WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 151: Shut Your Mouth
──────
“Ah, come on, calling me hey? We’re about to become business partners. You should still speak respectfully...”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Pardon?” [...
Ah, hell.]
The moment Moon Cheon-yeop looked puzzled at the abrupt remark.
Yoo Na-gyeong covered her face with her wings.
Rimon uncrossed his arms.
And a resounding blow rang out.
Wham!
“...?”
For a brief moment.
Kim Seung-jun and Manager Jeong could not understand what had happened.
As mid-level Players at best, they could only perceive two things.
The moment they heard a loud noise, both Rimon and Moon Cheon-yeop vanished.
But the sight that came into view afterward forced even the two, who had only been blankly blinking, to understand the situation.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Urk, kgh, hck, ngh!”
A blow to the jaw sent Moon Cheon-yeop’s head flying upward, only for Rimon to smash it back down with another strike. He slapped both cheeks, sending teeth flying.
Every swing of Rimon’s fist made Moon Cheon-yeop’s body jerk like it was dancing, while his legs wobbled like a puppet’s.
Whenever he was about to fall, Rimon grabbed his hair and forced him upright. He struck his solar plexus, churning his insides, then hit his throat and made him swallow back his vomit.
Was taking off his sunglasses an act of minimal mercy?
Or did Rimon want to hit his eyes too?
Only one thing was clear.
A person who had been perfectly fine until moments ago was now being reduced to pulp in Rimon’s hands.
“Uh, th-that...”
Kim Seung-jun and Manager Jeong could only move their lips soundlessly.
They did not dare try to stop him.
Finding a way to stop Rimon as he delivered a dazzling beating too fast for their eyes to follow was one thing. The murderous force pouring off him had frozen their bodies stiff.
[Team Leader, Team Leader! Stop! You’re going to kill someone again!]
In the end, the one who stepped in for them was a tiny baby bird.
Only after Yoo Na-gyeong clung to Rimon’s head and repeatedly smacked his forehead with her wing did he finally stop swinging his fists.
Thud!
Only after the beating stopped could Moon Cheon-yeop collapse onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Looking down at him with icy eyes, Rimon spoke coldly.
“Say that again. Who plagiarized whose song, and who should find a good way to deal with it?”
“Ugh, uugh...”
Naturally, no answer came.
Moon Cheon-yeop had been beaten beyond unconsciousness, his entire body swollen like a steamed bun. All he could do was writhe like an insect while groaning.
There was only one thing Yoo Na-gyeong could do as she watched him.
With a deep sigh, she sent Weiling a telepathic message asking her to send an ambulance.
* * *
[If I recall correctly, you said to handle this as smoothly as possible.]
“I did.”
[So I told you that I had already taken care of everything regarding the lawsuit, and that I had spoken to the judge as well.]
“Yes, I know.”
[...]
[Then why has the task of covering up your assault case been added to my workload?]
“Because I beat that bastard half to death.”
[...]
For a while, Weiling remained silent after receiving an answer as clean and decisive as slicing a radish with a sword.
Finally, she spoke again, her voice roughly three times colder than usual.
[I have dealt with the police for now, but if Midas gets involved alongside WIM, prepare for this to become troublesome.]
“Sure. Just don’t overwork yourself.”
[...]
[Please do not create situations that require me to overwork myself.]
“I’ll try.”
Perhaps because she had been exhausted handling the mess Rimon made as soon as the Shanghai Wang Family personnel had reinforced Guardian, Weiling’s icy voice carried unmistakable fatigue.
Rimon hung up while letting her words go in one ear and out the other.
Then he murmured calmly.
“Hm. Money and power really are nice. Everything gets settled without even having to go to the police station.”
[It isn’t settled! You made a complete mess of things! Just look at the atmosphere in here!]
“What’s wrong with the atmosphere?”
[You can say that after looking at those two?]
Yoo Na-gyeong protested passionately.
Manager Jeong and Kim Seung-jun were utterly bleak at the moment.
If the place had felt like a funeral home before Rimon arrived, now it felt like a funeral home after gangsters had wrecked it and debt collectors had taken all the condolence money.
The way they frantically avoided his eyes whenever they feared meeting his gaze said enough.
[Why did you suddenly start punching him? Punching him! You always say you don’t like showing off your strength, Team Leader! Right?]
She had gone through the trouble of preparing everything so they could settle matters quietly.
Why had he thrown it all away?
Rimon answered Yoo Na-gyeong, whose feathers were standing on end as she berated him, with perfect composure.
“Showing off your strength and putting down a bastard are different things.”
[What difference is there!?]
“I can overlook a dog bragging that its shit is huge. But a bastard who shits everywhere just to show it off deserves putting down.”
Rimon stated it flatly.
Then, staring coldly in the direction Moon Cheon-yeop had been carried away, he continued.
“If someone has toyed with other people’s lives while trusting only in their paltry power and influence, shouldn’t they have their own life toyed with at least once?”
[...]
[Honestly, it'd be better if you couldn't talk.]
Though Yoo Na-gyeong grumbled briefly, she could not bring herself to argue with Rimon any further.
Even a quick investigation beforehand had shown that Moon Cheon-yeop had ruined more than a few lives.
The fact that Rimon had even tried speaking with someone like that was already a tremendous concession on his part.
Of course, that concession had ended the moment Moon Cheon-yeop proudly tried to threaten Rimon.
[What are you going to do now?]
“What do you mean?”
[The cleanup. We can’t just let this pass as though nothing happened.]
“Are you suggesting I chase after him and kill him now?”
[Don’t be ridiculous! If Midas Guild really steps in, the Black Dragon Clan brothers and sisters might all work themselves to death when they’re already busy enough!]
Yoo Na-gyeong pointed out in alarm.
The Seven Dragons Society’s wealth and influence could crush most guilds, but Midas, one of the Ten Great Guilds, was no easy opponent.
Especially for the Black Dragon Clan, which was already overwhelmed with cleaning up after the Liberation Brigade’s attack.
“That bastard isn’t even a Midas Guild member. He’s just some lowly lackey from an affiliate guild.”
[He’s a lackey who makes a lot of money. He’s the real power in WIM, and Claire’s manager besides. Midas probably considers him someone worth protecting.]
As a former PAB agent, Yoo Na-gyeong knew well how sensitive and relentless Midas was when it came to losses.
If they suffered a loss because of this?
They would try to receive compensation somehow.
Rimon was currently disguising his identity, so he could hide if he truly intended to. But then Kim Seung-jun and Manager Jeong, who had done nothing wrong, might suffer for it.
[You aren’t planning to fight Midas, are you?]
“Do I look like a mad dog? Would I start an all-out war with one of the Ten Great Guilds over something this minor?”
It was a remarkably persuasive statement from a man who had destroyed the Infinite Monarch to repay a subordinate’s Blood Debt.
But Rimon meant it.
They still did not know how deeply the Liberation Brigade’s roots reached into the Ten Great Guilds.
If Rimon Aspelder became needlessly entangled with Midas here, he might end up having to take down the Golden Monarch next.
Of course, the fact that he had still beaten Moon Cheon-yeop senseless despite knowing that was exactly the sort of thing Rimon would do.
[Then you’ll have to compensate them somehow... Are you going to ask the Princess for help?]
“No. I have no intention of doing that.”
Rimon answered firmly.
Li Qing-yu could certainly resolve a problem like this herself.
Midas valued profit above all else, and once compensated, they cleanly forgot every favor and grievance. The Seven Dragons Society, meanwhile, had money to burn.
Yet Rimon refused for two reasons.
First, the Liberation Brigade could intervene simply because the Seven Dragons Society had become involved with Midas.
Second, part of that compensation would end up in Moon Cheon-yeop’s hands.
“I just finished putting down that bastard. I can’t watch him receive a golden doghouse as compensation and live in luxury.”
[Then what are you going to do?]
If he would neither fight nor compensate them, how did he intend to resolve this?
Rimon answered Yoo Na-gyeong’s confusion simply.
“The point is that it will become troublesome if I get entangled with Midas, right?”
[Right?]
“Then I just won’t get entangled with them.”
[...]
[Did you forget you're already entangled with them?]
Flick!
[Ow, damn it! Why did you hit me again?]
“Why else, brat? Because of that insolent look you gave me.”
Rimon flicked Yoo Na-gyeong with a finger after she looked at him as though he were an elderly man with dementia.
As she clutched her forehead with her wings and fumed, he spoke indifferently.
“I already told you. That bastard isn’t a Midas Guild member. He’s just some lackey from one of their affiliate guilds.”
[That’s the same thing!]
“No, it isn’t.”
Rimon shook his head.
Then he pointed out something Yoo Na-gyeong had failed to consider.
“When a high minister’s dog dies, you have to pay your respects. But when the dog of a servant in his household dies, you can boil it up and eat it together.”
[What?]
As Yoo Na-gyeong tilted her head at the incomprehensible words, Rimon turned around.
Then he casually addressed Kim Seung-jun, who startled when their eyes met.
“Kim PD. Do you have WIM Guild Leader’s contact information?”
“Y-Yes, of course.”
“Then contact her.”
Perhaps the impression Rimon had made while beating Moon Cheon-yeop was too overwhelming.
Kim Seung-jun stood at attention as he replied. Rimon gave him a cold smile and continued quietly.
“I’ll give her a chance to get rid of the bastard who leeches off Midas while acting like the master. Tell her that if she wants to stop being a figurehead, she should get here immediately.”
The desolate café, which had held only three people and one bird, gained another person exactly twenty minutes later.
* * *
‘What was going on?’
Despite her refined clothes, the understated makeup gave the woman in her late thirties a strangely approachable impression.
Yeonhwa, the WIM Guild Leader, had no idea what was happening.
In truth, even when she received the urgent news that Moon Cheon-yeop had been beaten somewhere and taken to the hospital, she had not been surprised in the slightest.
She had only thought that what was bound to happen had finally happened.
‘I’d heard that Manager Moon had been coming here often lately... Still, I never thought he would meet that kind of fate here.’
Moon Cheon-yeop caused plenty of trouble because he never cared about means or methods.
He had stayed safe until now only because he had connections in Midas and was a high-level Player himself.
But Moon Cheon-yeop was hardly the only high-level Player in the world. An incident like this was bound to happen eventually.
That was why Yeonhwa had not thought deeply about it.
All she needed to do was contact Midas Guild and handle matters according to the instructions they gave, as usual.
What changed her mind was a phone call that came just as she was about to contact Midas.
It was a call from Kim Seung-jun, an inexperienced PD at the practically failing KTB.
The call itself was nothing special.
What it said, however, was another matter.
It was enough to make Yeonhwa drop everything and rush to this enemy territory.
Yet the scene awaiting her at the live café differed greatly from what she had imagined.
Footnotes:
The saying about a high minister’s dog contrasts someone directly tied to power with a subordinate’s dependent. Rimon uses it to distinguish Midas itself from its affiliate guild.
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