Chapter 4
Righting the Wrongs (3)
Chae Seung-jin greeted Jeong Hyeon-su with an overly welcoming face.
“Oh my, look who it is. Isn’t this Hyeon-su? Your suspension hasn’t even been lifted yet; what brings you here?”
Ignoring Chae Seung-jin’s words, Jeong Hyeon-su walked straight toward Jeong Hyeon-ah.
“I’ll handle things here, so you should leave.” “Handle things? What do you mean handle things! Illicit artifact distribution and Manazia? Are you out of your mind?!” Jeong Hyeon-ah shrieked.
Jeong Hyeon-su just looked at her with sunken eyes.
“It’s not true.” “Not true?”
Chae Seung-jin snorted.
“Can you really say that after looking at this? Huh?”
Chae Seung-jin immediately played a video on his smartphone.
It looked like CCTV footage illuminating a dark alleyway. A man dressed in black appeared on the screen. As soon as the outline of his face became visible, the camera zoomed in. The arbitrarily enlarged face belonged to none other than Jeong Hyeon-su.
Furthermore, he was carrying a bag containing something, but as he turned a corner, he collided with someone.
No, it was an ambush.
The video paused there. Then, the screen transitioned.
[Awakener Investigation Bureau]
Someone was being interrogated at the Awakener Investigation Bureau, the entity responsible for arresting criminals who are Awakeners.
The face shown there matched perfectly with the face of the person who had ambushed the individual presumed to be Jeong Hyeon-su. And from that bag, a massive amount of artifacts poured out.
— Judging by the magical response, it’s at least E-rank. — They are all unregistered. They don’t exist in the database. — I am placing you under emergency arrest for possession of unregistered artifacts. You have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney… — Wait a minute! Look here! Isn’t this Fantasia?
The video cut off there.
“This is the current situation, and the Investigation Bureau is looking for the original source of that bag right now. Fortunately, all the CCTVs in the vicinity happen to be in my hands. As you can see, I value my friends very much. Hyeon-su, what do you think?”
A sneer hung boundlessly on the corners of Chae Seung-jin’s lips.
Rather than being angry at that smile, Jeong Hyeon-su felt enraged at his nineteen-year-old self for being toyed with by such a bastard.
Why hadn’t he known?
Just to look good to Chae Seung-jin. Because he wanted to get close to him. To show that he could do it too, Jeong Hyeon-su had blindly set out to deliver a bag whose contents he didn’t even know.
“You used to say that delivering that bag was something grand, something worthy of recognition.” “Did I?” “I still remember how you brought famous hunters from around here to set the stage.” “And?” “I admit I was toyed with.”
Jeong Hyeon-su’s eyes gleamed intensely. At that sight, Chae Seung-jin flinched instinctively. However, Chae Seung-jin soon grew furious at his own reaction.
“…You bastard… is that how you’re supposed to look at me?”
Wasn’t Jeong Hyeon-su the pathetic loser who used to smirk and grovel just to get his approval? Growling, Chae Seung-jin couldn’t stand the fact that he had briefly shuddered under Jeong Hyeon-su’s gaze.
“Call him right now. Before I spread this to the Investigation Bureau or the media. Tell your old man to run over to Songgwang immediately. Hurry!”
It was Chae Seung-jin’s true nature, showing an incredibly high-handed attitude. In the end, this whole affair was one of Songgwang’s low-life machinations designed to tear down Garam, their rival. A stage driven and created by Chae Seung-jin, who desperately wanted to be recognized by his father.
“I definitely gave you one last chance, Chae Seung-jin.” “What…?” “You’re the one who rejected it.”
Jeong Hyeon-su began walking toward Chae Seung-jin. Seeing Jeong Hyeon-su looking as if he were about to start a brawl right then and there, Chae Seung-jin found it absurd.
“What, are you going to try and take it by force now?” “I know the original file is kept separately.” “…What?” “This is just my way of handling things, you rat.”
It was a situation that no one, by any metric, could understand. Jeong Hyeon-ah screamed, her voice close to a shriek.
“Are you out of your mind? Even if you’re angry right now, what are you going to do if you just charge in!”
You’ll just get beaten up.
But would he just get beaten up? Judging by the situation in the video alone, things were currently at their worst for Garam. No one believed Jeong Hyeon-su. Not even Jeong Hyeon-ah. In such a state, he was trying to emotionally attack Chae Seung-jin?
“Ha, kid. Just because you’re from a fellow Top 10 Guild, we coddled you even though you were pathetic, so you really think we’re on the same level? What are you doing?”
As Chae Seung-jin snorted dismissively and gestured with his chin, a burly guy standing nearby like a bodyguard blocked Jeong Hyeon-su’s path. And right at the moment the guy’s hand swung back to slap Jeong Hyeon-su across the face with all his might—
“No!”
Thud!
A sound like a drum being beaten echoed. It was a striking sound that made one doubt if it could actually come from a human body, but the eyes of the onlookers held even greater doubt.
“…Uh?”
Among the nineteen-year-old cadets, Jeong Hyeon-su’s combat ability was supposed to be near the absolute bottom. Yet, wasn’t Jeong Hyeon-su’s fist already buried deep into the abdomen of the cadet blocking his way?
Chae Seung-jin’s right-hand man, Ju Yeong-ho, was a high-ranking cadet even within the Cradle. Yet, without even being able to react, he took the blow to his abdomen, lost consciousness, hardened like a stone statue, and collapsed with a thud.
“What are you doing? How does a piece of trash like you get taken down in one blow by someone like Jeong Hyeon-su?”
Chae Seung-jin found it utterly preposterous. He had invested quite a bit in this guy because he was supposedly a decent fighter among the cadets, but to think he couldn’t even handle a tenth of the work compared to the money invested in him.
“C-Could it be because he caught him off guard?”
At the words of another cadet next to him, Chae Seung-jin bellowed.
“Off guard? Do you think I’ve been feeding and bringing around rootless, low-born bastards like you just so you could be caught off guard? Go beat that bastard up right now! If you don’t, your guilds won’t even be able to get near a Gate in the future!”
In South Korea, the influence of a Top 10 Guild—especially Songgwang—was immense. In the current system where clearing Gates and climbing the Tower were paramount, Songgwang was a place that achieved those feats firsthand and built an enterprise upon them.
If Songgwang so much as cleared its throat, small and medium-sized guilds had to close shop. No, if you fell out of their favor, you could never work as a hunter on South Korean soil again.
“You’re behaving like nothing but a common thug. You piece of trash.”
Chae Seung-jin’s eyes completely flipped.
“Fk, what did you just call me? A thug?” “Then is there any other kind of thug? Stop babbling from behind and come fight me yourself if it bothers you so much.”
For Jeong Hyeon-ah, it was a moment where everything felt distant and bleak. Anyone could see that Chae Seung-jin was a boundlessly malicious, snake-like person. Standing up to such a person without giving in was definitely the right path. It was also the most important virtue held by the Garam Guild.
“Hyeon-ah, you don’t need to walk on eggshells either. If I truly committed a crime, I can take the punishment. If not, I just have to retaliate. Isn’t that right?” “What…?”
Jeong Hyeon-ah stuttered for a moment, trying to process the words that came out of Jeong Hyeon-su’s mouth. The first part of the sentence made sense, but if not, retaliate…?
Under South Korean law, personal retaliation is strictly prohibited. Of course, in the blind spots, bloody battles among hunters based on raw might occurred everywhere, but that was precisely why the authorities imposed even harsher punishments in the public eye.
“Are you crazy! If your conscience is truly clear, we can devise a strategy! Just back off for now!”
No matter how things turned out, nothing good would come from an even greater clash of physical force with Chae Seung-jin here.
“Are you not going to attend the Cradle anymore? You have to graduate!” “Why should I waste my time in a place where kids form factions and play politics? I have no intention of attending anyway.”
Whether Jeong Hyeon-ah’s jaw dropped or not, Jeong Hyeon-su walked forward. He knew the location of the original file that Chae Seung-jin had hidden away securely. However, to get it, Chae Seung-jin needed to be unconscious and unable to do anything for the time being.
‘If I beat him up moderately here, the materials will immediately be handed over to his father…’
Furthermore, a war with Songgwang, which was trying to swallow Garam whole, was inevitable.
“Make those two kneel right now! Block the entrance coming in here!”
As Chae Seung-jin raged wildly, the other cadets flinched.
“W-What are you trying to do!” “Do I need to explain that to a bastard like you? Shall I teach you who is above and who is below first?”
No one could stop Chae Seung-jin when his eyes rolled back in rage. The circle members under his command sighed as they looked at Jeong Hyeon-su.
“Why do you think you escalated things this far?” “What…?”
Did he learn mind-reading or something?
“Since you bastards are accomplices anyway, I’ll make sure you pay for your crimes accordingly.”
They didn’t think about the things they had done; they only cared about themselves.
“Ha, Hyeon-su. What are you going to do? Just get down on your knees and beg. Huh? Then maybe we can show some leniency.”
Amidst the self-loathing of seeing his past self in them, Jeong Hyeon-su stared blankly at the cadet attempting to mediate.
“Was it Kwon Oh-shin?” “…Was it?” “I know you planned the detailed strategy. Although seventy percent of the blame lies with me for being a pathetic idiot who fell for it, you should bear the ten percent of the responsibility for rolling your shallow head, right?”
Kwon Oh-shin’s eyebrows twitched.
“What kind of bullshit is that?” “Well, that’s what you’d say. But I know all too well the best way to get a proper answer out of a guy like you.” “Is this bastard crazy…”
Honestly, it was true that Kwon Oh-shin had drawn up the entire picture. Inwardly, he wondered how Jeong Hyeon-su knew that, but he merely assumed Jeong Hyeon-su guessed it since they used to hang out together.
‘We’re riding Songgwang’s coattails anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt to crush him completely.’
It would be better to crush Jeong Hyeon-su and score points with Chae Seung-jin. Just as he was deciding that it might not be a big deal since Songgwang was determined to crush Garam anyway, lightning struck right before his eyes.
Boom!
Simultaneously, a vicious pain rushed in. Jeong Hyeon-su’s fist had already landed squarely on Kwon Oh-shin’s face.
No one present saw how it happened. It just looked as if Jeong Hyeon-su had thrust a straight punch in the blink of an eye. Immediately after, Jeong Hyeon-su grabbed Kwon Oh-shin’s jaw and lifted him up. Then, the body was slammed headfirst into the ground.
Crack!
Kwon Oh-shin grew dizzy from the pain coursing through his entire body as he was smashed against the floor. However, within his vision, he saw Jeong Hyeon-su’s leg pulling back. The thought ‘no way’ crossed his mind, and such thoughts always caught people off guard.
Twisting his hips, the instep of the Heavenly Martial Strike accurately struck Kwon Oh-shin’s jaw.
“Ack!” “Consider this the price for trying to ruin someone’s life with your shallow tongue and cheap tricks.”
Jeong Hyeon-su had inflicted an injury so severe that unless he used a proper potion, it would be difficult for him to enjoy delicious food in the future.
Jeong Hyeon-ah, looking at Jeong Hyeon-su, could only watch in utter shock. She hadn’t even noticed the technique of Jeong Hyeon-su, who used to never even come close to her footsteps. Raising the Hwancheon Qi to the 7th stage according to her father’s words was one thing, but she herself possessed the talent of having raised the Hwancheon Qi to the 9th stage.
‘I have absolutely no idea how he did it.’
It was truly simple, but Jeong Hyeon-ah failed to comprehend her brother’s move, which had closed the distance and subdued Kwon Oh-shin in an instant before he could even react. Her brother, who radiated an eerie aura she had never felt even from the professors at the Cradle, was now striding towards Chae Seung-jin.
“In life, there are problems that can be solved with words, and there are those that cannot. And right now, we are in the territory of the latter.” “You absolute bastard! Who do you think you’re showing off to just because you took down some bottom-feeders!”
Whoosh!
A sharp aura erupted from Chae Seung-jin’s body. A source of energy that felt incomparably intense compared to Kwon Oh-shin. It was the moment the dignity of the successor of a Top 10 Guild, who inherited the secret arts of the Songgwang Guild and had received massive investments since childhood, revealed itself.
However, Jeong Hyeon-su’s eyes remained perfectly calm.
