Chapter Eighteen

“So… um… why did you leave the ward out of the sudden earlier on?” Yuri repeated her question. She hadn’t forgotten why she came here.

Tiffany peered over the book she was reading and looked at Yuri. Logically speaking, that victim shouldn’t be the suspect since she was injured by the mutant itself. But those images that flashed through her mind when their hands clasped together… Tiffany couldn’t explain it. She had observed Jessica’s facial expression after she pulled away from her, but not a suspicious clue had she found from that lost, clueless and obviously startled face.

Was it really a coincidence? Or a deliberation which she did not manage to discover?

Tiffany sighed heavily in her heart.

Until she figures out what exactly is the situation, she can’t give Yuri an answer too.

“Nothing.” She pulled off a faint smile at her partner. “You know I don’t get along with stranger.”

“Oh…” Yuri believed her words without a second thought. “But Jessica is really a nice person. You should try and communicate with her.”

Tiffany gave Yuri a weird look, “You only know her today.” How can she easily conclude a person after their first meeting?

“But we chatted a lot for the whole morning, and I can tell you, she really surprises me. When I saw her back then in the shrine, I thought she must be someone who doesn’t like to talk. But ironically, I think she speaks more than me.” Yuri thought the Jessica she met back in the shrine was supposed to be a quiet, reserved and doleful lady. She will never forget that pair of melancholic eyes she saw yesterday night, though it seemed like they are only a hallucination since she never see it again from its supposed owner? But whatever it is, Yuri knew clearly it was the gaze which drew her towards Jessica, regardless they exist or not.

Tiffany had her focus back on the book again. She took a quick glance at Yuri and replied with an indifferent tone, “I see you have a very good impression on her.” Truth to be told, Yuri was too kind. She always labeled everyone as nice people except when she knew they were baddies right from the beginning. But she had never discussed about these people before, Jessica is the first one. The first one and the only one who she kept on talked about.

Does that means Jessica is… different?

Tiffany squinted and slammed the book shut.

She doesn’t like the thought of Yuri treating someone different, specifically, in a good way.

Yuri was startled by Tiffany’s action. She gulped silently, watching her partner with full cautious. “Are you alright?” Tiffany was moody out of the sudden. She was terrified if Tiffany would do anythingto her.

“Better than ever.” Tiffany rose from her seat and picked out those books which she hadn’t read. “If you don’t mind, return those books to the shelves for me.”

“Yeah, sure…” Better obey her before she throws her anger at her.

“By the way,” Tiffany was about to leave when she stopped in her track, turning back to face Yuri. “I think you should do some studies on the Wideons too. I can’t assure you whether they are still alive and are involve in this mutation incident. But no harm reading up on them, take it as enriching your history’s knowledge.”

Yuri raised one of her eyebrows, “Okay…”

“And Hyuk-Jun oppa said there will be a meeting tonight. I shall see you in the conference room later.”

*

A total of fifteen hunters gathered in the large conference room prepared by the administrators. Tiffany sat on the first chair away from the director’s seat, along with Yuri, Sooyoung and Yoona sitting to her right respectively. Sitting on her opposite was a young man in his early 20’s. He looked unexpectedly suave looking despite owning a pair of small eyes. Many girls thought that that was the most attractive part of him and they usually couldn’t retrieve their visions when they coincidentally met him on the hallway.

Tiffany was one of them too, except that hers was a deadly stare while those admirers’ gazes were filled with affection.

“I heard your team brought in a casualty today.” An arrogant smirk was formed on his face. He leaned forward, having half of his body stretched across the table with his elbows resting on it, “I never knew that will actually happen to you, Tiffany.”

Lifting up her head a little, Tiffany looked right into his eyes, provocatively. She returned him a disdained grin, “I heard you lost the mutant. That is certainly a surprise to me, Wooyoung.”

Wooyoung scoffed at her, “At least no one is injured.”

“How sure can you be that the mutant escaped from you wouldn’t hurt the other innocent lives?”

Wooyoung squinted and was about to retort at Tiffany when someone pushed him lightly back to his seat. He diverted his attention to the hands on his shoulder, which appeared to be Yuri’s ones, and saw her staring at both Tiffany and him helplessly.

Yuri shot Wooyoung a warning glare upon noticing his gaze. Wooyoung and Tiffany… the biggest rivals in Aurales, God knew why they loved to compete with one another so much. Yuri remembered Tiffany and Wooyoung used to be on very good terms when the former first came into Aurales. What changed them exactly?

“We are just having a casual conversation, Yuri.” Tiffany eyed Wooyoung with a smirk on her face. She folded her arms across her chest. “Sit down. We are not going to fight.” Hunters are not train to fight their companions.

Yuri settled back on her seat while eyeing the rival duo suspiciously. The rest of the hunters in the room also doubted whether the both of them will get into a fight afterwards.

Just then, the door swung open and in came Hyuk-Jun. He sat on the director’s seat and the meeting began.

“Except for Yuri and Tiffany, none of you managed to kill the mutants?” The room was filled with silence. The failed hunters were too embarrassed to answer Hyuk-Jun’s question boldly.

Hyuk-Jun heaved out a sigh, his eyes roamed around the hunters. Hunter S comprised the top fifteen hunters in their organization, having such a result was definitely the last possible outcome they had expected and that really disappointed them.

He is not blaming them for being incompetent though, what actually worries him is how strong have the mutants become? Having all, but two, of their hunters let them freed away, is an issue not to be taken lightly.

Hyuk-Jun clapped his hands, gathering the hunters’ attention back onto him. “Let’s hear what you guys have to say. Starting from Wooyoung, briefly describe the situation.”

Unlike Tiffany, Yuri, Sooyoung and Yoona, Wooyoung is more of a solo hunter. He does pair up with one of the Hunter S, Junho, occasionally, but most of the time he prefers to go on mission alone. One of the examples is their latest mission. Due to the fact that mutants had appeared in several locations, some of the usual pairings are split up and Wooyoung’s team is, no doubt, one of them.

The arrogant from before had vanished from his face. Wooyoung is always serious when they are in a meeting.

“The mutant is unexpectedly nimble and intelligent unlike those I met in the past. It knows how to hide its odor and sneak attack when I have my back facing it.” Wooyoung frowned upon recalling the incident where the mutant almost succeeded in hurting him. If he hadn’t been sensitive and fast enough, he could have been killed. “However, I don’t see its intention in hurting anyone,” He emphasized on the last two words specifically while taking a quick glance at Tiffany. “It is like… that mutant was trying to play hide-and-seek with me instead.” If the mutant had the intention to hurt the innocent villagers, those villagers would have been either killed or in critical condition even before he arrived.

Hyuk-Jun pondered through his words, those statements sounded awfully familiar. He turned to the rest of the hunters, “Did all of you face the same situation?” He remembered hearing a similar story from Yuri in the morning. The only difference was she met more than one mutant and it injured someone before Yuri managed to finish it off.

Everyone, except for Tiffany and Yuri, nodded their head in acknowledgment.

“Not a single special occurrence?” None answered and some simply shook their heads as reply. “Well then…” Hyuk-Jun directed his focus to the duo on his right. “Tiffany, Yuri, let us hear your story then.” He had decided that it was needless to listen to the rest of the team. He could always look for them after the meeting if he wanted a detailed report about it.

Tiffany started off, “We were told that the mutant went into the forest when we arrived at the village. But I realized there was another one hiding in the village, so Yuri and I decided to go separate ways – she went into the forest, while I stayed in the village.”

“Hold on a second, Yuri told me she met two mutants in the forest, which means to say, the both of you encountered a total of three mutants unlike the others?” Hyuk-Jun voiced out his curiosity.

“Exactly.” Tiffany nodded. “My encounter is somewhat similar to Wooyoung’s. Only that I killed it, he let it ran away.”

Wooyoung sneered at her comment and looked away.

“A-hem!” Yuri decided to continue off with the rest before Tiffany and Wooyoung started any argument again. She seldom interfered with their quarrels, but having a fight during a meeting was not highly recommended.

After clearing of successfully gained the members’ attention, Yuri started to reminiscent the scene. “I would say my experience is different from everyone here. Firstly, a normal person was present at the scene and she was, unfortunately, injured by the mutant due to my carelessness.” As soon as Yuri finished her sentence, she felt something soft and warm captured her hand. She turned to Tiffany immediately and drew an assurance smile on her face.

She is glad that whenever she is in need of comfort and help, Tiffany is always there to support her. No one understands her more than Tiffany does, although it is quite disappointing that she doesn’t understand her well as much as she does to her.

“What happened after that?” Wooyoung’s sudden interruption forced the partners to break their eyes contact from one another.
Tiffany seemed to be quite unhappy about it. She shot Wooyoung an annoyed glare, ignoring the latter’s infuriating smirk and focused her attention back to the random spot on the table.

“I suspect the mutant had been there way before I arrive, but it only appeared after I found the victim. I have a feeling the mutant is actually waiting for my appearance, so that it can kill the victim in front of me. The first one is unsuccessful though, I managed to end its life before it was able to come in contact with the victim. But the second one appeared out of nowhere just a minute after the first one died and I wasn’t able to react fast enough…” Yuri clenched her free hand into a fist and gritted her teeth. “Tiffany and I suggested that the members from Satron may be nearby controlling them.”

Satron!

Almost everyone gasped with surprise upon hearing their enemy’s name. The members from Satron had gone missing ever since the outbreak of the mutants three years ago. All of them, the people from Aurales and even the normal citizens, had been looking for them since then. But Satron was too crafty and intelligent that no one ever spotted them, let alone capturing them.

“You saw them?” Junho, the guy who sat next to Wooyoung, asked Yuri anxiously.

Everyone else in the room had the anxious look on them too, hoping that Yuri had found the clue to their deadly opponent.

But to their disappointment, Yuri shook her head regretfully. “We only came to realize the possibility of Satron hiding nearby after I discussed my situation with Tiffany.”

Her answer made everyone literally slumped back on their seats. Each of them wore a despair look on their face.

“Well, that is their conclusion. They may be wrong.” Hyuk-Jun quickly added on. He did not wish to see the hunters felt defeated because of a non-affirmative answer. “And in any case, I’m sure all of you know how serious the current situation is. The mutants are not the same as before. They know how to hide their odor and sneak on us rather than fighting aimlessly and hide in the dark like the old ones. I would like to urge every one of you to be on your toes.”

He paused, looking at each and every one of the hunters in the room with a pair of deeply furrowed brows.

“I have a feeling Satron may be launching their final attacks soon.”