Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 325

327

“This is the room. Be careful. I’ll be going then…”

The employee who escorted Beom-seok to Shyla’s accommodation quickly left. She was known to get very angry if her alone time was disturbed, sometimes even throwing punches without warning. With a force that could instantly kill an ordinary human, the employee couldn’t help but be terrified. Shyla didn’t have the consideration to treat anyone as a regular person.

Beom-seok watched him for a moment before quietly knocking on the door.

“Who is it! If you have business, come back later!”

Beom-seok knocked again and playfully said,

“Delivery. Please sign here.”

There was a crashing sound from inside, and Shyla, dressed in a tracksuit, burst out of the door. There was no way a delivery driver would come all the way here. The accommodation was a strictly off-limits area for outsiders, so parcels were always left at the security office at the entrance.

“Are you kidding me! Do you want to die!”

Beom-seok waved at Shyla, whose face was flushed with anger.

“Hey there. Long time no see, Shyla.”

Shyla, with a dumbfounded expression, shouted,

“You, you! You came here again!”

“Why else would I come? I came to talk to you. Hehehe.”

“Leave now! I have nothing to say to you!”

“I have a lot to say.”

“I don’t need it! I’m never going to God’s Knights!”

Realizing that she wasn’t going to listen, Beom-seok decided to change his strategy. First, he needed to address the reasons for her anger, which stemmed from Rubin’s death and Gillium’s betrayal in the past.

“That’s not the main topic. Actually, there’s something really important to talk about.”

“What is it!”

“It’s about the person who killed Rubin.”

Shyla glared at him with a look of disbelief. Rubin’s death had been ruled as a suicide.

“Are you kidding me right now! The police said Rubin’s death was a suicide!”

“Are you stupid? Do you really believe that? Just because there’s no evidence, does a murder become a suicide?”

“What are you talking about! There is evidence! The same poison was found in Rubin’s desk drawer, and there was a suicide note!”

“Hey, you idiot. You need to look at the situation objectively. Are those kinds of easily manipulated pieces of evidence really evidence? Anyone can secretly put poison in a desk drawer, and a suicide note can be forged.”

Shyla composed herself and looked at Beom-seok. Indeed, as he said, such evidence could be easily manipulated with a little effort.

“Then do you have evidence that it was a murder?”

“Of course not. If I did, I would have already told the police and caught the culprit.”

“Then what makes you believe it was a murder! You don’t know either!”

Beom-seok slowly shook his head.

“I do know. I handled the case back then at the request of your father, Vice Chairman Louis. So, I grasped the general situation, and after looking at various circumstances, I definitely concluded that it was a murder. Of course, I can explain it enough to convince you.”

“Then convince the police and catch the culprit right away! Then I’ll believe you!”

“Hmm. The police won’t do. Without evidence, there’s nothing they can do. But we’re different. If we can just figure out the culprit’s identity, we can make them pay the price. Well, if you’re not interested, I’ll just leave, but you’ll regret it later. I’ll take care of all the culprits on my own. Then you’ll realize that you did nothing to avenge Rubin’s death. No, you’ll be pretending not to know because it’s too much trouble. I’m clearly offering to tell you the truth about the culprit now.”

Shyla, succumbing to Beom-seok’s words that subtly poked at her conscience, slightly opened her door.

“But if you say something absurd, you’ll regret it!”

“Of course. You probably won’t regret it.”

“Fine. Then come inside.”

Beom-seok slowly moved and entered Shyla’s room. The interior was of a decent size, enough to live comfortably. The clean kitchen and bathroom, and the bed were well decorated with a fancy patterned bedspread and curtains. One might say it was a woman’s room. He looked around with admiring eyes and said,

“You’ve set it up pretty well, haven’t you?”

“Stop with the useless talk. Just tell me what you know.”

“Alright, alright.”

Beom-seok, looking awkward, pulled a chair from near the desk and plopped down. Shyla sat on the bed and looked at him.

“So, what exactly happened?”

“Before that, you need to know the surrounding circumstances. So, listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

Beom-seok then explained in depth about the conflict between the Black Society and the Economic Association. He talked about the initial problems with the Youth United Business Association, the subsequent involvement of the Economic Association, and how they tried to shake the foundations of the Black Society, eventually leading to Beom-seok’s involvement. When it came to the fact that the Black Society, knowing full well it was a manipulation by the Economic Association, cooperated with LHN to target the Rainbow Group, Shyla’s eyes widened as she asked,

“Are you saying the Black Society really forgot the favor they received from you and did such a thing?”

“That’s right. Those guys are the type to use and discard, sweeten and swallow.”

“So, what did you do?”

“What could I do? I didn’t have any power back then. I just couldn’t stand to see them, so I pretended to cut ties, promising to deal with them later.”

“And then?”

“Unbelievably, they branded me as a traitor and immediately attacked.”

“Did you just stand there?”

Beom-seok then talked about the Black Society’s attack on the Rainbow Group. At the time, he had manipulated the financial world to give them a hard time.

“I gave them a good blow back then. Well, because of that, the Black Society was furious…”

“Hmm. I see. But why did the Black Society bother my father and me? Were they trying to get revenge on you?”

Beom-seok shook his head. The reason the Black Society bothered Shyla had nothing to do with him.

He recounted the duel incident that occurred at Chaplin’s villa, talking about the Economic Association and the Black Society’s schemes.

“That’s because the Economic Association was trying to bring Chairman Balbar of LHN Financial Group into their organization. If that attempt had succeeded, Chairman Wilkins, Chairman Chaplin, and Vice Chairman Louis, who were close to him, would have all fallen under the influence of the Economic Association, putting the Black Society in a very difficult situation. So, they needed to prevent this attempt from the start.”

“So, the incident I experienced last spring was…?”

“Yes. It was a scheme devised by the Black Society to completely sever the relationship between the Economic Association, your father, and his close associates. Additionally, they tried to use Rubin to seize control of your Louis faction.”

Shyla knew this well from her father.

“I know that too. But what does Rubin being murdered have to do with this?”

Beom-seok stared intently at her and said,

“Do you remember Rubin’s last words when he died?”

Shyla shook her head, as if she couldn’t remember. She was facing such a shocking truth at the time that she had no room to pay attention to anything else.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember what happened back then.”

“Then I’ll tell you. Rubin’s last words were, ‘What’s going on? It wasn’t like this when I tested it before.'”

“Really? But what does that have to do with anything?”

“It has a lot to do with it. The injection device that Rubin used at the time was dissolved in acid, so I don’t know what functions it had, but the component analysis confirmed that it contained materials that make up complex electronic circuits. In other words, the injection device may have had other functions besides injecting poison.”

Shyla gave Beom-seok a strange look. Matching Rubin’s last words with the injection device containing various functions, she felt something was off.

“S, so are you saying that Rubin might not have known it was an injection device?”

“That’s right. The reason he was surprised, saying it was different from when he tested it, means he didn’t know he was about to be injected with poison.”

Shyla’s eyes trembled. Beom-seok’s words sounded quite plausible.

“A, are you sure?”

“Yes. If Rubin really wanted to die, a simple syringe would have been enough. So, there’s no need to prepare such a complex injection device with electronic circuits. Moreover, there’s no need to dissolve the machine itself with strong acid. This can only be seen as someone destroying evidence to hide what they did.”

Shyla couldn’t suppress the anger that was boiling deep inside her, and she jumped up. Although it was a vague situation before, it definitely seemed suspicious after Beom-seok explained it in detail. Indeed, a person trying to commit suicide wouldn’t have used such a complex device on purpose, and there was no reason to try to destroy the evidence.

“Who the hell is that bastard! The one who mocked me and killed Rubin!”

“Who else but the Black Society? Why else would I have been talking about them so much until now?”

“But the police said that the person who sent Gillium was from the Economic Association!”

“Well, they did send him. But that was all due to the Black Society’s manipulation. In fact, among the Economic Association officials involved in the last incident, there was a Black Society spy. That kid was in charge of everything from the front lines and even killed Rubin.”

Shyla glared at Beom-seok and approached him.

“A spy? Who the hell is that bastard!”

“It’s Theresa, who belongs to the Youth United Business Association. She’s a famous figure in the fighting world, so you’ve probably heard her name.”

Shyla had often heard of Theresa. She was the leader of the World League team, Desert Scorpions, and the successor to Angela’s faction, who had a lot of influence in the Federal Fighting Association.

“N, no way! She’s Angela’s daughter. So, she’s definitely affiliated with the Economic Association.”

“Hmm. That’s right. But her father is a member of the Black Society.”

“R, really?”

“Yes. I heard it directly from Angela, so it can’t be wrong.”

Shyla, with a blazing gaze, took out the sword hanging on the wall by the bed. Now that she knew the culprit who had made her like this, she couldn’t stay still. She had to release this gloomy feeling with a single strike.

“I’m going to kill that bitch right now!”

Beom-seok quickly ran to block Shyla’s path as she tried to rush towards the door. There was no good that would come from her going to Theresa.

“What are you going to do right now?”

“What else? I’m going to kill that bitch Theresa!”

“And then spend the rest of your life locked up in a cage?”

“Then what do you want me to do!”

Beom-seok grabbed her sword-wielding hand and smiled bitterly.

“Hehe. What else? We need to thoroughly ruin her and make her live a life more humiliating than death. The pain of death is only momentary. In other words, you’re trying to show mercy to Theresa right now.”

A moment of hesitation flashed across her eyes. The thought of inflicting pain worse than death on the bitch she couldn’t even chew and swallow caught her interest.

“Then what do you want to do?”

“First, I’m going to use Theresa as a double agent to destroy the Black Society. She doesn’t know that I know her identity.”

“And then?”

“I’m going to expose her identity and make her abandoned by the Economic Association and Angela. And then I’m going to make her lose all her wealth and live as a beggar.”

“And then?”

“Well? There are several options from here, but I don’t know what to do yet. Even I’m reluctant to take the most evil path. So much so that I think it might be better to just kill her. But one thing is certain, if you step in now, everything will be in vain. Whether you kill her or fail, you won’t be able to use her anymore.”

At those words, Shyla calmed down and went back to sit on the bed. Once she regained her composure, she realized that everything wouldn’t end with the death of Theresa alone.

“Okay. Let’s say that’s true. How are you going to ruin the Black Society?”

“It’s simple. I’m going to connect the Economic Association and the members of the alumni association, including your father, to form a united front. Then, with overwhelming power, we can easily strike the Black Society. And I’ll also lead the Ilsimhoe members and provide support from the side.”

It was a somewhat convincing explanation. Currently, the Black Society and the Economic Association were in a close match. If her father’s friends, who were giants in the financial world, and the Chaplin family, which occupied one of the world’s top 10 groups, joined forces, it would create a serious crack in the current balance.

“Okay. Let’s say that’s true. What’s Ilsimhoe again?”

“Hmm. It’s the organization I’m leading right now. We’re currently in a full-scale war with the Black Society.”

“Really? Then it must be a pretty big organization?”

“Hmm. It is, but the organization isn’t fully established yet. Still, the initial members are very united, so we can fight decently. We even swallowed Mavs, one of their members’ companies, a while ago. Thanks to that, the Black Society guys are going crazy right now. Hehehe.”

Shyla’s eyes curved into a smile. It seemed impressive that he had given the Black Society, who had thoroughly mocked her, a hard time. All she could do now was wield a sword and rage.

“Okay. I’ll join Ilsimhoe and lend a hand. Can you let me in?”

“Well, it’s not difficult, but I can’t let you participate in the attack on the Black Society.”

Shyla glared. The reason she wanted to join Ilsimhoe was precisely because she could strike the Black Society.

“What are you talking about! Why can’t I?”

“Because of a lack of trust. The initial members who are being mobilized for the Black Society’s attack are united in trust, helping each other. Thanks to that, we can freely share various secrets and easily attack the Black Society based on that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to fight them with just a few small forces.”

It was a convincing answer, so Shyla nodded. Indeed, trust between organization members was very important.

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

ㅠㅠ. Children’s Day is scary. My nephew…

Well, everyone have a good day. I’ll see you again tomorrow.