Preparation (1)
A smile crept across Lee Cheolyeong's lips.
Well, what do you know. A gift from heaven.
His office had been wrecked, the business he'd been running utterly destroyed. He'd fully expected to end up out on the street—and then, right before his eyes, an opportunity appeared.
"Are you all right?"
Raw strength that treated her frail frame like it was nothing, and a considerable amount of mana radiating off her besides—one look was enough to tell she was a hero.
Back when he'd found her, he'd assumed she was a guild-affiliated hero, and his heart had nearly stopped. Human trafficking was one thing, but trafficking heroes was taboo even among heroes.
But this woman was no guild hero.
"There's no one here but me. My child is in bad shape. He must have hit his head on the wreckage—he's unconscious and..."
"Hold on! Follow me!"
He hurried off somewhere, his lie riddled with holes from the very start.
Lee Cheolyeong had spent a year in hell here in Elid, and he could tell at a glance.
She hasn't been in this world long.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A hero who hadn't yet grown was the top-tier luxury item on the black market, and among them, women fetched three times the price of men.
With that face, I could get five times as much.
Just as a wicked expression was spreading across Lee Cheolyeong's face—
"Mr. Woobin!"
The woman scooped up the injured child and rushed toward a man.
"He's hurt! He's really badly hurt and I don't know where to take him. Could you help us, please..."
She made a great fuss of it, pleading for help.
Watching the performance, the corners of Lee Cheolyeong's mouth kept twitching with suppressed laughter.
So she does have a companion after all.
Elid's ecosystem was a hell where clueless women like her didn't survive. Naturally, he'd assumed someone had helped her all the way to the city walls.
What a moron.
Reason to worry: gone. Lee Cheolyeong's gaze swept over the man.
Baggy plainclothes, not a single piece of armor.
If anything gave him pause, it was only the ring on the man's index finger.
This one from the latest batch too?
He seemed sharper than the woman, but not particularly strong.
Play this right and I can sell both of them.
Lee Cheolyeong schooled his features and approached the pair. The first move was always the same: feigned sympathy to breed complacency.
"Oh, the poor child. Please, help us... Our house collapsed, and we don't even have money for tomorrow..."
Tears seemed to well in her eyes, and then fat, chicken-dung drops rolled down her cheeks.
"Oh no!"
The woman's expression turned grave. She was taking the bait, pitying her.
A little more wretched. Grovel a little more.
Time to drive the wedge in. She was about to sink to her knees when the man's voice cut through.
"Fine. Follow me."
"I'm sorry—really? You mean it?"
He'd expected the woman to be the easier sell, but the reaction was strange. At the man's acceptance, the woman seemed puzzled.
Huh?
She tilted her head, and the man said something incomprehensible.
"Something interesting caught my eye. And I happen to need something to experiment on. Let's all go. Follow me."
Something interesting? Experiments? He had no idea what nonsense that was, but the flow wasn't bad.
A couple of easy marks.
Pressing down his twitching grin, Lee Cheolyeong checked his inventory. Hallucinogens of every variety, all the way up to deadly poison—packed to the brim.
This should be plenty.
Drawing a happy picture of his future, Lee Cheolyeong set off after them.
A grave mood hung over the inner keep of the castle.
Dozens of NPCs, Baron Peterus among them, had gathered, speaking in grim tones.
"We found nothing amiss along the outer wall. The guards on watch say they saw nothing either."
"Then how did the demon enter Bushin?"
"The prevailing opinion is that it appeared without warning in the market district. A minority believe it may have flown in over the walls."
Voices rose and clashed. Among them stood a man listening to the discussion with studied indifference.
That worthless bastard. Clinging to my ankle right up to the end.
The man's name was Jeong Hantae—dispatched here by the United Nations, the very organization hosting this festival, and the mastermind who had put Kim Baekcheong up to it all.
Jeong Hantae's original plan had been for Kim Baekcheong to absorb Adros's essence right in front of Baron Peterus, in the middle of the speech. Had that gone as intended, then even with Kim Baekcheong dead as he now was, the pressure Peterus felt would have been far more crushing.
But Kim Baekcheong had caused problems before he ever set foot in the castle. Thrown in a cell the moment he arrived, then made by the captain of the guard. Everything had tangled into a hopeless mess.
In truth, the old lord's reaction had been lukewarm at best.
"It is fortunate the damage was slight. Who is the hero that slew the demon?"
"We shall bring him before you at once."
At the baron's command, a hero entered the hall. Jeong Hantae's eyes fixed on him.
That bastard killed it?
Before the doubt could even settle, the hero gave a short bow and continued.
"I am Lee Jeonghoon of the Hukgyeol Guild, currently serving as temporary captain of the guard."
More tiresome questions followed. Had he known about the monster? How had he dealt with the aftermath? Watching the exchange, Jeong Hantae's expression cooled.
He was clearly being pushed back.
He'd been too far away to see the details with any precision, but Lee Jeonghoon had been decisively losing ground to Kim Baekcheong. So how had he won?
"This is an item that dropped from the monster."
Lee Jeonghoon produced a single item—an oval sphere glowing with a vivid orange light.
Clever, bringing that here.
That was an accessory of sorts—a wellspring of power that formed inside any creature that had absorbed Adros's essence. Once its host died, it would lose its light and become a useless lump of nothing.
So why bother carrying it here? Proof that he'd killed the thing, then?
Just as Jeong Hantae was sizing Lee Jeonghoon up with suspicious eyes, the man began volunteering unexpected information.
"It's an item called an Artificial Mana Stone. We believe it to be the monster's core organ."
Scraaape—
At those words, Jeong Hantae shot to his feet. Lee Jeonghoon's gaze turned naturally toward him.
"Is something the matter? Why, what's wrong?"
"C-could I take a look at that?"
At Jeong Hantae's request, Lee Jeonghoon handed over the mana stone.
Ding—
◈ Description: An artificial mana stone imbued with the power of the Requiem Adros. Being artificially crafted, it is unstable.
Wh-what is this?!
Jeong Hantae's eyebrows twitched as he stared at the stone. Since when did item info windows pop up for him? And even setting that aside—an artificially made mana stone?
The stone held information far too critical. If this ever got out, the great work he had underway would come crumbling down on the spot.
"Is something wrong? Did something catch your eye?"
Sensing the odd tension, Lee Jeonghoon asked the question. What should he say?
I have to bury this. No matter what.
Even if it meant assassinating Lee Jeonghoon, he had to keep this item from leaving this room. Having made his decision, Jeong Hantae forced his expression into place and answered.
"Yes. Something does bother me, actually. Were there any other items the monster dropped, besides this one?"
"There is one more, yes."
He'd asked on the off chance, and a despairing answer came back.
"This alone isn't quite enough for me to be certain. Would it be possible to examine the remaining item as well?"
Lee Jeonghoon's eyes narrowed as he listened to the question.
Was that too blunt?
Thrown by the sudden turn of events, Jeong Hantae was so rattled he didn't even know what face he was making.
He can't suspect me... can he?
He swallowed dryly and waited for the answer. It took less than three seconds, but it felt as long as five minutes.
"The guild members took it with them. I'm afraid I can't show it to you right now."
Fortunately, the man seemed to suspect nothing.
"If I could just confirm that much, I believe I could figure out who was behind this..."
"Is that true?!"
The baron butted in at Jeong Hantae's words.
The old man really can't tell when to butt out and when not to.
Brushing off the baron's remark, Jeong Hantae addressed Lee Jeonghoon directly.
"Could you confirm it right away? The culprit may be fleeing even as we speak."
At that, Lee Jeonghoon's expression turned serious. He was buying it.
"Understood. I'll have it within thirty minutes. Please wait for me at the abandoned church by the rear gate."
He gave up the time and place without a hint of suspicion.
Watching Lee Jeonghoon walk away, Jeong Hantae let his expression darken.
This is going to be a hassle.
Inside a clean, tidy room.
Zzz... zzz...
The unconscious boy slept the sleep of the innocent, and beside him Min Juhee had drifted off as well.
Sluuurp—
Only Woobin and Lee Cheolyeong remained at the table, sipping tea.
Lee Cheolyeong's face as he sipped was past stiff—it had frozen into sheer disbelief. He stole a glance at Woobin and swallowed the tea in his mouth with an audible gulp.
What is with this guy?
As the situation made obvious, Lee Cheolyeong had served Woobin's party drinks laced with sleeping drugs.
The guy who sold me this swore even a level 150 couldn't hold out against it.
The seller had been adamant: this sedative could knock out an elite hero in the 150s within five seconds. Yet this man wasn't just fine—he was practically glowing.
"Could I trouble you for another cup? It's delicious."
He was on his fifth glass of sedative. Did the man know what this drink was worth, fake status window and all? Did he simply not care?
"Hahaha, of course. Here you are."
Lee Cheolyeong forced a smile and handed over another dose.
Damn it all...
His gaze slid toward the sleeping Juhee. The original plan had been to bind this guy and the brat, and enjoy himself for the first time in ages. But everything had gone sideways thanks to this man.
Maybe I should just kill him.
Just in case, he had poison ready. The seller had sworn it was lethal enough to kill a level 150 hero on the spot. The only problem was that if this man died, his Good and Evil alignment would go straight to hell.
For Lee Cheolyeong, who had no combat ability to begin with, being blacklisted and barred from neutral territories would be a death sentence.
But as long as I don't hand it to him directly, it doesn't count, right?
The karma system was full of gray areas. In fact, Lee Cheolyeong had trafficked human beings without his alignment shifting by so much as a point—because he'd farmed out the dismembering and dealing entirely to NPCs.
Applied the same way, maybe he could kill without the system ever noticing. The poison wasn't something he'd administer, either—the man would drink it of his own accord.
One wrinkle: he'd already downed five bottles of sedative. Would anyone really drink a sixth?
Tap—
Lee Cheolyeong set another drink on the table, casual as anything. Woobin's eyes turned toward it.
The liquid was almost transparent, shot through with a faint violet hue—attractive to the eye, if nothing else.
"Oh, that's a lovely color. A regional specialty, is it?"
"You've got a discerning eye. It's a traditional drink from Juan, the greatest kingdom of the southeast. Tart, with a delicate fruit fragrance—simply exquisite."
Interest lit Woobin's face.
"Might I have that one as well?"
"But of course."
Watching Woobin down the drink in one gulp, Lee Cheolyeong's lips curled into a wide, satisfied smile.
The last thread had come loose. It was done.
Now I'm rich.
He clenched his fist with an expression full of certainty, and just thinking about what came next was enough to make heat pool low in his belly.
Huh? What?
But the joy didn't last. The seller had sworn the victim couldn't survive three seconds after drinking it.
"Delicious."
Why was the man so perfectly fine?
Just as Lee Cheolyeong sat there, mouth agape in bewilderment, Woobin rose to his feet.
"I've mooched quite enough. Allow me to give you a gift in return."
"I'm sorry—a gift?"
"Follow me."
Woobin led Lee Cheolyeong toward a single door in the corner of the room.
What... is this?
The door was uncanny. Its design was different from every other door in the house—like the entrance to a dungeon, if anything. Had that always been there?
Before the question could even settle—
"Come in."
Creeeeeak—
The tightly sealed door began to swing open, and as Lee Cheolyeong stepped inside, a message greeted him.
You have entered Chronos's Secret Workshop.
The Trial of Oppression begins now.