Chapter 406 – Part 2 – Begging for Life

Woo Seong-jae, who had asked as politely as possible, bowed his head.

Seeing this, Peter made an inwardly surprised expression.

‘Woo Seong-jae, who’s rank 1, bowed his head?’

Although the difference in their combat power wasn’t that great, it was still true that Woo Seong-jae was superior in terms of position, reputation, age, and so on.

There was no need to bow his head to Hunter Choi Seong-min.

But there was a reason why Woo Seong-jae was taking such a humble stance.

‘I’ll die… If I’m not careful, I’ll die here.’

His trait, Insight, was telling him.

That right now, at this moment, he was standing at a crossroads of life and death.

That it would be nothing for Choi Seong-min to kill him.

‘Please… may his anger subside…’

He didn’t know why he wanted to kill him.

He could only tell through Insight that murderous intent was directed at him.

Woo Seong-jae looked at Choi Seong-min with a desperate expression.

“Please. At least listen to what I have to say for a moment…”

Did Woo Seong-jae’s earnestness reach him?

Choi Seong-min withdrew his killing intent.

“Understood. I have time to spare anyway.”

“Thank you.”

Woo Seong-jae, who caught his breath, looked at Peter.

“I’ll go have a private conversation with Hunter Choi Seong-min for a moment.”

“Ah, please do. Have a comfortable conversation and come back. I’ll wait here with my secretary.”

“Yes. Please come, Hunter.”

Woo Seong-jae led Choi Seong-min to an empty conference room.

It was quiet with no one around, which was good for conversation.

“Woo Seong-jae.”

Choi Seong-min suddenly dropped honorifics.

The atmosphere was completely different from before.

Cold sweat formed on Woo Seong-jae’s forehead.

“You saw it, didn’t you?”

“What? What did I…”

“You saw it. My traits.”

Woo Seong-jae’s eyes widened beyond measure.

‘He, he knew about my trait.’

He never expected Choi Seong-min to know about Insight.

“How do you know that…”

“Do I need to explain even that?”

Cold tone.

For Woo Seong-jae, who was far behind in combat power, he had no choice but to be intimidated.

“N-no.”

“I just know everything. That you can see my stats and traits. That you can see my combat power.”

“……”

“Since we’re on the topic, let me ask. What was my combat power?”

“25, 25 million.”

“Not that. My potential combat power.”

“Cu-currently you’re at a level exceeding 40 million. At this growth rate, even 50 million is possible in the future…”

“I see.”

Choi Seong-min had asked because he didn’t know how much his combat power could rise either.

“You said you had something to tell me?”

“What? Ah… that is…”

“Should I spare you?”

At those words, Woo Seong-jae was surprised once again.

‘He knows what I’m going to say…’

Woo Seong-jae had intended to beg Choi Seong-min for his life.

To spare him just once.

Because he felt the crisis of death, he had bowed his head like this and created this opportunity.

But to think he was seeing through even that.

‘I was in the palm of this person’s hand.’

He, who thought he had reached the peak, felt infinitely small in front of Choi Seong-min.

“You realized through Insight that I was about to kill you, right? That’s why you brought me here to beg for your life. Am I right?”

“You, you are correct.”

“Do you perhaps know the reason too? Why I want to kill you.”

“That I’m not really sure about…”

Choi Seong-min quietly read Woo Seong-jae’s thoughts.

“Even with Insight, you don’t know that far. Can you only know feelings like intuition?”

“If it’s not rude, could I know the reason?”

“Why I want to kill you?”

“Yes…”

Although Woo Seong-jae mustered courage to speak, Choi Seong-min’s reaction remained stiff.

“Just think that I hate trash.”

In other words, in Choi Seong-min’s eyes, Woo Seong-jae was trash.

Despite hearing insulting words, Woo Seong-jae didn’t show any displeasure.

He had no choice.

In front of a monster with nearly 300 traits and potential combat power exceeding 40 million, anyone would be intimidated.

“…Is there no way for me to survive?”

“Do you want to live?”

‘What kind of question is that…’

Swallowing his inner words, Woo Seong-jae nodded.

“Please spare me. I beg you. I’ll do anything.”

Saying so, he bowed his head.

His opponent was a god-like existence.

In front of such a being, pride was nothing but luxury.

“It’s not that there’s no way for you to survive.”

“Just tell me. I’ll do whatever you order.”

“Call Frank Larson and find out where he is.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Then I promise not to kill you at least for now.”

“Th-thank you. Thank you so much!”

Woo Seong-jae bowed his head several times.

However, Choi Seong-min’s voice remained cold.

“Don’t thank me yet. If you can’t contact Frank, I’ll kill you immediately.”

“Ah… don’t worry. Even if others might not answer, he’ll answer my call.”

“Try it now.”

Woo Seong-jae did as ordered and picked up his phone to contact Frank.

‘Please answer. Frank! If you don’t answer, I’m a dead man.’

Although Frank had a wandering habit, he carried a phone so he could be contacted in emergencies.

He had also attended Woo Seong-jae’s summons at the recent Westland countermeasure meeting.

That’s why Woo Seong-jae believed.

That Frank would answer the phone.

“……”

But he ultimately didn’t answer.

“I-I’ll try again.”

No matter how many times he called, it was the same.

Sweat beads formed on Woo Seong-jae’s face.

“It’s strange. There’s no way he wouldn’t answer…”

“I’ll give you 5 minutes.”

“Th-thank you.”

While Woo Seong-jae continued attempting to contact him, Choi Seong-min waited leisurely.

‘How pathetic he looks struggling.’

For the world’s most powerful person to tuck his tail in front of him.

‘I need to change the plan.’

Honestly, the moment he saw Woo Seong-jae, he thought he should kill him along with Peter right here.

Since he didn’t know how Woo Seong-jae, who had seen his traits, would react.

‘But if he comes out with such a humble attitude, it’s a different story.’

He decided to put aside his killing intent for now and use Woo Seong-jae for the time being.

Since he could communicate, he didn’t feel the need to kill him immediately.

‘Maybe because he has Insight, he knows how to survive. He’s also quick-witted.’

If his potential combat power was 40 million as Woo Seong-jae said, it was understandable that he took such a humble stance.

‘Even 10 million combat power can’t present a business card in front of me.’

Of course, Woo Seong-jae was smart and cunning.

If he let him live like this, he might catch him by the ankle before long.

‘It would be better not to leave any future troubles, but…’

Choi Seong-min was confident.

That even if he released the fish called Woo Seong-jae, he could catch him again.

‘For now, if I place an Assassin’s Mark on him, I won’t be unable to find him.’

Choi Seong-min placed a mark on Woo Seong-jae.

Unless placed on another target, the mark wouldn’t be erased.

He could track Woo Seong-jae’s location forever.

Then the thoughts of Woo Seong-jae, who had been staring only at his phone, came through.

‘It-it connected! I’m saved!’

It seemed the call with Frank had connected.

“Frank? It’s me, Woo Seong-jae. Where are you now? I’d like to meet urgently…”

Woo Seong-jae, who was on the call, made a surprised expression.

After ending the call shortly after, he approached.

“It seems you got through to Frank.”

“Y-yes.”

“Where is he?”

“Th-that is…”

Woo Seong-jae, who was hesitating, opened his mouth with difficulty.

After Woo Seong-jae conveyed the call content without omission, he watched Choi Seong-min’s reaction.

Worried that he might get angry.

However, even after hearing the call content, Choi Seong-min showed no signs of anger.

Rather, he was curling up the corners of his mouth, smiling wickedly.

‘So that’s how it is?’

Now Choi Seong-min could understand why the distance to Frank felt so far.

‘I need to go kill Frank.’

Momentarily, Woo Seong-jae, who was looking at Choi Seong-min, flinched.

He seemed to have read the killing intent in his eyes.

Woo Seong-jae asked as carefully as possible.

“Do-do you intend to kill Frank?”

“As expected, the Insight trait is amazing. Seeing how you accurately guess what I’ll do.”

Choi Seong-min, who had been quietly looking at Woo Seong-jae, asked.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of stopping me?”

At those words, Woo Seong-jae was startled and waved his hands frantically.

“Th-there’s no way! How could I dare block Hunter Choi Seong-min’s path? That’s preposterous!”

“Why? He’s a fellow Great Hero, but you won’t protect him.”

“Frank was originally an outsider. Such a guy doesn’t matter whether he exists or not.”

“Then what about Peter? If I said I’d kill him right now, wouldn’t you stop me?”

Woo Seong-jae answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course. I would help Hunter Choi Seong-min rather than hinder you.”

Choi Seong-min grinned.

It was a satisfactory answer.

“Good. I like it. I’ll spare your life for the time being.”

“Th-thank you! Thank you!”

Woo Seong-jae continuously bowed.

If Peter or other Great Heroes had seen this, they would have been dumbfounded.

“Now I’ll send you away as promised… You know, right? You must not tell anyone about what you saw and heard today.”

“How could there be any question about that?”

“I’m going to Peter now to say that something urgent came up and I need to go home. If Peter asks you what happened, make sure to cover well.”

“I will obey your command.”

“And you said you’d help me earlier?”

“Of course.”

“After I leave, call Frank and say this.”

When Choi Seong-min told him what to say, Woo Seong-jae was surprised.

“Re-really, is it okay to say that?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t matter, so do as I say.”

“Understood.”

“If you handle it wrong and some strange nonsense reaches my ears…”

When killing intent burst out from Choi Seong-min’s entire body, Woo Seong-jae’s complexion turned pale.

“Su-such a thing will never happen! I promise!”

“Good. I’ll trust you.”

Choi Seong-min placed his hand on Woo Seong-jae’s shoulder.

“Then I’ll go, so behave yourself.”

Choi Seong-min turned his back and left the conference room first.

As soon as he did.

Thud-

Woo Seong-jae, whose tension was released, slumped into a chair.

“Whew… I almost died, didn’t I?”

Woo Seong-jae wiped the sweat from his forehead.

It was the first time in his life he had been this nervous.

Even when facing Karmygas, the strongest named boss, he hadn’t been this nervous.

‘Back then I could see the strategy clearly, so I was confident.’

But the hunter named Choi Seong-min he faced now?

‘I can’t see anything.’

Like facing a wall with no visible end, no strategy came to mind.

‘To think I’d face such a tremendous hunter in my lifetime…’

Every moment of conversation with Choi Seong-min was a series of tension.

It felt like walking a tightrope without any safety equipment.

On the surface, he was just a new hunter in his early twenties, but Woo Seong-jae knew.

That he was the strongest in the world view, whom all the world’s hunters combined couldn’t defeat.

‘That person must never be touched. I must not upset him either.’

If there was a god in this world, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him Choi Seong-min.

‘That stupid Frank bastard. Of all things, to think of touching that person’s family…’

Woo Seong-jae, recalling the call content, clicked his tongue at Frank who wasn’t present.

‘What stupid thought made him think he could handle the consequences…’

Even with the Insight trait, it was incomprehensible.

The message Choi Seong-min told him to convey was also incomprehensible.

‘Anyway, that guy is a dead man.’

From Woo Seong-jae’s perspective, there was no chance Frank would return alive.

‘I’ll pray for his soul in advance.’