Chapter 380 – Part 2 – Kwak Min-cheol

Before possession, Choi Seong-min had looked down at the Great Heroes and gathered information about them.

Their personalities, weaknesses, family relationships, traits, and so on.

However, there were limits to gathering information with just that alone.

That’s why Choi Seong-min needed Oh Gwang-taek’s memory deletion trait.

With this, he thought he could obtain useful information while dealing with the Great Heroes.

‘Fortunately, I have the memory deletion trait.’

There was much to extract from Kwak Min-cheol’s memories.

‘The Great Heroes were sharing the Potion of Life recipe only among themselves.’

With that potion that saves hunters’ lives, the Great Heroes made a promise to each other.

If anything happens to our safety, let’s save each other with this potion.

So that the legacy of the 8 Heroes would continue forever.

‘What nonsense about eternity.’

Nothing is eternal.

No matter how strong a hunter is, they become a handful of dust as time passes.

He knew this from direct experience.

‘I’m the one doing this to live eternally with my family without perishing…’

Honestly speaking, there wasn’t any real method for that.

He could only trust that God would keep his promise.

‘For now, I have to assassinate the Great Heroes who are obsessed with power as promised.’

To do that, seeing the Great Heroes’ memories was essential.

There might be helpful information.

‘I found out that the Great Heroes have Potions of Life…’

After searching through Kwak Min-cheol’s memories more, he was also able to find out the location of the safe house he had briefly heard about before.

‘Just in case, I should move my family to the safe house.’

Now that his combat power of 10 million had been revealed, Choi Seong-min would receive attention from around the world.

In that process, his family might suffer harm.

Other hunters or Great Heroes might kidnap his family to threaten him.

‘Since it’s a place only Kwak Min-cheol knew about, it should be safe.’

Besides that, he also found out all kinds of money-making information like Kwak Min-cheol’s account passwords, owned real estate, stocks, personal slush funds, and security information related to them.

‘I should sell everything off and secure it as cash without being tracked.’

The more money the better, so there was no reason not to take it.

The useful information wasn’t just that.

‘Wait, what’s this?’

Kwak Min-cheol was having a conversation with a Great Hero from Westland.

-Min-cheol. I heard you’re having headaches because of rebels lately?

-Don’t even mention it. Those bastards raided an F-grade armory this time.

-What’s the organization’s name?

-It’s called Revolution.

-That’s a different name from ours? Our rebels have a childish name called Wings of Hope.

-Westland has rebels too?

-Of course. Do you know how much trouble we’re having because of them? Well, no matter how much those bastards cause a ruckus, it’s just ticklish.

-Here and there, damn bugs are crawling up everywhere.

-Hehe, but Min-cheol. I have a good idea, want to hear it?

-What idea?

-It’s a plan to catch all the rebels from our side and your side. Listen to this.

The plan that the Westland Great Hero spoke of afterward was enough to surprise Choi Seong-min.

-Actually, I’m pretending to be a rebel and have infiltrated Wings of Hope.

-What? You infiltrated as a spy?

-Yeah. I’m being treated as an S-rank hunter there. Hehe. I might even be able to snatch the leader position soon.

-Wow, that’s amazing.

-It’s nothing special. If you act righteous and commit a few acts of terrorism, they naturally trust you. Since my rank is high, they worship me automatically.

-Keke. There are sheep everywhere you go.

-Anyway, I’ve established myself to some degree in the organization now. I’ve figured out the organization’s scale too.

-Then all that’s left is to completely exterminate them?

-Right. But since Min-cheol said he’s having headaches because of rebels, I thought I’d help by spilling some information.

-How?

-By making an alliance proposal to that organization called Revolution. Since we’re from different continents but have the same purpose, let’s help each other.

-Ah, I get it! So the plan is to pretend to help, find Revolution’s bugs, and wipe them all out at once together with those Westland guys?

-Hehe, as expected of Min-cheol. You’re smart, probably because you’re from Eastland.

-So what I need to do is pass information about Revolution to you? So the two can connect?

-You understand immediately. Right. If Min-cheol passes information to me, I’ll find them and make contact. There’s definitely some sucker bastard in that organization who’ll bite the bait.

-Got it. Then I’m counting on you, Christopher.

Christopher Gibson.

One of Westland’s Great Heroes, the only one whose face wasn’t known to the public.

‘Christopher had infiltrated Westland’s rebels… And he was planning to make contact with our rebels to hunt them all down and kill them…’

This was an unknown fact.

Without Kwak Min-cheol’s memories, he would have passed by without knowing.

‘Christopher has the lowest status after Melissa in Westland. So that’s why he participated in this spy operation?’

Not only Wings of Hope but Revolution was also in danger.

‘Could it be that the S-rank hunter said to be in the organization was referring to this guy?’

Choi Seong-min fell into thought, recalling the information he had briefly heard from Heo Yoon-ji.

Should he tell Do Eun-jeong about this fact?

‘No, even if I told her, she wouldn’t believe it. It would be better to directly enter Revolution and catch that guy.’

To catch Christopher, it seemed better to join Revolution.

‘I thought we’d never meet again, but we’re getting entangled like this.’

He’d have to contact Do Eun-jeong soon.

‘First, let me deal with Kwak Min-cheol.’

He opened his eyes and emerged from the sea of memories.

There was nothing more to gain from Kwak Min-cheol’s memories.

“Ugh…”

Due to the aftereffects of the memories, Kwak Min-cheol was in a dazed state.

Completely defenseless.

‘If I stab a dagger into his throat like this, he’ll die.’

Too easy.

An S-rank hunter with 1.8 million combat power was this powerless.

Stab-

[You have killed Hunter Kwak Min-cheol.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Demon’s Contract’.]

[You have stolen 34 pieces of equipment.]

[You have stolen 51 Magic Stones.]

[You have stolen 1 consumable item.]

[Synchronization rate 19.5%]

[You have replicated the appearance of the killed target.]

He killed him simply by stabbing his throat.

Since he was unarmed, he could kill him easily.

‘If he had been wearing legendary items, it wouldn’t have been a one-shot kill like with Kogo.’

Did that guy also have legendary items?

Curious, he checked the items that had entered his inventory.

‘As expected. That guy also had a legendary helmet.’

There were many expensive items, befitting someone who didn’t obtain the position of Great Hero for nothing.

Everything visible was S-rank items.

‘Looks like he kept all the valuable stuff stored in his inventory.’

Well, keeping them in inventory would be much safer than making a separate armory.

‘Hmm?’

While looking through the looted items, there was one item that caught his eye.

It was a Potion of Life.

‘As expected, he had it just like I saw in his memories.’

Under the pretext of protecting each other, each Great Hero had one.

‘But Kogo didn’t have a potion.’

Song Chi-hyeon had one, but Kogo either already used his or didn’t make one, as there was no potion.

‘Wait, then I have two potions?’

Suddenly Choi Seong-min’s brain spun rapidly.

A brilliant idea flashed to mind.

‘What if I revive Kwak Min-cheol with the potion right here?’

And after erasing his memories, imprison him somewhere?

Making him into a living corpse, keeping him alive just enough?

‘I could impersonate Kwak Min-cheol forever.’

If Kwak Min-cheol dies, he can only use that power for one month.

Because his death would be revealed to the world during next month’s combat power update.

But if he revives him and keeps him around?

‘Kwak Min-cheol’s name won’t be erased from the rankings. Even if he died and came back to life, he’s still alive anyway.’

As long as Kwak Min-cheol’s name is in the rankings, no one will know.

That Kwak Min-cheol died once.

That Choi Seong-min is wearing Kwak Min-cheol’s mask.

‘Since I killed Kwak Min-cheol, I can transform into his appearance.’

He even obtained that guy’s trait.

If he gets everything he can get and revives Kwak Min-cheol to imprison him somewhere?

He could impersonate him forever.

‘When there was only one Potion of Life, I was reluctant to use it carelessly, but with two there’s no burden.’

When there was only one potion, it was too precious to think of this method.

Choi Seong-min, having made his decision, took out the Potion of Life.

‘Use.’

[Please bring it close to the target’s mouth.]

When he brought it close to Kwak Min-cheol’s mouth, the contents flowed in.

Soon his torn throat healed, and after some time passed.

“Hueok!”

Kwak Min-cheol returned from hell.

“Huk, huk… Wh-where is this? Could it be hell?”

“You do have some conscience. I can tell since you didn’t think it was heaven.”

At the familiar voice, Kwak Min-cheol’s gaze went up.

“Ch-Choi Seong-min…!”

As soon as he made eye contact with the one who killed him, Kwak Min-cheol trembled and wet himself.

“Geez…”

“…”

After that, Kwak Min-cheol couldn’t even make eye contact with Choi Seong-min.

Perhaps remembering his life, he was completely consumed by fear.

He didn’t even have the courage to beg for his life.

“Kwak Min-cheol.”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“Y-yes? Yes…”

It felt strange for the ruler of Eastland to speak respectfully to him.

“I’m asking because I’m curious.”

“An-anything, please ask.”

“Could you open your status window and check if you have any traits? Also open your inventory once.”

This was something he had been curious about.

Whether a guy who was revived after having his traits absorbed by Hunter Slayer would still have traits remaining.

‘If they remain, I could kill him again to duplicate traits.’

Since he confirmed through Superior Stealth that traits could be duplicated, they just needed to remain.

But contrary to such expectations, Kwak Min-cheol showed a surprised expression while looking at his status window.

“Tr-traits… are gone?”

It wasn’t just traits that had disappeared.

“M-my items…? Where did they all go?”

Kwak Min-cheol was devastated seeing his completely empty inventory.

‘As expected, since it’s stealing, they don’t remain?’

Looking at the message when killing, it said “stolen.”

Since it was stealing rather than copying, he couldn’t obtain them again by killing the same guy twice.

‘Too bad. If he had traits, I would have killed him again and revived him with the potion.’

Kwak Min-cheol didn’t know.

That he almost died two or three times.

At Choi Seong-min’s meaningful gaze, Kwak Min-cheol flinched and trembled.

If he had at least worn legendary items, there might have been some possibility of resistance.

But now it was a hopeless situation with no items or traits.

All Kwak Min-cheol could do was beg for his life.

“Pl-please spare me… Mr. Choi Seong-min. I’ll give you anything you want.”

“…”

“Do you want the association president position? I’ll gladly step down. If you just spare my life, I’ll hide away quietly in some mountain. So please…”

“You’re just asking me to let you live?”

At the hopeful words, Kwak Min-cheol’s eyes sparkled.

“Y-yes! Please just let me live!”

“Good. I was planning to leave just your life anyway. If you die, I can’t impersonate the association president.”

“Thank you. Thank y… huk!”

Choi Seong-min’s killing intent was directed entirely at Kwak Min-cheol.

Fundamental fear arose and his body trembled violently.

“I won’t kill you. I’ll spare you as promised. But…”

Thud-

Choi Seong-min, who had suppressed his movement with fear, placed his hand on Kwak Min-cheol’s head.

“I wonder if you could still say thank you knowing what I’m about to do?”

“Uh, uhhh…”

Choi Seong-min completely erased all of the mentally broken Kwak Min-cheol’s memories.

Not only his entire life but also language-related memories.

What he left behind was only the minimum memory needed to eat and take care of himself.

“You must not die.”

Kwak Min-cheol had truly become a living corpse.