One Man Army - Chapter 174
Chapter 174; Episode 90
Black Cat (2)
Sang Hyuk went inside the Sun Flower Garden, and the gates closed behind him with a loud bang. He thought that about seventy percent of his plan had succeeded just by getting in here. In his previous life, many users had worked hard just to take a step inside in this place but all failed. Sang Hyuk had succeeded, and only one thing remained to be done.
Sang Hyuk did not let go of the chance that occurred the moment the NPC of the Sun Flower Garden turned around to pick up the communication crystal inside. He used the Dragon Word ‘Invisibility’ and the skill attached to the title ‘Trinak’s Shadow King’ that allowed him to create copies of himself made of sand. Since Sang Hyuk had already equipped the Shadow King title before coming in here, it was easy for him to use the skill. He disappeared using the invisibility magic and left behind an exact copy of himself.
The process took only a second, and since the NPC took about two seconds to grab the crystal, he didn’t notice the change. Since there were no CCTVs here, Sang Hyuk was able to disappear completely within the Sun Flower Garden. He had become invisible by using the skill and could slide into the shadows during the four seconds the invisibility lasted.
The sand puppet took Sang Hyuk’s place, and while it could not fight, it was a 100% perfect duplicate of Sang Hyuk.
“All right, I understood.”
The NPC spoke with Londe through the crystal while looking at the sand version of Sang Hyuk, and ended the call without surprise after a while.
“He said to leave the item to me. I cannot waste time with you any longer, so just leave it here or go back to Mr. Euphir”
“Well, it can’t be helped if Sir Londe said so. I’ll leave it here then.”
Sang Hyuk was controlling the sand copy hidden in the shadows, and since it had the same voice, the NPC did not realize that he was speaking with a fake. The sand copy handed over the fruit basket and turned around. The gates of the Sun Flower Garden opened again, and it walked out.
This was the end, and the sand copy would dissipate after a certain distance from the garden. While the fake Sang Hyuk had gone out, the real Sang Hyuk remained. The NPC was clueless to what was going on, and locked the doors and turned on the security system. Sang Hyuk waited for about five minutes after the NPC left since he had no reason to rush things after managing to break in.
“While the exterior security had been like a fortress, how strong would the inside be? At a glance the interior looks weaker due to trusting the outside system too much…”
Sang Hyuk was going to give up on invading if the inside security system was as strong as the exterior and use the long-distance recall option in the soulstone to get out. He confirmed that no one was around him and maintained his stealth mode as he started to walk slowly forward. Thankfully, the inside of the building was much darker than Sang Hyuk had expected, so it was not that difficult for him to remain hiding in the shadows. Of course, things would change if he went to the well lit greenhouses, but what Sang Hyuk wanted would be inside here.
‘I was right! The inside security system is incomparably weaker than the outside.”
Sang Hyuk had guessed correctly, and there was no internal security once inside the building due to having a perfect external shield. It was great news for him, and he started to move more aggressively. There were a lot of things Sang Hyuk wanted to find in the Sun Flower Garden, which was the trove of the Black Cat. However, what he wanted the most was information regarding the Vigilantes leader or the Black Market.
‘I just need the Black Cat’s secret ledger that linked them to the Vigilantes leader, which the Soul Alliance had secured during the Third War for Goren City, that brought down the Sun Flower Garden.”
Sang Hyuk was not one hundred percent sure that he could procure the book. While his goal was set, he had no idea where and how it was stored, so he was going to try his best to find the ledger.
‘There had been secret passages underground before…’
Sang Hyuk had visited the Sun Flower Garden during the Third War after it had been captured. He had been curious about the facilities, and the secret passageways had already been revealed. He began to search for the secret passages using his memories, and it was a much more tedious yet difficult task than expected. While the security system was full of holes, this place was full of monstrously strong NPCs. A single careless movement would end Sang Hyuk, so he moved slowly and with the utmost care. Fortunately, Sang Hyuk’s stealth skills were almost at the ‘high-master’ class, so no one could discover him unless they intentionally focused on him.
If they were searching for invaders, Sang Hyuk would not have been able to get around like this, but it was possible now because no one noticed a thing. However, he had to be careful.
There were even some NPCs here in the Sun Flower Garden that could see through Sang Hyuk’s hiding in the shadows just by being near him, and that would mean the end. So, Sang Hyuk did not go anywhere the NPCs might frequent, and moved only to dark places free of NPCs.
‘Even if I do not get the Black Cat’s Secret Ledger, I need to gain information regarding the Black Market at the least.’
Since the original goal had been the Black Market, Sang Hyuk planned to stay here and gain as much information he could until he had to leave.
***
Even as time passed, Sang Hyuk was still looking for information inside the Sun Flower Garden. While he had wandered around for four days, he had gained very little knowledge. If he had not known that this was Black Cat’s lair, he might have gotten out after failing to learn any new information.
It meant that the Black Cat was a secretive organization, but Sang Hyuk was going to stay and search here until he got what he wanted. He believed that it was a battle of patience, as the Black Cat would inevitably reveal a weakness inside the Sun Flower Garden. His faith was rewarded after a week.
“How can you say that there are no sun stones? What are they trying to do by keeping the sun stone supply this low?”
“I’m sorry, and we have already filed a complaint against the Camille Group for this problem. I believe they are shorting us as the middlemen after realizing that the price for smuggled sun stones is rising.”
“Those bastards. Who are they to kid us? Who will buy smuggled sun stones from them?”
“Aren’t they thinking of selling by themselves?”
“That’s nonsense. How will they directly sell smuggled sun stones without involving us? They’re taking the Vigilantes faction of the Goren City too lightly. Our leader would crush their bones.”
“Maybe Camille has a line to the Leader.”
“That’s not plausible. Our lives will be forfeit if that was the case. For the moment, take the sun stones we were going to use and take them to the black market merchants. The customers at the black market are our biggest customers, and the merchants won’t be able to make sales without them. Just tell them to sell them to only important customers because we don’t have enough at the moment.”
“What should I report to the owner?”
“Don’t. You don’t need to report such trivial things to him.”
“All right. I’ll do what you said.”
“Also, contact Mr. Euphir and ask about the dimension traveler that appeared a while ago. I think dimensional travelers will become a nuisance.”
“Got it.”
The two NPCs stood up and went out of the conference room after the meeting ended. About five minutes later, a black shadow in the form of a human rose up from the floor. The shadow let out a moan and quickly rolled into the corner of the meeting room to blend into the shadows.
‘That takes the cake.’
The black shadow had been Sang Hyuk, and he had decided to take a gamble as he could not find the information he wanted after a week. He had waited for four days on the floor of the conference room in the Sun Flower Garden. He could not go searching forever, so he had hid himself in the meeting room and waited for pertinent information to spring up.
Sang Hyuk had thought this attempt would fail since not even an ant visited the meeting room for the first three days. However, he had waited too long and promised himself he would wait for one more day, and on the fourth day he hit the jackpot.
He had only vaguely heard the voices, so he could not fully understand what they had said. Sang Hyuk had minimized all his senses to the lowest levels to minimize the risk of discovery. Everything felt suffocating since he had completely suppressed any movement.
He was in a dangerous position now, and if his opponents became only a little suspicious, he could be seen immediately. However, fortune had worked to his favor, and he managed to discover some vital information.
‘The one being reported to had to be at least a vice-owner, and while it would have been nice to know who was reporting, it can’t be helped.’
Sang Hyuk was not going to be that greedy.
‘That’s not an important issue.’
Sang Hyuk erased the question in his head and thought of much more important matters.
‘They lack sunstones?’
Sunstones were magic stones, but since the sunstones of the Continent of the Sun were higher quality than the magic stones of the lower lands, the magic stones the lower lands considered to be high class were thought to be the equivalent to low level sunstones here. Magic stones had to be of exceptional quality to be considered mid-class sun stones.
‘I have to rethink everything.’
Sang Hyuk had thought of placing himself in the Goren city by finding a weakness in Paul Crack, the Vigilantes leader and the strongest man in the city, and exploiting it. That was why he had approached the Black Cat to search for a connection between the black market and the Vigilantes leader. However, if what Sang Hyuk had heard was true, he could think of a completely different plan.
Sang Hyuk’s goal was to situate himself in the Goren city firmly, and he did not care how he managed to do so. He just needed the results.
‘I can use the Vigilantes leader’s weakness in another way, and this would be a much better choice.’
Sang Hyuk changed his plans as he did not need to stick to the old one.
‘Sun stones, magic stones…I would have to bring them.’
Sang Hyuk made his decision and thought it was time to get out of the Sun Flower Garden. While he was disappointed in being unable to find Black Cat’s secret ledger, it had been something unattainable for him in the first place. While the inside security system had been weak, Black Cat had been too secretive for Sang Hyuk to gain something by infiltrating here.
‘Let’s go back to the lower lands!’
This was not the time to begrudge the recall costs, as he had to move as fast as he could to use the information he had just heard.
Editor: Userunfriendly
