Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The Whereabouts of the Missing Executive Villains (2)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "The commander of the combat unit I was in... even info on the high-ranking executives is all here?"
The presentation file, seemingly dozens of pages thick, contained a considerable amount and scope of information.
From the combat unit commander during the time Ha Si-yoon had been active as a combatant,
to personal details on high-ranking executives he had barely even laid eyes on.
"The investigations vary in scope for each executive..., but some even have recently snapped photos."
Not only basic personal details like names, ages, and genders,
but in cases where they'd dug deep, there were even analyses of supernatural abilities and recently taken pictures.
"Info on executives I never even saw back when I was in the organization.
Where on earth did you get such premium intel?"
"I received a special mission from the Hero Union Support Department Chief."
"Special mission?"
"Looks like they haven't captured a single one of Dark Knights' core executives yet.
So they tasked me and the other heroes with investigating and taking them down."
Ha Si-yoon tapped his forehead with his finger, dredging up memories from that time.
While the combatants and low-level executives had fought desperately to defend the organization,
the high-ranking executives and the Leader had all fled beforehand, as if they'd known what was coming.
The moment he'd staggered into the command room, gasping for breath to request backup,
only to find expensive items scattered everywhere and not a soul in sight.
"Cowardly bastards. I nearly bit the dust because of them."
Glaring at the faces of those spineless executives who'd abandoned their hideout and thousands of organization members to run away,
Ha Si-yoon bit his lip hard, his mood souring.
"If it's the Dark Knights lineup I remember... yeah, that headcount lines up roughly.
Especially those four. The ones they call the 'Four Knights'."
Dark Knights' organizational structure was dead simple.
Leader Kaiser and the high-ranking executives dubbed the 'Four Knights' ran the show at the top, handling command.
Under them were dozens of combat units, each with dozens of members and led by a single commander.
There were other organization members and executives for running day-to-day ops too,
but nominally, they all fell under 'special combatants'.
Ha Si-yoon paid especially close attention to the details on the Leader's direct subordinates,
the true core figures known as the 'Four Knights'.
"That ugly mug—I saw him a few times. He was our unit's direct superior."
Long, ragged hair like dried seaweed, a pallid face,
and a tall, hulking frame weirdly devoid of any real muscle—a bizarre build on a man.
He operated under the name 'Executioner' in the organization,
and his creepy looks were burned vividly into Ha Si-yoon's memory.
"Real name Park Gyu-han... 34-year-old male. Plenty of sighting reports."
"Guy's got a face that stands out a mile. No matter how much he hides, anyone in the know spots him."
The man bearing the real name Park Gyu-han had the most up-to-date sightings and fresh intel by far.
His height soaring well past two meters was eye-catching enough,
but the corpse-pale skin and freakish body traits sealed it.
"Estimated supernatural ability: generating and wielding blades from his own body..."
"Hero Union must see him as a top-tier threat."
The only male high-ranking executive villain on the list,
and the report pegged him with the most brutally destructive tendencies.
He'd even racked up records of surviving clashes with multiple A-Rank Heroes while dishing out major damage.
For ordinary villains, the goal was suppression followed by resocialization or imprisonment.
But high-risk ones? Elimination took priority over capture.
Which was why Executioner was marked for 'elimination' by the Union, not mere suppression.
"For now, bump this guy to the back of the priority list."
"Got it."
Ha Si-yoon's supernatural ability only worked on 'women'.
Plus, this was a violently dangerous figure the Union itself targeted for kill-on-sight.
"Crazy Chain... Trickster... Firecracker. The rest are all female villains?"
"Yes."
Worldwide, those with supernatural abilities made up roughly 5% of the population,
and over 70% of them were women.
The Hero Union's heroes reflected that with a 7:3 female-to-male ratio,
and villain stats from intel showed similar skews.
Villain organizations especially: grunts were mostly burly guys,
but executives? Overwhelmingly women.
Dark Knights fit the pattern.
"Trickster aside, Crazy Chain and Firecracker are new faces to me."
Ha Si-yoon had spent a long time in Dark Knights, sure,
but as a rank-and-file combatant, he didn't have deep intel memorized.
His recollections of high executives were likely fuzzy at best,
and personnel could have shifted without his knowledge.
"Crazy Chain. Real name and age unknown... chain manipulation ability."
Villain 'Crazy Chain' had next to no photos or personal data.
All the Union knew was that she was a female villain with chain powers—nothing more.
Places she hit always bore kiss marks, though,
and there was a composite sketch based on victim statements.
"Ah, no way—is that her?"
"What? You seen her?"
Yeon Ji-woo scooted up beside Ha Si-yoon, peering intently at the Crazy Chain file,
then piped up like something clicked.
"Pretty sure it was last year. Think I spotted her once in B City?
Not clued in on the kiss marks..., but the sketch and chains rang a bell."
During last year's op deploying her to B City, just west of S City,
Ji-woo claimed she'd sighted Crazy Chain.
"Anything else stick out? Heroes you deployed with, maybe.
Or other tells."
"Went solo, so the other heroes probably blanked on it.
Couldn't even take her down—she just bolted..."
Unfortunately, Ji-woo's memories didn't yield much more.
"Ah! Wait... her voice was insanely husky. Like, one-of-a-kind."
"Husky voice, huh?"
Ji-woo dredged up a pretty solid identifier: her 'voice'.
"The kind you couldn't even fake. Super distinctive."
"Right... okay. Montage plus that freaky husky voice..."
Solid leads with the sketch and voice,
but zero recent sightings or photos was the snag.
"Firecracker... she's Chinese."
A few shots of a woman with flowing long green hair strutting in a flashy cheongsam.
Villain 'Firecracker': an unnamed Chinese national residing in the country.
"Ability to turn anything she touches into a bomb... swear I've seen this in a comic."
The kind of power straight out of some notoriously weird hit manga—simple, devastating.
Per the report, she'd wreaked havoc repeatedly in downtown S City,
but her raw power overwhelmed even A-Rank Heroes; no arrests.
"And finally... that Trickster executive. Caught a few glimpses of her too."
Unlike the other executives' standout looks, she had a refreshingly plain, polished vibe.
Several photos showcased her hip-length black hair and striking red eyes, exuding mature allure,
pegged as a woman in her twenties named Chae-ryeong—real name unconfirmed.
"Struck me as insanely sexy every time. Huge hit with the rank-and-file too."
Fan clubs sprang up among the combatants who'd seen her,
packing beauty and killer curves in spades.
Ha Si-yoon's heart had pounded more than once at the sight.
"S City outskirts cafe... B City airport... gallivanting all over?"
Oddly, her tip-offs and sightings piled up thick,
pouring in from wildly varied spots in a shockingly short window.
One report even had her popping up at an S City subway station,
then near B City airport just five minutes later.
That's a 60km straight shot.
Fastest ride, shortest route? Still over 50 minutes.
This bizarre trail explained the report's footnote:
'Supernatural ability unobserved, but reports and sightings suggest teleportation, disguise, or cloning powers.'
"Leader's info... still zilch, huh."
"Never met the Leader face-to-face myself.
Just caught his silhouette at the occasional big organization event."
He shrouded his identity from the members like it was state secrets,
only flashing a shadow even at major shindigs.
Public-facing stuff? Handed off to executive 'Trickster' while staying hidden.
Probably why Ha Si-yoon remembered her face so sharply—
she'd proxy'd for the Leader at damn near every event.
Ha Si-yoon stared at the laundry list of Trickster sighting spots, lost in thought for a beat.
"One thing's clear... Trickster.
We track down Chae-ryeong first."
"Spotted everywhere like that..., wouldn't she be a nightmare to pinpoint?"
As Yoon Do-hwa pointed out, Trickster Chae-ryeong had sightings blanketing tons of spots in no time,
guaranteed to complicate the hunt.
"Scan the locations and timestamps... something jumps out."