Chapter 27
Chapter 27
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Namdu Group's Eccentric Daughter
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Namdu Group's eldest daughter, Nam Yeon-ah.
She was treated like a weirdo and kept at arm's length within the Namdu Group.
The reason was her personality.
She wouldn't hesitate to do anything if it was for developing artifacts.
Her labs catching fire or exploding during research was par for the course.
It was so bad that people even pitied the labs.
And it didn't stop there. She'd lure in superhuman hunters with promises of powerful artifacts and use them as guinea pigs.
Just like test pilots.
The problem came when the artifacts went haywire during testing.
Hunters testing her creations ended up injured left and right.
Even so, she never stopped her experiments. To her, only the research mattered.
"Guhhh..."
Clang.
As the steel door of the Iron Maiden swung open, Choi Seung-cheol tumbled out, eyes rolled back white, drool spilling from his mouth, looking utterly deranged.
"How was the torture experience?"
Standing beside the Iron Maiden, Nam Yeon-ah looked down at him with a devilish smile. The prototype Iron Maiden she'd developed was a sort of virtual reality torment device.
The subject strapped inside was injected with drugs and subjected to various stimuli, tricking their mind into believing they were being tortured.
The drug called Maiden Blood plunged the target into hallucinations while heightening their senses.
Even the slightest stimulus felt like excruciating agony.
Up until now, Lee Ji-su, Lee Jae-kang, and Choi Seung-cheol had endured all sorts of torments inside the Iron Maiden.
The mental pressure of being bound within the torture device.
Senses sharpened to the extreme, unable to distinguish reality from illusion due to Maiden Blood.
The intense stimuli within hit like the real thing.
Even a mere prick of a needle at the fingertip came with the illusion of it piercing straight through, and the pain felt just as real.
"Thanks to you, I got some great data."
Nam Yeon-ah, tablet in hand, flashed a satisfied smile.
The interrogation artifact she'd whipped up on a whim—the Iron Maiden—hadn't even been tested for ethical reasons.
But thanks to these assassins right in front of her, she'd finally run a real test and scored some solid results.
"You... vicious bitch..."
Choi Seung-cheol, sprawled on the floor after his session in the Iron Maiden, ground his teeth and spat the words.
Hearing that, Shin Yu-hyun drove his sword into the back of Choi Seung-cheol's hand.
Stab!
"Arghhh!"
Choi Seung-cheol let out a agonized scream. Shin Yu-hyun spoke to him in a cold voice.
"This is nothing compared to what you've done so far. Tell me—how many people have you killed in agony?"
"We were just doing the jobs we were hired for!"
"Hired? Hilarious."
Whoosh.
Suddenly, black flames erupted from Ignis.
"Gaaaahhh!"
As his hand burst into flames, Choi Seung-cheol thrashed and screamed.
"You think I don't know what scum like you get up to? You just use 'jobs' as an excuse to enjoy the killing. That's the kind you are."
Shin Yu-hyun looked down at him with icy eyes.
Worshippers of the Getia, who tortured humanity to gain power.
They weren't right in the head.
In fact, the assassins of the Getia worshipper organization reveled in the act of murder itself, using every cruel method imaginable.
Like pleasure killers getting a thrill from watching their victims writhe in pain, just like the Getia themselves.
"S-stop...!"
As the black flames crept from his hand up his arm toward his shoulder, Choi Seung-cheol looked up at Shin Yu-hyun with a pleading, pained expression.
But Shin Yu-hyun just smirked coldly.
It was a smile laced with murderous intent and madness.
"You have to pay the price too. Just like those guys."
Shin Yu-hyun pointed at Lee Ji-su and Lee Jae-kang.
All that remained there were piles of charred ash.
Seeing that, Choi Seung-cheol twisted his face in horror amid the burning pain and shrieked like he was having a fit.
"You bastard...!"
Roar!
But the black flames soon engulfed his entire body, cutting off his curse mid-sentence as he screamed.
In the end, unable even to scream properly, Choi Seung-cheol writhed in torment before crumbling into a handful of ash that scattered on the wind.
"Impressive power."
As Choi Seung-cheol turned to ash and vanished, Nam Yeon-ah, who had been watching from the side, remarked with admiration. To think he'd reduce a superhuman to ashes with aura alone.
But what surprised her more was his demeanor.
He didn't bat an eye at someone burning to death right in front of him.
"Not as impressive as Yeon-ah-ssi’s artifacts."
Shin Yu-hyun glanced at the Iron Maiden.
The interrogation artifact that had brutally tormented Lee Ji-su's group until they spilled everything.
And its creator was none other than Nam Yeon-ah. She hadn't flinched even as they bled and screamed inside it. If anything, she'd been thrilled at the data.
"Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. And you have to give back exactly what you receive."
Nam Yeon-ah said with a smile.
She was fully aware of what she'd done.
Making those who enjoyed slaughter pay the price.
That was why she'd developed the Iron Maiden in the first place—for making vile villains atone.
To let those who reveled in killing feel even a fraction of their victims' pain.
"I agree. What you get, you give back."
Shin Yu-hyun smiled faintly as he looked at her. Short as the exchange was, he understood her mindset.
Return what you receive.
Whether grudge or favor.
"Anyway, you were a huge help with the interrogation."
Shin Yu-hyun smiled at Nam Yeon-ah.
She's as useful as I thought.
Thanks to her, interrogating Lee Ji-su's crew had gone smoother than expected.
And to escape the colorless dungeon, her scouting abilities would come in handy too.
I'll keep an eye on her for now.
He couldn't be sure if she was trustworthy yet.
But as long as they were stuck in the colorless dungeon, she wouldn't betray him.
She needed his help to get out too.
Plus, he was her lifesaver for pulling her out of that pinch.
Given her personality, she'd help him rather than harm him going forward.
"Really? I didn't think we got anything useful for you. If anything, I heard more helpful stuff."
Nam Yeon-ah smiled back at him. They'd gleaned a few things from interrogating Lee Ji-su's group.
Unfortunately, they were just low-level assassins.
So they hadn't learned what Shin Yu-hyun wanted most: info on the Getia in this era.
Just scraps like the hidden Ars Paulina hideout in Korea, or that Lee Ji-su's crew had infiltrated to spy on the Hunter Association.
Getia worshippers had a cellular structure, making intel hard to come by.
But.
"No, I got a key lead too."
"Ah, the guy who deserves a hole blown through him."
"Yeah."
Shin Yu-hyun gave a wry smile and nodded at her blunt words.
"Finding out Nam Min-hyuk is the one targeting you is harvest enough."
Namdu Group's eldest son and official heir, Nam Min-hyuk.
Surprisingly, he was the one who'd commissioned her assassination.
Why he wanted her dead was unclear.
But hearing his name was enough. Shin Yu-hyun knew plenty about him.
One of the guys I have to kill.
After regressing to this era, Shin Yu-hyun had compiled a hit list.
People who would obstruct his revenge on the Getia.
And those who'd sold out humanity to them on a massive scale.
Nam Min-hyuk ranked high on that list.
To protect his own safety and chaebol status, he'd handed over countless people to the Getia.
And he'd even crafted artifacts for them—ones designed to prolong fear and suffering efficiently.
"I won't let that bastard get away with it."
Nam Yeon-ah growled through gritted teeth.
She wanted to use him as a test subject for her Iron Maiden.
He'd targeted her life, after all.
But realistically, impossible.
As the heir to Namdu Group, he wielded immense wealth and power.
"But proving he targeted you will be tough. Even the interrogation footage won't hold up..."
They couldn't use recordings of the session as evidence.
It wasn't interrogation—it was straight-up torture via Iron Maiden.
No legal weight.
And they couldn't parade Lee Ji-su's crew as witnesses.
Dead men tell no tales, and these wouldn't anyway.
Besides, in the unpredictable colorless dungeon, they were just dangerous baggage. Who knew when they'd stab them in the back?
So he'd burned them clean and erased the evidence.
"Guess we wait for the right moment."
Nam Yeon-ah replied with a bitter look.
She couldn't touch Nam Min-hyuk right now.
Just gather proof and bide her time until he slipped.
"You think Nam Min-hyuk will sit still?"
"Once I'm in my lab, even he can't touch me."
Nam Yeon-ah declared with utter confidence.
She was Namdu Group's genius magitech engineer.
With full backing for her artifact research, her lab was a fortress of security.
Not even Nam Min-hyuk could breach it.
"I see."
Shin Yu-hyun nodded.
As long as she stayed in her lab, she'd be safe.
Nam Min-hyuk wouldn't want internal drama in Namdu Group either.
It'd tarnish the company's face and image.
"Got it. Let's get out of here first."
What to do about Nam Min-hyuk could wait. Escaping the colorless dungeon came first.
And more importantly, fighting Lee Ji-su's group and interrogating them had kept them in one spot too long.
Magic beasts from the colorless dungeon could show up any second.
Plus, something was nagging at Shin Yu-hyun.
"Before coming here, I was with Lee Sang-hyuk, and I'm worried. We agreed he'd follow right after, but he still hasn't shown."
Even accounting for descending over 100 floors by stairs, he should be here by now.
Yet Lee Sang-hyuk hadn't arrived.
"Can you trust him?"
Nam Yeon-ah asked, eyes wary.