At Cover’s words, Eun Woojeong immediately pulled something from his coat.
“Give me your phone number.”
“You think I’d give /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ you that?”
The refusal came in less than a second, making Eun Woojeong grumble.
“This is fraud. You said you’d do one thing I wanted in return for helping.”
“When did I ever say that? I said I’d think about it. Don’t make stuff up, asshole.”
Cover replied disinterestedly, pulling off his mask.
There was no reason to keep it on, since he and Eun Woojeong already knew each other’s faces.
“Don’t you think that’s a little cold? Do you treat Hunter Cha Seohu like this too?”
Cover knew he wasn’t talking about attitude. With a look that said this bastard’s starting again, he sighed.
“Quit the nonsense and say something useful. Something we can actually finish today... What are you even doing?”
“Hm.”
Ignoring Cover half-heartedly, Eun Woojeong tapped away on his phone, then held it out.
『Ah, I’m sorry. I’m just a little dizzy... Thank you for catching me.』
The screen filled with a video of Cha Seohu.
Watching Seohu awkwardly smile with a pale face, Eun Woojeong commented with interest,
“He’s brazenly good at acting. It’s a little over the top, but he needed to grab attention, so I guess this much is fine.”
“Mhm. He did pretty well.”
Cover, always happy to accept praise on Seohu’s behalf, smiled in satisfaction.
Eun Woojeong kept browsing through other interview clips.
『So you were kidnapped while staying at the Association?』
『Yes. I never imagined something like that could happen in the Hunter Association...』
『It must’ve been a shock.』
『More than that... what shocked me more was how the Association turned a blind eye to my situation. If the guild members hadn’t come to rescue me, I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened...』
『There are rumors that Vice President Choi Gyeonghui helped. What are your thoughts on that?』
『Yes, that’s true. I heard about it afterward as well. She went against the Association’s decision and secretly contacted the guild to help with my rescue. Team Leader Park Minhyuk helped too. I’m especially grateful to him—he looked after me a lot even in the Great Dungeon.』
In the video, Cha Seohu smiled naively.
He looked like a kind, innocent citizen who had suddenly been caught up in a terrifying ordeal.
“You gonna keep watching that?”
“It’s not all lies, you know? They did help.”
Back at the Yesung Guild, Cha Seohu had spent the past week doing interviews nonstop.
His goal was twofold: steadily damage the Association President’s reputation while building up Choi Gyeonghui and Park Minhyuk.
The interviews quickly spread across media platforms, and public opinion shifted—not against the Association as a whole, but directly and precisely against the President. Exactly what Seohu had intended.
A week after the interviews were released, the media, almost as if coordinated, began publishing a wave of corruption allegations against the President.
「Hunter Association President under suspicion of corruption? Actions from the past 6 months scrutinized」
「Public trust in Hunter Association plummets... scandals erupt surrounding the President」
「President accused of prioritizing personal gain over Hunter safety」
「Corruption accusations grow... even internal whistleblowers speak up」
「Calls for transparent investigation into Association President’s conduct」
A few rebuttal articles—clearly pushed by the President’s camp—tried to stem the tide, but once solid evidence started surfacing, even those disappeared without a trace.
Naturally, the corruption files had been provided by Eun Woojeong.
Cover had passed them along to the Yesung Guild, and the guild, in coordination with the media, released them just after Seohu’s interviews aired. They made it look like journalists had independently uncovered the dirt.
‘The response is even hotter than I expected. Looks like replacing the President is pretty much guaranteed now.’
According to what Kwon Taehyuk had heard, serious talks about the President’s resignation were already happening behind the scenes.
No matter how stubbornly the man clung to power, with the scandal reaching this level, he’d be forced out.
Everything was unfolding just as Cha Seohu had planned. As annoying as it was, Eun Woojeong’s intel had played a major role.
Without the corruption files, they wouldn’t have been able to attack the President this hard, this fast.
That was why Cover had gone through the trouble of showing up in the middle of the night.
‘I nearly died trying to shake off Cha Sahyeon just to get here...’
Spending the last two weeks quietly in his Yesung Guild room had finally paid off—he’d convinced Sahyeon to let him go.
‘Even if I’ve got two shadows trailing me now.’
It was impossible to sneak out without Sahyeon noticing, so this was the best he could manage. He also needed his skill to slip out of the guild building.
In any case, as long as he got back before sunrise, it should be fine.
Barely an hour had passed since he left, and Cover was already exhausted. He slapped Eun Woojeong’s phone—still playing Seohu’s video—aside in irritation.
“If you don’t start talking in the next ten seconds, I’m leaving. Ten, nine, eight...”
“You’re really unbelievable.”
Only then did Eun Woojeong reluctantly tuck his phone into his inventory and get to the point.
“Come with me somewhere.”
“What? Explain properly.”
“You’ll understand when we get there.”
Cover folded his arms at the vague reply.
‘This is annoying.’
His hidden skill, the one that transformed him into S-rank, would deactivate automatically at sunrise.
Blindly following some ambiguous proposal was a risky move.
“Don’t try to bullshit me with crap like that. Say it clearly. If it’s gonna take too long, I’m not going.”
“...Now I’m seriously curious. Does Hunter Cha Seohu know you’re this difficult to deal with? Or do you just act this way with me?”
“I saved your life, didn’t I? Can’t you at least explain properly when I ask?”
At that, Eun Woojeong paused and turned toward Cover.
The mask hid his expression, but he stared at Cover for a long moment before letting out a deep sigh.
“There’s an abandoned building a bit further west. Underground, there’s something I’m looking for.”
“And?”
“That’s it.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. Even if we take our time, it’ll be about four hours round-trip.”
At that point, Cover was the one stunned.
“The hell? Then why didn’t you just say that from the start? Why go in circles?”
“I figured it was simple enough that I could just explain on the way. Didn’t expect you to...”
Eun Woojeong let out an annoyed laugh from behind the mask.
“I didn’t think you’d beat me over the head with the ‘you owe me your life’ card just for this.”
“Alright, fine. Got it.”
Feeling a slight pang of guilt, Cover waved his hand.
“West, right? I’ll go. Let’s move.”
Without a word, Eun Woojeong turned on his heel.
‘...He’s sulking.’
The place they arrived at was a decrepit, skeletal building—barely more than a frame.
The three-story structure clearly hadn’t seen human footsteps in ages, with layers of dusty gray coating every surface.
“This way.”
Still not over his mood, Eun Woojeong led the way with a sulky expression.
Cover followed behind quietly, making no effort to cheer him up. Whether he was sulking or not—whatever.
At the stairs, Eun Woojeong descended toward the basement. The pitch-black staircase had no lighting whatsoever, but both of them were S-rank—this level of darkness posed no issue.
As they walked, Eun Woojeong finally spoke.
“I’ve been looking for a particular item for a long time.”
His calm voice echoed softly in the underground space.
“To keep it simple—it's a teleportation item. But as you probably know, those aren’t easy to make. All currently known ones are huge—built by connecting several machines together.”
Listening, Cover recalled that Eun Woojeong had been looking for a Hunter with a warp skill.
“But the one I want isn’t that big. At most, something the size of a hand. Small enough to hide in a pocket.”
At the bottom of the stairs, a corridor stretched out before them. Twisted metal doors were installed at intervals along its length.
“This used to be a secret government lab developing teleportation items.”

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