Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Heroic Debut (2)

Taeguk Shield’s plan went awry as soon as they counted on the policemen being able to suppress the monsters. There would be no beautiful conclusion like Taeguk Shield’s guild members going in to mop up the monsters after they were first quelled with modern weapons.

“AHHHH!”

One of the policemen firing his pistol behind the barrier of his police car door was ripped apart lengthwise.

Shaaa!

Blood fountained out, turning the police car that was protecting the man just moments ago bright red, almost like someone had thrown several cans of red paint onto the vehicle.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

“…”

The Orcanthropes growling as they exhaled hot breaths were perfectly at ease. It seemed they had come to the conclusion that they were the strongest beings here. They prowled with leisure, filling their prey with fear, savoring the thrill. Kim Taechun simply huffed and puffed in place, probably on orders from the Courageous Lion King. Even without moving, he cut quite an intimidating picture. He was definitely not in his right mind.

‘I warned you.’

I warned them, but they didn’t listen. A life was lost right in front of me. Could I have saved that policeman if I had moved more proactively? The answer was ‘no’.

‘I would have been arrested before I could save him.’

The agitated policemen might have even fired at me with their guns. They wouldn’t listen to me anyway. Humans would only believe what they saw and heard with their own eyes and ears.

Whap whap whap whap whap!

A large shadow—a helicopter—passed over my head. I saw a sniper aiming at the monsters in the helicopter. We were in the heart of downtown Seoul, and there were a lot of people nearby. They weren’t able to use heavy weapons capable of intense firepower, so sniping was the best option.

‘Like I said, it’s no use.’

Even if they came with machine guns instead of sniper rifles, they wouldn’t be able to do a thing to monsters above Orc level.

The head honcho of Taeguk Shield, Song Kiyeol, was also unable to stay completely calm right now.

State: Slightly Flustered / Cautious/ Vigilant

‘So sorry you couldn’t make a cool entrance and finish off the mobs,’ I thought to myself. Turning to my party members, I said, “Nobody move.”

The policemen had completely pulled the aggro. The crack of bullets being fired was still ringing out, but they should know by now that modern weapons were ineffective. It wasn’t even that they were doing chip damage, but that their bullets were being nullified altogether.

“If anyone does end up drawing aggro, Sunhwa, you go to the front and defend. Shout loudly to get my attention.”

There was no such thing as 100% perfect. The policemen armed with personal weapons were currently drawing all the aggro, but it could bounce to the Players at any moment. I told them what to do if that happened.

Sunhwa tilted her head. “I should shout?”

That would draw even more aggro, and potentially capture the attention of other monsters. Her worries weren’t unfounded. It was reasonable that she would question it.

“Yeah. Don’t worry and shout loud enough to let me know.”

“Got it.”

The perceptive Sunhwa immediately bobbed her head, and I began to slowly walk forward. Someone yelled at me.

“Hey! I told you not to move!”

It was the man who looked like the commander here, the same one who had told us to stay put earlier. He didn’t have a name badge on, but I could see what his name was.

Name: Park Jiseok

“Mr. Park Jiseok. If this continues, it will be a slaughter. I have business with the guildmaster of Taeguk Shield, Song Kiyeol, over there.”

“…”

I intentionally mentioned Song Kiyeol. Even if the commander didn’t know ‘Kim Hyukjin’, he certainly knew ‘Song Kiyeol’, the person who should have originally been this stage’s main character. Song Kiyeol, a 3rd generation chaebol scion and the guildmaster of Taeguk Shield. He was probably wracking his brains to figure out how to resolve this situation, and it went without being said that he must have seen me walking his way.

A message came over the comm.

–Guildmaster Song Kiyeol says he would like a brief meeting.

I shrugged, then walked slowly towards Song Kiyeol, taking the utmost care not to draw any aggro.

‘That was the highest level of respect on comm just now.’

Song Kiyeol was just the guildmaster of ‘Taeguk Shield’, a guild that wasn’t even that famous yet. Right now, he was merely a 3rd generation chaebol. And yet, the policeman stepped aside simply because Song Kiyeol wanted to see me.

‘Sungshin really is powerful.’

Well, it was all the same to me. Actually, the more powerful Sungshin was, the better it was for me, since I would be able to get that much more.

While I was inching forward, the second victim occurred. A ripped off arm arced through the air, rotating before landing onto the ground with a wet thud. Red blood puddled around it.

–Reinforcements! Requesting reinforcements!

–We have two casualties! The situation is critical!

I also heard the policemen urgently requesting reinforcements. And then, I finally made it to Song Kiyeol. He hadn’t managed to take a position among the ‘8 Heroes’, but he was still one of the Players who represented Korea, not by virtue of his personal power or skill, but by his leadership of Korea’s strongest guild, ‘Taeguk Shield’. He was also known as being relatively righteous for a 3rd generation chaebol heir.

“Many people are watching, so it looks like you can’t stay out of it, Guildmaster Song Kiyeol.”

All of the reporters had their cameras pointed at this scene. The stage had been set so that Taeguk Shield could no longer keep out of it, no matter how pyrrhic the battle would be. Of course, that stage had been set by me.

“It seems you have something to say to me,” Song Kiyeol said.

“I gave a warning in advance. I said that modern weapons won’t work on those monsters. The policemen didn’t listen or believe me. They rushed in for the sake of someone’s glorious entrance.”

“Are you picking a fight with me?”

“I am not, nor do I have any reason to do so.”

It wasn’t my intent to make Song Kiyoung falter. I would turn him into the hero of this place. For all I cared, he could wear the hero cape. I would secure the actual profit.

“GAAAHHH!”

Another person screamed.

AWOOOOO–!

One of the Orcanthropes howled, which got the rest of the Orc-Lycanthrope hybrids sitting on their haunches to howl at the sky.

Awooooooo–!

Awooooooo–!

Their howl seemed to sweep through the city like an emergency siren, a funeral dirge for the bloodied humans collapsed all over the place. The sound was extremely grating on the ears.

“The longer this goes on, the more casualties there will be. There’s no knowing where the aggro will go next.”

The police were still attacking, and the special forces were still firing, but soon, they too would hesitate. As soon as that happened, there was no knowing who those monsters would attack next. They might even run out and attack the countless civilians in the vicinity.

‘I won’t let that happen.’

Once I secured the maximum profit for myself, I would prevent as many deaths as possible. That was my Playing method.

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ is watching gleefully.]

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ is observing.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ is disappointed in you.]

Even if the Lady of the Scales was disappointed in me, it wasn’t the time for me to jump in. If I were to run into that battlefield where it was hailing bullets, my life would be the first to go. Bullets didn’t have eyes to distinguish between friend and foe.

“I will get to the point. I intend on making Guildmaster Song Kiyeol into a hero.”

“Me?”

“If you minimize the losses here and successfully kill those monsters, you can become a hero. Along with Taeguk Shield.”

That was your guys’ original plan, wasn’t it? That was the debut Taeguk Shield wanted. Although I didn’t say it out loud, Song Kiyeol understood my words.

“However, all items and byproducts that come from the hunt will go to me and my party members.”

“…”

“Oh, right. Starting now, I will record this conversation. I need a little assurance as well.”

I could feel Song Kiyeol’s psychological state.

State: Doubt / Distrust / Suspicion

Well, that was only natural. He didn’t know much about me.

“Using my special ability, I can put the monsters into a groggy state, a condition where a severe impact makes them stagger around, unable to steady themselves. It will last about five minutes. That should be more than enough time for you to hunt them with us.” I added one more thing. “If you’re unable to kill them even while they’re groggy… It just means that Taeguk Shield’s abilities are too weak. Their weak points are the back of the neck, heart, forehead, temples. They have relatively weak defense at every spot that can be considered a weak point.”

“You speak almost as if you have faced them yourself.”

“I’m well-informed about those monsters.”

I shrugged. Song Kiyeol stared at me.

[Eye of Perception detects a foreign energy.]

[Eye of Perception detects the use of the innate ability ‘Eye of Truth’.]

Was this kind of talent hereditary? President Song Kiyoung awakened an innate ability at only level 10, and his grandson, Song Kiyeol, already had an innate ability too. Seeing as how both Yoohyun and Yeonseo also had them, the ‘innate ability awakening period for geniuses’ must be much sooner than the world thought.

[The grade of the innate ability Eye of Perception is higher than the grade of Eye of Truth.]

[Eye of Perception completely negates the ability Eye of Truth.]

I grinned, smiling widely on purpose.

“I distinctly recall saying that I had a special power.” I lowered my voice a little, wanting to surprise him a little more. “Something like Eye of Truth is incapable of seeing through me.”

“…”

State: Shock / Flustered / Doubt

Eye of Perception was laying his state bare before me, but the Guildmaster’s expression was an unperturbed poker face. He was really damn good at keeping his expressions off his face.

“You can say this to the reporters: Watch Taeguk Shield’s hunt.”

Monsters that were invulnerable to modern weapons, and the heroes who would kill them. The guild members of Taeguk Shield would become those heroes.

“We will work to keep the aggro from going to the civilians.”

“Are you sure they will suffer the groggy state?”

“Even if you don’t believe me, do you have any other option?”

Dragging this out any further was meaningless. There were definitely times when a leader had to make a quick decision. Right now was one of those times.

“Also, I propose $100k as compensation.”

$100k. It was neither too small nor too large an amount to pay to achieve what Taeguk Shield wanted. In my opinion, it was the perfect amount.

“…You’re very confident. You seem to be sure that I will accept your proposal.”

“I’m sure of it, yes.”

He had no choice but to accept. We could run away here, and that would be that. Who would throw sticks and stones at us for running so we could live? But Taeguk Shield was different. They had the name of ‘Sungshin’ attached to them and were Korea’s largest guild. If they fled here, they would suffer an irrecoverable blow.

‘Of course he will accept.’

My proposal wasn’t terrible for Taeguk Shield. In the end, Song Kiyeol made his decision.

“How will you turn us into…” He stopped mid-sentence. “No. There are many things I am curious about, but I will trouble you to answer my questions later.”

I knew there were many unresolved doubts in his head. However, the situation was too urgent. Five people had already died. Song Kiyeol was well aware that it wasn’t the time to be chatting around like this.

“I will answer your questions one by one later.”

From talking to Song Kiyeol, I became sure of it. I might not be able to control President Song Kiyoung, but I could certainly keep his grandson Song Kiyeol in the palm of my hand. Everything was going as I predicted.

‘If my prediction and scenario are correct, then the next place we’ll meet will be the police station, huh?’

The scenario was steadily progressing the way I had drafted it. I would be able to bring Taeguk Shield under me like I intended.

I added one more thing.

“Oh, right. You know that I am not alone, yes?”

“What do you mean?”

“It will be $100k per person. Since we will move as a party.”

“…”

“If you don’t like that, then it can’t be helped.”

Song Kiyeol would definitely accept. To him, a few hundred thousand dollars wasn’t all that important right now, something I knew well. I counted down in my heart.

‘Three. Two. One.’

Sure enough—

“Fine. You… must put them in a groggy state, without fail.” He didn’t look very happy. “If you fail to do so, I will take it as you deceiving and insulting me.”

He was biting his lip a little, but to be honest, it was more cute than threatening, kind of like an elementary school kid being surly with an adult.

“That’s fine.”

I got what I wanted, so now, it was time to do what he wanted.

‘Normally, they wouldn’t be capable of killing Orcanthropes.’

If they had clashed straight-on with this many Orcanthropes, I would have decided without hesitation to flee. That was the way to ensure that as many of my party members would survive as possible. But it was different now. Now, I had a way forward.

‘Now then. Shall we hunt?’