Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 124

The Inferno (3)

“…Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The detective leaned back in his chair. He had been half-expecting this since Hyun-woo came to the police station himself, but he hadn’t anticipated a confession right away. Not even with a lawyer present.

This would speed things up. But the detective felt a sense of unease.

“Mr. Kang Hyun-woo, are you aware of your Miranda rights? You have the right to counsel and the right to remain silent. You also have the right not to incriminate yourself. Why are you confessing like this…?”

The detective scratched his head, irritated. He was worrying about the suspect; this was absurd.

But the detective couldn’t help but recall the image of the Hunters blocking the police last night. It was a stark reminder of the unusual circumstances surrounding this case.

Just then, men in black suits flooded into the interrogation room. The detective sighed deeply as he saw their faces. He knew what this meant.

“Good work, Detective Go. I’ll take it from here.”

The man who spoke was a prosecutor from the Seoul Western District Prosecutor’s Office, who had rushed over as soon as he heard that Hyun-woo was at the police station.

He must have been watching the interrogation from outside and came in the moment Hyun-woo confessed.

The blindingly fast response made the detective realize that this case was completely out of his hands. Powerful forces were at play.

As the detective left, the prosecutor looked down at Hyun-woo imposingly and spoke.

“Kang Hyun-woo, this is you, isn’t it?”

Without even introducing himself, the prosecutor abruptly played a video on his phone. It showed Hyun-woo pulling Park Hwi-so from the burning car and stabbing him in the neck.

His face was clearly visible due to the fire on the car, so there was no denying it.

Of course, Hyun-woo had no intention of denying it. He answered calmly.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah? You son of a bitch.”

One of the men who came in with the prosecutor frowned. But the prosecutor, who was talking to Hyun-woo, put his phone in his pocket without a word.

“Do you know what you’ve done? Do you think killing someone in front of all those people, just because you’ve caught some monsters, is going to be tolerated? We’re controlling the video right now, but do you think people will keep defending you once it’s released?”

Then Hyun-woo spoke.

“Charges.”

“What?”

“There’s no body. The only evidence is the video, but it doesn’t show whether the victim is dead or alive, and its authenticity isn’t clear. All that’s left is my testimony, but can I be arrested based on testimony alone? Did you even get a warrant? So I’m asking, what are the charges against me?”

The prosecutor’s face twisted. He hadn’t expected such a cold, calculated response.

As the prosecutor was about to shout something, Hyun-woo tilted his head and asked.

“Park Gyu?”

“What?”

“The one who sent you guys here. Did Park Gyu send you? Trying to take advantage of this to get dirt on me?”

“What is this bastard saying? Does he want to mess with us right now!”

Hyun-woo looked slightly disappointed and clicked his tongue lightly before standing up.

The moment Hyun-woo stood up, the men all drew their guns.

Prosecutors don’t usually carry guns, but they sometimes do when interrogating ability users. Hyun-woo was certain based on their reaction. This wasn’t a standard legal procedure.

“I guess not.”

If Park Gyu had sent them, he would have known that guns were useless against Hyun-woo.

“If you make even the slightest move—”

Hyun-woo stared at them. The prosecutor swallowed nervously.

He wasn’t happy about a shootout in a confined space. The potential fallout was immense.

But Hyun-woo, as if completely losing interest, walked past them.

The prosecutor tried to shout. He even tried to bring the gun closer.

But Hyun-woo passed by without any shouts or restraint.

The sound of his clothes brushing against them was eerily loud.

The men couldn’t move until Hyun-woo closed the door behind him.

Only after the door closed with a click did they release the breath they had been holding. The tension in the room was palpable.

The prosecutor, feeling like he had been possessed by a ghost, quickly looked outside.

Hyun-woo was walking away as if he was confident that no one would stop him. The prosecutor wanted to grab his shoulder and turn him around right away.

But he couldn’t bring himself to move. He was paralyzed by a mixture of fear and disbelief.

Until Kang Hyun-woo walked right out of the police station.

***

“Seo Ji-hoo, did you check?”

[Yes. Branch Manager Kang Hyun-woo. I’ve checked the movements of all the prosecutors in the Western District Prosecutor’s Office. I’ve already sent it to you by email.]

Hyun-woo was receiving a report from Seo Ji-hoo. Seo Ji-hoo, with his analytical skills, was not only fast at reading and interpreting but also useful as a secretary.

Hyun-woo got into the car parked in the parking lot and checked his email.

Hyun-woo went to the police station not because he wanted to mess with the police. It was to understand the movements of the police and the status of the case. He was gathering intelligence.

But one thing he found surprising was that the police were more concerned about the fact that Hyun-woo might have killed someone than about the monster rampage on the Gangbyeon Expressway [a major highway running along the Han River in Seoul].

Even though the person was already dead or had a high probability of dying even without Hyun-woo’s intervention.

‘Even the prosecutor.’

Someone was moving the police from behind the scenes. A puppet master was at work.

‘The attack on Park Hwi-so wasn’t an ability user’s skill, but an explosive.’

If so, the ability user who summoned the Red Serpent that attacked Hyun-woo was likely someone with considerable power and an organization capable of moving ordinary people. This suggested a network of influence.

There weren’t many people who could move the public authorities to this extent.

That’s why Hyun-woo initially thought the mastermind was Chief Secretary Park Gyu. He would be able to bring in one or two ability users under his command.

But it wasn’t him. He needed to find out more details, but he was sure of that much. The real enemy was still hidden.

Hyun-woo called someone again.

“It’s been resolved well. Old Man.”

[You’ve worked hard.]

It was a voice like scraping metal. The damage he sustained must have been severe.

The previous low, deep voice was hard to find, but Hyun-woo was still happy that he had recovered enough to make a sound in less than a day.

[If I were to show myself, the troublesome problems would be easily solved, but it seems I’m making you suffer.]

“No. The enemies think you’re dead, Old Man. We need to use that, even if it’s just until we find out who’s behind the enemy. To find every last one of them.”

He would forget favors, but he would never forget grudges. That was the Old Man’s way.

To Hyun-woo, an attack on his people was the same as an attack on himself. He took it personally.

Park Hwi-so and the car that Park Hwi-so cherished like a bone. Since they blew both of them away at the same time, the other party wouldn’t be able to make up for it even if they died and came back to life twice. The debt would never be repaid.

“Until then, you can’t stop me from doing anything. I’ll leave the killing to you, Old Man.”

There was no answer from Park Hwi-so.

It didn’t matter.

No matter what answer came back, Hyun-woo was going to do what he wanted anyway. He was a force of nature.

***

[After checking, the Red Serpent is known to appear in a 5-star dungeon in Indonesia… There aren’t enough capable Hunters in Indonesia to attack a 5-star dungeon, so the report was delayed.]

Seo Ji-hoo and Yoo-min were tasked with investigating the identity of the Red Serpent, and they finally found it.

[But there are only records of the Red Serpent being discovered, not of it being killed. If that’s true, Branch Manager Kang Hyun-woo is the first to kill a Red Serpent, but there’s no body to prove it.]

“Records don’t matter.”

The problem was that there was someone summoning such a Red Serpent in the middle of the city. That was the real threat.

Hyun-woo was looking around the parking lot on the Han River embankment where he had met Park Hwi-so.

Hyun-woo handed Park Hwi-so the car keys here, and Park Hwi-so took the car and exploded while driving.

They probably installed the bomb when the car was parked in the parking lot. But at that time, Hyun-woo didn’t feel any particularly threatening signs. He hadn’t sensed the danger.

There weren’t many people coming and going, but he wasn’t relaxed enough to remember them all. He couldn’t recall any suspicious individuals.

Who was targeting Park Hwi-so?

Since Park Hwi-so was engaged in illegal activities, there would be plenty of grudges. He had made many enemies.

But what if they weren’t targeting Park Hwi-so?

People targeting Hyun-woo had many reasons to attack Park Hwi-so as well. He was one of their biggest collaborators, and the car was also one that Hyun-woo often drove. It could have been a case of mistaken identity, or a deliberate attempt to hurt Hyun-woo through his associates.

Hyun-woo stood still in the place where Park Hwi-so’s car had been parked and looked around.

It was hard to expect CCTV in a deserted road, but there was a convenience store slightly away.

Hyun-woo thought that the CCTV filming the entrance might have captured the car. Hyun-woo went inside the convenience store.

A young part-timer with a sullen expression was at the counter.

“Does that CCTV work?”

The part-timer glanced at the CCTV and shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“Please check. I want to check the accident footage.”

“Oh, you mean the car explosion on the Gangbyeon Expressway a while ago? Wow, I saw that. Are you acquainted with the car that had the accident? The person inside was completely roasted.”

Hyun-woo barely managed to hold back his anger. The other person was an ordinary person. Using force recklessly was like touching a kid who didn’t know anything. It was a waste of energy.

“But the police already took all the recordings. Reporters also insisted on checking it, but nothing much came out. Are you a reporter?”

“No. It does work, right? All I need is the footage from 8 PM to 8:30 PM yesterday.”

“Oh, but the owner said not to show it to just anyone. Something about violating some law.”

The part-timer looked expectant. He seemed to have learned something bad from the reporters. He was hoping for a bribe.

Hyun-woo stared at the part-timer for a moment and took out his wallet from his pocket. The part-timer’s eyes widened at the sight of the thick wad of 50,000 won [Korean currency] bills in the wallet.

Hyun-woo paused as he was about to take out the wad of money. Hyun-woo looked around and opened his mouth.

“If you handed over the recording to the police, does that mean the data only remains inside this convenience store? It’s not being transmitted to a separate backup server or anything?”

“Huh? Where would a convenience store have something like that?”

Hyun-woo closed his wallet. A look of embarrassment and disappointment flashed across the part-timer’s face. He had missed his chance.

Hyun-woo glanced outside the convenience store and confirmed that no one would be coming for a while. He needed to act quickly.

His hand suddenly grabbed the part-timer’s cheek.

Hyun-woo grabbed the part-timer’s face and pulled him out from behind the counter.

A cracking sound came from inside his cheek.

“Uh, uh.”

Hyun-woo looked at the part-timer’s face for a moment and said.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you and take the video.”

The part-timer’s eyes trembled. He wanted to say that he could watch the CCTV right away, but he couldn’t say anything because his mouth was blocked. He was terrified.

But Hyun-woo wasn’t expecting an answer from the part-timer. It was a question he was asking himself. He was wrestling with his own impulses.

Why shouldn’t he kill this rude bastard and take the video?

Why should he endure the rudeness while being stressed? Why should he hold back?

He might have killed him happily if this guy was a Hunter or an assassin. He wouldn’t have hesitated.

But this part-timer was an ordinary person with no abilities and a socially vulnerable person earning minimum wage. He was just trying to get by.

The same as Hyun-woo just a few months ago.

But Hyun-woo didn’t care about that at all. He felt disconnected from his past self.

It was a past that seemed too long ago for Hyun-woo. It was as if he and himself at that time were completely different people. He had changed too much.

Hyun-woo put strength into his middle finger and thumb.

Every time he heard the sound of teeth breaking inside his cheek, blood and saliva dripped between Hyun-woo’s fingers. The violence was visceral.

What should he do? Now that he’s gone this far, it’s rational to silence him completely. Eliminate the witness.

‘I should have used the domination skill from the beginning to handle it cleanly.’

Then this part-timer’s teeth wouldn’t have been broken. It would have been a cleaner, more efficient solution.

But Hyun-woo was extremely sharp. He could feel a beast rampaging inside him. A dark side he struggled to control.

He felt that if he didn’t release it little by little like this, he would definitely do something ridiculous at some point. He needed to vent, even in small doses.

Hyun-woo sighed.

“…But because of guys like you, the Old Man knelt before me.”

Humanity or whatever.

What Park Hwi-so said he was protecting probably included guys like this. The ordinary people who needed protection, even the unpleasant ones.

Hyun-woo slowly let go of the part-timer. The part-timer’s jaw trembled, and pieces of broken teeth fell out with blood. He was a mess.

“Where’s the CCTV?”

The part-timer raised a trembling finger and pointed towards the warehouse. Hyun-woo headed there.

After hearing a cracking sound, Hyun-woo came out with the entire hard drive. He wasn’t taking any chances.

Hyun-woo, who was about to head out of the convenience store, suddenly stopped right in front of the part-timer.

The moment the part-timer was about to be terrified again, Hyun-woo took the wallet from the part-timer and snatched it away.

Hyun-woo took out the ID card in the wallet and read it out loud, then put it in his front pocket. Then he took out all the cash from his wallet and transferred it to the part-timer’s wallet. He was making a point.

“Be careful what you say from now on.”

At Hyun-woo’s words, the part-timer nodded like crazy. He understood the threat.

Hyun-woo walked away with the hard disk under his arm.

He felt dirty for some reason. He wanted to get rid of this dirty feeling quickly. He needed to cleanse himself.

To someone who deserves to have this anger poured out on them…

Six hours later, Hyun-woo burst into the house of that very suitable target. He had found someone worthy of his rage.