Smoking Out the Rats

"Gah?!"

As the connection to his clone severed and his soul slammed back into his main body, Shurike sucked in a ragged breath and snapped his eyes open.

Swoosh.

"Hey. Nice to see you."

Do-ha approached with a smile. He had bound the main body early, so Shurike could not even twitch.

"Wh-what? Why won't my mana move?!"

Shurike panicked as he tried to break free with magic.

"Stop struggling and stay put. I've sealed your pressure points. One wrong move and your mana could go berserk."

From the moment he had restrained the body, Do-ha had sealed every pathway through which mana flowed. As a result, Shurike currently could not cast a single spell.

Whoosh.

Thud.

Unlike the writhing Shurike, Do-ha calmly drew a chair and a strange iron case from his spatial bag.

"Alright. From here on, we've got a long road ahead."

Click.

He set the chair opposite Shurike, sat down, and opened the case.

"The New Age branches and cult locations you know. Spill them."

"You think I'd tell you that?!"

"Figured as much. You people always insist on taking the hard way, don't you?"

Swoosh.

Shaking his head, Do-ha pulled a long object from the open case.

"These are needles. A bit thicker than the ones they use at oriental medicine clinics."

He gave the needle a little shake. It was not chopstick-thick, yet neither was it as fine as a regular acupuncture needle.

"Titanium needles. Made by dwarves."

Hunters who used hidden weapons created solid demand for them worldwide. The moment Do-ha spotted the set at a hunter market, he had bought it on the spot.

Grab.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

As Do-ha seized his index finger, Shurike panicked.

And at the same time—

Tap-tap-tap.

Do-ha pressed the Mute Point, sealing Shurike's mouth shut.

"We'll start light. Five per finger."

Press.

Rumble-rumble!

The instant Do-ha drove the needle under the fingernail, Shurike's bloodshot eyes bulged and his body thrashed wildly.

Several minutes crawled by.

Tap-tap-tap.

"Let's start over. New Age branches and cult locations."

Having driven five needles under the index fingernail, Do-ha released the Mute Point and repeated the same question.

"Aaaargh! You son of a bitch!"

The moment the point was released, Shurike screamed.

What the hell was this absurd pain?!

A needle under the fingernail?

Of course it hurt.

But not enough to make an S-rank awakener suffer like this.

And he was a black mage, was he not? He had experimented on his own flesh plenty in the past. Because of that, his pain tolerance far exceeded that of ordinary hunters.

Yet the agony still consumed his entire body. Every sense screamed and twisted.

"Hurts, doesn't it? I poured energy through the needles to maximize your senses."

Thanks to that, even ordinary pain would hit Shurike dozens of times harder. Do-ha had known from the start that this body was different from normal people.

"Well? Changed your mind any?"

"Kh... khkh. With something this pathetic..."

Tap-tap-tap.

As drool-slick Shurike tried to speak, Do-ha sealed the Mute Point again.

"Hmm, that's not what I want to hear. Come on, let's start over. This time all four fingers."

"Ugh..."

Watching the scene, Canteas shook his head. Shurike for enduring it was one thing, but Do-ha doing it so casually was terrifying.

"Mad Emperor, through and through."

In the end, Shurike did not open his mouth even after all ten fingers had been tortured.

Tap-tap-tap.

"Ready to talk now?"

"Khhehheh..."

Shurike burst into laughter.

It hurt, but senses dulled eventually. He would keep stabbing the already wounded spots, yet the sensation would gradually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠numb. As he had said earlier, his body had long been corrupted by black magic. Stabbing the same wounds over and over would only deaden the nerves further.

"Torture like this won't open my mouth."

"Because the senses dull, torture doesn't matter?"

"You know well."

Shurike wore a bitter smile. If the man knew black magic and the state of this body, he would realize this torture was a waste of time.

"But what if I just keep the senses from dulling?"

Sparkle. Sparkle.

"Wh...?"

As Great Heal instantly closed every wound, a hollow voice escaped Shurike's lips.

"Why so surprised? I teleported you here. You didn't know I use magic?"

"..."

No. He knew. He was an S-rank mage himself—how could he not? He simply had not expected Great Heal, a 6-Circle spell.

"Let's start slowly again. We've still got plenty of time."

"Wait...!"

Tap-tap-tap.

Only then realizing something was terribly wrong, Shurike tried to speak, but Do-ha sealed the Mute Point a step faster.

Creak.

Thud.

"Hmm. What now?"

Opening the massive iron door, Do-ha stroked his chin.

Five hours had passed. Shurike had finally spilled every piece of information he knew—New Age intel and Demon God Cult locations alike.

But I only got one cult location.

No matter what he did, Shurike truly did not know any other New Age or cult sites. Those cockroach-like cult bastards would not vanish just from taking out a single nest. New Age was already active and internationally branded a criminal syndicate, so plenty of information existed—but the cult had none of that.

If only they'd operated out in the open like before.

Well. That was all because of him, was it not? Who else was there to blame...

Creak.

"Do-ha, the guy's dead. What do we do?"

Canteas emerged, opening the iron door. They were currently in an old abandoned building in Busan. Do-ha had layered magic throughout the interior and continued torturing Shurike the entire time.

"Burn him."

"Can I use him then?"

"Do whatever you want."

"Also, Han Jeong-soo called. Looks like he beat Alex."

"Of course."

Even as fellow A-ranks, Alex was an assassin type while Han Jeong-soo was a knight type. Facing that kind of opponent in a straight fight instead of an assassination, defeat had been inevitable.

"I told him not to kill him. Didn't want to sour things with the US for no reason."

"Good job."

Do-ha gave a thumbs-up for Canteas's handling. Handing Alex over to the United States alive was a far better choice.

"Hmm. Just got a good idea."

In that moment something flashed through Do-ha's mind. To catch a rat, you smoke out its burrow.

"Canteas."

"Yeah?"

"That guy. Let me use him a bit."

"Huh? For what?"

"You can turn him into an undead, right? In his original form."

"Not a skeleton—the original look?"

"Yeah."

"Possible. Just make him a jiangshi. But it'll take a few hours. Why?"

"We're gonna smoke out some rat dens."

Grin.

As Do-ha smiled, Canteas tilted his head.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

Rrrring.

As Canteas went back into the abandoned building, Do-ha immediately dialed someone on his phone.

Someone had suddenly barged in and kidnapped the hunter named Shurike from the International Cultural Exchange Group. Reporters were flocking in; the situation was pure chaos.

Hearing something so out of the blue, a cry of shock burst from the Association President's mouth. What was this all of a sudden? Baek Do-ha had kidnapped the hunter Shurike? Why? Had he come to Busan for that?

Creak.

"You're going to tell the Association President?"

As the call ended, Canteas emerged from the building carrying Shurike's corpse. From Do-ha's actions it seemed he was finally going to tell the Association President everything.

"Yeah. I held off in case he was an enemy, but..."

He had confirmed the man was neither New Age nor Demon God Cult. Informing the Association President of everything and cooperating would therefore be smoother. Of course, he also wanted to ease the man's stress. When the Chinese hunter Wei Chen had disappeared before, how much hell had the Association President gone through? Do-ha had seen the man's complexion darken after days without proper sleep.

"...Is everything you just said true?"

"Yes. It's true."

"Haa."

Having arrived near the abandoned building, the Association President wiped his face after hearing the whole story. Learning what had happened so far resolved his lingering questions, but the future was the real problem.

"How large is this Demon God Cult? Including that Belhart Northern Continent?"

"I don't know the full extent of their influence right now. But you can safely say it's on the scale of several nations combined."

"Several nations?"

"Think of the United States, Russia, and China put together."

"Haha, you're joking..."

The Association President let out a hollow laugh, then shut his mouth the moment he saw Do-ha's expression. He had thought it was a joke to lighten the mood, but the man's face said everything.

"...It's really that big?"

"Honestly, I downplayed it."

These were people who, backed by the Demon God, had acted without restraint under the banner of divine will. The Belhart world was several times larger than Earth, and they were on Earth as well—so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this was the absolute minimum estimate.

Good thing I thinned their numbers.

Otherwise he would have spoken in terms of entire dimensions.

"So that's why you were doing all that with Paju..."

Everything finally clicked for the Association President, and he clapped his hands. At first he had thought Do-ha was trying to make Paju the capital, but looking at it now, the man had been preparing for war with them—securing Paju ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as a base and gathering strength.

"That's right."

"But how does Hunter Baek Do-ha know all this?"

Even the intelligence agencies in the United States did not know this information. Yet Baek Do-ha knew it in such detail?

"I can't tell you right now. But when the time comes, I will."

The full truth was still a bit too heavy for the Association President to handle. Just a criminal syndicate. That level was fine for now. Later, once the Association President's realm and mental fortitude rose, it would not be too late to tell him.

"Ugh... Understood. I'll wait."

"So please prepare the things I mentioned."

"The dead... no, you said it was a clone, so calling it dead feels off. Anyway—the reporters. And the live-broadcast cameras, right?"

"Yes."

Do-ha nodded at the Association President's question. According to the information extracted by torturing Shurike, New Age currently had a poor relationship with the Demon God Cult. As groups always did, each wanted to sit on top. Because of that, the cult had stretched its claws toward New Age several times, trying to seize control. Naturally, New Age was furious as well—some weird god-worshipping fanatics attacking New Age, of all things.

"So Hunter, you're thinking of using barbarians to control barbarians."

"Hmm, that's not the main goal."

Pitting them against each other was merely the bean powder on top. What he was after was constraining their actions and raising their guard.

Because of this, the two groups will clash directly.

Once both groups were officially exposed, every nation would grow wary and suspicious. What if my friend is one of them? What if my colleague is one of them? In that process, New Age and the cult would clearly decide this was a perfect opportunity and try to expand their influence rather than hide. Then large and small frictions would arise, and inevitably their locations would be revealed.

"You're going to control the dead Shurike's main body and clone to announce the existence of New Age and the cult."

"That's right."

In short, they would put on a performance. When the live broadcast went out, he would fight the Shurike controlled by Canteas.

"Well, since you're a necromancer, Hunter Do-ha, that should be possible."

Unlike the nodding Association President, Do-ha tilted his head.

Necromancer? What was he talking about?

"Then I'll go prepare the things you mentioned."

With that, the Association President vanished with a thoroughly serious expression.