Episode 91. [Devil worshipers, street fighting – 2]
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Negotiation table with Gukwang Group Lee Hyun-wook says what he wants It was presented very confidently.
‘This bastard… you’re asking for something so absurd…’
It was an extremely excessive offer, but Googwang Group’s negotiator, Han Hee-jun, could not readily refuse. Because… the Guguang Group was at a complete disadvantage in every aspect.
At this very moment, the life of Gu Hyo-min, the chairman’s granddaughter, was in danger, and
even the dark secrets of Gu Gwang Group were on the table.
And this man held it all in his hands and swung it around very skillfully.
‘Lee Hyun-wook didn’t just know how to wield steel…’
Originally, negotiations were not about getting good results unconditionally just because the situation was favorable. In this tug-of-war, the pace is lost, and without realizing it, I end up making a losing choice.
‘So, I was planning to pressure him somehow to make him bend within a short period of time…’
Still, even though Director Heejun Han had been in the business world for quite some time, none of his pressure worked.
He cleared his throat and then spoke again.
“Mr. Lee Hyun-wook… Couldn’t you get cash of equivalent value instead of ‘Achilles’ Shield’?”
The first of Lee Hyun-wook’s several requirements was a hero-grade item.
He slowly shook his head at Han Hee-jun’s suggestion.
‘One of Goo Han-cheol’s hobbies, the chairman of the Goo Kwang Group, is collecting items.’
From the beginning of this disaster, he collected numerous items as a combination of finance and hobby.
So he had several decent collections, one of which was [Achilles’ armor set].
‘But the most important component among them is [Achilles’ spear]. This is right in my hand.’
Chairman Koo Han-cheol boldly gave it to his grandson Koo Dong-hoon for his debut exhibition, but it
ended up being lost inside the ‘Red Gate’ in Cheongdam-dong, which Lee Hyun-wook had targeted.
The item, which Koo Kwang Group only knew as such, was currently owned by Lee Hyun-wook.
‘In other words, I am here . If you obtain the Shield of Achilles from , the [Set Effect] is activated.’
As a kind of synergy effect that occurs when you own related items, Achilles’ armor set contained [Blessing of the Styx], which can make you temporarily invincible. Lee Hyun-wook obtained both a spear and a shield and enjoyed the effect
. I was planning to get some.
But of course, there was no way they would give it away willingly.
“That’s because… that item is hero grade and it’s something the Chairman cherishes.”
“Still, I don’t think she’s more precious than my granddaughter. Is that your opinion, Chairman?”
Lee Hyun-wook maintained a stiff attitude and kept his gaze in the air.
It was an unspoken expression that he had no intention of compromising in this area.
Seeing this, Han Hee-jun realized that there was nothing he could control here.
Chairman Koo Han-cheol The words I said before sending him away lingered in my head:
‘Director Han, it’s urgent! Find the right answer as quickly as possible!’
In the end…
“Great… I’ll make a quick phone call.”
And after a while…
“Phew… Mr. Lee Hyun-wook, it’s okay. The Chairman gave permission.”
Director Hee-jun Han said that with a formal smile and held out his hand.
Chairman Koo Han-cheol had decided to exclude at least that shield from his treasure chest.
In the end, everything went as Lee Hyun-wook wanted.
“….. ..”
However, for some reason Lee Hyun-wook did not hold Han Hee-jun’s hand.
“Besides that, has the proposal for the right to target the mountainous areas of Gangwon-do been confirmed?”
As such, what Hyunwook Lee requested was not just the ‘Shield of Achilles’.
‘It’s impossible to get just one item from the Gugwang group.’
Gugwang Group did not operate its own guild, but had shares in several small and medium-sized guilds that governed local areas, and Lee Hyun-wook demanded a portion of their ‘rights to target.’
“Yes, I will also give you 18%. The rights will be transferred to the guild of your choice within a week.”
Only then did Lee Hyun-wook hold Han Hee-jun’s hand.
With this, he gained the ‘right to target’ the Gangwon-do region, which would become a growth engine for the Hope Guild in the future.
‘And among the gates that will open in the Gangwon-do region in the future, there are a few good ones.’
After completing the negotiations, Director Han Hee-jun stood up and quietly said,
“But… as I said before, Dr. Hyo-min Koo must not be hurt in the slightest.”
As a promising alchemist player, she was evaluated as someone who will lead the future of Gukwang Group. And above all, he was one of the few bloodlines that was favored by Chairman Koo Han-cheol.
“And… you must keep quiet about what happened there.”
The ‘work’ referred to the inhumane acts that took place during blood magic experiments in the basement of the laboratory.
Of course, the research was conducted after asking for ‘consent’ from the victims, the Filipino workers, but as a result, many lives were lost due to accidents caused by illegal experiments. It was a clear serious crime that disappeared.
However, even if Lee Hyun-wook did not touch the issue, it would later be revealed to the world for some reason.
“Okay then… I’ll contact you again.”
As soon as they left the command barracks, Commander Kwak Sang-pil came in.
“……Hmm, Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, how did the story end well?”
Lee Hyun-wook stood up and looked at Kwak Sang-pil.
“Commander, has the location of Dr. Choi Tae-jun been confirmed?”
“Well, that hasn’t been confirmed yet…”
He probably used all kinds of tricks, including hiding and disguise, to avoid surveillance.
‘As an alchemist with the power of the devil, he must have developed all kinds of bizarre drugs.’
Lee Hyeon-wook passed by Kwak Sang-pil and stood in front of the Seoul city evangelist hanging on the operation status board.
“Commander, I can track him down. And I will rescue the kidnapped Gu Hyo-min.”
“Oh… is that really true?”
“Yes, so… will you give me this operational authority?”
At those words, Kwak Sang-pil smiled and nodded repeatedly as if he had been waiting.
Perhaps some kind of signal had already been exchanged with the Gugwang Group.
“Yes! We would be grateful if you could help us! Is there anything you need?”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded,
“Yes, we need a few people. “We are troops from AMT.”
“Oh, no matter how many people say it, just say it!”
“And… we need about 100g of orihalcon stone.”
However, at that point, Kwak Sang-pil also had no choice but to tilt his head.
100g of orihalcon, a legendary metal, was worth over 1.2 billion won.
If I were under the command of the commander of the AMT Special Operations Command, I would rescue him somehow…
“…Huh? Why is that necessary? “Isn’t it a fairly expensive item?”
“I’m sorry, but I hope you don’t ask why. It will be embarrassing for the Gukwang Group.”
“Ah…”
“So, I would like you to prepare it secretly so that it is not recorded in any records.”
This was a pure lie, but Kwak Sang-pil had no choice but to nod at the name Gu-gwang.
“Ah… I understand if that’s the case! I understand, too, so don’t worry!”
And of course, Orihalcon had nothing to do with this operation. The
Gugwang Group wasn’t the only one who could take a big bite like this.
***
The ‘villains’ weren’t the only ones threatening this world.
In the first place, it was the ‘players’ . This was a phenomenon in which some individuals gained power that transcended public authority, and it was inevitable that lawless violent organizations would spring up all over the world. And ‘devil
worshipers’ were a very special type among that group.
‘They got it by chance . We gain power and interact with each other through demonic objects.’
Even though they were separated from each other around the world, they maintained a secret ‘connection’ like a secret society.
‘Choi Tae-jun’s escape route was also prepared by another devil worship organization.’
Lee Hyun-wook was planning to completely catch the multiple devil worshiping organizations today.
By doing so, he would be able to reap significant benefits, including bounties and items.
‘By now, they would have taken the bait of Choi Tae-jun that I let go…’
Lee Hyun-wook said . While I was making such a plan,
someone came into the operation tent with the sound of metal clashing.
It was a sad sight to see after a long time.
She was wearing gray full-body armor and wearing a shield and a great sword.
“Platoon leader, it’s been a while since I saw you .
. how are you?”
“Lee Hyun-wook… I heard you asked me to call you, is that correct?”
“Yes, a briefing will be held after additional personnel arrive. Please wait a moment.”
After a while, one of the ‘additional people’, Park Jun-mo, appeared.
“Oh loyalty! Loyalty! … Loyalty!”
He appeared with the discipline of a private first class, saluting the officers one after another.
“Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, do you have to go somewhere again this time?”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded, and Park Jun-mo’s face hardened even more.
“Ah…”
And then Kim Se-hee, the additional staff member, appeared with a somewhat grumpy expression.
“How long has it been since you were discharged from the military that you are already calling me a soldier?”
“But don’t you miss this angular atmosphere sometimes?”
“Oh, that’s nonsense… Ugh, the smell of the rain poncho, Ugh, I feel like I’m going to get hives…”
So the four players from the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Port Horse Brigade, requested by Lee Hyeon-wook, gathered in one place.
And Seo Eun-ha and Kim Se-hee exchanged warm greetings, showing how close they had become.
“Hello, Lieutenant Seo, it’s been a while!”
“Oh, Sergeant Kim Se-hee, aren’t you a civilian now?”
“Yes, that’s right. Haha….”
“You were already pretty, but did you get prettier after being discharged from the military?”
As they exchanged formal greetings, Lee Hyun-wook placed a table PC on the table and said,
“Now, the operation briefing begins. “You can deal with Saddam later.”
“What? Wait… Is it really just the four of us?”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded to Seo Eun-ha’s question,
“Yes, that’s right. “Only the four of us are involved in this operation.”
Then, all four of them looked puzzled. I haven’t heard exactly what kind of operation it was yet, but I was aware of it to some extent. The mission is to chase down a cow-shaped monster that appeared in the news….
“…If only we are mobilized, there is no need for a search operation. Has the location already been determined?”
Hyunwook Lee nodded, saying it was a sharp question.
“Yes, when I infiltrated the underground research facility, I obtained information on their escape.”
This was a lie, but it was true that Lee Hyun-wook knew where Choi Tae-jun was now.
‘He must have made contact with other devil worshipers at the devil worship facility in Seoul by now.’
It is now shrouded in mystery, but a few years later, through some incident, the true nature of the devil worship facility in Seoul is revealed. And at that time, it was revealed that Choi Tae-jun also used that place to escape. Lee Hyun-wook remembered that fact and knew that he was there now
. “No matter what
… with 4 people…”
Seo Eun-ha had doubts again, but soon changed her mind and nodded.
“Okay, well…”
She also watched the news. I saw the incident that happened here, the scene where Lee Hyeon-wook was blocking that hole alone… And before that, I watched Lee Hyun-wook’s activities from up close several times.
‘I saw for myself that the Sword Saint Beater was real…’
For Lee Hyun-wook, the excessive manpower was probably just an inconvenience.
And in an operation that requires a secret raid, there may be an unknown information leak…
“Now, we will hit the place where Choi Tae-jun is hiding. By the way, he is a devil worshiper.”
“Ah… you’re a devil worshiper, so that’s why you called me?”
“That’s right. Among the paladins I know, there is no one more trustworthy than the platoon leader.”
At the praise, Seo Eun-ha nodded silently and felt strangely proud.
‘What am I, am I feeling proud just because I heard a word of praise from this guy?’
She felt strange about her emotions and felt a little embarrassed.
***
An hour later…
A bald man was sitting at the counter
of a motel in Mapo-gu, Seoul.
He had a bored expression while the sound of a clock ticking – tick – tick could be heard.
I watched TV with
a jingle .
Then the door opened and a man and woman came in.
“Welcome.”
He looked at the couple’s outfit, and it was almost like a sentry’s gaze.
“Hmm, well…”
The man in the couple looked like a soldier at first glance. They had a unique trait that they couldn’t take off.
However, he acted foolishly as if this was his first time in a place like this, and the woman frowned.
“Ah, what are you doing?”
“Oh, uh, that’s….”
“Please give me a room out of the way.”
As she said that, she rummaged through her handbag as if she was trying to take out her wallet.
‘Oh, why is she so pretty?’
She was a beautiful woman who did not fit this type of relationship. But she was also hot-tempered and dirty, so was she a sadistic person who tormented a dishonest man? The bald man chuckled as he spread such delusions. “Haha, pretty girl, what should I do?
”
“yes?”
“Today, all the rooms were empty—”
At that moment, a gust of wind came out of her handbag, and a dagger flew out. The woman snatched it and lightly touched it to the nape of the bald man’s neck. A small drop of blood formed. “Ugh—
”
The bald man could only blink his eyes blankly at this absurd development.
“…How can there be no room at this time on a weekday?”
“Huh? Are there any special events today?”
A woman’s bloody voice came softly.
“…….”
He held his breath and slowly moved his left hand, which had been placed on the counter.
In preparation for such a situation, he had hidden a rapier under the counter
. If only I could pick it up…’
He was confident that he could use his ‘skill’ to pierce this woman through the counter.
Then—
chin—!
A dagger flew from somewhere and struck right next to the man’s left hand.
And The wind spirit was sitting on the hilt of the dagger with his arms crossed.
“Hey—that little guy has the same temperament, right? “If you move your hand any further, you will be cut off.”
Hold it——!
In the meantime, the man of Sukmaek shot an electric current at the CCTV and made it inoperable.
“What are you…”
The woman ignored those words and glanced at the key box behind the man’s back.
“Let’s see… You really don’t have the key to the 6th floor room, do you? Why don’t you have the 6th floor?”
“Oh, I see if there’s something on the 6th floor…”
Then the back door opened.
The
man hoped it was his colleague, but it wasn’t. A tall woman came striding in.
She was wearing a black trench coat. But strangely, every time I walked, a metal sound rang out.
Clang-clack-clack-
“Sister, it’s the 6th floor.”
But then the door to the staircase opened and two waitresses walked out.
“uh?”
There was silence for a very brief moment.
“shit!”
It was the waitress who moved first, even if only slightly.
But the man with a deep vein—Junmo Park—was faster.
An electric current spread out like a spider web from his grasp.
Grasp——!
“Kya—”
Both women were swept away at the same time, their whole bodies shaking. I dropped it.
But the woman standing behind somehow managed to come to her senses and took out a wand.
He then swung it around randomly, forming an ‘ice barrier’ in front of him.
Blah blah blah——
After blocking the staircase door, I began to hurriedly climb up.
“Ah…”
In the moment of silence, only Kim Se-hee’s sigh rang out.
“Oh really! You should have aimed for both of them—Park Jun-mo! What sense do you have!”
“Well… I guessed both of them correctly, but they didn’t faint.”
Wow!
Kim Se-hee knocked out the bald man at the counter by hitting his chin and then lifted up the Mana Messenger.
“Boss, are you listening? We got caught, what should we do? Do you just break through and climb up?”
However, judging from the scale of the commotion coming from above, it seemed like there were more than one devil worshiper here, and honestly going up the narrow emergency staircase would have been a fatal task as all the skills would have been covered.
– Chick—Lieutenant Seo, come out. We go up to the 6th floor by another route.
Hearing those words, Seo Eun-ha went out the back door.
Hyunwook Lee was there in the parking lot.
“…You didn’t tell me in advance that it was a different route, right?”
“Oh, I just figured it out.”
“So what is it?”
Lee Hyun-wook pointed his index finger to the sky and opened his mouth.
“Lieutenant Seo, do you know how to fail?”
“…what? What are you talking about?”
For some reason, Seo Eun-ha felt an ominous feeling.
“Oh, by the way, you’re always good at superhero landings.”
“Hey… you’re not joking with me, are you?”
“Of course not. I’m sorry, but I don’t have time, so I’ll go right away.”
At that moment, her body soared vertically.
“Ugh!”
Lee Hyun-wook had given her armor control over metal and lifted her into the sky.
Hung——
In an instant, she reached the area around the 6th floor and was launched horizontally toward the window.
Bang——!
But it wasn’t an ordinary window. Seo Eun-ha, who was a fairly strong security window, smashed it with force and rolled into the building, belatedly putting on a protective shield on her body. ”
Kwak… Lee Hyun-wook…”
She said. While gritting his teeth, he got up.
After that, Lee Hyun-wook flew and landed very smoothly.
“Hmm, you usually land well…”
“—Shut up!”
The moment she let out that curse, the door burst open.
“—What are you!”
“Just kill them!”
It was a woman with a sword and a man with an axe. Both had red paint painted on their faces.
“As expected—”
The moment Lee Hyun-wook said that, Seo Eun-ha kicked off the floor and faced them.
Sigh!
The straight hand of her right hand shattered the man’s nose, and the ax he swung split the air. Then, her front kick hit the woman’s abdomen, causing her to fly and land in the closet.
Bang—
Seo Eun-ha quickly overpowered the two people and then looked around.
“Huh—here… I guess that’s right?”
There were all kinds of amulets and strange pictures hanging on the dark red wallpaper, as if it had been painted with blood.
And even the thick incense smoke… No matter how you looked at it, it was not an ordinary motel.
“Isn’t it?”
At first glance, it looked like the secret abode of devil worshipers.
The two cautiously went out into the hallway.
At that moment, the doors on both sides and the emergency exit door opened simultaneously, and employees rushed out.
“There it is!”
A total of 17 people filled the hallway, and there seemed to be several more behind the door.
“…They are all players.”
Lee Hyun-wook whispered. He could tell from the weapons they were holding. They were all items.
That was not all. In Seo Eun-ha’s eyes, he could see a red energy pulsing from their bodies.
They were protected by the power of the devil, the devil conquerors.
In other words, most attacks will not work easily, and if you collide with them, you will be ‘cursed.’
“Hu—I can take the debuff containing the devil’s power, so cover me from behind.”
Seo Eun-ha said confidently.
He planned to live up to Lee Hyun-wook’s expectations by naming him and bringing him in.
But Lee Hyun-wook shook his head.
“No, for now, I’ll pierce it in one go, so you just need to cover your ears.”
He said that and passed by Seo Eun-ha.
He then pulled out something from behind his back.
It was… a shotgun.
Clunk— As
the sound of the pump being pulled and reloaded sounded heavy, a faint crack appeared on the faces of those filling the hallway. This happened. It was the instinctive fear that humans feel when facing the barrel of a gun.
“That’s a shotgun! Deploy shields!”
Someone shouted that, and two warlocks deployed a gray barrier to block the hallway.
But….
Qua—ang——!
The hallway was torn to pieces
by a single explosion .
