Chapter 365 – Part 2 – Cafe

Choi Seong-min, transformed into Oh Gwang-taek, answered the phone.

“Ah, isn’t this Kogo-nim?”

He raised his voice tone as if pleased to hear from him.

“What brings you to call…”

-We need to meet.

“Do you perhaps need my ability?”

-Yes. There’s someone whose memory needs to be erased.

“Who might that be?”

-I’ll tell you when we meet.

“Understood. When shall we meet?”

-In 1 hour. At the cafe at the intersection in front of the association.

It was too early, but he couldn’t refuse.

“Yes! I’ll see you there.”

As soon as the call ended, Choi Seong-min grimaced.

‘Tch, not even giving me time to enter a dungeon?’

He had wanted to reach S-rank before meeting, but they weren’t giving him that time.

‘Though he didn’t say it, it’s obviously about erasing Song Chi-hyeon’s memory.’

But Oh Gwang-taek and Song Chi-hyeon couldn’t be in the same place.

He had no choice but to have a showdown with Kogo.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll assassinate Kogo today.’

Since they were coming to him first, he had no other choice.

‘If I just raise my combat power by 50,000, I’d be S-rank… what a shame.’

It would be better to fight after ranking up to S-rank if possible, but even now would be fine.

He had sufficient confidence to defeat Kogo.

‘My current reflected combat power is 950,000, but my potential combat power should be higher. Nothing to worry about.’

Seeing how he easily defeated the 1.5 million demon Balzark, wouldn’t it be at least over 2 million?

Of course, it was speculation.

Even Choi Seong-min couldn’t gauge what his combat power was.

‘Anyway, I’m confident I can win, so there’s no reason to back down.’

A deep smile spread across Choi Seong-min’s lips.

The time had come to assassinate another Great Hero.

* * *

After work, Choi Seong-min, in Oh Gwang-taek’s appearance, went to the promised cafe.

Ding-dong-

As soon as he entered the cafe, Choi Seong-min’s eyes moved busily.

To determine which position would be advantageous to sit in.

‘Since I might have to assassinate him here.’

Because of this, he had to be careful in selecting a seat.

He had even brought a carrier for cleanup afterward.

The reason he came 30 minutes early was because of this.

To secure a position advantageous for combat.

‘That corner seat over there would be good.’

It was far from both the entrance and the windows, making it an unfavorable position for Kogo to escape if needed.

‘Plus, I can corner that guy who uses twin swords into a narrow space.’

With walls and pillars nearby, it would be inconvenient to swing twin swords with their long reach.

Moreover, being a corner seat, other customers wouldn’t be harmed even if combat broke out.

While walking to the seat, he casually placed the carrier at another spot.

As if it belonged to someone else.

‘I can’t be questioned about why I brought something like this.’

Looking around the interior of the store, he could see several people.

‘Since it’s 2 PM, there are still quite a lot of people.’

Including staff, there were seven people in the cafe.

‘Fortunately, the cafe is relatively large. Civilians shouldn’t get caught up in it.’

There were no CCTVs in the store.

Since it was on the second floor, there were no people looking in from outside the windows either.

It would be a perfect environment to fight if only there were no customers.

Of course, there was no guarantee they’d fight here.

Depending on the situation, they might fight at Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion.

He was just being careful in case.

Choi Seong-min, who had taken his seat, looked at his watch.

He still had to wait about 25 more minutes for Kogo to arrive.

Meanwhile, Choi Seong-min closed his eyes and ran simulations in his head.

He estimated who would win if he fought Kogo.

It was a 90% probability of Choi Seong-min’s victory.

‘If a surprise attack works, I should definitely win.’

When stat dumping, Choi Seong-min’s agility approaches 20,000.

With this, plus Hunter Slayer, stealth damage, Assassin’s Mark, First Strike Victory, Throat Slash, etc., when executing a perfect surprise attack.

‘I can deal damage amplified by 24 times.’

In terms of surprise attack damage alone, even Woo Seong-jae, who was world ranking 1st, would be impressed.

‘And if I use poison on top of that, the chances of victory become even greater.’

The poisons he currently had were 2 nerve poisons, 1 deadly poison, 1 extreme poison.

If he used all three poisons, victory would be as good as guaranteed, but.

‘The poisons are too precious for that.’

With his rapidly grown current strength, it seemed he could win even fighting without poison.

‘Still, to finish it for sure, it would be good to use at least one, right?’

If he had to use one of the three, it would naturally be nerve poison.

Extreme poison goes without saying, and deadly poison also wasn’t made from easily obtainable materials.

‘Since they’re poisons that can only be made by catching bosses.’

Considering how difficult it is to encounter bosses, he couldn’t use them easily.

‘If the chances of victory were low, I wouldn’t have hesitated to use them…’

In a situation where he was estimating a 90% chance of victory, even using one poison felt wasteful.

‘Still, just in case, I should apply nerve poison before fighting.’

At first, he had considered putting nerve poison in the coffee.

‘But then I’d only get 50% of the poison efficacy bonus.’

He needed to use Poison Application to draw out double the efficiency.

‘In other words, I can reduce stats by 20%.’

If he fought while reducing stats by 20%?

Choi Seong-min, who ran another simulation, smiled.

It was a 100% win rate.

While he was estimating win rates and visualizing how to fight in his head.

Ding-dong-

The door opened and the person he was waiting for entered.

It was Kogo.

“Over here!”

Though Choi Seong-min waved happily, Kogo maintained an expressionless face as he walked over.

“Did you wait long?”

“No. I didn’t wait very long.”

Kogo naturally sat across from him.

It was the position Choi Seong-min had intended.

“Have you had lunch?”

“I ate. Since this talk might be long, let’s just order coffee.”

“Understood. What would you like?”

“Cold brew. Tall size without extra shots.”

“Ah… yes.”

Though Choi Seong-min was flustered by an unexpected aspect, he calmly ordered the coffee.

With his own money, of course.

‘Let’s consider it a final gift on the way to the afterlife.’

While doing so, he looked at the customers in the store, but they showed no signs of leaving.

‘Since it’s 2 PM, there are still many people.’

There were seven people in the cafe including staff.

‘The cafe is relatively large, so fortunately civilians shouldn’t get involved.’

There were no CCTVs in the store.

Since it was on the second floor, there were no people peering in from outside the windows.

A perfect environment for fighting if only the customers weren’t there.

Of course, there was no guarantee they’d fight here.

Depending on the situation, they might fight at Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion.

He was just being careful in preparation.

“Here’s the coffee you ordered, sir.”

After receiving the coffee and returning to his seat.

“Here’s your coffee, Kogo-nim.”

With a good-natured smile, Choi Seong-min set down the coffee, and Kogo silently took a sip through the straw.

“Mm.”

After briefly savoring the coffee, he brought up the main topic.

“I said I’d tell you whose memory needs to be erased, right?”

“That’s right. Who is it?”

Though he knew, Choi Seong-min showed a curious expression.

“Song Chi-hyeon.”

“Pardon?”

As if it was a completely unexpected person, Choi Seong-min opened his mouth.

“You’re saying… you need to look at Song Chi-hyeon’s memory?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t I tell you before? Song Chi-hyeon and I have known each other since childhood…”

“You did say that. That’s why you’re needed. To lure Song Chi-hyeon and peek at his memory.”

“…”

Choi Seong-min still acted as if the shock hadn’t worn off.

Then Kogo had an unexpected thought.

-I feel somewhat sorry.

Though he didn’t show it, Choi Seong-min was surprised.

‘Even this cold-blooded guy has a conscience, I see.’

Indeed, Kogo was feeling favorable toward him for erasing his mother’s memory.

‘What I felt back then wasn’t just my imagination.’

That’s probably why he had completely let his guard down from earlier.

‘Being unarmed in front of me…’

Kogo wasn’t wearing any equipment right now.

In this state, he could kill him with a single strike.

‘If the opponent had been Song Chi-hyeon, he wouldn’t be this careless.’

He would have been constantly tense so he could equip his gear at any moment.

But the current Kogo was showing the carelessness of just looking down and sipping his coffee.

‘He’s being careless because I have Oh Gwang-taek’s appearance. Since I made his mother comfortable.’

Of course, part of it might be because Oh Gwang-taek was F-rank, so he wasn’t tense.

‘Anyway, this worked out well. When he’s being careless is exactly the perfect situation for a surprise attack.’

Not knowing that Choi Seong-min was hiding a dagger, Kogo calmly drank his coffee and asked.

“Can you do it?”

“Pardon?”

“Can you peek at and erase your friend’s memory?”

“Ah…”

When he showed a hesitant expression, Kogo put down his coffee.

Thud-

Then he looked at him with deliberately murderous eyes.

“If you don’t do as I say, you’ll die.”

“…”

Though it should have been a situation to tremble, Choi Seong-min could tell.

That it was just an imitation of killing intent, not real killing intent.

-Sorry, but I have no choice.

The fact that he was apologizing inside was proof of that.

There was nothing to fear, but to deceive Kogo, he trembled his body slightly.

“I, I understand. I’ll, I’ll do it.”

“That’s right.”

Satisfied, Kogo drank his coffee again.

The coffee was already showing the bottom.

“Order another one.”

“Ah… understood.”

Thinking he secretly liked coffee, he ordered another one.

‘Well, if it buys time, that’s good for me.’

He hoped to drag out time so all the customers would leave.

“I’ll tell you the specific plan.”

When he brought the coffee, Kogo talked about the main point.

“Oh Gwang-taek, you first lure Song Chi-hyeon with a phone call. Make some plausible excuse to meet him. Meanwhile, I’ll hide with stealth at the meeting place, and when Song Chi-hyeon comes, I’ll knock him out by hitting the back of his neck. Then you peek at Song Chi-hyeon’s memory.”

“What memory do you want me to look at?”

“Check if he really killed Yang Baek-du. Whether there’s evidence, and if so, where he hid it.”

“Is that all I need to do?”

“If he didn’t kill Yang Baek-du… erase his memory.”

“Erase… everything?”

“Yes. Make him an idiot.”

Choi Seong-min acted surprised.

“Why? Can’t you do it?”

“N, no.”

Even at the words that he had to make his friend an idiot, Choi Seong-min obediently agreed to do so.

Since it was a situation where he had to comply due to threats.

“What if Song Chi-hyeon really did kill him?”

“Then don’t erase the memory and leave it as is. We need to take him to the association president.”

“Don’t tell me… you’re planning to kill him…?”

At his worried question, Kogo nodded.

“Yes. Either die or become an idiot. One of the two. Song Chi-hyeon is finished now.”

It was practically a death sentence.

“…”

Kogo quietly observed Oh Gwang-taek’s expression.

Curious about what kind of feelings someone who had to participate in his friend’s death would have.

“…I see.”

Unexpectedly, Oh Gwang-taek showed no particular reaction.

Though Kogo had a puzzled look, it was only briefly.

“What… what happens to me?”

At that question, Kogo belatedly understood.

Oh Gwang-taek was worried about his own life and death.

“Don’t worry, Oh Gwang-taek. As long as you do as you’re told, I won’t kill you.”

“Really…?”

“Yes. The association president also highly values your ability. That won’t happen.”

Only then did Choi Seong-min breathe as if relieved.

Of course, it was just acting to reassure Kogo.

“When will you execute this?”

“Now.”

“Now?”

“Call right away and make an appointment with Song Chi-hyeon. On speakerphone so I can hear.”

It was a troublesome request.

Oh Gwang-taek and Song Chi-hyeon were beings that couldn’t exist simultaneously.

Naturally, having a conversation with each other was impossible.

But Choi Seong-min asked calmly without showing it.

“What time and where should I say to meet?”

“In 1 hour, at Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion. Make up an excuse yourself.”

Choi Seong-min pretended to take out his phone while turning off Song Chi-hyeon’s phone.

Ring ring ring ring-

He called Oh Gwang-taek’s phone.

But no one answered.

“He’s not answering. What should we do?”

“Why isn’t he answering? Did he enter a dungeon or something?”

Not expecting that contact wouldn’t work, Kogo fell into thought.

“We’ll have to wait until we can reach him.”

“Until we can?”

“Yes. We’ll wait here until then. Same for you.”

“…”

This time it was really troublesome.

‘He’s saying he’ll stay at the cafe until we can make contact?’

In other words, they’d have to stay here until closing time.

‘I don’t have time to be doing this.’

What if he made this place the guy’s grave as planned?

Choi Seong-min’s eyes became as sharp as a hawk’s.

‘There are customers, but not as many as before.’

Two staff members and two customers.

Moreover, it was a quiet time so no new customers were coming in.

‘If I’m going to surprise attack, now is the perfect time.’

Choi Seong-min looked at Kogo’s empty coffee cup and smiled slightly.

“Should I order the same thing again?”

“You have some sense. Do that.”

Choi Seong-min pretended to go order but turned around and equipped his gear.

Tssssss-

As soon as the dagger was created, he used the Poison Application skill to coat the dagger with nerve poison.

This took about 2 seconds.

Just as he had simulated.

He didn’t forget to increase damage with stealth either.

His movements flowed like water without any blockage.

‘It’s over, Kogo.’

Choi Seong-min’s dagger aimed for the back of Kogo’s neck.