“Aaaahhh!!!”
Goo Jin-cheol woke up screaming.
“Are you finally awake?”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
The screams continued. Oh dear.
Since it wasn’t a particularly busy situation, I decided to let him scream a bit more. Did this fail?
[Keystone (A-rank Magical Artifact) – The waves emitted from this stone have a very surprising effect on the human psyche.
ntal Keystone: When used, there is a random chance to cure a target from a state of distortion. However, if the check fails, the distortion may worsen.]
The check clearly succeeded, though?
Fortunately, he was slowly coming to his senses.
“My hands! My feet! My head! Are they all okay? Okay? Huh? Just a mont ago….”
Recalling what he had witnessed before, Goo Jin-cheol’s complexion turned pale.
“Just a mont ago? what happened just a mont ago?”
“I, I was definitely eaten by a monster… Aaaaah!! Please! Please save , Kim Shin-hwa-nim!”
“Ugh. Didn’t I tell you not to do that? Why don’t you ever listen?”
“Please forgive ! Please! Just kill instead! Don’t feed to the monster! Please!”
Tears, snot, and drool flowed from Goo Jin-cheol’s face. Ugh, please! No need to co any closer! I used magic to push him away.
“Ugh, what do you an feed? It seems like you can say that because you’re trash in human form, but I’m a person, you know?”
“Huh? What?”
Goo Jin-cheol looked around in confusion. The space, now empty and wide, felt strange compared to before.
The Child of Darkness had eaten all the random items scattered around the room. Although it preferred living things, it could also digest stones or wood.
It was already dayti outside.
“A day has roughly passed while you were out.”
I recalled the ssage that had appeared the mont the Child of Darkness tried to put Goo Jin-cheol in its mouth.
[You have completed the quest!
Reward: 450,000 XP Cheong-ho’s Trust 300,000,000 won Bonus based on mission performance]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have summoned a monster created by a being of the abyss. You have chosen a human as its first prey. This is not a choice just anyone can make. This event will elevate your soul to a great existence. You will beco one with the deeper abyss. Co closer. A little more, a little more, a little more… The chaotic future will be with you.]
From the beginning, I never intended to feed Goo Jin-cheol to the Child of Darkness.
Receiving such a ssage in that situation soured my mood, so I decided to act contrary to what the entity behind the ssage wanted.
I had the Child of Darkness consu the furniture and stones scattered around the room, then returned it to a dormant state.
The Child of Darkness reverted to an egg about 15 centiters in size.
Now, it rested in my arms. If I wished, I could transform it back into its previous monstrous form at any ti, with magic or…
[The Child of Darkness is not the docile, obedient pet you might think it is. One day, it will demand sothing living, sothing with blood flowing, sothing with a soul. Whether you will be able to stop it then is unknown. You sohow foresee a terrible accident in the future and are overco with unbearable anxiety.]
Ah, that bastard is persistent.
Sure, it would demand that, but I wasn’t worried at all. After all, magical power was sothing I had in abundance.
“Fu*k off, you idiot!”
Flailing my hands to clear the ssage window must have seed quite threatening to Goo Jin-cheol.
He bowed his head again while shouting, “Please spare ! Please!” repeatedly.
Chae Tae-won who was watching this scene from the side spoke from afar.
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? Oh, don’t worry, I’m not crazy.”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I ant.”
Chae Tae-won’s stern expression suddenly turned red. It was a rare expression. Why was he reacting so intensely? He really must have thought I was losing my mind.
“Now, Director Goo Jin-cheol. Lift your head and let’s settle the accounts.”
“Huh? Settle the accounts?”
“Yes, yes, accounts. Originally, it was about life or sothing, but I’m not going that far. A promise is a promise.”
“A promise? A promise?”
“Oh, co on, don’t you rember? Just before you were about to put a bullet in the temple of the girl, who was your boss’s daughter, and also a minor, I made a promise to you.”
I deliberately broke up my words to recount his audacious deeds.
Doesn’t he rember what I said?
I said I’d make sure he’d get beaten up a bit, humiliated a bit, lose so property, his position, and many of the connections he built up over the years.
While Goo Jin-cheol slept, I checked, and fortunately, although many on Cheong-ho’s side were injured and half out of their minds needing counseling and treatnt for a while, no one had died.
The external wall had collapsed, the walls were broken, and a watchtower of dubious legitimacy was destroyed, but in the end, the henchn of Jeok-du and the descendants of Formalhaut failed to penetrate inside the walls.
However, that was all damage on Cheong-ho’s side.
Outside the mansion now, the “iron flies”, that is, the cleanup specialists active in Paju’s underworld, had co for their busy season. A glance out the window showed a huge crane clearing away the burning trailer. That would cost a lot of money.
“I’m not really into sadistic things, but there should be due compensation, right?”
Actually, Chae Tae-won had previously asked to hand over Goo Jin-cheol to him.
Although he often showed a ridiculous side to him, this was one of the houses of the three heads of the Triad. They were experts managing violence not only in Paju but throughout the central region.
If left to Chae Tae-won, Goo Jin-cheol would be dragged into the basent under the mansion, and after extracting everything possible, he would end up sowhere in the Han River.
“Well, there’s no need for that right now. A living director can do more than a dead one.”
Chae Tae-won hesitated for a mont before speaking.
“Normally, there are procedures that should be followed according to our industry’s practices.”
Because he was a traitor. aning torture for the sake of torture.
“But if they hear that Kim Shin-hwa took them, everyone will think they faced sothing worse than death.”
“It seems I’ve gained quite a notorious reputation.”
“No, it’s more than that. If you don’t mind, could you step over to the window for a mont?”
“Huh?”
“Near the window.”
I walked over to the window in confusion. In truth, there wasn’t much of a window left. Goo Jin-cheol had broken it once, and I had completely shattered it upon entering. So, as I stuck my head through what was now a hole in the wall…
“Ah! It’s Mage-nim!”
“Mage-nim! Mage-nim!”
“Wooaahhh!!!”
“Kim Shin-hwa-nim! Kim Shin-hwa-nim!”
Oh no. What is this?
A huge number of thugs, gangsters, punks, and musclen had gathered outside. They were mbers called in for cleanup and restoration. As soon as those guys saw my face, they erupted in trendous cheers and applause.
I turned my head back and went inside the room again.
“Kim Shin-hwa-nim! Kim Shin-hwa-nim! Kim Shin-hwa-nim!”
Despite that, those stupid thugs kept chanting my na with incredible enthusiasm.
When I turned my head to look at Chae Tae-won, he spoke with a subtle smile.
“Shin-hwa-nim, you will probably beco a legend, no, a myth, in our industry.”
“Ugh, please try to prevent that from happening if possible.”
“Well… that’s…”
Yeah, that was impossible. Even when I wasn’t helping them, they were using my na as they pleased. Oh, was it Tudor who was using my na? Whatever, my na value kept rising because of it. If I left things alone a bit longer, I’d reach a point where I wouldn’t need to work on raising my na value deliberately.
“Well, do as you please. But I’m taking the director with .”
“Understood. But… what are you planning to make him do…?”
“First of all, he will give so pocket money.”
“I-I will give it!”
Huh?
“You, take everything! If you command it, you can take all my property! The rcy Mage-nim has shown , I will rember it forever!”
“No, that’s not necessary. But since you’re offering, I’ll take it all.”
“Thank you!”
It seed sothing strange had been imprinted on him… He would probably cry with gratitude and do anything I asked, no matter how bizarre it is.
“Anyway, Branch Manager, I have more to ask of Director Goo Jin-cheol here…”
Goo Jin-cheol needed to stay alive a bit longer.
Tsk.
To find Cheong-ho, Goo Jin-cheol had to live.
Honestly, that was half the reason I put up with this chaos in the middle of the night and spared Goo Jin-cheol, despite all the atrocities he had committed.
Well, even without that, there were many ways he could be useful in the future.
“For now, there’s so preparation to do, so I’ll leave him to you, Branch Manager. I know this place has its own thods, but please try to keep his limbs intact.”
“Understood.”
And so, Goo Jin-cheol was dragged away sowhere. Namo Amitabha.
Cha Tae-won would take care of the beating. Honestly, what good would it do if I hit that man myself? It would only make feel worse.
This place was going to be busy for a while.
Anyway, things were roughly wrapped up.
The truth was, part of the reason I got involved in the conflict with Jeok-du was to also settle matters with the descendants of Fomalhaut.
Since the Beacon Order was completely destroyed and they lost a judge-level elder, I didn’t have to worry about them anymore.
Well, it’s such a large cult, so it’s not like they don’t have elders on par with Hwa In…
There was no one as aggressive and specialized in practical combat as Hwa In though. The rest mostly delved into doctrine or had skills unrelated to combat.
Now, they would really get tangled up with Helistic, get beaten, and disappear.
And then there was Jeok-du.
Jeok-du was a bit of a headache.
That guy would probably lie low for a while.
Before Jeok-du could regroup, I wanted to find Cheong-ho, throw the responsibility at him, and wash my hands of this.
Can I really wash my hands of it?
If Cheong-ho was completely destroyed and couldn’t co back, it would be a headache.
Should I just take over this organization entirely? It seed like I could take over at any mont if I wanted to. Didn’t Cheong-ho have over 300 businesses under him? The daily tribute from those…
Nah, forget it. It’s a world dood to destruction anyway. What would I do with all that money?
Anyway, it was ti to prepare to leave. Once I found Cheong-ho, it would be over. This would be over really soon. Probably.
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