Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 180

In the outskirts of Seoul, where there were few people, black cars suddenly swarmed in. Like ninjas, they appeared quietly, stopping at a specific point, and one by one, people began to get out.

The place they arrived at was brightly lit, despite the fact that there was not a single streetlight. What was unusual was that only up to a certain point was it as bright as the daytime, and beyond the boundary of light, the darkness was as thick as pitch.

Kim, the deputy chief, looked at the bright spot in the air and muttered, "Phosphorescent powder..."

Even though it was dark night, the reason why it was so bright here was because of the phosphorescent powder. More than twenty people had gathered here. They were all from the Special Division Team 2, the direct subordinates of Pi Seong-yeol.

By the way, where is that guy?

The surroundings were quiet, and there was nothing visible to conceal anyone.

Could he be playing a prank?

Kim dialed the employee in Suwon again.

At that moment.

Beep! Beep!

The sound of a mobile phone alarm.

Everyone's attention turned toward the direction of the sound.

It was the darkness.

Then, a phone was thrown from within the darkness towards them.

Beep! Beep!

It was the phone of the employee from Suwon.

After that, the phones of the other employees were thrown next to it.

Kim frowned.

"Seems like he likes to show off."

At those words, someone was thrown from within the darkness.

It was the employee from Suwon.

The employee, covered in blood, fell lifeless next to the turned-off phone.

Next, two more employees were thrown next to the first one.

They were all covered in wounds.

Kim silently stared at the fallen employees and motioned to one of the staff nearby.

The staff approached the fallen employees and checked their pulses.

"They're alive."

"Move them to the car."

"Yes."

The staff moved the Suwon employees into the car.

Kim's gaze remained fixed on the phones and the darkness where the employees had been thrown.

"Is this all you’re showing me?"

"Yeah, that’s all."

It was then.

From the silence of the darkness, a response came.

At the same time, someone walked out from the shadows.

It was Su-ho.

"You..."

Kim, squinting at the figure of Su-ho emerging from the darkness, tilted his head slightly.

"...Who is it?"

Kim couldn’t recognize Su-ho.

And it was understandable.

Su-ho had altered his face using his Reverse Morphology skill.

Su-ho smiled and spoke.

"Why do you need to know?"

"What?"

"By the way, you’ve gathered quite a lot. From the numbers, it looks like all your direct subordinates are here?"

"...This is ridiculous."

Kim gave up trying to converse with Su-ho.

It seemed unlikely that a normal conversation would happen with this show-off in front of him.

So, he drew his sword.

When Kim drew his sword, the surrounding staff also drew their weapons.

Su-ho then said.

"If you’re going to take them out, why not take everything? If you're going to arm yourselves, you might as well put on your armor and helmets too."

"I’m curious how long you think you’ll be able to talk like that."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"Kim Mu-hwan, do you really think I’m standing here without knowing anything about you all?"

"And what if you do know? What changes?"

"It changes. If you surrender now and pay for your crimes, I’ll spare your lives."

"Are you scared? I can tell by the way your tongue’s getting longer."

"Me?"

At Kim's provocation, Su-ho raised his hand.

At that moment, noises started coming from the darkness, and one by one, many figures began to reveal themselves under the phosphorescent powder.

The figures that appeared in front of the glowing powder were none other than Su-ho’s shadow clones.

"...!"

"...!"

"...!"

The eyes of the Special Division members widened when they saw the shadow clones.

And understandably so. Unlike their small group of just over twenty, the shadow clones emerging in front of them numbered at least a hundred, and they were all holding various kinds of weapons. The Blood Weapons that emitted a murky red light struck terror into everyone who saw them.

Su-ho spoke.

"If you don’t surrender, I’ll kill you all right here and burn your bodies. After all, you're just ghosts with no consequences, right?"

"...You know quite a lot."

"Want me to tell you even more? If you like, I can start listing off the names, ages, hometowns, and personal characteristics of all your direct subordinates, starting with you, Kim Mu-hwan."

"What?"

"Do you really want me to list them? Name: Kim Mu-hwan, age 38, blood type AB, resident registration number..."

And it was true.

Su-ho began to recite the personal details of Kim Mu-hwan and the other employees, one by one, from where he stood.

The employees grew increasingly chilled by this sequence of actions.

And they couldn’t help but feel that way.

As Su-ho said, they were ghost-like figures, with no real identity. They could die at any time, and no trace would be left behind.

But now, a man in front of them was reciting details they had never even shared with their colleagues, things that even they didn’t know. How could they not be terrified and bewildered?

And such actions became a new form of fear for the Special Division members.

Of course, it was a piece of cake for Su-ho.

The personal files of the employees had been retrieved from the association’s archives in his past life, and for Su-ho, who had mastered the Library of Memory, revealing these files was nothing more than a simple recital.

Su-ho looked directly into Kim’s eyes and spoke.

"Deputy Chief, act wisely. If you die here, nothing will be left behind, but if you pay for your crimes, you can live in the light, not the shadows. Don’t you want to see your family again?"

"......!!"

At the mention of his family, Kim’s eyes grew wider than they had ever been.

The only people who knew about his family were Pi Seong-yeol and himself.

But Su-ho didn’t care and spoke to the others.

"Same goes for everyone else. Pi Seong-yeol has been pulling the strings, using you all with various conditions. But what do you think will be at the end of this? Fair compensation? Honor? No, there’s nothing. When things go south, you’ll be the first to be discarded. The moment your existence is exposed, Pi Seong-yeol will know his sentence will only get worse."

"......."

"......."

"......."

The employees remained silent, unable to speak.

They had nothing left to say.

After a long silence, Kim finally asked.

"So, how do I trust you?"

"Don’t trust me."

"What?"

"You make the choice. And I think you’re misunderstanding something—I'm not here to negotiate or persuade you. I’m giving you the final chance. If you trust me, you’ll grab the last opportunity to live like a human. If you don’t, then you’ll die like a dog right here. But do you know this? The moment you die here, Pi Seong-yeol will discard you like trash."

"Your family is your weak spot."

Kim’s weak spot was his family.

Everyone fell silent at Su-ho's words, then swallowed dryly.

Su-ho's calm, quiet speech cut deeper and sharper than any blade they had faced before.

At that moment.

Thud.

The sound of a weapon dropping.

It was one of the employees at the farthest edge of the group.

"I... I can’t trust you."

He truly looked afraid as he dropped his weapon and stepped back toward Su-ho.

"Honestly, we’ve all seen the news articles. It’s over now. The redevelopment gate has started...! And if the Suwon guys were affected too...!"

The employee who had been backing away quickly turned and stood next to Su-ho.

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"Let’s just surrender. We’re going to lose. According to my skill, we can’t defeat this guy, he’s a monster...!"

Ah?

So that’s what it was.

It seemed his skill was to measure the opponent’s power.

But because of that, this person would survive.

Su-ho placed his arm around the man’s shoulder and said.

"Good choice. You’ve committed crimes, so you’ll be in Cheongok for a while, but don’t worry. I’ll protect what you’ve been trying to protect all this time."

That was the beginning.

Rustle—

Rustle—

Clink!

One by one, the others began to drop their weapons.

The first person’s action had set the domino effect in motion.

"...If Seong-won is saying that, I’ll surrender too."

"...I’m not confident either."

"Honestly, I’ve never seen our guys end up like this."

"That guy’s right."

Soon, everyone, except Kim, dropped their weapons and surrendered.

Until then, Kim had remained motionless, like a stone statue.

Still gripping his sword, he silently stared at Su-ho.

Su-ho met his gaze and spoke.

"Now, it’s just you left, Deputy Chief."

"......."

"You understand the difference between loyalty and recklessness, right? A hunting dog’s end is the cauldron. I don’t mind getting blood on my hands, but I won’t let it turn into murder."

"......."

Kim Mu-hwan remained silent.

Then, he too dropped his weapon.

"...Keep your promise."

Kim Mu-hwan used polite language.

At his request, Su-ho finally smiled.

"Well thought out. As Park Seong-won said when he surrendered, the redevelopment gate has already started. And starting with Pi Seong-yeol, many political and social figures in South Korea will fall to the bottom. I’ll make sure they never rise again, breaking both their wings and their legs."

"...Has a new power arisen targeting them?"

"It’s power, alright. Public authority is still power."

"Excuse me?"

"The country is finally starting to function properly. All you need to do is pay for your crimes. With that in mind, I’d like to make you an offer."

Su-ho pulled a business card from his jacket and placed it in front of them.

It was a stack of Jo Jin-hwi’s business cards.

"Gather all the crime data related to Pi Seong-yeol that you’ve been ordered to carry out, and contact the number written here. The evidence must be solid. If you do, I’ll make sure to reduce your sentence as much as possible. Oh, and don’t go overboard. Don’t go around killing someone in place of others or kidnapping anyone. Punishment is something the law does, not you."

Upon hearing Su-ho’s ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) words, the employees exchanged glances and started picking up business cards, tucking them into their pockets.

"Hurry up and get moving. I’ll say it again—just gather the materials. That’s how you’ll live like a human."

Under Su-ho’s urging, everyone got into their cars and started moving.

No one would be running away.

With their personal information, and knowing even the most precious things about them, who would be foolish enough to betray or try to escape?

As their cars quickly disappeared, Su-ho nodded in satisfaction.

"Yeah, this is the true correction."

He hadn’t killed them on purpose.

Since they had worked as Pi Seong-yeol’s private army, they too had committed many crimes, but Su-ho wanted them to feel the worst possible emotions toward Pi Seong-yeol.

He wanted them to witness their former trusted allies betraying them, to see them crumble helplessly without being able to do anything, so that they could feel despair.

Then, Su-ho called Jo Jin-hwi.

– Yes, boss.

"Everything is ready. Now, release the data we gave you."

– Understood.

Now, the real showtime had begun.