Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 165
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker
Devours Myths
Chapter 165
Guam (10)
Katrina was hastily retreating while circulating her magic power.
Screeeech-
[Legend ‘Two-Legged Horse’ quickly escapes from the scene!]
Katrina’s legend was Tikbalang.
A beast called an evil spirit that roams the forests in Philippine folklore.
In such a chaotic situation, it wasn’t difficult to slip away.
[Tikbalang]
A ghost that lives in mountains and forests.
It often transforms into human form, horses, or monsters, and is said to bewitch mountain people and travelers, causing them to lose their way.
-Origin: Literature ‘Customs of Tagalog’
This was actually the reason she had volunteered to meet Gwiroae.
Someone needed to accurately tell the City Cartel bombers that would soon arrive at the warehouse district where Gwiroae was located.
However,
‘He figured out that I’m the traitor…!’
This was the problem.
The moment she tried to frame Esteban, Gwiroae’s telepathic message suddenly came.
And even the look in his eyes at the end.
It was definitely…
‘He was smiling.’
Eerily.
As if he could see right through her.
‘There’s almost no chance of surviving such a brutal bombing, but…’
Katrina now looked at the warehouse district engulfed in a firestorm.
Not only warehouse Pierre 21 where the meeting took place, but also the surrounding container warehouses were all reduced to ruins.
Because of this, the amount the City Cartel would have to compensate the affected companies would be enormous, but it would still be cheap compared to the damage they would suffer from Gwiroae in the future.
However, Katrina thought Gwiroae would have survived.
If he knew everything, he would have surely prepared countermeasures too.
‘Still, the situation won’t be favorable for him. If we keep pressing relentlessly, we can definitely kill him. No matter how excellent a mage he is, his magic power can’t be infinite!’
Katrina took out her radio item to request more bombing.
If they brought in the ‘army’ that should be surrounding the warehouse district by now, the entire game would definitely end.
Crackle.
“This is Katrina. The tank unit should proceed with entry…!”
But just as she was about to say something,
Kwarrrrrrung!!
Suddenly, a white flash cut through the air, piercing through the black smoke.
The heat it contained was so intense that you could see the surrounding air rippling with the naked eye.
“…!!!”
Katrina instinctively drew up her magic power to try to block it, but,
Kwaang!!
The white flash, Pama’s arrow, too easily shattered her protective barrier and struck her between the eyebrows.
It was destructive power so fast and intense that even she, a Ranker, couldn’t do anything about it.
Thud!
Katrina’s head snapped back and crashed to the ground.
At the end of the direction from which the flash came…
Lee Hyeon was turning away with cold eyes.
* * *
“Th-this is…!”
“Damn it!! You sold us out like this!? After all the times we licked your feet, to do this to us…!”
“Damn it! Damn it!!”
At the center of the warehouse district under relentless bombing.
The businessmen trembled under a protective barrier woven from densely intertwined white electric currents.
The crisis of possibly dying, the relief of being alive, and even the sense of betrayal toward Katrina whom they had trusted.
“Did you… know everything?”
Only Esteban looked at Lee Hyeon with a serious expression.
For a moment, a slight gleam passed through Lee Hyeon’s eyes.
Actually, he had expected Esteban to be the most enraged and panicked among the businessmen here.
Surprisingly, he knew how to show composure and boldness even in this situation.
Was it innate ability?
Lee Hyeon calmly shook his head.
“Unless I’m an omniscient god, there’s no way I could have known everything.”
“Then how did you…”
“It was intuition.”
“In… tuition?”
Esteban’s eyes widened slightly.
“Things were going too smoothly. So I just prepared to some extent.”
“…”
Pfft.
Lee Hyeon let out a chuckle close to a sneer and continued.
“I came early and scouted the surroundings. There were traces of trying to hide things somehow, but they had prepared quite a lot of this and that.”
“…But still, to deliberately come to such a dangerous place,”
“Once a trap is discovered, it’s no longer a threat. I was just curious about what kind of bastards would pull such a stunt.”
Esteban looked at Ramon.
Ramon grinned and nodded.
His reaction showed he knew too.
“Hah.”
Esteban felt all the strength drain from his body.
‘I feel like… an idiot.’
Esteban had noticed signs of a traitor during the meeting. And he carefully observed each businessman one by one to find out who the culprit was.
In case anyone showed suspicious behavior, he was ready to subdue them immediately.
However, no traitor appeared until they finished signing, so he wondered if his guess was wrong…
‘But to think Katrina was the traitor. And even mobilizing bombers? She’s completely insane.’
Since Katrina had been his long-time rival, thinking he knew her well was his mistake.
Black Maria and City Cartel often overlapped in business territories, so their relationship wasn’t good.
They never thought the two would join hands.
‘Usually, if we were going to join hands with a cartel, I thought it would be our side that gets used like hunting dogs. That’s also common sense in Guam.’
Thanks to that, Katrina and the City Cartel had perfectly caught them off guard,
but the problem was,
‘……that the opponent was this person. In the end, that was Katrina’s fatal mistake.’
Esteban now felt like he understood a little bit about what kind of person Gwiroae was.
To the world, rumors spread of him being a crazy murderer or bomb maniac,
but in reality, he was a gambler with coldly fast thinking and judgment.
“What are your thoughts on… witnessing that performance?”
Esteban’s tone toward Lee Hyeon became respectful.
People who have lived their entire lives in the slums instinctively learn
where they should place their trust.
“Lousy. Just acting.”
Esteban couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
To this person, did even massive organizations like Black Maria and the City Cartel only appear as such trivial things?
“But thanks to that, I think I clearly understand what kind of place Guam is. If you show your back carelessly, you’ll get devoured.”
“……Guam isn’t entirely like that. We also have something called loyalty.”
“I heard you kidnapped and sold slum children as test subjects.”
“That had its circumstances……! I can’t tell an outsider the details, but there was absolutely nothing like what that bitch Katrina said. Rather, it was what those children wanted.”
Esteban unconsciously raised his voice, then flinched for a moment. He was afraid he might fall out of Lee Hyeon’s favor.
He wasn’t particularly afraid of dying. But thinking of the family remaining in the slums, he was in a position where he couldn’t die right now.
However,
“I see. Understood.”
Lee Hyeon nodded nonchalantly.
Esteban’s eyebrows trembled slightly.
“You… believe my words?”
“I don’t believe them. But there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason not to believe them either.”
“……”
Esteban felt that Lee Hyeon was truly a peculiar existence.
Then he shook his head and changed the subject.
“By the way, how do you plan to escape from here now? Black Maria and the City Cartel are among the top warlords in Guam. Seeing how they even mobilized bombers, it seems like they’ll bring an army to cover the warehouse district…… Do you have a plan?”
Instantly, all the businessmen’s gazes focused on the two of them.
While rejoicing at the mention of escaping, their faces turned pale at the word ‘army.’
“You’re talking as if I’m going to rescue you all?”
“……If you hadn’t planned to, you wouldn’t have set up this protective barrier to save us. With your skills, couldn’t you escape this place just taking the matador with you?”
“Smart.”
Esteban felt like Lee Hyeon’s eyes behind the mask somehow seemed to curve in approval.
“Then you probably know what I’m going to demand from now on?”
“Contract renewal…… isn’t it?”
Lee Hyeon didn’t answer. But Esteban knew that was a silent affirmation.
“R-renewal?”
“Contract……?”
While the businessmen looked bewildered, Ramon pulled out new contracts from his briefcase and handed them to the businessmen.
“These are different contracts prepared for situations like this. Everyone, please take a look.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Of course, there was no one bold enough to properly examine them in this situation.
Even Esteban could only quickly skim through it by eye.
“There’s a demand for shares in the mine?”
“No matter how large-scale the contract is or how much you expand the business, what good would it do? If you die, it’s all for nothing.”
When Ramon said this with a grin, all the businessmen fell silent.
“We request 60% of the mine shares as Gwiroae-nim’s portion.”
“The money contract for sponsorship remains the same? There’s no highway robbery like this.”
Though Esteban grumbled as if it were absurd, Ramon shook his head with the same smiling face.
“Ah, naturally there are changes to the amount as well. It’s 10 times the existing investment.”
“……!”
“……!!”
Only then did the businessmen start to notice the contract contents one by one.
Besides the mine share demands and investment increases, there were quite a few toxic clauses that would shackle the sponsor companies.
“Originally, we considered making the increase 20 times, but we lowered the standard thinking some places might face immediate management difficulties. Of course, depending on the company’s preference, you can increase the range of the increment further. For such people, there will be certain benefits as well.”
“……”
“……”
It was essentially a threat that it wouldn’t be interesting if they didn’t do more than that.
Several businessmen’s faces turned bright red,
“Still, you won’t lose out on this choice at the very least. This contract includes Black Maria’s mine shares as well.”
“……!”
“……!!”
“And Gwiroae-nim won’t interfere in the business areas they originally handled. Don’t you think this would be a decent opportunity for all of you?”
At Ramon’s following words, their eyes gleamed with greed.
They had caught the scent of incredible money.
Esteban asked.
“Gwiroae won’t plant his flag on the territory of the City Cartel and Black Maria that have turned to ash?”
“Yes. In fact, Gwiroae-nim has no connection to Guam, and he declared his abandonment long ago, saying he knows nothing about such businesses.”
The smuggling distribution network the City Cartel operated, Black Maria’s security business……
The businessmen quickly ran calculations, thinking of the portions they could claim.
“What about the slaughterhouse?”
“Since we’re already listed as one of the main sponsors, we’ll naturally engage in equal bidding competition with all of you.”
Of course, no one believed those words at face value. But it was important that they spoke of mutual benefit.
“We can use Gwiroae’s name during competition, right?”
“Of course. Isn’t that the core of a sponsorship contract?”
That was enough.
Esteban was the first to complete his signature.
He also modified the investment amount.
40 times the existing amount. It was a gamble putting all of La Sombra’s assets on the line when their financial situation was already difficult, but he had no hesitation whatsoever.
Ramon’s eyes curved as he received the contract.
“You won’t regret it.”
Eventually, the other businessmen also quickly completed their signatures and handed over the contracts.
Ramon carefully organized them one by one and gently placed them in his briefcase.
“I’d like to express gratitude to everyone who believed in and supported our Gwiroae-nim. Ah, by the way, the investment deposit deadline is by tomorrow. Please be careful as there will be compensation fees if you’re even a minute late.”
“……!?”
“Wait, how can we deposit such a large sum in just one day……!”
“Instead, so that you can jump into the bidding competition even a day faster, Gwiroae-nim plans to clean up all of Black Maria and the City Cartel’s business locations within today. Ah, including all the mines as well.”
“……!!!”
“……!!!”
“Since you’ve all worked so hard, shouldn’t you sleep comfortably with your legs stretched out in Hagåtña’s 7-star hotel suites tonight?”
“……”
“……”
The land of Hagåtña, said to be full of luxury and extravagance……
The businessmen’s eyes, dreaming of an earthly paradise, began to turn dreamy.
The arrogant declaration that he would advance to the capital in just one day didn’t feel like reckless bravado at all.
“Gwiroae-nim, then may I ask this favor of you?”
Ramon bowed his head to Lee Hyeon with the exaggerated gestures befitting a showman of the slaughterhouse,
Pfft.
Lee Hyeon let out a light chuckle as he struck the ground with his Rune Staff.
ᛊ.
The rune symbolizing sun and lightning, Sowilo.
Crackle!!
Instantly, white electric current spread out in ripples centered on where the Rune Staff struck,
Hundreds of bundles of electricity that shot up into the air began clustering together to form large and small spheres.
Thunder Orb.
The core of the Lightning Magic that Lee Hyeon wielded.
Their surfaces flickered hotly, emitting plasma and corona. It looked as if a dozen stars had risen.
In this moment, Esteban saw Lee Hyeon as if he were a celestial god who governed and ruled the stars of the universe.
“Explode.”
With that short incantation, the Thunder Orbs that had been rotating around Lee Hyeon scattered in all directions.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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