Scammer’s Strategy to Victory IV

'Where is he?'

Swoosh!—

Cheon Woosung and the Owls jumped from rooftop to rooftop in search of Park Gunwoo.

No matter where and how much they searched, Park Gunwoo was nowhere to be found.

"Just where…"

When he was nervously chewing his lips—

Bzzzzz!—

—the communication marble in his pocket vibrated.

"…!"

He confirmed that he was getting contacted by Park Gunwoo with his mana.

Cheon Woosung quickly held up the marble.

-S-Sir Woosung!!

On the other side of the marble was Park Gunwoo, drenched in blood.

—A distinct vertical sword scar on his right eye.

—Thick brows, plump lips, and even his sharp jaw.

It was Park Gunwoo without a doubt.

-Huff! Huff!

It seemed that he was still in the middle of running away as the screen projected on the marble shook severely.

-F-Forgive me! I was caught due to the sudden inference of the Black Lion—

"Let's talk about that later!"

He didn't have the time to listen to Park Gunwoo's insignificant excuses.

"Where are you right now?!"

-I'm escaping through the sewers!

Was that why he was nowhere to be seen on the surface?

"How many pursuers are there?"

-Huff, huff! Fortunately, no one has caught my tail yet!

Park Gunwoo stopped moving and observed the surroundings.

The only thing that was transmitted through the marble was a serene silence. There were no people other than Park Gunwoo in sight.

"Phew."

A breath of relief escaped out of Cheon Woosung's mouth.

The fact that there was no one after him took a load off his shoulders.

"Go to the location I instruct you."

-Yes, I understand!

"And keep maintaining the connection."

Cheon Woosung watched over Park Gunwoo's movements in real-time and handed down orders.

'I need to meet him before they catch his tail.'

He needed to meet him and decide whether to save him or eliminate him.

'…I'll need to eliminate him, right?'

Though Park Gunwoo was his right-hand man, he couldn't let him survive when his face was already known to the Association.

'And even if I do forgive him, my father won't.'

Cheon Doyoon didn't give mercy to his subordinates that made a mistake. In that case, it was better to kill Park Gunwoo with his own hands.

"…"

Sadness surfaced in his eyes.

Park Gunwoo was the subordinate who had stood by his side the longest in the Noctua faction. He was the one and only person who sympathized with Cheon Woosung.

'It can't be helped.'

Cheon Woosung slowly closed his eyes.

His heart hurt as if he was cutting off his own arm, but the mistake Park Gunwoo had made was too severe to give mercy.

'This is—'

Grip—

Cheon Woosung roughly clenched his fists.

The conversation he shared with Park Gunwoo in the past resurfaced.

'—a noble sacrifice for the majority.'

That's right.

As Park Gunwoo had said, it was a noble sacrifice that was needed to save even more lives.

'If we just take over the Association… we'll be able to protect many more people than we are now.'

They would be able to save them from the horrendous beings known as 'Awakeners'.

-I've arrived!

"Stay still until we get there."

Cheon Woosung moved with firm resolution in his eyes.

Park Gunwoo was hiding in a hideout that only a very small amount of individuals knew about, even within the Black Star Organization.

He didn't have to worry about the pursuers finding him.

"Let's go."

Cheon Woosung and the dozens of Owls moved. The Owls were his personal unit that was made up of only the strongest in the Noctua faction.

With those forces, they would be able to neutralize any variables that could occur.

Thud, thud—

Moving past the humid sewers, they arrived at the hideout.

It was a location where construction had been halted nine years previously due to a sudden gate opening underground.

—An abandoned underground world that nearly no people knew the existence of.

And in that place—

"Hm?"

—was only a death-like silence.

"Where are you right now?" Cheon Woosun asked, putting the communication marble near his mouth.

-…

"Gunwoo? I asked where you are!"

Breaking the long moment of silence—

-S-Sir Woosung.

—a voice containing immense fear rang out.

-You… you really came here to save me, right?

"…"

-There's… no way that you're thinking of s-silencing me, right…?

Cheon Woosung's expression distorted heavily.

'Did he hide because he's scared of dying?'

It was a truly disgraceful act for someone who was a high-rank Templar.

"Haha. Don't worry."

Then, as gently as possible, Cheon Woosung continued with the calmest voice he could make.

"Think about the times we spent together."

"Our rigorous effort to follow the will of the Black Stars… to me, you are both a good friend and the one and only person who understands me."

Like a venus flytrap giving off a sweet scent, he lured his prey.

"Even if you did make a mistake, I have no intention of blaming it on you. You were, unfortunately, caught, but you still succeeded in the Guro-dong operation, did you not? You didn't even open your mouth after getting locked up in the Association…"

Putting on a warm smile, he spread his arms wide.

"I don't have the slightest intention of kilingl you, so you can rest assured and come out."

Rustle—

As if responding to his words, someone walked out of the darkness.

—Not Park Gunwoo, but someone who shouldn't have been there.

"—So you really were the culprit."

—A low and thick voice.

The short, old man glared at him with sharp eyes.

Cheon Woosung's eyes opened wide and took steps back.

"…H-Han Taeho?"

The Association's old venomous snake had surprisingly appeared on that spot.

"I really didn't want to believe it."

Han Taeho clenched his fists.

"No matter how evil of a person you were… I thought that you would at least leave the powerless people alone."

However, Cheon Woosung had massacred hundreds of people.

He had committed an irreversible crime.

"Cheon Woosung. You're under arrest for the massacre of civilians and conducting a terror."

"…"

Cheon Woosung's shoulders faintly shook like he couldn't believe it.

An uncanny ominous feeling ran down his spine and spread out.

'Han Taeho being here must mean…'

There was only one possibility he could think of…

"Park Gunwoo…!"

He had betrayed him.

He had gone against the will of the Black Stars and set up a trap in order to save his own meaningless life.

Other than that, there was nothing that could explain how Han Taeho was in that spot like he was waiting all along.

"Y-Y-You blasphemous bastard!!!!"

Cheon Woosung's face scrunched up like a Yaksha as he fiercely yelled out.

"You dare! You dare to believe that you'll survive after going against the will of the Black Stars?!"

The rage that boiled up like a volcano rose to the tip of his head.

—Bloodshot eyes.

He glared at the darkness with eyes containing fury.

"Come out! Reveal yourself!!"

According to how things had developed, Park Gunwoo would be pathetically hiding his body in the darkness.

"I think you have a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?"

"Was it Park Gunwoo? The one who carried out the recent terror incident…"

Tch—

Han Taeho lightly clicked his tongue and continued.

"He already died a long time ago."

"…What?"

'Already died a long time ago?'

What kind of nonsense was that when he had been giving and receiving contact from Park Gunwoo himself just seconds ago.

"What kind of nonsense…"

"I really didn't think you'd be fooled by such a bad impersonation."

"Bad… impersonation?"

Cheon Woosung's eyes looked behind Han Taeho.

"B-Bad? It took three hours just getting my makeup done!"

The person who appeared was General Manager Han, who had disguised himself as Park Gunwoo.

"That's an impersonation…?"

It looked like they put quite a lot of effort into the scar on his right eye and the shape of his mouth, but that was all.

It was such a chaotic disguise that even the expression 'bad' was putting it nicely.

'No.'

The one he had seen…

The one he had talked to…

The one he had led to that place…

…Wasn't General Manager Han disguised as Park Gunwoo.

"I guess you were really nervous."

'No…'

'You're wrong.'

'That… was really Park Gunwoo.'

There was no way he was mistaken.

No matter how urgent or nervous he was, there was simply no way he wouldn't be able to recognize Park Gunwoo.

"Well, you did appear to be very nervous when you urgently contacted us first."

"…What?"

'I contacted them first?'

"What… are you talking about?"

That wasn't true.

Cheon Woosung had never contacted Park Gunwoo first.

He had only received the contact that Park Gunwoo had sent him first during his escape.

"…What's going on?"

Step, step—

Cheon Woosung stepped back with his face dyed in fear.

—Something felt wrong.

Something decisive…

Something critical…

Something was so warped that he didn't even know from where it all started to go wrong.

'They're different.'

The words that came out of Han Taeho's mouth and his memories didn't coincide.

'How did things turn out like this?'

It felt like something didn't fit into place.

It was an unpleasant feeling as if a massive invisible hand was controlling him and Han Taeho like a marionette.

"Why don't we stop the chit-chat here?"

Step, step—

Another doll walked out of the darkness.

The young man with ice-cold eyes emitted the fierce pressure of a wild beast that didn't match his eyes.

"…The Black Lion."

It wasn't only him.

The Association's special officers and even the members of the Valhalla guild…

Everyone had been waiting for him to fall into their trap.

'Goddammit!'

When he couldn't even be certain of victory against Han Taeho and the special officers, even the Valhalla guild intervened.

'I can't die so futilely in a place like this…'

"Go! Owls!"

After making his subordinates buy time, he quickly moved his body.

"Don't lose him!!"

The Black Lion chased after him.

Baaaaaaang!!!—

The underground shook with the frightening sound of explosions.

* * *

"Huff! Huff!"

Drip, drip—

Cheon Woosung, who was drenched in blood, kept moving while his body swayed as if he was going to collapse at any moment.

"Kugh…!"

There was a deep horizontal cut on his side.

If you were to take minor injuries into account, there were over dozens of injuries around his body.

'Still, I somehow managed to escape.'

Cheon Woosung chewed his lips and looked around.

He was able to successfully escape for the moment thanks to his subordinates, who blocked them off with their lives.

"I-I need to hurry up and contact my father."

He mumbled in a shaky voice while taking another step forward.

At that moment—

"So this is where you were."

—a pair of azure fen fires blazed at the other side of the dark tunnel.

"You are…"

Cheon Woosung's eyes opened wide.

Park Gunwoo.

The person walking to him on the other side of the tunnel was, without a doubt, Park Gunwoo.

Not General Manager Han in a bad disguise, but the face he had seen through the communication marble.

"…Who are you?"

Clatter—

The fear that encroached on his soul made his teeth shiver.

"You bastard, I asked who you were!!!"

"Me?"

The edge of Park Gunwoo's mouth tilted up.

"I wonder."

He slowly tilted his head.

Droop—

His face warped with a sticky sound.

His skin melted, and muscles twisted.

"…Ah."

From Park Gunwoo's face to Han Taeho's.

From Han Taeho's face to Lee Woohyuk's.

From Lee Woohyuk's face to Cheon Woosung's.

His face changed countless times in the blink of an eye.

"Who do I look like?"

Cackle—

The sound of his creepy laughter rang out.