it was a chain reaction giving birth to the unending inferno.

The billowing flames crashed forward like an angry tidal wave.

- Oh, my god!!

- Where is our back-up?!

- When are they arriving?!

It was right then. A helicopter arrived in the nick of time and several Mage-type Hunters disembarked from the vehicle. And they proceeded to pour out water-type magic on the flames.

After magical water spray slammed into the fiery forest dozens upon dozens of times, the inferno gradually was brought under control.

Jin-Woo carefully studied the video.

'All these guys... are top-class Hunters.'

Judging from the strengths of the magic spells used, there was little doubt that they were top-ranked Hunters for sure.

Flames that could only be barely put under control after several top-ranked Hunters had to combine their forces together – this fact confirmed that the cause of the fire itself had to be one hell of a Hunter, as well.

- Oh, Mister Hunters!

- We, we're saved....

- Thanks for your help, Hunters!

The firefighters continued to express their admiration as they gradually killed off the fire that lost most of its power. If the Hunters had arrived only a second later, there could have been a costly human tragedy unfolding in that location.

- Let's go in deeper!

- The fire is dying out!

- We've done it! We've put out the fire!

The video clip was nearing its end. Seeing that there wasn't much time left in the video's duration, Jin-Woo felt it strange and had to ask.

"Why are you showing me this?"

Sure, it had been an interesting viewing experience, but people coming to see him because of some wildfire in the US didn't make much sense to him at all.

Adam White reached out and skipped forward to the last part of the clip.

"Here... please watch the end."

The guy shooting the video broke past the thick black smoke still rising up and continued to venture deeper into the scorched forest until the footage could capture the origin of the inferno.

There must have been an incredibly powerful explosion, judging from the radius of things being swept away.

And in the centre of that radius.....

A single corpse was lying face down there.

There was no need to confirm if the victim was still alive or not. There was a wide hole in his chest and that should have been the exact spot where his heart used to be.

"In order to put out the fire this man caused, over 1800 firefighters and 14 Mage-type Hunters had to be mobilised."

Not only that, they were all top-ranked Hunters, too.

14 high-ranking Hunters had to give their all just to put out a fire lingering around after the one activating it had died already? Just from that alone, Jin-Woo was able to make an educated guess at the identity of the corpse lying face down on the ground.

"Could it be, is he....?"

As Jin-Woo looked up at him, Adam White replied with a melancholic expression.

"As I thought, you have recognised him. Indeed, it was Christopher Reid Hunter-nim."

The previously-unsure Jin-Woo's eyes widened in shock.

But, this didn't make sense. A Special-Authority Hunter, one of the world's very best, had been murdered by someone else?

"We also don't want to believe it, but he had definitely been assassinated."

Right at the end of the video playback, one of the firefighters flipped Christopher Reid's body on its back. With that, one could see the state of the corpse far more clearly.

Not just a hole in his chest, no, there were several horrible wounds inflicted all over his body, too. They were definitely traces of an intense battle.

"And finally, these are...."

Adam White pulled out several photos from his inner pocket and spoke up.

"These are the photos of the being we at the Hunter Bureau strongly suspect to be the culprit in this case."

'….The being?'

Jin-Woo could only feel confused from the way Adam White said his words, as he didn't sound like he was talking about a man or a woman – as if he wasn't talking about a human but a 'thing', instead. Soon, though, the Korean's gaze lowered down to the photographs.

There was no need to even take them for a closer look. Jin-Woo simply stood up from his seat and beckoned with his finger, and that caused Adam White to rise up automatically from his seat, as well.

"Uh, uh?!"

Adam White's eyes opened up wide in surprise.

Jin-Woo used his 'Ruler's Authority' to drag the American agent in closer and grabbed hold of the latter's collars.

"Keo-heok!"

Now that they were close enough for their noses to touch, Jin-Woo spoke in a voice a few octaves lower than before.

"If this is your way of trying to play some kind of a trick... you, all of you, won't walk out of here alive."

He was not making an empty threat here, either.

Jin-Woo's cold eyes were gleaming like a wild, ferocious beast as he genuinely emitted a murderous intent.