Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 8

‘Ha. Unbelievable.’

Hwasan Guild’s monster corpse disposal site.

‘I heard the report, but to think it was real. I’m so dumbfounded I can’t even speak properly.’

‘Squad Leader, over two thousand eight hundred out of the three thousand slaves at the corpse disposal site have escaped.’

The man receiving the report frowned.

He was the leader of the Red Plum Blossom Squad, one of the top three squads among the ten squads of the Hwasan Guild, known as the Plum Blossom Attack Squad.

‘Giving the squad leader position to some beggar, that’s why Hwasan is in this state.’

His name was Cheong In-woo.

He was a ‘real deal,’ unlike Kim Shin-hong, a squad leader who was treated poorly even within the guild.

A Silver Warrior [a martial artist from the world of Silver].

A true master of martial arts, not a player [a person who gains power through a game-like system].

He was one of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, the strongest force in Hwasan.

‘The captured slaves remember nothing.’

‘Why?’

‘It seems to be memory interference.’

Memory interference.

‘Then it’s not one of ours.’

Only a very few Silver Warriors could use memory interference.

Such abilities were used by Earth’s players, Ainhart’s mana users [people who use magic from the world of Ainhart], or Gehenna’s demons [beings from the world of Gehenna].

‘What about traces of martial arts?’

That was the most important thing.

Since the roots of the Hwasan Guild were in Silver, there was a possibility that a force within Silver had targeted the corpse disposal site, one of Hwasan’s sources of funds.

‘……It’s ambiguous.’

‘Ambiguous?’

Cheong In-woo frowned.

‘There’s no style or form of martial arts. But there’s a faint trace of internal energy [a type of energy used in martial arts].’

‘Are you saying they didn’t use any stances?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Ha.’

Cheong In-woo looked at the floor with a cold gaze.

A pathetic, cold, headless corpse, Kim Shin-hong.

‘Was he such a bug that he wasn’t even worth using a stance on…’

Flash.

‘Or is this a ploy to make it look like an internal conflict within Silver?’

Whatever it was, it was incredibly annoying.

‘How did they erase the slave seals?’

‘They infiltrated and distorted the magic circle.’

‘…Who could do that?’

Cheong In-woo’s Black Plum [a member of Cheong In-woo’s squad] bowed deeply and said,

‘A master-level martial artist, a high-ranker player, a guardian-level mana user, a high-ranking demon…’

‘That’s not what I’m asking. To interfere with the slave seal, that level of power is necessary. What I’m asking is…’

Cheong In-woo’s eyes gleamed coldly.

‘The technique to distort the magic circle of the slave seal.’

‘…Only mages above the seventh circle of Ainhart or demons of Gehenna. If it was the work of a martial artist or player, other traces would have remained.’

‘Indeed.’

It seemed like a rough outline was forming.

It was then.

‘Kkyaaaak!’

One of Cheong In-woo’s Black Plums rolled his eyes and collapsed.

‘What happened?’

‘We tried to examine the memories of the dead Black Plum through the mental connection between Black Plums. But…’

‘But?’

Another Black Plum supported the fallen one and brought him over.

‘He says he only sees blood, and he fainted from a strong shock.’

‘…This is getting ridiculous.’

He couldn’t even manage a hollow laugh anymore.

‘It’s highly likely to be Gehenna. Ainhart wouldn’t move so carelessly. The purpose is…’

Kim Shin-hong or freeing slaves couldn’t be the purpose.

These were all just bluffs.

The real purpose was…

‘The corpse of the Sea Dragon has disappeared.’

‘As expected.’

The corpse of the Sea Dragon, Augolas.

It couldn’t even be used unless purified, and even purifying it was not easy.

But if it was the beings of Gehenna, they would have many ways to use even the Sea Dragon’s corpse.

‘Contact the headquarters. Tell them to find all traces of Gehenna that have infiltrated Earth in the past year to a month.’

‘Understood.’

‘Contact the council as well.’

‘Understood!’

Cheong In-woo rubbed his head.

Since they had lost the Sea Dragon’s corpse, Hwasan’s position would surely be shaken because of it.

It was becoming a headache.

‘Ah.’

Belatedly, Cheong In-woo seemed to remember something and asked the Black Plum.

‘Why did this moron come here?’

Cheong In-woo kicked Kim Shin-hong’s corpse with his foot.

‘He said he came to confirm Rowoon’s death.’

‘Rowoon?’

He knew that name.

The reason why he had accepted the bug Kim Shin-hong as a squad leader.

A man who was on the verge of becoming a high ranker.

‘Hmm. Is he dead?’

‘Yes. It’s said that his slave seal was broken about a month ago.’

He was just an Earth player, but he was a skilled individual who had left an impression on Cheong In-woo.

If he hadn’t touched ‘that,’ he would have made quite a name for himself by now.

‘Where is Rowoon’s corpse?’

‘It’s said that it went into the Abyss…’

‘You wouldn’t have been able to find it.’

‘That’s right.’

Well, whatever.

He was someone who had been in his memory for a while, but in the end, he was someone who had lost the power of a player.

A martial artist whose dantian [an energy center in the body] was ruined had a slight chance of recovery, but a player who had lost their power would never recover.

Cheong In-woo erased Rowoon from his memory.

‘If there’s any good news…’

It was that there was a way to replenish the lost slaves.

The reason why he had returned to the guild, even postponing the capture of the S-class dungeon that had occurred previously.

‘Handle the matter here, and we…’

The most important thing in the world of Silver.

‘Find the ‘remnants’.’ [referring to the remains of the Sea Dragon]

‘Understood!’

* * *

‘It seems the Hwasan Guild’s monster corpse disposal site was attacked?’

‘What? Who would be crazy enough to attack that place?’

‘Well… the rumor is that it was Gehenna.’

‘They must be after the Sea Dragon’s corpse.’

A bar located in the basement of Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul.

It was an unremarkable and dirty bar, but it was crowded with customers.

The customers’ conversations all revolved around one thing.

The recent major incident of the attack on Hwasan’s corpse disposal site.

‘Hwasan.’

They were one of the three major guilds in Korea.

But their true identity was already widely known.

‘The Hwasan Sect of Silver.’

Hwasan was a top power even in the world of Silver, and messing with them was nothing short of madness.

But Gehenna was different.

They were simultaneously hostile to the three worlds of Earth, Silver, and Ainhart, and they had the skills to back it up.

‘Is the truce coming to an end?’

‘It seems so? They messed with Hwasan, after all.’

Listening to the customers’ conversations, a man wearing a hoodie slowly approached the waiter.

‘A Kahlua milk, hold the milk. And the ice… make it salty and sweet.’

‘Who’s the crazy bastard who orders a Kahlua milk without milk? And salty and sweet ice? Is this guy nuts?’

‘……’

A strange silence ensued between the waiter and the man.

‘I’ll take care of it.’

‘Ah, Manager.’

The waiter quickly bowed and stepped aside.

Unlike the waiter who treated the hooded man like a madman, the man called the manager naturally began to make the cocktail.

Swish.

But what he handed over was a completely ordinary Kahlua milk.

‘Seriously… when did you start using that code?’

The manager said to the man with a dumbfounded tone.

‘Did you spend five years in some gate or something?’

‘…About a hundred years.’

‘What?’

The manager shook his head again with a dumbfounded expression.

‘I’ve heard all sorts of crazy things. Are you a demon or something?’

‘Does it matter if I’m a demon? This is that kind of place, isn’t it?’

‘Well, I guess so.’

The manager smiled and stepped back.

The shabby bar in Dongdaemun, Pier.

But its true identity was something else.

‘Black Market.’

A place where all sorts of black market deals were rampant.

A place where murder contracts and illegal activities were carried out, and it was the Seoul branch of the black market, a place to gather such people.

‘What do you want?’

‘I’m looking for a request.’

‘What’s your specialty?’

Smirk.

The mouth revealed between the hoodie showed its teeth and smiled.

‘Kidnapping, murder, anything is fine. Anything that can be called trash.’

‘…This guy is more dangerous than he looks. Well, I guess it’s obvious since he knows the code?’

‘But there’s a condition.’

The manager nodded.

‘The stage must be a gate [a portal to another dimension]. And it has to be D-rank or higher.’

‘……!’

It was just for a moment, but the manager’s expression clearly changed.

But he returned to his original face as if showing off his experience and said,

‘Well, there are some suitable requests. The commission is 30 percent, any objections?’

‘None.’

‘Good deal.’

With that, the manager took out a cell phone from under the bar table and handed it over.

It was an old model cell phone that was hard to find these days.

‘You’ll be contacted with that soon.’

The man nodded and slowly got up from his seat.

* * *

In front of a D-rank gate in Namyangju.

A group of people were greeting each other.

‘These are the players who will be participating as a piece this time!’

Four men and women bowed and greeted.

‘Nice to meet you!’

Piece.

It meant party members who were put together when there was no party to join or when there were not enough members.

The four men and women were wearing decent equipment, but they were somewhat clumsy.

‘This is our first real battle outside of our original party… I’m nervous.’

‘Don’t be nervous. Just trust me!’

‘We trust you, bro.’

The four players seemed to be close to the man they were calling ‘bro’.

They had met and become friends during a gate raid, or so they said.

‘Yeah, yeah. Just ride the bus like always! It just so happens that we were short on members for the gate we were going to raid. We’ll fill the numbers, you guys level up, and we’ll share some magic stones!’

‘You don’t have to give us magic stones! We came to gain experience…’

‘Hey. How can we do that? We’re always fair and just!’

As the atmosphere improved, the players who had joined as pieces seemed to relax a little.

‘Then… who are the members of your party, bro?’

‘Ah. Right. We should introduce ourselves. My party members have all been with me for over three years.’

‘Oh. That’s quite a long time for a party to be together.’

‘Including me, these four are players, and this one is…’

Smirk.

The man curled up the corners of his mouth.

The novice players swallowed nervously as his eyes narrowed.

‘Don’t be surprised. They’re ronin.’

‘Ronin!’

The players’ eyes widened.

‘If they’re ronin…’

‘You mean they’re Silver Warriors!’

‘Oh!’

Two men and one woman looked very surprised.

What was unusual was that another person didn’t seem very surprised at the word ronin.

Ronin.

They were similar to mercenaries, but they were known to be martial artists, not players, with higher combat power and more experience than players.

Of course.

‘A-are they going to be okay?’

It was said that there were many particularly dangerous individuals among the ronin.

‘I told you, we’ve been raiding together for three years?’

‘W-we trust you, bro.’

‘Yeah, yeah. We’ll just check our equipment for a bit. You guys should do that too?’

‘Yes!’

The novice players moved to one side and began to check their equipment.

In the meantime, the party leader gestured to the people he had introduced as ronin.

A corner far away.

‘Sss. Ha.’

The party leader, who had a cigarette in his mouth, smiled with a completely different, vile expression than before.

‘As we said, the mission is…’

Smirk.

‘Kidnapping. We’ll lock them up in the gate and the guys outside will get the ransom. The fee is two hundred million each. If you have any objections, say it now. Once we go in, there’s no backing out.’

‘Understood.’

‘……’

But among the men introduced as ronin, the man wearing a hoodie was not looking at the party leader.

His eyes were on the novice players, especially one woman.

‘I hit the jackpot from the start.’

The man wearing the hoodie.

Rowoon was curling up one corner of his mouth.

He needed to watch a little more, but it seemed like he had found her.