Chapter 146
After finishing up the preparations, we returned to Koo Kyungman’s villa in order to keep track of Park Hoseok’s behavior. The appointed time to meet was set at 11pm–the perfect time to act out of public sight.
A problem, however, would occur if Park Hoseok spent the rest of the downtime to make a rational judgement and inform the police or the Hunter Association, not falling into the trap we dug.
Fortunately, no remarkable movement was detected and, about an hour before the appointed time, all lights at Park Hoseok’s villa went out. Silence reigned over his property.
And, with about 30 minutes left on the clock until 11 pm, Park Hoseok finally appeared outside his mansion.
He wore a deep hat in order to hide his face as much as possible; he left the villa through the side door used by gardeners rather than the front gate. After walking away for 10 minutes, he called a taxi and moved to an area near the meeting place.
We secretly followed him. He disembarked the car at the entrance to a road a little ways away from the appointed place; after hesitating for a moment, he started determinedly walking along the cliff, as if he had resolved something within his mind. After a short while, he walked to the photo spot we had prepped in advance.
After watching Park Hoseok enter the spatially distorted space, I followed. Since I deliberately made noisy steps, he quickly turned around, sensing the presence of another human being. “You…”
“……”
“I know you. Yeah, we’ve met before, right? You sold Barnasiums or something.”
Surprisingly, Park Hoseok remembered me. He made quite the impression on me as someone that was part of Bae Jaemin’s entourage, alongside his striking scar on his face, but he hadn’t seen me since our first meeting. I was a little startled by his unexpected and extraordinary memory.
Park Hoseok examined my nervous face with a piercing look. Perhaps he found me a lacking opponent, without hiding his laughter, he asked incredulously, “No way, was this ridiculous invitation yours?”
“……That’s right,” I said.
“Really? Then how much do you know for you to go this far?”
“……”
“No, that’s not right. Someone of your level wouldn’t try to engage me alone…Who’s pulling your strings.”
However, I wasn’t interested in Park Hoseok’s interrogation; it didn’t matter that he was looking down on me. Right at this moment, right when he started focusing his attention straight at me, I…I was so busy clenching my fingernails into my palms to stop myself from bursting into laughter.
The moment his eyes locked with mine, memories that weren’t my own flooded my brain rapidly. The blue block 1 that was so vivid at the moment of his collapse, the disgusting smell of roasting flesh, and the metallic taste of blood filling my throat penetrated my head.
I steeled myself so as to not stumble, and, while staring straight at Park Hoseok, opened my mouth. “[Jung Garam].”
“Huh?”
“Jung Garam was the one to invite you.”
Amusingly, Park Hoseok did not have an immediate reaction to the Assassin’s name. Jung Garam’s memories…the death I had experienced personally… That man, after killing someone with his own two hands, had forgotten about it afterwards.
No, rather, because Jung Garam died, he must have had the privilege to erase all that from his memory. Because the assassin died–because not even his corpse was left behind… Enjoying the victory snatched through wickedness…he arrogantly believed that it was all over.
“Jung Garam……?” Of course, even if it were a bit late, Park Hoseok eventually recalled the owner of that name. And then, he looked at me in shock. “You… What do you know?”
“…….”
“I asked you just how much you know! Answer me!” He began emitting an incomparably powerful bloodthirst. He threw away his facade of tacit relaxation.
When I didn’t answer, Park Hoseok took one step forward. He seemed willing, one way or another, to extract what he wanted to hear from my mouth.
However…
“Just why are you yelling at our Lee-kyung-ie, hm?”
Behind him, Jung Garam appeared, back facing the rays of moonlight. Park Hoseok turned around, startled by the unfamiliar voice. When Jung Garam’s eyes met Park Hoseok’s, the Assassin smiled, his red eyes in the shape of a half-moon.
Then, raising his white hand and waving gently, he asked, “It’s been a long while, how’ve you been?”
* * *
It felt as if the spatial illusion was placed on hold for a brief moment. Park Hoseok stared at Jung Garam with wide-open eyes, as if he had forgotten to breathe. Across him, Jung Garam lightly jumped to the ground from atop a hideous triangular iron sculpture.
“Hmm……” After landing calmly on the ground–without even the slightest bit of noise–Jung Garam murmured mysteriously as he examined the shadows created beneath his hands and feet.
And, after hearing that sound, Park Hoseok stepped back, hands trembling. He was so shocked to the extent that he was unable to speak.
“What? I haven’t even started yet, but you already seem so sick of me.” Jung Garam mocked him relentlessly.
Park Hoseok could only observe Jung Garam’s appearance, unable to retort despite his sarcastic remarks. He spoke, the expression on his face desperately hoping that the reality unfolding before him was simply a dream, “D-don’t make me laugh…I…d-definitely…”
“Are you going to keep saying half-witted things like that?” Jung Garam summoned a dagger in his hand and yawned, as if he were bored.
The dagger–blade curved with a sharp edge akin to that of a scorpion’s tail–began to flash eerily under the moonlight.
Only after seeing the weapon did Park Hoseok escape from his desperate denial of reality and hurriedly manifested [Gae Bolg]. “Impossible. I confirmed you were dead…”
However, even when [Gae Bolg] was brought out, Park Hoseok maintained a confused expression that spoke to how numb his mind was. Jung Garam cut off his stutters, looking bored, and said, “You should have been more thorough.”
“……”
“Anyway, are we going to do a 1 on 1 for real this time? Can you even do well without Bae Jaemin?” With a slippery smile, Jung Garam switched his hold to a reverse grab and leaned forward like a sprinter at the starting line. After seeing Jung Garam’s showy change in posture, he hurriedly held up [Gae Bolg] at an angle and took a defensive stance.
However, his attempts were futile. In the blink of an eye, Jung Garam disappeared; soon afterwards, Park Hoseok’s scream echoed through the night sky. Jung Garam, who had instantaneously moved behind Park Hoseok, had struck the spearman’s ear with the dagger. He had even ripped off the dangling, barely attached ear with his bare hands.
“Arghhhh!”
“Stop exaggerating,” Jung Garam said.
Park Hoseok, screaming, covered his right ear with his right hand. Though he tried to place pressure, blood from the torn ear spurted out through the crevices of his hand.
Jung Garam picked up the torn ear and, after fiddling with it for a while, threw it to the ground like trash. Park Hoseok’s eyes were red and bloodshot. “Fuck, fucker…gasp, gasp… I’m going to kill this bastard!”
“We haven’t started yet, and you’re already in tears?”
“You crazy bastard!”
Overcome by Jung Garam’s taunts, Park Hoseok threw the [Gae Bolg] at a great speed with his left hand. The spear, which resembled a flying wedge at its great speed, flew crookedly at Jung Garam’s waist, but Jung Garam avoided it and rushed into Park Hoseok’s empty-handed vicinity. At that speed, Jung Garam could have plunged the dagger right into his heart, but instead he slashed at one side of his chest.
“Ugh, Arghhh!”
After hearing Park Hoseok’s desperate, long scream, [Gae Bolg], after missing its target, returned to its owner’s hand. Jung Garam neatly slipped away from the spearman. “You should have practiced throwing that spear during the time you were living the good life.” 2
“Urghhh…hngh….”
Park Hoseok was a man with an impressive body; he stood out as someone who had worked as a bodyguard. His upper body was quite developed–probably from his choice of weapon. But, Jung Garam had cut at his chest and ripped away some muscles while jabbering at him.
It seemed that he received double the mental damage–Park Hoseok was trembling, holding his chest together while being attacked from both sides. Completely cornered, he looked down at his blood-soaked hands, suddenly threw [Gae Bolg] aside, and knelt down on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Jung Garam asked.
“P-Please…! Spare my life.”
“Hah?”
“I…I just…did as I was ordered. It’s the truth…”
Jung Garam, as if he had lost all excitement, looked at Park Hoseok’s lowered head with a cold expression. Of course, Park Hoseok hadn’t seen the change in expression; begs and prayers tumbled out of Park Hoseok’s mouth. Adopting an ambiguous expression, as if he were thinking about something else, Jung Garam approached his prone body.
“Any…Anything, I’ll give you anything. I’ll tell you everything I know, so please…”
“Anything?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Then, what about your family?”
At that moment, as if he had malfunctioned, Park Hoseok became rigid. Jung Garam continued indifferently, as if he were provoking an ant with the tips of his shoes, “Nah. After killing you, I want to kill your wife and your children. In any case, they have to pay for the sins of their father, right?” 3
“…….”
“Don’t like that?”
Park Hoseok, still lying down, slowly raised his head. His desperate expression was begging for something, anything; Jung Garam, looking down at him, seemed supremely satisfied. While patting Park Hoseok’s head with a dagger, Jung Garam continued to speak, “Actually, I’m not fond of that idea either. But if you give up so easily, just where am I supposed to vent my anger?”
“……”
“So, don’t give up, take heart, and struggle hard.”
“……”
“Until your whole body is in shambles.”
TL: Silent vigil for Park Hoseok–he’s in over his head.
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