Chapter 49: The Real Thing Appears (2)
"The fact that the Iron Instrunt God's energy vessel is a 'vessel of energy' — that information is known to only a very select few even within Gukmubon."
Chief Han did not release my hand that she had grabbed.
The Poison Spider's gaze shot through like it could pierce right through.
"Oh, that — I heard bits and pieces about it at the Black Market."
"Don't make laugh. The Iron Instrunt God's sword from Jang Ae-guk. That's worth over 100 billion won. Do you think they would have let just anyone see sothing like that?"
"Goodness, the taxpayers' money in the hands of a traitor……"
Vincent van Gogh's painting had sold for 160 billion won a few years ago.
A price on par with a national treasure-class painting.
"Shut up! They've never leaked so much as a single photo to the press. You're saying information about such a treasure is circulating in the Black Market? That's impossible."
"……"
"Tell the truth!"
The internal energy contained in her right hand grew stronger.
aning she was ready to crush my wrist if necessary, just to extract the information.
"It's hearsay that drifted my way — there's nothing right or wrong about it."
"You think I'd believe that?"
Fwash!
She yanked my wrist hard and launched a kick technique aid at my lower body.
A strike loaded with internal energy!
If an ordinary person took a kick from a peak-level master, it wouldn't just break bones — it could sever a limb as cleanly as a blade.
But looking at her eyes, wild with intensity, she seed to consider even that level of damage trivial.
‘Her striking technique is excessive. She's not in her right mind.’
I twisted my body and slipped free.
Her lower-body strike did nothing but sweep across the concrete floor of the Black Market.
Pa-ba-bak—!
The concrete fragnts scraped up by her foot scattered and embedded themselves into the wall on the far side of the alley.
"She… Dodged my attack?!"
I stepped back one pace and looked at her.
Her eyes carried a look of puzzlent.
……Should I kill her.
Killing her would be as easy as flipping my palm, but the aftermath worried .
She was currently a figure who symbolized Gukmubon's climbers.
If she died, the military might drive tanks right into the Black Market.
The Black Market people could die for all I cared, but I absolutely did not want this precious marketplace itself to disappear.
‘Can't be helped.’
"Ugh!"
I imdiately clutched my wrist.
Performing pain.
Chief Han's expression shifted to sothing like, 'Well, of course'.
"Good grief. I nearly had my wrist broken!"
"You — did you just break free from my Gold Claw Hand?"
"Good thing I ca wearing an Artificial Dantian. What kind of awful woman are you!"
Her gaze swept over my navel area.
"What are you?!"
"……"
"Lucky that I stumbled while trying to pull my hand free — if I'd taken that hit straight on, my leg would've been done for!"
My fuss made Chief Han sneer.
"……Be grateful for your luck."
She tilted her head and rubbed her right arm.
"I missed because my arm hurts."
‘Ha. Not even funny.’
But I didn't let it show.
"So now you want to thank you for that?"
I glanced around, then pulled a whistle out of my pocket.
It was sothing I'd bought to use alongside a switch when training the Choi brothers, but—
"Are you really going to use that right now……?"
Ssi-ik.
I put the whistle to my lips.
It could also be used to call for help.
The mont my cheeks puffed out!
"Wait a mont!"
She reached out her hand to stop .
"D-don't blow that."
She was speaking formally again, just like that.
"Then are you telling to just die here?"
"Don't blow it!"
Chief Han cried out urgently.
‘Right. If a commotion broke out and people gathered, her identity could be exposed.’
"I won't attack you anymore."
"And what reason do I have to believe that?"
Swooosh. She raised both hands.
I wagged my index finger.
"Not good enough."
"Then what?"
"Take off your Artificial Dantian, Miss."
"What? You're telling to undress here?"
The Artificial Dantian she wore beneath her clothes.
But when did I ever tell her to undress?
"You can remove it yourself."
"I can't do it myself. You'll have to co do it."
She nudged her stomach forward slightly.
‘That's a pathetic trick.’
If I got close, she'd try to grab again.
Slipping away would be easy enough, but I didn't want to invite unnecessary suspicion.
"I'm not falling for it."
"……Tch."
She moved to turn around.
"That won't do. Stand facing and do it right here."
"You want to show you my underwear?"
"You just need to put your hand inside your clothes!"
At my irritated tone she relented, and removed the Artificial Dantian from over her clothing.
Thud.
She set the Artificial Dantian on the ground.
"Satisfied now?"
"Kick it over to ."
Thud—.
Ka-ka-kak.
Her Artificial Dantian slid toward , and I picked it up.
"So now let's talk—"
"Looks like you won't be able to follow now."
"……Pardon?"
I grinned and blew the whistle.
Piiiii—!
"Soone help!"
Pa-ba-ba-bak!
I bolted away at once. For a mont she stood there with a blank expression, and then she began to hurl obscenities.
"You son of a—!"
I called back to her from a distance.
"If you want this back, bring Hyeol-un-hwa."
"You bastard!"
"Three hours from now — Yeouido Station, Exit 3. Co without your jacket."
* * *
Three hours later, Yeouido Station.
Chief Han stood there grinding her teeth.
'Just show up. I'll catch you and kill you.'
She couldn't believe she had been played.
If only her right arm were uninjured, she would never have been made a fool of by so con man.
Chief Han fiddled with the hidden blade she'd secretly strapped to her ankle, disguised as if she were tying her shoelace.
'Just because I ca without my jacket doesn't an I can't bring weapons. Hmph!'
It was rush hour, and countless people were coming and going.
The man was nowhere to be seen.
Then a woman approached and spoke to her.
"Hyeol-un-hwa?"
"……Yes?"
"This is for you."
A woman who appeared to be around forty held out a note.
[Hyeol-un-hwa. Station locker A-19. Passcode 007.]
"Who gave you——"
"I don't know. I was just asked to pass it along, so I'm going. Goodbye."
The woman hurried away.
Chief Han frowned, entered passcode 007, and opened the storage locker, placing the Hyeol-un-hwa inside.
A single note was visible in the back of the locker.
[Your precious item: Sadang Station B-56, Banghwa Station A-11, Paldang Station C-45, Bangbae Station K-02. Visit in order. 007.]
Crack!
It referred to the locations where the Artificial Dantian was being kept.
Subway stations — Sadang, Banghwa, Paldang, Bangbae.
She scanned her surroundings.
The man was nowhere to be seen.
"So that's how you want to play this."
How dare he — did he even know who she was!
Choosing subway station lockers had been a foolish decision on his part.
'Do you have any idea how many security caras are in these places.'
She would find him without fail.
With her face flushed red, she exited the subway and headed toward Sillim Station.
She had to retrieve the Artificial Dantian first.
The stored energy she had accumulated while climbing the Tower.
In all of South Korea right now, there were barely a handful of Artificial Dantians that contained more energy than hers.
Much later — Bangbae Station, in the early hours before dawn.
"Aaaaaah!"
The people waiting for the first train at Bangbae Station stared strangely at the woman screaming in front of the storage lockers.
"What a strange person."
"Is she crazy?"
"Out without a jacket when it's still chilly."
"Let's walk far around her. Goodness, what a chaotic world."
Chief Han clenched both fists and trembled.
"You son of a—! You played ! Aaaah!"
Storage locker K-02 at Bangbae Station.
What had been inside was a 300-won lollipop.
And Sadang, Banghwa, Paldang!
The three stations she'd visited first — the passcodes written on the note didn't even work, and one location didn't have any storage lockers at all.
After wandering the tropolitan subway lines through the night, when she finally arrived at Bangbae Station and managed to open the last locker,
a note had been placed alongside the lollipop.
[A cheerful trip to all four corners of Seoul.]
When she thought about it, the first character of each station na—
"……Sa-bang-pal-bang."
Crack crack crack!
"Aaaah! I'll kill him!"
Bang! Bang bang!
Pa-ji-ji-jik—!
While the subway security team fired eight rounds from a taser at her, the Bangbae Station storage lockers were reduced to rubble by her fists.
* * *
"I wonder how much this would sell for? Easily over 100 billion — might even go into the hundreds of billions."
At that sa mont.
I walked out of the Black Market, turning Chief Han's Artificial Dantian over in my hands.
Even at a glance, it was clear that the stored energy in her Artificial Dantian was considerable.
‘This ought to power six refrigerators of mine for a lifeti and still have leftovers.’
‘Truly worthy of South Korea's Gukmubon's representative climber.’
I sold two spears from the Blue Dragon Gate to the Black Market shopkeeper — each for 310 million won, 620 million won in total.
The owner raised his voice, asking why I'd bumped the price up by ten million each when we'd agreed on 300 million earlier, but—
"You cursed at . My mood completely soured."
"That was then and this is now!"
"If you don't like it, don't buy it. I'll just sell it to that woman from earlier."
"I'll buy it! I said I'll buy it!"
"You know the rules, right? That I was the one who sold these — keep it confidential."
"Of course. Absolutely. Don't worry."
The owner ultimately surrendered to .
I slung the bag stuffed with cash over my shoulder and headed straight back to my herb field.
"Attention, little greens. A transfer student has arrived. Her na is Hyeol-un-hwa."
As Chief Han said, she was a bit wilted, but it looked like she could be nursed back to health.
With the five elents now complete, she'd probably recover her energy quickly and grow vigorously.
Pfft.
I could vividly picture Chief Han right now, combing through security cara footage looking for .
"Search all you like. See if you can find ."
【Dark Moon Mask Lv6: You will now no longer appear on security caras or any electronic monitors.】
When you think about it, this really is a bizarre world.
Gukmubon's representative climber had tried to sever my leg clean off at our very first eting.
"Treating human lives as worthless — that's the sa whether it's the martial world or here."
The number of people being murdered every day kept growing, and now soone dying was no longer even worth reporting in the news.
"I hope you take so ti to reflect on yourself this ti. Chief Han."
I educated the world beautifully once again.
Ah — I really do think I'm a good person.
Perhaps I should say I'm naturally building a happier world.
In any case.
"……She's a woman with a certain impact."
Thanks to her, it had been a rather entertaining day.
Well — I wasn't wrong about anything I said.
How precious is a lollipop, after all.
Ah, my sweet day.
* * *
Ding!
【Kim Tae-yang is pressing you, asking why there has been no contact from Kang Hae-san. 1 Happiness】
‘Impatient, are you?’
‘Truth be told, I'm desperate too.’
Now that I was earning 10 million points per perpetrator punished, I was filled with an urge to quickly track down the remaining three and crush them.
But there had still been no contact from Kang Hae-san.
I quietly paid a visit to the hospital in Ilsan, and Kang Hae-san had been moved from the private room he'd been in to a shared room with eight patients.
Just as I'd predicted, it seed that uncle of his had taken every last bit of the settlent money and run.
Seeing the look of desolate resignation in Kang Hae-san's eyes — it was deeply satisfying.
【Kim Tae-yang suggests beating Kang Hae-san to get the information out of him. 1 Happiness】
“Hey, Kim Tae-yang.’
‘Wait on it. This kind of thing needs to simr.’
That's when it cooks properly and becos delicious.
Even sweet fruits beco tastier as they ripen after the harvest.
And if you're really that desperate, you could just tell who all the perpetrators are yourself, couldn't you?
"……"
I muttered it in my mind, but there was no reaction.
Seems there are circumstances that prevent it.
Honestly, I'm quite frustrated about it too.
However strong Kim Tae-yang's thirst for vengeance is — every ti sothing bad happened to a perpetrator, it had showered with enormous points.
So originally I had planned to drag things out with Bae Da-in as long as possible, but she died far too easily.
……Well — perhaps that was karma.
Climbing the Tower mattered, but when it ca to earning Happiness Points, nothing was as efficient as Kim Tae-yang's revenge.
"He said Samcheolli, I'm certain of it."
Could the ones who wronged this kid really be just five people?
The mories were sealed away, but I knew.
When an eagle makes a kill, crows gather around.
"There are more. I'm certain."
The corner of my mouth stretched wide.
I would find them one by one and grind each of them beneath my heel.
‘Because Kim Tae-yang's happiness is my happiness.’
With that in mind, I had devised my own thod.
A secondhand trading app.
I left a post on Danggun Market.
[Looking to purchase graduation album from Myeongmun High School, class of 20XX.]
Desired purchase price: 500,000 won
The intense reaction that had co right after the Kang Hae-san news.
‘If I have the graduation album, I might be able to draw Kim Tae-yang out.’
But it had been several days since I posted the wanted listing, and still not a single comnt.
"This is all your fault. Kim Tae-yang."
Truth be told, the very first thing I did after earning money selling Bungeoppang was take Kim Tae-yang's phone in for forensics.
I'd entrusted it with the hope that so data might still remain, but—
"There's nothing. This is everything."
The forensics owner shook his head.
Completely no data.
"Does that even happen?"
"Occasionally. Soone overwrites and wipes the data."
"……"
"Looks like the owner of this phone wanted to erase everything completely."
He looked at .
"His entire past."
"……"
I stared wordlessly at Kim Tae-yang's phone sitting on the living room table, then tapped and updated the Danggun Market post.
[Looking to purchase graduation album from Myeongmun High School, class of 20XX.]
Desired purchase price: 1,000,000 won (↑)
‘Wait, kid. Your older brother will find it for you.’
"Before that — let take care of just one thing."
[Breaking news! Jang Masayoshi, who naturalized to Japan, has completed Jang Ae-guk's conquest of the 36th floor of Japan's Tower. Jang Masayoshi stated in an interview that he would imdiately begin challenging the 37th floor, expressing confidence that their progress surpasses Korea's.]
Jang Masayoshi was appearing on the news.
I looked not at his face, but at what hung at his waist.
"Chief Han was right."
His sword.
It was unmistakably the Iron Instrunt God's.
"I'll have to take it back."
Soone unworthy should not be wielding his sword.
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