CHAPTER 113: THE OWL HUNT (4)

Nine Owls sat before Kwon Oh-Jin, their eyes glazed over and mouths hanging open goofily.

“Heh...”

Kwon Oh-Jin had finished using Domination on each captive, cross-verifying their information on their organization.

“This should be enough to confirm it.”

The Owls’ headquarters was revealed to be nothing more than an empty house at the moment. All its core forces were absent, leaving behind only strength in numbers.

This is perfect.

He might have reconsidered his plan if Cheon Do-Yoon were present, but the outcome would surpass even his initial expectations as things stood.

As he stepped out of the interrogation room, he saw Han Jun-Man waiting for him.

“O-Oh-Jin, you’re injured—”

“There was a bit of a scuffle inside.” Kwon Oh-Jin wiped the blood trickling down his cheek with a towel. “They managed to break free from their restraints somehow and grabbed my weapon to attack me.”

“W-What?!”

“Well, thankfully, I wasn't really hurt.”

“Do you see how much you're bleeding?!” Han Jun-Man frowned and thrust forward a high-grade potion.

As soon as Kwon Oh-Jin applied it, a refreshing sensation washed over him, and the wound quickly closed up.

“Did you manage to gather anything useful?” Han Jun-Man asked.

“No. I was testing whether I could bypass their spell to extract some information, but it didn’t go as planned.”

“Ah... I figured as much.”

Kwon Oh-Jin kept the location of their headquarters to himself. A faint smile played on his lips. I need something big to wipe them out all at once.

“Well, I’ll be heading back for today,” he conveyed.

“I understand! I’ll make sure we upgrade the restraints to prevent this from happening again.”

“Haha, thank you.”

With that, Kwon Oh-Jin left the association.

Now then...

He drove to the Owls’ headquarters—the Changhyun Building in Yongsan.

“So that’s it?”

Tucked away in a desolate corner, the shabby, run-down commercial building looked like any other on a Korean street. Yet, this was supposedly the headquarters of a terrorist organization that had shaken the entire nation to its core.

There’s even a convenience store and a restaurant on the first floor.

“These fuckers sure did use their brains.”

There was a saying in Korea, "tohide a tree in the forest." No one would ever discover the Black Star Society's headquarters if he hadn’t broken the spell on the Owls with his Domination trait.

After parking his car nearby, he observed the building from a distance.

I feel like an undercover detective on a stakeout. All I’m missing is some coffee and donuts.

“Alright then.”

For now, he had to wait quietly.

There’s still not enough information.

Even though he had cross-verified the testimonies of the nine captives, charging straight into the Black Star Society’s headquarters without preparation wasn’t an option.

I’ll stake this place out for five days—no, a week, at least.

Thankfully, he had the perfect skill to avoid drawing suspicion.

Black Curtain.

With his presence completely concealed, he fixed his cold, sunken eyes on the building’s entrance.

***

A week had passed since Kwon Oh-Jin started monitoring the Black Star Society’s base.

Stretching lazily, he groaned, “Let’s see...”

Taking out the rice balls Song Ha-Eun had packed for him that morning, he took a bite. The soggy, mushy texture of the rice made him feel like he was chewing on a clump of wet newspaper.

“Mmm. I expect no less from you, Ha-Eun.”

How is it even possible to make rice balls taste this bad?

Out of nowhere, he noticed a piece of paper at the bottom of the lunchbox.

“Hmm?”

Judging by the handwriting, it was a note from Song Ha-Eun.

“Hehe, she can be so cute sometimes. Let's see what she wrote.”

[This letter originated in England.]

“What the...”

[If you don’t kiss a beautiful woman with auburn hair within the next twenty-four hours, you will suffer a terrible curse.]

Oh, really now?

“How does she even come up with this adorable stuff?”

[P.S. The curse involves enjoying some fun cooking experiments.]

“Shit, I gotta head back as fast as I can.”

It was bad enough when she was trying her best. He couldn’t even begin to fathom how disastrous an experimental recipe would be.

Anyway, I left the pendant behind so Vega wouldn’t notice what I'm doing.

He was already done with his reconnaissance. All that remained was to put his plan into action. He stepped out of the car and made his way toward the building, where two men loitered outside with cigarettes in hand.

At a glance, they just look like the average street smokers. But when you find out how they clock in and out at the exact same time every day, you see that there's more to it.

He called out, “Hey, you’re not supposed to smoke on the street."

One of the men scowled at him. “The fuck? Who the hell are you?”

“Your mom, dumbass.”

“Huh?”

Smack!

Kwon Oh-Jin's low kick instantly knocked the man out.

The other man frantically reached into his jacket. “Hey, you—!”

Before he could draw his weapon, Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed his hand and twisted it aggressively.

Crack!

“Arrghhh! M-My hand! My hand!”

The man’s face contorted in agony, tears and snot streaming down his face and soaking into his scruffy beard.

“Damn, look at you assholes,” Kwon Oh-Jin muttered. Judging by their brutish faces, Han Jun-Man’s theory seemed to be spot-on. Most members of the Owl faction were likely escaped convicts from the Cheorwon prison.

Looking like that and not being a criminal is a crime in itself. They look like asphalt roads with bird poop and vomit splattered on top.

“Urgh... W-Who are you...?” the man stammered.

“You don’t need to know.” Kwon Oh-Jin spread out his hands, and dark clouds began to flow into the two men’s heads.

“Hah...”

“Heh...”

Their eyes turned cloudy.

“Take me inside,” he instructed.

“... Alright.”

Kwon Oh-Jin followed the men inside the elevator. Just as he'd learned from the other Owls, the elevator passed the seventh floor and stopped on the hidden eighth floor after a precise sequence of buttons was pressed.

The door slid open, revealing a two-meter wide gate.

So the Owl faction’s base is inside this thing?

Without hesitation, he stepped inside the gate.

“... Whoa.”

What the hell is this place?

Before him was a massive dome, easily the size of a World Cup stadium.

I thought they’d be living like some kind of primitive tribe, but this is clearly a modern facility equipped with all sorts of amenities. Man, these guys have a ridiculous amount of power.

The place was far too grand for an organization supposedly operating in the shadows.

Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue as they entered the dome-shaped structure. “Take me to Cheon Do-Yoon’s room.”

“Yes...”

As they entered the building, a few members of the Black Star Society noticed the men Kwon Oh-Jin was controlling.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on duty? Why are you wandering around—Agh!”

Kwon Oh-Jin, who had concealed his presence with Black Curtain, swiftly subdued them.After using Domination to turn them into new puppets, he gave his orders to them, save for one man, whom he decided to use as a guide.

“Go back to your posts.”

“Yes...”

“I will... follow your orders.”

He then sent back the first two men he'd captured.

This makes infiltration way easier.

With the overpowered combination of his Black Curtain and Domination traits, sneaking into the headquarters wasn’t difficult in the slightest.

“This is... Mr. Cheon Do-Yoon’s room.”

“And the people guarding this place?”

“There usually are guards... but since he’s been away recently, there’s no one on duty.”

I see. Guess I can investigate in peace, then.

He stepped inside the room—a simple, traditional Korean-style space with hardly any decor, let alone any luxury furniture or accessories.

“Hmm.”

Narrowing his eyes, he began scanning the room and rummaged through this and that.

“There’s barely anything here,” he mumbled with a sigh. Suddenly, he noticed a circular horse requisition tablet hanging on a lantern stand beside the bed.[1]

Huh? This is...

To be precise, it wasn’t a horse requisition tablet.

“A serpent?”

The palm-sized tablet didn’t have the engraving of a horse but an intricately coiled serpent instead.

Do I call this a serpent requisition tablet? It doesn’t seem like an Astral Relic.

He couldn't sense any mana emanating from the object.

“Why the hell does this bastard have this?”

Even if Kwon Oh-Jin were to give Cheon Do-Yoon the benefit of the doubt and consider the tablet a decorative piece, it would only make sense for the tablet to have an owl engraved on it.

“Hmm.”

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with an explanation.

Well, I should at least take a photo.

He snapped a picture and put the tablet back where he found it.

“There’s probably nothing else I can get out of here.” He knew it was time to move on to other things, so he turned toward the dazed man beside him. “Where can I find information about the locations and personnel of the other branches?”

That was the real reason he'd taken up the immense peril of infiltrating their headquarters—to uncover all the hidden branches of the Owl faction in Korea.

Even if these guys operate in small groups, the headquarters should have plenty of intel stored away. If not, this isn't an organization. It's basically an independent faction.

“The records... are stored in the server room,” the man replied.

Bingo. I knew they'd have it.

“Lead me there,” Kwon Oh-Jin instructed.

“To access that place... you need a password.”

“Who knows the password?”

“It’s typically managed by the high-ranking executives... but the secretary is currently in charge.”

“What’s the secretary's rank?”

“Mid-ranking executive.”

“Alright.”

They must be the same rank as Ashad Khan, then. I can take them down easily at my current level.

He sweated bullets fighting against a mid-ranking executive a few months ago, but now, he was confident in crushing even ten with ease.

"This way...” The dazed man led Kwon Oh-Jin toward the server room.

“Wait.”

Before stepping inside, Kwon Oh-Jin reached into his bag and pulled out a tumbler filled with coffee. He unscrewed the lid and dipped his fingertips in it.

If I want to subdue them without causing a scene, this is the best way to do it.

Woong!

He activated the Stigma of Scorpio, and purple venom dripped from his fingertips into the coffee.

“Take this and tell them you brought them something to drink.”

“As you wish.” The Owl under his control took the tumbler and knocked on the server room door.

“What is it?” a hysterical voice answered, followed by the door opening to reveal a strikingly pretty woman with short, jet-black hair.

“I brought... coffee.”

The woman chuckled. “What’s this? Are you hitting on me? Seriously, it’s exhausting being in a place swarming with men all the time.”

She clicked her tongue in annoyance but accepted the coffee. “Fine. I’ll drink it since you made the effort. Now get lost.”

Bang!

The server room door slammed shut.

“Well done," Kwon Oh-Jin whispered. "Now, return to your original post and forget everything that happened today.”

“Understood...”

Kwon Oh-Jin casually waited outside the door. About three minutes later, the door burst open and the woman stumbled out, coughing violently.

“Kugh! Kugh! W-What is this?!”

Kwon Oh-Jin quickly launched himself forward and threw a punch at her face.

Smack!

“Aaagh!” The woman was thrown backward. “W-Who are you?!”

“That’s none of your business.” He grinned menacingly and approached the shuddering woman.

“H-Hic! D-Don’t come any closer!” She could barely keep her balance, perhaps from the venom coursing through her system, and desperately crawled back.

To intensify her fear, Kwon Oh-Jin pulled out his spear and pointed it at her.

“Aaaaaah! P-Please don’t kill me! I-I’m begging you!” She pitifully rubbed her hands together, a desperate plea for her life.

This should be enough. He stretched out his hand to use Domination.

“I-If you spare me...” She suddenly slipped her blouse off her shoulder, revealing her pale skin, and seductively glanced at him. “You can do whatever you want with my body—”

“Cut the crap already.”

He swung his spear, striking her on the head.

Smack!

“Aaagh!”

“I’m not interested in your body or whatever, so just shut up and stay still. I’m in a hurry.”

I need to wrap this up and head home to fend off an auburn-haired woman's curse.

1. A horse requisition tablet is a round seal carried by a public official in the Joseon Dynasty to use a horse or horses owned by the state for a mission. The tablet is made out of metal and has a number of horses engraved on it. ☜