Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 115

115. Taking Over the Almighty League (2)

“Ah, I see you don’t recognize him. This is the man who called you. Endo scouted him first and then had him call you. You don’t need to know his name, but you’ll recognize his voice when you hear it.”

“Why, why are you doing this here?”

The lawyer and the gagged man’s bags were turning white with condensation. Their breathing slowed, and their struggles gradually subsided. Kang Seong-gyu was paralyzed, watching someone suffocate to death in real-time before his eyes.

“I don’t think questions are necessary,” Park Hwi-so replied in a cold voice.

“However, Kang Hyun-mu has decided not to kill you. Instead, he would appreciate your continued active cooperation. He plans to transform the Almighty League into a cleaner, more centralized system, and he believes your assistance will be invaluable.”

The Almighty League is less of a unified group and more of an alliance of countless Hunter teams and businesses, essentially a collective formed by ability users to support one another.

While it appears to be a horizontal organization, it is, in reality, an obese entity riddled with problems.

Park Hwi-so handed Kang Seong-gyu a piece of paper containing a list of names.

Upon reviewing the list, Kang Seong-gyu felt a chill run down his spine. It contained the names of everyone who had been either passive or actively cooperative in this assassination plot.

There were also those who hadn’t cooperated but were corrupt or involved in criminal activities. Some of them already had red lines through their names.

“Those who are crossed out have been dealt with this time. These individuals are businessmen, so we can’t eliminate them all at once, as it would cause further problems for the Almighty League’s management. We plan to have them ‘retire’ soon. Your job is to ensure that there are no internal complaints during that process.”

Kang Seong-gyu gaped at Park Hwi-so, unable to speak.

“That’s all. We don’t expect much from you. Just keep an eye on things, cooperate with Kang Hyun-mu, retire at the appropriate time, and quietly die alone in a suitable nursing home.”

Perhaps this wasn’t what Kang Seong-gyu had hoped for when he reported the assassination plot to Hyun-mu.

He had planned to adapt to the new era by switching sides, recognizing Hyun-mu’s ascendance. And he intended to monopolize the remaining pie as the number of operators decreased.

However, Hyun-mu planned to devour not only those things but also Kang Seong-gyu’s share of the pie.

Kang Seong-gyu was outmatched by Hyun-mu in greed, meticulousness, and ruthlessness.

And he had no idea how much Hyun-mu intended to consume.

“You seem slow to answer,” Park Hwi-so asked again, and Kang Seong-gyu nodded frantically.

As soon as he received the approval, Park Hwi-so tapped the two lifeless bodies with his cane.

Men in suits quickly collected the bodies and loaded them into a van. Kang Seong-gyu couldn’t even ask where they were taking them.

Park Hwi-so tapped out a text message and disappeared in the van carrying the bodies.

Once again, Kang Seong-gyu was left alone in the deserted underground parking lot.

He knew he would never park his car in an underground parking lot again.

***

[It’s been resolved.]

Hyun-mu smiled happily upon receiving the text. With this, the Almighty League was practically his.

There was still much internal work to be done, but it was a world of difference compared to the Hyun-mu of six months ago. Of course, Hyun-mu wasn’t satisfied with just this.

He wanted to seize more, something better.

Even if it meant dragging down all the stars in the sky.

“Looks like something good happened?”

“Yeah.”

Hyun-mu wore a proud smile. Yoo-min saw that smile and hid her face behind her wine glass.

“I’m glad that what I told you turned out to be such a positive experience for you. Actually… I was also thinking. I wondered if you might prefer someone more down-to-earth. Someone who enjoys hearty *sundae* soup [Korean blood sausage soup] with radish kimchi juice? I wondered if you might like that better.”

“Ah, I like *sundae* soup. But eating *sundae* soup with radish kimchi juice and slicing Wagyu [high-quality Japanese beef] at a fancy restaurant are different experiences, different tastes. Just knowing that is enough.”

Yoo-min retorted with a mischievous expression.

“Even if I don’t like *sundae* soup?”

“Yoo-min.”

Hyun-mu reached out and took Yoo-min’s hand.

“The person I like is someone who can say what they like and dislike. It’s enough as long as they don’t just say, ‘I don’t really know, so pick for me.’ Who cares what someone else likes or dislikes? And you can’t decide whether to like someone based on their favorite food.”

Hyun-mu paused for a moment at this point.

“By the way, how much of my behavior do you think you can tolerate?”

“Your behavior?”

“For example…”

*If I were making a lot of money by exploiting a disaster, engaging in intimidation and violence, stabbing people, shooting someone’s leg in a dungeon and leaving them to be eaten by monsters, and ordering a murder, all while dating a woman who is too good for me….*

“Like killing someone?”

Numerous words came to mind, but Hyun-mu only uttered one short question.

Hyun-mu’s heart pounded just from bringing up this question. It might be a story Yoo-min doesn’t need to know. But it was also an important part.

He had already shared many secrets with Yoo-min from the beginning, and he had come this far with her illegal help. She was already someone who was not unrelated to his actions.

Here, though it was unlikely, if his crimes were exposed and Yoo-min received moral criticism, what would she think of him?

If Yoo-min couldn’t accept it, it might be better to end things here.

“Can you like a murderer?”

Yoo-min’s expression hardened, and there was no answer. A brief look of displeasure crossed Yoo-min’s face.

Hyun-mu regretted bringing it up. Yoo-min wiped her mouth with a tissue and gathered her things.

“Where are the bodies?”

“Huh? Ah, you don’t have to worry about that…”

“Can you hide them securely? What about the bloodstains? The hardest thing in Korea is hiding a body. There are only so many places to hide in this small country. If there’s no body, you can deny it somehow. It’s hard to get convicted of murder. Dungeons aren’t easy either. Our country has a principle of territoriality, so crimes committed in dungeons are strictly punished.”

“I entrusted it to an expert, no, let’s say I did. I’m speaking hypothetically. Hypothetically. What do you think?”

Only then did Yoo-min put down her things. But her expression was still quite serious.

Hyun-mu thought about laughing it off, but it wasn’t the atmosphere for that.

“*Oppa* [term used by a younger woman to address an older man she is close to], I want to ask you instead. How much of my behavior do you think you can understand? How much can you accept what I do for you?”

“Uh, um. I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”

Yoo-min clasped her fingers together and looked at Hyun-mu with sharp eyes.

“I’m not stupid, *Oppa*. I don’t have relationships with just anyone. I thought it was appropriate to keep you by my side, so I pulled you in. As a result, you were seduced by me. I made it so you couldn’t escape my charm.”

“Uh… uh-oh? Is that so? Was that what happened?”

Come to think of it, Yoo-min was always the proactive one.

“Do you think I wouldn’t have considered the risks when seducing a man like you? There’s no human relationship without taking risks. So, I want to ask you the opposite. If I killed someone, would you ignore me?”

“No.”

The answer came immediately.

Yoo-min smiled faintly. But Hyun-mu didn’t think it was a fair question.

Hyun-mu and Yoo-min live in different worlds.

He is a resident of a world filled with corpses and violence, while Yoo-min has lived in the upper class and in a world of academia.

“You were thinking that the meaning of the question can’t be the same because we live in different worlds, right?”

“…No.”

Hyun-mu lied. But Yoo-min seemed to see through it easily.

Women are witches. Hyun-mu had no choice but to speak under the assumption that women notice everything.

“Even if we live in different worlds, our density is the same. We are already people who can’t be satisfied with the current world. We want to be more successful, we want to rise higher. We are not ordinary lovers, *Oppa*.”

Yoo-min continued in an atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

“We are accomplices. We are business partners, and we are cohabitants who hold secrets. Our relationship is much stickier and heavier. Don’t even think about comparing us to ordinary lovers. I grabbed your hand with the determination to be dragged into the swamp.”

Accomplices. Could there be a more fitting expression?

The relationship with Yoo-min started with a minor crime. And Yoo-min was saying that she would embrace him no matter what crime Hyun-mu committed.

“If you want to take my hand off, cut off my wrist. But instead…”

Yoo-min said, raising the corners of her mouth with a smirk.

“Instead, if you grab the stars, let me touch them too. As an accomplice.”

Hyun-mu could barely exhale. Yoo-min’s words were so trustworthy that they came to Hyun-mu painfully.

He could finally feel that she was truly by his side. Hyun-mu decided to recognize her as his partner, as his accomplice.

And as an accomplice, he decided to tell her about the secrets of the world that he had never told anyone.

“Yoo-min, the dungeon I’m going to is actually…”

***

God gave him the power to crush anything he grabbed, but he didn’t give him the skill to hold a pen.

Oh Dae-seong had been contemplating what to write on a blank piece of paper for hours. But nothing came out.

It wasn’t surprising, as he hadn’t written anything other than his signature in the past few years.

When he needed to write something, he would use his thick fingers to type on a computer, and if that wasn’t possible, he would have an agent do it.

But this time, he had to write it himself.

“Ugh.”

Oh Dae-seong sighed deeply and tried once again to write something with force.

At that moment, the pen in his hand snapped with a crack, and ink splattered everywhere. Oh Dae-seong groaned and threw the pen and paper into the trash can.

There were already four or five broken pens in the trash can.

Then, the sound of the door opening was heard.

“Team Leader Oh Dae-seong?”

Oh Dae-seong looked at the person entering and wore a welcoming expression.

“Ah, Branch Manager Kang Hyun-mu. Come in. Come on in.”

Oh Dae-seong greeted him warmly and reached out his hand to Hyun-mu. Hyun-mu stopped abruptly as he was about to shake his hand.

Oh Dae-seong belatedly realized that his hand was covered in ink and smiled awkwardly, withdrawing his hand.

He brought Hyun-mu to the desk, but the state of the desk was also a mess.

“It’s a mess. I apologize.”

“I don’t live very neatly either, so it’s okay. Were you writing something?”

“Ah, yes. It’s nothing much.”

Oh Dae-seong took out an envelope with a bitter expression. Hyun-mu’s eyes widened as he saw the words written on the envelope.

“A resignation letter?”

“Yes. It’s a conclusion I came to after much deliberation. I was originally going to write something inside and send it, but in the end, I think I’ll just have to tell you verbally.”

“No, but… if it’s a resignation letter, who are you going to submit it to?”

“Huh? Well, that’s…”

A resignation letter is supposed to be submitted to a superior, but Oh Dae-seong himself is the highest superior in the Almighty League. Oh Dae-seong seemed to realize that he had made a mistake and looked chagrined.

Hyun-mu tilted his head and said.

“If you’re thinking of retiring, you just need to convey your intention to the executive council. Then they’ll take care of the retirement ceremony.”

The problem is that 50% of the members of that executive council are absent.

Originally, only about 30% were absent after the Wolf Dungeon incident, but it gradually reached half due to illness and retirement. The executives who felt that times had changed were starting to step down.

“Even if the other executives are like that, aren’t you still young, Team Leader Oh Dae-seong?”

Oh Dae-seong is 51 years old. It’s ambiguous, but as a Hunter who isn’t greatly affected by age, he could still be in his prime.

Even Park Hwi-so is over 60 and still active. Oh Dae-seong wore a bitter expression.

“Branch Manager Kang Hyun-mu, I’ve been thinking a lot since the Wolf Dungeon expedition. It was then that I realized that I was arrogant and foolish. The executives’ shady behavior, irrationality, corruption… I realized then how rotten the Almighty League had become.”

Hyun-mu listened silently.

“Recent events have been an opportunity for me to reflect on myself. So, I investigated my close associates and the executives, and I found all sorts of corruption and irregularities. This is just from a light search, so I can’t imagine how much worse they’ve been doing. The reason why the Almighty League has become so rotten is simple. It’s because I, the representative, was incompetent.”

Nothing came out when he tried to write it down, but it seemed a little better when he said it out loud. Oh Dae-seong clenched his fist tightly.

“Branch Manager Kang Hyun-mu, you haven’t been in the Almighty League for long, but I know how hard you’re working for the rights and interests of the Hunters and how much you’re investing in assets. I was worried when you first asked for 1 billion, but now that’s the best 1 billion I’ve ever spent in my life. In that sense, I want to make the most meaningful choice in my life once again.”

Oh Dae-seong asked Hyun-mu with a determined look.

“Branch Manager Kang Hyun-mu, please become the representative of the Almighty League.”

A faint smile appeared on Hyun-mu’s lips.