Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Predator (3)

"Have you ever dated before?"

While she was fervently practicing dark magic, Hwang Yeon-ji paused to see who had just asked her such an absurd question.

'What is she suddenly talking about now?'

Shin Ah-yeon.

She had been hiding away for a while, not even thinking of coming to Unique, and then she just showed up out of nowhere to ask this. If Hwang Yeon-ji had known, she would have followed the other trainee hunters of Unique out when they left.

If she had, she wouldn't have had to listen to such a ridiculous question.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"I want some dating advice. You look like you have a lot of experience... and, you're older than me."

Though she currently appeared to be in her early-to-mid teens, thinking about her as 'Ji Yeon-hwa', she actually was over thirty now.

"Wouldn't that normally mean you have plenty of dating experience?"

"..."

Confronted by Shin Ah-yeon's question, Hwang Yeon-ji stopped her repeated practice of third-circle dark magic and hesitated, unsure how to answer.

'I don't have any.'

She sometimes wondered just what Shin Ah-yeon thought a mage was.

Ji Yeon-hwa had been a promising mage in her early thirties, on the verge of becoming S-rank.

She was even called the next great mage, and she had worked hard to earn that title.

Of course, she minimized TV appearances and only cleared her assigned quota of dungeons.

The rest of her time—every bit of it—was spent learning magic. That was her, Ji Yeon-hwa.

'When on earth would I have time to date, you brat.'

Frankly, she wanted to snap back like that.

But she couldn't quite bring herself to say it aloud.

"Of course... obviously?"

"Right? I heard you had a bunch of scandals and were super popular."

Those so-called scandals—as expected, they were all nonsense.

She had just visited a favorite restaurant once and happened to bump into another hunter, and the next day, there was an article about it.

Back then, she'd been quite pretty, maybe not as much as Shin Ah-yeon but enough, and she'd been popular, so it was bound to happen.

So, Shin Ah-yeon's words weren't exactly wrong.

Yes, there really had been scandals, and yes, she was really popular.

But that didn't translate into actual dating.

'But still...'

She couldn't bring herself to tell an eight-years-younger junior who had come to her for dating advice, "I've never dated, even into my thirties."

"Th-then, why ask me? There are plenty of other people you could ask. Like that Manager Park, for instance."

"..."

Why did she suddenly go silent?

Feeling Shin Ah-yeon's quiet gaze, Hwang Yeon-ji was puzzled.

"It's just... you're more comfortable for me, ajumma."

"Me? Why?"

"You can't betray me."

"..."

The harshness of Shin Ah-yeon's words strangely reminded Hwang Yeon-ji of Park Jung-woo.

Perhaps spending so much time together had made them similar.

But, like Shin Ah-yeon said, Hwang Yeon-ji couldn't betray Shin Ah-yeon.

After all, she had magically put that kind of 'leash' on herself.

"You have a lot of romantic experience, no risk of rumors, where else would I find someone like that but you, ajumma?"

"That's all well and good, but please stop calling me ajumma."

"Then will you give me advice? If you do, I'll just call you Yeon-ji from now on."

This damn brat. Hwang Yeon-ji swallowed back curses she couldn't say aloud and had no choice but to nod.

'Just making her stop calling me ajumma isn't half bad.'

Thinking that, it suddenly occurred to her she hadn't asked the most important question.

"So, if this is about dating, do you... perhaps like someone...?"

"W-what are you talking about! It's a f-friend's story, a friend's."

"Ah, a friend."

So it was a friend's story.

It was only then that Hwang Yeon-ji was convinced.

'But does she even have friends?'

The thought crossed her mind for a brief moment, but she didn't dwell on it—there's no one in the world without at least one friend.

"So, this is about a friend..."

Relieved by Hwang Yeon-ji's acceptance, Shin Ah-yeon continued with a calm expression.

Anyone of sound mind could have guessed that what Shin Ah-yeon was saying was really about herself.

But not having dated or been given dating advice herself, Hwang Yeon-ji simply accepted it and listened quietly.

On the surface, it looked like a woman in her twenties was asking a young girl for dating advice, but fortunately, the two of them were alone in the training room.

***

After finishing work at the Awakener Crime Investigation Division, Lee Soo-ah and I scheduled a separate appointment to visit the broadcasting station.

As Superintendent Shim Hyuk-soo had mentioned earlier, we needed to shoot a public service announcement.

"Manager, who do you think this 'Predator' person is?"

On the way to the broadcasting station, it seemed Soo-ah was mulling over the documents she had just read about 'Predator'. It wasn't a typical case, after all.

'The civilians were just killed, but...'

In two of the three incidents—except the very first—hunters had been killed.

The first time, two C-rank hunters; the second, one B-rank hunter.

The problem was the state of the bodies.

"All three of them had their mana halls devoured, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you think the demons you know of could have done this? It doesn't seem like something an ordinary person could do."

That was also a point I had been considering.

There was definitely something off about this to call it the work of ordinary humans or monsters.

"The CCTV caught a human shape, so isn't it likely the work of a demon?"

The file Superintendent Shim showed us included a photo of 'Predator' killing the B-rank hunter. The face was hidden, so it couldn't be seen clearly, but it definitely wasn't a monster.

But seeing the footage of the mana hall being devoured, it was also hard to see it as human.

That's probably why Soo-ah concluded it was a demon.

I agreed with her on that point, too.

'But what could demons possibly want with a human's mana hall?'

I tried to think it through, but couldn't come up with a reason.

The 'heart' power that demons possess is overwhelmingly stronger than an average awakener's mana hall. Why would they bother taking it?

'There's no clear purpose.'

What's the point of indiscriminately attacking hunters like this?

Superintendent Shim even looked into their personal relationships, but the victims had nothing in common.

Their abilities weren't anything special either, so it seemed to be sheer random murder.

"Manager, um... there's something I'd like to propose."

"A proposal?"

"Yes. If you don't mind, would you like to check out the area near the scenes of the incidents with me tonight?"

It was a rather bold suggestion, but I found it curious.

"Aren't we supposed to start the investigation the day after tomorrow? Why go tonight...?"

"I trust Superintendent Shim, but I can't really trust the other two hunters. More than that, manager, you can't move around freely, can you?"

"Ah."

"If these crimes are related to demons, then manager, you'd know best, so wouldn't it be more efficient for us to move together?"

She had a point. Setting aside whether or not I could fight, if anyone else besides Shin Ah-yeon or Soo-ah was around, it would severely limit what I could say.

Especially regarding demons—I couldn't even mention them.

"No. Once it's a matter for investigation, we have to report to Superintendent Shim without fail."

"I figured...."

"But... there's nothing we can do if we 'happen' to run into the culprit by chance."

"!!"

Soo-ah, who had looked disappointed, finally looked up with a delighted expression.

We absolutely mustn't take it upon ourselves to 'investigate' at our own discretion, but if we happened to encounter the culprit by coincidence?

One of the rights given to S-rank hunters is autonomous engagement rights in special situations.

This special situation meant they could engage in battle without a separate report upon encountering threats, such as a sudden gate opening or a dungeon that endangers citizens.

That was why Shin Ah-yeon and Baek Hojun could respond to Ji Yeon-hwa's rampage without prior reporting.

"So, let's take a quick look around. That should be enough for you, right, Soo-ah-ssi?"

"Ah, yes!"

At my words, Soo-ah smiled in relief.

Whether or not we'd encounter the culprit, she looked satisfied just with this.

'She must want to solve the murder case as soon as possible.'

It was indeed a matter that needed to be resolved urgently.

However, the culprit had gone into hiding after the last incident, and while they'd been searching for traces nonstop, they'd run into a dead end. If we didn't hurry to catch him now, the trail would go cold, and it could lead to an even greater disaster.

"All right. Let's visit the broadcasting station first, then head to the scene in Sillim."

"Yes!"

No matter what, the culprit was still at large, and the ad had to be filmed as planned.

Part of the reason I became a PR ambassador for preventing awakened crime was to borrow police authority, but exposing Soo-ah as much as possible in a public service announcement was important as well.

'Unlike regular ads, public announcements are good for image-making.'

Soo-ah's image had improved a lot after stopping Ji Yeon-hwa's rampage and her fight with Baek Hojun.

Now that her injuries had healed and her beauty was apparent, she had gotten much more popular, but there were still traces of her past left.

'Party Breaker Lee Soo-ah'—

Even now, stories about that period would pop up, so she needed something like a public service announcement to solidify a proper image.

In a way, it was the opposite path from Shin Ah-yeon, who needed to break out of her upright image.

'If we solve this case, too...'

It would definitely help Soo-ah.

It wouldn't just be an ad for appearances—she'd also have real investigative results.

'Predator.'

It didn't really worry me.

No matter how powerful an over-A-rank awakened they were, Soo-ah was S-rank.

No matter how skilled the culprit was, they would be no match.

But something was nagging at me.

I couldn't tell what it was.

***

Sillim was one of the neighborhoods with the highest concentration of hunters.

It was home to cheap hunter equipment auction houses and various shops.

Hunters from major management agencies didn't really need to go there, but those from small agencies often had to get their own gear.

The equipment was expensive, after all.

"I used to come here often, but it's really been a while."

Soo-ah spoke, her face tinged with nostalgia.

It seemed her desire to come to Sillim wasn't simply to solve the case.

"Do you know anyone in Sillim?"

"Not really anyone in particular..."

Her vague smile and evasive reply made me sweat inwardly.

'I shouldn't have asked.'

She'd gotten much more cheerful lately, and was surprisingly even better than Shin Ah-yeon at dealing with people—so much so that I sometimes almost forgot she had been ostracized among hunters not long ago.

Her hometown was Daejeon, after all, and she had only come to Seoul for hunter work, so she probably didn't know anyone here.

"Still, I learned a lot from those days. I got the nickname 'Party Breaker', but it helped me on broadcasts, too."

"I think I spoke without enough consideration. I'm sorry."

"N-no, really, it's fine!"

Soo-ah shook her head with a flustered face at my apology.

Then she grinned brightly.

"If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have met you, manager. Thanks to that, I'm happy with how things turned out."

She said that and walked right up to me.

As Soo-ah naturally held onto the edge of my clothes and looked up at me, I realized for sure how much brighter she had become.

"Oh, right. Manager, there's an artifact shop here that I know is pretty good. If you have time, maybe we could—"

And just as Soo-ah quietly began her suggestion, staring at me—

KWAANG!!

Suddenly, a powerful explosion rang out from somewhere.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
【Σ(°ロ°)】