Chapter 423 – Part 2 – Can’t Help Being Curious

Clang clang clang clang clang-!

Blades crossed back and forth.

The collision of a long sword and dagger.

Naturally, the shorter dagger would be disadvantageous, but the situation was flowing in the opposite direction.

‘Damn it…’

Ryu Jong-ik’s back was soaked with sweat.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

In the brief exchange that hadn’t even lasted three minutes, he couldn’t count how many bone-chilling experiences he’d had.

‘The opponent is too strong.’

He could assess the opponent’s level without exchanging many moves.

‘I have the advantage in strength, but since he’s an assassin, I can’t keep up with his agility.’

The fact that they weren’t being pushed back despite being 2-on-1 said it all.

The opponent was dodging all attacks from both him and Gang Min-chan while stabbing with his dagger here and there.

And these weren’t simple attacks but deadly strikes that threatened their lives with each one.

He was definitely an experienced killer who knew where to aim to kill easily.

Stab-

“Keuuk!”

When the dagger pierced his shoulder blade, Ryu Jong-ik groaned.

Swish-

The moment the dagger was pulled out, strength drained from his arm, but fortunately it wasn’t his sword arm.

[Counterattack conditions have been met.]

[Please use within 3 seconds.]

Just then, a message appeared and his trait ‘Counterattack’ was activated.

‘Now’s the time, counterattack!’

It was a trait that allowed counterattacking when damaged by an opponent’s attack, with clear disadvantages…

But a counterattack at this moment had 100% accuracy and could never be dodged.

In other words, now when he was off guard was the optimal timing.

‘I’ll end it with this attack!’

Sure enough.

Jo Wang-chun, who had tried to dodge with high agility as he had been doing, panicked.

The sword he thought he had dodged moved strangely toward him as if it had a magnet attached.

Slash-!

“Kuk!”

The sword that hadn’t been able to reach him due to his agility cut Jo Wang-chun’s neck.

But Jo Wang-chun didn’t die.

‘Damn… too shallow.’

It was because Ryu Jong-ik’s strike lacked killing intent.

He would have killed him if he had steeled his resolve.

“Keuheuk, damn bastard. Now you’re dead.”

The enraged Jo Wang-chun mercilessly stabbed with his dagger.

Stab- Stab-

“Keuhuk!”

The dagger went in and out of his forearm and side.

For Ryu Jong-ik, already wounded, it was impossible to dodge all the attacks.

“Leader!”

Gang Min-chan, who had been assisting, widened his eyes and used a skill.

‘Sword Slash!’

However, there was no way he could hit Jo Wang-chun who had easily dodged attacks from two people.

The skill regrettably cut through empty air and gave Jo Wang-chun a chance to counterattack.

Stab-!

“Kuk!”

Jo Wang-chun’s thrown dagger embedded in Gang Min-chan’s lower abdomen.

As he lost strength and slumped to the ground, Jo Wang-chun’s chilling voice reached his ears.

“If you want to die that badly, I’ll kill you first.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the dagger stabbed Gang Min-chan’s body three times and came out.

No, that’s what he thought.

Stab stab stab-

“Keuhuk…!”

“Le-Leader!”

Ryu Jong-ik had appeared and pushed Gang Min-chan aside, taking the blade instead.

“What’s with this bastard?”

Stab- Stab-

“Keuhuk!”

“Are you crazy wanting to die instead?”

Stab- Stab-

Jo Wang-chun stabbed with his dagger without hesitation.

Ryu Jong-ik, whose consciousness was becoming hazy from the terrible pain, barely managed to open his mouth.

“R-run… away. Cap-tain… Gang…”

Jo Wang-chun didn’t finish off Ryu Jong-ik.

Because he knew the man would die on his own without him having to end it.

What was urgent was that A-rank hunter preparing to escape.

No, he thought he was trying to escape.

“What?”

Instead of turning his back, Gang Min-chan was glaring at him from the front with bloodshot eyes.

“You’re not running away? Don’t tell me you want to fight me?”

“How dare you… kill the Leader. I’ll kill you.”

Even at those venomous words, Jo Wang-chun only smirked.

He was dumbfounded.

“If you want to die, I’ll kill you.”

“Uahhh!”

Gang Min-chan bravely faced him with a battle cry, but.

Stab stab-

“Keukeuk…!”

Unlike when facing Ryu Jong-ik, the match was quickly decided.

For Jo Wang-chun, hunting an A-rank hunter wasn’t difficult.

After killing Gang Min-chan, Jo Wang-chun turned around to look at Ryu Jong-ik.

The man who had been breathing just moments ago had already become a cold corpse.

“Phew, it’s finally over.”

Though he had won 2-on-1, there was no joy on Jo Wang-chun’s face.

Because he had let the important targets escape.

“Damn… I just wasted time because of these guys.”

But there was nothing to worry about.

‘They couldn’t have gone far. If I track them now, I’ll catch up quickly.’

When he activated his Location Tracking trait, he could feel the targets’ location.

Judging the distance, it seemed he could catch up in about 5 minutes of running.

“Hehe, damn bitches are all dead…”

Just as Jo Wang-chun was about to start pursuit, he stopped walking.

A man wearing a black mask was standing in front of him.

From his appearance, he was definitely a hunter.

“What are you? Are you these guys’ comrade?”

“Did you kill them?”

Jo Wang-chun’s eyebrows twitched.

‘That bastard isn’t answering my question…’

He was the one who asked first, but the other was asking a question instead.

“I’ll ask again. Did you kill them?”

“Who?”

Jo Wang-chun glanced at the two people he had just killed and raised the corner of his mouth.

“These vermin?”

“……”

“Yeah, I killed them. Why? Going to take revenge? Too bad, but I don’t have time to play with you.”

“Because you have to go kidnap someone?”

At the fact that he knew his purpose, Jo Wang-chun’s eyes immediately changed.

“How did these bastards all know I was coming…”

“Did Woo Seong-jae order it?”

“You bastard, what’s your identity?”

“Me?”

Before he could even hear an answer.

Stab-

“The owner of this house.”

A dagger was embedded in Jo Wang-chun’s forehead.

There was no time to dodge.

He didn’t even perceive when the attack happened.

He just rolled his eyes back and buried his head on the ground.

Thud-

[You have killed Hunter Jo Wang-chun.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Location Tracking’.]

[Synchronization rate 99.9%]

[You have replicated the appearance of the killed target.]

Choi Seong-min, who had killed Jo Wang-chun, looked down with cold eyes from behind his mask.

‘How dare you target my family?’

That he was a tracker was easy to know by reading his thoughts.

Also that he was moving on Woo Seong-jae’s orders.

‘Woo Seong-jae, that bastard, as expected he was trying to kidnap my family.’

He had suspected it might happen, and it turned out to be true.

It didn’t deviate one bit from his expectations.

‘I did well to prepare safety measures.’

Choi Seong-min had visited Revolution and Han Sae-bom to ask for this favor in preparation for such a situation.

To protect his family since they might be kidnapped.

Of course, it was a request made in the name of the Black Mask, pretending they were a friend’s family.

‘I can’t reveal that the Black Mask is Choi Seong-min.’

They were all trustworthy people, so there was no worry.

He thought S-rank hunter Ryu Jong-ik and A-rank Gang Min-chan would be enough to stop a tracker.

‘But my thinking was short.’

Since it wasn’t a combat trait, he thought they could beat an S-rank tracker, but they couldn’t.

‘In terms of experience, the two were no match for the tracker.’

In person-to-person combat, the difference between having killed people and not having killed people is huge.

In real combat, a moment’s hesitation and mercy directly connect to life and death.

‘No matter how much you practice sparring, it can’t be sharper than a killer’s blade.’

Looking at the corpses of Ryu Jong-ik and Gang Min-chan, Choi Seong-min felt sorry.

They had helped knowing it was dangerous, but they were people who had died fighting for his family.

Even Choi Seong-min, who had committed nearly a thousand murders, couldn’t help but feel regret.

He too was a person who could shed blood and tears.

Choi Seong-min bowed his head to the corpses of Ryu Jong-ik and Gang Min-chan as if mourning.

“I’m sorry. Because of me. I should have come a little earlier. Then you wouldn’t have died so painfully…”

He had killed 474 criminal hunters and 1 of Woo Seong-jae’s subordinates in the gymnasium and immediately moved to Ryu Jong-ik’s shadow.

No, he had tried to move.

But for some reason, Shadow Movement didn’t work.

He could quickly figure out why.

‘Ryu Jong-ik died.’

Because he couldn’t move to a dead person’s shadow.

‘Gang Min-chan died too.’

Therefore, he had known of their deaths before even coming here.

Before coming with Homing Instinct.

‘It would have been troublesome without Homing Instinct.’

Thanks to designating this safe house as a location, he could arrive immediately even without Shadow Movement.

Though it was still a step too late.

“I’m sorry. For making you go through this.”

After repeatedly apologizing in front of the corpses, Choi Seong-min took out a flask containing liquid from his inventory.

It was the Potion of Life, a miraculous item that could revive the dead.

‘I can’t pretend not to know when they risked their lives to protect my family.’

Anyway, Choi Seong-min had 3 potions.

Even after reviving Ryu Jong-ik and Gang Min-chan, 1 would remain.

‘Gang Min-chan first.’

Choi Seong-min brought the potion to Gang Min-chan’s lips.

Then the solution flowed in by itself and there was a reaction.

Gang Min-chan’s heavy eyelids fluttered as if they might open.

His nose twitched as if breathing, and finally.

“Uu…”

He made a sound from his mouth as if proving he was alive.

While feeling relieved at this sight, Choi Seong-min placed his hand on Gang Min-chan’s head.

It was to erase his memory before he regained consciousness.

‘I don’t know if this will be a comfort, but I’ll erase your memory. The painful memory before death.’

After 10 seconds, Choi Seong-min rummaged through Gang Min-chan’s memory and deleted the scene where he died painfully.

Since he needed to revive Ryu Jong-ik too, he also deleted the scene where Ryu Jong-ik was attacked for continuity.

‘It would be convenient to delete the entire combat process with Jo Wang-chun…’

Somehow it felt like making their sacrifice into something that never happened, so he left just enough.

‘Now they’ll never know they died and came back to life.’

They would only remember losing consciousness while fighting Jo Wang-chun.

After finishing the deletion, Gang Min-chan became dazed.

He would be like that for 1 minute.

‘I should revive Leader Ryu Jong-ik too during this time.’

Choi Seong-min used the Potion of Life on Ryu Jong-ik without hesitation.

The wounded parts were completely healed and Ryu Jong-ik’s breath returned.

‘It’s fortunate the corpse wasn’t severely damaged.’

If severely damaged, even the potion wouldn’t work, so it was fortunate amid misfortune.

Tap-

Choi Seong-min placed his hand on Ryu Jong-ik’s head.

He also needed to delete the painful memories and make sure he didn’t know he had been revived.

Nothing good would come from the potion’s existence being known.

‘I need to match his memory with Gang Min-chan’s too.’

Choi Seong-min immediately got to work.

He was about to finish erasing Ryu Jong-ik’s memory as planned when curiosity suddenly arose.

‘Come to think of it, Ryu Jong-ik had a grudge against Kwak Min-cheol.’

He only knew that his daughter died because of Kwak Min-cheol, but didn’t know the detailed circumstances.

‘What happened between the two?’

He shouldn’t do this, but Choi Seong-min peeked at more of the past memories.

He couldn’t help being curious.