Chapter 452: You Saw It? (2)

Choi Kanghyuk thought for a brief moment.

The gate open inside the office.

How should he deal with the thief who had peeked at such an important secret?

'For a thief, he sure dresses flamboyantly.'

Was he really that confident in his stealth?

What an arrogant bastard.

'Even Mukyeong wore black when he used stealth techniques.'

A Shaolin warrior monk and, at the same time, the greatest assassin in the martial world.

Known by the epithet Unyielding Against Demons, he was a figure more terrifying than the King of the Underworld to evildoers.

Having spent so much time with Mukyeong, Mujin would never be fooled by such a pathetic stealth technique.

At that moment, the corners of the flustered Seo Yonggwang’s mouth twisted upward.

“Interesting. I do not know how you noticed me, but I can always find that out little by little from now on. Let us have some fun getting to know each other.”

It was a smile Choi Kanghyuk had not seen in a very long time, yet one he knew all too well.

A smile steeped in the thick scent of blood.

He had seen it until he was sick of it in the martial world, but not once since awakening as Choi Kanghyuk.

Thanks to that, Choi Kanghyuk became certain of something.

“So it was you. The bastard causing trouble lately.”

Choi Kanghyuk grinned as well.

“This actually works out nicely.”

He had already been wondering what to do.

The man had seen his secret, so his mouth needed to be silenced.

But Choi Kanghyuk could not attack an innocent civilian.

And now it turned out he was not an innocent civilian at all!

Upon seeing Choi Kanghyuk’s smile, Seo Yonggwang felt uneasy.

How should he put it?

It felt as though he were looking at his own eyes reflected in a mirror.

Before he could resolve that strange feeling, Choi Kanghyuk suddenly launched himself forward.

Whoosh!

The distance closed in an instant.

Choi Kanghyuk’s fist flew toward Seo Yonggwang’s face.

Seo Yonggwang reacted instinctively as well.

The dagger he drew in a flash shot toward Choi Kanghyuk’s eye.

'His ability was supposed to make his skin tougher, right?'

Even so, his eyes could not possibly become tougher as well.

Choi Kanghyuk’s advancing fist changed course.

To protect his face.

'As expected. Bastards who have never killed a person are always cowards.'

What an idiot.

'Just because it works against monsters, he expects it to work against my dagger too.'

Bzzzzzt.

A powerful electrical current surged through the dagger with an unpleasant noise.

It was a modified dagger modeled after a stun baton.

When the switch was pressed, an extremely powerful current flowed through it.

Just before Seo Yonggwang’s dagger touched the back of Choi Kanghyuk’s hand.

A pale orange aura suddenly gathered around Choi Kanghyuk’s fist.

Bzzzzzt.

The electricity flowing through the dagger could not penetrate the curtain of Fist Energy.

Grab!

And Choi Kanghyuk seized Seo Yonggwang’s hand with his Fist Energy-covered hand.

Along with the dagger he was holding.

“Hmm!?”

Before the startled Seo Yonggwang could do anything.

“Up you go.”

Choi Kanghyuk hurled Seo Yonggwang with all his strength.

Toward the gate with its jaws wide open.

Whoooooosh!!!

Seo Yonggwang passed through the gate at tremendous speed.

His vision twisted violently, and the sight of a forest deep in the night appeared before his eyes.

Thud!!

Only after tumbling across the ground several times did Seo Yonggwang finally stop and hurriedly rise to his feet.

Near the gate entrance.

Choi Kanghyuk approached at a leisurely pace.

“Let us play quietly among ourselves in here. Making noise between floors would be inconsiderate.”

Seo Yonggwang burst into mocking laughter.

“Hehehehehehe. This is why hunters are no good. You should have killed me earlier. What? Are you afraid to kill a person?”

Choi Kanghyuk readily nodded.

“Of course killing a person is frightening.”

The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

But his eyes were not smiling at all.

“Though killing trash like you might be a different matter.”

Choi Kanghyuk launched himself forward again.

Boom!!

Unlike his quiet movement earlier, an enormous explosion thundered this time.

The Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps executed to the extreme.

The distance between him and Seo Yonggwang vanished before the latter could even blink.

But Seo Yonggwang had already prepared himself, so he was not caught completely off guard.

He swung the electrified dagger once more.

Fist Energy again gathered around Choi Kanghyuk’s fist, and the dagger collided with it.

At the same time, Seo Yonggwang dropped the dagger.

Clang!

Seo Yonggwang hurriedly threw himself backward.

Pretending to panic, he frantically searched inside his sleeve with an empty hand.

The instant Choi Kanghyuk rushed in to exploit the opening, Seo Yonggwang swiftly pulled something out.

White gas sprayed from a black canister.

Hissssss.

It was a can of tear gas.

Gas so powerful that even a small amount would make it impossible to open one’s eyes flew toward Choi Kanghyuk’s face.

Dropping the dagger and pretending to panic had all been an act from the beginning.

'People should use tools. What an idiot.'

At that exact moment, Choi Kanghyuk thrust out his left palm with all his strength.

The force of the powerful palm wind sent the tear gas spraying in the opposite direction.

Straight toward Seo Yonggwang’s face.

“Aaaaaaargh!!!”

Seo Yonggwang screamed as the tear gas covered his entire face.

He flailed desperately, trying to wipe his face with both hands.

“Tsk. You rely on such pointless objects because your body is weak. You should have lifted some iron regularly.”

Choi Kanghyuk spoke indifferently as he approached Seo Yonggwang.

The moment Choi Kanghyuk came within reach, Seo Yonggwang, who had been writhing on the ground, pointed his right arm at him.

A pistol had somehow appeared in his hand.

It was a trick that made use of his stealth ability.

He had concealed the pistol hidden inside his clothes, then pulled it out while pretending to wipe his face.

“Idiot.”

Bang!!

The gunshot rang out, and acrid gunpowder smoke spread through the air.

“I was going to keep you alive and torture you, but you are beyond saving.”

He could simply kill him and search for what he needed.

That thought did not last long either.

“Wow. You even have a gun? Did you steal it from some military base? You cruel bastard. Soldiers get worked half to death if even one shell casing goes missing, and you stole an entire gun?”

Choi Kanghyuk, who had been shot by the pistol, was perfectly fine.

There was some minor damage.

A red mark had appeared on his forehead.

And that was all.

Just as the startled Seo Yonggwang tried to fire again, Choi Kanghyuk abruptly moved his hand.

Papapapak!

After gently touching various parts of Seo Yonggwang’s body, Choi Kanghyuk spoke leisurely.

“Your big brother already told you. You rely on pointless objects because your body is weak.”

Seo Yonggwang thrashed around.

Or rather, he wanted to.

But for some reason, his body would not obey him.

“Y-you bastard. What did you do to my body!?”

He had definitely heard that Choi Kanghyuk was a physical-enhancement-type awakened person.

Then what was this force restraining him?

'Could he have two abilities?'

But his guess missed the mark entirely.

“Hmm. Have you ever heard of acupoint sealing?”

“Acupoint sealing? The acupoint sealing from martial arts novels?”

“Oh. It seems you have read a few martial arts novels.”

Choi Kanghyuk grinned as though pleased.

Then he extended his hand toward Seo Yonggwang again.

“Then you must know what Bone-Separating and Tendon-Twisting is too.”

“That torture technique that appears all the time in martial arts novels.”

Seo Yonggwang proudly displayed his knowledge of martial arts fiction.

Choi Kanghyuk thrust his fingers out once more.

“Aaaaaaargh!!!!”

Seo Yonggwang screamed at the sensation of his bones and muscles literally being pulled apart.

Choi Kanghyuk remained leisurely regardless.

“What did you say earlier? That we should take our time getting to know each other, was it?”

Choi Kanghyuk spoke with the corner of his mouth raised.

But his eyes were still not smiling.

“Now. Let us take our time and enjoy ourselves. Until I learn everything about you.”

***

Choi Kanghyuk’s torture continued.

Seo Yonggwang’s endurance was not particularly strong.

“I-I will tell you everything! Aaaaargh! P-please stop. Uuurgh. Stop, you fuuuuucking bastard!!”

He was a murderer who felt nothing when killing others, yet was highly sensitive to his own pain.

But shouting did not stop the Bone-Separating and Tendon-Twisting.

“Aaaaaaaargh!!”

The bones and muscles throughout his body twisted.

The pain continued without end.

“K-kill me!! J-just fucking kill me!!”

Seo Yonggwang thought it would be better to die.

Choi Kanghyuk looked down at the scene indifferently, then remembered something and nodded.

“This works out perfectly.”

Choi Kanghyuk walked away and brought back a necklace.

The Troll Necklace he had been making excellent use of for training.

For Seo Yonggwang, whose entire body had been twisted apart, Choi Kanghyuk willingly placed the necklace around his neck.

A refreshing sensation surged through his distorted muscles.

The torn and damaged muscle fibers rapidly healed.

“Ah?”

While Seo Yonggwang stared in confusion, Choi Kanghyuk muttered with interest.

“Oh. Does it undo the acupoint sealing too?”

Choi Kanghyuk retrieved the Troll Necklace and immediately sealed his acupoints again.

Then the Bone-Separating and Tendon-Twisting began once more.

“Aaaaaaargh!!”

The body that had rapidly recovered twisted violently again.

In the midst of the pain, Seo Yonggwang realized something extremely important.

He could not die.

This pain might continue forever.

The moment Seo Yonggwang’s thoughts reached that conclusion, his attitude changed completely.

“I-I will tell you. Uuurgh. I will tell you everything. P-please st-stop. Aaaaargh. N-no! P-please kill me!!”

He finally seemed ready to have a conversation, so Choi Kanghyuk struck one of Seo Yonggwang’s acupoints.

“Guh.”

“You are that villain everyone has been making a fuss about lately, right?”

“Y-yes.”

“You could have just stolen from them. Why did you kill everyone?”

“T-to kill the witnesses and silence them.......”

Choi Kanghyuk’s hand moved toward the man’s acupoints again.

Seo Yonggwang hurriedly changed his answer.

“I-I just did it because it was fun!”

Choi Kanghyuk’s murderous gaze settled on Seo Yonggwang.

“Why did you target me? Our gym does not exactly look like a wealthy home.”

“I-I came because it seemed like you knew about an artifact or m-method that could heal hunters.”

Seo Yonggwang’s gaze shifted toward the necklace from earlier.

“A-are you not using that artifact to heal c-cripples? No, retired hunters?”

“I heal them with qi treatment. Ah. You said you liked martial arts novels, right? Have you ever heard of Expelling Obstructions and Guiding Blood?”

“.......”

Seo Yonggwang looked confused.

Acupoint sealing, Bone-Separating and Tendon-Twisting, and now even Expelling Obstructions and Guiding Blood.

'D-does he actually know martial arts or something?'

Choi Kanghyuk questioned him again.

“Anyway, you came looking for me because of Expelling Obstructions and Guiding Blood? Why? Is one of your trash companions injured?”

Seo Yonggwang shook his head.

Then he answered honestly.

He had planned to sell the method to the leaders of rebel forces or criminal organizations.

For an extremely high price.

A hollow laugh escaped Choi Kanghyuk.

“I have seen things like that on the news sometimes, but there really must be a lot of organizations like that overseas.”

“A-Africa, the Middle East, and S-South America are all l-like that. E-even in Europe and North America, there are mafias and cartels. They just cannot operate openly.”

Only then did he realize something.

Korea truly maintained public order remarkably well.

He had simply failed to notice because he had only been living in Korea.

“And you were planning to take me abroad and sell me? How? Do you have connections with foreign villains?”

At Choi Kanghyuk’s question, Seo Yonggwang again answered honestly.

“I-I have a partner. H-he acts as a broker.”

In addition, he explained the dark web, where villains were especially active.

He also told Choi Kanghyuk that illegal entry into foreign countries could be arranged through it.

Apparently, the gun Seo Yonggwang had used at the end had also been smuggled in through such channels.

'Thank goodness he did not steal it from a military base.'

It would not have been a matter of finding a missing shell casing, but an entire missing pistol.

The soldiers would have been worked to the bone.

Choi Kanghyuk clicked his tongue after entertaining the pointless thought.

His face was filled with irritation.

He possessed a peculiar talent.

“More insects are going to keep swarming around me.”

The talent to predict the broader flow from even a tiny fragment of information.

It was not that he had reached an exalted realm like Hyungwang and become capable of reading heavenly secrets.

It was merely intuition born from experience.

During his life as Mujin, he had served as Leader of the Martial Alliance and even as a close confidant of the emperor.

For now, only one insignificant villain had approached him, but he had a feeling the situation would continue growing larger.

Choi Kanghyuk’s head naturally turned.

The scenery beyond the gate, where he had already been living for several months, came into view.

'It will be difficult to keep this place hidden much longer too, won’t it?'