Obtaining Heavenly Demon Martial Arts in the Magic Era - Chapter 26
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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26
The back door of Club Babylon swung open and shut without pause from two in the morning onward. And with each opening, black garbage bags accumulated steadily, one after another, two at a time.
The owner’s instructions were simple.
‘Erase the traces.’
On those words alone, intact documents were shredded and hard drives smashed to pieces.
“Is this really what we’re doing…?”
The employees complied without understanding why. Copiers and shredders ran through the night, and by four in the morning, the alley behind the building was packed with bags. The manager who processed the last one exhaled a long sigh as the world outside grew steadily brighter.
“God, I’m exhausted.”
He started back toward the office, then thought better of it—might as well smoke one more while he was out here.
Click-click.
He lit a cigarette.
Inhale, exhale—
As he blew smoke toward the pile of bags, something moved at the far end of the alley.
At first he thought it was a cat. But when the thing he’d taken for a cat began moving one of the garbage bags, the manager shot to his feet.
“Hey! Who’s there!”
He squinted and moved closer, glimpsing a figure scrambling away.
Homeless people, black bags clutched in both hands.
“Hey! What are you doing with those!”
The vagrants knew the layout of the neighborhood too well to catch—they vanished before he could give chase.
When his senses cleared, several bags were already gone.
“Damn nuisances.”
He spat a curse.
It was trash meant for disposal anyway. Whatever those homeless dug through would be worthless paper scraps—nothing to profit from.
“Never mind.”
He dismissed it as an unlucky annoyance, hurried through his last cigarette, and headed back inside the building.
Never suspecting what intelligence those vagrants might extract from those bags.
Lee Sang-won stood at the alley entrance, eyes on his phone.
“Partial recovery complete.”
The man beside him spoke low. Lee Sang-won nodded. They were members of Gaebangjdo, planted in advance.
Posing as homeless, they’d collected the garbage bags discarded by Club Babylon. From within them, they’d located the shredded papers and, through careful reconstruction, restored most of Babylon’s transaction records and payroll documents. All that evidence would become weapons aimed at Jang Ki-han.
But Cheon Do-hyeon was not satisfied with that.
“So in the end, we still have to crack that Server Room?”
“Right.”
Kim Seung-yeon had infiltrated Club Babylon directly, risking exposure, and discovered traces of the Server Room.
The far end of the corridor leading to the VIP Room. The Server Room had to be there.
“Security’s probably tightened.”
“No. Jang Ki-han’s already decided to shut down Club Babylon. Chances are it’s the last thing on his mind.”
Kim Seung-yeon’s tone was resolute against Cheon Do-hyeon’s concern.
Headquarters and the field always saw things at different temperatures.
In theory, a single word settles everything—but is work ever that simple in practice?
According to Kim Seung-yeon’s assessment, Jang Ki-han believed the business was already wound down, while the field operatives were rushing to meet his expectations. Now was precisely the right moment.
“Fine. Let’s try it.”
The plan was this:
By periodically sending members of Gaebangjdo to collect garbage from Club Babylon, the staff had grown accustomed to the homeless drifting nearby and no longer paid them much attention.
Strange circumstances, repeated long enough, become ordinary.
But today would make them notice.
Lee Sang-won, stationed on the rooftop monitoring the situation, switched on his phone screen.
“Move.”
At his word, the vagrants surged into the building and began raising hell.
“Waaaagh!”
“Give us food!”
“Money too!”
As beggars who’d been lurking near dumpsters suddenly flooded into the building, Club Babylon descended into utter chaos.
“Aagh! The stench!”
“What the hell! Why are they—!”
“Support, support needed! Front desk, now!”
Though Club Babylon’s staff included plenty of muscular men, they couldn’t easily subdue the homeless. Unlike their appearance suggested, these were all martial artists trained in Internal Energy. They wouldn’t yield easily to bare hands.
Confirming the chaos spreading through the club, Lee Sang-won turned to one member of Gaebangjdo waiting beside him.
“Contact Do-hyeon.”
“He’s already inside.”
Lee Sang-won paused for a moment.
“When did he go in?”
“About five minutes ago.”
It was right when things were about to unfold.
The situation could have gone sideways, yet he’d simply walked in on faith. Lee Sang-won’s eyes narrowed to slits.
The man’s reckless as they come. But still—
“If he’s willing to trust me, I’d better live up to it.”
He picked up his phone.
#
Cheon Do-hyeon was already standing in the corridor of Club Babylon’s VIP Room, running the Heavenly Demon Phantom Shadow at its absolute limit.
Most of the traces from the damage caused by the commotion earlier had been restored.
In fact, it looked like they’d gone beyond mere repair and given the place a full, lavish overhaul.
Do-hyeon expanded his Ki Perception, sweeping the surroundings as he walked slowly toward the Server Room.
True to what Kim Seung-yeon had said, there was a door with an electronic lock mounted exactly where it should be.
The card reader was old-model.
‘So this is what it’s for.’
He used the Cloner provided by Gaebangjdo, and with a cheerful beep, the door slid open.
Beep—
It took just ten seconds.
The moment Do-hyeon stepped through, the full Server Room spread before him. The space itself was compact.
Just large enough for four people to fit snugly.
Three server racks, one backup NAS, two monitors.
The low hum of a ceiling-mounted cooling fan filled the room.
Do-hyeon went straight for the NAS.
He checked the connected drives. There were two encrypted partitions. He plugged in the USB Drive he’d received earlier.
It was the tool Kim Seung-yeon had prepared.
As soon as he inserted the drive, a progress window appeared, and before long a blue bar began climbing rapidly.
It was just as Kim Seung-yeon’s tool was methodically scraping data from the servers.
Thud-thud—
Footsteps echoed from the corridor.
A pace that was neither fast nor slow.
Do-hyeon drew all his tension taut, preparing to throw himself into combat at the first sign of trouble.
Thud-thud—
He positioned himself behind the door, ready to ambush the moment it opened.
And then, shortly after—
Thud…thud….thud…
The footsteps receded.
Cheon Do-hyeon exhaled in quiet relief.
Then he checked the screen to monitor the progress.
Copy progress: 72%.
From the Rooftop, Lee Sang-won kept watch over the building’s interior.
With all eyes currently fixed on the entrance, there were no staff members lingering inside to keep watch.
That was when his eye caught something unusual.
Two employees had been leisurely smoking on the Rooftop, utterly unconcerned with whatever chaos was unfolding below.
But the moment he’d been notified that Cheon Do-hyeon had entered the building, he’d seen them tear downstairs with urgent expressions on their faces.
Immediately, Do-hyeon’s phone vibrated quietly.
[Two Rooftop staff heading down. Stay alert.]
It was Lee Sang-won.
Do-hyeon pocketed his phone and checked the screen. 98%. He waited. When it hit 100%, he ejected the USB Drive.
The only sounds around him were the servers and the whir of the cooling fan.
He pressed his body flat against the door frame and listened for any movement in the corridor.
Expanding his Ki Perception, he swept the surrounding area—there was no presence detected in the hallway.
Creak—
He carefully opened the door and stepped out.
As expected, the corridor was empty.
He moved quickly toward the Emergency Staircase.
And there, at the stairwell entrance, he ran straight into two employees.
“Huh?”
All three of them froze, words catching in their throats.
One of the employees asked Do-hyeon cautiously.
“How did you get in here?”
The timing wasn’t ideal.
‘I didn’t want to make a scene…’
He’d been trying to handle the matter without Jang Ki-han noticing. But once a fight broke out, it was only a matter of time before the man heard about it.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Just as he was preparing for combat—
Coin Projectile.
Whistle-whistle-crack! Shatter!
Light flashed through the darkness. And then a sound like bullets being fired.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Both men cried out as if struck by gunfire, their bodies crumpling to the floor.
Thud-crash.
Clink… clink…
The unconscious men collapsed across the corridor, and behind them, two 100-won coins tumbled and rolled away.
In that instant, Cheon Do-hyeon
realized that coins moving at bullet-speed had just taken down both men, and he turned his head toward the direction they’d come from.
The Emergency Staircase below.
There, moving casually up through the darkness while flicking a coin off his thumb, was Lee Sang-won.
“Did you secure it?”
“Thanks to you.”
“Good. I’ve got an exit route. We’re leaving now.”
Cheon Do-hyeon nodded silently and slipped out of the building behind Lee Sang-won with unhurried grace.
The whole thing had taken less than thirty minutes.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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