TRPM 31

chapter 31

The man who heard my telepathic transmission hesitated for a moment, then began explaining his circumstances.

Stripping away the trivial details, the important part was this: his wife and son had been kidnapped, and to save them, he was forced to follow the orders of a crime syndicate—enduring even a false accusation in the process.

I skimmed past his regrets and the details of the kidnapping. Instead, I focused on the man pinned beneath me.

“Urgh…”

This was the same man who had just been giving orders to another thug, the one luring Association staff and police away.

Looking around the room where he had been operating, I discovered something interesting.

[Suspect is currently fleeing toward Checkpoint No. 5! Requesting backup!]
[Copy that.]

For one thing, the radio was tuned to the police frequency—somehow they had hacked into the Association’s and police’s communications, hearing everything.

[We’ve already made it past the designated point. You should start pulling out too. And don’t forget to extract the guy we left to act as bait.]

Another voice spoke over the same radio, presumably one of this man’s colleagues.

So, in other words: the man I subdued had been eavesdropping on police chatter while tracking both criminals and officers, making sure the two never crossed paths.

“Tch…”

Sloppy.

The police’s security was sloppy. The criminals’ plan was sloppy.

Not because either side was incompetent—but because the police’s security wasn’t weak, it was deliberately compromised. And the criminals didn’t need intricate planning, because someone was smoothing things over for them.

“…So the police have an insider.”

That explained everything neatly.

No matter how strong security protocols are, if someone inside with access cooperates with criminals, breaching them becomes trivial.

I dismissed the possibility of an insider within the Association. Recently, their executives had been reshuffled. While some pro-guild people might remain, it was unthinkable that someone openly colluding with criminals was still there.

“But inside the police? Someone actively colluding with criminals….”

In movies, sure, you see it. But this was real life.

Bribes to look the other way, maybe—but collusion with criminals? And at a fairly high rank?

That wasn’t just a problem. That was a crisis.

“…Not my concern, though.”

The real issue was the man pinned under me—and more specifically, the skill he had used.

“Hey. I’ve got a question.”
“Grghh….”

He clenched his teeth and pretended to glare at me.

At the same time—

[Things have gone—]
[Where do you think you’re going?]

—he tried to signal his allies.

Naturally, I shut it down instantly.

I knew the exact mechanics of the skill he was using, so interfering was child’s play.

After all—

“Trying to use Secret Sound Transmission in front of its creator? You’ve got guts.”

The technique he used was the so-called sound transmission, or telepathic whisper.

“Well….”
“I’m not asking where you learned it. The fact that I get a usage fee in real-time tells me enough.”

Among the countless techniques I had stored in the database at the Awakener System’s demand, sound transmission was one of them.

And it didn’t require internal energy specifically; mana or mental power could substitute just fine. So even non-martial artists—unlike me or Yeon Mirae—could use it.

Of course, I hadn’t uploaded the exact version I used myself. The potential for abuse was too high.

Instead, I only recorded the most basic principles—so crude that anyone nearby could sense it when used.

But this guy’s sound transmission had been refined somehow, made subtler.

“Still, it’s not far enough removed from the original framework. My senses picked it up instantly.”
“Damn it…!”

He cursed, glaring at me.

I placed my foot firmly on his head.

“Well, now you understand the situation….”

He wasn’t stupid.

He knew I had spared him for a reason. He knew the only way out alive was to cooperate.

“So, let’s be direct. Where are your buddies headed? Spill.”

Surely he could weigh the choice between his so-called loyalty to fellow criminals and his own life.

“…”

Instead of answering, he gave me a thin smile. Then, he poured mana into the floor.

“Die…!”
“Oh, and if you were counting on the binding magic circle in this room….”
“?!”

The hidden circle beneath the floor activated, chains of mana bursting forth.

But instead of restraining me, they wrapped tightly around him.

“You should know—tweaking someone else’s circle to change its target isn’t that hard.”
“A m…mage?!”

And skilled enough to secretly alter an existing circle?

“Of course.”

I kindly crushed his last hope.

“That binding circle? I’m the one who created it and registered it in the database.”
“…!”

His face twisted in despair.

“To think you’d steal my techniques—two of them already—for crime. Or is it more than two?”

Maybe he was also using other skills I’d registered.

“…C-could it be… you’re… a Grand Mage?”
“A Grand Mage, huh….”

Sure, my magical knowledge was vast. I could even imitate the so-called ‘Grand Mage-level’ spells, though inefficiently.

“But does that matter?”

What mattered was whether he told me where his friends were headed. Nothing else.

“I—I’m sorry!”

He lowered his head and started talking.

“Because of the hostages, we couldn’t move our hideout too far. We grabbed a nearby abandoned building and made it the new base. The location and address are—”
“…”

I listened quietly.

Then sighed.

“Haa…”

At my sigh, he looked nervous.

“Is… is there a problem?”
“Yeah. The problem is that you’re lying.”

“W-what?!”

“I’ve dealt with too many liars to miss it. Your lies are nothing.”

Like I said—

“The only thing that matters is whether you tell me where your friends are headed. And you didn’t.”

Pathetic.

To weigh loyalty against life, and still choose to lie for the sake of loyalty.

Not that it mattered.

Even if he never spoke a word, I didn’t need him.

Because I could—

“Just ask your brain directly.”
“Wha—aghhh?!”

I grabbed his head, pouring my internal energy into his skull.

Unlike when I used this technique on Yeon Mirae, I showed no restraint. My energy rampaged, raking through him, wringing screams of agony.

“So, you planned to move your base out of Seoul—no, the whole metro area—and into Gangwon Province?”
“S-stop…!”

My internal energy mimicked psychometry or mind scan abilities.

But the effect was different.

Those psychic skills usually caused no harm. My energy did the opposite—inflicting pain while ripping information out.

I could extract it discreetly if I wanted. But why bother?

This man was a criminal.

One who had taken hostages and forced someone into false charges.

No mercy required.

“And the police insider is… well, well. You even turned a precinct chief? You used him to frame people with fabricated evidence? How? Ah… you took hostages there too.”

Not my concern.

If that officer had a conscience, once the hostages were freed, he’d confess himself. If not, the trail of evidence left behind would expose him in due course.

My job wasn’t that.

It was to eliminate criminals and rescue hostages.

That was all.

So I focused only on useful intel: their pre-planned escape routes, transport, and the number of guards with the hostages.

“That’s enough.”

I pulled my hand away.

“…Uhhh….”

His mind, shredded by the intrusion, left him drooling and broken.

I casually tossed him aside.

Crash!

He slammed into a bookshelf, toppling it. Books spilled everywhere.

I had aimed him there deliberately.

Because behind that shelf was a hidden safe filled with cash and documents.

The police would find it when they came to investigate.

And I would make sure they came.

Boom!

I overloaded the binding circle, detonating its mana.

The surge spread outward, far enough that other Awakeners would sense it.

They’d report it—or come themselves.

Either way, this place would be discovered.

That was enough.

“Well then….”

I slipped out before anyone else arrived.

Not because I couldn’t avoid them, but because there was no reason to linger.

I had somewhere else to be.

“…Found you.”

The criminals were on the move with their hostages.

I locked onto several trucks. Outwardly ordinary cargo vehicles—but carrying many people in the back.

“Hmm… time’s tight.”

If they realized contact with their comrade had been cut, they might panic.

I had to subdue them quickly and rescue the hostages.

Of course, I had no intention of using the Heart-Sword technique again.

Not after Mirae saw the toll it took on me and begged me never to use it again.

Besides—

“…I’ve since realized there are plenty of other ways to ensure the hostages’ safety without traumatizing them, ways that don’t involve the Heart-Sword.”