abcnovels
Chapter 112: Owl Hunting (3)
Chapter 112: Owl Hunting (3)
Chapter 112: Owl Hunting (3)
Click—
The door of the interrogation room that was protected by several kinds of star relics opened.
‘I always knew that these kinds of facilities existed in the basement of the Association, but it’s my first time seeing it with my own eyes.’
Ohjin looked around the dark interior and whistled.
“I’m here to interrogate the criminals.”
“Yes, sir! Your identity has been confirmed, Special Officer!”
The Association member that was protecting the interrogation room saluted in a polite manner as Ohjin showed his identification.
“Don’t let anyone come inside.”
“Understood!”
Creak—
Ohjin opened the door and entered.
“Uub! Uuub!”
“Uub! Uuuuuuub!!”
Inside of the interrogation room were nine Owls that had been firmly restrained.
—Cheon Woosung’s direct subordinates.
They were powerful individuals that were classified as elites in the Noctua faction, but weren’t able to endure the coordinated ambush of the Valhalla guild and Association’s Special Officers.
‘Cheon Woosung ran away as soon as the battle started, after all.’
When using war as an analogy, it would be the equivalent of the commander escaping. Them being apprehended so helplessly couldn’t be helped.
“Twelve died in the middle of combat, and there are nine survivors, huh…”
Ohjin glanced through the document he received from General Manager Han and chuckled.
‘Nine is more than enough.’
First and foremost, Ohjin was certain that they were in possession of information regarding the Black Star Organization’s HQ since the information that there were 3,000 members at the HQ was retrieved from their mouths.
‘Though we’re in a situation where we can’t find out its location even if they’re willing because of the taboo.’
There was a method Ohjin thought up that could potentially remove the taboo.
‘The new ability I obtained.’
He opened his status window and looked at the list of the Black Heaven’s traits.
[Black Heaven]
1. State: Fourth Awakening
2. Trait
? Stigma Absorption : Absorbs the mana of stigmas and stores them within the Black Heaven.
? Black Curtain : Completely shrouds the presence of the user and the Black Heaven.
This trait can be adjusted by the user’s will.
? Transmission : Reads the records contained in stigmas. This trait is influenced according to the awakening stage.
? One is All : The main stigma’s proficiency will influence other stigmas
? Transformation : You can change the shape of your body without constraint using the stigma’s mana.
? Domination : You can exert control over Awakeners who possess stigmas subordinated by the Black Heaven.
What used to be only three traits had increased to double that number before he knew it. A cautioning and detailed explanation showed up as he lightly touched where it displayed the trait ‘Domination’.
[The target’s resistance to Domination increases the higher their Star rank is.]
[The effect of Domination weakens the more targets there are.]
[The effect of Domination increases according to the mental state of the target.]
—The newly obtained ability, ‘Domination’.
‘The taboo is probably something similar to a kind of domination, anyways.’
If that were the case, there was no way he wouldn’t be able to release the taboo when he had the same kind of ability.
‘It said that the effects of Domination increase according to the mental state, right?’
In that case, there was a need to pressure the targets enough to make it difficult for them to function normally.
* * *
“Uub! Uuuub!!”
Ohjin brought over one of the restrained Owls and took off the muzzle.
“Fua!”
The man with a grim look exhaled out a ragged breath.
“Alright, there are a couple of questions I have.”
“I’ve already told you guys that I said everything I know! Why the fuck are you asking more questions?!”
The man shouted out aggressively, despite being in a restrained situation.
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Slick—
Ohjin dragged a chair over and sat down in front of the man while taking a dagger out of the holster equipped on his thigh.
“Wh-What?”
Flinch—
The man’s shoulders shook.
“Hah, are you planning to threaten me with that? Give me your best shot!” said the man as he smiled in a triumphant manner and chuckled boastfully.
“You know what will happen if a public institution directly under the government uses violence and gets exposed, right?”
“Of course. I’m well aware.”
Despite possessing great authority, the Association was a public institution under the government in the end. It was obvious that trouble would arise if the fact that they used torture or violence while interrogating criminals became known to the public.
“Hehe. Then put away that knife immedia—”
Pshk!!—
Ohjin unhesitantly dug the knife into the back of the man’s hand.
“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!”
The man tied to the chair struggled and caused the chair to rattle due to the pain.
“Y-You sons of bitches!! Do you think you’ll all be unscathed after committing such an act?!”
“What, are you going to report me?”
Rub, rub—
Ohjin twisted the dagger that was dug into the back of the man’s hand.
“Aahhhhhh!! H-Human rights! This is a violation of human rights!!”
“Violation of human rights?”
“That’s right! I want a trial to receive just judgment! Call my lawyer immediately!”
It was a surprising fact, but there were actually official human rights that everyone was supposed to be guaranteed, even terrorists that had massacred hundreds of civilians by releasing demon beasts in the middle of the city.
They had the right to go through procedures to receive a trial and get lawyers appointed.
Naturally, that was only what was stated ‘officially’.
“Fuck me. You’re talking about human rights?”
Crack!—
He twisted the dagger a step more violently.
“Ugaaahak!! Aahk!!”
“When did you guys ever care about something like human rights to bring it up now?”
“S-Stop! Stooooop!!”
“Didn’t the people you guys killed also have human rights? Am I wrong?”
Ohjin tilted his head and put his face right in front of him.
“H-Hiccup!”
“If you’re trampling on the lives of others, shouldn’t you also be prepared to get your life trampled on?”
“Kuuuuuuuugh!”
The man looked down at his hand that was gushing out blood and chewed his lips.
“C-Commiting this kind of torture during an interrogation… I’ll make sure to file a complaint… towards the Association.”
It appeared that he had yet to resolve himself to getting trampled on.
“Is that right?”
Well, people wouldn’t change easily from just a couple of words.
“A lawyer… immediately…”
“My little friend, you think of procedures as incredibly important, don’t you?”
In that case…
“Then I guess I should follow the official procedures.”
Ohjin took out the dagger that was dug into the back of the man’s hand.
“Kugh!”
“My guy, did you know?”
He cleaned the blood stained on the dagger and put it in the man’s hand.
“…That Special Officers have the right to respond immediately upon getting attacked during an interrogation.”
“…What?”
“Haven’t you seen that kind of thing in movies? Don’t criminals secretly hide their weapons and make a fuss in the interrogation room?”
“B-But there’s no such thing as a hidden weapon here!”
“What are you talking about?”
Ohjin pointed to the dagger grasped in the man’s hand.
“There’s one right here.”
“S-Stop spouting bullshit, you bastard! You’re the one who gave me this weapo—”
“I’ll be the one to judge if it’s bullshit or not.”
Ohjin forcefully pulled the man’s hand that grasped the dagger.
“H-Huh?”
The man urgently twisted his body in order to pull back his hand, but there was no way he would be able to overcome Ohjin’s strength.
Pshk—
The dagger dug into Ohjin’s temple; he slowly lowered his hand and cut all the way down to his chin.
It wasn’t even a minor injury that scratched the surface of the skin.
It was an injury so deep that his bone was exposed beneath the torn flesh.
The blood that trickled down his chin drenched his body.
“Y-You crazy bastard!”
It wasn’t an injury that was just adequate enough to fool others—it could’ve been fatal if the dagger dug a couple of millimeters deeper.
With that kind of injury, there wasn’t even the need to think of where the arrows of suspicion would head to.
“What do you think? Don’t you think this is enough to fall under self-defense?”
Drenched in blood, Ohjin smiled brightly.
The man’s expression turned pale.
“Well, then.”
After taking back the dagger in the man’s hand—
“Let’s resume.”
Pshhk!!!—
“Ahhhhhh!!”
—he ruthlessly stabbed the man’s body.
“A-Ahh!! S-Stop! Stooooop!!”
The man cried out as he screamed pathetically. He was completely backed up against a wall mentally.
His pupils trembled as he was devoured by the emotion called ‘fear’.
Ohjin’s eyes shone as he observed his reaction.
‘Right now…’
Ohjin grasped the man’s head with his hand.
The black clouds that leaked out of his palm dug into the man’s head.
[The target’s Star rank is high. Domination resisted.]
Indeed, as fitting of a subordinate directly under Cheon Woosung, he didn’t surrender himself to Domination easily.
However…
[The target’s mental state is extremely unstable. Domination resistance is reduced]
[Domination has successfully been executed!]
As expected, it was worth being a little dramatic to plant fear into his mind.
“…”
The man’s eyes turned cloudy as Domination succeeded.
“Are you able to answer my questions now?”
“Please… just give me… the word.”
The man, who once shouted aggressively, submissively nodded his head as if he had become a docile sheep.
“First of all, where is the Black Star Organization’s HQ located?”
‘It is… in Seoul… Yongsan.”
“What?”
‘Isn’t Yongsan right in front of here?’
“How are they staying hidden?”
Yongsan was basically in the middle of Seoul. It was impossible for 3,000 members of the Black Star Organization to go unnoticed when the entirety of Korea was looking for them with fire in their eyes.
“There is… a gate. O-One that is hidden secretly.”
“Ah.”
In other words, it meant that the Black Star Organization’s HQ was within a gate that was located in Yongsan.
‘It’s possible for them to go unnoticed in that case.’
In cases of very small gates, even ones that were the size of a room door existed.
Hiding their presence wouldn’t be difficult if they hid the entrance of the gate and made a base inside of it.
“There is… a seven-floor building called the Changhyun building in Yongsan.”
Ohjin had never heard of that building before.
“If you press on the elevator’s buttons at that place in a set order, you’ll arrive at the 8th floor.”
“What the fuck, is it some kind of Konami code?”
‘No wonder we weren’t able to find it.’
Right under one’s nose…
Honestly, Ohjin himself couldn’t imagine that the entrance that led to the Black Star Organization’s HQ would be located in the middle of Seoul.
‘I thought they’d be hiding in the mountains or some kind of underground cave.’
To think that the HQ was inside a hidden gate…
“Well, alright.’
It was all good as long as he was able to find out the HQ’s location.
What was left to find out was…
“Where is Cheon Doyoon?”
“…Connection was cut off starting from a couple of weeks ago.”
“Connection was cut off?”
“Yes… We were informed that he would be absent for a couple of months due to an important matter.”
‘Is that why Cheon Doyoon has been so quiet lately?’
“Hm… Then did Cheon Doyoon gone absent alone?”
“No. He went gone absent with the Night Hunters.”
“Night Hunters?”
“They are subordinates directly under Sir Cheon Doyoon that consists of members that belong only to the position of high-rank Templar.”
“Like you guys?”
“That is correct. However, our skill is heavily lacking compared to those beings.”
‘Hmm… then doesn’t that basically mean all their main forces are currently absent?’
Naturally, he couldn’t be certain with the testimony of one person. He needed to dominate the remaining eight people and perform cross-examination.
‘But if he was telling the truth…’
Ohjin’s eyes shone.
“Wouldn’t it be possible… to destroy the Noctua faction in one blow?”
Needless to say, the corpses of the destroyed Owls would be used usefully for filling up his stomach.