Chapter 2
Opportunity & Threat
Woojin Han stared at the abnormally large stack of papers laid in front of him with wide-eyed astonishment.
“Rosa, I asked for the newly released ones, not all the freaking bounty posters in Kubai city.”
“These are the newly released ones you fool.” Rosa grinned as she replied.
She had given a similar look of surprise to her commander when he had handed her the posters.
“Where did so many of them pop up? Was there a prison break or something?”
Han asked as he gingerly lifted the huge bundle off the top of the table.
“Like you, I don’t have all the details, but these guys apparently
attacked a maximum security GSS base.
The government has labeled them all as terrorists to be caught dead or alive.”
Han frowned as he found the news suspicious.
The GSS was the country’s secret service. Their base locations were national secrets.
Even their members didn’t know all the base locations. A large group of people managed to find and destroy a secret base without the GSS knowing about what was coming seemed impossible.
He didn’t say much about it as he began to peruse through the bounty posters.
Rosa watched as Han’s initial disinterest towards the bounties slowly began to give way to surprise.
Han’s breath grew more labored, while his eyes bulged.
“Bloody hell, these rewards are insane. I wouldn’t need to work a day in
my life if I caught a few of these”.
Han mumbled, causing Rosa’s eye to start twitching.
“Don’t conveniently forget that you still have to pay a shitload of money
to the government”.
Han, who was visualizing the mountain of gold he would be rolling down
from, had his fantasies dashed as the gold suddenly vanished.
His eyes lost their sparkle as his expression changed into one of despair.
Rosa didn’t care what Han was going through as she asked,
“Have you decided which one you will go after first?”
Han remained silent as he started seriously contemplating the bounty posters.
“What is with the ridiculous amounts on these four?”
Han asked as he pulled out four red bordered posters from the pile to show Rosa.
She leaned forward to get a closer look at them.
“These are the high priority bounties that must be caught alive.
If you bring them dead, then their value will drop significantly”.
“I see, so that means if I capture one or two of these guys then my debt will be cleared right?”
“Wait! do you seriously want to go after these four?”
Han noticed the look on her face which showed doubt written all over.
“Yes, I want to hunt them, got a problem?”
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Rosa began to shake her head as she understood he took her reaction in the wrong way.
“What I am concerned about is that they might be the strongest out of this entire pile of bounties.
You may not be able to take them done or worse yet you may get killed for targeting them. Why not look at the other bounty posters in that pile?” Rosa.
Han knew that she was worried for his safety, but this was due to him always taking on small fry bounties who anyone with a high elemental affinity could take down.
“I am not weak! If I don’t go after them, then it will take me several weeks or months to gather enough gold by hunting the usual small fry,”
Han replied with determination in his voice.
Rosa looked at Han with sad eyes; she was aware that he had something to prove and didn’t want to be looked down upon by others.
But the truth that both of them knew was that Han is one of the weakest elementalists in the bounty hunting profession.
This was why she wanted to avoid giving him bounties too powerful for him to handle alone, but she knew that this was the only way for him to quickly get out of his debt to the city.
But what were the chances of him being able to capture at least one of them?
Should she hand him the weakest one among the four?
There was the fifth one off though, but it is for her men to handle.
After thinking upon it for a moment, she made a decision that would change Hans life.
She put on a big smile and cheerfully replied knowing that her previous reaction might sour their friendship if she continued.
“Han you are in luck! Just before you arrived, my officers had reported that Ivan Oleg was seen going into the forbidden graveyard of the old kingdom.
He is by far the weakest according to my superiors, I wanted to go out and capture him, so I instructed my officers to not tell anyone about him and removed his poster from the pile I gave you.”
Rosa announced as she pulled out a bounty poster from her pocket that depicted a creepy old man named “Ivan Oleg” with a bounty of 3000 gold if caught alive or a 1000 gold if found dead.
Han’s eyes and ears perk up at the news.
“Well, that’s half a day coach ride from Kubai city so I should head out immediately,” Han said excitedly.
Rosa suddenly remembered something important and wanted to warn Han before he rushed off.
“Hold your horses; there are quite a few mercenaries in pursuit of the Yin-Yang twins whose poster is among the four you hold in your hand.” Rosa.
“What’s there to be worried about, I am going after Ivan, not the twins.” Han pointed out.
“The twins hold the highest bounties ever offered by the government. They are hiding out at the Fish scale coast that’s not far from the forbidden grave where your man Ivan was last seen.
One of them alone is worth 3500 gold, that’s 7000 gold if caught alive together, so I bet you that the General Rank Mercenaries will be sent hunting for those two by their parent organizations.
The regular bounty hunters like you will end up being caught up in the crossfire. ”
Han had shivers run down his spine.
What was a General Rank Mercenary to him?
It was the foot of God that could step on him like a bug without even noticing his existence.
Mercenaries were the war dogs that go about fighting for the Oligarch Companies that controlled every sector of Kubai City and beyond.
With their vast wealth, they deck out the mercenaries they hire with the latest weapons and body armor.
Then General Ranks are paid with pure elemental crystals that boost elemental affinity to reach levels close to becoming human calamities.
Each company had to pour tons of resources to produce or maintain one such General Rank mercenary to head their troops.
They were living deterrents against a hostile takeover, which used to happen frequently for hundreds of years in Kubai until one mercenary reached a stage where he could take down calamities by himself.
It set off the age where companies created similar such beings whose sole existence was to lead their respective hired troops into war and protect their parent company with everything they had.
There were so few of them around that meant their services required mountains of gold, so none appeared for tasks the regular guys like Han who worked their asses off.
The normal bounties offered chump change in their eyes.
Something like 7000 gold in one hunt was guaranteed to stir these giants of men into action, and all those beneath them will fall back or follow them in service like dogs.
“So why even bother telling me about this if you are telling me not to pursue it?” Han questioned.
“I want you to know where you are heading. Don’t want you to end up stumbling into one of the Generals or his subordinates in a remote area now do I.” Rosa pointed out.
Han gulped as he realized what she was aiming.
Her men are within earshot, she was indirectly sending a message to him that it might be one of his old acquaintances.
He was a dead man if he ran into his old acquaintances that would sooner see him dead than walk around their targets.
“Understood! Thank you again, Captain!” Han replied like a soldier before taking his leave of her office.
Her men looked at him with distaste. They never understood why their captain treated him with favor when all he does is get her into trouble.
Captain Rosa walked over to her window to watch Han turn a corner which would eventually lead him towards his rented flat.
Said flat was her older brother’s home once upon a time but after he passed away, she wanted his best friend to have it as he had ended up homeless.
“If only he would stop behaving like big bro, then maybe I could forget about him,” Rosa mumbled before letting out a tired sigh.
Her older brother’s spirit seemed to live on in Han this made it hard for her to say no to his requests. But in a way, it kept him alive in her memories which were both painful and happy at the same time.
To be continued …