Chapter 74 - Meeting

Woojin tailed him for a long time.

He was already very far from the hotel. Woojin was slowly walking down a backstreet of the inner-city.

The bastard started to take a circuitous route. He must have realized that Woojin was following him.

“I've been found.”

Woojin had nothing more to gain by following him. The man didn't seem dumb enough to go straight to his home base when he knew that Woojin was on his tail.

Woojin agonized over the decision.

He had already stuck Ggaebi on him.

Should he let the bastard go, so Ggaebi could gather information?

It wasn't like Ggaebi was undetectable when he hid inside the shadows. A Roused with great senses would realize that something was amiss.

In fact, acts such as surveillance, tailing and eavesdropping wasn't his forte.

Moreover, he was reluctant to kidnap, incarcerate, and threaten someone...

“I'll just worry about it after I catch him.”

Woojin walked quickly to close the distance with the bastard. When he turned the corner to the alley, Woojin saw a guy holding a large guitar case.

“It's that bastard.”

When Woojin started to gradually close the distance, the bastard turned to look at him.

Both of them stopped walking, and their eyes met.

<Lv 71 Al Assad>

The bastard started running, and Woojin followed him.

“7th Circle?”

This was the first time he had seen a Roused who had past lvl70.

This meant that his opponent was a Rank AA Roused. There were a lot of Roused in the latter stage of level 60. It would have been strange if there were no level 70 Roused to be found if one scoured the entire world.

In the future, more Roused would break through the 6th Circle wall and enter the 7th Circle.

That was in the future. He was currently chasing a Roused, who was arguably one of the top Ranked Roused of Earth.

“A bastard like that is aiming for me?”

Woojin's curiosity grew since he wanted to know who was pulling this man's strings. Maybe he might have to become enemies with one of the great powers of earth.

Woojin increased his speed, but the bastard was quite fast. It wasn't easy to close the distance.

“It feels like he is purposefully leading me on?”

His speed was just fast enough that Woojin couldn't catch up to him.

There was always a fixed distance between them. Truthfully, the bastard wasn't in a hurry at all. Woojin guessed that he was a 7th Circle physical ability Roused. Moreover, he seemed to be well trained. Lee-hyunhwee couldn't hold a candle to to this guy.

“This is fun.”

Woojin was a Necromancer, but he was also a Warrior. He used his Dash Skill and his speed increased by several magnitude.

“I got… him?”

Woojin was about to grab the guitar case, but it seemed that the bastard also had a similar ability to the one he used. He suddenly sped up, and he created some distance between himself and Woojin once again.

‘Look at this cheeky bastard?’

Was there anyone on earth who had caught Woojin's eyes like this? Woojin was probably the first strong person that the guy had met on earth.

After running away for awhile, the bastard stopped in front of a subway station.

The bastard wagged his finger as he looked at Woojin.

“Huh.”

There was only a 2 lane road between them, yet this bastard was taunting him. When Woojin saw this, a thought flitted through his mind. In recent days… No. In the past 10 years, he'd never seen someone be so daring and provoking towards him.

The bastard grinned.

Does the bastard think he is Bruce Lee?

After smiling, he immediately entered the Dungeon. Woojin clicked his tongue in dismay as he watched the man.

“This is quite novel. It's cute.”

He didn't care about who was pulling the bastard's string. He was going to kill that son of a bitch.

The barrier formed itself 30 seconds after the man entered the Dungeon.

Woojin passed through the Dungeon's entrance.

*

Al Assad.

He was born in Afghanistan, and his father had sold him to the militants at the age of 10.

The moment his eyes witnessed his father being happy as he grabbed a paltry amount of money for selling him, Assad decided become a monster.

He was quite good at using a knife and gun. The children his age were used as bait to absorb bullets, but Assad grew up to be a fantastic militant.

The world he lived in was constantly at war.

The Dungeon Break happened when he was 20 years old, and the world turned chaotic. The war was present before the Dungeon Break, and it still continued on afterwards.

The only thing that had changed was his status as a Roused. He was no longer used as a grunt in the war.

He caught the eyes of militant group's leader. Instead of being sent into a regional warfare against the government forces, he was given more sophisticated assignments.

He was given targets to assassinate, and he carried out terrorist acts. He was successful in all of his assignments, so he gradually made a name for himself. He was able to become a key member of the core personnel. At that point, he realized that he wasn't doing his work for his faith. He realized that he was doing it for the money, but it didn't matter.

He didn't start what he was doing, because of his belief in his god.

His actions allowed him to punish others, and on top of that, he was able to make money.

Money is what changed the world.

He had never killed any monsters before.

He only hunted humans.

Today, he caught a Necromancer, who was reported as being Rank AA.

His Rank wasn't important.

He had assassinated countless Roused, and he was well acquainted with their Ranks. He knew better than anyone that a high Rank didn't correspond with the person's combat power. He just had to quietly approach magicians, and cut their throats. Even if one were Rank A, one would die immediately.

It was very easy.

When he entered the Dungeon, he gave up his body to the darkness to hide. His ability allowed him to assimilate into the darkness. His specialty was sneaking up on his enemies, and killing them before they realized he was there.

“Hey. Hey. Come out. Are you trying to break bread with me inside the Dungeon?”

Is he speaking Korean?

According to the intel regarding his target, the bastard was Korean.

“I guess you aren't going to come out.”

The sound of his steps grew distant.

It seemed this guy's luck was good. His steps steadily grew distant from Assad, who was hidden next to the wall. He moved deeper into the subway station using the staircase.

‘Stupid bastard.’

It seemed that he didn't have any magic associated with the senses. Now he was sure that this person was a Necromancer. The bastard had carelessly come into the Dungeon after him.

The baiting of his target had been successful. Now he just had to follow him, and his hunt would start.

Al Assad assimilated into the darkness as he headed down into the Dungeon.

‘How far did he go?’

This was weird. His target had chased after him into the Dungeon. Assad had baited the other man into doing so. However, this bastard acted as if he had forgotten about Assad's existence. Or maybe the man had too much confidence in his own ability. He slowly descended into the Dungeon.

As Al Assad was carefully walking forward, he came to a stop.

‘There are no corpses here.’

There were a lot of blood stains in the surrounding, but there were no corpses. A weird sense of danger stimulated his senses.

Hwahhhk.

A light lit up the interior of the Dungeon.

“Ah. You gave me time to recharge my souls. Thank you.”

Assad's target appeared in front of him, but the target wasn't flustered at all.

“Now, show me your abilities. Let's see if it is useful.”

After his target said some words that Assad didn't understand, the Skeleton Soldiers lining up behind him rushed forward.

“One, two… “

It was useless to count them. There were enough to clog the Dungeon. Assad unsheathed his specialized weapon, the two-handed sword, as he charged forward.

“Ho-oh. You are quite good.”

Assad was at a numerical disadvantage, but the quality of the Skeletons were low. He methodically cut them down, but it wasn't an easy task. Each of his specialized skills for the two-handed long sword were put on display in front of his enemy. The information about him was being exposed to his enemy.

“You are an assassin type, and you are quite proficient in using a two-handed sword. One on one fights would suit you more than fighting a group.”

His target’s Korean words kept grating against his nerves for some time. It sounded like he was being evaluated… The bastard didn't even lift a single finger as he watched from a distance.

Hook-ook, hook.

Al Assad let his hidden ability explode forth. He started breathing heavily, and his movement couldn't be compared to what it was before. Every time he swung his two-handed long sword, a large group of Skeletons fell.

“Ho-oh. You are also a Berserker? You are both a Warrior type and an Assassin. Are you a Dual Class?”

He leapt toward his taunting enemy.

His final move was called God's Wrath. His anger towards the world poured out without reserve, and it helped power the move. When his two-handed long sword was about to strike the necromancer's neck, a steel staff was suddenly in the sword's way.

“You'll be useful. Quite useful.”

The Necromancer swung his Steel Staff towards him.

Hoo-ooh, puhk.

He was momentarily confused at the unexpected strength of the impact. Didn't the intel say that he was a Necromancer?

His target's foot kicked out at Assad's chest. He couldn't do anything against his target's strength, so Assad grabbed the other man's foot. He tried to lift it up.

“Let's see what'll happen when I turn level 70.”

Suddenly, the weapon changed into an axe, and it fell towards Assad's neck.

Kwah-jeek.

As if he was cutting wood, Woojin separated the guy's head from his body. Before the bastard's soul could escape, he purchased a Soul Seal Stone, and he put the soul inside.

The bastard was only barely over 7th Circle. However, this was the first 7th Circle Warrior's soul that he had obtained on earth.

It was meaningless to torture the bastard to find out who was pulling his strings. When Woojin reached level 70, he'll make this bastard a familiar and he'll naturally find out everything that this bastard knew.

Woojin put the bastard's corpse and his decapitated head inside his inventory. Then, he gathered the surviving Skeletons around him.

“Why did he have to come into a high rank Dungeon for no reason?”

He couldn't locate the Return Stone. As he had predicted, a red portal formed when he returned to the entrance.

“Will I be late?”

Didn't they say the consortium was at lunch time?

Woojin quickly started to hunt.

*

When Woojin came out of the Dungeon, he felt someone's gaze on him. Someone was monitoring Woojin from afar.

‘Follow me, Ggaebi.’

[I obey master's will.]

After confirming that Ggaebi had been absorbed back into his shadow, he started to walk. It seemed the people, who had attacked him, were in charge of this Dungeon. There wasn't anyone guarding the Dungeon. Woojin memorized the Dungeon's name, then he started walking.

“Ha. Where the hell am I?”

He had mindlessly chased after the man last night, so he had no idea where he was. It would be great if he had his hand phone, but he left it at the hotel.

‘Maybe the store sells English?’

Woojin checked his Point Store just in case, and he looked over the Language drugs. There were drugs that allowed him to learn languages of Alphen... The store had English!

It wasn't only English. The store had all the languages spoken on Earth.

It was worth 200 Points. Woojin bought it immediately, then he drank it. It was akin to learning a new ability through a Skill book. Woojin learned the English language in an instant. Whether it was an ability or a new knowledge, it took root inside his head, and it felt quite miraculous to Woojin.

“Ha.”

His ears started picking up the conversations in his surrounding.

He asked for direction from the people in the street, then he headed towards Manhattan's Titan guild headquarters for the appointed consortium.

‘It won't take long if I ride a taxi, but I don't have any money to pay for the ride.’

If this was Alphen, he would have just stolen it...

‘Well, I did say that I wouldn't cause any accidents.’

…he just started walking.

The consortium started at 12, so he would be late.

So what if he was late?

Jung-minchan had come to the consortium with him, so he would take care of it. Woojin just had to meet the Holy Maiden.

While Woojin was walking on the streets, he caught sight of the news being shown on a large screen mounted on top of a building.

“It's about what happened yesterday.”

It seemed that someone had filmed yesterday's missile explosion with a phone. The sight of the missile exploding, and the large crater on the road was being shown.

“Terrorist Attack. Is it a repeat of the 9/11 nightmare? Humanity's enemy isn't monsters, but terrorists?”

Woojin read the subtitles on the muted news. The screen changed then an announcer and an Asian man was shown.

“Uh? Minchan?”

The familiar Asian man was Jung-minchan. He was scrunching up his face like he was a constipated dog. When Woojin turned his head slightly, he could see that the same news being shown inside the convenience store located across the street from him.

Ddal-lahng.

When Woojin entered the convenience store, the employee behind the counter glanced at Woojin. After confirming an Asian male in a sweatsuit had entered the store, the employee's gaze went back to the TV.

[It would have exploded within the hotel. During such harrowing situation, the Korean male, Mr. Kanhg-woojin threw his body to block the attack. Currently, the whereabouts of Mr. Kahng-woojin are still unknown… ]

At the announcer's words, Jung-minchan butted in.

[President. I trusted president from the start! Where are you, president? Please come back to me.]

“Huh. That rascal. If someone saw him like that, one would think that he was trying to find a lost child.”

Still, Woojin's heart warmed a little bit when he saw someone being worried about him to that extent.

Don't worry, Minchan. I can speak English now.

[The US government will catch the terrorists. Please just return to us, president. I beg of you. Please before the incident become much larger… ]

“I already caught him, you dork..”

Wooijn grinned as a missing person's report was shown on top of the screen. Then the news showed the footage where he charged the missile. The missile was deflecting upwards as it exploded, and he saw himself fall to the ground. The news was showing the footage in a loop.

The eyes of the store's employee turned round, and he alternated from looking at Woojin and the TV.