*
"I don't really... know..."
"Is that so?"
"But... I'm guessing that's the case..."
It's not like Seo-ah knows everything. But since she's practically a Death God Guild insider, I thought they would have told Seo-ah.
They're pulling off big incidents like the Academy attack, but for Villains, they cause relatively few accidents.
Well, it seems like they're dealing drugs and trafficking people, but wait, is it right to say they cause few accidents?
'Are they just not doing it openly?'
Since they're specialized in hiding, they don't show much on the surface, but it seems they're causing a lot of accidents.
Guys who start things without thinking can't survive in Korea.
If it weren't for their ability to open Gates, they would have been subjugated long ago, but well, they have that ability.
Still, if the Death God Guild is moving, it's likely they've caused a pretty big accident.
"What kind of trouble did those guys cause this time?"
"Yeah..."
Seo-ah hesitated after answering, it seems like it's confidential.
I'm curious, but shouldn't she be able to tell me, at least?
I don't want to make Seo-ah uncomfortable, but I can't help being curious.
Seo-ah, who seemed to be pondering for a moment, took out a strangely looking pill from the bag she had brought.
Just a plain-looking pill, but I felt a subtly unpleasant sensation.
"Magi?"
Seo-ah nodded silently, they're dealing drugs, so did they go that way?
"A drug... that came from North Korea..."
"What does it do?"
"A doping drug..."
It seemed to be a drug that temporarily amplified strength.
Some Hunters use doping drugs, so they're not that rare, but judging from the subtle, sinister energy, it's definitely not a normal drug.
"The side effect is... demonization..."
"What?"
This was not a normal problem.
Drugs only ruin the user's body, but demonization has a negative impact on the people around them.
Awakened people can withstand contact with demons, but ordinary people can't.
Magi can cause symptoms ranging from mild dizziness, nausea, and difficulty breathing to death.
Since Magi is constantly emitted from demons, it was the story of becoming a walking radioactive human.
"They're selling that to civilians?"
Seo-ah nodded silently and told me what she knew.
Unlike doping agents made for Hunters, it seems to be effective for ordinary people as well.
It's more effective for ordinary people than for Awakened ones, and it's incomparable to other drugs.
Besides, would ordinary people know about the symptoms of demonization? Most people don't know because the side effects don't come immediately.
Not many people may be looking for such suspicious drugs, but the fact that it's spreading rapidly through SNS recently was a serious matter.
Are these sons of bitches only thinking about ruining the country?
I felt rage rising as I thought of them.
'Those fucking bastards... some of us are fighting our asses off...'
Seo-ah came to me with a worried look as I was suppressing my anger.
"Si-woo... are you okay...?"
"Ah..."
I felt a sense of stability as I looked at Seo-ah's face.
I immediately hugged Seo-ah so she couldn't run away.
It's a little chilly, but the squishy feeling is nice, so should I say the texture is good?
I felt a sense of peace coming over me.
'Well... if the Death God Guild has started moving, the Association must have noticed too.'
The Association isn't stupid, they won't just stand by with such a serious matter.
There's nothing I can do right now, so shouldn't I just heal while touching Seo-ah?
As I was fondling Seo-ah's chest, peace of mind began to come.
'How long has it been since I came back? Yeah, let's rest a bit.'
Well, things will work out somehow.
*
"There's no end to the incidents these days."
"Isn't it because the old man is easy to deal with that those guys are running wild?"
"You! What kind of language is that to Choi Tae-soo-nim!"
"Haaam. If you're going to talk nonsense, I wish you wouldn't be so loud."
"You old hag! What did you just say!!"
"You seem to have gotten louder since you became an ajumma."
"Wh-who's an ajumma!"
"Is it wrong to call a woman with a daughter an ajumma? I don't think I said anything wrong."
The Association President started mediating between Yoon Seung-ah and Choi Ah-rin, sweating profusely.
She's so small, how does she have such guts?
Choi Ah-rin, who's already hard to see because she's so busy, came all the way here, and he was worried that she might leave feeling upset.
It's the same with Kang Chae-rin, why do they fight like that whenever they meet?
"You. You were thinking strange things just now, weren't you?"
"Yes? How could I? I'm always worried about the future and security of our Republic of Korea..."
"Do you think I wouldn't know by looking at your face?"
The Association President swallowed as he looked at the objects floating around her.
How can the behavior of a person who represents the Republic of Korea be so frivolous? How did she get married and even give birth with that kind of personality?
"You! You were definitely thinking strange things!!"
"Stop it, Seung-ah. That's not what's important."
"Haha. Isn't that right?"
"Enough with the jokes. So, what's the business that you called us for?"
"Yes. I was just about to tell you."
The Association President let out a sigh of relief, sweating from the energy that had been pressing down on him.
He lightly thanked Choi Tae-soo for helping him and stood up from his seat.
"Ahem. This is a drug that is currently rapidly spreading among civilians."
"If it's a drug problem, there's nothing we can do."
The Association President took a vitamin-like pill out of his pocket and placed it on the desk.
As he operated the remote control, the presentation screen changed.
"When taken, it not only increases athletic abilities such as muscle strength, muscle endurance, and cardiovascular endurance by two to three times, but also affects things like reaction speed."
"Is it a kind of doping agent?"
"Yes, that's right. The problem is the side effects."
"Well, it's natural for doping agents to have side effects, isn't it? You take them because you're in a situation where you'll die if you don't, even if you know the side effects."
"Ha. If it were such a minor problem, we wouldn't have gathered like this. You idiot."
Yoon Seung-ah sighed as she looked at Kang Chae-rin.
"What? You peanut..."
"Quiet. What are you doing, not moving on?"
"Ah... I understand."
"At first, the Death God Guild received a request for investigation. Among the athletes, there were guys whose performance improved dramatically."
"Didn't they take drugs? Can't you find out just by testing them?"
"They asked us to investigate because nothing came up even after doping tests, that's not the important thing..."
"Then?"
"Magi was detected from him during the investigation process."
"Magi...? Did you say Magi? Seung-ah."
Choi Tae-soo's gentle face instantly contorted.
Those around him also frowned and looked at Yoon Seung-ah.
"Yes. It's not serious, but demonization was already in progress."
"Heo... what is that..."
"Is that true?"
"Yes... If it hadn't been discovered by the Death God Guild, he probably would have become a demon."
Everyone's expression hardened at Yoon Seung-ah's answer.
Even Choi Ah-rin's expression, which hardly ever changes, hardened, so it was clear how serious the situation was without needing to explain it.
"It's being distributed on the market at an absurdly low price. Of course, the guys who are selling it don't even know who made it."
"Is it those bastards again?"
"It must be. It's just suddenly falling from the sky and being supplied."
"Haa... those sons of bitches again..."
"Enough, so. What are you planning to do?"
"The best thing would be to find the production facility and shut it down..."
"So. Did you find it?"
"I couldn't find it..."
"Incompetent."
Choi Ah-rin glared at the Association President with a cold expression.
Hadn't he been borrowing Choi Ah-rin's hand every time an incident occurred? The Association President just scratched his head.
Well, the Association President was also frustrated.
How can you track down guys who open Gates in mid-air?
Well, not being able to respond at all is another problem.
"The Academy incident last time too, what are you guys even capable of?"
"Ah-rin-ah. Stop it. This isn't the time to argue about who's at fault."
"You're the problem too. The Association is like this because you always let it go."
"Haha... So... So, Choi Ah-rin-nim, what's the solution..."
"Tsk. The Gates used by the Reverse Heaven Cult have a special wavelength. If you track that, you can at least confirm where they're opening."
"A-as expected of Choi Ah-rin Hunter-nim!"
"Still, there's a limit to detection. It'll be hard to notice if it's outside the detection range."
"E-even so, if we keep tracking it..."
"The guys will notice and run away."
Choi Ah-rin said that and elegantly lifted a hot teacup with steam rising from it in mid-air.
"Ah-rin-ah. That doesn't mean we can just leave something like that spreading."
"I didn't say I'd just stand by. I've been hurt by those guys."
Hadn't the security magic she was so proud of been breached by those guys several times?
She was also grinding her teeth at those guys.
"Well. Catching those guys is one thing, but the problem is that it's spread to the students."
"Students?"
"Yeah. It's been supplied to middle and high school students."
"Even to students..."
"We can't conduct an investigation publicly. The guys will run away if we do. But we can't just stand by..."
Besides, the problem was that ordinary police officers couldn't detect Magi.
Anyone can feel it if it's serious, but it's hard to detect a very subtle amount like the drug we're looking at now.
Releasing it to the media would cause chaos, so everyone was racking their brains when Kang Chae-rin raised her hand.
"Why don't we send Academy students to investigate?"
"What? What are you saying."
"We can send them disguised as transfer students. Anyway, we can't conduct classes because of the facility restoration."
"Even so, can we give such dangerous work to the students?"
"Do you think I'm not worried about the students? Still, we're short on manpower... We can just send them to investigate. They won't be defeated by ordinary people..."