Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Baek Dohyeok didn't bat an eye.

He was a 7-Star Hunter.

As if a being who had transcended human limits would be injured by a mere phone breaking.

"The Defense Strategy Department raided Golden Sun. Heh. How amusing."

A murderous smile crept onto Baek Dohyeok's lips.

"They shouldn't have the luxury for something like that right now."

Baek Dohyeok's eyes narrowed.

Contrary to appearances, the Defense Strategy Department was a more precarious organization than people realized.

Its inherent limitations, various problems.

And given the current state of South Korea, it wouldn't be the least bit strange if it collapsed at any moment.

At least, that was how it looked through Baek Dohyeok's eyes.

Of course, as the master of one of South Korea's Five Great Clans and a 7-Star Hunter, his perspective was naturally wider than an ordinary person's.

"I wonder what basis our dear old minister had for pulling a stunt like that."

Baek Dohyeok muttered to himself, thinking of Minister Ahn Gukseon.

"Should've killed him back then."

That brief remark was laced with old regret and killing intent.

"You really should kill the ones that need killing......"

Baek Dohyeok murmured, turning his head.

His gaze drifted to the man hanging at the center of the pool.

"B-Boss! Please!"

Baek Dohyeok reached out a hand toward the man.

CRUNCH--the instant Baek Dohyeok clenched his fist around empty air.

SPLAT--!

Chunks of flesh and blood rained down onto the water's surface.

"......Kill them on time, and there's no trouble after."

Baek Dohyeok's Ether gradually subsided.

"Haah, haah!"

"Hyaaah!"

The bikini-clad beauties sobbed as if they could finally breathe again.

Baek Dohyeok paid them no mind and settled back onto the sun bed.

Without a word, the beauties resumed massaging him as if on cue.

"What was given was given. Now how to collect......"

While Baek Dohyeok sank into thought--

Subordinates wearing rubber fishermen's coveralls over black suits entered the pool area carrying skimming nets.

They began scooping up the floating chunks of flesh.

***

"Show me."

"Th-this way, sir. Ngh."

Yeom Taeksu guided Eunseong to the vault.

"Ngh. Nnngh."

SMACK--!

Eunseong cuffed the groaning Yeom Taeksu across the back of the head.

"BWAGH!"

The sound of a pig being slaughtered erupted from Yeom Taeksu's mouth.

"Walk quietly. You're getting on my nerves."

"S-sorry."

"You're a man. Can't you handle that much?"

"I can...... handle it."

If he could, Yeom Taeksu would've loved nothing more than to hurl every obscenity he knew at Eunseong.

'You son of a bitch! Let's see you lose an arm and try handling it! Urgh!'

Once again, those words never left his mouth.

"Th-this way."

The place Yeom Taeksu led Eunseong to was a space at the deepest end of the hidden floor.

An enormous circular steel door.

A vault straight out of a movie.

"How do you open it?"

"I can open it."

"Someone like you?"

"......"

"What's with that look?"

"N-nothing."

Yeom Taeksu desperately waved his remaining hand in denial.

"Originally only Taeil hyu-- no, only that bastard Gu Taeil could open it. But since I handled the facility management, I had to go in and out of the vault a lot......"

"Enough. Open it. I don't care about the details."

"......Yes."

Yeom Taeksu approached the vault and sequentially registered his face, iris, and voice on the wall panel.

Lastly, he brought his severed arm up to the scanner.

BEEP--!

- Biometric data does not match.

BEEP--!

- Biometric data does not match.

Yeom Taeksu looked back at Eunseong.

"I-it's not working."

"Because it's severed?"

"Probably. Ha ha, ha ha ha......"

"Then just reattach it."

Eunseong pulled out the [West Wind] card and channeled Ether into it.

WHOOSH--!

A healing wind enveloped Yeom Taeksu.

The severed arm adhered back to the spot where the tourniquet had been wrapped.

"Huh?"

Yeom Taeksu recoiled in shock.

The severed arm had reattached as if by magic.

"I-it works?"

Yeom Taeksu opened and closed his hand in disbelief.

"Try again."

"Yessir!"

Yeom Taeksu, now elated, re-entered his biometrics, then finally placed his palm against the scanner for fingerprint and vein authentication.

CLICK--!

CREEEEAK--!

With a heavy thud, the massive vault door swung open.

"Now it's ope--"

SLASH--!

"......Huh?"

THUD.

The reattached arm fell off.

SPLATTER--!

Bright red blood poured out in a torrent.

"Ngh, NGGGGHHH!!!"

Yeom Taeksu crumpled to the ground with a pained groan.

"Wh...... why!"

Yeom Taeksu glared at Eunseong with resentful eyes.

"Wh-why again......?"

"It's open, isn't it?"

"......"

Drip.......

Fat tears rolled down Yeom Taeksu's face.

Eunseong didn't spare him so much as a glance.

His attention was fixed solely on the vault's interior.

"What the......"

Half fury.

Half awe.

"......How much did they steal?"

A complex mutter escaped Eunseong's lips.

The Nine-Tail Crew's vault was...... staggering.

The stacks of cash were so vast he couldn't even begin to estimate the total.

Bundles of fifty-thousand-won bills, stacked a hundred to a bundle--at a minimum, the figure had to be in the hundreds of billions of won.

On one side, hundreds of one-kilogram gold bars were arranged. On another, high-end accessories including luxury watches from various brands were displayed by type.

Low-grade, but various types of Etherium were also stored--dozens to hundreds of each kind.

Dozens of assorted items and Runes as well.

What was unfortunate was that every last one of them was unidentified, requiring appraisal.

In fairness, the higher the grade of an item or Rune, the more likely it was to require appraisal.

The problem was that appraisal certificates were astronomically expensive.

The higher the grade of item or Rune being appraised, the costlier the certificate, and some were priced at whatever the appraiser felt like charging.

"Taeksu."

"Yes......"

"Why are all the Runes and items unidentified?"

"Any Runes or items that didn't need appraisal were sent up as tribute to the Incheon Union. Ugh."

"Makes sense. Cracking open unidentified Runes and items would cost more than they're worth, right?"

Eunseong nodded as if that explained everything.

No wonder even Gu Taeil, the leader of the Nine-Tail Crew, had been empty-handed. It was the tributes after all.

"There's a reason Godfather could build himself a kingdom on Yeongjong Island."

Eunseong nodded, thinking of Baek Dohyeok.

The Incheon Union might bear Incheon's name, but it was no exaggeration to say they'd seized complete control of western Gyeonggi Province.

Gimpo, Bucheon, Siheung, Gwangmyeong, and even Ansan.

Within the Seoul metropolitan area, everything west of the Western Arterial Road and the West Coast Expressway belonged to the Incheon Union's territory.

The Cross Clan of Gimpo.

The Nine-Tail Crew of Bucheon.

The Black Dragon Gang of Siheung.

The Express Clan of Gwangmyeong.

The Slag Crew of Ansan.

Every criminal organization ruling each city was a subordinate of the Incheon Union.

'That's at least five hundred billion won's worth.'

With that thought, Eunseong pulled a stack of cards from his Deck.

[Acquired cash.]

[Acquired gold bars.]

[Acquired Etherium.]

......

[Acquired item (unidentified).]

[Acquired Rune (unidentified).]

Etherium, ampoules, precious metals, and the like went into his Inventory.

The bulkier and heavier items.

And the Runes and items went into cards.

"Huh?"

Yeom Taeksu's jaw dropped.

The sight of that mountain of wealth vanishing into cards was hard to believe even seeing it with his own eyes.

"I'm leaving."

"E-excuse me......?"

"I said I'm leaving."

"Wh-where are you going......?"

Eunseong turned and answered over his shoulder.

"Home."

"You're really leaving......?"

"Of course. Once I'm done here, I should get going. You think I'm going to hang around forever?"

"Then what about me......?"

"Figure it out yourself."

Eunseong slipped out of the vault and pulled the door shut.

"If you can."

THOOM--!

The vault door closed.

"That fucking piece of sh--"

Just as an obscenity was about to leave Yeom Taeksu's mouth.

Beep.

"......?"

Beep, beep, beep.......

"......!"

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.......

"Ah."

A sigh of realization escaped Yeom Taeksu's lips.

"Fuck."

BOOOOOOOM--!!!

The explosion swallowed Yeom Taeksu.

***

It seemed the Defense Strategy Department had kept Eunseong's group on standby purely for their safety.

Thanks to that, the moment Eunseong left the hotel, he was free to head home.

'Time to rest.'

Eunseong decided to go home first and come back later.

With the Nine-Tail Crew demolished, control over the Bucheon Station Gate would have been lifted as well.

For a while, at least.

"You'll be heading home by helicopter today. We'll contact you separately regarding the investigation. Ah, and one more thing."

Captain Im held out a military phone to Eunseong.

"The Minister will be contacting you directly in the near future. So......"

"I'll answer."

Eunseong cut him off before the word [please] could leave Captain Im's mouth.

"I appreciate you being understanding. Ha ha."

Captain Im cracked an awkward smile.

"By the way......"

"Yes?"

"Did you start smoking, by any chance?"

"Pardon......?"

"I can smell it. It wasn't there before."

"Ah, yes......"

Captain Im answered with an expression that said he was at the end of his rope.

"I'd quit for a while, but lately the work stress has been so bad I started again. Sigh."

"I see. Guess there's a reason they say you never quit smoking--you just hold off."

A subtle twitch passed over Captain Im's eye as he heard Eunseong's remark.

"Wise words indeed. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha......"

An awkward laugh spilled from Captain Im's lips.

This is all because of you.......

You reckless bastard.......

"Well then, I'll see you next time."

Eunseong gave Captain Im a quick nod of farewell and boarded the helicopter.

"Hah."

Captain Im heaved a deep sigh and stuck a cigarette between his lips.

***

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD--!

On the way back to Seoul.

Eunseong sat on the helicopter's railing, taking in the night view.

Beside him, Choi Yura's expression looked utterly unburdened.

Her dangling legs swayed rhythmically, as if keeping time with an invisible beat.

- I feel like I can finally live again.

Choi Yura's voice came through Eunseong's headset.

"Feel relieved?"

- Yeah.

"Good to hear."

That was what he said, though it was a little surprising if he was being honest.

Revenge wasn't always as cathartic and relieving as people imagined it to be.......

- I think it was just loyalty.

"What do you mean?"

- What would a clueless teenage girl have known?

Choi Yura reminisced about the past.

- It was just...... I was just grateful. That guy--he took me in when I had nowhere to go. Fed me, gave me a place to sleep. And never laid a finger on me. Punk-ass thug that he was. Pfft!

"......"

- At some point, the thought just hit me. That avenging him was my duty. That it was the right thing to do for the person who'd stayed by my side when I was at my lowest.

"I can understand that."

- Anyway, it's done. Time to live my own life now.

A gentle smile spread across Choi Yura's lips.

- Oh, let me put on some music.

Choi Yura put on a song of her own accord.

Yonezu Kenshi's "Lemon" flowed through the headset.

A gentle melody drifted along the night air.

Choi Yura hummed along, still swinging her legs.

Eunseong watched her in silence for a while, then quietly turned his gaze skyward.

Yeah. Then that's good enough.

A faint smile spread across Eunseong's lips.