Obsession (3)

Kang Dong-hyun trembled with an unbearable sense of humiliation. But there was nothing he could do.

If he let himself be swept away by emotion and cast aside the blessing of invincibility, he would lose his life to Kang-hoo’s dagger that very instant.

Even now, he was nearly strangling himself with both hands as he tried to stop the bleeding, but he could feel that his condition was far from normal.

Even if he were taken to a hospital or received emergency treatment like this, it was doubtful whether he would survive.

“If we meet again next time, you die then.”

Kang-hoo looked down at Kang Dong-hyun with eyes full of contempt, then cast the Collapse skill over the spot where he was.

He could not injure Kang Dong-hyun, but it was possible to dump him into a pit.

Boom!

Soon, Kang Dong-hyun’s body was swept into the pit and rolled around inside in a disgraceful manner.

On top of that, Kang-hoo even installed Thunderstrike Tremor above him, mocking Kang Dong-hyun further.

The brilliant lightning pouring down from the air made Kang Dong-hyun, crouching inside the pit, look ridiculous.

Flash!

Kang-hoo left the spot immediately.

He had to track the rear of Heuksaja as they followed Lee Ye-rin’s route. He intended to think only about that now.

Even if Heuksaja learned through Kang Dong-hyun that he was pursuing them, Kang-hoo did not particularly care.

After all, there was no way Heuksaja did not know that Lee Ye-rin and he were on the same side. They would already be aware of it.

Kang Dong-hyun.

Back when he escaped the Cheongmyeong Detention Center. And when he faced him again on the seventh basement floor beneath Club Hades.

He had felt like a great mountain that could not be overcome no matter what method he used. He had been an opponent Kang-hoo wondered if he could even properly fight.

But now.

The reversed balance of power had shifted in Kang-hoo’s favor.

Some might say this.

That he only won because he struck from the shadows. That if they had fought head-on, would he not have lost to Kang Dong-hyun?

But that was exactly why the assassin class existed.

Kang-hoo had remained true to his role, and Kang Dong-hyun had fallen for the trap.

If Kang Dong-hyun had been just a little more cautious, he should have ignored Kang-hoo’s clone that had openly shown him its back.

But because he rushed to unleash a fist wind the moment he thought the time had come, his back had been properly taken. He had paid dearly for an action that lacked reason.

After Kang-hoo left.

The ones who rushed to Kang Dong-hyun, who was curled up in the pit like a grub, were his subordinates.

Im Jeong-wan, Cheon Seung-ho, and Son Yun-a.

As they tried to support Kang Dong-hyun, wondering what had happened, they were horrified by how serious his condition was.

He was already bleeding severely, and the slash left on his neck was so deep that it looked as though emergency surgery was necessary.

Otherwise, it seemed he would need multiple healers attached to him, using high-density healing skills, before he could be revived.

Even so, until they arrived, there was no method other than emergency first aid.

“Call the Master right now. Cheon Seung-ho, hurry! What are you doing?!”

Im Jeong-wan practically screamed at Cheon Seung-ho. Son Yun-a had already gone half out of her mind.

Kang Dong-hyun’s grave injuries were a great shock to them, since they had believed without question that he was an unshakable iron fortress.

Whoever had done this, the mere existence of that wound alone created a pressure that inspired fear.

Their captain, whom they had believed to be undefeated and invincible. Kang Dong-hyun had fallen.

Ten minutes later.

Kang Tae-yang sat on the edge of his desk in his office, drinking a cup of coffee his trusted subordinate Kim In-ho had just brought him.

He had heard the news about Kang Dong-hyun from Cheon Seung-ho earlier. He immediately dispatched Eclipse’s core healers.

To prevent unnecessary misunderstanding from Heuksaja, he repeatedly made it clear that it was a movement solely for the treatment of an injured member of their organization.

Kang Tae-yang relayed every single fact to Heuksaja without leaving out even one detail, including the number of people and their composition.

Whether it was unfortunate or fortunate, thanks to Im Jeong-wan’s emergency treatment, it seemed Kang Dong-hyun would not die.

However, it remained doubtful how long recovery would take, or whether he would regain his senses properly.

“Hyungnim.”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t help thinking you’re being too submissive toward Heuksaja. I say this cautiously, but.”

“You already said it all, so what is there to be cautious about?”

“That is…… true.”

Because his concern came first, he had blurted out the main point right away.

For even Kim In-ho, who was as calm and rational as Kang Tae-yang, to make such a slip, it seemed his emotions had risen a little.

“Does it seem to you that I’m holding back?”

“To be honest, yes. Couldn’t we strike Heuksaja from behind if we truly decided to?”

“Heuksaja may have impulsive aspects, but those bastards aren’t fools either. And most of the mercenaries sent by the Kashimar Guild can’t be tracked right now.”

“You mean…….”

“It means they’ve got eyes in the back of their head too. If we move, Heuksaja will turn their blades on us immediately. Even if the main force can’t move, the rest of them will.”

“That makes sense.”

Kim In-ho nodded.

Kang Tae-yang was twisting the situation one level further in his thinking. There was a clear intent to minimize risk.

“The one who survives to the end is the winner. Even if the process was good, if you die, you’ll only remain a loser forever.”

“I’m too dull to fully understand what you mean by that.”

“In other words, I don’t care about public opinion anymore. I don’t intend to stake my life so heavily on Daejeon now.”

“Are you giving up on Daejeon?”

“No. More precisely, I plan to let Heuksaja and Cheong-an wear each other down, then push south and create a vertical belt stretching all the way to Jeonju.”

“Ah…….”

“Geumsan County, Muju County, Jinan County, and Jeonju. They’re all places where the hegemonic forces are weak or absent. And they also have more worthwhile dungeons than you’d think.”

“After expanding your influence that way, are you planning to appeal to the Master and attract investment?”

“That’s right. You read it exactly.”

Master.

Externally, Kang Tae-yang was Eclipse’s master, but internally the real master was Casey Rex.

For that reason, Kang Tae-yang and Kim In-ho called Casey Rex “Master.”

Of course, Kang Dong-hyun’s trusted men and subordinates still called Kang Dong-hyun “Master.” It was their own internal title, though.

“I understand your intention, Hyungnim. Then regarding Kang Dong-hyun, who is likely to continue acting independently like this in the future…… what do you intend to do?”

Kim In-ho’s voice trembled as he asked the question. After all, he was asking about his younger brother, so he had to be careful.

At that, Kang Tae-yang drained the rest of his coffee, wiped his mouth, and answered with a calm expression.

“When the time comes, I’ll have to send him on his way. I’ve only been indulging him because there are still people following him. Once they turn away one by one, and even that doesn’t leave many behind, I’ll borrow another blade and send him off. To our mother’s side.”

“……!”

Kim In-ho was shocked by this cold reaction toward his younger brother, something Kang Tae-yang had never shown outwardly even once until now.

The image he had always shown was a human one—trying somehow to persuade his younger brother and lead him toward rational, reasonable judgment. It had certainly seemed that way.

But apparently, his true thoughts had been entirely different.

At this rate, it seemed Kang Dong-hyun’s life would not be very long.

It even made Kim In-ho suspect deeply that what had happened today might also have been part of the plan.

The quiet pursuit continued.

It was not important to follow Lee Ye-rin’s expected movement path. What mattered was pursuing Heuksaja’s main force.

Because in the end, the key was to identify the whereabouts of Gwak Hyeong-seok and Gwak Hyeong-su, and find an opening in them.

So while stealthily pursuing them, even though he witnessed many hunters from both sides being sacrificed, he did not step in.

Even if the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps was carrying out a carefully designed strategic retreat, there was no way to avoid casualties entirely.

Since he knew victory without sacrifice was impossible, Kang-hoo placed no meaning on the deaths he saw with his own eyes.

To some, he might have seemed cold-hearted, but because he knew all too well that being emotional was not wise, he made no mistake.

Since there was still no news from the traps installed at each defensive stronghold Heuksaja had taken over, it seemed the detonation time had been unified across them all.

In other words, at some point, explosions were expected to erupt at several strongholds Eclipse had lost to Heuksaja.

Was it because he had seen too many lives vanish meaninglessly in such a short span of time?

As he moved by leaping between buildings, Kang-hoo found himself thinking about death.

If he died, what would happen after that?

Would it turn out that everything until now had actually just been a dream……! and would he return to the life of the original author?

They said that if a writer ended a novel with a “dream ending,” readers would curse them enough for their descendants to live long for generations.

It did not seem likely that such an absurd result would unfold.

Everything in this moment was reality and a living life. The premise that it was a dream was wrong from the start.

‘Even if I were given the chance to return to the time when I lived as the original author, well…… I’d rather decline.’

Kang-hoo liked the life he was living now, each day fought fiercely. He was happy now, with many precious people at his side.

His old life, when he had lived as a hikikomori cut off from society, was something he wanted to bury as merely a previous life.

Searching for the IDs of malicious commenters to dig up their personal information.

Even wrongly suspecting that one of those malicious commenters was another writer and becoming paranoid for no reason.

No matter which slice of it he looked at, it had been a ruined life.

Writing had been his only refuge, and many readers had loved his writing……

‘But I fucked up the ending.’

He had ended it with a horrifyingly awful ending, the kind that made him kick off the blanket like a madman whenever he remembered it while trying to sleep.

In a way.

It had been an ending perfectly suited to the life he had lived.

Not a normal, happy ending, but an abnormal and ruined ending where the Demon King descended.

‘As long as I don’t die, I live on. There’s no need to complicate it. No need to fear failure either.’

Quickly emptying the thoughts that had almost begun to fill his mind, he focused on the current situation.

There was no need to consider any factor other than the assassination of Gwak Hyeong-seok and Gwak Hyeong-su.

Even if many hunters of the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps, a potential ally, died in the process, there was no need to care.

Every part of the process would be granted living meaning the moment it produced the ending of Gwak Hyeong-seok and Gwak Hyeong-su’s deaths.

So he cast aside feelings about how fleeting and pitiful life was and watched only for the chance to strike at his target like a beast.

Crunch!

As the high-speed movement and prolonged stealth continued, he chewed a Mad Solarkium to deal with the headache that had begun creeping up on him.

Right before entering the real battle, he intended to take Mua-je as well.

He would take Gaksinhwan right before throwing down the decisive move. Because it was a magical medicine that made a fleeting moment feel like eternity.

‘If I change the balance of Daejeon, then from that point on the Jeonghwa Guild’s calculations will become more complicated as well. I will kill them without fail. The turning point has already been marked.’

His clenched fists tightened hard.

The all-out war between the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps and Heuksaja absolutely had to reach a conclusion. There could be no clumsy middle ground.

And.

How the ending of this all-out war, which would change the future, turned out depended on none other than him—Kang-hoo.