Chapter 166 – Faruelaine (2)
“Choi Soon-Hong finally missed it.”
“Yes. Didn’t you bring him back safely?”
The Frenchman repeatedly expressed his gratitude in fluent English. Choi Yeon-ju, who arrived at the research institute a step ahead, glanced over at the Frenchman who was still clutching his surprised chest and asked the researcher.
“Is this person’s health okay?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“First, let the medical team examine you briefly, and as soon as you feel calmed down, start sharing data. I don’t know why a terrorist group is trying to kill this man, but it seems clear that this man holds some important information.”
It was unclear whether the information would be necessary for himself and the research institute, but the Frenchman was a welcome talent in that he had quite important information. The Frenchman had brought along a large briefcase, and he seemed to be spending quite a bit of time reading and discussing its contents.
Yeonju Choi immediately went up to the third floor and found the waiting Hunter team. They were hunters who were working shifts in case the gates around the research center were opened. They leaned loosely in front of the TV and stared at Choi Yeon-joo. Yeonju Choi said.
“Did you hear what happened this morning?”
“Ah yes. I heard. The Black Dragon Ark attacked the airport.”
“‘Before’ is the Black Dragon Ark. Currently, the Black Dragon Room is in a semi-disbanded state, and we are actively cooperating with the arrest of the terrorist group.”
At Yeonju Choi’s words, the hunters shrugged her shoulders and nodded. The reaction was as if the name was not so important. Yeonju Choi said.
“Among the hunters in the Black Dragon room, there is Jung Soo-hyun, right?”
“Yes. That Adda bomber.”
After saying it was an Ada bomber, the hunters giggled at each other. Jung Su-hyeon, whose growth seems crazy, was actually of the general opinion among the hunters that he must have absorbed the ‘shards of the Almighty’. It was because the moment when he stopped searching for the fragments of the Almighty Emperor in the Black Dragon Room and the moment when Jung Soo-hyeon stood out was quite right.
Yeonju Choi nodded her head and said.
“Yes. From today until the Frenchman finishes sharing data, I will be here as well, but now, someone please go and bring that Jung Su-hyeon.”
“Suddenly?”
“You know roughly why, right? They must have fragments of the Almighty, but while they do have them, we have to ask them to cooperate with our experiment. Just this time, a French researcher came, so we conduct research and experiment quickly at the same time. Say they will give you a lot of money and rent a lodging here.”
“Aren’t you in too much of a hurry?”
“Now in Seoul, there are only me and Hunter Lee Hyun-woo in the S rank. It means that if there is a Class A gate, I have to go out. The longer that Frenchman stays around, the more likely Choi Soon-hong will target this research institute or carry out terrorism in other ways. We finish data sharing and research as quickly as possible, and upload the research data to the database.”
“Yes. All right.”
Leaving Choi Yeon-joo behind, the hunters got up and gathered in another room. Choi Yeon-ju, an S-class hunter with sensitive ears, snorted at the voice coming from across her.
“If you don’t play, you lose Rock Paper Scissors!”
This was a mountain village quite far from Seoul.
******
“You’re in trouble.”
“The bitch…”
Choi Soon-hong was trembling as he wiped the wounds on his body one by one. The S-class state he tasted after taking medicine once made him intoxicated with power. Choi Soon-Hong was breathing heavily, wriggling the muscles of his whole body as if his excitement was still not gone.
The twitching of his body was not only due to the aftereffects or side effects of the medicine. Anger at Choi Yeon-joo, who ignored him and simply suppressed him, resided in his heart. When asked if he was ignoring him, he answered ‘yes’ without hesitation. The shell simply blew away as if mocking him for not being able to properly adjust to his power yet.
It was fortunate that he strengthened his body with medicine, but it was a power that could have seriously injured him if he was in his original state. Choi Soon-Hong frowned as he pulled out the shrapnel stuck in his thigh. Said the masked man.
“The French side contacted us about the mission failure this time. He said, ‘I understand that you couldn’t help it because an S-class hunter was an escort.’”
It was a thoughtful remark. The masked man let out a laugh even as he said this. It was because he did not know how to look after the situation in this matter. Choi Yeon-joo, an S-class hunter, came out to greet the Frenchman in person, a situation that neither he nor Choi Soon-hong nor the French Association expected.
“I could have won. If I had just gotten used to the drug a little more, I would have won.”
Choi Sun-hong said so. His anger was now directed at Choi Yeon-joo, who had defeated him. He had no justification or justice for him. He had long since forgotten why he wanted to become the Heavenly Demon. He forgot all the guilt and conflicts piled up in his heart as he got drunk on the level of S-class he had tasted for the first time with medicine. Choi Soon-Hong was blind now.
The masked man laughed and said.
“So, I want to make it a little more clear on that side as well. They even gave me new support.”
Soonhong Choi saw the box in the masked man’s hand. When the black box was opened, a syringe containing a dark, thick liquid was revealed. The man held up the syringe and said to Soonhong Choi.
“This is the fortifier promised in France. If you get hit with this, you should be able to raise your level in an instant.”
After taking the medicine, it was Choi Soon-hong who was able to generate strength comparable to that of an S-class, albeit only for an instant. If he could just adapt to that power, he could have defeated Choi Yeon-ju and even killed the Frenchman. Seeing Soonhong Choi’s eyes shining, the masked man playfully shook his bag around. It was very funny how Choi Soon-hong’s eyes moved along with the bag.
When Soonhong Choi tried to grab the bag, the man said,
“I will. Please wait. You can’t make a mistake with this, so I’ll let you go.”
Choi Soon-Hong nodded his head and then held out his arm. His eyes were trembling. He gasped and looked forward to the new world to come. As if Choi Sun-hong’s reaction was amusing, the man playfully grabbed the needle and inserted the needle into his blood vessel.
“Ugh… !”
A black liquid flowed in like water being sucked into a sewer. Thanks to the fact that his blood vessels were dyed black for an instant, Choi Soon-hong was afraid that he was doing something wrong, but the black, viscous liquid melted into his veins again before he knew it.
“Keuk… !”
Choi Soon-Hong fell to his knees as the intense pain overtook his body. The masked man was watching Soonhong Choi’s transformation with interest.
“Ugh… ! Ah… !”
Choi Sun-hong twisted her body, sweating profusely. He scratched the floor and slammed the walls, screaming in pain. Other members of the nearby group rushed to his commotion. When I asked what the hell was going on, the man answered by shaking his head as if nothing had happened.
“Aaaaa!”
Soonhong Choi screamed. His muscles kicked up a notch tighter, and the veins rose in his face. His eyes gleamed like those of a beast, and his height seemed to have grown by one head.
“Huh… ! Ugh… !”
Soonhong Choi stood up. Steam was rising from his body.
Unknowingly, the man was intimidated by Sunhong Choi’s fighting spirit and took a step back from him. Choi Soon-Hong reached for an iron bar to support his staggering body. The iron bar that Choi Soon-Hong touched was crumpled like paper.
He didn’t mean to do that, but he let go of his hand and turned around, and the iron bar that hit his shoulder pulled out and crashed into the wall. The man barely came to his senses and said.
“It will take some time to get used to the power.”
“That’s right… If this power is completed, I can now kill Lee Hyeon-woo.”
As soon as he gained strength, the first thing Choi Soon-hong thought of was Lee Hyeon-woo. The evil guy who took away the name of the Heavenly Demon from himself. He wanted to make it clear who the real Heavenly Demon was by smashing his head with his fist and showing off his corpse on the roof of the building.
The masked man laughed and shook his head.
“Rather than killing Hyun-woo Lee, you have to deal with Yeon-joo Choi and her research team first.”
“Choi Yeon-joo?”
“Yes. That mean S-class hunter who insulted the elderly at the airport this time.”
“I already have this power in my hands, so why do I have to go after them?”
The man looked a little taken aback, as if he didn’t know Choi Soon-hong would give such an answer. However, he smiled again and persuaded Choi Sun-hong.
“Think about it. If you kill Choi Yeon-joo and absorb her powers, wouldn’t Lee Hyeon-woo win more easily? Isn’t Choi Yeon-joo Hunter a rather weak axis among S-ranks? Besides, if you handle this job safely, the French Association may give you more power as a reward.”
“More power?”
Choi Soon-Hong’s eyes trembled. Greater power. Power even greater than that.
Choi Soon-hong’s desire was now out of control. He said with a nod of his head.
“Wait. You have to get used to this power first.”
