NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31
Shadows of Seoul (1)
“Hey, want another drink~? Call?”
“Someone called a ride!”
“Hey there, handsome, you’re really good-looking~. How about a drink together? Huh?”
Despite the chaos in law enforcement, the night streets still held their own vibrancy.
The loud voices of drunken patrons, hawkers, and even those picking the pockets of tipsy folks.
Hans’s servant magic detection net improved in range and precision over time.
As its range broadened, incidents happened more frequently in the area, and naturally, Hans had to stay busier.
At first, he dealt with all sorts of petty criminals, but recently he set priorities and focused on dealing with serious offenders.
‘But hey, it seems like the word about Hans has spread a bit; lately, the criminals seem to be laying low.’
In maintaining public order, Hans clashed with numerous criminals, including some well-established gangs in the back alleys.
Of course, not all crime organizations were smashed indiscriminately; only those caught red-handed or those who crossed the line first faced punishment.
It wasn’t a problem that one individual could completely eradicate, and even if he cleaned house, new players would just take their place.
Those who didn’t cross the line too far were monitored after verifying their whereabouts.
-Undersea Game Land
And right now, Heinz found himself in one of the organizations recognized at that time.
An adult arcade located in a secluded alley.
As Heinz opened the door to the shop, covered in posters that obscured views inside, a cloud of cigarette smoke greeted him.
Upon entering, the gazes of the people inside converged on Heinz.
“What brings a young fellow like you here? Looking for a game?”
An old man approached, cigarette in mouth.
He feigned calmness, but his vigilance was palpable.
Among the crew deeper inside, some were stealthily moving their hands to grab weapons.
Hmmm… I can understand their feelings.
A sudden visit from an uninvited guest to a space where few would usually come.
Especially dressed in a suspicious black suit, slicked-back hair, and a black mask concealing his features.
It’d be strange not to be suspicious.
Should I wear sunglasses too? But that might be a bit overboard…
Having become a vampire, my once pale skin and refined features were now so different that nobody would recognize me from my former self.
But since I was here to engage in illegal activities, I couldn’t just show my face anywhere.
However, completely wrapping myself up isn’t a great idea either.
Instead, it would be more beneficial to utilize my altered appearance to hide my identity.
The most significant change in my appearance provided an opportunity to create a different image, consciously exposing my sharp eyes.
That’s the thought process behind my current outfit.
Walking around at night with sunglasses might attract even more attention.
“I want to sell some stuff.”
“Stuff? This is an arcade; are you trying to sell game machines? We don’t accept hawkers here.”
I slipped my bracelet-wearing hand into my coat to pull out a piece of gold and showed it to the old man.
He stared at it for a moment and then frowned.
“Never seen you around before… Who introduced you?”
“Why’s that important?”
“It is important. In this business, trust is everything. We can’t trade with someone we don’t know.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
This place was an organization that mediated stolen goods and various illegal trades.
An organization Hans had left alone to handle by himself.
I pulled another metal badge from my coat pocket and tossed it to him.
He picked it up lightly, stared at it for a while, and then sighed.
“I heard a masked lunatic wiped out our guys.”
That badge was given to the leaders of an organization annihilated by Hans.
They were primarily involved in human trafficking and organ smuggling.
Naturally, they all ended up captured and turned into undead.
“Most of them are dead and dissolved, yeah. I was lucky to escape. So I’d like to dispose of some remaining goods.”
Of course, since I had thoroughly eliminated the leaders and foot soldiers with a thorough investigation using black magic, unless you were extremely lucky, there wouldn’t be any of the remaining scoundrels.
He seemed to consider my words for a moment and then returned the badge.
“Well, if that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place. It’s a shame that President Park has gone, but the living must live.”
The old man’s tone lightened.
“Anyway, you must have traveled quite a distance to get here. It must’ve been a bit far from Daeran-dong.”
“Two.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
I merely watched the old man, acting coy, without saying anything further.
We locked eyes for a moment.
Hmm… This should be enough. Follow me.
Clearing his throat, the old man finally began to lead me deeper inside.
Those around began to turn their gaze away, and conversations resumed among themselves.
‘That guy, surprisingly crafty despite appearances.’
The recent conversation acted as a sort of code-checking process.
The boss of the organization wasn’t Mr. Park but Mr. Jo, and the base wasn’t Daeran-dong, but Garae-dong.
Yet, it wouldn’t do to pop out and correct him.
In fact, there were quite a few ways to gather this much information beforehand; it was merely a procedure to filter out those who didn’t know.
The key was to respond to hidden questions.
To put it simply, the question was, ‘How many mistakes were in the last conversation?’
Thank goodness I’ve dug through the minds of their leaders to read their memories. It’s why I came here knowing.
Every trading organization has a different prearranged dialogue, and those get changed periodically.
Keeping track of those and testing it against the opposing party shows that old man isn’t just some bumbling fool.
“Just go in here. We’ll see each other again when you leave.”
After passing through a complex corridor, we arrived in front of a door, and the old man vanished as he spoke.
Without hesitation, I opened the door and stepped inside.
Inside the room, a wall had a hole just big enough for a torso, connected to a table like a bank window.
“So, what do you wish to trade?”
A masked man sitting across from me spoke as he gazed my way.
“Getting straight to the point; I like that.”
No greeting, right to the main topic.
I sat in the chair opposite him and pushed the gold piece I was holding through the hole.
He took it without a word and pushed out something on his side.
Although I couldn’t see beyond the wall, I sensed there were quite a few people in the room on the other side.
Right now, he probably was passing the item to the appraiser.
Swish—
Moments later, he received a slip of paper passed from the side, glanced at it, and handed it to me.
A simple piece of paper with just numbers written on it.
I frowned.
“Aren’t you overcharging?”
“That’s how things are in this business. Didn’t you know?”
Of course, I was aware, but I didn’t expect it to be this steep.
I pondered momentarily before nodding.
I actually had quite a bit of cash on hand. I didn’t strictly need to go through this route.
‘What with having cleaned out the entire crime organizations.’
Gold bars and various real estate papers stacked up in their safes, along with huge bundles of cash.
Hans efficiently packed those into his spatial dimension.
Yet, he was still going through this tedious process for a reason…
“Alright, but can it be received in something other than cash?”
“As long as the price is right, anything’s possible. What do you want?”
“Lotto first prize.”
No matter how much cash I had, it was worthless if I couldn’t spend it.
There’s a limit to cash transactions these days; reality shows there’s a limit to all financial activities conducted that way.
What I needed as Seong-hyun Han was ‘legitimate funds to use.’
And having a record as a first prize Lotto winner would serve as a decent cover when spending cash later on.
“…That’ll incur quite a hefty fee. Are you fine with that?”
“Of course. How much can you arrange?”
Hmm…
The sound of typing lightly echoed from the other side.
Was there a monitor next to that hole in the wall? He turned his gaze slightly, scanning something.
“The highest amount I can get you right away is 6.1 billion. The payment period is 4 months.”
“And the next?”
“4.4 billion. 10 months.”
These guys were more competent than I’d thought.
“But do you have anything that can match that? This amount of gold won’t even come close.”
Well, I was empty-handed now, so it was natural for him to be suspicious.
I used a spatial dimension magical equipment to retrieve some gold bars right there and stacked them neatly on the table.
“…You’ve got some pretty valuable items.”
For a moment, the man’s demeanor shifted entirely.
His eyes, filled with greed, were even visible beyond his mask.
The magical equipment itself was rare, and something that manipulates space would be even more so.
No matter how much money the organization had, it was something you couldn’t acquire just like that, so it was natural for him to lust after it.
‘Yeah, I knew this would happen.’
I met his gaze.
Heinz’s eyes turned blood-red, and the smell of blood filled the air around.
“…!”
It felt like the masked man and everyone in the room with him froze solid.
If the amount were appropriate, it wouldn’t be a problem, but considering the scale of the transaction, the counterpart was the remaining member of a supposedly collapsed organization.
A sucker had just wormed into their jaws without defense; if they didn’t swallow him whole, they wouldn’t be a crime organization.
‘This was a necessary process for proper trading.’
If I hadn’t shown my power, they would have tried to devour me by any means.
Whether by force or otherwise, they would’ve resorted to their tricks.
So, it was essential to showcase some of my strength.
“Let’s conduct the transaction smoothly and end it nicely. We’ll be seeing each other often.”
A moment passed, and satisfied that I applied just enough pressure, I released my strength and spoke to him.
“…Cough, was it you? I made a mistake.”
Fortunately, he seemed to understand my warning, clearing his throat and pushing the stacked gold bars toward himself.
The appraiser beside him still looked a bit rattled but soon began appraising the gold and presenting the amount.
‘Indeed, strength is the best means of communication!’
The appraisal amount was certainly better than before.
They must have been considerate in offering a better fee.
I nodded with satisfaction.
“By the way, we only deal at face value. You handle the tax issue yourself.”
Exchanging fees on top of the lotto and the tax due when collecting the winnings only chipped away at profits, becoming half of the earnings I’d normally garner from selling gold.
‘Given the amount of this gold, and considering they’re untraceable items, it’s unavoidable. But it still makes my stomach ache…’
“The total appraisal is just over 7.8 billion. If I go with the 6.1 billion Lotto, after deducting the fees, what remains… will I take the rest in cash?”
“Hmm, just a moment.”
Heinz pretended to ponder for a moment, buying some time.
Meanwhile, my main body at home hurriedly searched for information online.
‘Historical lotto winners, and 61 billion just 8 months ago… Only 3 winners? There’s been nothing that high recently. This won’t do.’
While I could prepare legal funds, I’d risk being traced by those who were specifically after this.
I wasn’t sure of how much access they had to information, but there was no need to take unnecessary risks.
“Instead of the 6.1 billion, how about if I want the total amount entirely in Lotto?”
“Entirely? Hmm, then after fees, it’d be around 6.5 billion.”
“Then let’s split it—no, let’s say approximately three ways. 3 billion, 2 billion, 1.5 billion. Is that possible?”
“That’s doable to some extent…”
The masked man looked quite reluctant.
However, having grasped my intentions, he nodded in agreement.
“You’re quite cautious. In fact, most here are typically using this for money laundering. There’s hardly anyone so paranoid about hiding their identity.”
Recently, the average Lotto prize had been around 2 billion.
And with about ten winners each week, tracking would have been utterly impossible.
“I guess that makes sense. So, how long will it take for the items to be ready?”
“Hmmm… It should take about an hour to bring them here.”
It seems like they had some sort of work agreement among those doing similar tasks.
For them to match that amount in just an hour was a very quick turnaround.
‘I think having some underlings to do my dirty work would be quite convenient. Those who can handle the little problems while being able to run errands…’
…Right.
Wiping out an entire underworld organization might not be a bad idea.
It’d save me all this hassle, and it looked quite useful in many ways.