Requiem Of A Failed Hero

"Will someone like to explain why a Japanese hunter is here in Korea?! and launched an attack at our hunter! Is this a declaration of war?!"

The director of the Korea Hunter Association shouted, with rigid cords on his neck, his head was red hot with anger.

All the association agents stood in front of him silent.

Before he snapped at them the second time, an agent comes running inside the conference room.

"Sir! I have some new information. The Japanese association is also in Korea and are currently making their way here." The guy reported.

"Better, because somebody better explains this shit to me." The director grunted and fell on his seat, biting his nail.

'Shit! Everything has escalated. At this point, we can't keep him using the Rain Guild. We can't keep his identity anymore. Turner was another thing but who the fuck is this?' The director looked at the old news feed that was on the laptop in front of him. It read, 'Japan's First Disaster Rank Hunter, Hashizume Kazuki'

'...if we look to the good side of this, this might actually be an opportunity to know hunter Raith's strength.'

Ring! Ringgg!!

He quickly pick up the phone and bowed as he greeted the person.

"What is going on right now?"

"Chairman sir, I apologize, but we are putting everything under control." The National Directorate of the hunters association, Yeon Hyun-shik said as he responded to the chairman.

The phone hung up immediately.

"Ahhh!!" Yeon Hyun-shik slammed the table in frustration. "Why is it one chaos after the other when it comes to this guy!" He shouted.

The other agents stood rigid and all were looking down.

Until the Japanese Association came in, two men and one woman, all of them in black suits.

They all sat at the other end of the long conference table.

"What is this? What is going on?" It wasn't hard for Yeon Hyun-shik's voice to reach them thanks to the microphone.

"We sincerely apologize for this altercation."

"Is Japan intending on going to a hunters war with us now that you guys have a disaster rank hunter? Don't forget we have two."

"What do you mean? Have you forgotten we have an S rank that can beat one of your precious disaster ranks?" The woman smirks, the wrinkles that ran from her nose to her cheek doubled as she did sore, even her hair was grey and was left to freely fly across her neck.

This was the assistant association President of Japan.

"Of course, all that does not matter. We have come to sincerely apologize. Hunter Hashizume is one that cannot be reasoned with and it seems he and that hunter has some unfinished business. This is beyond us and you know how these special rank hunters can be..." She chuckled, "...I mean I don't have to tell you. You have two of them." The woman concluded with a devious smile.

"Three actually..." Director Yeon Hyun-shik said with a straight face, looking straight into the eyes of the woman.

"What? Three?..." She was caught in shock at first, but she scoffed, "...are you bluffing now Yeon Hyun-shik, you guys have had two all the while we never made a fuss about it. So you can't just be happy with us? You want to prove on every occasion that you guys are better?"

"Isn't that how our fate has been, Mrs. Miyoda Kuni? Besides, why will I bluff? That hunter is the association's asset, which we have been keeping from the public. As a matter of fact, he is a Catastrophe rank... didn't you hear, Turner is after him."

The woman leaned forward slamming the table, "Don't lie to me Yeon Hyun-Shik. How can Turner be interested in some South Korean boy."

"You ask me? Well, I don't know. All I know is our intelligence over there, told us that after Turner saw him, he wants to recruit him to his guild. Which is why we have been keeping him on a low."

"Wait, saw him once?..." Her eyes widened as she connected the dots. "...the hunter with a black mask on TV. The one that cleared a B-rank gate alone?!" At this point, she was so leaned in that she was already on her feet.

Director Yeon Hyun-shik closed his eyes with a smile as he nodded to the answers of the Japanese Association woman. "Yes, yes... that hunter."

***

"Hey, Absalom. Nice to meet you!" Raith broke the prolonged silence between the two of them.

Absalom still stood there in stare and silence, even though Raith had spoken, he didn't say anything.

'Crap! How in the world? This bastard, this cocktail. How did he get so strong? I could kill him ten times over back when we were in Felfhiem, but now I'm not even sure I can kill him once. If I start this battle, I'm not even sure how it will go. Everything about him has changed, shit! Everything... and the height of it all, what is scaring me the most... the day is bright, clearly bright... but looking at him... it's liking and staring into a void of darkness that keeps sucking me in. And this urge to fall on my knees... and just succumb to the darkness before me...' He squinted his eyes at Raith.

'...did I just regard him as the darkness before me?'

"Are you going to talk to me or are you going to stand there all day and look at me when clearly you were the one that attacked me first?"

"I have come here to kill you."

"Ha, very funny," Raith replied nodding his head.

"I am serious. I will kill you for the sake of Master Volmak"

Raith's gaze changed in that instance, from a carefree and relaxed expression to slit eyes with his eyeballs exuding low glow and smoke.

"I trust nothing has happened to Volmak."

Absalom flinched at the sudden change in the air, Raith was giving off hostility and it showed him an even greater measure of Raith's strength than he had calculated. A pearl of sweat ran down his hand but thankfully it was covered by the long-sleeved plaid shirt he was wearing.

Raith on the other hand was in the hospital's patient scrubs, with no slippers on but he didn't mind.