Ch.147[Chapter 147] Tank Union

“Damn it!”

Park Chunbae twisted his face into a fierce scowl and spat.

No matter how urgently he had run, even after catching his breath for 5 minutes, he still couldn’t calm his breathing.

“Who would’ve thought those tanker bastards would interfere.”

Park Chunbae growled.

“They’re well-practiced at looking after their own interests.”

Magician Malei said, filled with hostility.

Behind them, several people who appeared to be executives nodded in agreement.

In truth, the people of the One Star Alliance didn’t think highly of tankers.

Especially those who were members of the Tanker Union.

The reason was simple.

Tankers seemed to raise their tier extremely easily.

For dealers, the competition was so fierce that they had to overcome odds of tens or hundreds to one just to form a party.

But tankers received dozens or hundreds of love calls from parties just by showing up.

This was discrimination that anyone could clearly see.

They viewed this discrimination with disgust.

They couldn’t help it.

In fact, the One Star Alliance had started as a puppet of the Melee Dealer Union.

Trom had intentionally gathered and incited the dealer outcasts of society, brainwashing them into a group.

Naturally, negative feelings toward tankers formed the foundation.

A petty, dark world of politics that didn’t match the cheerfulness of Gachaland!

The brainwashing and incitement had been so thorough that in Gachaland, only the One Star Alliance itself didn’t know it was a puppet of the Melee Dealer Union.

In truth, this fact wasn’t particularly important to Park Chunbae and Malei right now.

What mattered was that they needed to worry about their own safety.

“…They took one of us, right?”

“Well. That guy, he’s gone to a better place. Probably.”

Park Chunbae and Malei gazed wistfully at the sky.

Muttering, “Hines, we won’t forget your sacrifice.”

Considering it was Park Chunbae who had given Hines orders with just a glance, it was quite a hypocritical display.

“Excuse me for interrupting—”

From behind the two who were about to drift into their own world, a minstrel holding a lute suddenly poked his head out.

“Is it really okay to abandon our comrade like this?”

Tales asked the two with an expression of genuine curiosity rather than accusation.

“Shouldn’t we try to rescue him even now?”

“Look, Tales.”

Park Chunbae grinned at Tales.

No, his mouth was smiling, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“Our One Star Alliance won’t collapse just because we lost one person. Rather…”

“The probability of our cards coming up in the card pool will increase. Nothing to lose.”

Malei cut in on Park Chunbae’s words and cackled.

They entered a gloomy alley, laughing and chatting.

And finally, they entered their secret hideout.

Now was not the time to be trapped in the past, trembling.

It was time to look to the future and move forward.

The four executives of the One Star Alliance… no, now three, thought this as they closed the secret door of their hideout.

…It was too hopeful a phrase for villains to be thinking.

…

“Our base is in the north of the Market Area!”

Hines was screaming and spilling secrets fluently.

Sir Dominic looked at him with bewilderment, then asked Rook who was right beside him.

“Why is he doing that when we’re not doing anything to him?”

“Don’t know. Don’t understand.”

Hines was rolling around on the ground, flailing.

In front of Hines, Pandemonium stood using her sword as a cane, looking down at him with an expression of disbelief at the current situation.

“Hey, we haven’t even started interrogating you yet?”

“I’m confessing in advance because I’m afraid it might hurt. I’m weak to pain.”

Hines scratched the back of his dust-covered head sheepishly.

Still lying flat on the ground.

“Hines stupid! All porters like that!”

“That’s job discrimination!”

“Shut up, rat-man!”

“You’re a rat-man too, you rat-man!”

The alley where the chaotic battle had just taken place.

That alley was now filled with captured members of the One Star Alliance.

Sir Dominic pressed his temples at the sloppy atmosphere of the alley.

Words echoed through the narrow alley like a marketplace.

Words of slander and blame grew louder, stirring each other’s emotions.

Some, despite being tied up, crawled like caterpillars to deliver ugly kicks.

“So—”

Pandemonium maintained her composure even in this situation.

“Why did you attack ‘our’ Sir Dominic, and where did you get the hacking tool?”

Hines’ pupils trembled violently as his crimes were pointed out.

In fact, until just now, he had been thinking about sacrificing his life for the One Star Alliance, but when it came down to it, he started to value his life.

Hines’ eyes rolled rapidly.

He needed to minimize his crimes as much as possible.

Or… create a scapegoat.

“Actually… it was that woman! She seduced us!”

And Hines’ decision was to cut off the tail.

“…Mr. Hines?”

“Our One Star Alliance started to corrupt after she joined. I didn’t know! I was just deceived by that woman!”

Hines’ mind was spinning furiously.

He was speaking first and thinking later.

“Mr. Hines! How could you…!”

The woman pointed out by Hines glared at him with hurt eyes.

“You were the one who seduced me away from the Hero’s party and made me join the One Star Alliance! I betrayed them just because of you, even knowing it would hurt the Hero!”

“S-shut your mouth!”

Hines shouted desperately.

In fact, Hines had chosen the wrong scapegoat.

He had picked the person he thought was the easiest target, but it only resulted in adding to his own list of crimes.

“I-I didn’t know it was a hacking tool. I thought it was a sleeping pill! T-this is all because Park Chunbae and Malei deceived me—”

“Attacking citizens in broad daylight. Possession of hacking tools. Intentional use of hacking tools. Malicious headhunting.”

Pandemonium pulled out a parchment from somewhere and began writing down the crimes with a quill pen.

Each word sounded so chilling that Hines, who had been desperately defending himself until just now, found his mouth frozen.

“Caught in the act, arrested at the scene. Shows no signs of remorse.”

Pandemonium threw down the quill and checked each crime written on the parchment again.

“Rook. Could you send this to my uncle? You still have the fax function, right?”

“Confirmed.”

A small clip emerged from beside Rook’s coffin, picked up the parchment, and went back inside.

Then a faint light leaked out, and the parchment was handed back to Pandemonium.

“Good. I’ve sent a copy, so I’ll keep the original—”

Pandemonium rolled up the parchment and put the scroll in her inventory.

“Good. Now my uncle will come and clean this up. Done. Our job here is finished.”

Pandemonium said, stretching refreshingly.

“Now, let’s go. Sir Dominic? Do you like coffee? I’d like to buy you a cup and chat a bit.”

Pandemonium looked at Sir Dominic with expectant eyes.

Sir Dominic nodded at Pandemonium’s proposal.

He had many questions about the current situation.

“Great. Then let’s go to the GachaBucks up ahead. Today’s random latte is delicious.”

Having received Sir Dominic’s acceptance, Pandemonium moved with a fluttering smile.

Sir Dominic followed behind her, and behind him came Rook, shaking the ground with his massive body.

“Is it really okay to leave them like this?”

Sir Dominic asked, glancing back.

“What?”

Pandemonium turned her head to look at Sir Dominic.

“Them.”

Sir Dominic pointed at the captured members of the One Star Alliance.

“Well.”

Pandemonium smiled meaningfully.

Then she closed her eyes and began counting softly.

“Three. Two. One. Now.”

Sir Dominic realized that the sky had darkened immediately after Pandemonium said “now.”

Sir Dominic looked up at the sky.

No, he looked at where the sky had been.

A massive transport helicopter hovering in the sky, its propellers rotating fiercely.

The huge aircraft completely blocked the narrow strip of sky that had been visible through the alley.

“Looks like my uncle was home today. He sent people so quickly.”

Dozens of ropes descended from the helicopter, and a special forces team equipped with bulletproof vests, gas masks, and assault rifles began rappelling down.

“Now your question is answered, right? Problem solved!”

“No, I’d like to ask one more thing.”

Although one of Sir Dominic’s questions had been answered, he immediately voiced a new one.

“Who exactly is this uncle of yours?”

“Ah, right. You might be curious about that.”

Pandemonium slung her rusty greatsword over her shoulder and smiled brightly.

“It’s someone you know well, Sir Dominic.”

Although half of her face was covered with a mask oozing with pus, her smile was so bright it created the illusion of lighting up the alley.

“Senator Muscleman is my uncle.”

Sir Dominic stared blankly at that bright smile and thought.

Wasn’t Senator Muscleman only 23 years old?