The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 103



Only Noblemtl

Episode 104

104. I want to talk to you.

Kang Moo-hyuk made a proposal to Dardenne.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to end up here like this? Wouldn’t you be in trouble if the city were to be poisoned?”

“If Upumangbaou has awakened, there is no hope here. At the very least, half of them will be poisoned.”

If it was Ufumangbau before he became active, we could expect the giant hunter to carefully drag him out.

As his name suggests, he had no mercy towards anything smaller than himself, but on the contrary, he had the characteristic of being gentle towards larger beings.

But once we started moving in earnest, that method didn’t work.

There was no choice but to drag them out by force, but the resistance would be fierce. It was clear as day that the poison they would spit out during the fight would ruin the city.

“Even if we subdue the Ufumangbau, if the city is ruined, we can’t avoid the blame. The Nadzhinskis are trying to somehow make the citizens of Vladivostok complain. There’s no need for me to go along with their rhythm.”

In the midst of all this, Kang Moo-hyuk spoke to Darden, who was calculating the profits and losses, while scolding him.

“You are not hunters.”

“what?”

“A hunter is someone who catches monsters. Whether he gets criticized or praised. He doesn’t care about any situation. Only someone who hunts monsters is called a ‘hunter.’ In Russia, revenge may be more important than hunting. At least in Korea, the priority is to catch monsters and save people.”

Kang Moo-hyuk’s words provoked Igor. He felt that he was somehow criticizing him.

“Hey, Kareyets (Korean). Don’t play with your mouth. You’re testing my patience.”

“You should stop acting so fiercely. Our leader didn’t say anything wrong. What are you talking about?”

Sparks flew between Jusea and Igor. Their gazes exchanged a fierce look that could have ignited the fight that had been suspended.

Dardenne said, evoking a tense atmosphere.

“It was not a bad attempt. To touch my professional conscience. But you can use that in the Federation. 14 years ago, since Nadzejinski, we don’t believe in conscience, pride, or duty. Those are things that only the weak can say. I saw with my own eyes what happened to those who believed in that. Betrayed. Used. In the end, they died. So─”

Darden paused for a moment. Then he ground his teeth and scolded Kang Mu-hyeok.

“That’s ridiculous, don’t force it on us.”

Although his opponent pressured him with a look that was almost mad, Kang Mu-hyeok responded without being intimidated at all.

“So. Are you scared now?”

“This kid… … !”

Joo Se Ah warned Darden as he growled and approached Kang Mu Hyuk.

“Don’t move. If you don’t want to die.”

“You’re going to die four years before your younger brother?”

“Why don’t you give it a try?”

While Joo Se Ah was keeping Igor in check, Noh Song Rin, who had been taking care of Kozlov, stood behind Kang Mu Hyuk. In his hand was a karambit sword.

Dardenne stopped when his subordinate Nikolaev also took up arms.

Kang Moo-hyuk opened his mouth again.

“We will take the blame.”

“what?”

“The resentment of the citizens of Vladivostok. We will take it on their behalf.”

“Are you selling me drugs now? What the hell are you talking about?”

“We’ll take on the Upumangbau raid. In return, you release our members. The giantization trait is useless anyway, right?”

“… … .”

Dardenne assessed the power of the Tsar Guild and those Koreans.

I still can’t believe it, but even if it included a woman suspected of being S-rank, there was no way to escape the tragedy that was planned.

‘The tricky thing about Upumangbaou is that it keeps spewing poison during battle. When it gets hurt or gets excited, the amount of poison it spews increases.’

The poison was so vicious that once it hit the ground, it completely turned the surrounding area into a land of death.

If he were to kill, a poison so powerful it could devour an entire city would spread in an instant. Hunters could resist, but ordinary people would die instantly.

Even if they were safely evacuated, the damage of abandoning the city where all life was based would be difficult to recover. The economy of a region would completely collapse.

‘Why would you do something that has no benefit? A guy who isn’t even a hunter is cosplaying as a hunter.’

Dardenne was startled as he thought about that.

He himself unconsciously had a sense of what a hunter’s duty was and what the meaning of his existence was. It was a thought that had never crossed his mind before.

That’s what woke me up.

‘Kang Mu-hyuk… The more I talk to him, the more annoying he becomes.’

I didn’t want to stay in one place anymore.

Darden calculated that there would be no particular harm to the Tyran Guild even if he complied with Kang Mu-hyeok’s demands. Rather, he could use the results to his advantage.

If the expedition fails, they can just turn their backs on them, but even if they succeed, they can use the damaged city’s circumstances to implicate the Tsar’s Guild.

“Okay. I’ll let you go.”

“We will take Kozlov too.”

“Okay. I’ll listen to that too.”

“Dardenne!”

Igor screamed. Darden spoke without even looking at his brother.

“Take them quickly before our guild master gets angry. I will send your guild members to the Char Guild immediately.”

As Dardenne concluded, Igor, unable to control his anger, slammed his fist on the floor.

Not only did the asphalt crumble, but the ground caved in and formed a sinkhole.

Jusea did not let her guard down as she looked down at Igor, who was sunken into the ground.

But Igor didn’t argue any further and just ran away. As he walked away, the howling of a ferocious beast could be heard behind him.

“Guild Master. I know you must be tired, but I think you should prepare for the raid.”

Kang Moo-hyuk approached Joo Se-ah and said.

Joo Se-ah smiled faintly and whispered in Kang Mu-hyeok’s ear.

“I’m tired. I just swam across the winter sea. I’m definitely not in good physical condition.”

Joo Se Ah wasn’t the type of person to say something weak when she had barely swum in cold water. Kang Moo Hyuk understood what she meant.

“That’s… Did you just overdo it?”

“Yes. I cheated. It was my first time using that power… I guess I pulled it out by force and it went bad.”

Kang Moo-hyuk led the group to the sports car as naturally as possible.

Joo Se-ah was put in the back seat first, and Kozlov, who had passed out, was laid down next to her. Noh Song-rin was driving when Kang Mu-hyeok was about to get in the passenger seat.

Darden, who didn’t notice Joo Se-ah’s condition, spoke to Kang Mu-hyeok.

“I’m saying this just in case. Your Gilma has been caught by the intelligence agency. He even entered the country illegally. If you mess up this raid, it’ll be a diplomatic problem.”

“I am prepared.”

“By the way, we have a line at the information office too. If you have any trouble, come to us. Let’s see if we can talk as well then as we do today.”

“Thank you for your consideration. But, please behave yourself. Okay.”

Kang Moo-hyuk left those words behind and quickly got into the car.

Dardenne grimaced and shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the roar of the sports car’s exhaust.

Darden spat in the direction where the sports car carrying Kang Mu-hyeok had disappeared.

“I thought I had erased one annoying bad relationship, but it seems like another one has become stubborn. What bad luck.”

* * *

“I… stopped him. I didn’t know that guy… Makar would do that.”

Olga’s eyes were gray as she muttered repentance in front of Anton. She seemed to regret her decision, as if she was wondering if there was a better choice.

“Olga, you were so foolish. Makar wasn’t as good a guy as you thought.”

Olga buried her head almost touching the table.

“As you may have heard from Bugilma, Makar was involved in several raids where guild elders were sacrificed. He harmed families. And you were complicit in that.”

While Makar escaped, the survivors of Nadzhinski that Anton had captured readily confessed to what they had done.

It was not a time of cooperation. It was a time of curses mixed with anger and profanity. It was a time of denunciation, shouting why their revenge was justified.

“But Makar said clearly! He would end it by threatening the Tsar’s Guild to admit the wrong they did to Nadzhinsky and to receive a formal apology.”

“You believed the promises of a man who killed his fellows and used monsters to take people hostage? He’s a terrorist, Olga.”

Olga didn’t open her mouth anymore. She seemed to realize what she had done wrong, as she didn’t chase after Makar or run away.

“It won’t be easy to let it go quietly. Once the Wufumangbau case is over, the authorities won’t stay still. They’ll defend you as best they can, but… you’d better be prepared.”

“If you do something wrong, you deserve to be punished.”

Anton came out of the interrogation room with a sigh.

Although she had been dedicated to the guild for a long time, I had no intention of forgiving her for doing something like this out of blind love.

In a room with a glass window looking into the interrogation room, Kang Moo-hyuk and Joo Se-ah were standing.

He looked at Olga through the glass window with complicated eyes, then asked as he moved to the guild master’s office under Anton’s guidance.

“How is the current Ufumangbau?”

“It’s in a lull. Aside from the destruction of the surrounding area right after the initial activity, there hasn’t been any significant movement yet.”

“Have you located Makar’s whereabouts?”

“It has not been confirmed yet since we entered the area where Upumangbau is. The hunters who chased us had no choice but to retreat because Upumangbau was active.”

“Considering the circumstances, I guess we should assume that this Makar is controlling Upumangbau?”

Kang Moo-hyuk nodded at Joo Se-ah’s words. Anton agreed with a sigh.

After entering the guild master’s office and taking a seat, Anton continued the conversation.

“What are you going to do about Kozlov?”

“He should be left to the Federation. The Tsar Guild may also feel wronged, but there is nothing they can do.”

“It’s better. The Federation is a headache for us too. The bigger problem is dealing with Wufumangbau. A whole street was reduced to ashes in a single incident. Fortunately, that side was evacuated in advance, so there are no people… . There’s nothing we can do about the poison. It’s still at a purification level, but if it gets any worse, it’ll become a place where people can’t live.”

“The raid preparations are complete. We received word from Tyran that our guild members have been released, so we can go hunting whenever they arrive.”

Anton flinched at Kang Mu-hyeok’s words.

“It’s past the point where we can solve it with the Titanization trait. The entire city will be contaminated with the poison before we can put it in the barrier box we’ve prepared.”

“That was ‘Plan A.’ There is a ‘Plan B.’”

“Plan B?”

“I’m not 100% sure, but I think it’ll work since we prepared in advance. The bigger problem is catching Makar. We don’t know what he’ll do next. It’ll be a problem if he causes trouble during the raid.”

“Our guild search party is already on standby. We’ll deploy right away and find it. But what’s Plan B…?”

Just as I was about to ask about Plan B, Anton’s smartphone rang.

Because it was placed on the table, I could see the LCD screen directly.

[Makar Boronin]

Everyone was silent.

Anton hesitated for a moment and then tried to answer the phone. Kang Moo-hyuk held out his hand to stop Anton and said.

“They must be upset because they messed up. Don’t provoke them.”

Anton nodded and answered the phone.

“Makar… … .”

– Sir, I will change the call to a video call.

Suddenly, the call switched to a video call and Makar appeared on the screen.

Standing under the dim halogen lights, his lifespan nearly at an end, his head seemed to float in the darkness.

-Chief Kang Mu-hyeok is there, right? Let him be seen too.

Anton glanced at Kang Mu-hyeok. When Kang Mu-hyeok nodded, Anton moved his seat so that they could both appear on his smartphone and sat close to him.

-You’re amazing. If you’re here, then you’ve escaped the tyrant’s clutches safely, right?

“I don’t know if you’re being bold or reckless. I didn’t think you’d contact me first.”

-My purpose is not to kill. I am just giving you a chance to talk.

“That crazy guy! How could someone like that touch Ufumangbau?!”

Anton shouted, gritting his teeth.

– Sir Gilma, if you wish, I can wait until all the citizens of Vladivostok have left the city. Of course, that is, unless you send your men during that time.

“… … .”

– Of course you can’t do that, right? The status of the Tsar Guild will fall by itself. Considering the chaos that will occur in the meantime and the cost of normalizing the paralyzed city, the Tsar Guild will not be able to avoid responsibility either. As the guild’s information team leader, I understand how difficult it is to manage the guild.

“This is ridiculous. Are you pretending to be a guild member now?”

-Are you still pretending to be a saint?

“what?”

-Don’t blame me for all this. This is the Tsar’s Guild. It’s punishing you for the sins your guild committed.

“What are you talking about?!”

-You won’t say you don’t know Nadzhinski now, will you?

“Are you saying that the tragedy of Nadzhinski is our fault? That’s ridiculous.”

-Go and ask the retired Jeon Dae Gilma. What did you guys do 14 years ago? Where did that tragedy start? Go and ask him.

“I also know the general details of this incident.”

Kang Mu-hyeok intervened. Anton couldn’t continue speaking because there was a secret he didn’t know about, so he asked with his eyes.

Kang Moo-hyuk answered him.

“I heard that a powerful boss monster came out of the gate that opened with an outbreak? At that time, I heard that the Tsar Guild lured that boss monster and all the other monsters to Nazejinski in order to protect Vladivostok. Of course, I don’t know if that’s true.”

“That can’t be true! The previous Gilma wasn’t that kind of person!”

As Anton suddenly got angry, a laughing sound was heard from the screen.

-The Federation’s intelligence power must be amazing. It seems like they know everything, even things that the current leader doesn’t know. By the way, is Kozlov okay?

“Not yet. Let’s talk about that. What should I tell you? What can I do to avoid touching Ufumangbau?”

-He may be difficult, but he’s a person who can communicate well. I don’t have any big expectations.

“I heard from Olga. Is it okay if the guild issues an official statement apologizing? If what you say is true, I’m willing to apologize.”

Anton answered positively, but there was no sign of anticipation on Makar’s face.

Kang Moo-hyuk was anxious about that part.

‘You’re not excited, and your tone is too calm. A plan that took more than ten years to make has gone down the drain. No matter what you do, the author will definitely do something.’

Makar said.

-I don’t even want that anymore. It’s a story that’s going to be buried anyway… Isn’t it a story that’s going to be buried anyway? In a world where we only remember when someone else’s tragedy becomes our own tragedy…

“Then what do you want?!”

-Chief Kang Moo-hyuk. I would like to talk to you, one-on-one.