Chapter 82

She just asked outright. I decided, deliberately, to play dumb at least once.

"I don’t know what you mean."

"Haha, don’t be like that. I only asked because I’ve heard things."

"Heard things?"

Song Hwayoung nodded. She was probably talking about what Joo Seowon had leaked.

"Where did it come from...."

"That I can’t tell you. But as you know, Hunter Seo, my information network isn’t exactly shoddy...."

"Right."

"More than anything, this is a perfectly reasonable question that comes out of pure logic, so I want you to answer sincerely."

After saying that, Song Hwayoung paused for a moment before adding an explanation to her own words.

"Maybe it’s because you’re not the kind of person to be so thorough, but to me your actions looked suspicious, to say the least."

"......."

"The first time we met was the day you helped the Haeseong guild master, and later when you went into that quest-type dungeon on your own, the Haeseong guild master just happened to be there again.... And now I hear you and the Haeseong guild master are exchanging messages regularly."

Hearing it all laid out, yeah, it did sound suspicious as hell. Even if Joo Seowon hadn’t told her I was shady, she would’ve suspected me anyway.

But what was funny was that, for all that suspicion, I was actually pretty damn innocent.

Maybe she took my pause as me struggling to find words because she’d hit a nerve, because Song Hwayoung threw in a softer line to ease the tension.

"Of course it could just be a personal acquaintance. I don’t want to meddle in your friendships. I don’t even bother you about working with Dr. Sung Eunha of Neo Core. I’m open-minded."

"......."

"But the Haeseong guild master is a different matter."

She warmed up the mood only to turn serious in an instant—her whole demeanor was optimized for psychological warfare. I swear I never once thought Song Hwayoung and Im Haekyung were alike, but in this, maybe they were a bit similar.

'Well, though their methods are completely different.'

Song Hwayoung curved her lips into a faint smile and waited in silence, as if to say she’d let me answer.

"So what you’re saying is, you see me as a spy from Haeseong?"

"......."

At my question, Song Hwayoung dropped her smile and let out a small sigh. Then, as if troubled, she touched her forehead and muttered.

"Didn’t think you’d call it out so directly."

"I wondered if I’d misunderstood you."

"...No, you’re right. That’s what I was asking. Did Haeseong send you?"

That question I could answer clearly. Because it really wasn’t true.

"No."

When I answered firmly, Song Hwayoung stared at me for a moment, as if gauging whether I was lying, then the corner of her lips curled upward.

"It’s true."

"......."

'An item.'

Not surprising anymore. Sure, if you pay money you can buy items that let you tell truth from lies—no way someone like Song Hwayoung wouldn’t use one.

'So Joo Seowon must’ve flipped this against her, huh?'

I thought about how he’d gotten her to trust him, then dropped it. Even if I figured it out, it wasn’t like I could replicate it.

Song Hwayoung said in exasperation:

"So all of that was just pure coincidence?"

"I do have a personal line of contact with the Haeseong guild master."

Even if I’d ignored her messages for weeks, that still counted as personal contact. At my words, Song Hwayoung’s brows twitched.

"And I also know you and the Haeseong guild master are personally acquainted."

"That information came from Haeseong?"

"From Hunter Joo."

"Hm."

Nodding as if convinced, Song Hwayoung fixed her gaze on the table.

Of course, what I’d heard from Joo Seowon went beyond just “they know each other.” I knew exactly what had gone down between them. And I figured Song Hwayoung could guess that much too.

I used her silence as a chance to recall what Joo Seowon had told me about the relationship between Im Haekyung and Song Hwayoung.

According to him, the root of all the trouble was that Im Haekyung had used a mind-control skill on Song Hwayoung.

'He used it on her... why?'

'Not just her.'

Im Haekyung was a rare mental-type Awakened. Technically, if you count minor skills, there are plenty of mental-type Awakened out there, but not a single one anywhere in the world had stats that compared to Im Haekyung.

A skill that lets you control someone’s mind, cut off their thoughts at will, make them believe someone else’s desire is their own.

Just hearing that sounds absurdly dangerous, doesn’t it?

And this bastard wasn’t just any hunter—he was the S-rank master of Korea’s number one guild. Like hell he wasn’t going to get pushback. Not just pushback either—people were openly questioning whether it was safe to let someone who could control minds walk free.

That was exactly why Im Haekyung intentionally downplayed his powers.

An S-rank hunter undervaluing his own abilities? Of course it wasn’t humility—it was so he could act without all that scrutiny.

So he made himself out to be a "strong, but physically useless S-rank," and shockingly, people bought it. Bought it really well.

'Hell, just looking at the comment sections online proves it.'

The fact that public opinion doubted how strong an S-rank mental Awakened was? That it had become a common take? That was insane in itself.

But the root of it all was his skill.

'He brainwashed people. Into believing he was safe.'

'You can brainwash emotions too?'

'Emotions are the foundation of brainwashing. Thought itself is rooted in emotion. ...Not that you’d know, being a psychopath.'

'Seowon. The fuck are you talking about.'

When I asked if he was ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) sure, Joo Seowon nodded and added:

'Apparently he used it little by little on the people he saw often. Even journalists and interviewers, I think.'

'But could that really be enough to sour things between him and Song Hwayoung?'

I knew firsthand that getting hit by a mental skill wasn’t exactly pleasant, but if they’d been as close as I’d heard, I doubted that alone would make her hostile to him to this extent.

And of course, Im Haekyung never did just one thing.

'He apparently tampered with some of Song Hwayoung’s memories. And some personal ones got mixed in. That’s where the backlash really came from.'

'Why the hell mess with her memories too?'

'She said it was because she’s an A-rank Awakened, but who knows. Unless you ask Im Haekyung himself, you’ll never know.'

Would he even answer if you asked? That was questionable in itself.

Either way, Im Haekyung’s brainwashing got undone in an A-rank dungeon, the “Valley of Essence,” that the two of them entered together. The dungeon’s skill-nullifying effect broke the brainwashing, and Song Hwayoung finally woke from it.

Afterward, feeling betrayed, she confronted Im Haekyung about the ethics of his skill use, but they didn’t see eye to eye. From my point of view, he was just being a psychopath, plain and simple.

Still, even after hearing all that, I couldn’t quite make sense of one thing.

'What the hell is Im Haekyung thinking?'

I couldn’t read any hostility from him toward Song Hwayoung. For her, sure, she’d been a victim, so her animosity was understandable. Given he was an S-rank, her level of caution made sense too.

But Im Haekyung? He didn’t seem to feel any resentment at all toward her. If anything, he almost seemed... favorable.

He went out of his way to head to Sokcho to save SH hunters, and when I—someone in SH—asked for help, he came without complaint. That didn’t look like hostility.

And he never mentioned her one way or the other, so it was damn near impossible to figure out what he was really thinking.

'Or maybe... he just doesn’t give a damn?'

Either way, the intel Joo Seowon had dug up about them was less useful than I’d hoped. I’d been aiming to uncover Im Haekyung’s weaknesses, but instead I only learned something closer to Song Hwayoung’s.

Still, just because I hadn’t nailed down a weakness didn’t mean I could avoid him forever.

Not just because of the personal risk of ignoring an S-rank hunter’s messages endlessly, but for a few other reasons too.

'First of all, I need to know what kind of brainwashing he used on Do Yehyun.'

Nothing’s happened since then, but who knows when a variable might pop up. I couldn’t just leave it be.

And there was another reason to meet him....

'What the hell did I see back then?'

The dream I’d had right after Im Haekyung used his skill in that quest-type dungeon—when he scrambled my mind—was still vivid.

He’d shown me "the past with Kwon Taehan." From the very first life.

'Why?'

I didn’t know the exact mechanism, but given it had happened right after he used his skill, it didn’t feel like coincidence. Just once wasn’t enough to be certain, though.

As I sank into those long thoughts, Song Hwayoung pulled me back to the present in an instant.

"Then you’ve probably heard the gist of what happened between me and the Haeseong guild master."

"Yes."

Tapping the table with her finger, Song Hwayoung explained seriously:

"But, Hunter Seo. Don’t take mental-type hunters too lightly. You never know what might’ve been done to you without your knowledge."

"......."

"I’m saying you might be acting as a spy without even realizing it."

A possibility that sounded all too plausible—but I had clear proof to refute it.

"No."

"How can you be so sure?"

Song Hwayoung furrowed her brow slightly. How could I? Simple—because I’d experienced it myself.

I answered plainly.

"I got hit by a skill once, back in that quest-type dungeon."

"What?"

"My body’s not very durable, so I ended up with a nosebleed and fainted."

"......."

At my answer, Song Hwayoung went silent. Looked like her item confirmed once again that I was telling the truth.

And here I was, living a life where I had to openly admit I couldn’t even withstand an S-rank skill....