Chapter 33: The Black Crow Guild (2)

Chapter 33: The Black Crow Guild (2)

At the penthouse on the top floor of the building,

Gun-su Shin was in his private office when a string of bad news made his lips go dry.

"Big brother! The security team has been annihilated."

"We've lost communication with the outside... It seems like someone's playing games."

"All elevators are stopped. He's coming up the stairs. And fast. Already past the 20th floor!"

Not a single piece of good news.

Just irritating reports of defeat—one after another, each predicting the worst.

Bang!

Shin slammed his fist on the desk.

"Damn it! What kind of dogshit situation is this?!

An unexpected intruder—unheard of.

Although the guild had many enemies, due to its nature, a direct and reckless attack like this had never happened before.

And by a single person at that...

"This one's no ordinary hitman."

At first, Shin thought it was a madman with his guts out on display.

But as the security crumbled, one line after another, Shin had to admit it.

Sometimes, a single enemy can be more terrifying than hundreds.

That's when it happened.

"Ugh!"

"Arghhh!"

Screams erupted from outside the door.

Clang! Crash!

Sounds of blades clashing followed, but only for a moment.

After that—silence.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Shin's heart raced.

Caught between fear and curiosity, finally...

...Creeeak.

The door opened.

"Are you the guild master here?"

The figure who appeared was a man wearing a strange mask.

***

[Barrier duration: 0h : 15m : 33s]

About 15 minutes left to cut off communication with the outside.

Plenty of time.

'Enough to deal with one insane crow.'

Jin-hyuk started moving.

"Stop. If you don't, I will cut you down!"

Swoosh!

Shin drew his sword,

which sparked with various colors, proving it was enchanted with multiple spells.

It looked expensive—a fitting sword for a so-called guild master.

But why?

Even in the face of such a stern warning, Jin-hyuk couldn't help but sneer.

'It's too clumsy...'

Having just fought Cheon Yu-seong, his senses were razor-sharp.

Predicting Shin's every movement was as simple as reading the flow of his hands and feet.

Every anticipated attack.

Every targeted spot.

All of it.

As Jin-hyuk continued to approach, Shin finally roared.

"Didn't you hear me tell you to stop?!"

[Gun-su Shin has activated Lv3 'Swift Sword'!]

Shin's sword vanished.

Whoosh!

Leaving only an afterimage, the tip of the blade was thrusted at Jin-hyuk.

'Do you really think this is just a bluff?'

That's just sad.

Jin-hyuk's hand moved in sync with the sword's path.

At this speed, no need to dodge.

Caught.

The dancing blade halted abruptly.

"Gah!?"

A gasp escaped Shin's mouth.

With his blade, accelerated by the skill, caught barehanded...

It was a natural response.

Chilling.

A shiver crawled up his spine.

From mobster to where he stood now, his experiences told him one thing:

...he stood no chance, not even in another life.

"You... What are you? Who sent you all the way here?"

Shin staggered backward.

But escape was futile in a room barely forty-nine square meters.

Thud.

His back hit the glass window.

His whole body trembled with fear. His trusted underlings could no longer shield him.

"Guess."

"What?"

"Who I am, why I've come—take a guess."

Maybe he'd spare him if he guessed right?

Thud!

Jin-hyuk plunged a dagger into the center of the desk.

"Did Dangun or Balhae send you? Are they trying to keep us in check?"

"Wrong."

Typically, the response would be an easygoing invitation to guess again.

But in Jin-hyuk's version of 'Golden Bell,' there are different rules.

A wrong answer deserves a penalty, of course.

Oh, and there's something perfect for it.

Jin-hyuk picked up a go piece from the desk.

'It's quite hefty.'

Fitting for a rich punk to have proper go pieces.

"Why... the go piece...?"

Shin muttered uneasily.

Why? Well.

Crack!

"Aaagh! My... my forehead, my forehead!"

For exactly that reason.

Shin clutched his face, writhing on the floor.

A bump protruding like a goblin's—That's the power of a magic-infused go stone smacked against a skull.

"Guess again. Think hard this time."

Jin-hyuk toyed with a second go piece.

"Ugh... Black Market? Yeah, them! Weren't you hired for a huge bounty to take us down?"

"Wrong again."

And again, an incorrect guess.

"Wait! Just wait. I'll double whatever amount they offered you. What do you need? Just say it. I can match it!"

In fear of facing another go piece, Shin's face went pale, and he hastily proposed a new deal.

"Hey."

"...?"

"Who do I look like to you, not how much money I want from you."

Did he learn Korean overseas or something? Why can't he understand?

From which elementary school did he graduate, if any, that he's at this level?

Splat!

The go piece struck once more.

Worse than before, since Jin-hyuk added more magic, Shin had to twist and turn in torment.

"Ugh! My forehead... my forehead!"

"Last chance. Get it wrong again, and you're taking a shot with all the go pieces here."

"Huff. Huff. Huff..."

Shin was gasping for air.

With a sudden realization, he fixed his gaze on Jin-hyuk's mask.

"Kang... Jin-hyuk."

A name with three syllables.

"Finally, the right answer. I am the person who ordered Park Ha-jin to be killed. You're looking at him."

Jin-hyuk removed his mask, revealing his unobscured face.

"Dammit. You came all the way here for revenge? Ruined the entire building over that?"

"Just that? Just?"

Jin-hyuk frowned.

"Yeah. You've killed our guys, including Park Ha-jin. Let's call it even. Why go to such extremes..."

"Ah, so I should've stopped at a 'reasonable' point?"

"Don't be so crooked about it. Think about it calmly. Even though our top rankers aren't here because they're raiding a tower, our guild alone has over fifty."

"So what?"

"If you kill me, others will come after you. An unending cycle of revenge."

Blood calls for blood, and revenge begets revenge.

Without forgiveness from either side, the slaughter will go on forever.

Hmm...

There's some logic to it.

Blood, revenge—these are words that disrupt peaceful sleep.

Jin-hyuk smiled faintly, as if making up his mind.

"Okay. I'll just kill you, and we'll end it there. Let's keep things clean."

"What?"

"I'll be the last to seek vengeance. Tell your crowd to forgive and forget."

"That's nonsensical... Gah!"

Jin-hyuk thrust a handful of go pieces into Shin's mouth.

"Gag! Blargh!"

Shin convulsed, go pieces and bloody froth spilling from his mouth.

Jin-hyuk tightened his grip, not letting a single one escape.

"You can break the cycle, whatever it is. No rule says it has to be me."

What? Revenge breeds revenge?

Why send assassins then?

"I've indulged your nonsense long enough."

If any remnants of The Black Crow Guild try anything, Jin-hyuk would simply deal with them.

After all, he wasn't afraid of mediocre opponents, even in droves.

"Disappear already."

Jin-hyuk delivered his parting words.

And with all his might, threw a punch.

Crash!

"Keuagh!"

The punch buried deep into Shin's face.

A chilling crunch of go pieces and teeth echoed through the room.

***

'Instant death.'

Jin-hyuk looked down at the fallen Shin for a moment.

With his face caved in like that, there was no need for a check.

Next target...

"Hey, you playing dead. Get up."

"..."

"I'll count to three. One."

"Yes! I'm awake!"

A man hurriedly responded from among the men in black suits sprawled on the floor.

Seemed in his mid-twenties, not radiating much magic—he must not be a player.

Maybe Shin's secretary?

"Introduce yourself. Prove you're worth sparing, and I'll let you live."

"Name's Hee-woong Kim, 26 years old. I manage all general affairs for The Black Crow Guild! Fluent in five languages, with majors in Computer Science and Accounting from Stanford! I can handle anything, just entrust it to me!"

"Nice, nice. Very sharp."

Age, experience, qualifications.

Good enough to be used.

"As you can see, the situation here isn't great. The guild master's dead, and there are more injured than we can count."

"Yes... yes. That's true."

"So, I'm thinking of leaving the guild to you."

"Yes... yes. That... yes?"

Kim's eyes widened.

"Don't think too grandly. It's a shame to blow up a mid-tier guild all at once. I just want to keep it afloat."

This was the plan from the beginning—putting up a figurehead and bleeding the guild dry from behind.

And Kim Hee-woong, as the secretary, would know the ins and outs, making him perfect for the role.

"But I'll be a guild master in name only, won't I? There'll be no one to follow me."

Of course.

A non-combatant, especially a former secretary, taking the top spot is bound to face resistance.

"Don't worry about those who oppose."

"Ah! You'll handle them personally?"

Kim's face brightened a little.

Considering the power Jin-hyuk demonstrated just moments ago, it seemed perfectly plausible.

If he could easily subdue Shin, any rankers wouldn't stand a chance.

Jin-hyuk shook his head, though.

"No."

Why would he bother with such tedious work?

Especially when there's a perfectly capable substitute at his side?

"You've been listening, right?"

Jin-hyuk glanced at the ring on his finger, and then...

[You wouldn't be talking to me, would you?]

The usually silent Ellis spoke up.

"Is there anyone else here?"

[Do you expect me, a once-noble patriarch, to tend to these trifles?]

Ah...

Always so austere in tone.

"Don't push it. Feel like going for another spin? No need to lift heavy, right?"

[Don't! Please don't! It's nauseating! You cruel human!]

Ellis was rattled by the mere mention of the spinning.

The lowest of insults indeed.

"You call that an insult?"

[Isn't it an outrageous offense?]

Laughs. It's laughable.

A newborn would craft a sharper tongue than that.

At the very least.

"You lowly and xxxx creature. Dare to lock this noble being in a ring and treat me like a squirrel in a wheel, I'll xx you before xxxxing your remains until you're xxxx. Strung up for 30,000 years, consumed as xxxx!"

Now that's a properly offensive threat.

[How can you utter such vulgar...]

Traumatized by the utterance, Ellis stumbled over his words.

Perhaps this was too much for noble blood, grown accustomed to the soft-spoken life of luxury—now shell-shocked by the unfiltered modern Korean tongue.

Well, seems he's learned his place now.

"Sort out the unruly ones with this guy."

[Okay, got it. But what will you be doing?]

"I have my own business to attend to."

The relic raiding was done; no need to linger at level one.

A smile spread slowly across Jin-hyuk's face.

It was time to truly grow.