After sending his friends away, Seonghyeon, now left alone, took the business card out of his pocket.
He had felt from the beginning that something about the man was unpleasant, but to think he really was a scammer…….
Moreover, once Seonghyeon realized that the man had repeatedly approached him while pretending to know him because he had been trying to set up a con, he felt even more indignant.
Seonghyeon immediately called the number written on the business card.
Ring, ring—
[Yes, this is Brada Company.]
After the ringtone sounded a few times, the call connected.
Hearing him play innocent in such a bright voice made curses rise all the way to Seonghyeon’s throat, but he had to force himself to endure it.
After all, he did not intend to end this by venting his anger a few times…….
“Hello. This is Yoo Seonghyeon.”
[Ah, Mr. Seonghyeon! Have you been well? Have you decided to duplicate your Magic Stones?]
“Yes, I called because of that. Could we meet and talk first?”
[My goodness, Mr. Seonghyeon must be in quite a hurry. Very well. Where shall we meet?]
Perhaps because he was so confident in his scam, when Seonghyeon suggested meeting in person, Gong Yeong-beom responded in a welcoming tone.
Seonghyeon sent him the café address and ended the call.
“Mr. Seonghyeon! Have you been waiting long?”
Not much time passed before Gong Yeong-beom appeared at the café.
He still looked like a good-natured person.
However, Seonghyeon could faintly feel that, deep inside, the man was excited at the thought of fleecing him.
“Ah! Not at all. I happened to have business nearby.”
“Then shall we…… get straight to the point?”
“Let us. Straight to the point.”
With smooth eloquence, Gong Yeong-beom explained the request process for Magic Stone Duplication.
If Seonghyeon entrusted him with the desired amount of Magic Stones, Gong Yeong-beom would return twice the amount.
Magic Stone Duplication could be done easily with his skill, but since requests had to be handled in order, there was a waiting period.
As payment for his effort, he would take only a conscientious 10% commission.
He packaged the whole thing plausibly, making it sound as if money could be increased very easily.
But to Seonghyeon, it felt like nothing more than a scam.
“But is duplication actually possible? I think that is the most important part.”
“You are absolutely right. However, I do not use my skill carelessly in public places like this…….”
Even as he said that, a slight smile lingered on Gong Yeong-beom’s face.
In truth, someone who wanted to confirm the skill was already prepared to take the bait.
All of this was part of a planned scam process.
“However, since I know you personally, Mr. Seonghyeon, I will show you the skill just this once as a special exception.”
Gong Yeong-beom took two Magic Stones out of his Inventory.
He held the two Magic Stones in one hand and whispered.
“Duplicate.”
Then a faint light seeped out between his curled fingers.
After that, when Gong Yeong-beom opened his hand, the two Magic Stones had become four.
“What? They really duplicated?”
Seeing Seonghyeon deep in thought, Gong Yeong-beom smiled faintly and nodded.
‘It worked again. Heh.’
His skill did indeed appear to be “Duplication.”
When he used the skill on an item he touched, another object of the exact same shape appeared.
However, strictly speaking, the mechanism of the skill was to output an imitation with only the same form as the target for a fixed period of time.
It was a kind of “phenomenon” that lasted only for the brief moment when he showed the skill performance.
Gong Yeong-beom’s scam worked by deceiving Hunters’ eyes with his skill, receiving Magic Stones from them, and then cutting off contact.
Seeing the apparent duplication firsthand, Seonghyeon was quite surprised.
He had thought the skill called Duplication itself was entirely false.
For a moment, he wondered, ‘Could it actually not be a scam?’
But if that were the case, it made no sense that he had withheld Senior Jin-ho’s money and only made him collect Magic Stones.
There was definitely something different from what his eyes were showing him. Seonghyeon steadied his heart with that thought.
“What do you think? Do you believe me a little now?”
“Yes, yes. Completely. So…… should I give you the Magic Stones right now?”
Thus, Seonghyeon’s operation began.
His goal was not simply to catch one scammer.
If he reported Gong Yeong-beom and had him caught right away, the man would simply insist he did not know where the Magic Stones gathered through fraud were located.
Right now, this was the stage of sacrificing flesh. If Senior Jin-ho was to clear his name, they had to take the bone.
“Oh, you are very proactive today. Are you sure you do not want to think it over a little more?”
“Of course! You said that if I am late, I will have to wait longer. I should hurry and get in line.”
On Gong Yeong-beom’s face, which wore a concerned expression, a very faint smile appeared.
“Then how many would you like to duplicate? All of them?”
‘Hmm……. All of them? Eighty thousand is too many.’
Seonghyeon was obtaining eight thousand Magic Stones at once from an E-Rank Dungeon.
If he handed over that many Magic Stones at once, Gong Yeong-beom might find it suspicious.
He did not know how many other Hunters usually had on average.
‘Let us say I earn about a thousand a day, and I have run four dungeons.’
【Trade Proposal】
[Yoo Seonghyeon] Low-Grade Magic Stones 4,000
Thus, after estimating the minimum amount, he handed four thousand Magic Stones over to Gong Yeong-beom.
But Gong Yeong-beom rubbed his eyes several times.
“Huk! Are you really entrusting me with all of them? Wow, you have gathered quite a lot.”
It seemed Seonghyeon should have calculated a little less.
After receiving the Magic Stones through the trade, Gong Yeong-beom’s eyes widened, and he seemed beside himself.
Fortunately, he merely seemed shocked by the number of Magic Stones and did not become suspicious in any other way.
“Yes, this really is all my wealth, so please take good care of it. Contact me when it is done!”
Watching Gong Yeong-beom leave the café, Seonghyeon acted earnestly until the very end.
Perhaps because the man was excited, his back looked light and cheerful.
***
An abandoned lot on the outskirts of Ansan.
Seonghyeon had tailed Gong Yeong-beom all the way here.
Since the entrance was full of trash, he had thought it was simply an abandoned place.
But deeper inside, there were several containers placed haphazardly, and several men were guarding them.
‘I thought he was just a scammer, but the scale is rather large.’
Seeing that, Seonghyeon thought the matter could become fairly serious.
After all, he had originally only intended to catch Gong Yeong-beom and retrieve the stolen Magic Stones.
But if this was connected to a Villain organization, then that meant there were more enemies.
As he witnessed the scene, Seonghyeon hid himself farther back.
Soon, Gong Yeong-beom spoke with one of the men guarding the place and approached a container.
When he opened the door, a huge number of Magic Stones and items piled inside became visible.
“What is this? Are all the containers here warehouses?”
It was certain that Gong Yeong-beom belonged to a Villain organization.
There was no way he had carried out a scam of this scale entirely on his own.
Gong Yeong-beom, who had entered the container, began taking Magic Stones out of his Inventory.
Seonghyeon no longer needed to pay attention to him.
He had found the storehouse, so now it was time to take things back.
“Skill Window.”
『Meteor (EX)』
[Objective Setting] Plunder
Saved Target (Low-Grade Magic Stone) ◀
‘I did not know I would use this so quickly.’
The “Plunder” trait he had newly obtained from the E-Rank Dungeon.
He had thought there would rarely be a reason to use it.
But looking at things now, it was a trait perfectly suited for people like them.
Seonghyeon targeted the Magic Stones he had saved as a target in advance before handing them to Gong Yeong-beom.
Then, ‘Use.’
RUMBLE—
A majestic ripping sound rang out once.
One container was torn apart by something and sent rolling as fragments.
Gong Yeong-beom and the guard, swept up in the shock wave, were sprawled on the ground unconscious.
Just as Seonghyeon was about to feel indifferent to the sight, which had already become familiar,
his expression brightened at the System Window that appeared.
[Plunder! Low-Grade Magic Stones 21,000]
‘Oh! This performance is absurdly good.’
Just as the System Window said, his Inventory had suddenly gained more Magic Stones.
First, he had caught Gong Yeong-beom, and the Magic Stones had been recovered.
However, his opponent seemed to be a fairly large Villain organization.
It felt disappointing to leave things as they were.
So this time, he changed his aim.
『Meteor (EX)』
[Objective Setting] Plunder
Other Location (Set Viewpoint) ◀
‘Use.’
KABOOM—
Meteor fell once more onto a container.
Men appeared from somewhere at the sound of the first Meteor impact.
They were swept up in the second aftermath and sprawled across the ground.
Then,
[Plunder! Low-Grade Magic Stones 18,000, Skill Enhancement Voucher (One Use)]
This time, too, items and Magic Stones poured in.
RUMBLE—
KABOOM—
KABOOOM—
Only after dropping Meteor three more times, smashing every container,
and stripping them of sixty thousand Magic Stones and items, did Seonghyeon leave the place.
***
Late at night.
Seonghyeon arrived in front of the Ansan Branch of the Association.
Kim Jin-ho was already waiting there.
“What happened? Did you find the location?”
At his question, Seonghyeon held out a piece of paper.
“Yes, here is the address. Please report it quickly and go there with the Association people.”
“Hm? You are not coming with me?”
Seonghyeon shook his head.
If a Villain organization was arrested, he could receive a reward.
However, if an investigation began, it would be incredibly troublesome.
He might even have to reveal that he was Meteor Lord…….
So now was the time to step away.
“No, please say you found this, Senior. I do not want to get wrongly involved and misunderstood…….”
Kim Jin-ho looked dazed, as though he had difficulty understanding.
Before the conversation could grow any longer, Seonghyeon quickly headed in the direction of his home.
Then Kim Jin-ho’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Um…… Seonghyeon!”
?
“Thank you, truly, for this. If it were not for you, I would have kept suffering while working there. And if there is anything I can help with, contact me! If it is your business, I will come running.”
The words he heard were a little embarrassing.
But even so…… he felt an inexplicable sense of pride.
***
The Burang Party’s core funding warehouse had been completely destroyed, leaving nothing intact.
Then a group of people entered the place.
The man at the front paused for a moment at the sight, which was completely different from how it should have been.
It was Ji Seong-tae, an executive of the Burang Party who had brought Gong Yeong-beom into the organization.
“Ah…… No, what is this?”
Even he, who normally managed the Business Division through cold calculations, could not help being flustered by the sight before him.
Since Eraser had been arrested, there had been no enemies to hinder their future business.
Until just moments ago, the business had also been proceeding smoothly.
But this sight was impossible to…….
After finding the organization members sprawled among the containers,
Ji Seong-tae quickly headed in that direction.
“Hey…… Hey!”
“…….”
Even when he tapped the fallen Gong Yeong-beom, the man did not wake easily.
As he gritted his teeth to force himself to remain calm, thick veins stood out on Ji Seong-tae’s forehead.
He raised his palm high.
SLAP—
“Come to your senses and wake up!”
“Hup…… Hah! Haa…….”
Only after a sharp impact struck his cheek did Gong Yeong-beom finally wake up.
And a fierce gaze was glaring down at him.
“Huh? Team Leader? What brings you here? ……But where is this?”
However, even after waking up, he was not in his right mind.
“Get yourself together and answer me! What happened here?”
“Ah, yes! ……The warehouse? This is, well, I clearly came here to put the collected Magic Stones in…… I do not know!”
Gong Yeong-beom tried to pull up his memories, but after stammering, he fell to his knees and answered.
That was because he truly knew nothing.
Even if all his memories returned, he would not be able to know that he had been hit by Meteor.
Just like Eraser…….
However, that reason was not an explanation Ji Seong-tae, or anyone else for that matter, could accept.
“You piece of vermin. I went out of my way to bring you in, gave you work, and treated you like a person, only for you to cause an accident. What? You do not know?”
Ji Seong-tae’s fury reached an extreme.
Unable to endure it any longer, he took a dagger out of his Inventory.
Just as he was about to execute Gong Yeong-beom, whose body had frozen in panic, with a single blow,
“Hey, everyone! Do not move!”
A voice struck through the air.
From the surroundings, where no human presence had been felt at all, Hunters began appearing one by one.
They were Association-affiliated Hunters who had deployed after receiving the report.
Damn it!
Since he had already been discovered, Ji Seong-tae swung his dagger again, intending to finish off Gong Yeong-beom, create confusion, and escape.
“I told you not to move.”
However, when one Hunter used a skill, Ji Seong-tae’s time slowed drastically, and he could no longer move his body freely.