The Four of Them Are Coming
A small fishing boat bobbed gently on the tranquil sea.
On the deck, a group of men wrestled with machinery and equipment.
*Thud! Thud!*
"Listening device. Is this thing working properly?"
"The signal is clear. It must just be that the sound is too quiet to pick up."
"Tsk. That's why I can't understand why that bastard suddenly crawled inside the container."
They were members of the Red Inverted Cross.
A surveillance team tracking Seo Eunha.
"Listening device. Did you install it correctly?"
"Yes. It was placed at the position that can capture every sound within a radius of the abandoned building where the target entered."
"But why aren't we picking up any sound at all?"
"That's..."
"Ah... There really isn't anyone trustworthy. You idiots."
The surveillance team leader let out a deep sigh and ground his teeth.
Just then, one of the members who had been using the telescope to watch the abandoned factory spoke up.
"Team leader. The target has come out of the container."
"Hey! A woman's come out! Fix the listening device right now!"
*Zzzzzzz... Zzzzt...*
"What's wrong with this..."
"Hah!"
The team leader glared at the abandoned factory with a surge of rage.
"Hmm?"
But from the direction of the abandoned factory, a new face appeared.
"More people?"
When Seo Eunha had entered the container, there had only been one. Yet now, beside her, stood a tall, big man.
"Who is that?"
"Ha, ha! Team leader! That man! He's listed in the database. A human."
"Who is he?"
"The, the heir of...!"
"Taesan Group?!"
"Eh?"
Why is the Taesan Group here?
"Is this some kind of meeting?"
*Zzzzt! Zzzzt! Static.*
At that moment, the listening device—which had remained silent until now—finally picked up sound.
*Thud. [Zzzzt...!] F...o...r... [Zzzzt...!] P...a...y... [Zzzzt...!] Y...e...s?*
But the signal was too weak to make out anything.
"Hey, hey! Grab the signal properly! We can't hear a single word!"
"Wha... What's going on...?"
"I told you before the operation to check the equipment! I said it! Did I not say it?!"
"Even this morning it was fine..."
"Damn it!"
The team leader grabbed the member fiddling with the listening device roughly.
"Get out. You bastard."
"Eh, wait!"
*Bang! Bang!*
And then he slammed his palm hard against the signal device twice.
"T-Team leader, if you hit it that hard..."
"Shut up!"
*We [Zzzzt....] know more than you think.*
Surprisingly, the noise vanished and the voice became clear.
"This is how a pimp talks. Listen up now!"
The members' mouths fell open in shock.
The team leader turned back toward the abandoned factory with a satisfied smile.
*If the Sungjin Group wants information about the demons, I can give you as much as you want. Or we can even dry up the bloodline of every demon in Stellaport.*
"..."
"..."
But the team leader's expression froze solid at the next words.
The members' faces hardened as well.
*Zzzzt...!*
At the same moment, the listening device began spewing black smoke and went completely dead.
The team leader was momentarily stunned, but now the device was no longer important.
"You all heard that, right?"
"Dry up the demons' bloodline...?"
"That means the one who provided the information to the Sungjin Group is the heir of Taesan Group...!?"
"And that heir actually went himself.... But how did Taesan Group get the information?"
The team leader quickly lowered the rescue boat.
"Follow me. We're heading straight to report to headquarters."
"Yes, sir!"
"Team leader! Wait a second."
The vice leader suddenly grabbed the team leader's shoulder.
"Instead, shouldn't we ambush them right now? If we bring the heir who has the information back to headquarters, the reward will be huge."
The team leader shook off the vice leader's hand and sped up the rope work.
"Are you insane? There's no way we'll survive."
The opponent was the heir of a major corporation with at least A-rank hunter ability, and the vice leader himself was minimum B- rank.
The average ability of the eight surveillance team members was C-rank at best.
Moreover, these were members specialized in stealth and surveillance rather than combat.
With only eight of them against the two, at least half would die for sure, and in the worst case, the entire team would be wiped out.
The team leader was not the type to take such dangerous risks.
"We only need to gather information. Why do we need a separate ambush squad?"
"But we're eight, and they're only two..."
"Bastard!"
The team leader's eyes flashed red, and only then did the vice leader shut his mouth.
"If you want to live long, don't cause trouble while I'm gone. Just keep an eye on the targets well!"
Two for Seo Eunha. Four for Park Sinhu.
The team leader left the members behind like that and headed back to land with the youngest member.
"Haa... That annoying old geezer..."
The moment the team leader left, the vice leader made a nasty face and muttered behind his back.
"What can I do if he refuses to divide it?"
Then, if someone wants to eat, they eat. Simple.
The vice leader had no intention of ignoring the team leader's order.
"Vice leader. The bastards are splitting up."
Just then, Seo Eunha had finished her business and was returning to her car.
When Seo Eunha left, Park Sinhu would be left alone.
The fact that Park Sinhu—the very person who provided the information to the Sungjin Group—was now left alone in a perfect state for ambush, more so than ever.
"Anyone who can't eat that is truly pathetic."
The vice leader had never intended to remain a low-level demon forever.
He was an ambitious man who wanted to stack merits, receive greater power, and climb higher.
"Hey, you guys."
The vice leader pointed to the members and said.
"Three of you who will follow me. First come, first served."
Even though he only spread his fingers in a signal without any proper explanation, the members instantly understood the meaning.
They were recruiting members to ambush Park Sinhu on a first-come, first-served basis.
"Me!"
"Me too!"
"Me! Me too!"
Surprisingly, the three joined in an instant.
They were also the kind of people who had no intention of staying low-level demons forever.
"Ah."
"Tsk."
The remaining two members clicked their tongues with discontented expressions.
With three members assigned to Park Sinhu, the remaining two would automatically be assigned to Seo Eunha.
"Even if something goes wrong, we know nothing."
"Don't let any sparks fly."
*Splash!*
*Splash!*
The two members threw themselves into the sea to chase Seo Eunha.
"Let's hurry too. We have to follow the target before it disappears."
The vice leader and the three demons also threw themselves into the sea.
They began moving straight toward the abandoned factory.
Soon, they reached land and, with agile movements, leaped over the breakwater and slipped like shadows into concealment near the factory.
*Target confirmed.*
The vice leader signaled with his hand, and the lowest-ranking member carefully scanned the inside of the abandoned factory.
Park Sinhu had once again entered the red container.
The demon continued to watch Park Sinhu and sent a signal with his hand.
*Target confirmed. Entering the container.*
*Follow the target.*
*We are also moving to the container.*
The vice leader and the demons communicated via sign language and approached the container.
Soon, they reached the entrance of the container and carefully observed the presence felt from inside.
*No presence detected inside.*
*Shall we open the door?*
*Open it.*
*In case something goes wrong, we scatter.*
Opening the container door this time was the job of the lowest-ranking member.
*Creak... creak...*
The rusty container door groaned and slowly opened.
The member who opened the door peeked inside through a small gap.
"?"
Then, with a dazed expression, he sent an incomprehensible signal.
*Something's wrong. You should see it for yourself.*
*'What the hell is this?'*
The vice leader looked directly inside the container.
"?"
His expression, like the demon's just now, went blank.
*A tunnel?*
What was visible was an endless tunnel.
It looked like an abyss swallowing them whole, like a cliff edge.
The other demons also looked inside and their faces paled.
*What is this?*
*I've never seen anything like it.*
*Is this container itself a space-transference artifact?*
Facing this unprecedented phenomenon, the members were thrown into confusion.
The vice leader was also taken aback, but his thoughts were quick.
*Enter.*
*Is it safe?*
*We have to follow the target anyway. It went in here.*
If we lose the target, the demons would be punished with torture-like corporal punishment.
*Yes. Let's hurry.*
*Move. Move.*
*Merits are waiting. Let's go.*
The fear of punishment and the expectation of merits pushed them into the pitch black void ahead.
*Target is already far ahead.*
*Speed up.*
*Make no sound.*
After five minutes of advancing like that.
Their will weakened in the face of endless darkness.
*This is longer than I thought?*
*Hard to gauge the scale.*
*We might get trapped?*
*Do we have to turn back?*
But the vice leader had no intention of stopping.
*No. We keep moving. At least we have to find the target.*
The members showed reluctant expressions, but they could not disobey the vice leader's decision after coming this far.
If they lost the target now, a horrific punishment awaited them.
So they moved again for three minutes.
*Target detected ahead!*
*It's Park Sinhu!*
A welcome face finally appeared before them.
*The bastard...*
*'Haa!'*
But there was a problem.
*Wait...! Stop! Stop!*
Park Sinhu was looking at the demons.
*The bastard is staring at us!*
*Kill the presence!*
The vice leader sent an urgent signal, and the well-trained demons immediately suppressed their presence to the extreme.
They barely melted into the darkness at an agonizingly close distance.
*The bastard isn't moving at all.*
*No way. Did he see us? Was he spotted?*
*No, that's impossible.*
*'This place is complete darkness. There's no way the bastard can see us even if we used stealth.'*
Even so, they were a surveillance team confident in stealth.
They were none other than shadows themselves in the darkness.
*'As long as the bastard doesn't have A-rank or higher senses, he can't see us.'*
The vice leader calmly issued the next order via sign language.
*Let's hurry. We'll approach the bastard. We'll surprise him after getting within 3 meters.*
*Confirmed.*
*Confirmed.*
The demons began to approach Park Sinhu soundlessly.
*Thud.*
At that moment, a single sound pierced the terrible silence.
The demons' footsteps halted abruptly at the sound.
"?"
"?"
"?"
It was a sound the demons knew all too well.
*'The sound of bones breaking.'*
A sound they could never forget because they had heard it every time they received punishment.
But where had it suddenly come from?
*Knock! Thud! Snap!*
The demons' gazes converged on the source of the sound.
The sound was coming from Park Sinhu.
And soon.
*Crack! Snap! Crunch!*
The sound grew faster and louder, like raindrops falling.
In this sudden phenomenon, different emotions flashed in the demons' eyes.
Surprise, suspicion, disgust.
But in the face of the scene unfolding before them, those emotions quickly unified into the same feeling.
*Crack! Boom! Snap! Crunch!*
*'Ha, haa!'*
*'T-That... what the...!!'*
It was shock and horror.
*'Am I crazy?'*
*'What the hell am I seeing?!'*
Park Sinhu, who had been standing quietly in the darkness.
His entire body twisted and swelled like it had been thrown into a shredder, slowly beginning to transform into a monstrous shape.
*'You... are too terrifying!!!'*
*'That's a curse!!'*
*V-Vice leader!*
One of the members called out to the vice leader in panic.
But...
*"Ha, haaaah...!"*
He himself was stunned by the scene before his eyes.