17 – Breaking the Company (3)
Soon, blood sprayed out from the severed section─
“Ah, aaah─!”
Gi-seok crouched down, clutching his left hand.
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He didn’t understand what was happening right now.
Why was his finger cut off?
Why was his finger floating in the air?
What the hell happened?
Even with his enhanced visual acuity that could catch bullets, how could he have missed his finger being cut?
The fact that he didn’t have any magic, is that not true─
“This little bastard─!”
The surprise was only temporary.
He was a tough man who had experienced many battles.
He had endured countless injuries like this before.
As he calmed his rough breaths caused by pain, he rapidly rotated his magic throughout his body. The adrenaline secreted from his glands spread to the ends of his body, and he felt a sense of excitement.
Okay. It must have been because I let my guard down earlier.
Now is the time to give it my all.
When Giseok tightened his fist, metal grew from the bracelet he was wearing and soon formed into a gauntlet.
With this, I will strike that bastard.
That will be the end of it.
The office will be destroyed, and surprised employees will come rushing in, but that’s all─
Flash.
Once again, the light blinked, and one of his fingers from his right hand flew away.
It’s okay.
I expected this much.
If my fist touches him─
One, two.
With each step closer Giseok took towards Yeoul in the slowed time, the tips of each finger were cut off one by one.
Three, four.
“Was it that difficult to answer the question?”
Five, six.
“You little bast─!!”
“It seems there is no end like this.”
The light flashed, and Giseok’s vision suddenly became dimmer.
He stumbled and fell while running.
A sense of emptiness in his lower body. Giseok turned his head downwards.
His left leg was rolling over there in the distance.
aaargh───!!!
He cried out in pain, clutching his left knee, which was now empty underneath.
Crouched over, tears streaming down his face, he looked like a helpless bug.
“Answer me. Are you involved in human trafficking?”
This was a big problem.
The whirlpool was much stronger than what he had imagined.
As a level 3 Hunter, he constantly had a magic barrier surrounding his entire body. Yet, he couldn’t even resist and was easily injured.
If things continued like this, he would die.
He had to muster all his strength just to roll his distraught head.
An attitude of indiscriminate violence towards others.
Unfathomable strength at the end.
Giseok couldn’t even begin to guess why someone like that would harm him.
What was their purpose? Judging by the mention of human trafficking, it seemed to be related to that.
Were they trying to take over his business? Or maybe they were a government-affiliated supernatural being. Lately, there had been an excessive number of abductions, but could this be related?
No matter how much he agonized over it, he couldn’t figure out anything.
For now, he firmly resolved to extricate himself from human trafficking.
“To brandish a knife in front of someone and mention human trafficking, what nonsense is this?!”
However, his resolution didn’t last long.
Snap, snap. All the fingers that were holding his knee fell off.
Giseok stared blankly at his hand, which no longer had any fingers.
“Answer only the question. Are you involved?”
Ah, ah, ah–
His hand had become a round shape. Giseok, who was staring blankly at it, looked up at Yeoul.
The black blade with not a drop of blood on it, so fast that it was almost unbelievable.
Yeoul’s expression while holding it was merely cool, as if the temperature had dropped.
It felt as if he was looking at Giseok not as a human, but as a beast.
Giseok, who had spent his life being weak in front of the strong and strong in front of the weak, had no courage to withstand that gaze.
His spirit was broken.
His life was already on the line.
All he could do was beg for his life, fulfilling every wish.
“Yes, yes… I am…”
With his head down and his arms wrapped around his body, Kiseok took a step back with only one leg.
Finally seeing Kiseok taking the proper posture, Yeoul asked.
“Where.”
“Excuse me…?”
“Isn’t there a place where people are being kidnapped?”
This was the end, even if he mentioned that.
Whether it was the government official sent here to judge him or someone who simply came to make money.
If Kiseok mentioned the place where most of his profits, and his crimes, were hidden, it would truly be the end.
“The, the address is-“
However, if he didn’t say it, there was a possibility he would be killed immediately.
His consciousness, consumed by fear, couldn’t even consider lying. Kiseok gritted his teeth and had no choice but to give the address of that place.
Yeoul picked up any random piece of paper on the floor. As she did, the surface of the paper was carved away, and letters were engraved on it.
Yeoul put it in her pocket.
She had obtained all the information she needed.
All that remained was the man in front of her, Kiseok, and what to do with him.
As she looked at Kiseok, who was hunched over and trembling, Yeoul pondered.
Should she kill him?
Or should she spare him?
Did Kiseok even realize that she was balancing her own life in her hands?
Kneeling down with the remaining leg, faltering with every step, Kiseok clasped his hands together and began to beg.
“Please, spare-“
Please.
…Why.
Why is his voice…
Snap.
His severed throat rolled on the floor, separate from his body.
Just before losing consciousness, the last thing Kiseok saw.
It was the sight of a headless weakling assuming a posture of obedience.
Yeoul moved forward, leaving Kiseok’s corpse behind.
There was no reason to kill.
There was also no reason to save.
That was all.
The pristine marble floor was stained with vivid red blood.
* * *
Why would it be cleaned today?
Sigh─.
While holding a stack of documents that were printed out in frustration due to the boss’s insistence on sticking to analog, the employee sighed and knocked on the door of the boss’s office.
“Boss─. May I come in─.”
…
Silence.
Normally, Giseok would quickly call the employee in with a cheerful voice to torment them.
But why is it so quiet?
He didn’t even see him go out.
She wondered if he had gone out without her knowing, and asked her colleagues around her.
“No? It seemed like the boss stayed inside all day today.”
“Really….”
What could be happening that he wouldn’t say a word?
She approached the door of the boss’s office again.
Knock knock.
“Boss─! I printed out the documents you requested this morning─!”
…
Sigh─.
She lowered her head, thinking that maybe he was tormenting the employee in this way.
And in the eyes of the employee who sighed, a vivid red liquid─
It was flowing out of the boss’s office.
At the same time, there was a strong metallic smell spreading.
Instinctively, the employee realized it was blood and her hand trembled.
Why is there blood in the boss’s office─?
The employee, with trembling hands, opened the door and immediately met Giseok’s rolling head on the floor, his hazy, lifeless eyes.
What caught her eye next was the lifeless body of Giseok, covered in blood, painting the originally pristine office red.
Kyaak–!!
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She screamed.
By then, Yeowool had already escaped from the office.
* * *
After some time, the police arrived at the company.
In the downtown area, during the daytime, and with a lot of people around, it was suspicious.
Even more so because the victim was a strong hunter of rank 3, a considerable number of ordinary police officers and supernatural police officers were dispatched.
They first examined the crime scene.
A gruesome corpse.
Dozens of scattered fingers.
A rolling pair of legs and a head.
The scene, stained with blood from them, was nothing short of a mess.
Even the detectives who swallowed their nausea at the sight of that spectacle were present.
They immediately began their investigation.
First, traditional scientific investigation. And magical trace examination. They didn’t forget to interview the witnesses and review the CCTV footage.
However…
Much to their frustration, not a single piece of evidence was left behind.
There were no traces that could be attributed to the culprit at the scene.
No magical traces were detected apart from those of the victim.
No one saw anyone enter the CEO’s office.
Lastly, even disregarding the fact that there was no CCTV inside the office, making it impossible to know what happened inside, no one other than the employees was caught on the CCTV outside.
In a way, it was inevitable.
Yeowool cuts off her presence. Her actions deceive the world.
She makes it seem as if she doesn’t exist in this world.
As a result, no one in the world, be it humans, animals, or objects, can perceive her.
However, because the world has an uncompromising force that doesn’t tolerate distortion, she cannot maintain this state for long.
Still, during that short period of time, the world forgets completely that Yeowool existed.
The police, who are unaware of this fact, were as good as dead.
The employees are excluded from suspicion. They definitely didn’t possess the ability to kill a rank 3 hunter.
But if they are excluded, there is no one left to put on the suspect list.
Let alone the magical power.
…Hold on.
There is no magical power left…?
At that moment, the police officers recalled a recent incident.
And they found the connection between that incident and this one.
The person who hunted down a Grade 3 Dimensional Gate’s demon without leaving any trace of magical power.
Finally, they concluded that this incident must be related to that person.
* * *
Time passed again, and it became dark night.
All the detectives who were guarding the place had left, and silence filled the scene.
Two people, dressed in suits, stepped forward.
“Who could have done this? We raised it with so much effort, after all.”
“……”
The two people ignored the police line and entered the room, which was still cold and covered in dried blood.
“Begin.”
Upon the command of the woman, the man beside her nodded.
Then, he placed his hand on the floor of the room and suddenly opened his eyes, which he had been shut tightly.
His eyes trembled as if they were seeing something.
Magic that reads the memories of objects.
Due to its difficulty, only a small number of wizards can use it, and its existence is not well-known.
Using that magic, which is commonly known as psychometry on Earth, he “saw” what had happened in the room.
At that time, because Yeoul’s presence was revealing itself to the world, the objects could remember Yeoul.
After using the magic, the man closed his eyes again and took out a paper from his pocket, quickly sketching the picture.
The face of Yeoul, depicted very vividly.
“So this is the bastard…?”
If he hands this drawing to the police made in advance, it’s only a matter of time before the person behind this face is revealed.
Daring to touch our company’s assets.
She turned abruptly and walked away, making clacking sounds with her heels.
And his ears, following her.
Sharper than those of a human, much more pointed.