Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: Paradise (1)
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“Ugh, guh...”
The man’s body was already a wreck.
He’d ignored the demand to apologize and charged in several times, but he hadn’t landed a single clean hit on Jo Min-woo.
This was the difference in fundamental mana control.
“That’s enough.”
“Hyung, but—”
“Look. Min-ah seems to have calmed down, too.”
“...Okay.”
Still simmering with anger, Jo Min-woo tried to swing his fist again, so I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
It would be a problem if he passed out when I had questions for him.
The man, barely able to open his eyes, spoke sluggishly.
“Ugh, ugh... Just what... are you people...”
“You don’t need to know. Tell me the location of the other mine.”
I already knew, but there could be additional mines besides that one.
I had to be thorough.
“I appreciate you stepping in, but you don’t have to do that from now on.”
“Oh?”
“It’s not that I was scared of this man. The moment I thought about burning someone alive... I got scared of myself.”
“Then just leave it to me. I don’t burn people.”
Jo Min-woo and Jo Min-ah stood side by side behind me.
It was a natural formation for putting pressure on the opponent.
I never taught them this.
The man gritted his teeth.
“Kugh. You think I’ll talk? I’ll never tell you about that place.”
“You won’t get away unscathed if you don’t.”
“G-go ahead and try! I won’t yield!”
*Tremble.*
Despite his words, his body was trembling.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of death.
If I tortured him slowly, he’d eventually talk.
‘He’s already leaked important information.’
I quietly closed the distance and whispered the location of the other mine.
He turned pale and stammered.
“H-how did you...?”
“The Taegeuk Guild told me.”
“That’s impossible!”
*Thwack!*
Struck hard in the back by the hidden Zeta, the man let out a grunt and collapsed.
He said ‘that place.’
If he had said ‘the other places,’ it would be one thing, but referring to it as ‘that place’ meant there was only one mine left.
So, since it was the place I already knew about, there was no reason to linger here.
‘I need to move immediately.’
A total of four S-rank stigmas come from that place.
If my memory served me right, there were two unused S-rank stigmas dormant in that mine.
And they were quite useful ones, too.
I would get my hands on them before Paradise found them.
I glanced at the man lying face down, blood trickling from his mouth, then turned my head to Jo Min-ah.
“Min-ah.”
When I called her name softly, Jo Min-ah flinched and waited for me to continue.
She seemed to have an idea why I’d called her.
I wasn’t going to scold her, so I smiled gently.
“If you can’t bring yourself to attack people, then don’t. You don’t need to try to get used to killing.”
“...Okay.”
Jo Min-ah gave a slight nod.
That kind face would change so ruthlessly in a few years that it would be hard to believe she was the same person.
That was the version of the twins I originally knew.
At the very, very end of the 93rd ending.
Jo Min-ah and Jo Min-woo. Surrounded by an inferno they couldn’t control even with their combined power.
The words they spoke while looking at my player character with sad smiles were still vivid in my mind.
‘When we were at our lowest, suffering the most. If we had met someone like you back then, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.’
I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them.
The image from my memory vanished, and the twins of the present came into view.
I gave a faint smile and said.
“Let’s go.”
Even if you don’t try to get used to it.
You will get used to it.
Someday.
“S-stop...”
I glanced back at the faint voice from behind.
The kids were walking ahead.
There was no way they heard such a quiet voice.
I gave a slight nod of my chin and started walking again.
The sound of a blade piercing flesh came from behind, and the faint voice was cut off.
Zeta, having received my signal, had stabbed him.
[Why didn’t you kill him?]
Besial, who had been watching the situation, asked in confusion.
[I get not doing it in front of the kids earlier, but you could have killed him just now.]
“Think about why I specifically said the Taegeuk Guild leaked the information.”
[You, don’t tell me...?]
It wasn’t a fatal blow.
He was unconscious from the shock for now, but it wouldn’t last long.
When he wakes up, he’ll move just as I planned.
He will become the second Trojan horse.
“They were the ones who planted a spy called Taegeuk in Korea, right? So I should bring them down the same way.”
I've severed the link between Taegeuk and Bonghwang.
This will sour their relationship with Paradise as well.
There’s nothing easier than making seemingly powerful enemies turn on each other and picking them off one by one.
***
Park Hyeong-su, the manager of the first mine Se-hyeon had visited, slowly pushed himself up.
Why had he been unconscious?
His mind still foggy, Park Hyeong-su remained dazed for a moment before recalling what happened right before he passed out.
Someone had invaded the mine.
His entire force was wiped out by just three people, and the mine was destroyed beyond repair.
As if that wasn’t enough, the man already knew the location of the last remaining mine.
The man himself hadn't even stepped in, yet Park Hyeong-su hadn't been able to handle the two kids who followed him.
‘Those kids... They were at least B-rank.’
The shock from their fists clashing still left him unable to use his right arm.
A kid who looked to be in middle school at most had that much power.
Park Hyeong-su recalled the way Kim Se-hyeon had looked at the kids, as if it were only natural.
An expression that said, *Of course they should be able to do this much.*
Then, just how strong was he?
He shuddered involuntarily at the memory of that power.
“Kugh...”
The throbbing pain made Park Hyeong-su stagger, and he collapsed to the ground again.
Blood was still flowing from the stab wound.
The shock hadn’t completely worn off yet.
‘I was lucky to survive. That fool. Can’t even properly kill a helpless enemy.’
The fact that he hadn’t bled out meant not much time had passed since he’d been knocked unconscious.
Park Hyeong-su tore his clothes and managed to bind the wound.
He felt a little better.
‘There’s no way he knew all that. Someone must have talked.’
It was baffling enough that the Gyeryongsan mine had been discovered, but he’d found out about this place too.
And not only that, but the third mine as well.
This was information known only to the executives within Paradise, so it should have been next to impossible for a player working with the five major guilds to find out.
Then, he suddenly remembered what the man had said.
*The Taegeuk Guild told me.*
Realizing the meaning behind those words, Park Hyeong-su’s face turned pale.
‘Dammit! I have to report this to headquarters immediately! The mine isn’t what’s important!’
Park Hyeong-su hurriedly shoved his hand into his pocket and took out his smartphone.
But the smartphone was already unusable.
“My smartphone!?”
The smartphone was completely shattered.
The screen was so cracked it looked like someone had smashed it on purpose.
When he tried to turn it on, the screen only showed a green glow.
He couldn't make or receive calls.
It was nothing more than an expensive brick.
‘Did it break during the fight!?’
This was a disaster.
Park Hyeong-su irritably threw the phone away and quickly started moving.
“At this rate, I have no choice but to go to headquarters myself...!”
It would take at least four hours to run to headquarters.
Moreover, with his injured body, it would take at least twice that long.
Time was short.
Even if he ran his hardest, could he prevent the next mine from being damaged?
Honestly, he wasn’t confident, but he had to at least report the Taegeuk Guild’s betrayal.
‘Those bastards from the Taegeuk Guild have been acting strange lately. Suddenly showing up on the front lines, waging information warfare!’
And now, they’d finally leaked the information about the mines.
A crucial piece of information, a line that should never have been crossed for Paradise.
Could there be a more definitive act of betrayal?
Paradise had been betrayed by the Taegeuk Guild. That was certain.
Strength filled Park Hyeong-su’s legs as he ran back to Paradise’s headquarters.
***
The lungs of Paradise.
The third and final stigma mine was a strategic point, so vital it was called that.
Occupying this place was equivalent to cutting off the enemy’s most important supply route in a war.
Naturally, Paradise wouldn’t be neglecting its security.
I’d long since given up on counting the number of people my detection picked up.
No matter how strong someone was, it would be impossible to continuously block attacks pouring in from all directions.
*Would a small group of people really attack a place like this?*
That was the common line of thinking, which, conversely, made it a good place to catch them off guard.
“Don’t let your guard down! This place must not be exposed! Spread out and don’t let anyone even get close!”
The person who seemed to be in charge here shouted at the top of his lungs.
This was actually a good thing for me.
If they were concentrated in one spot, it would be tricky to break through, but if they dispersed their forces to widen the patrol area, it would be easier to infiltrate.
“If we widen the patrol area, won’t it be easier for a small group to get in?”
“You idiot. To get in undetected, they’d have at most two or three people. What can they do with that? Unlike the other mines, the passages here are like a maze, so it’s hard to invade. If they try to sneak in, they’ll just get lost.”
“Oh, right. There’s that. Then there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Besides, what kind of idiot would try to get in with just two or three people? Look how many of us there are. It’d be a different story if those high-and-mighty guild masters or players of that caliber all swarmed in at once.”
A few men snickered as they moved out to patrol.
I walked past them as if on a stroll.
The mountains were already dark.
Hiding my body in the darkness and moving without a trace, it was impossible for them to spot me.
Similarly, the kids were also shrouded in darkness, benefiting from a stealth effect.
“Wow, they really can’t see us.”
“Shh. Don’t make a sound. Be careful.”
I leisurely looked around the mine’s perimeter.
It wasn’t just a mine.
Like a fortress of sorts, there were other buildings around it.
Though “buildings” was a generous term for what were just rows of shipping containers.
Compared to the other two locations, the environment was clearly different.
‘That’s how important it is, I guess.’
More than half of the stigmas Paradise exported must come from here.
If I destroyed this place on top of the previous two, it would be an irreversible, fatal blow to Paradise.
“The security is so tight, it must be really important.”
“It is. It’s their main source of income.”
“What’s the point of tight security? They can’t even notice us walking right past them. Hehe.”
As Jo Min-woo laughed, a few people a short distance away immediately looked in our direction.
Jo Min-woo quickly covered his mouth with his hands and watched them cautiously.
Seeing nothing, they dismissed it as their imagination, so Jo Min-woo slowly lowered his hands and breathed.
“I-I thought we were caught.”
“You idiot. That’s why I told you to be quiet. We might be invisible, but we’re not silent.”
Still, it wasn’t that loud of a noise.
A normal person right nearby wouldn’t even have heard it.
This was proof that the players stationed here were on another level.
Most importantly, this visible setup was just camouflage.
The real facility was underground.
“Follow me carefully. We’re going to enter through a secret passage.”
“A secret passage?”
“Suspicious places run by suspicious organizations always have them.”
A place important to an enemy faction meant it was a location you visited often in the game.
I knew all the passages and the entire layout of this place.
I knew it so well that if I closed my eyes for a moment, I could picture a map of the mine and its surroundings.
I smirked and moved toward one side of the mine.