Evidence — Part 2
I returned home with the USB and the rest of my loot.
It occurred to me that I didn’t have a laptop. When I contacted Manager Choi to ask him to get one, he showed up in a flash, practically flying over with the latest model.
“Superhuman! What happened to you?”
“Haha, does it show?”
“Your hair… well, and what’s that smell? Did something happen last night?”
Looking at myself after I got back, I had to admit I was a mess.
First of all, my hair was completely burned off.
I had washed up once, but the smell of burning and blood still clung to me. Wearing the state-of-the-art protective suit I’d taken from Human Hunter’s stash at least made me look somewhat presentable; otherwise, I’d have looked like a homeless person.
“Actually, I was attacked last night.”
“Attacked?”
“Where do I even begin… Ah, hang on.”
A thought came to me, and I turned on the TV.
I flicked through channels until I found the news segment I’d expected.
[Our next story. Just after midnight last night, a large-scale gunfight broke out between gangs in Daerim-dong, Yeongdeungpo District. The shootout involved bombs and heavy weaponry, resulting in the explosion of a gas station and the complete destruction of five commercial buildings and over twenty residential houses. Here is the footage.]
A clip recorded on someone’s smartphone.
The blurry video showed a building surrounded by a mob of vagrants.
One by one, they started dropping.
The camera shook, perhaps due to the recorder’s shock, but the explosions going off in sequence were clearly captured.
[There are confirmed fatalities numbering in the dozens. Despite the severity of the situation, the Yeongdeungpo Police have refused to intervene, citing the area as an ‘unpoliced zone’ beyond their jurisdiction. Not even fire trucks were dispatched, leaving residents to handle the fire and evacuate people on their own. Let’s go live to reporter Park Daewon at the scene. Park Daewon?]
[Yes, this is Park Daewon reporting from Daerim-dong, Yeongdeungpo District…]
I turned off the TV.
Manager Choi looked momentarily confused before a realization dawned on him.
“Was that… you, Superhuman?”
“Yes. There were just too many of them, so I had no other choice.”
“No, that’s not the point. Why were you there? Daerim-dong is the worst lawless area around here!”
“It’s not like I went there by choice.”
I began to explain.
How a thug from the Iron Fist Gang had called me out.
The armored limousine.
The explosion at the gas station, the mob of vagrants attacking, and the sniper shot from Human Hunter.
Manager Choi’s face grew grim.
“Could it have been… Kim Chunbok?”
“I don’t think so. You know how much Iron Fist benefits from having me around. If I disappeared, they’d lose control over Sillim-dong. The Poison Gang and the Naked Gang would invade immediately.”
“That’s true. The Iron Fist Gang has been expanding fast. Kim Chunbok’s already at Level 3, and even his top lieutenants are reaching Level 2.”
“Wait, so doesn’t that mean they’re already strong enough to take over the Poison Gang and the Naked Gang?”
“Yes, they’ve been holding meetings about it lately. The Iron Fist Gang’s leadership has a clear advantage. Both the Poison Gang and the Naked Gang’s bosses are only Level 2. If Iron Fist recruits a few more Level 1 members, it’s over for the other two.”
That ruled out Kim Chulkwon as a suspect.
However, Manager Choi strongly insisted that we still needed to call Kim Chulkwon in.
After all, since one of his gang members was involved, Kim Chulkwon would need to prove his innocence.
He had a point.
We called Kim Chulkwon right away.
Kim was shocked and rushed over with his top lieutenants in tow.
“What on earth are you talking about? One of my men attacked Superhuman?”
I looked around at the Iron Fist Gang’s lieutenants as they stood in confusion.
I focused on a familiar face.
The guy who managed Sinwon Market.
“You. Come here.”
“Yes? Is there something wrong?”
“You’ve got a subordinate, a short guy with a shaved head and a scorpion tattoo, right? The one who guards Sinwon Market.”
“Uh… yeah. You mean Daehoon, right?”
The lieutenant took out his smartphone and showed me a picture.
It was indeed the gang member who had lured me out.
“That’s him. That bastard brought me to Daerim-dong around midnight.”
“What? Daerim-dong? Why?”
“He said you wanted to see me.”
“Me? I’d never! If I had business with you, I’d come in person! You’re friends with the Boss, after all!”
The lieutenant looked genuinely outraged.
Kim Chulkwon sat down, then asked gravely.
“Superhuman, can you tell us exactly what happened?”
“Allow me.”
Manager Choi took over, explaining everything step by step in chronological order.
As he listened, Kim Chulkwon’s eyebrows twitched in anger.
When I replayed the news footage, he couldn’t hold back and shot to his feet.
“You damn idiot!”
“Ugh, boss!”
Kim Chulkwon backhanded his lieutenant.
He must have swapped out his prosthetic arm, as it was noticeably bulkier. As he struck, the elbow joint released a burst of flames with a loud fwoosh!
The lieutenant collapsed to the floor, blood streaming from his nose and mouth as his face smacked against the ground.
Kim Chulkwon bowed his head to me.
“My apologies, Superhuman. This is entirely my fault for failing to control my men. I deeply apologize for this oversight.”
“B-Boss?”
“It’s that idiot’s fault; there’s no need for you to apologize, boss…”
The other lieutenants looked alarmed.
The battered lieutenant hurriedly prostrated himself on the floor.
He slammed his forehead down hard and yelled.
“I’m sorry! This is all my fault! I failed to keep my men in line, and it led to this disaster! I’ll take full responsibility! The boss knew nothing about this! He doesn’t even know who Daehoon is! This is entirely on me!”
“Enough. Shut up already.”
“B-Boss.”
“I am truly sorry, Superhuman. I’ll make sure to handle these fools properly. Please, for my sake, spare his life.”
What was this?
Kim Chulkwon was being even more submissive than I’d expected.
Did he think I was some kind of bloodthirsty lunatic?
Begging me to spare a life?
…When I thought about it, his reaction made sense.
The TV was still on, showing footage of me flying through the air and slaughtering vagrants.
What kind of image must he have of me?
I’m the monster who hunted down Park Daeyeop, a Level 4 Cleaner Association Director, single-handedly.
He might even think of me as the Heavenly Killing Star, a living weapon who could turn on them at any moment.
If I were him, I’d be bowing my head too.
“Alright. I’ll accept your apology. Honestly, even as the boss, how could you control every single foot soldier? If I had to guess, that guy probably took some under-the-table money to lure me out. I already thought it was strange when he insisted I ride with him. Even Mr. Go over there wouldn’t just send some lackey without a single call.”
I barely remembered the lieutenant’s last name—Go.
Go grinned widely.
“Glad you noticed!”
“We’re comrades, aren’t we? We may not always see eye to eye, but we’d never betray each other like this.”
“Of course! Absolutely!”
“But you know what has to be done, right? I need to know who ordered this. If you can’t find that out, I’ll have no choice but to suspect you as well.”
The lieutenant nodded vigorously.
“Leave it to me! I know where that bastard Daehoon lives, who his girlfriend and family are—I’ll track down whichever son of a bitch put him up to this, no matter what it takes!”
“Make sure you do.”
“Get going, Junbeom. And don’t bother coming back if you fail.”
“Understood! I’ll leave right away!”
The lieutenant scrambled to his feet and rushed out.
Kim Chulkwon turned to me, his expression calm.
“Superhuman, do you have any suspicions as to who it might be?”
“I’ll have to investigate further.”
I glanced over at Manager Choi.
Manager Choi made an “O” shape with his right thumb and forefinger.
While Kim Chulkwon and I were talking, he had been running a hacking program to bypass the security and access the USB.
Turns out, he had skills in this area as well.
Inside the USB, the files were neatly categorized.
[Ledgers]
[Lists]
[Video Calls]
[Recordings]
[Transcripts]
That kind of organization.
Manager Choi tapped away at the touchpad, skimming through the files.
“This is big.”
“What did you find?”
“A superhuman Hunter, that’s what. He’s killed over twenty superhumans.”
“Twenty!”
Kim Chulkwon gasped in shock.
Then he looked at me with newfound respect, as if to ask how I managed to survive an attack from someone like that.
“Forget everything else. Can you check the most recent contract?”
“Sure, I’m looking for it now. The latest… oh, here it is. This contract was placed three days ago. It seems he was originally going to decline it, but the payout was too tempting to pass up. The reward… is 20 billion won?”
“20 billion won?”
“Twenty billion!”
Kim Chulwon and Manager Choi exchanged glances, their mouths wide open.
Was that really so shocking?
I just shrugged my shoulders.
“As much as I hate to brag, I’m a bit of an expert when it comes to fighting other superhumans, so that kind of price makes sense.”
“But still… 20 billion…”
“How much does a Level 3 superhuman usually go for?”
“According to these records, around 5 to 6 billion won, not counting expenses.”
“Good heavens.”
“To have the honor of working alongside someone like you, Superhuman, truly brings glory to my descendants.”
While Kim Chulkwon stood there gaping, Manager Choi still found time to flatter me.
“And the target… was me?”
“Ah, yes, I almost forgot. That’s right, the contract was placed on you… by Seungcheon Group.”
The atmosphere instantly chilled.
Kim Chulkwon closed his mouth, and Manager Choi narrowed his eyes.
Seungcheon Group.
I had a pretty good idea of what was going on now.
I lifted a finger and wagged it from side to side.
“It wasn’t Seungcheon Group. It must have been Seungcheon Security.”
“Seungcheon Security? Wait a moment… you’re right. The contract was placed through Seungcheon Security’s executive office.”
“The executive office? The CEO’s secretary, correct?”
“Hold on… actually, no. It was placed using the executive office’s business card, but by a different person entirely.”
The pieces were coming together.
Manager Choi’s eyes lit up as he manipulated the touchpad, and he let out a shout.
“Found it! It’s Lee Jaeyeol! He covered his tracks by switching contacts multiple times, but it seems he was the one who thoroughly prepped the contract and accepted it.”
“Lee Jaeyeol…”
Just as I thought.
But why would someone who barely interacted with me go this far?
No matter how rich he is, spending 20 billion won to have me killed?
Was there some reason I wasn’t aware of?
“Lee Jaeyeol?”
Kim Chulkwon looked blank, like he’d never heard the name before.
Manager Choi quickly switched to a new screen showing Seungcheon Group’s organizational chart.
“You’re aware of Seungcheon Security, right? It’s a private military company under Seungcheon Group.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Lee Jaeyeol is the eldest son of Seungcheon Security’s CEO. Right now, he’s also serving as a former Templar Knight of the Old Father’s Cult… ah, and he was recently promoted to Paladin.”
“But why would he want to assassinate Superhuman?”
“That part, I’m not entirely sure…”
“I can explain that.”
Thinking it over, I realized I already had an idea.
When I went to get my armor made, Jo Chul had mentioned something that Saintess had said—she’d foretold that I would become the [Light and Savior] of the Old Father’s Cult.
At the time, I brushed it off, but looking back, it was significant.
A god that had died in the Divine Annihilation War.
The cult was preparing for his resurrection, focusing all their resources on it.
And here I was, supposedly their Light and Savior…
Even if I didn’t fully understand the implications, from Lee Jaeyeol’s perspective, it must have been infuriating.
While he was struggling to claw his way up from the bottom despite being blessed with holy energy, I was being hailed as the Savior and even getting custom armor made by a Level 6 Artisan.
‘That Templar Knight guarding Jo Chul’s house… was that Lee Jaeyeol?’
The Paladin who had seemed particularly hostile.
If that was him, then it all made sense.
I gave a brief explanation of my theory to the others.
Manager Choi frowned.
“Now that you mention it, neither Artisan Jo Chul nor that Paladin seemed very friendly that day.”
“Understandable.”
Kim Chulkwon smirked, twisting the corners of his mouth.
“It’s a matter of inferiority, pure and simple. Imagine a wealthy, well-connected young man encountering someone even more talented than him—it must have driven him mad with envy. Putting out an assassination contract as if he’s just spending some pocket change? In this field, that’s actually pretty common.”
Manager Choi clenched his teeth as he looked at the laptop screen.
“We need to teach him a lesson.”
Kim Chulkwon sneered immediately.
“And how exactly would you propose we do that?”
“Excuse me?”
“Realistically, what can you do? If this were just a small-time CEO, we could go and take them all out, but this is Seungcheon Security we’re talking about. Seungcheon Security. If we make a wrong move, Seungcheon Group itself could come after us.”
At first, he was speaking to Manager Choi, but by the end, he was looking directly at me.
In other words, he was telling me to let it go.
Seungcheon Group is like a dinosaur—a Tyrannosaurus Rex among corporations.
And I? At best, I was a squeaky little mouse.
No, calling myself a mouse would be an overstatement. More like a mosquito.
Manager Choi chewed on his words for a moment before suggesting.
“We could file a lawsuit. With a decent lawyer, if we press charges…”
“You know how it goes with legal favors. Sure, with concrete evidence, Superhuman might win… in three or four years. And even then, it’d only result in a small fine and minor compensation. No apology, no jail time. Money talks, and the poor walk.”
“Then… we could leak this to the media.”
“And who would publish it? TV? Newspapers? Both are out. Editors would block it at the top in exchange for fat envelopes. Maybe some small online news outlet or independent channel could report it, but you really think Seungcheon Group would care? No. Not happening.”
In this world, wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few.
It’s practically a caste system.
The strong crush the weak, and the weak have no choice but to stay silent.
But should I just stand by and take it?
Absolutely not!
“We’ll blackmail Lee Jaeyeol.”
“Excuse me?”
“Blackmail?”
“What do you plan to achieve with blackmail?”
“I’ll force him into the dueling arena.”
“Oh… a duel.”
In this society, personal power determines social standing.
Thus, when disputes arise between superhumans, they’re often settled through duels.
That’s how the Colosseum came about.
“Do you think Lee Jaeyeol would actually agree to step into the dueling arena?”
“Think about it. What do you think Lee Jaeyeol’s goal is? Isn’t it to inherit the family business?”
“That’s true.”
“Lee Jaeyeol is the eldest son, but after his baptism, he was practically disowned and cast aside.”
“Ah…”
My gaze remained fixed on the laptop screen.
Manager Choi and Kim Chulkwon both followed my line of sight and nodded in understanding.
Seungcheon Security’s family tree.
Lee Jaeyeol was indeed the eldest son, but his stepmother was currently the family’s matriarch.
I’d heard about this when I went to get my Level 3 certification—about how he was obsessed with regaining his rightful place.
Seo Woojin had also mentioned a few things.
Getting involved in an assassination scandal wouldn’t exactly help his situation.
“Indeed…”
Manager Choi nodded in agreement.
“This could definitely work.”
On the other hand, Kim Chulkwon didn’t look entirely convinced.
“Are you sure it’ll work? What if Lee Jaeyeol ignores the blackmail and attacks instead? If he decides to mobilize his father’s company, we wouldn’t be able to withstand it. Even if he’s disinherited, it’s not impossible for him to call in some favors from the company, just like he did here.”
“That’s true.”
I agreed with Kim Chulkwon’s assessment.
Which is why I had a plan in mind.
“In that case, we’ll need to level the playing field.”
“And how do we do that?”
“We’ll bring in some allies.”
I do have a few people I can call on.
Faces flashed through my mind.
The first person that came to mind was, of course…
Seo Woojin.
–TL Notes–
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