Chapter 70

Chapter 70

“This Taeksu bastard has gotten fucking sloppy...... Hm?”

Gu Taeil was about to growl when he spotted Eunseong’s group over Yeom Taeksu’s shoulder and stopped.

“Who is behind you?”

“They are...... the people I mentioned over the phone earlier......”

“Ah.”

Gu Taeil nodded as if he understood, then bowed to Eunseong’s group with his waist bent at a ninety-degree angle.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I will make sure you are properly taken care of.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Eunseong nodded, accepting Gu Taeil’s greeting.

Flinch!

Gu Taeil’s shoulders jerked for an instant.

Already furious, he had nearly lost his composure at the insolent attitude of this young master from a wealthy family.

Gritting his teeth, Gu Taeil endured it.

If he did what he wanted, he would twist the neck of the bastard wearing the skull mask right here and now, but in a situation where every penny mattered, he could not do that.

Nine-Tail Crew had been able to control the area around Bucheon Station not simply because of Incheon Union.

It had been possible because they regularly bribed influential people from every level of society, from major figures in politics and finance to soldiers, police, Hunters, and more.

So even Gu Taeil had no choice but to lower himself before the grandchild of a chaebol chairman.

“They say it is the guests’ first visit, so take good care of them. Come to my room once you are done.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Excuse me.”

Gu Taeil and his subordinates passed by Eunseong’s group.

“Hey, are you insane?”

As soon as Gu Taeil disappeared, Choi Yura pinched Eunseong’s arm.

“What? Urgh.”

“Why provoke him for no reason? Why, do you want to start a fight right here?”

“I did it because I knew he could not.”

“Even so, if a fight breaks out here right now......”

“Hello.”

Eunseong answered the phone that happened to ring just then.

“I am sorry. I was busy spending time with a friend for the first time in a while.”

Judging from the contents of the call and Eunseong’s tender, affectionate voice, it was clearly a call from his mother.

“I think I will be a little late today too. Ah, no. Dangerous things? Not at all. I just came out to get some fresh air with a friend after a long time. Yes, yes.”

Eunseong gestured with his chin for Yeom Taeksu to continue guiding them.

“I will escort you this way.”

Yeom Taeksu guided Eunseong’s group.

“Grrr......!”

Choi Yura, utterly irritated, stamped her feet, but Eunseong only focused on the call with his mother.

***

Club Golden Sun, located on the top floor of the hotel, was a space completed after Nine-Tail Crew bought what had once been an adult nightclub, then illegally remodeled and expanded it.

It went without saying that during that process, dirty deals had taken place with district office officials.

It was a place so thoroughly shrouded in secrecy that ordinary people did not even know its name, so the inside of Golden Sun was practically a maze.

For that reason, guests wearing animal masks moved to the event venue under the guidance of Golden Sun MDs.

In the main hall, sofas and beds made of the finest leather were placed here and there, and a stage had been installed at the center in front.

On the second floor, there were side boxes and royal boxes like an opera house, where VIPs who wanted more privacy took their seats.

As dreamlike music flowed, the guests indulged themselves fully in pleasure at their assigned seats, inhaling expensive alcohol, food, and Overdrive.

Pale smoke hung low, and lights of many colors illuminated different parts of the space.

The faces hidden behind the masks did not ask one another’s identities, and they acted as if there was no need to do so.

In this place, names, status, and pasts meant nothing.

Only pleasure and the seats assigned to each person mattered.

Yeom Taeksu guided Eunseong’s group to a side box on the second floor.

“This is so revolting I could die. What on earth are they doing?”

A voice full of disgust flowed from behind the leopard mask.

“This probably does not even count as revolting.”

“What does that mean?”

“Watch for yourself.”

Eunseong pointed at the stage with his chin.

A moment later, the lights went out, and dazzling lights illuminated the stage.

SWISH!

The red curtains drew back, revealing the stage.

The spotlight poured down onto a single point, and a glass box containing a naked young man and woman appeared.

It was an exhibition.

One in which humans had been thoroughly commodified and packaged......

“Oh!”

“Hohoho!”

Low laughter and exclamations leaked out from here and there in the audience.

“Fuck. What is that?”

A curse flowed from Choi Yura’s mouth.

“Urgh.”

Oh Taegwon also looked sickened.

The young man and woman inside the glass box were treated as less than the dogs and cats sold at a pet shop.

Empty eyes, slightly parted mouths, and blank expressions.

Even without speaking to them, it was obvious that their cognitive abilities had been seriously degraded.

On the surface of the box was a spec sheet listing the auction number, height, weight, age, body measurements, and so on.

Even information about their most intimate body parts......

“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Thank you infinitely for visiting Golden Sun today as well. I am Blue Rabbit, the auctioneer who will assist with your auction. I greet you.”

A man wearing a rabbit mask, a silk hat, and a tuxedo displayed an aristocratic bow to the guests with elegant movements.

As his nickname suggested, he wore a blue cummerbund.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

Applause poured toward Blue Rabbit.

“Now then, we will proceed swiftly. Since all of you ladies and gentlemen are busy, I believe it is also my duty to guarantee you as much time as possible for purchasing products and enjoying your entertainment.”

“Hahaha!”

“Hohoho!”

Blue Rabbit pointed at the stage.

“These are today’s male and female Product No. 1.”

CLICK!

The light shining on the glass box became even brighter.

The skin and curves of the man and woman trapped inside were revealed even more clearly.

“Today, we are holding a special promotion. If you purchase a male and female with the same number as a set, we will offer a ten percent discount off the winning bid.”

“Ooooooh!”

“Of course, before that, I should give you a brief product description. This male here is......”

On the giant screens installed on both sides of the stage, close-up images of [Male No. 1]’s body parts appeared in explicit detail.

“This son of a bit......”

“Hold back.”

Eunseong grabbed Choi Yura as she sprang up from her seat, unable to endure any longer.

“You are telling me to hold back?”

Murderous intent flashed in Choi Yura’s eyes.

“You held back for years, but you cannot endure just this?”

“But......”

“Not yet. Wait only until it ends.”

“Fine. I will endure it, for what little it is worth. But I cannot hold back any longer than that.”

“That makes two of us.”

Eunseong’s cold, sunken gaze swept over the first-floor audience and the stage.

Meanwhile, the auction continued.

“The price will begin at one billion won for a single product.”

Slowly, a male guest wearing an orangutan mask raised a [♂] sign.

“Male No. 1, one billion ten million. One billion ten million has been offered.”

Then a female guest wearing a chicken mask raised a [♂] sign, as if refusing to lose.

“Male No. 1, one billion twenty million. One billion twenty million! Oh! One billion thirty million! One billion forty million! Male No. 1 is quite popular today. Good, very good. Is there anyone interested in Female No. 1? Oh! Female No. 1! One billion ten million!”

The heat of the auction gradually began to rise.

***

The products placed in today’s auction were thirty pairs of young men and women, sixty people in total.

The products sold like hotcakes, with hundreds of billions of won changing hands in just two hours.

Some were not satisfied with a single pair.

One guest flaunted his wealth by sweeping up no fewer than five pairs of products at once.

A place where people were turned into products and sold, and where people who had become products were bought with money.

That was the true nature of Golden Sun, which could be called Nine-Tail Crew’s largest source of funding.

Money was important, but the fact that the customers were high-ranking figures from every stratum of society was even more important.

Their enormous influence became Nine-Tail Crew’s shield.

In other words, Golden Sun could be called the core mechanism that allowed Nine-Tail Crew to rule Bucheon by standing above the law and public authority.

“Hehe! The skin is so soft!”

“Oh my, look at how firm these thighs are.”

Just as the customers were touching the products they had won on the spot, creating a lurid atmosphere.

Thud, clatter.

Something that fell from the second-floor side box rolled across the red-carpeted floor.

HISS!

Ssssssss!

With the sound of something bursting, green smoke poured from the metal cylindrical object.

“Hm?”

“What is that?”

The customers of Golden Sun could not quickly grasp the situation.

Because they were already heavily intoxicated with Overdrive, their sense of reality and cognitive ability had seriously declined.

At that moment, they were nothing more than beasts ruled by desire and pleasure, no, hungry ghosts.

“It is a smoke grenade!”

One of the waiters who had been carrying alcohol, food, and Overdrive shouted.

But it was already too late.

Thud, thud, thud.

Hiss, hiss, hiss.

Ssssssss!

Green smoke poured from the smoke grenades that kept falling without pause, swallowing the hall in an instant.

The lights refracted, and the outlines of people distorted as if melting.

“Guh, cough!”

“Cough, cough!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Get away!”

Some staggered, some fell, and others collapsed.

Just like that, Golden Sun’s order crumbled in the blink of an eye, and chaos unfolded.

Amid that confusion, someone climbed onto the railing of the second-floor side box.

Tall, with a solid build.

A gentleman wearing a skull mask and a tuxedo.

It was Eunseong.

Slowly, Eunseong glanced over his shoulder.

“Kill them all. Except the hostages.”

“That is exactly what I wanted.”

CLINK!

Choi Yura, who had already taken off her leopard mask and put on a gas mask, pulled her chain taut as if she had been waiting.

“I am going first.”

Eunseong launched himself toward the first-floor audience.

SHING!

Red blades formed around Eunseong as he hung in the air.

SWOOSH!

Before Eunseong could even land, the red blades scattered in all directions.

A rain of blades poured down.

STAB, STAB, STAB, STAB, STAB!

Dozens of red blades pierced Nine-Tail Crew members, waiters, and MDs.

Tap!

Right after Eunseong landed.

“You crazy bastar......”

The moment one of the Nine-Tail Crew members swung an axe at Eunseong.

Thud!

The machete Eunseong swung indifferently lopped off his head.

SPURRRRRRT!

Bright-red blood sprayed like a fountain.

‘It would be easier to just sweep them all away.’

Eunseong smacked his lips inwardly.

He badly wanted to use a minigun and flamethrower to devastate this entire space.

However, because there were people who had been reduced to products, Eunseong did not do that.

If he did not at least distinguish between enemies and hostages, he would have no excuse if he were treated the same as Nine-Tail Crew.

“There! It is those bastards!”

“What are you doing, you bastards! Catch those bastards!”

Nine-Tail Crew members came pouring in.

A smile rose to Eunseong’s lips.

CLICK!

The inside of the main hall went dark, and the interior was swallowed by darkness.

It was not only the lights that had gone out.

Bzzzt, bzzzzzt!

With a noise like circuits burning out, every electronic device stopped working.

In the pitch-black darkness where one could not distinguish even an inch ahead.

Eunseong’s group, wearing night-vision goggles, melted into the dark.

“Happy hunting.”

The slaughter began.