IRNH C70

Chapter 70

“Damn… your connections are insane.”

“Can you watch your tone?”

Ha-jung lounged back in an empty VIP airport lounge, sipping his drink and running his mouth.
Sihyeon pressed a hand to his forehead, sighing at the way Ha-jung sounded like a gangster bragging on a street corner.

Not long after Shin Ryuha had left with his suspicious remarks, the guild registration had gone through.
Sihyeon was now officially part of the Glory Guild, and Taewoon’s identity laundering was completed without issue.
Their preparations to fly to the U.S. went so smoothly it was almost suspicious.

“How’d you end up close with someone like him? Never thought I’d live to see the day.”

“Uh—hyung saved me, you know…! I’m more surprised you two are friends, Ha-jung-nim…”

“Well, I take very~ good care of this kid. Haa, I burned through so much paid leave for him this time too.”

With Gyu-min’s enthusiastic support, even their flight became absurdly comfortable. The departure had been filed as a group guild trip anyway, so they were supposed to travel together—but convenient was convenient.

“Um… actually, Ha-jung-nim, I’m a fan. Could I get your autograph?”

“M-me too!”

And just like that, the brief peace faded as the two started excitedly digging out paper scraps—no, photocard merch with Ha-jung’s face on them.

Ah. So this is why they kept asking about traveling with Ha-jung.

Sihyeon recalled that his first meeting with Gyu-min had been in a gate—when he’d followed Ha-jung in and rescued Gyu-min from a mob of monsters.

He looked blankly at the two living in their own universe, expression full of secondhand embarrassment.

“Oh, photocards. Haha, now I’m shy. Yeah, give them here.”

When Ha-jung turned his head and made eye contact with him, his eyes clearly said: Did you see that?
Sihyeon responded with a small shake of his head.

“Master.”

Taewoon lightly took hold of Sihyeon’s hand.
Sihyeon absentmindedly ruffled his hair with the same hand that held his drink, and let out a soft snort.

“Hey, Sang-deok.”

“….”

Everything had gone smoothly—except for one tiny problem.
After discovering that Shin Ryuha had been poking around behind the scenes, they had been forced to disguise Taewoon’s identity under another name.

Thus, Kim Sang-deok was born.

A name that clashed spectacularly with his beautiful face—but it was so hilariously unfitting that Sihyeon couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Taewoon’s brows tightened slightly.

Alright, I should stop.

On the way to the airport, Sihyeon had teased him every chance he got.
This was already pushing it—but Taewoon’s reactions were addictive.
He pretended to tolerate it, but the man couldn’t stand anything tacky or unstylish.

He hadn’t been like that when he was younger, but somewhere along the line he stopped wearing anything unless Sihyeon was the one who picked it out.

Sihyeon patted his sulking disciple’s back a few times before standing up at Gyu-min’s reminder that it was time to board.

Cute, damn it.

Even then, Taewoon tightened his grip on Sihyeon’s hand and leaned closer, making Sihyeon smile helplessly.

The flight was incredibly comfortable—
or at least it would have been, if Sihyeon hadn’t jolted awake in shock when the aircraft activated a barrage of defensive and translation skills upon takeoff.

In this era, apparently you boarded planes practically barefoot.

Goddamn it, that was embarrassing.

He couldn’t decide whether it was a blessing or curse that only their group and a few flight attendants saw it.

Slightly depressed, he exited the airport.

“Pff—holy crap, Jeong Sihyeon, you’re hilarious. What a psycho.”

“Enough…”

Ha-jung helpfully poured more oil onto his wounded pride.
Sihyeon glanced at Taewoon, then quickly snapped his head away when their eyes met, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“Haa… anyway. We’re taking a taxi to the meeting spot right away. I’ll explain who we’re meeting on the way, so listen carefully.”

Even while laughing, Ha-jung finally sobered up once they got into the taxi. He cast a sound-blocking skill over them and dropped his voice.

“So—you remember we’re meeting Liang Chaoxia today, right?
He’s… complicated, but his hunter rank isn’t actually high.”

Liang Chaoxia was a B-rank hunter.
Not too low, but nowhere near elite.

But he had become the most powerful man in Hong Kong for one reason:

He’d been obscenely rich before the world changed.

To call him wealthy was an understatement—he had practically controlled Hong Kong’s entire economic bloodstream.
His influence span across borders; his power ignored national boundaries.

“All the famous Hong Kong hunters work under him. But the wild part isn’t just his money.”

Lots of hunters were rich.
But what if, long before awakening existed, someone had been sponsoring certain individuals?

It sounded like a wild conspiracy—
but it had actually happened.

Liang Chaoxia had supported numerous promising people like a feudal lord raising knights.
And all of them had awakened as high-level ability users.

“They call them the Liang Chaoxia Kids.
…Honestly, I even got one of his business cards once. A scouting offer.”

“So that’s why you think Black Butterfly is related?”

“…Yeah. That’s my working hypothesis.”

Sihyeon turned his gaze to the window, silently processing.

If all of this was true, the man was terrifying.
Not only money—he had power and information.

And if he was still recruiting strong ability users…

Even if Black Butterfly wasn’t confirmed to be one of his “kids,” the scale of the organization involved was much larger than Sihyeon had expected.

The name alone—Black Butterfly—felt too aligned with Chinese-speaking spheres to be a coincidence.

“And… ability aside, the man’s a saint.
He used his personal wealth to supply relief during the first gate disasters.
More than a dozen countries received aid.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I were.
He dumped money like water—shipped medicine everywhere through his medical foundation.
Korea was one of the countries he helped.”

“What the…”

“Remember God’s Mine in Gangwon-do?
The region only stabilized because hunters received support early on.
Before the Gate era, people whispered that he was connected to the Triads, but there’s no evidence.”

Sihyeon felt dizzy.
This man sounded unreal—like someone out of a novel, a protagonist of his own saga.

And Ha-jung—who was extremely cautious—speaking this highly of someone was practically unheard of.

And yet…
Sihyeon couldn’t blindly trust it.

Human beings always wanted something.
Whether it was profit, satisfaction, ideology—motives existed.
Nobody gave without expecting some form of return.

No—don’t jump to conclusions before meeting him.

He shook his head and cleared his thoughts.
Judging people beforehand made you force them to fit your assumptions.

And in this case, they were meeting for help anyway.

As the iconic Las Vegas “Welcome” sign slid past the taxi window, Sihyeon forcibly cut off his spiraling thoughts.

“We’re almost there.”

“Oh, and the meeting’s at three, so there’s not much spare time. What do you guys want to do?”

Ha-jung checked the time and glanced at Gyu-min and Yujun, speaking more casually now.

“Uh… would we get in the way if we come?”

“…W-we’ll stay quiet…”

Both of them peeked nervously at Sihyeon, clearly wanting to tag along despite their shyness.

They’d been buzzing with excitement before the flight—
yet once abroad, they clung to him like goldfish poop.

Sihyeon felt a headache building.

Taewoon was basically a +1 permanently attached to him, so leaving him behind wasn’t even a consideration.

He sighed.

“…Fine. They’re going to bring a bunch of people anyway. It won’t matter.”

“A bunch?”

“I told you—his ‘kids.’ The guy has a ton of bodyguards.”

Sihyeon’s brows furrowed.
He disliked the idea of his face becoming more recognizable.

It was a habit—
Rooted in the martial world where secrecy and constant pursuit meant survival.
Having his identity spread felt inherently dangerous.

“Tch. Nothing I can do.”

This wasn’t the martial world.
And he couldn’t live like that forever.

He glanced briefly at Taewoon, nodded once, and looked outside.

The taxi slowed as it entered the city proper.

“STOP USING GATE ARTIFACTS!!”

“GATES ARE NOT A GIFT—THEY ARE A CURSE!!!”

Multiple angry voices pierced into Sihyeon’s sharp hearing.
A moment later, he saw where the noise was coming from.