The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

Chapter 258

At that moment,

"Oh no, this is bad."

*Whoosh!*

A shadow surged up from the ground, swallowing "it" into the darkness. The middle-aged man—or rather, the thing he had become—vanished without a trace. Just as the people who had been watching began to murmur, the man who had collapsed saw something in his field of vision: a pistachio-strawberry frappuccino, topped with an absurd amount of whipped cream.

"Are you alright?"

The man struggled to lift his head. Standing before him was a young man in a black suit and sunglasses, casually holding the frappuccino. He extended an empty hand toward the man, as if offering help.

"Come on, let's get you up."

The man shakily took the hand, and with seemingly no effort, the young man pulled him to his feet. After taking a sip of his drink, the young man pushed his sunglasses up with the palm of his hand.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"N-No… thank you. But what just—"

"Hallucination."

"What?"

"A Rift opened nearby. Looks like a monster capable of inducing hallucinations slipped out. Honestly, I almost got fooled myself."

"H-Hallucination? But I—"

"Oh, who am I, you ask? Fair question." The young man grinned and pulled an ID card from inside his jacket, showing it off. The name read: *A Very Small Miracle Minggijeok, Wave Guild.* With a casual pat on the man's shoulder, Minggijeok brushed off some of the dust.

"The monster’s taken care of, so no need to worry."

"T-Thank you…."

"By the way, I’ll just take your business card." Minggijeok casually flicked the man’s card between his fingers, seemingly having grabbed it without the man noticing. "No need to pull it out—I already did."

Still too stunned to think, the man watched as Minggijeok tucked the card behind his own ID and then pointed with his thumb to the green bus approaching the stop.

"Your bus, the 1113, is here. I wish you a safe trip home. Take care, everyone!"

With that, Minggijeok bowed politely and, as if melting into the shadows, disappeared in an instant. The man stared blankly at the spot where he had been. A hallucination? That couldn't be.

What had happened was real.

A real human had turned into a monster….

*Screech!* The green bus stopped at the station, its doors opening as passengers flooded out. The man stumbled backward, trying to avoid the crowd, when—

He noticed small drops of white liquid splattered on the ground.

The liquid shimmered with an unsettling glow.

---

*Screeeech.*

The monster’s horrific wail echoed through the meeting room. Minggijeok picked up the remote and paused the recording. The screen froze on the grotesquely twisted figure, neither fully human nor monster, with its maw wide open.

"......"

There were only two people in the meeting room of the Wave Guild. Minggijeok stirred his frappuccino absentmindedly, glancing across the table at Jeongbin, whose face had turned unusually pale. Minggijeok figured his own face must look similar. Stopping his stirring, Minggijeok asked,

"Did the Awakener Management Bureau know about this?"

"...No, we didn’t." Jeongbin mumbled, pressing his fingertips together.

"We thought it was just an issue with the Corrupted Dungeon. The Rift Management Bureau assumed the same."

"None of us expected humans to mutate into monsters. Not like this."

Jeongbin sighed heavily, rubbing at his eyes. Minggijeok pushed his sunglasses up his nose, narrowing his dark, expressionless eyes.

"This is a civilian who transformed. It’s not the same as those who mutate from drugs—the form and the process are different."

"......"

"Not that the general public could tell the difference."

"What about the person… no, the monster you captured?"

"I’ve trapped it in my shadow for now, but I can’t hold it for long. To be honest, it’s putting up quite a fight and making me queasy."

To prove his point, Minggijeok turned his head and gagged, covering his mouth. Jeongbin closed his eyes slowly and opened them again.

"Could you keep it under the Wave Guild’s custody for the time being?"

"Guild Master and Vice Guild Master are both away, so I can’t get approval right now."

"I’ll take responsibility."

"In that case, I’ll do it."

Minggijeok wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, lowering his voice.

"You’ll need to make sure this stays under wraps."

"......"

Instead of answering, Jeongbin let out another small sigh. Minggijeok began ticking off things on his fingers.

"First, contact Godeungeo and the National Intelligence Service. Wipe any online mentions of this, especially on the dark web. Manipulate public opinion if necessary."

"How far do you think it will spread?"

"Who knows? In this digital age, where everything is recorded on video…." Minggijeok pointed at the screen with his index finger.

"Luckily, only the CCTV cameras recorded this scene. It all happened so fast, so you just need to delete the files. You’re the expert at this, after all."

"......"

"What we need to focus on most…."

"The rumors, right. I know."

The fact was clear—humans were mutating into monsters. They had the evidence right in front of them. But without knowing who, what conditions triggered the transformation, or how it worked, releasing that information to the public would lead to chaos.

‘It’ll create even more panic.’

There were already rumors of Awakeners turning into monsters. If people found out that ordinary humans were transforming as well….

The hatred against Awakeners would spike, people who fit the criteria for mutation would be isolated, and many would be driven to suicide out of fear. Jeongbin pulled out his phone from his suit pocket and asked,

"You witnessed the mutation firsthand. Was there anything unusual?"

"The person seemed really unwell. He kept coughing."

"Coughing?"

"Yeah, like he was coughing his lungs out."

"......"

Minggijeok gagged again before pushing his sunglasses up.

"It’s such a common symptom. That’s the problem."

"Indeed…." Jeongbin rubbed the back of his neck, feeling an ominous sensation building. Every time he looked at the frozen image of the monster on the screen, dread crept up on him. Finally, he blurted out the thought he had been holding back.

"If… if those white monsters are the result of humans mutating…."

"......"

"Then all the monsters from the Corrupted Dungeons—"

"That’s enough." 

Jeongbin looked up. Minggijeok swirled the remains of his frappuccino and waved his hand. Two tiny shadow puppets appeared on Jeongbin’s desk, dancing as they traced hearts above their heads.

"Thinking too much will just make you age faster."

"......"

"Try to live young. You need to last a long time, after all."

Jeongbin let out a quiet chuckle. He poked one of the shadow puppets with his finger. The puppet hopped and scurried away, dodging his touch.

"You're not the one to be giving that advice."

---

*Thud!* Honeybee kicked away some rubble with surprising grace, sending fragments scattering in all directions. Hands on her hips, she bent over and groaned.

"How the hell are there no monsters left? There's nothing to even put in the report! 'Explored 20 km, found nothing.' One sentence and we’re done."

"Shall we… huff, head back? Huff… cough, cough."

The young man carrying the heavy equipment was panting heavily. As a D-rank Hunter in the HB Guild’s investigation team, his stamina was clearly inferior to the S- and A-rank Hunters. Not to mention he was lugging around a heavy machine. Honeybee let out an exasperated groan and turned to Uijae.

"Are you sure there’s not a single one?"

"Yes. My ability didn’t detect anything."

"Hah… Fine. Let’s head back. Doesn’t seem like anything’s going to pop up here. I can’t exactly create monsters out of thin air."

"Thank you… cough!"

"Why are you coughing so much? You need more stamina training when we get back. Drink some water."

Honeybee pulled a bottle of water from her inventory, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to the young man. He took it with trembling hands, nodding gratefully. Uijae noticed the shaking and asked,

"By the way, what’s that machine for?"

"Oh, it’s for detecting monster density inside the dungeon. We brought it to see if it would work in the Corrupted Dungeon, but… no luck."

*Cough! Cough!* 

Suddenly, the young man, who had been drinking water, started coughing violently, as if something had gone down the wrong pipe. Honeybee, startled, patted his shoulder.

"Hey, did you drink too fast?"

*Cough, wheeze….*

But his breathing didn’t settle. His shoulders shook more violently with each passing second. Lee Sa-young, who had been staring off into the distance with his hands in his coat pockets, suddenly turned his head. His violet eyes locked onto the young man, then hardened. Grabbing Uijae by the arm, he pulled him back.

"Step away."

"What? Why?"

"Honeybee, you too. Move."

"Huh?"

"Move!"

Just as Sa-you

ng shouted—

*Plop.*

White liquid dripped onto the ground.

Honeybee stared blankly at the young man. From his nose and mouth, thick, milky-white liquid was dripping down. He reached a trembling hand toward her.

And then—

A brilliant white light exploded outward.