WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 80: Tragedy

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Black Dragon Construction was one of the Black Dragon Clan’s major subsidiaries, with revenue ranking among the highest aside from the Leviathan Hotel.

Its standing was so high that simply working there was considered practically a path to success within the Black Dragon Clan.

But at least at this moment, no one in the clan envied those who had worked at Black Dragon Construction.

In any age, it was difficult for the dead to become objects of envy or jealousy.

All the more so when their deaths were horrific.

“They’ve been reduced to a real mess.”

“...You can say that after seeing this scene?”

“I have to.”

Rimon calmly continued as he looked at what lay before him.

“The more horrifying the corpse, the more objective the postmortem examination has to be.”

A neck twisted 360 degrees like a pretzel, a fan lodged through both eyes, and entrails pulled from a split-open abdomen.

The corpse was horrific in every sense.

It was a sight saturated with the killer’s malice, as if they had gone out of their way to make the death as gruesome as possible.

Even Weiling, whose expression was always cold, could not smooth the frown between her brows.

Unlike her, however, Rimon’s gaze as he examined the corpse remained utterly calm.

“Hmm... The abdomen was cut first, was it? The eyes once the victim’s movements slowed, then the neck.”

Was it the eye of a Sword Master?

Or the experience of someone who had created countless corpses?

With just a cursory look, Rimon reconstructed what had happened at the moment of the victim’s death and nodded.

Then, as though that was enough, he turned around and casually asked,

“Where next?”

“Do you need an answer?”

“True. I don’t need to hear it.”

After nodding once, Rimon followed the bloodstains left on the floor.

He entered a restroom and began examining a corpse that had been dismembered and stuffed into a toilet.

It was, if anything, even more gruesome than the corpse with its twisted neck.

But that was only the beginning.

A corpse with its neck caught in a doorframe.

A corpse whose entire face had been ground away.

A corpse impaled on a sculpture like a kebab.

From the cafeteria to the stairs, offices, and lobby, not one of the countless bodies scattered throughout the building was intact.

The elevator was especially appalling.

Who knew how many corpses had been forcibly crammed inside?

The spacious elevator was packed beyond capacity, arms and legs jutting out through the gaps, enough to make anyone sick just looking at it.

“Hmm.”

Even then, Rimon did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.

He merely examined each wound left on the bodies, compared them to his memories, and gathered clues about the perpetrators.

His attitude was so calm that even the Black Dragon Clan martial artists standing guard looked displeased.

After some time, Rimon, who had inspected more than several hundred corpses from the first floor onward, finally stopped before a particular room.

It was the office where Wang Gi-neung had once hosted him. It had once been lavish beyond measure, but was now utterly grotesque, shattered on every side and drenched in blood.

“...”

At the center of the room, a man stood before a corpse so mangled that it was difficult to recognize its original form.

“Branch Manager Wang.”

The middle-aged man with a distinctive handlebar mustache turned around only after hearing the call.

Wang Gi-neung looked startled when he saw Rimon.

“Sword Duke, sir? What brings you here?”

“Don’t be so surprised. I’m not here to beat you up like last time.”

“...Are you here to cooperate with the investigation?”

“Guardian is the Black Dragon Clan’s dedicated security company. You can’t expect us to sit around when the employees of one of its subsidiaries have been slaughtered.”

“Not every last one, sir. The employees who were away on leave, business trips, or outside assignments at the time are safe.”

After a brief pause, Wang Gi-neung raised a finger and pointed at himself.

“Including me, since I was recuperating.”

“You got lucky.”

“Exactly, sir. Who would’ve thought getting taught a lesson by you that day would turn out to be such a blessing in disguise?”

Wang Gi-neung grinned easily.

Then he turned the finger that had pointed at himself toward the corpse before him and spoke in an embarrassed voice.

“Well, the reverse happened to my cousin.”

Rimon quietly studied Wang Gi-neung’s face as he smiled before Wang Gi-seong’s corpse.

Then he lowered his head slightly.

“...You have my condolences.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that, sir. He called himself my representative, but he died without protecting the employees. I’m grateful enough that you’re not punishing him.”

“I can’t punish him. Your cousin fought to the end.”

Compared to the other places, which had been little more than rooms coated in blood, the office, with its furnishings, walls, and ceiling all destroyed, made it clear that Wang Gi-seong had fought desperately until the end.

But Wang Gi-neung shook his head.

“What matters is the result.”

“Since he failed to protect anyone, you think his effort and struggle mean nothing?”

“When I think about the stock price that will fall because of this, everything goes dark. How can a few words like effort and doing one’s best make up for that?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Rimon snorted at Wang Gi-neung, who said with a grin that effort could not buy money.

Even in the Age of Heroes, when Rimon had been at his peak, many people valued results over process. Effort without achievement and honor without substance were often buried.

Much less in this Iron Age, where money and power had become everything.

A fighting spirit that refused to surrender until the end would be fortunate if it was not mocked rather than acknowledged.

“On that note, Sword Duke, sir, may I ask you one small favor?”

“What? You want me to make sure I catch the culprit?”

“The opposite, sir. If possible, please don’t involve yourself in this matter.”

It was an unexpected request.

It was not the sort of favor one would ever hear from a victim’s relative.

But rather than being surprised or flustered, Rimon narrowed his eyes at Wang Gi-neung.

“You intend to restore your ruined honor yourselves?”

“As you know, Sword Duke, the Seven Dragons Society is a rather complicated organization. If our dignity gets trampled and we can’t do anything about it, that’s the end for us.”

The Shanghai Wang Family already had a weak position.

As if it were not enough that its head, Wang Gi-neung, had been beaten by Rimon and left bedridden, Wang Gi-seong, who had acted as his representative, had also been murdered. Their reputation had fallen to rock bottom.

What if Rimon caught the killer as well?

The Shanghai Wang Family would become a laughingstock not just of the Black Dragon Clan, but of the entire Seven Dragons Society.

“So you’ll catch the culprit yourselves?”

“Yes, sir. If it goes well, we might even raise the fallen stock price again.”

Wang Gi-neung answered with a grin, rubbing his palms together as he lowered his voice.

“Of course, I’m not asking this favor for free. I know you need accomplishments to show for yourself too, Sword Duke.”

The employees of an entire subsidiary had been slaughtered, and even the acting head of a prestigious clan had died.

If Rimon took the lead in resolving this matter, he would earn a great merit and gain favorable attention from the clan.

Wang Gi-neung was not so naïve as to expect him to give up such an opportunity without compensation.

“If you yield this matter to us, Sword Duke, you will have the support of the Shanghai Wang Family.”

“You’ll support me? Your family?”

“Yes, sir. Our family already has a poor reputation. Even if we cling to you now, Sword Duke, there’s no worse insult left for us to receive.”

Wang Gi-neung spoke as naturally as ever.

Then he looked at Rimon with his usual grin, as if urging an answer.

“What do you think, sir? I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.”

It was not an empty offer.

The Shanghai Wang Family might have barely clung to the lowest seat, but it was still a prestigious clan.

If Rimon could gain the power of a family that had built its position in the Seven Dragons Society over several centuries, whatever he did from now on would certainly become easier.

“No. It’s a terrible deal.”

“...So you intend to involve yourself after all?”

“I don’t need a reward like that. Catch the killer, beat them bloody, or fillet them and eat them. Do whatever you want.”

That was why Wang Gi-neung, whose face had stiffened in an instant, looked dumbfounded at Rimon’s next words.

“Do you mean that, sir?”

Why would he willingly give up the chance to gain their support?

As Wang Gi-neung asked with complete incomprehension, Rimon answered calmly.

“It is your right to claim the blood price of your kin. You don’t need to offer some trivial deal in order to do what is only natural.”

“...”

Blood Debt was sacred.

The cruel and lawless vengeance of washing blood with blood was therefore valuable only if it remained pure.

Rimon was an anachronistic man, calmly speaking words that any modern person would call immoral.

Yet he was also the Sword Master who had cast aside all calculations of gain and loss, overturned a country, and even stood against Monarchs to claim the Blood Debt of his subordinates.

Should Wang Gi-neung see Rimon as a complete fool?

Or simply as a lunatic?

After wavering between those two answers, Wang Gi-neung finally bowed quietly.

“I, Wang Gi-neung, head of the Shanghai Wang Family, will never forget the grace you have shown us, Sword Duke.”

“It’s hardly grace. I was busy anyway, so I merely handed off some work. Don’t worry about it.”

Rimon spoke indifferently and turned away.

Then, just as he was about to leave, he opened his mouth as though something had occurred to him.

“Oh, and this isn’t me meddling. I’m just thinking aloud, but...”

“...?”

“There are three killers.”

“...!”

Wang Gi-neung’s eyes gleamed.

The Tracers brought in for the investigation had determined that there were only a few perpetrators, but they did not yet know the exact number.

But Rimon was not finished.

“Judging by their methods, they are likely duke-class Players or above, criminals skilled at killing, especially ones with prior experience in mass murder.”

“They’re likely a woman a little over 170 centimeters tall and two men just under 180 centimeters.”

“From the way they moved together, the woman appears to be a close-combat type, while the other two are special and long-range types.”

“You could get quick results if you look for lunatics who are either former soldiers or have received military training.”

At first, Wang Gi-neung’s sharp gaze gradually turned strange, then blank, as Rimon continued.

Rimon’s explanation was far too detailed for someone who had merely looked over the traces. It was as if he had seen the killers himself.

“How do you know all that, sir?”

“You can tell by looking.”

Rimon gave a faint smile.

Then he resumed walking and spoke quietly.

“This sort of thing is what I’ve done all my life.”

Watching Rimon leave after saying only that, Wang Gi-neung realized anew.

That white-haired man was humanity’s last Sword Master.

A peerless hero who had saved the world more times than anyone in history, and also the swordsman who had cut down more people than anyone in history.

“...The Princess truly took a terrifying man as her prince consort.”

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