Chapter 88
The Special Case Task Force of the Union, or Spec Force for short, comprised three teams: Pursuit, Suppression, and Extermination. Kim Seo-Yeon, the leader of Pursuit Team 5, furrowed her brow as she stood in the burnt building in Manufahi of East Timor.
“Cheon Seong-Hwi... Cheon Seong-Hwi... What the hell is his deal?” she mumbled.
She never expected things to escalate this far from the slaughter in the Paysandu alley. Although the Union arrested Dark Humans, it did not change people's will to act on their desires. Hence, she was usually not surprised by any murders. However, she had never seen someone bold enough to expose himself as the culprit and commit a series of murders every night.
“What is his objective? Is he seriously planning on going to war against Hard Drug?”
Seo-Yeon couldn’t understand. Even the Union’s intelligence division knew nothing about him other than that he was from Korea like Seo-Yeon, and that he was male.
If he’s an Edu graduate, there’s no way there would be so little information about him... Could he have been Lost before Edu was founded? But how has such a strong individual never been known until now?
As Seo-Yeon shook her head, a Latina woman approached her as she inhaled the smoke from burning a few strands of hair.
“Did you find anything, Lalisa?” Seo-Yeon asked.
“Cough! Cough! No, it’s the same as before. I only see him wearing a scary mask, using a karambit, and fifteen fireballs exploding. Oh, he’s using a long, black scythe this time,” Lalisa answered.
“A long, black scythe?”
Lalisa, who had her eyes closed, nodded. “Yes, a long, black scythe. It’s like the Grim Reaper’s scythe.”
Seo-Yeon fell into thought. She could trust Lalisa since she was the Pursuit Team 5’s only psychometrist. Lalisa was a hairdresser in Brazil, and her D Weapon was hair shears. By burning the hair she cut and inhaling the smoke, she could see twenty-four hours into the past of the hair’s owner.
Lalisa was one of the rare specialist D Weapon users. The leader of Pursuit Team 1 had their eyes on her, but Lalisa came to work for Seo-Yeon instead because she wanted to work under a female team leader.
A long, black scythe, huh? A peculiar weapon. Is it an item or a skill? Seo-Yeon wondered.
Just then, Lalisa suddenly opened her eyes and screamed, “Kyaah! He cut my head off! It hurts so much! Argh! My head is spinning! Urpp!”
Lalisa retched as she grabbed her neck. Stimulated by the noise, the pale white man standing next to her vomited for real.
“Don’t vomit on the crime scene! Get the newcomer out of here, Lalisa. Thanks,” Seo-Yeon said.
“Urgh, okay,” Lalisa replied, staggeringly supporting the white man.
It looked like they were dancing to the blues because neither seemed in good shape.
Seo-Yeon shook her head and monologued, “Huuu, how can two newcomers be so different?”
She stared at the Asian man who was thoroughly examining the grotesque corpse on the ground. He was built like a bear, had a menacing appearance, and was Korean like her. He stated that he was a cop on Earth.
“What’s it like, Chief Inspector Ma Sang-Sik? Did you find anything?” Seo-Yeon asked teasingly.
Sang-Sik scratched the back of his head and replied, “Please don’t call me that, Team Leader. One’s age and occupation on Earth mean nothing in the Mirror World.”
He was holding a bronze locket pendant, his eyes glittering.
Seo-Yeon asked, “What’s that?”
“Oh, please take a look at this.”
Sang-Sik opened the locket and revealed the photo of a black man and a white woman intimately staring at each other.
“Do you remember this pal?” he asked, pointing at the white woman in the photo.
Seo-Yeon narrowed her eyes as she stared at the woman, but nothing came to mind.
“Nope, I’m drawing a blank,” she remarked.
“She was one of the corpses found in the Hong Kong street on North Earth.”
“The Hong Kong street?”
It was the location of a Hard Drug workshop that the Union had no idea about, and where Seong-Hwi had been.
“Yes. In other words, the woman in this photo and this man, now a corpse, were in a relationship,” Sang-Sik said.
Seo-Yeon’s expression brightened. “We’ve finally found a lead.”
“Indeed. We did not know how he had been tracking the Hard Drug clansmen until now, but he may have been using psychometry as well.”
“Gather around!” Seo-Yeon yelled.
The team members who had been investigating throughout the building assembled. A white fox elegantly landed on Seo-Yeon’s shoulder.
“Focus on identifying the corpses! After that, investigate the people they associated with!”
“Yes, ma’am!” the team members shouted and scattered again.
Sang-Sik asked, “How will Cheon Seong-Hwi be punished if captured?”
“He’ll be sentenced to death, of course,” Seo-Yeon replied.
“Death?” he expressed confusion.
Although Seong-Hwi was a serial killer, his targets were limited to Hard Drug clansmen. On top of that, he was contributing to the Union by destroying the Hard Drug workshops, which not even the Union knew the whereabouts of, that produced their new drug, Liam. Most humans in the Capital were cheering on Seong-Hwi for standing alone against an infamous black clan.
Seo-Yeon smirked. “He would be innocent if he were a Dark Hunter with at least a fourth-class murder license issued by the Union. However, he has no license.”
“But—”
“No buts. Who would trust the Union if we broke our own rules?”
Sang-Sik remained silent. He was a newbie who was only Lost over a month ago, while Seo-Yeon had been in the Mirror World for years. Her answer was likely closer to the correct one in the Mirror World.
But... what if he’s the Cheon Seong-Hwi I know? Sang-Sik said inwardly, remembering the suspect from his last case on Earth. His name was also Cheon Seong-Hwi.
However, he shook his head. No, there’s no way.
If they were the same person, it would mean Cheon Seong-Hwi had become as strong as a Semi Ranker in only three months. Only a superior race could do such a thing.
***
An orange light dimly illuminated a large hotel room with red curtains and a rug. A bed that could fit ten people squeaked, and Budiono stood motionless beside it.
The squeaking stopped moments after, and the cold voice of a man on the bed said, “Get the fuck out.”
The two women on the bed quickly left the room as if running away, without even having the time to put on their clothes. A short, middle-aged Mexican man, about 160 centimeters tall with a goatee, lit his cigar with a lighter. He sucked in the smoke and blew it at Budiono, but Budiono did not even blink.
“Budiono,” the man said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Who am I?”
“You are the almighty Joaquin Roland!”
The man shook his head. “No, no. I am and have always been the short brat, El Chapo. However, I am tall. Do you know why?” He continued immediately after as if it had been a rhetorical question. “Because I stand on the tower I built with the corpses of those who disrespected me.”
The Drug King, El Chapo, was sixteenth in the human ranking.
“When I was on Earth, I made the Honorable Cartel the greatest in Mexico. Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, the Gulf of Mexico, and Sinaloa were all on the palm of my hand.”
Even on Earth, El Chapo had been known as the Drug King. He was the boss of Honorable, the biggest cartel in Mexico. They were so big that people said Honorable distributed as much cocaine as the government distributed the pestilitas vaccine in Mexico.
The Honorable Cartel was responsible for seventy percent of drugs going to the United States, making El Chapo number one on the FBI’s most wanted list for years.
“But... there are fifteen people above me in this world. It makes me feel like a short brat,” El Chapo continued.
Budiono could only break into cold sweats. He was morbidly obese and over two meters tall, but he felt smaller than El Chapo lying in bed.
“Liam is... a fantastic drug. It will take Hard Drug to greater heights once we secure the distribution routes. I have been preparing for this for years, and the fruits of my labor were about to ripen, but... a pest is ruining my fruits.”
Budiono kneeled on the ground and shouted, “I-I’m sorry, boss!”
El Chapo could finally look down at Budiono.
He said, “Do not disappoint me more than you already have. You started this, so you’d better finish it.”
“Yes, boss!”
“Laborers can always be replaced, but if any more of the original Liam solutions were to be lost...” El Chapo trailed off.
“That will not happen! I will make sure of—”
El Chapo cut Budiono off and said coldly, “No need for unnecessary comments. Regardless of the result, you will see me again in ten days.”
***
“This is the last day,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he looked up at the Capital’s night sky.
Three weeks had passed since he declared war on Hard Drug. He planned to stop by Lina Ahn’s store tomorrow to absorb the genes. After that, he would make contact with the Black Merchant Kabuka and participate in the operation to seize the Elixir.
I might reunite with Leo soon, Seong-Hwi thought as he pulled out a pouch filled with the objects he stole last night.
[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]
[Devil of Los Angeles]
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Night Stalker]
The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the dead of night.
***
[Trait Quest: Collect One Thousand Souls, complete.]
[Converting Trait Hundred-Man Killer to Thousand-Man Killer.]
[You accumulated countless Murderer Karma.]
[An undeniable sinful feat.]
[Eternally recording this feat in the Akasha.]
[Heightening the caliber of Health.]
[Heightening the caliber of Strength.]
[Heightening the caliber of Dexterity.]
...
[Thousand-Man Killer (Trait)
Rank: C(13)
Description: The energy of one who has killed one thousand humans. The thousand souls can be converted to bloodlust, allowing the use of Thousand-Killing Aura. A Thousand-Man Mark can be stamped on one person per 24 hours, reducing the physical and magical resistance of the area it is stamped on. Additional Karma is rewarded when killing a human stamped with the Thousand-Man Mark.]
Seong-Hwi, wearing the Myriad Cheoyong Mask, examined the Akasha Messages inside the burning workshop. Since he had been attacking Hard Drug’s secret workshops for the past three weeks, his trait, Hundred-Man Killer, had converted to Thousand-Man Killer before he realized it. Only after seeing the conversion did he realize the extent of his rampage.
I used to kill only evildoers as a Dark Hunter in my past life, Seong-Hwi recollected.
This time, he killed everyone he saw without a murder license, regardless of whether they were evildoers or mere small fry. As a result, he acquired the Thousand-Man Killer trait in less than a year. A sinful feat was a feat nonetheless; he had been prepared for this from the moment he acquired the Hundred-Man Killer trait during the mandatory quest.
I will surely become a Fiend.
Seong-Hwi did not need trivial sympathy or what-ifs. He would simply walk the path most beneficial to him, although even that was slow compared to the superior races. Purely in terms of results, he killed the producers of Liam, which would rot humanity, and accomplished a sinful feat to heighten his caliber.
On top of that, he acquired the Thousand-Killing Aura, the physical manifestation of one’s formless bloodlust, and he made good use of the Thousand-Man Mark in his past life as a Black Hunter against many people.
Seong-Hwi began to walk out of the workshop. He wasn’t planning on using Shadowless Plum Blossom Branch or Hermit’s Robe tonight. Activating the two skills simultaneously with his B-rank Destiny Force, Magic, and D Weapon stats could completely erase his presence.
He even changed his appearance using the Myriad Cheoyong Mask in the streets, hence the Hard Drug clansmen had no chance of tracking him down. Only someone with at least an A-rank tracking skill could detect him.
That’s why I’ll leave a trace on purpose. This was the last attack, after all. I’m sure Budiono is furious right about now.
Forget furious, he would have likely been warned by El Chapo. He would undoubtedly risk his life to track Seong-Hwi down if there was even a tiny trace of him.
“Hm?”
Just then, Seong-Hwi detected hundreds of presences once he stepped out of the workshop.
How? he wondered. Has Hard Drug dispatched a tracker skilled enough to see through my skills?
Such an individual would be at least a Semi Ranker in the five-hundreds. Seong-Hwi stopped and assumed battle position. The encircling net rapidly converged around him, and the individuals showed themselves. Among them, a short-haired beauty with a cold appearance stood before Seong-Hwi with a white fox on her shoulder.
“Cheon Seong-Hwi. As per the Union’s laws, you’re under arrest for eleven counts of licenseless murder and arson. You have been deemed a criminal who disturbs the Capital’s order. As the leader of Pursuit Team 5, I have the right to execute you immediately if given enough reason to.”
Seong-Hwi’s eyes widened after seeing a familiar face.
“Kim Seo-Yeon?” he mumbled.
“Life sure is a bitch, isn’t it? I can’t help but suspect everything now. I won’t trust anyone anymore.”
The words she had said to him in his past life echoed inside his head.