LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Kang Jin-hyuk approached Yoon Song-ho and searched his outer clothing.
Touching a dead person felt extremely creepy, but it wasn’t the time to be concerned about such things.
“Found it.”
Having found Yoon Song-ho’s inventory, Kang Jin-hyuk placed all the scrolls he had brought inside.
Yoon Song-ho’s inventory, filled with explosion scrolls, made it seem as if he was the culprit behind all the explosions in the building.
In other words, a false accusation.
However, Kang Jin-hyuk had no qualms about framing Yoon Song-ho.
He wasn’t an innocent person, but someone who tried to take his life.
So, he thought being used was no different than reaping what he sowed.
“Huh? What’s this?”
While stuffing the scrolls, Kang Jin-hyuk discovered a suspicious object within the inventory.
When he took it out, it was a notebook with a completely black cover and a lock to prevent it from being opened.
“It looks suspicious at first glance.”
Kang Jin-hyuk placed the notebook on the ground and smashed the lock with his baseball bat.
As he tried to open the notebook again to check the inside, he heard a ‘click’ sound as if something was activated.
“Uh oh?”
Before he could even open it, the notebook suddenly burst into flames.
Startled, Kang Jin-hyuk stumbled backward and dropped the notebook.
The notebook, now out of his hands, quickly burned on the floor, turning into ashes.
“Was that some kind of confidentiality measure?”
Kang Jin-hyuk, quickly regaining his composure, rummaged through his inventory and pulled out numerous potions.
He intended to use them to extinguish the fire, even without water immediately available.
Although the cost of the potions was a concern, he couldn’t hesitate when it came to information someone was trying so hard to hide.
“I can still save half of it if I do it now.”
Sizzle.
As he poured a large amount of potions onto the notebook, the fire was extinguished in an instant.
Instead, it created a large amount of smoke, stinging Kang Jin-hyuk’s airways.
“Cough! Cough!”
Kang Jin-hyuk waved his hands to disperse the smoke.
The notebook was soaked in potions, giving it a somewhat reddish hue.
He unfolded it before the pages could stick together, and unexpected contents caught his eye.
“This is……”
Each page of the notebook contained photos of people and their personal information.
Where they lived, their family relationships.
Even the places they frequented and their average return time were meticulously recorded.
“Why did they write it down in such detail? Were they planning to target them next?”
As he flipped through the notebook, Kang Jin-hyuk stopped when he noticed an X mark on a photo.
Something was written in red ink below the photo marked with an X.
Although the potion had caused some smudging, it was still legible.
“Punishment.”
While pondering the meaning of the word, Kang Jin-hyuk suddenly remembered something.
“Come to think of it, this person! He’s the one from the internet article the other day!”
Kang Jin-hyuk recalled an article about a Hunter who had recently been killed by a murderer.
Altron’s B-rank Hunter, ‘Kang Jae-hyuk’.
He remembered him because his name was similar to his own.
There were other individuals in the notebook marked with an X.
If this assassin lying here was the one who killed the people listed in this notebook.
He could understand why his Karma score was exceptionally high.
“I never thought that crazy murderer would be this guy.”
Kang Jin-hyuk took out a piece of paper from his inventory and started writing down the names of all the people listed in the notebook.
Since his smartphone was broken, he planned to search for them separately when he got home.
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“Why aren’t they here yet?”
Kang Jin-hyuk looked anxious as Jeong Dae-yoon didn’t show up even after he had finished everything he needed to do.
He had laid out a solid plan, but it was all useless without Jeong Dae-yoon’s cooperation.
If Jeong Dae-yoon didn’t cooperate, he would have no choice but to scrap the plan entirely.
“He didn’t seem like the type to backstab me. I should be able to trust him, right?”
His Karma score was also low enough to be considered a good person.
Just as Kang Jin-hyuk tried to dispel his anxiety, he sensed a presence at the entrance of the building.
Looking back with a mixture of anticipation and worry, he saw Lucia and Jeong Dae-yoon walking in.
Jeong Dae-yoon, waving his hand as if in greeting, flinched when he saw the body lying at Kang Jin-hyuk’s feet.
“Who is this?”
“He was following me.”
“Ah, the guy who was sneaking around and chasing you.”
Lucia wasn’t surprised as she had known from the beginning that someone was following them.
“If you were going to catch him anyway, why didn’t you take care of him from the start and let him chase you all the way here?”
“Because he’s useful.”
“Useful for what? To loot his corpse?”
Kang Jin-hyuk realized that Lucia was staring at the inventory he was holding.
“No, I didn’t take it for that…”
Kang Jin-hyuk waved his hands quickly, as if caught stealing.
“I’m going to pin everything that happened here on him.”
“That sounds even worse as an excuse.”
Technically, framing a dead person for your crimes seemed worse than looting a corpse.
Kang Jin-hyuk tried to justify himself to ignore that fact.
“He’s the guy who chased me to kill me. I can use him however I want.”
“Well, that’s true, but… it’s a bit unsettling.”
Lucia felt that even if she understood, it wasn’t something she could proudly talk about.
It seemed like taking his life was enough punishment, so was it really necessary to frame him as well?
Kang Jin-hyuk answered the question Lucia hadn’t yet voiced.
“This is the best way to prevent a war from breaking out here.”
“A war?…… Between guilds?”
Guilds existed in Lucia’s world as well.
However, the guilds she knew were not groups formed for their own benefit.
They were organizations to control adventurers who were running rampant.
Therefore, Lucia couldn’t comprehend the concept of guilds waging war against each other.
“Wasn’t it your job as Hunters to hunt monsters? Why would you fight amongst yourselves?”
“I wonder the same thing.”
If they had only united for the purpose of hunting monsters, they wouldn’t have controlled hunting grounds.
Hunters from large guilds were those who hindered the growth of other Hunters, not wanting to lose their share.
As the saying goes, the more you have, the more you want, and the larger the scale, the more severe the territorialism.
If such individuals suffered extreme losses like today.
They would never sit idly by.
“Anyway, we can’t let Titan and Tyrant fight each other.”
“That’s right. We don’t know how many people will suffer if that happens.”
Jeong Dae-yoon could speak firmly as he had witnessed firsthand what Tyrant would do for their own gain.
“No matter what, we must prevent Tyrant from running wild.”
“Right. That’s why I’m going to use this guy.”
“How?”
“I told you. We’re going to make it look like this guy did everything here.”
“Aha.”
Only then did Lucia understand Kang Jin-hyuk’s actions.
He intended to blame everything on the deceased Yoon Song-ho to prevent Tyrant’s revenge.
They would be frustrated at losing a target for their anger, but since they had openly committed illegal acts, they wouldn’t be able to complain anywhere.
If the plan went as intended, it would be possible to conclude the incident without any casualties.
“Wait, hold on a second.”
Lucia suddenly realized a flaw in the plan.
“What if this guy belongs to another guild?”
“…….”
“Even if he’s dead, they’ll investigate his identity since he caused such a big incident.”
“That’s right.”
“Then they’ll find out that he’s a Hunter from another guild. The result won’t change.”
“The target of the war will simply change.”
Jeong Dae-yoon also fell into deep thought with a serious expression after hearing Lucia’s words.
“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I have something I’m relying on. Look at his shoulder.”
Yoon Song-ho’s shoulder, pointed out by Kang Jin-hyuk, was wrapped in bandages.
“Why?”
“Don’t you remember? He’s the guy you shot with an arrow in front of the house before we came here.”
“So what?”
Lucia had known from the beginning that the guy and the one lying here were the same person.
She didn’t think it was particularly important and only considered it as a motive for revenge, so she didn’t mention it separately.
However, Kang Jin-hyuk focused on the very point Lucia had overlooked.
“Think about it logically. What kind of group in the world would send a guy who failed an assassination attempt, especially one who’s injured, back on the same day?”
“Maybe they didn’t have anyone else to send.”
“Or maybe he’s working alone.”
As Kang Jin-hyuk said those words, he handed the notebook he had kept to Jeong Dae-yoon.
“What is this?”
“It’s the hit list that the assassin was carrying.”
“Huh?”
Jeong Dae-yoon was startled and quickly opened the notebook he received.
As he flipped through the pages quickly, his complexion grew paler with time.
“This is unbelievable…… This list includes even those who haven’t been officially announced as dead yet.”
“Then there’s nothing more to see.”
The crazy murderer who only targeted and killed Hunters from large guilds. That was the assassin’s identity.
“Tyrant will also realize that this guy is the murderer when they investigate. Then there won’t be a war.”
They couldn’t wage war against a murderer who was already dead.
That’s why Kang Jin-hyuk had no qualms about putting the blame on Yoon Song-ho.
“I don’t really understand what you’re saying, but anyway, it means there’s no problem, right?”
“Of course, the situation is turning out better than expected. But we can’t let our guard down yet.”
Thanks to the unexpected windfall, the plan was well-prepared.
Now, all that remained was Jeong Dae-yoon’s cooperation.
“Is everything outside taken care of?”
“Yes, I proceeded as you instructed.”
“Phew. That’s a relief.”
Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk sigh in relief, Jeong Dae-yoon spoke with a worried look.
“We shouldn’t let our guard down yet. We need to leave before Tyrant’s Hunters arrive.”
Lucia looked surprised.
“Huh? Wasn’t that a lie?”
“It’s easier to deceive if you mix in some truth rather than 100% lies.”
“So how much did you mix in?”
“Half.”
“That’s a generous amount.”
It was true that Tyrant’s Hunters were coming here as backup.
But it was a blatant lie that they would be arriving soon.
The personnel that Titan’s guild members had discovered during their reconnaissance were all illusions created by Jeong Dae-yoon.
“I was nervous because they’re a reputable guild. But they really fell for just a few illusions.”
Tyrant’s Hunters had just departed from their headquarters.
No matter how skilled they were, it would take them at least two hours to get here.
That was enough time to thoroughly loot Tyrant’s branch without having to rush to withdraw.
If Han Young-seok found out about this, he might foam at the mouth and collapse.
“It’ll take at least an hour even if they’re fast. But it’s better to hurry if we can.”
“Don’t worry so much. I’ve finished all the preparations.”
“Then it’s my turn now.”
Kang Jin-hyuk met Jeong Dae-yoon’s gaze.
His eyes seemed quite serious, as if he had made up his mind.
“You don’t have to do it. You can back out if it seems too much.”
Kang Jin-hyuk felt uneasy.
What he was about to entrust to Jeong Dae-yoon might cause him great harm.
If it was discovered or didn’t go as planned, even his life might be in danger.
He felt pangs of conscience at the thought of leaving such a dangerous task to someone else.
“How many people would give up after hearing that?”
Jeong Dae-yoon smirked.
It was unclear whether he had read Kang Jin-hyuk’s feelings or if it was to ease his own tension.
“Trust me and leave it to me. I also want to get back at these guys for what they’ve done.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you.”
“I know.”
Jeong Dae-yoon held up the notebook Kang Jin-hyuk had given him.
“If the Guild Leader is wiped out, they’ll probably let it slide to some extent if we say we caught a famous murderer instead.”
The murderer had stolen the elixir, which is why this damage had occurred.
That was the most plausible excuse Jeong Dae-yoon could come up with.
“I have one last question.”
“What is it?”
“Did you secure the completed Alraune’s Elixir?”
Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t answer Jeong Dae-yoon’s question and only gave a meaningful look.
Even though the other party remained silent, Jeong Dae-yoon nodded as if he understood.
“Whoever took it, it’s better than Tyrant’s Hunters using it.”
Jeong Dae-yoon didn’t care how much the elixir would fetch.
He felt he wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully if he made money by selling an item created by using people as fertilizer.
Kang Jin-hyuk felt similarly to Jeong Dae-yoon, but because he had lived as a nobody for so long, his conclusion was different.
‘But I can’t just throw away something this valuable.’
Whether he used it himself or sold it, it was an item that could change his life.
It would be foolish to throw it away just because it felt unsettling.
If he wanted to honor the dead, wouldn’t it be better to use it to crush Tyrant?
That was the conclusion Kang Jin-hyuk had reached.