The Hero Returns

* * *

Thunk—!

"Argh, what the heck?!"

Lee Ju-ho shoved his chair back and shot up to his feet when Su-hyeun abruptly opened the door and entered his office.

Thankfully, he avoided kissing the floor with his butt like the last time, but he still couldn't do anything about his heart nearly crashing to the pit of his stomach.

"H—hey, didn't you say you were somewhere far away?!"

"But I'm back now. In any case, bro?" Su-hyeun urgently walked up to Lee Ju-ho and asked, "The first file, can we take a closer look at that?"

"Oh, that one?" Lee Ju-ho returned the shoved chair back to its rightful place and picked up the tablet PC resting on the corner of his desk.

The time this tablet took to switch on felt unnecessarily long. The screen finally came to life. After Lee Ju-ho accessed the file in question, the photo containing a far-too-familiar thing popped up.

"Yeah, even I thought this was a bit weird. This photo showed up in an American community board, but other than this one photo, there aren't any useful descriptions on what's going on."

"Who posted it, though?"

"We tried to find out, but as it turns out, it's meaningless."

"Sorry?"

"That person is dead," Lee Ju-ho shook his head to say it was an unfortunate thing. "The time of death and the time when this post appeared are almost a match. It's like this person died almost immediately after uploading the photo online."

"Sounds like that person was uploading it rather urgently."

"I guess so. And that's why it gained so much traction online. The original post got deleted, but you know how fast the internet can be. Now that it's gone viral, the photo's been spreading around at the speed of light. Although, the American authorities are treating it as a simple murder and are investigating it that way—" Lee Ju-ho suddenly cut himself off and took a look at Su-hyeun's expression. "What's the matter? You interested?"

Su-hyeun nodded gravely. How could he not be interested?

It was unknown whether this was a CGI or a real photo, but there was no doubting that this lead was connected to Fafnir.

"Can you find out where this photo was taken?"

* * *

Los Angeles—a giant metropolis second only to New York in the United States—was teeming with countless people.

It was a testament to a world that had welcomed the era of peace.

All wars had vanished after humanity united against the common enemy called monsters. Even dungeons had almost stopped appearing in recent times.

The United States, which never really feared war, always had a real fear of dungeons. Still, for the past year or so, the number of dungeons appearing in and near the city of Los Angeles could be counted in one hand, so much so that awakeners fiercely competed against each other to raid what few dungeons did show up. It had gotten so bad that even S-Ranks were pouring their all to secure raiding permits for even orange-colored dungeons.

For all intents and purposes, the threat level posed by dungeons had become almost nil.

And in such a situation, an unexplained murder was enough to bring about great ripples.

Especially when...

"We still can't figure out the identity of the monster in this photo."

The person who took the photo of a monster that hadn't shown up yet in the world had died mysteriously, so it was unsurprising to learn that the societal alarms raised would be rather intense.

The Senior Special Agent working for the FBI's LA Office, John Zade, alternated his gaze between the photos of the crime scene and the image of the unknown monster.

He was a special agent who also happened to be a C-Rank awakener. He had his fair share of run-ins with monsters that no civilian could deal with back inside the Tower. Also, he held a special interest in the "society" of the awakeners, so naturally, he had a sizeable knowledge of most monsters.

However, not even Zade's recollections or any other available information network could help identify the monster in the photo. Hell, not even a single awakener stepped forward to say they had encountered a similar monster like this inside the Tower.

"The victim's name is Ben Lloyd, a B-Rank awakener. Since an awakener was murdered, the perp cannot be an ordinary civilian," Zade spun the pen shaft around with his fingers while holding his head. "Incidents related to dungeons are tied to one's career."

In other words, he simply had to solve this crime no matter what.

If this incident was really connected to some dungeon and if he was the one to uncover that link, then well, his ascend in the career ladder was basically a done deal.

"Sir?"

Zade didn't reply. That voice that came from behind him belonged to a rookie who recently joined his office.

"Sir."

"Ah! What now?" John Zade turned his head in irritation after his chain of thoughts was broken.

When he looked back, the rookie named Logan replied with a slightly trembling voice, "S—sir...You have a...uh...a guest—"

"What was that? Speak louder!"

"S—sir! A guest is looking for you, sir!" Logan roared his reply at Zade's obvious displeasure.

The Senior Special Agent scrunched up his face as if he didn't like this one bit and then stood up from his chair.

Du-ru-ruk—

"Who is it? If it's nothing major, you should've just sent them home. Can't you see I'm busy as—?"

"But, sir, it's Su-hyeun Kim."

Zade, who had been spitting out his dissatisfaction, froze in place after hearing Logan's report.

He stayed still for a bit and then turned around to the newbie agent to ask one more time, "Who did you say it was?"

* * *

This was Su-hyeun's first time visiting an FBI office like this.

That remained true even after combing through his past life or this one. But that's because Su-hyeun worked together with not the FBI but the American Awakener Authority on most of the incidents happening within the American borders.

He wanted to speak to the Special Agent responsible for handling that particular crime. He didn't have to wait too long in the reception area.

"Hello there! My name is John Zade, Special Agent of FBI's Security Department!"

"Ah, hello. I'm Kim Su-hyeun," Su-hyeun extended his hand toward Special Agent Zade, who had entered the reception area and greeted him in a rather stiff manner.

Their greeting was brief. Zade remained standing and rambled on with a taut face, "It's an honor for you to pay us a visit like this, sir. If you need anything, please don't hold back and ask us for—"

"Well, I was planning to do that, actually," Su-hyeun quickly cut Zade off after getting a premonition that their chat might get derailed unnecessarily. He then tapped an empty seat opposite his, gesturing the Special Agent to take a seat.

Zade stood still stiffly for a bit and then hurriedly followed after Su-hyeun's gesture and settled down. In the meantime, the latter took out the tablet PC he brought along from Korea and switched it on. He then presented it forward, "Are you in charge of investigating this incident?"

"Y—yes, that's correct."

"No need to be so tense. I'm not here to argue or pick fights with you. The thing is, though, I'm somewhat intrigued by this incident. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions and request your cooperation in the matter."

Getting information on the crime that the FBI was investigating and then asking for the cooperation of said organization?

It would be common knowledge for the locals that you wouldn't receive such information from the FBI without being a Special Agent yourself. However, Zade found it impossible to push such common sense unto the man sitting right before his eyes.

It was because the man was none other than Kim Su-hyeun. His existence was on another realm compared to, say, awakeners with some star power. At the very least, he was a peerless hero without equal on this planet.

Some people even began worshiping him like a real deity, for crying out loud.

"I shall take full responsibility."

That was why that one sentence from Su-hyeun was all it took.

"What would you like to know, sir?"

Zade had a feeling that the crime he was in charge of investigating could very well get solved now. Su-hyeun also shared that sentiment.

"For now," Su-hyeun, feeling relieved that Zade was quite cooperative, immediately replied with what he had been planning before coming here, "I'd like to speak to the victim."

* * *

Under Zade's guidance, Su-hyeun reached a certain skyscraper in the middle of Los Angeles.

The building itself looked like the kind where fairly wealthy people would choose to call home, and as such, it boasted a high level of security. As for its height, it must have reached several dozens of floors.

The investigation seemed to be still ongoing since the floor where the crime had taken place was teeming with FBI Special Agents.

"Huff, huff, bleeergh," Zade, who had arrived on the scene on Su-hyeun's shoulder, began dry-retching.

For a moment there, his innards twisted around, and his head began ringing noisily. They traveled in such fashion because Su-hyeun couldn't afford to waste a single second, so he simply picked up the FBI agent and ran all the way here on his two feet.

"O—over...there...that's where—"

He couldn't even speak in a complete sentence as he continued to dry-heave.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Pat, pat—

Su-hyeun put Zade down nearby and then lightly patted the latter on his back a couple of times.

Prana traveled through his hand, substantially calming Zade's tumbling innards. Su-hyeun, now finished with his impromptu first aid, headed directly to the crime scene.

A few Special Agents tried to stop him, but Zade, now feeling much better, stepped forward to push them aside. Thanks to that, they didn't encounter any problems and were able to enter the crime scene.

When Su-hyeun walked past the lengthy entrance and entered the living room, he noticed the marble floor stained with a copious amount of blood.

The computer was also located here. Special Agents worked diligently to find clues, but Su-hyeun didn't have any professional know-how or technique to help them out.

On the other hand...

Shu-wuwu...

Su-hyeun's eyes became dyed in a black hue.

As soon as he activated his Necromancer trait, Death Aura rose from the living room floor.

He could now see several spirits of the dead congregating here. These wandering souls, having picked up the scent of death, had gathered here. However, they quickly got frightened by the glare in Su-hyeun's eyes and urgently scattered away as if they were making a quick getaway.

And then, only one soul remained.

"That's Ben Lloyd," Su-hyeun thought.

His soul still resembled a person; he hadn't lost his original form and became a complete wandering soul just yet.

This indicated that it hadn't been long since he died, allowing Su-hyeun to confirm his face clearly. It was the same as the victim's—the one he saw, thanks to Zade's cooperation.

It was indeed none other than Ben Lloyd, the one responsible for uploading that photo.

"Although I would've said it's nice to make your acquaintance...what happened to you was too unfair for that."

"Am I...really dead?" Ben Lloyd asked. His voice was trembling. Only Su-hyeun could hear this voice, though, and he was the only one who could reply to it.

"Yes. You must accept it."

"Ah," a sigh of lamentation escaped from Ben Lloyd's lips.

Although Su-hyeun would've liked to sympathize with the victim's sadness and share the pain here, he simply didn't have the time nor leeway for that.

He used the special ability of the Necromancer trait and placed Ben Lloyd's soul under his command. However, he weakened the strength of his control so that Ben's ego would remain. "Can you tell me what happened?"

When he asked that, Ben Lloyd slowly opened his mouth.

"It...it was a dungeon."

"A dungeon, you say?"

"Yes. It was definitely a dungeon. But it was colorless. It had no color to it."

Su-hyeun's eyes flickered at that reply.

A colorless dungeon?

That dungeon "color" hadn't been discovered until now. If this got out, then without a doubt, a huge commotion would break out once more.

"Did you enter this dungeon?"

"I was actually boating near Santa Monica coastline back then. But in the middle of that, a powerful wave suddenly hit me, and I lost my consciousness. The wave was too powerful, and I couldn't even do anything about it."

Ben Lloyd was a B-Rank awakener. If someone like that was unable to withstand the wave, then without a doubt, it couldn't have been generated naturally.

But the strange occurrences didn't end there.

"Okay. When you came to, did you find the dungeon?"

"It was located at the foot of a cliff quite a distance away from the beach. The colorless dungeon, murals on the wall, and then...several people who seemed to be awakeners were gathered there..."

"In that case, that photo you uploaded online was—"

"It was one of the murals. I took the photo, but the phone ended up making a clicking noise, so I couldn't take other pictures. Thankfully, I was a B-Rank awakener, so I managed to get away from there, but—"

"They came after you."

"Yes. There were just too many of them. And they were quite highly skilled, too. I thought that since I was going to die, I need to spread this photo around at the very least."

"Awakeners, huh?" Su-hyeun thought.

Several awakeners were involved in this incident.

Their levels must have been quite high since even Ben Lloyd, a B-Rank awakener, got frightened and had to run away. As for their goal, Su-hyeun didn't even need to investigate to make an educated guess.

"The number of dungeons decreasing is definitely not good news for the awakeners, after all."

When there was not enough work to go around, people were bound to feel threatened for their livelihood. Whatever their excuses were, they probably needed the presence of dungeons desperately.

"Do you still remember its location?"

"I don't know the exact coordinates, but I do roughly remember where it was."

"That's more than good enough," Su-hyeun stepped toward the window instead of the perfectly fine doorway.. "Let's go."