11 – The Stories After the Hunted Demon * * * After Yeoul left her alma mater.
Hunters dispatched by the hunter company responsible for the area arrived at the scene shortly after.
A sudden appearance of a Class 3 dimensional gate in the middle of the city, even in the schoolyard.
They arrived prepared to sacrifice their lives, knowing that if they were even slightly late, the number of victims would increase by the second.
They were taken aback when they saw the corpses of the demonic beings, two on each side of the school gate.
The corpses of the black monsters, which continued to contaminate the surroundings even after death, hinted at their strength in life.
Who on earth killed these monsters, which even the average hunter would refuse to face? 2nd-grade hunter Choi Sung-yeol, who was dispatched to the scene, grew suspicious.
Even though he was a hunter of a rank that was expected to sit in the position of the company president in most hunter companies, he would have to endure significant bleeding to face such a monster.
And yet, there were two neatly severed bodies, as if wielded by a master.
After evacuating the students under the authority granted by the central government and sending them home, the company-affiliated hunters stared blankly at the corpses for several minutes.
Already receiving reports that the situation had concluded, detectives from the Special Field Inspection Division of the Supranatural Police Department arrived at the scene.
They, too, were bewildered upon seeing the scene.
“Are you saying that this monstrosity was already dead?”
“It’s surprising, but it’s the truth.”
In response to the detective’s question, Hunter Class 2 Choi Sung-yeol replied.
Detectives with expressions of disbelief.
Whether it was believable or not, it was their role to prove the truth, so they began unpacking the equipment they had brought and started analyzing the scene.
They investigated the intensity of the dimensional vibrations that occurred to determine the exact level of the dimensional portal.
They analyzed the residual magical fluctuations on the ground to estimate the strength of the monster.
They analyzed the magical power of the being that fought against the monster.
Soon enough, the results came out, and they could only fall into even greater doubt due to those results.
It wasn’t the hunters who were dispatched to the scene who fought against that monster. Their magical power patterns were not left behind at the scene.
The fact that their magical power patterns were not left behind was somewhat expected.
Considering that, besides the monster’s magical power, no other magical power was detected at the scene.
They couldn’t help but doubt the eyes that looked at the examination results.
Is this really the correct result of the examination?
Someone who fought against a monster like that.
That person would also have significant skills and possess magical power, and it would be safe to say that erasing the traces of that powerful magical power would be impossible.
Yet, no magical power was detected.
They conducted the magical power analysis once again.
Even though they had to repeat the process that would normally be unnecessary due to the overwhelming accuracy of the magical power detection device, the results didn’t change.
Faced with this astonishing fact, they came up with two hypotheses.
First, the magical power detection device was malfunctioning.
Second, there really was someone who hunted down that monster without any magical power.
Both assumptions were incredibly close to being impossible, so they were wracking their brains.
“Take a look at this!”
One detective, who absentmindedly fiddled with his smartphone at the scene, showed the screen to his superior, who had slapped him on the back of his head with a dissatisfied look. The screen was playing a video. At this point, making a joke would be out of place. The superior, feeling a headache coming on, was about to give his troublesome subordinate another whack on the back of his head─
But as he looked at the screen, he stopped in his tracks.
The video was filled with noise that seemed to be caused by the dimensional vibrations.
Nevertheless, he could tell from the video that the place they were in was the playground.
In the video.
There was a vividly alive monster that had not been divided in two yet.
An overwhelming scenery and contaminated magic that eroded the surroundings.
Strength that could be felt even beyond the screen. It truly was a formidable opponent that suited the word “overwhelming.”
And, there was a person filmed together.
It was difficult to tell whether they were male or female, but the only thing that could be discerned was that their hair was long. The monster swung its fist at that person.
And, a battle erupted.
The monster flew from the school gate to the spot where they were currently looking.
The video ended.
The officer who had been watching the video absentmindedly could sense that it was the complete story of what had happened here.
There was no possibility of manipulation. The position of the monster in the video and the position of the monster they were currently observing matched exactly.
It was impossible to manipulate with such accuracy in a situation where proper reporting had not even been conducted yet.
The officer, lost in thought, showed it to Choi Sung-yeol, a Rank 2 Hunter who could be considered the highest-ranking person here.
And the video that was uploaded just a few minutes ago had already gained explosive attention on the internet.
* * *
“Have you seen this?”
Resting her chin on her hand, Ryu-won listened to the class absentmindedly, hearing with one ear and letting it go with the other. She looked at her friend who was quietly murmuring next to her.
Her friend, quite out of the blue, showed her a video.
Ryu-won briefly glanced at the teacher who was conducting the class and turned her head towards her friend.
“What is this?”
She responded with a nonchalant attitude.
Normally, she would have responded with a gentle attitude, but she didn’t have the peace of mind right now.
Three days had already passed since she chased her older brother away. The intense emotions had quickly subsided, and the empty space was soon filled with worries about her brother.
Where is he and what is he doing? Is he eating well? Is he living on the streets? Was it her fault? Her brother couldn’t have acted like that for no reason.
Worries piled up and tormented her, but there was nothing she could do.
She had no means of contact, and she didn’t know where he had gone, so it was inevitable.
Thinking that he would come back by tomorrow, she spent the past three days.
She couldn’t bear the anxious heart, so from today onwards, she planned to search around her house, or at least that’s what she thought.
With her mind filled with such thoughts, it was natural that she didn’t have the peace of mind.
As she watched, her friend silently handed her one side of the wireless earphones.
Curious, she put it on with a sense of anticipation.
Soon, a video began playing.
Familiar scenery, a familiar school.
She realized that it was the middle school her older brother had attended, located near her house.
A monster appeared there.
And suddenly, there was a person sitting on a bench.
Looking at that person, she felt a chill. She somehow felt a very familiar sensation from him, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
Who is he… She wondered as she watched the video.
The monster swung its fist and the video abruptly ended.
As she was thinking that perhaps they had filmed a low-budget movie at that school, her friend’s voice reached her ears.
“You know… This isn’t a movie shoot or CG, it actually happened. Just now.”
“What?”
“Why, didn’t you get the disaster alert message earlier?”
From Noble mtl dot com
As her friend said, she had received a disaster alert message stating that a level 3 dimensional rift was expected to appear nearby.
Although she didn’t receive an evacuation order since it happened at a distance from the school she attended, she was worried because it occurred near her home.
Shortly after receiving a message that the situation had been resolved without any property or human casualties except for the school where the dimensional rift had appeared, she stopped paying attention to it.
She thought she should watch the news later. That’s all.
“Why does that matter?”
“Take a look. The school mentioned in the message is right here.”
“Uh…?”
She had overlooked it carelessly but now that she thought about it, it was true.
“Is this for real?”
“The comments seem genuine, some say it’s fake, there’s a lot of talk… but it doesn’t really seem fake, does it? It just happened earlier and the video was uploaded.”
“….”
After listening to her friend’s words, it indeed made sense.
“It’s quite fascinating.”
But even if this is true, so what?
It’s just a video of a hunter hunting a monster, isn’t it.
Of course, such videos haven’t been uploaded frequently recently, and the neatness with which the monster was cleanly carved without being captured on camera was impressive. The fact that the person who had been sitting there motionless was strong enough to kill the monster was also astonishing.
That’s all.
I didn’t think it was anything impressive enough to capture her interest as an older brother.
“Ah. Your reaction is underwhelming. I find it really fascinating though.”
Her friend played the video again, and Lyeowoon absentmindedly stared at the video, thinking about her older brother.
And then, the familiar person appeared in the video again.
A thought crossed Yeoul’s mind as she gazed at the person, whose gender was hard to distinguish due to long hair.
That person, why do they look like my brother?
It couldn’t possibly be true.
Even if by chance my brother happened to go to that school, there’s no way my magic-less brother could kill that monster.
But why does her instinct tell her that person is claiming to be her brother?
And just then, she received a text message.
It was a contact from the supernatural police officer, Park Byunghoon, whom she had completely forgotten about.
* * *
Due to the evacuation order issued around the school, it was impossible to find anyone nearby.
Yeoul walked endlessly on the empty streets.
How much time had passed? The sun had set and the sky was dyed red.
It must almost be time for Soyoung to come back.
Yeoul decided to go back home.
Leaving behind the streets that were once again filling with people, Yeoul returned to her apartment.
Was it done like this?
As she placed her hand above, the door automatically unlocked.
Finally home.
Yeoul sat on the sofa.
And then, she took out a purple stone from her pocket.
She lightly rolled it in her hand, making a clink, clink sound.
What could this thing be? It seems like it might be used for something….
Just then, Soyoung also returned.
“I’m back….”
Soyoung greeted tiredly, taking off her shoes and entering the house.
“How have you been?” Yeoul was about to ask when Soyoung’s eyes fell on the purple stone that Yeoul was holding.
“Did you go out?”
“Yes…. But Yeo-ul, by any chance, is that…”
“Do you know what this is?”
“Yeo-ul, where did you get that?”
So-young asked him with a bewildered expression on her face.