chapter 22
once done
“What, what?”
Manager Lim thought for a moment that he had heard it wrong.
[Panda less. You just sniped. Were those warehouses connected to each other? I shot the one coming out of another warehouse building.]
At those words, he sat down as if his legs were loosened.
[Then I just withdraw. effort. Ah, if Kim Jun-hyeok really died, I’ll tell you the obituary later. Hang up now.]
“…like a crazy woman.”
After washing his face dry with cold sweat a couple of times, he let out a sigh of relief.
The guys were outraged and told me to kill everyone, but their purpose in the first place was to kill the lesser pandas and block their mouths.
There were various reasons why they kidnapped the lesser panda, but one of them was the possibility that he knew something he shouldn’t have known while hacking.
That is why he gave the order to kill Choi Jin-seong if he could not make it his own.
Fortunately, I was able to kill the lesser panda before it escaped the city, so that alone should have saved me.
‘If only the lesser panda had escaped.’
Just imagining it was terrifying.
“What should I do. Chief. Shall we bring the rest of the kids in as well?”
Manager Lim looked up at his subordinate as if he was dumbfounded.
“That way, even if it’s a dead body…”
“Hey. Hey, you either have thoughts or you don’t. Against those who couldn’t even catch Kim Jun-hyeok, the remaining children were put in, so what! Then when everyone dies! Will you take responsibility?”
“Oh no!”
“And this bastard. Who is Kang Hee-jin, who would gossip about something like this? If he’s a sniper, he’s a sniper, this baby. Stop talking nonsense and withdraw as soon as the site is cleaned up!”
“All right!”
In the first place, if they were talented enough to overpower Kim Jun-hyeok, there was no option for them to be idiots.
It would require more support and strength, but it was maddening to risk more bleeding than this when the most important objective had been achieved.
“That, what is it? Also look for Kim Jun-hyeok!”
“me?”
“Oh, what a f*cking surprise!”
Manager Lim suddenly stepped on the vehicle and fell backwards in surprise when he was wearing a training suit.
“Puhahahahaha! Are you surprised? sorry hey I didn’t mean to.”
“You, you, live…”
“Yeah, I was really caught off guard. I was just dragged into the gate, for real.”
“Muh, what? gate?”
“I know yeah. Isn’t it ridiculous to even think about it?”
hehehehe, laughing Kim Joon-hyeok came down from under the car and crouched down in front of Manager Lim.
“by the way.”
Then he opened his eyes fiercely and said.
“Where are you going to run away?”
“?!”
“You have to finish what you were doing. Three of them are still alive and well. is not it?”
“No, we were originally…”
“I mean. I hate guys with no responsibility the most in this world.”
He tapped Lim on the forehead with a spear and laughed fiercely.
“say. which warehouse The three remaining.”
“That, that’s not me.”
“wait for a sec.”
At that moment, Kim Jun-hyeok blocked his mouth at the sudden communication.
“uh. Heejin! uh. uh.”
However, it wasn’t long before he received the message happily, and his face quickly hardened.
“what? 1.5 billion?”
He glanced at Lim and asked with his mouth.
‘Is this a true story?’
“Ugh. Did you only get one of our lesser pandas? yes?”
Kim Jun-hyeok scratched his head with an embarrassed face.
“Then, is this more than passion pay? uh… uh uh, uh I know~.”
“…”
“That’s it.”
‘What’s wrong with that, you bastard!’
Manager Lim, who was about to pee just now, managed to endure the swear words coming up.
“So I just…!”
“Ah, okay. They are there.”
“They? What, those bastards?”
“Oh, those guys. Especially the kid who wears weird sunglasses. Do you know what his name is?”
“That we don’t know yet…”
“Tsk. At the level of Zenon.”
He stood up from his seat and said as Lim tapped his leg with his foot.
“If you find out his name, can you email me? We’ll have a good relationship in the future, huh? You have to keep it.”
“…”
“answer.”
“Uh, uh. okay.”
Kim Jun-hyeok, who had tapped Lim on the shoulder once, kicked the ground and disappeared like the wind.
Manager Lim muttered, looking blankly at his empty seat.
“What’s the difference between that bastard and a gangster…”
It wasn’t something you would say.
.
.
.
After confirming that Zenon Security was withdrawing, Ia-rin gestured to Choi Si-yoon to sit down.
At the same time, the corpse of the man he had just dragged melts away in black smoke.
Of course, that wasn’t the real lesser panda’s father.
The identity of the corpse is a doppelganger, fifth-tier dark magic.
It was an imitation made by Shiyoon to fool their eyes and make them believe that the lesser panda is dead.
Even though it was hard for him to stay even 5 minutes now, it was worth it in the end.
“thank god···.”
Iarin forgot the concept and let out a sigh of relief.
“Ah, this is not the time. They will also step back, I will contact you to come here.”
While she hurriedly communicated somewhere, Siyoon Choi leaned against the wall with a tired face.
‘How did you pass it…’
To be honest, I thought it wouldn’t be difficult to fool Kang Hee-jin, who didn’t know much about the dark attribute.
However, whether Zenon Security would be satisfied with the death of the lesser panda and how much money Kim Jun-hyeok would have received were purely in the realm of his reasoning and luck.
“By the way, how did you know?”
Iarin, who was sitting in the seat across from me, approached and asked if the communication had ended.
It was because Siyun’s words that there was a high possibility that they would be satisfied with only the lesser pandas and return were exactly right.
Choi Si-yoon shook his head as if it was nothing.
“In the end, the problem is profit.”
“profit?”
Seongma Group is a corporate state. And the essence of the corporate state comes from sales and net profits.
This fact was no different from Zenon Security, which was just a part of that gigantic corporation.
Even if they are just starting out, they have no choice but to reconsider their strategy if losses are likely to snowball.
In particular, the person in charge this time is incompetent in the field to the extent that he can’t even grasp the structure of the building to be surrounded while besieging the building.
However, if such a person had risen to that level, there was a high possibility that he would be sensitive to responsibility and loss.
Five elite teams were wiped out, and even Kim Jun-hyeok was cut off from contact.
In his head, Siyoon and Iarin’s fighting ability must have been judged quite high.
Against such people, the most important target, the ‘Lesser Panda’, was dead, but there was no reason to incur losses by overdoing it to wipe out the rest.
Above all, there was a risk that he would take all the responsibility if the sweep failed.
However, this can be minimized by withdrawing as it is.
Now that you’ve caught the lesser panda, at least Choi Jin-seong’s face will be tidied up.
“A smarter guy might use it as an opportunity to wrap himself up.”
Isn’t there a justification that they couldn’t even catch Kim Jun-hyeok?
Now, even though those monsters are opponents, it would be possible to package it as if it had succeeded in killing the lesser panda with only this amount of loss.
“Then what about Kim Jun-hyeok? Zenon might have changed his mind if that person came out of the devil’s hand and joined them.”
“That part was a gamble.”
However, it was questionable whether Choi Jin-seong really gave Zenon Security enough money to hire Kim Jun-hyeok.
Isn’t Kim Jun-hyeok the person who needs at least 1 billion units to make it move?
In the first place, it was abnormal to call Kim Joon-hyeok and Kang Hee-jin, saying that a temporary worker stole a hacker.
‘I’m sure he was concerned about the possibility that the lesser panda knew something he shouldn’t have known…’
In that case, there was little reason to pay for four lesser pandas, since you only had to pay for one lesser panda.
“And even if Choi Jin-seong gave enough money to Zenon, there’s no way Zenon Security would spend all the money at once to hire Kim Jun-hyeok.”
I would have been satisfied with the idea of leaving as much as possible.
At first, I didn’t deposit even 1 won to Kim Jun-hyeok, but the atmosphere was bad, so it was just one lesser panda.
After that, I would have thought of making an additional deposit when even that was not possible.
After hearing his words, Iarin fell silent in disbelief.
“Are you going to do that anyway?”
“Of course you do. If they can solve the case by paying only one lesser panda, then they can gulp the remaining forty to five billion won, can’t they?”
In addition, the honest woman opened her mouth as if she hadn’t expected it.
“If you have to, it won’t be too late to pay the balance at that time. I will do the same.”
In the meantime, did the lesser panda die?
In the end, the important thing was the lesser pandas, so they were enough to wipe their mouths and withdraw from there.
As soon as he finished speaking, Iarin gave a small exclamation.
“Amazing. I was distracted just by fighting, but you were thinking that far.”
“that’s.”
In an instant, he coughed up the blood that ran down his throat.
When he suddenly spat out blood, a startled Iarin approached him.
“Gwa, are you okay?!”
“It’s nothing.”
It hadn’t been long since he had used 7th tier magic, so it seemed unreasonable to use 5th tier magic again.
The guts he was able to wield because he had a body of iron.
He clutched at his chest, catching his breath and thinking.
‘I’ll have to restrain myself from now on.’
Even the iron body is not invincible.
Other than the current situation, it seemed prudent not to even look at a 6th tier or higher for a while.
“It’s not a big deal to vomit blood!”
“It was just a little overkill. It’s okay to rest…”
“wait!”
“…”
“Be still and be silent.”
Seeing that strange force, Siyun eventually lowered his hands and surrendered.
Then, Iarin took out a white handkerchief with gold rims from the inside of the barding and wiped his mouth.
“Thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
“I sucked this…”
For a moment he felt speechless.
‘Can you return this?’
“Okay. Just take it.”
For some reason, Iarin, who was blunt, placed a handkerchief in his hand.
At that time, the man who was watching this opened his mouth in a cracked voice.
“Why did you go so far…”
“Are you out of your mind? I just called someone, so be patient.”
But as if there was something more important than that, the man reached out and grabbed Choi Si-yoon’s collar.
Then, he looked up at Siyoon, who was so pale that he looked bloodless.
His face showed an unreasonable expression, as if he hadn’t coughed up blood for nothing.
the man asked him again.
“Why, why did you do that for us?”
There, Siyun kept his mouth shut.
‘Why was it…’
Why did he continue to use magic even when he was in a bad physical condition, gnawing at himself again?
He looked out of the warehouse.
Suddenly, the warm morning sunlight was permeating the cold stone floor.
And beyond that, he could see the city in which he lived and had to live.
Packed with skyscrapers, neatly landscaped facilities and streets.
Looking at them alone, it seemed as if they had regained their former abundance, but an ugly secret was hidden behind their growth.
[You were thinking that far]
The words of admiration Iarin had just said were faintly rewound in his ears.
It was. He had an extraordinary brain enough to come up with numerous scenarios even in that situation.
But because he has such an extraordinary brain, he ends up thinking about it.
“…”
He wiped my mouth without a word.
. . . Revenge is the most powerful emotion and the most powerful motive a human being can have.
When someone mercilessly tramples on the life of a loved one, the life of the person who had to helplessly watch it distorts and loses its former value.
It will be decided that way. Now, the only value in that life is to avenge the one who took the life of the one you love.
Repeatedly swallowing and regurgitating the pain and sadness of loss that seemed to twist my heart, for days and days alone.
In the form of rage and hatred in the end… it will leave an indelible scar on his chest.
That was the perfect condition for him to deal with the common enemy of Choi Jin-seong.
In fact, this man who loves his stepdaughter so much would have wanted to save his daughter through his own death.
I could tell from the words he murmured in the sewer, from the look in his eyes.
Those eyes were the eyes of a person who wanted death.
If Choi Si-yoon wanted to efficiently recruit and ‘use’ the lesser panda, it would have been much better for her to let her father die.
Buried with vengeance, she would take his hand too easily, and would have been willing to do anything to bring Choi Jin-seong down.
And Choi Si-yoon would have successfully avenged her.
But what did the lesser panda lose in return?
And what did Choi Si-yoon lose?
He unknowingly clenched my fist.
That city, that forest of skyscrapers, was a sandcastle made at the cost of the humanity of countless people.
I was sure because it was Choi Si-yoon, who knew this city better than anyone else.
Choi Woo-hyeok, Choi Jin-seong, and even Choi Ho-joon, the chairman.
‘···humanity.’
If he loses that, he is also a monster no different from them.
He didn’t want to achieve his goal at the cost of it.
Even if the result is that the lesser panda runs away with her father, and I can’t recruit her forever.
That was the reason he could be alone in that city where humanity was tested several times a day.
There, Choi Si-yoon calmly opened his mouth.
“Why?”
He said as he released the man’s hand that was gripping his collar.
“Because that is my job.”
“…!”
The man looked at him as if speechless.
Then, as if he wanted to say something, he only moved his lips several times, then lowered his head.
his eyes turn red
“Oh, thank you… big.”
he said, taking a deep breath.
“thank you. thank you.”
His shoulders trembled for a while, but Siyoon just looked outside in silence.
.
.
.
Siyoon watched the couple as they were being taken into the vehicle, and turned around with a relieved expression.
“It is over now.”
When I raised my eyes to the voice I heard, I saw Iarin, who was still wearing a mask.
“Your tone has become normal, but have you done enough concepts?”
“Ummm… What should I say?”
she said, stretching lightly.
“I just don’t want to do it anymore. And it’s not a concept.”
“What is that?”
“It’s part of the camouflage. part.”
“that is?”
Where are you looking?
Shiyoon’s expression became strange.
At that time, she suddenly reached out her hand.
“What is this?”
“…? Don’t you know how to shake hands?”
Irene tilted her head and said.
“I think we were a pretty good team. Was I the only one who thought so?”
“her.”
Shaking her head slightly, Siyoon stared at the outstretched hand, then grabbed it.
“Good work.”
“Good job on that too. Can I ask for another request if necessary?”
“Due to the contract, we can’t accept personal requests, so ask the late-night restaurant about that.”
“Mmm, yes. Yes. Oh, but…”
Iarin suddenly approached and whispered, pointing to the gun that was now quietly in the holster.
“Is this a real magic gun?”
“…are you curious?”
She nodded her head twice quickly.
Siyoon, who had been staring at it blankly, quietly whispered after her.
“Then keep wondering.”
“ah.”
“I’ll teach you next time we meet.”
It was as if he was saying that he would not teach me soon.
But even if he didn’t say it, he’d find out sooner or later anyway.
“It’s a promise.”
“instead.”
He pulled a carefully folded note out of his pocket.
“Can you pass this on to the lesser panda?”
“This···.”
“It’s nothing special, but don’t open it. just···.”
Choi Si-yoon chose to speak for a moment.
“If you want to give the most annoying guy a shot, I’d appreciate it if you told him to read it then.”
“…!”
Iarin, who understood his meaning, opened her eyes wide.
At that moment, a familiar phrase appeared before his eyes.
[Achievement ‘Lesser Pandas Don’t Know Gratitude’ has been achieved!]
[achievement rate 7/121]
[attribute point +1]
[All attribute points required to open a shop have been met.]
[Are you sure you want to open the Attribute Shop?]
There, Siyoon could feel himself a little surprised.
‘hahahaha.’
He smiled inwardly.
‘Lesser pandas do not know grace…’
But the rewards didn’t end there.
[Hidden Achievement ‘Hero’s Attitude’ Achieved!]
[achievement rate 8/121]
[A unique attribute is given as a reward for achieving a hidden achievement.]
[I acquired the attribute ‘God of the Dice!’]
“…!!”
Choi Si-yoon immediately confirmed the effect of the characteristic.
● Trait ‘God of the Dice!’
– Rating: Hero
– You can select the keyword you want when opening the Feature Shop. When selecting a keyword, one related characteristic must appear.
Si-yoon couldn’t help but be surprised at the exceptional effect of the characteristic ‘God of the dice!’