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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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About 5 cargo trucks were driving down the road while keeping a distance from each other.
At a speed that was neither too slow nor too fast.
The cargo trucks continued to drive while maintaining the same speed.
“…Where did they say we were going?”
“An abandoned factory.”
And the people riding in the front seats of one of those cargo trucks began talking to each other.
“Aigoo… An abandoned factory… I’m going to be exhausted again repairing that thing.”
“We also have to make some space in the basement there to lock up the hostages, so that’ll take some time too.”
“Did I join this criminal organization just to do things like construction and interior design…? I joined in because I thought I could run wild as I pleased as a member.”
“Well… If that guy called the Artist or whatever hadn’t ruined the hostage situation at the large supermarket, maybe you could have.”
“Hah, damn it….”
The man who had spat out the curse lit a cigarette.
“Roll down the window.”
“Sure thing.”
The man who was driving the truck agreed to the request of the man who had lit the cigarette and rolled down the passenger side’s window.
Then, a cool breeze brushed past his right cheek, and….
Crack…!
“…Keok…?!”
“What…?”
Blood splattered on his left cheek.
The man who had been smoking a cigarette couldn’t understand what on earth was going on.
He had just opened the window for a moment to get the cigarette smell out when….
“…Hey…?”
“……”
For some reason, a sword suddenly got embedded into the heart of his comrade who had been driving the truck.
‘What… is this…?’
Seeing that the windshield was broken, he could understand that a sword had flown from the front and had pierced his comrade’s heart.
But why so suddenly…?
‘No, more importantly… The truck…!’
Since the driver was dead, he couldn’t predict how the truck would move.
And so, he hurriedly grabbed the steering wheel, but there was no need.
“What…? Why is the truck…?”
Because for some reason, even though the driver was dead, the truck was still driving normally on the road and slowly reducing its speed.
He found that strange, but….
Puk…!
“Uh….”
Another sword flew through the windshield and pierced his heart.
And….
Crack…!
KWANG!
KWANG!
The sound of glass breaking and of something colliding resounded not just from the truck with the two dead men, but also from the other cargo trucks.
It was the sound of swords being shot through the air and piercing through the windshields and the people in the drivers’ and passengers’ seats of the trucks.
There was also the sound of swords piercing through the walls of the cargo hold and hitting someone inside.
“Uuph…! Uu-uuph…!”
“Uph…! Uph…!”
And lastly was the muffled cries of people whose mouths were gagged, as if they were terrified.
With those sounds as the backdrop, the cargo trucks slowed down and eventually came to a stop, and a man passed by the side of those cargo trucks.
…Or rather, that man was my doll.
‘It went well, just as I thought.’
It was a method I had come up with on the spot, but fortunately, I succeeded in killing all the criminals before they could react properly.
Besides the driver’s and passenger’s seats, there were also criminals inside the cargo hold to guard the hostages, but they too had their hearts pierced by my swords.
At this point, someone might ask what happened to my concern about the trauma that the hostages would receive, but of course, I had prepared for that as well.
Kkiiik….
I opened the door of a cargo hold.
Then, I lit the inside and confirmed that the criminal closest to the door was already a corpse.
And….
“Uuuh….”
“……”
I could also confirm that people with gags in their mouths and their arms tied up were gathered in the inner part of the cargo hold.
It looked as if the people who didn’t have blindfolds had seen the corpses of the dead criminals, but that wasn’t actually the case.
Right now, all they could see was darkness.
‘There are many ways to cover people’s sight.’
For example, a word-command magic using the word Blindness.
…If I had used this magic during the hostage situation at the large supermarket before, I wouldn’t have needed to use the Mind Sword.
However, at that time, I was more accustomed to martial arts than magic, so I hadn’t thought of this method.
Because until then, magic to me had been nothing more than something to supplement what my martial arts was lacking, or something to use conveniently in daily life.
And my magic was inefficient compared to my martial arts.
But it was different now.
‘In the first place, the Divine Art of Harmony isn’t just a simple martial art, but something which could use magic, aura, and psionic powers.’
It was a minor enlightenment.
Thanks to that, the scope of my thoughts had widened.
No matter how inefficient of a method it was, with its severe internal energy consumption compared to martial arts, magic was, in the end, one of the techniques I had learned.
And so, I decided to actively use magic from now on.
Ah, of course, only when I was acting as the doll, not with my main body.
Because I intended for my main body to thoroughly pretend to be an aura ability user.
Anyway…
“Float.”
I used word-command magic and telekinesis to take out all of the people who were in the inner part of the cargo hold.
A few of them flinched or struggled in bewilderment, but since I was an expert close to the peak as a psionicist, just as I was close to an Aura Master if I were an aura user or an Archmage if I were a mage, this level of movement wasn’t a great hindrance for me.
Having taken out all the people who had been held hostage, I closed the door of the cargo hold. Then I opened the cargo hold of another truck and repeated this process.
After some time, after rescuing all of the hostages, I clapped my hands lightly…
“Release.”
Along with using word-command magic.
Then, the people who had been taken out of the cargo holds began to murmur in bewilderment.
I could understand the commotion, since their vision that had been darkened by my word-command magic of Blindness had brightened, the gags that had been blocking their mouths had been released, and finally, even the ropes that had tied their arms to prevent them from escaping had disappeared.
I looked at them, took out one of the phones that the criminals had been using, and made a call.
[Thank you, this is the Yangpyeong Police Station. How may I help you?]
“Five cargo trucks on National Route 6, at a location close to Namyangju City.”
[Excuse me?]
“Details via video.”
I said that concisely and then hung up the call.
Then, a text message came to the phone I was holding, and I pressed the URL included in that text message.
‘What was it called? The Visible 112, was it?’
I knew that the police could check the reporter’s location and the situation at the scene being filmed by the reporter’s phone in real time through this.
Therefore, I handed the phone I was holding to one of the people who had just been freed.
“Uh…? Uh…?”
“The police will see the situation here through the camera on that phone and come to this location. Just wait for them to come.”
“Ah, yes!”
That person, as if he knew that I had just saved them, bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you for saving us, Mr. Artist!”
“…Wait, the Artist…?”
“Really…? It’s Mr. Artist? The hero of Yeouido…?”
Even though I hadn’t identified myself, it seemed like they had recognized me as the Artist right away.
Well, with so many swords stuck in the cargo trucks, it wasn’t unreasonable for them to think of the Artist who had sent a shower of sword fragments at the monsters durimg the Greenskin Wave.
“If possible, don’t look inside the front seats or the cargo holds. The corpses of the criminals who had kidnapped you are there.”
With those as my last words, I erased my presence.
To them, it would have looked as if I had disappeared in an instant.
‘With this, the hostage rescue is over….’
All that was left was to deal with the remnants.
And I already knew well where those remnants were, as I had already extracted enough information from the criminals.
Also, I had no intention of dealing with them myself.
‘I should use those who hold a grudge against them.’
Thinking that, I sent a telepathic message to a few people.
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“Sunbae-nim.”
“Hm?”
“What do you think of this scene?”
“……”
At a police officer’s words, the other police officer who got called ‘Sunbae’ answered quietly.
“It’s something that should be announced to the public if you think of justice, but at the same time, it’s something that shouldn’t be known by the public.”
It was a contradictory statement.
But the junior police officer thought that his sentiment was right.
And for good reason….
“To think that the people known to the public as serial killers or robbers were people who were framed because of hostages… And at the same time, the person who fabricated it was also a police officer who was being threatened because of a hostage.”
“If we don’t make it known, the people who have been unjustly framed will remain as criminals in name… But if we do make it known, the hostages’ lives will be in danger….”
The radios and the data in the safe behind the bookshelf found at the scene with one of the criminals were items that were difficult for them to judge at their level.
Meanwhile, they, who were investigating the crime scene, were police officers with a reasonably righteous mindset, so they didn’t consider the possibility that the police’s image would be tarnished.
They were just worried about those who had been harmed and framed.
And yet, it was a cruel dilemma.
“We’ll request an information lockdown, but… it won’t go as we think, will it?”
“Well, reporters will try to tear it apart as they please if they smell even just a whiff of a scoop….”
At least until the hostages’ safety was secured, they had to prevent the truth from being known to the public.
They, who had thought that and reported it to their superiors….
“…Yes? The hostages were safely rescued?”
“That’s right. According to the rescued hostages, the Artist appeared and saved them.”
“The Artist….”
“I think perhaps the Artist was the first to discover the scene we had found.”
Their worries had been meaningless.
“The police officer who had been fabricating the scene was immediately arrested at the relevant station. He tried to resist, but after hearing that the hostages were safely rescued, he meekly confessed to his crime.”
Not only that…
“It seems that the Awakeners who had been unavoidably framed because of the hostages all gathered at one place, beat down everyone there, and then turned themselves in to the police. From the circumstances, it looks like that place was the hostage-takers’ hideout, and it seems like those Awakeners were informed in some way that all the hostages had been rescued.”
“…How on earth…?”
“They say that the relevant station is investigating that. Fortunately, all of them are being cooperative on the condition that they get to meet the people who were held hostage, so the results will be out soon.”
But one thing was certain…
“From the looks of it, the Artist had set out to track down this criminal organization, and thanks to that, a crime that was happening in a place we didn’t know about had been resolved.”
And the police had only been dragged along for the ride by the Artist.
“The result isn’t bad, but the fact that the police were dragged along by one person isn’t a very good precedent.”
Although he knew that the Artist wasn’t an evil person, the problem was the fact that his identity was unclear, and that his actions were, strictly speaking, close to private justice.
For reference, private justice was strictly illegal in a country under the rule of law.
“In other words, the Artist has already broken several laws. So, in the end, it was only a matter of time before it came to this.”
“By that you mean….”
The police chief let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“The Artist has been put on the wanted list.”
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T/N – Okay, I know where they are coming from, and I know that the law is not always reasonable or logical, but that’s just stupid. Who the fuck is going to enforce that bounty when the person in question can wipe out a fucking dungeon wave that would have wiped out most of the Awakeners in Korea had he not been there? The so-called criminal can wipe out all of Korea if he wanted to, and these people think they can put a bounty on his head? Laughable, but sadly, very realistic. Man, I really hate politics.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
