Judul: "DEATH MORTGAGE: The Hunter's Liquidation"

Chapter 11: A Fortunate Misunderstanding and the Shadow of Death

The muzzle of the semi-automatic pistol in Luna's hand swept across the burning room.

The barrel passed over pools of thick blood, over Bravo's corpse with its caved-in skull, then down to Charlie's corpse with its torn tendon, and finally stopped on Alpha's corpse with a poisoned knife sticking out of its jaw. The smell of roasted flesh, stale blood, and cheap burning carpet immediately hit Luna's senses.

Her eyes behind the thin-framed glasses widened. Her auditor's instincts tried to detect any traces of mana fluctuation, magic explosions, or residual demonic energy. But the tracking device on her tactical vest didn't even flicker.

Three elite assassins were killed by pure physical violence. With an oxygen tank, broken glass, and a strangling cable.

Luna swung her pistol, locking her sights directly on Han Jihan, who was collapsed in the corner of the room. The young man was huddled on the ash-covered marble floor, both hands covering his mouth, his eyes wide with panic.

"Jihan!" Luna shouted. Her voice cut through the roar of thunder from the broken window. "Take your hands away from your face! Stand up slowly and explain what happened here, now!"

Jihan swallowed hard. His mind was racing. He had just slaughtered three human beings without hesitation. His killer's aura was still boiling in his blood. His pride as a man who had survived hell was peaking. He refused to look weak in front of the arrogant woman who, just hours ago, had threatened to throw his sister out of the hospital.

"I have to look threatening!" Jihan thought. "I have to make her realize I'm not some pushover she can step on."

Jihan took a deep breath. He removed his hands from his mouth, stared at Luna with the sharp gaze of an eagle, and tried to lower his voice into an intimidating baritone.

"Lower your weapon. I just cleaned up the trash that attacked me first."

That's what he wanted to say.

However, the Death Bank refused to let its client maintain his dignity. The curse of the Micro-Credit Penalty worked absolutely on his vocal cords.

What came out of Jihan's mouth, breaking the deadly tension in the room, was a high-pitched, pathetically trembling voice.

"Wowew youw wapon! I just cweaned up da twash dat attacked me fiwst! Sob... Waaaah!"

Silence.

Even the sound of the roaring flames seemed to die down for a moment.

Luna's eyes, which had been staring intently down the sights of her weapon, slowly blinked. The muzzle of her gun unconsciously lowered a few inches. The hard frown on the ice-hearted auditor's forehead faded, replaced by an absolute confusion that broke her logical system.

Jihan froze. His face, covered in black soot and blood, slowly turned beet red. The heat from the fire around him was nothing compared to the heat in his cheeks right now.

"I'd rather just die. Please kill me now, you bastard system!" Jihan dug his nails into the carpet until they broke. He clamped his hands back over his mouth.

"What… did you just say?" Luna took a step forward, her weapon now pointing completely at the floor. She stared at Jihan intently.

Jihan shook his head quickly. He glared at Luna, trying to project killing intent through his eyes. "I'm dangerous, you crazy woman! I just killed three people! Look at these corpses!"

Jihan couldn't take it. He opened his hands again to curse at her. "Stop looking at me like that, you bitch!"

But the voice that came out was even more tragically shrill. "Stwop wooking at me wike dat, you meanie! Sob... Mommy…!"

The damn system didn't just change his tone. It reflexively forced Jihan's tear ducts to produce artificial tears to perfect the 'Toddler Whine'. Two clear tears fell from the corners of Jihan's glaring eyes, wetting his dirty cheeks.

Luna's psychological defenses crumbled.

The well-dressed woman stood frozen in the middle of the burning room. She saw the scattered corpses of the assassins. She saw the destroyed wall. And then, she saw Jihan. A young man with a broken leg, his body covered in burns, lying on the floor, sobbing with the voice of a small child calling for his mother.

"He's not a monster," Luna thought.

That completely wrong conclusion was instantly and permanently imprinted on her brain. Luna's logic as an auditor interpreted the scene from a normal person's point of view. Jihan must have been attacked while he was completely paralyzed. Somehow, in a state of panic and fearing for his life, the poor young man had blindly thrown things, accidentally hitting one assassin in the head with a tank, then thrashed around on the floor until the other two assassins were killed by their own carelessness.

And now, as a result of extreme post-traumatic shock, the young man's mind had regressed. Jihan had reverted to a childlike state because his brain couldn't accept the reality that he had just killed people.

"Oh my god…" Luna murmured softly. Her cold gaze evaporated. She holstered her weapon.

Luna walked quickly, avoiding the flames, then knelt beside Jihan. She gently pulled on his shoulder, a gesture that was in stark contrast to her harsh threats earlier that afternoon.

"Okay… calm down, Jihan. It's okay. Don't cry anymore," Luna said in a soothing tone, rubbing his trembling arm. "You're safe. Forgive me. I didn't know you were being targeted."

Jihan glared at Luna. His heart was pounding with unbearable shame. "I'm not crying because I'm traumatized, you idiot! I'm crying because of this damn system! Let go of me!"

Jihan tried to push Luna's hand away. "Wet go of meee! I'm not cwying!" Jihan whined, his legs kicking the floor exactly like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

This only made Luna feel even more guilty. She held Jihan's weakly struggling hand, then slung his arm over her neck. "Stop moving. Your right leg is broken again. The Association's security forces will be here in two minutes. If they see you here with the corpses of assassins, they'll throw you into a black site interrogation room. You won't survive."

Jihan fell silent. Even though his pride was shattered into a million pieces, his mind was still rational. Luna was right. He didn't have the strength to escape on his own, and he didn't have an alibi.

Luna forced herself to stand, supporting most of Jihan's weight. Their bodies were pressed close together. The scent of Luna's peppermint perfume covered the suffocating smell of smoke. "Endure the pain. We're getting out of here through the emergency evacuation route."

Jihan pressed his lips together tightly. He swore to himself that, no matter what, for the next twelve hours, he would rather sew his mouth shut than utter a single word.

One Hour Later. Luna's Safe House, South District Apartment.

The apartment's steel door was shut and locked with three deadbolts.

This wasn't a luxurious apartment. The space was small, the lighting was dim, and it was filled with computer monitors displaying data graphs, shelves packed with red folders, and a corkboard covered with photos of Association officials connected by red string. This was the auditor's secret den for investigating the corruption of her own bosses.

Luna laid Jihan down on a worn leather sofa.

Jihan stared at the ceiling with a blank expression. His right leg was already in a makeshift polyurethane cast applied by Luna, while a bandage covered his temple. His face was clean of blood, but his ego was still bleeding profusely.

Luna sat at her desk, staring at Jihan while sipping instant coffee from a paper cup.

"I've hacked into the police system from here. The initial report states it was purely an assassination attempt on you," Luna said, breaking the silence. "You're safe for now."

Jihan just glanced at her sharply, then went back to staring at the ceiling. He refused to speak.

Luna sipped her coffee, then let out a long sigh. Her gaze softened. "I know you're still in shock. Killing another human… it's not the same as killing a monster in a dungeon. The nausea won't go away for weeks."

Jihan snorted softly through his nose. Nausea, my ass. I enjoyed tearing that bastard's throat out.

"I apologize for this afternoon at the hospital," Luna continued. Her tone was sincere, a rarity from a woman nicknamed the ice-hearted. "I saw your mana spike, and I immediately assumed you were using an illegal drug. I was too focused on hunting corruption in the Association that I forgot you were just a low-caste Porter forced into the games of the elite."

Jihan rolled his eyes.

"From now on, you hide here until I can prove that Bagas was the one who hired those assassins," Luna decided, her voice absolute. "And don't worry about your sister. Your prize money is frozen as per protocol, but I have personally transferred twenty million from my own savings to the hospital anonymously. Your sister will not be removed from the ICU tonight."

Hearing that, Jihan's emotional defenses wavered slightly. He turned his head to look at Luna's back. This woman, who just hours ago was the person he hated most in the world, had just slapped him in the face with a pure kindness he had never received from the Hunter world.

"Why are you going through all this trouble to help me?" Jihan thought.

A strange bond began to form. Jihan needed information and a place to hide, and unexpectedly, Luna, who hated the Hunter elite, provided both, albeit based on a ridiculous misunderstanding.

Jihan closed his eyes. He let the silence take over. For the first time since he entered the Crying Cave, he could fall into a deep sleep without the shadow of the death loan shark looming over him.

However, Jihan's peace was not shared by everyone.

White Tiger Guild Penthouse.

CRASH!

The whiskey glass shattered not because it was thrown, but because it was crushed in Bagas's hand.

Shards of glass dug into his palm. Fresh blood dripped heavily onto the glass table, but Bagas ignored the pain. His sharp eyes were wide as he stared at the flat-screen TV in front of him, which was broadcasting live from outside the Association Central Hospital.

Flames roared from a fourth-floor window. Black smoke billowed into the night sky.

"...Three assailants were found dead at the scene with fatal injuries. Meanwhile, the patient, Han Jihan, has reportedly disappeared from the location. The Association is currently conducting a search…"

Bagas roughly turned off the TV with the remote.

"Three men…" Bagas's breath came in ragged gasps. "Three elite executors from Viper's team are dead? Killed by one paralyzed man?! This is insane! This makes no fucking sense!"

Riko, his crisis manager, sat on the sofa with a pale face. He had just received an encrypted message from the underground network.

"Our contract with Viper has been unilaterally terminated, Gas," Riko said, his voice trembling. "Viper's boss pulled all his men. He said our target isn't human. Our target is a god of war."

Panic spread like poison in Bagas's brain. If Jihan survived three elite assassins and had now disappeared, it meant he had been secured by another faction. Most likely Luna. If Jihan gave his testimony to Luna tomorrow morning, Bagas's life would end in Tartarus Prison. No amount of money could save him.

Bagas looked at his bloody hand. His eyes turned dark, filled with an absolute desperation that turned a coward into a reckless psychopath.

He turned to look at Riko. The veins on his neck bulged wildly.

"Han Jihan! You want to play games with me?" Bagas hissed, his voice hoarse with killing intent. "Okay. If I can't find him… I'll make him come crawling to me to kiss my feet."

Bagas walked to the table, picked up his satellite phone, and dialed the number of the White Tiger Guild's shadow ops captain.

"Prepare a clean-up squad," Bagas commanded without pausing. "Go to the Central Hospital right now. Don't worry about the Association's radar. Bribe a nurse, hack the CCTV, or break the neck of the guard on duty."

Bagas smirked, a disgusting, desperate smile.

"Find Dian's room. Bring that crippled sister of his to the old factory in Sector 4 tonight. If that broke-ass porter doesn't want his mouth sewn shut… I'll send his sister's head to his apartment door tomorrow morning!"