I Know What You Did in Taiwan
These days, Seiko is a busy man. Thanks to the success of the C-class gate raid, he has become a national hero overnight. A man beloved by all. Because of this, he was on his way back from a talk show appearance. Throughout the broadcast, the host and the audience’s praise had only served to puff up his chest even further.
‘Heh, this is what justice feels like.’
It didn’t matter what the reality was. In the end, the one who survives at the very last is the one who takes it all. With a satisfied smile, he entered the hotel where he was staying.
“Seiko-nim!”
Just then, the manager called out to him.
“What is it?”
Seiko replied with a kind smile. He had to manage his popularity now. After all, he was a hunter loved by everyone. Hmph.
“A letter has arrived for you, Seiko-nim. Here it is.”
“A letter?”
Who could it be? Could it be a fan letter from someone who loves me? Seiko took the letter and headed straight to his suite. He tore open the envelope. But the moment he read the first line, the blood drained from his face.
“W-what the hell?!”
The first line he read:
[I know what you did in Taiwan.]
Seiko crumpled the letter, his face contorted, before smoothing it out again to read the rest.
[If you do not accept my proposal, I will release the video recorded inside the gate to the whole world. Prepare the terms in dollars. The amount is 500 million dollars. Don’t make excuses about not having the money. I know everything.]
Seiko’s eyes widened at the mention of 500 million dollars.
“This crazy bastard?”
500 million USD. About 75 billion yen. About 650 billion won. It was an absurd amount of money. Seiko’s breathing grew ragged. His heart hammered against his ribs. The things that happened in the Taiwan gate.
“Damn it!”
Seiko’s fist slammed into the table, shattering it in two. “H-how? How did he find out?”
His voice trembled. It was a mix of rage and terror. Seiko paced around the empty room, tearing at his hair. He had just under 80 billion yen in his bank account. And this guy wanted all of it? There was no way he was giving it up. Do you know how hard I worked to save that up!
He pulled the phone from his inner pocket. With trembling fingers, he dialed a number.
“Hello? Hyung! It’s me. You said you destroyed all the videos! Who knows about it! Someone has the footage! Find out right now! There’s a guy threatening me!”
That incident, which had been buried as a secret forever after all the evidence was destroyed, was slowly beginning to surface. In the worst possible way.
In the darkness where only a few candles flickered, five figures in black attire were gathered around a circular table. They wore masks, making it difficult to identify one another. Then, the figure wearing a white cat mask spoke.
“A request has come in. And a serious problem has arisen as well.”
“What is it?”
“Cheon Yooshin is alive. And the request is to kill him.”
The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment.
“That’s impossible. The plane was already blown up in mid-air. No human could possibly survive that.” The mask shaped like a black dog protested.
“But the facts are speaking for themselves. We received word that Cheon Yooshin is alive. Whether it’s true or not, we need to verify it.” The white cat spoke again.
“This is a matter of our honor. If the fact that he is alive leaks out, the prestige of Ninja Assassin will fall to the ground.”
The one in the wolf mask interjected. “If by any chance the guy is alive, we must kill him again.”
The white cat nodded. “Kuma.”
The white cat addressed the tiger mask sitting across from him. “You go this time. With your skills, even an A-class hunter is manageable.”
The tiger mask nodded and said, “I will definitely get it done.”
“Good.”
The white cat mask stood up. Then, all the figures stood up simultaneously. What was strange was that even though they all rose at once, not a single sound was made.
“We are shadows. The fear of the unseen, the terror of the unrevealed. We only exert our true power when we are in the darkness. Therefore, our failure is the same. Cheon Yooshin, silence him forever.”
Determination flashed in the eyes of the tiger mask who had received the order.
The tiger mask—his name was Kuma. He didn’t know how his target was still alive, but he was confident. He knew the guy was a powerhouse who could solo a C-class gate, but that was only against monsters. He, and the group he belonged to, had lived as shadows in the dark for centuries. For people like them, assassinating someone was a piece of cake.
‘If you were alive, you should have just stayed hidden where no one would know.’
He clicked his tongue and melted into the darkness. His footsteps were as light as a cat’s, and his breathing was quieter than the wind. He passed through narrow alleys until the tightly packed villas began to appear.
‘This is the place.’
It was the location the client had provided. Kuma confirmed the 7th-floor location with his eyes and began to scale the wall like a spider. In an instant, he slipped into the room through the window. A man was lying on the bed.
‘He really was alive.’
Cheon Yooshin was fast asleep. How did he survive? But during a mission, distracting thoughts are forbidden. He shook his head to chase away the thoughts and pulled out a poisoned dagger.
‘I’ll send you off comfortably without you even knowing you’re dead.’
That was the mercy he granted. Kuma drove the sharp blade straight into the target’s neck.
Pffft.
A sound like air escaping a balloon leaked out. As expected, it was a successful mission. But.
Suddenly, the lights turned on.
‘What?!’
Kuma scanned his surroundings rapidly. And he saw it. Cheon Yooshin was standing there, grinning.
Kuma’s eyes widened. What?
He quickly turned his gaze back to the man lying in front of him. But that was Cheon Yooshin too? The figure of Cheon Yooshin, whose neck had been pierced by his dagger, was slowly changing.
“Good work. Imp, go back and get some rest.”
The body of the Imp, which had transformed into the appearance of a demon, began to vanish.
“Good work, Master!”
As Kuma’s eyes trembled violently at this incomprehensible situation, Cheon Yooshin approached him. Kuma quickly jumped up and held his dagger out in front of him.
“…How did you do that?”
“How? You shouldn’t be so curious about someone else’s bottom line.”
“You stupid bastard, either way, the result will never change. If you had asked others for help, your survival rate might have gone up a little.”
“Yeah, that’s what you think.”
Kuma frowned slightly at the playful tone. “You still don’t grasp the situation.”
He threw the dagger to the floor. Then he pulled something out from his pocket. It looked similar to piano wire, but it was distinctly different from the ordinary kind. He pulled the wire taut with both hands.
Twang! Twang!
“Know this before you die. This is a specially crafted alloy wire, a masterpiece made by melting down 2,000 orange magic stones. No matter how much force you apply, it won’t snap. That’s why it cuts through weak human bodies like a joke.”
“Aha. I see.” Yooshin nodded listlessly.
“Then are you coming in now? If not, I’m coming to you.”
At those words, Kuma kicked off the floor. Since it was such a cramped studio apartment, the two were instantly within reach of each other. Kuma’s wire quickly coiled around Yooshin’s arm. Kuma wore a triumphant smile.
“I’ll cut your arm off.”
At that moment, Yooshin smiled broadly and said, “What can a line like this do?”
And as if brushing away a spiderweb, he swiped his free hand down, striking the wire connected to Kuma and his own arm.
Ping!
With the sound of the wire snapping, the wire that had been wrapped around his arm lost its tension and fell to the floor.
“W-what is this?”
Eyes wide. A look of bewilderment. But Kuma was a top-tier assassin. He pulled out another dagger from who knows where and swung it at Yooshin with blinding speed.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The dagger flew, cutting through the air. Clack! But the dagger was caught in Yooshin’s fingers. He tried to pull the dagger out with all his might, but that too was futile.
“I’ve indulged your little performance, so shall we get to the main point now?”
Yooshin’s gaze began to turn dangerous.
Before long, Kuma was kneeling on the floor. His entire body was already covered in blood. Yet, Kuma didn’t let out a single groan. Watching him with indifferent eyes, Yooshin said,
“Only answer what I ask. Then I’ll spare your life. The stunt pulled on the plane I was on—was it you guys?”
Kuma spat a mouthful of blood-mixed saliva onto the floor with a wet sound.
“Heh, did we do it? Or did we not? The moment I was caught by you, I gave up on life. Do you think I’d tell you that?”
As he finished speaking, a significant amount of blood began to leak from Kuma’s mouth. Yooshin frowned at the sight. He had bitten his tongue. On the other hand, unlike Yooshin, Kuma was grinning. He bared his blood-stained white teeth. He smiled as if he had won.
‘Ha, look at this bastard?’
Yooshin also watched him for a moment before grinning. Kuma’s complexion stiffened slightly. The opponent wouldn’t get anything from his death. So why was he smiling like that?
Then, Yooshin opened his mouth.
“Do you think you can run away from me through death?”
“W…h…a…t…?”
His tongue was half-severed, and a lethal amount of blood had already flowed out. Because of that, his voice didn’t come out properly. But Yooshin just laughed. As if waiting for something. And Kuma realized it. He realized that Yooshin was waiting for his death.
In his fading vision, Kuma opened his eyes wide, but it was too late. Eventually, his last breath cut off, and Kuma’s body went limp. He was dead.
“If you were going to die, you should’ve died quickly. You’re dragging it out so much.”
Yooshin wasn’t kind enough to revive someone who bit their own tongue to die. He reached out toward the corpse and said,
“Come out, you punk.”
Then, the Magi resonated, pulling Kuma’s soul out. As expected, his expression was one of panic.
[I, I definitely died…]
“Tsk tsk, I’m sick of it now. That same old repertoire.”
[…What?]
“Forget it, just talk. You guys were the ones who messed with the plane, right?”
[Do you think I’d tell you?]
“Haa… this bastard, he still hasn’t come to his senses. Do you just want to be erased? Don’t you want to be reincarnated?”
[I have no attachment to life. It doesn’t matter if I’m erased like this.]
His gaze seemed detached from life. Kyaa, how cool. So cool.
“Is that so?”
But that kind of thing doesn’t work on me. Yooshin tilted his head once and summoned the Imp.
“Oh Great Master, did you call for me?”
“Hey, make that bastard open his mouth.”
There’s no merchant who can withstand violence. And I don’t necessarily have to do that myself. The Imp glanced at Kuma’s hazy soul.
“Don’t worry, Master. I’m an expert at that sort of thing.”
“Yeah, yeah, hurry up and make him open his mouth.”
The Imp vanished in a flash. He reappeared right in front of Kuma’s soul. Kuma tried to run away in a panic, but he couldn’t escape the Imp’s grasp.
“Where do you think you’re going, you lowly species!”
That bastard? It sounded like he said that for me to hear? And.
Yooshin, frowning deeply, said to the Imp,
“Hey, what are you doing?”
The Imp was shoving both hands into Kuma’s mouth to pry it open.
“Didn’t you tell me to make him open his mouth? Don’t worry. I’m a pro at this. A pro.”
Watching the Imp grin like an idiot, Yooshin let out a short sigh.
‘Ah, what the hell am I supposed to do with this guy?’