novelraw Chapter 208 : Night Goblin (3)
Chapter 208 : Night Goblin (3)
Sim Jae-gyeong, 'Goblin,' the boss of the Ma-in organization [Night Goblin].
He was a Ma-in who possessed the abilities of a goblin, just as his alias suggested.
"Welcome."
He greeted the Vampire Queen with a friendly smile.
"So you're the Goblin."
Step, step.
With each step Song Yeonhui took, the dust rolling on the floor trembled and moved aside.
"Is this our first time meeting in person?"
"Yes. It's an honor to meet the Queen who rules the underworld."
He appeared to be a playful and humorous young man.
With wavy hair and glasses that gave a gentle impression.
Despite his large frame that seemed to exceed 190 cm, he gave off a sense of being slender and lanky rather than intimidating.
His unusually long arms were quite muscular, to the point of seeming somewhat disproportionate.
"You, on the other hand, seem quite friendly compared to the notoriety of [Night Goblin]? You look like a part-timer smiling kindly at customers in a cafe."
"Oh, is that so?"
Sim Jae-gyeong scratched his head and smiled amiably.
"But there's no need to have a rough face, right?"
"True. There's no need for that."
Song Yeonhui smiled coolly.
"Actually, I prefer friendly types like you. My kids tend to be quite rough in character."
"That's an honor."
Song Yeonhui sat in a chair and asked:
"By the way, who is that boy?"
A skinny youth-like man with a somewhat blank expression was sitting next to Sim Jae-gyeong.
'Dragon Sapphire, perhaps.'
It was a drug that had been dealt by drug traders that Jo Sujin had previously eliminated.
The strong scent of drugs detected by the Queen's sense of smell made it difficult to consider other possibilities.
"He's my brother. Well, not by blood. There's a story there. Despite appearances, he's twenty-one years old."
Sim Jae-gyeong smiled somewhat bitterly.
"My goodness. How gentle of you."
"Haha. Isn't that what goblins are like? Mischievous but playful and friends of the kind common folk."
"Ah. While vampires are evil monsters that suck human blood and dominate them, right?"
"Oh no! Not at all. I personally think they're cool."
And also scary, of course, Sim Jae-gyeong added with a shrug.
"But goblins are quite frightening creatures too, not unlike vampires."
"My, I'm glad to hear that."
The Queen chuckled.
"Then shall we start discussing the operation?"
Sim Jae-gyeong said.
"As you know, we're a terrorist group that attacks Awakened ones in the underworld, injecting them with magical energy stimulants to awaken them as Ma-in."
"Yes. And yet you haven't touched the children under me. Quite clever."
Sensing the barb in the Queen's smile, Sim Jae-gyeong nodded.
"When walking a tightrope, one must consider the balance of one's body, the condition of the rope, and the incoming wind."
"That's probably why you haven't been caught yet. Good skills."
"Yet you found us right away, didn't you? It was truly overwhelming. I could clearly see who the true master of this underworld is. Truly."
"Oh my."
When the Queen merely nodded slightly without much reaction, Sim Jae-gyeong changed the subject by showing a syringe.
"This is the injection. It's designed to take effect easily no matter when or where you stab it."
"Hmm. Quite well-made."
"Yes. We mainly condensed the blood of demonic beasts and added a few ingredients to make it easily activated."
"That drug, I heard it flowed in from China?"
Song Yeonhui crossed her legs in the opposite direction and smiled seductively.
"Yes. Initially it did. That neighborhood is quite brutal, isn't it?"
"Thanks to that, it's now flowing into the underworld of various countries."
"Haha."
In fact, it was the Queen herself who had induced them to open the distribution channel for that drug.
But she had no intention of mentioning that fact.
"So? Have you grown your forces considerably?"
"Probably not as much as you might think. Most were small fry, and even on the rare occasions when we managed to transform a strong individual into a Ma-in, they would end up dead one way or another, become idiots unable to find their reason, or get captured by the Execution Force."
Sim Jae-gyeong said somewhat sheepishly.
"But thanks to that, we've accumulated data and know-how. Now it's time to expand our business in earnest."
"Hmm. Business expansion, you say?"
"Everything is a business anyway, isn't it? As you well know."
The eyes of Sim Jae-gyeong, who knew well the skills that allowed her to virtually dominate the underworld, sparkled.
"We're going to isolate and attack the Execution Force, Hunters, and PMCs."
"Will you be able to handle it? It's a whole different dimension from turning a few underworld small fry into enemies."
"With the Queen's eyes lent to us, it's possible as long as I'm here."
Sim Jae-gyeong affirmed.
"You won't lose anything. Our guys will be the ones shedding blood."
"My, when you put it that way, I feel sorry."
"It's nothing. The opportunity to borrow your eyes is hard to come by."
Sim Jae-gyeong said.
"We will grow by feeding on blood and increase our comrades. If we complete this operation safely, our strength will be doubled from what it is now."
"Good."
The Queen nodded.
"I don't dislike ambitious men."
"I merely hope for the Queen's mercy."
After finishing the conversation, the Queen transformed her body into a swarm of bats and flew into the night sky.
"Sim Jae-gyeong. An interesting fellow."
The bats spoke.
"Not showing any true reverence to me yet maintaining a consistently humble facade? In that sense, he resembles Hwang Won-jae."
But he wasn't to her taste.
'You should be dignified and steadfast like Su-hyeon.'
The bats trembled in response to the Vampire Queen's emotions as she recalled Su-hyeon's face.
'I want to see that boy.'
Considering Su-hyeon's growth rate, which far exceeded her expectations.
The day to meet him directly might not be far off.
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"Returning from duty. No incidents during the security mission!"
"Good. Well done."
Squad Leader Choi of 4th Unit's F Squad received the salutes from his members and said:
"Thanks to you all being there even when everyone else was asleep, this Squad Leader could sleep with peace of mind."
"Thank you, sir!"
They were currently on a dispatch mission to guard the National Bank building together with armed police, in preparation for recent successive terrorist acts.
"Prepare for sleep."
As they worked in 8-hour shifts in pairs on rotation, the members who had just worked through the dawn hours were immediately given time to sleep.
"No, sir. We'll check our personal equipment and do a cooldown exercise before sleeping!"
"You guys."
Squad Leader Choi smiled with satisfaction.
"Excellent!"
"Thank you, sir!"
After sending his members away, Squad Leader Choi went to the situation room, made a cup of morning coffee, and examined the status board.
"It's been quiet these past few days."
"Yes, it has."
"The bank robbery happened two weeks ago, right?"
"Thirteen days ago."
At that time, F Squad had two members lightly injured, but they managed to eliminate the Ma-in without major issues.
Since then, there had been no direct attacks, but.
"I don't have a good feeling about this."
Squad Leader Choi's expression wasn't bright.
"I keep sensing an ominous gaze from somewhere."
Whether it was groundless anxiety or an actual gaze.
It was a fact that it affected the morale of the members working in the field.
And.
Unfortunately, his ominous premonition came true.
Weeeeeeeee!
[This is an actual situation! Ma-in attack in progress! Citizens please evacuate promptly! Repeat, currently...]
Looking down at the armed police who had fallen to the sudden attack, Sim Jae-gyeong burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Our police officers are quite feeble!"
"Ma-in!"
"Fire!"
Pyung! Pyuung!
Bullets rained down, but when Sim Jae-gyeong put on a hat of unknown period style, his body became semi-transparent and disappeared from the police officers' sight.
"What the!"
"Where did he go!"
"Above us!"
"Oh, there's someone with quite good eyes!"
Sim Jae-gyeong, fluttering his robe as he soared into the sky, smiled and pulled out a club resembling a red-headed mallet from his bosom.
Whirlik!
Every time he swung his club to strike the air, Ma-in appeared from nowhere.
"Wahaha! Let's all play!"
"Kiyatho!"
Over a dozen Ma-in poured down from the air, attacking the armed police and beginning to inject them with magical energy stimulants.
"Hey, hey, don't waste them on obviously non-Awakened ones!"
Sim Jae-gyeong scolded his subordinates as he gently landed on the ground.
"That man is the leader!"
"Subdue him!"
The 4th Unit members who promptly responded rushed at him, but.
"Oops."
When Sim Jae-gyeong moved as if dancing cheerfully, they all fell down.
"Whoa, whoa, don't worry! I won't kill you!"
Sim Jae-gyeong, jabbing syringes into the fallen members, snickered.
"I don't like blood."
Right at that moment.
Puhwak!
Flames shot by someone engulfed Sim Jae-gyeong.
"Hot, hot. Trying to roast someone?"
Sim Jae-gyeong extinguished the fire by shaking off his robe and snapped his fingers.
"Wandering Spirits!"
Several semi-transparent blue will-o'-the-wisps rose into the air.
"Go!"
Whururuk!
"Aaaaagh!"
Two unit members and several armed police with a bit of mana who were hit by the will-o'-the-wisps collapsed and rolled on the ground.
"Now, now, don't make such a fuss."
Sim Jae-gyeong snickered.
"My will-o'-the-wisps burn mana. They don't burn anything else, and they're not hot, but they're very unpleasant for Awakened ones, you know?"
"Damn it!"
Squad Leader Choi, who appeared against the flow of fleeing citizens in the bank that had been devastated in an instant, gritted his teeth.
'Damn bastard, acting so leisurely like he's at a playground!'
"You lightning-struck naked bastard! You won't be able to leave on your own feet today!"
Wuddrrrk.
As his body transformed and expanded to over 2 meters, Squad Leader Choi walked forward, putting on studded knuckles.
"Whoa, whoa, it's not nice to hit people with such things."
Pakkak!
Squad Leader Choi, who had planted his fist into Sim Jae-gyeong's face without further ado, widened his eyes at the heaviness of Sim Jae-gyeong, who didn't budge at all.
'What is this guy?'
"Hahaha! Don't do that. It tickles."
"What?"
Sim Jae-gyeong's hand grabbed Squad Leader Choi's pants like a ssireum belt.
"You know what? Goblins love ssireum."
"You crazy bastard, trying to overpower me with strength..."
"Heup!"
Before Squad Leader Choi could finish speaking, Sim Jae-gyeong lifted his large body and executed a dullbaegi throw, planting him into the floor.
Kwaaaang!
"Keurreureuk."
Sim Jae-gyeong approached Squad Leader Choi, who had fainted with his eyes rolled back, and injected him with the magical energy stimulant.
"Sleep well and wake up. By then, you'll be my subordinate too."
Sim Jae-gyeong grinned.
"Egugu, I almost hurt my back."
As he patted his back, his eyes caught sight of unit members whose eyes were turning black, showing signs of Ma-in transformation.
"Hahaha. I wondered how impressive the 4th Unit would be, but they're not much."
No, perhaps it's because I'm too strong?
Sim Jae-gyeong, tilting his head playfully, struck the bank building with his red-headed mallet.
Kwaaaaaaang!
With a sound like a bomb exploding, the base of the concrete building over ten stories tall was blown away, and it began to collapse.
"Hmm, I've gotten stronger. Meat really is the best."
With no trace of the polite demeanor he had shown to Song Yeonhui, Sim Jae-gyeong hummed a tune like a mischievous boy and snapped his fingers, sweeping his comrades and the unit members into his bundle.
"Then, shall we move to the next sector?"
His figure disappeared without a trace as he sensed the commotion of reinforcements rushing from afar.
On this day.
Two squads of the Execution Force were attacked, and four Hunter guilds were either all killed after becoming Ma-in in dungeons or became their minions.
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"Our guys were attacked?"
4th Unit Captain Ahn Byeong-jun.
One of the top powerhouses within the Execution Force, and a man second to none when it came to loyalty.
He blinked a couple of times as he watched his 4th Unit members fall and get abducted after being toyed with by Sim Jae-gyeong.
"This son of a bitch, who is he?"
"Ahn Byeong-jun. Calm down."
3rd Unit Captain Seol Ji-yun, who was participating in the video conference, said.
"Calm? Of course I am. If I weren't, I would have rushed out already."
Quiet anger burned in Ahn Byeong-jun's eyes.
"It's probably Sim Jae-gyeong, the leader of [Night Goblin]. He's an elusive bastard, and until now, he's been targeting underworld figures, so he was considered a low-risk Ma-in."
The Chief of Staff said.
"But all of that was mere deception. He was biding his time."
"Chief of Staff."
"Speak."
"Is this matter serious enough for me to personally take action?"
"It's still uncertain. However."
The Chief of Staff said:
"Prepare for deployment."
"That's what I was hoping for."