The First Revenge (1)
At the message that had suddenly popped into his head, Woobin immediately checked his skill card.
Ding—
Type: Skill Card
Grade: L
Level: 2
Form: Active
◈ Effect: Creates a door connected to Chronos's Secret Workshop.
◈ Bonus Effect: Configuration function unlocked
"A configuration function?"
What kind of feature had appeared, exactly? He briefly considered stepping into the room right away to check the newly unlocked effect, but shook his head.
He had no room in his mind for anything else. There was only one thing that mattered right now—catching that bastard.
Woobin lowered his stance and stared straight ahead.
Three figures who appeared to be from the Chulgyeol Guild were waiting for Jeong Hantae. Taken on its own, the situation wasn't bad at all.
Capturing Jeong Hantae alive in the first place was next to impossible.
But with Lee Jeonghoon's help, everything became easy.
Jeong Hantae's specialty was scouting and analysis. His role in the party had amounted to nothing more than stripping items from his enemies.
Even back when he'd been stabbing Woobin in the back, hadn't he used that precious trait of his to rip away their core items?
Jeong Hantae could never beat Lee Jeonghoon. He would clearly be subdued without even managing a proper struggle.
That's how it would've been five years ago.
But five years had passed since then. He had no idea what Jeong Hantae's full strength looked like now.
Just how strong had he become?
Crick-crack—
Woobin clenched down hard on the fury rising in his chest, and waited for the moment to come.
Zzzzz—
An abandoned church, filled with the song of night insects.
Three heroes sat in chairs, waiting for Jeong Hantae.
"Captain, are we really doing this?"
"Shh—if you've got nothing useful to say, just leave."
Chae Suyeon, the youngest of the three, shut her mouth after catching an earful from Lee Jeonghoon.
Tch—what did I ever do to him.
She replayed what Jeonghoon had said a little while ago.
"From this point on, we take down Jeong Hantae. I'll take questions after everything is over."
He hadn't offered a shred of explanation. Only that they would capture Jeong Hantae, followed by a long, winding plan.
Jeong Hantae is one of the real powers behind Saber, you know...
She'd heard the rumors. A founding member who had built Saber from the ground up, in possession of some enormous trait.
She'd seen the man in person exactly once, four years ago. So why on earth was the captain trying to take him down?
Isn't this how wars start?
Belonging to a guild wasn't like simply joining a company. If he had to compare it, it was closer to joining an organization.
A guild was obligated to protect its members, and its members devoted themselves to the guild. What they were doing now was extremely dangerous.
Moving on Jeong Hantae was the same as drawing a blade against Saber itself.
I'm dying of curiosity here.
She wanted to demand the reason that very second, but Chae Suyeon held it in. She knew he wouldn't tell her even if she asked.
Why isn't he here?
According to Lee Jeonghoon, Jeong Hantae was supposed to arrive within ten minutes. Yet fifteen had passed without so much as a hint of anyone's presence.
Don't tell me he'd smelled the trap and run?
"Cap—"
Just as Chae Suyeon turned to question Lee Jeonghoon, he rose to his feet.
"He's here."
Before the words had even left his mouth, a man's figure smoothly materialized out of empty air.
Jeonghoon's plan had been simple.
"I subdue Jeong Hantae by force. Unseong injects the paralysis venom the instant he struggles, and Suyeon, you fit him with the restraint device. The signal to begin is my handshake."
Ba-dump—ba-dump—
Chae Suyeon's heart was pounding wildly. Subduing rogue heroes happened from time to time, but touching someone this big was a first.
What would happen if they failed?
As if we could fail.
There was no reason to fear failure in the first place. Lee Jeonghoon was a monster ranked 181st, while Jeong Hantae's only real credential was the title of Saber founding member.
Gulp—
Just as the tension in Chae Suyeon's chest peaked, Lee Jeonghoon extended his hand to Jeong Hantae.
She raised every one of her senses so she could react the instant the signal came.
"Apologies for the lateness. Something came up that I had to prepare in a hurry."
"Not at all."
Jeong Hantae took Lee Jeonghoon's hand without the slightest suspicion.
Ba-dump—ba-dump—
Now Captain Jeonghoon would bend Jeong Hantae's arm and pin him down—or so she expected. That was exactly how it was supposed to go.
"Huh?!"
But something impossible was unfolding before her eyes.
Something black burst out from behind Lee Jeonghoon's back, and then—crunch!—blood came pouring onto the floor.
"Guh!"
The moment Lee Jeonghoon crumpled, a great shout rang out beside her.
"Suyeon! RUN!!!!"
"What?"
Her thoughts couldn't keep up with events.
Thud!
A short, brutal blow struck the back of her skull, and her vision faded smoothly into darkness.
Ding—
The flood of messages echoed deafeningly through his skull.
"Cap%! $tain!!! W&$ake&! up! Cap@!"
A voice slurred in and out, mangled and garbled.
Too loud...
Just as the desire to keep sleeping was taking over his body, a sharp woman's voice stung his ears.
"Captain!"
Lee Jeonghoon's eyes snapped open, and he lifted his head.
"Ugh!"
Hot pain flooded up from his abdomen.
"Captain! Snap out of it!"
He saw Chae Suyeon, both her hands bound behind her back.
What the hell happened?
Gritting his teeth, Jeonghoon began piecing the situation together.
He'd shaken Jeong Hantae's hand, and the moment he'd moved to execute the plan, he'd felt a presence at his back. But he hadn't been able to react—
the hand caught in the handshake had restricted his movement.
After that, he remembered nothing.
I got played.
Had the man noticed the trap? Or had this been the plan from the very start when he set up the meeting—
Crick-crack—
His tangled thoughts went ice-cold.
Even ambushed, Jeonghoon wasn't weak enough to be taken from behind. A stab to the gut wouldn't drop him either.
And yet he'd been subdued far too easily.
Which meant his attacker was a genuine professional.
Stay calm.
Lee Jeonghoon quickly assessed his own body.
Clank—
His hands and legs were bound to a pillar; he couldn't budge an inch. Normally he could have snapped free in one motion, but unnaturally, no strength would gather in his limbs.
"Damn it, there's nothing here. How do you burn through your entire Good and Evil score like that? Now I'm on the bounty list. What a crock of shit."
A voice drifted over from somewhere ahead. He shifted his gaze and found Jeong Hantae.
The floor around him was carpeted with equipment that looked painfully familiar.
Jeong Hantae rummaged through the items as if searching for something in particular—then noticed Jeonghoon was awake.
"Oh, you're up. How's the body holding up?"
Jeong Hantae ambled toward him, scratching the back of his head with lazy ease.
"What is this?! Aren't you going to untie me?!"
Jeonghoon barked, but no answer came. The man only curled his lips into a grin and idly twirled a keen-edged dagger through the air.
That's—
A dagger he knew very, very well.
"100% chance to inflict Bleed on attack, plus 100% increased Bleed damage. Pretty nice, huh?"
It was the Bloodrend Twinblades—Jeonghoon's main weapons.
"How did you—"
Jeonghoon frantically pulled up his status window. His inventory, once crammed with high-grade items, was completely empty.
Jeong Hantae, who had drifted close at some point, spoke quietly.
"I've been wondering something. Why did you claim you had items you don't actually have?"
"Excuse me? What's that supposed to—"
He'd apparently been combing through the whole inventory looking for pieces of Adros. Judging by his words, he'd already realized no such items existed.
"I have so many questions for you. Answer them honestly, and we'll get along fine."
"What kind of bullshit is that?! Untie me, damn it!"
"First question."
Jeong Hantae's lips parted. A cold bloodlust pressed down on the air.
"The monster that invaded Bushin at lunch today. Who killed it?"
For an instant, the chill in the room squeezed the breath from his throat. That toneless, emotionless voice was horrifyingly eerie.
"Who do you think?! I did—I killed it!"
"Let me ask again."
But Jeong Hantae didn't believe him.
"The monster that invaded Bushin at lunch today. Who killed it?"
He posed the identical question again and stared flatly into Jeonghoon's eyes.
"I told you. I killed—"
The moment he gave the same answer—
"AAAAAGH!!!"
"Unseong!!!"
A man's scream tore through the church, and Chae Suyeon's cry broke out alongside it.
His gaze snapped over on reflex, and he saw his direct subordinate, Ji Unseong.
"You fucking bastard!!!!"
Red blood streamed down from Ji Unseong's eyes. Beside him stood a man Jeonghoon had never seen before, holding one of Unseong's eyeballs in his grip, his expression utterly flat.
A moment later—crunch—he squeezed his fist, and the eyeball burst, its thick fluid soaking into the floor.
"Why are you doing this?!"
Jeonghoon roared, but still no answer came.
"Who killed it?"
The same question. Over and over.
Damn it.
Gritting his teeth, Jeonghoon glared at the son of a bitch who had gouged out Unseong's eyes.
It's him. He's the one who hit me from behind.
The man showed no marking above his head at all.
The aura rolling off him was the ordinary mana of any hero. Which meant he was just a common hero—so was he really not afraid of making the bounty lists after all this?
First, I need to buy time.
Crick-crack—
Having made his decision, Jeonghoon forced down his fury and shouted.
"You really think you'll get away with this? By tomorrow, the Master will be here!"
"Let me ask you again."
"You insane bastard! Are you out of your goddamn mind?!"
"Who killed it?"
The man was beyond mad. No matter what was said to him, he only repeated the same question.
"I told you already! I killed it!"
Shhk—
"AAAAAAGH!!!!!"
Ji Unseong's right wrist was sliced away.
"You fucking monster! Stop it! I told you, I killed it!"
"AAAAAAGH!!!!!"
The blade did not stop, no matter how Jeonghoon begged.
Unseong's skin was flayed, his ears torn away—and finally, his remaining eyeball was plucked out as well.
"Please... stop... please..."
Chae Suyeon, watching the whole scene, squeezed her eyes shut and sobbed.
"Hahh... hahh..."
Ji Unseong was past even screaming, his breath coming in ragged, broken heaves.
"Now, move on to the woman."
At Jeong Hantae's word, the man who had been torturing Ji Unseong turned and walked toward Chae Suyeon.
A red name had appeared above the man's head at some point.
His Good and Evil score had been utterly ruined by torture—he was on the bounty lists.
"Heek!"
Chae Suyeon's face drained to a deathly white. Unable to bear it any longer, Jeonghoon spoke in a low voice.
"Fine. Fine, you win—just stop..."
As Jeong Hantae raised his palm, Kim Hyeokjae halted.
"Go ahead then. Talk. Who was it?"
"A man I'd never seen before."
Gritting his teeth, Jeonghoon went on with the story.
A man who had clashed with Kim Baekcheong. A man who had drawn the Master's attention.
"He killed the monster with a single punch. Blew it apart. It's the truth, I swear! So just stop."
It was an even less believable story than the one he'd kept insisting on.
"And this man's name?"
But Jeong Hantae asked without a trace of doubt. Apparently he had some kind of truth-verification skill.
Damn it...
Judging that lies would get him nowhere, Jeonghoon had no choice but to speak.
"That man's name is Kang—"
The word was just slipping out between trembling lips—
Ding—
Brain Shock
KA-BOOOOOM—
A single line of light tore through the darkened air. Where it landed was Kim Hyeokjae, still mid-torture.
At that insane speed, he couldn't so much as react.
Ding—
Fist Strike
BOOM!!!
Kim Hyeokjae detonated on the spot.
Shhhhk—
As the blood sprayed outward, a man stood tall above the spray.
It had happened so fast that no one could have recognized him—but Jeong Hantae knew at a single glance.
Ten whole years—no, a bitter bond that stretched back even further, to their days together on Earth.
"Kang Woobin..."