Join our discord to get notified about new chapters.
Chapter 397 – Part 2 – The Spy Within
by Heavenly CatAt Ryu Jong-ik’s words, the members looked around in all directions.
But they couldn’t find any trace of Choi Seong-min anywhere.
‘Huh? Where did he really go?’
Do Eun-jeong also didn’t know where Choi Seong-min had gone because she had been too busy participating in the battle.
Moreover, with even her benefactor, the black mask, appearing, she had no time to pay attention to anything else.
“Really no one? No one knows where Hunter Choi Seong-min went?”
“I’m sorry, Leader. I should have paid attention to personnel management, but I was too distracted…”
When Kang Min-chan apologized, Ryu Jong-ik shook his head.
“There’s no need for you to apologize, Captain. I’m not reproaching the members. I just want to know Hunter Choi Seong-min’s whereabouts.”
“Everyone was too focused on the battle to notice Hunter Choi Seong-min. And if he decides to disappear, there’s no way to find him anyway.”
If Choi Seong-min with 10 million combat power used stealth?
Even S-rank Ryu Jong-ik couldn’t detect him.
Especially in such a chaotic battle.
“Where on earth could he have gone…”
“Could he have run away? Because he didn’t like the organization?”
“So suddenly?”
Then the second-in-command Nam Il-woo cautiously offered his opinion.
“Could Hunter Choi Seong-min be the spy who leaked the information?”
“A, a spy?”
Unrest arose among the members.
The fact that there was a spy inside was clear from this incident.
So they couldn’t help but be sensitive to the word “spy.”
“Su-surely not… that can’t be.”
“But if we’re talking about outsiders who joined recently, there’s only Hunter Choi Seong-min…”
It would naturally be more rational to suspect the outsider Choi Seong-min rather than family members who had lived together for a long time.
Seeds of suspicion were planted in the members’ minds one by one.
“What are you saying right now? Seong-min is not a spy!”
Do Eun-jeong, who couldn’t bear to listen anymore, strongly objected, but Nam Il-woo didn’t back down from his claim.
“Then are you saying there’s a spy on our side? Are you suspecting the family we’ve shared meals with?”
“We trusted Park Hui-jun too, but he did such things!”
“That guy didn’t betray the organization, he simply engaged in illegal prostitution!”
“Breaking the organization’s rules is the same as betrayal!”
“Is that the same as this? He leaked information to the outside and put the entire organization in danger!”
“Stop, stop fighting.”
Finally, Ryu Jong-ik intervened and the two closed their mouths.
“In my view, accusing Hunter Choi Seong-min of being a spy seems like a hasty judgment. What would someone with 10 million combat power gain from being a spy? He could just suppress everything with force.”
“That’s right. My thinking was shallow.”
Nam Il-woo quickly backed down at the reasonable words.
But that didn’t mean the suspicion that had been spread once disappeared.
“However, the fact that Hunter Choi Seong-min broke away from formation is a bit suspicious… but that’s something we can ask the person directly…”
The problem was that they needed to find the person in question.
“Let’s start by checking our personnel.”
“Understood.”
Kang Min-chan, who answered, began counting heads.
“Two people are missing from the total of 30.”
“One would be Hunter Choi Seong-min… who’s the other one?”
“Park Hui-jun, Park Hui-jun is not visible!”
“That perverted bastard finally took advantage of the chaos to escape!”
Ryu Jong-ik, who learned of Park Hui-jun’s absence, instructed the members.
“Everyone look for Hunter Park Hui-jun.”
The members set out to find Park Hui-jun with fire in their eyes.
They thought he would be difficult to find since he had probably run far away already.
“Come over here!”
But Park Hui-jun was closer than expected.
As a corpse with his chest pierced through.
“Park Hui-jun is… dead.”
“…”
“How did he die?”
“Well… A B-rank like him couldn’t have been defeated by F-rank hunters…”
“Didn’t the black mask kill him?”
“That’s possible.”
The black mask had selectively massacred only criminals.
Park Hui-jun might have become a target since he had committed criminal acts.
“But where did Hunter Choi Seong-min go…”
“Let’s look for Hunter Choi Seong-min too…”
Ryu Jong-ik suddenly closed his mouth.
There was no need to look since Choi Seong-min appeared on his own.
“Hunter Choi Seong-min! Where on earth were you? We were so worried when you disappeared.”
“You were worried about me?”
“O-of course. I know you’re not someone who would get hurt easily, but you never know what can happen.”
Choi Seong-min chuckled.
‘They weren’t worried about me getting hurt, but about me betraying them.’
Of course, Choi Seong-min had no intention of betraying Revolution at all.
Though he did intend to use them.
“I broke formation while tracking the fleeing enemies. I’m sorry.”
“Not at all. It’s enough that you’ve returned like this.”
Ryu Jong-ik was relieved.
That Choi Seong-min hadn’t run away.
That he hadn’t betrayed them.
He simply thought he was late because he was tracking enemies, but Choi Seong-min’s words weren’t finished yet.
“The reason I’m late is because I found this in the director’s office.”
Choi Seong-min took out a USB from his pocket and offered it.
Ryu Jong-ik made a puzzled expression.
“What is this?”
“Something that was in the director’s office personal safe. I briefly checked the contents and there’s something incredible inside.”
“Something incredible? Can we look at it here?”
When Choi Seong-min nodded, Ryu Jong-ik took out the tablet he carried around.
He immediately inserted the USB and found a video file.
The video he played was truly shocking.
It was footage of Kwak Min-cheol brutally massacring his subordinates.
“Th-this is…!”
“That’s Kwak Min-cheol, right?”
“A Great Hero is murdering people…!”
Despite their pleas for mercy, Kwak Min-cheol cruelly killed his own subordinates.
It was to absorb stats, but to others’ eyes, it looked like senseless slaughter.
“Ch-Choi Seong-min Hunter. You found this incredible thing in the director’s office?”
“Yes. It seems the training facility director was keeping such videos as a means to oppose Kwak Min-cheol.”
“Hehe, such a thing…”
Who would have thought the training facility director had such an incredible item?
“What about the director?”
“I don’t know. He wasn’t in the director’s office, so I don’t know where he went.”
“Ah… He must have stepped away for other business.”
“That might be it.”
Choi Seong-min spoke shamelessly.
Actually, he hadn’t even visited the director’s office.
“When a coup succeeds in the future and the regime changes, having that video will help capture public sentiment.”
“That’s… right.”
Ryu Jong-ik was dazed.
An incredible item he hadn’t expected had fallen into his hands.
‘This is all thanks to Hunter Choi Seong-min.’
Thanks to him ransacking the director’s office early, they discovered the video.
If they had been late, the director might have fled with the video.
“Hunter Choi Seong-min. Thank you so much. Thanks to you, we now have justification.”
“Thank you, Hunter.”
Not only Ryu Jong-ik but other members also expressed gratitude to Choi Seong-min.
At the same time, they felt sorry.
Because they had suspected him of being a spy just moments before.
Nam Il-woo, who had been first to suspect him of being a spy, also bowed his head in greeting.
But his actions and thoughts were different.
‘To think such a video existed… This is a huge incident. I need to quickly report this fact to Lord Christopher.’
Nam Il-woo, who had been treated with respect as the association’s second-in-command, was actually the real spy.
‘So that bastard was the spy.’
Choi Seong-min smiled inwardly.
He hadn’t given the video obtained from Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion to Ryu Jong-ik for any other reason.
It was to identify the spy within.
‘If the spy sees the video, they’ll surely try to report it to Christopher.’
His prediction was correct, and by reading thoughts, he discovered that Nam Il-woo was the spy.
‘To think someone who’s the second-in-command is playing the role of Christopher’s rat.’
He probably wasn’t a spy from the beginning, like Park Hui-jun.
‘He must have received an irresistible offer. Or maybe he decided to switch sides after learning he was a Great Hero.’
Whatever the reason, he had led Revolution into a death trap.
‘If I hadn’t stopped it, not only Ryu Jong-ik but most of the members would have died.’
If he hadn’t pretended to bring the video from the director’s office, he wouldn’t have known he was a spy either.
“I’ll keep the video and use it at the appropriate time.”
“Please do so.”
Choi Seong-min readily gave the video to Ryu Jong-ik.
‘I have the original video, so it doesn’t matter if I give it to him.’
What he gave Ryu Jong-ik was a copy.
Well, a copy doesn’t lose its effectiveness.
‘Ryu Jong-ik won’t use it carelessly.’
Although their ideologies differed in that he believed criminals could be reformed, he wasn’t fundamentally a bad person.
‘Ryu Jong-ik isn’t someone who would betray. He truly wants the country to change. And he wants Kwak Min-cheol to die.’
You could tell by reading his thoughts.
That his daughter Eun-bi had died because of Kwak Min-cheol.
That he created Revolution because of his desire for revenge against Kwak Min-cheol.
‘I don’t know the detailed circumstances, but Ryu Jong-ik’s desire for revenge is real.’
You can trust a man driven by revenge.
He won’t stop or waver until his revenge is complete.
As someone with experience, he could understand.
‘Now that I know the spy’s identity, I need to watch the situation.’
The bait was cast.
Now it was time to wait for the fish to bite.
‘If my prediction is correct, there will be contact soon.’
None other than contact from Christopher.
* * *
After finishing the business at the hunter training facility.
Choi Seong-min returned to Kwak Min-cheol’s mansion.
And as always, he washed away the smell of blood with a shower.
‘I killed dozens of people.’
He didn’t count how many he killed, so he doesn’t know.
He only knows it was over 90.
After washing cleanly, Choi Seong-min lay on the bed and examined his traits.
‘Not bad at all.’
The criminal hunters he killed were F-rank so they were insignificant, but their traits weren’t all F-rank.
‘Various ones from F-rank to B-rank came in.’
Of course, higher grades had come in too.
Though they didn’t come from killing the criminal hunters.
‘The A-rank came from killing Park Hui-jun, and the three S-rank traits came from killing Christopher’s subordinates.’
Out of curiosity, when he counted, a total of 96 traits had come in.
‘The synchronization rate has already risen to 41.6%.’
The synchronization rate that seemed so difficult to raise was already heading toward half.
‘I wonder what will happen when it reaches 100%.’
Since he’d raised it this far, he planned to kill more hunters to reach 100%.
‘I just need to kill 584 more.’
It seemed he’d need to hunt down criminal hunters to accumulate more synchronization rate.
‘It would be nice to have a mental domination trait at times like this.’
If he had mental domination, he could see karma values, making it easy to distinguish criminals.
Choi Seong-min, who had been carefully examining the 96 traits on the bed, opened his inventory.
As he had carried out a massacre, many items had come in, but most were useless F-rank things.
‘At least Christopher’s subordinates had S-rank equipment…’
Since they were inferior to his own equipment, there was nothing worth changing to.
‘That doesn’t mean there was no harvest.’
While there was no particular gain from items, he had become stronger than before due to the large influx of traits.
[According to Demon’s Contract, 3% of stats have been absorbed.]
[Strength increases by 210.]
[Agility increases by 100.]
[Stamina increases by 89.]
[Magic Power increases by 21.]
Stats also came in, albeit modestly.
Of course, they were stats stolen from Park Hui-jun and Christopher’s subordinates.
The F-rank criminals didn’t have stats worth absorbing.
‘I’ve collected nearly 300 traits and my items are impeccable too.’
Whether it’s strength or wealth, there’s nothing lacking.
Even the situation is flowing according to Choi Seong-min’s intentions.
Right now.
The situation where a call came to Kwak Min-cheol’s phone was exactly that.
“Hello?”
“Min-cheol? It’s me, Christopher.”
“Ah, Christopher? Long time no see. What’s the matter?”
“I brought some top-secret information. Do you have time? I’d like to meet right now…”
At the suggestion to meet, Choi Seong-min’s mouth stretched wide.
“Of course I have time. Should we meet at my mansion?”
0 Comments