Unleash the Hounds III

'What kind of insane situation is this?'

'Find Lee Shinhyuk?'

'How can I find someone that's already dead?'

"…Awakener Ohjin?" Team leader Han tilted his head while looking towards him. "Is there a problem?"

"Haha, no. It's nothing." He nodded his head with an awkward expression.

'Shit.'

It felt like he had gotten hit on the back of his head with a hammer.

'Then the guild leader of that Valhalla guild…'

He had a rough idea of who it was.

'Lee Woohyuk.'

Lee Shinhyuk's younger brother, the one who gave Lee Shinhyuk a deep sense of inferiority.

'Yeah… so that's what happened.'

In the past world, before Lee Shinhyuk regressed, it had been around this time when he opened his eyes inside the hospital room, making lame excuses like an errand boy that failed to do his job.

'However…'

As Lee Shinhyuk died, the future changed.

—Into a future where Lee Woohyuk placed an enormous reward in order to find his missing brother.

"What will you do? Should I contact the Valhalla guild and tell them you'll accept the request?"

"Give me a moment."

Leaning his back onto the sofa, he organized his thoughts.

Lee Shinhyuk and Lee Woohyuk.

A disgraceful and insignificant brother, and a younger brother outstanding enough to be mentioned as one of the Seven Stars candidates.

A twisted destiny and future.

And—

'…Wait a minute.'

—the Black Star Organization.

"Ha." A short exclamation flowed out.

A feeling as if lightning struck down buzzed inside his head.

An electrifying thrill spread from his spine.

'That's right… there was that kind of method.'

Smirk—

At the end of the long contemplation, Ohjin's mouth grinned brightly.

'I can use that.'

A mind-boggling situation.

Slowly but surely, he was certain he could steer the future that had started to turn course to match his tastes.

"—No"

He pushed the file on top of the table back towards Team Leader Han.

Firmly shaking his head, he continued.

"You won't take it?"

As if he had heard the unimaginable, Team Leader Han's eyes widened.

'Well.'

'He probably didn't expect that I would reject such a good opportunity where all I have to do is find a person for $2M.'

"I don't have talent in finding people.'

"Hmm."

"Is something the matter?"

"No, it's nothing like that, but—"

Team leader Han scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.

"—to be honest, the Valhalla guild and the Association have quite a deep friendship. I just thought that this would be a good opportunity for you to get acquainted with them."

Was it because he wanted to show off the fact that the Association had a North Star's apostle to a partnered guild?

Thinking about the status of the Association that dropped day by day, there was a more than likely chance it was true.

"Haha, there'll be another opportunity."

That's right.

Another opportunity to build friendship with the Valhalla guild would come.

And very soon at that.

"Then I'll take it as you refusing this request."

"Yes," he stood while nodding his head.

"Then I'll take my leave."

"The Association will take on a separate investigation about the Black Star Organization."

"Thank you."

He didn't have too many expectations.

'Since I'll move before the Association does anyways.'

"Ah, right." he turned his body towards Team Leader Han.

"Could I get the Valhalla guild's contacts?"

"Contacts?"

"Yes. I've just gotten a bit interested since you said they have a friendly relationship with the Association."

Smile—

"Even if it's just in name, aren't I affiliated with the Association? If the opportunity arrives, maintaining a good relationship with a partnered guild is the right thing to do."

"Hahaha! Of course."

From the words 'affiliated with the Association', Team Leader Han nodded with a delighted expression and wrote the Valhalla guild's contact on a piece of paper.

"Here are the Valhalla guild's contacts. Ah, as the Valhalla guild is a guild that fundamentally keeps their information disclosed to the public, you shouldn't reveal this to anyone."

"Yes, I understand." Ohjin put the paper with the contacts written in his pocket and left the office.

Humming a tune, he moved his feet with light steps.

"Then, should I start fishing right away?"

The bait was the young-blooded 27-year-old Gwon Ohjin.

In front of the newly formed dungeon in Mok-dong.

He could see Awakeners trying to find parties in order to conquer the fresh dungeon.

"Damn, look at this crowd."

Ohjin pushed his way through the crowd and strolled around near the gate.

One hour. Two hours.

He continuously went around and around the area with his face in clear view.

"Yawn." He let out a yawn and wandered around the gate for hours on end.

The sun that used to be in the middle of the sky slowly turned dark over the mountain.

"Why aren't these bastards coming already?" Ohjin frowned while complaining.

'Do I need to come again tomorrow?'

He thought that at least one person would take the bait, but—unlike his predictions—there was nothing.

'If possible, I want to finish this before Vega opens her eyes.'

He took a deep sigh and wandered through the road as darkness started to settle in.

Right when he was starting to think of returning home—

Tingle—

—a sharp killing intent stimulated his back.

Using the sensitive senses granted by the stigma of the Hunting Dogs, he accurately pinpointed the location the killing intent was trickling from.

'Finally!'

Smirking, Ohjin slightly turned his head towards the direction of the killing intent.

A conspicuous middle-aged man wearing a pressed-down black hat instead of a black robe caught his eyes.

'Looks like this bastard ran around in circles for the past week.'

Judging from his sunken cheeks and the dark circles that could be seen under his eyes, it seemed like he had gone through quite a lot of trouble trying to find him.

"I've waited so fucking long, you rascal."

After exploding out in laughter—

Tap tap tap tap tap!!!!—

—he turned his body and sprinted with all his strength.

"Huh, uh, uhh?"

The man who was calling out urgently chased him.

"S-Stop!!" The man fiercely chased after him.

Stretching back his hand, Ohjin unfolded his middle finger and shook it.

"Old man~!! Why are you so damn slow? Is it because you're balding?"

"Y-You!!" The man's expression distorted.

Although he couldn't see his hair because of the man's hat, it appeared as if Ohjin was right on the spot.

"You son of a bitch!!"

Shuk!—

A couple of black feathers shot towards Ohjin.

'Is that the ability of the Owl Nebula?'

It was his first time seeing the ability in person, as he had killed the other man in an ambush before he got the opportunity to see his ability.

'Now that I've seen his ability, I should stop the taunting here.'

Skrtttttt!—

He suddenly braked into a stop after arriving in an empty lot with no human traces.

Twirl—

He simultaneously thrusted out his spear while turning his body.

"Hupf!"

Kkang!!—

The man chasing after him quickly crossed his arms and blocked the spear.

The spear bounced off of the black feathers sprouting from his forearms.

"Oh, damn. It's harder than I thought." He didn't expect feathers to deflect a spear.

"You dare…!"

"Why are you staring at me with such burning eyes on our first meeting? You're making me blush."

"Your arrogance ends here!"

"Is that right?" he fixed his grip on his spear while shrugging his shoulders.

Activating the stigma of the Hunting Dogs, he observed the surroundings. He couldn't feel the presence of other Black Star Organization members.

"But old man, will you be okay alone?"

"Hmpf, aren't you also alone?" The man with his forearms covered in black feathers smirked in ridicule and took his stance.

"Huh? But I'm not alone?"

"…What?"

"Now!! Attack him!!!" he screamed out with a loud voice.

"Kugh! D-Damn it!!" The man turned his body around with a panicked expression.

The scene that unfolded in his eyes—

"Huh?"

—was a completely vacant lot.

"What?"

"Sike."

Crackleeeeee!!!!—

Blue Lightning blazed up.

'Blue Lightning.'

The lightning formed at the tip of the spear and spread forwards in a fan shape.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"

Was it because the arm covered in black feathers couldn't defend against lightning? A horrific scream exploded out of the man's mouth.

Stumble, stumble—

Taking a step back, the man's stance broke down.

"Ch-hat!!" Ohjin stabbed out his spear towards the gap between the man's arms.

"Kugh, uaaaah!!"

With the will to not get done in easily, the man quickly fixed his broken stance and grasped the spear's blade with his hand covered in feathers.

"You dare use this crude trickery…!!"

Although Blue Lightning blazed from the spear's tip, the man ignored it and pulled on the spear.

He tried to take the spear out by twisting the spear's shaft, but the spear in the man's grasp wouldn't come out easily.

'Is he stronger?'

It didn't matter.

—Since strength alone didn't decide the winner of a fight.

"Aren't you falling for them too easily if you consider them crude?"

Keke—

Laughing out, he let go of his grasp on the spear's shaft.

"U-Uhh?"

As Ohjin had suddenly let go of the spear, the man's body overcompensated and fell over.

Bang!—

Roughly stomping his feet, Ohjin jumped forwards.

He struck down his clenched fist towards the head of the stumbling man.

'Thunder Fall.'

Crackleee!!—

Like striking down a hammer, he struck down his fist with all his strength.

"Kugh! Kuk!"

Flop—

The man twisted his body as he fell down.

Ohjin quickly grabbed the spear that had fallen on the ground and aimed it towards the man's neck.

"Kugk!" The man nibbled on his lips out of frustration, staring down the tip of the spear.

"Don't… think that you've won from this."

"But I did."

Although the fight was more difficult than he had thought it was going to be, the one who had come up victorious in the end was Ohjin.

"Ha! Did you think that you would be able to escape out of the Black Star Organization's grasp with my death alone?"

The man puffed his nose like he had heard the ridiculous.

"If you thought that you would be left in one piece after messing with Sir Yujin, you're very mistaken!"

Kekeke!—

The man suddenly exploded out into laughter.

"You… will never be able to win against that person."

"Mhm, I already know."

Even though he didn't know how strong of an Awakener Yujin was, he was at least sure of the fact that Yujin wasn't an opponent he could face.

However, it didn't matter—

"You are all going to die soon anyways."

"…With what confidence are you saying such gibberish?" The man asked with a gaze full of doubt.

Smirk—

Shrugging his shoulders, Ohjin answered.

"I'm going to unleash the hounds."

"…Hounds?"

"There's something like that, you rascal."

'Unnecessary talk is a waste of time; I should finish this up.'

Splash!!—

"Kugk! Kugh…k."

Blood sprayed out like a fountain when Ohjin's spear pierced the man's neck.

"Well then."

Ohjin rummaged through the man's clothes and took out his smartphone.

As iris recognition was in place as security, he opened the dead man's eyelids to unlock the smartphone.

'Although I want to absorb his stigma…'

As he didn't know if it would cause a commotion, he decided to finish things up first.

"Hpft." He carried the corpse out of the empty lot.

Using Black Curtain to completely erase his presence, he went up a nearby mountain.

About when the presence of people couldn't be felt any longer—

"Let's see… right… here will be nice."

Snap—

Leaning the bloody spear next to a nearby tree, he started to take photos.

"So this is the last time I'll use this spear."

Since he was thinking of changing his weapon soon anyways, he didn't think it was too much of a waste.

"Khm! Ah, ah, ah." Slightly raising his chin, he adjusted his voice.

As he already had a lot of confidence in mimicking other people's voices, he could change it with quite a bit of ease.

Bzzzzzt—

He called the contact he received from Team leader Han.

[This is the Valhalla guild, Kim Sunyoung speaking.]

A woman's voice that sounded somewhat full of exhaustion.

It was a voice that remained in his memories.

'Is this the girl with the glasses back then?'

He recalled the memories he inherited from Lee Shinhyuk.

"Could you put the guild leader on call?"

[The guild leader cannot take the phone right—]

"I've found Lee Shinhyuk."

[…What?]

A short silence.

[W-Wait a moment!]

BBang!—

The sound of unsettling noises echoed.

And then—

[…You've found my brother?]

—a coldly sunken voice.

It was the first time hearing Lee Woohyuk's voice not from Lee Shinhyuk's memories but in real life.

Well then.

It was time to unleash—

"To be exact, we have taken hold of him."

[…What?]

"Hahaha. Did you not understand?"

—the fierce and violent hounds.

"I'm saying that we've taken hold of Lee Shinhyuk."

[What nonsense are you speaking of.]

"Nonsense? Hmm. Then I guess I'll have to send this photo as evidence."

[This photo is…]

"Aren't you familiar with this spear?"

'The hounds that would rip apart the opponent's neck and kill them in my place.'

[—You, who are you.]

"Hahaha!! It seems that you believe me now!"

[I asked who you were, you bastard!!!!]

'The hound's name… that's right.'

'Let's simply call it—'

'—Lee Woohyuk.'