Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: How to Eliminate Variables (5)
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First, I slept soundly to recover from the accumulated fatigue.
When I said I’d spend the day gathering information, Cha Eun-ha looked displeased but followed along obediently.
Kim Ji-hyeon didn't say much, as if she intended to leave this matter entirely to me.
It was probably a test.
To see if I was the kind of talent she absolutely had to recruit for her guild.
Lee Seon-yul seemed to have already made that judgment, but it looked like Kim Ji-hyeon hadn't.
“Even if we're gathering information, I doubt we'll find much just by wandering around the base.”
Cha Eun-ha said, twirling her umbrella.
Droplets of water flicked onto my hand.
I quickened my pace a little to put some distance between us.
“There is.”
“So what is it?”
“Information on whether or not we can drag Yang Gyu-hyeok down into the abyss.”
“There's something like that?”
The enticing topic made Cha Eun-ha's eyes sparkle as she drew closer.
I glanced down at Cha Eun-ha.
Cha Eun-ha would have to play several roles in this.
My predictions should be correct based on what I know, but I brought her along to confirm everything, just in case.
“But will that take a whole day?”
“The more meticulously you investigate, the lower the chance of the plan failing. Didn't you want to save your master? Should we quit?”
“Ah, no, that's not it… *Sigh*. Alright. I'm the one who said I'd follow, so I won't ask any more questions.”
I chuckled and looked away.
There was no need to gather information for a whole day.
I was just using it as an excuse to wait for the right moment.
Until the rain fell harder, blanketing this whole area.
“Let's go in.”
“Huh? This place is…”
“It'll just be a moment.”
Cha Eun-ha followed obediently, though she looked puzzled.
A bar.
Traditionally, bars are the easiest places to get information.
A place where people gather is a place where information flows.
After the world changed drastically, alcohol itself became a rare item, so it had transformed into something more like a free café where people rest rather than an actual bar.
What they actually sold was no different from a café. Just with alcohol added.
“You know I'm a minor, right? We could get in trouble for this.”
“I'm not drinking either. They mostly sell non-alcoholic drinks here anyway.”
“…You knew that?”
A mischievous joke.
I sighed and took a seat at an empty table.
Perhaps because my answer was bland, Cha Eun-ha sat across from me, scratching her cheek.
“What are you going to order?”
“Anything. I'm going to focus on my work now, so don't talk to me.”
I closed my eyes and drew up my mana.
Focusing all my senses on my hearing, the sounds of other people's conversations grew clearer.
Body enhancement through mana.
I'm not an expert at handling mana, so I couldn't hear sounds from a great distance, but I could hear everything people were saying inside the café.
“The frequency of monster attacks has decreased a lot lately, right?”
“Yeah. It's nice to have some peace. Though our earnings have gone down because of it.”
“Still, we can earn enough just by going out and hunting the nearby monsters.”
“That's true.”
I thought it might be a meaningful conversation, but it was nothing.
I immediately shifted my attention to another conversation.
But most of them were pointless conversations.
Just as I was wondering if I should go somewhere else, I finally found people talking about what I wanted to hear.
“I'm so pissed off I can't take this anymore, damn it!”
“Calm down. There's not much we can do right now.”
“What's the point of this? Is there any meaning in just barely surviving day to day!?”
“It's better than dying.”
“Damn it. Yang Gyu-hyeok, that son of a bitch. How much do we even earn for him to take taxes from us? If it weren't for that…”
“Shh. Watch your mouth! Are you drunk without even drinking?”
Taxes.
There it is.
Something separate from the usage fee the devil collects.
It's the cause that creates resentment between people, which will soon lead to a major conflict.
“Here you go.”
“That was fast… Wait. What is this.”
“You told me to order anything, right?”
“Yeah, but still.”
I stared, speechless, at the green and brown concoction placed before me.
No. This crosses the line.
“Who orders mint chocolate when someone says 'anything'?”
“But mint chocolate is delicious.”
“I'm not a big fan.”
“Really? Then I'll have it. Hehe.”
Cha Eun-ha took the mint chocolate latte with a beaming smile.
I suspect she might have anticipated this and ordered it on purpose.
Whatever. This isn't what's important right now.
I closed my eyes again and focused on the men's conversation.
“At least he fights the hardest when the monsters attack.”
“With the amount of taxes he collects, that's a given. If he was lazy about that too, people would have protested immediately.”
“…Would protests even work in a world like this?”
“Then a rebellion… that'd be tough too. Yang Gyu-hyeok, that thug. He's getting unbelievably strong off the taxes he collects from us.”
“Things were better with Jeon Do-jin.”
“I know, right. I miss Jeon Do-jin-nim. By the way, what's his disciple up to?”
“Give it a rest. What can she do on her own? If she gets caught too, it'll be even more hopeless. It's wiser for her to stay hidden.”
That was the end of the useful conversation.
After that, it was just idle chatter and complaints.
I still needed to check other places, but I'd essentially gotten all the information I wanted.
This should be enough to meet that condition.
I raised the corners of my mouth in a long smile and glanced around the café.
I'd vaguely sensed it, but there was definitely something strange.
“Were there always so few people in Dongdaemun?”
“Huh?”
“…Never mind.”
I stared at the mint chocolate latte that had moved in front of Cha Eun-ha, then stood up.
It seemed Cha Eun-ha hadn't heard the men's conversation at all.
“Huh? Are we leaving already?”
“We've gotten what we came for. And even though you're covering your face, it's not good to stay in one place for too long.”
Next was the seven-story building used by Yang Gyu-hyeok's faction.
The same place where Jeon Do-jin was presumed to be held captive.
It was surrounded by high walls on three sides, and the only entrance, the main gate, was watched by guards in shifts.
It was a structure that was incredibly difficult to infiltrate stealthily.
“I tried to sneak in a few times myself, but it was impossible. Their guards never take a break. They're on watch around the clock.”
Cha Eun-ha explained, sipping her drink.
The security is tight.
The guards are D-rank on average. High D-rank at that.
A C-rank like Cha Eun-ha might be able to get past the guards, but what comes after would be the problem.
[Using the skill, 'Extreme Eye'.]
I examined the walls rather than the building.
Nothing had changed from what I knew.
I immediately concluded that Yang Gyu-hyeok had never played 'End of Apocalypse'.
If he had played the game, he would never have left it like that.
I made my way into an alley.
And after reaching my target location, a faint smile formed on my lips.
It's just as it was.
“Huh? What's this? There was a hole here?”
“It's a crawl space. Big enough for an adult to get through.”
“Don't tell me, this hole…”
“It leads into that building.”
Originally, it's a building used for storing and managing resources like food and equipment.
There was a passage used by petty thieves trying to steal food, and this is it.
It's perfect, right down to the fact that Yang Gyu-hyeok doesn't know about this place and hasn't posted any guards.
It is hard to spot.
It's hidden by overgrown grass on both the inside and outside.
“Th-then if we use this, we can save Master…!”
“Shh. Quiet. Your voice is too loud.”
I covered the mouth of the excited Cha Eun-ha, whose voice had gotten louder. She struggled for a moment before quieting down.
I glanced to the side.
There wasn't even the CCTV that should have been installed by now because of the petty thieves.
Of course, no petty thief would dare enter a place so fiercely guarded by Yang Gyu-hyeok's faction.
It seemed the job would go smoothly.
“Let's go back.”
The moment I turned, two men suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alley.
Damn it. Of all the luck, they were just outside my detection range.
It would be trouble if they asked us suspiciously what we were doing here.
“Play along for a second.”
“Huh? Uh, uh?”
I shifted my position so we were partially obscured from the alley entrance, then pushed Cha Eun-ha against the wall.
Cha Eun-ha was flustered and stammering, which was the perfect reaction.
A man who had been yawning with a bored expression looked our way and scowled.
“Tch, fucking hell. Get a room.”
Seemingly not suspicious, he spat on the ground and went on his way.
Tsk. I should probably invest all my coins into mana for a while.
“Wh-what was that? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Did the end of the world awaken your instinct for procreation or something?”
…How scathing.
I raised both hands and backed away.
Cha Eun-ha, her face slightly flushed, placed a hand on her chest and glared at me.
“I just used a suitable method to avoid suspicion. I apologize.”
“Weren't there other ways besides this?”
“Should I have knocked those guys out then? A rebellion in broad daylight, that would've been great. A secluded alley. A man and a woman. Doesn't appearing like a couple draw the least suspicion?”
“It feels gross to be seen like that. That's a violation of child protection laws. You could be arrested.”
“It's better than complicating your master's rescue. Besides, you don't have to worry about that since I have no interest in you. I'm not interested in minors either.”
It was true that I wasn't particularly interested in Cha Eun-ha.
In terms of combat power, she wasn't bad, and there was the advantage of getting Jeon Do-jin's help if I befriended her.
But that was all.
She was only decent by early-game standards. She's a character who can't achieve much before long.
I had no intention of including her in my party.
Jeon Do-jin? I could earn enough of his favor with this rescue and the other plans that follow.
There's no need to go out of my way to get Cha Eun-ha's help.
On the way back to our lodging, I went over the plans I had prepared one by one.
Considering a few variables that could arise, right down to a second plan to use in a pinch.
By the time I arrived where my companions were waiting, all the plans were complete.
The reflection of the sunset in the puddles on the ground was quite pretty.
And at the same time, amusing.
“Ah, Oppa! Welcome back! Unni, too…?”
As I opened the door and stepped inside, Jo Min-ah was the first to greet me warmly.
Her gaze, initially on me, shifted to Cha Eun-ha following behind, and Jo Min-ah asked with a puzzled look.
“Unni, what's wrong?”
“It's nothing.”
“She's been like this the whole way back from our business.”
“Ignore the pervert, mister.”
“Pervert?”
Jeong Ha-yeon's expression subtly hardened.
“Se-hyeon-ssi. What did you do to her…?”
“…Let's just start the briefing.”
I said curtly and turned my head to the window.
When I have a feeling things are about to get annoying, the best course of action is to cut it off quickly.
Pitter, patter.
The rain, which had grown heavier, was howling against the window.
***
KRA-KOOM!
“Whoa, what's with all this thunder?”
“The weather's fucking crazy. Where did this rain come from all of a sudden?”
“Hey, hey, the rain's splashing here too. Let's just go inside. What kind of idiot would try to invade this place?”
“You want to get slapped again like last time? Just shut up and stand guard.”
“That fiery slap… I'll pass.”
“How much does it hurt?”
“Want me to show you?”
“Nope.”
“Quick on the uptake.”
After confirming the two men were joking around and slacking on their guard duty, I moved quickly.
They're completely off guard.
This kind of weather is perfect for a night raid.
Then again, from their perspective, they probably think no one would dare attack this place.
Puddles were everywhere, making it easy to make noise, but my footsteps were quickly drowned out by the incessant thunder.
‘Infiltration through the crawl space is a success…’
Hoo, after a short breath, I cautiously surveyed my surroundings.
The sound of the heavy rain was almost deafening.
Next. Right in front of the crawl space exit is an external door leading to the warehouse.
Of course, it was locked, but I used the darkness to completely obliterate the lock, so opening the door was no problem at all.
I pulled my collar tight.
I need to infiltrate more quickly, all the way to where Jeon Do-jin is.
SHWAAAAA.
The sound of the rain grew stronger.
Amidst it, the sound of a door opening and closing was quietly buried.
‘Shall we begin.’
I took off my raincoat and boots, which were dripping from being soaked in the rain, hid them inside the warehouse, and began my operation in earnest.