Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

"Th-This brat..."

-I\'m running away from home. Don\'t look for me. ⸜(๑^ں^๑)⸝

Han Byung-gu immediately extended his senses to check Go Eul-ji\'s room on the second floor. He didn\'t detect any sign of anyone there.

"Ah, right. The room was destroyed yesterday, wasn\'t it?"

He remembered making her sleep in the study because of the hole punched through the wall. He quickly checked the first floor, and indeed it was quiet.

"That brat, even if I was asleep, I can\'t believe she escaped without me noticing. Hahaha... Crunch! I put all this effort into teaching her, and now she\'s using those skills to run away?!"

After grinding his teeth for a while with a flushed face, Han Byung-gu took a deep breath to calm down his anger and rechecked the message.

The emoticon showing her excitement about running away caught his eye.

Anger surged again.

"The emoticon makes it even more infuriating!"

"So? You ran away from home?"

"Where should I sleep?"

Seeing Go Eul-ji come to the guild at dawn and confidently announce that she had run away from home, Han Byung-gu entered his mind.

\'This is going to be a headache. Now he\'s going to create a fuss about how I kidnapped her.\'

He caught on to Go Eul-ji\'s ratchet personality at their first meeting, so he was prepared to be stuck in such predicaments from the start.

Although he wasn\'t hugely concerned about her, since he was planning to get her out of there as she gradually improved, he also didn\'t want this friction with Han Byung-gu to continue.

Kang Mu-hyuk asked as he washed his face with water, clearly not yet fully awake.

"There\'s no way you flew here from Seoul. So how did you get here?"

"I have a bike. My grandpa said Hunters should be able to maneuver around on their own, so he bought it for me. It even has cartridges, so I can use it in special operations zones."

"Even if the streets were cleaned, there would still be quite a few monsters roaming around at dawn... But then again, that\'s not really a problem for you."

"Ah, no wonder they were annoying me so much. I even caught a few of them. As a gift."

"Gift?"

"For the little wolves."

"The little... You mean the Rider Wolves?"

"I saw them last time. They looked pretty cute."

"We\'re feeding them with enough meat already. There\'s really no need to go out of our way to feed them monsters you hunted down..."

"Didn\'t you say they lived with goblins before? Then, they\'re practically wild animals. Would domestic meat sit right with wolves who survived on monster meat? We gotta feed them freshly caught monsters to keep them in high spirits."

Watching Go Eul-ji punch the air as she spoke, something suddenly crossed Kang Mu-hyuk\'s mind.

Something that Yeom Soohyung, the temporary caretaker of the Rider Wolves had mentioned.

\'Is it because people are raising them now? They\'ve become more docile than before. They\'re still fierce when hunting, but not as much as when the goblins were raising them. They\'d be more valuable if they were a bit wilder.\'

"Was that the reason?"

"What do you mean?"

Kang Mu-hyuk let out a laugh without realizing it. It was a problem he had been mulling over for a while, and this was how he got a clue to it? The solution wasn\'t proven, but it was worth trying.

"I\'ll give you a room."

"Whoo!"

"Just so you know, there\'s no Wi-Fi here yet."

"Damn it..."

"Also, I\'ll arrange the meal with BTA soon. I\'ll give you concert tickets as well."

"Whoo!"

"But in return, you need to either get permission from your grandfather, or go back home in a few days. I\'ll let your grandfather know that you\'re here."

"Boo~"

"The sun hasn\'t come up yet completely, so you should first get some sleep first and─"

"Shh!"

Go Eul-ji\'s expression suddenly changed.

Her youthful look from moments ago disappeared, revealing the face of an experienced Hunter. The previously relaxed atmosphere also turned sharply intense.

Kang Mu-hyuk also tensed up, sensing something was off.

"What is it?"

"The world is really small. I can\'t believe I\'m meeting it here again? Damn rat."

"?"

"Over there!"

Suddenly, Go Eul-ji extended her hand toward a corner of the office.

Out of thin air, a black shadow appeared.

"Urgh!"

The shadow seemed to be suspended in the air as if an invisible hand was clutching its neck.

"Gotcha!"

Go Eul-ji pushed through the space and grabbed the shadow with both hands. The shadow wriggled desperately.

"Oh?"

It seemed impossible for the shadow to escape, but it slipped out of Go Eul-ji\'s grasp and headed for the window.

The moonlight shining through the window revealed the shadow\'s form.

The face was unfamiliar, but not unknown. Kang Muhyuk recognized that face.

"Mis... Wait! Go Eul-ji......"

"Where are you trying to run away?!"

Go Eul-ji charged toward the retreating shadow by the window, activating her telekinesis.

Crash!

The moment the office window shattered, the shadow leaped out. Go Eul-ji also threw herself out of the building, following the shadow.

In mid-air, they tangled and clashed.

Every time Go Eul-ji tried to bind the shadow with her telekinesis, it escaped with incredible timing. Whenever she thought she had caught it, the shadow would slip away using some strange, unknown skill. It was the first time someone had managed to escape her telekinesis to this extent.

Go Eul-ji didn\'t stop trying to overpower them until they hit the ground. She was ready to cramp and crush this entire area if need be.

Meanwhile, Kang Mu-hyuk, left alone in the office, stood by the window where the wind blew in. He looked down at the chaos in the division\'s front yard. Emergency alarms sounded from all directions.

"Damn it, Mr. Cho..."

He didn\'t expect to have two uninvited guests in the middle of the night. He felt Mr. Cho had probably come timing his visit for when he would arrive at work.

"If I don\'t stop this quickly, he\'s going to be upset."

Mr. Cho, although not a guild member, was a VIP who brought in important intel due to past connections. Given her nature, she could easily walk away if she felt slighted.

Mr. Cho could usually evade capture even against top-tier Hunters, but she found herself at a disadvantage against Go Eul-ji\'s powerful telekinetic abilities. But only because it was her against Go Eul-ji, she wasn\'t easily captured.

Just as Kang Mu-hyuk was about to turn and catch the elevator--

Boom!

The surroundings instantly went silent, as if a giant had descended on earth.

Below, the voices of Go Eul-ji and Mr. Cho could be heard.

"C-Cough! W- Wait a moment. Let\'s talk this out... C-Cough!"

"Guild Master Ju Se-ah... So, the thing is, I\'m not a thief... Ugh! Y-You can ask Captain Kang. I\'m telling you I\'m not a thief..."

Grabbing the neck of the two uninvited intruders who barged in there in the middle of the night, Ju Se-ah looked up.

Meeting her gaze, Kang Mu-hyuk nodded and spoke.

"They\'re both my guests."

And with that, the situation was resolved.

"This is really upsetting. Why would I bring such high-quality intel with that brat here?"

"I\'m sorry that she attacked you, Mr. Cho. But sneaking in, especially at dawn, is rude. A phone call would have sufficed."

"That was... I just wanted to take a look... Got curious about this so-called Hunter Village you advertised. Thought I\'d drop by and also drop some intel while I do some sightseeing."

"Were you sightseeing? Or scouting the place?"

"Well... eh, woah, this place is nice. Director Kang, you\'ve made it big, huh? Haha, I knew you\'d go far."

Hearing Mr. Cho\'s awkward excuse, Kang Mu-hyuk then turned to Go Eul-ji.

Feeling a bit guilty, Go Eul-ji shrugged her shoulders and scratched her head.

"It\'s just that, I thought he was some bad guy. Honestly, anyone would if someone sneaks in like that. I mean, what is he, some stealing cat... Watching us secretly like that, anyone would..."

"Anyone wouldn\'t usually break the window, though."

"...Y-yes, you\'re right. I know I shouldn\'t break windows but-... Haha. Will that come out of my salary?"

As Kang Mu-hyuk silently shook his head, Go Eul-ji let out a sigh of relief.

"Phew, thank god. The new merch for the BTA is coming out so... Right! Speaking of which, this guy was at the fan meeting too! Do you have any idea how annoyed I was? I was worried he might ruin the performance! Be thankful I only scared him a bit."

"Hold on. Now that you mention it, you used your telekinesis earlier, didn\'t you? So, were you the one who messed with me that time? Would you look at that? And they say you always meet your enemy on a single-log bridge. Looks like we need to settle the score today, huh?"

"Settle what? You\'re one to say that! Just thinking about how I couldn\'t fully enjoy the concert that day. Ugh! I\'m so mad! Let\'s take this outside, yeah?"

As the two growled and butted heads, Ju Se-ah stepped in between them.

"Both of you, stop."

Thump! Bang!

"Ugh, Guild Master Ju..."

"Ouch! Even Grandpa doesn\'t hit my head... Ah!"

Ju Se-ah put her hand forward for a handshake.

"Captain, is this kid the new recruit? The one you mentioned then."

"Yes. She\'s Chairman Han Byung-gu\'s granddaughter ."

"No need to say it, I can tell. She\'s exactly like her grandfather."

"Me?! No way!"

Ju Se-ah ignored Go Eul-ji\'s outcry and turned her attention to Mr. Cho.

"Is this the informant you mentioned before?"

"Yes. She\'s the best in Korea."

"I told you I\'m the best in the world!"

"Didn\'t the Hunter\'s Association catch you?"

"Well, maybe the best in Asia then..."

Ju Se-ah turned her head away from Mr. Cho, who was modestly negotiating her title, and said, "Regardless of everything else, when it comes to being clueless about the situation, these two seem to be the best in the world."

""What about me?!""

The two uninvited guests shouted at the same time, growling and glaring at each other.

Kang Mu-hyuk also nodded, agreeing with Ju Se-ah\'s observation, and then addressed Mr. Cho.

"By the way, you attend idol fan meetings too?"

"Do you think I went there for some idol nonsense? It was for work."

"How dare you call my dear BTA members nonsense... My goodness, this is ridiculous. Wanna get beat the shit out of you by a fan of that \'nonsense\'-... Ack! Eek, that hurts. Not my hair..."

When Ju Se-ah glared, Go Eul-ji quickly shut her mouth.

She had just experienced Ju Se-ah\'s terror a moment ago. Even though she was bound by telekinesis, maybe because her resistance to special abilities was high, it was virtually useless on her.

She tightened her grip on her even more, but she broke free with brute strength and just pounced on her. It was like a scene straight out of a horror movie.

Mr. Cho chuckled, finding the situation amusing, but under Ju Se-ah\'s burning gaze, Go Eul-ji had no choice but to remain silent.

With Go Eul-ji quiet, Kang Mu-hyuk continued the conversation.

"Does that have to do with the intel you\'re here with?"

"Yeah, this is superb intel. You\'ll have to pay a pretty penny for it, heh!"

"What\'s the information?"

"Don\'t be shocked now. The Japanese sent an assassination squad to kill you."

"..."

"Huh? Why aren\'t you surprised? I even used a translator to get this information. Or, are you too shocked to react?"

Ju Se-ah pointed at Mr. Cho and asked Kang Mu-hyuk, "Is he really the best?"

"For now... Yes, he is the best."

"I think we seriously need to consider changing our informant."

"What\'s with this atmosphere? What is it? Why are you acting like that?"

Kang Mu-hyuk ran his hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head before speaking to Mr. Cho.

"We already know that the Japanese Guild Alliance sent an assassination group called Iga Clan to kill me. Your information is a bit late this time."

Mr. Cho was visibly startled, her mouth flapping open and closed.

\'Did he make a deal with another informant? No, more importantly, I\'m... late? That can\'t be right.\'

Go Eul-ji, grasping the situation, now mocked Mr. Cho in turn, as if finding karmic satisfaction.

"The best, she says. Oh, how embarrassing. And to think she got caught by me too. If she\'s the best, then anyone and everyone could be the best."

"No, no. This can\'t be true. R-Right, it can\'t. Yeah, if only I knew Japanese, I could have gotten the information faster... No, the translation item. Right. I gotta buy it even if I have to take a loan."

As Go Eul-ji teased Mr. Cho, causing her to cover her ears in distress, Ju Se-ah sighed once again.

"You\'re saying that\'s our informant, our best prospect? I didn\'t sigh this much even over the complete chaos the guild was in before you arrived. Suddenly, I find myself missing the Slayer Guild."

"While we\'re on the topic, I have a favor to ask, Guild Master."

"What is it?"

"Please take Go Eul-ji under your wing as her mentor."

"Eek!!!"

Go Eul-ji screamed.

Ju Se-ah took a good, long look at Go Eul-ji before one corner of her mouth curled up.

"The Guild Master as a mentor? Kid, you\'ve hit the jackpot. Let\'s give it a try. It\'ll be fun."

Go Eul-ji couldn\'t bring herself to protest against Ju Se-ah. Instead, she just glared at Kang Mu-hyuk.

\'I think I shouldn\'t have run away. Grandpa, I miss you.\'

Just then, Mr. Cho, on the verge of tears from frustration, shouted out loud.

"I know where they all are, you know!"

Kang Mu-hyuk and Ju Se-ah simultaneously turned to look at Mr. Cho.

Kang Mu-hyuk, looking down at her, said to Ju Se-ah, "It seems she really is the best after all."

"You\'re right. The best. Indeed."