Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Shadows of Seoul (1)
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“Hey, one more round~? Call?”
“The designated driver’s here!”
“Hey, handsome, you’re way too good-looking~. How about a drink together here? Yeah?”
Even though public safety had gone to hell, the night streets still buzzed with their own kind of energy.
The loud shouts of drunks, the hawkers calling out, and the pickpockets preying on inebriated wallets.
Hans’s detection network, powered by his familiar magic, grew wider and more precise as time passed.
The broader the range, the more incidents popped up in the area, forcing Hans to hustle even harder.
In the early days, he’d dealt with every petty crook in sight, but lately, he’d started prioritizing serious offenders for punishment.
‘Still, word about Hans must’ve spread around these parts. Lately, the criminals seem to have a bit more sense about them.’
In his efforts to maintain order, Hans had clashed with countless criminals, including some back-alley gangs with real pull.
Of course, he didn’t just smash every crime outfit he found. He only took out the ones caught red-handed or those who crossed the line.
It wasn’t something one guy could eradicate entirely, and even if he cleared them out, new ones would just fill the void.
The rest—who hadn’t gone too far—he simply tracked and kept tabs on.
-Deep Sea Game Land
And that was exactly where Heinz was now—one of the organizations he’d pinpointed.
An adult arcade tucked away in a dingy alley.
Opening the door plastered with faded posters that blocked any view inside, a thick haze of cigarette smoke assaulted his vision.
As Heinz stepped through, every eye in the place locked onto him.
“Well, well, what brings a young fella like you here? Looking to play a round?”
A bearded man stubbed out his cigarette and approached.
He was feigning nonchalance, but the wariness was plain as day.
Some of the thugs in the back were already slyly reaching for weapons.
‘Eh... I get where they’re coming from.’
An uninvited guest barging into a secretive spot that rarely saw outsiders.
And in a getup as suspicious as they come: slicked-back hair, black suit, black mask covering the lower face.
It’d be weirder if they didn’t get suspicious.
‘I considered sunglasses too, but that felt like overkill...’
Becoming a vampire had paled his skin and sharpened his features into something unrecognizable from his original self.
But he couldn’t just strut around showing his face while doing shady deals.
‘Bundling up completely would be overdoing it, though.’
Better to lean into the changed appearance to hide his identity.
By deliberately exposing those sharp eyes—the biggest shift in his look—he aimed to imprint an image totally unlike Han Seonghyeon’s.
That was the thought process behind his current outfit.
Plus, wandering around at midnight in sunglasses might draw even more eyes.
“I’ve got some goods to sell.”
“Goods? This is a game hall. What, you selling arcade machines? We don’t deal with peddlers.”
He slipped the hand wearing his bracelet into his coat and pulled out a piece of gold jewelry, showing it to the beard.
The man stared at it for a moment, then scowled at Heinz.
“Don’t recognize you... Who sent you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it does. In this business, trust is everything. Can’t deal with strangers.”
“Fair point.”
This place was a hub run by an organization fencing stolen goods and all sorts of illegal wares.
One Hans had left alone since it was tricky for him to handle directly.
He dipped into his coat again and tossed over a metal badge.
The beard caught it lightly, examined it closely, and let out a sigh.
“Heard some masked psycho wiped out our guys.”
The badge belonged to executives of an organization Hans had massacred.
Traffickers in humans and organs.
Naturally, he’d rounded them all up and turned them into undead.
“Most of them died, and the group fell apart. I got lucky and slipped away. Now I want to offload the leftovers.”
Of course, he’d scoured their minds with black magic, rooting out the ringleaders and worst offenders. Unless they were lowly grunts who truly lucked out, no one else survived.
The beard mulled it over, then handed the badge back.
“If that’s the case, you came to the right place. Shame about Boss Park, but survivors gotta survive.”
His tone lightened up.
“Must’ve been a trek getting here. Daeran-dong to here ain’t close.”
“Two.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
Heinz just stared silently at the suddenly fidgety beard.
They locked eyes for a moment.
“Ahem... That should do. Follow me.”
The beard cleared his throat and finally led him deeper inside.
The onlookers gradually looked away and resumed their chatter.
‘That guy’s smoother than he looks.’
The exchange had been a passphrase check.
The boss wasn’t Park but Cho, and the base wasn’t Daeran-dong but Garae-dong.
But you don’t correct them and blow your cover.
Such details were easy enough to dig up, and this was just to weed out the careless.
The key was spotting the hidden trap.
In plain terms: ‘How many mistakes in the next exchange?’
‘Good thing I rifled through the execs’ brains and memorized it all. That’s why I came here in the first place.’
Each group had unique codes, changed periodically.
Recalling and testing them on the fly showed the beard was sharper than he seemed.
“Through here. See you on the way out.”
After navigating a maze of corridors, the beard stopped at a door and vanished.
Heinz opened it without hesitation and stepped in.
A man-sized hole in the far wall connected to a table like a bank teller window.
“So, what do you want to trade?”
A masked man on the other side peered over.
“Straight to business. I like it.”
No small talk.
Heinz sat in the chair opposite and slid the gold piece through the slot.
The man took it wordlessly and passed it aside.
Invisible behind the wall, but Heinz sensed several presences in the next room.
Probably handing it off to an appraiser.
Smooth—
Moments later, the man glanced at a paper from the side and slid it over.
A simple note with just a number.
Heinz frowned.
“Isn’t that a bit lowball?”
“That’s how it goes in places like this. You knew that coming in, right?”
He’d known, but not that it’d be this steep.
Heinz pondered briefly, then nodded.
He had plenty of cash on hand anyway. He didn’t need this route.
‘Not after gutting all those crime syndicates.’
Piles of gold bars, cash stacks, real estate deeds from their vaults.
Hans had squirreled it all away in his subspace.
So why bother with this hassle?
“Fine. But instead of cash, can I get something else?”
“Anything, long as the price matches. What do you want?”
“Lotto first prize.”
Cash was useless if you couldn’t spend it.
There were limits to cash transactions these days.
What Han Seonghyeon needed was ‘legit, usable funds.’
And a lotto winner record would provide cover for flashing cash later.
“...That’ll rack up hefty fees. You good with that?”
“Of course. What’s the max you can do?”
“Hmm.”
Typing sounds echoed faintly from the other side.
A monitor must be by the window; the man glanced aside, scanning something.
“Highest available right now is 6.1 billion won. Four months to claim.”
“Next?”
“4.4 billion. Ten months.”
These guys were more capable than expected.
“But do you even have prizes that big? This trinket won’t cover it.”
Fair point—Heinz was empty-handed now.
He activated his subspace magic tool and piled gold bars neatly on the table.
“...You’ve got some fine stuff there.”
The man’s demeanor shifted instantly.
Greed shone through the mask.
Space magic tools were rare to begin with; ones handling storage? Priceless.
No amount of money could buy them outright, so the envy was natural.
‘Yeah, knew you’d bite.’
Heinz met his gaze.
Heinz’s eyes flushed blood-red as a thick bloody aura spread outward.
“......!”
The masked man—and everyone with him—froze stiff.
For a deal this size, with a supposed remnant from a fallen group?
They’d be fools not to try devouring an easy mark.
‘Necessary to ensure a clean transaction.’
If he hadn’t flexed, they’d have schemed some way to screw him.
Time to show his power.
“Let’s keep it clean and end on good terms. We’ll be doing business again.”
After a beat, feeling he’d made his point, Heinz eased off and spoke.
“...Ahem, my bad. I misread you.”
Luckily, the warning landed. The man cleared his throat and had the gold bars whisked away.
The appraiser beside him fumbled, still tense, but soon appraised them and quoted a price.
‘Might makes right, huh? Best way to communicate.’
A much better valuation than before.
They’d sweetened the fees to butter him up.
Heinz nodded, satisfied.
“We only deal at face value. Taxes are on you.”
Conversion fees, lotto premiums, claim taxes.
It’d slash profits to less than half of half what legit gold sales would yield.
‘Can’t be helped with untraceable bars in this quantity. Still stings...’
“Total appraisal’s just over 7.8 billion. The 6.1 billion lotto leaves some change after fees... Cash for the rest?”
“Hmm, hold on.”
Heinz pretended to mull it over, buying time.
Meanwhile, his main body at home frantically searched online.
‘Past lotto jackpots... Eight months back, 6.1 billion? Only three winners? Nothing recent even close. This won’t work.’
He could get legit cash, but big winners drew hunters.
No telling their intel reach, but no need to risk it.
“Skip the 6.1. What’s the max if I take it all in lottos?”
“All in? Fees’d leave about 6.5 billion.”
“Then split it... Not half, say three ways. 3 billion, 2 billion, 1.5 billion. Possible?”
“Close enough, yeah...”
The masked man looked reluctant.
But grasping the caution, he nodded.
“You’re paranoid, huh? We mostly use this for laundering. Not many obsess over hiding like you.”
Average recent jackpots hovered around 2 billion.
Dozens of winners weekly—impossible to track.
“We’re middlemen, so can’t hit exact figures. We’ll ballpark within range.”
“Fine by me. You’re well set up. Popular service?”
“Not hugely. Taxes eat a lot, and there are easier laundering tricks.”
He shrugged, admitting decent traffic anyway.
Made sense—nothing beat it for legit spending power.
Once claimed and taxed, no trails, and “good luck” shut down questions.
“I see. How long till the prizes are ready?”
“Hmm... Hour including delivery here.”
Seemed they had arrangements with fellow shady operators.
Matching that sum in an hour? Impressive.
‘Handy to have lackeys for this stuff. Handle the small fry, run errands...’
...Yeah.
Swallowing a back-alley gang whole didn’t sound half bad.
No more hassle, and plenty of uses.
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