Episode 27
The hall was a sea of blood.
The beautifully decorated wallpaper and paintings, and most of the interior, were stained with blood.
And standing in the middle of it was Jonghyeon.
“Is it about time for this to collapse?”
The Explosive Demon Essence Set was far too precious an item to experiment with. Instead, he had predicted that the lower foundation would collapse within approximately ten minutes, and the building would flow downward from above.
‘And my predictions are rarely wrong.’
Through the Orc’s Orb, something called intuition had grown. At first, Jonghyeon hadn’t known what it meant, but he gradually realized it through training.
The scale of battle. Predictions concerning fights. His own observation and judgment. Everything could be predicted to a certain extent.
Waiting like this for the guild master and other executives to come down was becoming dangerous for him as well. About two minutes had passed since the announcement broadcast earlier, so it was indeed about time for them to descend.
‘Just how many have I cut down?’
Jonghyeon thought as he slowly backed away toward the main entrance outside.
He had already given up counting by the time the exact number passed forty.
However, since he had clearly cut down even more after that, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that most of the guild members had virtually been annihilated.
But Black Dave had been like that, and so had other guilds.
In the end, the ones who held the guild’s power were the executives and the guild master. If they were alive, the Red Rose Guild could revive at any time.
‘Though it will take quite a while.’
At this point, with most of the guild members dead and the headquarters collapsing, the Red Rose Guild had suffered a devastating blow.
And since they had also been marked by other countries and guilds, they were effectively ruined.
Even so, Jonghyeon wanted to make sure to finish off the guild master. He never knew when they might come seeking revenge.
Jonghyeon’s philosophy remained unchanged.
And just as Jonghyeon completely exited the entrance, the building began to collapse.
Kwakwakwakwang—!
With a deafening roar that shook the ground, the building slowly crumbled down.
“Seeing a building melt like ice cream—is it quite impressive, Mr. Ryu?”
At the voice of a man, Jonghyeon turned to the left. And he reflexively deflected the incoming magic with his small dao.
“It was you. Guild Master Berry.”
The executives tried to attack Jonghyeon quickly, but Jonghyeon was faster.
Sssss—
Jonghyeon’s figure suddenly vanished from that spot.
“What the! Where did this bastard run off to!”
Jonghyeon’s voice was heard from behind the executives who were shouting and looking around.
“Run away? That’s harsh. Don’t you know about a tactical retreat?”
With Jonghyeon’s mocking tone, the executives began dying one by one.
Berry also drew his sword and leaped at Jonghyeon, but unlike Berry’s blade, which cut through empty air every time, Jonghyeon’s small dao steadily assassinated the executives.
Puk—
“Kuk. Lord Berry, save...”
With Fisher, unable to continue speaking due to the blood gushing in his throat, as the last, all the executives died.
Only Berry remained.
“You bastard. What grudge do you have against our guild to do this? Do you think you’ll survive in one piece after this?”
Jonghyeon appeared like magic before Berry, who was seething with rage.
And spoke.
“You don’t seem to remember? I’ve been thinking of nothing else since that day.”
There was a somewhat fishy smile in his voice, but the meaning of that smile was killing intent.
It was the first time Jonghyeon had been this angry at someone.
“What nonsense. What the hell are you talking about... kuk!”
In that moment, Jonghyeon vanished like the wind and instantly grabbed Berry from behind.
But Berry was also an A-rank powerhouse. As if unwilling to simply take it, he raised his sword and twisted his body to the limit.
And he narrowly deflected Jonghyeon’s small dao, but he couldn’t stop it from grazing his shoulder.
“Are you pretending not to remember? Or are you pretending not to know me? Well, perpetrators never think about their victims, do they? Just like me right now.”
Fshik—
As Berry clutched his bleeding shoulder, his opposite leg was swiftly cut away.
Berry, who hadn’t even had time to think of dodging, had no choice but to accept it.
Half of his thigh had been severed.
“Uwooooooah!”
Along with Berry’s wail, the two remaining executives returned.
“Guild Master! This son of a bitch!”
Something black draped heavily over the body of the executive charging in boldly.
“What is this?”
Before the executive’s blank expression could even change, shadows constricted his entire body.
“Kwaaaahk! Kuk.”
He tried to break free with a roar, but the constriction using every shadow of the collapsing building suffocated him, and he soon went to his rest.
“What sorcery is this!”
Berry shouted in frustration.
Partly because he didn’t know exactly what his opponent was wielding, and partly because he had committed so many evils that he had no idea which one this was about.
“Hoo. I came with some expectations, but you’re really nothing special. Let me tell you.”
Jonghyeon’s shadow already bound Berry’s entire body. With half his leg severed and a serious sword wound on his shoulder, Berry couldn’t shake off the shadow.
Jonghyeon put a cigarette in his mouth, moved to an alley outside the building’s collapse radius, and continued.
Dragged along by the shadow, Berry could only gnash his teeth, unable to say a word.
“Do you perhaps remember the name Troubleshooter?”
Berry thought hard.
Troubleshooter? Could it be that young Korean hunter bastard? He had thought he’d definitely crushed him.
Seeing the confusion flash across Berry’s eyes, Jonghyeon continued.
“So you do remember. That’s how I have to talk for you to understand. Anyway, good. I am that guy, and you did something to him that should never be done. What could it be?”
Berry fell into thought once more. Royson had definitely said that using the guild’s mage, he had destroyed half of the orphanage that guy liked.
Was it because of that?
“If this is about destroying the orphanage, I truly apologize. That wasn’t ordered by me. That was... ugh!”
The moment the word orphanage left Berry’s mouth, Jonghyeon unconsciously put strength into the shadow.
Berry expressed his pain through groans, and shortly after, the shadow loosened. Vision returned to Berry, who had nearly died from the constriction.
And what caught his eye was...
Parker, the guild’s strongest assassin.
The only A-rank in the guild besides himself.
Ting— Tididing—!
Parker, who had started the guild together with him from the very beginning. Parker, who was stronger than himself but acknowledged his own lack of leadership and had stepped back to a supporting role.
Jonghyeon was delighted for the first time in a while.
While Berry had been overwhelmed by fear and subdued far too easily, the Red Rose Guild assassin who rushed in to protect him was at a similar level to himself.
In the ongoing exchange, Parker avoided Jonghyeon’s shadows here and there with the movements befitting an assassin.
At the same time, he didn’t forget to swing his blade at Jonghyeon.
‘Then shall I get serious here too?’
Jonghyeon released all the ki he had been controlling. And in that moment, even the expressionless Parker was taken aback.
Jjeoeok—!
After Jonghyeon rapidly closed the distance, Parker’s dagger broke in a single blow. At the same time, a shadow that had gone insanely fast caught Parker as he retreated backward.
“Fucking...”
Parker soon gave up.
This was something his guild master had brought about. It was already past the stage where it could be undone. It wasn’t what he had wanted either, but he had nowhere else to go, so he had simply remained in the guild.
And as a martial artist, he protected the guild master, meeting an honorable death at the hands of someone stronger than himself.
Defeated as he was, he had no regrets.
Puuk—
“This guy is smiling even as he dies? He was a talent wasted on someone like you, Berry.”
Jonghyeon let out a sigh and looked at the bound Berry again.
When Parker had first appeared, Berry had thought it was salvation. Until he saw Jonghyeon’s tremendous martial prowess.
And as Parker died smiling, Berry thought.
‘If instead of sending the fastest Parker to the government, we had attacked together, we might have taken this man down. Why am I such an idiot!’
Jonghyeon could roughly see what he was thinking. The closer a human is to death, the more easily their emotions show on their face.
“You still haven’t reflected. Let’s finish what I have to say.”
Jonghyeon put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and thought for a moment.
‘So this is what revenge is like.’
It wasn’t as joyful as he had thought. However, he could see that the anger inside him had been quelled.
He suddenly thought of the effort and planning he had put in to take down this single guild.
He had spent a hefty sum to steal the Red Rose Guild headquarters’ blueprints, and for six months, he completed a martial art for himself.
It was something not even a considerably outstanding genius could do, but Jonghyeon, striving for revenge, had surpassed human limits.
It was only after entering the fifth month that he completed his foundations and mastered the protective aura. And in the remaining month, he perfected his own style.
Jonghyeon’s style was, in a word, explosion.
Jonghyeon had agonized considerably between a stable attack style and a one-hit-kill attack style. And what greatly influenced his choice was his battle with Black Dave.
‘No matter how stably I fight, it’s hard to last long in one-against-many battles.’
So what he completed was a method to explosively use his ki to exert three to four times his usual strength.
He decided that if he couldn’t finish the fight within that time, he would consider it his loss.
But by the time he re-emerged in the world, the Red Rose Guild looked far too small.
After growing stronger, Jonghyeon could see that eliminating a single Red Rose Guild was something he could do easily with some planning, without even having to clash with all his strength.
To the point where he wondered if he had needed to go to such lengths.
Jonghyeon suddenly had that thought.
Perhaps the six months of training after obtaining the old watch had been a time that matured his thoughts considerably, as well as his abilities.
Biiiiing—!
When the sound of the building collapsing was almost at its end, sirens began to be heard.
At that siren sound, Jonghyeon finally organized his thoughts. And he flicked the cigarette, which had burned almost to the filter, with his finger, then looked at Berry.
The sight of Jonghyeon smoking and thinking was more than enough to instill fear in Berry.
And Berry had ultimately lost his mind to fear.
“Hoo. Do you know why you’re dying? If you get it right, I’ll let you live. Haha.”
Jonghyeon spoke with a smile on his innocent face.
“Please, just spare me. If you spare me, I’ll serve at the orphanage for life, I’ll do anything. I’m truly sorry for destroying the orphanage. I’ll never do bad things again. I’m sorry.”
Seeing Berry beg with tears, Jonghyeon was now almost dumbfounded.
‘So I’ve changed this much all because of a lowly bastard like this.’
But endings must always be certain.
Various emotions were mixed within Jonghyeon, but in the end, what remained the most was a refreshingly cool sense of relief.
“Tsk. Wrong! The reason you’re dying isn’t the act of destroying the orphanage itself. It’s merely because of the complacency of destroying the orphanage and leaving me alive. You should have given the order to kill that young man. That young man burning with revenge. Got it? Now go.”
With those final words, Jonghyeon inserted his small dao into Berry’s neck.
“Keok— kuk!”
Even after the blade pulled out from Berry’s neck, Berry tried to say something for a while.
What had he wanted to say?
Berry, who ultimately couldn’t say a word, quietly lowered his head, and Jonghyeon released the shadow.
Jonghyeon stared intently at Berry’s dead face for a moment, then eventually turned his feet and headed somewhere.
---------= Afterword ---------=
If you’re only going to use your head, why did you even take strength..