Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 122

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

122
“You abandoned me without hesitation, and now you have the audacity to return? How can humans be so shameless?!”
Akiko’s brow furrowed deeply, her face flushing with anger.
“A… No! I didn’t abandon you! It was a strategic retreat…!”
Takahashi offered excuses, but it was painfully obvious he’d left Akiko behind to save his own skin.
He’d fled, the bomb hadn’t detonated, all the Angels were dead—so he’d simply come crawling back.
“Don’t come near me!”
Takahashi glanced nervously at Akiko’s expression and looked around unnecessarily.
The magic circle was gradually losing its luminescence as time ran out.
Following Takahashi, the Self-Defense Force soldiers and Japanese Hunters came pouring in belatedly.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
“What is that?”
Takahashi spun around at the incomprehensible sound.
When he turned toward its source, he saw a core glowing red-hot among the debris of the missile Japan had fired.
“… So they used a mana stone engine as the missile warhead.”
“Kanemitsu~~~! Didn’t you say it wouldn’t detonate?!”
Takahashi screamed into his earpiece at someone before fleeing again. This time, too, he left Akiko behind.
Akiko stared at him in disbelief, then snapped back to attention and shouted at the Self-Defense Force soldiers and Japanese Hunters.
“Everyone, fall back! Retreat immediately!”
They heard Akiko’s command, but no one retreated.
“The Prime Minister ordered us to recover the core.”
A Hunter stepped forward, his expression betraying that he desperately wanted to flee like Takahashi, but he obeyed orders nonetheless.
“That thing? How?”
“That is…”
The air itself shimmered from the intense heat; the Japanese Hunters couldn’t even approach.
I passed through the Japanese Hunters and moved toward where the missile had crashed. The metal wreckage and surrounding earth were melting into a glowing red mass. Yet the core’s temperature continued to rise.
The core I’d seized from the submarine had been slightly larger than a basketball, but the one before me now was large enough for a person to fit inside.
Whoooosh!
I enlarged myself, exhaled frigid air, and approached to grip it with both hands.
The moment I seized the core, my hands began to burn, but I gripped it harder and absorbed its energy.
“Damn it…”
Mana stones came in two types—those rich in life force and those rich in mana. This one was the latter.
I could only absorb a fraction of the life force from this core, while its mana component continued to react and spiral out of control. I kept cooling it, but there was no guarantee it wouldn’t detonate. In my past life, it had exploded even in the frigid depths of the ocean.
Bae Na-young has mana drain, but the quantity is too vast, and she can’t even approach while enduring this heat like I can.
I considered what would happen if it detonated. If I dug into the ground and shielded my allies with my body, they’d likely survive. But the Self-Defense Force soldiers and Hunters who’d just arrived would all perish.
I didn’t want to dismiss them as mere foreign soldiers. What fault could ordinary soldiers or Hunters possibly bear?
I considered destroying it, but in that moment, it might detonate.
Unable to see a viable solution, I looked around, then up at the sky, and smiled.
A perfect trash bin was gaping open in the heavens.
“I’m going up!”
I gripped the core—a bomb that could detonate at any moment—and kicked off the ground, launching myself skyward.
Yang Sang-heon, reading my intent, conjured footholds in the empty air for me.
I planted my feet on each platform and pushed upward with renewed force.
Akiko’s mithril sphere came screaming toward me like a bullet. I caught it with the sole of my foot and used its momentum to propel myself higher still.
For the final stretch, I expelled aura from my legs, driving myself upward.
Then my eyes met Metatron’s—that colossal gaze fixed upon me from above.
“I felt like I’ve only been receiving. So here—a gift for you.”
I slipped the mana stone engine core into the Gate just as it was nearly sealed shut.
Then I plummeted toward the ground.
The Gate closed completely before I reached the earth.
I had no idea how much damage such a bomb would inflict on a being like Metatron, but at least my heart felt lighter.
A deafening boom erupted.
Thunder accompanied the blast, and the space where the Gate had been warped violently.
“…Was it really that powerful?”
I’d thought my body could withstand it if it detonated on the ground. That was arrogance. If it had exploded here on Earth, my allies and I might not have survived.
* * *
Reinforcements from the World Hunter Association arrived, and the scene was swiftly brought under control.
The Angels near the Gate were annihilated, and those that fled were hunted down one by one through search operations and citizen reports, then executed.
With Heaven’s number two now dead, the World Hunter Association determined that Angels no longer posed a threat and declared the crisis officially over, mere months after it had begun.
Now came the time for aftermath and reckoning.
Japan had to answer for the magic circle that summoned Angels hostile to humanity—and for the inhumane methods used to create it.
Prime Minister Saika, predictably, refused with veins bulging from his neck.
“People of Japan! We must not fall prey to foreign schemes! We are the victims! Should victims not receive compensation?!”
Through media control—a technique Japan had perfected long before Korea—the Japanese public believed Prime Minister Saika. They cursed the World Hunter Association and Korea. But only for a moment.
“Under Prime Minister Saika’s orders, we created the magic circle using human sacrifices. The accident occurred because we recklessly accelerated the schedule.”
One of the researchers, sensing the tide turning against them, fled just before the magic circle’s activation. In an interview, they testified in detail to Prime Minister Saika’s atrocities—not only the use of humans as sacrifices, but even the former research director, whose failed experiment had resulted in his own use as a sacrifice.
“The researcher’s testimony is true. We confirmed the magic circle and the corpses at the scene.”
Hunter Akiko broke through the Japanese government’s interference and conducted an interview, testifying to what she had witnessed.
I’d wondered if Akiko might leave Japan, exhausted by Takahashi and Prime Minister Saika, but she chose to remain, saying she couldn’t abandon her homeland.
“That’s correct. We have committed a grave and irreversible mistake. Who would help a nation that refuses to acknowledge its error and blames others instead? The world may seem vast, but it is truly small. In a crisis like this, we must support one another and live together.”
Japan had only two S-rank Hunters, and Akiko, the more popular of the two, gave this interview. The viewership skyrocketed.
“Some say Prime Minister Saika did this and they knew nothing, that they’re not responsible. But who elected that Prime Minister? Did you bother to examine his policies and direction?”
Prime Minister Saika had pursued radical and aggressive policies that earned resentment from neighboring nations. I later learned that even the mana stone engine I’d stopped in the East Sea had been hastily tested due to pressure from Prime Minister Saika.
“We chose such a person as our representative and simply watched. We listened only to easy information, to words we wanted to hear, and turned our eyes from the truth. People of Japan—I love our country. Please help us become a nation we can all be proud of.”
Akiko’s sincere interview moved many hearts.
Japan’s far-right faction didn’t entirely agree with Akiko’s position, but standing by Prime Minister Saika in this situation would result not only in expulsion from the World Hunter Association but in making Japan an enemy to all nations. So they sided with Akiko.
Besides, what if Akiko grew tired of Japan and left for another country? Especially if she went to Korea, which she supposedly favored?
Losing one of Japan’s two S-rank Hunters meant losing more than half their combat strength. The moment one entered a Gate, the nation became defenseless.
The choice was simple.
Prime Minister Saika was immediately removed from office and referred to the International Criminal Court. The trial would take time, but given the severity of his crimes, he would never see daylight again.
Japan paid an enormous sum as compensation for Korea’s rescue efforts. In exchange, they accepted a condition: the World Hunter Association would control Japan’s Hunters for a designated period.
Since the Association now held information about the Hunters, their locations, and even command authority, Japan had effectively surrendered Hunter sovereignty.
And now, the Korean Government and Korean Hunters—who had earned considerable merit in this operation—would oversee Japan’s Hunters.
* * *
“Phew….”
Director Baek Young-shin leaned back in his chair after finishing his document review.
Sleeping only four hours a day due to excessive workload, Director Baek Young-shin constantly suffered from headaches. Leaning back in his chair, he pressed his temples rhythmically. He knew it wouldn’t ease the fatigue, but it was a habit formed from working without rest.

“Director, would you like more coffee?”
Shin So-ra, secretary to the Director of the Awakened Management Bureau, entered. Already knowing his answer, she carried a tray with steaming coffee.
“Thank you.”
Baek Young-shin accepted the coffee. It was the sweet instant coffee the Director preferred.
“Even if I tell you to rest, you won’t, will you?”
“There’s too much work to do.”
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok could easily handle most of it, couldn’t he?”
“It’s better that he doesn’t concern himself with such trivial matters. He already carries enough burden on his shoulders. So each of us must do what we can.”
Much of what lay on Director Baek Young-shin’s desk, and among the hundreds of emails arriving daily, involved matters related to Ji-seok.
From minor complaints and malicious comments from ordinary citizens to major corporate entities trying to pick fights with Rigen, parasites attempting to approach Lee Ji-seok’s Mother, and government officials trying to apply pressure—Director Baek Young-shin filtered it all at his level.
“Because you’re like that, I can’t rest either.”
His secretary Shin So-ra pouted, but Director Baek Young-shin knew better than anyone that she worked with responsibility and dedication.
“I’m always grateful.”
“Phew…. Oh, and I’ve finished processing that task you assigned last time.”
“You mean the Seo Kyung-hyun matter? It was handled well, I trust?”
Seo Kyung-hyun was a serial killer who wielded the Justice Sword. About a year and a half ago, Ji-seok had taken Min-woo to Seo Kyung-hyun’s house, killed him, and uncovered his crimes.
“I switched the DNA from Hunter Jung Min-woo’s vomit found at the house with that of a Hunter who died at a Gate a few months ago.”
The vomit Min-woo had cleaned up remained in the sink. Normally, DNA couldn’t be extracted from vomit, but by sheer luck—or rather, misfortune for Jung Min-woo—it was detected against extremely low odds.
“Well done. What about the CCTV?”
“I commissioned an outside firm to delete all of it.”
“No loose ends, I hope?”
“I went through several intermediaries. They’ll never know.”
“Hmm…. That’s another case closed.”
“Yes. Next is the matter concerning Lee Ji-seok’s Mother.”
“…. What else has been approaching her?”
“A man approached her with a business investment proposal.”
“A business proposal? To the Mother of the Rigen Chairman?”
“That’s why he approached. He knew she had money.”
“So what is it this time?”
“He said he’d process magic stones to create health-promoting items and sell them.”
“…. Isn’t that insane? Anyone without strength would obviously become addicted to mana. There shouldn’t be any health issues with her, right?”
“Since Hunter Lee Ji-seok infused her with life force, she now looks to be in her thirties. Low-grade magic stones like that won’t cause any health problems.”
“Charge him under the Gate Byproduct Management Act. And dig up everything else—make sure he faces the maximum penalty.”
“Understood. One more thing: we discovered that a news outlet is planning to publish an article about Hunter Lee Ji-seok.”
“Articles about him come out regularly, don’t they? Is there something concerning about this one?”
The article Director Baek Young-shin held bore the headline “Hunter Lee Ji-seok’s Scandalous Love Life.” It featured photos of him dining closely with Bae Na-young, as well as Ye-seul, and another image of Adriana, a Mexican Hunter, clinging to him in revealing clothing.
“… Pressure the news outlet to take down this article and every piece written by that journalist immediately.”
“All of them?”
“We can’t let it slip that we’re pressuring them over the Lee Ji-seok matter. Find flaws in other aspects of their work. That journalist needs to never write again. That’s actually the kindest thing we can do for them.”
Director Baek Young-shin trembled as he recalled the terrifying nature of Hunter Bae Na-young.
“Yes, I’ll handle it exactly as you’ve instructed.”
“Thank you as always.”
Shin So-ra bowed and left the office.
Ever since Secretary Shin arrived, my workload had decreased considerably. Yet mountains of tasks still remained—being Director meant I couldn’t focus solely on Lee Ji-seok matters. But now it was time to relieve some stress.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————