Chapter 101 (1/2)
Hwang Jun-peong was dead.
The tallest skyscraper in Guangzhou, the C&D building, collapsed from the battle between two people, no less.
One of them was none other than Hwang Jun-peong. The world was stunned to learn the truth of him being an awakener possessing abilities exceeding regular S-Ranks. They were also shocked at the fact that there was no other casualty beside him during this incident.
“It was all thanks to the steps Kim Su-hyeun had taken beforehand. We merely took action after he asked us for our help, that’s all.”
This was from an interview with Zhu In, the master of the Great Wall Guild.
“At the very least, he never made us suspect him as a criminal, someone belonging to the Dump Guild. No, it was Hwang Jun-peong who attacked me, instead.”
“Are you saying that the actor Hwang Jun-peong was a Dump Guild member?” the reporter asked.
“No, not exactly, but if you ask me to choose between the two, then yes, I think Hwang Jun-peong was indeed more likely someone from the Dump Guild. Even Kim Su-hyeun said something similar to that effect, as well.”
“Are you saying that you believe the words of Kim Su-hyeun over the actor Hwang Jun-peong?”
“Rather than believing who over who, I’m simply looking at the available information objectively to make my decision. Kim Su-hyeun had been on a warpath against the Dump Guild already, and most importantly, those directly involved in the Beijing disaster all pointed Hwang Jun-peong as the culprit, as well. The series of events so far…”
Beep—
Now back on Korean soil, Su-hyeun turned the TV off. Hak-joon, who was sitting in front of him, stopped eating and asked, “How did you take care of the aftermath?”
“I didn’t. I just ran away. Thankfully, no one tried to stop me.”
Su-hyeun’s reply was met with another question from Hak-joon, this time sounding worried. “Won’t be it a problem later down the line?”
“They have nothing to suspect me with. If they had no clue, fine, but just digging through Hwang Jun-peong’s past alone would reveal his ties to the Dump Guild sooner rather than later. Also, there were eyewitnesses.”
“Eyewitnesses?”
“You heard what that guy said on TV just now, right? I’m talking about the awakeners who survived the Beijing disaster. Sure, that guy might have used a skill to change his appearance, but they have testified that Hwang Jun-peong was the disaster’s main culprit.”
He was trying to say that he made his move because he had a plan.
Hak-joon initially thought that Su-hyeun stepped up without one, seemingly completely out of whim, but the latter had given this a lot of thought beforehand from the looks of things.
“In that case, why did you run away?”
“Staying behind and getting involved in the investigation would have been super annoying, that’s why. I mean, we have other people willing to testify for me over there anyway, so do I really need to stay back and waste my time?”
If there was one thing that might prove to be a problem, it’d be the owner of the building, the XX Group, demanding compensation for their losses, but as far as that part was concerned, all sorts of stories were doing the rounds at the moment.
“As for the compensation for the damaged building, I’m sure they will seize Hwang Jun-peong’s private assets and deal with that. If it’s not enough, the Chinese authorities will probably pay for the rest.”
“….Bro, you’re surprisingly a lot smarter than you look.”
“What, you thought I was a moron?”
“Haha, no way.”
Hak-joon’s chopsticks began moving again. As they returned to their meal, Su-hyeun suddenly pulled his phone out and confirmed the date once more.
July. In the middle of a hot, stuffy summer.
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…A huge event took place. He couldn’t participate in the past, but now, he had more than enough qualifications.
Riiiing—
While he was confirming the date, the phone started ringing. Since he was already holding the device anyway, Su-hyeun didn’t hesitate and brought it close to his ear.
“What do you want?”
“What kind of a greeting is that?”
It was Ji-yeon.
“Stick to the business at hand. International calls can be very expensive.”
“You’ve got a ton of money, so what’s with your Scrooge attitude? And besides, I’m the one paying for the call here. The caller’s responsible for the payment, don’t you know that?”
“In any case, aren’t you coming back soon?”
“Plenty of Dump Guild remnants are still hiding on this side.”
“Those bastards. I’m sure it’s not going to be easy to smoke them out after they all went underground.”
“Well, this is the only thing remaining that I can do, after you went and offed Hwang Jun-peong all by yourself.”
Just what had happened between her and them? Her grudge against the Dump Guild didn’t seem to be over yet.
From the way she spoke, it looked as if she was planning to completely erase all traces of the Dump Guild — not just what was revealed to the surface, but the roots and even the vestiges, too.
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The “root” called Hwang Jun-peong had already been exposed.
Just by digging through his past movements alone, you’d be able to reveal which guilds were connected to the Dump in no time at all. When that time came, they should be able to completely erase any and all remaining hidden vestiges of the Dump Guild once and for all.
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Whatever the case might have been, she was basically doing what Su-hyeun was supposed to be doing, anyway. So, he didn’t plan on stopping her, nor was there a reason to do so.
“Okay, so. What do you want?”
“I wanted to share a really interesting piece of news, that’s what.”
“What is it?”
“You know who Gordon Rohan is, right?”
What an obvious question that was.
He was a man often considered America’s — no, the world’s — best awakener. Surely no living awakener didn’t know that man’s name by now.
“He proposed for an event to be held. He’s calling it the Ranking Wars, and it’s causing a huge stir on this side.”
“Already?”
“…What do you mean, already?”
His unexpected reaction prompted Ji-yeon to ask him for a clarification.
Su-hyeun got flustered by what he said reflexively and hurriedly tried to change the topic. “N-no, well. I mean, the current state of affairs is really chaotic, so I was wondering, why an event now? I was just puzzled, is all.”
“It seems like the argument is an event like this is even more necessary precisely because of what’s been happening lately. Need something to change the moods or some such, apparently. I’ve heard that he can be a bit eccentric, so I guess the rumors were true.”
For sure, there was a rumor like that in the past, too. However, Su-hyeun’s current thoughts were slightly different.
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That didn’t seem likely.
The Ranking Wars. That event also took place in the previous life Su-hyeun remembered. However, it happened much further into the future.
“He wants to gather all the rank S Awakeners of the world in one spot and let them fight to establish a pecking order. Although, participation is voluntary… I’m pretty sure the people will call the one who wins this thing the best of the best. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Back then, the competition was held so that Gordon Rohan could prove himself to be the strongest in the world.
“When is it supposed to take place?”
“At the end of this year. December.”
As he suspected, the timing had been brought a little closer than he remembered.
Su-hyeun replied with a satisfied smile on his face. “Okay.”
This was for the better, actually. He now got a chance to take care of an annoying event as soon as possible.
“I’ll remember it.”
What a relief it was, knowing that he wouldn’t get the dates all mixed up now. Su-hyeun then ended the phone call with Ji-yeon.
“What was that about?” Hak-joon asked. And after hearing about the new of the Ranking Wars, he began forming a really excited expression. “D-does that mean even I can participate?”
“I think you’ll have to be an S-Rank first to qualify, though. Don’t you think it’ll be difficult?”
“There’s still half a year left, right?”
Tap!
Hak-joon put down the chopsticks and spoke up. “That’ll be enough for me.”
Despite his meal not being finished yet, he shot up from his chair. Now that was quite an enthusiastic response; Su-hyeun stared Hak-joon’s back as the latter left through the front door.
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