Chapter 329 – Part 2 – VIP Assassination

At Song Chi-hyeon’s command, Choi Seong-min moved without hesitation.

He stabbed his dagger into the throat of the fallen Yang Baek-du.

Stab-

Although the opponent’s combat power was 550,000, killing him wasn’t difficult.

[You have killed Hunter Yang Baek-du.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘VIP Assassination.’]

[You have stolen 14 pieces of equipment.]

[You have stolen 7 Magic Stones.]

[Synchronization Rate 14.4%]

The message appeared, but he deliberately ignored it.

Song Chi-hyeon, who had been watching, smiled as if proud.

“With this, you’ve killed two people. And they were opponents with far superior combat power at that.”

“……”

“How does it feel? The sensation of killing the Association’s highest-ranking executive?”

Choi Seong-min spoke honestly.

“I don’t know. I just think I killed them well……”

At those words, Song Chi-hyeon smiled.

Their thoughts aligned.

“Of course, you killed them well! That old man Yang Baek-du was trash despite appearances. He was in charge of the human trafficking business, you know?”

“Human… trafficking?”

Choi Seong-min showed a surprised expression, but it was actually acting.

While investigating Kwak Min-cheol, he had known that Yang Baek-du was conducting business together with him.

That was also why he had killed him without hesitation.

Of course, Song Chi-hyeon only knew that he had killed purely based on orders.

“He deserved to die, so don’t feel any guilt.”

“I don’t feel guilty. Just opposing the Great Hero is reason enough to deserve death.”

“Hahaha! As expected. That’s an answer worthy of my direct subordinate.”

Song Chi-hyeon, who had been laughing pleasantly, approached Choi Seong-min.

“Anyway, well done. Bringing Yang Jo-young was an excellent choice. But…”

After a brief silence, Song Chi-hyeon asked.

“How did you think to bring Yang Jo-young?”

It was good that he did well, but he was curious.

What was the reason for suddenly bringing Yang Jo-young?

Choi Seong-min answered in a calm voice.

“Because the text didn’t come even after waiting.”

“Text?”

“Didn’t you say you’d send a text when the work was finished? You said to kill Yang Jo-young when the text came……”

“Ah.”

Song Chi-hyeon nodded as if remembering.

“That’s right.”

“But the text didn’t come even after waiting, so I thought there might be a problem.”

“So that’s why you brought him? Yang Jo-young?”

“Yes. I couldn’t kill him without the Great Hero’s orders. I judged it wouldn’t be too late to assess the situation directly and then kill him. If the Great Hero was in an unfavorable situation, I could also use Yang Jo-young as a hostage.”

“Ho, you had thought that far ahead?”

“Yes. I didn’t think the Great Hero would be in danger, but I couldn’t help but consider the one-in-a-million chance. I’m sorry for not independently judging to kill Yang Jo-young.”

“Haha, nothing to apologize for. In the end, your choice was correct.”

If Choi Seong-min had killed Yang Jo-young as instructed.

If he hadn’t come to the restaurant to buy time.

Song Chi-hyeon wouldn’t be laughing like this now.

“But how did you persuade Yang Jo-young to bring him?”

“Ah, that……”

Choi Seong-min, who had been hesitating, confessed honestly.

He said he had pretended to betray the Great Hero by informing him of the trap.

“To persuade Yang Jo-young, I had no choice but to pretend to betray and reveal information. I wasn’t really trying to betray you. Please believe me.”

“Of course I know that. Haven’t you shown your loyalty to me through your actions until now?”

Song Chi-hyeon didn’t doubt Choi Seong-min in the slightest.

However, there was something that needed to be confirmed.

“After revealing the information, didn’t Yang Jo-young seek help from the Association? Or make calls to someone……”

“I watched him the whole time, and he didn’t do anything like that. If he had tried to spread the information, I would have killed him on the spot without hesitation.”

“Then I’m relieved. I wanted to handle this as quietly as possible.”

Song Chi-hyeon intended to cover up the incident itself.

To ensure the world wouldn’t know about the death of Yang Baek-du’s family.

“Anyway, thank you, Choi Seong-min. Thanks to you, I saved my life.”

“Ah, not at all.”

Choi Seong-min touched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about. Rather, you should be proud. You saved none other than a Great Hero.”

“Haha…… I only did what I should do as a subordinate.”

“No, none of my subordinates have ever saved my life before. Meeting such a useful subordinate like you is a once-in-a-lifetime fortune.”

“You’re too kind.”

Choi Seong-min acted as if he didn’t know what to do with himself from embarrassment.

Of course, it was just lip service for Song Chi-hyeon.

“I’ll give you appropriate compensation soon for saving my life. You can look forward to it.”

“Compensation…… Thank you, Great Hero.”

“Heh, you don’t refuse at times like this.”

“Ah, that’s……”

“I’m joking. Hehe.”

Song Chi-hyeon let out laughter as if the flustered appearance was amusing.

Seeing him even make jokes he didn’t usually make, it seemed this incident had completely opened his heart.

“Shall we start cleaning up?”

Song Chi-hyeon ordered his subordinates around to clean up the bodies.

Choi Seong-min also tried to move to help, but Song Chi-hyeon grabbed his shoulder.

“I can’t let the number one contributor work.”

“But……”

“You just stay here and keep me company.”

Since he said he needed company, there was no further room for refusal.

The subordinates cleaned up the bodies and organized the scene.

Choi Seong-min, who was also a subordinate, just watched carefully in silence.

“Ask me anything if you’re curious.”

When Song Chi-hyeon allowed questions, Choi Seong-min carefully spoke up.

“I’m curious about what will happen now that the Secretary is dead.”

“What will happen? Life will continue as usual. At least until next month.”

“Next month?”

“Combat power update day. That’s when the Secretary’s death will be revealed.”

“Then until then……”

“They’ll think he’s lying low. The Association won’t know why the Secretary disappeared either.”

“Won’t they find it strange? If the Secretary who was always visible suddenly isn’t seen……”

“Of course they’ll find it strange. Especially the Association President will search everywhere with his eyes on fire. But there won’t be much they can do? I was careful to leave no evidence.”

Choi Seong-min was relieved to hear there was no evidence, but Song Chi-hyeon’s words weren’t finished yet.

“The problem is after the Secretary’s death is revealed.”

“After combat power update day?”

“Right. Once they know he died, the Association President will personally conduct a full investigation to find the culprit. Not only me, but you won’t be able to avoid it either.”

There were 12 days left until combat power update…. After 12 days, Kwak Min-cheol, who confirmed the Secretary’s death, would search everywhere with his eyes on fire to find the culprit.

“We’ll have to be careful not to accidentally say anything when that time comes.”

“Right. But is it easy to lie in front of a Great Hero?”

Choi Seong-min nodded in agreement.

“It’s not easy.”

“I trust my subordinates’ loyalty, but there might be someone who gets scared and accidentally reveals something without knowing.”

“Then what do we do?”

Song Chi-hyeon showed a sinister smile.

“We’ll have to kill all the subordinates.”

At the chilling statement, Choi Seong-min’s eyes widened, and Song Chi-hyeon chuckled.

“I’m joking, joking. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Ah…… You startled me.”

“Of course, killing them would be the cleanest method, but how could I throw away my precious subordinates?”

“Is there another method?”

“There is.”

Song Chi-hyeon tapped his temple.

“If we erase their memories, everything will be solved.”

“Excuse me? Memories?”

He asked back as if wondering if that was possible, but Choi Seong-min knew.

That traits for erasing memories existed.

And he also knew who possessed such traits.

“I have a friend among me who can erase memories. If I ask him, he can erase the subordinates’ memories to prevent accidents.”

“Does that mean you’ll erase my memory too……”

Song Chi-hyeon suddenly burst into laughter.

“Why? Are you scared I might accidentally erase everything? Don’t worry. I’ll tell him to cleanly erase only memories about the operation.”

“Haha…… Then I’m relieved. I’ll trust only the Great Hero.”

He said that, but being subjected to memory deletion wasn’t a pleasant thing.

In other words, it also meant examining Choi Seong-min’s memories.

“Choi Seong-min.”

“Yes, Great Hero.”

“Let me ask you one favor.”

“You don’t need to ask favors. Just give orders and I’ll carry out anything.”

“Really? It might be an uncomfortable task, but would that be okay?”

“No problem. What kind of work is it?”

“There’s a team called Team Crush that Yang Jo-young created, right? I’d like you to kill all the members there.”

“……May I ask the reason?”

“The reason is obviously evidence destruction. They must have witnessed you and Yang Jo-young going out together. We should kill them in advance to prevent them from potentially grabbing our ankles.”

“……I see.”

“It might be uncomfortable since they’re familiar faces, but stabbing them in the back will be easy for that very reason. Murder improves with practice, so use this opportunity to build up your record.”

“Hmm……”

Unlike when killing Yang Jo-young, seeing him show hesitation, Song Chi-hyeon asked.

“If it’s really uncomfortable, tell me. I’ll have other subordinates do it.”

“No, it’s not that……”

“You’re worried about the cleanup?”

As if his inner thoughts had been read, Choi Seong-min acted surprised.

“I’ll take care of that, so don’t worry.”

“I just need to kill them?”

“That’s right.”

“But if not only Yang Baek-du’s family but even Yang Jo-young’s team disappears without a trace, someone will know that someone intervened.”

“Of course they will, but there’s no evidence left, right?”

“Instead, circumstantial evidence will remain. If you pull weeds because they’re bothersome, you might accidentally uproot the crops next to them.”

“You mean it could backfire?”

“It’s possible.”

“Hmm……”

Looking at Choi Seong-min expressing opinions unlike usual, Song Chi-hyeon narrowed his eyes.

“Then what should we do? Do you have any good ideas?”

“I think it would be better to quietly erase memories rather than kill and leave traces. Yang Jo-young’s death won’t be revealed until next month, so the Association President won’t investigate Team Crush for the time being.”

“Hmm, that makes sense when I hear it.”

Song Chi-hyeon, who had been nodding, accepted Choi Seong-min’s advice.

“Good. As you said, let’s keep them alive for now and erase their memories later.”

* * *

When he returned home, his mother in the kitchen welcomed Choi Seong-min.

“You’re back now? Should you eat?”

“I already ate.”

Actually he hadn’t eaten, but he wasn’t in the mood to eat.

‘I smelled blood so much.’

He showered to wash off the smell and lay on his bed.

Suddenly he remembered advising Song Chi-hyeon.

‘That’s one less worry.’

If not for his advice, Team Crush would have disappeared from this world.

‘I almost killed innocent people.’

Although there wasn’t much affection built up from their brief encounter, they were still good people.

There was no reason they should die without knowing why.

‘Should I check the traits?’

Choi Seong-min checked Yang Baek-du’s trait.

[Trait – VIP Assassination]

-Grade: S

-Description: When you designate an assassination target, you become immune to all damage or effects from anyone other than the target for 10 minutes.

When attacking the assassination target, damage increases by 20%, but when attacking other targets, damage is reduced by 50%.

Even if the assassination succeeds, the buff doesn’t end until the duration expires.

When the duration ends, there’s a 24-hour cooldown.

However, if the assassination fails, all stats decrease by 50% along with a 120-hour cooldown.

If the target dies due to external factors, it’s not considered success or failure.

Can only be used against humans or monsters.

He already knew about the trait, but he had never seen it in such detail.

‘I never thought I’d end up killing Yang Baek-du with my own hands.’

That’s why he could see information he didn’t know before.

‘Damage is amplified against the assassination target, but it’s halved when attacking others. Instead, there’s an invincibility effect.’

For example, deal 120% damage to the designated target and receive 100% damage.

Deal 50% damage to other targets and receive 0% damage.

‘In other words, if you use the trait on a weak opponent, you can fight strong opponents while being invincible. Though damage would be reduced by 50%.’

Depending on how it’s used, it could become a fraudulent trait.

‘However, the biggest weakness of this trait is the failure penalty.’

If the assassination fails, stats decrease by 50% for 120 hours.

‘It returns to normal after that, but it’s still a fatal weakness. You can see this from Yang Baek-du who was fighting Song Chi-hyeon.’

Yang Baek-du was helplessly reversed by Song Chi-hyeon as soon as the assassination failed.

‘It’s a dangerous penalty that instantly reverses the situation.’

Therefore, when using the trait, you must absolutely use it on opponents who are easy to assassinate.

There must never be failure.

‘If you carelessly use it on a strong enemy and can’t even assassinate them, you’re doomed.’

That’s why using this trait on Song Chi-hyeon would be the worst of bad moves.

‘It would be better to use it on a subordinate near Song Chi-hyeon, kill them, and face Song Chi-hyeon while invincible.’

There’s no need to keep the subordinate designated as the target alive.

Since there was an item saying the buff is maintained even after successful assassination…. ‘It’s better to quickly succeed in assassination, receive the 10-minute invincibility buff, and then fight.’

The 50% damage reduction is disappointing, but Choi Seong-min has the ultimate technique of defense ignore.

‘Of course, even if defense ignore triggers, I won’t kill in one hit due to damage reduction……’

But couldn’t he still inflict fatal wounds?

‘Anyway, I should consider it as gaining a trait that makes me invincible for 10 minutes instead of halving damage.’

Thinking it was worth its S-rank value, he looked at the next trait.

It was none other than Yang Jo-young’s trait……

‘Huh?’

As soon as he saw the information, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘S-rank?’

It turned out Yang Jo-young also had an S-rank trait.