[My liege.] The moment Suho stepped into Jisan Prison, Beru sent a warning.
"Yeah." Suho nodded and focused his gaze forward. He could sense the presence of people throughout the prison.
'The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, was that it?'
But that wasn't the case.
"Looks like we have competition."
"Is that a Summoner?"
The bounty hunters who had arrived at the prison before Suho frowned as soon as they saw him. More precisely, it was because of the small wolf sniffing around in front of Suho.
"Is that a summoned beast specialized in tracking?"
"Tsk. Another annoying competitor."
Seeing their wary gazes, Suho realized once again that the bounty hunter world was a fiercely competitive society. However, some didn't just see him as a competitor but approached him first with goodwill.
"Hey, are you a part of a team?"
"It doesn't seem like a combat summoned beast. Would you care to join our team?"
"No. Team up with us..."
In dungeon raids, where abilities unrelated to combat were meaningless, Summoners were an unpopular class. However, the situation was completely different when hunting villains. Especially in this case, Summoners with heightened senses of smell or tracking abilities were highly sought after.
[My liege's popularity is soaring!]
Whenever Suho flatly refused their offers, they would reluctantly back off.
"Hmm. It's dangerous for a Summoner to face a villain alone."
"He's probably young and naive. Well, some people only learn from their own mistakes"
"Looks like a newbie. Don't come begging for help later, got it?"
Countless condescending pieces of advice followed, but Suho ignored them. Despite that, some still handed him their business cards as they left, seemingly unwilling to give up completely.
"If you change your mind, give me a call. We'll probably run into each other often anyway."
'...Baek Miho was right.' Suho recalled Baek Miho's words about the shortage of manpower.
"There are definitely not enough bounty hunters for the scale of this incident."
[Not everyone will be here. It's been two days since the incident, so many have probably already checked this place and moved on.] Beru's words made Suho nod in agreement.
Just as Suho had come here first to investigate, most bounty hunters would have started their search here. By examining the traces of battle left behind, they could gauge the approximate level of the villains.
"Hmm. Looks like there were some pretty strong ones mixed in."
"Should we just back off this time? It might be better to go back to dungeon raiding."
"Let's do that."
Some hunters, realizing that this villain hunt wouldn't be easy, turned back without hesitation. This was a stark contrast to the White Tiger Guild, who had eagerly taken on this task to ensure the safety of the citizens.
[Actually, the White Tiger Guild is an exception. Most hunters wouldn't risk their lives for something that doesn't pay well.] Que whispered to Suho as they watched the hunters leave the prison one by one.
[The reason the White Tiger Guild is this way, is probably because their Guildmaster was a firefighter before awakening.]
"A firefighter?"
It was revealed that S-rank Hunter Baek Yoonho's previous occupation involved risking his life to rescue citizens. Suho expressed interest in this new revelation, while Que's eyes lit up. Que, the former vice president of a large guild , coldly assessed the White Tiger Guild.
[The White Tiger Guildmaster will eventually stop engaging in unprofitable activities. After all, you need money to maintain a guild, especially a large one.]
"That's not something the vice president involved in embezzlement should say."
[Ahem.]
Taking offense, Que quietly disappeared into the shadows.
Suho chuckled at the sight and thought to himself. 'It's interesting that the White Tiger Guildmaster was a firefighter. My grandfather was also one.' It was a truly amusing coincidence.
The fleeting thought of 'Maybe they knew each other?' crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it and focused on his investigation.
And he was able to confirm one thing. "I'm certain. There's no sign of any electronic anklets being removed anywhere."
[Yes. There are no traces of explosions either.] Beru agreed.
The interior of the prison, stained with blood from the battle, bore the scars of countless skills unleashed. But nowhere were there any signs of removed anklets or explosions, which meant…. "They must have had some special method to disable the anklets..."
They used magic without removing the anklets. That was the only conclusion he could draw from the scene. He didn't know what method they used, but it was clear that controlling villains with anklets was no longer possible. However Suho didn't need to worry about such things. That was the Association's job, so Suho decided to focus solely on his investigation.
"Gray, memorize all the scents here."
"Woof!"
Gray sniffed around even more diligently at Suho's words. It was too difficult to memorize 500 faces. Besides, it was unlikely that the villains would be walking around openly. This was the reason why the other bounty hunters had coveted Suho earlier.
Just as Suho finished inspecting the entire Jisan Prison...
Slide!
"Hey, is the investigation over?" A bounty hunter approached Suho with a smile.
"If you're done, how about we team up?"
"..."
Suho stopped and silently looked at his face. At the same time, Gray glared at the man, baring his teeth.
"Grrr!"
"Hehe. What a cute puppy. Quite the killer instinct for a tracking Summoned beast."
[My liege, he's suspicious.] At Beru's warning, Suho nodded in response.
[He reeks of blood, human blood. This one has killed many people.]
"Oh, you can tell that… ? You have some amazing Summoned beasts. You're quite useful, aren't you?" Even after hearing Beru's words, the man wasn't fazed; he just shrugged with a relaxed expression. Then, he took out his wallet from his pocket and showed it to Suho.
[Association-Certified Bounty Hunter]
Name: Kang Taeshik
Rank: B
Suho's eyes lit up as he saw the Association ID.
"Despite my looks, I'm one of the few professional villain hunters. I'm different from those other amateurs, so teaming up with me will definitely be helpful." Kang Taeshik formally introduced himself.
"You said I smell of human blood? Of course I do. I've killed more people than magic beasts."
"I have a license, so I obviously didn't kill civilians. Only villains."
Strangely enough, Kang Taeshik was a real bounty hunter who specialized in hunting villains instead of raiding dungeons. But seeing the lingering suspicion on Suho's face, Kang Taeshik shrugged and offered a gesture of goodwill. "How about this then? I'll share the information I've gathered first. Then you can decide whether to team up with me after that."
"Information?"
"Yeah. I probably have the most information among all the bounty hunters gathered here."
"Let's hear it then."
There was no reason to refuse when he was offering to share information first. Suho calmly nodded, and Kang Taeshik smiled like he had expected this. Then, as if he didn't want his information to leak to other competitors, he checked his surroundings and quietly began to speak.
"You know that Hwang Dongsuk, the instigator of this incident, is backed by Hwang Dongsoo, right?"
Suho nodded.
S-rank villain Hwang Dongsoo. The one who was said to have been the Shadow Soldier 'Greed' in his past life.
"Actually, Hwang Dongsuk was abandoned by Hwang Dongsoo a long time ago."
"...Abandoned?"
"Yeah. To be precise, Hwang Dongsuk abandoned Hwang Dongsoo."
Kang Taeshik began to reveal the information he knew.
The Scam Brothers.
Until just before the Cataclysm, the Hwang siblings, Dongsuk and Dongsoo, were nothing more than petty criminals known by that nickname. They were inherently greedy, and as they aged, their avarice only grew stronger. The day they were released after serving their sentences, they naturally returned to their criminal ways. They lived a reckless life, going in and out of prison as if it were their own home. But the Hwang brothers were quite content with their lives. After all, they were brothers; they were on the same side. However, immediately after the Cataclysm… Their lives took a 180-degree turn.
"What, what is this?"
"Brother, did you awaken?" The older brother, Hwang Dongsuk, was the first to awaken. The moment he felt the tremendous power surging within him.… He realized.
That he no longer needed to live a life of deceit and scams.
The Cataclysm had just occurred. The world was in chaos. And at that time, Hwang Dongsuk became a villain. He transformed from a swindler to an armed robber, raiding convenience stores and restaurants.
"Muahahaha! Money! Money!"
Earning money has never been so easy! The days he spent racking his brains and scamming people for a measly sum felt utterly insignificant now. And…
"Tsk. Still haven't awakened? Are you talentless?" He began to see his brother, who hadn't awakened even a shred of magic power yet, as pathetic.
"Brother, I heard that people can suddenly awaken even after a while. So just wait a little longer..."
"Tsk. Useless."
Despite his brother's blatant insults, the younger brother couldn't say anything because it was true. Magic power was innate. It wasn't something you could suddenly awaken through effort.
And eventually, a few days later...
"Get lost."
"Brother? What do you mean..."
"Get lost, you incompetent fool!" Hwang Dongsuk abandoned his brother.
When they were scamming people, having two was better than one, but now there was no reason to share his hard-earned money with his brother. After heartlessly abandoning his brother, Hwang Dongsuk started pillaging all over the country. His mobility was incomparable to when he was dragging his slow brother around. And since he didn't have to share the money he earned with his brother, no matter how much he spent, his wealth kept growing. But those good times didn't last long.
One day, the Hunter Association was suddenly established and Chairman Woo Jinchul declared an all-out war against villains. Hwang Dongsuk was easily captured by the Association hunters who came to deal with him. He tried to fight back, but he was helplessly subdued.
Until then, Hwang Dongsuk, intoxicated by his own power, hadn't realized that he was a frog in a well, only after being dragged to the Association was he made aware of his own insignificance.
Around that time, the magic power measuring device developed overseas was introduced in Korea, and Hwang Dongsuk learned that he was only a C-rank Awakened. And as a natural consequence, he was sent to the infamous Jisan Prison, where villains from all over the country were incarcerated. To add insult to injury Hwang Dongseok heard a piece of news there. His younger brother Hwang Dongsoo became an S-class villain.