Swordmaster Healer - Episode 97
TL: Boko
Editor: Frost
Chapter 32: Mad Dog's Death (3)
"We're going up to the seventh floor without stopping," Sung Joon announced, and ran as fast as he could. He reached the seventh floor immediately; he swung his sword, shattering the window, and entered.
Contrary to the ground level, which was filled with hazy smoke, the seventh floor was clean. The sight made Sung Joon feel sick.
'You dirty bastard…'
He hadn't committed suicide as he activated the 'Feast of Poison'. He seemed to think only his own life as precious, as he was controlling the mist of poison so that it wouldn't permeate the seventh floor.
The spectacle infuriated Sung Joon.
Sung Joon, who had walked over to the Director's office without pause, stopped.
"Someone is inside," Rishubalt said.
"It seems that way."
There were two presences.
One of them was definitely Do Hyuk, as he didn't feel mana from one of them. He sensed a top-tier rank Hunter's mana from the other person, so the other one was definitely a Hunter.
'The Hunter's probably the one using the item…'
If someone wanted to use the item, they needed mana. Sung Joon stared at the tightly shut Director's office door, and slowly approached after concealing his presence.
A dagger came flying at his forehead as soon as he opened the door.
"Stealth."
Sung Joon avoided the dagger, and calmly went into a stealthed state. The Director's office was large enough for two people to fight in.
"Stealth, huh?"
Rudolph took something out from his chest pocket and threw it into the air. The fabric pocket hit the ceiling and burst, spreading flour all around.
The spreading flour exposed Sung Joon, and Rudolph smirked.
"Don't be so careless just because you can use stealth," he said, speaking in English.
Sung Joon wasn't proficient in English, but he'd gotten a basic education*, so he could understand what he was saying to an extent. (*Koreans learn English in school nowadays.)
"Does it look like I'm being careless and relying on my stealth?" Sung Joon smirked.
He didn't speak in English, but strangely, his message was conveyed. Rudolph quickly drew his sword and shield, and kept his guard up.
A clear aura gleamed from his sword and shield.
"Rudolph! Kill that piece of shit immediately!" Do Hyuk ordered, but Rudolph didn't act hastily. He had just briefly exchanged glances with Sung Joon, but he could tell.
That Sung Joon was stronger than he could even imagine.
Ultimately, Sung Joon moved first because the magic poison was spreading even now, little by little; thus, he had to kill Rudolph immediately.
"Illusionary Sword."
Sung Joon went all-out from the beginning. When his synchronization rate had reached 40%, his Illusionary Sword was freed from its restrictions; now, he unleashed the complete version of the technique.
Its force was tremendous.
"Ugh!"
Thirty-one aurclad illusionary swords aimed at Rudolph's body all at once.
'Ha!'
Rudolph noticed the illusionary swords coming and strengthened the aura around his shield, but his round shield couldn't defend his whole body.
"AH!"
It was impossible to defend against all of the thirty-one illusionary swords.
As Rudolph couldn't guard his lower body with his shield, the illusionary swords brutally tore through his lower body. In addition, the aura shield that was covering his upper body couldn't withstand the continuous attacks of the illusionary swords, and as the aura shattered, the shield was ripped apart futilely, as if it were a piece of paper.
"R-Rudolph!"
Do Hyuk panicked as he saw Rudolph's gruesomely pierced body fall. To an ordinary person, it would've seemed as if Rudolph just spurted blood, and fell.
"D-Damn it!"
Do Hyuk took out a handgun from his suit pocket. Sung Joon swung his sword and severed his right arm, the same arm that had been holding the handgun.
"AHHH! You piece of shit!"
Do Hyuk was suddenly struck by a horrific pain that originated from his right arm. He couldn't bear the pain and cursed as he grasped his severed arm.
His blood poured out continuously from his arm, forming a small puddle on the floor.
Sung Joon gazed at him with frigid eyes.
"Y-You! If you want money, I'll give it to you! So let's stop now!"
"Do you really think I'm doing this because I need money?"
"T-Then, what! Are you acting like a shitty hero of justice?" Do Hyuk yelled painfully, and Sung Joon smirked.
"It's because you attacked me first. That's the only reason."
Sung Joon raised his sword, and dropped it downwards. Do Hyuk couldn't even scream. His severed head spurted blood and rolled onto the floor.
Sung Joon absorbed the mana from Rudolph's corpse, looked at Rishubalt and said, "Rishubalt. Find the Feast of Poison."
He had read a lot regarding the 'Feast of Poison' on Hunter.com, but he didn't know anything about it besides the fact that it was in the shape of a ring.
"I found it."
Amongst the rings that Rudolph wore, Rishubalt pointed towards the ring with a green gem embedded in it.
"So this is the 'Feast of Poison'."
After checking the results of the measuring tool's appraisal function, he confirmed that it was indeed the Feast of Poison. He put it into his dimension pouch and then proceeded to examine Rudolph's corpse.
"Any other items?"
"He has one C-rank item and two B-rank items. Are you planning on looting him?" Rishubalt asked, and Sung Joon nodded his head.
"This is all money."
"What are you planning to do with the secret vault?"
"By using the 'Feast of Poison', Do Hyuk, this dumbass, told everyone that the Il Sung Group possessed items of mass destruction. The Restriction Supervising Agency* (RSA) will search it and take the items with them." (*The author made up this agency.)
The items of mass destruction were under the RSA's jurisdiction.
"We don't have anything else to do."
Sung Joon went down to the first floor via the stairs. The mist of poison, that had been dense enough to obscure his vision, had vanished, and armed soldiers were collecting the bodies.
There weren't any cheers like when he had first came.
So, Sung Joon just hid himself in the silence.
Do Hyuk had crazily ordered Rudolph to use the 'Feast of Poison', resulting in the deaths of 1319 people. The Blue Dragon Group, which competed with the Il Sung Group, didn't miss this opportunity and fought a war of words.
The public opinion sided with the Blue Dragon Group as South Korea was in a state of mourning.
All the blame went to the Il Sung Group Chairman, Min Sung, and because he knew about Do Hyuk's brutality, yet remained silent about it, his punishment became even greater. He was forced to make a public apology on his knees, and was found guilty by law.
"Are you not planning on killing the Il Sung Group Chairman, Kim Min Sung?" Rishubalt asked, the day after Min Sung had been imprisoned.
It would be easy to break into the prison and kill Min Sung if he wanted.
"Do I really need to kill him? Kim Min Sung has already lost everything," Sung Joon said.
Just as he said, Min Sung had lost his youngest son, his company, and his honor.
"It'll be more painful living," Sung Joon explained.
"It certainly seems that way," Rishubalt nodded his head and replied.
Sung Joon thought he'd be able to understand him. It was harder for a man to live than die when he's lost everything.
"He's going to die, even if I don't do anything."
Sung Joon had muttered as if he were talking to himself, but his expectation had hit the mark. A few days later, Min Sung had been found dead in prison.
The official announcement was that he had committed suicide, but a relative of a 'Feast of Poison' victim might've done it to get revenge.
The storm-like time had passed. Sung Joon sat on his sofa, enjoying his rest, when he heard his phone ring.
He raised his body and said, "Hello?"
Sung Joon hadn't even checked his phone's display before picking up the phone.
"Mr. Kang Sung Joon? This is Team Leader Kim Hyun Sung! Since there was that event I saw on the news, it would be kind of strange to ask if you've been doing well."
He heard a familiar voice from his phone.
"It's been a long time since you've called me."
"I was really busy since Il Sung Group's, Kim Do Hyuk, caused so much trouble. Because you dealt with the issue, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, my work has decreased, though there's still a lot of it," Hyun Sung replied.
South Korea was in chaos because of Do Hyuk, which made several people busy.
"What did you call me for today?"
"As a matter of fact, I wanted to ask how you were doing, but I also have something that I need to tell you."
"Is it regarding the recent incident?" Sung Joon asked.
He had stopped a large-scale massacre, so the government might reward him.
"The government has decided to award you with a three-star medal."
These medals were called 'stars' amongst Hunters. The highest rank for these medals was four-stars, and these medals were awarded to Hunters after a raid for their outstanding feats, or to government officials.
"That's nice."
"Please don't be so disappointed. It's still being decided whether you'll get item priority.
If he had item priority, he would be the first one allowed to take one of the items collected during a Raid. It was a reward more useful than he had expected, so Sung Joon smiled as the conversation continued on.
"Congratulations, Mr. Kang Sung Joon."
After Hyun Sung congratulated him, the conversation ended and Sung Joon checked his clock.
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
It had been a long time since he had been to the 'Iron' training center, so he decided to make a visit. He went down to the parking lot and got into the driver's seat of his car.
And drove his car to the Iron training center.
"Are you going to the training center?" Rishubalt asked. He had memorized the route to the Iron Hunter training center. Sung Joon nodded his head.
He had stretched his body for a few days by going to the training center and doing light exercises. He thought the medal conferment ceremony would be a pain, so he asked them to cut out all the procedures; the government sent a high-ranking official and he was awarded the medal simply.
Because Jung Chul had taken care of the issue with the 'Feast of Poison', Sung Joon was able to take ownership of it.
He also got a item priority ticket.
"Mr. Kang Sung Joon."
While exercising for ten minutes, Sung Joon had been conversing with Eun Joo. After that, someone came over to him. Her hair was tied into a ponytail and she was garbed in a full suit; it was Yoon Seol Ah.
"Congratulations on being awarded the medal," Seol Ah said.
"You're well aware that they don't mean anything, right?" Sung Joon replied and smiled. He wasn't really happy with the medal because it essentially didn't have any benefits. It was a relief that he had at least gained the item priority ticket.
In some ways, the three-star medal was even more useless than a magic sword.
"May I borrow a moment of your time?"
"Sure. I was going to rest until tomorrow anyway."
"Shall we go up?"
Sung Joon nodded his head and Seol Ah started walking first; the two walked up to the eighth floor.
"Is the guild plan progressing smoothly?"
As soon as they entered Seol's Ah personal office, Sung Joon naturally sat on the sofa and asked. Seol Ah opened her mouth with a tired expression.
"Because Mr. Kim Do Hyuk had caused so much trouble, the Blue Dragon Group's position has risen, but the guild plan has been paused."
"For what reason?"
"This incident has raised the issue of major corporations owning guilds."
"Has the guild plan been cancelled?" Sung Joon asked.
If the guild plan was cancelled, Sung Joon may not receive any more aid from the Blue Dragon Group.
That's because they wouldn't need him anymore.
"The plan hasn't been cancelled. It's just been delayed. In time, public opinion will calm down," Seol Ah said, and Sung Joon nodded his head.
The two briefly stopped their conversation. When they were about to continue their conversation, Sung Joon's phone rang.
Sung Joon checked his phone's display, and the caller was Hyun Sung. Sung Joon brought the phone to his ear and opened his mouth.
"What's the matter?"
"The government has requested your cooperation. This seldom happens, but… we've predicted the spot where an S-rank Raid will occur."
"How much?" Sung Joon asked. When the government requests for a Hunter's cooperation, they had to present a reward.
"$150 million."
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