Ch.120Episode 24. Catching Paris (End)

The torture continued for about thirty minutes.

Paris couldn’t endure the pain until the end.

I didn’t actually pull her hair out, but she started talking only after her five fingers on the left hand were broken and her left elbow was completely shattered.

I deliberately compared what she said with the information I already knew to verify if she was telling the truth, and I crushed her bones every time she lied.

Only then did she stop lying and tell the truth, spilling all the information she knew.

As expected, with her life on the line, it was laughable how she abandoned all loyalty and told me everything. And this woman was supposed to be an executive.

If I had tortured Gongsang-i, perhaps I wouldn’t have had to go this roundabout way.

But I had no intention of mentioning what was already in the past.

“Is this really all you know?”

“Y-y-yes, I swear…! Hurry up and g-give me a p-potion…! It hurts…!”

She still showed a sharp attitude, but her eyes, once filled with hostility, were now consumed by fear and terror, darting around restlessly.

She had no rationality left. She was simply desperate to escape her current situation.

“Hmm.”

I removed my fist from her crushed left hand. She let out a groan, dropped her pen, and grabbed her wrist. Her left wrist was already dangling loosely.

I had left her right hand intact so she could write notes.

“Ughhhh!”

Looking at Paris, who was not only crying but had also wet herself, I took the notepad as if collecting it.

“Where are the hideouts of the others?”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t go out much.”

“Are you sure? Are these all the places where executive meetings were held?”

“Y-yes…! Please. Please give me a potion…”

“Hmm.”

If what Paris had written in this note was true, I would be able to anticipate Akcheon’s future movements.

Also, as expected, now that Moonlight was gone, Starlight had extended its reach into most areas. It meant he intended to take over Akcheon.

With Paris now broken, it’s obvious that Starlight will take over the drug production for Akcheon. She said it was Starlight who proposed building a laboratory in Shinan County.

First, I should pass the location of that laboratory to the Association President and tell him to destroy it. I don’t need to handle that myself.

The next issue was human trafficking and drug distribution through deals with the Chinese villain organization, Black Fang. I now knew about their main distribution routes, but cutting off those routes wouldn’t end the problem.

This part could potentially lead to an all-out war with Black Fang if we’re not careful. So the first thing to do was to sever the relationship between Akcheon and Black Fang.

I’ll have to ask the Association President to track down Black Fang members who have entered the country. And as a bonus, traces of Soleta and Flo.

In Flo’s case, we might be able to catch him once we know the drug distribution routes, but Soleta could be more difficult.

Soleta doesn’t keep many subordinates. He only keeps those who can get the job done.

Because of this, Soleta will be the most difficult one to gather information on.

“Alright. I’ll give you a potion now. But before that…”

I called the Association President, told him I had subdued Paris, and gave him my current location.

The President said he would come right away and hung up. Heroes would arrive in a few dozen minutes.

“Damn it…! I wanted to inflict the s-same pain on those hero bastards who k-killed my parents…!”

If she truly wanted revenge, she should have targeted only the hero who killed her parents. Whatever the circumstances, I could understand wanting revenge for murdered parents.

But Paris had indiscriminately tormented people. Whatever reason she gave, she was in no position to rationalize her actions.

“That’s not my concern.”

“You bastard! If it were you, if it were you…! They killed them just because they ignored orders and ran away! Could you forgive that if you were in my place?!”

“…Of course not. But the reason the hero killed your parents was probably because their lives were threatened.”

This was a truth of this world.

No hero commits murder unless their life is threatened. If they really killed someone just for running away, that hero would be in prison by now.

Even killing in self-defense results in some form of punishment, whether disciplinary action or a fine. There’s no way someone who committed murder without reason could still work as a hero.

“Your parents must have tried to kill the hero.”

“You’re just defending them because you’re a hero!!”

“And you just tried to kill me a moment ago.”

“That’s because you first…!”

“It’s only because my ability is good that I could torture you like this and keep you alive. Otherwise, I couldn’t have done it this way, could I?”

If I didn’t have the ability to nullify powers, could I have subdued her so easily?

Absolutely not. I would have just quickly approached her and blown her head off.

“That’s the relationship between heroes and villains. We spare lives when we can, but we’re merciless when we have to kill. Since abilities emerged, we’ve always been fighting with our lives on the line.”

As long as human desire doesn’t disappear, I guess we can’t all live peacefully.

“In the end, your parents were wrong to become villains. That’s all there is to it.”

“You fucking bastard… Someday… I’ll definitely… kill you…”

“If you can, that is.”

I fed her a potion while speaking. Bin Yoon’s recovery potion seemed to work well, as her shattered left arm quickly healed.

After checking her condition, I immediately tied her hands and gagged her mouth. To prevent her from using her skills.

Honestly, I considered cutting out her tongue, but I decided against it, thinking I couldn’t avoid punishment if I went that far.

“Heroes will be here soon. Don’t try to use your ability unnecessarily then. You might really end up in the afterlife if you do.”

* @ *

“From now on, we will cease all activities until the eX potion is fully developed.”

Starlight declared as soon as he gathered the executives for an emergency meeting.

“What?”

The other executives’ faces wrinkled at Starlight’s declaration, as if he had become Akcheon’s leader. They instinctively felt discomfort at his implication that he was above them.

“What are you talking about, Starlight?”

Soleta asked with a yawn. Despite his indifferent attitude, there was clear hostility in his eyes.

“The heroes have caught on to our plan to move the laboratory to Shinan. This means information has leaked from somewhere. Moreover, Paris has likely been captured. She’s not answering any calls.”

Paris being captured meant the loss of most functions related to drug research. Naturally, this would also affect Flo, whose main business was drugs.

“I’ve also confirmed that heroes raided what is believed to be Paris’s residence. Yujin probably subdued Paris. Anyway, you should all be aware that it wouldn’t be strange for information to leak from within.”

“Sigh. Then what about the Black Fang guys who came for Anrak? They’ve already wasted a trip, and the ones in Jeju have been captured and can’t do anything.”

Flo ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Their connection with Black Fang was also related to drug distribution, and if a deal failed or trust between organizations fell, it could lead to significant losses.

“Just give those Chinese bastards some money. Even if we take a loss, just hand it over.”

“If we break deals like this, they won’t want to deal with us again…”

“We have no choice. If we continue the deals recklessly now, we’ll all be captured. We need to be cautious until the eX potion is completed.”

Starlight had already confirmed the power of the eX potion through CCTV footage shown by Paris. The reason he thought Paris might have been captured was because they had been in contact until just recently.

“So Akcheon will temporarily withdraw from all operations.”

He predicted that if they could eliminate the side effects of the eX potion, even heroes wouldn’t be able to deal with Akcheon carelessly.

“Can you complete the eX potion?”

Cloud, who was sitting with her legs crossed seductively while brushing back her reddish-brown waves, challenged him. The other executives also seemed displeased with Starlight’s attitude, giving him sullen looks.

“Among the Jihyeong members we absorbed this time, there are some with abilities in alchemy.”

“Really? Are they the ones handling the Anrak plan too?”

“No. We’re abandoning Anrak.”

“What?”

“Hey. Don’t you know Black Fang came to trade for Anrak? You ruined everything, and now what?”

Soleta and Flo both snorted almost simultaneously at Starlight’s unilateral announcement. Thinking to themselves that this guy had finally gone crazy.

“I never liked that drug from the beginning. Killing people indiscriminately is of no help. It might satisfy that psychopath woman’s pleasure, but that’s it.”

“But we can manipulate the Association as we please.”

“Manipulate the Association? Don’t make me laugh. See this?”

Starlight laughed hollowly and tossed a piece of paper to them. Flo picked it up. As he checked the contents, veins bulged on his forehead.

“What is this?”

Flo kept his eyes wide open while reading the paper. Finally, he looked up from the paper and questioned Starlight.

“Is this real?”

“It’s real. Bin Yoon’s recently developed status ailment recovery potion is effective against Anrak. Moreover, mass production is scheduled from November. Even if we complete Anrak now, it would no longer have any meaning.”

“Fuck…”

“Then shouldn’t we capture Bin Yoon right away? At this rate, they might develop countermeasures for the eX potion too.”

“No. We won’t be able to capture Bin Yoon. I heard that not only does Yujin help with commuting to the laboratory, but he also flies over immediately if there’s even a slight problem. In that case, we’d only get our members captured and information leaked, let alone kidnapping.”

“…Yujin.”

“It’s all because of that guy.”

Soleta chuckled at the mention of Yujin.

“The plan to take over the Academy using the disguise artist was ruined by him, Moonlight’s core forces were destroyed by him, he drove a wedge between Moonlight and Paris, he ruined the production and trade plans for Anrak and eX potion, and he’s about to ruin our relationship with Black Fang. Everything, all because of that guy?”

Soleta laughed emptily while folding his fingers one by one.

At his words, the executives present remained silent. None could refute. They had all felt it, even without it being mentioned.

“Shouldn’t we kill him right away? Or at least kill those around him to shake his mental state?”

“That’s not a good choice. It seems he’s already read our movements and has placed heroes as guards around his acquaintances. All of them are at least B-rank or higher. Moreover, the guarded targets themselves are either former A-rank or current A-rank level. We can’t kill them. At least not until we complete the eX potion.”

“What the hell is that guy’s identity?”

“I’m curious too. What kind of person is this Yujin?”

Starlight laughed dryly.

“If there’s one thing we can know now, it’s that Yujin is stronger than the current rank 1 S-class, ‘Ha Yuri’.”

Ha Yuri.

The official rank 1 of the Hero Association and known as the “Empress of Bitter Cold,” she was South Korea’s top hero.

“Speaking of which, she’s coming back soon. From overseas.”

At the news of Ha Yuri’s return, they each sighed and covered their faces.

“I see. So we have no choice but to lie low for now.”

“Anyway, from this point on, we hide our strength and go into hiding. Everyone be careful. Don’t get caught.”

Throughout Starlight’s speech, Cloud, who had been showing a sullen reaction, thought to herself.

Perhaps she should consider withdrawing from Akcheon.