Chapter 114: Owl Hunting (5)
“Duh…”
The black-haired woman’s eyes turned cloudy.
She twisted her body back on her feet with her mouth open like an idiot.
‘So I can even control a mid-rank Templar.’
Although he was only able to succeed in controlling her after poisoning and threatening her, just the fact that he was able to subdue an Awakener at the same position as Arshad Khan—who he got beaten up by a couple of months prior—that easily felt very surprising.
‘I really did get stronger in a short frame of time.’
In honesty, the woman he subdued seemed to only share the same position with Arshad Khan and had skill that was lacking in comparison, but Ohjin was confident that he’d be able to subdue someone at the same level of Arshad Khan without difficulty.
‘Thinking about it now, I’m still below Arshad Khan if we’re only taking the ‘Star’ rank into account.’
Arshad Khan had been a 7-Star Awakener at the time; still a rank higher than Ohjin. He had just been fighting so much with 8-Star Awakeners lately that 7-Star Awakeners felt like nothing.
No, even in reality, 7-Star Awakeners weren’t much of a threat to him.
‘If I’m this strong as a 6-Star…’
How much of an abnormality would he become later on?
“Hmm.”
Not even Ohjin himself couldn’t predict what he would become.
‘Well, I’ll know once I experience it personally.’
He didn’t have any plans on stopping, anyways.
The reason he was infiltrating the Noctua faction while bearing the risk in the first place was to prepare a stepping stone that would allow him to grow at an even faster pace.
“Well, then.”
Ohjin looked at the woman who had become a puppet.
“Will you guide me to the place where the location and scale of the Black Star Organization’s branches are recorded?”
“…Yes.”
The woman nodded her head like a machine.
Ohjin entered the server room and took out a USB from his slingback.
“Store every bit of information that you can into this.”
“Under… stood.”
The woman nodded as she plugged the USB in.
“There currently exists a total of 32 Black Star Organization branches spread all across the nation.”
“How many of those are large-scale branches?”
“There are a total of six branches that are led by high-rank Templars.”
“And their scale?”
“Large-scale branches have approximately 200 members, and mid-scale branches have about 30 to 50.”
There were certainly a lot of them.
‘So there are over 5,000 members if you add up all of the branches?’
Number-wise, there were more of them than if he added up the total of the top ten guilds.
‘The ability to grant stigmas really is overpowered.’
Needless to say, that power came at a cost.
As those who don’t have the talent to receive a star’s power were forcefully given strength, side effects would beset them accordingly.
“…How many have been sacrificed until now?”
“…Sacrificed?”
“I’m asking how many have died while receiving the stigma of Noctua.”
“Ah, you’re referring to the defective products.”
“…Defective products?”
“That is what we call the people in this faction who weren’t able to endure the blessing of the Black Star.”
“…”
‘Defective products? Did this bastard just call people defective products?’
“You guys… what are your thoughts on the life of a human?”
“Pardon?”
“Do you think the life of a human is some kind of tool or spare component? Huh?”
“Th-That is… it really isn’t …”
“It’s fucking spot on.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m saying that I think that way, as well.”
Smirk—
Ohjin’s lips curved up as he nodded his head.
“Wow~ I didn’t think I’d find common ground with the Black Star Organization in something like this.”
“…”
Despite being in the middle of being controlled, the woman looked up at Ohjin with a dumbfounded expression.
“Then, as people who both think the same way, heart-to-heart, come out clean. How many have died?”
“…The number of defective products that died is around 2,000.”
2,000.
‘The success rate is higher than I thought.’
Since the number of members of the Noctua faction totalled around 5,000, it meant that just about 3 out of 4 people received a stigma and endured it. Naturally, it simply meant that they didn’t die. There were probably a bunch of other side effects such as reduced lifespan or disabilities that fell upon them.
‘Becoming an Awakener is what’s important in the end.’
With a 75% probability, you could escape from your ugly and wretched life and become a superhuman.
Wasn’t the gamble worth a shot?
‘That’s why there are so many Black Star Organization members.’
Whether the Black Star Organization kidnapped children and killed them while using them as hostages or massacred civilians by unleashing demon beasts, it wasn’t important to them.
Morals were bound to drown out in front of greed.
“Here is… the information you requested.”
The woman handed over the USB.
‘Alright.’
If he spread that information, the hundreds of determined guilds that were looking for the Black Star Organization would pounce on them.
‘Even if they have massive forces, they shouldn’t be able to defend themself against the entire nation.’
If they could, there was also no reason for them to act in the dark like they had until then.
Ohjin put on a thick smile while he looked down at the USB which contained information that could bring about the destruction of the Noctua faction in one blow.
“Is there… anything else you have to ask?”
“Hmm.”
He already had the information he was after in his hands, but…
“Where is Cheon Doyoon, and what is he doing?”
“I… do not know.”
Even the Templar who protected the Black Star Organization’s core information didn’t know.
In that case…
“What about the movements of the other factions?”
“We haven’t been able to confirm the movements of factions other than the Hirudo faction in Italy and the Hippocampus faction in Japan.”
‘Hippocampus faction?’
“What rank is the Executor who leads the Hippocampus faction?”
“That Executor is ranked 7th.”
They were below Cheon Doyoon.
‘Japan is really close, but…’
Ohjin didn’t have the leisure to pay attention to foreign lands.
‘Should I end things here?’
There were a lot of things he wanted to ask, but there was the danger of being caught if he dragged on any longer.
‘It’s over if I’m caught here.’
Even if it was an empty house, there were 3,000 members inside the headquarters—he wouldn’t be able to escape if they surrounded him.
“Alright. Let’s end things here.”
Ohjin got up from his spot and put his hand over the woman’s head to give his final order.
“Forget about everything that happened here and don’t pay attention to it.”
“…understood.”
He had already gotten rid of the poison he used to subdue her. There was nothing that could get someone on his tail.
‘Let’s get out of here.’
Ohjin took the USB and headed outside.
Afraid of bumping into another member on the way back, he was as cautious as he could be, but the hallways were so empty that his worries were put to rest.
“This is easy.”
Considering that he infiltrated the Black Star Organization’s HQ completely alone, he was able to get through it without encountering much danger.
* * *
* * *
‘Now, all I have to do is get down…’
When he pressed the button and got on the elevator—
Owooong!—
“Damn it, what’s this all of a sudden?”
“Another branch requested emergency backup.”
—Members of the Black Star Organization suddenly rushed out of the gate and entered the elevator.
‘Oh, shit.’
In an instant, the elevator was filled with Black Star Organization members as if it was a subway in morning rush hours.
‘Fuck.’
“It really is a headache with the Queen of Leeches and the Association these days.”
“Sigh, if only we had Sir Doyoon in times like these.”
“He probably has his own plans. We just have to follow orders.”
Fortunately, it seemed that they mistook Ohjin for another member, as they didn’t pay him much attention and shared small-talk.
‘Goddammit.’
But even that was only a matter of time. The moment one of them recognized who he was, all of his plans would go down the drain.
‘Domination.’
He urgently used Domination.
Black clouds spread out in the cramped elevator.
-Ring!
[There are too many domination targets.]
[Domination has failed!]
‘It’s not like I can take down everyone here.’
Taking them down wasn’t actually that hard, but the problem was the aftermath of creating that much of a commotion.
‘Backup would immediately come out of the headquarters.’
Since it was basically right in front of him, it wouldn’t even take a minute for thousands of members to crowd him.
Once that happened, it was over.
Not even Ohjin could fight that many members.
‘Please don’t recognize me until the first floor…’
Ohjin looked at the digital sign that changed from 6F to 5F with a nervous expression.
At that moment…
“…Huh?”
“What’s up?”
“I haven’t seen his face around here before…”
“Isn’t he just from a different team?”
“Wait a second.”
One of the members inside the elevator blatantly stared at Ohjin.
‘Fuck.’
“Huh, wait… I’ve seen his face somewhere before.”
“L-Lightning Wolf! He’s the Lightning Wolf!!!”
“Wh-What? Why is the Lightning Wolf here?!”
The members inside the elevator surrounded Ohjin in a circle.
“…”
Ohjin looked around at the members with cold eyes.
“How noisy.”
“…huh?”
“Which team are you from?”
“I-I’m in Black Feather Team 3…”
“Team 3, huh. I guess that team could be unaware.”
“…?”
The Owls looked at each other with confused expressions.
“Seriously, Sir Doyoon restricting information so thoroughly is also a problem in its own way.”
“No way…”
“I-Isn’t the Lightning Wolf the Star of the Weaver Girl’s Awakener?”
Ohjin looked at them and smiled.
“For the grace of the Black Stars.”
“…!”
The eyes of the Owls opened wide.
Ding!—
Simultaneously, the elevator arrived at the first floor.
“Are you all going to go provide emergency backup?”
“Y-Yes, sir! That is correct!”
“Good luck.”
He patted the shoulder of the member and walked outside—
“…”
—putting the dumbfounded Owls staring at his back behind him.
* * *
“Oh, my god! I couldn’t imagine that the Lightning Wolf was a part of the Black Star Organization!”
The Owls that exited the building got in a car while making a fuss.
“Then isn’t the story of Sir Cheon Woosung dying also a lie?”
“Ah! You’re right! They said that the Lightning Wolf was the one who chased after Sir Woosung!”
“Puahahaha! What the hell! Doesn’t that mean that those Association bastards are in the palm of our hand?”
The Owls exclaimed at the situation they couldn’t have imagined to be true.
“Wow. See? I told you Sir Doyoon had his own plans!”
“Who would’ve known that he was able to recruit the Lightning Wolf?
The Star of the Weaver Girl’s apostle who gathered attention from the whole world was secretly sided with the Black Star Organization!
“Kyaha! Hasn’t our faction practically already taken over Korea?”
“Didn’t Sir Doyoon say so? That the day when the whole world is dominated by Black Stars will come soon.”
“Hehe. And once that day comes, we will also…”
The Owls smiled greedily.
“Wow… the Lightning Wolf. I saw the Lightning Wolf fighting on a stream before. He’s seriously nonsensically strong.”
One of the Owls clenched his fist with a bashful expression.
“I wonder if I’ll be able to get appointed to the team that the Lightning Wolf is in one day.”
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