Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 362

364

Beomseok entered the room and looked around with a strange expression. It was quite spacious, but completely bare, with only a concrete floor and walls, a vent barely large enough for a cat, and a single LED light on the ceiling.

‘Tch. What a cheapskate. He couldn’t even put in a chair. I’m going to kill him later anyway.’

Frowning, Beomseok walked to the wall and sat down heavily. Then, he spoke to Margaret, who was standing near the door with her head bowed.

“Margaret, come here.”

Still feeling guilty, she didn’t raise her head and said,

“I… I’m sorry. They threatened me with guns…”

“I know. I understand everything. Come here and sit down.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry. They won’t blame you for calling me.”

Margaret cautiously watched his expression and slowly approached to sit down. A brief silence followed. She gathered her courage and spoke.

“Beomseok… what’s going to happen to us now?”

“Well, we’ll probably die.”

Her face turned pale, and her body trembled. No one could remain calm when facing death.

“I… I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you’re going through this because of me.”

“That’s enough. Stop it. If you apologize one more time, I’ll sew your mouth shut.”

“I… I’m sorry…”

Beomseok glared at her.

“Hey! I told you not to say that!”

“Ah. I… I’m sorry…”

“Seriously. I told you not to!”

Margaret shut her mouth tightly and nodded. She was sorry, but she wasn’t stupid enough to ignore his warning.

Beomseok sighed deeply and casually asked, “By the way, how did you get caught?”

“Well… I was trying to go home after work as usual, but some thugs appeared and forcibly kidnapped me. Then they took me to that mountainside and threatened me to call you.”

“Were those thugs the same guys from earlier?”

“Yes.”

“Were there any other guys besides them?”

“I don’t know, but the ones I saw were all of them.”

It was the same for Beomseok. That meant that after leaving this room, he would only have to deal with Lucas and the other nine. They were all armed and extremely dangerous, but it was better than facing even more enemies. Still, he couldn’t relax completely. Just because he hadn’t seen them didn’t mean there weren’t more enemies lurking.

“Hmm. Is that so?”

“Why? Do you know a way to escape?”

Beomseok covered her mouth and looked around again. There was no telling if there were any listening devices in the room. He had just checked, but there was no harm in checking again. He carefully examined the walls and even inside the vents, then spoke in a quiet voice.

“Yeah, I have one.”

“How?”

“There are no CCTV cameras or listening devices in this room. If they bring us food or come in to check on us, we’ll subdue them and escape.”

“What if they don’t come in?”

“Then we have to make them come in. If we keep banging on the door loudly, the guys watching outside will come in to check.”

“Do you think that will work?”

“Heh heh. People like to show off their authority when they have guns, especially when they’re annoyed by noise.”

“But they have guns. Can we really subdue them easily?”

“Hmm. Of course, it’s difficult, but it’s better than dying like this.”

Margaret looked at him with a worried face.

“Beomseok, maybe they won’t kill us. Wouldn’t it be better to wait and see what happens?”

“No, they’re definitely going to kill us. If we hesitate in this situation, we’ll end up dying without being able to do anything.”

“But they didn’t say they would kill us.”

“I know. That’s what’s even scarier. Professionals just kill you when they’re going to kill you; they don’t announce it. They only say they’re going to kill you when they’re trying to threaten you.”

At those words, Margaret shook her head.

“But if they were really going to kill us, they would have killed us already. There’s no reason for them to lock us in here.”

“I don’t know the details, but it’s probably to aim for a perfect crime. If we go missing or are murdered, the Black Society [a fictional criminal organization] will be the first suspects, so they want to make it look like an accident somehow.”

“An accident? Would that be easy?”

Beomseok got up and walked to the door, examining its construction. He looked bewildered, as it was made of sturdy steel and almost completely sealed. He could roughly guess their intentions.

“Is this near the lake?”

“Yes, it is.”

“They’re probably going to drown us here. Then, if they dump us in the lake, the police will be fooled. It’s only natural for someone who drowned to have water in their lungs.”

“Drown us? How?”

Beomseok pointed to the vent.

“For example, if water pours out of there, then we’ll be helpless and drown.”

As if on cue, a chilling sound came from the vent. Listening closely, it was definitely the sound of water. Frowning, he quickly approached Margaret and said,

“Damn it! It looks like they’re starting right away. Get ready!”

Soon, a strong stream of water gushed out of the vent. Margaret, terrified, hugged Beomseok tightly. She knew she was about to die.

“Kyaaaa! What do we do! There’s water coming out!”

“Calm down. It’s not over yet!”

Beomseok pulled Margaret away and ran towards the door, jumping through the quickly flooding floor. He was trying to break down the door, but even with a full-force shoulder charge, the door didn’t budge. It seemed that they had made the steel door very sturdy, considering that he was a modified human. If so, then it was over.

‘Damn it! This is driving me crazy!’

Beomseok continued to ram his body against the door, knowing full well that it wouldn’t work. He couldn’t just die according to their plan. If he bruised his body like this, he could at least leave behind a suspicion of murder.

However, after a while, he gave up and stepped back.

“Beomseok, why? Can’t you open it?”

“Yeah, it’s not working.”

Margaret said with tears in her eyes, “Then are we going to drown to death like this?”

As if annoyed, Beomseok scratched his head wildly.

“Don’t worry. At least it won’t be drowning.”

“What does that mean? Are you saying we should commit suicide?”

“It’s not suicide either! I’m not going to die in this room!”

“Really? Then does that mean someone will open this door for us? Weren’t you alone, Beomseok?”

Beomseok shook his head. It was a sorry thing to admit to Margaret, but there was no one coming to help.

He had been a little suspicious after receiving her call, but he hadn’t thought about bringing anyone. He couldn’t contact the police because he possessed important information, and he had his team members focus on training for the third round of the promotion tournament tomorrow. And because he trusted Margaret, he couldn’t help but feel that maybe it wasn’t so bad.

“No, I’m alone.”

“Then who’s going to open the door?”

“You’ll find out naturally later. By the way, can you swim?”

She didn’t know why he was asking this now, but Margaret nodded. She had learned a little while ago as a form of exercise.

“Yes, a little, but I’m not very good.”

“It doesn’t matter, as long as you can grab the wall and float.”

“I can do that much.”

“Then that’s enough.”

Beomseok looked at the vent where water was pouring out and the steel door, making all sorts of faces. It was because he had to waste a huge fortune to survive now.

Currently, he was activating the trait called ‘Answer of Origin’ [a special ability]. The period was about 2 years. In a little while, he would win the World Lottery and get a huge sum of 3 billion Krang [fictional currency]. But he had to use this huge profit to open this one door. Of course, money couldn’t be more important than life, but it felt incredibly unfair.

‘Damn it! It wouldn’t be so unfair if I could at least be guaranteed to survive!’

As befitting a fraudulent trait, ‘Answer of Origin’ had many penalties. One of them was that the wish had to be very specific, like ‘Winning the World Lottery several times,’ and another was that it couldn’t violate normal physical laws. So wishes like ‘Please save me’ or ‘Please teleport me to such and such place’ would never come true.

In other words, he had to trade the 3 billion lottery winnings to open that door.

‘I have no choice. It’s better than dying like this. Anyway, Chairman Lucas, I’ll definitely repay this debt later!’

About 10 minutes passed. The water in the room had risen to his chin. Margaret, who was short, had already reached her limit and was splashing around while holding onto the wall. But Beomseok was still not activating ‘Answer of Origin’. He was waiting for the water to rise a little more.

‘There must be guys watching outside the door. I have to wait until the last moment to take care of these guys for sure.’

Meanwhile, Makin, who was standing guard outside the door, was smiling bitterly as he watched the water leaking from the crack in the door. He knew that they would soon reach their limit, as water had been pouring out from the top gap for about 10 minutes.

Now, he just had to wait a little longer, drain the water, drag the bodies out, and dump them in the lake, and today’s work would be done.

“Hehehe. This is too easy. To be promoted to a cadre [an important position] in the Black Society’s support organization for such a simple task, I’m really lucky.”

The Black Society had a huge organization, but in reality, the number of members was not that large. So they had many collaborators, and Makin was one of them. Of course, they were not treated as well as regular members, but there were many additional benefits, and if they reached the cadre level, they could sit in a position where they could flex their muscles in the Black Society’s companies or public institutions, so everyone was loyal to the organization. And recently, Makin had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Lucas, one of the key figures in the Black Society, had made a confidential offer. It was to join a kidnapping team composed of outsiders, capture Beomseok and Margaret, and then eliminate all those involved, including them. It was a bit of a conscience-stricken task, but he gladly accepted it.

He could easily become a high-ranking cadre and receive a huge amount of money, so it was a golden opportunity for him.

‘I did a very good job. I don’t often get opportunities like this in my life. Hehehe.’

Makin, who was lost in thought, quickly bowed his head at the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. He knew it was Chairman Lucas. Although many people were mobilized for this operation, in reality, only he and the chairman were here, as the secrets should not be leaked.

He greeted loudly as Lucas approached.

“Chairman, have you arrived?”

Lucas, who examined the wet soles, quietly said to him, “How is the work going?”

“It’s being handled very well. If we wait about 20 more minutes and then take out the bodies and dump them in the lake, everything will be resolved. But, the guys were struggling to get out a little while ago. It seems like there will be some bruises left, but is that okay?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of the rest. You just need to do what I tell you perfectly.”

“Yes. Then everything is as good as done. We just have to wait now.”

Lucas nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Good. Then I’ll be on my way, so come find me when you’ve finished everything.”

“Yes, I understand. Goodbye.”

“Then I’ll leave it in your hands.”

Lucas turned around and walked down the hallway again. He was going back to the company. It seemed that the work was going well, and he needed to go back quickly and create an alibi.

But his good mood was soon shattered by a loud explosion coming from behind him. At the same time as the door where Beomseok and Margaret were locked up burst open, a violent column of water poured out and rushed towards him along the hallway.

Surprised, Lucas ran quickly but was immediately swept away by the torrent and fell helplessly down the stairs.

“Kuaaaak!”

Lucas screamed and sank below the surface of the water, rolling on the floor. He tried to grab the handrail of the stairs with all his might, but he soon lost his grip due to the enormous water pressure and continued to flow down the waterway.

With a bang, his body floated into the air, and he crashed through the window on the stairs and fell to the ground. Fortunately, it wasn’t too high, so he didn’t suffer much of an impact, but Lucas’s body was torn in various places and bleeding. His skin was cut by the window glass he had just broken through.

But the pain was temporary as he looked at the building with a tense face. It was possible that Beomseok had escaped. He was an excellent gladiator known all over the world, so his combat ability was considerable. No matter how many guns they had, it would be quite difficult to stop him with just Makin and himself.

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

I’ve been working all day today because of the summer construction. Hahaha. Last year, the ceiling leaked a bit because of the rain, so I painted the roof with waterproof paint. I also organized the luggage on the rooftop warehouse and the winter and spring clothes in preparation for the typhoon. Ugh, my body aches.

Then have a pleasant summer. I’ll see you again tomorrow.