SMH 139

Chapter 45 – Vladimir (4)

TL: Boko

Editors: Frost, StellarRain

“Can you really stay quiet?” Sung Joon asked the President meaningfully. The President smiled faintly and nodded his head.

“We may be facing Russia, but we can at least do that much,” the President replied confidently.

“Director Na Joon Yeol will help you.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. President.”

“You don’t need to thank me. I have no idea what you’re talking about. If Russia asks, I’ll tell them that I have no idea what’s happening.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Sung Joon smiled. It didn’t exactly go in the direction he was hoping for, but he had figured out a means to solve his problem. After a short chat with the president, Sung Joon and Jung Chul rode the car back to the mansion.

“How did it go?” Jung Chul asked. He wasn’t the curious sort, but he asked because he needed to know if he was going to help Sung Joon.

“The Korean government has promised to stay quiet about this matter.”

Sung Joon relayed the contents of his conversation with the president almost word for word. Because Jung Chul was quick on the uptake, he quickly realized what being ‘quiet’ meant.

“Being ‘quiet’, huh… We avoided the worst possible situation.”

There was also a possible scenario where the Korean government stopped Sung Joon from pursuing his vengeance. Of course, if they did, Sung Joon would have left for America without hesitation.

“Then, do you plan on smuggling yourself into Russia?”

Jung Chul was asking him if he planned on attacking Russia’s ‘headquarters’. However, Sung Joon shook his head. It was much too risky to attack Russia in its entirety from the get go.

“First, I plan on sending them a ‘warning’.”

“A warning…?”

“I’m going to destroy every single base they have in South Korea,” Sung Joon replied. Jung Chul nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“I heard that there are several footholds here from China and obviously Russia as well, as South Korea is a strategically important location. I believe that’ll be enough of a warning.”

In no time, they arrived at the mansion. After Jung Chul finished parking the car in the garage, he and Sung Joon got out.

“But do you know where those bases are located? Russia’s intelligence agency moves covertly, so it won’t be easy to figure out.”

“White Tiger and the national intelligence agency will be helping me.”

Since the president has said this himself, their support was guaranteed. Rather than assisting him directly, they were assisting him by providing him information.

“I’m not sure about White Tiger, but was the national intelligence agency that capable? That’s the first I’ve heard of that.”

The national intelligence agency was reorganized following the first dungeons and raids, and was often criticized for being incompetent. On the contrary, Russia’s intelligence agency was much too competent.

“Still, they’re our nation’s intelligence agency, so shouldn’t they know a bit about trespassers who invade our country? Just knowing about few of the locations is fine. The rest I can find as I go through the bases. Though if they’re not connected, that could pose some problems.”

“I heard that Russia’s intelligence agency’s foreign bases are all connected. It’s an ineffective method, but it’s the way they work.”

That’s what Jung Chul had heard, as he himself operated a private intelligence agency.

“If the bases are connected then if I attack one, the others will be prepared, right?” Sung Joon asked. They took the stairs up to the second floor terrace, and in the late evening and the cold winds, their conversation continued on.

“Probably? Of course, when they learn that one of their bases has been attacked, the other bases will dispose of any information that could prove their connection. It won’t be easy getting a hold of that data.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Since everything will end in an instant.”

Sung Joon smiled coldly.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon! There’s a visitor. Apparently, it’s Mr. Na Joon Yeol?”

One of the caretakers went up to the terrace and informed him. He thought that Joon Yeol would visit, as they promised to provide information, but he came much faster than Sung Joon had expected.

“He’s fast.”

Jung Chul agreed.

“I’ll wait in Block B.”

Jung Chul knew that this wasn’t a place he could interfere. After Jung Chul left for Block B, Joon Yeol passed the vast garden and went up to the main building’s terrace.

“It’s a pleasure, Mr. Na Joon Yeol.”

“Yes. It’s been a long time.”

Joon Yeol replied and sat in a chair. He took out a document envelope from his jacket and placed it atop the table.

“Is this it?” Sung Joon asked. Joon Yeol nodded and opened his mouth.

“That’s correct. These are the locations of the Russian bases we’ve found. We weren’t able to procure any other information as the Russians covered everything up.”

“Just knowing where the bases are is plenty. Even if they have S-rank Hunters, I can kill them all,” Sung Joon replied in a voice overflowing with confidence. He was an SS-rank Hunter. And he was actually looking forward to encountering an S-rank Hunter.

If he killed an S-rank Hunter and absorbed their mana, his synchronization rate would increase significantly.

Sung Joon took out the map from the document envelope and quickly scanned it. Based on the White Tiger and national intelligence agency’s information, Russia had several bases in South Korea.

“Are you saying that these aren’t all of them?”

“That’s correct,” Joon Yeol replied. To think that Russia’s intelligence agency possessed this many bases in South Korea! Sung Joon wasn’t really patriotic, but he shook his head, speechless.

“If you pass over the data that you procure, then we can decrypt it and pinpoint their next location.”

Though the national intelligence agency was incompetent and it hasn’t been long since the White Tiger has been established, they were still an intelligence agency. If they couldn’t even do this much, then there would be no point in existing at all.

“Thank you for the information. You’ve been very helpful.”

“When do you plan on carrying it out?”

“I’ll start the ‘hunt’ tomorrow.”

Joon Yeol felt intensely anxious, as he felt the cold killing intent that was akin to a leaking cold winter wind.

Though the killing intent was only slightly leaking out, it was enough to cause him, an S-rank Hunter, unease.

‘It seems that Russia has awakened a wild beast…’ Joon Yeol thought.

* * *

Sung Joon decided to attack Seoul first. Within three days, he would destroy all of the Russian intelligence agency’s medium sized bases in the metropolitan area.

He believed that it would be a waste of time to go after the two to four small sized bases, so he decided to ignore them. Sung Joon annihilated the medium sized bases first, as the loss would be large enough to inflict damage upon the Russian intelligence agency, whilst serving as a suitable warning.

In these medium sized bases, there were at least five people or ten at most either staying temporarily or active, but none could stand up to Sung Joon’s blade.

“This is all the information I’ve collected.”

Sung Joon relayed all the information to Joon Yeol. Joon Yeol took the document envelope, scanned the contents, and with a surprised expression, opened his mouth.

“There’s a lot more information than I thought there would be.”

There was quite a bit of data that Sung Joon had brought him. But there was no detailed information regarding the locations of the bases.

However, they could pinpoint the location of the other bases by analyzing the data; Sung Joon’s data was enough for them to do so.

“They should normally be burning the data when they’re attacked… How did you acquire these?”

“I killed them all before they could burn them.”

Sung Joon replied to Joon Yeol’s question. It was quite a short and clear answer.

“I see.”

“When will you be able to finish analyzing the information?”

Sung Joon pressed Joon Yeol, unlike his normal self. That’s because Jung Chul had told him that he’d acquired information that the Russian intelligence agency bases were preparing for an attack.

“We’ll be finished within the day.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Sung Joon’s phone rang. Sung Joon checked the display name.

Eun Joo was the one calling him. Just a little while ago, she had contacted him after hearing about the attack, as she was worried, but because he was in the middle of an important conversation with Joon Yeol, he didn’t pick up his phone and put his phone back.

“Is it alright if you don’t pick up?”

“It’s nothing urgent. More importantly, has Russia been saying anything?”

“From the start, Russia didn’t go through the proper legal procedures to form their bases. If they were to protest, that would mean that they formally recognize their bases… but if they do so, that will put Russia in a tough spot,” Joon Yeol replied. In other words, Russia couldn’t formally protest.

“They’ve already sent their informal protests, but as promised, the president is remaining ‘quiet’ on the matter.”

“I’m relieved that the president is keeping his promise as I can continue to hunt the Russians.”

“Are you planning on attacking the large bases now?”

Sung Joon nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“If you figure out where the bases are and give me their locations, then I can attack them immediately.”

“Could you please capture one of them alive and leave them with us?” Joon Yeol requested.

White Tiger and the national intelligence agency didn’t have much information on the Russian intelligence agency. They knew a lot more than before, as Sung Joon had procured quite a bit of information from his attacks, but they still needed more. Therefore, they planned on capturing one of the Russian agents alive to torture him for information.

“It won’t be too difficult.”

“I’ll send you the information by tonight, or at least, tomorrow morning.”

“I understand.”

Their conversation ended and Joon Yeol left the mansion. At seven o’clock in the evening, Joon Yeol came to see him again and brought out another envelope filled with documents.

“We’ve found the location of one large base. It’s verified information, so you can trust it.”

After he finished speaking, Joon Yeol left the mansion once again. Sung Joon entered a secret room within the mansion and opened up the envelope.

He didn’t know why, but the map was divided into various pieces and the method to assembling the map was detailed within an enclosed envelope.

As soon as Sung Joon finished putting the map together, the location of the large Russian intelligence agency base was revealed.

“It’s a lot closer than I expected,” Rishubalt said. As he said, the large base wasn’t very far from Sung Joon’s mansion. Sung Joon didn’t know, but when Vladimir and Nikolai attacked his residence, this base was responsible for gathering their information and disrupting communications.

“I feel like I could just attack it right now.”

“I’ll go scout it out.”

“I’m counting on you.”

While Rishubalt was scouting out the base, Sung Joon ordered Shin Chul, Jang Hoon, and Jung Chul to ensure that the main building’s defenses were secure, and then left. Eventually, Rishubalt joined up with him.

“I’ve finished scouting. It’s disguised as an illegal casino and there are forty workers there that appear to be agents. Most of the facilities are underground. Finally, there’s one S-rank Hunter.”

Rishubalt reported on the S-rank Hunter as they were the most dangerous of the lot, but Sung Joon expression didn’t change at all.

“I’m just going to go in and kill them all. No exceptions.”

He was strong enough to overpower an S-rank Hunter with a synchronization rate of 54%. He calmly took a deep breath, channeled his mana, and opened his mouth.

“Stealth.”

As the skill took effect, his body melted into the darkness. He even erased his own presence with Roukel’s special technique so nobody could sense him coming. It was time for this wild beast to go on the hunt.