Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Declaration of War
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Carlos was not a man who feared war.
The path to becoming a drug lord had been a continuous series of wars. Now, as an S-rank hunter, he had reached a position no one could touch, but even before that, he had lived a life rougher than anyone else's.
But his instincts were rejecting a war with Wang-sik.
Despite surely knowing his power and influence, only two men had come to the drug lord's mansion.
Was it bravado?
To dismiss it as such, not only Wang-sik but also the man with him appeared far too confident.
Seeing their complete lack of fear, he honestly felt a competitive urge.
*Should I take them on?*
He was not a man accustomed to patience.
The moment he made that decision, the look in Wang-sik's eyes changed. And the man standing a step behind him flickered and vanished.
"Stop!"
Fortunately, his word was faster.
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
With just a change in his gaze, the man had appeared behind him, and a shield was in Wang-sik's hand.
*To think guys like this existed.*
He realized their willingness to go to war was genuine, and their skills proved they could back it up.
He could fight if he had to, but one thing was certain.
*The organization will fall.*
At the very least, his elite forces here would surely be annihilated.
"Kante! Tell them about Juan."
The instinct to fight still lingered, but for the sake of his organization, he chose safety.
"He disappeared three years ago and went to the United States. We managed to find him a year ago, but the three men who pursued him also went missing and were later found as corpses."
The simple words implied they had nothing to do with Juan.
After his subordinate's brief report, Carlos concluded.
"He's a bastard who ran off with our organization's assets. In the end, we couldn't find him either."
"It wouldn't have ended there."
"Do I have to share the embarrassing details?"
"You need to be clear. If you guys are even slightly involved, what do you think will happen to this place?"
"Calm down. Didn't you go on about protecting the peace? This is far from peaceful."
"A lot of people would be happy if we cleaned up the druggies."
As Wang-sik showed his hostility, Carlos spoke as if he had no choice.
"Fine. We have nothing to lose if we find that bastard too, so I'll tell you."
Carlos, deliberately adding meaning to his words, said.
"Devist Nolan."
He heard the name he had momentarily forgotten.
It was the name of the religion the Russian intelligence agency had told him about.
"That bastard devoted himself to a religion. Isn't it funny? The real god is right here."
Carlos pulled a white powder from his pocket.
"How did you find that out?"
"We searched the women in Portland where he was found."
"Women?"
"Want to know more details? Kante! How did we find him?"
The subordinate who had answered earlier stepped forward again.
"We looked for short, hot women with big asses!"
At his words, the subordinates laughed once more. When the laughter died down, Kante shouted again.
"Among them, we found the dead ones!"
This time, jeers erupted.
"We planted similar women around the areas where the others disappeared and waited!"
It was a method only they could employ.
"So, the conclusion?"
"We found him. But he'd become a completely different person. The guys who went to catch him got taken out instead. That makes it two failures."
Carlos's face contorted in anger as he spoke.
"The last one left alive told us before he died. Said they were the Devist Nolan bastards."
"Knowing that, you wouldn't have just sat still."
Carlos was not the type to bow to failure or power.
"Do I have to reveal that too? I think I've treated you well enough as guests with what I've told you so far."
"I'll admit that. So you should tell me more."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to wipe them all out."
"You can do what we couldn't?"
"There will be no failure."
"How can you be so sure?"
Wang-sik said without a hint of wavering.
"Because I won't stop until I've wiped them all out."
The aura contained in his words was so murderous that the men nearby froze in unison.
"Hahaha! Good! Go on and try! But we need to get something in return."
"What do you want?"
"The man we were trying to catch."
"He's already dead."
"Does it matter?"
He meant he wanted the body. Their revenge had to be completed.
"Fine."
They both got what they wanted.
"Buxton, Oregon. There's a shabby church on the outskirts. This stuff flows there. They only select the finest product."
He held up the white powder once more. He had found the hidden place by tracking the flow of drugs.
Having gotten what he wanted, Wang-sik turned without hesitation.
Then, Carlos spoke as if saying farewell.
"Be careful, you might run into some unwelcome guests. Those bastards won't be as reasonable as I am."
Wang-sik didn't stop walking, and soon the loud music started up again.
***
Early in the morning, Korea was in an uproar.
—Guseong Group Chairwoman Han Young-im's Residence Attacked. All Bodyguards Killed.
—Chairwoman Han Young-im Revealed to Have Been Narrowly Rescued.
The news had already spread worldwide, and follow-up articles were quickly being published.
—Presumed to Have Been Rescued by Mad Castle.
Since the operation wasn't carried out in secret, it was natural for it to be revealed. The problem was that Mad Castle had not released a statement.
"Will this really be okay?"
"Of course. This is what we must do."
"Mad Castle's image could be tarnished just for me."
"This isn't about tarnishing an image. It's something that must be done for our future safety."
Han Young-im sighed and picked up her smartphone.
"Release the press statement."
The prepared press release was sent to the media.
—Mad Castle Announces Official Stance! Declaration of War on Terrorist Group!
The statement from Mad Castle, led by Kang Il-seop, was resolute.
—This attack was retaliation by the terrorist group for the New Zealand operation, and Mad Castle has begun an active response. We will not stop until the terrorist group is completely eradicated.
A short but strong response.
"We must show them exactly what happens to those who mess with us. That way, no one will dare to try it again."
There was no way to protect everyone associated with Mad Castle.
Even with an optimistic outlook, the number of related individuals would increase, and they would inevitably lack the manpower to protect them all.
In that case, the only solution was to make them not even think about touching them in the first place.
"Let's start by distributing the CCTV footage."
At Kang Il-seop's decision, the team members moved with perfect coordination.
The press release was distributed on a massive scale, and it began to spread worldwide through all available channels.
At the same time, Kang Il-seop made a call to Russia.
"We need the data on Devist Nolan."
—We will transfer it immediately.
The Russian intelligence agency sent the information as if they had been waiting. They had already obtained the information and even secured the president's approval.
Next was the United States.
"I assume you are already aware. We plan to conduct an operation in the United States."
The person on the other end of the line was silent for a moment.
—No American citizens must be harmed.
"The culprits have been identified as the Church of Devist Nolan. It's a religion that started in the U.S., and if this gets out, quite a few famous people who have publicly supported them will be in a difficult position."
Kang Il-seop wasn't asking.
—Do you have proof?
"Yes. I'll send it over right now. This is the last gesture of goodwill I can offer."
As Kang Il-seop nodded, an agent transmitted the data.
A crest with one demon wing and one angel wing spread out.
It was the mark of Devist Nolan, found on the corpses. Then, another piece of data was sent.
It was the information received from Russia.
That a member of Devist Nolan had appeared at two S-rank gates. It was only circumstantial evidence, difficult to use as proof, but its release would cause a massive stir.
"This is evidence we uncovered in cooperation with the New Zealand government."
This was the part Kang Il-seop had focused on most after the operation.
"They possess the technology to summon gates at precise locations."
The location, cleverly obscured by the typhoon, had led him to investigate with certainty.
"It seems individuals who appear to be from Devist Nolan visited that location as well."
In Russia, it was downtown Moscow, so they could be dismissed as tourists, but the gate summoning location in New Zealand was completely different. After sending the data discovered via environmental surveillance cameras, Kang Il-seop added one more thing.
"This isn't a response to the attack. This is an operation against the terrorists who threaten the entire planet with the gate summoning incidents."
Hearing Smith's troubled groan, Kang Il-seop gritted his teeth.
So he said something he hadn't intended to.
"Whatever choice you make, Director, we will announce this fact. The headline will be this: The United States is sheltering terrorists because they are its citizens."
It was a statement that crossed the line, but Kang Il-seop was relentless.
"Let me be clear, I can and will do anything right now. As long as it means I can kill every last one of those sons of bitches."
After a short silence, Smith's voice came through.
—Permission granted.
"Is that all?"
—We will cooperate.
Having extracted the words he wanted, Kang Il-seop ended the call.
"Commander, should we release it now?"
"Wait. We'll release it after the team finishes its first operation. Just give a heads-up to every government we can connect with. Select the highest-ranking officials, but keep it to a small circle. This operation must begin simultaneously all over the world."
As the agents began to move busily again, Kang Il-seop took a moment to catch his breath.
Watching him, Han Young-im was inwardly amazed. She hadn't known that Kang Il-seop, who seemed like just a nice, middle-aged man, possessed such powerful command.
*They're all truly incredible people.*
Although it had only been twelve hours since the ordeal, a different emotion had replaced the fear in her heart.
*Have I ever been protected like this before?*
It was a feeling Han Young-im was experiencing from others for the first time.
***
Buxton, Oregon, USA.
While they were driving, a patrol car approached and blocked their path.
"What's the matter?"
The person in charge of driving asked.
He was a VIP specialist from the Guseong Gate Exchange, responsible for transporting Mad Castle members. Aware of the gravity of the situation, he was already on edge, so the patrol car's approach made him even more tense.
But the police officer simply held out a tablet PC without a word.
The driver took it, and the officer got back in the patrol car and drove away.
"I'll check it."
Turning on the tablet PC revealed various data.
"So they really have been watching for a long time."
The information on the screen was about Devist Nolan, specifically a curated selection regarding their current destination, Buxton. They had likely filtered it, knowing it would be impossible to read all the data in time.
"Does this mean they'll give us the rest of the data if we do a good job?"
They might be trying to negotiate, but for now, the group focused on the data.
The largest portion of the data was the identities of people who had visited the church.
*Impressive.*
Wang-sik was inwardly impressed by the methods of Smith, the Director of the American Hunter Management Bureau.
To get to the old church located in the forest, one had to take a road along the river and then turn onto a dirt path leading into the woods. Smith had placed traffic analysis cameras and environmental surveillance cameras before and after the turnoff.
If a vehicle caught by the first camera didn't appear on the second one?
There was a very high probability it had gone to the church.
They had analyzed these vehicles and the drivers captured by the cameras.
Since they weren't directly filming the path into the forest, the targets would have had no idea their identities were being recorded.
"Commander, I'm sending it over."
Wang-sik decided it would be too difficult to check alone and forwarded the data to headquarters. About ten minutes later, Oh Min-jae contacted him.
—Hyung! I think I know what that place is!
His voice was quite excited.
—It's a research lab! Chemists, mathematicians, and technicians from various fields have been there.
"Are you sure?"
—I'm sure. I think I also know where in Azelan it's connected to.
An organization also came to Wang-sik's mind.
—The Alchemist Guild. I think the magic materials those bastards made came from there. All the technicians needed to make them have visited.
"So that's why the drugs flowed here."
Wang-sik turned off the tablet PC and looked ahead.
"We'll stop here."
The vehicle carrying them pulled over to the side of the road.