Gunfire Crashes the Auction
Lying in bed trying to catch some sleep, my smartphone buzzed with a notification. U Minjeong had gone live.
Thinking back to how she'd spewed abuse at me every day when she was drunk made any urge to rescue her vanish, but I'd promised Kang Mina I'd save her mom. Using Mongshili as a shield, pulling off the rescue myself shouldn't be too hard.
The screen lit up. The background looked a bit different. A few softbox lights were off, making the space feel even more dingy and eerie.
And there was U Minjeong. She was dressed way more blatantly than yesterday. She wore only a transparent black vinyl robe, looking like she had nothing on underneath. The robe was deliberately slipped off one shoulder, exposing a breast that seemed even larger and more swollen than before. Her nipple was clearly red and puffy.
Hold on... where the hell was U Minjeong streaming from?
I ran a quick deduction. It was 11 p.m. here. Accounting for time zones, that made it 9 p.m. in Cambodia or 6 p.m. in Dubai. The pitch-black window outside ruled out 6 p.m.
Still in Cambodia, then...
Before the stream started, it looked like she was fiddling with the computer and some setups. Her face was pale, with deep dark circles under her eyes. But her lips were painted a vivid red, flashy as ever.
She stared at the camera for a moment, then bowed her head mechanically.
"...Hello. This is Indecent Butterfly. I'm... back again."
Her voice was extremely languid, the ends of her words trailing off into haze. The trembling and whimpering from yesterday were gone, replaced by utter listlessness.
"Today... today..."
She couldn't continue, glancing sideways off-screen. At Jang Junpyo standing just out of frame. She nodded to him, then forced a smile at the camera.
"Today... viewers... get to choose... how to... train me."
Her speech was slightly slurred, like a kid reciting lines from memory.
The chat exploded with question marks.
Then a new window popped up on screen.
The top donor today chooses the next training stage for Indecent Butterfly, whose Nipple Development is complete.
1. Oral Pussy Development - Focus on oral sex and throat stimulation.
2. Vaginal Development - Vaginal wall sensitivity amplification and cervix stimulation training.
3. Anal Development - Anal sphincter relaxation and colon sensation training.
That's when it happened.
It was getting exciting. I was curious about who these big spenders really were.
"Congratulations... BigWhale1. As the top donor... please choose one of the three trainings..."
U Minjeong trembled lightly, like a condemned prisoner begging for BigWhale1's mercy. All three options targeted the deepest wells of shame.
The camera panned to a plastic tray beside her with the items.
Tray 1: A long silicone tube that looked like it could be an endoscope.
Tray 2: A large vibrator and a probe with a rounded tip.
Tray 3: A series of anal plugs getting thicker, plus clear lube.
She instinctively clamped her legs together. The secretive silhouette under the transparent robe sharpened into view.
"Th-this kind of..." Her voice cracked.
"Please, I beg you, BigWhale1... please."
She knelt in prayer, rubbing her hands together... pleading. Eyes shut like the execution was coming. A tear slid down beside her nose.
Then, the executioner's chat popped up.
The camera started shifting toward the anal plug tray—
BANG!!
A sudden explosion. The screen shook.
"Kyaaack!!"
U Minjeong's scream. The camera spun sideways from the impact, focusing on the door.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Rifle bursts mixed with sporadic pistol shots. Men with guns sprinting by.
The chat went berserk. I swallowed hard, staring intently at the screen.
The camera wasn't on the streaming stage anymore—it was exposing the raw backstage.
Bang-bang-bang! Bullets streaking like lightning. Cambodian gangsters charging the camera dropped one by one—thud, thud.
"What the hell's going on?"
Either Cambodian gangs at war with each other, or a police raid for the rescue.
"Kyaaaaaaaack!"
U Minjeong's pitiful screams kept echoing.
Tragedy from afar is comedy, they say. Seeing their chats made my stomach turn. Just some unrelated drama to them. Like the Ukraine war—young lives on the line reduced to an FPS game.
This channel has been permanently suspended for violating platform policies.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Live-streaming deaths? Yeah, deserved ban.
"Whew..."
The thought of U Minjeong possibly dying gave me a headache. What mess was this before I could even go rescue her?
I scratched my head at the black screen, replaying the final frames. There was delivery food in paper packaging. Tung Tai Fung dim sum franchise.
Dim sum isn't big in Cambodia—no major franchises. Locals don't dig it. Only Chinese expats there do.
Google search: Tung Tai Fung only in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Bingo...
And the Takeo Province branch on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. I pinned the location.
Checked delivery range for the branch.
"Nice. Delivery radius 2km."
Google Maps showed an industrial complex. Cambodian crime syndicates disguise as big logistics hubs.
Takeo Province Logistics Complex
Probably somewhere around here.
Deep in Takeo Province, past where the national highway ends, down dirt roads. A decent-sized logistics complex showed up.
At least I'd found where U Minjeong was held.
And BigWhale1's identity. Their chats felt old-school. Emoji spam too.
Kang Rokgi, huh?
Burning 500 million casually? High chance. Maybe aiming to hit 1 billion, play hero ransoming her with cash. Then bring the fully trained slut home as his personal fuckhouse.
You creepy old bastard...
But it was a perfect trap. Kang Rokgi was already snared in the Triad's tight net. U Minjeong was a half-human shikigami like Kang Mina now.
Team up with Detective Nam Gyuho's special forces, and rescue's doable.
Assuming U Minjeong was still alive, anyway.
Right on cue, as if reading my mind, my phone rang—Detective Nam Gyuho.
Yunnan Province, Miao Autonomous Region. The village, at an average elevation of 1,980 meters in the highlands, hid in thick fog between jagged mountain valleys.
At the entrance stood a massive ancient tree, twisted grotesquely, easily thousands of years old. Hanging precariously along the slopes were stilt houses like giant beast ribs.
In the highest, darkest one—a wooden house with beast skulls and dried twisted viper corpses dangling from the eaves—the deepest secret chamber held a woman sitting cross-legged. A sight utterly at odds with the eerie scene.
Skin pale as snow, lips like crushed red camellias. Long ebony hair shimmering faintly in the moonlight. She was Chun Mei, the Miao tribe's greatest genius gu poison shaman.
"Kuh...!"
The silence shattered as Chun Mei's body arched like a bow. Black blood, reeking foully, oozed from her red lips, soaking her pure white silk robe and dripping to the floor.
"Haa, haa...! Wh-what is this."
She braced the floor with trembling hands, gasping raggedly. Her beautiful eyes shook with shock and terror.
Just moments ago, the spiritual link to her life's masterpiece—forged with her own life as collateral—had snapped clean.
"The Spirit-grade gu poisonHeavenly Spirit Spider betrayed me?"
The souls of tens of thousands of venomous bugs and the thick grudges of wronged children that formed the Heavenly Spirit Spider—severed like cut with scissors.
The backlash from losing a Spirit-grade vengeful spirit forged on one's life was immense.
Cough... Black blood kept pouring from her mouth. And her heart stopped.
"...Damn it."
Fangs slowly pushed from her beautiful lips.
"A human body would've died."
Squelch!!
Her sharp nails tore into her chest toward her heart. Red blood sprayed wildly.
Squish, squish.
Incredibly, she plunged her hand into her chest and massaged her stopped heart manually. No pain on her face.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
The heart restarted. She withdrew her hand—wound healing rapidly.
Immortal Blood Ghost. Chun Mei, who turned herself into a disaster-class evil spirit for eternal life, was the Miao tribe's top sorceress, conquering death.
And simultaneously—
Crack!!
The gu poison jar for her Heavenly Spirit Centipede shattered.
"Impossible..."
The Special-grade vengeful spirit Heavenly Spirit Centipede was gone.
She writhed, touching the shards.
"I lent the Heavenly Spirit Centipede to that noseless shaman, and it vanished? The Heavenly Spirit Spider I launched as a Sal (Killing Curse) betrayed me? This make any sense?"
Chun Mei's eyes blazed. She roughly wiped black blood from her mouth with her hand.
"The audacity. Some human stealing my Heavenly Spirit Spider..."
She ground her teeth.
Disinfectant smell. Steady beeping heart monitor.
Detective Nam Gyuho slowly lifted his heavy eyelids. Blinding fluorescent lights stabbed his vision, but oddly, his mind was clearer than ever.
He exhaled deeply, confirming he was still alive.
"Honey..."
His wife, Eunjin, huddled pale by the bed, snapped her head up. Deep dark circles under her eyes, both swollen red.
Damn... worried her again.
Seeing her husband awake, she rushed over, gripping his rough hand tight.
"You back in your right mind? Do you know how scared I was?"
"...How long was I out?"
"I don't know, you weren't just sleeping..."
Her voice quivered. She glanced nervously at the door, then whispered low.
"After you collapsed, I sent Kim the shaman—our station's contracted strong crime specialist—straight here. His face went white. Said you took a deliberate gu poison Sal (Killing Curse) from a Special-grade shaman. A bit later and your energy would've been sucked dry—heart attack city."
Nam Gyuho swallowed dryly at her scolding laced with resentment.
"Nah, bullshit. Kim the shaman's New Year's fortune last time was all wrong. If I'd been under constant Sal, I'd have noticed. Guy's probably not even 1st Grade—just a hack."
Modern world. Science and reason rule, but in politics, economy, and shadowy crime alleys with vested interests, shamanism and curses were open weapons.
Especially in major crimes with foreign mobs or cartels—shamans were always involved. So police manuals standardly assigned at least 2nd Grade certified national shamans as advisors to investigation teams.
"No. Kim arrived, slapped talismans to repel the Sal (煞) in a rush—that's why you're alive."
"...Kim repelled the Sal (殺)?"
"Huh? Yeah. He set up barriers around the room, did a gut ritual too."
Nam Gyuho bolted upright in bed. He recalled she couldn't distinguish Sal (煞) from Sal (Killing Curse), and the Sal (Killing Curse) right before blacking out.
"Exorcism wasn't Kim. He just did basic Sal (煞) cleansing."
Sal (Killing Curse) was a type of Sal (煞) using vengeful spirits to kill. He touched his neck. The massive centipede bite from the gu poison Sal (Killing Curse) still felt vivid.
Kang Suhu was Special Grade... no, beyond.
『Back off Detective Nam Gyuho!』
The dignified Kang Suhu from then flashed back. Not a 23-year-old on uni hiatus—a shaman with national-level spiritual power.
Hand seals and true words? Buddhist lineage.
"Honey, you feeling okay?"
"Yeah. Sorry for worrying you."
He squished her cheeks and pecked her lips.
"I'm all good!"
"No, stay down! You were literally dying. It's past 2 a.m. now."
"You know how tough I am better than anyone."
Nam Gyuho thumped his chest. He reached for his coat, pulling out his smartphone.
Screen on—welcome notification. Approval from above on the Cambodia missing case.
Two 1st Grade shamans. Two SWAT platoons assigned.
Nam Gyuho's lips curled up. With this backup, they could launch a swift rescue op on the Cambodian crime complex.
No hesitation—he dialed Kang Suhu.
The line barely rang before a dry, calm voice answered.