Chapter 95 - You Said I Could Break It, Right? (2)
11 min read ·
* * *
Drugs were something villains generally loved. The faction member who had recently said they intended to wipe drugs out entirely had been strange enough to qualify as an oddity.
“...That’s right. We took the place during one of the faction conflicts.”
Seungyu answered in surprise. How had Hyeon-yul known?
「Surprised?」
“To be honest, yes.”
Seungyu soon smiled. His expression seemed to say, as expected.
Hyeon-yul did not trust that look. These people were not ordinary humans, and they were certainly not Black Eagles.
They were not the sort of people he could rely on through some flimsy concept like trust.
“I was planning to tell you when you visited anyway. Following your order, we decided to stop handling drugs entirely.”
「Are you following that properly?」
“Of course. We’re currently collecting everything. We possessed a considerable amount, so we created several separate warehouses and are storing it there. Naturally, we’ll verify afterward that everything was truly recovered.”
「What about the drugs at the production facility?」
“Those too. There was a small amount of friction, but nothing serious. We handled all of it.”
「Search that place thoroughly.」
“We were already preparing to do that.”
Hyeon-yul was fairly satisfied with Seungyu’s answer. At the very least, the man was competent at getting work done.
「Seungyu.」
“Yes.”
「What happened earlier wasn’t great.」
「But you do know you’re actually good at your job, right?」
“...N-no. I’ll work harder. Didn’t I make an enormous mistake today?”
Seungyu immediately bowed his head deeply in response.
The praise struck him hard. He could hardly remember the last time someone had praised him. The words struck far more deeply than expected.
「No. You work well.」
Hyeon-yul held out the phone so Seungyu could read it clearly.
Seungyu lowered his head even further. His entire body was trembling.
‘Praise really does work well.’
Seeing the effect, Hyeon-yul decided he should buy a book on the subject. He needed to learn how to handle people.
“...We received a proposal today.”
「What proposal?」
“It came from a faction I’ve never even heard of. They said they knew we were gathering drugs and strongly demanded that we destroy them.”
Seungyu lifted his head slightly. He looked annoyed.
To Hyeon-yul, however, the words meant something very different.
‘...It’s that faction.’
The villains trying to erase the drugs. He had not expected them to make contact this quickly.
“I was going to destroy everything, but then I remembered your order and stopped. How would you like me to handle it?”
「Tell them I want to meet.」
“...Understood.”
Seungyu answered first, but hesitated afterward. Was there really any reason to meet them personally?
「What did I say about the drugs?」
“You said you wanted to erase them.”
「Then we erase them.」
「That’s why I’m meeting them.」
「Do you need another reason?」
“No.”
Only then did Seungyu’s expression relax.
If that person wanted it done, then it had to be done. That was the correct path.
「Seungyu.」
“Yes.”
「You need to look farther ahead.」
“Farther ahead?”
「Yes. Much farther.」
Hyeon-yul saw Seungyu wavering and decided to reinforce his control.
He had killed enough villains to witness all kinds of situations. In particular, while dealing with cult-like groups, he had learned that nonsense, bizarre claims, and outright absurdities could sound surprisingly convincing if delivered seriously enough.
He still had not achieved his own goal, so he needed to keep using this organization.
「Black Eagle is watching us.」
“Yes. I understand that very well, which is why we never engaged them. We chose to retreat.”
「And what happened as a result?」
Seungyu stared blankly for a moment.
The word “result” caught Seungyu off guard because he had never thought about it that way.
Of course, when he had first said the word retreat, quite a few people had looked at him with contempt.
Their leader had changed overnight, so it was only natural that order had not fully settled.
But why should he accept that simply because it was natural?
In this world, opposition meant death. Anyone who disliked that should never have entered the organization in the first place.
There was only one voice that mattered here.
That person was the only voice that mattered here. Anyone who could not accept that had no business crawling into this faction.
So Seungyu had purged them all. It did not matter whether they had talent. There were always more people willing to cross over to this side.
As a result, interference from Black Eagle had decreased dramatically.
Black Eagle had actually started hesitating before moving against them.
‘...Black Eagle is hesitating.’
Seungyu looked at Hyeon-yul as though something had finally clicked.
「You understand now?」
“I... only now understand how foolish I’ve been. Only now do I understand how far ahead you were looking. Please condemn me for being stupid.”
Seungyu’s voice trembled as the realization settled fully into him.
「Some people will laugh and call it running away.」
「Some people will point at us and call us idiots.」
「But look carefully at who the real idiots are.」
The real idiot was Seungyu. That was what Hyeon-yul wanted to write, but his fingers typed something else instead.
「Someone is controlling us from behind.」
It was not entirely false. Someone had indeed been behind the Poison King.
Hyeon-yul was expanding a small fact into something much larger, but nonsense delivered seriously could sound believable.
「Those people are my enemies.」
「I’ll say it again. Do not touch Black Eagle.」
「Do not touch ordinary civilians either.」
Hyeon-yul repeated the warning so Seungyu could not possibly misunderstand.
“We won’t. I will remember it without fail.”
Seungyu answered smoothly, without the slightest hesitation.
「If anyone disobeys my order.」
「Kill them.」
“Of course. This is the king’s faction. Whatever lies in the path you choose to walk, I will remove it.”
「Then call those people.」
Hyeon-yul sat down on the sofa.
“Understood.”
Seungyu bowed and started to leave the room, then looked back.
“You may inspect anything you wish. I apologize if that was presumptuous.”
Hyeon-yul waved him away, telling him to go.
‘Two CCTV cameras.’
There was no need to worry about them. Hyeon-yul had checked on the way in, and both angles missed the desk on the far side of the room.
In other words, if he sat at that desk, no one could see what happened there.
Whether that was intentional or caused by something else, Hyeon-yul willingly sat down.
Nothing unusual happened even after Hyeon-yul sat down there.
He lifted his head and checked the CCTV again. There were only those two cameras.
‘Why isn’t anything happening?’
Instead of checking the computer, Hyeon-yul decided to monitor Seungyu. Right now, confirming the man’s trail mattered more.
Because he was wearing a mask, there was nothing he needed to hide before doing it.
One eye and one ear melted away and quickly followed Seungyu.
Seungyu entered another office in the building. Every villain inside immediately stood as though under military discipline.
“Call this number and tell them the king is waiting. They have five minutes to get here.”
Seungyu pulled out a business card and handed it to an approaching subordinate.
Then he took out his phone and called someone else.
“Yeah. It’s me. Tell everyone to assemble.”
He ended the short call and took the elevator downward.
Only a few minutes had passed since the order was given, yet a large number of people had already gathered.
Most people might have been surprised by how efficiently they moved. Hyeon-yul was not.
This kind of immediate response was deeply familiar to Hyeon-yul.
Day, night, or dawn, if you were summoned, you ran.
That was the basic rule in places like this.
Everyone standing in the crowd looked almost soulless.
‘Did I look like that too?’
The realization felt strangely new to Hyeon-yul.
“You.”
Seungyu walked among them and pointed at someone.
“And you.”
He selected them one by one. Every person he chose turned deathly pale.
Hyeon-yul immediately understood what was coming.
“Step forward.”
At Seungyu’s command, the selected people moved ahead as though someone had shoved them from behind.
“Kill them.”
After giving the simple order, Seungyu waited.
Everyone nearby rushed the chosen people at once. It was a way to divide the guilt equally and lessen each person’s sense of responsibility.
Seungyu said nothing until the victims stopped breathing.
Only after dark blood spread across the floor did he speak.
“Remember the master who visited us a moment ago. We exist because that person exists.”
His voice remained quiet as he warned them.
“We have only one master.”
There was little trace of falsehood in Seungyu’s expression as he stared coldly at the others.
‘He says that even when I’m not there?’
Hyeon-yul was genuinely puzzled by what he was seeing.
Why would a figurehead president bother acting like this when Hyeon-yul was absent?
Even with the unexpected development, Hyeon-yul did not lower his guard.
Seungyu was still a villain, no matter how devoted he appeared.
Hyeon-yul kept watching until Seungyu returned.
“Did I keep you waiting long?”
Seungyu approached Hyeon-yul with an eager, satisfied smile.
Hyeon-yul rested his chin on one hand and looked at him.
「When are they coming?」
“They’ll arrive soon. Is the mask uncomfortable? I can have a more comfortable one made for you.”
「No need.」
“Understood. Would you like anything to eat or drink? I’ll get whatever you want.”
Seungyu asked with obvious excitement. Now that he had killed the people who irritated him, his mind finally felt at ease.
「Are you curious about my face?」
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious. But until you choose to show me, I won’t do anything.”
「I look human.」
「If my face becomes known, it’ll be troublesome.」
“That’s true. The CCTV does not cover that seat. If you want anything to eat, tell me. I won’t allow anyone else inside. I’ll leave the room myself as well.”
Seungyu volunteered the information without Hyeon-yul needing to ask.
Had he expected Hyeon-yul to investigate already?
Hyeon-yul calmly stood up from the chair and moved away.
「Why would I leave something intact if I could just break it?」
「Organize the materials I need to see and bring them to me.」
Hyeon-yul started to sit on the sofa, then simply lay down instead.
“Understood.”
Seungyu smiled brightly. He hoped Hyeon-yul would stay here for a very long time.
It felt as though this room had finally found its true owner.
TAP, TAP.
Seungyu turned around when the tapping sound reached him.
「The interior changed.」
“...Y-you noticed?”
Seungyu’s voice trembled as the realization settled fully into him. He had redone almost everything.
“Do you like it?”
「Who did the work?」
“I did it myself. Before I entered this world, I worked in interior design.”
Seungyu smiled brightly, and Hyeon-yul responded with a small nod.
「It’s nice.」
Hyeon-yul already liked his current home, but he liked the interior here too.
* * *
Seungyu looked at the woman in front of him. Her hair was short, which made her already large earrings stand out even more.
Her eyes angled upward, giving her a naturally sharp appearance.
“What are you staring at?”
One corner of the woman’s mouth lifted in something close to a sneer.
“You aren’t the one who was supposed to come.”
“I’m going to inherit the position, so I came as the successor. I don’t think I’m lacking the qualifications.”
The woman inspected her fingernails as she answered, sounding bored.
“If they sent you, I guess your boss got scared.”
“Hardly. That’s a strange thing to say when your people abandoned one leader and immediately switched to another. What should we even call you people now?”
“...Ha.”
Seungyu’s eyes sharpened. A fierce wind began blowing around him.
“My master is not the Poison King. I serve only one person. So shut your mouth.”
“Why? Did that hit a nerve?”
The woman’s smile widened on one side, and Seungyu drew in a deep breath.
“I want to tear your throat out right now, but my master said he wants to see you. So watch your mouth.”
“You shut up and open the door.”
The woman openly showed her displeasure.
Seungyu hesitated again and again. He wanted to kill this arrogant woman immediately.
Even if it started another faction war, he was confident they could win.
‘...But he said he wanted to meet her.’
Then Seungyu had to let them meet.
Suppressing his killing intent, he opened the door.
The woman stepped inside, then stopped when she saw Hyeon-yul lying on the sofa.
“...What the hell? It really is a rabbit.”
She had heard about the rabbit mask and assumed it was a joke.
What kind of faction leader wore a ridiculous rabbit mask?
‘It isn’t exactly a cheap mask, but still...’
「Hello.」
“Can’t you speak?”
The woman read the words on his phone and sounded dumbfounded.
“...I told you to watch your mouth.”
A blade-like gust of wind shot toward the woman’s throat.
TING!
The instant it touched her skin, it bounced away and tore into the wall instead.
CRRRK.
“Well, that’s unfortunate.”
The woman sneered while Hyeon-yul observed closely.
‘The direction of the air changed instantly.’
It looked as though she had blocked the attack, but in reality its direction had simply shifted.
‘Can she redirect attacks? Or can she reverse any direction she wants?’
Hyeon-yul studied the pure ability while imagining how he would kill her, then slammed a hand down on the desk.
BANG!
「Enough.」
Hyeon-yul shifted the phone so both of them could read it.
「Come here.」
“...Yes. I will.”
Seungyu hurried toward Hyeon-yul, and the woman laughed at him.
“You really are nothing but a dog.”
「Woof woof.」
Hyeon-yul obligingly barked for her without changing his expression.
「Happy now?」
「Satisfied?」
The woman finally burst out laughing at the absurd response.
“That actually was funny. But there’s something I’m a little curious about.”
The woman blinked once as she activated her ability.
The rabbit mask in front of her vanished.
As she turned her head, her gaze dropped diagonally downward.
Instead of a blade, she found a phone held there.
「Something like this?」 September 30, 2026