Scammer’s Strategy to Victory II

-How… how many casualties are there?

Woosung's sadness-filled expression could be seen over the marble.

Ohjin, who had transformed into the appearance of Park Guneoo, answered in a low voice.

"There isn't an exact number yet… but there are at least several hundreds."

-Several… hundreds.

Cheon Woosung chewed his lips.

-I had predicted it… but hearing it directly like this makes my heart feel like it's tearing.

A teardrop flowed down his cheek.

Terrible sadness could be felt in his distorted expression.

'What a fucking maniac.'

With cold eyes, Ohjin stared at Cheon Woosung, who was crying.

He was crying as if he was the victim after killing them with his own hands.

"It's a sacrifice needed for a better future."

-I… I know.

Cheon Woosung raised his head while wiping away his tears.

-I heard reports that the Black Lion and Lightning Wolf were heading that way. Did anything happen?

"They're too busy facing the demon beasts."

-I see.

—A satisfied smile.

-I understand. Then return here carefully, and don't get caught. You've gotten rid of the evidence, correct?

"Of course."

He nodded his head and smirked.

"They won't know a thing about what went on."

-Hahaha. I knew you would be able to solve things smoothly.

"Then I shall return right aw—Kugk!"

Bang!!!—

The surroundings shook with the sudden sound of an explosion.

"D-Damn it!"

Park Gunwoo looked in a certain direction with a pale expression.

Due to the fact that the communication marble only showed Park Gunwoo's face, Cheon Woosung couldn't understand what was going on.

"…Th-The situation has gone awry."

-Awry?

"The Hound is on his way here."

The Hound, Choi Woojin.

As an 8-Star Awakener of the Hunting Dogs, he was a Special Officer belonging to the Association and possessed abilities specialized in searching and hunting.

Special Officers could be said to be unit directly under the Association chairman.

If they caught his tail, it would be a huge setback to their plans.

-Hurry up and get out of there!

Cheon Woosung, who realized the seriousness of the imminent situation, shouted out in an urgent voice.

"Ah, I underst—Kuh!!!"

Bang!!! Boom!!—

The sound of explosions rang out once again.

-Just how did they find—

"Sir, I'll contact you again after I get out of here!!"

Beep—

The connection cut off with his urgent shout.

"Well, then."

The noisy sound of explosions disappeared in an instant.

Park Gunwoo's face melted down and returned back to Ohjin's appearance.

"I've bought time for now."

As long as the Hound was hunting down Park Gunwoo, Cheon Woosung wouldn't be able to take action for the time being.

'The moment Park Gunwoo exposes his information, all of their thought-out plans will fall apart.'

It was likely that Cheon Woosung would currently be scratching his head while sweating buckets.

"Kuhuhu!" Ohjin cackled.

"Try racking your brain the best you can."

He smiled slyly and looked down at Park Gunwoo's corpse.

"Hyap."

Fwoosh!—

After creating fire by using his lightning, he threw Park Gunwoo's corpse into the flames.

He neatly tidied up the corpse to the extent where only pure white ashes remained.

"Should I proceed to the next part of my plan?"

He hummed a tune while playing around with the black drinking glass in his hand.

* * *

After eliminating all of the demon beasts that ambushed Guro-dong, Ohjin looked for General Manager Han.

"Phew. It seems that we've somehow managed to clean up all of the demon beasts."

General Manager Han touched his short hair and exhaled a deep breath. He folded the sleeves of his blood-drenched shirt and poured a potion over his injury.

"There are casualties… but we were able to minimize them thanks to you dealing with the situation at its most dangerous time."

General Manager Han bowed down to Ohjin.

"It's nothing. I just happened to arrive at the scene first since I was nearby."

"But still, simply the fact that you didn't back off and decided to fight after seeing such a large amount of demon beasts is incredible."

As he said, there weren't many Awakeners that could think of fighting alone in front of thousands of demon beasts.

'Though to be honest, I was planning on escaping midway.'

Ohjin leaked out a smile.

'Well, it's better for me if he has that kind of misunderstanding.'

The title of 'Hero' was one that would be useful at all times.

"By the way… weren't the movements of the demon beasts a bit strange?"

General Manager Han furrowed his brow as he continued.

"Their movements were quite well-organized, despite being unintelligent demon beasts… and they also stopped moving all of a sudden."

Indeed, General Manager Han had also noticed that something was off.

"There's something I have to talk to you about regarding that matter," said Ohjin with a stiff expression.

"What do you…?"

"It's not something I can say here. Will it be possible to meet the Association chairman in person?"

"The chairman?"

"Yes."

Association Chairman Han Taeho.

Ohjin had never met him before, but according to General Manager Han, he was a rather capable individual.

'The Association chairman himself will need to step up for this matter.'

Only then would it be possible to completely destroy Cheon Woosung's plans.

"I understand. I'll try to set up a meeting."

"I'll leave it to you."

After preparing a meeting with the Association chairman, Ohjin headed to the site where the fierce battle with the demon beasts took place.

"Ohjin!"

Ha-eun, who had discovered him, quickly headed his way.

—Red hair that swayed like flames.

There were piles of burnt demon beast corpses around her.

'Just how many are there?'

Near a thousand demon beasts were dead—burnt by her flames. Even when taking into account the fact that the demon beasts stopped moving midway, it was a tremendous number.

'She really fought hard.'

Ohjin looked at the black charcoal stain on her cheek and smiled. He extended out his hand to wipe off the stain and asked.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm not hurt anywhere in particular…"

"What about your eye?"

"Ah, this?"

Ha-eun fumbled around her left eye with her hand. The gruesome root-like veins around her eye were thicker than usual.

'Is it a side effect of using the Dragon Eye?'

Ohjin frowned.

"It hurts a bit, but it's fi—"

"Come here."

"…Huh? Kyak!"

He pulled in her arm and stuck close to her body.

Fixing her face with both hands, he pushed his face close to examine her left eye.

"O-Ohjin?"

His shaking breathing tickled her cheek.

"Y-Your face is too close."

"Stay still."

"Uhh."

Pulling her in even tighter as she tried to slip away, he carefully stroked around her eye.

'The mana is slightly unstable.'

That itself was evidence that she used a lot of power during the fight.

"I don't think it's a big problem. It should calm down with rest."

Ohjin took out her eyepatch and helped her put it on.

"Seriously, are you that worried about me?"

Ha-eun's face heated up as she poked his flank.

"Of course. Who else other than you would I worry about?"

"K-Khm! Y-You're saying those embarrassing words like it's nothing again."

Though she said it as if she was grumbling, he could see that her lips were rising up.

"By the way, where's Vega and Riak? I couldn't find them during the middle of the battle."

"I think they returned to the sanctum."

As they had both lent their strength by going as far as to endure the Commandant's Reaction to hunt Park Gunwoo, there was a high likelihood that they were reverse summoned into the sanctum.

"…Is that so?"

Ha-eun narrowed her eyes.

"Hmm. Okay."

She looked around the surroundings—

"Ah, the strength in my leg."

—and then started to stumble with her extremely awkward acting skills.

"…What are you doing?"

"Th-The strength in my legs gave out all of a sudden. Is it because I only have one leg…?"

'Wow, she's abusing the cheat key, again.'

"I don't think I'll be able to get home at this rate… is there no one nearby that can give me a hand~?"

Ha-eun's eyes shone as she looked at Ohjin.

Hah—

A subconscious chuckle escaped Ohjin's mouth.

"Want me to give you a hand?"

"No~ I'm not saying you have to. I'm just saying something like that'd be nice, you know?"

"Here."

Ohjin extended out his arm to her.

Ha-eun stuck her body close and pulled tight on his arm.

A soft elasticity stimulated his arm.

"Hehe."

Ha-eun leaned her head on Ohjin's arm and giggled sheepishly.

"Now, then! Escort me to the car!"

"Will only lending my arm really be enough?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"This shouldn't be the only thing I do when you're saying that your legs are uncomfortable."

Smirk—

Ohjin put his opposite arm under Ha-eun's legs and held her up.

"Kya?!"

It was the well-known princess carry.

Though it didn't look cool due to Ha-eun being so tall, it didn't really matter since it wasn't for others to see.

"O-Ohjin!"

It appeared that it was a little too embarrassing for her as she glared at Ohjin with beet-red cheeks.

"Doing such an act without my permission…"

"Why? Should I let you down?"

"…is what you did, but since my legs hurt so~ much, I'll specially forgive you this time."

Fwip—

Ha-eun quickly turned her neck around.

Ohjin could see her lips jerking beneath her reddened cheeks.

"Seriously, you're so cute."

"C-Cute?!"

"Let's hurry back home."

When he was headed to the car while holding her in his arms—

"…Ohjin?"

—Lee Woohyuk appeared.

"Kyaaaaaah!"

Ha-eun yelled out an unidentifiable scream and quickly got down.

It seemed that her embarrassment peaked as she hid behind Ohjin.

But naturally, as Ha-eun's height was comparable to a model's, her body wasn't hidden properly.

"Uh… um. Did I interrupt something?"

"No, it's alright."

Ohjin shook his head and approached Lee Woohyuk.

"Thank you for helping out in this matter."

"I only did what had to be done."

Ohjin lightly received the hand Lee Woohyuk held out and opened his mouth.

"By the way…"

—Eyes of a ferocious wild beast.

"I believe that the Black Star Organization is connected to this incident."

"…"

Ohjin blatantly looked at Lee Woohyuk and finished the fast calculations in his head.

'Pulling Lee Woohyuk into this will make things easier.'

Once his calculations were complete, there was no reason to hesitate.

"I happened to have something I want to talk about related to this matter."

"…Have you found something out?"

"Yes."

Ohjin nodded with a heavy expression.

"What kind of…"

"I have a meeting with the Association chairman soon and will explain it in detail at that spot. Will you be able to join us?"

"Of course."

It wasn't hard to pull in the Black Lion.

"Then I'll contact you at a later date."

"Okay."

Ohjin walked past Lee Woohyuk.

'The Association chairman, Lee Woohyuk, and the drinking glass.'

—Everything that he needed to take down Cheon Woosung was prepared.

'Now all I have to do is punish that presumptuous little brat.

A cunning smile formed on Ohjin's mouth.