War on Crime (1)

"Hwaaam."

Baek Ajin had just wrapped up her patrol of the market and was on her way to a get-together with her friends.

She'd gone through no small ordeal to get her hands on thirteen Versatile Runes, so she'd granted every one of her staff a vacation while she was at it.

Vroooom!

The turbo engine roared as she pressed the accelerator.

With Samseong-dong a fair distance from headquarters, she'd recently picked up a new car.

A fiery red Porsche 911 Turbo.

Those gorgeous curves—the kind that set a woman's heart racing at a single glance—had simply been more than Baek Ajin could resist.

Truth be told, it was a cheap car for her income.

It cost a mere 300 million won and change, after all.

Somewhere near Hanam City sat a private café, far from prying eyes, and the friends gathered there were in a full-blown frenzy.

She wasn't even a chaebol heiress—what was a woman in her early twenties doing with a 911?!

"Whoa, what is this thing?"

"Baek Ajiiiin! You're insane! Chaebol-tier connections really are a class of their own!"

"Can I take pictures?"

"I call the passenger seat later!"

Some were admiring her with pure, wide-eyed delight.

"Seriously, what do you even do these days?"

"Right? You used to live in the group chat, and now you don't even mention how busy you are."

"Quit hiding it and just tell us already!"

Others were burning with curiosity about what Baek Ajin had been up to.

"The truth is."

Baek Ajin came out with it plainly. They'd already agreed on this. Now that the entire family had come into Yubaek's fold, there was no need to hide any longer—she was free to declare it proudly.

"I've been working at Yubaek lately."

"What?"

"Yubaaaeek?!"

Her friends shrieked and doubled over in disbelief.

Yubaek—of all places! Wasn't that the hottest new management outfit in the country, the one rumored to treat its people better than Daesung, Korea's top corporation? The very management that handled the national representative, Baek Jinwoo, no less! These days, every elite said to soar across the nation dreamed of getting a foot in that door.

"The Yubaek I know?"

"I knew it! Yoo Jia's connections were never just for show!"

"Then have you seen Baek Jinwoo? What's he like? Is he handsome?"

At the last question, Baek Ajin scrunched up her face.

Handsome? My brother?

He'd filled out a bit lately, sure, but a brother was a brother. The word handsome sat a little wrong with her.

Not that her friends saw it that way, of course.

"Here—cards."

What use were a hundred words? Baek Ajin dealt out the business cards she'd received from Yubaek.

"Whoa, what's with these cards?"

"...Gold? Is this actual gold?"

"No way... it can't be...?"

Plastic stock, with the name engraved in pure gold. These weren't cards to scatter around carelessly—they'd been given to her to hand out only to her truly cherished friends.

And printed on them, in crisp relief, sat a title and a name!

"D-Director?"

"Huh? Are my eyes going? There's no way, right?"

"Not staff—a director?"

"Since when does Yubaek have directors?"

Flustered, her friends each snatched up their phones and pulled up Yubaek's official website to check the makeup of its board.

"Holy crap!"

"It's real!"

"And there are only two of them, no less?"

"What on earth is going on here?"

Her friends demanded an explanation.

Fine.

She had come out to this gathering planning to tell them anyway. Dragging it out would only breed bigger misunderstandings, and that would be a rotten thing to do to her friends.

"Sorry I couldn't say anything until now. The truth is... my brother is Baek Jinwoo."

A bombshell announcement! Every jaw at the table dropped.

"WhaaaAAAT?!"

"Seriously?"

"Baek Jinwoo? The national hero Baek Jinwoo is your brother? It's not some other Baek Jinwoo with the same name, right?"

Truthfully, that one sentence explained everything. The flashy sports car. The connection to Yoo Jia. The directorship at Yubaek.

Forget a gold spoon—she was born holding a Baek Jinwoo spoon.

I-I'm so jealous.

Wait, wasn't Ajin's brother sick after a car accident, though?

It took them quite a while to accept and process reality.

A short ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while later, Baek Ajin had become the center of every conversation. As if there'd only be one or two things they were dying to know. And the pretty ones, no less—

"My lady! Our pretty Baek Ajin, my lady!"

"What are you on about? She's MY lady! Ajin, let's be sisters-in-law! I'll be the best sister-in-law you've ever had, 'kay?"

Half in jest, half in earnest, they even turned on the charm.

Good grief, what's gotten into them? Have they lost their minds?

Baek Ajin herself gaped and waved them off.

And yet.

Her shoulders were creeping up all on their own... It did feel good. So this was what it felt like to bask in a great brother's glory!

And at that very moment.

"So we just hit that place, right?"

"And the moment we join the gang, they hand us 100 billion won in cold cash?"

Outside the private café in Hanam City, three players stood staring up at the building.

One was a gang member. The other two were Oh Jimyeong and Park Hoseop—Rank 9 and Rank 10, respectively.

"That is correct, honored Rankers. Kidnap the Baek Ajin inside, and they've promised not only the 100 billion won but ten percent of all revenue that flows through Baek Jinwoo from here on out."

The gang's demand was simple. Kidnap Baek Ajin. Then leave the country and keep her identity secured.

Making an enemy of Baek Jinwoo, huh...

Which might be for the better, all things considered.

After a long stretch of agonizing, the two Rankers had accepted the offer. They could have gone to Baek Jinwoo and apologized, but they had their pride to think of.

This route just feels easier.

Perfect. Kidnap his family and squeeze him with them. Why did I never think of that?

A debt for the punch I ate has to be repaid.

His ribs still throbbed to this day—all because of the liver shot he'd taken in that multiplayer match.

"What about the others besides Baek Ajin? There seem to be quite a few of them."

Oh Jimyeong asked, and the gang member answered with a sinister smile.

"You're welcome to kill the rest."

"Hold on."

Rank 10, Park Hoseop, cut in.

"Then while we're busy grabbing Baek Ajin, what exactly will your gang be doing?"

It was a sharp question. Were the gang planning to give orders from the sidelines and pull out the moment things went south, leaving the two of them branded as the traitors who dared lay a hand on the national hero?

"Please don't worry. The gang has staked its life on this operation. Most of our members posted overseas have already smuggled themselves into the country."

"Oh? And then?"

"Quite. Baek Jinwoo's family doesn't begin and end with his sister, does it?"

"So the gang means to strike Yubaek as well?"

"Precisely."

That was the gang's true objective. Yubaek housed Baek Jinwoo's family, Yoo Jia included. Better still, Baek Jinwoo himself was currently on assignment in Dubai. The perfect window.

Of course, if Baek Jinwoo were the cold-blooded type who couldn't care less about his family's safety, the whole ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠operation would be pointless. But going by his track record, the odds of that were slim.

This was a man who bought his family a house and even sweated their security detail.

True, touching Yoo Jia meant making an enemy of Daesung, and that gave them some pause—but there was no helping it. For the gang, leaving Baek Jinwoo to his own devices was the far bigger headache.

"Good."

Oh Jimyeong nodded.

"Then we begin at once."

In the five hours that followed, Baek Jinwoo hadn't eaten so much as a mouthful of food—hadn't even taken a single sip of water.

Fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh!

Ramba whirled through her stack training, Pokryongi sitting quietly at her side.

And—

— Krururuk...!

Together with Doldori, scythe in hand, warily watching over their surroundings, they simply waited for Hungyo.

Then, at last, the resummon cooldown came around.

Vwooom!

With a flick of his hand, he called Hungyo forth.

"Hungyo."

Flash!

Emerging in a burst of light, Hungyo looked completely unharmed. More than that, his entire presence had changed.

Thud.

The man who approached dropped to one knee.

— "My Lord... I beg your forgiveness for causing you worry."

"Worry? Forget worry! What happened?"

At Baek Jinwoo's question, the corners of Hungyo's mouth curled faintly upward.

— "It was a complete success. I can feel tremendous internal energy stirring within my body."

"Yeah?"

He checked the man's status at once.

Wh-what the...!

Baek Jinwoo reeled. Gongmyeong Magong, and now Hwan-gol-tal-tae on top of it? And his stats had gone completely off the rails. For the record, that was with not a single rune equipped.

"You little rascal!"

He'd truly gone and transformed! At this level, nobody would bat an eye if you called them the stats of an A-rank—no, an S-rank summon.

"Hold on a second."

Baek Jinwoo pulled the Versatile Rune he'd lent to Pokryongi and slotted it straight onto Hungyo instead.

And then—

No—hold on. What kind of monster was this? Stats of 1,580?

Baek Jinwoo had never once imagined seeing numbers like these attached to Hungyo. And for the record, this was only a near-graduation rune. Once he equipped the Trinity Rune later on? He'd become stronger still.

— "My Lord, I feel such monstrous strength that a single stroke of my blade might cleave a mountain in two."

"I believe it."

As if the mountain were the problem. If he set his mind to it, he could probably turn an entire city into a field of weeds in under a minute.

"Wait—the Nine Yin Severed Meridians were worth that much?"

— "...Indeed. In Hwata's knowledge, there were even madmen who regarded a human stricken with the Nine Yin Severed Meridians as an elixir of the ages."

"Fine. I'll give you that one."

Baek Jinwoo nodded.

"This Versatile Rune—and the Trinity Rune we'll obtain down the road. They're not Aso's. You get them first."

At his words, a fierce light kindled in Hungyo's eyes.

— "Thank you, My Lord!"

He had been acknowledged. He'd been promised the main slot—the place at his lord's side as his blade. Hungyo was so overjoyed that every memory of his past agony evaporated from his mind.

"Whew."

Baek Jinwoo let out a happy breath.

Everything had come together. The Versatile Runes were secured, and Hungyo had awakened. Now it was time to head back to South Korea. Jasim had no doubt already arranged the flight.

There was just one problem.

Grrrowl.

"Haha. I'm starving."

— "My Lord, surely... you have not been going without meals this whole time?"

"When you got yanked back in that state, do you think food would've gone down my throat?"

Ugh. Even he cringed at his own words. But what could he do? That was honestly how he'd felt.

"First things first—let's eat. You too, Pokryongi. And you, Ramba."

Jasim's lavish banquet was still waiting—more than enough food for four! And naturally, there were the deluxe cream buns, handmade by a professional chef.

— "Yay! Let's eeeaaat!"

Ramba, beside herself with excitement, went zipping through the air.