Chapter 240
Chapter 240
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 240
Chapter Title: Blessing
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Blue Tiger might no longer be among the living, but the mansion I was visiting after so long felt far more ominous and oppressive than before.
"The attendants can't come inside."
Guards with grotesque features blocked Jang Hyun-deok's path.
"We'd appreciate it if you parked the car outside."
"Of course."
What an intense atmosphere.
"Hyun-deok, don't get cocky and wait somewhere out of sight from these folks."
"Y-yeah, that might be best."
It felt less like a mob boss's mansion and more like a fortress in the middle of a war. Even before, there had been watchtowers on the roof, but now there were six surveillance towers lining the walls—and judging by the warning signs, the perimeter was laced with landmines.
'Talk about ruthless.'
Of course, even with all that heavy defense back then, they'd still been breached in the end. It made sense they'd ramp up security to an obsessive level.
I was led to the same conference room where I'd met Jung Hyun-ah before.
'A place full of memories.'
Old memories, and not particularly pleasant ones—but they came flooding back.
Back then, I'd crushed Gu Jin-cheol, who had tried to swallow the entire Blue Tiger Gang by using Jung Hyun-ah as a front.
But the room looked very different now.
For one thing, no other executives were present today. Not that they were anything more than figureheads anyway.
Waiting for me were the two most important people in the Blue Tiger Gang right now.
"Thank you for making the difficult trip."
Chae Tae-won greeted me as he opened the door.
The man who had once sat at the foot of the table in this very room was now undeniably the gang's number two.
And—
"You've arrived, Wizard."
"It's been a while, miss."
Jung Hyun-ah, who had taken over as boss of the Blue Tiger Gang in Blue Tiger's place after his death.
Perhaps trying to hide her youth, she wore a suit that didn't suit her age, her long hair pinned up high on her head.
It had been a while.
Our conversation started with light pleasantries.
"So, you're not the branch manager anymore—you're a director now?"
"I'm ashamed to say it, but yes."
Ashamed, my foot.
Without Chae Tae-won, the Blue Tiger Gang would have splintered apart long ago and been devoured by Red Duo.
'I blocked Red Duo's initial attack, but it's Chae Tae-won who's been running the organization since then.'
To revive the Blue Tiger Gang from chaos, Chae Tae-won had executed the exact same strategy Gu Jin-cheol had planned.
He had propped up young Jung Hyun-ah as the boss.
As I'd said before, it was absurd for a high school girl who had been going to school until recently to run the organization.
He had put the young Jung Hyun-ah out front as boss while pulling the strings from behind the scenes to manage the gang.
Of course, there was one key difference from Gu Jin-cheol's scheme. Gu Jin-cheol had used her for his own greed and ambition, while Chae Tae-won had done it out of pure loyalty to Blue Tiger and a desire for the organization's stability—Jung Hyun-ah bit her lip with a slightly agitated expression and spoke.
"Thanks to you, I was able to get revenge on those bastards for my father."
"......"
Yeah, scratch that about pure intentions.
Blue Tiger's death had been pinned on Red Duo.
Behold the girl sharpening her blade for her father's vengeance! Let's avenge Blue Tiger, slain by those vile Red Duo scum!
That was the secret keeping the organization together under Chae Tae-won.
Chae Tae-won, who had been watching Jung Hyun-ah's mood, cautiously asked permission and joined the conversation.
"Mr. Kim Shin-hwa, we've wired the consulting fee to the account you specified."
"Thank you."
"Not at all. We're the ones who should be grateful. Thanks to you mobilizing Bongil Cheonpa, we've caught our breath."
"That wasn't a venture undertaken for your sake from the start. It was a separate matter, so no need to thank me for that part."
To elaborate, I had helped position the Blue Tiger Gang to reap the benefits.
Red Duo, having absorbed a bunch of cultists, had come at them with explosive momentum. Word was they'd been pushed to the brink.
Then, perfectly timed, Yeom Geum-ja had shown up with bizarre weapons (the ones I gave her) and bombed Red Duo's key strongholds, allowing the Blue Tiger Gang to dodge a major crisis.
The Blue Tiger Gang folks, especially Jung Hyun-ah, believed it all...
"I knew it would turn out this way."
Jung Hyun-ah cut in abruptly.
She continued with an oddly unfocused expression.
"I knew the wizard would come save me. Of course he would. Just like last time, the wizard saved me. Because my father asked him to."
Jung Hyun-ah believed that Kim Shin-hwa, honoring a request from the late Blue Tiger, had appeared like a comet to extend a saving hand.
"I must reiterate, there was no such consideration on my part. It was all coincidence."
"Wizard—you hear my father's voice too, don't you? I know. Father said—you live together with the wizard. The wizard—will end up helping me. Because that's what I want—so Father said my wish would come true."
"Miss—"
"Ah—did I get excited again? Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Director, could you take over?"
"Yes, understood."
In more ways than one, this place had gone off the deep end.
"Regarding the proposal you mentioned over the phone, Mr. Kim Shin-hwa—we've decided to accept."
"Good. Thank you."
I hadn't expected this atmosphere, but I'd made Chae Tae-won a proposal similar to the one I'd given Yeom Geum-ja.
"Then take a look here."
I waved my hand, conjuring an illusion on the table—a map of Paju City.
"Here, here, and here and here. Ideally, here and here, and here too. Can you manage it?"
"These locations are mostly..."
"Yes, exactly. Most of them aren't under any faction's influence yet."
Or they were empty buildings, or just vacant lots.
"It shouldn't be too hard for us to occupy them. But what exactly is the point?"
"It's a kind of... groundwork."
"Groundwork?"
"Yes. Do you play Go? It's like placing a few stones in advance."
"So, it means strategic significance will arise down the line?"
"No. It means ensuring nothing happens."
The places I pointed out were spots where "nothing had happened yet." Most of the ones I'd asked Yeom Geum-ja to destroy were the same.
In the original game plot, certain cults would later hold rituals there, offer sacrifices, or establish bases.
But by destroying them in advance or stationing people there—I could cancel those events.
Of course, the displaced power—those vicious cultists wouldn't just shrug and scrap their plans because their ritual sites were gone.
'I can roughly predict how those bastards will move.'
Block their paths, prod them, herd them—and when the time is right, sweep them all away at once.
Of course, I wasn't manipulating these two massive organizations just for my personal gain.
Once this plan wrapped up, Red Duo's forces would be completely wiped from Paju or at least severely crippled.
'If Red Duo hadn't allied with those cults, I wouldn't have gone this far.'
Considering the future, it was best if the three factions of the Triad kept up this shaky three-way stalemate.
Among Red Duo's allies were the [Blood Demon Cult] and [Gourmet Expedition Corps]. If they hadn't joined hands with those, I wouldn't have hatched a plan this big.
"Once you do this, Red Duo's power will shrink dramatically."
Grind—
The sound of Jung Hyun-ah grinding her teeth. Red blood trickled from the corners of the girl's twisted mouth.
She slowly yanked out the pin holding her hair up.
"Thank you, wizard."
Her jet-black hair cascaded silently, and the fragile plastic pin snapped in her grip.
Crack—
"Kill Red Duo, my father's vile murderer. Give my enemies a horrific death—a death! And slaughter all the trash collaborating with them! Absolutely! Absolutely! Absolutely!"
* * *
"What did you do to the kid?"
I asked Chae Tae-won as he saw me out.
"I... wouldn't know. She's been like that for some time now."
"'For some time'—how long exactly?"
"Starting not long after the funeral."
"I don't have the bandwidth to go around playing therapist for the miss."
"Isn't there anything you can do?"
"I get what you're thinking, but there's no special magic or mental interference at play. The miss is just—"
Jung Hyun-ah wasn't like that because of magic, brainwashing, hypnosis, or possession.
She was just—yeah, no other word for it. Jung Hyun-ah was just crazy.
"......"
Chae Tae-won groaned with a heartbroken look.
"You're better off finding a proper doctor than asking me."
"If you say so, it sounds like there's no solution."
"Yes. Though—"
Chae Tae-won watched my face cautiously, waiting for what came next.
"In that state—she's prone to veering into really dangerous paths. Especially since she's in a position to brush up against those things."
"I understand."
"Yes. If it truly comes to the point where I need to step in, give me a call. I'll do everything I can to help then."
"Thank you."
Chae Tae-won bowed at a perfect ninety degrees in gratitude.
* * *
That day, I wrapped up a few quests and returned to the mansion.
Honestly, seeing Jung Hyun-ah like that left me uneasy. Now I understood why Chae Tae-won had invited me so persistently.
'If I'd visited sooner, would things have been better?'
Who knows.
I glanced at the silver barrier in one corner of the basement.
Inside there—the bastard who killed Blue Tiger.
Brazenly borrowing Blue Tiger's form to talk to me now. And I—
"Tch, fuck. If I start agonizing over shit like this, I'll go crazy too."
No more thinking about it.
Instead, focus on what to do next, what plans to push forward.
The nagging issues were resolving smoothly, everything was going well, all according to plan.
Should I keep working on decoding the blueprints?
Nah, I'm beat. Better call it a night.
Knock knock—
"Mr. Shin-hwa."
"Hm? Sang-hyun?"
What brought Heo Sang-hyun down to the basement.
"If it's not too much trouble, may I come down?"
"Oh, sure. Come on."
Heo Sang-hyun descended into the basement.
The basement had more lights than other areas, but the damp magic pooling on the floor kept it from ever shaking that gloomy, shadowy vibe no matter how many I added.
And Heo Sang-hyun approached with a ghostly expression that oddly suited the dim basement, slowly opening his mouth.
"I thought about mentioning it yesterday, but you looked exhausted, so I'm only bringing it up now..."
His overly large eyes stirred needless anxiety.
"What's this about?"
"What you did yesterday—that's... how exactly did you pull it off?"
"Yesterday? What—oh, Jang Hyun-deok? I was frustrated, so I pulled a little trick."
"From what I saw, the ability you used, Mr. Shin-hwa... it wasn't on that level. Yesterday's thing... to my eyes, that was... something that couldn't be achieved even after killing untold numbers of people..."
Heo Sang-hyun's eyes were bulging to an alarming degree. Ugh, it was scary—like they might pop out any second.
"Um, Sang-hyun. Calm down a bit, you're fine—take it slow."
Heo Sang-hyun seemed to struggle for the right words, lips twitching, then blurted it out in one breath.
"You kept saying Hyun-deok has talent for magic, Mr. Shin-hwa, but to me, he doesn't. You granted him magical talent."
Hold on.
Now I got what Heo Sang-hyun was driving at.
On a small scale, I'd bestowed upon Jang Hyun-deok a trait he'd never had before.
This was exactly what the [King in Yellow] had already done to him.