Chapter 264: Butting In (4)

Chapter 264: Butting In (4)

Looking at a corpse never was a pleasant thing.

It would be even worse when said corpse belonged to a colleague they had been talking with and on a mission together.

Normally, the first emotion one would feel in this kind of situation would be 'rage.’ According to Cheon Tae-Hun's common sense and experience, he should be enraged to the point of losing his mind.

Surprisingly, though, he didn't feel any rage—all he could feel right now was fear and pure terror.

The terror paralyzed Cheon Tae-Hun. The terror of knowing that opening his mouth carelessly would also turn him into a headless corpse in the blink of an eye!

His shivering had stopped by now. The fear and terror in his heart reached their extremes, forcing his body to stop moving altogether. His paralyzed body now resembled a stiff log.

“Do you still not understand me?”

Understand him? Cheon Tae-Hun desperately racked his brain. Unfortunately, he still couldn't figure out what Kang Jin-Ho wanted. Thankfully, though, finding the correct reply wasn't his job. Kang Jin-Ho wasn't talking to him, after all.

“P-please wait! Give me a little bit of time!” Lee Jung-Geol responded animatedly, and his complexion was pale white. “If you give me a little bit of time, I shall find the answer you want. That’s why... a little more time!”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at Lee Jung-Geol before briefly nodding. “Very well. Five minutes.”

“...!”

"In the meantime..." Kang Jin-Ho shifted his attention to Cheon Tae-Hun.

Cheon Tae-Hun nastily flinched when their eyes met. The cat toying around with rats had finally turned its attention to him! Unfortunately for him, Cheon Tae-Hun was also just another rat in Kang Jin-Ho's view.

“You.” Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes, and Cheon Tae-Hun responded by nodding animatedly. The latter’s body was now acting on its own at this point as he heard Kang Jin-Ho ask, “How did you notice that I’m a returner?”

Kang Jin-Ho's question contained so much information. Cheon Tae-Hun still had no idea of this young man’s might, but he managed to learn something important just then. This young man had no idea about all the influential factions residing in South Korea.

“Y-you're not a member of the Assembly nor affiliated with the Yeongnam Group, but you still interfered in this matter. Only a returner would do such a thing,” said Cheon Tae-Hun.

Kang Jin-Ho asked curiously, "As a group or as an individual?"

“B-both.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned deeply. “It sounds like you have already analyzed the returners' faction, then?”

“Of course.”

"I see. Then, tell me more."

Cheon Tae-Hun couldn't understand why he had to explain such a thing. However, everything Kang Jin-Ho said felt like absolute orders that simply had to be obeyed no matter what. And that feeling started precisely when Kang Jin-Ho started addressing Cheon Tae-Hun specifically.

"Returners are different from regular martial artists. They maintain their own independent community, sir. However, this community's influence is not on par with either the Yeongnam Group or the Martial Assembly, and they prefer not doing anything flashy or noticeable."

“Hmm...” Kang Jin-Ho's eyes shone in the darkness as a look of genuine interest filled his face. “I see. And then?”

"This matter is... both the Assembly and the Yeongnam Group are involved in this matter, sir. As such, we thought the other smaller, minor factions wouldn't know about this matter. Even if they did, they wouldn't dare send anyone to butt in. And someone of your caliber wouldn't belong to those smaller entities... After eliminating all those possibilities, the only option remaining would be 'returners,’ sir."

Kang Jin-Ho contemplatively nodded.

'I knew it...'

It sounded like the returners were unable to live alongside the regular martial artists in this era. This seemed rather obvious in some ways. After all, Kang Jin-Ho still often found it tough to live among the people of this era despite all the efforts he had expanded to assimilate. However, other returners might not have a reason to assimilate similar to what Kang Jin-Ho had been doing, which meant they wouldn't need to spend any effort in doing so in the first place.

It wouldn't have mattered if the faction of the returners didn't exist and they didn't try to approach Kang Jin-Ho. However, they had already done that. Hadn't Kang Jin-Ho been approached by them when he had just returned to the modern era?

'Looks like I'll have to dig deeper into this...'

She could feel that something serious had gone down in this place. However, that didn't mean she should back off now that she was here. Lee Hyeon-Ju forcibly stopped her legs from trembling and forced them to walk inside. She supported herself against the wall while cautiously sneaking past the front entrance and felt around the wall with her shaking hand to find the light switch.

But when she turned it on...

“Bleeeeeergh!”

Lee Hyeon-Ju toppled over like a shrimp toward the floor and retched uncontrollably. Since she hadn't eaten anything, only stomach acid rushed up her pipe, but her retching was powerful enough as if it would dislodge her insides for her to spit out of her mouth.

“Heuh-uhhh! Bleeeergh! Blergh!”

She tried to control herself, but her wits just didn't want to come back to her. However, that was understandable because the 'spectacle' before her eyes... easily exceeded her worst nightmare, after all!

The entire world seemed as if it were dyed in crimson. From the floor to the walls, then even the ceiling... Everything was so crimson that she couldn't even guess what their original hues could have been. And there was no need to even elaborate on what caused all that crimson coloration. However, this wasn’t the end of the spectacle...

“A-ah?! Ah...!”

In the middle of vomiting, Lee Hyeon-Ju finally became conscious of the object rolling around on the floor near her feet. When she recognized what it was—Lee Hyeon-Ju stumbled back before falling on her butt. She hurriedly scrambled back in pure shock.

What... What on Earth had happened in here?!

With the lights on, the sight of the living room vividly etched itself on Lee Hyeon-Ju's retina. Thick blood had pooled in several spots like puddles. More blood trickling toward the front entrance was dripping down the hump to wet the shoes she was wearing, then... chunks of chopped-up human flesh and limbs resembling meat were laying in those blood puddles.

Lee Hyeon-Ju couldn't keep her eyes open anymore as she hurriedly squeezed them shut.

'Insane!'

Indeed, he couldn't have killed all these people in this manner unless he was utterly insane. And... and Lee Hyeon-Ju could very well be the person responsible for creating this catastrophe. Still...

'...I’ve invited a devil in, haven't I?!'

Lee Hyeon-Ju had finally figured it out. She had finally figured out how Kang Jin-Ho's fear-inducing atmosphere was born.

Kang Jin-Ho wasn't the type to overtly threaten his opponents. He would simply act and turn a person into chunks of bloody meat in the blink of an eye. He was capable of instilling fear in anyone because he viewed his opponents as nothing more than temporary amusement or toys he could tear apart at any time.

Lee Hyeon-Ju suddenly had another thought. What if she had acted a little too haughtily or overboard during her first encounter with Kang Jin-Ho? She could have ended up in this tragic state, too. Realizing that, she found herself unable to move her legs anymore.

Lee Hyeon-Ju was even relieved that she didn’t wet herself. This sight was mercilessly teaching her what it felt like to lose strength in every fiber of her being.

'I... No, I need to get a hold of myself!'

There was no time to waste like this. The devil-like bastard should have reached Lee Hyeon-Ju's grandfather by now. If things had gone well, she should have heard something from them.

In other words, her grandfather could be in a standoff against Kang Jin-Ho right at this moment!

Lee Hyeon-Ju forced herself to stand back up. Her legs were quivering, but she still willed them to move. Her grandfather should be on the second floor, and the devil should be in the same place as him.

Her trembling steps took her up the stairs and eventually, to the corridor with a half-open doorway at the end. Light was leaking out from the door gap.

'He said his compensation hasn't been decided yet.'

So Lee Hyeon-Ju shouldn't be thankful that he came, said Kang Jin-Ho. When she heard that, she initially didn't understand what he meant. After seeing the massacre downstairs, though? A new thought powerfully announced itself in her mind: Kang Jin-Ho didn't come here to help her out.

Clearly recognizing that fact allowed her to figure out what she had to do right now. The 'compensation' hadn't been decided yet. In other words, Kang Jin-Ho might not help Lee Hyeon-Ju and her grandfather out if the offer on the table wasn’t to his liking. In that case, why did he even come here?

The answer was simple—there was another party involved in this event, wasn't there?

If the offered compensation weren't to his liking, Kang Jin-Ho would simply demand what he 'wanted' from the other side instead. He could do something like that.

Lee Hyeon-Ju bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Her new job was to make a deal with a scary devil. Only by satisfying the devil would Lee Hyeon-Ju and her grandfather survive tonight.

To stop herself from getting crushed by this insane and cruel situation, Lee Hyeon-Ju grabbed and squeezed her thigh hard. This was the first time she encountered a situation like this!

As her nails dug into her thighs, stinging pain spread throughout her body. It felt like her mind had cleared up a little.

Lee Hyeon-Ju sucked in a deep breath before walking toward the open doorway at the end of the corridor.