Ch.546Chapter 21. Blood Pack (6)

At that moment, in the chairman’s office at Haeguneul headquarters in Busan.

[Mr. Choi. I’m deeply disappointed.]

On the other side of the video call monitor, a red-haired woman in a crimson dress glared at Chairman Choi Ho-jung with an irritated expression.

[Are you trying to ruin my routine?]

Routine.

While important for athletes, it’s even more crucial for S-class ability users.

[If my routine gets disrupted, I won’t be able to properly prepare for the World Cup. Oh my, what if I lose control in Korea and become a demon? What would you do then?]

“……”

An absurd threat.

They say ability users can become demons over trivial matters, but for an ability user to mention turning into a demon themselves is a threat only ability users can make.

This threat was being made to a man over 60 years old by a woman barely in her twenties.

Clearly against traditional values, but the old man was the “seller” and the woman was the “buyer.”

According to the contract, she was the superior party.

“Not at all, Lady Bathory. There will be no problems with the supply.”

[Can I trust you?]

“Of course. I promise you as chairman. The blood we’ll send you this time will be very special.”

[Special blood? What do you mean?]

“With close cooperation from the Red Cross, I’ve acquired some truly exceptional blood.”

Whether this was truly “close cooperation” or simply a discrepancy between recorded and actual quantities, nobody knows.

Even those who know pretend not to know.

“Did you know? Korean high school students will do anything if it helps their grades and college admissions.”

[Oh my.]

“We send blood donation vehicles, give them donation certificates, volunteer activity points, and…”

[So you’re sending me high school girls’ blood? That legendary…]

The woman’s red eyes sparkled as she licked her lips.

[I’ll have to save it. Hehe, lately in Europe, there are so many women in heat trying to get with Korean men, it’s hard to find pure women.]

“…I can’t guarantee purity. Please keep that in mind.”

[Hehe, understood. You’re sending me something difficult to obtain, so I should be considerate. However.]

Bathory, who had been smiling broadly, turned serious and reached toward the screen.

[If rumors spread that Bathory is involved in illegal blood trafficking, I won’t be responsible for whatever incidents might occur at Haeguneul branches in this country, understand?]

“…I’ll be careful.”

Beep.

The video call ended.

“…Hah.”

Chairman Choi Ho-jung closed his eyes and slumped in his chair, as the LED fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickered.

“At my age, to be threatened by that young brat.”

The chairman gritted his teeth as he surveyed the middle-aged men in suits gathered around the table.

“How is it that none of you born from my loins have the ability to stand in my place against these ability users?”

“……”

“How long will you continue to put your father, your uncle, your grandfather in front of ability users to be humiliated? You worthless fools.”

Despite his open rage directed at his family members, they couldn’t say anything in response to the chairman’s anger.

“Woojung.”

“Y-yes.”

The man called Woojung straightened his posture and bowed his head.

“If your younger brother happens to be killed, you take the box embedded in him.”

“Ah, understood.”

“And…”

Chairman Choi Ho-jung’s gaze turned toward the wall.

“Just in case, ‘you’ should prepare as well.”

In the darkness.

Someone unidentified wearing a black trench coat and a fedora quietly nodded.

“If necessary, I’ll cut off all business relationships, and if they cause trouble, you go and handle it. Understood?”

He had white bandages wrapped around his face and wore sunglasses, silently nodding in response.

“Whoever they are, they must be taught. In this country, no, on this land…”

Chairman Choi Ho-jung clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

“Anyone who messes with Haeguneul—”

* * *

‘I’m screwed.’

I turned away from Choi Woo-sik.

The golden blade and forceps extending toward his pubic bone advanced slowly, emitting a brilliant light.

“W-what are you doing! S-stop it!!”

“Nothing much, it’s okay, it’s okay. Just removing a bit of skin.”

Should I call it flaying?

Or perhaps removing the epidermis to extract the magical seal that has permeated the dermis without damage.

To extract the fruit, one must naturally cut the peel.

“I’ve given you anesthesia so there’s no pain, don’t worry. Okay?”

“Aaaagh!! Y-you’re crazy?! S-save me!!”

“I’m not killing you. I’m doing this so you won’t die, understand? Hey. What did you tell people getting plastic surgery? That it wouldn’t hurt, that they should stay still, right?”

“Aaaaaaagh!!”

Choi Woo-sik struggled and twisted his body, but he couldn’t move any part of himself.

It wasn’t just restraints on the chair.

Magical force, layers of air, were pressing down on Choi Woo-sik’s body.

“W-what are you trying to do! Are you insane?! Are you crazy?! How can you try to cut that part of a living person!”

“Because I’m a villain?”

“Aaaagh!!”

The only part he could move was above his neck, and even that was only free enough to speak or scream.

“It’s okay. I’ll leave a patriotic pattern on the torn area so you won’t be embarrassed when others see it.”

Hyun Se-rin laughed softly as she watched Choi Woo-sik screaming and crying hysterically.

She wasn’t actually torturing him, but her appearance was like someone truly torturing and cutting into living flesh.

‘Well, that’s true.’

She was cutting into living flesh.

But that was merely the process to extract Haeguneul’s seal—the ‘survival confirmation device.’

There was no pain.

Choi Woo-sik was just screaming in terror at the thought of the blade dropping about 5cm lower.

“What was it again, should I make a cute star shape?”

“…First put the extracted seal into the mana gold.”

I pointed to the faintly glowing Haeguneul seal, and Hyun Se-rin immediately changed her expression and moved her hand.

Plunge, thrust, rip.

Cutting, slicing, extracting.

Hyun Se-rin’s golden forceps pulled out a long ‘line’ from Choi Woo-sik’s body.

Flap.

The line twisted violently like a living creature.

Though not a living being but an ‘ability,’ it began to glow as if sending some signal after being separated from its original body.

“Ah. Hmm, almost lost it.”

Whirr.

After cutting the golden forceps part with magic, Hyun Se-rin created a green sphere in the air using magical force.

Whiiirr.

A green wind barrier.

Inside the barrier that blocked external magical forces, the mana line that had been Haeguneul’s seal hesitated, scanning its surroundings before seeping into the cut piece of golden forceps.

Slither.

The Haeguneul seal, wrapping itself around the forceps, gradually disappeared into it, and the forceps became engraved with a pattern identical to how the seal had wrapped around it.

“…Phew.”

The surgery was over.

Rather than surgery, it was the process of transferring the seal embedded in Choi Woo-sik’s body to the mana gold.

No blood flowed.

Even though flesh had been cut away, the cross-section was covered with a mana shield, and only the part containing the ability was extracted from the cut.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

But what about from the perspective of the person experiencing it?

A living hell.

More terrifying than the fear of death, a blade dancing just 1cm above what is most precious to a man.

“Huuuuff…”

What could be more frightening than that?

“Choi Woo-sik.”

I lightly pointed to his seal, the ‘survival signal,’ trapped in the green wind barrier.

“Haeguneul isn’t completely stupid, so they’ll weigh their options. Before this explodes and burns down all of Haeguneul’s plastic surgery clinics, they’ll insert another doctor. You’re just a part that can be replaced.”

“Huff, huff, huff…”

“Threats won’t work. This is your last chance. Will you expose the truth, or will you become the starting point for Haeguneul’s downfall?”

“H-hehe… What? Starting point…? Ha, haha…”

Tears streamed down from Choi Woo-sik’s eyes as he looked up at me with hatred-filled eyes.

“F-fuck you.”

“…Hmm.”

Choi Woo-sik refused to make a confession.

“If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get.”

“…What?”

“I’m someone who destroys ability users’ loins, not someone who can control myself when dealing with non-ability users.”

I pulled Hyun Se-rin’s shoulder and walked to the front of the interrogation room, opening the door.

“So I’ve invited an expert for this.”

“…A d-doctor?”

“Someone who opened a practice but went bankrupt because of troublemakers sent by Haeguneul, and now runs a small clinic in the countryside.”

“…Hah.”

The doctor placed something wrapped in a white cloth on the table and bowed slightly toward us.

“Everything for the world that The Syndicate will rule.”

“I’m counting on you, ‘Doctor.'”

“Of course. For this day…”

Clunk.

“I’ve sharpened these acupuncture needles.”

Medical arts.

“I will end the bloodline of the Choi family of Haeguneul.”

Depending on how a technique is used, it can either save lives or take them.

Though not an ability user, an ordinary human’s future possibilities can also be destroyed when their loins are damaged.

“Aaaagh!! What did I do wrong!! Just kill me instead! You filthy bastards!!”

“If you were going to ask to be killed, you should have done something bad enough to deserve death. You’re noisy even when we’re sparing your life.”

If he had done something bad enough to deserve death, we wouldn’t have spared him.

“Aaaagh!!”

Creeak.

Ignoring the screams, I closed the door.

“Hmm? Is it over?”

Outside the door.

“Good work. Want one?”

Poke.

“Aahn.”

Yoon Hye-ra stabbed a long toothpick into a takoyaki from the box in her hand and offered it to me.

“……”