Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 259

259. Infinitely Light (2)

“Do you still have debts to collect even after sitting at the top? You’re worse than a loan shark.”

“What can I do when others take from me as they please? I may forget what I owe, but I never forget what others owe me. I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night, kicking myself and regretting, ‘I should have killed that bastard back then.’ And…”

Hyeon-mu said, flipping through TV channels.

“Watch TV for a bit. People think the President is chasing out the bad guys and giving those arrogant Hunters a taste of their own medicine.”

“Wasn’t that your intention all along? To give strength to the new cabinet?”

“That’s part of it, but it still doesn’t feel good, does it?”

“…So?”

“It’s fine if Hunters get criticized. But I don’t want to be unfairly criticized.”

Hyeon-mu took out a document from the very bottom of the Dowonkyung files.

It was the result of a recent investigation into the activities of domestic conglomerates [large business groups].

Dowonkyung didn’t find anything particularly unusual in the document, but Hyeon-mu did.

The movements of the person he had been searching for since the martial law had recently been detected.

Hyeon-mu read the person’s name, a subtle smile on his face.

“I need to catch some guys to take the blame for me.”

***

Muan International Airport.

It had the grand name of an international airport, but it was practically deserted because no one came.

The empty runway was sometimes used as a vacant lot for drying summer peppers, which actually had its own small demand.

The fact that it was quiet and rarely visited was a useful advantage for those who wanted to avoid attention.

A woman fanned herself repeatedly, watching the heat haze rising from the tarmac.

The private hangar offered some shade, but it was difficult to escape the midsummer heat without air conditioning.

The woman kept checking the time with an unpleasant expression. The person she was waiting for was 20 minutes late.

The Hunters guarding her were also waiting anxiously.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before two people appeared.

One was a tall, handsome man, and the other was a child holding a paper airplane.

They looked like a friendly father and child, but the woman was sure they were the people she was waiting for.

She quickly approached them and said, “You’re late.”

At her words, the two looked at each other and then laughed derisively.

The handsome man pointed at the woman and said, “Late? You’re the one who’s late, Lee Seo-yeon.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You failed the mission you were assigned.”

Lee Seo-yeon, the vice president of Taesung Group, bit her lip at their blatant criticism.

She had no excuse.

After all, she had called them because she needed help.

While the two in front of her had successfully carried out their mission, she was the only one who had failed.

“Ahahaha, your expression is getting worse. Why? Are you going to pretend you were forced into this now?”

“Even if you think you’ve been deceived, you’re the one who chose this side. No, you had no choice but to choose us. Because you were a hopelessly greedy person. Once you become a member of the family, there’s no going back. Even if you think you’re screwed, if you bet, you have to go all the way.”

Lee Seo-yeon looked increasingly nervous at their mocking words.

“I don’t care, so let’s move quickly. Korea is no longer safe. Kang Hyeon-mu is tracking my movements. He probably already knows that I’m behind the President.”

“Kang Hyeon-mu, Kang Hyeon-mu.”

The handsome man smiled slightly and grabbed Lee Seo-yeon’s neck in an instant.

Lee Seo-yeon, who hadn’t even seen him move, was instantly suspended in the air.

The Hunters guarding her moved quickly when they saw it. However, the first Hunter who stepped forward was met with a paper airplane flying towards his eyes.

With a roar, the paper airplane exploded, blowing away the Hunter’s upper body.

The Hunters, covered in blood and flesh, hesitated.

Even while hanging, Lee Seo-yeon quickly raised her hand to stop them from moving further.

The child was giggling and taking out a new toy. This time it was a paper boat.

The Hunters couldn’t even imagine what that paper boat would do.

“Is Kang Hyeon-mu that great?”

“Cough, huh.”

The handsome man asked, not even looking at the commotion beside him.

Lee Seo-yeon couldn’t even answer and was just struggling.

“You couldn’t even breathe when he was around, and you only acted like a squeaking mouse after he disappeared, and now you’re saying he ruined everything? What star does he belong to that you couldn’t even use our support and got beaten so badly?”

“Ugh, I don’t, I still don’t know…”

“Ah, you don’t even know what star he belongs to? That’s pathetic. One of the missions you were assigned was to find out about Kang Hyeon-mu. You couldn’t even get that minimal information, and you’re going to become an apostle of a starving star.”

“Do we really need to take her? Let’s just mummify her here.”

The child looked at Lee Seo-yeon as if she were a frog ready for dissection.

Lee Seo-yeon was horrified, realizing that even if they were really going to dissect her, there was nothing she could do. But the handsome man smiled and let her go.

“But she has a lot of money, so I can forgive her for being a little incompetent.”

“Gasp, gasp!”

Lee Seo-yeon knelt on the floor, gasping for breath. The handsome man straightened the sleeves of his suit that had been rolled up.

He had three expensive watches on his wrist.

“Taesung is a global company. It’s not often that a conglomerate leader crawls in on their own, so she’s still useful. We should use her usefully rather than mummifying her.”

“Ah, how boring.”

The child grumbled and turned away. Lee Seo-yeon gave a subtle signal, indicating that the situation had been resolved.

Soon the hangar door opened, and preparations for departure began.

The handsome man continued to speak to Lee Seo-yeon.

“Korea is still a good location to maintain a presence. You move with us first, then come back after reorganizing. You better not fail then.”

Lee Seo-yeon was about to answer that she understood. But before she could speak, someone else answered first.

“You have to assign tasks that are appropriate. It’s no use assigning someone a task that’s impossible, like trying to lick their elbow with their tongue, and then blaming them for failing.”

Lee Seo-yeon felt a chill the moment she heard that voice.

The Hunters were flustered by the sudden voice and looked towards the front of the hangar.

One of the precautions Lee Seo-yeon had given was to never open their mouths while meeting these people.

With the intense sunlight streaming in from the wide-open hangar behind him, a man was dragging his slippers as he walked in.

Lee Seo-yeon took a step back, her expression one of utter dread.

The man opened his mouth with a clear smile, even in the backlight.

“Hello, my name is Kang Hyeon-mu, and you guys are going to die soon.”

***

The handsome man and the child exchanged a look of disbelief.

They gave Lee Seo-yeon a look that was clearly an order to have the Hunters deal with him.

Of course, if Kang Hyeon-mu was as dangerous as rumored, they wouldn’t stand a chance, but they wanted to gauge his abilities.

Lee Seo-yeon flinched at the apostles’ willingness to use her Hunters as expendable pawns.

“But…”

“Are you refusing?”

Lee Seo-yeon had no choice but to order the Hunters to attack. She was already a member of the same star’s family as them.

It was impossible for a family member to refuse an apostle-level order.

“Get rid of him.”

Lee Seo-yeon’s order was given, but the Hunters only hesitated. Their eyes were asking her if she was serious.

There wasn’t a single Hunter among them who didn’t know about Kang Hyeon-mu.

Lee Seo-yeon gritted her teeth and ordered again.

At the firm order, the Hunters hesitated, but eventually ran out all at once.

However, it wasn’t towards Kang Hyeon-mu, but towards the exit.

The handsome man and the child watched them running towards the exit with bewildered expressions.

These were Hunters who had hesitated even while their colleagues were being attacked and their upper bodies were being smashed in front of their eyes.

But as soon as they were ordered to get rid of Kang Hyeon-mu, they were trying to run away on the spot.

“What? What are these guys doing?”

The handsome man watched the scene with an absurd expression.

The Hunters that Lee Seo-yeon had brought were supposed to be among the elite scouted by brokers.

Of course, the ‘real’ elites had either been ambushed by Hyeon-mu or hadn’t been scouted in the first place. Still, to run away without even trying to fight?

“That’s ridiculous. I had some expectations for Taesung’s discipline, but…”

The child stretched out his hand.

At that moment, the child’s hand stretched out and closed the exit door that was about to open. Then, he grabbed the Hunters by the back of their necks and threw them towards Hyeon-mu.

The handsome man also broke the neck of a Hunter who was trying to run away in an instant.

“You guys are now part of our group. And you need to know that under our organization, retreating requires more courage than advancing.”

“Ugh, ugh!”

The Hunter who was thrown towards Hyeon-mu screamed. Hyeon-mu lightly dodged the flying Hunter.

The Hunter was slammed straight into the floor. One of his shoulders seemed to be crushed, but it wasn’t enough to kill him instantly.

The Hunter didn’t look back and tried to escape, dragging his body.

“Hey, I told you. None of you guys here are getting out.”

Hyeon-mu said, looking at the fallen Hunter. At that moment, the Hunter broke his own neck with his own hands.

The handsome man watched Hyeon-mu’s skill closely.

“Is it a mind control skill? It’s no wonder Lee Seo-yeon is being cautious. Concentrate.”

Mind control skills were rare and powerful skills. Because of this, they often became targets once their identity was revealed.

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to resist as long as you had a strong will.

As the handsome man blocked the emergency exit and began to kill the Hunters, the remaining Hunters had no choice but to run towards the open hangar door. But the child wasn’t going to stand still either.

The child raised his hand and moved his fingers as if playing a keyboard.

Skill: Puppet.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Three or four Hunters suddenly bent their joints at impossible angles and rushed towards Hyeon-mu.

It was a skill that could artificially control the bodies of family members who had already sworn allegiance.

Hyeon-mu confirmed that the control didn’t work on him. It was because someone else was already controlling them.

Hyeon-mu clenched his fist tightly and lightly drew blood.

The moment he lightly scattered his hand, vaporized poisonous blood spread around.

The Hunters rotted away before they could even get close, turning into a mush that left only bones behind.

The remaining Hunters were all frozen by the shocking sight.

They tried to get away from Hyeon-mu while sticking close to the wall, but the handsome man and the child didn’t leave them alone.

“What, poisonous blood? Did he have such strong poisonous blood?”

“He must have been a lucky bastard.”

The Hunters were no match.

Moreover, the Hunters controlled by puppets were nothing more than meat shields without skills or abilities.

In the end, they realized that they had to step up themselves.

The child took the lead first.

Mind control, poisonous blood.

Analyzing the two skills, Kang Hyeon-mu is a schemer type.

A type that schemes behind the scenes and assassinates enemies by poisoning them.

Of course, it was also confirmed through video footage that he directly jumped in, but he wasn’t strong enough to be their opponent.

They are different from ordinary Hunters. They are chosen apostles [messengers or representatives].

Their level is different.

The child rushed to bite Hyeon-mu’s neck. His lips were torn long, and his mouth was opened wide enough to swallow his head in one bite.

At that moment, Hyeon-mu’s fist shoved into the child’s mouth.

With a cracking sound like a reed being broken, the child’s teeth flew in all directions.

Hyeon-mu slammed the floor with the child’s body still shoved into his torso.

With a thud, the entire lower body of the child turned into a bloody mess and burst in all directions.

The child died instantly with a smiling face. The huge round crack in the floor explained the impact.

Hyeon-mu pulled out his bloody fist and shook it off.

A sinister dark purple smoke was flowing from his right arm and his entire body.

The handsome man took a step back with a stiff expression.

“Aura? He’s even a martial artist? What the hell are you? You have no concept or anything. What the hell are you?”

“What am I?”

Hyeon-mu kicked the child’s body and knocked it down.

“I’m a monster that eats stars. I’ve come to be your worst nightmare.”