The Chicken Legend's Game Becomes Reality - Chapter 21

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

Chapter 21
* * *
The convenience store door chimed as it swung open.
Jung Yeon looked up at me with the eyes of someone greeting their savior, clearly frazzled from whatever had been happening.
“Older Sister!”
She clutched her phone tightly in her hand.
It was clear she’d been struggling to keep it from being taken away.
I’d rushed over in hastily thrown-on clothes, only to be greeted respectfully by the three punks who’d served as my personal punching bags in the alley yesterday.
“Welcome, ma’am!”
Jung Yeon’s eyes went wide.
The tension suddenly drained from me, replaced by irritation and anger surging up in its place.
One of them spoke urgently.
“Ma’am, the thing is, we asked him to let us talk to you directly, but this bastard refuses to hand over his phone—”
“Shut up and tell me why you called me here!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
From what I gathered, the situation was this: the Three High School Boys who’d gone to the Cafe with me this evening weren’t answering their calls, so their older brothers came looking for me.
Apparently, Jung Yeon had told them that three male students had come looking for me this evening.
She’d even mentioned that I was female.
‘Damn it.’
You don’t get a normal younger sister—or even a high school-aged brother with all his limbs intact—making this kind of fuss just because he didn’t come home on time.
“You came looking for me over something this trivial?! He’s probably out messing around somewhere!”
“We’re truly sorry. But even though my brother acts like that, he always comes home on time. Our parents are quite strict, you see….”
Strict parents and an older brother who keeps tabs on his younger sibling.
I couldn’t begin to understand how that household functioned.
“Look, as you can see, it wasn’t me. Those guys came by this evening, apologized, and we parted ways. That’s all.”
“….”
They exchanged glances with each other.
It seemed they’d imagined a scenario where I’d held a grudge and taken revenge on the younger brother.
The older brother studied my expression before speaking again.
“Is there any clue you might have? If he’d skipped school, that would be one thing, but he’s not the type to be out this late. Right now, all three of them aren’t answering their phones. If my brother doesn’t come home, I’ll get beaten to death by our father….”
What kind of household was this—like some yakuza family or something?
‘Wait. If that’s the case, I could be in danger.’
Let’s assume they’re not yakuza.
Irritation was building as I got pulled into this stranger’s family drama I had no interest in, when suddenly the events from this evening came back to me.
“Did you know your brother tried to pin something on me?”
“Pardon?”
Of course you wouldn’t know.
“Let me be clear: I didn’t hit those kids. They tried to buy cigarettes here, got chased off by me, and then they ran into Hwang Beom-young’s Gang in the alley.”
“!”
“They got beaten senseless by them, and since they didn’t have the nerve to tell you about it, they lied and said I did it.”
“You crazy bastards!”
“Apologize to me first.”
“We’re sorry!”
They bowed their heads in apology, and my irritation at being dragged out in the middle of the night eased somewhat.
At least the misunderstanding was cleared up.
The two behind them stood rigid-faced, glancing at each other awkwardly.
“If it’s Hwang Beom-young’s Gang…”
“Weren’t they dragged to their hideout?”
When the three men grew serious, the atmosphere became quite horrifying.
I don’t actually know much about Hwang Beom-young, but there’s clearly some understanding between the neighborhood thugs.
“You seem to have figured something out, so search carefully from now on.”
“Wait, hold on!”
Just as I turned to leave after sharing the information and headed back out of the Convenience Store, the one called Older Brother rushed over and blocked my path.
I looked at him with a questioning expression, and he pleaded with a pitiful face.
“Please help us! You’re a—ugh!”
The one who’d been begging me glanced over at Jung Yeon, who was standing there with her eyes wide and round like a rabbit’s, her ears perked up.
In these guys’ heads right now, I’m a Hunter on a secret infiltration mission.
Which is completely untrue.
“You fight incredibly well. Would you mind coming with us? It’s too dangerous for just us.”
Seeing him plead like that, he was definitely the older brother of that reckless younger sibling.
But I was utterly cold about it.
“Why should I?”
If that thoughtless younger brother knew he’d dragged an innocent person into getting beaten, he should have some shame.
He pulled out an envelope from his pocket that he’d apparently prepared in advance.
“Please.”
“…”
He does have some shame.
I glanced at him.
The marks from being caught in the Alley and used as a test subject for strength items were still vivid all over his body.
The fact that he came running despite being beaten like that showed just how desperate he was.
I opened the white envelope, and inside sat twenty bills with a modest yet substantial air about them.
One million won.
Gulp.
“…Where exactly is this place?”
* * *
A grand Two-Story Mansion that stood out distinctly in the dim Alley.
A neat and tidy high-end Mansion.
Having come expecting a thug hideout like you’d see in movies or dramas—a warehouse, a bar, a pool hall—I found this location utterly absurd.
“This is really the place?”
“Yes. It’s Hwang Beom-young’s home.”
Once I grasped Hwang Beom-young’s family background, everything clicked into place.
A parentless minor living in such a grand, magnificent mansion—it drove home just how substantial his background and wealth truly were.
‘I’m envious.’
Apparently, his maternal relatives doted on him as the only child of their deceased youngest sibling.
Though the kid was clearly going off the rails regardless.
“A new house was built in the Alley not long ago, and after Hwang Beom-young moved in, this place became a den for underage Hunters, or so I’ve heard.”
“….”
The mention of a Hunter den sent my tension skyrocketing.
‘But I’m not a Hunter.’
No matter how much the Coin Market backed me, dealing with actual Hunters—especially reckless underage ones—was beyond my capacity.
Just as I was considering throwing down the money and bolting, I heard it.
Murmur, murmur.
Voices of people talking, and then a group of students came pouring out of the Mansion’s Garage.
The delinquent beside me flinched.
The Three High School Boys I recognized were being dragged along by the students’ hands.
‘They’re really here.’
They actually existed.
The scene unfolding was so brutally real it was hard to believe.
The three male students, thoroughly beaten inside the Garage, were completely terrified—hunched over and trembling violently.
From the looks of it, they hadn’t gotten off lightly.
‘What on earth did they do?’
Even I, dragged into this mess because of them, wavered between pity and indifference as the students walked toward us and their conversation became clearer.
One of them smacked one of the Three High School Boys on the head and spat out curses.
“You bastards, acting like you know Hunters. It’s so ridiculous. Try calling them. Go ahead and call them.”
“Hey, give these punks their phones. Let’s see what this so-called Hunter looks like.”
“Probably just some low-rank Hunter anyway.”
No, that’s wrong.
I’m not a Hunter at all.
Listening to them, I could piece together roughly how things had unfolded.
‘Ah. I really should disappear.’
By now, I regretted letting them assume I was a Hunter.
The presumed Hunter students threw the three’s phones onto the Garden floor, but the Three High School Boys couldn’t even pick them up—they just kept trembling.
“Even given the chance, they can’t call anyone.”
“If that Hunter had any sense, he wouldn’t touch Hwang Beom-young. All Hunters know that, but these idiots can’t even read the room.”
“Who’s going to come looking for you? You guys skip school so much, you could disappear without a trace and nobody would notice. If you died somewhere in secret, the teachers would probably be thrilled.”
“Honestly, at this point, aren’t we apostles of justice?”
Snicker, snicker, snicker.
The crude laughter of the students echoed across the First Floor Garden of the Mansion.
I’d seen it online before.
How underage Hunters, exploiting laws already lax as cotton, commit all manner of crimes and school violence.
They typically target people with dirty secrets rather than upstanding civilians.
Being apex predators with virtually no equals in terms of raw power, they seek sturdy and tainted playthings.
‘Ordinary people seem to quite enjoy what they call “corrective education.”‘
Watching from a distance and listening to their conversation, reality crashed down on me bit by bit.
‘Damn it. I really don’t want to get dragged into this mess.’
They’re all the same breed.
A kingdom of beasts where perpetrators become victims and victims become perpetrators depending on circumstance, all grinding together in an endless cycle.
I’d seen all manner of people through sports, but I’d never tangled with Hunters before.
This isn’t a place where someone decent like me should be.
‘I need to get out before this gets any deeper.’
The situation seemed to be winding down anyway, so once those reckless Hunter bastards let the kids go, I could quietly slip out with them.
And I’d head home before that.
It was right then, as I reached into the pocket of my outer jacket to return the envelope of money I’d received from the Convenience Store.
“You got a gun on you?”
!
A menacing voice pierced the air from behind me—no, from directly behind my head.
The three people hiding with me flinched and turned, then gasped in horror at whoever they saw behind me, their mouths falling open.
‘…Could it be Hwang Beom-young?’
A figure with such an overwhelming presence I couldn’t believe I’d missed him until now pressed something cold and sharp—metal—against my throat.

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