Chapter 366: The Fetters of Karma (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 366: The Fetters of Karma (8)
An office in the Jung-gu, leased under Shin Jun-seong’s name.
The hacker, who was tapping away at his computer just like any other day, was arrested on the spot by the Association’s Hunters who suddenly stormed the place. He couldn’t even put up a decent fight.
When I met him in the Association’s underground interrogation room, the look on his face was a real piece of work.
“Fuck, I thought it would last a bit longer this time, so I wasn’t even prepared.”
His attitude was as if he’d always known this day would come.
A background check on his name, Jeon Hyeon-su, revealed he already had two prior convictions.
A leopard can’t change its spots, it seemed. Even after getting out of prison, he went right back to his old ways.
“I told him this operation was a bad idea, but he wouldn’t listen. And now he’s dead. Tsk.”
“…”
It was obvious.
Shin Jun-seong and Jeon Hyeon-su were connected by money and nothing more.
Still, for him to have an attitude like that when the guy paying him had just died… he must have lived a rough life.
“Before Shin Jun-seong died, he told me to find you.”
“Wow… that bastard even sold me out? I didn’t take him for that kind of guy, but he was a total son of a bitch!”
“…He said you have the information he gathered.”
“If you’re talking about that USB, I do have it, but…”
The guy narrowed his eyes slightly and grinned.
“I’ll hand it over quietly, so how about you reduce my sentence?”
His crimes were serious.
Not only had he illegally accessed the information of a state agency, the Association, but he was also subject to aggravated punishment due to his history of similar offenses.
Of course, the former was because I had deliberately left a crack in the firewall to lure him into taking the information.
I readily agreed to his deal.
“As long as you hand it over without a fuss.”
It was obvious how guys like him operated.
That’s why I had already spoken with the Association before entering the interrogation room.
If he cooperated, they would work to reduce his sentence to some extent.
“Okay, great. Is it because you’re young? Your mindset is way more open than those old geezers I’ve dealt with before.”
Having gotten what he wanted, the guy grinned and praised me.
A compliment from a criminal.
It didn’t feel particularly good.
“The USB is in the safe at my place. The password is 892892.”
“…Ah, right.”
Look at that password.
Ugh, what a pervert.
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892892.
I entered the password and opened the safe.
Inside were just a few bundles of 50,000-won bills and a USB drive.
The money was probably emergency funds so he could bolt at a moment’s notice…
“Hmm.”
I held the black USB in my hand, lost in thought for a moment.
Only I could see the contents of this USB.
The Association couldn’t see it either.
To solve this ridiculous prerequisite, I had to give up something quite significant.
A promise to participate and help in an Association-led operation one time, at any given moment.
Some might say it’s not a big deal, but it was huge.
The important part was one time, unconditionally, at any moment.
To put it bluntly, if they suddenly said, ‘We’re raiding an S-rank dungeon, you come help!’ I’d have to be dragged along without a word of complaint.
“Of course, they wouldn’t go that far.”
After all, I was a promising talent who would be responsible for the future of the Republic of Korea.
They wouldn’t be crazy enough to push a national treasure into a situation where death was a certainty.
…Probably.
After retrieving the USB from the safe, I went straight home and sat down at my computer.
“Feels like it’s been a long time since I sat here.”
And it had.
I barely used it, except to search for something on the internet.
I pushed the USB into an empty port on the front of the tower.
Ding!
A window popped up with the connection sound.
I entered a folder labeled ‘Ibis’ and saw several document files.
I opened the very first one to check its contents.
“The brother-in-law’s hot touch violates his sister-in-law… ‘You’re my woman now, sister-in-law.’ ‘Brother-in-law, you can’t do this. It’s not too late…’ ‘No, it’s too late… I’ve become a man who can’t live without you…’”
What the hell is this?
Instead of information, it was filled with some erotic novel.
“…He might have hidden the information inside this.”
Just in case, I meticulously read the entire erotic novel, whose title I didn’t even know.
“Nothing.”
By the time I realized there was no hidden information in the novel, a full day had passed.
I was pissed.
“How dare he hand me this kind of horny trash and call it information…!”
Who was it?
Which son of a bitch gave me an erotic novel instead of intel?
Should I follow the already-dead Shin Jun-seong all the way to hell?
Or should I just smack that cunning hacker upside the head?
The answer was obvious.
“Hey, you bastard!”
I went to deal with the hacker, who was still among the living.
“The USB is full of porn, and you expected to get your sentence reduced for this? Huh?”
“Gack, cough…! That’s all I was given…!”
His voice, crying out that he was being framed, was filled with sincerity.
If that was the case, there were two possibilities.
Either that scumbag Shin Jun-seong threw me a giant ‘fuck you’ right before he died.
“If not that… then the porn is just a disguise.”
The erotic novel was merely a cover, and the real information might be hidden inside.
There was a simple way to find out.
“Check it.”
I placed the laptop he used and the USB on the interrogation room table and gave the order.
With a sullen expression, the hacker moved his fingers and then pointed at the screen.
“Some of the files were set to hidden. I’ve unhidden them now.”
“You should have done that from the start, you punk.”
If he had, I wouldn’t have spent all night reading porn.
Then, the hacker looked up at me with cold eyes and muttered.
“You’re not very good with computers, are you, sir?”
“…”
“I mean, it wasn’t any special technique, just a simple ‘hide file’ setting. Coming to chew me out because you couldn’t figure that out is a bit… Are you some kind of young geezer?”
A y-young geezer?
“Your sentence reduction is canceled.”
“What?”
“I said it’s canceled.”
That insolent bastard.
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I returned home, plugged the USB in again, and checked the newly revealed files.
[The final goal for the 504 ‘Ones with Aptitude’ is to reach the Seven Deadly Sins, the seven emotions of sin.]
[By accumulating a certain amount of karma, one can be chosen by one of the Seven Deadly Sins and use their Divine Authority.]
[By eliminating a competitor, one can absorb a portion of their power.]
[Eliminated personnel: #491 (Pride), #502 (Envy)]
“So he’d already eliminated two of them.”
Number 491 and 502.
A priest chosen by Pride and another by Envy had lost their lives at Shin Jun-seong’s hands.
He must have acquired this information in the process.
This much I had already figured out, but… I decided to read on.
[(Addendum) It seems the final goal of the 504 is not just the Seven Deadly Sins.]
“What does this mean?”
The final goal isn’t just the Seven Deadly Sins.
Does that mean another path exists?
“Certainly… I did think that was a possibility.”
I’d had a similar thought myself, however briefly.
It started with the two beads hanging from the bracelet.
If the Seven Deadly Sins were the only final goal, one would only need to accumulate bad karma. So why did they also create a bead for accumulating good karma?
Was it simply to filter out the good people?
That argument had its flaws.
Weren’t the 504 who received the ‘One with Aptitude’ trait already acknowledged as having the talent to reach the Seven Deadly Sins?
The most plausible reason for the good karma bead was…
“There must be another path.”
Perhaps another path opens up when one fills the bead with good karma instead of bad.
And whoever reaches the end of that path will surely become my enemy.
One who reaches the root of sin and one who rejects it.
Anyone could see they were far from being friends.
“But in the end, it’s just speculation.”
Both me and Shin Jun-seong.
We were only guessing that such a path might exist; we hadn’t found any definitive proof.
In reality, there might not be another path at all.
“For now, I’ll just skim past this…”
I turned to the next page.
A rather interesting title appeared.
[List of Groups Suspected to be the Seven Deadly Sins or Related to Them]
I wondered who they could be.
Curious, I scrolled down lightly.
The first one to appear was.
[Organization Name: Red Pill]
[Boss: Unknown]
[A group expanding its sphere of activity with China as its base.]
[A drug smuggling organization that sells a narcotic in the form of a red pill, as its name suggests.]
[Those who abuse the drug for a long time become steeped in anger and bloodlust, turning into red-eyed murderers.]
[It was smuggled into Korea a few months ago, but its distribution was halted after being busted by Kim Do-jin.]
[Presumed to have been chosen by Wrath (Ira) of the Seven Deadly Sins.]
“Huh.”
The bastards who sold Kim Jeong-hun that red pill were the Seven Deadly Sins?
“…It’s not entirely nonsensical, is it?”
That red energy that had been parasitic on his mana.
Thinking of how he was gradually consumed by it, revealing a strong bloodlust, it seemed entirely possible.
“Red Pill…”
They were confirmed enemies.
The vaccine Han Ju-hee and I created had completely blocked the spread of their drug.
They’d probably have a seizure and try to kill me at the mere mention of my name.
“Next up is…?”
[Organization Name: Church of Light (光名敎)]
[Boss: Brain Washer]
[A cult that kidnaps Hunters or awakened beings and brainwashes them into becoming members.]
[Radical terrorists.]
[There is a theory that the boss, Brain Washer, is the possessor of the Divine Authority of Sloth.]
[This is not confirmed, so more information needs to be gathered.]
“Huh… they were the Seven Deadly Sins too?”
I remembered them being active for quite a long time.
If the villain ‘Brain Washer’s’ ability was the Divine Authority of Sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins…
“…When on earth did he get the trait?”
I knew they weren’t ordinary folks, but I never imagined they’d be one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
If, as written here, he was one of the 504 granted the Divine Authority of Sloth…
“He might even be an Apostle.”
Brain Washer.
He could be the Apostle of Sloth.
His ability was that dangerous and insidious.
Also… considering his tendency to push others to the front through brainwashing while he stays back, the image of Sloth seemed to fit him quite well.
“In any case, he’s definitely someone to watch.”
Whether he had the Divine Authority of Sloth or not.
His danger level remained the same.
As did the fact that he was one of the most heinous criminals the Republic of Korea had ever produced.
I etched his name into my mind once more and turned the page.
A flood of candidates for the Seven Deadly Sins poured out.
Among them were some of the 504 who had been granted the Divine Authority of the Sins, as well as those presumed to be their helpers.
“There are more than I thought.”
My name was also on that list.
However, the information wasn’t perfect.
It presumed that I, the Apostle of Gluttony, was either Pride or Lust.
Well… considering my usual conduct, it wasn’t entirely impossible for them to misunderstand it that way.
“He did a pretty good job gathering information.”
I now understood why he had laughed at me so mockingly.
With this much information in his hands, I must have looked like a complete ignoramus.
I even felt a sliver of gratitude toward the departed Shin Jun-seong.
To pass on all this information to me.
Maybe he was a better guy than I thought.
“Let’s see… is this the last page?”
I opened the long-awaited final page.
[Organization Name: Hexagram]
[Boss: Unknown]
[Members: Unknown]
[A mysterious group whose name was barely discovered.]
[Main stage of operations is the entire world.]
[They do not act conspicuously, but are presumed to be highly active under the surface.]
[They seem to have key figures from various countries in their grasp, manipulating them at will.]
“Hmm…?”
What was this?
This name reeked of a final boss, and the description was full of nothing but conjecture.
I frowned and read the remaining text.
[The existence of the organization Hexagram was identified while eliminating #491 (Pride).]
Number 491.
Even if it was a low number, to think he wasn’t the head of a group, but a mere subordinate.
That meant… there was a high probability that Hexagram’s executives or its boss were old hands who had been assigned a double-digit or even a single-digit number…
I read the last few lines.
[In the process of tracking his movements, it was confirmed that a meeting took place between #491 (Pride) and the S-rank Hunter ‘Scarlet Witch’ Han Ju-hee.]
“…”
No, wait a minute.
Number 491 met with Han Ju-hee?
A woman so busy that meeting her in person was a pipe dream unless you were someone incredibly important…?
Forcing my trembling, heavy eyelids open, I took in the last line.
[It is highly probable that the S-rank Hunter ‘Scarlet Witch’ Han Ju-hee is a member of Hexagram or has some other connection to them.]
“…”
In that moment.
A dizzying sensation, as if I’d been struck from behind, rocked my very soul.