Episode 9
Jonghyeon quickly moved away from his spot.
And in the spot where he had been standing, three more men wearing identical robes appeared.
Had Jonghyeon not dodged, two of those men's swords would have been lodged in his body.
Having created some distance, Jonghyeon threw his words to the robed man who had attacked first, as if pitying him.
“Were you bait too?”
“Shut up! The moment you let your guard down—”
The robed man who had attacked first tried to say more in anger, but one of the other men in identical robes cut him off.
“I wish you'd be the one to shut up.”
A man with an unpleasant expression, as if things had gone awry.
The robed man who had first appeared attacking Jonghyeon clicked his tongue but closed his mouth.
From the looks of it, the man who had just cut him off seemed to be the leader.
‘Interesting situation.’
The reason Jonghyeon had put on airs of leisure while widening the distance was simple.
Because the others outside were emitting quite a bit of killing intent.
Killing intent was something quite easy for Jonghyeon, who handled ki, to sense.
The reason he had toyed with an opponent he could kill in one or two exchanges was simple.
‘Because the problem would have been when I stabbed that guy.’
That brief moment of opening when you thrust a blade to take a life and pull it out.
Targeting that very moment.
It was a baiting method used when hunting a master with minimal casualties, since charging openly would result in tremendous losses.
But having worked as a mercenary for quite a long time, seeing through traps of this level was not just natural for Jonghyeon, but essential.
Jonghyeon, who had been staring intently at the men, finally opened his mouth.
“Hmph. Funny. So you think the four of you can beat me?”
‘Judging by the identical robes, they're definitely a guild. And the killing intent from outside still hasn't faded.’
Fighting recklessly was dangerous.
Fighting while being targeted was far more difficult than fighting normally.
Though Jonghyeon wouldn't be subdued easily, there was no need to bother fighting opponents who openly used tricks.
The robed man who seemed to be the leader appeared to weigh his options for a moment.
And finally spoke.
“Hand over the envelope and we'll leave quietly.”
A proposal that was completely unbelievable from Jonghyeon's standpoint.
But Jonghyeon had his own scheme.
“If you trade that guy's life and the envelope, I suppose I can do that. For starters, I'm not the type to let people who target me live. If you pay me on top of that, I get a fresh start. Besides, I was already furious that he drove the auction price up like crazy, making me buy this scrap of paper for a fortune of five million dollars.”
Jonghyeon's hand pointed at the one who had attacked first, pretending to know nothing.
The other robed men excluding him began whispering amongst themselves at Jonghyeon's words.
After a moment, the robed men seemed to have reached a conclusion, and the one who appeared to be the leader spoke again.
“Fine. We'll do that.”
At the same time, the man who had attacked Jonghyeon first began trembling.
“But…”
The man couldn't even continue speaking, his expression blank.
This was the true nature of guilds.
As long as there was profit for the guild, they could abandon comrades without hesitation.
“Okay. Then just one of you come forward with him bound.”
Jonghyeon waved the envelope in front of the robed men.
Clank-
One of them seemed to be a mage.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on something, and remarkably, chains appeared out of nowhere and bound the man.
“P-please spare me.”
Watching him tremble in fear, having thrown away his earlier bravado, Jonghyeon almost felt a slight pang of pity.
Their leader moved.
He practically dragged the bound man before Jonghyeon, and Jonghyeon reached out as if to hand over the envelope, then briefly withdrew his hand and spoke.
“The money?”
“It's being brought.”
The mage seemed to have contacted his guild member.
And before even five minutes had passed.
Another man appeared carrying a large bag.
“Let me check the amount.”
Jonghyeon checked the money.
“Okay. Here.”
Having taken the bag, Jonghyeon lightly tossed the envelope to the leader.
At the same time, the chains binding the man were handed over.
“Thanks for the wise decision. Farewell, Easterner.”
With those words from the grinning leader, the three black-robed figures disappeared out the window.
That they had handed over the money so willingly was a bit strange, but half of Jonghyeon's plan had succeeded anyway.
Jonghyeon lowered his posture and met eyes with the bound man, asking,
“Do you want to live?”
The smiling Jonghyeon was like a devil.
But in the eyes of the robed man standing at the crossroads of life and death, that figure looked like an angel.
Thinking that Jonghyeon might spare him after all, the robed man nodded repeatedly and said,
“Please spare me. I beg you. I'll do anything you say!!”
At his desperate, pleading appearance, Jonghyeon looked at him with a benevolent, Buddha-like smile and spoke.
“If you come clean, I might spare you. First, the true nature of your guild, and the secret of what's inside that envelope.”
Then the robed man turned pale and said,
“But... if I tell you, those guys will kill me anyway. Please, spare me.”
“It's fine. I'll keep what you tell me a secret. I just need to report this situation to my client, that's all.”
As if it were no big deal, Jonghyeon spoke in a soft, soothing voice.
This angelic demeanor was something he had learned from the headmistress of his orphanage.
Of course, behind that face lurked the terrifying thought that if words didn't work, he'd have to resort to torture.
But the smile he wore now was undoubtedly nothing less than an angel's smile capable of soothing the man.
Fortunately, as Jonghyeon wished, the man thought for a moment then opened his mouth with difficulty.
“Our guild is…”
Black Dave Guild.
It was a guild of about thirty members led by their chief, Black Dave. The man said that while it was an official guild, they did not hesitate to commit dirty deeds.
“This is all I know. I only moved according to orders regarding that envelope. I don't know what's inside. I really don't!!”
“Then what about the ranks of the chief, Black Dave, and the guild members?”
“They don't tell someone like me those things. I'm still just a trainee... I attacked a noble because I wanted to make a good impression on the guild. Please spare me!”
He really seemed to know nothing.
The man had an expression that suggested he might wet himself if Jonghyeon threatened him any further.
“Then the location.”
“Huh?”
“You aren't going to tell me you don't know your guild's location either.”
“The basement of the bar on 184th Street.”
A truly quick and swift answer.
The man struggling to survive spoke clearly and rapidly, as if he had military discipline beaten into him.
Jonghyeon opened a map app, grasped the general location, then stared intently at the man.
“Whew... you really are pitiful, aren't you?”
“Yes, that's right. I was just being used!”
The man answered with the brightest expression he could muster, as if flattering Jonghyeon, who was looking at him pityingly.
Swish-
The man's head fell to the ground while still wearing that bright expression.
“Rest in peace.”
Keeping him alive would have been nothing but dead weight.
Since he was completely useless, killing him was only natural.
Because it would be troublesome if he charged in seeking revenge or returned to the guild like this.
People even feel different entering and leaving the bathroom.
Jonghyeon didn't trust people easily, so in matters like this, he was cold as a knife.
A moment later.
Security guards and the manager who had forcibly opened the door to Jonghyeon's room entered, having belatedly heard the alarm about the broken window.
“What happened!”
But Jonghyeon was a pro.
He had already cleaned up the corpse and bloodstains completely.
“Ah, sorry. I was kicking a ball around and broke the window. Haha.”
Even he thought it was a ridiculous excuse!
But time had been tight, so he had glossed over it hastily, and the security guards made troubled expressions at his words.
“Please send the bill for the window to me. I'll pay for it.”
Jonghyeon waved his hands saying it was fine and sent away the manager and security guards who offered to change his room.
“I've had enough sleep for today anyway.”
Rather, this was better.
Better than causing a commotion fighting here, he would go to them directly and handle it quietly.
Having finished setting up his plan, Jonghyeon leaped out into the brightly lit New York night streets.
From the 10th floor.
★ ★ ★
Basement level 2 of 184th Street.
The bar was on basement level 1, and there were quite a few people.
But basement level 2 was a parking lot, and right there in the open was the Black Dave Guild's headquarters.
[Black Dave Guild]
‘They put up a sign and do this kind of thing? Heh heh.’
Naturally, there were security cameras in the parking lot.
But when Jonghyeon calculated the angles, it seemed the entrance to the headquarters was intentionally out of the cameras' view.
‘I guess they did that so no one would know who the guild members are. Well, that works out nicely for me.’
They seemed to have artificially adjusted the cameras to hide the guild members' information.
Jonghyeon wore a mask covering his face and black clothes.
Recalling the old days when he went around assassinating people, Jonghyeon felt a surge of nostalgia.
‘Since I've been running dungeons and dealing with almost nothing but monstrous beasts lately.’
But a wild beast never forgets how to hunt.
Jonghyeon began to make his move.
Two guards.
Puk-
In an instant, one of the guards died without even making a sound.
“Let me ask you something.”
A sharp small dao of Jonghyeon's was already pressed against the remaining guard's throat.
“The moment you scream or struggle, I'll be able to slice up your body from bottom to top.”
The guard, frightened by the low-pitched threat.
“Y-yes... please just spare me.”
The guard told Jonghyeon that only guild members were inside at the moment, and that the guild master and executives had gone to a meeting, though he didn't know where.
“It's true. I'm a trainee, so I don't know anything yet...”
‘Well, that's why you're stuck on guard duty.’
Having granted rest to the trembling guard, Jonghyeon opened the main door.
“What?”
“Who is it?”
Inside, the gazes of about a dozen or so guild members, who seemed to have been eating something together, shifted from the dining table to Jonghyeon simultaneously.
“This kind of attention is a bit embarrassing. Hahaha...”
“What kind of crazy bastard is this!”
It was the moment one of the guild members, upon seeing the guard collapsed at the entrance, got excited and tried to charge at Jonghyeon.
In an instant, the smile vanished from Jonghyeon's face and shifted to a serious expression.
A professional.
As if to prove that word, Jonghyeon's body disappeared like a shadow in an instant, and the ceiling light shattered, darkening the interior.
Pusuk-
“Guagh!”
Keok-
“Find him!”
Ueok-
The guild headquarters filled with brief screams, the sounds of people dying, and the smell of blood.
Jonghyeon had eyes that could see all forms even in the darkness.
《Bright Eyes in the Dark》
Literally, he could see truly brightly.
It was an assassination method one could call a skill cheat, but even before obtaining the skill, Jonghyeon had hunted like this by concentrating ki into his eyes.
The difference was merely that using ki let him vaguely see shapes, whereas the skill made everything as clear as if the lights were on.
Puk-
In less than a minute, all the Black Dave guild members died by Jonghyeon's hand without even being able to scream properly.
Except for one.
Jonghyeon shone a prepared flashlight on the last survivor and asked in a quiet but powerful voice,
“Is this all of you?”
“Kuh... a raid!”
The last surviving guild member glared at Jonghyeon resentfully, but only retreated step by step as Jonghyeon approached.
A guild member who couldn't even think of doing something against this monster-like man.
The guild member kept retreating.
As if enjoying it, Jonghyeon slowly approached.
Eventually feeling his back hit the wall, the guild member slumped right down.
As Jonghyeon drew closer, his glaring eyes changed to those of a deer before a lion.
“Hey.”
At just one word from Jonghyeon, the guild member reflexively fell to his knees.
“Please spare me.”
‘Damn guild... why are these guys so spineless. So spineless.’
Having never been in the opposite position, Jonghyeon made a disappointed expression, but immediately smiled benevolently.
“Is this all of your guild members?”
“Y-yes, that's right. No, the executives and the chief aren't here.”
He rambled, but the guild member harbored a faint hope that if he answered as asked while looking at Jonghyeon's smile, he might be spared.
Thinking that people were all the same, Jonghyeon continued smiling and spoke.
“Where are the executives and the guild master?”
“Well... they said they had something to research and went into a laboratory connected underground.”
I see.
If it was an underground laboratory, it was understandable that they wouldn't notice the situation unfolding above, since naturally, noise from above wouldn't reach down there.
There was no idiot who designed a laboratory to let noise in.
Moreover, according to the guild member, there were also lodgings used by the guild master and executives.
“What does the laboratory look like?”
Having heard details about the interior structure, more than expected, Jonghyeon finished off the guild member as if satisfied.
The building's structure ended at basement level 2, the parking lot.
But the guild had deliberately dug out a basement level 3 to use separately as a laboratory.
It was said that the guild master and executives used it almost exclusively, and except for errands, guild members could not enter.
The guild members lived upstairs, while only the executives and guild master stayed below.
The executives and the guild master each had their own rooms, and at the end of a long corridor was a door leading to the guild master's room and meeting room.
The guild member said he had only gone that far, so he didn't know which door was which.
‘Hoo...’
Jonghyeon was surprised at the elaborate structure, more so than he had expected.
As the last guild member had instructed, in the utility room past the kitchen, Jonghyeon kicked the floor and pulled a cord beside it.
Then the washing machine rose upward, revealing a passage leading down.
‘Quite ingenious indeed.’
Jonghyeon was someone with great interest in such useless things.
The basic level of the Black Dave guild members was upper-tier even among D-ranks.
If it had been Jonghyeon before his training, he wouldn't have been able to finish them off as easily as he had just now.
‘Then are the executives at least C-rank or higher? This was a guild with more power than I thought?’
He had searched the internet and found almost nothing, so he thought it was a low-level guild, but it turned out to be more capable than expected.
Naturally, even for Jonghyeon, he couldn't overwhelmingly sweep multiple C-ranks or higher like he had just done.
Because the gap between D-rank and C-rank was enormous.
It was a difference enough to determine whether one faced a world examination or a national examination, so though it was only a single rank difference, the gap in level was considerable.
Now it was time to change his methods and show his true self.
Jonghyeon readjusted his mask and began walking down through the passage.
---------= Afterword ---------=
Of course, it is said that the window cost was covered by the checking account at checkout—that is, with the customer's money.