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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Vacation (3)
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"H-hello?"
Lee Yuri answered the phone, her voice trembling.
"—Yuri? What on earth is going on? Strange people suddenly showed up, and I was so startled. Did you get into some kind of trouble?"
"Oh, Mom! Why weren't you picking up!!!"
"—Ugh, noisy. Why are you yelling? You know I don't usually look at my phone when I'm working!"
"Ah, what about Dad? Is Dad there with you too?"
"—Yes, he's here. But what exactly is going on? Nothing really happened, did it?"
Her legs buckled.
In an instant, Lee Yuri's legs gave out beneath her.
Jin Yuha supported her from behind.
Lee Yuri's mother and father were safe.
They simply hadn't answered their phones because they rarely checked them while working, leading to a temporary lack of contact.
It was truly a stroke of luck that their safety could be confirmed with just a quick background check from Shin Se-hee.
'But my siblings' whereabouts still haven't been confirmed…'
Lee Yuri bit her lip hard once more.
*
"Hmm, I brought an expert in that field."
Immediately after Shin Se-hee's call, Kang Do-hee arrived, bringing someone with her.
It was an unreliable-looking middle-aged man with round glasses, seemingly timid.
"Ah, h-hello… I-I am… an awakened one with analytical abilities… not a h-hunter, but I w-work as a d-detective."
He spoke with his head bowed, unable to meet their gaze.
When I looked at Kang Do-hee as if to ask if this was really the right man, she clicked her tongue.
"Tsk, this guy will be more accurate than the police. I've relied on him a few times before. It was a pain to get him to come out since he really hates leaving his place."
"…Thank you, Kang Do-hee."
Lee Yuri nodded, expressing her gratitude in a voice she clearly struggled to keep steady.
At that, Kang Do-hee scratched her cheek, looking embarrassed.
"You're always the tank, taking the most dangerous attacks for us. I guess I can repay a little of that debt with this."
At her words, I showed a slightly surprised expression. I hadn't expected Kang Do-hee to say something like that.
"…W-what are you looking at?!"
Kang Do-hee seemed to notice my gaze and hissed.
"Nothing, just surprised you'd say something like that."
Ahem—!
"I-I'll head over to the police now. I spent too much time dragging this guy out."
Kang Do-hee immediately turned her back and stomped away.
It seemed she intended to go directly to the police and file a request for investigation.
"U-um, c-can I, uh, see the s-scene?"
At that moment, the man, who had been fidgeting nervously beside us, spoke in a clumsy voice.
"Ah, yes. This way."
I guided him to Lee Yuri's room.
As expected of someone Kang Do-hee vouched for, his eyes changed the moment he entered the crime scene. After scanning the room thoroughly, he slowly opened his mouth.
He spoke, no longer with the clumsy voice from before, but with a stiff, analytical tone.
"Hmm, four hunters, and two children."
"…Children?"
"Yes, there are traces of one girl, approximately 150 cm tall, and one boy, approximately 140 cm tall. They moved in the same direction as the four hunters."
A grinding sound—
As soon as he heard that, a chilling sound of teeth grinding came from beside him.
'Kim Hye-ji, you've crossed the line.'
"However, the hunters and the children didn't go together but separately…"
"Where are they?"
The detective tried to continue his explanation, but his words didn't reach Lee Yuri, whose eyes were already spinning with rage.
She had simply interpreted it as Kim Hye-ji having kidnapped her two siblings.
"…Kim Hye-ji, that bitch. Where did she go?"
The detective could only shut his mouth in the face of the chilling aura Lee Yuri was emitting.
And then, he reverted to his stammering self.
"Uh, w-well, it s-seems they d-didn't go far… D-do you, p-perhaps, have a map? A p-paper one would be g-good…"
"Oh, I have a paper map myself!"
Sophia, who had been listening nearby, fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a paper map.
'Why do you carry a paper map around?'
When I looked at her with that meaning in my gaze,
Sophia scratched her head.
"Hehe, in case my battery dies while tracking my bias's movements… Ah, no, it's just a hobby! Yeah, yeah! I personally like looking at maps!"
Her words sounded extremely suspicious, but that wasn't what was important right now.
Swoosh—
The detective spread the map on the floor.
Then, he imbued it with magic.
Hum—
Then, he pulled a coin from his pocket and flicked it.
Whirrr—!
The coin spun in the air before landing on the map.
Clink.
The tossed coin landed vertically near Lee Yuri's house.
"Hmm, it's near here. Is there anywhere in this vicinity that someone could hide?"
Lee Yuri, who had been scrutinizing the map, spoke in a low voice.
"…There's an abandoned factory."
"Then, the probability of them being there is high."
Flames seemed to spark in Lee Yuri's eyes as she clenched her fists.
'Kim Hye-ji, you goddamn bitch. If you've done anything to my siblings, you're dead.'
* * *
It was daytime, but the abandoned factory was dim and gloomy, with little light entering.
Inside, four women were chain-smoking, looking anxious.
One of them took a deep drag from her cigarette, then impatiently flicked it onto the floor.
"Hey, goddamn Hye-ji! You said there'd definitely be something in that house! It was empty, just dog hair!!"
They had ransacked Lee Yuri's house today.
It was a planned crime, targeting the house after confirming no one was home.
"Ugh, say something already! Kim Hye-ji!!"
A woman with a delinquent-like face snapped at her.
At that, the woman called Kim Hye-ji, with short, cropped hair, responded with a voice full of irritation.
"Ugh, just shut up! …That stupid Lee Yuri, she must have poured all the money she earned into that house this time, but where did she stash it all? She must have hidden it somewhere…"
"Hidden it, my ass, there was nothing! Didn't we just poke a hornet's nest for nothing?! That bitch is in the Utopia Party now!"
At that, Kim Hye-ji swept her gaze over them with a contemptuous look.
"Hey, do you actually believe that?"
"What? B-but the articles clearly said…"
"Hah, yeah, well, Lee Yuri might be able to get her name on the Utopia Party roster. That much could be true."
Then isn't it dangerous?
The women gathered there exchanged glances.
"But what can she possibly do in there? A piece of trash who was clearing E-rank dungeons with me just a few months ago, what, is she going to hold a shield where Cheonhwa and the War Hounds are?"
"…Then why is she in there?"
"It's probably her poverty-peddling again."
"…Poverty-peddling?"
"Yeah, well, first off, she's pretty good-looking. And the image of her being a young head of the household responsible for her family is perfect for selling a sob story."
At that, the three women slowly nodded their heads.
Because her opinion seemed quite plausible!
"Hah, goddammit. Is being poor something to brag about?"
"I've hated her guts since way back."
"Seriously, we should've crushed her back in school."
Their voices were all tinged with jealousy.
All those gathered here were Lee Yuri's high school classmates.
Of course, in their school days, they had tried to pick on Lee Yuri, using her poverty as a weakness, only to be unilaterally beaten down by her.
But such past events had long been forgotten.
Once the atmosphere settled again, Kim Hye-ji nodded.
"Anyway, what do you think those high-and-mighty people are thinking? They'll suck up her sob story, let her get some popularity, then dump her. Why would they keep dragging along a poor nobody like her?"
"…But doesn't that mean Lee Yuri is somewhat useful to Utopia right now? What if the Utopia Party tracks us down because of this…?"
One of the women spoke in an anxious voice, but Kim Hye-ji merely scoffed.
"Hah, her? That will absolutely never happen."
Having known Lee Yuri for a very long time, Kim Hye-ji was well aware of her personality.
'That penniless beggar… always acting like she's something special, I absolutely hated it.'
The girl she implicitly considered beneath her suddenly got accepted into Velvet Hunter Academy,
and on top of that, hearing the news that she had joined the Utopia Party, Kim Hye-ji's stomach had churned with envy.
From the start, she was the type who would rather die than cause trouble for others or expose her weaknesses to the outside world.
For a girl like that to report her pathetic house being robbed to Utopia or call the police? Absolutely impossible.
That's why today was the day.
If they touched anyone around her while she was dorming at the Academy, Velvet Academy would step in.
It wasn't a joke; it was a dangerous act that could genuinely end their lives.
But today, with the academy on vacation, it was different.
'So, I planned to rob her house if she had any valuables stashed away…'
However, there were three things she hadn't expected…
One was that all the money deposited to Lee Yuri's family had gone entirely into repaying debts, leaving no valuables behind in the house.
The second was that, with her house in such a state and her family unreachable, Lee Yuri was currently in a state where she saw nothing but red.
The third was that a boy and a girl had followed them.
"…Hey, Hye-ji. What's up with that kid?"
"Kid?"
"Yeah, the kid hiding behind that pillar, staring at us. That… what is it, she looks exactly like Lee Yuri?"
In an instant, Kim Hye-ji turned her head, her eyes widening like lanterns.
"…Lee Yuna?"
The words spilled from her lips.
At that, perhaps realizing their tail had been discovered, Lee Yuna slowly stepped out from behind the pillar.
"…Hye-ji unnie, long time no see."
Lee Yuna spoke in a stiff voice, hiding her younger brother behind her back.
"Oh my, Yuna! Look how long it's been! It's really been a while!"
They had once been part of Lee Yuri's team.
Kim Hye-ji as a dealer, and Lee Yuna as a porter.
Kim Hye-ji feigned recognition and spoke in a sweet, soft voice.
"But what brings you here?"
"…Why did you do that to our house?"
"What? Suddenly, wh-what are you talking about?"
At that, Kim Hye-ji and her group's faces stiffened.
They hadn't imagined that Yuna had witnessed everything that happened at the house and followed them all the way here!
"Hey, you said no one saw us!!!"
"B-but, surely no one saw us…!?"
"If Lee Yuri finds out about this, w-we're dead, aren't we?"
The group babbled incoherently, their faces clearly flustered.
Kim Hye-ji also swallowed hard and looked at Lee Yuna.
"Unnie here has no idea what you're talking about right now."
"I… I saw everything. Hye-ji unnie and the others smashing up our house… and running away. Why did you do it?"
As it became clear that Lee Yuna already knew everything,
Kim Hye-ji's face instantly turned cold.
"Hah, Lee Yuna. You've grown a lot, haven't you? You used to not be able to utter a peep in front of me…"
"Well, I'm in my growth spurt, so it's natural to be growing. So, why did you do that to our house?"
"…"
"And last time, when you ran off with our sister's money. Do you have some kind of grudge against us?"
Kim Hye-ji truly detested those eyes staring at her, so identical to Lee Yuri's.
Clear eyes that seemed to hold not an ounce of doubt in her beliefs and thoughts.
Kim Hye-ji unconsciously bit her lip.
"Hye-ji unnie, do you perhaps have some kind of inferiority complex towards our sister?"
Thump—
Those words pierced sharply into her gut.
"You goddamn bitch… How dare you?!"
Kim Hye-ji unconsciously raised her hand.
Lee Yuna squeezed her eyes shut.
But then.
Thud.
A wrist firmly seized.
"Hey, Kim Hye-ji."
A voice that had settled into an absolute chill.
Kim Hye-ji's gaze snapped to the person who had grabbed her hand.
"L-Lee Yuri…?"
"You goddamn bitch. Were you just about to hit my sister?"
"Th-that's not it…"
"That gate fee you ran off with last time, the one I paid for you, I won't ask for it back."
Crrunch—
"Just consider it compensation for the assault."