Chapter 150

Chapter 150

I had no idea what kind of fate Park Hoseok met, so I just listened to their conversation quietly. Then, since this place wasn't suitable to continue talking in detail, we first returned to Koo Kyungman's villa.

"The last person Park Hoseok officially met was the green-haired guy. From HaHae guild."

"Ah, Mmm..."

"So, I paid some attention to the decoration-a visual spectacle for Bae Jaemin's eyes." After entering the villa's living room, Jung Garam rolled around on the sofa, like a self-satisfied cat with a bright smile.

I wondered what he did to Park Hoseok, but Jung Garam simply chuckled to himself with a cheeky face. Although he made such a cute sight for sore eyes, I was strangely terrified to ask for further details on what he had done.

However, Kim Olim was different from my scaredy-cat self. She asked direct questions, disregarding Jung Garam's bizarre vibe. "There was something missing from Park Hoseok's corpse; do you have it?"

"Nope. I threw a few pieces off the cliff. Ah! I also fed him some pieces too."

"To Park Hoseok?"

"Ye~ep."

"Excuse me... Sorry. I'm going to go and wash up..." I rose up from my seat from the horrifying implications I had heard. I felt a bit nauseous. I didn't want to show such weakness, but it was hard to endure, especially as it brought up memories of Koo Kyungman. As expected, I shouldn't have heard that...

"What, Choi Lee-kyung! Are you scared?"

"......Your complexion looks poor." However, Kim Olim supported me without any criticisms as I stumbled my way out. I don't know about Seo Dawon, but I wasn't immune to Kim Olim's kindness; I was visibly flustered when she held onto my waist.

However, soon, Kim Olim's touch felt cool like an ice pack; I felt so good momentarily that I involuntarily made a strange noise. "Nngh...!"

"......?" Jung Garam stared up at me with a puzzled expression. Kim Olim paused for a brief moment, but soon placed a hand on the opposite side of my back, patting earnestly. Because of that, I felt both incredibly embarrassed and incredibly good at the same time; I stood still, mouth shut, unsure of what to do.

I mean, the pleasant feeling was just as if all my fatigue had melted away... But I felt like I was going crazy, holding back my strange moans and noises. What if Kim Olim thought that I was a pervert?!

"E-Enough! Really! Right now...everything's fine!" I hurriedly tried to escape Kim Olim's touch, but she gently subdued me.

"Why refuse me? You should become honest," she muttered.

"Olim-noona, you just said something too lewd right now."

"Sooner or later, you'll need to drive out those evil inclinations within your head."

"I'm sorry..."

It felt like a vibrating massager that could also chill my knots. In the end, after being captured, I melted softly into the sofa.

Kim Olim, thankfully, did not point out my unsightly conduct and lightly placed a hand on my head. Whether or not there was meaning to her touch, my confused brain slowly calmed down as she patted my hair. The throbbing headache that was stimulated by the recurrence of cruel memories soon subsided.

"W-What just happened..." After 10 minutes, I returned to my senses, wiped the saliva off my mouth, and blushed.

"It's nothing," Kim Olim answered, in a tone that lacked arrogance.

I had no idea when he entered the room, but Seo Dawon leaned crookedly at the entrance, arguing with Kim Olim in a sarcastic tone, "And you had said you'd never even speak to people of 'that kind of attribute.'"

"It's not that I like doing this. He looked so much like a puppy shaking in the rain, I had to show mercy." Kim Olim responded without much heat-instead, she nodded as if she wasn't particularly bothered.

Honestly, what did Kim Olim think of me...? She'd been comparing me to cute animals since earlier. What did she say last time? I think she called me hamster-like...

'Maybe...have we become closer?'

Of course, the atmosphere between us had softened much more than the first time we met. However, Kim Olim glanced at me and stoop up abruptly as soon as our eyes met. Her gaze was very cold.

Bewildered, I reflexively stretched out my hand, but Kim Olim avoided it very easily. Then, in a cold tone, she said, "Don't look at me with those teary eyes. It's not like you're some abandoned cat."

"T-That's...not it..."

"It's not like I want to be attached to you. No matter how much your hair may look like a maltese, no means no." With that said, she strode into her room.

"Cough..."

"Pfft..."

Of course, after Kim Olim vanished, Jung Garam and Seo Dawon burst into laughter.

I touched my hair absentmindedly after hearing Kim Olim's words. I'd often heard that it felt like dog fur, but... (Maybe because it's so soft and thin.) I didn't like hearing comparisons between me and malteses from other people, but it didn't feel so bad coming from Kim Olim.

Anyway, thanks to the Paladin, the rate of my trembling had calmed down. Though Jung Garam was vibrating from excitement, he perceived my uneasiness; thus, I learned about what had happened today through tomorrow's news.

* * *

[Jeju User Murder and Mutilation Case...Victim was a Famous and Large Guild Executive]

[Park Hoseok - Ex Red Dragon Executive Assassinated... Suspect Still At Large] 1

['Extraterritorial Jurisdiction' and Users, Can we continue like this?]

[Han Heon-hwee 'I will spare no effort in cooperation with the investigation. I will mobilize all our efforts.']

[Director of the User Research Insitute: 'We strongly suspect the suspect's class to be Warrior due to the melee attack patterns... The Korean Warriors Association must pay attention to how much senseless media reports are generated from them.]

[Tensions between Rankers as reported by the polarizing tabloid. 'Searching for the murder suspect' is now trending on Social Media.]

The news was reported at around 3 pm, about 4 hours after we returned to the Seoul Hub. Perhaps because such an important man was murdered so gruesomely, photos of Park Hoseok and our assassination site were covering all the channels.

Those that appeared to be Park Hoseok's bereaved family and his acquaintances could also be seen howling their grief. I had no idea how much Park Hoseok's wife was aware of, but she seemed to be a famous influencer on Social Media. As a celebrity, the way she cried so devastatingly was not even mosaicized. To be honest, that pitiful appearance wasn't a pleasant sight to see, so I skipped all the excessive interviews with the bereaved family and focused on the news report.

On a User-related broadcasting network called Channel H, experts from all walks of life were discussing the current incident on an urgently organized live broadcast; I watched that very closely.

An announcer began, "Honestly, though, the general public must be wondering who on earth that man is and why his murder is such big news?"

Afterwards, the announcer's attention turned to a person named Moon Cheol-gu, a Warrior with a fairly high level of repute. Although he's currently retired from active duty, he often appeared as an entertainer in various broadcasting programs and worked as an expert on User and Hub related matters.

Moon Cheol-gu calmly received the announcer's gaze, nodded, and answered in a steady tone, "That's right. And, it's true that there aren't many cases in which the victim was murdered in such a horrific way. It would probably be difficult for those that aren't Users to really understand the embodied horror."

"Yes, yes."

"However... This victim was one our country's top 100 in terms of pure martial force."

"You mean, among the Users, right?"

"Right. I'm saying that there aren't many Users that could deal with him alone."

"Ahhh... It would be impossible for ordinary people or those with ordinary weapons."

"Yes, that's right. In a way, that would narrow our list of culprits. But the problem is..."

"Yes?"

"Someone that would be just a bit stronger than the victim... It doesn't make sense."

"What part doesn't make sense?"

"Ah, can I add to that?" At that moment, someone-a middle-aged woman with white hair and a white doctor's coat-raised her hand and interrupted the conversation. As soon as the screen focused on her, the captions informed us of her name and profession.

[Korean User Research Institute, Senior Researcher Kim Aera]

"Results of the initial investigation into the victim and the crime scene are now being shared in real time. According to what has been revealed so far, the victim was attacked by only one person and was disgraced. At least, so far that's what we know." Kim Aera-ssi said with her sharp and powerful voice, tucking in her chin. As soon as she finished speaking, the panelists all became silent and stared at her.

Looking at the crowd, Kim Aera's eyes brightened. "The suspect made light of someone within the top 100-furthermore, they made light of the owner of the legendary [Gae Bolg]. One single person...that's what result we've concluded from the data provided. Even considering the traces left at the scene and the wounds left on the victim's body, it must have been a one-sided fight."

"Oh my goodness."

"Huh..."

"Thus, the culprit must be a ranker. That's an inevitable conclusion."

"Oh my gosh..."

"Since he was so horrifically murdered-enough that it was difficult to open your eyes and observe the carnage-there's a high probability that the suspect had some sort of grudge with the victim. Although we lack details currently, it was said that there were meaningful phrases written at the scene. So drastic and brutal; this crime intended to draw attention. This incident was particularly shocking for the industry experts."

Ah, so that was why there was a witch hunt on social media. Photos of celebrity-level melee Users were collected; posts claiming, 'There's a culprit among those!' were constantly being shared. Additionally, all the top posts in the User-based community I often visited, [Ranking God], were about this incident.

'If we get caught while sentiments are high like this...'

I was suddenly engulfed with anxiety.

TL: MC: therapy puppy extraordinaire, Kim Olim: Massive tsundere

Also it's interesting how the world at large reacts to the party and their machinations. There's definitely more and more people that Lee-kyung-ie has to watch out for now.

Footnotes