Chapter 291
Chapter 291
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 291
Chapter Title: Styx (5)
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- ……You just had to come find us like this?
- ……Nani gore? But what's this? Why does it smell like blood?
- Yes, Dark Lord!
At the faint sound of a woman's voice coming from far away.
"We're here!"
Unnie! Kwon Seon-ji shot to her feet.
Clang!
Though the short chain binding her ankle kept her from standing fully, forcing her to sit back down.
"Ahh……."
Kwon Seon-ji trembled finely.
The word "Dark Lord" drifting in from outside truly meant, just as the prophecy foretold, that Byulcheonji had come here.
In that instant, uncontrollable emotions surged over her.
Tears she'd held back streamed down her face.
"Hic, huwaaa!"
Ah.
How much had she suffered all this time?
Not being able to eat properly or wash was secondary.
The terror that she'd have to live this kind of life forever.
Even wanting to give up on life, but unable to die because of her parents—it had been so heartbreaking. So agonizing.
"……Unnie?"
Beside her, her younger sister Kwon Tam-ji's eyes went wide.
"Why are you suddenly like this? What's going on? What came?"
"What else……."
A smirk.
Kwon Seon-ji looked at her sister, tears still flowing.
She didn't bother controlling her emotions.
"Our savior's here to rescue us."
* * *
'What the hell is this?'
Namgung Sang flailed in panic, eyes bulging at Byulcheonji's arrival.
'How did they get here?'
This place, the underground den, was a special space.
A space created by magic through a special item, undetectable by electronics.
The only way in was through the teleportation magic circle he permitted.
He'd even sent [Byulcheonji ㅗ], confident in that fact……
"Got 'em!"
"I did! I, Dark Horse, caught the traitor Black Hound! Kahaha! Pay up now!"
"What bullshit? I cut off the bastard's head!"
"So? You gonna swallow the 10 billion after slicing the neck of an already-dead corpse? Don't get greedy—take 1 billion. Unless you wanna end up like Black Hound over there."
Son of a……!
Namgung Sang's insides boiled.
His lips went dry.
His own men, clueless idiots, fighting among themselves.
'No good.'
In the end, Namgung Sang made his decision.
Dark Lord?
World rank 86.
Yeongbi?
World rank 291.
No matter how many S-rank organization members there were, no chance of winning.
Chance my ass.
It was a bet on how many minutes they could hold out.
'I've gotta run.'
Clunk!
Namgung Sang didn't even think to give orders—he just threw open the door to the next room.
The one with the Kwon sisters.
Nothing else mattered.
Just grab them and go.
With them, he could rebuild this dark organization anytime.
The moment he burst in desperately.
"You……!"
Namgung Sang realized.
How could he not know what the tears on Kwon Seon-ji's cheek meant?
His face twisted like a vicious demon.
"You knew, didn't you?"
"……."
Seeing Kwon Seon-ji's flustered expression only confirmed it.
"You…… fucking bitch."
Stride, stride.
Fury boiling over, Namgung Sang approached them.
* * *
Inside the underground den.
"Ha."
Kim Jin-ah let out a hollow laugh after taking in the situation.
"Look at these bastards."
Iron bars plastered everywhere.
A foul stench of shit spreading because of poor recent maintenance.
Craftsmen sitting there, trembling.
And.
The now-familiar bloody scent.
It was obvious what was happening here.
"Yeongbi."
"Yes, ma'am, Sub-Master!"
"Subdue every single being here. Can you handle it?"
"Ahaha! Of course!"
Whoosh!
Though her voice was high-pitched, Yeongbi's eyes turned icy cold as she melted into the darkness.
Thud!
Yeongbi raced through the shadows, grasping the situation in an instant.
No need to bother the unarmed, trembling craftsmen.
The ones Kim Jin-ah meant.
Were those 29 hunters huddled over there.
"Hold up!"
One of them sensed Yeongbi's presence.
Decent, but not decent enough.
Why?
'Cause I let my aura leak on purpose.'
Yeongbi, coldly composed, stuck to the den's ceiling.
Dagger gripped in one hand.
Back straight, looking down arrogantly.
The reason she'd leaked her aura was simple.
It's scarier to know it's coming than to get hit unaware.
"We're not fighting each other right now! Someone's here!"
"Who?"
"No idea! Didn't you get the order earlier? Said there's an infiltrator—could be another traitor!"
"Yeah? Then let's cut that bastard's head off too!"
Clang! Shing!
The organization members, realizing the situation, drew their weapons.
But.
Thwack!
"Argh!"
Thwump!
"Hurk!"
Dull thuds echoed from somewhere, one by one.
Thwack, crack!
Yeongbi burst from the shadows like whack-a-mole, smashing the hunters' heads with her dagger hilt.
So fast that, with afterimages, it looked like multiple Yeongbis appeared.
"E-Enemy!"
"Where? Where?!"
"No clue! Damn it! They're somewhere! Watch the shadows!"
"Kwaaaagh!"
The hunters fell into panic.
An enemy right there, but untouchable.
Too fast to even see.
Thud, thud!
One by one, they dropped unconscious, while they could do nothing.
Just stand dumbly, waiting their turn.
Like schoolkids back in the day, awaiting the teacher's stick.
Never dreamed they'd feel it again as hunters.
Thud!
It took just one minute to drop all 29.
Roughly every 2-3 seconds, one went down.
And watching it all.
"……."
Was Namgung Sang.
Left hand on the CCTV screen, right hand dragging chains.
Racing toward the emergency passage's teleportation magic circle.
"These fucking bitches, hurry up!"
"Kyaa!"
"Kyah!"
Kwon Seon-ji and her sister were dragged limply across the floor.
Especially Kwon Seon-ji—her cheek was red and swollen from a burst.
"You're done for. You too, and your parents. Got it? Daring to lie to me? After I fed you and raised you."
"No! Don't……!"
Kwon Seon-ji thrashed desperately.
She couldn't let them step on that teleportation circle.
The prophecy said Namgung Sang dies, so he would die.
But they might die before that?
She had to stop it.
Resist.
"Ha, no good."
Fury peaking, Namgung Sang approached Kwon Seon-ji.
Whoosh!
He swung at her cheek again.
Or tried to.
Slice!
A faint sound like paper tearing reached his ear.
'Hm?'
He'd clearly aimed at Kwon Seon-ji's other cheek, but his arm didn't follow.
Flustered, Namgung Sang frowned and looked at his right shoulder.
But.
"Wha, what……?"
It was gone.
His arm, there just moments ago, vanished.
Where'd it go?
Looks like a familiar object clattered! to the floor below and bounced.
His arm.
"What the……?"
As he stared blankly.
The pain signals from his sensory nerves hit his brain a step late.
Naturally, indescribable agony followed.
"Kr, kreeeeaaagh?!"
Namgung Sang collapsed, clutching his shoulder with his left hand, screaming.
Blood poured through his fingers.
Swoosh!
Two women appeared before him then.
A woman with a bound ponytail, Gi So-yul.
And Kim Jin-ah in a crisp suit.
"Wow, so you're the big boss? Hilarious big boss. Your underlings are getting wrecked, and you're the only one bolting?"
Step, step.
Kim Jin-ah strolled up leisurely, smirking faintly at the writhing Namgung Sang.
"Argh, kreeeagh!"
"What a shitshow. Kidnapping craftsmen wasn't enough—you've got weird hobbies too?"
She glanced at the bound Kwon sisters, face baffled.
Then stomped down hard on Namgung Sang's chest as he thrashed and wailed.
"Shut up, you pervert. You're noisy."
Kim Jin-ah's signature icy tone chilled Namgung Sang to the bone.
"Kr, krup!"
"Scream more here, and I might just cut out your tongue and burn your throat. Think I can't?"
A grin.
Namgung Sang held back his screams with all his might, watching her smile.
Someone who could slice off an arm and say that casually meant business.
This woman would absolutely follow through.
The demon Kim Jin-ah indeed.
Hadn't they said she took the Romanian president's head the same way?
"Dark Lord."
Kim Jin-ah muttered with a light sigh.
"……You've had it rough. Shall we assess the situation first?"
* * *
In the center of the underground den.
The 29 organization members and Namgung Sang knelt, sweat pouring coldly.
They couldn't even resist—just clamped their mouths shut.
Rooooar……!
The Byulcheonji executives watching them were far too menacing.
Kim Jin-ah sat before them, legs crossed.
"Whew."
She eyed them with a complicated expression.
Before waking them.
She'd roughly grasped the whole story.
From the trembling craftsmen.
From the bound Kwon sisters nearby.
Kwon Seon-ji had told her savior Byulcheonji everything she'd seen.
From their abilities.
To how they'd made money with them.
Even how the organization was run.
She'd hesitated at first about spilling it all, but didn't hold back.
She'd looked into Byulcheonji through intel.
Not purely saintly, but a guild that valued talent and was reasonable.
And powerful.
'To protect our abilities, we need power.'
Kwon Seon-ji thought if any guild should know her ability, it was Byulcheonji.
The guild that saved her from the demon Namgung Sang.
'Hm.'
When she first heard about the Kwon sisters' abilities, Kim Jin-ah was stunned.
'What bullshit OP ability is that…….'
Only then did she understand how Curveweb handled info.
How they knew about Paju Base in advance.
To her, the Kwon sisters were treasure.
The rarest unique-ability special hunters in Korea—no, the world.
More valuable than any ranker.
Especially crucial for developing the current Styx.
Treating such talent like slaves and working them to death?
Kim Jin-ah seethed inside.
She wanted to slit all their throats right then, but no—not yet.
'Who knows where other victims are.'
Had to make them spill it themselves.
"Alright."
She opened her mouth in a frosty voice.
"From now on, recite every crime you've committed, one by one. Don't skip any. You first."
Kim Jin-ah pointed at Namgung Sang.
"Oh, and."
Clap!
She clapped lightly.
"Our little truth-detector here can tell fact from fiction, right?"
She winked warmly at Kwon Tam-ji, who sat uneasily now unchained.
Then.
She fixed them with an ice-cold glare.
"Wanna know what happens if you lie or skip stuff? Go ahead. I'll show you personally."
A polite yet terrifying threat.