Owl Hunting II

"This is…"

There was a silver gauntlet inside of the case.

Not an unsophisticated, large gauntlet like from some anonymous hero movie, but a gauntlet with an exquisite design.

"Try equipping it."

"Okay."

Ohjin contemplated which side he should equip the gauntlet on and eventually decided to equip it on his left arm.

Click—

'Woah.'

As he equipped it on his left arm, the size reduced on its own and it transformed into a size that was just right for Ohjin.

'It's way more comfortable than I thought it'd be.'

Adding in a bit of exaggeration, it was so comfortable that it almost felt like he hadn't equipped anything. It was as if the gauntlet wasn't made of metal but cotton balls.

"It's a gauntlet Sihoo made while making a fuss after watching a popular hero movie some time ago."

General Manager Han smiled and added an explanation.

'So it really was inspired by a movie.'

It was an act fitting Kim Sihoo.

"But is there only one gauntlet?"

"He kept insisting that only using a single gauntlet is cool and wouldn't listen to us."

"…"

"Well, as much as that's the case, it appears that he concentrated all the material and technology into that one gauntlet."

"What are its effects?"

Ohjin tilted his head as he knocked on the gauntlet equipped on his left arm.

He could tell that it was extremely sturdy with a glance but couldn't figure out what other features it was capable of.

"Hmm… Mr. Woohyuk, could you help out for a second?"

"What must I do?" Lee Woohyuk nodded his head as he got up from his seat.

"Try swinging your sword down at that gauntlet. Naturally, with it containing as much mana as possible."

"…Are you being serious?" Lee Woohyuk looked at General Manager Han with a surprised expression.

Lee Woohyuk was a skilled individual that was one step away from becoming a 9-Star. If he swung down with all his might, he could tear apart a 5m thick iron plate like paper.

"Yes. Mr. Ohjin should try to block Mr. Woohyuk's attack with the gauntlet."

"Hmm. I understand."

It appeared that the gauntlet's durability was outstanding as even General Manager Han, who was generally very cautious, had spoken up with confidence.

Ohjin got up from his seat and faced Lee Woohyuk.

"Will this really be okay?"

"Well, since he's said this much, let's try it out."

"But…"

Lee Woohyuk looked at Ohjin with eyes containing conflict.

Ohjin was his benefactor that caught the nemesis of his brother that he himself had idiotically lost track of. Lee Woohyuk hesitated with worry that he might accidentally deeply injure his dear benefactor.

"Haha. There's no need to worry!"

Bang!—

General Manager Han shouted out with confidence as he hit his solid chest.

"…If that's so."

Lee Woohyuk nodded his head and took out his sword on his belt.

Fwooong!!!—

Powerful gusts of wind stormed inside the office.

The twirling wind concentrated on his blade—

Swisssssssh!—

—and shot towards Ohjin with frightening momentum.

"Kugh!"

Ohjin raised his left arm at the burst of wind while feeling its powerful mana prick his skin.

Pshuuuu!—

"What…?"

With the sound of air escaping from within a balloon, the burst of wind was sucked into the gauntlet.

The silver gauntlet heated up red as if it was going to melt at any second.

'This is…'

Ohjin's eyes shone as he felt the thick mana flowing through the gauntlet.

Bbrrrrrr!—

The heated gauntlet vibrated fiercely like it was going to explode.

"Hmpf!"

Ohjin instinctively raised his left arm equipped with the gauntlet forward.

"Ah… w-wait, Ohjin!"

General Manager Han urgently tried to stop him—

Swissssh!!—

—but before then, the gauntlet shot out powerful bursts of wind that headed to Lee Woohyuk.

"…!"

Lee Woohyuk deflected the incoming wind with incredible reaction speed.

Baaaaaang!—

One part of the office walls was completely destroyed and fell down.

"Phew. What a relief. I apologize, I didn't think you would shoot it out right away like that."

"This is…?"

"It's a star relic that was made to absorb and store attacks containing mana and then release them."

"Wow."

A forced chuckle escaped Ohjin's mouth.

'Isn't this completely overpowered?'

—A star relic that could even absorb an attack from the Black Lion, Lee Woohyuk.

The gauntlet made by Kim Sihoo was an overpowered piece of equipment that far transcended what he expected.

"Haha. Didn't I tell you? Even if that kid, Sihoo, has a strange personality, his skill is second to none."

"But still, this is…"

"Ah, there is naturally a limit to how much mana it can store. You could also receive damage if mana exceeding the amount it can store rushes in at once."

"Even considering that, it's amazing."

Ohjin hadn't thought that there would be no limit to what it could absorb in the first place.

'The fact that it could block off Lee Woohyuk's attack already proves that it can absorb a decent amount.'

Though it wouldn't be able to endure if he attacked a couple more times, being able to neutralize an enemy's attack once was substantial, as fights could be decided by a split second.

'And neutralizing an attack isn't all it can do, either.'

Ohjin's lips curved up as he looked at the destroyed office wall.

The star relic performed perfectly as both a defensive and offensive equipment.

"Thank you. I'll make good use of it."

"Haha. Aren't you the ace of our 'Association'? Giving a reward like this to you is nothing."

Han Taeho blatantly emphasized the word 'Association' as he smiled.

"Hmm… this puts me in an awkward spot."

Lee Woohyuk sighed briefly as he looked at the gauntlet equipped on Ohjin's arm.

"Awkward?"

"I also prepared an item to give to Ohjin today."

"Ah."

'Is it the starstones I requested last time? I don't need them anymore.'

As he had unexpectedly completed the quest, the high-quality starstones were unneeded.

"Hmm. Well, it really is nothing much compared to that gauntlet."

Lee Woohyuk handed over a square-shaped box, and inside, were three starstones the size of fists.

'Holy shit.'

Ohjin's eyes widened as he examined the starstones.

"They are top-quality 8-star starstones."

"Wow…"

8-star starstones were considerably precious items. Even more so if they were top-quality.

'It's not like 8-star monsters always drop an 8-star starstone.'

They were hard to find domestically, but 8-star monsters weren't actually that rare. The problem was that most 8-star monsters possessed starstones of lower quality than themselves.

Because of that, even if you hunted a 8-star monster, the chance of it actually dropping an 8-star starstone was unlikely.

'But there are three of them here.'

Ohjin had asked for him to obtain starstones of high quality, but he hadn't expected him to prepare something that precious.

"Thank you. I didn't think you'd prepare something this expensive."

"Even though you aren't one of our guild members, aren't we still companions that basically have the same goal?"

"Of course."

Though their relationship was actually that of a trainer and his hound, there was nothing Ohjin wanted more than for him to think of it that way.

'By the way, where should I use these?'

It felt like too much of a waste to simply absorb them. After all, he didn't lack mana.

'Come to think of it, can't Awakeners of Aquarius make potions using high-quality starstones?'

He had heard that the process of making them itself wasn't all that difficult—it was just that obtaining high-rank starstones was hard.

'In that case…'

Ohjin's eyes shone.

He started to think that he could partially solve the mana shortage that Ha-eun was undergoing.

'It'll be perfect if I use these to make potions for Ha-eun."

Ohjin started to smile already as he imagined how Ha-eun would jump around in joy.

"Then let's get into business."

The time for rewards had finished, and it was about time to achieve the goal they gathered up for.

"First of all, I'll give everyone a brief explanation of the situation."

General Manager Han brought a laser pointer and turned on a presentation.

"After the atrocities of the Black Star Organization were announced, numerous guilds signed up for the elimination of the Black Star Organization."

Names of the large and medium-sized guilds that had signed up were densely packed at the spot the laser pointer pointed to.

"Honestly, it isn't an exaggeration to say the entirety of Korea is trying to sweep out the Black Star Organization."

They were an organization that caused a terror attack aimed at civilians in the middle of Seoul. Guilds couldn't help but sign up just because of how they could be portrayed to others.

"The most note-worthy amongst them is… that even the 'Heaven's Grace' guild is on the move."

"…The Heaven's Grace guild?"

Heaven's Grace.

As the guild led by one of the Seven Stars, Cheon Sanggil, the guild was known to be Korea's strongest guild.

'But that guild is famous for not intervening in matters that don't happen inside Paradise.'

Ganghwa Island Special Autonomous Zone.

Also known as Paradise, they reigned over that area like kings.

Well, it didn't mean that they ran a tyranny and oppressed the people like kings in the medieval age.

'It's just expressing that they reign over like kings as the zone is completely immune to the nation's governmental authority.'

Within Paradise, they were the law and justice itself.

Was that the reason why? The Heaven's Grace guild wouldn't intervene in matters that occurred outside in most cases.

'But even that Heaven's Grace guild has started to move, huh.'

It could mean that the recent incidents were that impactful.

'…I'll have to think deeper into this.'

Ohjin had no way to know if they were going into action with the pure intention of eliminating the Black Star Organization, as they were an anonymous guild with many secrets.

"The problem is… even with this many guilds joining up, the Black Star Organization's tail isn't getting caught easily."

General Manager Han's face stiffened as he continued.

"Several branches have been exposed thanks to the information given by Ohjin, but we're still unaware of where the most important headquarters is located."

"Were we unable to find anything out from the members of the Black Star Organization we apprehended last time?" Lee Woohyuk asked while he frowned.

"We've interrogated them as intensely as we could… but they would never open their mouths, it was as if there was some kind of taboo in place. A couple of them also had seizures during the interrogation."

As General Manager Han had said, it was difficult to find a group that was on par with the Black Star Organization at thoroughly hiding their information.

"I've heard that there is a Black Star Organization in Italy, as well. What if the headquarters doesn't exist in the first place?'

"No," General Manager Han shook his head.

"The Black Star Organization in Italy is an entirely different faction from the one in Korea, and their movements are too dissimilar to say that the same individual leads them. To be honest, only their names are the same. It's not an exaggeration to say that they are completely different groups."

He was spot on.

"And… even if we don't know the location, we've obtained information of the rough estimate of their scale."

"How much is it?"

"…They say that there's a minimum of 3,000 people inside the Black Star Organization's HQ."

"…!"

Lee Woohyuk's eyes widened.

The average number of members in a guild categorized as 'large' was around 200~300. A medium-sized guild would have around 50, but the Black Star Organization had over 3,000.

If you only took the scale into consideration, their numbers were over ten times that of a large guild.

"There'll be many more members than that if we include the branches we haven't discovered yet."

"…Just where did they get that many members?"

Even if they were able to turn the unawakened into Awakeners, it wouldn't have been easy to secretly make several thousand people into members of the Black Star Organization.

"There is something we have figured out in regards to that."

General Manager Han flipped through the presentation and continued.

The image of a massive prison shined on the screen.

"Do you remember the incident that happened three years ago by any chance? The Cheorwon Prison's mass disappearance incident."

"I've heard of it before.'

It was quite a famous incident three years before.

'An incident where several thousand wicked criminals disappeared without a trace.'

Crime rates rose suddenly worldwide after gates started to appear and the number of criminals shot through the ceiling along with it.

Cheorwon Prison was a prison that gathered up only the most malicious criminals that committed crimes such as murder, robbery, and human trafficking.

"Most of the Owls we apprehended were criminals that disappeared back then."

"So the ones who caused the mass disappearance back then was the Black Star Organization."

"Yes, that is what we suspect."

In that case, it would mean that most of the Black Star Organization consisted of criminals that disappeared in the incident.

'Well…'

Looking back on their past actions, there were certainly many things that couldn't be done by normal people.

'So Jang Sukho was a special case.'

It was right to assume that there weren't any members that were forced to follow the Black Star Organization.

"Then the Black Star Organization in Korea must have increased their forces in earnest starting from two years ago."

"That's correct."

'Alright, I've got the rough idea now. Records of the stigma of Noctua existed when the gate incident first occurred but disappeared without a trace soon after.'

And according to Jang Sukho, the Black Star Organization was hiding inside the Demon Realm.

'In other words…'

Nine years prior, when the gates had first appeared, the Black Star Organization went over to the world of monsters, the Demon Realm, and secretly grew their strength for six years.

'Then they came out three years ago and started to expand their forces.'

Ohjin felt that he was able to slightly understand the identity of the Black Star Organization.

'Well, something else is more important than the identity of those bastards.'

Ohjin turned his head around to face Han Taeho.

"You said that there is nearly no progress with Owl's interrogations, right?"

"That's correct."

"Then will it be okay for me to give a shot at interrogation?"

"You personally?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. You have the sufficient rights to interrogate apprehended criminals, as you are a Special Officer… but it'll be difficult to get promising results with the taboo in place."

"I'm just giving it a try."

Ohjin lightly shrugged his shoulder and got up from his seat.

'It'll be difficult to get promising results?'

'I wonder… will that really be the case?'

Ohjin's eyes shone with uncanny light.