Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Owl Hunt (2)
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“This is…”
Inside the case was a single silver gauntlet.
It wasn’t a ridiculously large gauntlet like the one from a certain hero movie, but rather a quite sleekly designed one.
“Try it on.”
“Yes.”
Oh-jin wondered which arm to wear the single gauntlet on before slipping it onto his left.
*Click.*
‘Oh.’
As he put it on his left arm, the size automatically adjusted to fit him perfectly.
‘It’s surprisingly comfortable.’
To exaggerate a bit, it was so comfortable it felt like he wasn't wearing anything at all.
It felt less like a metal gauntlet and more like one made of cotton.
“Si-hoo made this after getting all worked up watching some hero movie that was popular a while back.”
Director Han added with a chuckle.
‘He really made it after watching a movie.’
That was just like Kim Si-hoo.
“But is there only one?”
“He insisted that it’s cooler to only wear one and wouldn’t listen to reason.”
“……”
That style-obsessed little brat.
“Well, it seems he focused all the materials and technology into this one piece.”
“What does it do?”
Oh-jin tilted his head and tapped the gauntlet on his left arm.
He could tell it was incredibly durable just by looking at it, but he couldn't figure out its other functions.
“Hmm… Mr. Woo-hyeok, could you help us out for a moment?”
“How can I help?”
Lee Woo-hyeok nodded and rose from his seat.
“Please swing your sword at that gauntlet. With as much mana as you can muster, of course.”
“…Are you serious?”
Lee Woo-hyeok looked at Director Han with a surprised expression.
He was skilled enough to be on the verge of 9-Star.
If he struck with his full power, he could tear through a five-meter-thick steel plate like paper.
“Yes. Mr. Oh-jin, please try to block Mr. Woo-hyeok’s attack with the gauntlet.”
“Hmm. Understood.”
For the normally cautious Director Han to speak with such confidence, the gauntlet’s durability must be considerable.
Oh-jin stood up and faced Lee Woo-hyeok.
“Will you really be okay?”
“Well, since he’s putting it like that, let’s give it a try.”
“But…”
Lee Woo-hyeok looked at Oh-jin with conflicted eyes.
Oh-jin was the benefactor who had caught his brother’s killer, a man he had foolishly almost let slip away.
He hesitated, worried he might inflict a serious injury on his precious benefactor.
“Haha. You don’t need to worry!”
*Thump!*
Director Han pounded his sturdy chest and declared confidently.
“…If you say so.”
Lee Woo-hyeok nodded and drew the sword from his waist.
*Fwoooosh!!!*
A powerful gale swept through the office.
The swirling wind condensed on the sword’s blade, and then—
*Swiiiiiish!*
—it shot toward Oh-jin with terrifying force.
“Keuk!”
Feeling the intense mana prickling his skin, Oh-jin raised his left arm toward the incoming gale.
*Shwoooooo!*
“What the…?”
With a sound like air escaping a balloon, the gale was sucked into the gauntlet.
The silver gauntlet glowed red, as if it would melt at any moment.
‘This is.’
Oh-jin’s eyes gleamed as he felt the dense mana flowing from the gauntlet.
*Vwoooom!*
The red-hot gauntlet vibrated violently, as if about to explode.
“Heup!”
Oh-jin instinctively thrust his gauntleted left arm forward.
“Oh… w-wait a moment, Mr. Oh-jin!”
Director Han tried to stop him urgently, but—
*Swiiiiiish!!*
—before he could, a powerful gale erupted from the gauntlet and shot toward Lee Woo-hyeok.
“……!”
With incredible reflexes, Lee Woo-hyeok deflected the incoming gale.
*Craaaaaash!*
One of the office walls shattered and crumbled.
“Whew. That’s a relief. I apologize; I didn’t expect you to fire it back so quickly.”
“This is…?”
“It’s a Sacred Relic that can absorb an attack imbued with mana, store it, and then release it.”
“Ha.”
A dry laugh escaped Oh-jin’s lips.
‘This thing is completely broken, isn’t it?’
To think it could absorb a full-power attack from the Black Lion, Lee Woo-hyeok.
The performance of the gauntlet Kim Si-hoo had created was a ridiculously overpowered item that far surpassed his imagination.
“Haha. I told you, didn’t I? That kid Si-hoo might have a quirky personality, but his skills are second to none.”
“Even so, I didn’t think it would be this good…”
“Ah, of course, there’s a limit to the amount of mana it can store. If it’s hit with more mana than it can absorb at once, it can take damage.”
“Even with that, it’s incredible.”
He hadn't expected it to have an unlimited absorption capacity in the first place.
‘The fact that it blocked Lee Woo-hyeok’s attack means its absorption capacity is pretty good.’
It probably wouldn’t have held up if a few more attacks had followed, but in a battle where victory and defeat are decided in an instant, being able to nullify an opponent’s attack even once was a huge advantage.
‘And it doesn’t just nullify it.’
Oh-jin grinned as he looked at the shattered office wall.
It was a Sacred Relic that boasted perfect performance for both defense and offense.
“Thank you. I’ll make good use of it.”
“Haha. Aren’t you the ace of our ‘Association,’ Oh-jin? A reward like this is nothing.”
Han Tae-ho deliberately emphasized the word ‘Association’ with a grin.
“Hmm… this puts me in a bit of a difficult position.”
Lee Woo-hyeok looked at the gauntlet on Oh-jin’s arm and let out a short sigh.
“Difficult position?”
“I also brought something for you today, Mr. Oh-jin.”
“Ah.”
The Stigmata Stone I asked for before.
‘I don’t need it anymore, though.’
Since he had unexpectedly cleared the quest, he no longer had a pressing need for a high-grade Stigmata Stone.
“Ugh. It’s nothing compared to that gauntlet, though.”
Lee Woo-hyeok held out a square box.
Inside were three fist-sized Stigmata Stones.
‘Holy crap.’
Oh-jin’s eyes widened as he examined the stones.
“They are 8-Star Stigmata Stones of the highest quality.”
“Heh…”
8-Star Stigmata Stones were quite rare.
Especially those of the highest quality.
‘Just because it’s an 8-Star monster doesn’t mean it will drop an 8-Star Stigmata Stone.’
Although hard to find in the country, 8-Star monsters themselves weren’t that rare.
The problem was that most 8-Star monsters possessed Stigmata Stones of a lower grade.
Therefore, it was rare for an actual 8-Star Stigmata Stone to drop even after hunting an 8-Star monster.
‘And not just one, but three.’
He had asked for high-quality Stigmata Stones, but he never imagined Lee Woo-hyeok would prepare something of this caliber.
“Thank you. I didn’t expect you to prepare something so valuable.”
“Mr. Oh-jin, you may not be a member of our guild, but we are comrades with the same goal.”
“Of course.”
To be precise, it was more like the relationship between a trainer and a hound.
But if they wanted to think of it that way, he couldn't ask for more.
‘Anyway, what should I use these for?’
Simply absorbing them would be too much of a waste.
It wasn't like he was short on mana.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t they say an Aquarius Awakened can create elixirs using high-grade Stigmata Stones?’
Apparently, making them wasn't too difficult.
The hard part was obtaining the high-grade Stigmata Stones.
‘In that case.’
Oh-jin’s eyes sparkled.
The mana deficiency Ha-eun was currently experiencing.
He thought this might be able to solve that problem to some extent.
‘It would be perfect to make an elixir for my sister.’
A broad smile spread across his face as he imagined Ha-eun jumping for joy.
“Then let’s get down to business.”
With the rewards out of the way, it was time to address the purpose of this meeting.
“First, I’ll brief you on the general situation.”
Director Han brought over a projector and started a presentation.
“After the public announcement of the Black Star Guild’s atrocities, various guilds have issued statements declaring they will exterminate them.”
The laser pointer indicated a dense list of names of large and small guilds that had issued statements this time.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that practically the entire country of Korea is mobilizing to subjugate the Black Star Guild.”
Well, that made sense.
They were an organization that had carried out a terrorist attack on civilians in the middle of downtown Seoul.
Even just to save face, the guilds would have had no choice but to issue statements.
“What’s particularly noteworthy is that… even the ‘Cheonhye’ Guild has made a move.”
“…The Cheonhye Guild?”
The Cheonhye Guild.
The guild led by one of the Seven Stars, Tamrangseong Cheon Sang-gil, and was undisputedly known as the strongest guild in Korea.
‘They’re famous for not getting involved in anything that doesn’t happen in Paradise.’
The Ganghwa Island Special Autonomous Zone.
In the place commonly known as Paradise, they reigned like kings.
Well, not that they ruled like medieval kings with tyranny and oppression.
‘It’s just that the government’s authority doesn’t reach there at all, so they’re described as reigning like kings.’
At least within Paradise, they were the law and justice.
Perhaps because of that, the Cheonhye Guild rarely intervened in matters outside of Paradise.
‘For a guild like that to make a move.’
Did that mean this incident was that significant?
‘…I’ll have to think about this.’
He wasn't sure. It was hard to tell if they were truly moving with the pure intention of eliminating the Black Star Guild.
They were a very secretive and reclusive guild, after all.
“The problem is… even with so many guilds rising up, we can’t seem to catch a trace of the Black Star Guild.”
Director Han’s expression hardened as he continued.
“A few of their branches were exposed based on the information you gave us before, Mr. Oh-jin, but the location of their main headquarters is still a complete mystery.”
“Were you unable to get anything from the Black Star Guild members you captured before?”
Lee Woo-hyeok asked with a frown.
“We interrogated them as harshly as we could… but it’s as if they’re under some kind of magical restriction; they absolutely refuse to talk. A few of them even had seizures during interrogation.”
Just as Director Han said, few organizations could match the Black Star Guild in their ability to thoroughly conceal information.
“I heard before that the Black Star Guild also exists in Italy. Is it possible they don’t have a headquarters to begin with?”
“No.”
Director Han shook his head.
“The Black Star Guild in Italy and the one in Korea are completely different factions. The movements of the two factions are also too different to be under the command of a single entity. Honestly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they’re completely separate organizations that just happen to share the same name.”
That was accurate.
“And… while we don’t know the location of their headquarters, we have obtained information about its approximate scale.”
“How large is it?”
“…They say there are at least 3,000 Black Star Guild members in the headquarters.”
“……!”
Lee Woo-hyeok’s eyes widened.
The average number of members in a guild classified as large was around 200 to 300.
For a small to medium-sized guild, it was 50 at most. Over 3,000 was an astronomical number.
In terms of scale alone, it was more than ten times the size of a large guild.
“If you include the undiscovered branches, the number will be much higher.”
“…Where on earth did they get that many people.”
Even if they could turn non-Awakened into Awakened, secretly making thousands of people into Black Star Guild members was no easy task.
“We have some idea about that.”
Director Han continued as he changed the presentation slide.
The screen showed a massive prison.
“Do you remember the incident from three years ago? The Cheorwon Prison Mass Disappearance Incident.”
“I’ve heard of it.”
It was a fairly famous incident from three years ago.
‘Wasn’t that the incident where thousands of heinous criminals vanished without a trace?’
After the Gate crisis began, crime rates had skyrocketed worldwide, and with them, the number of criminals.
Cheorwon Prison was a facility that housed only the most vicious criminals who had committed murder, robbery, human trafficking, and other such crimes.
“A significant number of the Owls we captured this time were criminals who disappeared back then.”
“So it was the Black Star Guild that caused the mass disappearance incident.”
“Yes. That’s what we presume.”
Did that mean most of the Black Star Guild was composed of the criminals who had disappeared then?
‘Well, that makes sense.’
Considering what they had done so far, many of their actions were things a normal person would find difficult to do.
‘Jang Seok-ho must have been a special case.’
It was safe to assume that not many members were forced to follow the Black Star Guild.
“Then the Black Star Guild must have started expanding their influence in Korea two years ago.”
“That’s right.”
Good.
The picture was starting to come together now.
‘Records of the Noctua Stigma exist right after the Gate crisis occurred, but after that, it vanished without a trace.’
And according to Jang Seok-ho, the Black Star Guild had been hiding in the Demonic Realm.
‘In other words.’
Nine years ago, when the Gate crisis began, the Black Star Guild crossed over to the Demonic Realm, the world of monsters, and spent six years there, hiding and building their strength.
‘And they started to emerge and expand their influence three years ago.’
He felt like he was slowly uncovering the true nature of the Black Star Guild.
‘Well, something else is more important than the identities of those bastards.’
Oh-jin turned his head toward Han Tae-ho.
“You said the interrogation of the Owls you captured before has made little progress, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Would it be alright if I tried interrogating them?”
“You, yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. As a Special Officer, you certainly have the right to interrogate captured criminals… but with the restriction in place, I doubt you’ll get much out of them.”
“Well, it’s worth a try.”
He shrugged lightly and rose from his seat.
‘You doubt I’ll get much out of them?’
We’ll see about that.
‘I wonder about that.’
A chilling glint flashed in Oh-jin’s eyes.