The three people, determined and with a sense of urgency, were stunned.
"No, what is this...?"
Han Jae-young, the first to regain his senses, tried to speak, but just then, the summoned beast rushed toward Jeong Da-on and jumped into her arms.
"King! Kingkingking!"
The beast was clearly wagging its tail and barking enthusiastically, as if asking for praise.
Jeong Da-on petted the dog as if it were nothing unusual.
"Good job, finding the way."
Seeing this peaceful scene, Lee Pyeong-hwa, in disbelief, shouted.
"Hey, Jeong Da-on!"
"You don't have to shout, I can hear you."
"What's going on here?!"
How could the person who had been kidnapped be lying so peacefully on a sofa like this?!
And more than anything…
"Why the hell do you have your phone and yet you didn't contact us?!"
Jeong Da-on's hand held a phone!
"Are you crazy? Are you trying to die?!"
"Ah, there was a reason for that."
"A reason?!"
"Well, when I was at the hospital, I kept using Wi-Fi, but I never bought a new SIM card. And here, there’s no Wi-Fi, so I had no way to contact you…"
"You could just use roaming! Don’t you know how to roam?!"
"Isn’t international calls expensive?"
"Is that what you’re going to say right now?!"
Wham!
Lee Pyeong-hwa grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at Jeong Da-on. The frustration she had felt during basic military training with Jeong Da-on ca rushing back.
As they watched this sitcom-like scene, Han Jae-young finally opened his mouth.
To be honest, he was just as bewildered.
"...No, seriously, what’s going on here? Can you explain?"
"Yeah, I was actually waiting for this."
Jeong Da-on, who had blocked Lee Pyeong-hwa’s cushion attack with one hand, sat up properly.
"Listen. I ca up with a plan…"
Just then, they heard rustling noises from the kitchen, which was connected to the living room, and soon a woman limped into the living room.
"Leila Lopez!"
Swoosh!
Lee Pyeong-hwa, who had been hitting Jeong Da-on with the cushion in disbelief, quickly threw it aside and drew a longsword.
While it might not be much compared to veteran hunters, if they followed the plan—hit and retreat—it would work!
"Wait, hold on."
However, Jeong Da-on waved her hand.
"This person isn’t an enemy."
"...What?"
Lee Pyeong-hwa blinked in surprise.
"No, the one who kidnapped you...?"
"It turns out there was a reason."
"Yes, that's right."
Leila Lopez, smiling as she spoke, looked very stiff.
Lee Pyeong-hwa turned to glance at Han Jae-young and Yoo Han-ul. As seasoned veterans, they would surely be able to give so advice on what to do in this situation.
"........."
"........."
Seeing that their reactions were not much different from his own, Lee Pyeong-hwa squeezed his eyes shut.
What on earth was going on here?
After a long silence, Han Jae-young spoke first, his tone suddenly serious.
"Han-ul."
"Ugh, disgusting."
"Did you perhaps get it wrong? Didn’t Da-on… or I an, wasn’t it Da-on who kidnapped Leila Lopez?"
"...I’m not that out of it, you know…"
"No, you’ve been acting strange since the last dungeon. And no matter how you look at it, the one who got attacked is Lopez, right? Look at her."
As Han Jae-young said, Leila Lopez had white bandages wrapped tightly around her leg.
It seed like the injury hadn’t been properly treated, and blood was still seeping through.
Yoo Han-ul fell silent, unsure of what to say.
They had definitely encountered an injured person during their outside search, and it was lucky that it wasn’t Jeong Da-on, but…
He never would have expected the injured person to be one of the kidnappers.
Leila Lopez gave Han Jae-young a silent nod.
"...Long ti no see, Jae-young. I’m sorry to see you under these circumstances."
The chanical tone of the translation software sounded ominous.
Also, she was glancing at Jeong Da-on from ti to ti, and it was obvious that she was trying to gauge the situation.
‘She didn’t used to be like this.’
She was a woman who had risen to an executive position at the Hunter Headquarters.
And she had, naturally, an imnse sense of pride and self-respect befitting her status.
But seeing her look so defeated like this...
If soone who didn’t know the situation were to witness this, they would have thought that Leila was the one who had been kidnapped.
Han Jae-young looked back and forth between Leila and Jeong Da-on.
"Seriously, can you explain what’s going on? Why are the two of you sitting here so peacefully?"
"Well, I was actually preparing tea. Please sit down."
Tea?
Han Jae-young looked at her in confusion, but Leila limped over to the table and set down five teacups.
"........."
What was even going on here...
They all sat down around the table, but this awkward tea ti was unlike anything they’d experienced before.
"Being kidnapped… I was really surprised."
And Jeong Da-on, holding a teacup as if she were a butler, spoke with an expressionless face.
Lee Pyeong-hwa, dumbfounded, shot back.
"Your face doesn’t look surprised at all, though."
Of course, Lee Pyeong-hwa felt relieved that Jeong Da-on didn’t appear to be injured.
But at the sa ti, she felt incredibly frustrated.
"So what’s going on? Why is the kidnapped person sitting here, so peacefully, with the kidnapper?"
"I told you, there was a reason. It’s a long story, so listen carefully."
The process of how the acting item, which had been strictly managed in the U.S., ended up in the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break.
The story of how Leila Lopez was abandoned, frad for a cri in the organization she had devoted herself to.
It was a long tale, but at its core, it was a familiar and simple one.
The saying "humans are social animals" was made aningless by the inevitable problems that arose in organizations with people.
"So..."
After hearing the full story, Han Jae-young spoke up.
"Jas Chen is the mastermind behind all this, and Leila Lopez isn’t at fault?"
"Right."
Jeong Da-on nodded.
"I can’t believe that Jas Chen, a senior official at the Hunter Association Headquarters, frad Leila and tried to use as an experint subject. Isn’t it surprising?"
"Wait, hold on."
Han Jae-young frowned and waved his hand.
Jeong Da-on raised an eyebrow.
"What? What’s the problem? This is a perfectly reasonable explanation."
"It’s not the content... Why are you speaking in such a theatrical tone?"
Jeong Da-on twitched her eyebrows.
"...When did I?"
"You’ve been doing it all along."
Especially when Leila, after kidnapping Jeong Da-on, complained about being frad, and Jeong Da-on sympathized and agreed to deal with Jas Chen, the mastermind of all this—it all sounded like a theatrical performance.
"It sounds like a lie."
Although he had known Jeong Da-on for only a few months, there was one thing he had learned.
Jeong Da-on was surprisingly bad at lying.
Her expression was so neutral that it was hard to tell, but once you got used to her, you could see through it quickly.
"It’s not a lie."
Jeong Da-on said it without batting an eye, and Han Jae-young sighed deeply.
Normally, she would speak her mind without hesitation, but suddenly she had to make up a story, and it was so obvious.
"I really don’t understand what you’re thinking, Da-on."
"I don’t particularly…"
"Even if you’re a good person, you don’t have to embrace the person who kidnapped you, right?"
Han Jae-young gave Leila a suspicious look.
"........."
When their eyes t, Leila looked frustrated, as if she had been called a kidnapper.
But no matter how much she claid to be frad, the fact that Jeong Da-on understood and believed her was undeniable.
She had even gone so far as to defend Leila herself.
‘Did Lopez threaten her or sothing?’
It seed like Lee Pyeong-hwa was thinking the sa thing, as she poked Jeong Da-on in the side.
"Hey, just tell us the truth. Are you lying because she threatened you or sothing?"
"Who’s threatening who?"
The one who shouted in anger was, surprisingly, Leila Lopez.
Although, after briefly catching Jeong Da-on’s gaze, her anger seed to subside.
‘What on earth happened here…?’
It didn’t seem like a typical case of captor and victim. It almost felt like a master-servant relationship.
Or a case of blackmail and victim, maybe.
…Except, it did seem that Jeong Da-on was closer to the forr.
"So, what about your leg injury?"
At Han Jae-young’s question, Leila carefully looked at Jeong Da-on before answering.
"This... I got injured while fleeing. It was like this before I t Da-on Hunter."
"Hmm."
It wasn’t strange for Leila to be injured while escaping.
"Da-on."
Yoo Han-ul, who had been watching the situation unfold, spoke up last.
"Anyway, I’m glad you’re okay."
At those words, both Han Jae-young and Lee Pyeong-hwa flinched.
They had forgotten to say this because of the absurd scene they had witnessed.
"And personally, I apologize. Leaving you alone was a mistake in judgnt."
Yoo Han-ul’s apology made one of Jeong Da-on’s eyebrows raise.
That ant she didn’t like his words.
"Why is that your fault? A fugitive infiltrated the embassy and kidnapped . How could you have predicted that?"
Was she comforting her?
"Are you so kind of god?"
No, it seed like Jeong Da-on was simply annoyed by Yoo Han-ul Hunter’s words.
Lee Pyeong-hwa, who had been listening to the conversation, understood that.
‘Well, Jeong Da-on’s like that.’
The fact that Yoo Han-ul was apologizing ant that Jeong Da-on couldn’t handle this situation alone, and such an apology was probably annoying to her.
But still...
For soone like Yoo Han-ul to apologize, and for Jeong Da-on to imdiately take it as an offense...
She was certainly impressive.
Jeong Da-on firmly said.
"Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now."
"That’s true. And Da-on, even if Lopez was frad, we still need to report it..."
"No, that’s not it."
"Huh?"
"Public authorities won’t help in this situation."
"...It’s true that public authorities don’t help most of the ti, but let’s hear what you an. What are you trying to say?"
"Jas Chen and Leila Lopez are essentially the sa."
At those words, Leila flinched.
"Everyone’s targeting because they think I’m an easy target."
That much was true.
Both the Light of Truth Church, who caused the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break, and Jas Chen, who handed over the acting items to the church, had the sa goal.
Perhaps even those who caused the dinsional accident using Lee Seung-hee in the military had the sa goal.
Their individual intentions might be slightly different, but ultimately, they all wanted to control Jeong Da-on, the "new star."
Even Leila Lopez herself had that goal.
"If I report this to the police, it’ll be just like with Imanbok. Returning to Korea won’t change anything. The number of people targeting won’t decrease. The fact that I’m an easy target won’t change."
"...Well, that’s true for now."
Although the people from the Hunter Association and cult leaders were not just "easy targets," she was right.
No matter how much magic they could use, Jeong Da-on was still a young adult.
It was inevitable that other powerful people would look down on her.
"But ultimately, it’s just a matter of ti."
This girl, full of secrets, was bound to grow stronger in ways Han Jae-young hadn’t yet figured out.
And as Jeong Da-on grew stronger, everyone would start calculating the costs and benefits of dealing with her.
"Plus, now that basic military training is over, she’ll join the HP guild, so she’ll be safer."
"No, that’s not enough."
"What do you an, not enough?"
Han Jae-young, asking the question, froze when his eyes t Jeong Da-on’s.
For the first ti since eting her.
In her eyes, which had always seed emotionless, he saw sothing flicker.
"It’s ti we deal with this problem at its root."
That was pure, seething anger.
...What on earth was going on?
For the first ti, Han Jae-young felt a little afraid.
"What... what do you plan to do?"
"Jas Chen will co here tonight."
"What?"
"Da-on, what are you...?"
"That person is coming here?"
At the simultaneous questions of three people, Leila raised her hand to get their attention.
"I called Jas. Since I used Jeong Da-on as bait, he will definitely co here."
And that story was even more shocking.
Who used who as bait to call whom?
"So, Han Jae-young."
"Yes?"
"You need to help ."
"Yes?"
Han Jae-young’s eyes went wide.
"?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)