Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: A Perfect Diversion
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Everyone's probably had that thought at least once, right?
A super impressive building stands there, and I set off an explosion inside it. But no one knows I'm the one behind it, and I just stand there watching the flames rage.
"Blew up real good."
There were no casualties. I'd deliberately chosen a spot where no one would get hurt. Still, the blast had echoed loud and clear, and part of the building had come crumbling down.
I'd already cleared it with Chairman Han Sang-cheol.
"Hey, this really won't get traced back to us, right?"
"No problem."
The explosion in the hotel had come from a grenade fired by Jung No-hoon. But they'd never find any fragments from it.
I wiped the sweat and blood from my nose before answering.
"You saw it yourself."
"Yeah."
I'd incinerated the grenade's form with Paradox Flame after Jung No-hoon had loaded and aimed it. Then, the two of us kept up Paradox Flames to burn away all the ambient sounds around where we were positioned.
The silently launched grenade flew without form.
Just because its shape was gone didn't mean the grenade itself vanished. Of course, once fired, it would fly and explode.
But there'd be no grenade shards or traces of gunpowder. They'd never find anything. No matter what methods they used, they wouldn't pinpoint the cause of the blast.
"Damn, my head hurts."
I muttered while pressing my temples. Anyway, Chairman Han Sang-cheol had definitely taken the lead in this operation.
"Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all."
Jung No-hoon gave that curt assessment as he packed away the grenade launcher he'd used. I snorted at his words.
"He's only helping because it benefits him too. Same goes for ditching us—he'd do it in a heartbeat if it suited him."
Jung No-hoon let out a sharp "Ha!" at that.
"His own granddaughter's with us."
"Don't put too much faith in that alone."
It might serve as some shield, but he wasn't the type to understand everything and accept losses just because Han Sang-ah was his granddaughter.
Speaking of which, I called Han Sang-ah. She was currently in her hotel room, tracking the GPS coordinates.
"How's it looking?"
―It's on the move. Heading underground. Route's marked. Went down through the restroom... and it's still descending.
Still going down? How deep was it going for her to phrase it like that?
―Down to 250 meters underground. And still descending.
What the hell? Did that hotel have some damn bunker down there? Descending past 250 meters? Was Playchip Hotel a hotel or a freaking water bottling plant?
"At this point, the hotel itself was probably built just to hide that underground bunker."
Jung No-hoon muttered in disbelief. Blue Wrench's stash for contraband was way deeper than expected.
"If they've invested this much, we can expect some real good news."
Heavy investment spoke volumes about the facility's importance. They'd dug that deep because there was plenty worth protecting.
"Odds of good news for Chairman Han Sang-cheol just went up."
"Sure. If we can actually get down there."
Jung No-hoon scratched his head furiously before looking at me.
"How do you plan to get in?"
"Even if they've dug deep underground, they still need passages to move goods up and down."
And Han Sang-cheol's secretly planted GPS tracker was charting that exact path, thanks to Han Sang-ah.
―The tracker's gone from the junket room restroom to the hotel's B2 security office, and from there, it's descending straight down.
To reach the underground contraband vault, they'd have to pass through the hotel's security office.
A hotel this size would definitely employ hunters for security. Trying to breach the security office meant dealing with them too.
"Let's head back for now."
With everyone evacuating, it'd look suspicious if we were the only ones missing. Jung No-hoon and I grabbed our gear and bolted back to the hotel.
Outside, a crowd of evacuees had gathered, buzzing as they stared at the casino building where the explosion had hit.
Pushing through the throng, we saw cops holding a police line, trying to keep people back.
"Everything's fine. Just a minor accident. Guests, please stay calm."
Calm my ass. Something had gone boom in the hotel they were staying at—who wouldn't freak out?
"Hey, what about casino operations?"
"Operations are suspended until we determine the cause!"
A few people got pissed at the cop's announcement.
"Damn it, what about the money I borrowed from the loan shark? You bastard cops gonna pay it back for me?!"
"I was on a hot streak, and now it's all ruined!"
Not everyone who came to a casino was rich. Plenty of broke folks borrowed cash just to gamble.
Hell, even with a bomb going off in the casino, some were more pissed about not being able to play than scared.
"Oh yeah, around 5 p.m., some trucks showed up handing out free lunch boxes. People were lining up."
I groaned at Jung No-hoon's comment. They'd scarf it down and rush back to the slots.
"Feels like we did a good deed."
Forcing them to take a break from gambling, at least temporarily.
"Good deed my ass. Korea's got more casinos than just Playchip Hotel."
Ah, I'd gotten nostalgic for a sec. Back in my day, aside from the one in Jeongseon, locals had nowhere to gamble.
"Let's head back and prep."
Chairman Han Sang-cheol had pretty much done his part. All that was left was for him to provide an alibi while we slipped down the secret passage to the deep underground contraband stash.
"While he sets up the alibi, we sneak past cameras without using abilities, infiltrate the security office, find the secret passage, and hit the contraband warehouse."
Jung No-hoon nodded with an "Oho."
"Sounds easy when you put it like that. Like grabbing cup ramen at a convenience store."
"Jeong, aren't you being a bit sarcastic?"
He replied with unusual fervor.
"We're breaking into Playchip Hotel's security office. No abilities, and if cameras spot us, we're screwed. Not easy at all."
"Quit complaining. You know we have no choice."
Jung No-hoon grumbled into the night breeze.
"We came here to relax, asshole."
"Might get to after this is done."
"Might? Screw you, I'll skin you alive and boil you."
He grumbled some more, then paused thoughtfully before speaking.
"Main building still has guests and staff. But the casino doesn't."
Lots of eyes, tons of CCTV. Sneaking through the main building to security would be a march through hell.
"But we don't have to go that way. The junket room's secret passage connects to security, right?"
And it was closed off from the blast. Even with CCTV running, we'd avoid guests and staff—way easier.
"Han Sang-ah could handle CCTV easy."
I shook my head at his words.
"Requires magic power. That'd blow our cover for sure."
She could fry all the cameras with a million-volt surge. But it'd leave traces of magic, plus fried CCTV from high voltage. And Han Sang-ah was staying at the hotel.
Put those together, and she'd be pegged as the culprit. Which would drag us in too.
"So what's the plan?"
"Fast food style. Wrap it in 30 minutes."
There were two ways to pull this off: Meticulous prep to avoid detection entirely, or...
Move so fast they couldn't react before it was over.
"Security office holds all the CCTV records anyway."
Smash everything there, and they'd have no proof we entered via the casino.
Wipe the footage, follow the passage down, grab the contraband, and hunt for the intel Chairman Han Sang-cheol wanted.
"How do we escape after? Backtracking's impossible."
"They wouldn't route contraband through the hotel to the underground vault."
Too much exposure moving through security.
Getting smuggled goods into the hotel and then to security without eyes on it? Impossible.
So there had to be a separate external route into the vault. We'd reverse it for our exit.
We couldn't call cops at the vault anyway. These guys weren't exactly upstanding citizens.
"Let's finish quick and crash at the hotel like you said."
The casino had exploded, after all. Guys who'd sunk millions into a vault hundreds of meters down probably wouldn't abandon it easily, but...
Still, better hit it before they moved the goods.
If we wrapped today, we could kill time here doing whatever.
"Music to my ears. Let's link up with Han Sang-ah quick. Delaying the heist means wasting this prime hotel—inconceivable."
"Weren't you just whining about the cost?"
He nodded.
"Hey, spent money's gone. Like an accident you can't undo."
His face twisted briefly, then he slapped my back and strode ahead.
We were meeting at a rooftop bar on the 15th floor called Ramur Sky.
"Later than the old man's no good."
Chairman Han Sang-cheol was already seated, sipping his drink. Naturally, he'd swung his Geumyang Group clout like a blade, clearing out staff and patrons alike.
"Tell me about it. My joints have been killing me lately."
He scowled at me.
"Young punk's got no filter in front of a walking corpse."
"If I'm bagging walking corpses lately, watch out, Chairman."
He chuckled. For now, we were allies, trading light jabs. If we ended up enemies later, no more chummy chats.
He'd picked this spot because the open rooftop let us head outside easily...
And a drop from there could land us right above the casino.
"Let's start. No abilities. Nothing that could ID us. It's 2:30 a.m.—target arrival at contraband vault by 3:00."
With that, I donned my mask, threw on a robe over my clothes, and pulled on gloves.
"Got it, Rey Mysterio."
"Shut it, Mami Hand."
My mask did resemble that famous wrestler's. Jung No-hoon's looked like one a rapper used to wear.
"Ready."
"Good, Action Mask. Let's go."
And Han Sang-ah had masked up like a character from some old anime.