Visit
The underground parking garage of the Lonia headquarters.
"Did you handle the job well?"
Yes. I did exactly as you instructed.
"Good work. But here's a small question."
Please go ahead.
"Why isn't there any news about a casualty? Given that a child died, it's normal for there to be an uproar, isn't it?"
It's highly likely they haven't found it. The child was extremely small in stature.
Hearing the implication, Joo Do raised the corner of his mouth.
It was a massive explosion.
An adult's remains might be hard to find, let alone a child's.
"Keuhahahaha!!"
Yu Jin-hyuk, unaware of this, must be desperately searching for the vanished child.
The image of that futile effort made him laugh.
"Take care of the remaining tasks as well."
Leave it to me.
"I'll use my influence on the Kobe port casino matter. Good news will come soon."
Thank you. I will trust only you, Chairman.
Hanging up the phone, Joo Do wore a refreshed expression.
It finally felt like a weight he'd been carrying was lifted.
'You picked the wrong opponent.'
The reckless Korean brat, Yu Jin-hyuk, who dared to challenge him without knowing his place.
He intended to kindly inform the bastard, before capturing and killing him, that every hardship he had faced and would face stemmed from that single moment of insolence.
Jin-hyuk would probably protest.
Was all this really necessary for something so trivial?
Then, Joo Do planned to answer like this:
Humans are never equal.
The wound to his pride from the exchange meeting was one that could only heal once everything about that insignificant fool had disappeared.
"Chairman. I cannot connect to the Chief of Staff's line. Should I wait a little longer?"
Joo Do clicked his tongue lightly.
Normally, when the Chairman arrives, the Chief of Staff comes down with the entourage. Where could he be and what could he be doing?
"Forget it. Let's go up."
Feeling good today, he decided to let it slide.
He got out of the car and took the VIP elevator with Chief of Security Uryu.
He pressed the button for the top floor and waited a moment.
Ding dong.
With a cheerful chime, the elevator doors opened.
"...?"
He couldn't help but have a question mark hanging over his head.
The top floor of the Lonia building, where the Chairman's office was located.
A place where lights never go out, 365 days a year, as there are always personnel on standby.
Yet now, not only were all the lights off, plunging it into darkness, but even the secretaries who should be guarding the place were nowhere to be seen.
Uryu, who had stepped in front of Joo Do, furrowed his brow.
Since the lights on other floors seemed normal, it wasn't a power outage.
"Chairman. Let's go back down for now. The atmosphere doesn't feel right."
"Go back down? What are you talking about going back down? This is my building. Don't you know how tight the security is? Getting beaten up by a kid has made you timid."
Joo Do clicked his tongue as if finding it pathetic.
Uryu, having nothing to say, bowed his head deeply.
Uryu, who had been knocked out by Hiyori in front of the Hosaka scions.
From his perspective, it was only natural to feel aggrieved.
His opponent was none other than the official rank 7, Matsuna Hiyori.
"Move aside."
Pushing Uryu away, Joo Do walked toward the Chairman's office.
Being this scared even in his own home.
He should bring in new security personnel from the Yamaguchi-gumi or something.
Creeeak.
He pushed the door open smoothly as usual.
But he couldn't proceed further.
Hosaka Joo Do stopped in his tracks and glared straight ahead.
Even though he was seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't easily believe it.
The seat where not even his sons or grandsons had ever sat, the seat only he could occupy.
Someone was sitting there.
Ironically, the silhouette was terribly familiar.
"You're here?"
Jin-hyuk, who was sitting there, swiveled the chair around with a grin.
Jin-hyuk flashed a smile as if he were pleased to see him.
"Good thing you came before it got too late. I was thinking of visiting your residence if you weren't coming today."
"You bastard!!"
Uryu, who was outside, rushed in.
As he tried to charge straight at Jin-hyuk, Joo Do stopped him with a gesture that said 'enough.'
After taking a moment to steady his breathing, Joo Do spoke.
"How did you get in?"
Whether he was angry or not was a matter for later.
How on earth did this guy get all the way here?
"How did I get in? I came in through the main entrance and took the elevator up."
He omitted the explanation about sneaking in, using the Yodel Ranger squad leader to bypass detection and alarm systems.
"Nonsense."
There isn't even a direct elevator from the main entrance to the Chairman's office.
Even if he had found his way, he would have been intercepted along the way.
The fact that there had been no commotion was strange.
"So, what's your business? Did you come to pay for my granddaughter's medical bills? If that's the case, you'll need a lot of money prepared. Selling all your worthless organs won't be enough."
"As if."
"Then why did you come?"
"You know why."
He pulled up today's news on his phone and showed it.
The mysterious explosion accident in Kyoto.
Joo Do's eyebrow twitched momentarily.
'How did he find out?'
Between him and that incident was the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Even if a trail were found, it should have led to them first.
"You're not denying it. And you're not apologizing either."
"Keuk.... Kuhahaha!"
Joo Do burst into laughter.
After laughing for a while, he finally stopped and shook his head.
"Listen well, you brat. Denial and apology are things only the weak do. They're not something for someone like me."
Hosaka Joo Do was born a predator.
Everyone watched the moods of Joo Do, the future clan head and Chairman of Lonia, and did their utmost not to upset him.
Having lived that kind of life, apologizing to the brat before him was unthinkable.
"Is that so."
As Jin-hyuk let out a deep sigh.
Joo Do, raising the corner of his mouth, continued.
"By the way, you really have no sense of danger. This isn't the exchange meeting venue where you were. There's no Matsuna family or Jin clan here to protect you."
The security team Uryu had called earlier poured out of the arriving VIP elevator.
The Yu Jin-hyuk before them was a person suspected of being a Runner.
Although he was still only on the 50-something floors, they had requested support to be cautious.
"Quite the personnel, enough to not lose to most Hunter teams. Well then, let's continue our conversation a bit later."
Joo Do stepped back and looked up at Uryu.
"Keep him breathing. He needs to hear what I have to say, so leave his ears too."
"Understood."
The personnel stepped forward, drawing their weapons and raising their abilities.
Staring at the approaching people.
Jin-hyuk slowly rose to his feet.
That moment, Sannomiya, Kobe.
"Who goes there?!"
The personnel guarding the main gate shouted roughly.
A woman of unknown identity, wearing a black hat and mask.
"Don't you know this is the main house of the Yamaguchi-gumi?"
"I didn't come all this way without knowing."
"What?"
The scowling member examined the woman's appearance.
Silver hair flowing from under her hat and crimson eyes shining vividly even in the darkness.
It was a look hard to find in Japan.
Sring.
Those on standby drew their Japanese swords and pointed them at Seira.
Coming at night dressed like that, she wasn't here for a friendly visit.
"Is that the blade called a Japanese sword?"
She asked lightly, but no answer to her question came.
"Who sent you? The Sekigahara-gumi?"
"There are two reasons I have come here. First, by my master's command. Second, to make you pay the price for hurting my friend."
"I asked if you were from Sekigahara."
She likewise had no intention of answering the question.
Instead, she told another story.
"Even on a battlefield where life and death are traded, there are things that must not be violated. Especially harming a child who has nothing to do with it is something one who upholds honor must never do. It can never be forgiven."
"You brought this upon yourself. I'll take your wrists first."
The member at the very front swung his raised sword horizontally.
Thwack!
Question marks formed on the faces of the watching members.
Thwack?
That wasn't the sound a sword should make when cutting.
"Uh...?"
The member who had just swung the sword stared at his dangling wrist.
Somehow, the Japanese sword that had been there was gone.
"My sword is too precious for cutting trash. So, I'll borrow this for a while."
A terrible pain surged from his broken wrist.
But he couldn't scream.
Four heads rising into the air in an instant.
Seira, lightly flicking the blood off the sword, opened the closed gate.
"Everyone, out!"
"Intruder!"
"The main gate has been breached!"
The situation room that had been watching via CCTV issued an alert.
Members poured out into the garden, as wide as a school playground.
Yanagi and Nishido, who were staying here, appeared due to the late-night commotion.
"Huh? Just one person?"
Nishido let out a hollow laugh.
The Yamaguchi-gumi is a giant yakuza group representing Sannomiya, Kobe.
To hit the main house, you'd need to bring at least a hundred people normally, but just one?
It was beyond ridiculous, making him doubt if he was seeing correctly.
"Senior. Let's not cause a noisy explosion for no reason and just go in and sleep. We'll wake up with our heads cut off in the morning. Huh? Senior Yanagi?"
Yanagi didn't answer.
Yanagi was sweating profusely, to a frightening degree.
They had overwhelming numerical superiority.
What on earth was so scary to make him sweat like that?
"Senior. What's wrong? Are you hurt somewh...?!"
Nishido, who stopped speaking, widened her eyes.
A single black line, drawn horizontally long.
Seira, who had been standing in front of the main gate, had reached right in front of Yanagi and Nishido in the blink of an eye.
'Did, did I miss it?'
Nishido had obtained special eyes through her class's unique trait.
Eyes that captured every frame ordinary people couldn't perceive.
This time, she couldn't.
That's how absurdly fast the intruder's movement, the speed of her sword swing, was.
Shooooooosh!!
Belatedly, a tremendous amount of blood gushed forth.
The members fell, unable to even mount a proper attack.
In that instant, Yanagi and Nishido instinctively realized.
This was never an opponent they could handle with numerical superiority from the start.
Under the pouring cold moonlight, the eyes redder than blood turned toward Yanagi.
"Was it you? The one who hurt my friend."
"Y-your friend? What are you...!?"
Yanagi's face turned pale as a sheet as he noticed something.
The child peeking out from behind Seira, holding onto her pants.
It was unmistakably the child he had blown away with his ability during the day, the one who should absolutely be dead.
The eyes of Nishido and Yanagi shook violently.
Just what in the world was going on?
"That's the uncle!"
Momo pointed at Yanagi.
Seira nodded.
"Release the manifestation, Momo."
"Okay!"
Momo disappeared.
And Seira began to move.
"W-wait! Hold on! The kid is alive! There's no need to go this far!"
She did not answer.
Instead, she lightly stamped the ground, just as she had done before.
In an instant, Seira sliced past the two.
Step. Step. Step.
Yanagi and Nishido, their breath cut off, collapsed spraying blood, but Seira did not stop walking.
The command her master had given was the annihilation of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Therefore, she intended to erase them completely from this world.
The names of those who dared to challenge her master.
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T/N:
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