Chapter 46

　　Chapter 46: Kwak-jung is dead?

　　“Old man, I’ll give you the liquid for the Talking Tree within two months . We’ll talk in more detail later . ”

　　Kang Chul-in stood up .

　　“W-where are you going?”

　　“I have something that I need to do . ”

　　“Hmm… okay . Well, I’ll start getting prepared for that . ”

　　“I’m leaving now . ”

　　“Wait!”

　　Old man kwon grabbed Kang Chul-in .

　　“Let me go, I’m busy . ”

　　Kang Chul-in coldly snapped out, and pushed Old man Kwon’s arm off of him .

　　“Your car!”

　　“Ah…”

　　“The Jaguar you asked for is still coming here…”

　　“Give me a car key, anything is fine . ”

　　“Then use this . ”

　　Since Kang Chul-in was in a hurry, Old man Kwon handed his own car key over to him .

　　“A porsche?”

　　“Yep, the best there is . ”

　　“… This old guy…”

　　Startled, Kang Chul-in started mumbling to himself .

　　“Age doesn’t matter . To a man, his car, suit, and watch is key . ”

　　“…… . ”

　　“Well then, you should get going . I will put your new house’s location on your phone, so put it there later . I’ll also put the Mustang and Jaguar . Also, is this truly enough to show my sincerity for you?”

　　“It’s definitely enough . Thanks, old man . “

　　Kang Chul-in said something that was truly rare coming from him, he thanked someone .

　　Old man Kwon was right, a car was really something important to a man . He knew what it meant, lending a car key over to someone else . At least, Kang Chul-in did .

　　“I’m leaving . ”

　　Kang Chul-in hurriedly left Old man Kwon’s office .

　　And… 1 hour later, Old man Kwon felt his strength from his prime coming back, and reminisced of his glorious past .

　　After eating the meat from the Peac.o.c.k Dragon, he felt as if he got at least 10 years younger .

　　“Kukuku, I might even get another child from this . Hahahaha . ”

　　Old man Kwon’s opinion of Kang Chul-in rose even more .

　　Startlingly, Old man Kwon’s car was a Porsche 911 boxster, and was even a convertible . For a man that was 80 years old, he truly had some good tastes .

　　‘VROOM’

　　Kang Chul-in immediately started heading towards Park Doo-sik’s office .

　　Although feeling the F6 engine was something someone wouldn’t be able to experience often, he had no time to feel the enjoyment .

　　“Kwak-jung . ”

　　Kang Chul-in read the message that Doo-sik left for him . This is what it said:

　　Park Doo-sik: Big boss, I think I’ve found him, but something’s off . If you read the message, please contact me as soon as possible .

　　Although he felt anxious when it said something was off, he started off immediately when he heard that they had found a lead .

　　‘BOOM!’

　　As soon as Kang Chul-in arrived at Doo-sik’s office, he broke the door open . It wasn’t intentional, but the door broke due to his immense strenght .

　　“W-what?”

　　“Get your weapons out!”

　　“Big boss, big boss!”

　　Doo-Sik’s underlings took out their weapons and got ready to fight .

　　“……?”

　　Kang Chul-in was very fascinating to look at right now . He thought that they were overreacting for just a broken door .

　　“You crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Aren’t you going to put the weapons away immediately? Huh?”

　　Doo-sik hurriedly came out and stopped his underlings from doing something stupid .

　　“Sorry, I’m truly sorry, big boss . They’re nervous recently because the situation for us isn’t very good right now . Hey, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! What are you doing? Apologize quickly!”

　　After recognizing that it was Kang Chul-in, some of the gangster’s faces turned pale, and did a 90 degree bow .

　　“I’m sorry, big boss!”

　　“Please forgive me!”

　　Although Kang Chul-in face turned stiff because of the gangsters, it wasn’t really a problem . He had no time to dwell on this matter .

　　“I’m truly sorry . ”

　　Doo-sik apologized again .

　　“Something had happened to our people in Incheon, because of a guy called Black Leopard . Ai, he really is like a ghost . We can’t catch him . ”

　　Sighing, Kang Chul-in stated: “It truly is difficult trying to eat and stay alive now . ”

　　Pangaea was in a war, Old man Kwon was in a war, and even these gangsters were fighting a war to feed themselves and keep themselves alive .

　　“Anyway, what did you mean by you think you’ve found him?”

　　Kang Chul-in directly asked .

　　“Th-The thing is… . Well, I think it’s better if you sit down first…”

　　Doo-sik’s forehead was covered in cold sweat . It seemed like he was afraid of getting beaten up again .

　　“Just say it . Did you manage to find him?”

　　“The thing is… . ”

　　With his hands trembling, Doo-sik handed Kang Chul-in some doc.u.ments .

　　“What’s this?”

　　“Well… 35 years old right now, the man called Kwak-jung who lives in Seoul…”

　　Listening to Doo-sik talking with his year, he skimmed through the doc.u.ments with his eyes . And while reading, his eyes suddenly widened . These doc.u.ments…

　　“He died last summer from a car crash . ”

　　It was his birth certificate, as well his details of death .

　　… . . !

　　What kind of bulls.h.i.+* was this?

　　Kwak-jung was dead?

　　Last summer, before Kang Chul-in had even come back with the Soul Backup (reviving)?

　　No, everything that Doo-sik brought to him was not facts, but utter nonsense . This nonsense truly incurred Kang Chul-in’s temper, as he fought to calm himself down .

　　“No . ”

　　He threw away the doc.u.ments that Doo-sik had handed him earlier .

　　“N-no?”

　　“Long story short, this isn’t him . ”

　　The Kwak-jung that Kang Chul-in knew worked under a Lord that was part of the Gulveig alliance until he died of lung cancer at the age of 38 .

　　But it was currently 2021, and Kwak-jung was only 35 . He should still be working as an adventurer . He should be roaming around some dungeons at this point .

　　“Look again . ”

　　Kang Chul-in shook his head .

　　“T-The thing is…”

　　“Do you have more things to say?”

　　“Big boss…”

　　“Just say it . ”

　　“Every policeman, government working . They helped us . Not only Seoul, we searched other areas too . ”

　　“Not only that, we looked at criminals with the name of Kwak-jung . There was one living in prison, as well as a maths teacher named Kwak-jung . But there was none that was 35 years old this year, who smokes . ”

　　“Go on . ”

　　“Yes, boss . ”

　　After drinking some coffee, Kang Chul-in signaled with his hands to continue .

　　“Although I’m not very smart, I’m not too stupid either . I used my brain too . If what big boss said was right, and that there was a Kwak-jung that smoked, we found him . ”

　　“Yeah? Continue . ”

　　“So we hurried to a non-smoking clinic to find him, and found a dead Kwak-jung . ”

　　……!

　　“The dead Kwak-jung had gotten nicotine patches to stop his addiction . It seemed like he was a serious smoker after looking through his details . ”

　　“Still no . ”

　　When he said no, it truly was not .

　　“Although it makes sense why you think it is this Kwak-jung, the Kwak-jung I’m looking for is alive, not dead . ”

　　“Are you sure?”

　　“I’m certain . ”

　　“Sigh, I’m sorry then . There was too little information…”

　　“No, well done . At least you got something . ”

　　Listening to Doo-sik’s story, he could truly feel that Doo-sik had worked hard in order to locate Kwak-jung, so he consoled him .

　　“You there . ”

　　Kang Chul-in pointed at one of Doo-sik’s underlings, and handed a card to him .

　　“Take out 3000 (equivalent to 30,000 dollars) . ”

　　“Th-Thank you!”

　　“A-are you continuing?”

　　“Of course . ”

　　“If he’s not in Seoul or anywhere near Seoul, try looking anywhere in Korea . The price doesn’t matter to me . “

　　“Y-yes sir . I will try calling as much centres as possible . ”

　　“I like your att.i.tude . Oh, I have one more piece of information . ”

　　“I-information? Wow, that would really be helpful . ”

　　“It seems like Kwak-jung has become an adventurer in the Pangaea continent . ”

　　… . . !

　　“It looks like the search will become much easier now! Thank you, sir . ”

　　Doo-sik’s face countenance brightened, it truly would be much easier to find an adventurer . Since there wasn’t that much adventurers, he could look through communities and look for them more easily .

　　Lucia, Old man Kwon, and even Doo-sik now . Kang Chul-in felt like he didn’t need to do that much work nowadays, and felt a little bit uncomfortable .

　　“Big boss, it seems like you need to leave soon . Black Leopard, we don’t know when that guy will strike . ”

　　“Is that so?”

　　“Although Black Leopard isn’t worth anything to Big Boss, doesn’t Big Boss dislike a commotion?”

　　“Don’t you think it’d be better if I was here though?”

　　“Ahh, what do you mean? How could we ask for Big Boss’s help? We aren’t that kind of gangsters . Not even close . ”

　　Kang Chul-in thought that what Doo-sik said was honorable, and was impressed .

　　“If you have any thoughts, you can quit this job and do something else . I’ll introduce you . ”

　　“W-what do you mean?”

　　“Old man Kwon Hyung-woo . Do you know him?”

　　“W-WHAT?!”

　　Which gangster wouldn’t know the true boss and holder of power over all of Seoul?

　　Old man Kwon was truly a giant in the underworld business . Someone like Doo-sik wouldn’t have a chance to even see his face one .

　　“I have a business relations.h.i.+p with that old man . There will be a period in time where he will need some manpower . At that time, I’ll introduce you to him . How long are you going to be able to feed yourself fistfighting?”

　　“T-Thank you sir!”

　　“No, I’m only doing this because I was impressed by you . Keep up the hard work . ”

　　“Thank you, thank you, big boss!”

　　“I’m leaving now . I’ll be back in a month . ”

　　“Yes, sir! Have a safe…”

　　It was at this moment .

　　When Doo-sik was about to do another 90 degree bow to Kang Chul-in, a man suddenly appeared in the office .

　　“AH!”

　　“Black Leopard, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

　　As luck would have it, Black Leopard came in coincidentally at this moment .

　　“Where the h.e.l.l do you think you are?” is what one of Doo-sik’s underlings said before…

　　‘POW!’

　　… and he fell to the ground, screaming in pain .

　　“Oh?”

　　Looking at this, Kang Chul-in’s eyes gleamed with interest . This Black Leopard truly had some skill . Although it was just one punch, Kang Chul-in’s eyes were sharp .

　　“You’re Park Doo-sik?”

　　Black Leopard, who seemed around 30, looked at Doo-sik, smirking and smoking his cigar .

　　How could he look so annoying, although it was a handsome looking face, anyone looking at him would want to beat him up . He truly was not a normal type of human .

　　“And who the h.e.l.l are you?”

　　Black Leopard looked at Kang Chul-in and said .

　　“Hey Black Leopard . If you touch him, you might as well prepare your funeral . We should talk amongst ourselves . ” Doo-sik stated .

　　“Oh, so this guy’s the boss of the gang? I thought that the boss of Isu (area name) was you, Park Doo-sik . ”

　　“Shut the h.e.l.l up, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

　　Doo-sik went back to looking intimidating like a gangster, and ran towards Black Leopard with a sinister expression on his face .

　　“Hmm, that won’t work . ”

　　Kang Chul-in predicted the outcome of this battle .

　　“Argh!!!”

　　As expected, Doo-sik clutched his face in pain from the punch of Black Leopard .

　　“B-boss!”

　　“You want a taste of this too?”

　　“You crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

　　Looking at their fallen boss, the gangsters of Isu started piling on Black Leopard, wanting to beat him up .

　　“Still not enough . ”

　　Kang Chul-in predicted that this still wouldn’t be enough to defeat him .

　　Fighting a battle with multiple members in a small area wouldn’t benefit the gangsters . Not only that, Black Leopard was not a normal fighter .

　　Footwork, smoothly flowing martial arts, as well as a kick at a decisive moment . Instead of a gangster, Black Leopard resembled a boxing, judo, kickboxing MMA player .

　　“You f*cker!”

　　Finally, one of Doo-sik’s underlings took out a knife, no longer able to handle the humiliation .

　　“Hey, hey . ”

　　Even though there was a sharp knife in front of him, Black Leopard didn’t lose his calm and confidence .

　　“Using a weapon?”

　　Out of Black Leopard’s hands came out a blackish mist . Surprisingly, Black Leopard wasn’t a normal civilian, but someone who knew how to use mana .

　　“Hmm, an adventurer . ”

　　Kang Chul-in looked at this scene in interest .

　　“You’re so f*cked now . ”

　　Using mana, Black Leopard started beat up the gangster who took out the knife . It seemed like his specialty was Muay-Thai (a type of martial art) .

　　POW!

　　PAPOW!

　　With some satisfying noises…

　　“ARGH!!!”

　　“WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME! ARGHHH!!”

　　“M-MY ARM!!!”

　　Like leaves, Doo-sik’s underlings fell down . It wasn’t even 5 minutes . This was the difference between a civilian and a mana user .

　　“Huuu…”

　　Smoke filled the office . Black Leopard didn’t even stop smoking in the midst of the fight .

　　“After fighting the guys at Isu, should I take Gangnam (another area), or hmm… Yeongdeungpo

　　doesn’t seem bad either…” Black Leopard mumbled to himself .

　　It was as if he thought it was a game of hopscotch, where he could take the territory of opponents for fun .

　　“Oi . ”

　　Walking in front of Kang Chul-in now, Black Leopard started staring at him, and spoke .

　　“Who the h.e.l.l are you to stand in front of me so arrogantly?”

　　With a ‘Tshhh’, the cigar smeared all over the table that Kang Chul-in was sitting in front of .

　　“Did you say it was Black Leopard? You’re not bad . ”

　　Smirking, Kang Chul-in complimented him .

　　“Black Leopard? Sigh . Who the h.e.l.l gave me this kind of stupid nickname? I have a proper name that’s the letters long too (Korean names are typically 3 letters long . Mine is Cho Young-woo . ) Oh wait, it’s actually two letters . ”

　　Saying this, Black Leopard took out a new cigarette and lit it up .

　　“Huuu, my name is Kwak-jung, not some cheesy and childish name like ‘Black Leopard . ’”