WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 43: Your Thoughts?
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Crash!
It was almost a reflex.
The moment he heard Rimon’s voice, Park Hyeon-gun nearly overturned not only his chair but his desk as he retreated and assumed a defensive stance.
It was a quick but pathetic movement.
Like a mouse spotting a cat and scrambling for its hole.
Yet Park Hyeon-gun did not even realize it.
They could only stare at Rimon, cold sweat streaming down their face.
The force that had burst from Rimon’s golden eyes when he spoke was so vicious and murderous that Park Hyeon-gun could not think of anything else.
“Do you know why I laughed?”
Yet the very person who had frozen Park Hyeon-gun solid paid no attention to whether Park Hyeon-gun had backed away or fallen to their knees begging.
Rimon merely continued speaking with a low chuckle.
“You probably don’t. How much running around do you think I had to do just to find you?”
Was he happy to have finally found what he wanted?
Was he angry over all the wasted effort?
Or was it both?
No one could tell what the ominous smile on his lips meant.
“The bastard I thought was the boss turned out to be a puppet who knew nothing, and I even had to wave the white flag and surrender to the one behind it all.”
As though he found it ridiculous himself, Rimon shook his head.
Then his smile suddenly vanished.
He looked at Park Hyeon-gun with such cold eyes that his cheerful voice from moments ago felt like an auditory hallucination.
“After going around in circles like that, I finally meet an obvious lying bastard like you. How could I not be happy?”
“...!”
There was no need to probe his depths.
No reason to agonize over good and evil.
What enemy could be more convenient than a villain he only needed to cut down?
Watching Rimon say something that sounded like a joke with an expression that made it anything but, Park Hyeon-gun swallowed hard.
Park Hyeon-gun did not know why, but knew Rimon intended to kill them and regarded them as easy prey.
I can’t fight him... It’s impossible.
Rimon was a monster who had wiped out a hundred and fifty high-level Players in one place.
And with Lee Cheon-gi out of contact while Rimon himself had appeared completely unharmed, Park Hyeon-gun immediately understood how dire his position was.
So Park Hyeon-gun gave up on facing Rimon.
Park Hyeon-gun also abandoned any hope that reinforcements would arrive, despite having pressed the emergency button long ago.
Instead, he activated his Unique Skill.
『False God’s Prestige』
The so-called name of a false god.
As befitted its grand name, 『False God’s Prestige』 was a Unique Skill that enhanced disguise, lies, persuasion, and the like.
Its effect was so absolute that even Lee Cheon-gi, who possessed countless Skills such as 『Truth Discernment』 and 『Character Appraisal』, had failed to see through it.
That was why Park Hyeon-gun was confident.
As long as Park Hyeon-gun could talk, they could persuade even a bloodthirsty Rimon.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding...”
Shk.
“...?”
The moment Park Hyeon-gun opened their mouth, they stopped.
No, they had no choice but to stop.
For a moment, Park Hyeon-gun could not understand what had just happened.
It had happened that quickly.
“Argh, aaaagh!”
Only after pain like a burn shot through him did Park Hyeon-gun notice the sword buried in his shoulder. He let out a scream of agony.
But Rimon, the one who had stabbed him through the shoulder, did not care.
“A misunderstanding... That’s a nice word. Add it to the most obvious criminal, and they become innocent. Even the worst villain can turn out to be a good person once you know the whole story.”
As if he could not hear the screams at all, Rimon nodded calmly once.
Then he grabbed Park Hyeon-gun by the hair.
Forcing their eyes to meet, he asked in a languid voice.
“Then why did you say you didn’t know Na-gyeong without even asking who she was?”
Park Hyeon-gun, writhing on the sword, flinched.
Overwhelmed by Rimon’s presence, Park Hyeon-gun realized that they had answered too hastily.
But the panic only lasted a moment. Having composed themself with 『False God’s Prestige』, Park Hyeon-gun hurriedly made an excuse.
“I, I knew Agent Yoo Na-gyeong was on your team!”
“You said you didn’t know before.”
“I said I didn’t know about taking hostages and making her carry out a suicide attack!”
“Oh, did you?”
Rimon looked surprised, as though he had never imagined it.
Then, scratching his cheek with an apologetic expression, he said,
“What should I do? I misunderstood.”
“You call that an apology...!”
Crunch!
“Gaaaah!”
Park Hyeon-gun screamed in agony.
Rimon had casually stepped on his fingers and crushed the bones. Still wearing that languid expression, he said,
“Then you shouldn’t have said something that could be misunderstood. You’re making me feel awkward for misunderstanding you.”
As though the fault lay entirely with the person who had invited the misunderstanding, and Rimon bore neither blame nor responsibility, he spoke without the slightest shame.
“So, to prevent any possible misunderstandings, I’ll ask you again.”
Rimon tugged lightly on the sword.
Park Hyeon-gun was lifted by it like a fish caught on a hook. Rimon leaned toward his ear and whispered,
“How much do you know about Hanbit Orphanage?”
“I, I don’t know! I only know that Agent Yoo Na-gyeong came from there!”
“Oh? Is that so? How interesting.”
Perhaps because of the pain of being skewered, Park Hyeon-gun flinched as they desperately gave their answer. Rimon gave a faint laugh.
Then he took something from his coat and continued.
“I’ve wasted so many trips these past few days that I looked into a few things before coming today. And I found something interesting.”
What Rimon held was a single sheet of paper.
It was merely a document with several account numbers and the names of a few companies written on it.
But the moment Park Hyeon-gun saw it, his face went deathly pale.
Seeing him stiffen as though he had seen a ghost, Rimon smiled coldly.
“It looks like someone used Hanbit Orphanage’s name to launder money.”
“...!”
“So after tracing those accounts, I found a name that somehow looks familiar. Does it look familiar to you too?”
Of course it did.
The person who had created a foundation in name only using Hanbit Orphanage, then diverted an enormous fortune by donating Infinity Guild funds to it under the pretense of receiving tax benefits.
Park Hyeon-gun’s own name was written there.
How? How did he...?
Park Hyeon-gun could only be dumbfounded.
The funds had been laundered several times through Infinity Guild accounts, shell companies, and borrowed-name accounts.
And Rimon had traced it all the way back to Park Hyeon-gun?
Park Hyeon-gun could never have imagined it.
“Come to think of it, I was stupid too.”
Park Hyeon-gun looked even more horrified than when he had been stabbed. As if that expression were an entertaining sight, Rimon snickered before abruptly stopping.
He looked at Park Hyeon-gun with chilly eyes and muttered,
“Whether they were influenced by a Constellation or not, no idiot would take hostages and force Na-gyeong into a suicide attack just to catch me.”
Kang Jeong-su knew Rimon’s strength.
Even Kang Jeong-su had only gathered the equivalent of over two hundred high-level Players, practically putting the position as director on the line.
And yet someone would make a PAB agent carry out a suicide attack?
By taking children hostage and forcing her?
Just to catch Rimon alone?
In this era, when Sword Masters had fallen, even the Seven Dragons Society would not do something that insane.
Making Rimon furious was one thing, but the benefits did not outweigh the trouble and cleanup it would require.
It would be cheaper to gather another hundred high-level Players.
Even if Constellations had intervened in that plot, there was no reason for them to encourage something so inefficient.
So why had they done it?
The answer had been clear from the start.
“Unless the ones you wanted to get rid of from the beginning were Na-gyeong and Hanbit Orphanage.”
The orphanage Park Hyeon-gun had secretly used for money laundering.
The PAB agent who visited every week.
To Park Hyeon-gun, they must have looked like a ticking time bomb.
PAB agents already held broad investigative authority to keep high-level Players in check.
And Yoo Na-gyeong practically poured most of her salary into the orphanage. It was impossible to know when she might notice the foundation Park Hyeon-gun had created.
“So when Seo Yong-chan was arrested by Na-gyeong and me, you must have encouraged him to storm PAB headquarters. Isn’t that right?”
“That was...!”
Thud!
“Urk! Hhk, urk!”
Rimon drove his knee into Park Hyeon-gun’s solar plexus.
Then he warned the gasping Park Hyeon-gun in a languid voice.
“Don’t bother playing dumb. I already confirmed it with that son of a bitch.”
Perhaps because he had suffered such a horrific ordeal.
Or perhaps for another reason.
Seo Yong-chan had readily confessed everything.
It was Park Hyeon-gun who had advised him to go to the PAB and demand compensation and an apology.
In the end, it had been Park Hyeon-gun’s intention from the beginning to escalate the conflict between Rimon and Lee Cheon-gi.
For Park Hyeon-gun, who considered Yoo Na-gyeong and Hanbit Orphanage thorns in their side, conflict with Rimon must have seemed like the perfect chance to bury them both at once.
“I really didn’t expect this.”
Rimon suddenly muttered.
“To think Na-gyeong ended up like that because she did good deeds.”
If Yoo Na-gyeong had been a little more selfish and coldhearted.
If she had ignored the orphanage that raised her and focused only on living well by herself.
She probably would not have died like this.
But Yoo Na-gyeong was too kind. To repay the orphanage that had raised her, she spared neither money, effort, nor care.
Never knowing that it would lead to her being caught up in such an absurd plot and killed.
It was truly tragic.
“Some things never change, no matter the era. This damned world.”
“Urrgh!”
No matter how much culture and society developed.
No matter how new laws and institutions took root.
No matter how astonishing new technology appeared.
The good died young, while the wicked clung stubbornly to life. That never changed.
Muttering quietly, Rimon twisted the sword.
Then he met Park Hyeon-gun’s eyes as he writhed from the blade tearing through his shoulder.
“So? Do you still have any lies left to tell?”
As though telling him to keep talking if he had anything else to say, Rimon spoke lazily.
Park Hyeon-gun turned pale.
From everything Rimon had said and done, it was clear that he had no intention of letting Park Hyeon-gun live.
And with the evidence already uncovered, Park Hyeon-gun could not keep pretending ignorance.
But Park Hyeon-gun did not give up.
Instead, they shouted with an earnest expression.
“W-wait! Infinite Monarch ordered all of it!”
“...”
“You’re saying Lee Cheon-gi ordered you to use Hanbit Orphanage to divert guild money, and to get rid of Na-gyeong?”
“Yes! I only followed orders!”
Park Hyeon-gun shouted with all their might, as though they could not defy the Infinite Monarch as nothing more than a secretary.
As though the Infinite Monarch bore the responsibility for everything.
As though Park Hyeon-gun had done nothing wrong and was merely an unjust victim exploited by those in power.
Rimon stared at him for a moment before suddenly speaking.
“This one’s saying all that. What do you think?”
“...?”
Park Hyeon-gun looked confused.
They could not understand who Rimon was asking.
So when an answer came from the darkness, they froze.
“Do you require my opinion?”
“You are one of the parties involved, after all. I thought I’d at least hear your thoughts.”
“If you insist, I will say only one thing.”
The person stepping out of the darkness had slicked-back hair, a white suit, rimless glasses, and above all, that characteristic calm expression.
His complexion was a little paler than usual, but he was impossible to mistake.
Infinite Monarch Lee Cheon-gi looked at Park Hyeon-gun, whose face had frozen as though he had seen a ghost, and gave his thoughts in a single sentence.
“Disgusting.”
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