Chapter 177

Jo Yeon-joo was digging into the Execution Society’s affairs.

The reason? None other than for Yanagiya Riki.

Though Yanagiya Riki hadn’t specifically asked, Jo Yeon-joo noticed that she had interfered with the Execution Society’s attempt to take a man named Lee Yun-seong.

She found out about this not long ago, while drinking with her.

Personally, since Lee Yun-seong was her love rival, she had only asked how Yanagiya Riki knew him.

But the mention of the Execution Society from Yanagiya Riki’s lips made Jo Yeon-joo realize she was tangled up with them.

‘…Though she herself didn’t seem to care much.’

In truth, the likelihood of the Execution Society retaliating against Yanagiya Riki over this was slim, but there’s always that one-in-a-million chance.

‘Once something happens, it’s too late.’

For her safety-blind friend, Jo Yeon-joo had to gather information in advance.

‘And it actually paid off.’

It’s known that the Execution Society has seven executive members.

But that’s a smokescreen. The truth is there are six executives, and among those seven, the leader is hiding.

She didn’t know who the leader was, but she managed to find out that the leader was hiding among the executives.

‘Who could it be? Who’s so thorough in hiding themselves?’

Anyway, this much information was enough. For a dangerous group like the Execution Society, it’s best to investigate slowly.

If she stirred things up carelessly, even someone of her rank could be in danger…

‘…Behind!’

Jo Yeon-joo sensed someone approaching from behind and instantly formed a hand seal.

*Clink!*

“Damn it…!”

As a man’s voice rang out, chains summoned from thin air wrapped around the intruder, and Jo Yeon-joo quickly distanced herself.

Moments later, when she faced her attacker, Jo Yeon-joo couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

Because it was a familiar face.

“…Gwi Chang?”

The one bound by the chains was none other than Baek Si-hoon.

A man of the same rank as Jo Yeon-joo.

“Damn, your reaction’s pretty fast? You b*tch…!”

“…Why are you here?”

Baek Si-hoon didn’t answer Jo Yeon-joo’s question. He just spat out curses.

“F*ck, this is why non-assassin types shouldn’t try assassinations.”

Baek Si-hoon’s attitude made Jo Yeon-joo’s eyebrow twitch, but she quickly shifted her thoughts.

‘I need to finish this quickly.’

Detailed analysis could wait. Since Gwi Chang had attacked her, she had to kill him.

Her opponent was a top-tier player like herself. And a spearman who excelled in PvP at that.

The chains wouldn’t hold Baek Si-hoon for more than a split second.

As Jo Yeon-joo waved her hand, characters formed in the air and shot toward Baek Si-hoon.

Just as the characters were about to reach him.

“Damn you!”

Baek Si-hoon’s body turned into black mist, slipping free from the chains.

‘…Mist Form.’

Baek Si-hoon’s signature ability.

One of the skills that earned him his rank.

The ability to momentarily turn his body into mist, allowing him to pass through objects.

Baek Si-hoon was not only skilled in offense but also unrivaled in evasion.

Of course, Jo Yeon-joo’s characters didn’t reach him.

‘It doesn’t matter anyway.’

It would’ve been nice if that attack could’ve killed him, but she hadn’t thrown it with the intent to kill in the first place.

“Illusionary Dragon Formation.”

Jo Yeon-joo had anticipated that Gwi Chang would dodge her attack with that ability.

The goal was to activate the formation.

In an instant, characters densely seeped into the ground around the misty Baek Si-hoon.

‘Got it.’

As long as her mana flow wasn’t interrupted, the formation would succeed.

The Mist Form ability she knew of not only made the user immune to attacks but also prevented them from attacking.

In that state, stopping the formation was impossible.

‘I’ve won…’

*Thud*

The moment Jo Yeon-joo was sure of her victory, something pierced her leg.

“Ugh…!”

‘A dagger?’

Immediately after being hit, Jo Yeon-joo’s leg gave out, and she collapsed.

On top of that, her mana scattered.

“No…!”

Naturally, the formation was disrupted, and Baek Si-hoon escaped unscathed.

After returning to his original form from the mist, he wiped the cold sweat off his brow in relief.

“F*ck, good thing I had insurance. I almost got wrecked there.”

“Ugh… Insurance?”

As Jo Yeon-joo voiced her confusion, another figure appeared behind her.

“Gwi Chang, you almost got yourself killed.”

“F*ck….”

Despite the masked man’s words, Baek Si-hoon just grimaced and cursed.

And for good reason—he was furious.

‘I, Gwi Chang, almost got taken out by that b*tch?’

If it weren’t for the insurance, he would’ve been utterly defeated by her.

He could’ve just released a burst of mana to break the chains, but out of habit, he used Mist Form, which was a mistake.

The more someone knew about Mist Form, the easier it was to counter.

Still, even though he was the one ambushing, almost getting countered was a huge blow to his pride.

‘…Damn it, I got careless.’

A woman. And a formation mage who wasn’t even that strong in PvP.

Though she was a top-tier player like him, he had underestimated her and nearly paid the price.

“By the way, is this woman the Jo Yeon-joo you mentioned? First time fighting a top-tier. First time teaming up with one too.”

The masked man finished speaking and threw another dagger.

The dagger flew toward Jo Yeon-joo, but just before it hit, she pulled out a talisman from her pocket.

*Whoosh*

*Ting*

“A barrier? You’ve got some strange abilities.”

“Enough, I’ll handle this now.”

Baek Si-hoon gripped his spear and charged at Jo Yeon-joo.

Knowing that staying still meant certain death, Jo Yeon-joo forced herself to move despite the pain in her leg.

“What are you…”

For a moment, Baek Si-hoon was puzzled as Jo Yeon-joo suddenly stripped off her outer garment and threw it to the ground.

But when he saw the garment on the ground, he realized his mistake.

‘Characters on the clothes?’

“…You’ve exploited a formation mage’s weakness well, but weaknesses can be overcome.”

The known weakness of formation mages was that they were weak outside their home ground.

The reason was that high-level formations required extensive preparation.

But Jo Yeon-joo had largely overcome this weakness by engraving formations onto her clothes.

“This is bad…!”

Characters crawled out of the garment like bugs and began spreading across the ground.

It was only natural to feel danger standing on ground covered in characters.

Baek Si-hoon and the masked man quickly distanced themselves from Jo Yeon-joo, but it didn’t take long for them to realize something was wrong.

“This is…”



“Hmm, seems like we’ve been had.”

A cube-shaped barrier was enveloping Jo Yeon-joo.

Letters flowing from her clothes were forming various shapes.

Armor began to appear, transforming the scene into something resembling soldiers from ancient times.

There wasn’t anyone inside the armor, but it felt like a bluish spirit was wearing it.

“This damn bitch…!”

Baek Si-hoon instantly hurled a spear at Jo Yeon-joo, but it bounced off the barrier.

Thunk!

“Damn it!”

It seemed like she was protected by a formation, controlling these things to fight.

Whoosh—

“Hup!”

Bang!

The sword-wielding figures were also quite threatening, clearly not just ordinary summoned creatures.

“Gwi Chang, these aren’t just simple summons. They have self-repair abilities.”

Baek Si-hoon channeled his energy and smashed one of them with his spear, but as the man said, it quickly regenerated.

“Any ideas?”

“Huu…”

‘Damn, do I have to use this now?’

If the ambush had succeeded, this wouldn’t have been necessary, but there was no choice.

That woman’s strength was more impressive than expected.

‘Guess a ranker is still a ranker.’

But he didn’t think he’d lose.

Even if a formation master had somewhat compensated for their weaknesses, they still had limits in one-on-one combat.

It was just annoying that he had to use everything he had.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve used this.’

Gwi Chang steadied his stance, and a red aura began to surge from his body and the spear he held.

******

“Huu… damn bitch.”

Baek Si-hoon cursed with a tired expression.

“Hack… ugh…”

Jo Yeon-joo was sprawled on the ground with a large wound in her abdomen.

“Ptui!”

Baek Si-hoon spat blood-mixed saliva onto Jo Yeon-joo’s face.

“Ugh… stupid bitch. Just causing trouble for no reason.”

“Ugh… Gwi Chang… why…”

Baek Si-hoon seemed to relish the moment.

The pleasure of seeing the arrogant woman groveling beneath him.

But a voice interrupted his mood.

“Gwi Chang, I’ve confirmed Jo Yeon-joo’s defeat as promised, so I’ll be leaving now.”

“Get lost.”

“Tch, just as I heard, your personality is trash.”

Baek Si-hoon’s eyebrow twitched at the man’s words, but he stayed silent.

After all, that man had saved his life initially, and he was one of the Executive Members of the Execution Society.

Of course, he was confident he could win in a fight. He was one of the top ten strongest on this continent.

But he didn’t want to make an enemy of the Execution Society. Plus, the man had come along at his request.

Having been helped, he suppressed his irritation and spoke.

“Anyway, just go. I’ll handle this bitch myself.”

Baek Si-hoon had questions for Jo Yeon-joo. The problem was he couldn’t ask them with an Executive Member of the Execution Society present.

Fortunately, the man didn’t object to Baek Si-hoon’s words.

“The job’s done, so I’ll leave as you said. We’ll probably see each other again for the next job, so until then.”

The man finished speaking and suddenly disappeared.

“…..”

Baek Si-hoon immediately looked down at the woman groaning beneath him.

Thud—

“Ugh!”

Jo Yeon-joo’s face twisted in pain as her head was stomped on.

Baek Si-hoon chuckled mockingly at her.

“Haha, looks good on you, huh?”

“…….”

Jo Yeon-joo didn’t respond to Baek Si-hoon’s words. She just kept her mouth shut, expressionless.

“Huh? What’s with the face? Not going to react at all?”

“……”

“Ha, you damn bitch…”

Crack—

“Agh!”

Baek Si-hoon grabbed Jo Yeon-joo’s hair and lifted her up.

“Hey, I’ve got something to ask you. So answer me.”

“… Something to ask?”

“Yeah, just answer the damn question.”

“…..”

“You were digging into the Execution Society, right? What did you find out?”

“… So you targeted me because I was investigating the Execution Society?”

Slap!

“Ugh…!”

“Answer the damn question. Did you find anything out?”

“… What do you want to know?”

“Everything you found out. Spill all the info you have on the Execution Society.”

“… And if I do?”

“You’re not expecting me to let you live, are you? If you talk, at least you won’t suffer. If you keep your mouth shut, I’ll hand you over to the others. You know what that means, right?”

“…….”

In other words, if she didn’t answer, she’d be handed over to other outlaws.

Given the nature of outlaws, Jo Yeon-joo would undoubtedly face all kinds of humiliation.

Jo Yeon-joo stared expressionlessly at Baek Si-hoon for a while before slowly opening her mouth.

“What I found out… is the truth about the Executive Members of the Execution Society.”

“The truth about the Executive Members?”

“… Among the seven known Executive Members, the leader is hiding.”

“What?”

Baek Si-hoon felt like he’d been hit with a hammer.

‘… The leader is hiding among the Executive Members?’

“… There aren’t seven Executive Members, but six. The seventh is the leader. That’s all I found out.”

“Ha… is that so?”

Baek Si-hoon suddenly recalled the two Executive Members he had met.

A man and a woman.

‘Jeon Myung-cheon and Yang So-wol, was it?’

Maybe not, but some kind of intuition whispered to him.

The one who silently listened to the conversation between the woman and himself.

“… Well, fine.”

It didn’t seem like this woman was lying, and he had no reason to stay here any longer.

Except for one thing.

Baek Si-hoon twisted his lips grotesquely and spoke.

“Alright. Since you answered well, I won’t hand you over to the others. But I’m not them, am I?”

Hearing Baek Si-hoon’s words, Jo Yeon-joo closed her eyes as if sensing her fate.

“… You trash.”

“Heh, it’d be a waste to kill you right away. Don’t be too scared. You’ll like it eventually.”