The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 382



Only Noblemtl

Episode 382

#382. You can kill me.

Guan Hong rode Iron Will’s helicopter on the roof of the Slayer Guild and went to Bukpocheon.

At the helicopter landing pad at the entrance to the Bukpocheon Special Zone, Oh Jeong-yeon, head of the communications team, was waiting.

Due to the nature of Iron Will, which had no third-in-command other than the leader, there was no one in charge of integrating and leading the guild’s work.

This was a vulnerable structure when an accident occurred while all the top commanders were absent, as they are now.

Kang Moo-hyuk was also aware of this. However, Joo Se-ah was reluctant to do it because of the fierce factional fighting within the guild that she had experienced during her time at Taesung Guild.

Kang Moo-hyuk also decided that there was no rush and planned to gradually disperse authority over time.

In this situation, the communications team was assigned to brief Guan Hong on the situation, as even the secretary’s office was abolished.

The helicopter landed on the brightly lit helipad.

Guan Hong got off before the helicopter’s engine was even turned off.

Oh Jeong-yeon ran to Guan Hong, pushing down her hair that was blowing in the propeller wind.

“Are you the Chief of Operations, Guan Hong?”

“It’s temporary.”

“I can’t add a title every time I call you, so I’ll just call you Director.”

“Let’s do that.”

“This is a brief summary of the current guild damage situation.”

Oh Jeong-yeon handed over a tablet. Guan Hong checked the tablet and went down to the helipad. Oh Jeong-yeon continued.

“I apologize for not being able to fill out the form properly because I was in a hurry to grasp the situation. Also, there is an app installed on the tablet that allows you to access guild information. The authorized security level is level 8. It is the level below the guild master and the leader. You can view most of the information within the guild, except for some locked information. The password is… … .”

“The password is fine. The captain already cracked it for me before.”

“Yes. Then, the vehicle is ready, so come this way.”

Guan Hong, who went to the parking lot under Oh Jeong Yeon’s guidance, saw something whitish moving in the darkness and took a fighting stance.

At that sight, Oh Jeong-yeon quickly stepped forward.

“It’s not a monster. It’s a rider wolf.”

“Rider Wolf?”

“Because all of the guild vehicle’s mana cartridges were broken, I brought the Rider Wolf as a means of transportation. It is a child without an owner yet. If you wish, you can personally adopt it later.”

“Do all Ironwill Guild members receive wolves?”

“Not everyone, but only hunters. Ordinary people like me can’t handle it. Of course, even hunters need to be qualified as riders.”

“I’m not qualified?”

“High-ranking hunters are an exception.”

Guan Hong stroked the fur of the rider wolf. The wolf was so big that its shoulder height reached his navel when it was lying down. When he tapped the reins of the rider wolf, the wolf stood up. Guan Hong was amazed at its size, which almost reached its chest.

“Good.”

Guan Hong was once again thrilled by Iron Will’s potential.

Although the guild is still small, the fact that the ranch business, which even the Yellow Dragon Guild failed to start, is now on track means that there is room for further development in the future.

Guan Hong stepped onto the saddle and climbed onto the wolf, saying:

“Let’s go right away. If the house is noisy, it will disturb Gilma and the manager while they are working outside. Let’s resolve this situation as quickly as possible.”

* * *

Thanks to Gongduri’s best efforts, even though it was lacking, the unrest within the guild was somehow calmed down.

However, the atmosphere in the guild was in turmoil due to an incident caused by an internal traitor while Gilma and the leader were away.

As soon as he arrived, Guan Hong gathered the party members from each unit and disciplined them to prevent them from having other thoughts.

There was no particular method. All I had to do was move my body without thinking. Moving my body was simple, but it was effective.

The patrol team was doubled and additional personnel were assigned to rescue An Ji-il, who was trapped in the sealed C warehouse.

The unit members hesitated to follow orders given by a person they had never seen before, who was the operations chief.

However, when the staff members who closely followed Kang Mu-hyeok, including Gong Du-ri and Oh Jeong-yeon, directly relayed the leader’s orders, things began to run smoothly.

The fact that Guan Hong was an A+ rank hunter also played a part here. There was no method more effective than the signboard of a high rank hunter guaranteed by the captain.

In order to put out the urgent fire, Guan Hong decided to put into practice what he had been thinking about while arriving by helicopter.

He called some of the expedition hunters to the captain’s office.

dripping!

“Come in.”

The ones who opened the door to the director’s office and came in were Gyeong Su-hyeok, Seo Dae-chi, and Baek Sol.

The two, excluding Baeksol, were looking at the stranger who had taken over the uninhabited master’s room with curious eyes.

Seeing them standing there blankly, Kwan Hong moved to the central table. When Kyung Soo Hyuk, who was the senior of the three, tried to introduce the members, Kwan Hong waved his hand and said.

“Let’s talk about greetings later. Sit down. Even if it’s urgent, I don’t want to make people stand by and give orders to people who are about to leave right away.”

Guan Hong greeted the members comfortably as if it were his own place. It was an attitude that exuded the composure of a strong man.

They were overwhelmed by Kang Mu-hyeok’s different charisma and sat down in their seats without realizing it.

As soon as they sat down, Guan Hong used the remote control to display the image on the screen installed on the wall at the end of the table.

“You know, right? Baek Seong-bin.”

Baeksol opened his eyes wide.

“You son of a bitch! Your big brother… …!”

Seo Dae-chi grabbed Baek-sol’s arm and calmed him down.

Guan Hong said.

“Putting aside personal feelings, I understand that all three of you were in the same party as that hunter.”

Kyung Soo-hyuk answered Gwan Hong’s words.

“Yes, that’s right. Before the Seodaechi Hunters went to the party, they were part of my party. And this time, they are temporarily assigned to the newly opened Seodaechi Hunter Party, along with the Baeksol Hunters and the Woo Dae-sik Hunters who are currently in the intensive care unit. The Woo Dae-sik Hunters are also the party leaders, but the expedition team members haven’t been filled yet.”

“I won’t make much of a statement. Just come and grab it.”

“Yes? Us?”

“You know the author well, right? I know that he is a strong-willed but skilled party. Given the nature of the healing factor, I cannot send in a weak force. That is why I am giving orders to those of you who know Baek Seong-bin well.”

As Kyung Soo-hyuk hesitated, Seo Dae-chi opened his mouth.

“Is it okay if I just bring him here? Or any other orders?”

“You can kill me.”

“!!”

Seo Dae-chi’s eyes twitched. Kyung Soo-hyuk opened his mouth slightly to express his surprise.

Among them, Baeksolman had a different reaction.

“I like that. I can officially blow your head off.”

To kill the healing factor, he had to cut off his head. Baeksol was wide-eyed at the thought of Udaechi’s revenge.

Among them, Kyung Soo-hyuk, the most rational one, confirmed the order again.

“You’re saying it’s okay to kill me… Did you talk to the captain about it?”

“Of course. It’s best to keep them alive and investigate the background, but there’s no need to risk your members and capture them alive. Captain Kang Moo-hyuk said that if it’s hard to choose the best, then a better option is fine. Of course, that better option is to completely eliminate the risk factor.”

Now that Kang Mu-hyeok’s name has been mentioned, there is no way to avoid the order.

Now all that remained was a practical matter.

“It’s not a matter of catching a hunter who has escaped in a day or two. The three of us are not enough to find out where he has gone and track him. We need an expert to track his movements.”

“Contact us here.”

Guan Hong handed over a business card.

“Mansuro… …?”

“This is the intelligence team under the Iron Will Operations Room. They are tracking Baek Seong-bin’s movements through CCTV. Go to Seoul. Baek Seong-bin will be there too.”

There were many parts of the conversation with Guan Hong that I didn’t understand.

The department called the Operations Room was unfamiliar, and I had no idea when the Information Team was established. In addition, I was confused about how to access the CCTV records that were under the integrated jurisdiction of government public institutions.

‘The strangest thing is that he speaks as if he is certain that Baek Seong-bin ran away to Seoul. They say they have caught it on CCTV, but it is not certain yet, and this person is just speaking as if it is a given.’

When Kyung Soo-hyuk looked at him with a suspicious look, Gwan-hong smiled and said.

“The information that Baek Seong-bin went to Seoul came from the captain. So, please clear your doubts and follow the order.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t suspect anything. I’ll get my gear ready and get moving right away.”

“They say the communication line will be restored soon. Keep chasing them and report back every hour. Contact us immediately when you find them.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Kyung Soo-hyuk changed his stance a little while ago and took the rest of the hunters outside.

Guan Hong looked at the door they had exited through, lost in thought.

‘Chief Kang was certain that Baek Seong-bin would go into hiding in Seoul.’

He recalled the conversation he had with Kang Mu-hyeok before leaving for Bukpocheon.

* * *

“So, you’re saying that the captain suspects that the hunter named Baek Seong-bin has something to do with the illusion?”

“yes.”

Kang Mu-hyeok answered neatly. Guan Hong noticed that he was certain rather than guessing and asked.

“Is there any evidence that Baek Seong-bin is connected to Illusion? Is there any evidence that he had contact with them before, or that there was a broker who connected them?”

“There is no evidence. However, isn’t the timing too coincidental? Shaking up the guild with S-rank right before attacking Mungyeong Pass where Mirage is? This is a move to disrupt the rear. Since I can’t guarantee that there won’t be additional attacks, I won’t be able to fully focus on the front lines. That’s why I called Director Guan Hong.”

“Then that means it’s only circumstantial evidence… . It’s a suspicious situation to anyone, but I don’t think the captain would have made this decision based solely on the suspicion that a single hunter was connected to the illusion.”

The decision that Gwanhong mentioned about Kang Mu-hyeok was quite unconventional.

Kang Mu-hyeok immediately made the decision to place Gwan-hong in the guild’s third position.

It was groundbreaking, even for Guan Hong, to see a stone rolling in, and to have him, who was a strategist for a hostile Chinese guild, debut as a central figure after only working together for a short time…

‘No, even thinking about it again, is it crazy?’

It was a choice he would never have made. Honestly, who would trust him with the work? He must not have good feelings toward him since he fought in Shinuiju and Ma-gyeong.

Kang Mu-hyeok answered calmly, not knowing whether he knew Guan Hong was embarrassed or not.

“If you look at the actions of the Mirage that have been active around the world so far, they are closer to a fanatic group than a terrorist organization. In particular, the elite hunters called Illusion’s personal guard are so severe that they risk their lives.”

“There is certainly a tendency to do so. One of the few instances where Chinese guilds, who were busy biting each other, joined forces was when Miraju entered China. Even in China, there were no way to root out those crazy guys if they fought each other alone.”

Kang Moo-hyuk nodded in agreement and said.

“And Mirage has been digging deep into every country they’ve entered since the beginning. This is hard to do without an insider. No matter how well-funded and organized an organization is, there aren’t many people who would join an organization that has been branded as a terrorist organization and an enemy of the global hunter community. It’s suspicious in many ways that they keep creating insiders who are so hard to find.”

Guan Hong immediately understood what Kang Mu-hyeok meant.

“So that means there is another, more unusual way.”

“Yes. I suspect that it might be a psychic-related skill.”

Skills related to the psychic realm were extremely rare. This was partly because they were hard to obtain, but more importantly because they were difficult to learn and use properly.

When I first heard the explanation, the mental skills seemed like they were invincible. They could control people’s thoughts and actions. They even affected monsters.

‘But in reality, there are many restrictions. There are conditions for activating the skill, and the target of activation. There are also many other things to consider, so it is almost impossible to use.’

In reality, it was difficult to become a high-ranking hunter, let alone an S-rank, with mental skills.

Still, there definitely seemed to be a reason why Kang Mu-hyeok mentioned this part.

“I think it might not be a skill, exactly.”

“It’s not a skill?”

“I’m guessing it’s a trait instead of a skill.”

“But the nature of illusion is… … .”

“Yes. Of course, it deals with lightning. But what if that trait is camouflage? Or what if it has two traits?”

A look of confusion and surprise crossed Guan Hong’s face. He had never thought of it that way.

“I’ve never seen a hunter with two traits. I’ve never heard of a mental trait before.”

“I have never seen such a case. However, the character Illusion itself is a suspicious entity. There are many parts that do not match up. It is not possible to understand it by simply reasoning normally. So I changed the conditions for Illusion so that it can be understood.”

“So, the conclusion is that the trait is less susceptible to external factors than the skill? And that trait is either a mental trait or both?”

While Guan Hong was pondering, Kang Mu-hyeok added.

“Looking at the recent Baek Seong-bin Hunter incident, there are many parts that are hard to understand if it weren’t for those conditions. Of course, even if it’s a mental trait, if you look at the cases where Mirage has failed in other countries, it’s not like it’s invincible. It definitely has its limits. Perhaps this operation could be an opportunity to uncover the secret of illusion.”

Guan Hong noticed another thing he had to do.

“Then I guess we should catch Baek Seong-bin and tell him about the illusion.”

“You don’t necessarily have to capture them. If they’ve been affected by a mental trait, it’ll be hard to capture them. In addition, Baek Seong-bin Hunter has a healing factor. Many Hunters could die or get injured if you try to capture them. In the worst case scenario, plan your personnel in the direction of eliminating them.”

“It’s difficult since all the high-ranking ones are gone, so I guess I’ll have to use an expeditionary force. If it’s related to illusions, I can narrow down the scope of where to start looking.”

“It won’t be Mungyeong Saejae.”

“You wouldn’t go out of your way to cause confusion in the rear and then go back to a corner, right?”

“There’s a saying in the Korean hunter world. If you’re going to use a special force, make sure it’s full of magic. Don’t do it half-heartedly.”

Guan Hong hit his knee and shouted.

“It must be Seoul. There are still two switches left.”

“Yes. If you want to cause confusion in the rear, in Korea, you should aim for the capital. They are probably plotting something somewhere in Seoul.”