The F-Rank Guild Master Has Too Much Money Chapter 51

 

 

“Keurk—”

 

The man who’d been torturing me with water was slammed into the wall by a blast of wind. He must’ve taken it in the gut—he coughed up blood, slid down, and collapsed face-first onto the floor, unmoving.

 

I have a human body too, and man, human bodies are pathetically weak. I hadn’t even started properly and he was already out from a single hit. Tsk.

 

I lifted the unconscious man with a swirl of wind, burst through the bathroom door, and shoved his face into the toilet bowl.

 

“You should get a taste of your own medicine, you bastard.”

 

Cold water jerked him awake. He thrashed, trying to break free, but the wind pressing him down wouldn’t let him move. I smirked as I watched him struggle—until a scream rang out behind me.

 

“Cheol-min!”

 

“You bastard!”

 

A burly man came charging at me, fist raised, but the wind stopped him dead in his tracks.

 

“Good timing. I was just about to get to you.”

 

I tilted my head and gathered the wind, lifting the man into the air. He tried to claw at the invisible grip around his collar, but of course it wouldn’t budge.

 

I clicked my tongue at his stupidity and looked down at his legs. Sensing my intent, the wind began to twist around his lower body.

 

My favorite saying: if someone slaps you once, you slap them twice.

 

Revenge should always be double—that’s my life motto.

 

“Getting cocky… You know what comes next, right?”

 

“AAAAAAAGH!!”

 

The swirling wind twisted his legs until they nearly snapped. His screams grated on my nerves, so I sealed his mouth with wind.

 

“Doo-shik!! You bastard!!”

 

Whoosh. 

 

A dagger came flying. My wind barrier deflected it, but the dagger spun back. At the same time, the woman hurled four more daggers.

 

‘Oh? A hunter?’

 

After all their earlier punching, I’d assumed they were just thugs.

 

“You little—”

 

“Go ahead. Try me.”

 

“You think I can’t?”

 

This time a signboard lifted off the ground—telekinesis, huh? I not only blocked the attack but sent a whirlwind to crumple the signboard into scrap. I’ve pulverized a queen ant before. A few signboards aren’t even worth the effort.

 

“Damn it!”

 

“That’s all you’ve got? If you’re done, it’s my turn.”

 

I propped my chin on a wind-formed armrest. Fighting these guys was more boring than I expected. Maybe it’s because my last opponent was Yeon Do-jin—the gap was just too big.

 

What were their abilities again?

 

‘Clairvoyance.’

 

[Son Ha-na. Age 32.

D-rank Telekinesis.

Skills:

– Lift (F)

– Move (F)]

 

What the—she’s a D-rank? A D-rank had the nerve to come at me?

 

I couldn’t help laughing. Wait… are the others Hunters too?

 

‘Clairvoyance.’

 

[Kang Cheol-min, 30 years old.

F-rank Cleaning.

Skills:

– Clean It Up (F)

– Shiny Like New (F)]

 

Seriously? The guy who tortured me with water is a non-combat Hunter?

 

‘Clairvoyance.’

 

[Jang Doo-sik. 30 years old.

D-rank Cooking.

Skills:

– One Step to Flavor (D)

– Prep Ingredients (F)

– A Spoonful of MSG (F)]

 

A Cooking Hunter. No wonder they kept calling Son Ha-na “noonim.” She’s clearly the only combat-type here.

 

Bang!

 

A deafening crash sounded behind me. Crushed stone dust littered the ground. When I looked up, Son Ha-na was flustered.

 

‘Trying to knock me out from behind again?’

 

I’m not stupid enough to fall for that twice. I smirked and began to gather power—then Son Ha-na suddenly turned and bolted.

 

‘Huh? She’s running away?’

 

Leaving Cheol-min and Doo-sik behind? No matter how scared she is, a boss shouldn’t run.

 

I conjured a strong gust of wind and blocked her path. She stumbled in the current.

 

“Ugh… Noonim…”

 

My concentration slipped for a second; the wind holding Cheol-min loosened. He started crawling out of the bathroom.

 

Sorry, Cheol-min. I forgot about you.

 

I tightened the wind and lifted him into the air again, sealing his mouth and binding his legs in swirling wind. As muffled grunts escaped him, Son Ha-na fell to her knees and started crawling.

 

Oh—gotta admire that will to escape.

 

Too bad I couldn’t let her go. You’ll have to get the same treatment—otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair to your friends.

 

“Ha-na, come on now. You’re next.”

 

Her face froze. Why so surprised? Right—I’d just called her by name; we’d only exchanged names one-sidedly before.

 

“Come here.”

 

The wind pulled at her body, dragging her toward me. She clawed at the floor, digging her nails in to resist. Her nails would rip off eventually—that’d teach her.

 

Clicking my tongue, I strengthened the wind. Son Ha-na, who had been holding out until now, tumbled forward and rolled right up to my feet. I lifted her into the air, just like Doo-sik and Cheol-min.

 

“N-no! Stop! Don’t!”

 

“You think I wanted to go through that?”

 

“I-I’ll apologize for it!”

 

At that ridiculous answer, I pointed down at my leg. Son Ha-na followed my gaze—to my leg, wrapped tightly by a strange, jaw-shaped slime.

 

“Think an apology’s gonna make this go away?”

 

“That wasn’t even me!”

 

“Then let’s find out. From now on, you answer only what I ask.”

 

I deliberately formed a swirling wind a short distance away, then flicked my fingers—politely letting her know it was getting closer. Son Ha-na’s face went pale.

 

“The guild that said they wanted to merge with ours earlier—who are they?”

 

“I-I don’t know!”

 

“You don’t know?”

 

Who does she think she’s fooling? I pushed the swirling wind closer to her legs. Her eyes trembled violently.

 

“I really don’t know! I was just following orders!”

 

“Orders?”

 

She nodded frantically.

 

“T-that man, Kim Wan-su! He came to us and told us to kidnap you! Said he’d pay us!”

 

Oh? So they kidnapped me without even knowing who I was?

 

Seeing my silence, Son Ha-na must’ve thought she had a chance to plead her case. She hurriedly continued.

 

“H-he said you’ve got abilities, but if we put handcuffs on you, you’d be no stronger than a normal person! He told us to do it the same way we always do—paid us, and that was it! We didn’t know anything else!”

 

“And the handcuffs?”

 

“H-he gave them to us! Kim Wan-su did! He said to knock you out first, cuff you, and bring you in!”

 

“And you expect me to believe that? You looked pretty chummy with him earlier.”

 

“No! I swear! I’ve only met him twice! We barely even talked!”

 

Her eyes were full of desperation. She looked sincere—but I wasn’t convinced. I twisted her leg slightly with the wind. Son Ha-na screamed.

 

“I haven’t even started yet, and you’re already too loud.”

 

I frowned, and she quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.

 

“I’ll ask one more time. Which guild wanted the merger?”

 

“I really don’t know! I just did what I was told!”

 

Even as her leg twisted, she kept shaking her head, insisting she was innocent—then suddenly blurted out in panic:

 

“There—there are papers in the office! Kim Wan-su left them! We were just following orders, I swear!”

 

Son Ha-na broke down, sobbing.

 

“Then where’s that bastard Kim Wan-su now?”

 

“H-he left! Told us to get you to sign, film it, send it… then kill you and dump the body. We really don’t know anything!”

 

So he really ran, huh.

 

“Where were you supposed to send it?”

 

“Sob… by tomorrow, 2 p.m.… hic… at Sillim Station, Exit 1. Put the envelope with the USB and documents into the trash bin there—”

 

Listening to her, I figured Kim Wan-su was probably just another errand boy. No real mastermind—just a middleman. Whoever was at the top knew I wasn’t just some F-rank nobody.

 

That meant the one pulling the strings knew exactly what I was—and had prepared handcuffs and a cover plan in case things went wrong. Now, who would be capable of something like this…?

 

‘Could it be Yeon Do-jin?’

 

…No. Not him.

 

The only reason Yeon Do-jin suggested merging our guilds was because of me. He just wanted to see me grow stronger. If I died, that mad dog would lose all interest in the Yeon Guild.

 

‘Then it must be someone else.’

 

Suddenly, I remembered something Yeon Do-jin had said:

 

“A guild rumored to have nothing but money. How good of a prey would that be?”

 

‘I should have asked more about that.’

 

With no clue who the real culprit was—and with Son Ha-na proving less useful than expected—I nodded calmly.

 

“I’ll trust you.”

 

“Really?!”

 

Her face brightened with hope, so I smiled and said,

 

“Now, time for your punishment.”

 

The halted swirling wind rushed back toward Son Ha-na’s legs. Tears of despair streamed down her face.

 

“No, no! Please!”

 

“In this world, nothing’s impossible. There’s no such thing as ‘can’t.’”

 

Her screams echoed through the room as I sent swirling winds toward Doo-sik and Cheol-min’s arms, then three more at Son Ha-na. After that, I blasted open the door they’d come through with a gust of wind.

 

“This must be the office.”

 

Even though I believed Son Ha-na, I decided to check the office just in case.

 

“Beep-beep!”

 

“Kaang!”

 

“Shu-shu.”

 

Animal sounds?

 

Tilting my head, I stepped inside and saw several cages lined up on the desk. Inside each small cage, animals and reptiles were curled up.

 

“Monsters? Why are monsters here?”

 

A lion—but it’s white? That one looks like a parrot… And that shriveled tail—looks like a snake, but why’s it so brightly colored? Could they be monsters?

 

‘Clairvoyance.’

 

[Lion of Light, Leo — Grade A

– Attribute: Light

– Skills: Shining Star (A), Tears of Holiness (A), Gigantification (S)]

 

[Healer’s Nightingale — Grade A

– Attribute: Chant

– Skills: Song of Hope (A), Song of Defense (A), Song of Attack (B)]

 

[Dark Snake — Grade A

– Attribute: Darkness

– Skills: Venom (S+), Curse (SS), Contagion (A)]

 

Yup, monsters.

 

But A-grade? No way a bunch of D-ranks could’ve caught these. Either they stole them… or—

 

‘Smuggling?’

 

Smuggling monsters isn’t usually profitable—too niche. Plus, baby monsters like these are only useful to tamers. I stared at them for a moment, then shrugged. Whatever they’re for isn’t my problem, so I stirred up a swirl of wind and gathered them up carefully.

 

“I’ll use you guys to level up Yun-seo’s skills. Wait here a bit, okay?”

 

I pulled some papers out from a desk that looked like Son Ha-na’s and scanned them. They looked like job requests, but there wasn’t much on them.

 

“Not this… not this… got it.”

 

Among the request forms, the one with my name had my address and basic info—nothing detailed. Just the sort of stuff anyone curious enough could dig up on a hunter.

 

I checked the other papers just in case, but there was no information about Kim Wan-su, who seemed to be just a middleman.

 

After gathering the documents with my information, I searched further but only found a few coins and some low-grade equipment. It looked like D-grade gear. I didn’t bother taking it—it’d probably be trash.

 

“All right, time to go home.”

 

I stepped outside slowly and saw the three of them curled up, crying and trembling in pain. Now that they know what it feels like to have their limbs ripped apart raw, they’ll behave.

 

“Let’s not meet again. Got it? If I see you again, I’ll turn you all into dust.”

 

I don’t know if they heard me, but I’d said my piece.

 

“I’m leaving now.”

 

I turned to fly home, but a light burst from my wrist. A red laser-like beam shot straight out.

 

Huh? That’s connected to Yun-seo’s bracelet—did something happen to Ji Yun-seo?! Could they have done something to her too…?

 

A bad feeling flashed through me, but I shook my head to clear it. Ji Yun-seo would be with An Bom, and Choi Tae-hyuk would be there too.

 

“Huh? That—”

 

Something flew toward me along the red laser light. Its shape was familiar—a whip.

 

“A whip?”

 

Like a living thing, the whip flew in and wrapped itself tightly around one of my arms.