Watchdog Hunt (1)

Theyre only 30 centimeters away. Both of them were within Seo Jun-hos range. If he made a surprise attack, he could cut their heads off with a single stroke.

But I dont have a good pretext to do that.

He knew that they were fiends, and hed gotten that information from reading another fiends memories. But if he killed them, he would have no way to prove that.

The best-case scenario would be for them to reveal that theyre fiends themselves But that was impossible. They werent amateurs; they wouldnt reveal themselves in a place with lots of players.

Then the only thing I can do is to make my own playing field. Luckily, they didnt know that he knew who they were. Seo Jun-ho calmed himself as he turned to Gong Juha and laughed.

Isnt this fun? Ill play a few more rounds.

Geez, gambling is a scary thing Even as she expressed her concerns about gambling addiction, Seo Jun-ho didnt let his attention on the Watchdogs waver.

Shall I start? The two Watchdogs nodded as they pushed forward ten chips each. At that, Seo Jun-ho pushed all twenty of his chips forward.

Please begin.

Since there are three people this time, Ill be using five cups. The dealer began to elegantly shuffle the cups. As he got faster, it began to look like there were twenty.

Wow, that dealer is no joke.

Who is he? With that level of skill, he was probably big. Even onlookers admired his beautiful skills.

Tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap!

The dealer finished shuffling and looked at the players, waiting for them to choose.

The far right. As soon as Seo Jun-ho answered, the delinquent woman and the skinny man followed.

The middle.

Lets go with the far right.

The dealer flipped the cups. Seo Jun-ho and the skinny man were right.

Gong Juhas eyes sparkled at his forty chips.

Wow. Mr. Snake head, you have a talent for this. How are you so good?

Thats Seo Jun-ho trailed off as he reminisced. Green taught me.

One of the Five Heroes, Gilbert Green. Seo Jun-hod been curious while Green was teaching him marksmanship, and asked how he dealt with an enemy that made good feints or an enemy who moved faster than his eyes could follow. Green had said only one thing:

Watch the substance, not the shell.

His advice had helped immensely. It still did.

If you look at their stats, Gong Juhas are probably higher than the dealers. But theres a reason she cant win despite that.

She only watched the shell, or in this case, the cup. On the other hand, Seo Jun-ho was able to tell which cup the ball was under right away.

The dealers ability has nothing to do with speed. The afterimages from his movements werent from how fast he was moving. The answer was illusions. They were illusions that the dealer was creating.

If you watch his shoulders, wrists, and the cups at the same time, its obvious that somethings off. The dealer would use the illusory skill after he started shuffling and change the cup the ball was under. It really was something of a scam. But if you could see through the trick, it wasnt hard to guess the answer.

You just have to watch his shoulders. The way his muscles move are telling. It was easy. You just needed to watch his shoulder muscles and count how many times his arms moved, how they moved, and in which direction. If he just told Gong Juha the basics, she wouldnt lose a single time.

Ill tell you when were done. Seo Jun-ho organized his chips and looked at the skinny man next to him.

Did he guess it by chance? To check that, he played the game three more times. The delinquent woman didnt win a single time, but the skinny man and Seo Jun-ho won all of them.

Hes not just copying my answer. In two of the games, the man had answered before him. That meant hed figured out the trick.

That man hell be harder to deal with than the woman. If possible, he wanted to take one of them out tonight. It was important to evaluate their skills before the battle.

As he finished his thought, the dealer got up and spoke sadly.

Please wait a moment. There will be a dealer change.

Seo Jun-ho had won all four of his bets. On top of that, they were all all-in. His 1 million won had quickly become 16 million.

(TN: ~10k USD -> ~160k USD)

The loss was too great, so the casino had decided to change the dealer.

A-amazing. You made 16 million in five minutes Gong Juha looked at him in envy. It wasnt the money she was jealous of, but purely his game skill.

Perfect timing.

The dealers gone, so let me show you something interesting, he said loudly. He reached into his jacket and fumbled around the inner pocket. Of course, there was nothing in it. But when he pulled his hand out, he was holding an ice compass. Hed used his Frost skill in that short amount of time.

Wow, thats pretty. Gong Juhas eyes sparkled as she studied it. The two fiends next to them were also secretly interested. Seo Jun-ho smiled faintly.

President Shim Deok-gu lent me this. Its quite an interesting artifact.

Its an artifact? Now that you say that, I feel like I sense magic from it Of course she did. It was made of magic.

If you use magic on this compass, it helps you find certain people.

Certain people?

Haha, well, theres no reason that they would be here, but As he spoke, he poured magic into the compass, and the needle started to spin violently. When it finally stopped, Seo Jun-ho looked up to where it was pointing.

Huh? Gong Juha had been staring at the needle, and she blinked. It was pointing at the two people next to Seo Jun-ho.

Uhm, Mr. Snake head. The needles pointing at them. Seo Jun-ho feigned a shocked expression and pretended to hide it.

Oh, why why is it doing that? He swallowed, his face unreadable. Team Leader, my stomach hurts, so Im gonna go to the bathroom

Oh, go ahead. As Seo Jun-ho got up and waved to Gong Juha, so did the skinny man.

Im going to the bathroom too.

Will it take long?

No, Ill be back in five minutes, he replied with a firm voice.

Seo Jun-ho did not go to the bathroom. He ran out of the hotel as if he was being chased, and hid inside a back alley.

Blink, blink. It was a dark alleyway, with the only light coming from a streetlamp that would blink occasionally.

Huff, huff To anyone else, it would seem like Seo Jun-ho was hyperventilating. The skinny man who had been following him stepped casually into the alleyway.

I dont think this is the bathroom.

Seo Jun-ho stared at him wordlessly. The man smiled as he spoke.

Your luck is really bad. Dont you think so? At least, thats what he thought. An ice compass. Its probably a tool to find fiends. Hed never imagined that such an artifact would exist. If the needle hadnt pointed exactly at him and the delinquent woman, he wouldnt have known what it was.

No one can know who we are for tomorrows attack. Thats why hed come.

His bones were visible in his hands as he gripped a sword.

Ill kill you painlessly.

Before he could attack, Seo Jun-ho looked down at the ice compass in his hand. It had started to melt, and he tossed it aside without a second thought. As the skinny man watched it shatter on the ground, his forehead wrinkled.

It broke? An artifact broke so easily? Artifacts had magic in them and were highly durable. Even if it was weak, it wouldnt break from simply falling to the ground. The look in his eyes changed.

Its fake In other words, this is a trap.

I already thought so while playing, but you catch on quick.

As Seo Jun-ho unsheathed his sword with a shing, the fear on his face disappeared. He now looked like a hunter contemplating his prey.

How did you know?

No comment.

Is there anyone else who knows who we are?

No comment.

How much do you know? That was a question worth answering. It would keep him from running away. Seo Jun-ho gave a lopsided smile.

Hm, well, I know your schedule for tomorrow.

I see. Someone who knew that wouldnt be able to live. The skinny man swung his sword without warning.

Woooosh! The sword pierced through the air, aimed at Seo Jun-hos neck.

! Seo Jun-ho barely managed to dodge. His face fell as he touched his neck.

You dodged? Not bad.

He did his best to dodge, but the skinny man was relentless. They were thinking the same thing.

Hes fast.

Seo Jun-hos Speed stat was over 60, but it was hard for him to keep up.

But its not just a difference in stats. Even if the skinny mans Speed stat was over 80, he wouldnt be so fast. That left one option.

Skill. Seo Jun-ho stared at his opponent with a hard look in his eyes, and the man tilted his sword.

So youve figured it out. Im an acceleration skill user, and I have three levels. That was the first one He readied his stance again. And this one will be the third level.

Why are you telling me that?

I evaluated you with the first attack. You wont be able to block this one even if you know its coming.

He realized. He was correct. It would be impossible for Seo Jun-ho as he was now to keep up with the mans speed. Not only that, his opponents eyes were starting to turn red. Hes going to use Demonic energy on top of his acceleration. The skinny man was planning to kill him with the next attack.

Dammit. Seo Jun-ho clicked his tongue.

He catches on quickly, and hes cautious. But once he decides to do something, he doesnt back out. Hed figured that out after watching the skinny man at the casino and in the alley.

Theres no use in dragging this out. Everything will end in the next strike. Seo Jun-hos eyes were cold. Each member of the Watchdogs was stronger than he was. If his concentration faltered at all, his head would go flying.

Phew. Seo Jun-ho changed his mind. He took his stance and slowly closed his eyes. He no longer needed his sight for this battle.

You wont be able to follow me with your eyes, so youll just close them Not a bad choice. The skinny man stared at his opponent and lowered his stance. He planned to cut through Seo Jun-hos windpipe with this attack. Lets see, the best place to aim

Out of all the pressure points on a human body, the best places to kill with a sword were the head and heart. He checked Seo Jun-hos stance, and the skinny mans eyes flashed.

There are a lot of openings around his head. I can slice through his neck with a single stroke. He made his decision. Ill go with the heart.

It was a cautious decision out of the one-in-a-thousand chance that Seo Jun-ho had intentionally made the opening. On the off chance that was true, he wouldnt put himself in danger.

Goodbye. With that, the man leapt off the ground.

Tap. Wooooshh!

At the sound of his footsteps, darkness seemed to explode from the void and covered the alleyway. It blocked the mans vision, filling his sight with darkness.

Guh?! He was surprised by the unexpected situation, but he didnt stop. A smokescreen wont change anything. He knew where the heart was. Even if his opponent tried to dodge, he wouldnt be able to deal with his speed.

I just need to stab the target with my sword. He didnt hesitate, and his sword didnt waver. The skinny man accelerated and swung.

A terrifying sound was heard as his sword buried itself into Seo Jun-hos chest.

As expected. A corner of his lip curled up. As expected, his sword had been faster.

But there was something hed overlooked.

Crackle!

Seo Jun-ho never intended to dodge. He knew that he wouldnt be able to.

I said this before, but youre too careful.

!

Only

The skinny mans caution had been his downfall. Especially because his opponent had been someone like Seo Jun-ho who knew how to engage in psychological warfare.

Crackle? Thats not the sound a sword makes when it hits flesh?

Realizing that something was wrong, the skinny man quickly dropped his sword and drew back. But Seo Jun-ho wasnt so careless.

Kuh?!

The man finally realized that his hand and sword were frozen in ice.