Chapter 358 – Part 2 – The Butler’s Past

Choi Seong-min knew from the beginning that the butler was afraid of him.

‘Well, of course he’d be scared. In his eyes, I must look like a cold-blooded killer who doesn’t hesitate to kill even his own subordinates.’

How long could he endure under such a master?

No matter how much he threatened him, wouldn’t he eventually try to run away?

Having always had such thoughts, Choi Seong-min had been watching the butler day by day.

Pretending to enter the mansion, then using stealth to come back out and monitor him was basic.

He had also secretly watched him make midnight reports to Kwak Min-cheol.

If he betrayed him, he would have to cut his throat immediately.

‘He’s still holding up well for now.’

But recently, he could tell that the butler’s psychological state had become unstable.

When Song Chi-hyeon wasn’t around, he didn’t hide his emotions.

‘He might flee soon.’

Sensing that today was that day, Choi Seong-min returned from the hidden dungeon and pretended to sleep as usual, turning off the lights.

Then the butler, taking the bait, hurriedly prepared to leave.

Not knowing that he had secretly slipped out using stealth.

“Butler.”

“Y-yes!?”

“Where are you going at this dawn with a bag packed?”

“Ah, well, I urgently need to buy ingredients…”

“Ingredients… Don’t you have a more plausible excuse?”

“……”

In a situation where a mouse faces a tiger, there’s only one thing to do.

Thud-

The butler immediately fell to his knees and rubbed his hands together.

“I’m sorry…! I’m sorry, Great Hero. Please have mercy…”

“Didn’t I show mercy last time? I’m not running a charity – how much mercy do I need to show?”

“Just one last time…! Please give me one more chance. I absolutely won’t think of running away again!”

“You want me to believe the words of a traitor?”

Choi Seong-min activated his Intimidation trait.

“Huk…!”

With his breath choked by the overwhelming pressure, the butler trembled while collapsed on the ground.

Choi Seong-min approached slowly with predatory eyes.

“I clearly told you before, didn’t I? What happens on the day you think of running away?”

“Ah, ahh…”

Click-

Choi Seong-min’s hand touched the butler’s head.

“I said you’d die, didn’t I?”

“Ahh…”

Tears flowed from the butler’s eyes.

Already paralyzed with fear, he had no thought of escape.

‘The effect is certainly solid.’

It was his first time using the Intimidation trait, but he liked it.

‘Just to be sure, I should read his memories before killing him.’

This was why he had placed his hand on the butler’s head.

To check if there was any useful information in his memories.

Chaaaaaaaaaaaa-

Images appeared before his closed eyes.

Having read Kogo’s memories once before, he manipulated the images with familiarity.

‘Recent memories are fine, let’s start from the past.’

He examined past images to learn about the relationship with Kwak Min-cheol.

Naked people stood in a line.

‘Slaves.’

Below the commoner class, there were slaves.

‘Commoners at least get treated as people, but slaves don’t.’

The biggest difference between commoners and slaves was freedom.

Even with poor treatment, commoners could earn money and do what they wanted.

But slaves couldn’t.

Slaves had to obey only their master’s words, and the income earned from their labor went straight into their master’s pocket.

‘In other words, they’re treated no differently than animals.’

In the images, he could see the butler whipping among the naked slaves.

‘He was a slave overseer in the past.’

A slave overseer was a type of supervisor slave who led and took responsibility for other slaves.

‘Usually experienced veteran slaves are chosen as overseers, but…’

A slave overseer was still a slave in the end.

Before higher status, they had to grovel like other slaves.

‘But at least their bodies are comfortable. They don’t have to work.’

Unlike other slaves who worked themselves to the bone, slave overseers just had to walk around whipping.

You might think it’s too much for slaves to treat each other this way, but overseers had no choice.

When ordered from above, what could they do?

‘That’s what he said, but…’

The butler was clearly enjoying it.

He was secretly satisfied with his position where he only had to swing a whip without working.

He even mistook his position for power and sexually assaulted fellow slaves.

He even beat a male slave to death in anger for defying him.

Whether intentional or not, he felt remorse after killing him.

‘Regardless of intention, he was a murderer and rapist.’

Thus, the butler tormented fellow slaves for years while riding on power.

He was quick-witted and good at pleasing his superiors.

Naturally, he was favored, and with recommendations from above, he entered under Kwak Min-cheol.

‘Becoming a direct slave of a Great Hero. He must have thought he’d hit the jackpot.’

Sure enough.

The butler in the memories was extremely delighted, as if he had joined a major corporation.

Not knowing he had jumped into a pit of fire.

‘He shouldn’t have gone under Kwak Min-cheol.’

At that time, Kwak Min-cheol was running a human trafficking business with Yang Baek-du.

‘They needed someone to manage the kidnapped people, and the butler filled that position.’

This was when it started.

The butler began participating in earnest in Kwak Min-cheol’s crimes.

‘Looking at the subsequent memories… it’s truly a spectacle.’

Kidnapping passing commoners to sell them to slave camps for huge profits.

Harvesting and selling organs, or using female slaves for prostitution.

To make money, those bastards didn’t discriminate in their means and methods.

‘They didn’t only kidnap ordinary people. They kidnapped hunters too.’

It wasn’t intentional.

Sometimes they kidnapped people thinking they were ordinary citizens who turned out to be hunters.

It was impossible to distinguish between ordinary people and hunters just by looking.

So sometimes they tried to kidnap someone only to be overpowered instead.

The gap between hunters and ordinary people was obvious.

‘They had their share of troubles.’

The solution was simple.

When kidnapping, they brought hunters along to prepare for unexpected situations.

‘Instead of consisting only of ordinary people as before, they included about two hunters of D-rank or higher.’

Looking at the memories, occasionally B-rank hunters that Kwak Min-cheol had marked would participate in crimes.

‘There are so many crazy bastards.’

The butler, the hunters – they’re all bastards who need to die.

‘I was already thinking of interfering with Kwak Min-cheol’s business, so I should step in now.’

Choi Seong-min knew that Kwak Min-cheol had B-rank and higher hunters as subordinates.

And he knew from looking down from above what they were doing with those hunters.

‘They were doing despicable things.’

He couldn’t let them continue such acts, so he planned to kill him and ruin his business… Of course, wanting to ruin Kwak Min-cheol’s business was also because he coveted his traits.

As mentioned, there were unexpectedly many hunters participating in human trafficking.

‘I need to move up the schedule.’

First ruin the human trafficking business, then kill Kwak Min-cheol.

Of course, he’d have to kill Kogo first.

Choi Seong-min rummaged through the memories and found information.

Human trafficking methods, locations, times, contacts, connections, safe houses, etc.

After learning all the information he needed to know, he removed his hand from the head.

He didn’t delete the memories.

Looking down, the butler was still trembling.

Though it seemed like quite some time had passed, less than a second had elapsed since he placed his hand on the head.

“Butler.”

“Y-yes!”

“You really were trash.”

The butler, bewildered by the sudden insult, hurriedly bowed his head.

“Yes! I am trash. I’m trash who dared to betray the Great Hero and try to run away! But there will never be such a thing again. From now on, I will be reborn for the Great Hero, so please spare me!”

The butler’s ability to read the situation and grovel was highly commendable.

However.

“This is how you survived in that cesspool all this time.”

“Pardon?”

Choi Seong-min’s dagger showed no mercy.

Slash-!

Thud.

After instantly beheading the butler, Choi Seong-min returned to his original form and quietly muttered.

“It’s already too late for recycling.”

He had thought of keeping him alive if possible since it would be troublesome if Kwak Min-cheol found out.

‘I can’t let loose someone who might betray me again.’

Worried he might trip him up again, he killed him.

‘It’s fine. I’ll transform into the butler and report to Kwak Min-cheol as usual – there shouldn’t be any risk of being caught. It would be troublesome if he suddenly visits the mansion like last time, but…’

Choi Seong-min, Song Chi-hyeon, Oh Gwang-taek, and now the butler too.

The roles he had to play kept increasing.

‘While I’m at it, I should strike right away.’

Though it was past midnight, this was precisely when the human trafficking gang was active in earnest.

It was also the perfect time to kill them.

‘First, let me clean up the corpse.’

After briefly hiding the butler’s body in the bushes, Choi Seong-min brought a shovel from the warehouse.

After burying the corpse in front of the yard, he transformed his appearance.

Shortly after, the wrinkled face of the butler replaced where the black mask had been.

* * *

“Huk, huk, huk!”

A man wearing only underwear ran with all his might.

As if being chased by someone, he occasionally checked behind him.

Thud-!

Suddenly he tripped over a tree root and fell.

“Argh…”

His ankle seemed sprained and hurt, but he didn’t have time for this.

‘I need to run away right now…’

But the man couldn’t continue his thoughts.

Whoosh-!

“Nice!”

Because an ice spear that suddenly flew shattered his head.

“Did you see that? My aim?”

“Truly amazing, Mage!”

A satisfied smile appeared on B-rank mage Jin Hak-do’s lips, but only briefly.

“So why did you manage the goods so carelessly to cause this mess?”

He clicked his tongue and began scolding the overseer who had followed him.

“What would have happened if it wasn’t for me? We almost lost him.”

“Oh, exactly! If it weren’t for you, Mage, I would have been beaten to death by the higher-ups. You are my life’s savior!”

“Hmm? Does it work that way?”

Jin Hak-do, who hadn’t expected to be called a life savior, brushed his nose.

“Anyway, you should repay the favor of helping you, right?”

“Of course!”

“What will you repay me with?”

“There are plenty of goods for prostitution in the inner house. Pick whatever you like and have some fun.”

“That’s a given! Isn’t there something more you can do?”

Jin Hak-do made a coin shape with his thumb and index finger and shook it.

Meaning he wanted something profitable.

“O-of course there is. There’s a hunter we kidnapped the day before yesterday who’s incredibly stubborn. If you interrogate him, Mage, we should be able to extract some items.”

“Records?”

“Naturally, we’ll make it seem like he never existed from the beginning. Even if you take the items, there won’t be any harm to you, Mage.”

“Hehe, good. Now we’re talking.”

As Jin Hak-do’s expression brightened, the overseer could finally breathe.

‘Fucking money-crazed psychopath bastard.’

“Overseer.”

“Y-yes?”

“You cursed me in your mind, didn’t you?”

“N-no. How could I?”

“Anyway, when we get back to the villa, guide me to that hunter first. I’ll strip him to the bone.”

“Of course.”

That’s when it happened.

The overseer’s phone rang.

“Yes, I answered… Huh? Senior?”

Jin Hak-do quietly watched the overseer on the phone.

“What’s the matter? Yes, yes. Oh, is that so? Hmm… I understand. I’ll tell the guys working nearby. To come pick you up. Yes. See you later.”

After hanging up, Jin Hak-do asked curiously.

“Who was it?”

“Ah, Hwang Seok-gyu, a senior who used to be an overseer. He’s coming this way.”

“At this hour? For what?”

“He said there’s something he forgot to hand over during the previous transition and he’s coming to tell us.”

“If it’s something like that, couldn’t he just call?”

“He said it’s difficult to explain over the phone and he needs to explain in person…”

“Hmm…”

Jin Hak-do scratched his chin with a reluctant expression.

“Is that person trustworthy?”

“Of course. He’s a veteran in this industry. He worked under Great Hero Kwak Min-cheol for a long time too.”

“Ah, really? Then he’s trustworthy.”

Jin Hak-do smiled as if his unnecessary worry was over and gestured with his chin.

“Let’s go. You need to guide me to that stubborn hunter.”

“Before that, we need to clean up the corpse…”

“Leave it. The beasts will take care of it.”

Jin Hak-do walked away first after saying so.

The overseer looked at the corpse for a moment.

‘Well, it should be fine to leave it like that. There’s no way outsiders would come to a place surrounded by forest like this.’

The overseer soon shook off his worries and followed Jin Hak-do, but he didn’t know.

That Hwang Seok-gyu, whom he had just talked to on the phone, was precisely the outsider who shouldn’t have been called in.