Chapter 84
Chapter 84
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Association President Park Sang-cheol (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Association President Park Sang-cheol leaned back in the rear seat of the car.
On his way home from the Incheon Association headquarters.
He recalled the content of the phone call he had received from Jeong Man-ho just moments ago.
A sneer crept onto his lips unbidden.
[I'll never climb the tower again....]
Jeong Man-ho had promised to immediately halt his climb up the Daejeon Tower and fully cooperate with the strike.
His voice had been almost pleading.
'Pathetic worm.'
Park Sang-cheol clicked his tongue inwardly.
The moment he applied a little pressure, the man had dropped to his knees like he was waiting for it.
Did an A-rank hunter have no pride at all?
And yet, a guy like that had dared to defy him?
'Maybe there's someone behind him.'
A plausible conclusion soon came to mind.
Once his thoughts reached that point, he couldn't just sit idly by.
It was clear. Someone was backing Jeong Man-ho.
Someone who had filled his head with ideas and egged him on to climb the tower. Who could it be?
There were too many candidates to choose from.
After all, Korea was full of people who wanted to take down him, the one with the biggest power.
'I need to look into it.'
Any sprouts that could interfere with his plans had to be nipped in the bud early.
Thinking he should order an investigation first thing tomorrow morning, he opened his eyes.
That was when it happened.
Park Sang-cheol glanced out the window absentmindedly and furrowed his brow.
"...?"
Something was off.
This wasn't the way to his house.
This road led to his villa.
"Hey, Driver Kim. This is the way to the villa?"
The driver said nothing and just kept staring ahead as he drove.
Irritation mixed into Park Sang-cheol's voice.
"Didn't you hear me? You took a wrong turn...."
Before he could finish his sentence, a voice came from the front seat.
It was clearly a voice that had been distorted, anyone could tell.
"These days, the world is so convenient. Just turn on the navigation, and it has your home and workplace all saved...."
In that instant, the air inside the car froze.
Goosebumps rose all over Park Sang-cheol's body.
This guy wasn't Driver Kim.
"Who the hell are you?"
Park Sang-cheol sat up.
He reached out his right hand and grabbed the driver's shoulder.
But what he grasped wasn't a solid human shoulder.
It crumbled.
Powdery.
The shoulder in his grip disintegrated right there.
"W-What the...."
For a split second, he thought he had torn off a person's shoulder, but no.
"Sand...?"
Sand grains left in his hand.
The driver's form wavered like a mirage.
The thing sitting there driving was a human made of sand.
"Damn it!"
He didn't know what it was, but he had to escape first.
His A-rank hunter instincts blared warnings furiously.
Park Sang-cheol's body moved on reflex.
He yanked roughly on the door handle.
Click.
The door wouldn't open. It was locked from the inside.
"You think an A-rank is a joke?!"
Park Sang-cheol concentrated mana into his fist.
A single blow infused with an A-rank hunter's power.
A normal car door should rip apart like paper.
Bam!
The car body shook violently.
But the door was intact. Not even a dent.
Instead, his own fist throbbed.
"No way...."
The moment Park Sang-cheol prepared to attack again.
Ssshh.
Something crawled out from under the seat.
Sand again.
The sand wrapped around his body like a rope.
A surprise attack with no time to dodge.
The sand rope pinned his body to the seat, forcing him still.
"What is this?! Let go!"
He struggled fiercely, but it was useless.
Even with his A-rank strength, it wouldn't break?
What the hell was this guy's identity?
As his mind raced.
That voice from before spoke again.
"Don't resist. You don't want to get hurt for no reason."
A calm voice.
That calmness amplified Park Sang-cheol's fear even more.
"What bastard are you! Show yourself! China? Or Japan?"
"No, higher than that."
"What? What does that...."
Park Sang-cheol couldn't comprehend the words at all.
Higher than China? Then America?
But why would America suddenly...?
What the hell was his identity?
His mind filled with confusion.
As his thoughts spiraled.
The car arrived at its destination and stopped.
"This is...."
A familiar sight.
It was the villa he cherished most, built in a spot overlooking the sea at a glance.
The sand binding Park Sang-cheol shifted.
Against his will, the sand opened the car door and roughly dragged his body out.
"Gah!"
Park Sang-cheol was thrown defenselessly onto the dirt ground.
The sand pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to his knees and preventing him from standing.
A humiliating posture.
Screech.
The passenger door opened.
Park Sang-cheol turned his head.
Nothing was visible.
But he could definitely sense it. Someone had gotten out of the car.
The sound of gravel crunching, the subtle flow of air.
An invisible someone stood before him.
"Park Sang-cheol? Nice to meet you. First time seeing your face."
The transparent being standing before him spoke.
The same distorted voice from before.
"That villa over there. I'm watching it closely. Just this once."
There was no time to ask what that meant.
Right after.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
An earthquake struck.
The lawn in front of the villa erupted upward.
Dirt and grass fragments flew everywhere.
Amid the dust, something horrific emerged from the split earth.
A mouth split into several gashes. And faintly visible inside, thousands of steel teeth.
Park Sang-cheol didn't even know what to call it.
A monster engulfed the villa.
Crunch! Crack!
The beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows shattered, and the white exterior walls tore away like paper.
The beloved space he had decorated for billions vanished into a massive hole in an instant.
Destruction so swift there wasn't even time for a scream.
"N-No...."
His comfortable sanctuary was gone.
In just a few seconds.
Only a massive crater and debris remained grotesquely where the villa had stood.
Park Sang-cheol stared blankly at the scene.
None of it felt real.
'T-This isn't A-rank level....'
This was a disaster.
At the very least, he couldn't do something like this.
Park Sang-cheol felt the blood in his body turn ice cold.
'It can't be Kim Soo-ho. He's not even interested in stuff like this to begin with.'
The only S-rank in the country was Kim Soo-ho.
He knew that man's personality well.
A guy who pretended to have no interest in domination or politics.
Wasn't it only because the sole S-rank stayed silent that he could operate like this?
And besides, just in case. If he ever had to face off against Kim Soo-ho directly.
He had memorized that man's skills and counters multiple times in preparation.
That guy didn't have a skill to summon something like that monster.
In other words, the person before him was a foreign hunter.
'What the hell? Did an overseas S-rank come to kill me?'
At that moment, the invisible man spoke again.
"This was originally meant for your Association building, but I held back."
Park Sang-cheol swallowed hard.
"Even so, summoning something like this right in the middle of Incheon felt a bit much?"
Cold sweat trickled down Park Sang-cheol's spine.
He had planned to do this to the Association building?
That wasn't the thinking of a sane person.
Park Sang-cheol desperately racked his brain.
What recent action of his could have earned him such enmity.
'Fuck... too many.'
Too many to count.
But none of them seemed like something that would warrant a precious overseas S-rank getting personally involved.
He was thorough with risk management, after all.
Carefully selecting only those who couldn't defy him, wielding the whip judiciously to control them.
That was his specialty.
Where the hell had he slipped up?
If there was a place that could warrant retaliation like this....
As several possibilities narrowed in his mind.
The invisible man cut off his thoughts.
"Daejeon. Don't touch it."
"D-Daejeon?"
"It's not a place for the likes of you to mess with. Got it?"
Daejeon. The backer who had egged Jeong Man-ho on to climb the tower.
"I can hear your brain churning from here."
A chill killing intent laced the voice.
In that instant, all of Park Sang-cheol's thoughts froze.
Pride, anger, plans. None of that mattered now.
Only one thing was important. Survival.
Park Sang-cheol instinctively opened his mouth to beg for his life.
His voice wouldn't come out properly.
"Y-Yes, I understand! N-Never again...! I'll never even look toward Daejeon!"
Park Sang-cheol bowed his head as if to smash his forehead into the ground.
A servile, trembling voice.
The invisible man watching him silently snapped his fingers.
Snap.
Then, the car that had brought Park Sang-cheol here turned to sand in an instant and crumbled away.
"If you touch my people one more time.... You'll vanish without even a corpse left. Got it?"
"Huhk...!"
Park Sang-cheol convulsed almost.
He couldn't think of anything else anymore.
Just a desire to escape this place.
"Go home on your own now, punk."
With those final words, the overwhelming presence pressing down on him vanished like a lie.
Park Sang-cheol immediately crawled away on all fours like an animal.
"Ugh!"
He tripped while running and tumbled down the slope.
He rolled down several times.
If he were a normal person instead of a hunter, it would have been serious injuries for sure.
"Urgh...."
But Park Sang-cheol got right back up and ran again.
His expensive suit tore, blood seeped from his palms and knees, but he had no time to feel the pain.
Only the instinct to survive drove him.
He had to get away from here as fast as possible.
Because he didn't know when the person behind him might change their mind.
"Huhk.... Hah."
He ran for a long time with his battered body.
By then, dawn was breaking in the dim sky.
Only then could Park Sang-cheol finally catch his breath.
"P-Phone...."
His hands shook violently.
He nearly dropped the phone several times.
The moment he finally brought the cellphone to his ear.
Bang!
With an explosive sound, the phone in his hand shattered to pieces.
Something had just whizzed past his ear.
Fragments of the phone embedded in his cheek and the back of his hand.
"Argh!"
Blood flowed from his hand.
But he felt no pain.
The being watching him now was far more terrifying.
"He's still watching...?"
That thought made Park Sang-cheol lose his reason.
"Raaagh!"
Screaming, Park Sang-cheol started running again.
His bloodied hand didn't matter.
Right now, he just wanted to hide somewhere safe.
***
Jeong Man-ho's appearance was indescribable.
Sprawled on the sofa like a dead man.
There was no trace of an A-rank hunter's dignity anywhere.
"What happens now...."
Yesterday, he had called Park Sang-cheol and groveled to an abject degree.
He swore he'd never go against the Association President's will again, that he'd lead the strike more than anyone.
"Honestly, it wasn't even a lie? I've been on strike without climbing the tower the whole time."
But the unease in a corner of his heart wouldn't fade.
Park Sang-cheol wasn't the type to take empty oaths at face value.
His personality was meticulous and tenacious to a fault.
There would surely be follow-up actions.
Ring ring ring—!
His phone rang.
Jeong Man-ho nearly rolled off the sofa.
Gulping dryly, he picked up the phone with trembling hands.
The caller was Association President Park Sang-cheol.
"Hoo...."
It was obviously a call to make some new demand.
Jeong Man-ho took several deep breaths before finally pressing the call button.
He prepared the most polite and servile voice possible.
"Y-Yes, hello! Association President...?"
'...Fuck.'
An absurd slip of the tongue.
Jeong Man-ho squeezed his eyes shut.
A brief silence flowed from the receiver.
Soon, Park Sang-cheol's voice came through.
"Guild Master Jeong. Busy? Sorry to call so early in the morning."
"...Pardon?"
But that voice was completely different from what Jeong Man-ho had expected.
Cautious, even polite in tone.
'No, this guy. He likes to toy with people like this from the start.'
"No, not at all! Don't mention it. Of course I'd answer even at dawn if it's you calling, Association President!"
He couldn't let his guard down.
Jeong Man-ho spat out his habitual flattery first.
"Anyway, what is it...?"
"About that matter from before."
Park Sang-cheol broached carefully.
Jeong Man-ho's heart began pounding again.
"I made a huge mistake. Without understanding Guild Master Jeong's deep intentions...."
"Y-Yes...?"
Jeong Man-ho's mouth gaped dumbly.
Deep intentions? He had no idea what that meant.
Regardless, Park Sang-cheol continued.
"I sincerely apologize for my rash actions. Please mercifully forgive me just this once."
A groveling apology.
Park Sang-cheol, an A-rank hunter and the pinnacle of Korea's hunter society, was apologizing to him abjectly.
"A-Association President? What on earth...."
"Daejeon was not a realm I could dare trespass. I regret my ignorance. Please make sure to convey to that person that I am truly reflecting.... I sent a humble gift as well."
"Uh...."
The call ended like that.
Jeong Man-ho stood there blankly for a while, still holding the phone.
What was this?
"No way?"
A bolt of lightning flashed through Jeong Man-ho's mind.
'Daejeon is not a realm I could dare trespass.'
Jeong Man-ho slowly turned his head to look out the window.
The house next door. A large wall.
The hunter of unknown identity living beyond it. With a daughter around upper elementary school age....
Goosebumps covered his body.
The one who had been attacked wasn't just him, Jeong Man-ho.
One Star Management. Their vice president had also been attacked.
It had to be the person next door who took action.
Ding dong.
The doorbell rang.
A delivery. The gift from Park Sang-cheol.
Jeong Man-ho looked down at the box for a moment.
Then, without hesitation, he made a call. Naturally, not to Park Sang-cheol.
"Vice President? This is Jeong Man-ho. I want to continue working as Daejeon's loyal pants in the future...."
***
"President! What the hell did you do last night?!"
"Hm?"
I woke up to a sudden phone call, having overslept due to last night's drive.
The voice I heard as soon as I answered sounded angry somewhere. It was the broker.
"What did I do for Jeong Man-ho to pledge loyalty and the Association President to send gifts?"
"Oh, he sent a gift too? What is it?"
"Haa...."
A deep sigh.
Soon, a voice that sounded completely resigned came through.
"Spirit Essence."
"Wow, that uncle still has some sense of justice and propriety. Nice."
"Haa.... I'll bring it since I received it. And you absolutely have to explain then."
"Sure, sure. Thanks."
Spirit Essence.
The rare item I had fed to Super G.
I wanted to get more but there were no listings available.
How did it line up so perfectly?
Wearing a satisfied smile, I waited for the gift to arrive.