“SKREEEE—!”
BANG—!
“The people I’m looking for are nowhere to be seen, and only random Slime Knights keep showing up.”
After sending a humanoid Slime Knight flying, I rested the gun I had just fired against my shoulder and began strolling through the cave.
“Where could they be~♬ Are they over there~♪ Or do I need to walk a little farther~♬ If that criminal organization’s mark is here, they ought to be running this place too~♪”
I was humming like an old man out for a neighborhood walk when someone finally entered my field of view.
“Damn it! Do I really have to do this at my level? When they had us secretly tail that worthless bitch and take photographs, that was one thing. Now what? They want us to ambush her and leave her seriously injured?”
“It’s an order from above. We’re members of the organization, so we have to follow it.”
“Even so, ambushing a girl who has only just come of age is ridiculous! They should at least tell us to hurt her head-on! Don’t you think?”
“Maybe they mean we should move in a way that minimizes the organization’s losses. That’s why they told us to follow her secretly and ambush her.”
“Haah... I really don’t know what we’re doing anymore. First, we stalked some girl and took photographs. Now we’re supposed to ambush her...”
“Still, wasn’t that bitch pretty?”
“She was. Her tits were pretty impressive too.”
“While we ambush her, we can have our fun with that bitch too. Right?”
“Have our fun, huh... Yeah~ You’re right! Since it’s come to this, shouldn’t we get some reward out of that bitch too? Hahaha—!”
“You crazy bastards... What a fucking display.”
“!!! Wh-who’s there?”
A third voice rang out in the empty space, catching them completely off guard. The two men hurriedly drew their swords and went on guard.
“Wh-who are you—?! There’s a spell in place here, so not just anyone can get in.”
Gulp—!
A man standing before them possessed enough skill that they had not even sensed his presence. The two men watched me tensely.
“I’m the Grim Reaper.”
“What?”
“I said I’m the Grim Reaper, you bastards! I’m planning to kill you two now.”
“You crazy—!”
Perhaps thinking I was insane when I called myself the Grim Reaper, one of the sword-wielding men rushed at me. I naturally shouldered my gun and took aim.
“You crazy bastard! You seem pretty skilled, but what can you do with just that gun? Don’t you know that Gunner is the weakest among Awakened classes? Besides, I’ve wrapped my body in aura, so a bullet from the likes of you—”
BANG—!
“!!! Guhk—!”
The man I shot let out a short groan. As though he was in too much pain to even scream properly, he rolled across the ground.
“I thought he might be strong since he had a faint red aura... But this guy isn’t even worth using a skill on.”
Since I possessed the strongest Awakening Grade, Mythic Grade, even a normal attack carried the destructive power of a high-grade or rare-grade Awakened. Ignoring his groans, I calmly reloaded my gun and aimed it at him.
CLACK—!
“Ghk! Wh-who are you? Why are you doing this to us... Could you be someone sent by the higher-ups? If we have done anything to offend you, we apologize...”
One arm blown off, the man pleaded with me, desperate to survive. I let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“Earlier, you mocked Gunners for being the weakest among Awakened classes...”
“I’m sorry! I did not recognize someone from the higher-ups...”
“I’m not from your organization.”
“What? Then what do you—”
“I told you! I’m the Grim Reaper who came to kill you.”
“!!! Y-you crazy bastard—!”
Apparently realizing that I had no intention of sparing him, the man I had shot grabbed the sword lying on the ground with his remaining arm and rushed at me again.
“The Grim Reaper? Crazy bastard! I’ll send you to the underworld myself!”
BANG—!
“!!! Guhk! Cough—!”
“Are you an idiot? Don’t you know that I have the advantage if you charge at me when I’m already aiming? How did someone this stupid become an organization member?”
The bullet pierced his head. Blood sprayed across the ground like a fountain, and he fell, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
“Ahhh—! S-someone died!”
“Why are you making such a fuss over one piece of trash dying? You bastards have probably killed more innocent people here than I have.”
“... P-please spare me.”
Having already been terrified, the other man stared at his dead companion bleeding on the ground and begged me to spare him.
“Fine. Now that I’ve killed one of you, you should understand the situation if you have any sense.”
“Y-yes. If you tell me what you want, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“Why the hell did you turn me into this?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Why did you turn me into this?!”
WHACK—!
Whether it was because Baek Seon-woo’s memories had surfaced, or because I was angry at the fact that villains stood before me, I swung the butt of my gun into the man’s head and continued.
“Why the hell were photographs of Han Ji-hye in my bag? And why did you put that phone in there? Did you have a grudge against Baek Seon-woo? Why the hell did you do something like this?!”
“Photographs? Your bag? Baek Seon-woo? Han Ji-hye? !!! Don’t tell me... You’re...”
“That’s right. I’m Baek Seon-woo. Why did you do it? Why did you do that to me?!”
“W-we didn’t do that.”
“You didn’t?”
“Yes. In truth, there’s someone inside Ares Academy who communicates with us. Following orders from above, all we did was hand that person the items and tell him to frame any teacher.”
“Frame any teacher? Huh~ Then Baek Seon-woo was simply unlucky enough to be chosen? So that was it? Hahaha—!”
Thinking that a teacher who had sincerely taught children with a kind heart had simply fallen victim to villains by sheer bad luck made the situation so absurd that I began laughing loudly enough to make the cave tremble, gun still in hand.
“Oh, come on! This is so absurd that I can’t stop laughing. So an innocent teacher who worked faithfully as a public servant, receiving his paycheck regularly, got unlucky enough to be caught up in your hands and ended up like that?”
“Th-that...”
“Then let me ask one more thing. What was with stalking Han Ji-hye and taking photographs of her? You even used an informant inside Ares Academy. Even a criminal organization knows that Han Ji-hye’s father is the Guildmaster of Helios Guild, right?”
“That’s because Helios Guild attacked our organization first.”
“What? Helios Guild attacked your organization?”
“Y-yes. Recently, Helios Guild raided a special-grade secret vault we operated. As a result, our organization suffered considerable losses...”
“Helios raided a special-grade secret vault you operated?”
Even if it was one of the country’s top three guilds, raiding a criminal organization’s special-grade secret vault was extremely rare, since it would come at a considerable cost. I tilted my head and spoke.
“Would they really go that far? Their guild would suffer a lot of losses too.”
“Well... There was an Awakened Advancement Item there.”
“!!! What? There was an Awakened Advancement Item?”
I was shocked once by the fact that they possessed an Awakened Advancement Item, something I had only heard about in rumors. Then I was shocked again to hear that Helios Guild had raided them to obtain it. The man let out a deep sigh and continued.
“That’s right.”
“An Awakened Advancement Item really existed? I thought it was only a rumor...”
“I heard that it was discovered in one of the secret dungeons controlled by the higher-ups.”
“If that’s true, that’s incredible...”
Normally, a person could only awaken an advancement through innate talent or grueling training. But using an item to do so was an utterly unfair advantage.
“So Helios Guild launched a raid, and you retaliated by targeting Han Ji-hye, the Guildmaster’s daughter?”
“That’s right. Fortunately, they didn’t take the item, but to warn them that their daughter would be in danger if they attacked our organization...”
“Would photographs alone be enough?”
“That’s why we were ordered to ambush her this time and leave her seriously injured...”
“Ahh~ So there wasn’t much reaction after the previous incident, and this time you were going to hurt her?”
“Th-that’s right.”
“And I became a victim of the power struggle between your organization and Helios, had a false accusation pinned on me, and am now suspended without knowing whether I’ll ever be reinstated. Haha—! What an utterly ridiculous situation.”
To sum up what he said, the criminal organization had found an Awakened Advancement Item. Helios Guild raided them to seize it, but failed. In retaliation, they targeted Han Ji-hye, the Guildmaster’s daughter, and I had happened to get caught up in it all.
“So I got unlucky enough to be dragged into your fight, huh? Is that it? I don’t know if it’s because this is so absurd, but I can’t stop laughing. Hahaha—!”
As I laughed like a madman for a while, resting one hand against my forehead, the man watched me nervously before carefully speaking.
“Um, if you don’t mind...”
“What?”
“I don’t know if it will comfort you, but as an apology, we’ll give you all the items obtained from this labyrinth and all the money we’ve saved.”
“You’ll give me money? So you’re saying you’ll compensate me for the damage I suffered?”
“Y-yes. Although we’re only a lower branch of the organization, this is a Labyrinth Dungeon, so it’s a fairly lucrative business...”
“Forget it—!”
CLACK—!
Cutting him off, I chambered a round and aimed it at his face.
“P-please calm down. We’ll compensate you sufficiently, so tell us what you need first—”
“I don’t need anything. How much money could a labyrinth run by lower-level members like you possibly make?”
“I-if you kill me here, you won’t be able to find out who is colluding with us inside Ares Academy.”
“I don’t care.”
“What?”
“I said I don’t care! I’ll find that person myself. You bastards can just die here.”
“Do you know what organization you’re provoking? If you kill me, the other members won’t just sit back—”
“Root.”
“!!! What?”
“Isn’t your organization’s name Root?”
“H-how do you know that...?”
“Now that I know your organization’s identity, it’s fine if you die, right?”
“Wh-what do you—”
BANG—!
“Guhk—! No! I can’t die like this... Spare me...”
The bullet pierced his head. He trembled for a moment as blood flowed from him, then went limp and collapsed to the ground.
“Your last words were ‘spare me’? That’s laughable. You were the ones who indiscriminately killed people who begged to be spared.”
I had heard all the information worth hearing and grasped the situation. Just as I was about to return to Ares Academy to clear Baek Seon-woo’s name—
CLACK—!
“Who’s there?”
DING—!
[Skill ‘Third Eye’ has been activated.]
◎ One person has concealed themselves within your field of view.
As someone hid themselves from sight, I naturally aimed my gun toward the place where Third Eye indicated they were hiding. Realizing that their position had been exposed, the person released their concealment and revealed themselves.
SWISH—!
“P-please calm down. I’m not a bad person.”
“What’s your identity?”
A beautiful woman with long red hair stood before me, frightened as she looked at the gun aimed at her. As though surrendering, she held both hands in the air.