Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Hunt (5)
"What's this one?"
"Arte's Watcher."
"You caught him well."
"Kill him or keep him alive, do as you please."
"You don't think you've repaid your debt with this, do you?"
Sharp woman. I, who had been hoping, struggled to hide my stinging heart.
"You're just giving him away?"
"No, a trade. Lend me that guy."
The Watcher shouted desperately at the words being exchanged about him.
"How dare you!"
Sharp ice picks pierced the limbs of the creature.
"Noisy thing."
Seeing the Watcher had fainted, the Witch asked me.
"That guy?"
"The Grim Reaper. Three hours will do."
"Got it."
The Grim Reaper appeared from behind the Witch.
-I'm not an object.
At the Grim Reaper's words, the Witch and I glared at him simultaneously. The Grim Reaper flinched and then bowed his head.
-Fine.
I left the laboratory with the Grim Reaper.
"Go find a National Assembly member named Han Min-cheol. Then threaten him that you're always watching. Leave a small wound, too. So he can't do anything else."
I planned to make him believe that an invisible being was constantly by his side. Then he wouldn't harbor other thoughts. When I told him the address where the incident occurred, the Grim Reaper gradually became fainter and eventually disappeared.
"Good, that's taken care of."
Since Korea's power players had died, the incident couldn't be completely buried. But I believed that Han Min-cheol would use everything at his disposal to stage things for his own survival.
"In the end, I have to meet this guy named Wang Sa-baek..."
The same name kept being mentioned.
"China, then."
There was no reason to hesitate.
***
Three days later. Incheon Airport.
The news had been buzzing about the deaths of Korea's power players for three straight days.
Externally, they were disguised as traffic accidents.
The story was that they had all gone to Gangwon Province together under the pretext of a civilian inspection when their bus broke through a guardrail and rolled.
It was staged so that only Han Min-cheol barely survived. Questions flowed about why they had met and about their deaths, but without evidence, no one could dig deeper.
'Power really is nice.'
While watching the news at the airport, someone approached.
"Hello."
A person I'd seen before. Kim Mu-jin's secretary. With her long straight hair tied back and wearing a neat gray suit, she held out a wallet to me.
"A credit card and Chinese cash."
It was sent by Kim Mu-jin.
"He told me to give you this, too."
It was a shopping bag. Inside were clothes. This wasn't something I had ordered.
"I chose clothes that are easy to move in."
It seemed Kim Mu-jin had also been concerned about my clothes. The shopping bag contained a sky-blue shirt and jeans. I accepted the clothes for now.
"Do you need anything else?"
"This is enough."
"Here's my phone number and an emergency contact within China. If you need anything, contact that number. He instructed me to help with anything."
Since I wanted nothing more, the secretary bowed in greeting and turned away.
"Quick on the uptake."
Not all the pressure Kim Mu-jin wanted was gone yet. But he had clearly seen the possibility. Merchants don't invest after success. Investing just before success is the safest and surest method.
"Now I don't have to worry about money."
I didn't need to use the Witch's money. This was enough for now.
***
Beijing, China.
A city boasting terrible traffic congestion and an enormous population.
From the moment I left the airport, the unimaginable exhaust fumes made me feel suffocated.
A city where China's highest and lowest coexist. Beijing's first impression began with terrible traffic congestion.
Looking around China from inside a taxi gave me a strange feeling.
A country using language and characters similar to the Murim of my past life. This place, China, had a culture that seemed to actually share history. Though not quite comparable, Shaolin Temple remained, and major points like Mount Hua and Wudang Mountain existed.
'There must be quite a few Murim reincarnators.'
China was exactly the kind of country that Murim people would find nostalgic and visit. When I asked Kim Mu-jin about the current Shaolin Temple, he answered like this.
-I visited once. It was so different that I just left, but I made a large donation.
For reincarnators, it's a place with great meaning just from the nostalgia brought by its history and name.
'There won't be any traces of the Heavenly Demon Cult.'
I had researched beforehand, but there were no traces of the Heavenly Demon Cult. That was somewhat disappointing.
'First, to Tianjin.'
Breaking through the terrible traffic congestion, I left Beijing and moved to the port city of Tianjin. I arrived at a luxury residential area on the outskirts of Tianjin.
Luxurious villas lined up along organized fire roads. It was a planned luxury residential area with even a shopping building prepared around a central park.
This was the address of Wang Sa-baek that I had learned from Wi Jeok-cheon.
I settled into a nearby hotel. I watched continuously for a week, but Wang Sa-baek didn't appear.
'Is a mayor this busy?'
Considering his status, it wasn't strange, but my conviction about just waiting was fading.
Just as I was about to make other plans, Wang Sa-baek appeared carrying a travel bag.
Having returned from somewhere, Wang Sa-baek entered his house carrying a large travel bag.
'The Valley Master of Poison Valley.'
When I was in the Murim, there was a sense of intimidation that name carried. A group that became troublesome if touched. This was Poison Valley's position.
I watched for several more days to understand Wang Sa-baek's movements. Wang Sa-baek rarely came out of his house, and there were almost no visitors.
'Doesn't he work?'
He was called a mayor, but Wang Sa-baek didn't even commute at set hours. However, when sending his young daughter to kindergarten, he accompanied her to the bus stop with his young wife. That sight was similar to my family.
'The wife doesn't seem to be a reincarnator.'
I waited for the moment Wang Sa-baek would come out alone. The opportunity came the next morning.
After putting his daughter on the kindergarten bus, Wang Sa-baek sent his wife back into the house and went out alone. I followed him inconspicuously.
The place we arrived at was a park on the outskirts of the residential area. It was strangely empty of people. When I felt something was wrong, Wang Sa-baek, who had been walking ahead, disappeared.
'Did he know?'
At the same moment I had that thought, something flew from the trees on the park's outskirts. Five thin needles pierced my body. A fishy scent spread throughout my entire body in an instant.
"Rat bastard."
Wang Sa-baek, who had disappeared, stood before me. He looked to be in his early fifties. His actual age would be over sixty. He had long hair mixed with graying white tied in a topknot, deep eyes that felt stubborn, and purple pupils. He was about 175 cm tall with a small build and had liver spots scattered across his skin.
"On whose orders are you watching me?"
His voice was unpleasant, like scraping metal.
'It must be an aftereffect of Poison Arts.'
Purple pupils, voice, and liver spots on the skin are typical aftereffects of Poison Arts.
'He hasn't reached the extreme.'
Once you surpass the limits of Poison Arts, all aftereffects disappear. It seemed Wang Sa-baek hadn't reached that point.
"Don't you want to live?"
Wang Sa-baek took out a pill from his pocket.
"You've been poisoned by Hundred Fragrance Poison. This is the only antidote. If you want to live, answer my questions."
As those words ended, the guys hiding in the trees came to my side. Hundred Fragrance Poison. A poison that only Poison Valley manufactures in the Murim.
Once poisoned, the poison quickly burrows into the Dantian, causing excruciating pain whenever you raise your internal energy, eventually destroying the energy channels. It was called the most fatal poison for Murim people.
There were seven guys who had thrown the poison needles. They had no guard against me. Because they saw the needles still stuck in my body. Looking at their confident expressions, I said,
"Idiots."
Wang Sa-baek's eyebrows twitched. I smiled and grabbed the needles stuck in my body with my hand and pulled them out.
"I didn't get hit because I couldn't dodge."
The needles crumbled to powder in my hand.
"I just left them because it was annoying to find them one by one."
I reached out to a guy nearby. Breaking one guy's neck was the beginning. There was no pain.
'It's internal energy grown by consuming poison.'
Two thousand days of hell. I grew my internal energy while consuming poison. Even if not to the point of Ten Thousand Poisons Cannot Penetrate, I don't succumb to poison entering through the skin.
Snap!
As I broke another guy's neck, I saw Wang Sa-baek move. I tried to chase immediately, but the remaining guys blocked the way. I tried to ignore them and just break through.
Suddenly, they all drew their weapons and confronted me. I leaped over them with the Light Body Technique.
The guys who were desperately blocking couldn't follow my Lightness Arts. But a fishy poison fog had spread where Wang Sa-baek had disappeared.
He had hidden his appearance. I passed through the poison fog, ignoring it.
'Damn.'
After passing through the poison fog, my vision brightened again, but Wang Sa-baek was nowhere to be seen. I quickly made a decision and dealt with the guys who had blocked me. Leaving only the last one alive, I left that place.
***
Hotel rooftop.
'Should I have brought Cheong Ak-sal?'
Wang Sa-baek's subordinate didn't open his mouth until the end. Even in the moment his energy channels burst, and he died, he kept his mouth shut. If it had been Cheong Ak-sal's interrogation, he might have opened his mouth. In the end, I learned nothing more.
'Where did he go?'
The first thing that came to mind was family.
'He won't come home.'
Eventually, he would do something to protect his daughter.
'It can't be far.'
In a luxury residential area like this, there would naturally be a kindergarten nearby. I immediately set out to find the kindergarten. Finding it wasn't difficult. Because the cute building caught my eye. I watched the kindergarten from the rooftop of a building one block away.
As expected, a car approached at an unusual time, and Wang Sa-baek's daughter came out. Wang Sa-baek wasn't in the car.
'Interrogation won't work.'
Even if I caught the driver, if he kept his mouth shut like before, it would be futile.
'He'll go far.'
If the car travels far, continuing to track would be difficult. And there's no guarantee Wang Sa-baek would be there.
'If I were in his position...'
If I had to evacuate Yuna, what would I do? One thing came to mind.
'I'd confirm the safe evacuation.'
Unless it was impossible, Wang Sa-baek would definitely be nearby. With me appearing as the attacker, wouldn't he check his daughter's safety?
'He's watching from nearby.'
I was certain. I let the car carrying his daughter depart. Instead, I moved positions and looked for places where he could watch. On the opposite side was a cafe with glass walls.
It was positioned right where the car carrying his daughter would pass in front. I watched that spot and waited.
After a while, Wang Sa-baek, who had changed clothes, came out of the building.
'Got you.'
I began tracking him again. He covered his face and hid his body by entering between buildings.
I had no choice but to follow as closely as possible with Light Body Technique.
Coming out of the alley between buildings, he got on a motorcycle parked on the street.
'Tsk.'
There were too many people around to attack. While I was pondering for a moment, something entered the alley Wang Sa-baek had passed through.
'What?'
It was a white-haired old man in white clothes. From atop the building, I could only see his crown and clothes.
The old man stood in the middle of the alley with confident steps, then swung his arm. A long string shot out from his sleeve and wrapped around Wang Sa-baek's neck as he was getting on the motorcycle.
Bound by the string, Wang Sa-baek was instantly pulled back into the alley.
"Wh-who..."
Wang Sa-baek seemed not to know who it was either. As the old man slowly raised his hand, Wang Sa-baek hurriedly got up.
Thud!
Wang Sa-baek's fist, infused with internal energy, struck the old man's shoulder. But it was Wang Sa-baek who was pushed back.
'Just with the rebound of internal energy?'
Impossible without profound internal energy.
The old man swung his sleeve again and grabbed Wang Sa-baek's neck. And with one strong pull, Wang Sa-baek's neck snapped. Wang Sa-baek moved no more.
The old man confirmed his breath had stopped, then turned and retraced his steps.
The end of the alley. The old man looked up. Our eyes met as I was watching. Intense gazes collided across the height of five floors.
'Who is he?'
Martial arts and gaze I'd never seen before. The old man smiled openly, then turned his gaze away.
'You dare provoke me?'
I laughed too. My blood boiled for the first time in a while. Not refusing, I jumped down from the building.