Baekdu Bloodline (2)
Just as Seon Yul had expected, the Spear of Legend was the ultimate torture tool.
Because Seon Yul had handled the spear so frequently, he had grown somewhat numb to it and didn’t fully realize it… But the curse embedded within this spear was a top-tier curse that an ordinary person would never be able to endure.
Even a slight prick with its tip wrapped one’s body in overwhelming terror, as though the god of death had lightly brushed against one’s neck.
The problem was that it didn’t merely instill fear; it felt as though it dragged a person’s emotions down into the deepest abyss, bit by bit gnawing away at the body from within.
No. 6 had only been lightly stabbed twice with the Spear of Legend, yet he immediately began pouring out everything he knew.
“…And although no one knows White Tiger’s awakened ability, I personally suspect it to be either a natural-type or source-type ability that excels greatly in assassination and one-on-one PvP. He always bragged that if he truly decided to escape, no one would be able to catch him, and… um… once, a long time ago, during a drinking session… he even boasted that he could survive a nuclear bomb falling.”
Rather than dying outright, he absolutely did not want to continue being pierced by the spear Seon Yul was holding. So he squeezed out every piece of information he knew.
“Normally, he stays in his own room inside the hideout, but surprisingly, his hobby is painting. His skill is better than expected… I’ve even received a few pieces he painted. And… um… that’s really everything about White Tiger, and next I will speak about Citizen No. 3. I don’t know No. 3’s awakened ability precisely either, but based on my guess…”
Citizen No. 6 clenched his teeth and desperately dredged up every memory he had, determined never to be stabbed again by the spear in front of him.
The unfortunate part was that Seon Yul had captured No. 6, not No. 2.
Of course, Seon Yul did not know the exact identities of the attackers, so he was unaware that No. 2 was their head and possessed far more information.
Thus, he had captured No. 6… and as a result, he could not extract absolutely everything.
Nevertheless, he was able to extract several key pieces of information along with numerous trivial details that No. 6 knew.
He learned that the four attackers were users from the Baekdu Bloodline and that they belonged to Black & White, Baekdu Bloodline’s assassination-specialist unit. He also determined that the one who had ordered the assassination was White Tiger.
He even uncovered that White Tiger had likely accepted the contract through the dark web, though he claimed not to know the client’s identity.
Those were the important pieces of information; most of the rest concerned Baekdu Bloodline itself.
What kind of organization they were and how they operated… the more he listened, the dirtier it made his ears feel. But in any case, Seon Yul extracted absolutely everything he could.
After thoroughly stripping away even the deepest unconscious memories of No. 6, he eliminated him.
As promised, he stabbed him with the Spear of Legend and allowed him to die after experiencing an ‘appropriate’ amount of pain.
One regret in this was that No. 6 knew nothing about the secret pact that existed between Baekdu Bloodline and China’s Dimensional Management General Bureau.
In truth, aside from White Tiger, the only one who knew about it had been No. 2… so it was only natural that No. 6 was unaware.
In the end, Seon Yul had not yet uncovered the true mastermind behind this assassination attempt.
But Seon Yul did not concern himself too much with that.
From this point forward, he intended to carry out retribution step by step, so he planned to uncover the client slowly.
“Baekdu Bloodline… I didn’t like them to begin with, and now we’re tied together like this.”
After finishing up, Seon Yul pondered where to begin his counterattack.
‘Would it be better to inform the Management Bureau?’
At this point, Seon Yul was fully intent on erasing Baekdu Bloodline from this world.
However, he debated whether it would be better to notify the Management Bureau first and proceed with their involvement, or simply handle it alone.
‘If anything, they’d probably help rather than stop me… but I don’t particularly want anyone else knowing that I’m the one who wipes Baekdu Bloodline out.’
It didn’t seem difficult to inform the Bureau and receive their assistance. But as always, the issue was that doing so would expose everything he intended to do.
‘Ah! Come to think of it, I still need to catch one more rat.’
No. 6 had also revealed that they had a collaborator here in Stone Gate and that this person had leaked information about the VIP suspected of being AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
But looking at it another way, that meant rats were crawling even within the Management Bureau.
‘For now, let’s not say anything.’
Since it was hard to determine how and where information might leak, he could not communicate with the Bureau.
‘The rat here can be dealt with later… It’s better to counterattack before Baekdu Bloodline learns that the mission failed.’
Seon Yul had no intention of giving the enemy time to respond. For now, he believed speed was everything.
‘I’ve extracted enough information about Baekdu Bloodline from No. 6… So how should I begin the preemptive strike?’
Strictly speaking, the conflict between Seon Yul and Baekdu Bloodline was one against many.
This was inevitably a disadvantageous battle for Seon Yul, which made a preemptive strike critically important.
‘Ideally, I’d love to drop something big right on them…’
The best option would be to drop a strike like the one he had unleashed at Baengnokdam on Hallasan… precisely onto the location of Baekdu Bloodline’s hideout.
No. 6 had revealed that Baekdu Bloodline’s base was in Samjiyon, near Mount Baekdu.
The People’s Hospital in Samjiyon was White Tiger’s main hideout, and nearby buildings housed Baekdu Bloodline’s citizens.
Thus, if he could drop something big directly onto the top of that general hospital, Seon Yul could start the war with a decisive advantage.
‘But I can’t drag Li Yu into my fight, especially one where I’ll be eliminating other users in PvP.’
To drop something that big, he would absolutely require Cheon Li Yu’s assistance. And unfortunately, Baekdu Bloodline’s base lay within a mana field zone, meaning there was no other method to deliver such a strike.
In the first place, Baekdu Bloodline had established its base inside a mana field zone precisely to guard against attacks from the Management Bureau or other state institutions.
‘If one big strike isn’t possible… then I’ll go with trimming around the edges.’
‘Trimming around the edges’ essentially meant guerrilla warfare.
It was the most natural choice.
For a minority to clash head-on against a majority from the beginning would be foolish.
Having roughly determined how to deal with Baekdu Bloodline, Seon Yul immediately set off for Samjiyon, where their hideout was located.
* * *
Commonly, guerrilla warfare refers to a smaller force continuously moving to harass a larger one, picking off stragglers from the majority and eliminating them one by one.
But Seon Yul’s guerrilla warfare was somewhat different.
He first opened entrances to Absolute Space at two suitable locations in advance. Then he positioned himself on the rooftop of a nearby hotel that provided a clear view of Samjiyon People’s Hospital and the surrounding buildings.
Infiltrating this far was not as difficult as expected.
To begin with, Baekdu Bloodline’s base was not publicly exposed.
Within mana field zones, there were countless ruined towns and cities. Only Baekdu Bloodline’s own citizen users knew exactly where, among them their base was located.
Since it lay inside a mana field zone, satellite imagery did not function. The only way to confirm the base was to come near Samjiyon in person… but Samjiyon was not even a hunting ground straddling two mana field borders. No one visited it.
And even if someone happened to wander here by chance, Baekdu Bloodline had arranged the exterior to look like mere ruins. Without a deliberate and thorough search, finding the base would be impossible.
But Seon Yul had already received extremely detailed information about the hideout from No. 6. So he had no need for searching or scouting and was able to pinpoint it easily.
After running diligently for a week and arriving at Samjiyon, Seon Yul clearly identified which buildings were being used as Baekdu Bloodline’s base. He took a position on a hotel rooftop that provided maximum visibility and prepared for sniping.
He even attached a dedicated suppressor to his Barrett. Having thoroughly completed preparations for a sniper-based guerrilla campaign, Seon Yul lay just inside the entrance to Absolute Space and began searching for targets.
Swooo.
Through the high-magnification scope mounted on the Barrett, Seon Yul slowly scanned the area around the People’s Hospital.
For now, he intended to trim away Baekdu Bloodline’s citizen users one by one as they appeared.
How long had he searched?
Finally, Seon Yul found his first target.
A single citizen user, stepping outside a building and casually smoking a cigarette.
Seon Yul bore him no personal grudge.
But the war had already begun, and in any case, Baekdu Bloodline’s citizen users were far from normal.
Fugitives and criminals who had committed serious wrongdoings and fled. Or PvP addicts who had joined of their own accord because they craved combat… A normal person could not survive within Baekdu Bloodline’s rigid citizen hierarchy.
Because of that, Seon Yul felt far less hesitation hunting them.
Paang!
The muffled gunshot, greatly reduced by the suppressor, echoed faintly… and at the same time, the smoking citizen user’s head exploded.
Seon Yul had hunted one too easily.
The hunted citizen user vanished into a wisp of smoke without leaving even a trace.
From the start, this was precisely why Seon Yul believed sniper-based guerrilla warfare would be effective.
Killed… yet no trace remained.
This meant the existence of Seon Yul… or rather, the sniper would inevitably be discovered late.
‘That’s one.’
Seon Yul began counting.
He intended to hunt at least twenty citizen users through this guerrilla sniping.
***
“Something is strange. Since yesterday, Nos. 89, 86, and 81 haven’t been seen.”
Baekdu Bloodline was a strictly hierarchical society.
And users whose numbers ended in tens were responsible for managing the citizens numbered below them.
For example, No. 90 managed citizen users Nos. 100 to 91.
No. 80 managed citizen users Nos. 89 to 81.
Currently, No. 80 sought out No. 70, his superior overseeing him, to report the irregularity.
However, No. 70 himself had been troubled because No. 74 had suddenly disappeared.
“Strange… I think something serious is happening. Let’s go see the General Supervisor together.”
The General Supervisor overseeing ordinary citizen users was No. 20.
And No. 20 lived inside People’s Hospital, not outside.
Sensing something amiss, Nos. 80 and 70 moved toward the People’s Hospital together.
Though they did not know exactly what was wrong, they felt that something serious was happening here.
They intended to report it quickly and respond accordingly.
The problem was that as they headed toward People’s Hospital, the very anomaly they sensed swallowed them as well.
Ssswk.
The barrel aimed at No. 80 first.
Having discovered another target, Seon Yul did not hesitate and pulled the trigger.
Through repeated training, Seon Yul had become a highly skilled sniper. At this level, such a shot posed little difficulty… especially since he had boosted his accuracy with food buffs prepared from Heavenly Cuisine recipes.
Ppeoong!
Once again, the bullet pierced No. 80’s head, and with that single shot, No. 80 turned into smoke. Naturally, No. 70 beside him instinctively ducked and rolled across the ground as No. 80 suddenly vanished.
He did not even know where the attack had come from… or what kind of attack had struck No. 80.
But instinct told him that survival meant getting inside a building.
Keeping his body as low as possible, he hurriedly crawled toward the entrance of People’s Hospital.
Just a little farther, and he would have made it inside…
Another bullet tore through the air and pierced his head.
Ppeoong!
Like No. 80, No. 70’s head burst, and he vanished into smoke.
But at that moment, another citizen user inside People’s Hospital witnessed No. 70’s death.
Until now, Seon Yul had left no witnesses or traces.
Now, there was a witness.
Naturally, Baekdu Bloodline went on full alert.
With the fall of No. 70, Seon Yul had quietly eliminated exactly twenty-two citizen users through guerrilla sniping.
Unfortunately, from this point on, because Baekdu Bloodline had recognized an enemy attack, reducing their numbers would no longer be as easy or swift as before.
Thus, the war between Seon Yul and Baekdu Bloodline shifted into its second phase.
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