Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Even if someone deserves to die, it’s human nature to hesitate when the time comes to kill them with your own hands.
But there wasn’t a shred of hesitation in Lucia’s actions.
Unlike Kang Jin-hyuk, who intended to give the man a moderate beating, she moved with clear intent to kill.
And she finished him off with a single blow.
Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t think it was in Lucia’s nature to be able to kill someone without hesitation.
Kang Jin-hyuk recalled what Lucia had said in the dungeon a while ago, almost like a lament.
Perhaps Lucia’s life had been rougher than he had imagined.
Suddenly feeling a pang of sympathy, Kang Jin-hyuk revealed a fact he had just witnessed.
“It didn’t go up at all.”
“What didn’t?”
“Your Karma score.”
“When I killed that guy?”
“Yeah.”
Lucia muttered, her voice lighter, as if she had expected it.
“I should burn this place down while I dispose of the body.”
“You’re going to burn down your house that easily?”
“House? It’s just a temporary shelter because I had nowhere else to stay.”
Even from the outside, it looked more like a tent than a house.
It might be livable for a day or two, but anyone would be horrified at the thought of staying there for more than a month.
After gathering the belongings that were still usable, Lucia dragged Kang Jin-hyuk outside.
“So, where are you going to stay now? There aren’t that many places to live in this dungeon.”
“Hehe, are you worried about me now?”
As she said, Kang Jin-hyuk was secretly worried about Lucia, even though he pretended not to be.
To him, it seemed difficult to rest comfortably in this place where monsters appeared at any time, no matter how strong she was.
“Should I rent you a room?”
“Live at your place? You’re pushing it.”
The option of living outside the dungeon never existed in Lucia’s mind from the beginning.
“I don’t think I’ll live long if I stay in a place with such bad air.”
She thought it would be better to live alongside monsters.
The second reason was that she didn’t want to recklessly enter a house where a man lived alone.
“I have a place in mind. I’m thinking of staying there for the time being.”
“What about necessities?”
“Huh? You can bring them from outside for me.”
“So you’re definitely planning to make me your errand boy.”
“Of course. You’re starting to realize it now, aren’t you?”
“Realize what? That I have to run errands for you?”
Lucia lightly shook her head.
“That we’re not going to cut ties with each other after a few days.”
Lucia’s goal was to return to her original world.
Just because it wasn’t urgent didn’t mean that the goal itself completely disappeared.
But she had also considered the worst-case scenario.
She might have to settle down in Kang Jin-hyuk’s world, and his cooperation was essential for her to adapt.
Kang Jin-hyuk also needed Lucia’s power to easily resolve the incidents occurring in his world.
“Come to think of it, we still have a long way to go before this is over.”
The investigation that started to learn about Kang Jin-hyuk’s hidden skill had now escalated to the point of digging into the background of a huge organization.
He couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about how the situation had blown up beyond imagination, like a snowball rolling down from a mountaintop.
“Now that I have a rough idea of what kind of actions increase Karma, I think I can cut ties here…….”
Lucia was conflicted.
From her perspective, it didn’t really matter what happened outside.
But after hearing Choi Seo-hoon’s story, she felt uneasy, like she had a bone stuck in her throat.
It was a natural reaction, having heard such atrocities firsthand, even if it was a matter of another world.
“You’re not just going to let it slide, are you?”
“Do you think I would?”
Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t just stand by and watch this incident unfold.
Compared to this, the atrocities committed by other large guilds were nothing more than child’s play.
“I’m going to find all those Alraune things and burn them to the ground.”
Flowers that feed on humans shouldn’t exist.
Just as monsters needed to be eradicated, it was right for those flowers to disappear from this world.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay? I heard they’re not ordinary guys.”
“It’ll be tough, but I’ll do everything I can.”
Saying so, Kang Jin-hyuk took out his phone from his pocket.
◈◈◈◈◈◈
Seo Sang-ho, the Guild Leader of Titan.
His secretary, having observed him from close quarters for a long time, felt he was a rather frivolous person.
Unlike the head of a large guild, he would wander around meddling in this and that.
He always had a smile on his face unless a major problem arose.
In a good way, he was a good-natured person, but in a bad way, he was a simpleton.
It was extremely rare for such a person to have a fierce expression as if he were about to devour several people, like now.
Seo Sang-ho remained silent for a long time after ending the call.
The secretary, fearing he might crush the phone he was holding, reached out first.
After his phone was taken away by the secretary, Seo Sang-ho wiped his face with his palm and let out a deep sigh.
“This is driving me crazy.”
The secretary didn’t ask what was wrong.
Asking that now would be like adding fuel to Seo Sang-ho’s barely suppressed anger.
Instead, the secretary prepared and brought him a cup of tea with warm water.
Seo Sang-ho sat on the sofa and quietly accepted the tea.
As the rich aroma of the high-quality tea enveloped his throat and went down, his emotions calmed down to some extent.
Only after his complicated thoughts were organized did Seo Sang-ho open his closed mouth.
“Have you ever heard of Alraune’s Elixir?”
“No, sir. This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“Right……. It’s an item the Association is trying hard to hide, so it’s normal not to know about it.”
The manufacturing method was so inhumane that it was classified as top secret worldwide, and only a handful of S-rank Hunters knew of its existence.
Seo Sang-ho wondered why Kang Jin-hyuk, a mere C-rank Hunter, knew about such a secret.
He wouldn’t have been able to access the information from the Association with his rank.
Unless he had encountered it directly or been directly involved, Kang Jin-hyuk would have had no way of hearing the name.
‘Then does that mean it’s all true?’
Seo Sang-ho didn’t want to believe it.
He knew that the Tyrant Guild was overly conscious of the Altron Guild and obsessed with power to an excessive degree.
But he believed that, at the very least, as one of Korea’s top guilds, they wouldn’t do anything to tarnish their reputation.
But reality was different.
The Guild Leader of Tyrant was a madman who used people as sacrifices for his own growth.
‘That trash, who can’t even be called a Hunter, is sitting as the head of a top guild!’
Seo Sang-ho felt nauseous when he realized that disgusting fact.
He grabbed his head in anguish and slowly lifted it.
“It’s impossible to return to Korea now, right?”
“Yes, sir. We haven’t finished the subjugation request yet.”
“Sigh……. Damn it.”
He wanted to confront the Tyrant Guild right away.
But Titan’s power was inferior to theirs.
And currently, Seo Sang-ho himself had crossed the border after accepting a request from abroad.
If he canceled it midway and returned, he would have to pay a huge penalty.
Considering the guild’s finances and credibility, it was something he absolutely couldn’t do.
As the Guild Leader, Seo Sang-ho couldn’t act so irresponsibly.
But it wasn’t in his nature to just sit back and do nothing.
“From this moment on, we are hostile towards Tyrant.”
“Sir?”
The secretary was startled by Seo Sang-ho’s sudden declaration.
Declaring hostility meant that they would invade each other’s implicitly respected territories.
It meant that they would no longer engage in any trades or exchanges.
“If we do that, we will suffer tremendous losses.”
“It’s okay. We can form alliances with other guilds instead.”
“Y-you don’t mean…….”
As the secretary spoke in a trembling voice, having guessed his intentions, Seo Sang-ho nodded.
“Yes, propose an alliance to the Altron Guild right now.”
Seo Sang-ho’s statement was the most shocking thing the secretary had ever heard.
For a large guild like Titan to declare hostility towards Tyrant and side with Altron.
It was no different from saying they would break the balance that had been maintained so far.
It was a situation that could potentially lead to a bloodbath in the country.
“Are you serious?”
“Have you ever seen me spout nonsense?”
The secretary barely managed to stop herself from blurting out “yes.”
When he was usually walking around with a smile, he would only utter frivolous nonsense whenever he opened his mouth, but not when he had a serious expression like now.
“Of course, I’m not saying to announce it right away.”
“Then?”
“Dispatch investigators to the location I indicated and announce it when they find anything suspicious.”
Seo Sang-ho took back his phone from the secretary and searched for an address in the map application.
The location he designated was a remote suburb that showed no particular characteristics on the map.
The secretary couldn’t understand Seo Sang-ho’s intentions, but she didn’t object.
She believed that it was the secretary’s duty to follow whatever the Guild Leader instructed.
“How many investigators should we send?”
Seo Sang-ho held up three fingers in response to the secretary’s question.
“Three?”
“No, thirty. And fill half of them with A-rank Hunters.”
The secretary immediately tore to shreds the secretary’s duty she had been thinking about just a moment ago in her mind.
“In that case, why don’t we just declare war first?”
“Why? We’re not trying to start a war.”
“You’re sending 30 people, including 15 A-rank Hunters, to someone else’s territory and you’re saying you’re not trying to start a war?”
“If they’re really cultivating Alraune there, we need that many people.”
“What is that anyway?”
“It’s better you don’t know. Don’t try to find out.”
When Seo Sang-ho, who seemed like he would only float with his mouth bobbing if he fell into the sea, spoke so decisively, the secretary stopped digging further.
She simply let out a quiet sigh and manipulated the tablet PC she was holding.
“Thirty people in total. At least half of them should be A-rank Hunters. Correct?”
The secretary asked to confirm, hoping that Seo Sang-ho would change his mind.
But he never went back on his words once he had spoken them.
“Yes. Don’t get caught and find evidence within a week.”
“Your demands are getting tougher.”
“It can’t be helped. It’s Tyrant we’re dealing with.”
“Knowing that they’re bad news, are you still giving this order?”
“Because there’s no one else who can do this but me.”
Other guilds either didn’t have the guts to confront Tyrant or lacked the power.
Among the large guilds that could stand up to Tyrant to some extent, only he, Seo Sang-ho, could act so boldly.
‘Kang Jin-hyuk, that man probably contacted me because he knew that too.’
Kang Jin-hyuk had revealed all the information and only asked him to confirm its validity.
But Seo Sang-ho had no intention of simply confirming if Tyrant was indeed cultivating Alraune.
They needed to be punished for crossing the line that shouldn’t be crossed.
“I need to finish the request as soon as possible.”