Jin-tae barked out, asking why they were still being chased. He questioned whether the hunter was really a B-rank, why he couldn't handle these stupid bugs, and why on earth he was running away.
The hunter replied that there were just too many of them, and that if he stopped to fight, the young master would end up in serious danger.
Jin-tae snapped back, saying he was already fed up with this whole situation, and demanding to know whether he now had a completely useless B-rank by his side.
His other friend had his legs slashed as well, and was ultimately mutilated by the insects.
Finally the hunter stopped to face the monsters head-on. Naturally, the monsters seized that exact opening to attack Yun-hee and Jin-tae — but out of nowhere another hunter materialized and slaughtered the insects.
Jin-tae demanded to know who did that.
Seo-yul replied that it was just him. A little watchdog from the department.
Jin-tae cursed at him and claimed that he was the one who had dragged Yun-hee there in the first place.
At that very moment she ran over and hugged Seo-yul, crying her eyes out. He noted that it was the first time he had ever seen her cry.
Jin-tae told the department hunter that he knew the way out, so he was going to take them and lead them straight to the exit.
Yun-hee begged Seo-yul to just ignore him, sobbing that she just wanted to get out of there.
Seo-yul apologized to her, and in the next split second he knocked her unconscious with a quick strike, explaining that he would wrap this up quickly and take her home.
Jin-tae yelled, asking what the hell he thought he was doing.
Seo-yul flatly replied that he had done that to her because this was something she would absolutely hate to witness.
Jin-tae barked, asking whether he had any idea who he was dealing with.
Seo-yul retorted that, as a department hunter, it was impossible not to recognize his pathetic face. Park Jin-tae. The Supreme Court Justice's son. Deeply involved in school violence, theft, driving under the influence, and pretty much every dirty thing you could think of. He had committed multiple crimes and paid his way out of every single one, because his daddy was a judge.
Jin-tae challenged him, asking what he was going to do about it — but while he was still running his mouth, he took a brutal kick straight to the shin and dropped to his knees.
Seo-yul sneered, asking whether it must be real nice to buy your way out of everything with cash, and sarcastically suggesting that maybe he should try buying him off right now to avoid getting beaten to a pulp.
Before he could do anything else, already clutching Jin-tae by the collar, Seo-yul was cut off by that hunter serving the rich brat.
Jin-tae smugly bragged that it was way too late to beg for mercy now, and that he could never beat a B-rank.
And honestly, the long gray-haired man was incredibly fast and lethal with his knife. But Seo-yul managed to deflect every single strike with his spear, stating that he had been going to let it slide with just a warning — except his opponent had officially crossed the line, since they had tried to murder him first. This was strictly self-defense.
He countered with a massive heavy blow that, even though it was blocked, blasted the B-rank hunter right backward.
The man internally panicked, wondering why he was being completely overwhelmed by a mere department hunter. If Seo-yul were a B-rank, he would have recognized him, so he concluded he must be a lower rank. The real problem was that the B-rank was wielding a thin, lightweight sword, while Seo-yul was utilizing a spear, which boasted a much longer reach.
The B-rank desperately tried to close the gap to strike, but Seo-yul grabbed him by the throat with one fist and absolutely leveled him with the other, knocking the opponent down almost instantly.
Jin-tae fell into absolute despair, while Seo-yul looked down, genuinely wondering whether that weakling was actually a B-rank. He thought to himself that maybe he had boosted his own stats lately without even realizing it, and that perhaps he was sitting comfortably at a B-rank level right now.
For some strange reason, that idiot Jin-tae actually thought he could just pick up a rock and ambush Seo-yul from behind, which obviously didn't work out for him. With just a single swift pivot of his spear, the brat was slammed flat onto the ground.
Seo-yul looked down and asked him how it felt, pointing out that a privileged punk like him had probably never been thrashed like this before — whereas the innocent people he had mercilessly tormented for all this time had suffered infinitely more.
Jin-tae spat back that if he had a problem with the way things were, he should have obtained power or money himself, because that is exactly how the world works.
Seo-yul nodded along, agreeing that he used to think the exact same way. Then he added that the world would be a much better place without a hopeless piece of garbage like him in it.
Jin-tae nervously asked what he was planning to do.
Seo-yul told him not to worry, because he wasn't feeling overly ambitious anyway. If he could just make a piece of human trash like him suffer a sufficient amount, that would be more than enough.
So he picked Yun-hee up in his arms and bluntly announced that he was going to leave Jin-tae behind to fend for himself. Since, after all, the bastard had plenty of power and money to back him up.
When he was left behind in the dark, the dungeon monsters obviously closed in and devoured Jin-tae alive.
And just like that, the kidnapping of Yun-hee inside the yellow-tape zone finally came to an end, and she was at long last reunited with her family.
Jung-min, Seo-yul's reliable friend, was waiting for him outside. He reported that the higher-ups had successfully tracked down the corrupt officials who had allowed Jin-tae to enter the restricted area in the first place, and they had officially purged the corrupt elements from the department.
Things got incredibly chaotic. While those crooked officials were being disciplined, the news of the incident spread through the community like wildfire. Eventually the entire scandal was swept clean with the forced resignation of the Supreme Court Justice himself, Park Bun-jin.
Suddenly the system pinged, and Seo-yul received a brand-new elimination quest. Hunt down the Stinghawk Queen, the absolute pinnacle of the swarm, within a strict thirty-day time limit. If he successfully defeated her, he would secure various high-tier items along with a massive bonus of 100 gold as a reward. However, if he failed the quest, his overall combat performance against insect-type monsters would permanently plummet by fifty percent.
The moment Seo-yul had walked out of that dungeon with Yun-hee, he had actually stood face-to-face with the Stinghawk Queen herself, but he had chosen to ignore the monster and avoided engaging in combat at that time.
This time around, he was going to get it done. He knew for a fact that the mere workers possessed enough raw power to trigger a dungeon break, so their queen had to be vastly more powerful.
After that, he said goodbye to the department staff, letting them know he had something urgent to take care of that day and would be leaving early.
The manager replied that it was truly great to see him so active lately, but quickly asked whether he had finished his mounting paperwork.
Seo-yul responded with absolute silence and just walked right out the door.
No. He had definitely not finished that paperwork.
He had exactly one month before the Stinghawk Queen quest expired, and the longer he dragged his feet, the more that monstrous swarm would expand its territory. This meant he needed to ensure he was completely and utterly prepared.
For that exact reason, he went straight to meet up with his master to begin his intense training.