Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Hell Unleashed
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Surpassing South Korea, Yong-un had swept through guilds on a global scale.
No matter that the Reaper Guild was one of the top four guilds in the country, treated with deference by all—in front of Yong-un, they were nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
"Guh... guh... ugh..."
Even the guild master of the Reaper Guild, who commanded tens of thousands of hunters, was just human.
Under the overwhelming power and excruciating pain that threatened to shatter his mind, Am Su-jang had lost his sanity ten minutes ago.
His face smeared with tears, snot, and drool, his body trembling uncontrollably—no longer did he resemble the dignified master of the Reaper Guild.
Yong-un's hand, fixed on his thigh, finally released.
Yet Am Su-jang's bloodshot eyes merely quivered without focus.
'Well, after enduring the Bone-Tendon Severing Technique from toe to thigh—a move even the Heavenly Demon Cult forbade—staying sane would be the real impossibility.'
Yong-un raised his hand into the air.
The crimson threads he had woven along Am Su-jang's meridians were all sucked back into his body.
In that moment, as the final thread seeped into his fingertip, it rippled lightly, grazing Am Su-jang's throat before flowing into Yong-un's dantian.
Thud.
One of South Korea's top four guilds.
The master of the Reaper Guild, an A-Rank hunter of the nation—Am Su-jang.
That was his end.
A shameful death, brought on by touching what he should never have, all to protect his own secrets.
But.
"Watch closely as a soul, the amusing sight of everything you sought to protect crumbling to dust."
Yong-un's rage was only just beginning.
His gaze shifted from the headless corpse to Jung-hwan, sleeping soundly in the corner.
To Jung-hwan, Yong-un—who had been like the Grim Reaper to Am Su-jang—bowed deeply.
"Forgive me for being late. Please do not pardon this worthless son."
Yong-un's hand moved toward Jung-hwan's neck as he slept.
His fingers pressed against the youth's sleeping acupoint.
"From now on, this worthless son will do what he does best. Awaken from your slumber... and punish me."
It was to shield his family from the horrific spectacle about to unfold.
For them, it would be nothing more than a fleeting nightmare.
With that, Yong-un scooped Jung-hwan into his arms and carried him to the plush sofa.
Once Jung-hwan was laid down, Yong-un's eyes darkened to a deep crimson once more.
Shhkkk.
Behind him, Am Su-jang's blood-soaked corpse crumbled to dust and scattered.
"I'll be back. From now on, dream sweetly."
Swoosh.
He turned from the soundly sleeping Jung-hwan.
The dust that was once Am Su-jang's body scattered out the open window.
Weaving through the drifting particles, Yong-un stepped forward and opened the door leading out of the guild master's office.
The guild master's office was in the corner room on the 14th floor.
There, Mi-hwa and Sena lay collapsed as if asleep, guarded by two Reaper Guild members.
An hour into their silent vigil.
Boredom finally got to one guild member, who spoke to the other.
"The guild master is so damn smart."
"Why's that?"
"He told us to put these women back to normal after we're done with them. What do you think that means?"
"Yeah, but why? Wouldn't it be better to just clean them up all at once?"
"Tsk tsk. That's why you're still not in the elite squad. Kill off the grunts and send the women back as is—what happens then?"
One guild member shrugged, gesturing ignorance.
The other glanced at the collapsed Mi-hwa and Sena with a smirk.
"They'll seek revenge. But not on us who did the deed... on the Wild Slaughter Crew."
"Ah...! Right! It was the Wild Slaughter Crew who brought these women here, not us! Ah!"
Only then did the guild member slap his thigh in realization, letting out an exclamation.
"What a brilliant man. Handling two birds with one stone."
"Yeah, hearing you say it, it really is..."
Crunch!
The speaking guild member abruptly cut off mid-sentence.
The other felt something off and turned to look—only to topple backward in horror.
"What the—? Hiiik!"
His body was facing forward...
But his head had twisted 180 degrees.
The shock was brief. Like a ghost, Yong-un materialized in the empty center of the room, his eyes glowing crimson.
Beeeep!
Even in panic, the Reaper Guild lived up to its name.
With eyes bulging, the guild member's hand slammed the alarm bell nearby.
The bell wailed oddly, followed by the thunderous sound of footsteps rushing from somewhere.
"Wh-who are you?!"
"If there's another button, hit them all."
Trembling like he'd seen a specter, the guild member drew a small cutter knife from his suit pocket.
The instant his eyes met Yong-un's crimson gaze.
Yong-un's eyes flashed, sweeping over the man's body.
Swoosh.
The trembling stopped.
His wildly shaking body stilled, his sharp focus dulled to blankness, and his combat crouch straightened.
"Call for all the support you can."
Responding to Yong-un's voice like a loyal subordinate, he answered blankly.
"Yes."
A martial art that momentarily seizes the opponent's mind, inflicting such severe mental shock that the victim could end up a vegetable.
But this target had touched his family—someone who deserved to be devoured whole and still not sate the fury.
As per Yong-un's command, the man summoned every possible reinforcement before collapsing in a heap, eyes rolling back.
Yong-un's gaze swept the room.
His spread ki sense detected dozens converging on this spot.
'All these bastards are involved...'
Crunch.
"Kill them all."
His crimson glare spread to fill the dim room.
The neck of the collapsed man snapped.
Yong-un, unfazed by the casual murder, checked Mi-hwa and Sena's acupoints before heading to the guild master's office where Jung-hwan lay.
Beeeep! Beeeeep!
"Intruder! Protect the guild master first!"
Having seen their dead comrades, the Reaper Guild members rushing to the guild master's office gripped their weapons tightly.
But just before reaching the door.
The guild master's door swung open on its own, halting their charge as they stared at the figure emerging.
"Damn it."
Had they expected the guild master?
The moment they saw Yong-un step out, they unleashed their killing intent.
"Kill him!"
"Rip him apart!"
Weapons clashed against the narrow corridor walls in a cacophony.
Yong-un's crimson eyes watched the charging guild members silently.
His form blurred, streaking past them to their rear in an instant.
Slash!
It could only be the steps of the Reaper.
Not even the lion opening the gates of hell could be this gruesome.
Dozens of guild members collapsed, spraying blood down the hall without a chance to scream.
They piled up as corpses, sealing their fate.
The long trail of bodies and blood.
As if drawing the line between hell and reality...
It separated the guild master's office from this inferno.
"I'll return."
The reaper who had claimed dozens of lives in a flash bowed deeply toward the guild master's office.
Then he turned, unleashing crimson demonic energy at the next wave charging in.
"Gaaahhh!"
With every step Yong-un took, blood sprayed and bodies fell.
As if...
The Sword Demon's march as a slaughter ghost had come to life in reality, unfolding a vision of hell wherever he tread.
All the way to the 11th floor, where Myung-un was.
"Get in there, quick!"
In front of the Reaper Guild's headquarters building.
Late into the night, hunters from the Hunter Management Agency's Audit Division had gathered en masse.
They had mobilized on Section Chief Yi Jong-min's orders, but this wasn't a place they could just barge into. Yi Jong-min shouted.
"Chief, let's get some intel first. We don't know what happened on the way here or who reported it."
"Yeah, we'll follow orders, but this is Reaper Guild territory. Charging in blind could backfire on us."
At the Audit Division hunters' complaints, Yi Jong-min glared and bellowed.
"Listen up. Reporter: Reaper Guild! Report: Murder!"
"Yes...?!"
The Audit Division hunters all looked baffled at his words.
"Wait, isn't this the Reaper Guild headquarters? And you're saying they reported a murder happening in their own base to us?"
One Audit Division hunter tilted his head, finding his own words absurd.
It was nonsense, after all.
The Reaper Guild was one of South Korea's top four.
Its headquarters outmatched the Audit Division's forces and was a place even they dared not touch lightly.
Yet one of those top guilds had reported a murder?
The Audit Division hunters, who knew the hunter scene best, couldn't make sense of it.
But.
Yi Jong-min seemed to know something, shouting at them with anxious eyes.
"Shut up and move in! I'll take the heat, whatever it is—get in there!"
"Aigoo... Yes, sir."
"Let's go! Mobilize!"
The Audit Division hunters, faces grim, drew their sidearms and began entering the building one by one.
Bringing up the rear, Yi Jong-min bit his lip, staring up at the silent upper floors.
'Please, let it be nothing...'
The 11th floor, where the Reaper Guild's core operations began.
The Audit Division hunters who arrived via elevator had all prior thoughts obliterated the moment the doors opened.
"Holy shit..."
Blood and bodies littered the hallway midway down.
Confusion vanished, replaced by blaring mental alarms.
"What mad bastard..."
This was the heart of Seoul, headquarters of a top four guild, the Reaper Guild.
Yet someone had brazenly done this here.
But there was one group capable of such a thing.
They'd mobilized just hours ago over something similar.
"Wild Slaughter Crew..."
One Audit Division hunter voiced his gut.
"They targeting the Reaper Guild this time?"
From Garosu Guild to now Reaper Guild.
They couldn't hide their suspicion that the Wild Slaughter Crew was making bold moves.
Right then.
Thud!
"Gaaahhh!"
A scream echoed from the end of the hall. The hunters' faces hardened.
"Over there!"
They flicked off their pistol safeties and bolted toward the cry.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened again.
Yi Jong-min and the second wave of Audit Division hunters arrived on the 11th floor.
But the sight that greeted them was no different from what the first group had faced.
"Those Wild Slaughter bastards have lost their minds."
Everyone suspected the Wild Slaughter Crew.
No one else could pull this off in a top four guild's home turf.
"They went quiet just to gather hunters for this? And on my watch... damn it."
Amid the hunters' grumbling.
Yi Jong-min silently examined a fallen Reaper Guild member's corpse.
Then dropped a bombshell.
"Not the Wild Slaughter Crew."
"What? You saying they didn't do this?"
"No. This isn't their style at all."
"Then who..."
As Yi Jong-min and the hunter spoke.
Thud!
A loud crash from the hall's end.
All heads snapped that way. Yi Jong-min grabbed a hunter's shoulder in shock.
"The first team! Where are they?!"
"Ah! I told them to hold position..."
"Shit!"
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out from the noise's direction.
"Gunfire... Chief!"
"Crazy bastards."
In gun-controlled South Korea, gunfire meant one thing.
The first Audit Division team's pistols had fired.
Yi Jong-min yanked his pistol from its holster.
Before charging, his radio crackled.
[Chief! It's as you ordered—we checked!]
Ignoring it amid the urgency, he ran.
But the radio delivered a shocking blow that froze his feet.
[It's him! Yong-un, the S-Rank hunter who just hit world rankings! His house!]
He halted.
"That means..."
"Chief, what the hell?"
[With Sword Tiger! The hunter who made S-Rank! His place!]
The Audit Division hunters following Yi Jong-min stopped dead.
Yi Jong-min stared blankly down the hall, murmuring lowly.
"No need to know. But pray. Pray that gunshot changed nothing... that they didn't tweak the whiskers of a sleeping tiger..."