Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Domain Expansion
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The next morning at 10 a.m.
The top floor of the ultra-luxury residential-commercial complex Hermes Tower in Gangnam.
"Hoo..."
Jang Hyun-soo stood in front of the penthouse door on the 88th floor and let out a deep sigh.
It had already been a month of coming and going here, but the overwhelming pressure he felt every time never got any easier to handle.
Especially... those things.
He glanced at the guards standing rigidly on either side of the entrance.
Two men in uniforms, standing at attention.
At a glance, they looked like ordinary bodyguards, but Jang Hyun-soo knew better.
Those guys... they weren't human anymore.
No blinking. Not once in a whole month.
At first, he thought they were just high on drugs. It wouldn't be surprising, given they were underlings of Executive Kwak.
But even after a week passed, and two weeks, they stood there like statues embedded in the spot.
He'd never seen them eat, and they never responded when spoken to. Hell, he'd never even seen them use the bathroom.
They only moved when given orders, and otherwise stayed frozen.
Just like zombies from some movie or game.
Their egos... completely devoured.
A chill ran down his spine, and he rubbed his arms.
This wasn't a human home. It was a monster's lair.
Ding-dong.
With trembling fingers, he pressed the doorbell.
"Come in."
A voice came through the intercom.
The door slid open smoothly.
As he stepped inside, a vast living room spanning well over 100 pyeong unfolded before him.
High ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows flooding the space with morning sunlight, top-grade leather sofas, marble floors, and abstract paintings on the walls that he couldn't even begin to interpret.
The kind of chaebol mansion you'd only see in movies or dramas.
But Jang Hyun-soo's eyes ignored all that splendor, fixing solely on the being in the center of the room.
"Ah, g-good morning... Empress Apophis."
He bowed deeply and politely.
On the central sofa sat a monster over two meters tall.
Her skin gleamed with a blue tint, her body exuded overwhelming volume. She wore a loose gown that barely covered her vital areas, but there was nothing erotic about it.
It was like facing a goddess. Awe was the only emotion that stirred.
And behind her, the door to the master bedroom stood slightly ajar. Through the gap, he could see Kang Minwoo sleeping soundly on the bed, oblivious to the world.
His pale shoulder peeking out from the covers and his long hair looked every bit like a woman's.
Young master... no, ma'am...? Anyway, impressive. Surviving the night with a monster like that.
"Did you bring it?"
She extended her hand.
Jang Hyun-soo shook off stray thoughts and hurriedly pulled an envelope from his pocket.
"Yes. Here it is. It took some time to process it as you instructed."
[Resident Registration Card]
Name: Ah-Bi
Date of Birth: ...
The photo showed Apophis in her big-sister mode, looking like a woman in her late twenties.
"Hoo..."
She nodded in satisfaction, then picked up the card behind it.
[Hunter License]
Name: Ah-Bi
Rank: B-Rank
Position: Striker
"You made it just as I asked. But... it took this long for a pathetic scrap of paper like this?"
Her words carried a sharp barb.
Jang Hyun-soo flinched and bowed at a perfect ninety degrees.
"S-sorry! But forging a Hunter License requires hacking into the Management Bureau's database, which isn't easy... And to make it B-Rank, I had to fabricate mission records too. Plus, with the Viper Gang's regional cleanup and money laundering last week, we were short on manpower..."
"Tch. Excuses."
She flicked the license with her finger and smirked.
"Well, it's not bad. Not too flashy to draw attention, but respectable enough not to be dismissed."
"Th-thank you."
Jang Hyun-soo breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe.
"Now that I have my ID..."
Apophis slipped the card into her cleavage.
She looked down at Jang Hyun-soo and twisted her lips into a grotesque grin.
"It's time to handle what I've been putting off."
"Putting off...?"
"Domain expansion."
She rose from her seat and gazed out the living room window at the sprawling Seoul cityscape.
"I've stripped the Viper Gang of every last scrap of flesh, but trash like that isn't enough to satisfy me. To give my spouse a more comfortable life befitting an empress... I need a solid foundation."
Greed glittered in her eyes.
"Our first target is obvious: those bastards. Cash Finance. That pig, President Choi."
Cash Finance. The ruthless loan shark firm that had tormented Kang Minwoo.
Of course, with Apophis's power, wiping them out would be child's play. But...
"Um, Empress Apophis. There's a slight... p-problem with that."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Wars between organizations... even the underworld has rules. And with all the Viper Gang executives vanishing over the past month, the police and Management Bureau are already watching closely. If a dozen guys disappear all at once here—in the heart of Seoul—it could lead back to us..."
"Who said anything about killing them?"
Apophis cut him off.
"Eh...?"
"I'm not going to kill them."
She leaned in close to his face.
A sinister whirlpool churned in her golden eyes.
"Killing would be a waste. I need to use them thoroughly."
Dozens of tentacles writhed up from behind her back. They flicked like living snakes, sharp tips tasting the air.
Jang Hyun-soo shuddered at the sight.
He knew this mercy wasn't kindness.
"Prepare yourself, detective. Tonight."
At her command, he swallowed dryly and nodded.
Tonight, another organization would vanish.
No... it would become hers.
—
That night, 11 p.m.
The dingy third floor of a rundown building in a back alley teeming with nightlife.
This place with the Cash Finance sign wasn't so much an office as an opium den.
Amid the acrid haze of cigarette smoke and the nose-stinging stench of chemicals...
"Hey, did this bitch pass out again? How much of that shit did you give her?"
"No, why do you keep bruising them up? I said handle them gently if you want to keep the merchandise value."
In one corner of the office, a barred enclosure like a cage.
Inside, five or six women dragged here for unpaid debts were locked up like animals.
Their eyes were glazed, foam dribbling from some mouths.
It wasn't simple imprisonment.
These scum force-fed the women new designer drugs to hook them, then sold them off to hostess bars or as island slaves—a full "processing" operation.
"Fuck! Nothing's going right!!"
In the boss's room, partitioned off with flimsy walls in that den.
Crash!
President Choi hurled his whiskey glass in a fit of rage.
"Fuck, the government's yapping about their war on crime, drying up our cash flow... Hey! Still no word from that bastard Jang Manager?"
"No... He said he'd handle the Viper Gang stuff, then vanished."
His underling answered cautiously, gauging the mood.
President Choi ground his teeth.
Not only had Kim Manager screwed them over, but their trusted fixer Jang Manager had jumped to the massive Viper Gang, letting the whole mess fizzle out.
Now, to plug the funding hole, they had no choice but to get even more vicious.
"Pah. Ungrateful pricks with no loyalty."
President Choi jerked his chin toward the cage.
"Hey. Sell those off tomorrow. If they're a bit iffy, bundle 'em as buy-one-get-one and dump 'em."
"B-but boss, there's college girls in there... If their parents file a missing persons report..."
"Shut up! What are they gonna do, report it? Who believes a drugged-up lunatic? If you're that worried, just carve up their faces."
President Choi rose with a sleazy grin. He reached through the bars, roughly yanking a drugged woman's hair.
"No money? Pay with your body then. Right? We're not running a charity."
"Ah... uh... M-Mommy..."
"Ha! Fucking whore. She'd sell her own mom to borrow cash, now look at her whining for her."
The moment he started tearing at her clothes roughly.
Bang—!!!
A deafening crash as the office's thick steel door crumpled like paper and flew inward.
"Gahk!"
One thug by the door got flattened under the mangled metal.
A cloud of dust enveloped the office.
"Wh-what the hell!?"
Cops? Raid!?"
The thugs panicked, scrambling to hide drug baggies and syringes.
President Choi dropped the woman in shock and backed away.
But emerging from the dust wasn't police or SOU awakened operatives.
Step, step.
A man in a crisp suit.
The fixer who'd treated this place like his own until recently: Jang Manager, Jang Hyun-soo.
Behind him trailed a hulking man in a bowler hat and black coat, expressionless.
"J-Jang Manager...?"
President Choi blinked in disbelief.
"What the hell are you doing here? Thought you went off sucking Viper Gang's tits?"
Jang Hyun-soo didn't reply, merely adjusting his glasses with his middle finger.
His gaze swept over the caged women and the syringes littering the floor.
His eyes narrowed in disgust.
"As expected... same old you, President."
"What?"
"Picking only the trashiest deeds."
Jang Hyun-soo clicked his tongue.
He wasn't clean himself, but he at least had lines he didn't cross. These guys had leaped right over them.
And as a dad with a daughter about their age, this nauseating scene was especially hard to stomach.
Cleaning this place out would feel rewarding even without Apophis's orders.
"Sorry, but you'll have to shut down operations as of tonight."
Jang Hyun-soo stepped back and gestured.
"Our boss... wants to acquire you."
"You crazy fuck! Get him!"
At President Choi's shout, the enforcer captain drew his machete and charged.
Shunk!
The sharp blade slicing into flesh echoed.
But,
"Wha...?"
The blade never reached Jang Hyun-soo.
The bowler-hatted giant had blocked it, taking the machete straight to his gut. He looked like Viper Gang muscle.
"Y-you..."
The enforcer panicked.
He'd stabbed a vital spot. A normal person would collapse, air whistling out.
But the guy didn't even flinch. No groan.
He just stared indifferently at the knife in his belly.
"W-wait..."
Thwack—!
The bowler hat's heavy fist smashed into the enforcer's face.
Crunch.
A sickening sound of skull caving in, and the captain flew back like paper.
"You fucking lunatics!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The others drew pistols and opened fire.
9mm rounds thudded into the giant's back and shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
But the bowler hat calmly yanked the knife from his gut.
Bio-weapon with reinforced bones and tendons from Apophis's factor, twisted muscle fibers for extreme toughness.
Bullets tearing into it, the Apophis Spawn trudged forward, grabbing and twisting the shooters' arms.
Crack!
"Gyaaak!"
In seconds, the office turned into a slaughterhouse.
Near-immortal durability and monstrous strength. A single Apophis Spawn overwhelmed the dozen Cash Finance thugs.
"Wh-what the... Jang Manager! What the hell did you do!?"
President Choi screamed, pulling a shotgun.
But before he could fire.
Swoosh—
A black shadow descended from the ceiling, wrapping the shotgun.
The trigger wouldn't pull. No—his fingers were pinned by the shadow.
"Wh-what is this...?"
President Choi looked up.
From the office entrance, the click of high heels echoed from the darkness.
Clack, clack.
An elegant woman in her late twenties, in a chic long coat.
Apophis in big-sister mode strode in.
She strolled through the blood and screams like it was a neighborhood park.
"So noisy."
She snapped her fingers.
The Apophis Spawn pinned one remaining thug to his knees.
The others, gripped by primal terror, couldn't even lift their heads.
In the suffocating tension, Apophis scanned the room gracefully—until her gaze settled on the women in the cage.
Women sprawled like beasts, lost to drugs.
Clothes torn, bruises everywhere.
Her brow furrowed deeply.
"Disgusting."
Not out of sisterly solidarity or tragic kin-slaying.
An unpleasant imagining flashed in her mind.
What if Minwoo never met me?
What if he couldn't pay his debt and got dragged here?
That fragile, pretty boy, doped up in this filthy cage, ravaged by these pig-like scum.
How dare they...
Just the thought turned her stomach.
Objectively, he'd probably have been sold as a male prostitute or island slave rather than gang-raped, but rampaging imagination left no room for reason.
The mere possibility that her spouse, her treasure, could have wallowed in this filth was unbearably revolting.
"Hey, pig."
Apophis turned to President Choi.
A bone-chilling killing intent froze the office.
"So you're the leech that sucked my spouse's blood."
"H-heek...!"
President Choi backed away, barely breathing.
He knew instinctively. This woman wasn't here to kill him.
She brought something worse than death.
"Time for surgery."
Slender tentacles rose from her back.
Not her usual thick combat ones.
Thin as needles or nerve bundles, razor-sharp crimson filaments.
"L-let go! What are you doing!?"
A pinned thug thrashed.
The Apophis Spawn gripped his head, holding it steady.
"Scum like you don't need egos. A doll that follows orders is enough."
Pfshk.
A tentacle tip pierced his temple.
Not a bone-cracking sound, but a weird squelch like stabbing raw meat.
"Grr... glurk...!"
His eyes rolled back, body convulsing like electrocution.
The tentacle burrowed through brain folds, tampering directly with nerves.
Paralyzing the amygdala for fear, implanting her factor in the frontal lobe for obedience—a brain remodeling surgery.
"Hng... uh..."
Moments later, the tentacle withdrew, convulsions ceased.
His limp head slowly lifted.
Unfocused eyes fixed on Apophis.
"M-Master..."
Blood trickled as he grinned vacantly. Ego gone, only blind loyalty remained in the doll.
"A-aaah! Stay back! Stay back!!"
Witnessing it, President Choi fled in horror.
Better to die. Anything but becoming that.
"Jang Manager! Hey! After all we've been through! Spare me! Please!"
He clung to Jang Hyun-soo.
But Jang Hyun-soo just adjusted his glasses coldly, no pity in his eyes.
"President. Best accept it quietly. It'll hurt less. Consider it karma for all you've done."
Apophis approached President Choi.
Grotesque tentacle shadows engulfed him completely.
"Don't worry. I'll give you special care."
She grinned wickedly.
"I won't burn out your brain like the others and make you a retard."
"Wh-what...?"
"You tormented my spouse. Time to pay."
Shuuuuaak!
Dozens of tentacles bound his body, slamming him to the floor.
The thickest one pierced the back of his neck, burrowing into his spine.
"Gaaaaahhh!!!"
"Max out the pain nerves, block motor control. Keep the mind crystal clear."
Apophis whispered.
"You'll regret not killing yourself every day for the rest of your life. Your body obeys my commands, but your mind stays trapped inside, feeling every agony vividly."
"P-please... just kill me..."
"Kill you? No mercy like that."
Crack, crunch.
His joints twisted unnaturally.
Terror of his body moving on its own, horrific pain surging through his spine—he tried to scream.
But no sound escaped.
Not even his tongue obeyed him.
"That body is your hell now."
—
That night.
The notorious Cash Finance shut down.
Of course, all ten-plus employees were specially hired by Jang Hyun-soo's new lending firm.
Their work ethic at the new job was astonishingly diligent.
They collected debts during lunch breaks and worked overnight shifts without complaint.
The former debtors tormented by Cash Finance were thrilled—no more threats of island slavery or organ harvesting.
And around then, a grim urban legend began spreading about the abandoned Cash Finance building.
[The Mad Hobo.]
Rumor had it a crazy homeless guy lived in the basement.
Crawling on all fours like a beast, rummaging trash heaps, eating live rats and cockroaches.
Most dismissed it as bullshit, exaggerated urban myth, or druggie ravings.
But a few who couldn't resist checking the basement swore they saw something crawling on all fours. Some noted something eerie.
The hobo's eyes, as he chewed filth—far from mad, they burned with chilling, crystal-clear terror.