I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 76
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Chapter 76.
Jung Han-sung stared directly into the eyes of the masked figure who had revealed themselves as Akasha.
The masked figure’s eyes had grown hazy and unfocused. The eye technique had taken hold perfectly.
But there was no time to waste.
Since the opponent was also resisting the eye technique, prolonging this could allow them to break free.
So Jung Han-sung asked the most pressing questions first.
“Why did you infiltrate the Factory?”
“Atlas… Frame… seeking information about it…”
“Do you know anything about the Atlas Frame?”
“Military-grade Frame… two days ago during transport… stolen by unidentified assailants…”
Jung Han-sung listened to Akasha’s full account before asking again.
“Did you find anything in the office?”
“Yes…”
“Share that information with me.”
Akasha hesitated, seemingly struggling with how to convey the information.
Jung Han-sung then pulled out his terminal and extended a long cable connected to the neural interface.
Akasha took it and immediately transmitted the knowledge stored in their mind to the terminal.
Jung Han-sung watched the process, and once the data transfer completed, he spoke again.
“What organization do you belong to?”
“Chakra…”
But before the answer could finish.
Suddenly, light returned to Akasha’s eyes. Jung Han-sung immediately tensed his grip, attempting to activate the eye technique more forcefully.
Crack!
But before he could, something shattered in Akasha’s mouth with a sharp sound.
Then, before Jung Han-sung could do anything, their eyes rolled back and their body went limp.
―It seems they chose to end their own life.
“…I know.”
Jung Han-sung furrowed his brow.
It appeared they had been holding some kind of poison capsule in their mouth.
I hadn’t expected them to resort to suicide so immediately rather than resist.
Whoosh.
Jung Han-sung released his grip and retrieved the cable from the terminal, stuffing it back into his pocket.
Then he reached his hand toward Akasha’s fallen corpse.
“Rise.”
Mana drained from his body and was pulled into Akasha’s form.
Akasha’s trembling body slowly rose once more.
Onyx observed this and spoke with admiration.
―Resurrecting them to continue the interrogation? Truly befitting my master.
“Be quiet.”
Jung Han-sung cautioned Onyx and then questioned the risen Akasha again.
“What’s your name?”
“….”
No answer came.
It wasn’t that the creature was rebelling against acknowledging Jung Han-sung as its master or anything like that.
When I asked, it did open its mouth as if trying to speak.
―It seems like its vocal cords are damaged.
“Looks that way.”
Jung Han-sung pondered for a moment, then performed a magical procedure to unsummon Akasha for now.
I judged it would be useful in many ways.
After all, there was much I didn’t know about this world.
―So you’ve stopped resisting necromancy, it seems?
Jung Han-sung answered while heading deeper into the Alley.
“If I felt resistance and wanted to avoid using it, I wouldn’t have learned it in the first place.”
―Fair point.
Onyx seemed to have opened his mouth to ask something deeper, but decided against pressing further.
Jung Han-sung ventured deeper into the maze-like Alley, then stopped at a suitable spot and pulled out a terminal device.
‘The Atlas Frame.’
In the end, entering that Factory. Capturing Akasha and using my magic eye. It was all to obtain clues.
Clues about the Atlas Frame.
I’d gathered rough information from Akasha, but since the objective completion notification hadn’t appeared, it seemed insufficient.
‘I hope there’s useful information here.’
But there was still one more thing.
The information Akasha had smuggled out from Rustbone’s office.
Jung Han-sung now manipulated the terminal with considerable skill and opened the extracted data.
Fortunately, the data wasn’t encrypted separately and remained in document form.
‘A report regarding the Atlas Frame.’
That was the sentence written at the very top of the document.
Jung Han-sung read through it carefully.
First, there was an explanation of the Atlas Frame.
This didn’t differ much from what I’d heard from Akasha.
A new military-grade Frame.
Difficult to handle, but an extremely powerful piece of equipment.
Below that were detailed specifications listed out, but to Jung Han-sung it felt like nothing but alien language.
The important content was written on the very last page.
―When the Atlas Frame’s transport vehicle was attacked, the Barkan Clan was estimated to be nearby. The Barkan Clan subsequently disappeared, but some clan members were discovered hiding in the city under false identities. Currently….
“Hmm.”
Jung Han-sung stroked his chin.
Certainly, that large fellow earlier did know something.
‘So I just need to investigate this place now?’
It seemed to be the case.
The completion message hasn’t appeared yet. Though I suppose that’s somewhat expected.
‘This is why elimination missions are the easiest to handle.’
Once I finish the battle quickly and decisively, it’s done.
But when climbing The Tower, I can’t simply pick and choose only the missions I prefer.
Jung Han-sung checked his location once more, then tucked the terminal into his pocket.
Soon after, he pushed off the ground and sprinted toward his destination.
* * *
A street lined with dilapidated buildings. Jung Han-sung stood atop one of them.
―So we’re back here again.
This time, Jung Han-sung didn’t answer—he simply nodded.
The rooftop where I now stood was Brickline, the same place I’d visited during my last mission.
―But the atmosphere here is incredibly tense. Just how many of them have positioned themselves?
Onyx’s words aligned with my own assessment.
The location marked on the terminal was in the building right next to this one. The reason I hadn’t entered immediately was simple.
An absolutely staggering number of people were stationed around the building.
Of course, they weren’t standing out in the open.
‘Ten in the alley. Twelve in the opposite alley. Several more seem to be in the vehicles up front.’
I swept my gaze across the surroundings.
‘There’s a team waiting on that building’s rooftop too.’
All told, there had to be nearly fifty of them.
What made it even more troubling was that they didn’t all belong to the same organization.
The ones waiting in the alley appeared to be from Rustbone.
Those with laptops and various devices set up in the vehicles seemed to be collaborators working alongside Rustbone.
Meanwhile, the ones on the building’s rooftop were an entirely unknown third faction.
‘And they’re the most skilled of all.’
That was the primary reason I hadn’t entered the building immediately.
They remained perfectly still in their positions, and their concealment level was exceptionally high.
If I hadn’t subscribed to Cassandra’s vague intuition channel before arriving here, I wouldn’t have noticed them right away either.
―But couldn’t you just approach using that concealment skill from before?
Jung Han-sung shook his head.
I knew well enough that the channels I subscribed to weren’t omnipotent.
For one, this place might appear to be completely divorced from mana at first glance, but that wasn’t actually the case.
This was a world where magitech based on mana had developed remarkably.
And these people possessed equipment capable of detecting even minute quantities of mana.
Or they might have thermal imaging or other detection devices.
The factory I’d visited before was simple—if I got caught, I could just slip away. But this time was different.
‘If I’m discovered, I might lose the lead.’
If things went wrong, I might have to restart the entire investigation from scratch.
That was unacceptable.
Onyx, finding no response from Jung Han-sung, grew bored and stopped speaking.
Thanks to this, Jung Han-sung could concentrate more deeply and continue his train of thought.
‘Why do those bastards come all the way here but not enter?’
It was the biggest mystery.
If they were already searching inside, I would have seized that opportunity and entered by now.
But seeing how they all remained motionless, as if waiting for something, I couldn’t afford to move recklessly.
Well, setting everything else aside, it seemed I should simply hold this position for now.
‘It’s a feeling, you know.’
Waiting here felt far better than entering that place—a distinct intuition.
Yes, the kind of vague premonition Cassandra possessed.
Such intuitions weren’t always accurate, but when they felt this intense, the probability of them being correct was extraordinarily high.
‘Just ten minutes. Wait ten more minutes.’
Jung Han-sung mustered every ounce of patience and waited in place.
The frustration he felt was probably because the previous floors had all been straightforward combat missions.
Well, straightforward only from my perspective. For ordinary people, these missions were dangerous enough to demand their lives.
Most climbers would probably prefer such missions.
Tedious and time-consuming as they were, the threat to life was minimal. Personnel could be divided to perform various tasks simultaneously.
Though none of this applied to me.
‘Five minutes….’
He counted time slowly and continued waiting. As the ten minutes he’d initially set drew nearly to a close.
“…!”
Jung Han-sung felt an intense premonition.
Something was coming.
Right now…. Now!
CRASH―!
At that very moment, one wall of the building collapsed with a thunderous roar.
At first, I thought one of those waiting had made a move.
But that wasn’t it.
“What the—?!”
“Damn it! They’re moving!”
“We were almost done!”
Rustbone.
“It’s moving!”
“Keep tracking it!”
Those waiting in the vehicles.
SCREECH―!
And those positioned on the rooftop scrambled in confusion at the wall’s collapse, their hurried movements visible.
It appeared they’d been targeting something, but their plan had fallen apart.
Boom, boom, boom, boom―!
Then a massive figure burst from the collapsed wall.
It was a kind of bipedal walking robot—though less like the robots one typically imagined, more like a colossal exoskeleton.
In any case, the vehicle was just under three meters in length, and at its center sat a man with dark skin.
“Aaaaaahhhhh―!”
The man let out a scream as he recklessly began tearing down the road.
‘That’s him.’
Jung Han-sung caught sight of the tattoos etched across the man’s body and recognized him as one of the clan members listed in Rustbone’s intelligence files.
“Seize him―!”
“Fire! Open fire!”
The eyes of those standing watch immediately fixed upon him. Many began pursuing him as he fled along the road.
But not everyone moved.
“We cannot enter the interior yet!”
“The bomb is still inside!”
Hearing that exchange, Jung Han-sung understood why they hadn’t advanced.
‘It was because of the bomb.’
It appeared they had planted an explosive device inside and were conducting some sort of siege.
The fact that they were “almost done” suggested they had been attempting something from outside.
‘Did he bolt early because he thought it would be breached soon?’
With such thoughts, I stared intently at the building.
The reason others remained was simple.
There were three targets in total.
Yet only one had fled. That meant two still remained inside the building.
‘Should I enter now?’
I recalled that thought once more. But then, I noticed movement.
It was the personnel who had been waiting motionlessly on the rooftop.
I thought they were entering the building, but that wasn’t it. They suddenly leaped toward the adjacent structure and began rushing somewhere with urgency.
As if they had found something.
The moment I witnessed that, instinct spoke to me.
‘I must follow them.’
Following them was the right move now.
I immediately pushed off the ground and gave chase.
Those running ahead moved at tremendous speed, but not enough to shake me—the distance closed in an instant.
After moving for roughly ten minutes.
They came to a halt in a dark vacant lot.
“Where is it?”
“It’s around here. It’ll probably come up from the basement.”
I heard them conversing in hushed tones, apparently confident no one was nearby.
I remained concealed on one side, observing their movements.
Clang―.
Not long after, a manhole cover in one corner of the vacant lot rattled, then was suddenly shoved aside.
And from that opening, two figures emerged.
“There they are!”
“Secure it!”
Those waiting in the Vacant Lot didn’t miss the opportunity and immediately rushed toward them.
The ones emerging from the manhole cover froze at the sight.
A swift shadow flickered.
That was precisely when Jung Han-sung stepped forward.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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