Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 360

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“It seems he has an intelligence network we don’t know about.”

Theresa shook her head. After examining Beom-seok, there was no sign of him meeting with any intelligence organization. If there had been, she would have already reported it to Lucas.

– I didn’t see anyone like that.

“That can’t be. There’s definitely something about him. So, tell me everything, even if it’s just a suspicion.”

She rested her chin on her hand and pondered, then recalled an organization. It was a company called MR Security, which best fit Lucas’s question.

– If he has an intelligence organization, MR Security is the most likely candidate.

“Really? Why?”

– First of all, many retired police officers work there.

“Hmm. Isn’t that because of that guy, Inspector Lexter? Since he’s a police official, he probably hired his fellow officers first.”

– Yes, that’s very likely. But since they’re retired police officers, wouldn’t they be close to the active officers? Then they could easily get information from within the police force.

That made sense. It would be difficult for an active police officer to refuse a request for information from a former colleague. And if you added a drink or a few bucks, you could get any information you wanted.

“I guess so. It’s suspicious enough.”

– And I found out recently that MR Security has relationships with many professional crackers [hackers]. They meet frequently and have close conversations. I can understand that since they also handle network security, but the number is too high. Besides, most of them are criminals with records.

Lucas’s eyes flashed at those words. Former police officers and professional crackers… He couldn’t definitively say it was Beom-seok’s intelligence organization, but he had a hunch.

After being targeted by him and the business group, Lucas suspected that the opponent might be employing professional hackers, so he told the Black Society members to thoroughly manage the network. That’s because the information that had been leaked so far was high-level data that only trusted members or collaborators could handle. And MR Security was a security company.

No matter how good you want to make a security program, hiring criminals with a lack of morality seemed strange. They could use the characteristics of the security program in a bad way.

Lucas looked at Theresa with a serious expression.

“Good. Then I’ll give you the funds, so thoroughly investigate MR Security. Got it?”

– Yes, I understand. But Father, weren’t we supposed to just keep an eye on Ilsimhoe [a secret society] for the time being?

“That’s what we decided, but the situation has changed.”

– Why?

“I just talked to Honorary Chairman Meyer, and it seems Beom-seok is behind this. He also advised that the previous incident with the business group and their current movements were all orchestrated by Beom-seok. I think we need to investigate in detail.”

Theresa nodded and looked at him with a serious expression.

– So, if that’s the case, what are you going to do then?

“First, we’ll have to respond legally. Hacking and illegal information leaks are clearly illegal.”

– But wouldn’t he have taken proper measures regarding such sensitive issues? If he didn’t have that much caution, we would have already known. And even if we knew, we can’t take legal action without evidence. Also, even if we have evidence, if the leaked information is sensitive data about our Black Society, we’ll be the ones who get hurt. Do you know what I mean?

Lucas’s face stiffened for a moment. As Theresa said, if the information contained data on the Black Society’s accounting fraud or corruption, it would be very difficult. Moreover, since many prosecutors and police officers are on their side, the Black Society could end up being the only ones hurt if things go wrong.

‘Theresa is right. We’ll be the only ones who get hurt if we mess up.’

Looking at the Marbus case and the Mayling Pharmaceuticals case, the possibility was very high. If he tried to strike Beom-seok through the judicial authorities without careful consideration, and such information was passed on to the relevant agencies, it would be very difficult. As Theresa advised, it was better to approach this matter carefully.

“Then what should we do?”

– We need to investigate first.

“And?”

Theresa, with a sharp glint in her eyes, opened her mouth.

– If the suspicion solidifies, I think it would be better to eliminate him.

Lucas looked around in embarrassment. Under no circumstances should what Theresa mentioned leak to the outside.

“What are you talking about!”

– We have no choice. The Black Society is in crisis because of him. I don’t know if there are other ways, but the fastest and most certain way is to eliminate him.

“But it’s too dangerous! If something goes wrong, you and I are finished.”

– We’re finished if we stay like this. We’ve already lost Braam Chemical. And your Wind House and many other Black Society companies are in danger. If he’s definitely manipulating the business group from behind, I think we need to eliminate him, disguised as an accidental accident.

“That doesn’t mean this crisis will disappear!”

– Yes. That’s true if we keep fighting the business group. But if we take a somewhat humble approach to negotiations, we can end this war. But there must be no saboteurs pulling strings from behind.

Lucas was caught in a dilemma, with a troubled expression on his face. It was certainly a crisis situation for the Black Society now.

As she said, they had already lost Braam Chemical, and the companies of himself and many other members were in danger. It was all due to the tacit alliance between the business group and Vice Chairman Lewis’s fraternity members, and in order to overcome this situation, they had to restore relations with at least one of them. However, if Beom-seok was manipulating the business group from behind, as Meyer said, there would definitely be interference, so considerable difficulties would follow.

It was a dangerous but worthwhile attempt. If he was gone, they could cut ties with the business group and Vice Chairman Lewis’s fraternity, and if they were lucky, they could overcome this crisis through negotiations.

No matter how much animosity the business group had towards the Black Society, they were also businessmen. Deep down, they would want to end this war, which could consume huge amounts of money.

“Okay. I’ll think about it. But only if Honorary Chairman Meyer says that he is a major threat to us. Otherwise, I won’t allow it because it’s just taking unnecessary risks. Got it?”

– Yes. That’s the right decision.

“Then quickly find out information about him and MR Security and let me know.”

– I understand. Then I’ll go start the investigation.

“Okay.”

As the communication ended, Lucas sighed deeply and got up from his seat. He was going to leave work early today and get some rest. Too many things had happened recently, and he was very tired both mentally and physically.

The God Knights defeated the Red Leafs 2 wins and 2 draws in the second round of the promotion tournament and advanced to the highly anticipated third round. With this, the God Knights had a total of 2 games left. If they won only one of these, they would immediately advance to the World League.

The World League was the highest league of professional gladiatorial combat, so there was no promotion or relegation from above. Therefore, there were always 3 vacancies every year, and any team that finished 3rd or higher in this promotion tournament was guaranteed to advance to the World League. Now that the God Knights have advanced to the semi-finals, their chances of promotion were 3 out of 4.

‘Hmm. The semi-final opponent is the Fayon Rangers…’

Noon on a gloomy day. Beom-seok was sitting at his desk in his office, pondering while looking at the data of the next opponent team. It was about the Fayon Rangers, who came up as the 1st place in the Irse Central League.

The Fayon Rangers were a gladiatorial team based in Fayon City, and were a historically prestigious team that had won 9 World League championships in the past. Now, they were unable to avoid going up and down between the World League and the Central League, but they were still a strong team ranked 2nd in the promotion expectation ranking for this tournament.

‘Why do they all have to be skilled in archery?’

The biggest disadvantage of the God Knights was that there were not many gladiators who knew how to handle shields. Of course, they had recently recruited a considerable number, but there was still a limit to filling all 12. But the problem was that the advantage of the Fayon Rangers team was that all affiliated gladiators were skilled in archery.

It was not easy to deal with countless arrows pouring in without a shield, and the Lima City Colosseum had a city in the middle, so they had to go around the steel bridge. Of course, there was also a way to jump and cross the river, but that would be the end.

It was not easy to avoid arrow attacks in the air.

‘First of all, I have to tell them to throw away all auxiliary weapons and hold shields. Even if our team members are not good at shields, they must know how to cover their own bodies, right?’

The flaw in this plan was that they had to throw away their shields once the battle started. Wielding heavy equipment with one hand would greatly reduce speed and power. But at this time, if the Fayon Rangers gave up some of the leaders and retreated, then launched another arrow attack, they could be hit hard.

Of course, there was no big problem if they did not take this strategy, but according to information from reporters in the Avon area who had been covering the team, the Fayon Rangers team was now training intensively on this strategy. It was certain that the God Knights would suffer greatly from the arrow attacks.

So the probability of victory that Beom-seok was thinking of was only about 60%. It was high, but it was definitely lower than the two teams they had faced so far.

“Well. There’s nothing I can do. I have no choice but to figure it out myself.”

Beom-seok got up from his seat. It was to go out for afternoon training. With the Fayon Rangers team coming out like that, the God Knights had to focus on strategic training to respond to it.

At that time, a loud call came from his pocket. When he took out his electronic notebook, it was Margaret’s number. She was currently the president of MR Security.

“Hello.”

– B, Beom-seok?

Strangely, her voice was trembling slightly. In addition, the video screen was not being transmitted. Beom-seok, who was puzzled, immediately asked a question.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you turning on the video screen?”

– Th, there was a small accident. So the electronic notebook is broken.

“Accident? What kind of accident?”

– The flying car I was riding in had a problem while driving.

Beom-seok looked surprised. Since flying cars fly in the sky, once an accident occurred, there was always a large loss of life.

“Was it big? Are you hurt anywhere?”

– I wasn’t hurt, but the car was badly damaged and I can’t get out.

“Then what are you doing! You should have reported it to the police or fire department first!”

– Th, that’s because the touch screen of the electronic notebook is broken, so I couldn’t press the number keys.

Beom-seok tilted his head. If she couldn’t do it to the police, she shouldn’t be able to do it to him either.

“Really? But how did you do it to me?”

– Th, thankfully, the external input button was fine, so I was able to contact Beom-seok, whose number was entered in advance.

That could be the case. Some electronic notebooks had simple arrow keys and call keys as external physical buttons.

“Okay. That’s a relief. Where are you now? I’ll report it to the police and fire department and go there right away.”

– N, no, just come by yourself, Beom-seok.

“What do you mean? I have to contact them to open the broken car door.”

– But right now, there are a lot of important information materials in my car. It’s data containing the contents that our Ilsimhoe [a secret society] has processed and the corruption details of the Black Society. And the reason why the car door won’t open is because there’s a small rock stuck next to it. If I just remove this, there’s no reason to risk contacting the police and fire department.

Beom-seok frowned. He didn’t understand why they wrote such data on paper.

“No. Why are you leaving such data on paper?”

– That’s because it’s the safest from hacking. And paper disappears immediately when burned, but electronic data doesn’t. If you look at it with professional equipment, you can recover most of the data.

Beom-seok bit his lip and said immediately.

“Okay. Where are you now?”

– Yes. It’s in the middle of Highrun Mountain near Lima City.

Highrun Mountain was 20 km south of here. It would take 5 minutes to get there by flying car.

“Then I’ll leave now. Don’t hang up. Got it?”

– Yes. I understand.

Beom-seok sighed deeply and hurriedly left the chairman’s office. There was a game against the Fayon Rangers tomorrow, but he couldn’t ignore Margaret who had an accident.

He took his personal flying car and headed to Highrun Mountain in a hurry.

“Where are you?”

Beom-seok, who was wandering in the sky above Highrun Mountain, looked down at the car window and searched for Margaret’s car that had an accident. Fortunately, this mountain was not connected like a mountain range, but was close to a hill, so there were not many places to search. In less than 10 minutes, he found a flying car stuck in a rock in the middle of the mountain, and immediately descended to the ground.

“Hey. You were lucky. You crashed there and didn’t hurt yourself.”

– Yes, yes. I was very lucky.

“Anyway, that’s a relief. I’ll go down and get you out soon, so wait.”

– Yes. Thank you. And I’m sorry.

“What. That’s all right.”

Beom-seok smiled softly and shook his head. It wasn’t quite the savior of life, but even this much help would likely increase Margaret’s favorability quite a bit.

As soon as his flying car landed on the ground, he jumped out.