Infiltration (3)

“……”

Kang-hoo came to a halt.

The guard, unconcerned, briskly walked through the area detectable by infrared cameras.

“Hey, is there a problem?”

“Of course not, man! Just a malfunction. Don’t worry about it!”

“Thought so. Got it.”

He was talking to another guard monitoring that area. As expected, someone was watching the cameras.

In any case, this wasn’t the only route leading toward the center of the detention center.

There were plenty of alternatives, so Kang-hoo had no intention of stubbornly sticking to a dangerous path.

Still, even from afar, now that the incineration building was clearly in view, a flood of emotions washed over him.

It was the place where they mercilessly shoved in the corpses of inmates. The dead came out reduced to a handful of ash.

There were many reasons for death.

Starvation, disease, beatings, torture, unidentified experiments, and so on… Thinking about it always made his skin crawl.

‘No matter how I try to justify it, there’s no reason to forgive anyone affiliated with Eclipse.’

From the moment they join Eclipse, Hunters are made aware that they may be assigned to Cheongmyeong Detention Center.

In other words, they knowingly accept the role of perpetrator in a place where human rights are systematically violated.

And by joining regardless, it’s effectively a vow to bear the burden of that karma someday.

If you dug deep enough, maybe each guard had their own “reasons” for doing this.

But Kang-hoo, not being a god, had no desire to understand and justify them all.

Eclipse is evil. Punishing them is, in terms of relative morality, a perfect act of justice.

“……”

Maybe it was because he was looking at the incineration building.

Forgotten memories kept surfacing.

Among them was the memory of how they’d harvest usable organs from inmates before burning the bodies.

He also remembered how ambulances or similar vehicles would often come in from outside, probably to collect those organs.

Fweeeee.

A smoky wind from the direction of the incinerator carried a harsh, acrid scent.

Even at this very moment, the corpse of an unidentified inmate was burning, being erased from existence.

Squeeze.

His fists were tightly clenched.

Rather than being tormented by trauma, Kang-hoo felt the pure emotion of rage rise within him.

Without realizing it, he had begun the process that the Celestial Assassin once told him about—staying true to his emotions.

‘Once Jo Hwan-seong is dead, the rest are small fry. The current detention center forces are even weaker than before. Now is the best time.’

Kang-hoo quickly disappeared into the dark, brush-filled area outside the infrared detection zone.

Beyond the incinerator were the inmate ward and the guards’ quarters, and behind those was the warden’s office.

He already knew the blind spots in the detention center’s CCTV coverage. The only concern was not breaking his concealment.

Sssssk.

Kang-hoo began moving silently and stealthily with the wind.

His target was Warden Jo Hwan-seong.

He didn’t care about the rest.

At that moment—

“Drinks just taste better when a pretty boy pours them. For some reason, I really like men, you know?”

Warden Jo Hwan-seong was downing whiskey poured by an inmate, trying to stave off the dull boredom of the night.

By chance, there happened to be a handsome young man among the inmates.

Unlike most men, Jo Hwan-seong was interested in male beauty, making this his ideal drinking session.

There were already quite a few male inmates who had been defiled by Jo Hwan-seong in this manner.

So when someone was called to the warden’s office, both the chosen one and the watching inmates resigned themselves to it.

Today’s victim was a student not even of legal age.

He had only just awakened and become a Hunter. At the very least, he’d hoped to support his impoverished family.

But he was kidnapped by Eclipse operatives and dragged into Cheongmyeong Detention Center.

He had pleaded to be returned to his widowed mother, saying he would work his whole life to pay off the ransom…

But, of course, no one listened.

Gulp—

Jo Hwan-seong downed the whiskey straight, his bloodshot eyes settling on a map of South Korea.

His gaze fell on Cheongju.

“Shit. I should be in the Cheongju Liberation Area smelling blood. Instead, I’m here sniffing boys. Tch.”

Jo Hwan-seong was convinced that his assignment to Cheongmyeong Detention Center wasn’t a promotion but a demotion.

Just look at Im Jeong-wan, who’s ranked sixth—he’s practically glued to Kang Dong-hyun’s side day and night.

Being by the leader’s side carries immense symbolic value. It’s like being marked as a successor.

But now here he was, “shipped off” far away to Cheongmyeong, making it hard not to feel exiled from Kang Dong-hyun’s favor.

Even when they drafted forces from the detention center for the recent battle in the Cheongju Liberation Area, he wasn’t called.

“Damn it, fuck!”

Jo Hwan-seong was cursing and spewing his resentment toward Kang Dong-hyun when—

Suddenly, a loud alarm sounded—AEEENG!—and a guard burst into the warden’s office.

Already in a foul mood, the alarm made Jo Hwan-seong’s face crumple like a crushed can.

“What’s going on?”

“Sir. It seems a fire from the incineration building spread outside. It looks like some embers flew out.”

“Then put it out. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I thought I should report it first…”

“You moron! You said it’s the incinerator! It’s not the guards’ quarters or the inmate ward. So what’s it got to do with me?!”

“Uh…”

“Go put it out, you bastard! Don’t throw a fit over nothing. Get out of here!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Knowing how miserable life could become if he got on Jo Hwan-seong’s bad side, the guard dashed away.

Already in a foul mood, Jo Hwan-seong shouted at the inmate pouring his drink as well.

“You, get out too!”

“…Yes, sir.”

The inmate quickly left.

It felt like he’d just dodged a bullet.

Thanks to the warden’s sour mood, he’d been spared from doing anything more terrible than pouring drinks.

Creeeeak—THUD.

As both the guard and the inmate left one after the other, the wide-open iron door swung shut.

Jo Hwan-seong, about to resume drinking, suddenly had a hunch and stood up.

He walked over and flung the iron door open again, glancing toward the incineration building.

The guards were frantically trying to put out the fire.

The flames weren’t that large, but because the fire had spread to various places, it was proving difficult to control.

“Well, if it’s just the incinerator, it can’t be an escape attempt. I’ll just blame the incinerator staff for mismanagement and report to the boss that I took care of it.”

Jo Hwan-seong smirked and turned around, already mentally writing up the post-incident report.

Just for a second, he remembered the man who once started a fire in the guards’ quarters and managed to escape.

Shin Kang-hoo.

That guy had used the fire as a distraction, then boldly walked out the front gate.

It’s now considered a dark stain in Cheongmyeong Detention Center’s history.

But today, there was only a fire in the incinerator. No one seemed to be heading for the front gate or any other direction.

“Damn this prison. Maybe I should just go to the Cheongju Liberation Area and fight too. I’m going insane here.”

Jo Hwan-seong soon opened the iron door again and went back inside. He just wanted to finish his interrupted drink.

But then—

“……?”

Feeling a murderous aura behind him, Jo Hwan-seong instinctively flung himself forward.

But in that fleeting moment, the slightest hesitation became a fatal error.

Thunk! Thunk!

He clearly felt the cold sting of metal pierce into his side—twice.

Blood splattered to the side. He’d been hit.

“Keugh!”

Thrown off balance, Jo Hwan-seong toppled sideways mid-dive.

As he turned around, he saw an intruder in what had been an empty room just moments ago.

‘Shin Kang-hoo?’

There was no way a senior member of Eclipse like Jo Hwan-seong wouldn’t recognize the face of Shin Kang-hoo, their top elimination target.

What shocked him was not that Kang-hoo was inside the facility—but that he was in the innermost room, the warden’s office.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

It was hard to accept as reality.

But he didn’t intend to deny what was happening right in front of him.

He didn’t know how it happened, but the result was clear. The person before him was undeniably Kang-hoo.

“Hoo!”

Even as pain flared in his side, Jo Hwan-seong channeled a surge of magic into his right leg.

His entire leg turned a glowing shade of orange. Then he ripped through the air toward Kang-hoo.

Kang-hoo immediately used Wall of Perfection to block the incoming kick.

Ssszzzzz!

Though the kick didn’t land cleanly, it pushed Kang-hoo backward with considerable force.

‘Body enhancement, huh.’

Jo Hwan-seong wasn’t a Hunter who relied on tricky footwork like the “Ri” he’d once faced in a dungeon.

He was a brute who preferred wielding a double-headed axe. This was clearly a display of physical enhancement.

He moved to grab the double-headed axe placed near the corner of the warden’s office.

After all, relying solely on the body had its limits, and real fights came down to weapon skill.

Kang-hoo threw two backup daggers at Jo Hwan-seong, each imbued with a different skill, aiming for his arms.

Focused solely on grabbing the axe, Jo Hwan-seong had both arms outstretched without any guard.

Crunch.

Kang-hoo pulled out a Mad Solarkium and bit down. Now only seven remained.

Thud! Thud!

“Gah!”

Both daggers sank into the backs of Jo Hwan-seong’s hands, drawing a grunt of pain.

Especially the one in his left hand—it had driven in so deep, he couldn’t pull it out.

Worse, it had gone straight through his hand and into the wooden outer panel of a nearby cabinet.

So Jo Hwan-seong resorted to a simple, brutal, and excruciating solution.

Riiip!

“Aaaaagh!”

The dagger had struck between his index and middle fingers. He simply dragged his hand downward.

His flesh tore open, blood spurting upward—but he regained the use of his left hand.

Only then could he pull the burning dagger from his right hand.

Even though it was only briefly exposed, the back of his hand was already severely burned.

“You fucking bastard.”

Clang! Clatter!

Jo Hwan-seong hurled the daggers away in frustration. They weren’t weapons he could wield anyway.

Meanwhile, Kang-hoo had finished applying his poison-blood setup.

Though the activation rate wasn’t high, once it triggered, it was undeniably effective.

‘I’ll keep Heaven-Crushing Strike and Binding Spin in reserve. Use either carelessly, and I’ll be the one heading to the afterlife.’

His body itched to use those two skills, but he resisted the temptation.

Then—

Now firmly gripping his double-headed axe, Jo Hwan-seong raised it toward Kang-hoo, assuming a ready stance.

He made a subtle pulling motion—the telltale sign of casting a grappling-type skill.

Kang-hoo instantly dodged.

The Swift Evasion activated simultaneously with the Barrier of Resistance, successfully negating the skill.

His steadily raised Anti-Magic stat probably helped as well.

He placed a clone in front of Jo Hwan-seong, with illusions to the side, created via the Illusion Technique.

The goal was to scatter Jo Hwan-seong’s gaze and disrupt his focus.

Jo Hwan-seong scoffed and said to Kang-hoo,

“Shin Kang-hoo, do you really think such pathetic little tricks will work on me?”

There was a glint in his eyes that suggested he still had something up his sleeve.