Absolute Warrior V1C8: Emergency Escape
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TL: FoodieMonster007 If you see this, you are at the wrong site!
"I really, really didn't want to say this, but…"
Gu Yangseo truly didn't want to say what he was about to. Truly. He was just trying his luck.
"…Did you do this knowing who I really am?"
He always had his breakfast at this inn. Having lived alone for over fifty years, home-cooked food was a pipe dream, and even summoning the energy to go out for a meal like this wasn't easy. Still, he always tried his best not to skip breakfast.
Today was no different. He had his meal at the inn as usual. The only difference was that his food had been laced with Qi Dispersing Poison, a poison that blocked the use of qi for a short time.
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And as if that wasn't bad enough, he'd only realized he'd been poisoned when he left the inn and was forcibly shoved into a carriage.
Now, he was being dragged off in a windowless carriage, with no way of knowing where he was being taken.
The masked man sitting across from Gu Yangseo remained silent, but Gu Yangseo could tell that he was no common thug. His bodyguards had been dealt with swiftly and quietly before his abduction, indicating a precise and disciplined operation carried out by well-trained experts.
Deciding that he had nothing to lose, he decided to probe the guy a little.
"If you release me now, I'll let this go," he offered.
The masked man finally spoke, replying, "Just do as you're told, and nothing bad will happen."
Gu Yangseo put on the air of a bombastic, ordinary official. "Do you want money? I can give you as much as you want."
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The masked man did not respond further, nor did he act rudely.
Gu Yangseo narrowed his eyes.
He's very disciplined. That means… this must be the Pavilion Master's doing!
He recalled Yagong's sly, unreadable expression. He was capable of such a thing. No, he was the only one capable of this.
Damn it! To think he'd actually kidnap me?
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Moreover, there was another piece of evidence that pointed to Yagong—the fact that the mastermind was going to the trouble of kidnapping him when it would have been much easier simply to murder him with a lethal poison.
Well, since they couldn't command Crimson Tiger without his approval even with the Minor Heavenly Order, Yagong would probably keep him locked up for a few days.
Gu Yangseo frowned. He couldn't publicize this kidnapping. Yagong wouldn't leave any evidence, and accusing him without proof would only complicate matters. Additionally, just the fact that the First Young Lord was a co-conspirator prevented him from revealing this to the world.
Right now, the only person he could trust was Deputy Director Eom Baekyang. He could only hope that his accomplice would act quickly and wisely.
After an hour, the carriage finally stopped.
Gu Yangseo, still blindfolded, didn't resist as he was led out. A short walk later, he heard a large gate creak open. They were taking him into an estate. A little further in, they opened a smaller door, probably a building door. After that, he walked down a winding hallway and then down some stairs.
CLANK!
An iron door opened, and he was ushered inside.
Only then did the masked kidnapper remove the blindfold.
Peeping over the kidnapper's shoulder, Gu Yangseo saw countless more masked men.
Fuck! This is bad.
Escaping on his own was impossible. Even if he could use his inner arts, he wasn't skilled enough to take on so many enemies.
"Don't do anything stupid. Just stay quiet," the kidnapper warned.
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Gu Yangseo calmly replied, "I guess the one who hired you didn't tell you who I am?"
The masked man didn't answer, but his eyes said that his true identity wasn't important.
Gu Yangseo nonchalantly lay down on the bed in the corner. "Well, I guess you guys only care about the money. Hmph. You'll regret not knowing who I am."
CLANK!
The masked man slammed the iron door shut, making his answer loud and clear.
Eom Baekyang paced restlessly around the operations room. "Any news on the Director yet?"
Gu Yangseo was often late for work, but never this late. It was already an hour past his usual arrival time. Given the recent circumstances, Eom Baekyang's concern was only natural.
CLANK, WHIRR…
Just then, the mechanism on the wall activated and rotated, stopping at the character for "Association."
SWOOSH!
Im Yeongdal grabbed and read the new report. "…Huh? Uhh… WHAT THE HELL!?"
His reaction put everyone on edge.
"What is it?" Eom Baekyang shouted.
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Im Yeongdal narrowed his eyes, his expression grave. "The Director's bodyguards… they were found unconscious in an alleyway."
Eom Baekyang shot up from his seat. "What?"
"As of this morning, the Radiant Hall will enter a state of emergency," Hong Sabaek said, quickly drafting an order declaring a state of emergency within the Radiant Hall.
During an emergency, the Twelve Phantoms would cease all missions and return, the Radiant Hall would operate under emergency protocols, and a report was sent immediately to alert the Mystery Pavilion Master and the Association Chairman about the contingency.
Hong Sabaek handed the completed document to Eom Baekyang for his signature.
Receiving the order, Eom Baekyang fell silent for a moment.
"Deputy Director?"
"Wait a minute!" Eom Baekyang reconsidered whether this situation warranted declaring a state of emergency. "You said the bodyguard warriors were found unconscious, not dead, right?"
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"Yes, none of them are dead."
Eom Baekyang clenched his fists. He had a hunch that this was the Mystery Pavilion Master's doing. If it were an outside job, the bodyguards would most certainly have been killed.
Everyone stared at Eom Baekyang with puzzled faces, but his silence and grave expression made them hesitate to speak.
Finally, Eom Baekyang looked at his coworkers. "We'll hold off on declaring a state of emergency for now."
Hong Sabaek quickly exchanged glances with Im Yeongdal and Wang Sochan. This was no ordinary matter. The kidnapping of the Radiant Hall Director was a situation that obviously warranted a state of emergency.
Turning to Hong Sabaek, Eom Baekyang asked, "You trust me, right?"
"Let's say I do."
"Then let's postpone it for now."
"Hey… You didn't do this, did you, Deputy Director? You know, to get promoted to Director?"
"If I did, it would have been good for you too."
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"Why?"
"Because I was thinking of making you the new Deputy Director."
"Damn it! That's a shame."
The two men looked at each other and chuckled. Hong Sabaek trusted Eom Baekyang. If he said to postpone, there had to be a reason.
Hong Sabaek took back the order and tossed it into the brazier.
"Is this really okay?" Jo Birang asked, looking terrified.
Eom Baekyang snorted. "What are you talking about? The real surprise hasn't even started yet. Everyone, listen up!"
The four strategists listened attentively.
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Surveying them, Eom Baekyang said in a low voice, "Sometimes in life, you have to bend the rules a little bit. It happens very rarely, but today is one of those days. If you blab about anything I say from now onwards, you'll be the one who suffers the most when things escalate later on. So if anyone questions you, tell them that I forced you to do it. Understand?"
The three veterans immediately nodded, and Jo Birang also went with the flow. Everyone watched Eom Baekyang with tense expressions, waiting for his orders.
"Send an order to Crimson Tiger. Tell him to escape from that filthy place."
"Huh? Is that okay? The Inquisition is involved!" Jo Birang exclaimed.
The veterans were just as surprised, but they didn't show it.
Eom Baekyang walked over to Jo Birang. "What else should we do, huh? Leave him in there? Would you rather go on a mission yourself? Personally rescue the Director?"
"N-No, sir."
THWACK!
Eom Baekyang slapped the back of Jo Birang's head, then shouted, "Let's show those Mystery Pavilion guys exactly who they messed with!"
After several days, the Inquisition finally gave up interrogating Crimson Tiger. Son Baegin no longer showed up, and although two officers continued taking turns questioning him, it was clear that they were only doing it as a formality.
For all intents and purposes, it seemed that they had given up on extracting a confession from him. He was even given meals regularly and allowed to sleep for a couple of hours.
More importantly, it was weird that the organization still hadn't made any contact with him.
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Still, Crimson Tiger wasn't worried. Dealing with such things was the organization's responsibility, and frankly, compared to his usual missions, being imprisoned was literally a vacation.
"Why did you go to the Savage Beast Headquarters?" an officer asked in a deadpan voice.
Crimson Tiger laughed helplessly.
"What weapon did you use to kill them?"
"……"
The officer continued to ask questions without waiting for an answer, as if he was just reciting items from a list. It didn't actually matter whether Crimson Tiger answered or not, so he just stayed silent and waited until the officer was done.
Just then, someone shouted from outside the prison. "Food's here!"
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"Has it been that long already?" The officer rose from his seat, looking more pleased about mealtime than about getting a confession from Crimson Tiger.
He opened the door, and the server handed him a tray with a bowl of soup, rice, and a few simple side dishes.
The officer took the tray and placed it in front of Crimson Tiger. "Here, eat this. I'll be back later for the rest of the interrogation!"
The officer left to enjoy his own meal.
Picking up his chopsticks, Crimson Tiger's eyes gleamed. There was a side dish of black beans today, but among the black beans, he spotted red beans. He stirred the beans with his chopsticks.
Two red beans in total.
This was a secret order from the organization, used when one was taken hostage or captured. One red bean signified maintaining the status quo, two signified an emergency escape, and three signified eliminating everyone involved before escaping.
Also, there was no way these red beans were mixed in by chance. Upon closer inspection, the beans had subtle, unique markings that were difficult to notice unless one knew what to look out for.
After confirming the markings on both, Crimson Tiger ate the red beans first.
He didn't understand why the Radiant Hall was asking him to escape on his own instead of rescuing him, but it suggested that something serious must have happened.
Anyway, since the order had been given, he had to go as soon as possible.
Releasing his sealed acupoints, Crimson Tiger looked down at his hands and feet. They were bound with long shackles that he could easily break by channeling his qi, but now was not a good time. He needed to wait for the officer to return from his meal break so that he could steal the keys.
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While he waited, he ate heartily. Whenever he was on a mission, he had to have a good meal every time he could, because unexpected situations could leave him starving for days.
About an hour later, the officer returned.
Crimson Tiger whispered, "To be honest, the reason I went to the Savage Beast Headquarters yesterday was…"
The surprised officer unconsciously stepped closer to listen. "Was what?"
WHACK!
Crimson Tiger struck the officer's neck with his palm, and the officer collapsed, unconscious. Quickly, he searched the officer's pockets, retrieving the keys from the officer's waist and unlocking the shackles. After that, he put his ear to the door to confirm that there was no presence nearby, before opening the locked door and stepping out.
Interrogation rooms lined both sides of the corridor, but the Inquisition hadn't bothered to station martial artists to guard the hallway. In the distance, he could see a thick barred gate, and behind it, two guards were chatting with their backs facing him.
Crimson Tiger strode toward them confidently. Perhaps thinking he was the officer, they didn't turn around.
Only when Crimson Tiger got close did one of them look back.
THUD!
He collapsed, unconscious. Startled, the other man glanced at his partner…
THUD!
He, too, fell to the ground. Neither of them knew what had hit them.
Crimson Tiger glanced at the stairs next to the fallen men. After confirming that there was no one else nearby, Crimson Tiger extended his hand and concentrated.
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WHIZZ!
A key hanging on a wall in the distance flew through the barred gate and into his hand.
Crimson Tiger heaved a sigh of relief. Telekinesis required a lot of qi, and at his current level, he could only move light objects. Well, even that was a remarkable achievement for a martial artist.
Unlocking the gates, he left the prison. Before heading up the stairs though, he searched the pockets of the unconscious martial artists and stole a few coins.
When he was done, he extended his qi senses to scout out the area ahead of him. Two guards stood at the top of the stairs.
SWOOSH!
Crimson Tiger leaped up more than ten steps in a single bound and rushed at the guards.
THUMP! THUMP!
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Before they could even reach for their swords, both guards collapsed, struck in the side and jaw. Since Crimson Tiger hadn't used his assassination skills, they had only fainted.
Crimson Tiger cautiously walked down the hallway. The moment he detected a guard coming down the stairs on the opposite side, he threw one of the coins he had stolen.
THUD!
Another guard collapsed.
Crimson Tiger retrieved the coin from the floor as he passed the fallen guard. Although it seemed simple, he had trained for a long time to use coins as hidden weapons, and even then, controlling his strength to only knock his opponent out was difficult.
Regardless, coin tossing was an excellent technique. His opponents never knew how they were defeated as it happened too quickly, and even if he forgot the coin, no one would ever suspect it was the murder weapon.
Crimson Tiger ran up another floor, only to encounter two more guards coming down from above. While they were too shocked to react, Crimson Tiger leapt into the air and struck.
THUD! THUD!
He left the men leaning against the stairwell wall and continued going up until finally, he reached the ground floor.
More than ten martial artists were bustling about in the ground-floor hallway, but ironically, because there were so many people, no one paid attention to Crimson Tiger.
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"Good work."
"Have a good day!"
He even exchanged greetings with the door guards as he strolled out of the Inquisition building like he owned it.
In the blink of an eye, the entire escape had proceeded without a hitch.
Crimson Tiger casually climbed over the outer wall of the Association.
Several seconds later, a commotion finally erupted behind him. Emergency bells rang continuously, and guards could be heard running about shouting.
Walking along the forest path, Crimson Tiger sighed. Now that 'Lim Ho' had become a jailbreaker and fugitive, he would no longer be able to continue working as a warehouse manager. Of course, the guards he had defeated would probably think that he had help, but still.
Suddenly, Yeon appeared before Crimson Tiger, wearing a bamboo hat pulled low over her face instead of a mask.
Crimson Tiger asked, "What in the world happened?"
"You must be surprised, right?" Yeon replied.
Crimson Tiger nodded.
"Something urgent has come up that requires your attention."
Unlike usual, Yeon didn't hand him any written orders. This meant that it was an unofficial operation.
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"I'll help with this mission as well," Yeon added.
That was also unprecedented. Handlers never took part in missions.
Taking a deep breath, Crimson Tiger asked, "So? What do I have to do?"
"We need to rescue someone who's been kidnapped."
"Who?"
"Our Director."
Crimson Tiger gaped in shock. This was far more serious than he had imagined. Now he understood why he was ordered to escape the Inquisition.
Given the gravity of the situation, he felt uneasy, but at the same time, he was also relieved that Yeon and the organization wasn't hiding information from him this time.
"Where is he?" he asked.
Yeon shook her head and shrugged.
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"Do you know who kidnapped him?"
"No."
Crimson Tiger narrowed his eyes. "When was he kidnapped?"
"This morning."
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"The place where he was last seen. We'll start our investigation there."
Crimson Tiger strode off, and a short while later, they arrived at the inn where Gu Yangseo had his breakfast.
"He always has breakfast here?"
"Yes. He would eat here and then walk to the Radiant Hall. Four bodyguards always accompanied him."
"Only four?"
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"Yes, he deliberately avoided having more bodyguards than the four provided to all Directors."
Crimson Tiger nodded. This was likely a decision the Director had made to avoid attracting attention, which could be more dangerous than a lack of bodyguards. "How good is the Director at martial arts?" he asked.
"Not useless, but not exactly outstanding either… Considering his work and the fact that he hasn't used martial arts for a long time, I'd say he's somewhere between first-rate and second-rate."
"Were all the bodyguards killed?"
"No, they were just knocked out and their acupoints sealed. We found them unconscious in the alley behind the inn."
"No one was killed?"
Crimson Tiger blinked in surprise. Typically, when kidnapping a high profile person, the kidnappers would eliminate the bodyguards to avoid leaving witnesses and potential pursuers. Yet, the Director's bodyguards were left alive?
This was definitely not the work of the Evil Coalition. Rather… it was looking more and more like an inside job by someone within the Association.
Sighing, Crimson Tiger slowly surveyed the inn's surroundings. The fact that the bodyguard warriors were found here meant that the incident took place here, but there were no signs of a struggle anywhere.
Either the kidnappers were far superior to the bodyguard warriors in skill, or they had meticulously planned this in advance, or both. Moreover, if it was planned, then the kidnappers were very familiar with the Director's habits and daily routines.
Crimson Tiger thought about the routes the Director could take from the inn to the Association. There were two options: a slightly longer but bustling road, and a shortcut that was secluded and less traveled.
"Which route does he usually take to work?"
"I understand he always took the shortcut."
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Crimson Tiger tilted his head. "That's strange."
"What is?"
"If they were going to ambush him, why do it here? It would have been much better to do it on that secluded path."
"…I see."
After a moment of thought, Crimson Tiger looked towards the inn with a knowing expression, and Yeon followed him.
The back door was open. As they entered, a young man was squatting in the backyard, trimming vegetables.
"You're not supposed to come here. The entrance is on the other side," the young man said without looking up.
Crimson Tiger ignored him and approached.
"I told you, the entrance is…" The young man looked up, irritated, but as Crimson Tiger's presence pressed down upon him, his voice trailed off.
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"How many cooks are there here?" Crimson Tiger demanded coldly.
"Four."
Crimson Tiger observed the young man for a moment. "Do you know Master Gu? The man who comes for breakfast every morning?"
"No," the young man answered quickly, but Crimson Tiger could sense surprise and fear in his voice.
Crimson Tiger strode over and sat down in front of him. "You don't know? You don't know the man who comes for breakfast every single day?"
"That's… I haven't worked here for long."
Crimson Tiger silently glared at the young man, but he didn't dare to meet his eyes.
"I don't know. I really don't know…"
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"Why did you do it?" Crimson Tiger whispered.
"Huh?"
"Why did you poison the food? How much were you paid?"
The young man's face paled. "W-What are you talking about?"
The young man immediately tried to stand up, but Crimson Tiger roughly grabbed his shoulder, exuding enough killing intent to bring an ordinary person to their knees.
Yeon watched the whole situation quietly. She knew that Crimson Tiger never bullied ordinary civilians, so judging by his actions, he must be sure of the young man's guilt.
Sure enough, in the end, the young man crumbled under Crimson Tiger's killing intent.
"I was wrong! They threatened to kill my family if I didn't do as they said. I was scared. Please forgive me!" he confessed, terrified.
Crimson Tiger nodded. The fact that the crime happened in the inn suggested that poison might have been used, and the fact that the bodyguards were left alive indicated an intention to be discreet, so he had guessed that the Director had been poisoned and abducted, but now he was certain.
Still, it wouldn't be easy to infiltrate the kitchen with four cooks and secretly carry out the plan. They would have to subdue the cooks, and whether they were killed or left alive, things would inevitably get complicated. Their best option was to bribe or blackmail one of the employees.
Crimson Tiger put himself in the kidnapper's shoes. If he were them, he would definitely have approached this naive young man, and it seemed like he got it right the first time.
Well, even if this young man wasn't the accomplice, he was prepared to interrogate all the cooks.
"Who hired you?" he asked.
The young man trembled with fear and burst into tears. "It was a man I'd never seen before. Ordinary looking. About thirty years old. He gave me some powder and told me to put it in the food. The bodyguards usually drank tea while waiting for the director to finish his meal… and he told me to put it in their tea too… Sob… I was wrong. I was afraid that they would kill my family! Please forgive me!"
Crimson Tiger shook his head. By now, it was obvious that the kidnappers were experts. The man who hired him would have been disguised, so there was no point in pressing the young man any further. The information wouldn't be useful.
Just then, a middle-aged cook came out. "What's going on here?"
"Just asking for directions," Crimson Tiger said indifferently, before leaving the backyard.
He and Yeon returned to the front of the inn.
"They must have had a carriage waiting nearby," Crimson Tiger reasoned. "Most likely a stolen one, with the windows covered in black cloth. The driver would be a man in his thirties, quiet, and not carrying any weapons. When the carriage left, it would have maintained a consistent speed, likely trying not to attract attention."
"With this information, I'm sure we can find something," Yeon said, inwardly admiring Crimson Tiger's impressive powers of deduction.
Having only seen him fight, this was the first time she had witnessed him using his brain. She felt like she had discovered a whole new side of him.
"Is there anything else you need?" she asked.
"Get me a sword and a box of throwing knives," Crimson Tiger replied calmly.
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