Chapter 14
Articles flooded the media once Ashmoon Night 193 concluded.
Go Taemin took the lion’s share of the spotlight by an overwhelming margin.
The first warrior in the Japan Amateur League to achieve promotion while undefeated.
In a survival match for his very debut, he had recorded an early finish to show everyone how it was done, emerging as the sole survivor.
That performance instantly propelled him into stardom within the US Pro League.
Decisive above all else was his triumph over Christopher, who had been riding surging momentum after cutting down league titans like Juggernaut and Joaquin in succession.
Watching the aftermath unfold, one man could only sigh with bitter regret.
“…Dammit. He really went and raised hell in his debut.”
Oh Hyeonseok, branch director of Nova Korea Arena, let out a low groan as he replayed the highlights of Match 4.
Akwi.
On screen, the man lived up to the name.
Prowling the jungle like a wraith, he had hunted down and slaughtered every last remaining survivor.
“Where the hell did a guy like that crawl out from?”
Deep down, Oh Hyeonseok had hoped Akwi would hit his ceiling in this match.
It was not simply petty jealousy over a warrior from a neighboring league thriving.
Oh Hyeonseok possessed an exceptional eye for sizing up an opponent from a single movement.
Through his gaze, Akwi was an absolute monster of raw talent.
An animalistic instinct that let him take down a Named warrior like Christopher without any sign of formal training.
On top of that, a ruthless tenacity that refused to quit even at death’s door, clawing out a path to victory no matter what.
That was something money could never teach.
Oh Hyeonseok clicked his tongue, watching Akwi swing his blade with chilling nonchalance on the screen.
“He’ll make it to the World League at the very least.”
As the Korean branch director, seeing such a blue-chip prospect blossom in someone else’s league cut deep.
A quiet knock interrupted him, and his secretary entered the office.
In his hands was a reporting tablet.
“Director, here is the list of newly registered legions for this month.”
Taking the tablet, Oh Hyeonseok slowly scrolled down the list.
A faint smile touched his lips.
A growing number of legions was welcome news. It meant the system was gradually taking root in Korea.
“Do you plan on visiting all of them in person again this time?” the secretary asked, checking the schedule beside him.
Oh Hyeonseok nodded as if the answer were obvious.
“A legion master’s personality defines the legion’s color. Only by seeing that color can you gauge the caliber of warriors who will grow there. Numbers scribbled on scraps of paper will never tell you that.”
Out of habit, he examined each of the registered legions’ detailed profiles.
Then his finger halted over a single name.
Oh Hyeonseok furrowed his brow.
“Huh?”
“…Is something the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing. By the way, can you pull up the detailed file on this legion?”
The secretary brought up the supplementary file on screen and replied, “Here it is. On paper, it’s completely spotless.”
The requirements to establish a legion were far from lenient.
A roster of at least five pro license holders, proof of training facilities, and above all, specialized personnel capable of supporting the warriors’ combat performance.
A legion took a cut of a warrior’s fight purse in exchange for guaranteeing an optimal environment, which made the criteria and vetting process rigorous by design.
In that regard, looking at the name of this particular legion gave Oh Hyeonseok a strange sense of incongruity.
Lost in thought for a moment, Oh Hyeonseok tapped the tablet screen with a decisive gesture.
“Our first stop will be here. Let’s see… The address is in Jungnang-gu.”
“Understood. Shall I coordinate the schedule?”
“No need to drag it out. Tell them I’ll be visiting tomorrow.”
Even after his secretary bowed and left the office, Oh Hyeonseok did not put the tablet down.
His gaze once again swept over the name sitting at the very top of the list.
An inexplicable, eerie hunch pricked his sharp instincts.
The lively gathering had wound down.
With practiced motions, Chae Geonuk began clearing away the scattered empty bottles and plates.
Even amidst the cleanup, Go Taemin had not taken his eyes off the Waldstein Series.
Watching him act like a little boy who had just received a shiny new toy coaxed a soft chuckle from Chae Geonuk.
It had already been ten years since they first met.
In the field, he was an operative of the 9th Operations Unit more ruthless than anyone, yet the moment he turned around, he would munch on a hamburger with an utterly harmless face ā that jarring disconnect remained unchanged.
Seeing him inspect the blade with eyes so innocently transfixed that he looked almost stupid made the contrast all the more striking.
Chae Geonuk smiled quietly as he finished the dishes. Placing the last plate onto the drying rack, he finally felt the stillness settling over the empty living room.
Come to think of it…
“Eunjeong and Soyeon are taking a while.”
Chae Geonuk dried his wet hands and checked his watch.
More time had passed than he realized.
“It must be chilly out at night.”
Though it was June, the night air carried a sharp bite.
Grabbing a jacket, Chae Geonuk left the lounge.
He started toward the stairs leading up to the rooftop, then paused mid-stride.
The workshop door, which should have been firmly shut, was cracked slightly open.
Chae Geonuk’s workshop took up the entire third floor of the building and was divided into three main sections.
The reception room for welcoming guests, the workshop where he gathered intelligence and refined it into something usable, and the lounge where they had just been grilling meat.
A faint smile returned to Chae Geonuk’s lips.
Soyeon was always brimming with curiosity about what her father did. On her way down from stargazing on the roof, she must have slipped into the workshop, just as a sparrow could never pass by a grain mill.
Assuming a mock-stern voice, Chae Geonuk pushed the door open.
“Soyeon, I told you to stop sneaking into theā”
What met his eyes, however, was not the innocent back of his daughter.
“…!”
A chill shot down his spine in an instant.
Inside the pitch-black workshop, someone was sitting in a chair, framed against the eerie blue glow radiating from multiple computer monitors.
“Well, well, President Chae. You weren’t on my list of people to run into.”
The man set down the tablet he was holding and smirked nastily.
Chae Geonuk’s eyes snapped past him toward the far corner of the workshop.
“Mmph, mmph!”
“D-Daddy…!”
Gagged and huddled in the corner were his wife, Yu Eunjeong, and his daughter, Chae Soyeon.
Flanking the two of them like towering shadows stood broad-shouldered thugs gripping gleaming knives.
Chae Geonuk’s face drained of color in an instant.
“What… are you doing?”
Chae Geonuk’s voice trembled low.
The middle-aged man slowly rose from the chair and straightened his necktie.
“You know how the information business works. Rather than paying through the nose to buy it, stealing it makes a lot more financial sense. So I was planning to do a quick, quiet job. Just bad luck, I guess. Who would’ve thought your family would drop by for a tour at this hour?”
At the man’s flick of the hand, the thugs restraining the family pressed the knife edges tighter against their throats.
These men were the type who would plunge a blade into flesh without a second thought. Provoking them would bring about irreversible disaster.
Chae Geonuk slowly raised both hands.
“Is it information you want? Or money? I’ll hand over everything. So… please, just pull those knives away from them.”
His voice shook faintly.
Having grown up an orphan, his family meant the entire world to him. For the two of them, he would gladly throw away his own life.
The middle-aged man, however, strolled forward at a leisurely pace and shook his head.
The soles of his dress shoes clicked in a steady, methodical cadence against the floor.
“Sorry, but that won’t work. Leaving no witnesses alive is standard operating procedure in this business.”
The man shrugged and added, “You know the drill, President Chae. Thoroughness is how you prevent blowback.”
“…!”
“Keep your hands up and walk over here, nice and slow. Slip up, and I slit their throats right now.”
Chae Geonuk swallowed a trembling breath and took a step forward.
The moment he moved, the thug holding the hostage pressed the blade even harder against his daughter’s neck in warning.
Right then, Chae Geonuk abruptly halted.
He cast a subtle glance toward the workshop entrance.
“…?”
Though it lasted only a fraction of a second, the middle-aged man did not miss that odd shift in gaze.
Did someone else just walk into the workshop? Feeling an instinctive prickle of danger, the man turned his head toward the doorway, his back to the window.
A deafening roar tore through the silence as the window behind the man shattered into pieces.
Through the spraying shower of glass shards, a black shadow burst in like a bolt of lightning.
“Ugh!”
It was over in a heartbeat.
The shadow that burst through the glass smashed right into the face of the syndicate member holding the knife to Chae Soyeon’s neck, flattening it into ruin.
Before the man could even scream, his body crashed into the floor, and the shadow surged straight toward the other thug.
“Aaaagh!”
This time, the arm choking Yu Eunjeong twisted at a grotesque angle.
Driving his shoulder into the chest of the screaming thug to send him flying, Go Taemin rode the recoil to shove an explosive palm strike into the middle-aged man’s jaw from behind.
“Guh!”
The middle-aged man flew backward, creating distance from the hostages.
Just a few seconds.
The murderous tension that had gripped the workshop dissolved into pathetic groans of agony.
“…Pant, pant.”
With shaking hands, Chae Geonuk pulled his wife and daughter into his arms.
Frozen in terror, the two collapsed against his chest and let loose their pent-up sobs.
“Waaaah! Daddy! I was so scared…!”
Chae Soyeon buried her face in Chae Geonuk’s embrace, weeping bitterly.
“Honey, I’m sorry. You told us not to come in here, but we just…”
Yu Eunjeong, pale as a ghost, could barely string her words together.
Chae Geonuk comforted them in a cracked voice.
“No, it’s okay. Neither of you did anything wrong. I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”
Caressing his daughter’s back and holding his wife’s shoulders with trembling hands, a long time passed before he finally managed to steady himself.
At last, Chae Geonuk turned his head toward Go Taemin.
“…Thank you so much, Taemin.”
“Don’t mention it. Got to earn the Hanwoo beef I ate.”
“How did you know?”
“You know me. I’ve got good instincts. Hyeongsu-nim and Soyeon were way past the time they said they’d be back, so I took a look out the window just in case. And what do you know, a bunch of black sedans were lined up so neatly in front of the house.”
He nudged one of the collapsed syndicate members with his foot.
“So I came up here to check, and sure enough. Quite the little get-together they had going. Who the hell are these guys?”
Chae Geonuk looked down at the fallen middle-aged man with cold eyes.
“Managing Director Jo. An executive at JH Capital. The bastard who bought the intel on the Guryong-dong redevelopment from me last time.”
“Ah, I remember that mister. The mood was pretty cordial back then. Why the sudden tantrum?”
“He must have gotten greedy after tasting success from the intel I handed over. Rather than paying top dollar every time, his bright idea was to raid my servers clean and monopolize the source. Then he ended up running into Soyeon and Eunjeong.”
“Ah, so paying retail price stung too much, and he wanted to kick the owner out to get a free ride?”
“Pretty much.”
Go Taemin shook his head in disgust.
There were people like this everywhere.
Treating kindness as an entitlement, seeing an outstretched hand as weakness, and stabbing the benefactor in the back.
The faint smile completely faded from Go Taemin’s face.
The playful demeanor vanished, replaced by an icy, settling bloodlust.
“What kind of outfit are they?”
“Narcotics, human trafficking, loan sharking… Anything that makes money. Rumor has it they’ve even gotten into organ trafficking lately.”
Words vile enough to turn the stomach spilled from Chae Geonuk’s mouth.
Go Taemin let out a low chuckle.
“Makes taking out the trash all the more worthwhile. Hyung, get a few large body bags ready. Along with the address for JH Capital.”
Chae Geonuk’s eyes trembled faintly at the request.
Having crossed life and death together, there was no way Chae Geonuk did not understand what Go Taemin was asking for.
“…You’re going to kill them all?”
A heavy silence settled over the workshop.
Rather than answering, Go Taemin adjusted his grip on the dagger sheathed at his chest.
The well-maintained, sleek blade drank in the moonlight, gleaming with a faint, chilling blue sheen.
Looking down at the middle-aged man, he spoke in a cold, quiet voice.
“That’s how we were trained, weren’t we?”
