Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 205: Star, the Illuminati (1)

Chapter 205: Star, the Illuminati (1)

“So you just want me to act as an intermediary? Well, that’s a piece of cake. In fact, many of my guys would love to meet you, so don’t worry. Yes, yes.” Choi Hyeong-Gil said, looking more delighted than ever for having received a call from Chang-Sun. “If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to call me or the Gold Cloud. Yes, take care. ”

Hyeong-Gil even bowed at a 90-degree angle as if Chang-Sun was right in front of him. When he raised his head again, he looked like a completely different man than before he got the call.

“Did something good happen?” Choi Bu-Yong asked quietly. He had been eavesdropping on his cousin’s phone call while pounding on metal. Since he lost his eyes, his sense of hearing had heightened significantly, allowing him to tell how happier Hyeong-Gil became. This was no different from when Chang-Sun had brought him a bunch of [Cold Iron] and [Frost Monarch’s Breaths].

“Hehehe…” Hyeong-Gil suddenly laughed like a villain in a movie.

Bu-Yong raised one of his eyebrows. His cousin used to laugh like that before he played pranks. “… What’s with that laugh?”

“Well, should I tell you or not?”

“You don’t have to.”

“Hey, don’t play tough. I know you’re curious. ” Hyeong-Gil twirled around Bu-Yong as he grinned, making Bu-Yong’s eyebrow rise higher than before. “You want to know, don’t you? Right? You want to know! You have been dying to hear news about Mr. Lee Chang-Sun, haven’t you?”

Clang! Clang! Claang!

Pretending not to hear Hyeong-Gil, Bu-Yong continued to hammer the metal without saying anything. However, Hyeong-Gil didn’t miss how Bu-Yong’s casting became a lot colder than before.

“What could it be? What would make a man who hadn’t called for almost a month suddenly call me instead of you, hyung? Huh? Huh?” Hyeong-Gil said mischievously.

Claaang!

The pounding sounds should echo at regular intervals, but they suddenly changed, which meant Bu-Yong was becoming emotional. Hyeong-Gil could tell Bu-Yong’s irritation was blazing up inside him like the fire in the Divine Fire Furnace. it was time to pour oil on Bu-Yong’s fire.

“Huhhhhh?” Hyeong Gil tilted his head dramatically as the finishing touch to making Bu-Yong furious.

Bu-Yong swung his hammer at Hyeong-Gil’s face.

“Eeekk!” Hyeong-Gil shrieked.

Crash, crash, crash….

The hammer passed by where Hyeong-Gil’s head had been just a moment ago and ended up crashing into a wall. It then dropped on the floor, creating smashing sounds. If Hyeong-Gil hadn’t fallen backward in surprise, his face or skull would have been dented or cracked.

“Tsk. I missed.” Hyeong-Gil clicked his tongue.

“Are you crazy, hyung?! You almost killed me!” Hyeong-Gil shouted.

“It’s okay. My furnace is hot enough to melt a corpse without leaving a trace.”

“That wasn’t what I was talking about.”

“Stay still. I won’t miss this time.”

“Ah, alright, alright! I’ll tell you!” Hyeong-Gil groaned.

Bu-Yong stopped picking up another hammer on the floor and quietly stared at Hyeong-Gil. Although Bu-Yong had his eyes closed, it seemed as if he was still staring at Hyeong-Gil.

‘Is he really blind?’ Hyeong-Gil wondered.

Bu-Yong had spent such a long time as a blacksmith that he had gained a bulky figure. He was also covered with tattoos, making him sometimes look scary even when he wasn’t doing anything. When he picked up a hammer, he looked as scary as a jopok[1].

On the other hand, Hyeong-Gil felt a bit annoyed with Bu-Yong. Hyeong-Gil had known Bu-Yong longer than Chang-Sun, but Hyeong-Gil could tell Bu-Yong cared about Chang-Sun more even though they had met only half a year ago.

‘If he’s worried, he should’ve just said so. Gosh, he’s as stubborn as a mule.’

Even since Lee Chang-Sun left for France, Bu-Yong had been wondering and worrying about Chang-Sun’s well-being. When the world and Korean media were thrown into a frenzy about Chang-Sun clearing the ‘Wuthering Stone Desert,’ Bu-Yong’s first question to Hyeong-Gil, who knew the full story, was whether or not Chang-Sun was injured.

When Hyeong-Gil pointed it out, Bu-Yong just said it was because he still had many weapons to deliver to Chang-Sun… Who would believe that? Considering Chang-Sun had become such a big influence in Bu-Yon’s life, who had shut himself off in his own little world, Chang-Sun definitely had something that others didn’t have.

‘Well, either way, he’s really something.’

Hyeong-Gil considered meeting and making a deal with Chang-Sun as one of his greatest achievements this year.

‘He would surely become a King-Class Player within this year, and he won’t just be any ordinary king. He would be as skilled as the Immortal Overlord or Warrior Overlord! Korea will become his land.’

Chaos was bound to follow the appearance of a new person with absolute power, but depending on one’s decision, it could either become an opportunity or a crisis. Hyeong-Gil believed this chaos to be an opportunity, so he decided to grant Chang-Sun’s request, even if it meant he would have to suffer a great loss right now.

“Your husband…” Hyeong-Gil said.

Bu-Yong held up his hammer in the air, preparing to throw it at Hyeong-Gil if he continued this nonsense. Clearing his throat, Hyeong-Gil changed the topic. “Mr. Chang-Sun asked me to act as an intermediary, so I offered to introduce him to an expert guide.”

“An intermediary?” Bu-Yong repeated.

“Yup.”

“With whom?”

Hyeong-Gil wondered if he could tell Bu-Yong about it. Although Chang-Sun didn’t say anything, his request sounded very important. On the other hand, Bu-Yong’s expression was turning as grim as a grim reaper. Hence, Hyeong-Gil realized that today would become his death anniversary if he kept it a secret from Bu-Yong.

“H-he wanted me to introduce him to the Crna Ruka if the Clan had a branch in Germany,” Hyeong-Gil stuttered.

“… Black Hand? Why?” Bu-Yong asked.

“I don’t know. I guess he has to make a request.”

Bu-Yong grew quiet, trying to guess Chang-Sun’s plan. As Hyeong-Gil looked at Bu-Yong, Hyeong-Gil shook his head in disbelief since he couldn’t tell what Bu-Yong would create after he was done mulling over his thoughts.

‘He’s a really devoted wife,’ Hyeong-Gil thought.

* * *

“Hello, I’m sent by Mr. Choi. My name is Marcel Diesel. It’s an honor to meet you.” A 190-centimeter-tall man bowed and handed Chang-Sun his business card.

Just like his introduction, his English business card was also concise—Marcel Diesel. Dunkel Wolken Meer.

Dunke Wolken Meer meant a black sea of clouds. It seemed to be the name of a company.

“You aren’t from the Gold Cloud company, are you?” Chang-Sun asked.

“I and Mr. Choi aren’t in the same company, but we’re good drinking buddies from a club. Well, we do work together from time to time.”

“When you say club, you mean…?”

“Oh, I got so excited that my tongue slipped. I can’t believe I met the famous Tyrant, Blue Wolf Duke, and the Immortal Overlord in one place…” Marcel grinned. Although Germans were known for being expressionless, Marcel kept smiling. “There is a small club made by people who run small businesses like me and Mr. Choi.”

Chang-Sun nodded, remembering Hyeong-Gil mentioning the secret worldwide network among companies who dealt with byproducts from Dungeons. There wasn’t a name for the network yet, but major Clans and criminal underworld were also part of it.

“But… from what I heard, you wish to visit that place.” Marcel paused, stealing a glance at other people in Chang-Sun’s group.

The Team L members aside, Joachim and Jacque were also here. Marcel thought he could be making a mistake if he brought it up directly in this place.

“It doesn’t matter, so please continue,” Chang-Sun said.

“… Mmmm, as you may already know, that place is quite dangerous, but it’s not just because it’s the territory of a criminal organization. We’ve been hearing several rumors about it lately.”

Chang-Sun smirked as he assumed, “They have divided against themselves, haven’t they?.”

“How… did you…?”

“The rumor of the Killer Overlord’s sudden disappearance must have spread too,” CHang-Sun continued.

“… You knew about the rumor?”

Chang-Sun shook his head. “Not really. I just made an assumption because I killed the Killer Overlord.”

“…!” Marcel’s eyes widened, not expecting such an answer.

‘So it’s true. The Killer Overlord did commit a terrorist attack in a Dungeon,’ Marcel thought.

Dunkel Wolken Meer, Marcel’s company, wasn’t an ordinary trading company. It was more like a broker agency that worked as a mediator between the law-abiding society and the criminal underworld. Hence, Marcel’s company occasionally did business with the Crna Ruka and was up to date with intelligence.

That was how Marcel quickly learned about the intelligence that the Crna Ruka had recently shut down their operations and had divided among themselves. He had also heard that Killer Overlord Czestochowa had gone missing since she had headed to the ‘Wuthering Stone Desert’ for her assassination mission. On top of that, the EU Council recently became busy, and the French government was now openly pressuring the German Government.

Taking all those into consideration, Marcel assumed something likely happened.

In fact, the German Council was already mopping up the Crna Ruka branches in Germany, during which they found traces of disputes among the Crna Ruka members. Still, Marcel never considered the possibility of the Killer Overlord, one of the Ten Overlords, being killed. Hence, in an attempt to find out what exactly happened, he accepted Hyeong-Gil’s request.

However, Czestochowa actually died! Marcel wasn’t the only one in shock. Joachim, Jacque, Woo Hye-Bin, and the other Team L members who were listening to Hye-Bin’s translation, were stunned. Due to their encounter with Louis Braille, the team members hadn’t even heard about Czestochowa.

“Will this be enough as evidence?” Chang-Sun pulled out a dagger from his inventory and held it up.

Marcel groaned when he saw the Crna Ruka’s symbol, which looked like someone stamped their hand after putting black ink over it—in the corner of the dagger. Czestochowa was the only person who carried a dagger that had a hand with all five fingers extended engraved on it.

“Ha…!” All Marcel could do was gasp.

“All criminal organizations ultimately behave the same way. When led by a leader with absolute power, they obey blindly. The moment that leader disappears, they’ll start backstabbing each other,” Chang-Sun said.

Marcel was rendered speechless, but he was also busy making calculations in his head. Due to his instinct as a merchant, he was trying to determine the best decision he should make to gain the most profits from this incident.

‘Even the Crna Ruka assumes that the Killer Overlord disappeared, so there is a high possibility that they don’t know the Killer Overlord is dead. Since the French and German governments are pressuring the Illuminati, the Clan would try to eliminate the Crna Ruka using any means necessary… If the Tyrant steps in while there’s mayhem everywhere…’ Marcel assessed the situation.

Although most Clans followed this principle as well, the criminal organizations’ main principle was ‘the strongest takes everything.’

‘Europe is already a mess, but it’s only going to get worse from here.’

The most important part was that Chang-Sun had killed Czestochowa, which meant he was skilled enough to do so.

‘The old ‘king’ is dead, and the new ‘king’ is born. This is a chance I can never miss! I should join his side before this fact becomes known to the public!’

In Marcel’s eyes, instead of an investment opportunity, Chang-Sun now looked like a wealth deity who made his followers rich.

“Got it. I’ll guide you to the promised location. I also heard that the person they had sent already arrived. My car isn’t far away from here, so please follow me.” Marcel led the way, calming down his throbbing heart.

* * *

“Is Czestochowa really dead?” Jacque asked Chang-Sun.

Just like Chang-Sun had requested, Jacque had declared war on the Illuminati as the Revenant Clan Leader and even come to Germany with Chang-Sun to keep pressuring the Illuminati. However, Chang-Sun suddenly mentioned the Crna Ruka instead of heading to the Illuminati right away, making Jacque wonder why.

As it turned out, Chang-Sun had a perfectly good reason. He was trying to take over both the Crna Ruka, one of the biggest Clans in Eastern Europe, and the Illuminati, the symbol of Southern Europe!

“You don’t have to believe it. Besides, I never told you to,” Chang-Sun answered curtly, making his remark about Czestochowa even more believable to Jacque.

Chang-Sun’s aura was certainly not like a rookie's. He was at least as skilled as Jacque himself, which made him more curious than uneasy. What in the world had Chang-Sun done to become strong this quickly?

“You were polite,” Jacque said.

“So?”

“Why are you rude to me? You don’t even know how old I am,” Jacque continued.

“You started it first, so why can’t I do it too?” Chang-Sun reminded him.

“Hmm…?”

Since Jacque talked casually and brusquely to the other Overlords and retired first-generation Players, he never expected to hear such an answer. Finally realizing something was wrong with his way of talking, Jacque pondered for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right.”

Jacque didn’t insist on making Chang-Sun act more polite because he was older. Instead, Jacque admitted Chang-Sun was right, making the latter chuckle.

‘Maybe it’s because he’s Satan’s apostle, but he’s surely weird,’ Chang-Sun thought.

[The Celestial ‘Malignity-Drinking Saturn’ picks his ear with his pinky, thinking someone is badmouthing him.]

* * *

“We’re here.”

Marcel parked his van in front of an ordinary European-style mansion located on the main street many people walked by. It was hard to assume that the mansion was a notorious criminal organization’s office just from its appearance.

“Gyeo-Ul, follow me. Everyone else, wait for me here,” Chang-Sun instructed.

The Team L members nodded. Marcel opened the van’s door, and Chang-Sun and Baek Gyeo-Ul slowly got off. As soon as they were out, they immediately felt sharp stares from every direction.

“I don’t like how they’re looking at me. Gyeo-Ul.”

“Yes, hyung.” Gyeo-Ul leaned forward.

“Get rid of them,” Chang-Sun said.

Paah!

[The Player ‘Baek Gyeo-Ul’ has activated the Skill ‘Shadow Play’!]

Gyeo-Ul disappeared into the underground.

1. It’s the name for the Korean mafia. Although it hasn’t been proven, they’re rumored to use knives or hammers as their main weapons. ?