Chapter 19: vs Dream Gold

Chapter 19

At the same time, the Dream Gold Clan members led by Lee Dong-shik had already infiltrated the club through a secret passage.

“It’s the enemy!!”

Bang! Bang! Rat-a-tat!

“Guns don’t work on them! They’re at least D-grade hunters!”

“Quick, contact the mercenaries… Aaagh!”

Screams, shouts, and gunfire echoed from all directions. However, most of those falling were employees of the Fight Club.

There were hardly any private mercenaries, who usually only came in for big matches like PPVs, and more importantly, it was the inside man who had made it easy for them to enter the club.

Bang!

The door to the representative’s office was violently opened, and Lee Dong-shik strode in.

“Where’s Oh Daejoon, that bastard?”

Lee Dong-shik scanned the representative’s office. Seeing a half-drunk cup of coffee on the desk, it was clear someone had been there, but where had they gone?

Lee Dong-shik pressed the microphone button on the earphone he was wearing.

“Oh Daejoon is missing. Report his location as soon as it’s found.”

“And you,” Lee Dong-shik turned to the spy employee he had planted, “go to the locker room and bring Kim Jinsung.”

“Yes.”

Left alone in the representative’s office, Lee Dong-shik hummed a tune as he walked to the desk, comfortably leaning back in the luxurious leather chair.

“Now I’m the owner of this club, right..”

It had already been decided in a clan meeting that Lee Dong-shik was the only one capable of running this place. He would now manage the betting money that would make a fortune with every PPV. Of course, he had to hand over 90% of the profits to Dream Gold.

“Yeah, I’ll hand it over, Yang Joong-geun. But can you even notice if I manipulate the accounting books?”

Yang Joong-geun had always left the clan’s financial management to Lee Dong-shik. With no experience in managing funds and being not the brightest, the brute Yang Joong-geun would never be able to detect Lee Dong-shik’s clever manipulations. Never.

‘I should start preparing to go independent with the slush funds I’ve gathered here. Hehehe… Huh?’

Just as he was smirking to himself, Yang Joong-geun called. Truly, he could never be a gentleman.

Lee Dong-shik answered the call.

“Yes, Master. How did it go?”

– I’m on my way back after dealing with the bodies. What about you?

“We’ve taken over the representative’s office and are in the final stages of cleaning up. However, we haven’t found Oh Daejoon’s location yet.”

– Oh Daejoon? He’s the second most important after Jo Kanghyun! If you let him slip away!

“Don’t worry. He couldn’t have gone far in this time. I’ll find him soon and take care of it.”

– What about Kim Jinsung?

“I’ve sent someone to fetch him. He should be in the locker room, so don’t worry.”

– Make sure you capture both of them alive before I arrive! Got it?

“Yes, Master.”

After hanging up, Lee Dong-shik frowned.

“Damn, what does that brute know to be ordering me around? If only your awakening level was a bit lower…!”

Just as Lee Dong-shik was bad-mouthing him, another call interrupted him. It was from the spy employee he had sent to the locker room.

“What? what do you want?”

– Kim Jinsung is gone!

“What?”

Lee Dong-shik’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean? You assured me he’d definitely be in the locker room!”

– He was supposed to be, but about 10 minutes ago, Oh Daejoon came and took Kim Jinsung somewhere!

“What?! Where did they go?!”

– It seems they didn’t tell anyone. I pressed them, but no one knows..!

“Damn it!”

Frustrated, Lee Dong-shik was about to yell when an urgent voice came through his earphone.

Basement level 3, basement level 3! Oh Daejoon is with Kim Jinsung! We need backup! Backu… Aaagh!

Immediately, Lee Dong-shik sprang to his feet.

As he ran towards the door of the representative’s office, he instructed through the earphone microphone.

“Send all available forces to basement level 3! Everyone!”

At that moment.

“Aaagh!”

“Don’t back down! Keep the encirclement tight!”

A desperate battle was unfolding on the third floor of the underground parking lot. Oh Daejoon and Kim Jinsung were surrounded by over twenty members of the Dream Gold Clan.

However, the two of them were in relatively good condition. In contrast, the ones sprawled on the ground were all from Dream Gold.

Swoosh!

“Aaagh!”

Another clan member was slashed in the leg by the dagger wielded by Daejoon. At the same time, there was a push towards the left side of the encirclement.

“He’s trying to escape to the left!”

“Block him!”

The Dream Gold Clan members tried not to panic and maintained the encirclement. However, the combat prowess of Oh Daejoon, Representative Jo’s right-hand man, was tremendous. No one could block even a single strike from his rapidly swinging dagger, which was too fast to see.

Slash!

“Urk..!”

“Damn it! How is this pig so strong?!”

“We can’t do this! Target Kim Jinsung!”

As more of their comrades fell, the clan members naturally shifted their target to Kim Jinsung.

Of course, Daejoon wasn’t in a position to protect Kim Jinsung as well.

“Fight too, don’t just stand there!”

“I am fighting!”

Kim Jinsung shouted back as he narrowly dodged a thrust from a longsword that came right at him. He had managed to dodge it because he had activated all his skills, including Magi and Awakened Fighter; otherwise, he would have been killed for sure.

After dodging the longsword, Kim Jinsung counterattacked with a dagger he had taken from one of the fallen enemies. His attack was 150% stronger due to the ‘Deadly Strike’ skill.

Slash!

“Cough…!”

A clan member’s throat was half-sliced open, and he collapsed to the ground, bleeding out.

Kim Jinsung then stuck close behind Daejoon’s back. At the same time, a notification popped up before his eyes.

You have eliminated a villain.

You have gained 7 Beast Karma points.

You have acquired the opponent’s trait ‘Agility.’

Agility: Permanently increases agility by 4.

Your agility has increased by 4 due to the ‘Agility’ trait.

All the clan members flinched as they saw another comrade fall with a single strike.

“What the…!”

“Why is this kid so strong?”

“He’s already taken down four of us!”

It wasn’t just one, but four had already fallen to those simple dagger strikes. The clan members instinctively realized that Kim Jinsung was not someone they could dismiss as just a kid.

Meanwhile, Kim Jinsung was inwardly relieved.

‘So this way of fighting actually works against real clan members.’

He had only fought against minors in the underground, so he wasn’t sure if his strength would hold up in the real world.

Of course, that didn’t mean the situation was good.

‘I’ve already used half my mana. Beast Karma points are okay, though…’

He had about 25 Beast Karma points from the villains he had taken down so far. It seemed like he could hold out with Magi until he took down everyone present.

That’s when it happened.

“Where are they?!”

“Over there!”

Enemies were seen rushing down the stairs, apparently reinforcements.

‘Damn…!’

This meant that the efforts of the two of them taking down more than ten people were in vain. In fact, with these new arrivals, their numbers would only increase.

Daejoon gritted his teeth.

“Damn it, where the hell is Representative Baek?! He said he had arrived already!!”

With all this chaos, Baek should have come to help by now. Why was it so quiet?

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, Kim Jinsung picked up a longsword from the ground and swung it widely towards the left side of the encirclement, using the ‘Deadly Strike’ skill once again.

“Aaagh!”

In a moment of attack, three members were simultaneously slashed severely. One fell immediately, while the other two writhed in pain.

“That’s it!”

Kim Jinsung internally cheered. He had executed the attack with the thought of whether it was possible to use the ‘Deadly Strike’ skill on multiple opponents at once, and it had worked.

“Now!”

Before Kim Jinsung could even shout to Oh Daejoon, Daejoon was already charging at them. With all his might, he swung his dagger, and the two injured members couldn’t defend themselves and fell bleeding.

With the two down, there were no clan members left standing around them. The encirclement was broken.

“Run!”

They started sprinting through the gap in the encirclement, and the clan members shouted in pursuit.

“The encirclement is broken!”

“Catch them!”

The distance between the two and the clan members was perilously close, but it didn’t seem to narrow any further. Oh Daejoon thought they might just be able to escape.

“Let’s get out of the parking lot first! If we can just reach the nearby mercenary guild…!”

Just as Oh Daejoon was entertaining hopeful thoughts, suddenly, a dagger struck the back of his head, halting all his thoughts instantly. He fell forward, lifeless, a victim of instant death.

“Ugh…!”

Gasping, Kim Jinsung turned to see who the attacker was. A robust man in his mid-thirties was sprinting towards him at an incredible speed. It was Lee Dong-shik.

“Kim Jinsung!!”

Lee Dong-shik shouted with a voice full of resentment. How much trouble had this kid caused him, how much abuse had he taken, and how many beatings had he endured because of him over the past six months? He couldn’t let him get away.

Thus, he ran with even more effort than usual, quickly closing the distance between them.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Shouting, Lee Dong-shik drew another dagger from his waist and swung it towards Kim Jinsung’s thigh.

“What!”

Kim Jinsung instinctively jumped on the spot. However, he couldn’t completely avoid the attack. Lee Dong-shik’s attack speed was far superior to Kim Jinsung’s reaction speed.

Slash!

“Aah!”

Kim Jinsung screamed as he fell forward loudly. Blood started pouring from his deeply cut thigh, making escape seem impossible.

“You’ve been a nuisance to the very end, you damn brat!”

Lee Dong-shik shouted, frowning, and ordered his followers.

“Tie him up and beat him, but don’t kill him!”

“Yes!”

The clan members rushed towards the fallen Kim Jinsung in unison. But then…

Suddenly, the actions of the followers became strange. Why had they all frozen in place right in front of Kim Jinsung?

“What are you doing…?!”

Just as Lee Dong-shik was about to shout in annoyance, his expression hardened rapidly. He witnessed all of his followers’ waists being sliced in half slowly.

Someone had cut down all his followers in front of him in a single stroke!

“Who’s there?!”

Lee Dong-shik drew his dagger and looked ahead. A young man in a white suit was slowly walking towards them after closing the door of a limousine.

It was Baek Jun, a person Lee Dong-shik knew all too well.

“Ba, Baek Jun?”

He was a figure that naturally made him stutter. The representative of the Colosseum and one of the top hunters in South Korea, Baek Jun, stood before them alone.

“This is a mess.”

He muttered with an expression of annoyance.