Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Tiger's Den (3)
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“Ughhh!”
“Gahhh!”
“My ears... my ears...!”
They might be embarrassing adults pulling off the most mortifying antics in the world, but they were still executives of the Three Heads Association, card-carrying members.
A single sonic blast didn’t turn them into bloody pulps—no such disaster occurred.
‘Of course, I held back as much as possible when I cast it.’
If I’d unleashed it with real intent to fight, that bloody pulp scenario would’ve come true.
Still, the shock had them reeling—some staggered in place, others toppled backward chair and all.
Good. At least everyone’s quiet now, right?
“Everyone, listen! I’m not done talking yet! Can’t you hold on just a second?!”
The magic’s effects hadn’t fully worn off, so every time I spoke, the furniture in the room rumbled and vibrated.
Hmm, can’t keep talking like this.
“Ahem. Alright. Miss.”
“Y-Yes?”
I fully dispelled the spell. Turning to Jeong Hyun-ah, I said,
“One question before you go. It’s really important, so please answer seriously.”
“Seriously...?”
“Is that truly what you want from me? To fight Red Head? Is that what you really desire? Is that why you called me here?”
“I... um, I...”
“Tell me. What you truly want.”
Jeong Hyun-ah’s expression crumbled.
The forced stern look, the tense posture, the attempts to seem strong—they were all far too heavy for a young student to bear.
With tears spilling out as if she’d poured everything into them, a trembling voice escaped her lips.
“Please... find my dad...”
Sigh.
I’d expected her to burst into childlike sobs, but Jeong Hyun-ah held it together as best she could, wiping away the tears.
She could’ve just acted her age, the poor kid.
I deliberately paused a beat before opening my mouth.
“Understo—”
“You little punk, making fools of us!”
An explosive shout erupted out of nowhere.
‘Huh? Wrong guy blew up.’
I’d figured something would snap, but it wasn’t Goo Jin-cheol—it was the executive with the eyepatch over one eye. Come to think of it, he’d been blatantly siding with Goo Jin-cheol from the start.
“You dare hurl magic at us!?”
For their plan to work, they had to drive me out by any means necessary.
Just yelling wouldn’t cut it. Right—gathering mana in one fist like that!
Boom!
His punch shattered the massive mahogany table in the center in one go.
Crack!
With a gruesome sound, shards of the table flew everywhere.
“Kyaaah!”
“Miss!”
One of the older executives yanked Jeong Hyun-ah back and retreated. He was the one who’d sided with me during the earlier chaos.
“H-Hey!”
Chae Tae-won tried to intervene too, but his position wasn’t great. Standing near the entrance, too many obstacles were in his way.
“Wait!”
Another executive near him reached out to block Chae Tae-won. That guy had been trash-talking me earlier too.
The rest split between watching with interest and panicking over their own safety.
Including Chae Tae-won, the eight executives each reacted according to their personalities, but ultimately, they all moved in directions that favored themselves.
And that eyepatch guy.
Calling him eyepatch guy over and over feels off.
He wasn’t important enough to remember by name, but thanks to my extreme Intelligence stat, I recalled his name was Shim Young-hwan. Not that it mattered.
Anyway, the key point right now: no one was stepping in to stop the raging Shim Young-hwan. Should I?
“Uh, Director Shim Young-hwan? Calm down, please?”
“Calm?”
He hoisted the hefty chair he’d been sitting on and hurled it at me.
“Calm my ass! Eat this!!”
Whooom!
Whoa, listen to that sound. Infused with mana? That’s attempted murder! Will Distortion Field handle something that size?
[Distortion Field]
Vreeee!
The chair hurtling toward me in a menacing arc twisted off course the moment it touched the field.
‘Too big an object is tricky after all.’
I managed to deflect the trajectory, but the angle was a bit precarious.
Boom!
Huh?
The veered chair coincidentally flew straight at the door.
Since I hadn’t layered any other spells besides sonic refraction, the door splintered like paper.
‘Luck’s really not on my side today.’
Getting stuck in this situation was the start of my bad luck.
How nice would it be to just chill in the haunted mansion, munching jam-slathered bread?
“What’s going on!”
Rumble rumble!!
It was like a scene straight out of a gritty noir film.
Burly men in pitch-black suits poured in, guns drawn.
Click-click—the disciplined sounds rang out as dozens of barrels trained on me.
“Sigh, Director. If you act like this, it’s hard for me to just laugh it off and chat, you know?”
“You’re the one who blasted us with magic first—what bullshit is that!”
“I raise my voice a bit and you make a huge deal out of it. Want me to really blast you with magic?”
“What?! You little shit, you done talking!?”
By the way, all those gun barrels aimed at my back aren’t helping my mood.
[Protection Barrier]
[Distortion Field]
[Eagle’s Radiance]
[Fox’s Agility]
[Swan’s Dance]
They weren’t magic experts, but this was a gathering of people who could sense or wield mana to some degree.
Spotting me activating a barrage of buffs, the executives’ faces drained of color.
“Stop! Everyone, calm down!”
Chae Tae-won.
“You lot too! It’s nothing—get out now!”
“Get out where? Shoot that arrogant bastard! He attacked us!”
Once guns are drawn, holstering them again isn’t easy.
Caught between conflicting orders, the Blue Tiger Gang’s thugs hesitated, wavering with their guns still pointed at me.
Unable to wait, Shim Young-hwan finally kicked off the ground and charged.
I sensed his mana concentrating in one fist. The Blue Tiger Gang had plenty of straightforward, intuitive ability users. Shim Young-hwan, like Chae Tae-won, was a brawler type with mana hypertrophy.
“I’ll end you!”
‘No way—how can he be that clichéd with his lines?’
No need to get into anything resembling a fight with Shim Young-hwan.
[Invisible Hand]
Activating telekinesis, I swatted him away like a flying pest.
“Grahhh!”
Crash!
“Guhk!”
The final guhk wasn’t from Shim Young-hwan.
He’d been precisely flung into Goo Jin-cheol’s spot.
Goo Jin-cheol had his own annoying abilities, but from earlier, I’d been focusing more on him than Shim Young-hwan.
[Malevolent Gaze]
A spell that forcibly exerts influence on malevolent targets. Under its effect, Goo Jin-cheol was frozen, unable to act.
“You damn mutt!”
Still not grasping the situation, Shim Young-hwan staggered back up with a growl.
“Sigh, enough already? Keep this up, and I’ll have to hit back.”
“Try it, punk! I’ll smash you to pieces today!”
Grgrgrgrr!!
Mana swirled around Shim Young-hwan’s body. Ugh, he’s seriously pissed? Prepping some ultimate technique or secret art.
“S-Stop!”
“In front of the miss!?”
“W-Wait...! Stop! Stop!”
The final stop came from Goo Jin-cheol. That guy had some instinct for it.
Adjusting the Malevolent Gaze effect... Huh? He’s holding out pretty well?
[Spell Enhancement: Maximize]
Amplifying the spell, I dispersed the mana concentrated in Shim Young-hwan’s body.
“Huh? W-What!? You? You! What did you do to me!?”
I gestured like I had no idea what he meant, then looked back at him. But it wasn’t over yet.
[Great Whirlwind]
Fwoooosh!!
Fragments of the shattered mahogany table on the floor pelted Shim Young-hwan and Goo Jin-cheol right behind him.
Pitter-patter!!
“Arghhh!”
The conference room wasn’t just the table. There were thick books piled on shelves—probably decorative (rustle!)—and what had to be ornamental... ugh, what even is that? A tacky Blue Tiger statue (whoosh... crash!). Oh, and the water pitcher on the corner side table for good measure (shatter!).
Now Goo Jin-cheol and Shim Young-hwan were bruised, battered, soaked, and a total mess.
But tough guys like them wouldn’t calm down from this much.
I finally fixed my gaze squarely on Shim Young-hwan.
[L-Grade Accessory ‘Mask of Carcosa’ unique function, ‘Yellow Dominion,’ activates.
// Yellow Dominion: Adds ‘Spell Enhancement: Fear Infusion’ effect to certain spells.]
Layering Fear Infusion onto the already active Malevolent Gaze. Bluish glows emanated from the mask’s four eyeholes.
“Y-You? T-Those... those eyes? Those eyes?!”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
I took one step closer to Shim Young-hwan.
“Stay back! You monster! Get away! Augh! Aaaah!”
Sweating bullets, he backed away and finally collapsed to the floor.
I get that they’re desk-jockey seniors out of the field game, counting cash and shuffling papers, but this level gap is ridiculous.
If I’d pushed harder, he might’ve wet himself... Oh... sorry. At your age, that’s harder to manage, huh.
“Hm, didn’t mean to go this far. My bad...”
Ignoring the soiled Shim Young-hwan, I turned to Goo Jin-cheol, who’d taken the collateral hit.
“So, sir. What do you want to do now?”
“M-Me? I-I...”
Spotlit, Goo Jin-cheol stammered in extreme panic.
“No evidence, so if you wanna flip your attitude, now’s the time. Or you wanna piss yourself too?”
“N-No, I don’t know anything! You guys fought each other!”
Then he shrieked and scrambled back.
Whoops? Ah, the Fear Infusion hadn’t worn off yet.
“So? What’s the conclusion?”
The four eyeholes in my mask still gleamed with blue light.
“S-So, I... N-No, wait! What I mean is... Didn’t I say from the start I wanted the fixer to help us? Compensation! Right! I’m the one who proposed the reward!”
Wow, no shame at all.
The saying “the strong bully the weak, the weak bully the stronger” is common enough, but this blatant display just kills any urge to hit him more. Even the surrounding executives eyed Goo Jin-cheol with disbelief.
“Fine.”
I turned to address all the executives in the room.
“Let’s make this clear again. The chairman is missing...”
Finally, they were properly listening.
“Oh, wait—this is supposed to be secret, right?”
I glanced at Goo Jin-cheol.
“—Can these guys stay for the meeting?”
The thugs who’d burst in guns blazing were still there. Realizing his massive humiliation in front of his men, Goo Jin-cheol yelled,
“What’re you staring at? Get out—all of you!”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Only then did the thugs file out.
Hm, good.
A quick glance: Shim Young-hwan still slumped on the floor, dejected. Ugh, someone help that guy out.
Anyway, confirming the door fully shut, I spoke.
“First, let’s sort out the chairman’s disappearance.”
Right—the issue is the Blue Tiger chairman’s vanishing act.
And that disappearance... might just be my fault.