The Hunter's Gonna Lay Low-Chapter 144

Bzzzz.... The phone on the white table vibrated. A calloused hand, its first knuckle hardened from use, set down a teacup next to the phone. Steam gently rose from the cup.

"Thank you for serving tea as well."

"The situation outside is quite noisy. Shouldn't you attend to it?"

A man in a white coat peered through the blinds, pulling them back slightly with his fingers. White ash was falling outside. A firm yet wrinkled hand gripped the teacup.

"It must be a call for reinforcements. For whatever reason, the snake has coiled up and refuses to move."

"But still, wouldn’t it be better to go? Just to avoid suspicion."

"If you understand that, let’s finish this conversation quickly, Ivan."

"Y-yes, of course."

The man called Ivan turned around. Despite his slouching posture in the white coat, his frame was rather large. Beneath his messy brown hair, his glasses glinted.

"Mr. Song Joheon has greatly aided our research, and we are always grateful."

"I've benefited as well."

"Yes, so... to commemorate today, I’d like to finally tell you our true purpose."

Ivan paused before continuing, his excitement palpable.

"We, Prometheus, and the Seers have always awaited the inevitable end. We saw it in our dreams—the white ash blanketing the world."

Ivan turned to gaze at the large screen covering one wall. On it, a whale floated above the city skyline. Ivan’s eyes followed the whale’s path with reverence, and his trembling voice murmured:

"Finally, the time of the end has come."

‘Nonsense.’

What end? Song Joheon swallowed his scorn and instead gave a pleasant nod as if he agreed. Ivan continued his monologue without pause.

"The last apocalypse couldn’t be stopped by the strength of ordinary Awakeners alone. It wasn’t enough."

‘Delusions of grandeur.’

"The problem lies in the unfair selection system. We must break free from the system's grasp and develop our abilities independently…."

‘Inferiority complex.’

In front of an Awakener chosen by the system, Ivan had no qualms about voicing such opinions. Yet, Song Joheon smiled warmly and humored him. Ivan’s eyes gleamed white.

"...We will save humanity."

‘A desire for validation.’

A hero complex. Joheon’s forced smile was beginning to strain his face. He absently rubbed the rim of his teacup with his finger. The scholar’s calloused hand pushed a transparent bag across the table.

"And we…"

The bag contained white powder.

"...are on the same side."

A deep smile spread across the wrinkled corners of his lips. A firm hand picked up the bag, and soon the powder dissolved completely into the lukewarm tea.

"Of course, Professor."

He had no interest in the mad dreams of these psychos. He was a first-generation Awakener, chosen by the system. But the drugs they provided, now those were interesting.

The whale, still drifting lazily in the air, suddenly let out a piercing roar. Ivan, alarmed, turned to the screen, frantically enlarging the image with the remote. A black silhouette had appeared on the whale's back. In the figure's hand was…

A massive spear.

The figure raised the spear high. Joheon narrowed his eyes and downed his tea in one gulp. The veins in his temples and neck bulged momentarily before subsiding. He muttered under his breath.

"That damn hero… always shows up at the most crucial moments."

The teacup was haphazardly tossed onto the table. The screen turned a brilliant blue. Joheon closed his eyes in displeasure.

Thud.

---

Thud, thud, thud. Busy footsteps rushed around him. Reports and requests for reinforcements flooded the earpiece that hung in his ear. Ever since the Black Hole had shifted into a White Hole, chaos had reigned. Commander Jung Bin had been coordinating the scene, but the sudden appearance of the giant whale had thrown everything back into disarray—worse than before. Jung Bin pressed his fingers to his furrowed brow and asked:

"Still no response from the Samra Guild?"

"No, sir. No word yet."

"What about the Seowon Guild?"

"Guild Leader Nam Woojin is doing his best, but it seems they've reached their limit in handling evacuees."

"Do we know how many buildings he's destroyed?"

Amid the stream of reports, a sharp voice interjected. A woman with golden hair tied high in a ponytail strode toward them, her hair whipping in the wind. It was Honeybee. Jung Bin greeted her with a nod, and she expertly wiped the blood from her rapier. Jung Bin shrugged.

"The report mentioned about twenty buildings, and the number is increasing in real-time."

"Make that twenty-one. He just smashed the outdoor billboard. My face was on it!"

"I’ll add it to the list of damages."

"...And where the hell is Lee Sayoung? What is he doing?"

"I’m not sure. I haven’t heard anything."

"Really? If the top ranker doesn’t show up, at least the second ranker should be doing something. The whole ranking system is falling apart."

"Is it that difficult?"

Honeybee clamped her mouth shut. She gazed up at the sky. Jung Bin followed her gaze. The street they stood on was cast in shadow, darkened by the whale’s enormous form despite it being midday. Honeybee murmured.

"...Something feels off."

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since that Black Hole turned into whatever it is now… strange thoughts keep crossing my mind. Damn it, it’s making me overthink everything."

Honeybee bit her lip hard, then turned and glared at Jung Bin.

"Don’t you dare die on me."

"Excuse me? What brought that on?"

"Just don’t!"

Honeybee’s sharp words cut through the air before she disappeared from sight. Moments later, she was already a distant yellow dot running far down the street. Did she just come all the way here just to say that? Jung Bin scratched his cheek, then looked up at the sky again. The whale loomed overhead.

If only J were here.

Jung Bin shook his head, trying to dispel the thought. Relying on the person who had gone to save Gaeul at his request? That was unthinkable. But still…

"……."

He couldn’t help it. Every time a crisis hit, J came to mind. Maybe for the rest of his life, he would think of him whenever danger struck. Jung Bin had lived in the same era as him, and he knew both J’s strength and his goodness intimately.

Perhaps that’s why he kept trying to erase those thoughts from his mind. He was tired of living off someone else’s sacrifice.

Then it happened.

Booooom—

A massive roar resounded. The shadow that had blanketed the street trembled violently. The flow of air shifted. Jung Bin instinctively looked up. The whale that had been lazily drifting in the sky was thrashing, as if in pain. He murmured to himself.

"…No way."

KABOOM—

A burst of blue light exploded from the whale. A fierce gale whipped outward from the whale’s body. Jung Bin shielded his face with his arms and struggled to stay upright against the wind, now mixed with ash. Once the gust subsided, he cautiously raised his head.

A massive pillar of blue light pierced through the whale’s body, connecting the sky and the ground.

"Ah…."

The whale, impaled by the glowing pillar, floated in the air like a firework, before disintegrating into fine white ash. The blue light sparkled like falling dust. It was beautiful and awe-inspiring—enough to captivate anyone who saw it. And there was only one person in the world capable of such a feat. Jung Bin swallowed hard.

Someone murmured.

"J has returned…."

His name spread like a wave, reverberating through the crowd.

---

A week had passed since the Black Hole turned into a White Hole. The White Hole hadn’t reverted to its previous state, and though white ash still occasionally fell on cloudy days, it was becoming less frequent. Nonetheless, people had begun keeping brooms at hand to sweep the ash away.

Some referred to it as the second *Day of the Rift*, but since the damage didn’t compare to the original, the term quietly faded away. Property damage was significant, but casualties were minimal. And the public’s attention had shifted elsewhere.

---

**—In today’s news, after being presumed dead for eight years, South Korea’s number one-ranked Hunter, J, has once again disappeared after briefly reappearing to save the nation from imminent danger….**

---

The hero that everyone had believed to be dead. J, who had reappeared in the rankings but had never been seen in person, emerged once more in a moment of crisis, saved the country, and then vanished again. It was the perfect story to quell the nation’s anxieties. Every day, the news replayed images of J’s masked face, his Hunter name whispered across the airwaves.

No one questioned what the White Hole really was, or why such a phenomenon had occurred. The fact that more people were visiting psychiatrists, tormented by memories that weren’t their own, barely registered as a blip on the radar before vanishing from the headlines.

And since that day, the hangover soup restaurant had remained tightly shut.

"It’s still closed today."

A cold breeze swept through the street, brushing the hair of Team Leader Han, who muttered as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets. Next to him, Honeybee stood with her arms crossed, a frown cre

asing her brow. Her hand clenched tightly around her arm.

"Do you think he got caught up in that mess?"

"If he had, he would’ve been on the casualty list. I checked the list thoroughly—he wasn’t on it."

"……."

Team Leader Han pulled out a cigarette but didn’t light it. Honeybee sniffed in frustration.

"How can someone just disappear without a trace?"

"Good question."

"Last time, when he took his grandma to the hospital, at least he posted a note saying he’d be closed. But now, there’s nothing. Just a locked door."

"……."

As Honeybee continued to grumble, Han checked his phone.

"I’m being called in. I’ll have to go. Will you stay?"

Honeybee tapped her boot against the ground, looking conflicted.

"…I think I’ll stay a little longer."

"Don’t stay too long."

With a sympathetic smile, Han turned and walked away. Honeybee stared at the bright red letters of the restaurant’s sign and pursed her lips.

---

In a dimly lit room with blackout curtains, the only light came from the faint orange glow of a bedside lamp. A man sat on a chair by the bed, his shadow cast against the wall.

It was Cha Uijae.

He sat with his legs crossed, wearing the same clothes he had worn when he left the house. His gaze remained fixed on the person lying in the bed. Uijae reached out and gently brushed the black hair away from the sleeping figure's face. Lee Sayoung lay motionless, as if in a deep slumber.

He had been unconscious for a week.

When Uijae had found Sayoung after the whale had been slain, he barely remembered what had happened. All he recalled was his entire body being bound in shadows and seeing a battered Mingi collapse into a heap.

Uijae murmured to himself.

"When I didn’t return… is this how you felt? You."

"……."

"Did you just want to teach me what it was like to be in your shoes?"

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"……."

There was no response. But this was still better than losing him entirely.

"You waited for me…"

Uijae gently took Sayoung’s hand, cradling it in both of his own, and pressed it to his forehead as if in prayer. His blue eyes, hidden behind his eyelids, slowly opened.

"Now it’s my turn to wait for you."

Is this how you felt, too?

Like your insides were being ripped apart, like you wanted to destroy everything around you.

"Sleep well."

The farewell was bittersweet. After smoothing down Sayoung's disheveled hair, Uijae placed a soft kiss on his exposed forehead. To the person who had rejected him.

---

*The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low*, Part 1 Complete

To be continued in Part 2...