The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rumble…

A crumbling, decrepit church sanctuary.

When one section of the hall’s flooring was lifted, a staircase leading underground revealed itself.

At first, the priest had stammered, “A-a basement? N-no, there’s no way we have something like that...” feigning ignorance.

But—

“Come on now. We’ve got Seo Taewoong with us.”

With that single line, making it clear we already knew everything, he had no choice but to guide us into the underground storeroom.

“This is…”

A basement lit by buzzing fluorescent lights.

The moment Seo Taewoong saw what was inside, he couldn’t help but let out a low whistle.

“Are you telling me all of this is black market stock?”

“Impressive, isn’t it? Hard to believe, even with your own eyes.”

Displayed before us were Grade 2 artificial body parts meant for combat, and even rarer Grade 1 components that were supposed to be for military distribution only.

Even the most critical component of artificial limbs, the neural memory units, were lined up in full view. Seo Taewoong stood stunned, unable to conceal the dazed expression on his face.

“This pistol even has the official Training Command seal stamped on it. This model was just rolled out less than a month ago. Where in the world did this come from…?”

“Where else, Mister?”

A voice spoke from the far corner of the basement, interrupting his astonishment.

A voice worn out by the harshness of life.

Careless. Almost cynical.

From the haze of thick cigarette smoke emerged a woman. She raised a finger toward the ceiling.

“High-ranking folks in sudden need of cash are kind enough to ‘donate’ to us nobodies.”

Seo Taewoong fell silent.

He had known there was corruption in military supplies, but clearly, not to this extent.

Sensing his disbelief, the priest, Father Jung Soo-han, smiled and spoke.

“This is my daughter, Jung Yu-rim. She, ah... helps out with side business down here.”

“Ah…”

So that’s how he managed to keep this church afloat.

While he said that, the woman, Jung Yu-rim, stood up and slowly approached me.

The sharp scent of alcohol. The sting of cigarettes.

She didn’t seem to care about hiding any of it. With an air of indifference, Jung Yu-rim extended a hand toward me.

“I’m Jung Yu-rim. I’m 26.”

“Kim Chang-woon.”

I hadn’t planned to ask her age, but… huh. That’s a bit old to be someone’s daughter.

As we shook hands, I glanced toward the priest. Catching my look, Father Jung scratched his cheek.

“She’s my foster daughter. Most of the kids living here at the church are, actually.”

“Huh?”

I could maybe understand Jung Yu-rim running an underground weapons ring, but… the other church kids, too?

“Isn’t it a financial burden, registering that many kids under your family registry?”

“Haha. A burden?”

Father Jung chuckled gently and said,

“In a world this harsh, if they can still grow up bright and happy like that… how could I ever call that a burden?”

“Ah… right…”

I nodded awkwardly, unsure how to respond.

Eyes completely devoid of greed or material desire.

Even in this second life, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the way these Catholics think.

Why throw money away on charity that doesn’t return any profit?

“Twenty-six, huh?”

But before I could finish that thought…

Seo Taewoong, having pulled up her profile via interface scan, tilted his head and said:

“The database lists her as twenty-nine.”

“…”

A heavy silence pressed down on the room.

With hollow eyes, I turned my gaze to the side, toward Father Jung Soo-han and Jung Yu-rim, whose smiling face had gone completely rigid.

“……?”

And then there was Seo Taewoong, who still looked utterly clueless about what he’d done wrong.

“Taewoong.”

“Yes, young master.”

“Even if you’re talking to a subordinate, she’s still a lady. Saying something like that to her face is a bit much, don’t you think?”

“…Ah.”

“‘Ah’ my ass.’

Look at this awkward tension. What the hell are we supposed to do now?

Fine. Looks like I’ll have to step in and smooth things over myself.

“S-so…”

Jung Yu-rim, face full of pent-up irritation, turned toward me.

“Next time we meet, just shave off one year. That way, maybe you could pass it off as a database glitch or something…”

“You wanna die?”

‘Yeah, so much for lightening the mood.’

As soon as her voice dropped to a menacing growl, Father Jung poked at Yu-rim’s waist, trying to hush her.

“Yu-rim, no matter what, he’s still a nobleman’s son. Watch your mouth.”

“Nobleman? What’s someone from the clouds doing in our dump? Did they find out you’re running an illegal church, Dad?”

“Nah. Our kids just happened to steal his identity badge.”

“…That’s even worse.”

Honestly, I wasn’t all that offended.

We were the rude ones first, after all.

Watching the two banter like that, I let out a quiet sigh and spoke up.

“You were watching us the whole time anyway, weren’t you?”

“Oho, someone’s got sharp instincts. How’d you figure that out?”

“I noticed surveillance cameras installed upstairs. That was a clue.”

As I cast a sidelong glance at Seo Taewoong, Jung Yu-rim’s gaze shifted with it.

But then, just for a moment.

When she saw Taewoong’s body, fully reinforced with artificial parts, her eyes widened.

“Whoa… a top-grade, state-of-the-art artificial body like that… You’re basically a walking war machine. Heading off to war or something?”

“Yu-rim! Mind your tongue!”

“Ugh, let go already!”

“When am I ever going to see something this fascinating again in my life?”

Shouting that, Jung Yu-rim’s eyes sparkled as she eagerly examined every inch of Seo Taewoong’s body.

Maybe the intense staring made him uncomfortable.

“Ahem.”

“Ah! Oh wow, I completely spaced out.”

After my staged cough, Yu-rim flinched and returned to her usual expression.

“So then… what brings a nobleman with no apparent wants or needs to this garbage heap?”

Her speech was polite now that she knew my status, but her tone remained just as disrespectful.

It was a raw display of how people from these back alleys really felt about the nobility.

“You’re not here to arrest us for harboring a Catholic outlaw, nor are you here to interrogate us about some punk who stole an ID badge… so why else would someone like you come here?”

“I told you already. I’m here to see the merchandise.”

“Right. That’s exactly why I’m asking. Why would someone like you want something like ours?”

If he just contacted the military office, he’d get access to better gear shipped straight from the source. Isn’t that so?

Jung Yu-rim’s gaze deepened as she said this.

“There’s something dangerous about this. A smell we lowlifes should never catch a whiff of… the kind of danger that spells real trouble.”

“……”

‘Oh? Look at that.’

Maybe it’s all those years surviving in the backstreets, but she’s got surprisingly sharp instincts.

“W-wait, what?”

While I was thinking that, Father Jung flinched like he’d just realized something completely unthinkable.

“Yu-rim! What do you mean by that? Didn’t this young master spare us just because he’s got a kind heart?”

“…Dad, are you stupid?”

Blunt. Disrespectful. But she wasn’t wrong.

Seriously, this guy’s head is full of sunshine and daisies, just your typical soft-hearted Catholic.

Jung Yu-rim shook her head in disbelief, then looked at me as if interrogating me.

“Let’s hear it then. Why does a noble young master like you need illegal artificial body parts?”

“Obviously, I plan to use them for something dangerous and disrespectful. What, saying that means you won’t sell to me?”

‘As if she could say no.’

As I added that last jab, Jung Yu-rim closed her mouth, clearly displeased.

‘She’s playing the nice act, but we both know who’s holding the knife here.’

Now then, will she hand over what I asked for like a good merchant, or…

So then, what was the alternative?

They could either hand over the goods…

Or be arrested as accomplices to a Catholic thief who had stolen a identity badge and get dragged off to the Royal Investigation Bureau.

By the time I showed up here, they only had those two options left.

Eventually, Jung Yu-rim raised both hands in surrender.

“...If I’m gonna die anyway, I might as well know where my grave’s gonna be, right? That’s all it is.”

She was sharp. Quick on the uptake.

Father Jung aside, this woman might actually be quite useful.

With that thought, I approached her and whispered something quietly in her ear.

“…What the hell. You’re insane.”

Jung Yu-rim stared at me with a stunned look of disbelief.

“Young master, you’re way more unhinged than I thought.”

****

The deal proceeded smoothly, without any major hiccups.

I acquired a Grade 1 artificial body unit, had the security system stripped out, and then added modifications and disguises tailored for special-use scenarios.

When she saw the custom order, Jung Yu-rim looked utterly disgusted. But I pressed forward without a shred of compromise. In the end, she accepted the request as-is.

There was simply too much money involved for her to say no.

“I can probably get the parts, but... the modification work will take time.”

“How long are we talking?”

“Even if I rush, you’re looking at a good two weeks.”

“That’s acceptable.”

After giving the full specs, I was just about ready to wrap things up.

But then,

“Hmm?”

My eyes, as they swept across the basement, landed on something unexpected.

A bow, hanging quietly among the racks of artificial limbs.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, that thing on the side shelf?”

Jung Yu-rim chuckled at my question.

“As you can see, it’s a handcrafted bow. Just something I made as a hobby—my little toy.”

“A toy?”

“Yeah. A toy.”

With that, Yu-rim picked up the bow I had pointed to and said:

“The string is braided from a custom titanium alloy fiber. The frame is made from high-strength special alloy. It’s got muscle-assist tech built into the limbs, and there’s even an electronic accelerator fitted near the release. With the right arrows, you could probably punch through an armored vehicle.”

“And you’re calling that a toy?”

“...Why?”

Chuckling again, Jung Yu-rim pulled back the string and aimed at the target installed at the basement entrance.

BOOOM!

A thunderous roar that no bow should ever make shook the room as the arrow tore through the air, and completely blew out the ceiling above the entrance.

Through the gaping hole now in the ceiling, the stunned face of Father Jung appeared, frozen mid-sermon.

From the look on his face, it was like he saw his life flash before his eyes a hundred times over.

“…Yu-rim?”

“What the hell—Dad?! Why are you up there?”

‘Welp, this is a mess. I had specifically told her to use minimum power.’

Muttering to herself, Jung Yu-rim set the bow down and hurried to check if anyone was hurt.

“See? That’s why I call it a toy.”

After watching the entire sequence of events unfold, I instantly understood why Jung Yu-rim had called the bow a toy.

The arrow she had fired—intended for the target—had veered upward.

Not even a kid’s toy bow would shoot that erratically.

The fact that the stray shot nearly killed her own father? Just a bonus.

“Since I focused only on power, the arrows go wild every time I shoot. The bow’s a mess, so even if you install a precision scope or a ballistic stabilizer, it doesn’t help at all.”

“Hoh.”

A failed prototype, plain and simple.

After listening to her explanation, I casually picked up the bow she’d been leaning against and nocked an arrow to the string.

“…Wait, what are you doing?”

As I drew it back, the muscle-assist system engaged, locking in with a smooth pull. A faint current sparked at the arrow’s tip.

“Wait—seriously, don’t shoot that…!”

Right as Jung Yu-rim began to speak, I released the string.

KAANG!

A metallic shriek tore through the air, echoing off the basement walls like steel being ripped apart.

“What the— Did you just hit it? Dead center?! I’ve never hit that thing even once…!”

The arrow that supposedly never landed true was now embedded perfectly in the center of the basement’s practice target.

“This bow’s not bad.”

That was my only comment before I calmly nocked another arrow and let it fly.

KANG! KAANG!

One shot. Then another.

With each sharp metallic clang, Jung Yu-rim’s eyes grew wider and wider.

KAAAAANG!

By the fifth shot, her mouth was frozen wide open.

Four arrows had landed in a precise diamond shape around the center.

And the fifth…

It pierced exactly into the center of that diamond. Not a sliver of space to spare.

“Since I spent quite a bit of money here today, I’ll be taking this as a complimentary gift.”

I had only planned to get it as a toy for Moo-yeong’s arm practice, but I ended up with an unexpected prize.

“And as it happens… I actually needed something like this.”

---The End Of The Chapter---

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