Chapter 293:
Agael raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
Her eyes sharpened as if trying to read Yu-hyun’s intentions.
But as soon as she saw Yu-hyun smiling at her, she gave up.
It was better to just ask him directly than to try to read his unreadable mind.
“Why do you suddenly want to help me? You seem to have something in mind too.”
“That’s a secret. But it shouldn’t be a bad deal for you either.”
“It’s not a bad deal. That’s why I’m more suspicious.”
Agael also wanted to kill Dogangjun, but Yu-hyun’s offer was awkward.
They were not friends, and if anything, they were enemies who failed to devour each other. And he suddenly came to offer his help?
Unless he had a bullet in his head, there had to be something fishy about it.
Knowing that he was a real enemy, Agael was even more cautious.
“Well, I can’t help it if you’re suspicious. But I have some business with Dogangjun too.”
“What business?”
“Revenge for our CEO.”
“Ah.”
“By your reaction, I guess you knew? Or maybe it’s strange that you didn’t know, since you were on his side back then.”
Baek Seo-ryeon, the CEO of White Flower Management, had a grudge against Twilight Curtain.
Twilight Curtain had disguised an accident that killed her older brother, and dumped all the damages on her family.
Hanul also had a hand in it, and because of that, Yu-hyun had dealt a big blow to both clans.
But Twilight Curtain was still alive.
They were almost destroyed, but they kept their skeleton intact.
And as long as Dogangjun, their core, remained, there was a possibility that they would rise again someday.
“Just so you know, I didn’t order it. They did it on their own.”
“I know. A teller who can barely manage a commoner’s household wouldn’t bother to order such a thing.”
“Hmm. Well then. A grudge relationship…”
“Don’t you think that’s enough of an answer?”
“…But it’s still suspicious that you came like this. If you put it that way, you and I should have a grudge too.”
Yu-hyun nodded as if it was obvious.
“What do you mean by obvious? Do you think I came here to make peace with you? Wake up. This is a simple business. You should know what that means, since you’ve risen to that position.”
He clearly had a personal grudge, but that didn’t mean he would refuse a business that would benefit both sides.
If he really knew how to use his brain and gain profit, he should be able to shake hands with his enemy for a moment.
“Or are you trying to ask me to stop the hostility with this? You have no idea how much I’ve suffered because of your Pentagram department.”
“…”
Agael knew. What she had done was not something that could be settled with an apology.
More than anything, her Pentagram department had crossed the line with Yu-hyun. Shamat’s incident was the worst of them all.
As Agael, she felt a bit cowardly, but she also hoped that he wouldn’t be hostile.
But as soon as she heard Yu-hyun’s words, she realized that his anger had not subsided at all.
Rather, it was burning hotter than ever.
“Listen up. Fairy lady. I’m not a teller who will stop just because you say so. You and I are equal now. No, by the size of our libraries, I’m superior to you. Why should I listen to your words when you’re inferior to me? Do you still see me as the naive staff member I was when we first met?”
“That’s…”
“Do you think you didn’t end up like Jinpoong or Shamat just because you were lucky? Wrong. It’s because I didn’t want to waste my time on you yet.”
“…”
It was almost abusive, but Agael couldn’t say anything back.
She belonged to the Pentagram department and knew the logic of power.
At this moment, in this place, the logic of power was working very clearly.
The strong and the superior was Yu-hyun, and the weak was her.
“If you don’t want to give me Dogangjun’s information, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter whether I have it or not. I can make up an excuse in no time.”
Yu-hyun wouldn’t lose much even if Agael refused to give him Dogangjun’s information.
He would only suffer for a few days.
But what about Agael?
Could she watch the collector who betrayed her get support and prosper for a few more days?
The fairy who had an arrogance that didn’t match her small stature?
“…I’ll accept the deal.”
Agael bit her lip in anger, but didn’t refuse.
She didn’t just get to the manager’s position by flattery.
Emotions were emotions, and business was business.
She would shake hands with him even if he would stab her in the neck someday, as long as it was profitable now.
There was no one else to join hands with anyway. It was a devil’s deal.
“You made a good choice.”
Yu-hyun smiled and wrote a simple contract.
The deal was simple: Agael would provide information on Do Kang-jun to Kang Yu-hyun, and Kang Yu-hyun would take care of Do Kang-jun personally.
Agael made sure to give him solid evidence that could be verified by the Divine Spirits.
That way, even if he killed Do Kang-jun through the painting, the Divine Spirits would accept it and move on.
“The deal is done.”
Kang Yu-hyun said as he got up from his seat, having finished his business.
“Oh, by the way. There’s something I forgot to tell you.”
He turned to Agael before leaving the manager’s room.
Black letters swirled on his face, and soon turned into a mask with four eyes.
The sinister four eyes stared into Agael’s eyes.
“Tell Director Demialos this. Don’t let your guard down.”
“…”
Agael couldn’t even open his mouth.
The demon of Aporia caused an unknown horror to anyone who faced him, even a senior teller like her.
Even though she was protected by the patronage, she couldn’t get rid of the fear.
It felt like an invisible hand was squeezing her throat and her heart.
The world was plunged into darkness, and she was left alone in the abyss where something huge was writhing.
That thing was such a thing. It was impossible to understand, and it twisted all perception just by looking at it.
If the world was a system and a program, then that thing was a virus itself.
“Well, then.”
Kang Yu-hyun disappeared and the manager’s room sank into silence. Until then, Agael’s pale face didn’t get any better.
***
“Hmm. Good. This should be enough as evidence.”
Kang Yu-hyun nodded in satisfaction as he checked the information on Do Kang-jun that he received from Agael.
He immediately sent the information to Celine and asked her to display it for the Divine Spirits to see when he opened his library.
The information contained detailed descriptions of who Do Kang-jun was.
And his hidden scars as well.
‘I could have handed him over to the association and let them deal with him.’
But he didn’t think that the judiciary would give a heavy sentence to a collector like Do Kang-jun.
After all, he was a senior collector and a leader of a clan.
He had a lot of money and social status. There was no better country to live in than Korea for people like him. He could commit crimes and get away with it.
So Kang Yu-hyun decided to take matters into his own hands.
‘Anyway, it’s all just an excuse. The real goal is to get the golden fragment.’
As far as he knew, the only way to get the golden fragment was to kill the owner.
He didn’t know if the owner could transfer it by giving up his ownership, but he would refuse that option anyway for Do Kang-jun.
He had to die. He had been annoying from the start, but there was no chance for redemption after he joined forces with Exodus.
‘Well, then. Shall we start the first fragment retrieval operation?’
According to the information he obtained, Do Kang-jun had been busy traveling around the worlds of thought, collecting by-products and earning points.
But there was a secret that no one knew: he acted as clan leader Do Kang-jun during the day, but as someone else at night.
Maybe that’s why he joined hands with Exodus, but Do Kang-jun hid his identity at night and infiltrated other collector parties, killing them.
Agael didn’t know what happened after that, but he probably didn’t do this once and never again.
Kang Yu-hyun stood on top of the skyscraper building and looked down at the night city.
‘As expected, he moved.’
As Kang Yu-hyun predicted, Do Kang-jun showed himself. He disguised himself so that other people wouldn’t recognize him, but Kang Yu-hyun saw through his essence with the book.
Do Kang-jun went out of the city and joined a collector party that was already gathered there.
They were probably collectors who gathered for clearing this Mental Realm.
‘Do Kang-jun. Senior collector. Estimated level 86 and owner of a fragment.’
If he was just a senior collector, Kang Yu-hyun would have been confident to beat him, even if it was troublesome. But it would be a different story if the golden fragment was involved.
He didn’t know what kind of ability the fragment he had would show, so it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.
Kang Yu-hyun followed them as soon as he confirmed that they entered the Mental Realm.
There was no one to stop him from entering the Mental Realm outside the city, since there were no staff to manage or monitor the entrance. Naturally, Kang Yu-hyun could easily follow Do Kang-jun.
As soon as he entered the Mental Realm, he opened his library.
[The library is opened.]
At the same time, the number of viewers in front of his eyes increased exponentially.
Soon, the average viewer was over 13,000 and the subscriber was over 10,000.
The number of Divine Spirits who were eagerly waiting for him to show the painting was already over a thousand.
They came into the open library and saw him standing alone, and they reacted with curiosity.
[Where is Sword Empress?]
[No Kwangrang? Oh, I want to see Kwangrang.]
[When can we see the white-haired lady again?]
Most of the viewers were looking for Kang Hye-rim, Kwon Jia, and Seo Sumin. The only consolation was that there were some viewers who liked Yoo Young-min, albeit a minority.
“First of all, I’m alone today.”
The viewers focused on Yu-hyun’s word ‘first of all’. It meant that he was alone now, but he might be joined by others later.
But more importantly, they paid attention to the fact that Yu-hyun was alone right now. It meant that he was going to do something by himself, something that would be fun and interesting.
Then, on cue, Celine put up Do Gangjun’s profile on the screen.
The viewers were startled by the sudden appearance of Do Gangjun’s data, but some of them realized that he had committed a heinous crime and their eyes lit up.
“That’s right, dear viewers. I’m going to kill someone today. And not just anyone. A vicious criminal.”
The viewers already knew what Do Gangjun had done.
That’s why he had put up the data.
If Yu-hyun branded him as a criminal and then punished him, the viewers would not blame Yu-hyun.
Killing an innocent person would provoke the backlash of the good-natured viewers.
But punishing someone who did evil without hesitation was something that everyone liked.
The evil-natured viewers liked it because someone died, and the good-natured viewers liked it because a bad guy got what he deserved.
[Do you have to go this far?]
Baekryeon, who had watched the whole process, worried that Yu-hyun was putting too much effort into preparation.
‘I can’t help it. If I have power, and I just kill him here, it will cause trouble.’
[Then why don’t you close the library and do it?]
‘Then I won’t get any points. And I won’t be able to elicit the reaction I want.’
[The reaction you want?]
‘I have something like that.’
Yu-hyun was sure that there were some viewers who knew about the Primordial Book besides Satan.
Then how could he find them?
The answer was simple. Since ordinary viewers couldn’t recognize the Primordial Book itself, it would be very easy to identify those who knew about it.
Yu-hyun would deliberately act suspiciously when the fragment was revealed.
To the ignorant viewers, Yu-hyun would look like he was doing something strange in thin air, but what about the knowledgeable ones?
He had ordered Celine to check their subtle reactions beforehand.
‘Well, shall we go then?’
Do Gangjun and the nameless collectors had already entered the Mental Realm. It was a dark forest with dense conifers.
But they were not ordinary trees. The leaves were all sharp like thorns.
It was inevitable to get hurt if they walked in such a place where light didn’t even enter properly.
Yu-hyun walked through the forest with ease.
It wasn’t hard to find where Do Gangjun was heading.
He could see the light emitted by the book from afar.
‘But he moved faster than I thought.’
When he arrived at the scene, he saw that all the collectors who came with him were dead.
The cause was simple.
They were all killed in one strike.
A high-ranking collector who hid his identity had ambushed them when they were off guard.
No one could have resisted.
“Hmm?”
Do Gangjun wiped off the blood on his blade and noticed Yu-hyun’s deliberate presence.
He turned his head toward him.
“Was there one more? You’re unlucky.”
He muttered and then strained his eyes in the faint darkness.
He soon recognized Yu-hyun’s face and twisted his expression.
“Kang Yu-hyun Teller?”
“This is an honor, you know me? Do Gangjun, the clan leader of Twilight Veil.”
“…How did you know I was here?”
Do Gangjun stopped talking and snickered. He shook his head.
“No, it’s no use asking that in this situation.”
He could just destroy the evidence anyway.
The viewers were watching, but they didn’t interfere with the affairs of this world.
Do Gangjun exuded his killing intent and Yu-hyun smirked.
He was trying to kill people over there and silence him over here. Could there be a more perfect reason?
“Bring it on.”
Yu-hyun snapped his fingers at Do Gangjun.
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