By the time the Black Parade’s main force landed, the situation inside the abandoned factory was already under control.

The Blue Lions’ guild master, Man-su Oh, had been subdued, and the rest of his men had given up the fight for their leader’s safety.

“Hah~ this is worse than getting cut off mid-shit.”

Scar spat on the floor, taking back his carving knives from Romeo and Juliet.

“Count yourselves lucky. If that speedy little runt hadn’t jumped in, I’d have filleted you both today.”

“…”

“See you around, eh? If you’re not dead by then.”

Scar gathered his men and withdrew.

But Romeo and Juliet couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief. The witch standing before them was about to kill them anyway.

Leaning on her cane, Commander Seo tapped her way into the factory.

She wore a beaming smile, but anyone who knew her could see the sinister aura gathering around her like storm clouds—a sure sign she was in a foul mood.

“Shylock.”

Hae-eun stopped just inside the factory entrance, her voice bright.

“Why haven’t you been in contact? Why weren’t you at the command post? Why did you sneak over here?”

“…”

“The transport team’s body cam data sent to your command post… you wiped it all, didn’t you? Were you trying to skim something off the top behind my back?”

“…”

“Speak, you bastard. What did you do?”

Hae-eun’s smile was lethal as her hand went to her hip.

Whether she’d pull a pistol, the detonator for their bomb collars, or perhaps activate the parasitic Gu, the execution options were plentiful.

“To think you were so docile for the past decade, only to pull such a cunning little stunt now?”

Shylock silently closed his eyes.

He’d grown weary of his endless prison life and had taken a gamble on Man-su Oh. The gamble had failed spectacularly; the price was death.

The best he could hope for was that Hae-eun would grant him a merciful execution.

Shylock, Romeo, and Juliet quietly awaited their end.

A voice cut in.

“Just a moment, Commander!” Jae-hee scurried out from the side. “This all happened because we were tricked by Mayor Oh!”

“Hm?”

“We delivered the goods, just as planned. But then the mayor backed out, called in his men, and threatened to kill the whole transport team. Said we had to bring a superior over.”

Jae-hee lied with a practiced ease, as if he’d rehearsed it.

“So Shylock and Status Window came. Oh told them to wipe the evidence if they wanted the team to live, and that’s why the body cam data was deleted…”

Having said his piece, Jae-hee shot Shylock a look. “And that’s how all this happened. Right?”

“Uh? Y-yes, that’s right.”

“Oh, my.”

Hae-eun covered her mouth with her hand, her expression softening slightly.

“I see. So it was all that baseball-freak bastard’s doing.”

There were no obvious holes in Jae-hee’s story.

Most importantly, there was no reason for Jae-hee to defend Team Shakespeare. The two parties had no prior friendship or connection.

Her suspicions allayed, Hae-eun’s smile turned venomous as she strode toward Man-su Oh.

“Sorry for the misunderstanding. Rest here, transport team. I need to have a little chat with our dear mayor, don’t I?”

Ghost escorted her deeper into the factory.

As Hae-eun disappeared into the distance, Shylock, Romeo, and Juliet all turned to Jae-hee.

“Hey, Boy.” Shylock looked genuinely confused. “Why did you lie to the commander? We tricked you. We were trying to kill you.”

“Well, you see…” Jae-hee grinned slyly. “If I’d told the commander the truth, you all would have died on the spot, and that would be the end of it… But if I could fool her, you’d live, and you’d owe me a debt, right?”

Shylock’s eyes widened.

“That’s more profitable for me. Isn’t it?”

“Well, well…”

“…is what Status Window advised me to do.”

Status Window, who had been hiding behind Jae-hee, peeked his head out before quickly ducking back in. Not that he could hide his larger frame properly anyway.

Regardless, Shylock nodded, immediately acknowledging the debt.

“What do you want? The one good thing about this business is that people who were laughing together five minutes ago can be stabbing each other, and people who were stabbing each other can be laughing together five minutes later.”

“…”

“You saved our lives. If there’s something you want, and it’s within our power to give, we’ll give it. Name it.”

Shylock smiled bitterly.

“Though, we’re just prisoners ourselves. We don’t have much to offer besides my position as the Deck 4 Leader…”

“That’s it!”

“What?”

“You’re the Deck 4 Leader!”

Jae-hee placed a hand on his chest and declared boldly, “I’m aiming to become the Deck Commander of this prison cruise! Your help would make things much smoother.”

“What?”

The faces of the three members of Team Shakespeare went slack with astonishment.

“Deck Commander?”

***

No one except the two parties involved knew exactly what deal was struck between Hae-eun and Man-su Oh.

But one thing was certain: Hae-eun was now the one holding all the cards, and Man-su Oh was at her mercy.

In exchange for not reporting his giant monster research to the central government, Hae-eun extorted a great deal from Man-su.

On top of that, she made him pay dearly for daring to try and eliminate a Black Parade transport team.

“Thanks to him, I’ve got leverage over the mayor of Daegu!”

Beaming, Hae-eun held the lion-doll monster in her arms.

Man-su, having lost the monster designated “Crying-X,” let out a desperate scream. “The hope of our city of Daeguuuu!”

Ignoring him completely, Hae-eun pointed a finger at Crying-X.

“Your name is now ‘Cryx’!”

Jae-hee broke out in a cold sweat. She didn’t just mash the first syllables of ‘Crying’ and ‘X’ together… did she?

“Waah…?”

The confused Cryx was placed in a human-sized containment unit inside the transport and carried away.

Watching the scene unfold, Ghost clicked her tongue.

“It’s small now, but it becomes the size of a building when its trigger is activated. You’re really going to keep that thing on our ship?”

“We just have to make sure the trigger isn’t activated, right? It’s also leverage against the mayor. Besides, who knows? It might prove useful to us.”

Hae-eun grinned at Ghost.

“I’ve decided to build a ‘Captured Monster Containment Room’ in a section of Deck Zero. Man-su is paying for the renovations, of course.”

“…”

“We can house the Rose Princess we caught earlier in there, too. Maybe I’ll start a collection~”

“And who’s going to look after them?”

“You?”

Ghost just shook her head silently and walked toward the transport.

Jae-hee trotted up beside her. “Is your august person in good health, Master?”

“What’s with the weird way of talking? I’m fine. You?”

“Almost died a few times, but I’m okay!”

Jae-hee held up his windbreaker, which was covered in knife slashes. Ghost’s brow furrowed, but she said nothing.

“This Awakened Protection Act… something’s not right about it,” Jae-hee said quietly, glancing toward the factory as it was being secured. “I didn’t realize the discontent was boiling over even in the provinces.”

Even if the mayor had spouted some nonsense about pro baseball, the root cause of this whole giant monster incident was the Awakened Protection Act.

For a regional warlord like the mayor of Daegu, the bill could easily be interpreted as an invasion of his territory by the central government.

“The whole country is in an uproar over it.” Ghost pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “I feel like something big is going to blow up soon…”

“Hmm…”

“What the hell is President San Kim thinking?”

As the mood grew heavy, Jae-hee quickly changed the subject. “By the way, Master. Have you ever watched pro baseball?”

Ghost’s shoulders flinched.

Guessing the meaning behind her reaction, Jae-hee let out an “Ooh.”

“You have, haven’t you!”

“…Yeah, I guess. Back in the day, I was pretty into it.”

“What exactly is pro baseball?”

“It’s a sport where players throw wild pitches, swing at nothing, trip over their own feet, and light up the scoreboard, while the spectators eat chicken and drink beer to forget the stress of watching it.”

For some reason, her voice was laced with a profound fury, but Jae-hee ignored the first part of her sentence and focused on the second.

“Wow, chicken and beer! That sounds awesome!”

“…Well, maybe one game out of ten was good.”

She sounded half-resigned.

Jae-hee grinned innocently. “I want to see it sometime, pro baseball!”

“How are you going to do that? The league collapsed thirty years ago…”

“I heard Seoul and Daegu are starting teams now, though?”

“What’s the point of that in a world like this… Then again, I’m one to talk, having gone to Rock Fest 2050.”

Just then, Hae-eun, who had overheard their conversation, threw an arm around their shoulders.

“What’s this, everyone wants to see a baseball game?”

Whatever she’d gotten out of this mission must have been delicious.

The commander’s face was glowing as she shouted, “Then for this mission’s after-party, how about we check out a Daegu specialty—the Lions Pub?”

***

In a basement on the outskirts of Daegu, a sports pub was open for business.

The name was fancier than the reality. It was just a bar that sold drinks and snacks while playing old pro baseball games on a large screen on the wall.

But for people who missed the world before the Gates, it was more than enough.

When the Black Parade arrived for their after-party, a fair number of elderly patrons were already seated, watching the game on the screen.

“This place is surprisingly popular.”

“It’s the only bar in Daegu that always has a baseball game on.”

Ghost, who seemed to have been here before, expertly took a seat at the bar. Jae-hee slid in beside her.

Her eyes scanned the old team uniforms hanging on the wall.

“The Lions won the championship eight times and had a four-year winning streak from 2011 to 2014. They were an incredible team. It’s no wonder people miss them.”

“Wow, they were really amazing.”

Still, Jae-hee thought, missing them so much that you create a giant monster was taking it a bit too far…

The faces of the old men watching the championship game on the screen were filled with their own memories. The scene was almost reverent, and it made Jae-hee feel strange.

“Alright, everyone worked hard, so drink up! It’s on me!”

Clearly in a fantastic mood, Hae-eun passed drinks around to the Black Parade agents. Since it was a pub, most ordered beer, but Jae-hee got a cola.

Next came the food. You ordered at the bar, and the food was brought over from the shop next door.

When the dish Ghost had ordered arrived, Jae-hee’s eyes went wide.

“What’s this?”

“Mungtigi.”

It was raw beef, sliced thin and spread across the plate. It was so fresh and sticky that the meat didn’t fall off even when the plate was turned upside down.

Ghost picked up a piece with her chopsticks, dipped it in sesame oil and salt, and popped it in her mouth.

“You have to eat this when you come to Daegu.”

“Ugh, raw meat is a little… Whoa, this is yum!”

His hesitation lasted only a few seconds. After one bite, Jae-hee began to devour it.

Ghost chuckled, expertly popping the cap off a beer bottle with a spoon and pouring it into a glass.

The people in the pub sat in their own groups, chatting quietly, eating and drinking, and watching a baseball game from thirty years ago.

Feeling inexplicably happy, Jae-hee smiled brightly. “Pro baseball is great!”

“…You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d seen my team’s games during the final 2020 season.”

“Huh?”

“No, never mind,” Ghost mumbled, raising her beer glass. “To think I’m nostalgic for even that goddamn train wreck… I guess I really am getting old.”

Then she glanced at Jae-hee. “You should remember this moment well.”

“Huh?”

“Because the mundane daily life you take for granted now… could one day become something you desperately try to remember, an object of intense longing.”

Jae-hee’s eyes widened, then he broke into a grin.

“Of course! I have a great memory! I remember every single restaurant we’ve been to, Master!”

“…Right. I’m glad that counts as something worth remembering.”

Just then, a news report began to play.

«This is a breaking news report.»

Not on the big screen showing the baseball game, but on a small TV installed near the bar.

«Following the passage of the Awakened Protection Act in the National Assembly this afternoon, Hunter Shin-woo Jo has released a statement. A member of the Old Five Heroes, Hunter Jo is the leader of ‘The Knights,’ the guild that manages the Cheongnyangni Gate.»

In an instant, every eye in the pub shifted from the big screen to the small TV.

On the screen was the face of the handsome middle-aged man Jae-hee had met at the rock festival, the one who had told him to call him “uncle.”

A hero of the Gate War.

The Godfather of all Korean Hunters.

Iron Knight, Shin-woo Jo.

«‘The Knights can never accept this bill…’»

The announcer finished his report, sweat beading on his forehead.

«Hunter Jo has declared that if the government attempts to enforce the bill, they will resist with every means at their disposal.»

“…Hm.”

After downing her beer in one clean gulp, Ghost set the glass down on the bar with a thud.

“And now, the real shitshow begins,” she muttered under her breath.

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