Chapter 455: Do It for Me (3)

Was it said that history is written at night?

Late at night.

The Republic of Korea was turned upside down.

It began on social media and online communities.

- Crazy. This is an officetel in Gangnam, and it looks like awakened people are fighting?

- Is it OO Officetel by any chance? A little while ago, someone smashed through a window and jumped out there.

A fight between awakened people in the middle of Gangnam.

- I secretly went over to watch. Can you see this person here?

- Huh? Isn’t that Association President Kang Youngchan?

- The one fighting was Association President Kang Youngchan?

- Did he get drunk and pick a fight?

As it gradually became an issue on the internet, the media eagerly took the bait as well.

[Breaking News. Fight Between Awakened People Breaks Out at Gangnam Officetel.]

[President Kang Youngchan of the Hunter Association Also Revealed to Have Been at the Scene of the Fight.]

.......

Naturally, countless speculative articles and posts poured out.

Those who lived off attention. Internet-wrecker YouTubers and influencers. And reporters from media companies moved quickly.

Some went to the Association, while others even went directly to Association President Kang Youngchan’s home.

It was all wasted effort.

Association President Kang Youngchan had already headed to the police station with Lee Gyeongseok, who had turned himself in.

And as a result of one loose-lipped police officer leaking the news to a reporter, an enormous crowd gathered at the police station.

The police officers on night duty at the station had to struggle in every way possible to hold back the people who had gathered.

“Damn it. How did these people find out and come here again? The Association President definitely came quietly!”

“Did some bastard take money and leak it to the media again?”

“Ha. Fuck. Bastards like that always drag the police name through the mud, I’m telling you.”

“I don’t know about dragging the police name through the mud, but because of that bastard, it looks like we’ll be busting our asses in the middle of the night again.”

“Seriously, I don’t care who it is. If they get caught, I won’t let them off.”

Fortunately, reinforcements appeared.

Police officers who had been urgently summoned came in for additional duty, and Association employees also had to rush out after being called.

A grueling standoff continued.

Questions poured out from reporters and YouTubers.

But the Association President did not show himself.

Social media and online communities. Articles and television news. All manner of delusions and speculative posts poured out.

[A Corpse Discovered at a Gangnam Officetel.]

[Revealed That the Association President Killed Him After a Dispute.]

[The Association President Who Killed an Awakened Person Turns Himself In to.......]

The greatest reason was the corpse discovered in the officetel.

The police officers who had already arrived had set up police lines and were preserving the scene.

However, YouTubers and media reporters recklessly took photographs beyond the police lines and uploaded news reports and posts.

Just as all kinds of rumors about Association President Kang Youngchan were rapidly swelling. The Association President finally appeared before the people.

“Last night. I received a report from a certain hunter. That a fight had broken out between awakened people.”

After receiving the report, Kang Youngchan hurried to the scene.

However, perhaps he had arrived one step too late, because what the Association President saw was a man being dragged away as though he were being kidnapped.

“The place I reached while pursuing that man was the officetel where the incident occurred.”

The suspect, whose entire body was wrapped in black, was trying to kill someone yet again.

“I was barely able to stop the murder, but then I heard something I had never expected. The young man I saved suddenly said that he intended to turn himself in.”

“Turn himself in? What do you mean by that!!”

At the reporters’ question, the Association President opened his mouth with a complicated expression.

“The recent serial murder case. Mr. Seo, who was killed this time, and Mr. Lee, whom I rescued, were the culprits behind those serial murders.”

Everyone wore dumbfounded expressions at the unexpected news.

Then one reporter hurriedly shouted.

“Are you not trying to disguise an innocent awakened person as the perpetrator of the serial murders after killing him!!!”

He seemed to be a reporter who quite enjoyed conspiracy theories.

Unfortunately, a considerable number of those gathered agreed with that question.

“Where is the evidence that the deceased victim was the culprit!”

“Wasn’t all the evidence fabricated as well!?”

Whether they were media companies or influencers, they were ultimately professions that lived off attention.

This sort of provocative content could not help but make them more money.

For some reason, the Association President remained silent throughout their barrage of questions.

Instead, the Association President took one step backward and looked at someone.

At that, a middle-aged man stepped forward.

He was the detective in charge of the interrogation in this case.

“After interrogating the survivor rescued by the Association President, Mr. Lee, everything the Association President said was revealed to be true.”

He informed them of the facts he had learned while continuing the interrogation.

“We confirmed that the survivor, Mr. Lee, had laundered all the money stolen by the murdered perpetrator, Mr. Seo, and stored it in overseas accounts.”

He said.

The recovered money would be returned to the victims’ bereaved families.

In addition, thanks to Lee Gyeongseok’s confessions, there was more than enough evidence that Seo Yonggwang was the serial killer.

Silence swept through them once again at the shocking news.

Then several reporters asked questions again.

“Then who exactly was the perpetrator who killed that serial killer?”

“Why did the stealth-type ability user whom neither the police nor the Hunter Association could find suddenly die?”

On top of that, the reporter who enjoyed the earlier conspiracy theory added his own comment.

“Could it be that the Association President personally killed the serial killer and then disguised it as someone else’s crime!”

“It may have been a horrific criminal act in which an ability was used for private revenge!”

At their absurd assumptions, the detective wore a troubled expression.

He wondered for a moment whether he was allowed to say this.

The detective opened his mouth with a half-resigned expression.

“That....... The culprit who killed the serial killer, Mr. Seo, is believed to be a hitman sent by the French mafia.”

“....... Pardon?”

The reporters and wrecker YouTubers wore blank expressions.

Expressions that suggested they wondered whether they had heard something unreal.

Or perhaps they felt as though this was not an actual crime scene, but some kind of movie set.

Why had a French mafia hitman suddenly appeared?

As though understanding how they felt, the detective continued his explanation.

“I also found it absurd when I first heard it, but it was revealed to be true. First, the serial killer, Mr. Seo, and his accomplice, Mr. Lee, had been living abroad until recently. While working as contract killers, at that.”

Then they had gotten into trouble with the French mafia and returned to Korea as though fleeing.

“They did not enter through normal means, but smuggled themselves into the country. Upon checking, only records that they left the country three years ago remained. There were no records of their return.”

He then took out two unfamiliar identification cards.

“These are the fake identification cards they used after returning to the country.”

They were identification cards bearing different names and different resident registration numbers.

“Our police are currently pursuing the French black man who fled.”

At the detective’s words, the Association President cleared his throat and added.

“Hmm-hmm. As the culprit is an awakened person, our Association also plans to cooperate in the pursuit.”

They planned to cooperate, but they could only pray that he would never be caught.

'Please let Hunter Choi have left no traces behind.'

Because if he were caught, the situation would become troublesome in many ways.

Just as the Association President thought of Choi Kanghyuk. Another reporter opened his mouth.

“But why were you, of all people, at the scene, Association President? I understand that the Association has a separate team dedicated to crime-related matters!”

His tone suggested that it was extremely suspicious that the Association President was involved.

It was the same reporter who had been insisting on conspiracy theories from earlier.

He was a man whose usual sources of information were impossible to imagine.

But this time, his excessive suspicion was proving to be a great help.

Because this was exactly the sort of question they had been waiting for.

“In truth, the hunter who contacted me was a kind of bait.”

“???”

“Those who know may already be aware, but recently, the Association has been conducting a retired-hunter rehabilitation project under my leadership.”

The Association President had promised Choi Kanghyuk.

That he would take responsibility for everything related to qi treatment as well.

“We publicized this project through news articles in order to lure in the serial killer.”

It could restore awakened people who had lost their abilities.

If handled properly, it was an opportunity worth a fortune.

“Originally, I intended to serve as the bait myself. After all, that rehabilitation treatment also made use of my ability.”

However, one hunter had volunteered to act as the bait.

“That brave hunter said this. Since he had awakened a defensive-type ability, he would be able to endure even if a stealth-type awakened person launched a surprise attack.”

They had remained on standby after establishing a hotline in that manner.

Amazingly, the serial killer had taken the bait and gone to find the tank hunter, but.

“That French black man interfered midway through, causing the situation to become tangled like this.”

As he finished speaking, the Association President thought.

'Still, I delayed them as long as possible, so Hunter Choi must have more or less erased all the evidence by now.'

The Association President had deliberately come to the police station with Lee Gyeongseok to buy time.

After disguising everything related to qi treatment as his own doing in this manner, the Association President spoke to the reporters.

“I will take no further questions.”

He entered the car just like that and left the police station.

Immediately after the Association President left the scene.

Countless articles poured across the Korean internet like a tsunami.

***

The following afternoon.

“Huaaaam.”

Choi Kanghyuk visited the Hunter Association while letting out a long yawn.

'Still, the Association President kept his promise.'

Choi Kanghyuk had roughly checked the articles that had been pouring out continuously since dawn.

Apparently, the police were currently doing their utmost to pursue the French black man?

He was not particularly worried about being discovered.

Because he had escaped Gangnam while hiding himself with stealth arts.

Everything recorded by CCTV or seen and photographed by those at the scene showed only his appearance while disguised as a black man.

Furthermore, he had used the Jade Vajra Art to slightly alter his physique and the shape of his eyes, so there was no way anyone could notice.

Thinking miscellaneous thoughts, Choi Kanghyuk entered the Association building and headed toward the Association President’s office.

Today was a scheduled day for qi treatment, just as usual.

There had been a commotion yesterday, but the qi treatment would proceed as normal today as well.

However, there was something he needed to discuss with the Association President before that.

Because of the lie the Association President had told on the news yesterday.

“Oh. Hunter Choi. I was just about to head to the physical training room.”

When the Association President welcomed him, Choi Kanghyuk shook his head.

“Before we go to the physical training room, there is one thing we need to practice, Association President.”

“Practice? What sort of practice?”

“There is also a saying that you must deceive your allies first if you wish to deceive the enemy, is there not?”

“Ah. Do you mean we should get our stories straight about something?”

Once again, Choi Kanghyuk shook his head.

“From now on, there is a role you must take during the rehabilitation treatments, Association President. In that sense, can you use your ability as weakly as possible?”

“As weakly as possible?”

The Association President wore a puzzled expression.

To help him understand, Choi Kanghyuk added an explanation.

“Hmm. Ah! Association President, have you ever gone to an orthopedic clinic for physical therapy?”

“Before I awakened, I went often. Of course. Hahaha.”

“Then you must have received electrical treatment as well.”

“That is true, but.......”

The Association President, who had answered without much thought, wore an expression of disbelief.

“Are you perhaps telling me to become a human electrical therapy machine?”

***

At the moment Korea’s first human electrical therapy machine was about to be born.

France, very far away from Korea.

Some astonishing news was being broadcast there.

[The incident in which a serial killer was discovered dead in the Republic of Korea.......]

The incident that had turned the Republic of Korea upside down.

Naturally, it was also being reported by foreign media.

The French side, in particular, could not help but take an even greater interest.

[According to an announcement by the local police, the murder suspect was sent by a mafia organization in our country of France.......]

They said the suspect was French, so how could they not be interested?

A middle-aged man who had been quietly watching the astonishing news on television turned his head.

The boss asked the subordinate members of the mafia organization.

“That Korean who was supposedly murdered. Isn’t he the bastard we were chasing?”

“That is correct.”

“But when exactly did we send a hitman to Korea?”

“.......”

“No matter how much I think about it, I cannot remember sending one.”

After the boss finished speaking. A strange silence flowed through the mansion.