Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: The Conman's Method of Victory (4)
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‘Where is he?’
*Whoosh!*
Cheon Woo-seong, along with his Owls, leaped from rooftop to rooftop, searching for Park Geon-woo.
It was as if he’d vanished into thin air or sunk into the ground.
No matter how much they searched the area, there was no sign of Park Geon-woo.
“Where in the world…”
Just as he bit his lip in frustration.
*Bzzzz!*
The communication marble in his pocket vibrated.
“...!”
He channeled his mana into it and saw the call was from Park Geon-woo.
Cheon Woo-seong hurriedly raised the marble.
“S-Sir Woo-seong!!”
Reflected in the marble was the blood-soaked image of Park Geon-woo.
A clear sword wound ran across his right eye.
Thick eyebrows, a stoic mouth, and prominent cheekbones.
It was undoubtedly Park Geon-woo.
“Hah! Hah!”
The screen shook violently, as if he were currently on the run.
“I-I’m sorry! The Black Lion got involved, and I was captured…”
“Save it for later!”
There was no time to listen to Park Geon-woo’s pathetic excuses.
“Where are you right now?!”
“I escaped into the sewers!”
So that’s why he wasn’t visible from above.
“How many pursuers?”
“Hah, hah! Fortunately, no one’s on my tail yet!”
Park Geon-woo stopped and looked around.
The view through the marble was nothing but quiet stillness.
There was no sign of anyone chasing him.
“Phew.”
A sigh of relief escaped Cheon Woo-seong’s lips.
He could breathe a little easier knowing Park Geon-woo wasn't being followed.
“From now on, go to the location I tell you.”
“Yes, understood!”
“Keep the communication open.”
Cheon Woo-seong gave him directions while monitoring his movements in real-time.
‘I have to meet him before they catch up.’
He had to meet him and decide whether to rescue or eliminate him.
‘…I’ll have to eliminate him, won’t I?’
Park Geon-woo was his right-hand man.
But now that the Association knew his face, he couldn’t be kept alive.
‘Even if I forgive him, Father won’t.’
Cheon Do-yoon showed no mercy to subordinates who made mistakes.
In that case, it would be better for Cheon Woo-seong to kill Park Geon-woo with his own hands.
“……”
Sorrow flickered in Cheon Woo-seong’s eyes.
Even within the Owl Faction, Park Geon-woo was his longest-serving subordinate.
He was the only one who truly understood his intentions.
‘I have no choice.’
Cheon Woo-seong closed his eyes tightly.
It hurt like cutting off his own arm.
But Park Geon-woo’s mistake this time was too great to be forgiven.
‘This is…’
He clenched his fist hard.
A conversation he once had with Park Geon-woo came to mind.
‘A noble sacrifice for the greater good.’
Yes.
Just as Park Geon-woo had said, this was a noble sacrifice.
To save more lives.
‘Once I have the Association in my hands… I can protect far more people than I can now.’
From the terrible disaster that was the Gakseongja.
He could save them.
“I-I’ve arrived!”
“Stay put right there.”
With a look of firm resolve, Cheon Woo-seong started moving.
The place where Park Geon-woo was hiding was a shelter known only to him within the Black Star Guild.
There was no need to worry about being followed.
“Let’s go.”
Dozens of Owls moved in sync with Cheon Woo-seong.
His personal unit, composed of the strongest members of the Owl Faction.
With this much power, they could overwhelm most unforeseen variables that might arise.
*Splash, splash.*
They moved through the damp sewers toward the shelter.
Nine years ago.
A place where construction was halted after a gate incident during a subway project.
A forgotten underground world that few even knew existed.
There—
“Hm?”
—a deathly silence hung in the air.
“Where are you?”
Cheon Woo-seong asked, bringing the communication marble in his hand closer.
“……”
“Geon-woo? I asked, where are you!”
Breaking the long silence.
“S-Sir Woo-seong.”
A voice filled with terror came through.
“You… you really came to save me, right?”
“……”
“You’re not… thinking of killing me to silence me, are you…?”
Cheon Woo-seong’s expression twisted violently.
‘Is he hiding now because he’s afraid to die?’
What a pathetic sight for a high-ranking official.
“Haha. Don’t worry, Geon-woo.”
Cheon Woo-seong continued, his voice as calm as he could make it.
“Think back on the time we’ve spent together.”
As gently as possible.
“All the painstaking efforts we’ve made to follow the will of the Black Star… To me, Geon-woo, you are an irreplaceable friend and my one and only confidant.”
Like a Venus flytrap exuding a sweet scent.
He lured his prey.
“I have no intention of blaming you for one mistake. It’s a shame you were caught, but your plan to attack Guro-dong by releasing the beasts was a success, wasn’t it? Even after being captured by the Association, you never spoke of the Black Star’s will…”
He smiled warmly.
And spread his arms.
“I have no intention of killing you, so please come out and don’t worry.”
*Rustle.*
As if in response to his words.
Someone walked out of the darkness.
It wasn't Park Geon-woo.
It was someone who should not have been there.
“—So it really was you.”
A low, deep voice.
A small-framed old man glared at him with sharp eyes.
Cheon Woo-seong’s eyes widened as he stumbled back.
“...H-Han Tae-ho?”
Why was the Association’s old viper here?
“Honestly, I didn’t want to believe it.”
Han Tae-ho clenched his fists tightly.
“No matter how cunning you are… I never thought you were the kind of person who would point a sword at the powerless.”
But.
Cheon Woo-seong had massacred hundreds of people.
He had thrown himself into an unforgivable sin.
“Cheon Woo-seong. I am arresting you as the mastermind behind the civilian massacre and terror attack.”
“……”
Cheon Woo-seong’s shoulders trembled faintly, as if in disbelief.
An eerie premonition crept up his spine, spreading through his entire body.
‘The fact that Han Tae-ho is here means…’
There was only one possible explanation.
“Park, Geon-woo…!”
He had betrayed him.
He had turned his back on the will of the Black Star and set a trap to lure him out, all to save his own pathetic life.
How else could Han Tae-ho have been waiting here as if he knew he was coming?
“Y-Y-You blasphemous traitoooor!!!!”
Cheon Woo-seong roared, his face contorted like a demon’s.
“How dare you! How dare you think you can survive after turning your back on the will of the Black Star?!”
Rage, boiling like a volcano, shot to the top of his head.
His eyes were bloodshot.
A gaze glistening with venomous hatred stared into the darkness beyond.
“Come out! Show yourself!!”
Park Geon-woo was probably hiding cowardly in that darkness.
“You seem to be mistaken about something.”
“Mistaken?”
“Park Geon-woo, was it? The one who carried out the terror attack.”
*Tsk.*
Han Tae-ho clicked his tongue lightly and continued.
“That man died a long time ago.”
“……What?”
Died a long time ago?
He had just been communicating with Park Geon-woo himself. What kind of nonsense was this?
“What rubbish are you spouting…”
“I must say, I never thought you’d fall for such a clumsy disguise.”
“Clumsy… disguise?”
Cheon Woo-seong’s gaze shifted behind Han Tae-ho.
“C-Clumsy! I spent three hours on this makeup!”
There stood a manager, disguised as Park Geon-woo.
“That’s a disguise… you say?”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
He seemed to have put some effort into the sword scar on the right eye and the shape of the lips, but that was it.
The disguise was so pathetic that even calling it clumsy was a waste of breath.
‘No.’
What he had seen.
What he had spoken to.
What had led him here.
It wasn't a manager disguised as Park Geon-woo.
“You must have been quite on edge.”
No.
That’s not right.
‘That was… the real Park Geon-woo.’
There was no way he could have mistaken him.
No matter how rushed or anxious he was.
There was no way he wouldn’t have recognized Park Geon-woo.
“Well, you did seem quite desperate when you frantically contacted us first.”
“...What?”
He contacted them first?
“What… do you mean by that?”
No.
He hadn’t contacted anyone first.
He had only received a call from the escaped Park Geon-woo.
“...What?”
*Stumble, stumble.*
Cheon Woo-seong staggered back, his face pale.
—Something was wrong.
Something crucial.
Something fatal.
It was twisted.
So twisted he couldn’t even tell where it had all gone wrong.
‘It’s different.’
His memory.
The words coming from Han Tae-ho’s mouth didn’t match.
‘What… what happened?’
He felt a sense of dissonance.
An unpleasant feeling, as if a great, unseen hand was manipulating his and Han Tae-ho’s movements like marionettes.
“Shouldn’t that be enough talk?”
*Thump, thump.*
Another figure emerged from the darkness.
A young man with eyes as cold as ice.
An aura like a wild beast, unfitting of his cold gaze, consumed the surroundings.
“...The Black Lion.”
He wasn’t alone.
The Association’s special officers and members of the Valhalla Guild.
They had all set a trap here, waiting for him.
‘Dammit!’
Facing Han Tae-ho and the special officers was already a gamble, but with the Valhalla Guild involved, he stood no chance with his current forces.
‘In a place like this…!’
So meaninglessly.
So emptily.
He couldn't be captured.
“Go! My Owls!”
He ordered his subordinates to buy him time and hastily turned to flee.
“Don’t let him escape!!”
The Black Lion chased after him.
*BOOOOM!!!*
A terrifying explosion shook the abandoned subway tunnel.
***
“Hah! Hah!”
*Limp, limp.*
Covered in blood, Cheon Woo-seong staggered forward, looking as if he might collapse at any moment.
“Grh…!”
A deep sword wound cut across his side.
Including the minor cuts, dozens of injuries covered his body.
‘Still, I managed to escape somehow.’
Cheon Woo-seong bit his lip and scanned his surroundings.
Thanks to his subordinates who threw themselves in the way, he had somehow succeeded in getting away.
“Quickly… I have to contact Father.”
He muttered in a trembling voice, taking another shaky step.
Just then.
“So this is where you were.”
Beyond the darkness-shrouded passage.
A pair of blue will-o’-the-wisps were burning.
“You… are.”
Cheon Woo-seong’s eyes shot open.
Park Geon-woo.
The figure walking toward him from the passage was unmistakably Park Geon-woo.
Not the manager in the clumsy disguise.
The very same face.
He had seen on the communication marble.
“...Who are you.”
*Clack, clack, clack.*
His teeth chattered from a fear that consumed his soul.
“Who the hell are you?!!”
He screamed as if in agony.
“Me?”
The man who looked like Park Geon-woo smirked.
“Well.”
He slowly tilted his head.
*Gurgle.*
With a sickening squelch, his face began to contort.
Skin melted away, and muscles twisted.
“...Ah.”
Park Geon-woo’s face became Han Tae-ho’s.
Han Tae-ho’s face became Lee Woo-hyeok’s.
Lee Woo-hyeok’s face became Cheon Woo-seong’s.
In the blink of an eye, the face shifted countless times.
“Who do I look like to you?”
*Heeheehee.*
An eerie laughter echoed through the air.