Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: Kind Ms. Yeom Geum-ja
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The Bongilcheon faction...
They called their boss "Chairman" or whatever, but anyway, Yeom Geum-ja started screaming hysterically.
"This country got no laws or nothin'! You fuckin' bastards! Go fuck yourselves!"
"Hey, you goddamn alien motherfuckers!"
"Argh! You Chinese fuckheads, you think you can just fuck with all the cash I busted my ass to scrape together?"
"You wanna get fucked? You fuckin' cunts! Fuck off! Let go! Where the hell you grabbin' me? Let me gooo! Fuck your mothers!"
Yeom Geum-ja was thrashing around like she was about to flop flat on the floor.
Her frenzy was so goddamn intense that even her own lackeys couldn't bring themselves to get close.
"Huh— that Kim fella's got one hell of a mouth on him."
Seo Cheon-seul stared at her with a look of genuine amazement.
"Nah, it ain't the mouth that's the issue."
Right. Her mouth wasn't the problem.
"You fuckin' alien bastards! Kill me if you're gonna kill me! Yeah, do it! Kill me! Argh! You foreign fuck-monsters! Fuckin' kill me! Argh! Foreigners are gonna fuckin' kill me!"
Not even some lame-ass "fuck" had a place here.
The barrage of utterly ridiculous curses and obscenities was making my head spin. I scratched my head for a second before speaking up.
"Ma'am."
"You wanna fuck with that shit? You illegal alien fuckers! You Japanese bastards!"
"I get that you've got some prejudices against foreigners, ma'am, so calm down a bit. No one else can hear what we're saying anyway."
If she were just some hothead spouting off without thinking, she couldn't have built and held together an operation this size in a chaotic hellhole like Paju.
Yeom Geum-ja caught the key point in what I'd said and shut her trap.
"Hah— hah—? What'd you say?"
She panted raggedly, eyes darting wildly around.
"Urgh... what the hell..."
King Castle Club was a five-story building tucked into the corner of Bongilcheon's red-light district.
With all that commotion going on inside, folks had gathered to gawk, but for some reason, their voices weren't reaching us.
"The sounds..."
"Magic."
[Sound Distortion]. Just like they couldn't hear us, our noise wasn't leaking out.
And this was Paju.
Anyone witnessing blatant weirdness like this would call the cops or immigration enforcement before sticking their nose in.
The moment she realized screaming her head off was pointless, Yeom Geum-ja switched to a relatively civil tone.
"Ah, fuck me. What a shitty situation."
"The crowd's starting to build. Let's wrap this up quick."
One of the three lackeys by her side piped up cluelessly.
"C-cops are here! Look over there!"
"You dumb fuck! Just shut the fuck up and stay put!"
Yeom Geum-ja screeched at her own man.
Cops had shown up, sure enough. Two beat cops visible far off behind the onlookers.
"Oho, these Kim fellas sure are diligent."
Seo Cheon-seul waved at them innocently.
Contrary to her expectations, the cops ducked low like they were scared shitless of a poisoned needle flying from her fingertips.
"Huh? Why're those Kim fellas acting like that?"
"Cuz they're cops meant for dealing with humans."
The beat cops scuttled away on all fours. They'd pegged this as some surreal shit beyond their pay grade.
Yeom Geum-ja watched the scene and pulled out a smoke.
"Hah, fuck. Damn it. All the cash I shoveled to those Kim fuckers. Fuckin' bullshit."
That kind of cop attitude was probably how she'd thrived all this time. But it also meant she had zero defense against the danger barreling down on her now.
"Immigration'll show up eventually."
"Yeah, you bastards. The ones who'll fuck you up proper are comin'."
But we had enough time to grab what we needed.
'Not like we haven't caused a ton of incidents by accident already.'
I'd spent three days with Seo Cheon-seul tearing through all of Paju.
'Clashes with Yongs and Chi three times alone.'
To test my limits, she'd dragged me to spots ripe for trouble, and we'd stirred up plenty.
Hell, we'd teleported in from Gwaltan, so our trail was all tangled anyway. Even if they rushed—
"We've got about ten minutes leeway at least."
"Whew—"
Yeom Geum-ja exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"So what the hell do you want from me?"
"Simple point."
Vampirism, human sacrifices, cultists, goblins, or du-eok-si-ni.
I rattled off a few keywords that could lead to clues.
"Any recent run-ins with that stuff? We're not here for justice. If it's got nothing to do with what we're after, we'll restore everything to how it was and bounce—no matter what you've been up to in Bongilcheon."
"Whew—"
Yeom Geum-ja blew out smoke as she smoothed her disheveled hair. She tried slipping her heel back on from earlier but saw the heel was snapped and spat some curse about damn it all.
One minute.
"If you keep your mouth shut, ma'am, I've got ways to check anyway."
"Hah! You—"
She looked ready to yap. I turned away, released the shrink spell on Dol-dol, and said,
"Dol-dol, just take a bite outta that."
Crunch-crunch!
A corner of King Castle Club got torn clean off.
The cement was piled thick, so the wall didn't cave in completely.
"Arghhh! Stop! Stop it! You crazy fuck! I'll talk! I'll talk, okay?!"
"Bwahaha— what a clown show."
"No time, so spit it out."
"Yeah! I was tryin' to do like the Three Heads Society! These weird fucks came knockin' with a deal, so I just went along!"
The Three Heads Society's Red Head had teamed up with cultists to build power. Looked like she wanted in on that.
"Good."
Getting an answer at all was progress.
A true cultist would've died before betraying the faith. Least she wasn't brainwashed or a cultist—just a straight-up villain.
"Someone at your level wouldn't sign a blind deal, right? Who're they serving?"
"Th-that's..."
"Last time: if it's a cult got nothing to do with us, everybody wins. We fix everything up, plus throw in enough cash compensation to make you happy."
"Compensation? Backed by who?"
Yeom Geum-ja probed for backing naturally. I shot Seo Cheon-seul a glance and said,
"Guaranteed by Thousand Gold Hall."
"Th-Thousand Gold Hall!?"
Her pupils flicked top-left, top-right. Then left again—one minute.
"Dol-dol, take two bites."
Crunch! Crunch!
Now the cement wasn't enough—the club's walls themselves started crumbling. If a pillar went, it'd collapse?
"Ah, okay! I'll talk, I'll talk! It's the Gourmet Expedition Team! Gourmet Expedition Team!"
Totally off-base name.
"Gourmet Expedition Team?"
Those boar-like bastards?
"Kim fella, what're those guys?"
"Uh—"
I expanded my detection range briefly, sorting my thoughts.
They worship [Predator of the Mountains], hunt and eat other races, get off on powering themselves up. Musclehead idiots.
Gourmet Expedition mostly straightforward morons, but their abyssal backer ain't like that.
'Gourmet Expedition, blood, du-eok-si-ni, infection, and their warped forms. So this means...'
No time for hassle.
Odd movements inside the building. And outside.
"Sigh—"
"Kim fella, what's up?"
"Captain, check inside the building."
"Hm? More Kim fellas? Huh? Somethin' overlapping."
Seo Cheon-seul's detection beat mine, but she couldn't count heads right.
At least she sensed the change.
I turned, pointed at King Castle Club.
"Number of living humans is dropping."
And with that, I quietly triggered a spell.
She sensed my casting, turned to follow.
"Ah, got it. Not Kim fellas merging— that's... Hm? Eating each other?"
The instant our eyes locked fully on King Castle Club.
Bang!
Bullet from behind.
"Wh-what? What the hell're you doing?!"
Yeom Geum-ja yelped in shock.
Her lackeys behind her had suddenly gone rogue.
Ping—
But my prepped distortion field warped the bullet's path.
Bang bang bang bang!
"Stop! I said stop!"
Despite her pleas, her lackeys kept firing.
Distortion field wasn't just for deflection.
Whirrr—
The bullets arced back in a wide loop, slamming into the shooters instead.
"Gahk—!"
"Krack!"
They clutched chests, guts, heads, staggering. Hit dead-on, but no blood poured out as expected.
"Kim fella! Fall back!"
Seo Cheon-seul's shout.
"N-no way!"
Yeom Geum-ja's scream.
"Kim fella, I said dodge!"
Not to me.
I told Yeom Geum-ja,
"Ma'am, that's to you! Dodge!"
"What!?"
Crack-crunch—
The lackey who'd taken one to the head ballooned grotesquely. The head wound smeared shut as drastic changes hit.
"Wha-wha-wh-wh-what the fuck?!"
Sawblade teeth, ears unfurling like wings, tongue snaking out snake-like, nose elongating.
Like a botched 3D model glitching in the creepiest way—nauseating, repulsive.
The monster flashed an alien grin, jaws parting.
Creeeak—
Mouth stretching unnaturally, like forcing a photo wider.
"Uh— uhh?"
Yeom Geum-ja, still clueless, stared blankly as it lunged.
[Invisible Hand]
I cast, yanking her to safety.
"Kyaaaah!"
Yeom Geum-ja shrieked.
Crunch!
It bit empty air.
The lackey—no, monster—no, that was—
"Du-eok-si-ni bastard!"
Seo Cheon-seul rocketed in with golden flash.
She hefted her Vajra Rod overhead, spun it a few times, smashed down.
Boom!
Rumble rumble!
The du-eok-si-ni crumpled fully, cratered into the ground.
Unlike last time's theatrics, massive power. Ground split, earthquake rippled out.
Scrrrape—
The other du-eok-si-ni scattered left and right, muttering.
"Gr— how'd you know?"
"Just playin' possum to test. You dumb fucks who bit are the idiots."
Onlookers on the boulevard scattered instantly.
Sound distortion muffled it, but outside it'd be screams and chaos.
"Immigration's definitely coming now."
I'd thought maybe not, but this uproar guaranteed it.
"Captain, looks like du-eok-si-ni inside too. Can we head in with this one?"
"Can't move with hostiles."
"Right. Subdue quick and enter."
"You think we'll go down easy?!"
The du-eok-si-ni snarled at our casual chat. Before I could reply, Seo Cheon-seul bellowed a laugh.
"Bwahaha! Yeah, let's have some fun!"
Purpose clear, the Captain swooped on the left du-eok-si-ni with spirited, dance-like flair.
"Take that!"
Boom!
Vajra Rod whipped up a storm. Followed by quake.
A golden thunderbolt gale, nothing less.
Leave her be, she'll mop 'em solo.
"Hey, Captain. Weren't you gonna check my skills?"
I'd said that, but—
"Bwahaha! Try this on for size!"
Boom!!
She was just having a blast.
Too bold a goblin for scheming bullshit.
"Eh, makes it easier for me."
"Kyaaack!"
The right du-eok-si-ni went for me instead of daring the Captain.
I gestured, cast at it.
[Forced Phase Transition]
Shlorp—
Cement encasing King Castle Club shed its form, reverting to wet clay mix. It morphed into massive slime-beast shape, engulfing the charging du-eok-si-ni.
"Grraaah!!"
"Hm, now. [Hardening]."
Crack—
Weak.
These weren't real du-eok-si-ni either.
Weak, but too human-like—hard to spot the disguise.
"Looks like Kim fella was right. This dive's tied to du-eok-si-ni for sure."
Seo Cheon-seul scooped the pulped du-eok-si-ni into her sack as she spoke.
"But Kim fella, what's that Gourmet whatevers? They even human?"
"Humans, yeah. Contract with an abyssal being to absorb power from what they eat. Probably twisted that into human du-eok-si-ni."
"Huh— which abyssal backer?"
"They serve [Predator of the Mountains]. More famous in India, came via China. Not big in Korea."
"Wait, [Predator of the Mountains]? You mean [Blood Demon King]?"
"Eh, goblins know it by that alias more."
[Predator of the Mountains] was notorious among abyssals for its bloodlust.
'Blood-weak goblins and a blood-phobic wizard? Worst matchup ever.'