Chapter 32

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: A Demon's Dance
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And just like that, Kang-jun rushed the Black and White Twin Fiends, closing the distance in an instant. He drew back a tightly clenched fist and threw a powerful punch at the Black Fiend's face…

KABOOM—.

The Black Fiend, who had hastily crossed his arms and barely managed to block the attack, wore a look of utter bewilderment.

*Wh-what is this power…?*

All he’d done was block a straightforward punch, yet it felt as if he’d been hit by a massive truck.

“Brother, this one’s no pushover!”

“Yes, brother. We should attack together immediately!”

They figured the Bureau bastards had seen through their plans and assigned some decent bodyguards.

Soon, a murky energy began to shimmer like a heat haze over the brothers’ palms…

Bong-gu, who had been watching in dead silence, gulped and muttered under his breath.

“Is… is that martial arts…?”

According to the rumors, the Black and White Twin Fiends were known for practicing ‘martial arts,’ unlike other Awakeners.

Awakeners who studied martial arts instead of magic were few and far between, so this was the first time Bong-gu had ever seen it with his own eyes.

“Oh, don’t tell me that’s the ‘Heavenly Demon Divine Art’?”

At Kang-jun’s mutter, which was tinged with a distinct sense of delight, the Black and White Twin Fiends’ eyes went wide as saucers.

“H-how do you know about that…?”

Most Awakeners avoided martial arts, treating them as a niche discipline that they kept quiet about, because the results were far too slow for the effort required.

It was said that your sweat would never betray you, but even if the heavens were to split in two, you’d never receive a reward greater than the effort you put in.

But the Black and White Twin Fiends had been able to grow strong in an instant, all thanks to a single ‘Skill Book’ they had stumbled upon.

[ Heavily Damaged Heavenly Demon Divine Art (S-Rank) ]

The ‘Heavenly Demon Divine Art’ they practiced was a sinister martial art, and unlike others, its results were not proportional to the effort invested.

They had become strong the moment they learned it, and they were able to achieve noticeable progress without putting in much effort.

It made them wonder.

If they could obtain such immense power from a ‘damaged secret manual’ with all the truly important parts missing…

Just what kind of heights could they reach if they managed to obtain and master the complete, original version of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?

In fact, the very reason the brothers had thrown in their lot with the Anti-Bureau Alliance was because they had been swayed by the promise of help in finding the original text.

But now, the Bureau brat standing before them seemed to hold a clue to the original Heavenly Demon Divine Art they had been searching for all this time.

“Do you know about the Heavenly Demon Divine Art—?”

“Who knows?” Kang-jun muttered, thoughtfully scratching his chin. Just as the brothers were getting frustrated and about to ask again, he finally answered.

“We’re not exactly on good terms, but I am acquainted with the creator of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art…”

“Tell us about him, and we’ll let you live.”

“I don’t know if it’s even possible to meet him, but you wouldn’t get much out of it even if you did.”

At his words, the Black and White Twin Fiends stared intently at Kang-jun, their eyes asking why…

“As payment for daring to challenge me, he ended up in a state where he can’t even control his own bowels.”

There was a time when he had been hell-bent on finding a way back to Earth, tearing through various dimensions as he searched.

During that time, Kang-jun had chanced upon a dimension known as the Central Plains, where he had confronted a being who reigned as its absolute ruler, the ‘Heavenly Demon’ (*天魔*).

“Hngh, hngh, hngh…”

As the price for his insolence, he was now unable to control his bladder or his bowels, and he couldn’t even eat a meal without wearing a bib…

*Still, he was a pretty strong fellow.*

The energy emanating from the Black and White Twin Fiends now was clearly demonic—an energy whose properties perfectly matched that of the Heavenly Demon.

Of course, comparing its ‘quality’ or ‘quantity’ was meaningless.

Their demonic energy was nothing more than a small, murky puddle with sediment settled at the bottom.

Naturally, the Black and White Twin Fiends dismissed Kang-jun’s words as nothing more than empty boasts.

“You bastard! I wonder if you’ll still be spouting such nonsense right before you die!”

The Black and White Twin Fiends simultaneously charged, thrusting their palms, which roiled with murky energy, toward Kang-jun’s chest.

*Pacheonsurajang (*破天修羅掌*).*

The powerful attack, which had claimed countless lives in a single blow, now came flying at him from different directions.

“B-Brother!”

Just as the rumors said, the ‘Black and White Twin Fiends’ moved as one, launching a dizzying combination attack…

Thwack, thwack, thwack-!

But Kang-jun gracefully dodged or blocked their palms, even showing the composure to land counterattacks in between.

*Just as I thought…*

As expected, they didn’t even come close to the Heavenly Demon’s level.

They were just clumsily mimicking his movements.

Their fury mounting, they pressed their attack even more fiercely…

“Die, die, die, die—!”

Kang-jun, who until then had blocked every single one of their attacks without letting a single one through, saw an opening and shot out his left hand.

GRAB…!

He seized the collar of the older brother, the Black Fiend, and began slamming his fist into the man’s face again and again.

CRUNCH—

CRUNCH—!

CRUUUNCH—!

With every one of Kang-jun's punches, the Black Fiend’s face began to distort like soft clay.

Watching the merciless assault, Bong-gu squeezed his eyes shut and whipped his head away.

*How horrific…*

It seemed Kang-jun’s fists were fair and just to all, regardless of age or gender.

Even if his opponent was a venerable elder eligible for free subway rides…

Finally, Kang-jun released his grip on the man’s collar, and the Black Fiend’s body crumpled forward.

Thud…

He convulsed violently for a moment before his entire body went limp.

“B-B-Brother—!”

Kang-jun flicked the blood from his hand and muttered in a low voice.

“Do try not to wear modernized traditional clothes in your next life.”

“Y-Y-You… you son of a bitch, I’ll tear you to pieces—!”

The enraged White Fiend pushed his internal energy to its limit and charged at Kang-jun once more.

Just then, Kang-jun extended his palm toward the Black Fiend’s corpse on the ground and muttered.

“Arise.”

It was a unique spell belonging only to the ‘Necromancer Class,’ which raised the dead to serve as one’s own limbs.

The spell came with the restriction that the caster’s *class* had to be far higher than that of the deceased, but…

With a groan, the Black Fiend’s body was pulled to its feet, as if drawn by a magnet.

Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he assumed a fighting stance against his own brother and began to draw on his internal energy.

“B-Brother! H-how…?”

The White Fiend, unable to grasp the situation, could only blink his eyes stupidly.

*D-don’t tell me he’s a Necromancer?*

First of all, the idea that Kang-jun, who possessed overwhelming physical abilities, was a magic-based ‘Necromancer’ was hard enough to believe…

But to freely command the Black Fiend, a man whose power far surpassed that of an ordinary ‘S-Rank Awakener,’ meant that this man’s class was significantly higher than the Black Fiend’s. That reality was even more impossible to accept.

Just then.

Kang-jun’s lips curled into a smile so vicious and cruel that no demon could ever hope to replicate it, and he spoke.

“If you want to kill me, you’ll have to kill your brother all over again.”

“You… you bastard—!”

“You get the gist, right? Now, kill each other.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Black Fiend’s corpse, its face a gruesome mess, began to rain attacks down on its younger brother.

Watching the two brothers struggle to kill each other, Kang-jun let out a chuckle, “Kekeke…,” and muttered.

“Hey, isn’t that guy a complete degenerate?”

“Sir…?”

“Fighting his own dead brother just to live a little longer…”

He then turned to Bong-gu and asked pointedly.

“Right?”

Meanwhile, Bong-gu looked at Kang-jun and thought.

*He’s a demon…*

He was definitely a demon.

A few minutes later.

*I think I’m going to lose my mind…*

Bong-gu was in a state of utter confusion.

“Bong-gu, Bong-gu.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t this awesome?”

The two notorious executives of the Anti-Bureau Alliance, the Black and White Twin Fiends, were showing off their dance moves with an almost excessive sensuality.

Bong-gu, who was watching their dance with a blank face, muttered, “Huh?” and asked.

“Sir, isn’t that the dance from the new Blackpink Girls song?”

“Oh, so you’re into girl groups, are you?”

“Yes, I actually watch music shows whenever I have the time…”

Kang-jun snapped his fingers and added.

“Then try and guess this dance.”

“Ah, the trendy hammer dance?”

“Then do you know this one?”

“Come on, that’s the contortionist dance.”

Bong-gu, who was eagerly awaiting the next question, suddenly felt a sense of alarm and shook his head from side to side.

*Whoa, I was about to get completely swept up in this…*

As the old saying goes, ‘He who touches pitch will be defiled.’

To think he would find himself desecrating the dead so naturally…

He couldn’t help but feel alarmed about his own character.

“Ah, come to think of it…”

Bong-gu’s tone turned serious as he spoke.

“About the Black and White Twin Fiends, don’t you think they came here to kidnap me?”

“No way.”

“I’m pretty sure they said ‘that person’ desired me earlier…”

He had no way of knowing who ‘that person’ they were referring to was, but he was certain it was someone from the Anti-Bureau Alliance.

And not just anyone, but someone with a high position and a solid standing within the Alliance, enough for the Black and White Twin Fiends to use honorifics.

When Kang-jun just vaguely replied, “Who knows…,” Bong-gu, who had been anxiously chewing his lip, continued.

“Well, it’s not a problem we can solve by worrying about it right now. I think dealing with the bodies should be our first priority.”

“Ah, no need for that. I think these guys’ corpses will be useful for a long time, so I’m going to keep them.”

As Kang-jun finished speaking, he stretched out his hand. Suddenly, a bizarre cracking sound, “*Crack, craaack!*” echoed as the ground began to shake…

A moment later, ‘black hands’ shot out from under the Black and White Twin Fiends’ feet, growing like vines and wrapping around their bodies.

Eventually, the hands that had completely enveloped the brothers’ bodies took the shape of a ‘coffin’ (*棺*) before sinking back into the ground.

Bong-gu, who had been watching the scene in a daze, swallowed hard without realizing it…

*It would’ve been so much more convenient if I could use the corpses and souls I’d saved up before…*

Kang-jun couldn’t hide his disappointment, smacking his lips with a “Tsk.”

He didn’t know how it had happened, but in the process of returning to Earth, the ‘collection’ he had painstakingly gathered had all vanished.

*Well, I can just collect them again…*

Kang-jun reined in his black magic and added.

“Still, they’re decent enough. They should make for some pretty suitable ‘training dummies.’”

“Punching bags?”

“Starting tomorrow, I’m thinking of having you train by sparring with these guys.”

At those words, Bong-gu’s face was a picture of pure shock.

*S-so starting tomorrow, I’ll have to fight the Black and White Twin Fiends day in and day out?*

Even if they had become undead under Kang-jun’s control, their combat prowess seemed no different from when they were alive.

As Bong-gu, already terrified, stood there unable to respond, his lips just trembling, Kang-jun spoke.

“There’s a limit to what you can learn from fighting monsters all day, isn’t there?”

“Still, don’t you think we need to take things step by step…?”

“Jeez, I told you I’ll just bring you back if you die, so stop worrying.”

“How can I not worry when you said you’d bring me back as a Dullahan?”

After some bickering, Kang-jun finally cut it short with an authoritative, “Enough, enough,” before getting back to the point.

“Anyway, it’s about time we got back to our business, right?”

“Yes? Yes, sir…”

“Like I said, let’s head to the Goblin Vault first.”

As if nothing had happened, Kang-jun stuffed his hands into the pockets of his tracksuit pants and started walking ahead.

Bong-gu could only stare blankly at his back, his eyes filled with awe.

He was acting so nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal, but he had just taken down the Black and White Twin Fiends without a single scratch.

*Just what kind of life did he live to obtain such overwhelming strength…?*

It felt like they had spent a decent amount of time together now, but for some reason, the more time he spent with him, the more questions he had.

A goblin in a neat tuxedo and a monocle stood guard at the vault’s counter, an annoyed expression on his face.

Kajan.

He was the manager in charge of the overall administration and operation of the ‘Earth branch’ of the vault run by the goblin clan.

The Earth branch’s performance was lagging significantly behind the other branches, and he was already having a stressful time.

*Dammit, if only I hadn’t embezzled that money back then…*

In truth, his transfer to the ‘Earth branch,’ which had only opened a few years ago and thus had no way of generating real results, was a punishment for the serious crime of embezzlement that Kajan had committed.

In other words, it was exile.

He should have been grateful even for this. If he hadn’t had a history of landing their biggest client, who had deposited the most wealth out of all their branches…

*I would have been fired for sure.*

But his days after being assigned to the Earth branch were nothing short of torment for someone who had once lived a glorious life.

He narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the lobby scene clearly visible on the CCTV monitor.

*Dammit, rotting away in a garbage heap like this, I really have to put up with all sorts of things…*

Two shabbily dressed humans were in the middle of a dispute with the security guards in the building lobby.

“What on earth is going on?”

At Kajan’s irritated question, a neatly dressed young goblin approached and answered with difficulty.

“We will handle it immediately. The guards are doing their best to remove them, but they keep causing a scene, insisting they have assets stored in our custody…”

“Hmm?”

“Just looking at their attire, it’s obvious they can’t even afford the vault usage fees, let alone have anything in storage. The nerve of them, coming here of all places…”

Kajan clutched his throbbing head and waved his hand dismissively.

“It’ll be a huge problem if other clients see this. If it comes to it, use force to get them out of here as quickly as possible.”

After speaking, he shifted his gaze back to the CCTV monitor, looking at the faces of the two humans causing the disturbance.

“Huh?”

Recognizing a familiar face, his eyes widened, and he shouted, veins popping on his neck.

“Wh-what in the world do you think you’re doing?”

“Sir…?”

“U-usher them to the WIP reception room at once!”

Kajan and the person causing a commotion in the lobby had definitely met before. Though they had only met in person once, how could he forget the client who had changed his destiny?

It was all thanks to ‘him’ that he had been promoted from a regular employee to an executive, and that his punishment for the serious crime of embezzlement had been limited to exile.

He was the wealthiest individual in the entire Abyss, and the WIP client who had entrusted and deposited the most wealth among all the clients of this ‘Secret Society of the Wealthy.’

“Immortal…”

It was Immortal.