novelraw Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96: Underwork (2)
One hour before Joseph met Cha Hak-jun at the orphanage.
Joseph had a phone call with Riman first.
In that call, Riman handed over his home address to Joseph.
And instructed him to hand that address over to Cha Hak-jun.
This was why Joseph gave Riman's address to Cha Hak-jun.
Of course, Joseph couldn't help but be surprised by this instruction.
"But Mr. Leman, is it okay to just hand over information like this? Residence-related information is quite sensitive information."
"That's why I gave it. You have to hand over at least that much information for them to fully trust you."
"Even though you might become more endangered?"
"But this way, predicting their movements becomes easier."
"What does that mean?"
"My apartment is an apartment under a security contract with Silderrek Company."
"Silderrek......?"
"Therefore, the option of invading my house directly will be excluded. Cha Hak-jun would know better that clashing with those Silderrek fanatics won't do any good."
"That would be true. But conversely speaking, doesn't that mean Mr. Leman is immediately exposed to danger from the moment you step out of the apartment?"
"Putting that conversely again, it means I can control the timing of their attack on me."
"......!"
"If they aim for the moment I come out of the apartment, I get to control that moment. The decision-making power for the timing of their operation has now passed into my hands."
Limiting the enemy's options by intentionally leaking information.
At the same time, making the enemy perceive that information as 'critical information', leading to an increase in trust for Joseph who brought it.
This was Riman's plan.
And back to the present.
The situation at the orphanage truly flowed as Riman designed, as expected.
The full-scale fight hadn't even started yet, but Riman was already leading the flow of this board as he pleased.
Joseph thought.
'...As expected, I made the right choice not to turn him into an enemy.'
However, it was still a bit early to be certain of Riman's superiority.
Because Riman's side was still inferior in terms of troop size and the vastness of the human network.
Plus, there was the participation of unexpected personnel on the enemy side.
"Ah, come to think of it, there was a new recruit on the Mayor's side."
"A new recruit?"
"Yes. Cha Hak-jun, that human, recruited an escapee from Mugan."
"...Oho."
"If he's from Mugan... he could be a considerably dangerous opponent, couldn't he?"
"Well, looking on the bright side, he could become an unexpected bonus income."
"......"
"So what is that escapee's name?"
"They said it's Jensen Morrow."
"Ah."
Riman was lost for words for a moment.
That's a pretty troublesome guy.
"But anyway, if it becomes like this, doesn't it become difficult for you to move out of your house too, Mr. Leman? If your movement is restricted like this, how will you proceed with the operation......"
"Don't worry. The underwork for this war is not my share."
"Pardon?"
"I have a lot of good friends."
"Friends......?"
"Yes. I will entrust the prelude of this war to them."
"......!"
"So what Mr. Joseph has to do is to blend in with them without offending Cha Hak-jun as much as possible. So that you can stab them in the back at the optimal moment."
"...Understood. Then lastly, let me ask one more thing."
"What is it?"
"What is the next step now?"
"I intend to finish the hardest thing first."
"...You mean the recruitment of Pyo Seok-jung?"
"Yes."
Pyo Seok-jung.
A political rival who once fought Cha Hak-jun for the mayoral position.
However, he suddenly retired a few years ago and went down to the countryside.
Of course, despite that, his influence in various fields including politics remained.
It was just that he wasn't particularly exercising that influence.
So Riman made a plan to drag Pyo Seok-jung back out and recruit him.
To secure a political force capable of standing against Cha Hak-jun.
Of course, Joseph didn't have a clue how Riman intended to drag Pyo Seok-jung out.
"How are you going to drag that person out?"
"Mr. Joseph, do you know why Pyo Seok-jung retired?"
"Well, I only know it was because of his wife's issue."
"Correct. I'm going to stab right in there."
* * *
After a while.
Riman hung up the phone.
Where Riman was standing now was near the entrance of the gym within the complex.
Riman went back into the gym to retrieve the clothes he had left behind.
At that time.
"Hey Leman! Let's really fight a round today!"
It was Jo Ban-seok.
The opponent Riman first sparred with.
Originally, he was a guy whose hobby was beating up vaguely weak people in sparring.
Such a guy completely changed after sparring with Riman.
He began to target only Riman.
Saying he would definitely knock Riman down 'perfectly' somehow.
"...No, I lost last time, why fight again?"
"No, I told you I have no intention of winning uncomfortably like that and backing off?"
"Sigh."
More combative than back then, but a much more serious gaze.
No matter how one looked at it, he didn't seem likely to back down.
Riman thought.
'...Right, checking close combat skills once isn't bad.'
After taking Physiquesio, Riman's body was enhanced beyond the level of an ordinary adult male.
Naturally, the level of his close combat skills would have risen significantly.
'And to deal with Jensen Morrow, I need to build up some close combat ability.'
Riman made a decision.
To have a round of sparring with Jo Ban-seok.
Riman said to Jo Ban-seok.
"You're going for full sparring, right?"
"Of course."
Sparring using 100% of one's strength, full sparring.
Since sparring is strictly training, not combat, it is usually done with less than 50% strength.
Therefore, full sparring itself rarely takes place.
But the situation for Riman and Jo Ban-seok was different.
Riman needed to test his close combat ability ahead of actual combat.
Jo Ban-seok needed to go all out to settle the uncomfortable match from last time for sure.
So for their respective reasons, both had no choice but to go all out.
The referee was, as last time, James Kwon, the manager of this gym.
James said to Riman.
"If it's hard, tell me immediately."
"Yes."
Of course, that won't happen, Riman muttered inwardly.
Riman and Jo Ban-seok went up to the ring.
The two lightly touched gloves.
Jo Ban-seok's gaze was quite different from last time.
He no longer underestimated his opponent, nor was there any sneering.
What was contained in his two eyes right now was 80 percent seriousness and 20 percent tension.
Riman faced the sparring with a serious expression to match him.
And finally.
DING!
The gong rang.
This time too, the first attack was taken by Jo Ban-seok.
SWISH!
A jab stabbing in sharply.
Riman dodged it lightly this time as well.
A sharp and restrained dodge just enough to evade that single jab.
Movement refined much more sharply than during the previous sparring.
This single dodge was proof of how sharply Riman had read that jab.
'As expected......!'
Jo Ban-seok was not flustered.
This much was within expectations.
'I took the initiative. Calmly, I just need to dominate the space!'
SWISH SWISH!
Jo Ban-seok's one-two combinations rush in successively.
And in between, he lands hooks irregularly.
Intentional dissonance to disrupt Riman's rhythm.
However, Riman did not get swept away by Jo Ban-seok's flow even while taking all those hits.
Just standardly and solidly.
He responded to all those attacks honestly and simply as if locking the door.
Parrying body shots, dodging straights, retreating at the same speed the moment the opponent digs in, not giving away advantageous distance.
Movements anyone learning boxing learns.
However, it was the first time James saw them executed so cleanly and perfectly.
'Is it possible......?'
For a beginner who had been in boxing for less than two months to show such complete movement?
WHOOSH!
Meanwhile, Jo Ban-seok's attack missed Riman again.
'Damn, how did he get stronger than back then?!'
Jo Ban-seok was also slowly feeling it.
That he was completely devoured by Riman's flow.
'I'll break through.'
He needed a decisive blow to cut off this flow.
SWISH!
Jo Ban-seok quickly sent his left foot out and leaned forward.
At the same time, he threw a low jab toward Riman's abdomen.
'Block it.'
WHOOSH!
However, this jab was a fake.
A feint to make Riman lower his guard.
'That guy consistently parried attacks flying to the body unconditionally.'
And the moment he lowers his arm to parry the attack to the body, the guard on the face side becomes empty.
Jo Ban-seok intended to aim for that very moment.
Releasing the opponent's guard with a fake, then immediately throwing a straight into that opening.
'It's a combination I practiced countless times......!'
But at that moment.
THUD.
Jo Ban-seok's hit landed.
The left-hand jab thrown as a fake, that is.
'Eh.'
His jab accurately hit Riman's abdomen.
Jo Ban-seok was flustered.
'It shouldn't be like this?!'
Riman didn't parry the jab but just took it with his stomach.
From Jo Ban-seok's perspective, the attack thrown as a fake unexpectedly hit.
That meant the intention of the fake completely missed the mark.
Moreover, that jab was a fake anyway.
It didn't even give meaningful damage.
However, because of this, half of Jo Ban-seok's guard was opened at that moment.
Riman didn't miss that opening.
WHAM.
A straight plugging cleanly into the face.
Jo Ban-seok was astonished.
'Why is this guy's fist... so heavy?!'
THUD!
Jo Ban-seok lay down flat just like that.
And couldn't get up.
It was a KO.
"Ohhhhh!"
"Wow......"
"What, it's already over?!"
The onlookers clicked their tongues respectively.
But among them, James was the only one who properly noticed Riman's real terror.
'...He distinguished the fake and the real attack in a split second.'
It's almost impossible.
With human senses.
Even if he failed that distinction, it was a situation where a clean hit would have exploded on his abdomen.
It was a level of performance unbelievable even after seeing it with eyes.
Meanwhile, Riman reached out to the fallen Jo Ban-seok and said.
"Good work."
"...You too."
Jo Ban-seok held Riman's hand without showing any anger.
Because when the gap with the opponent is too vast, one doesn't even get angry.
Riman pulled the fallen Jo Ban-seok up and thought.
'The effect of Physiquesio is certain.'
His body moved freely much better than during the previous sparring.
The boxing movements he had learned were implemented more easily in his body.
On top of that, his punching power became incomparably stronger.
At this rate, it seemed he could sufficiently knock down ordinary people with just close combat without magic.
'Good, this much should be enough to face that guy Jensen Morrow.'
Jensen Morrow.
His specialty is close combat utilizing both hands.
Usually, the standard when dealing with such a guy was blocking the approach itself.
However, such a strategy was almost impossible against Jensen.
Because the power the guy possessed was the ability to unilaterally disassemble the opponent's defense means.
Therefore, fighting him inevitably led to close combat situations.
So to deal with him, he had to have a certain level of close combat skills.
Even if he couldn't beat him down with close combat, at least to the level where a counter-response was possible.
'My preparations are done.'
Now it was time to slowly enter full-scale movement.
Riman came out of the gym and called somewhere.
"Hello, Chief Park Jae-il. It's Leman."
The only police connection Riman knew, Park Jae-il.
During the subjugation operation of Ha Do-yeol, an escapee from Mugan and producer of Red Chips.
He had joined hands with Riman and engaged in the subjugation operation together.
After that incident, Park Jae-il was promoted to Superintendent and was now in charge of a police station.
The reason Riman contacted him was simple.
The first button to drag in Pyo Seok-jung.
Because Park Jae-il would be the one to fasten it.