Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: The Long Road to Solitary Cultivation (8)
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Suhyun yanked off the intruder's mask as he spoke.
“An elf?”
“Guh, kuhk!”
The elf let out a pained groan, her breath cut short. She had beautiful features, but Suhyun wasn’t the type to care about that.
‘What’s this?’
Her face looked familiar somehow. Platinum blonde bobbed hair and green eyes. He felt like he’d seen someone who resembled her somewhere. Curiosity stirred, but Suhyun fired off the most pressing question first.
“I’ve seen your face now. You know what that means, right? If you want to make this annoying, I can make it plenty annoying for you.”
“…….”
Any other race operating in human cities left data trails inevitably. Someone of Suhyun’s caliber could identify her from her face alone.
But the elf just sneered.
“Slipped in undetected, huh? Impressive skills.”
“!”
Suhyun guessed how she’d entered when she showed no fear at having her identity exposed. For a teleporter, sneaking in undetected would be child’s play.
“Well... doesn’t matter. I just need your reason. How’d you know about this place?”
“For the same reason as you.”
“I see. And where’d you get the intel?”
“…….”
“Where’d you get the intel?”
Luiril swallowed hard at the sight of Suhyun applying pressure to his grip without a flicker in his expression. She’d encountered all sorts of humans and other races, but no one radiated this quiet intimidation like him.
“From... Beijing...”
The words slipped out unbidden amid the pain and pressure.
“Beijing?”
The Beijing they meant on Cameron Planet wasn’t Earth’s Beijing—it was the Chinese city established on Cameron Planet. Intel originating from there.
“So it was fenced goods from the Chinese side after all? What were you planning to do with it? On a commission from them?”
Suhyun watched the elf’s expression closely as he questioned her. If she had ties to the Chinese side, he planned to kill her right there.
“No... commission...!”
Her voice cracked from the pain. Suhyun’s instincts told him she wasn’t lying.
“Then why? Need money?”
“Just... curiosity...!”
An unexpected answer. Not for money or a commission, but pure collector’s greed for the artifact. Artifacts certainly had value worth collecting in their own right, but on Cameron Planet, few pursued them for such straightforward reasons. Most had ulterior motives.
“Freeze!”
‘They’re already on us?’
The organizers must have snapped out of their shock and deployed personnel. Catching her like this was impossible, of course, but having an artifact brazenly stolen in broad daylight left them grasping at any rotten rope.
In the alley, Suhyun held the masked elf by the throat—a blatantly suspicious sight for the pursuers. They aimed at his back and shouted.
“Hands up slow above your shoulders and turn around! One twitch, and you’re dead!”
Superpowers had changed combat tactics fundamentally. One change was extreme vigilance of an opponent’s movements during a takedown attempt. Even superpower users rarely activated instantly; most showed tells or wind-ups first.
But there were always exceptions.
“...Should’ve shot first.”
Crack!
The two men crumpled forward. Suhyun’s telekinesis had crushed them. In under a second, he’d neutralized them.
“Ugh...!”
Whoosh!
Seizing the opening, the elf gripped in Suhyun’s hand teleported away. Her movements were startlingly swift, even surprising him.
‘Already shaken off the daze? Impressive.’
She had remarkable resistance to superpowers. He hadn’t expected her to recover and act so quickly.
“I’ll repay this debt someday!”
“Save your clichés...”
Suhyun started to pursue but stopped. His identity remained hidden anyway. Chasing a teleporter focused purely on evasion was a headache. Besides, the area crawled with people desperate to recover the artifact.
‘Time for me to slip out too.’
* * *
Back home, Suhyun sank into thought. He’d planned a simple grab-and-go for the artifact, but the unexpected developments gave him much to ponder.
‘Jindo first off. They’ve got a name and some scale, yet they dipped into that mess... Must’ve been a big shock.’
In a way, it was his fault. If Suhyun hadn’t ripped it from them so thoroughly, they wouldn’t have resorted to shady deals.
‘The Chinese government will send people after it.’
That didn’t worry him. Circumstantially, they’d pursue the teleporter. Even if they added telekinesis, suspicion wouldn’t reach him.
The Eojang Sword was now his.
‘That elf’s nagging at me, though.’
He’d encountered other-race criminals before. On Cameron Planet, you could find them if you looked. But someone like her was rare.
A teleporter was unusual enough, but her motive was even odder. Most other-race criminals were money-driven. A thief stealing purely out of artifact fascination?
“Yes, Kim Suhyun speaking. Mind checking something for me?”
One perk of official government team status was database access. Suhyun searched recent artifact thefts.
Artifact thefts rarely went public. Owners hid details, and those powerful enough to possess artifacts could handle recovery quietly without fanfare.
But no secret stayed perfect forever. The government always monitored domestic artifacts—whether for crimes involving them or potential cooperation requests. Advance intel made it possible.
That process logged even unreported thefts in government networks. The parties involved might not know, but the records existed.
‘How has this stayed under the radar?’
Searching by traits, Suhyun was stunned. Her skill suggested more than a one-off, so he’d checked—just in case. The results exceeded expectations.
‘Four solid matches here. Add uncaught ones and foreign cities... Damn, how many artifacts has she stolen?’
Artifacts vanishing like smoke from ironclad security. Too many suspects per case to link to one perpetrator. Suhyun shivered.
To him, desperate for artifacts by any means, this elf felt like the key to a treasure vault.
‘Should’ve nabbed her back there?’
With her escape, meeting again would be tough. Her powers optimized for evasion and flight.
‘Something’s off. Why haven’t I heard of a superpower user this strong?’
Self-management left traces eventually. Plus, her approach in this incident revealed her personality.
Overconfident, with ironclad faith in her abilities. Otherwise, she couldn’t have charged head-on like that.
Such traits spread inevitably. Even if uncaptured, rumors flew: “Heard about this hot new superpower user?” Yet Suhyun had never heard of this teleporter.
Meaning she’d vanished before he’d gone active. Suddenly, a bolt struck his mind.
‘No way she got caught by the Chinese side?!’
China had completed superpower nullifiers already. Most didn’t know. If she’d rampaged there unaware and hit a trap...
‘Can’t let that happen!’
Boosting the enemy’s forces was unacceptable, whatever else. Chinese torture would extract hidden artifact locations in no time.
“Team Leader, what’re you up to?”
Kim Dong-wook called to Suhyun, lost in dilemma. The other members sprawled on sofas, weary-faced, watching hologram broadcasts.
“What, why’s everyone inside?”
“Even we get days like this.”
Kim Chang-sik belched with a nauseous look as he replied. The booze stench wafted despite the distance.
“Not trying to micromanage on a day off, but go easy on the drinking.”
“Haha... Sorry. Team Leader, join us next time? Found a great spot.”
“Wanna drink with the boss?”
“Oh, right.”
“That explains the hungover zombies.”
Minus a few absentees, all suffered hangovers.
“Here, everyone have some.”
“Thanks!”
Jo Seung-ah brought a tray of steaming tea for all. Jeong Seong-jae sipped first and grimaced.
“Tastes...”
“Who cares about taste for hangover relief?”
“What’re you making the president’s daughter do?”
Suhyun ribbed the team, but Jo Seung-ah shook her head.
“I made it. You all worked hard following me last night.”
“?”
“Ugh... Team Leader’s gotta see her drink. The tolerance on her...”
Jo Seung-ah’s petite frame and cute features made it hard to believe she’d floored the whole team with booze.
-Tanzak, the first orc gold medalist at these Olympics, shares his thoughts on...
The broadcast showed the Olympics underway. Time passed, but it remained a festival. To mercenaries risking lives on Cameron Planet, though, it was someone else’s party.
“An orc took gold?”
“Impressive. Wasn’t there drama over other-race entries last time?”
“Gorgan, how’s it feel?”
“What’s it to me if that guy wins? What’s my mood got to do with it?”
Gorgan countered genuinely baffled. Kim Chang-sik looked awkward.
“No species solidarity here. If you’re working Cameron Planet, learn other-race ways.”
“Yes...”
Suhyun glanced idly at the screen. A sweat-drenched orc beamed through his interview.
-Any training secrets? Special regimen?
-Nothing special. Just consistent self-discipline.
-Tanzak has no picky eating. He embraced human diets from the start. That adaptability might be the foundation.
The camera shifted to Tanzak’s coach, beaming with pride.
-Food? Come to think of it, what’s Tanzak’s favorite?
-He loves everything. Ah, especially red pig mushrooms.
-Red pig mushrooms? What are those?
-A mushroom from Tanzak’s homeland...
“Boring. Change it?”
“Yeah. What’s the point watching success?”
The team grumbled. To them, the gold medalist’s speech was just boasting from a hotshot.
-Tanzak loves them that much. He ignores everything else but insists on red pig mushrooms for meals.
-Amazing. Any special effects?
-Well, I’m not sure... Orcs favor them, from what I hear...
“Wait, hold up.”
Suhyun halted the team’s channel switch.
“Huh? Wanna keep watching?”
“Just a sec, let’s hear more.”
The interview lingered on Cameron Planet flora, piqued by the red pig mushrooms, before moving on.
“...?”
Suhyun stood. He addressed Jo Seung-ah blankly watching nearby.
“You’re at the president’s desk?”
“Yes? Yeah.”
* * *
“Dealing with other races? That’s not our main gig.”
“Don’t big mercenary firms handle that too?”
“Sure, but they’ve got solid orgs to spin off subsidiaries. We’re still recruiting—why bother?”
“Impossible?”
“No, not impossible... Just necessary?”
Jo Seung-hyun tilted his head at Suhyun’s request. Introducing merchants specializing in other races? Suhyun’s curveballs weren’t new, but this flustered him.