Chapter 91: The Man Named Kim Ki-Rok (1)

In preparation for the Awakened criminals' assault, the DG Guild requested help from three large guilds: the Shine Guild, the Golden Lion Guild, and the Baekdusan Guild.

The Shine Guild sent five Hunters led by Kang Ho, tasked with defending the underground training area.

"As expected of Guildmaster Lee Yeon-Hwa's right-hand man," Kim Ki-Rok commented, watching Kang Ho dispatch Awakened criminals with single punches, not hesitating in the slightest to kill. The five Hunters who had joined him in assisting DG Guild also harbored deep grudges against the Awakened criminals. They took lives without any sign of wavering.

Next was the Golden Lion Guild.

They had three Hunter teams in Seoul as reinforcements. Each team had five members including a team leader, and all were assigned as a sort of special forces unit. Like the Shine Guild, they showed no mercy in eliminating any Awakened criminals.

"As for the Association's side..." Kim Ki-Rok muttered.

The Hunters Association had also sent reinforcements—their Awakened Criminal Pursuit Team. Dealing with criminals day in and day out, they were similarly ruthless when it came to ending lives.

In contrast, DG Guild's own Hunters...

"So we're the only ones hesitating..." Kim Ki-Rok sighed.

It was understandable. No matter how prepared they were mentally, killing another human—even if that human was a monstrous criminal—was never easy for ordinary people.

A fierce explosion rang out close by, prompting Kim Ki-Rok to turn his head and check.

Blasted backward by an overwhelmingly powerful attack, Gu Seong-Cheol—leader of Dagger—barely managed to grab the rooftop's railing before getting flung off. If he had missed that rail, he would have fallen into a waiting trap certain to kill him.

Unfortunately, he caught himself, realized the danger, and braced his arm to hoist himself back onto the roof. Breathing raggedly, he glared around.

"

Huff... huff...

damn it—"

"Die."

"Fuck!"

Lim Tae-Hyun, the Hunter from the National Intelligence Service, had also been knocked back by the explosion, but rushed back in to finish off Gu Seong-Cheol.

"Using that poisonous gas was the right move," Kim Ki-Rok said to himself.

Rather than a deadly toxin, he had picked one that eroded strength unnoticed. DG Guild members and allies, having taken the antidote in advance, were unaffected. The Awakened criminals, however, had been sapped of energy, which was why, despite DG Guild's initial hesitation in killing, no member suffered serious injury.

Observing their battle, Kim Ki-Rok estimated, "It'll go on another thirty minutes or so."

Gu Seong-Cheol was in an extremely disadvantageous situation, having already been injured and having consumed most of his mana prior to the start of the fight. Still, the reason the fight was dragging on was because Gu Seong-Cheol, who specialized in speed-based combat, wasn't facing Lim Tae-Hyun head-on. Instead, he focused on dodging, waiting for the right moment to end it in a single strike. He was, however, reaching his limits.

Kim Ki-Rok glanced back at his tablet, checking in on another situation unfolding elsewhere.

"Ah, this is so stuffy!" Kim Ki-Rok suddenly complained as he tore off his Jigsaw mask, then refocused on the screen.

The Baekdusan Guild had been given a different mission to that of the other guilds.

"

Hmph!

They still haven't arrived yet. Well, their destination is a bit far away after all."

At Kim Ki-Rok's request, Baekdusan Guild had gone off to raid the Awakened criminals' empty hideouts and intercept any attempted escape.

DG Guild already knew the location of Dagger's main base, but if anyone attacked it prematurely, Gu Seong-Cheol would destroy all documents and flee. His method of document disposal was particularly drastic: bombs planted at the hideout. Whether he escaped or got caught, the evidence would vanish.

Having made a living off contract killings, Gu Seong-Cheol knew his crimes warranted nothing short of the death penalty, so he could commit such extreme acts without any fear of worsening his sentence.

"That's why he was always such a nuisance, but this time... it should be fine," Kim Ki-Rok murmured with a small smile, returning his attention to the rooftop fight.

Whether by chance or fate, Kim Ki-Rok locked eyes with Gu Seong-Cheol in the middle of the fight. He took the opportunity to flash him a smile.

A considerable number of Dagger's members had participated in this attack. Not only had the leader of Dagger personally made an appearance, he had also brought his only trustworthy subordinate along. Unlike the other criminals who had joined Dagger for their own benefit or for the sake of survival, Gu Seong-Cheol's right-hand man owed him his life and was unshakably loyal.

This meant that at their base of operations, both the leader and the only loyal subordinate were currently absent. In that case, what would happen once the base was breached?

"Well, they'll probably just try to surrender," Kim Ki-Rok mused with a smirk. "Not that we'll accept."

***

Right on cue, as soon as the hidden traps activated, the Awakened criminals waiting at the rear took action.

Were they rushing in to help their allies trapped in DG Guild's snare? No.

They ran for it, turning their backs on their companions left to the traps. However, Hunters from the Baekdusan Guild were already lying in wait along the perimeter exit routes and immediately jumped them. With morale in tatters and no plan other than blind flight, the scattered criminals were quite easy to subdue and kill.

Meanwhile, Baekdusan's main force was quietly tracking the members of Dagger fleeing through the "escape route" that Kim Ki-Rok had deliberately left open.

The Awakened criminals paused to gasp for breath. "

Hah... hah...

does this mean we made it?"

Those from Dagger left DG Guild, reached a paid parking lot some distance away, and jumped into a getaway vehicle they had stashed there in advance. Partway along the route, they switched to a taxi, then transferred to another car, leaving Seoul entirely. It was only after changing cars one final time at a rest stop did they arrive at their final destination. Their tracks were thoroughly concealed, almost to a paranoid degree.

If the Baekdusan Guild hadn't been aware of the entire situation in advance, and if they hadn't had the support of the government, it would have been impossible for them to pursue the fleeing members of Dagger.

"Who could've imagined that they were hiding in a place like this...?" one of the Baekdusan Hunters murmured blankly, and a few others nodded in agreement.

The place where the Dagger criminals had run off to was a pension house located in Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province.

One of the Hunters looked up from his phone and said, "Team Leader."

"What is it?"

"Their website says that this place has houses available for rent..."

"Haaaah?"

It seemed that the criminals perfectly leveraging the old proverb, "The darkest place is right under the lamp." It was a fully functioning lodging facility, hidden in plain sight. From where they stood, they could see a gigantic swimming pool, a party area, and five separate buildings.

"So which building did they go into?" the team leader asked.

A nearby Hunter lowered his binoculars. "They entered the three-story building at about the two-o'clock position relative to the pool."

The team leader resolutely gave his team their orders, "We move in now. There's a possibility that they might try to destroy the evidence of all the assassination requests that they've accepted over the years, so don't let anything get in your way."

The Baekdusan Hunters nodded and readied their weapons.

Their enemies were Awakened criminals who had turned killing into a business, so the Hunters weren't here to make arrests. They were here to wipe them out.

"I'll say it once more: our opponents are Awakened criminals, the type who literally turned assassination into a business. If you hold back and end up injured or killed, that's no better than a dog's death. So do not hold back."

The Hunters responded in unison, "Yes sir."

Upon hearing their unwavering response, the leader of Baekdusan's Team Two kicked off the ground, launching himself forward. The rest of the Baekdusan Hunters followed close behind.

***

Ssschlak!

The sound of metal tearing through flesh was something Kim Ki-Rok had heard thousands, even tens of thousands, of times, but the horrific noise still felt impossible to get used to.

He raised his head to take in the scene in front of him.

The agent from the National Intelligence Service stood there, panting raggedly. His shimmering silver sword had changed into a silver blade tinged with red.

"

Hmm...

" Kim Ki-Rok had thought that if it was someone like Lim Tae-Hyun, he would have been able to easily handle Gu Seong-Cheol.

Is it still a bit too hard for him to handle?

After considering this question for a few moments, Kim Ki-Rok asked plainly, "How about it, would you like me to switch in for you?"

"No. I can do it," Lim Tae-Hyun insisted, unwilling to pass up this chance at vengeance.

"Hmmm... is that so?" Kim Ki-Rok said, turning to look at the other.

Gu Seong-Cheol, now missing an arm, was gasping for breath some distance away. Fearing that continued blood loss would deprive him of any chance to fight or flee, he had sealed the severed area with mana to slow the bleeding. It was effective but consumed a great deal of mana. At this point, he was backed completely into a corner.

Gu Seong-Cheol glared past Lim Tae-Hyun at Kim Ki-Rok.

Kim Ki-Rok smiled in response and said, "Well, do you have any questions for me?"

"I do," Gu Seong-Cheol slowly admitted.

"Ask away. If it's something I can answer, I will."

With a murderous aura rising, Gu Seong-Cheol demanded through gritted teeth, "Did you know?"

"That you Awakened criminals were planning to attack us? Yes, I knew."

"Since when." Gu Seong-Cheol growled.

"Right from the very beginning."

"From the beginning?!"

"Yes. From the beginning," Kim Ki-Rok said confidently.

"So that means you must have already had preparations in place for us to try and get revenge on you and your guild at some point..."

"That's right."

Gu Seong-Cheol shook his head. "However, that's not enough to explain the current situation."

Kim Ki-Rok paused for a moment, then pounded his fist as if something clicked. "Ah! What you're really asking is how I knew the exact date and time of your attack, right?"

Gu Seong-Cheol nodded begrudgingly.

True, it wasn't unusual for large guilds to protect their headquarters with various traps, seeing as monsters or criminals might strike at any time. What he couldn't understand was how Kim Ki-Rok had known the specific date and time of the assault.

"Hmmm..." Kim Ki-Rok pondered for a moment, ignoring how Lim Tae-Hyun was clearly trying to eavesdrop. At length, he began spinning a narrative. "Many people have bones to pick with Awakened criminals. Understandable, right?"

"Stick to the point," Gu Seong-Cheol snapped.

"They share their information with one another, you see. Some of them are so bent on revenge that they'd give their lives for it."

"The point!"

"And the ones who want revenge the most are buried deep in the black market," Kim Ki-Rok said at last.

This was the fabricated story known to those involved in the Awakened criminals' purge in Incheon, which included Kim Ki-Rok, the Hunters Association, and their allies.

"Who are they?"

"I can't tell you that. We have to consider the worst-case scenario."

The worst case would be if Gu Seong-Cheol somehow managed to escape.

Gu Seong-Cheol let out a dry laugh. "You really think I can escape like this?"

Kim Ki-Rok shrugged. "Sometimes a human's potential flares in desperate moments, almost like a superpower."

That shut him up.

Sss... Hoo...

After calming down, Gu Seong-Cheol dropped his dagger on the ground. From the empty sheath on his belt, he took out a small device. "Did you hear that?"

—I heard it. We'll begin cleaning up immediately.

"They probably know where our main hideout is by now. I'm entrusting you to clean up Dagger's hideout as well."

—Alright.

With that terse reply, the voice on the miniature radio went silent. Gu Seong-Cheol dropped the device to the floor and crushed it underfoot until it was in pieces. He looked back up at Kim Ki-Rok and said smugly, "What a shame."

It was obvious from his expression that he felt he had delivered a final blow to Kim Ki-Rok. Lim Tae-Hyun looked troubled, having come to the conclusion that whatever information Kim Ki-Rok had been gathering on the Awakened criminals had just been destroyed.

However, instead of being anxious, Kim Ki-Rok merely chuckled. "Indeed, a shame. Now why would you go and break that?"

"What?" For a moment, Gu Seong-Cheol's face went rigid.

He had just destroyed the source of all the invaluable intel Kim Ki-Rok had on the Awakened criminals. And moreover, if there truly was some vengeful group out there lurking in the black market, they would now be in grave danger, since the lead that Kim Ki-Rok had used to warn them or coordinate with them was gone.

Given all that, Gu Seong-Cheol had fully expected Kim Ki-Rok to appear alarmed. Instead, he wore that calm, faint smile, gazing straight at him.

Gu Seong-Cheol suddenly gasped. "S-surely not..."

"Yes. I was lying. So now criminals will be murdering each other in a grisly bloodbath. Goodness, how terrifying." Kim Ki-Rok gave an exaggerated shudder, as though horrified at the idea.

At this flippant remark, Gu Seong-Cheol finally lost his composure and rushed at Kim Ki-Rok, blind with rage.

In contrast, Kim Ki-Rok stood there, blinking. "End of the line for you."

Before the attacker could close the distance, Lim Tae-Hyun had already thrown himself between them. With one swing of his blade, Gu Seong-Cheol's head flew clean off his shoulders.

The lunge had been so forceful that the severed head sailed over the rooftop's edge, seconds from tumbling into open space, until Kim Ki-Rok casually reached out and caught it midair.

"Well, that's one problem taken care of," Kim Ki-Rok said with a smile.

Kim Ki-Rok studied Gu Seong-Cheol's head, turning it this way and that. Then he felt Lim Tae-Hyun's baffled stare and, noticing his expression, offered him a small smile before placing the head into his subspace pocket.

"Shall we head out and see if the others have wrapped up their tasks, Agent Lim Tae-Hyun?" Kim Ki-Rok suggested.