Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
NCR Guild’s headquarters…
“He’s not in Guadalupe, either?”
“No, sir. He hasn’t been there nor has he contacted them.”
“Hmm…” Jose stroked his beard. Jose had received the report that his son, Cantana, had disappeared late in the morning. The entire guild was still reeling from the festivities the night before. Cantana had been seen turning in late the night before but now, there wasn’t a single trace of him anywhere. He simply vanished into thin air. Cantana was the heir to the NCR Guild. The entire guild knew who he was, and he was always well-guarded. The only way he could have disappeared like this was if he used a Warp Scroll, but there was nowhere he would go while he was that drunk.
Still, if there was anywhere he would go, it would be Guadalupe, Chiapas, the one place Cantana was allowed to do whatever he wanted. But the guild members there had not seen Cantana ever since the war against Pedro started. This did not sit well with Jose. Sure, Cantana was a fully grown man capable of taking care of himself, but Jose could not help but feel that something was horribly wrong.
“I assume you’ve tried his Comm Link as well?”
“Yes sir. We’ve been calling him every thirty minutes for the past ten hours, but he hasn’t picked up.”
“Very well. You may go.”
“Yes sir.” The officer left, leaving Jose alone in his office.
After thinking to himself for a while, Jose looked down at his right hand. “Was it the handshake?” Jose muttered to himself, but after that, he fell into a deep silence.
The feast continued, however, as if nothing was wrong.
—
8 PM, back at the basement beneath the Abu Dhabi embassy in Seoul…
I looked over at Cantana Alejandro, who was now chained to one side of the basement room. Imprisoning a deva sounded easy, but was extremely difficult to pull off, especially because devas no longer feared death. That was why I had five hundred soldiers prepared even though I was only going to imprison two devas, Cantana and Jose. There was a lot to be done.
First, I needed a team that was combat ready 24/7 in case our victims tried to use a Warp Scroll to get away. We could not let that happen.
Second, I needed another team that was combat ready 24/7 in case our victims tried to use a Comm Link to contact their friends. We could not let that happen, either.
Third, normal steel shackles or cuffs only worked on mortals. Our victims were devas who might have immense strength or could use skills or spells to easily break out of those shackles. We also needed to make sure their HP, MP, and Fatigue didn’t restore completely while not killing them all the way. Killing them would mean letting them go, letting them resurrect wherever their Respawn Point was. We had to make them beg us to kill them.
You could see the dilemma we were now faced with. We couldn’t give them too much room, which would allow them to use a Warp Scroll or their Comm Links, but we couldn’t stay too close to them, which would prompt them to force us to hurt them too much. It’d be easier if they were devas who didn’t have access to Warp Scrolls or Comm Links, but our victims were the highest ranking officers of a large guild. We had no choice but to go to this extent just to torture them.
“You’re here again, Mr. Lee,” Khamil came up as I stared at Cantana.
“Yes. I might as well bring the other one here now.” I walked over to the same place I had Called Cantana to the night before.
“Call: Jose Alejandro.” Like the night before, I Called him at 8 PM. It was 5 in the morning in Mexico right now, so Jose should have been asleep, but he wasn’t. He actually looked like he knew he was going to be Summoned, but I wasn’t fazed by that. “Do you always get up this early or did you not sleep at all?”
Jose turned towards me.
“Didn’t you hear that sleep is the best medicine? The same goes for devas. You really ought to sleep when you can.”
Jose ignored what I said, however, and raised his right hand instead. “Was it the handshake?”
“Handshake? We don’t need to shake hands again. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, you and I,” I said, shaking my head. I did know what he was talking about, though. I had made sure to shake hands for a minute long with both Jose and Cantana. To them, it was just an awkwardly long handshake but it had turned out to be a great chance for me to get them here.
Jose heaved a heavy sigh before speaking up. “Fuck this world. If you thought you knew everything, you’re always surprised by something worse.”
“Isn’t that just how life works?” I gripped my spear and raised it, poised to attack. We had plenty of time to talk.
“Is it because of Pedro? But he’s permanently dead. There’s no reason for you to become our enemy just because of Pedro. I doubt someone like you would do something this shady yourself.” Was it his age or experience in these matters? Jose didn’t even flinch when I raised my spear. “You’re the type of man who only acts in his favor and not in honor or glory, are you not, Lee Jiwon? I will give you what you want.”
I smiled when he said that, as if I liked what he was getting at.
“Do you want a monthly stipend of golden rings? Or a yearly offering of worthy items? How about someone to do your dirty work? I can make any of that possible. Having a shadowy guild on your side is never a bad thing, Lee Jiwon.”
I cackled. Jose was trying his best to appease me, but I saw what he was really doing. “It’s so obvious you’re just trying to buy time.” He did seem pretty sincere about it, as if maybe one of his suggestions could catch my eye. “Do you have Change?”
Jose gasped in surprise and paled. I wasn’t sure if he had it, but no matter how strong he was compared to other guild leaders, there was no way he could remain so calm about this. He was in an unfamiliar and hostile environment with about four hundred soldiers surrounding him. And his opponent was me.
“Blink 1.”
“Gah!” My spear easily pierced his chest and I stabbed him twice more, keeping him alive by a thread. Cantana at least struggled and fought back while cursing me, but Jose just let it happen.
—
Three minutes later…
Jose was on the floor, laughing but the laughter came out as sharp, pained breaths.
“Why aren’t you struggling? Your son at least shot off a few spells.”
“Is there a reason to?” Jose said as he struggled to sit up. “So why are you going to this extent? Is it really in Pedro’s name? You’re not the man to do that, though.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking that it’s time I made the world a little safer to live in. You know the saying; with great power comes great responsibility.”
“Fuck off,” Jose spat out.
It would seem that Jose knew a little too much about me. I turned around and nodded to Khamil. I have one last look to the panting and bloody Jose and left the basement. Now that I had removed the head of the snake, it was time to skin its body.
—
The next day…
I had sent in an official declaration of war to the NCR Guild because last night, someone from their guild had raided my home, while leaving insults and a clear reason why they did that. Of course, no such intruders existed. I just needed a good enough reason to attack the NCR Guild, that way I wouldn’t receive any fallout.
I used the rumor the NCR Guild had spread, calling me a coward, and made it seem as if the so-called intruders didn’t like the fact that I had received my payment when I had barely done anything to Pedro. And frankly, that was enough.
—
The NCR Guild’s headquarters…
“Where is the guild master?”
“Where has he disappeared off to?”
“He’s right. Lee Jiwon is obviously making this up. Why would anyone from our guild do such a thing? We need the guild master to properly address this situation!”
Lee Jiwon’s declaration had come out of nowhere. It was obviously built on false pretenses, but if the guild master wasn’t here to deny those claims, Lee Jiwon would soon come to make good on his threats. What resulted was complete chaos among the guild’s officers.
Hugo, on the other hand, laughed to himself when he read through the declaration in Jose’s stead. He knew there was no recovering from this. Hugo got up from his seat and quietly left the board room. Those fools hadn’t realized by now that this was all going according to Lee Jiwon’s plan. The end of the NCR Guild had come, and Hugo wanted to be long gone by then. And so, with Hugo’s departure, the NCR Guild soon began to implode from the top.
—
One week later…
“I guess it’s about time to go now.” I’d let things marinate for long enough now. I could have gone earlier and made sure not a single one NCR Guild member escaped, but I decided to just let them destroy their own guild first. That way, the name, Nuevas Chivas Rio, would completely disappear off the face of the earth.
Behind me were six thousand soldiers. Each of my allied factions had sent over a thousand of their best soldiers. I hadn’t even asked for help, either. They were the first to offer their help and I gladly accepted. Together, we were going to burn the NCR Guild to the ground.
“Well, I’ll be relying on all of you,” I said to the captains of each guild.
“Haha! We’ll make them regret ever crossing Lee Jiwon!”
“If they wanted to die that badly, then we’ll gladly grant them that wish!”
“Hey, you know what this reminds me of? A school field trip.”
“Ha! I like the way you think! It’s nice working together like this. We should do it more often.”
“That’s not a bad idea!”
Everyone was in high morale. They were about to destroy one of the world’s worst guilds that had already just about imploded. This was going to be an easy battle.
——
For the first time in this new world, six large guilds had come together as allies in battle against a single foe, all under one man’s name; Lee Jiwon. The alliance had in short become a true force to be reckoned with, and it was no surprise that the NCR Guild was completely and utterly destroyed in an instant. The rest of the world had to react quickly. They knew that this alliance had existed, but it had never acted together until this day when it showed its power. Soon, no one guild or organization would ever be able to stand up to this alliance.
—
Back at my home in Seoul…
“Hmm…why did it stop at 99 points?”
==[The Chest Containing Pedro’s Unfulfilled Desire for Revenge currently has +99 points.]==
Destroying the NCR Guild should have been enough to get the Chest up to +100 points, but it was stuck +99. There was only a week left until the Chest was going to open on its own.
“Is it because of him?” I left my house and headed back to the basement beneath the Abu Dhabi embassy. Jose and Cantana were still imprisoned here. I walked up to Jose first. His eyes were bloodshot and out of focus. He knew what had happened while he was here; I had placed a TV for the both of them to watch as I razed their guild. I even allowed them to use their Comm Links because there was nothing they could do about it now.
I dragged a chair over nearby and sat down in front of Jose.
“How much longer are you going to keep me here?”
“You know, I’m not so sure myself. I’m still thinking on it.” It wouldn’t matter if I let Jose go now and he tried to tell the world what had really happened. No one was going to care what he had to say. History was written by the victor, and I won.
I was starting to worry for the Abu Dhabi Guild. These five hundred guards were some of the best of their guild and keeping them from their normal duties couldn’t be good for the Abu Dhabi Guild. I wanted to let Jose and Cantana out soon. I had no reason to worry about Jose and Cantana trying to get revenge, since I was only going to get stronger. I might just keep them registered in Call for the time being, to kill them once every so often.
“I’ll let you go today.”
Jose blinked when he heard that. He didn’t even try to blackmail me into giving him golden rings or anything. He probably felt too… humiliated to try that.
“Try and live a good life from now on, okay?” I said as I stabbed him.
“Gah!” There was no way I was going to send him off nicely. Soon, Jose disappeared from his spot in a cloud of smoke. As soon as the smoke dispersed, I checked the Chest, and saw that it was still at +99.
“Yup. It’s got to be you.” I walked over to Cantana.
“Fuck you, Lee Jiwon! I swear to God, once I get out of here I’m going to kill you over and over! I’ll sell my soul if I have to! I’ll make you pay!” His eyes were still full of hatred and anger. Keeping him imprisoned just wasn’t going to work, so I might as well set him free.
“Fine, you win. I’ll let you go.” I stabbed Cantana right in the face as his eyes went wide with shock, killing him in an instant.
—
The next day…
“Call: Cantana Alejandro.”
“Huh?” This time, Cantana wasn’t naked, but was covered in blood stains. They obviously weren’t from hunting, which meant they were from Butchering more mortals.
“Did you seriously kill more mortals again?”
“How…why did you…?” Cantana was looked like he was about to cry from the shock.
“I brought you here again because I was bored, but to think in that short of time, you went back to your old ways.” I slammed my spear into him repeatedly. Cantana tried to fight back, but it was all in vain. He was going to die again.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Why…why…?” Cantana was bawling now.
“Why are you crying? I just wanted to see you again, so lighten up. I won’t kill you right away, okay? Here, I have some tasty snacks for you too. Come here, have a cup of tea before you go.”
Even Cantana could see by now that he wasn’t going to get away from me, ever. He realized I could kill him every day, or whenever I wanted to.
“You don’t want to die today? Then do you want to spend the next week in my jail? I’ll do whatever you ask, just say the word.” When I said that, I heard a weird sound come from Cantana. It sounded like glass breaking and soon, a red smoke oozed out of Cantana and vanished into the air. A message appeared before me at the same time.
==[The Chest Containing Pedro’s Unfulfilled Desire for Revenge currently has +100 points.]==
I could tell from that message that the red smoke from Cantana’s body was his Mad Butcher skill. He had finally lost it.
“Please…please…spare me…” I finally heard the despair I was waiting for in Cantana’s voice. It took him long enough.
