Guro Fortress — Part 4
Kwaaang!
A bomb exploded.
The Guro Fortress collapsed.
A thick cloud of dust rose, darkening the air.
Shockwaves and debris scattered in all directions, but the pre-installed barrier blocked and purified them.
Next, the heavy machinery moved in.
It cleared out the waste, compressing and sweeping it away.
“Oh my.”
“Did it really…?”
“Well, that was satisfying.”
“Satisfying? My house just got demolished.”
People gathered in small groups, watching the demolition unfold.
On one side, the sorting process was in full swing.
“You say you have nowhere to go? Then why did you apply for relocation assistance?”
“Well, Gilmyung-hyung told me to mark this circle here…”
“And who is that?”
“Uh, just… someone I know…”
“You heard the explanation, right? The relocation assistance is for those who already have a temporary place to stay. If you don’t have one, we arrange accommodations for you instead, but you don’t get the relocation assistance.”
“Uh… what exactly is a place to stay?”
A young man with unkempt hair and a dim-witted expression.
Even though they were several hundred meters away, my heightened senses picked up their conversation perfectly.
The staff member, growing frustrated, clutched his chest and spoke.
“I mean, where you’ll live! A house! It’ll take at least six months to build the new buildings, so where will you stay until then? If you have nowhere to go, we’ll provide a temporary shelter, but we need your consent. You were supposed to mark this box here, not that one.”
“B-but… Gilmyung-hyung told me to mark that one…”
“Sigh… We held meetings and gave out information leaflets! Didn’t you read them?”
“I… I can’t read…”
Illiterate?
For a moment, I was dumbfounded.
Illiteracy in 21st-century Korea?
No, in this world, it was possible.
Even in Seoul, there were districts where the police turned a blind eye to gang violence and murder, claiming it was beyond their jurisdiction.
The fire department? No different.
So it wasn’t strange for actual illiterates to exist here.
Step, step.
I deliberately made my footsteps audible as I approached.
The guide, hired by Manager Choi, who had been dealing with the residents with a tired face, immediately straightened up.
“Black Tiger Swordmaster, sir!”
“A-ah, howdy.”
The young man spoke in a bizarre mix of dialect and standard Korean.
He also reeked, clearly unwashed for days.
Snap!
I flicked my fingers.
Purification activated, washing him from head to toe.
The young man’s eyes widened as he stared at me.
Not only was the stench gone, but minor illnesses inside his body were also temporarily healed—he must have felt the difference.
“Are there many illiterate people here?”
“Huh… what? Illiterate?”
“People who can’t read Korean.”
“There’s a lot. My mom’s illiterate, so is Soon from next door, Chulsoo from across the street, and Gaettong from upstairs.”
“What about elementary school?”
“How could we go to school? We have to work every day just to eat. But Gilmyung-hyung helped us get by.”
“Who is this Gilmyung-hyung?”
“The guy with the big motorbike. He carries a real fancy gun, too.”
“Oh?”
I was starting to get the picture.
“What did you do with the relocation assistance money?”
“R-relocation what now?”
“The money we gave you. It should have been transferred to your account.”
“Account?”
“A bankbook. Your bank account.”
“I don’t have one…”
“You didn’t receive any money?”
“N-no…”
“That’s impossible! We definitely sent it! I checked the records myself!”
The young man just scratched his head.
The guide flailed his hands in denial, looking desperate.
He was likely terrified I’d suspect him of embezzlement.
I nodded and spoke calmly.
“Proceed as if the relocation assistance was never provided.”
“B-but Black Tiger Swordmaster, sir, it was definitely paid out…”
“Judging by his words, he never received it. That Gilmyung-hyung? We need to investigate him first.”
“Ah! Y-yes! Understood! I’ll process it right away.”
“Spread the word to the others. Report this to Manager Choi as well.”
“Yes, sir!”
The results came in quickly.
The gangs controlling Guro Fortress.
Those bastards had been siphoning off my hard-earned money.
The method? Fraudulent bank accounts.
Most residents of Guro Fortress couldn’t access banks.
Many weren’t even Korean citizens.
But certain bank employees had helped the gangsters set up fake accounts, which the gang then controlled to steal the funds.
“These sons of bitches…”
“What are your orders?”
“What do you think? Kill them.”
“You take the bank. Round up the manager and all the employees. There might be some innocent ones, so don’t go overboard. I’ll handle Daerim-dong.”
Guro-dong and Daerim-dong were essentially one territory.
Administratively separate, but the gangs operated as one.
When redevelopment began, the Guro-dong gangsters fled en masse to Daerim-dong.
Now that Jaelboan had set up a perimeter, they were feeling the pressure and tried to escape.
If they had just disappeared, that would’ve been fine.
But they got greedy.
Smelling money, they had started bleeding the residents dry.
[Report received. Displaying on Geumoan.]
Recently, I had upgraded Geumoan.
Added a communication module.
Enhanced the mana barrier with a holographic display.
The augmented reality HUD activated.
The nearest route to the gang that the unkempt young man called Gilmyung-hyung’s was marked.
A long blue arrow stretched along the road.
The magic even detected how many people were inside their hideout.
Their armament status, too.
[Teacher, should I join you?]
“No, I’ll go alone.”
[Still, I’ll send some staff with you.]
“Alright, thanks.”
Jaelboan’s personnel followed behind me.
Walking down the street with dozens of them at my back, the people around us gasped and parted to the sides.
I couldn’t help but straighten my shoulders.
Now I understood why crime bosses in movies always strutted around with their underlings.
People whispered as they watched us.
“What’s going on?”
“Did a war break out?”
“Wait, that guy…”
“It’s Black Tiger Swordmaster!”
“I wish they’d redevelop our neighborhood, too… I heard the folks in Guro-dong hit the jackpot.”
“What’s the point of a jackpot? They lost everything.”
I wasn’t about to let that slide.
That money was mine.
Earned through blood and sweat, through my reputation and skills, through the investments I secured.
It would eventually cycle back as taxes, too.
“What do you want?”
We arrived at the gang’s hideout.
I glanced up.
It looked eerily similar to the Dagger Gang’s base from when I cleared Level 2.
A cluster of one-room buildings fused together into a fortress.
Cleaner on the outside, sure, but structurally no different from Guro Fortress.
“I asked, what do you want?!”
A gang member guarding the entrance barked at us.
He was a big guy.
Even in winter, he wore only a sleeveless shirt, revealing grotesque irezumi tattoos on his arms.
I sensed no mana waves from him.
A grunt.
A non-superhuman gang member.
I tilted my chin arrogantly.
“Call Jongseok.”
Shin Jongseok.
The boss of Seongchae Gang, the gang I had come to see.
The so-called Gilmyung-hyung who scammed the young man wasn’t even a mid-level officer in Seongchae Gang.
“What did you just say, punk?”
The gang member’s eyes flared.
“You think you can just call for our boss like he’s your errand boy?”
“Yes.”
I tapped the hilt of Black Tiger Sword at my waist.
“I can.”
“This son of a bitch… Huh?”
His voice trailed off.
He had just now noticed my gear.
At a glance, Black Tiger Sword looked plain.
But Mjolnir on my other side, Aegis on my left forearm, and the enchanted armor covering my body?
Those were unmistakable.
And then there was my face.
Even shrouded in a golden mana barrier, no gang member from Daerim-dong, right next to Guro-dong, could fail to recognize me.
“B-Black Tiger Swordmaster!”
The gang member screamed.
He frantically slammed the emergency button.
He realized it was over and shoved his hand into his pocket.
Reaching for a gun.
But I was faster.
Thwack!
A casual shove sent the slab of meat flying, coughing up blood.
He slammed into the iron door.
Kwaang! A thunderous crash echoed as my infused mana shredded the door to pieces.
I strode in without drawing Black Tiger Sword or Mjolnir.
Gang members descending the stairs stopped in their tracks, eyes widening.
“What the hell?!”
“We’re under attack!”
“Who is it? Sword Demon Gang? Reaper Gang? No way, not Iron Fist Gang!”
Sword Demon Gang? Reaper Gang?
Ridiculous names for thugs.
I scoffed and drew my twin pistols.
Refined and elegant, yet radiating overwhelming magic power.
That was when they recognized me.
“B-Black Tiger Swordmaster!”
“Shit, we’re screwed!”
“Run!”
Too late.
Tat tat tat tat!
I fired.
With [Gunplay], [Firearm Mastery], and [Aim] active.
Honestly, I didn’t even need trait enhancements to take them all down.
I could win even without traits.
But a tiger hunts a rabbit with full strength.
Having hunted high-level superhumans who let their guard down, I knew never to be careless, even against small fry.
Tat tat tat tat!
Reloading midair, firing in bursts, reloading again, firing again.
Bullets punched through walls, tearing through gangsters.
The clueless lackeys rushing down from the first floor.
The officers lying in ambush on the second and third floors.
The boss and key executives upstairs, hastily stuffing documents and cash into bags.
All of them were struck down by my bullets.
I didn’t even need to pull out my shotgun or sniper rifle.
The twin pistols alone were enough.
One by one, their eyes rolled back as they collapsed, unconscious.
“Move in and secure the area. No traps.”
“Yes, Black Tiger Swordmaster!”
I holstered my guns and headed upstairs.
Seriously, Dasan’s Pistols were broken.
The [Non-lethal Rounds] attribute.
Passing through walls while only knocking people out.
Perfect for handling grunts.
“This is insane.”
I reached the top floor.
A mountain of cash.
Not even stacks of 10,000-won bills.
All 50,000-won bills.
And dozens of gold bars.
How much was this in total?
I sat in an executive chair and waited.
Jaelboan’s personnel arrived and began inspecting the cash and gold, visibly stunned.
“Anyone free, calculate how much this is.”
“Yes, sir!”
The result: 22.1 billion won.
For reference, the 5 billion won in cash I got from Sun Mage Tower’s master weighed nearly 100 kilograms.
Even with some of this being gold, 22.1 billion was a massive haul.
I skimmed through the documents and shook my head.
“These bastards are absolute scum. Drug trafficking, human trafficking, every illegal act imaginable. They even stole all the redevelopment compensation.”
“What are your orders?”
“Drag them to Guro-dong. Public execution.”
Seongchae Gang’s boss was a Level 2 superhuman.
Though subdued, he had just regained consciousness.
Lifting his head, he shouted.
“You have no right to do this!”
“You stole my money. That gives me every right.”
“Let’s settle this legally! Legally!”
“Oh, this is legal. You never heard of the Five Privileges of Superhumans? Ever heard of the Privilege of Sanction?”
“I-I have the right to a trial…”
“No, you don’t. You thought it was fine to scam the poor and uneducated like always? You should’ve considered where that money was coming from. Take him away.”
“N-no! Stop!”
When the boss wouldn’t shut up, one of Jaelboan’s staff slapped him across the face.
His teeth shattered, blood gushing from his mouth.
Even though he was a Level 2 superhuman, he was powerless against the staff member—a Level 3.
He was reduced to a mutt being dragged away.
“Woojin, mark the next target.”
[Yes. I’ll display all the locations from the reports at once.]
Several markers popped up on Geumoan’s HUD.
I scoffed.
“This many?”
[Yes. The gangs in Guro-dong and Daerim-dong all threw themselves a compensation party. The residents barely saw any of the money—maybe 10% at most.]
“Hah. Maybe I should’ve prepared more thoroughly.”
[It wouldn’t have mattered. Even government officials are in on it. Plenty of fake officials, too.]
“So this won’t be solved in a day or two. Can you lock down Guro-dong? I’ll make sure you get a hefty bonus. Just made a killing back there.”
[Sounds good. Honestly, considering everything you’ve done for me, I should do this for free… but I’ve got mouths to feed, too.]
“Business is business.”
I stormed through Daerim-dong like a hurricane.
I didn’t just clean it up—I razed it to the ground.
And in the process, two traits I never expected landed in my hands.
Acquired the trait: [Command]
Acquired the trait: [Leadership]
Originally, these were traits held by Haneulbae’s captain.
Not bad.
I wasn’t planning on taking the Great General route, but whether for running Kim’s Party or training disciples, they’d be useful.
With these two traits boosting my efficiency, the gang purge accelerated.
“We’ve eliminated Sword Demon Gang.”
“We found a hidden vault in Reaper Gang—199 billion won in cash and gold.”
“We caught the remnants of Blood Fiend Gang trying to escape! Bringing them in now!”
Word of the purge had spread, and gangs attempted to flee.
But they failed.
Jaelboan had secured the entire area, from the streets to the sewers.
What could a bunch of thugs do against a perimeter of Level 3 superhumans?
They either got caught while running or were taken down resisting—only to face public execution.
Sseongduung!
“Next!”
“P-please spare me! The boss made me do it! He gave the orders!”
“Shut up. Next!”
Hundreds were beheaded each day.
Not just gangsters.
The corrupt bank employees and fake government officials who colluded with them, too.
Calling them bank employees and officials was being generous.
They were financial criminals and fraudsters.
This area had no real government presence.
Did you think the so-called bankers and officials here were legit?
Most were scammers and impersonators.
“We plan to establish an administrative welfare center in Guro-dong and Daerim-dong.”
The Prime Minister’s chief secretary came to deliver the news.
He was all smiles.
“This was the most cancerous part of Seoul, but I never expected it to be resolved so easily. As expected of you, Black Tiger Swordmaster.”
“It’s not over yet.”
“Haha, true. We still need to set up a police station, a fire department, a hospital, and schools.”
That wasn’t what I meant.
I’d been moving non-stop for the past few days, but I hadn’t lost sight of my true objective.
The Terror Alliance.
Why was I making such a mess?
Because I was hunting them.
And to show them—mess with me, and you’re utterly screwed.
“Black Tiger Swordmaster.”
After the secretary left, Kim Chulkwon requested a meeting.
“We found them.”
On the outskirts of Daerim-dong.
Far from where Choi Sunsoo’s blood was discovered.
There, hiding like vipers in an artificial forbidden zone—was the Terror Alliance.
–TL Notes–
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Nice purging
let the hunt begin