Chapter 359 – Part 2 – The Human Trafficking Gang

A man stood in an alley where streetlights flickered on and off.

It was Choi Seong-min, who had transformed to look like the butler.

‘If I wait here, they said they’d come pick me up, right?’

Sure enough, Choi Seong-min was waiting for the human trafficking gang that would take him away.

Calling them had been easy.

He just had to contact the successor overseer saved in the butler’s phone and ask to meet.

The reason could be made up on the spot.

Something like he had forgotten to hand over something during the previous transition and wanted to teach it to them.

‘It’s annoying, but if I don’t make contact like this, I can’t find out where their base is.’

The human trafficking gang was meticulous enough not to stay in one place for long.

They would move their base once a month.

Because of this, even Choi Seong-min, who had read the butler’s memories, couldn’t know their location.

‘It was fortunate that the butler’s phone had the successor overseer’s number.’

Since he had read the past, he knew who the butler had handed over to.

‘From our phone conversation, he doesn’t seem to harbor any particular suspicions…’

Since they were vile bastards, he couldn’t help but consider the possibility that this might be a trap.

‘Huh? Is that it?’

When he turned his head, a van that had appeared at some point was slowly approaching.

A suspicious-looking vehicle no matter how you looked at it.

As it got closer, the passenger window rolled down.

“Are you Mr. Hwang Seok-gyu?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Get in.”

Clunk-

When the door opened, Choi Seong-min put his body into the car.

The back seat was already packed with people.

Every single one had their hands tied behind their backs and black bags pulled over their heads.

“These are the goods. We plan to send them to Westland the day after tomorrow.”

At the kind explanation, Choi Seong-min turned his head.

The man smiled and extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Tae-sik, in charge of transportation.”

Choi Seong-min clasped his hand.

“I’m Hwang Seok-gyu.”

“I heard you’re the senior of overseer An Sang-ho?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must know well about our methods.”

“I know most things.”

“If it’s not rude, may I ask you a few questions?”

During the car ride, the man named Choi Tae-sik threw various questions at Choi Seong-min.

Actually, they were closer to test problems than questions.

‘He’s testing me.’

Unless he was an idiot, he could tell.

That they were suspicious of his identity and testing him.

Sure enough, these were problems that only someone deeply involved in human trafficking could know.

‘If I hadn’t read the past, I might not have been able to answer correctly.’

Fortunately, Choi Seong-min was able to answer Choi Tae-sik’s questions immediately.

“You really know a lot about our organization.”

“Do you have no more questions now?”

“Haha, yes. This is enough. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable. Even though you’re someone who worked here before, we need some degree of verification.”

“I understand. Since it’s dangerous work, we must be thorough about security.”

“Exactly. Since you’re someone who worked in the same industry, we seem to be on the same wavelength.”

Seeing the smile bloom on Choi Tae-sik’s face, it seemed he had finally let down his guard.

“I’m late with introductions. This is Hunter Go Yong-hwan, and this is Hunter Jang Gil-su. They’re grateful people who help us subdue the goods.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hwang Seok-gyu.”

Choi Seong-min bowed his head to each of the two men, but the hunters’ necks were stiff.

-What a messed up world. The day has come when I work with a slave bastard.

-Low-quality slave bastard.

Reading their thoughts, they were looking down on him for being a slave.

‘Well, hunters would at least be merchant class, so a slave like me would naturally seem insignificant.’

Choi Seong-min felt the same way about looking down on them.

Since he could know their rank and combat power with his discerning eye.

‘C-rank hunters with 40,000 combat power…’

A difference like heaven and earth compared to Choi Seong-min, who was approaching 1 million.

‘I won’t even need to use skills when killing them.’

In his head, he was timing when to kill them.

The hunters, who couldn’t possibly know this fact, were looking at him arrogantly with their arms crossed.

When the hunters didn’t speak, Choi Seong-min also closed his mouth.

Even Choi Tae-sik, who had been the only one talking and showing a friendly attitude, fell silent not long after.

-No fucking response. Rude bastard.

It seemed he didn’t like Choi Seong-min’s lukewarm attitude.

-I was trying to use this bastard to make some connections with the Great Hero, but it’s ruined, ruined.

Reading his thoughts, there was a reason for his friendly attitude.

‘As expected, not a single one can be trusted.’

There was no way a decent person would be doing this kind of thing in the first place.

‘I’ll have to kill them all.’

He wasn’t planning to kill them right away.

Killing would come after figuring out their base and personnel.

The vehicle that had been driving on the dawn road entered the mountains.

After climbing the winding mountain road, it soon stopped, having apparently arrived.

“We’re here, so get out!”

The hunters got out first and smoked cigarettes.

Meanwhile, Choi Tae-sik, who was in charge of transportation, dragged out the trembling people.

“Why aren’t you getting out faster? You sluggish bastards!”

The kidnapped people staggered at his rough handling.

Since they couldn’t see ahead, they easily fell with just a little pulling.

‘Three kidnapped people. Two women and one man. None of them are hunters.’

Choi Seong-min, who had grasped the information with his discerning eye, got out of the car and looked around.

‘I don’t know where this is, but it’s the perfect place to commit crimes.’

It was a closed place surrounded by forest on all sides.

‘If you’re trapped in a place like this, you wouldn’t even have the courage to escape.’

That’s when one of the men who had been lying down suddenly got up and ran with all his might.

“Look at that crazy bastard running away when he can’t even see ahead?”

“That’s why he got kidnapped in the first place, the dim-witted bastard. Tsk tsk.”

While the hunters were leisurely mocking him, Choi Tae-sik asked with a troubled expression.

“Uh, Hunters. He’s going to get away like that. If you could help catch him…”

“Sigh… Really annoying.”

“Can’t even smoke a cigarette in peace. Tsk.”

One of the hunters sighed and then ran like lightning.

The distance was quickly closed.

“Come here, you bastard.”

The man, grabbed by the back of his neck, was dragged back.

The hunter slammed him down irritably and began kicking him.

“Because of you, I have to what?”

Thud- Thud-!

“Do I have to throw a perfectly good cigarette on the ground? Huh?”

Thud- Thud-!

Under the merciless beating, the man couldn’t even scream.

Because his mouth was sealed with tape.

“Phew, bastard worse than trash.”

The hunter stopped kicking.

The man’s movement also stopped.

“Huh? No way?”

Choi Tae-sik looked worried as he removed the bag.

He put his hand to the man’s nose and then sighed in relief.

“He seems to have fainted. He’s breathing.”

“Of course. Did you think I was beating him recklessly?”

-I was worried the goods might be damaged, but fortunately they’re fine.

Reading Choi Tae-sik’s thoughts, Choi Seong-min frowned.

‘They’re all nothing but disgusting bastards.’

He wanted to kill them all right here and now, but he held back.

It wasn’t time to step forward yet.

Slap- Slap-

“Wake up! Wake up, you bastard!”

Choi Tae-sik, who had awakened the unconscious man, put the black bag back over his head.

Then he said to Choi Seong-min.

“Let’s go. We just need to go up there.”

Leaving only those words, Choi Tae-sik led the kidnapped people.

“Move quickly! You beggar bastards!”

The hunters took out cigarettes again and looked at the kidnapped women with lecherous eyes.

“Nice body.”

“Hey, I called dibs on that one, so don’t touch her.”

“Ah, why! We should share the good stuff.”

“You can have your turn after I’m done.”

Seeing the bastards joking around over the woman made him sick.

‘I can’t delay any longer. I need to move as quickly as possible.’

If he delayed, more people might be harmed by those bastards.

“It’s over there.”

At Choi Tae-sik’s words, he looked up to see a villa.

It was quite large for something built in the mountains.

Then a man who had come out to greet them in front of the villa approached with recognition.

“Senior Hwang Seok-gyu!”

“Oh, Sang-ho.”

Choi Seong-min waved happily at his successor overseer.

If he just acted as he had seen in the memories, there would be no reason to be suspected.

“Just a moment, senior.”

Having said that, An Sang-ho turned to look at Choi Tae-sik.

“Are these three the goods acquired today?”

“Yes. Two women and one man. No hunters.”

“Thank you for your hard work. Lock them in the inner house right away.”

“Yes.”

“Hunter Go Yong-hwan and Hunter Jang Gil-su have also worked very hard.”

“Ahem, just words?”

“Please pick whatever goods you want from the inner house and have some fun. But you must finish quickly. If other hunters see, they’ll all make requests…”

“Got it. I’ll finish quickly.”

“Hehe. I’m confident, so leave it to me.”

With that, all the people including the hunters left, leaving only the two of them.

Choi Seong-min deliberately put on an exaggerated performance.

“Wow, our successor. You handle work really well?”

“Haha, it’s all thanks to you teaching me well, senior.”

“Teaching well, my ass. I came back because I couldn’t even properly hand things over.”

“So what’s this handover you forgot about? From our phone conversation, it seemed important.”

“It is important. It’s hard to explain with words too. I’ll show you directly, so shall we talk while walking?”

“Yes.”

Choi Seong-min led An Sang-ho to a secluded forest.

“Is this the right way? Senior?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

He planned to kill him where no one could see, but he didn’t forget to extract information first.

“Now that I think about it, the base is bigger than I thought? How many people have you kidnapped?”

“Including the goods we just brought, there are 19 in the inner house and 1 in the torture room.”

“Why did you put someone in the torture room?”

“There’s a hunter among the goods who’s resisting severely.”

“Ah, they won’t obediently spit out their items?”

“Yes.”

“How many workers are there besides that?”

The overseer glanced at him, finding it odd that he was asking so many questions.

“Why are you curious about that?”

“I wanted to see how much things have improved compared to my time.”

“……”

“What? Can’t I be curious?”

“……No. Including me, there are 12 workers now.”

“How is the composition?”

“Excluding me, there are 4 general workers, 2 transporters, and 5 hunters.”

“The scale is smaller than in my time?”

“We don’t keep goods piled up for long.”

“Right, since you usually sell them off within a week, you don’t need many workers.”

Choi Seong-min nodded as if he understood, but inwardly he couldn’t help but be dissatisfied.

‘Only five hunters? Tsk.’

He had expected to get at least ten traits, but it looked like he’d only get five.

“What’s the hunter composition?”

“There’s 1 B-rank hunter and 4 C-rank hunters.”

“Then the B-rank hunter must be the leader?”

“Yes.”

“Where is that hunter now?”

“He should be in the torture room. But watch your language. Even if it’s a place where hunters aren’t around, speaking casually is…”

“Stop talking nonsense and look around.”

“What?”

An Sang-ho looked around as Choi Seong-min said.

All he could see were trees swallowed by darkness.

“How is it? Dark?”

“Yes.”

“That’s your future.”

“What?”

Soon Choi Seong-min’s arm wrapped around An Sang-ho’s neck.

“Gak, gak!”

An Sang-ho struggled, but it was useless.

Somehow his strength was incredible.

“Stay still. I’ll let you go after 10 seconds.”

An Sang-ho’s face, which had been turning red, soon turned blue.

His movement stopped. He had fainted.

“I hope there were some useful memories.”

Choi Seong-min smiled as he placed his hand on An Sang-ho’s head.