Chapter 113: Owl Hunting (4)

Chapter 113: Owl Hunting (4)

"Duh..."

Nine owls had their mouths opened like idiots with cloudy eyes.

Ohjin used Domination on every single apprehended Owl and cross-examined the information.

"It's pretty much certain at this point."

The Noctua faction's HQ had a lot of numbers, but it was in a state no different from being a vacant house, as all of its main forces were absent.

'Perfect timing.'

Ohjin even thought of giving up on his plans if Cheon Doyoon was there, but it seemed that he would be able to harvest more than he imagined at the rate he was going at.

Creak—

He could see Han Joonman as he exited the interrogation room.

"O-Ohjin, that injury..."

"There was a bit of a ruckus inside."

Ohjin cleaned the blood dripping down his face with a towel and continued.

"I'm not sure how they did it, but they suddenly released the restraints, stole my weapon, and attacked me."

"S-Such a thing!"

"Well, fortunately, I wasn't hurt that badly."

"You're bleeding this badly, what do you mean!" General Manager Han frowned as he lent out a potion.

It appeared that it was a rather high-quality product, as the injury quickly disappeared with a refreshing sensation.

"Were you able to get any results?"

"No. I experimented with trying to obtain information while avoiding the taboo... but it didn't work as I thought it would."

"Sigh... as expected."

Though he had actually found out the HQ's location, he didn't go out of his way to make the information known.

'I need something bigger to uproot them in one go.'

A faint smile was placed on Ohjin's lips.

"Then I shall take my leave for today."

"We'll make sure to change the restrictions into ones that are even stronger so such an incident doesn't occur next time!"

"Haha. Thank you."

Ohjin laughed lightly as he exited the Association.

'Well, then.'

He rode his car to the Changhyun building in Yongsan where Noctua's HQ was supposedly located.

"...Is that the Changhyun building?"

—A shabby building located in a gloomy area.

The commercial building that looked the same as any other was the headquarters of the terrorist group that had turned Korea upside down.

'There's even a convenience store and diner on the first floor.'

No one would look at that place and think that it was the headquarters of a terrorist group.

"Those bastards really used their brains."

There was a saying in Korea: 'If you're going to hide a tree, hide it in a forest'. It was in a location that would've never been discovered if it wasn't for releasing the taboo with Domination.

Clack—

Ohjin parked the car nearby and observed the building from a distance.

'It feels like I'm a detective conducting an undercover investigation.'

It would've been perfect if he had coffee and a donut.

'I should patiently wait things out since I'm still lacking information.'

Even if he conducted cross-examination with the testimony of nine people, he couldn't recklessly infiltrate the Black Star Organization's HQ.

'Five days... no, let's standby and watch over for about a week.'

Continuously monitoring them from one spot could potentially put them on alert, but thankfully, he had a skill that was perfect for that kind of situation.

'Black Curtain.'

With his presence completely hidden, he stared at the building's entrance with cold eyes.

* * *

One week had passed since he had started to observe the Black Star Organization's HQ.

"Yawn."

Ohjin stretched out his arms and twisted his body.

"Let's see."

Ohjin took a rice ball that Ha-eun had prepared for him in the morning and took a big bite out of it.

The texture of the moist and soggy grains of cooked rice was reminiscent of chewing wet clumps of newspaper, and it lingered in his mouth.

"Mmh~ As expected of Ha-eun. How is it even possible to make rice balls this bad?"

"Hm?"

Ohjin discovered a piece of paper laid on the bottom of the lunchbox while eating his rice ball. It was a letter written by Ha-eun, judging from the handwriting.

"Hehe. She's seriously so cute sometimes. Let's see what she wrote."

[This letter's history starts in England and...]

"...What the hell did she write?"

[...if you do not kiss a beautiful woman with maroon hair, a horrifying curse will befall you.]

"What a cute scheme..."

[P.S. The curse is sharing a delightful cooking laboratory time with Ha-eun.]

"Shit, I need to get home quickly."

Even a properly made dish was on the level of barely edible, he couldn't imagine how treacherous an experimental dish would be.

'I left my pendant behind so that I wouldn't be caught by Vega.'

He had conducted enough prior investigation. All that was left was to put it all into action.

Clack—

Ohjin opened the car door and headed to the building.

There were two men outside the building loitering while smoking cigarettes. By no means were they regular passersby, as they went in and out of the building at designated times every single day.

"Old man, you're not allowed to smoke on the sidewalk."

"Hm?"

The man that was chain-smoking frowned threateningly.

"Who are you?"

"Your mother, you bastard."

"What did you say?"

Bam!!—

Ohjin suddenly low-kicked, causing one of them to fall over.

"Ha!"

When the man to the side quickly reached into his pocket—

"Hup."

Crunch!!—

"Aahhhhhhhhh!!!"

—Ohjin grabbed the hand that tried to take out a weapon and twisted it.

"M-My hand!! My haaaaand!!"

The man's face distorted heavily as tears and snot dripped down, which then drenched his thick beard.

"Wow, seriously, take a look at you two."

It appeared that General Manager Han's deduction that most of the members of the Noctua faction were from Cheorwon Prison was correct, as both of them had been born with the faces of serial killers.

'Looking like that and not being a criminal is a crime in itself.'

Expressing it as gently as possible, their faces looked like asphalt roads that had vomit and bird poop mixed on top.

"Ugh... who are you?"

"There's no need for you to know."

Ohjin, who had subdued the two men in a blink of an eye, put a hand on either of their heads. The black clouds that flowed out of his hands were sucked into their heads.

"Duh..."

"Uhe..."

Soon, their eyes turned cloudy.

"Guide me inside."

"...understood."

Ohjin followed the two men into the elevator.

As he had heard from the interrogation, the elevator went over the seventh floor and arrived at the eighth floor as they pressed the buttons in a set order.

Owooong—

A gate that was around two meters wide could be seen as the doors opened.

'So the Owls' headquarters is inside there.'

Ohjin went in without hesitation.

* * *

* * *

"...Woah."

He exclaimed subconsciously as soon as he got out of the gate.

'What's this?'

There was a massive dome that was as big as the Seoul World Cup Stadium inside.

'I thought they'd be living like bushmen since they're inside a gate.'

He could tell it was an ultramodern building with every kind of amenity with a glance.

'Their forces really must be tremendous.'

Their scale was so massive that it couldn't be said to be an organization that acted in the dark. Ohjin stuck his tongue out and went into the dome-shaped building.

"Guide me to Cheon Doyoon's room."

"...understood."

The man nodded as he moved his feet.

"Hm? Isn't it working hours for you guys?"

Although they met several other members of the Black Star Organization once they entered the building—

"Why are you wandering around here— Argh!"

—they were easily subdued by surprise attacks from Ohjin, who stayed hidden by using Black Curtain.

"Duh..."

After making new puppets using Domination—

"Return back to your working stations."

"...understood."

"I will follow... your orders."

—he sent the two men he first used Domination on outside the building again.

'It's easy to sneak in with this.'

As long as he had the overpowered abilities Black Curtain and Domination, it wasn't hard to infiltrate their headquarters.

"Here is... Cheon Doyoon's room."

"Where are the people protecting the area?"

"There are usually guards... but there aren't any lately, as he has been absent recently."

'I see, then let's investigate what's inside in comfort.'

Click—

—A room that was plain and decorated in a traditional Korean style.

There were nearly none of the commonly found luxury items or furniture.

"Hmm."

Ohjin narrowed his eyes and started his investigation.

"There really isn't much here."

He investigated every nook and cranny, but couldn't find anything that stood out in particular.

When he sighed and was in the middle of looking around—

'Hm?'

—he discovered a horse requisition tablet hung by a rope next to the wooden bed.

T/N: Horse Requisition Tablets (Horse Pass) are certificates that permitted the use of government horses kept at stations around the country, which were issued to the Royal family, provincial governors, and army commanders in the Joseon Dynasty. They are made of metal and are shaped small and round with a certain number of horse heads representing the holder's rank on one side.

"This is..."

No, it wasn't exactly a horse requisition tablet(馬牌).

"A snake?"

Did it have to be called a snake requisition tablet(蛇牌)?

The palm-sized horse requisition tablet hung by a rope and didn't have horses engraved onto it, but instead had a curled-up snake engraving.

'It doesn't seem to be a star relic.'

No mana could be felt from the horse requisition tablet, no, the snake requisition tablet.

"Why is this in this bastard's room?"

Even if you were being as understanding as you could, shouldn't it have had the shape of an owl engraved onto it instead of a snake if it was a simple decorative item?

"Hmm."

Ohjin continued thinking but couldn't come up with a reason.

'I should take a photo of it and leave it for now'

Flash—

He took a photo of the medallion with a snake engraved on it and put it back in its place.

"I don't think there's anything more I can obtain from here."

It was time to collect other information.

"Where can I find out about the location and scale of the branches of the Black Star Organization?"

The goal of infiltrating the Black Star Organization's HQ while bearing the risk was to get all the locations of the Noctua branches that were hiding all around Korea.

'Even if they operate in secrecy, they should have that information in the headquarters.'

If that information wasn't, there of all places, it was safe to say that they weren't an organization and just a secluded faction.

"It is recorded... in the server room."

As Ohjin expected, they had the information.

"Guide me to that place."

"In order to enter that room... a password... is needed."

"And who knows it?"

"Normally, a high-rank Templar is the one in charge of managing it... but his assistant is managing it currently."

"What's the assistant's position?"

"She is a mid-rank Templar."

"Alright."

'A mid-rank Templar is the same rank as Arshad Khan. At that level, I should be able to subdue them easily.'

Ohjin had gone through enormous difficulty when he fought him a couple of months before, but in the present, he was confident that he could easily subdue ten mid-rank Templars charging towards him at once.

"...Over here."

They headed over to where the assistant that managed the server room was staying.

"Wait."

Before going inside, Ohjin took out a tumbler that contained coffee.

Pop—

He opened the lid and put the tip of his finger inside.

'This is still the best way to subdue enemies without causing a commotion.'

Owooong!—

Purple venom dripped out of his finger once he activated the stigma of Scorpio and mixed with the coffee.

"Hold this and tell her that you brought something to drink."

"I will follow your orders."

The Owl who had become a puppet took the tumbler and knocked on the door of the server room.

"What is it?"

With a hysteric voice, a fairly attractive black-haired woman with a bob cut opened the door and came out.

"I have brought... coffee."

"Hmpf, what? Are you trying to flirt with me?"

The woman smiled in ridicule.

"Seriously~ it's such a pain to stay in a place that's infested with men."

She clicked her tongue as she received the coffee.

"Fufu. I'll drink it in consideration of your sincerity, so get lost now."

Bang—

The door of the server room shut tight.

"Well done. Return to your working station now, and forget about everything that happened today."

"...understood."

Ohjin returned the Owl he controlled and patiently waited in front of the door.

After waiting for about three minutes—

Bang!—

"Kugh! Kuh! Wh-What is this?!"

—the door opened violently as the woman urgently ran out of the room.

"Hmpf!"

Ohjin quickly lunged forward and roughly swung his fist at the woman's face.

Bam!!!—

"Kyaaa!"

With a brief scream, the woman was sent flying back.

"Wh-What? Who are you?"

"That's none of your business."

Ohjin grinned and approached the trembling woman.

"H-Hik! D-Don't come any closer!"

The woman wasn't even able to control her body due to the poison as she moved back little by little.

Click—

Ohjin took out his spear and threatened her in order to plant a deeper sense of fear.

"Kyaa! S-Spare me. S-Sorry, please spare me!"

The woman trembled pathetically and rubbed her hands like a fly.

'This is probably enough.'

Ohjin extended out his hand in order to use Domination, and at that moment—

"I-If you spare me..."

—the woman suddenly slightly lowered the blouse she was wearing and revealed her pale shoulder.

She looked up to send a seductive look at Ohjin.

"...you can use my body as you—"

"Stop being fucking ridiculous."

Bam!—

He swung his spear at her head.

"Ahh!"

"I don't have even the slightest bit of interest in your body, so obediently keep your lips sealed. I don't have time."

Ohjin needed to finish things quickly and return home to dispel a curse.