I Opened the Final Boss with My Own Hands – Ch. 30

I Opened the Final Boss with My Own Hands

Chapter 30

“You create such a commotion, and then you use that opportunity to kidnap someone. I don’t even know what you’re planning to do with the people you kidnap.”

It was a method to evade investigation by disguising disappearances as being eaten by monsters or swallowed by a Gate.

The Puppeteer was simply using his surrender as a chance to sabotage that heinous plan one last time.

‘I don’t even have a clue how I got caught.’

There were clearly no eyes on him, so how on earth?

It was fortunate that, thanks to his previous decision to let Yeon-hwa go, she assumed he was just “pretending to be good.” If she had thought it was a complete betrayal, it wouldn’t have ended with just a threat.

“Then why won’t you tell me? Who exactly is the mastermind?”

Yeon-hwa asked, her brow furrowed.

The Puppeteer still did not mention Kang-young to Yeon-hwa.

He hesitated, then stuck his tongue out slightly instead.

“What is this?”

Yeon-hwa frowned and looked closely at his tongue. She didn’t know how it had been carved, but a certain Hanja character was written there.

禁, the character for ‘prohibit.’

She could even feel a faint trace of magical power over the character.

“Should I call it a skill? It activates if I leak information related to the identity of those lunatics.”

“Does it come with a penalty?”

“I die.”

“Who?”

“I die.”

“…Why would you do something like that?”

“Obviously, I was forced into it by those lunatics. There’s no way guys like that would keep an outsider as a partner without any safeguards.”

Yeon-hwa rubbed her forehead.

‘So he had a leash on him.’

That explained why they only gave him warnings when he rebelled.

“Instead of saying it out loud, can’t you write it down?”

“I don’t know if it’s possible or not, so I can’t risk it.”

“Because if you fail, it’s the end.”

“Exactly.”

“Then what about dispelling the skill? Isn’t there a skill that can remove something like that?”

For instance, an EX-rank skill that can open or close anything?

“According to them, it activates even if you just attempt such a thing.”

“They’re thorough, aren’t they?”

Ugh, so frustrating.

Yeon-hwa, who had been thinking about sticking a key into his tongue and turning it, immediately abandoned the plan.

“Unless you know an expert, that is,” the Puppeteer suggested tentatively.

“An expert?”

“The reason I called it a ‘skill’ is because I’m not even sure it’s a normal skill.”

It was different from a standard skill. It didn’t involve the typical manipulation of mana when a skill was activated.

To the Puppeteer, it looked like a mysterious combination of something else entirely.

“It’s probably related to Martial Arts.”

The disease his sibling was suffering from was the same, after all.

“So a Martial Arts expert would know about both?”

“I suppose so.”

“Then I guess I should ask about that, too. But why are you lowering your arms so naturally?”

“…….”

The Puppeteer, who had subtly lowered his arms during the commotion caused by Kang-young’s arrival, raised them back up as if surrendering again.

“You’re quite natural with the pressure.”

Usually, if someone had gone through several harrowing experiences, like almost being kidnapped, it wouldn’t be easy to be this spirited.

To the Puppeteer’s question, Yeon-hwa puffed out her chest and said,

“Because I think I’ll win.”

You said you were the weakest SS-rank, didn’t you? Jin Byeol-rim said so in the Diamond Chat Room.

While the Puppeteer, feeling somewhat looked down upon, made a dumbfounded expression, Yeon-hwa took out her phone and fiddled with it.

“…Don’t tell me you’re that Triple? The one called Hwasan?”

No, that’s not it.

‘That’s at my house… no, next door.’

Ignoring the misguided guess, she dialed a number, but there was no answer.

Tap, tap.

The next number she dialed was the same.

“Hmm?”

It seemed like a complicated problem to handle alone, so she wanted to discuss it first.

“Who are you calling?”

“Byeol-rim unnie and Gyu-yul oppa.”

Ah, is it okay to call him oppa?

While Yeon-hwa pondered the appropriate honorific, the Puppeteer’s face became even more dumbfounded than before.

‘She has wider industry connections than I do?’

And they’re close enough to call each other unnie and oppa?

The Puppeteer, whose only Hunter contact was Choi Gyu-yul, felt himself shrinking.

* * *

At that moment, Jin Byeol-rim had no time to check her phone.

There was no way someone who had just rammed her body through the front gate of the Hunter Association headquarters could afford such leisure.

A woman trampled over the detached iron bars and the stone dust scattered on the floor, the majesty of the shattered Association building beneath her feet.

The guards, startled by the commotion, couldn’t even think to stop her; they just gulped. The person before them was someone who didn’t care for laws or righteousness when she was angry.

In any case, there were fewer than ten people in South Korea who could suppress her. There was nothing a mere B-rank or lower-tier Hunter could do.

“I’ve been thinking about this carefully on my way here.”

Jin Byeol-rim’s voice, though trembling slightly, pierced through the air clearly.

“There’s no way you didn’t know. It’s such a huge sum of money; it makes no sense that the handover simply didn’t happen. Huh? Don’t you think?”

“…Yes! That’s right!”

“Y-you are absolutely correct!”

Even though they didn’t know what she was talking about!

Several guards who knew the specific tone she used only when she was at her peak fury nodded reflexively.

They felt like they’d get beaten up if they didn’t play along.

Satisfied with their response, Jin Byeol-rim took a deep breath.

She tilted her head back and then roared forward.

“Song Min-cheol, you son of a b*tch!!”

The current Hunter Association President, Song Min-cheol.

His name echoed throughout the entire Association building, loud enough to make one’s ears ache.

Starting with the sound of the building’s glass windows shattering from the impact, Jin Byeol-rim charged straight toward the Association President’s office.

* * *

By the time Jin Byeol-rim was tearing up the Association, Yeon-hwa had quickly finished her negotiations and was moving with the Puppeteer.

Since she couldn’t reach the Hunters she knew, what else could she do? She had to at least meet a “Martial Arts expert.”

“Heavenly Demon!”

A welcoming voice tickled the ears of the sleeping Heavenly Demon Hwasan. It was an earlier return than expected.

“Yeon-hwa?”

Heavenly Demon Hwasan, who had been lying down after changing into a light shirt from the clothes she had picked out for him, opened the door in a flash.

His clear, navy-blue eyes met hers immediately, as always.

Yeon-hwa reached out toward his collar with a beaming smile.

“It would be even better if you wore a tie. I should have bought one with you.”

After smoothing out his shirt collar, Yeon-hwa turned around.

Because of that, she couldn’t see Heavenly Demon Hwasan, who had become slightly defenseless after missing the timing to respond.

“I have someone to introduce to you. A kidnapper.”

“…Like you?”

Heavenly Demon Hwasan barely managed to open his mouth.

“Yes, like me… no!”

Yeon-hwa urgently denied it and pointed at the Puppeteer, who was just standing there blankly like a wooden statue amidst all this commotion.

“To introduce him formally, he’s the one who tried to kidnap me. He failed, and he’s planning to turn himself in to the authorities soon.”

“I know enough to know that the police are the authorities now.”

So you don’t need to explain it in simple terms like ‘authorities,’ Heavenly Demon Hwasan said, rubbing his forehead.

But…

“That guy tried to kidnap you.”

“Yes, me. Last time…”

“And yet, he’s still alive.”

Yeon-hwa, who was about to continue her explanation, flinched and turned to check Heavenly Demon Hwasan’s face.

His face held its usual composure, so she couldn’t tell if he was being serious or joking.

“Excuse me, but may I explain in detail?”

The Puppeteer intervened cautiously.

“No. I don’t trust anything unless it comes from Yeon-hwa.”

Heavenly Demon Hwasan cut him off sharply, but the Puppeteer did not give up.

“I can see that you two are very close. But please, calm down…”

“Close?”

“Aren’t you lovers?”

Heavenly Demon Hwasan fell silent. Because of that, Yeon-hwa continued in his stead.

“Whose lovers?”

“Ms. Gi Yeon-hwa’s.”

Yours.

At the Puppeteer’s words, Yeon-hwa experienced a momentary delay.

Come to think of it, there had been some skinship, that, well, yes.

Haha.

She was just a little excited because he wore the clothes she bought him, though.

“It’s not like that.”

“Then is it the stage before that?”

“I told you, it’s not like that at all.”

While Yeon-hwa was tongue-tied by the burdensome assumptions, Heavenly Demon Hwasan had already turned around and was heading back into the house.

“Heavenly Demon?”

“Let’s just hear what he has to say. Choi Gyu-yul went out saying he had business at the Association, so we won’t need his permission.”

It meant to just come in since the owner of the house wasn’t there.

Watching his slightly hurried gait, as if he were trying to avoid something, Yeon-hwa fell into doubt.

“He’s not hitting him.”

She had definitely thought he would be angry.

“Did you want him to hit me?”

The Puppeteer hadn’t asked that in earnest. It was just something that came out while he was talking.

“Hmm…”

Yeon-hwa frowned and pondered seriously for a moment.

“It’s not like that, but wouldn’t you deserve to be hit?”

She answered clearly, just as she felt.

It was a wise answer to a foolish question.