Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Choosing Sides
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Han Young-seok was scouting the area outside Kang Jin-hyuk's house.
Even an hour after deploying the poison gas, not a single bug had crawled out from inside.
"No sign of anything coming out yet..."
"He must've slipped away without us noticing."
"Or maybe he died in there."
Just as his lieutenants had lined up to say, there were only two possibilities he could think of right now.
He'd escaped, or he was dead.
"What happened to the guy who released the gas?"
"We gave him the antidote right away, so he didn't die."
Not content with just wearing a gas mask, the hunter had activated a return scroll the moment the poison gas burst out.
Even with all those precautions, the hunter who'd deployed the gas had still been overcome by the toxin and was hovering between life and death.
Survive poison gas like that while staying inside the house?
Even in wuxia novels, that level of poison immunity was impossible.
"Pull back for now. Leave just a few guys here to keep watch on their movements."
"Got it."
Han Young-seok felt uneasy and wanted to stick around and monitor the place himself.
But he had mountains of problems to deal with right now.
The executives who hadn't joined the plan, and the guild members who followed them.
If he didn't handle them immediately, taking full control of Titan would end in failure.
As the one in charge, Han Young-seok shoved his personal ambitions deep down to fulfill his duty.
"Kang Jun-tae, stop being stubborn and come get treated."
"...Fine, fine."
With time passed, Kang Jun-tae's head had cooled considerably, so he followed Han Young-seok's orders without resistance.
He'd smashed an ally's head in a fit of rage, so if he wanted to claim the guild master's seat without issue, he needed to polish his image now.
"If they escaped, they wouldn't have gone far with a patient in tow."
"We'll prepare a search team right away."
"Yeah, but don't waste too many people. We've got plenty left to do."
"Yes, sir."
The guild member who'd received the order gathered the fastest runners and quickly formed a search party.
Once Han Young-seok and the rest left for their assigned tasks, only two hunters remained at Kang Jin-hyuk's house.
They weren't close personally, so an awkward air hung between the two hunters.
Neither wanted to pretend to be buddies all of a sudden, so one plopped down in a suitable spot and pulled out his phone.
"No way those runaways come back here..."
The two hunters had no intention of working too hard.
They were assigned to watch, so they'd stand guard for now, but no matter how they thought about it, Kang Jin-hyuk and his crew weren't likely to show up again.
More than surveilling for Jin-hyuk...
Their biggest job was making sure the poison gas sprayed inside didn't spread to neighboring homes.
"Ugh~"
Until the sun began to set, the hunter who'd been staring at his phone stretched.
His joints, stiff from hours of sitting, creaked and screamed in protest.
"Shift change not here yet?"
By any common sense, expecting two people to watch this place 24/7 was unreasonable.
The hunter trusted Titan would send replacements soon and turned his eyes back to his phone screen.
"Huh?"
As he looked at his phone, the hunter sensed something off.
Even though the sun had set, an unusually thick shadow loomed over his head.
Had the shift arrived already? As he tried to turn around,
Crack.
His neck twisted half a turn more than intended.
With a grotesque snap, his head spun in an unnatural direction, and the hunter collapsed to the ground.
The other hunter with him had gone down even earlier and was already lying on the ground.
"...Did we have to kill them?"
"Guys who sprayed poison gas in someone else's house? Why spare them and risk what they might do later."
Kang Jin-hyuk had no more mercy left for Titan's hunters.
Barging in here was one thing, but spraying banned poison gas just in case someone was hiding inside crossed the line.
If they tried to kill him that way, responding in kind was only natural.
"I won't spare any others we run into either, so don't get in the way."
Lee Hye-na nodded with a bitter expression.
Even she thought Kang Jin-hyuk's actions were justified.
The impressive part was that he hadn't killed anyone until now—that took real restraint.
Any ordinary person would've slaughtered them the moment Titan burst into the house.
"Right now, let's focus on saving lives before taking them."
Kang Jin-hyuk readjusted Seo Sang-ho on his back and headed to the person he'd contacted in advance.
In this situation, he couldn't trust anyone else, but there were people who could be bought with money.
Kang Jin-hyuk planned to head there first and save Seo Sang-ho, who was teetering on the edge of death.
He couldn't keep fighting heavyweight guilds, including S-rank hunters, while saddled with dead weight.
* * *
Jo Hyung-il noticed Lee Jun-cheol's mood was at least twice as grim as usual.
Frowning deeply, he'd chain-smoked for thirty straight minutes, turning the office into a foggy haze like morning mist.
"Why's boss acting like that?"
"Dunno. He took one call and hasn't stopped since."
Even when asked why, he wouldn't answer, the employee said with a shake of his head.
"Hmm..."
Jo Hyung-il's expression turned serious to match Lee Jun-cheol's.
"It's been since last year's turf war that I've seen him like this."
Lee Jun-cheol only got that way right before a life-or-death gang fight.
So Jo Hyung-il figured this was a similar crisis, or worse.
"Boss, something happen?"
When Jo Hyung-il cautiously approached and asked, Lee Jun-cheol let out a long sigh laced with cigarette smoke.
"I'm agonizing over what to do."
"Do about what?"
"Kang Jin-hyuk just asked me to introduce him to our Park Doc."
"Park Doc? Someone get stabbed?"
"Nah, not him—someone else needs treatment."
"Then just go to a normal hospital, why..."
"Obviously it's a shady injury."
In their line of work, dealing black market goods, getting stabbed in the gut was an annual rite of passage.
Show that to a regular hospital, and the cops would be all over you.
But skip treatment, and you'd lose your life.
That's where guys like Park Doc came in—for those no-win situations.
He'd turned his whole house into an operating room and, license or no, had real skills.
"Hunter work involves beating on people sometimes, so it can't be all above board. What's the problem?"
"The guy he's bringing is."
"Who?"
When Jo Hyung-il asked, Lee Jun-cheol crooked a finger, signaling him to come closer.
Jo Hyung-il leaned in, and Lee Jun-cheol whispered in his ear.
"Titan's Guild Master, Seo Sang-ho."
"What?!"
Jo Hyung-il nearly fell over in shock but caught the surrounding stares and clamped his mouth shut.
No wonder Lee Jun-cheol had kept this huge secret to himself, stewing alone.
And on the flip side, Jo Hyung-il felt touched that he'd opened up to him without reservation.
Jo Hyung-il cleared his throat to reset the mood and lowered his voice so no one else could hear.
"Why's that guy looking for Park Doc?"
"Hell if I know. Park Doc himself tipped me off that something's fishy, so I just found out."
"Damn... Shouldn't we contact Titan directly?"
"Idiot. If it was that simple, would he have dragged Seo Sang-ho all the way here?"
It wasn't something they could hand off to Titan.
Kang Jin-hyuk bringing Seo Sang-ho to Park Doc proved that.
"So what you're agonizing over is..."
As Jo Hyung-il caught on, Lee Jun-cheol gave a small nod.
"Yeah, who to side with."
Kang Jin-hyuk: great earner, high growth potential.
Titan: big guild with a solid rep.
Both were tempting clients.
Jin-hyuk supplied top-quality monster materials regularly, but he was still just an 'individual' with limits.
Titan dropped plenty of scraps as a major guild, but they were tight with the Association—easy to get discarded anytime.
Faced with those choices, Jo Hyung-il gave his answer quick.
"I say go with Kang Jin-hyuk."
"Go with? You calling him pregnant or something?"
"No, this isn't the time for jokes."
"Th-this time? You little shit, head gotten big from some sales, now you talk back?"
"It's not swearing. And are we raising voices at each other now?"
Lee Jun-cheol grumbled, holding back his anger.
Jo Hyung-il was right—this wasn't the time for petty arguments.
"Kid who only knew how to shake down broke asses..."
Ever since partnering with Kang Jin-hyuk, Jo Hyung-il's performance had skyrocketed.
Even Lee Jun-cheol had shared secrets with him he wouldn't tell other employees.
Proof he saw him as his right-hand man, deep down.
Lee Jun-cheol realized it and gave a wry smile.
"Fine, let's hear why you like Kang Jin-hyuk."
"What's to say? Trusting Titan types never ends well."
"Hmm..."
Unlike expected, Jo Hyung-il's reasoning was plain simple.
But it resonated plenty.
The whole reason their organization lurked in the shadows instead of going legit was big guilds like that.
Sticking with them wouldn't lead to good outcomes.
Lee Jun-cheol thought the same inwardly.
What nagged him was the fear of pissing off Titan.
They were growing fast lately, but at core, they were just a shady outfit.
If a major guild leaned on them with state power, they'd be done.
"Boss."
Jo Hyung-il grew frustrated seeing Lee Jun-cheol waver.
"This is the perfect time to hop on board."
"Hop on what?"
"Service industry style—push with customer satisfaction."
Even if Kang Jin-hyuk rose high later, don't cut ties: strengthen the bond now, Jo Hyung-il argued.
"What if he crashes like those coin scammers?"
"Nah, this is a safe bet. My gut says so, boss."
Jo Hyung-il showed rock-solid conviction, like he'd gotten divine revelation in a dream.
Lee Jun-cheol stared at his face, then pulled out a smoke and stuck it in his mouth.
Before he could light it, Jo Hyung-il offered a flame first.
"We can't wipe hunters' asses forever. This is our shot."
"Time to gamble, huh...?"
Jo Hyung-il met Lee Jun-cheol's gaze and nodded silently in agreement.
After five more minutes of thought, Lee Jun-cheol stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray and shot to his feet.
"Alright, let's roll the dice."