Chapter 367 – Part 2 – Cleanup

He had killed a Great Hero.

The second Great Hero after Song Chi-hyeon.

And far too easily at that.

‘I could have subdued him without killing him.’

He could have subdued Kogo and peeked at his memories.

Through those memories, he might have found some useful information.

‘But I killed him.’

The reason was simple.

‘There was no time.’

It was a situation where new customers could come into the store.

He had to quickly end the fight before more witnesses appeared.

‘No matter how strong I am, subduing someone without injury isn’t easy…’

Originally, subduing is harder than killing.

So he decided to just kill him.

‘2 minutes? Did we fight for about that long?’

Though the surroundings had become a mess, they hadn’t actually fought for very long.

‘First, I need to clean up.’

Choi Seong-min turned his gaze away from Kogo and walked toward the counter.

A total of four customers and staff were sitting there trembling like aspen leaves.

They had been affected by the area fear effect of the Intimidation trait he had cast.

‘The effect is certainly solid.’

He didn’t know how long it would last, but they would probably keep trembling like this for a while.

‘I’ll clean up in the meantime.’

He locked the store door to prevent other customers from entering.

He stuffed Kogo’s corpse into the carrier he had prepared beforehand.

He brought a mop from the cafe kitchen and wiped away the bloodstains.

‘To commit murder in a cafe. And in front of people watching like this.’

It was absurd, but there was no choice.

If he was going to kill him, now was the right time.

After wiping away the bloodstains like that, the cleanup was finished in 5 minutes.

‘Now I need to deal with those people.’

Choi Seong-min’s gaze reached the customers and staff.

‘I can’t leave witnesses.’

Choi Seong-min approached the trembling witnesses and placed his hand on their heads.

He intended to erase their memories.

‘If it were Kogo, he would have killed them without mercy.’

He wasn’t such a merciless murderer.

Of course, it was true that he was merciless toward trash.

He placed his hand on each person one by one and erased their memories.

He deleted all memories from the moment he and Kogo entered.

So that no trace of the two of them would remain in their minds.

‘This way, they won’t remember the battle took place, let alone our existence.’

Even if someone questioned them, there would be nothing to find out.

Having erased all four people’s memories like that, Choi Seong-min dragged the carrier.

If he left before their dazed state wore off, he could disappear without a trace.

‘Though the scene is a mess, without corpses or bloodstains, they won’t think anyone died.’

Moreover, there were no CCTVs in the store, so if he disappeared like this, there would be no way to catch his tail.

He hadn’t left any witnesses either.

Choi Seong-min, who had taken the carrier, used stealth and disappeared.

At the same time.

“Huh?”

“What was I doing here?”

“Ahhh…”

The people woke up.

“Huh? Why is it like that over there?”

“The store became a mess.”

“What happened?”

“I can’t remember.”

None of them remembered what had happened.

* * *

Choi Seong-min, who had returned to Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion, called together the cooks and servants.

“You’re all fired from today. Pack your things and each go your own way.”

“Ah…”

No one was happy about the sudden dismissal notice.

No one asked for reasons either.

What could slaves dare to argue with a Great Hero about?

While some people were disappointed, others were happy.

For slaves, freedom was more valuable than money.

“Hmm.”

Watching them pack their things and leave the mansion, Choi Seong-min thought.

‘I can’t leave just them in a house without an owner.’

Choi Seong-min intended to abandon the mansion.

Since he could no longer act as Song Chi-hyeon.

‘Song Chi-hyeon is dead. Killed by Kogo.’

Of course, next month Kogo’s death would be revealed through the rankings.

Song Chi-hyeon’s death as well.

‘What would Kwak Min-cheol think seeing that two Great Heroes died?’

He probably wouldn’t think they died fighting each other, would he?

‘For that to happen, I must refrain from appearing as Song Chi-hyeon from today.’

He must also refrain from transforming into Kogo’s appearance.

If he didn’t want his transformation ability to be discovered.

‘I need to make them think the two died together.’

From now on, he had to maintain only Choi Seong-min’s appearance.

This was why he had dismissed the people from the mansion.

He had to organize the mansion’s belongings and end Song Chi-hyeon’s life.

‘Before that, let me check what I obtained.’

He examined the items he had gained from killing Kogo.

Compared to Song Chi-hyeon, there were fewer items, but the quality was different.

Each one was S-rank equipment.

Among them, what caught Choi Seong-min’s eye was a necklace.

[Angel’s Protection]

-Classification: Necklace

-Grade: S

-Effect: All stats +100, blocks one death blow (cooldown 120 hours)

-Durability: 21,213/28,000

-Usage Restriction: S-rank or higher (bound)

-Description: A necklace imbued with an angel’s protection. The angel protects the wearer from death.

‘Since he was wearing something like this, surprise attacks didn’t work.’

Since it blocked death blows, it was no different from having one extra life.

‘The cooldown is long, but it’s not bad in that it blocks 100%.’

The options were also decent, so it would be good to wear when he became S-rank later.

[Legendary Helmet]

-Classification: Helmet

-Grade: S

-Defense: 18,000

-Effect: All stats +100, reduces death blow damage by 90%

-Durability: Infinite

-Usage Restriction: S-rank or higher

-Description: One of the few legendary armaments in the world. Displays true power when combined with a Core of Magic Power.

‘Since he had both this and the legendary helmet…’

This was why Kogo could protect his life twice.

‘There’s no reason not to wear this either.’

Since he had one Core of Magic Power, he could combine them.

Or he could draw legendary armor with the exchange ticket and combine that.

‘These two are the only useful S-rank items.’

Actually, what he had expected from Kogo wasn’t items like these.

What he really needed was the guy’s trait.

[Trait – Dual Wielding]

-Grade: S

-Description: When wielding weapons like swords, blades, and daggers in both hands, allows you to handle them like an expert. Attack speed doesn’t decrease even when wielding weapons in both hands, and attacks don’t interfere with each other. Additionally, skill damage is improved by 25%.

The penalty of dual wielding is that attack speed is cut in half.

But with the Dual Wielding trait, there’s no such penalty.

‘You can maintain original speed even when wielding weapons in both hands.’

Maintaining original speed plus wielding one more weapon?

That means attack speed effectively doubled.

It’s like doing a double hit by using both hands when you would hit once.

‘Moreover, you can use attacks without them interfering with each other.’

Being difficult to handle is dual wielding’s biggest disadvantage.

But with just one trait, you can become a master proficient in dual wielding.

Multitasking – being able to execute commands with left and right hands separately.

‘The opponent would probably feel like they’re fighting 2 against 1.’

That’s why dual wielding shows advantageous aspects in one-against-many battles.

Of course, when mastered like Kogo.

Half-hearted dual wielding was usually treated as trash.

‘Skill damage also increases by 25%. There was a reason Kogo used skills confidently.’

Choi Seong-min, who had been recalling the battle with Kogo for a moment, chuckled.

‘He was certainly strong. But he couldn’t keep up with my agility.’

No matter how strong the Dual Wielding trait was, it couldn’t surpass the wall of 20,000 agility.

‘What’s the use of being strong if you dodge and deflect everything?’

No matter how strong you are, it’s useless if you can’t hit.

Of course, he dodged well partly thanks to the mind-reading trait.

‘I understand why Song Chi-hyeon’s trait is good in person-to-person combat.’

Since he could read exactly where and how attacks would come, it was easy to respond.

‘Anyway, it’s an incredibly good trait to have. Since I’ll be wielding two weapons, I can receive stat options doubled too.’

He was already strong, but thinking he’d become even stronger made him smile.

‘Anyway, I’ll take what I need and leave Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion.’

There was much to take from Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion.

First, the armory.

Beep- Click- Creak-

This armory, which had granted Choi Seong-min access, was full of A-rank and B-rank items.

‘These would be money if sold, so there’s no reason not to take them.’

Though there might not be anything usable, he could probably get hundreds of billions if he sold them.

Choi Seong-min, who had stuffed all the items into his inventory, looked around the armory.

Unlike when he entered, it was empty, reminiscent of a bankrupt building.

‘Next place to go is Song Chi-hyeon’s room.’

Song Chi-hyeon’s room had a personal safe.

Of course, it couldn’t be found on the surface.

‘It’s hidden behind a picture frame.’

When he lifted the frame, a small safe was visible.

He didn’t discover the safe’s location by chance while searching the room.

‘I knew about it before the possession.’

Therefore, he also knew what was inside.

He also knew how to open it.

‘I memorized the safe’s password for this moment.’

From the beginning, killing Song Chi-hyeon and breaking into the safe was included in the plan.

Click click click- Clank-

When he entered the correct password, the safe door opened.

There wasn’t much inside.

Just one USB drive.

He knew what was on the USB from watching from above.

Song Chi-hyeon would occasionally check the contents.

‘Let me check if it’s properly there.’

He connected the USB to the laptop in the room.

There was one video file inside.

When he played it, all sorts of screams could be heard.

-Ahhhhh!

-Please save me!

-Please save me, Great Hero. Save me… Urgh!

The video showed people dying scenes in their entirety.

-Useless pig bastards.

The protagonist of the video was Kwak Min-cheol.

He was killing his subordinate hunters.

Song Chi-hyeon seemed to have secretly installed a hidden camera to film this.

‘He managed to have something like this.’

Song Chi-hyeon had means to oppose Kwak Min-cheol.

A hidden card, so to speak.

‘If this spread on the internet, Kwak Min-cheol would be finished.’

Despite having this weakness, Song Chi-hyeon had never revealed this fact until now.

‘He probably planned to build up his own forces and create means to oppose him before releasing it.’

If the video spread and Kwak Min-cheol earned public outrage, Song Chi-hyeon would also gain justification.

Justification to punish Kwak Min-cheol through a coup.

‘If he recklessly started a coup, only Song Chi-hyeon himself would become the bad guy.’

He had his own plans, but Song Chi-hyeon ultimately died by Choi Seong-min’s hand.

Kogo, Eastland’s number 2, also died.

Now the only Great Hero remaining in the association was Kwak Min-cheol.

‘Kwak Min-cheol, I’ll send you to join your colleagues soon too.’

Choi Seong-min, who had removed the USB, carefully put it in his pocket.

Depending on how it was used, it was an important means to threaten Kwak Min-cheol.

Buzz-!

Then an alarm sounded from the butler’s phone.

It had become midnight.

‘Time to report to Kwak Min-cheol.’

In the empty mansion, Choi Seong-min transformed his appearance without worrying about being seen.

After perfectly transforming into the butler, he called Kwak Min-cheol.

As if he had been waiting, the call was answered immediately.

“Good evening, Great Hero.”

-Yeah. Butler. Nothing happened today either?

“Well… there is something today.”

-Report it.

“Great Hero Song Chi-hyeon went out in the evening and hasn’t returned.”

After a brief silence, Kwak Min-cheol spoke.

-Is that so…?

An awkward voice.

Awkward enough that anyone could notice something strange.

He was reacting like that because he thought Song Chi-hyeon was dead.

‘He doesn’t seem to have talent for acting.’

Choi Seong-min deliberately asked mischievously.

“Do you perhaps know where Great Hero Song Chi-hyeon went?”

-What? How would I know that? Don’t ask presumptuous questions. You’re just a slave.

“I’m sorry.”

When hit right on target, he panicked and tried to hide his embarrassment with sudden anger.

-Report immediately when Song Chi-hyeon returns.

“Yes, understood.”

When the call ended, Choi Seong-min smiled.

‘With this, Kwak Min-cheol will think Kogo took care of Song Chi-hyeon.’

Soon Kogo’s phone rang.

It was Kwak Min-cheol’s call.

Choi Seong-min deliberately didn’t answer.

Kogo also had to be treated as dead.

‘Kogo died fighting Song Chi-hyeon.’

Choi Seong-min, who grinned, abandoned the mansion and returned home.

Song Chi-hyeon, Oh Gwang-taek, the butler, etc.

He had managed to play three roles until now, but…

‘Not from now on.’

For the time being, he intended to be faithful only to Choi Seong-min’s role.