Ch.544Chapter 21. Blood Pack (4)

As if there are many plastic surgery-enhanced handsome men in Seoul’s Gangnam who resemble Do Ji-hwan.

There are also quite a few people similar to the ability user Goblin.

In Korea, while Goblin is a vicious villain, there are those who sympathize with his actions and ideology, even though he’s a villain.

And such sympathy sometimes leads to “imitation.”

Admiration and respect for someone creates a desire to emulate that person, and I’m currently exploiting that.

[That blood, where did you extract it from?]

“Ugh…!”

Everyone I encountered in the basement of the plastic surgery clinic pulled something out from their clothes.

“Combat ready!!”

Both the driver and the staff member in white protective gear who was pulling the cart were holding rod-like objects similar to danso flutes.

[I see. Restraining batons?]

Bzzt!

Not flutes, but electric shock devices.

Blue electricity flickered in the darkness, threatening to sear me.

[Even ability users will lose consciousness from electric shock if they don’t have resistance to electricity. Especially those with little magical power.]

“I don’t know who you’re explaining this to, but why is Hwalbindang attacking us?!”

[Because we’re Hwalbindang.]

They’re mistaking me for Hwalbindang.

It’s inevitable.

Goblin is dead, and if you think about who might be behind a man dressed in hanbok like a grim reaper, nine out of ten would think of Hwalbindang.

Especially if it’s a face “without a mask”—if someone is openly showing their face, it would be even more perplexing.

“Ugh, you…! If you’ve come all this way because of a botched surgery…!”

“No, that’s impossible! How could plastic surgery go wrong on an ability user?!”

“Huh…?”

The staff members were confused.

That’s probably because they personally selected the people they put on the operating table during surgeries.

[Has your life improved since you started performing surgeries with other people’s faces?]

“……Do Ji-hwan?”

[That’s right.]

Whack!

I rushed forward in one step and swung my club at the head of the driver who was standing at the front.

“Gah!”

The driver crashed into the car while still holding the electric shock device.

As his body slumped downward, the activated shock device went under his body.

Bzzzzt!!

As the light of the shock rose from below, the driver’s body trembled like an eel.

I thought he might die from an electric shock while concussed, but he didn’t die.

Not yet.

“Ph-phone! Quickly call and report that Do Ji-hwan is an ability user…! He’s with Hwalbindang!!”

“Wh-what?! Why isn’t the Taegeuk Watch…! Why isn’t the villain alarm going off?!”

[Don’t you think that’s annoying?]

I turned toward the panicking doctors and approached them with leisurely steps.

[That beeping sound, I think it’s a nuisance every time I hear it.]

“Uh, uwaah! Die!!”

[Telling someone to die just like that. Those words.]

The tip of the electric shock device lunged straight at me.

[Does that mean I can kill you too?]

“?!”

I easily dodged the attack aimed at my solar plexus by twisting my body to the side, then grabbed the wrist.

Bzzzzt!

The tip of the shock device stabbed into the doctor’s solar plexus.

The doctor’s eyes rolled back as his body trembled, and I backed away from him and pointed my club at another doctor.

[You’re next.]

“Uh, uwaaaah!!”

Terrified, the doctor abandoned his colleague, turned around, and ran backward.

Abandoning even the cart he had brought, he ran toward where he had come from.

“Heouk!”

Did he see a ghost?

Just as he was about to open the door and escape into the building, he collapsed on the spot.

“Hii, hiiik!!”

“What’s this? Why are you acting like you’ve seen a ghost?”

The person who appeared beyond the open door was a woman in a black dress, Yoon Hye-ra.

“H-how are you ali…hiiik?!”

“You know me, don’t you? Ah. Since you’re a plastic surgeon, you must know well. After all, I have quite a pretty face. Everyone must have asked you to make them look like me.”

Since we’re on a mission now, I should call her “Qiongqi”—

“This ‘Black Flame Demon Bird.'”

“Uwaaah!! Pl-please spare me!! I don’t want to be roasted alive!!”

“…When did I ever burn someone to death like a roast?”

Thud.

Yoon Hye-ra precisely drove the tip of her heel into the underside of the doctor’s chin.

The doctor’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed, falling with a thud without even making a groan.

“Always with the framing.”

[Aren’t you revealing too much about mental reconditioning and taking them away?]

“Really? Then sorry. It’s just so nostalgic to go wild after so long.”

Yoon Hye-ra stretched out her left hand.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used real flames like this, so I’m having trouble controlling my emotions.”

[Don’t people usually call it power control? Or in your case, fire control?]

“What are you saying? Cooking is what I do best. Where else would you find a woman who can control fire as well as I can?”

Whoosh.

As Yoon Hye-ra ignited flames, light began to shine brightly in the underground parking lot that had been filled with darkness.

“See? If I couldn’t control fire, there would have been an explosion of light here by now.”

[You.]

After dragging the three we subdued and throwing them into the car trunk, I approached Yoon Hye-ra and placed my hand on her head.

[You’re just dying to burn everything, aren’t you?]

“That’s why I’m controlling it. It hasn’t exploded yet, so I can make it go boom soon.”

Yoon Hye-ra winked with a smile like an excited child before pulling a surprise prank.

“A commercial building in the middle of Gangnam must be worth at least 2 billion won, right?”

[…….]

“What?”

[I would think it’s well over 10 billion.]

“What? Haha, oppa, sometimes your jokes are really funny. A commercial building in Seoul’s Gangnam for 10 billion? No way.”

Seeing Yoon Hye-ra laugh so seriously, I could only feel bitter.

“Maybe if it were in Busan.”

[…….]

A world where an entire plastic surgery building near Gangnam Station drops to 2 billion won just because it’s not in the capital.

This must be the apocalypse itself for those who own real estate in Seoul.

“Well then, shall we take a look at the smuggled goods of doctors who suck the blood of Seoul people and build buildings in Busan?”

And in this world of such language, the actions of those who suck money like mosquitoes sucking blood by exploiting human desires lie before us.

“Wow, they’ve collected a lot.”

Blood.

The red liquid that flows through human bodies.

It’s stored in large containers like kimchi containers, not glass tubes, loaded in abundance on the cart.

“What should we do with this? Burn it?”

[They’ve at least classified it by blood type, as doctors would. Still, I think it’s better to burn it. From the looks of it, it seems mixed.]

I can tell without opening the lid.

In these wide containers, there aren’t individual portions in small glass tubes or transfusion packs, but blood extracted from human bodies all dumped together like soy sauce in a jar.

“Ughh….”

One of the doctors who had collapsed beside the car groaned and got up.

It was the doctor who had fainted at the sight of Yoon Hye-ra, and we approached him.

“Hii, hiik…! Gh-ghost…!”

[I said I’m a passing Immortal. Actually, I’m Goblin.]

“Goblin is…Do Ji-hwan? Then, could Baek Seol-hee possibly be….”

[There’s no point in thinking about it. Whatever you say here won’t be relayed to Haeguneul or the government, or anyone else.]

“W-wait!!”

The doctor desperately reaches out to me with an urgent face.

“D-do you know how much this blood is worth?!”

[About 2 million won per liter?]

“…How do you know the market price?”

[Where there’s supply and demand, there’s a market, and understanding the market is the easiest way for our Syndicate to obtain information.]

I lightly tapped the rectangular kimchi container.

[You collected this blood from customers who passed out during plastic surgery, right? You collected blood that flowed while changing faces or cutting skin.]

“Th-that’s….”

[Not just blood from surgeries, but you collected blood separately. Am I wrong?]

“…….”

The doctor doesn’t answer.

“Y-you guys, could it be….”

He seems to be frantically analyzing the situation and looking for a way out, but with a brain smart enough to become a doctor, there’s only one conclusion.

“You knew everything when you came….”

[Of course. The Syndicate’s intelligence is the best in the world.]

I placed my club on the doctor’s head.

[We came knowing that you collect and traffic this blood that you extort during surgeries.]

“Ugh, urgh…!”

[We also know where you sell it.]

It’s distributed worldwide, and some of it will be delivered to those who desperately want to achieve something, even if it means using Korean blood.

[Performing rituals with Korean blood, drinking it, making soup with it, mixing it with herbal medicine, or directly transfusing it.]

“…….”

[Just because of the “kimchi premium,” blood is sold overseas for millions of won. It’s quite the export success, isn’t it?]

“If, if you know that….”

[It’s human trafficking and smuggling.]

Whack!

I struck the doctor’s head once more.

Drip.

I used a bit too much force, and red blood began to flow from his ear down the side of his head.

“What? Did you kill him already?”

[…He’s not dead. Just cracked his skull a bit.]

“Ah, I see. I thought you were killing doctors outright because someone stole your face.”

[I won’t kill them. They’re doctors. It wouldn’t be right to kill skilled professionals who benefit society.]

I threw the three of them into the back of the van, where the cart should have been loaded.

[Since they’re plastic surgery specialists, they can use their skills later, whether treating burn scars or doing something with plastic surgery. Release the barrier.]

“Ah.”

Yoon Hye-ra’s eyes sparkled as she clasped her hands together.

“Is it okay to do it?”

[Of course.]

I pointed to the top of the van, then lightly climbed into the driver’s seat.

[Burn it all down. This entire building.]

BOOOOOM!!!

From the basement of a 20-story building near Gangnam Station, an unidentified explosion followed by a massive fire engulfed the entire building.

Miraculously.

A fire with no casualties.