I Became an Academy Overpowered Growth Genius

I Became an Academy Overpowered Growth Genius – 59

EP.59 Secret Warehouse (3)

The headquarters of the Red Cross Society.

A chilling silence had settled in the conference room.

Summoned by the leader, six executives had gathered.

They were there to discuss the recent series of troubling events.

– Rustle. Rustle. –

At the head of the conference table, seated on a red throne, was a man with crimson hair.

Omen, the leader of the Red Cross Society, frowned as he flipped through the parchment reports.

Each report detailed events that were enough to make one’s head spin.

The shock began with the sudden assassination of Kim Hak-yong, a director planted as a spy within Seongjin Group.

The elite strike force of the Red Cross Society, Credo Assault Team, had vanished without a trace.

The cathedral hideout in Stellaport had been devastated by the Taesan Group.

And, to make matters worse, Park Shin-hoo, whom they had managed to capture with great difficulty, had somehow escaped from the torture chamber.

‘The biggest problem is that all of this happened in less than a week.’

The unfortunate events happening in succession were certainly not a coincidence.

There must be someone behind these incidents.

Someone who is selling the organization’s information to major powers like Seongjin Group and Taesan Group, someone who is cunningly and thoroughly hunting down the Red Cross Society.

‘We need to first identify where the organization’s confidential information is leaking from.’

If the information leak is not stopped, such incidents will continue to occur.

‘There’s no time.’

If events continue at this pace, the Red Cross Society will surely face its downfall within a month.

If they suffer more setbacks, the situation will become increasingly difficult to resolve.

Today’s meeting would be a crucial turning point in the fate of the organization.

“Let’s begin the meeting.”

– Thunk. –

Omen set down the report on the table and scrutinized the faces of the executives one by one.

Their faces were visibly tense.

They knew what was at stake.

“From now on, I will find the traitor among you.”

They all understood that today’s meeting was a guise for a game of mafia.

“Le, Leader! I am innocent!”

The first to speak out was a young woman with brown skin.

She was the executive responsible for the imprisonment and torture of Park Shin-hoo.

She stood up from her seat, clutching her collar, and pleaded.

“Please, give me one more chance, and this time I will surely extract the necessary information from Park Shin-hoo!”

“Another chance?”

Omen looked at the brown-skinned woman with his dark, chilling eyes.

His blood-red eyes were cold enough to freeze blood.

Under his ominous gaze, the woman’s words were abruptly cut off.

As the room fell into a tense silence, Omen continued.

“It seems to me that you’ve already had more than enough chances. I gave you a day and delegated all investigative powers to you. Yet, you failed to find out how Park Shin-hoo escaped, whether he had any accomplices, or anything at all.”

“…Ugh!”

“And yet, you ask me for another chance. What would change if I gave you another opportunity when you know nothing and have discovered nothing? I’m beginning to suspect that you’re deliberately obstructing the investigation and wasting time.”

“…That’s, that’s absurd! Please, just one more chance! This time I’ll prepare more thoroughly…!”

“Ha…. Enough. It’s painful to listen to.”

– Snap! –

Omen nonchalantly snapped his fingers.

The faces of the executives were filled with horror.

The most pale among them was the brown-skinned woman.

“That, that can’t be… No, don’t…!”

– Pop! –

Soon, the woman’s head burst like a balloon, staining the conference table black.

The dark blood and white brain matter of the Demon dripped down under the table.

“Haah….”

Omen sighed wearily.

The executive who had just died was an A-class Demon.

There might have been more use for her as a pawn.

But her incessant babbling seemed like it might spread incompetence, so he killed her on a whim.

“Next. Anyone, say something. Defend yourself, suggest a good plan, or accuse someone in front of you.”

Omen, with eyes like a dead fish, scanned the faces of the executives, urging an answer.

However, no one dared to step forward first.

Rather than risking ending up like the woman whose head had just exploded, they chose to remain silent.

The executives simply looked down at the conference table, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“…….”

After 30 seconds of silence, Omen’s patience had run out.

– Crack! –

Omen raised his hands and then clenched them into fists.

“Kuhuk!”

“Ugh!!!”

“Kyak!”

The executives, who had been maintaining their silence, now clutched their throats, gasping in pain.

It was Omen’s dark magic, the ‘Invisible Shackles.’

The pressure and pain were like being stepped on by an elephant’s foot.

– Crack! Crack! –

Soon, ominous sounds of breaking bones began to emanate from the necks of several executives.

“It might not be such a bad idea to just kill you all now that we’ve already shed blood. After all, the traitor is among you, and the rest are nothing but incompetent mutes. Right?”

Omen was serious.

If he killed all the executives now, it might cause headaches with personnel issues for months or even years, but at least it would stop the immediate leak of information to the outside.

Moreover, it was uncertain whether there was one traitor or several.

Even if one traitor was found, the problem would not be resolved if others remained.

Perhaps it would be better to skip the tedious mafia game and just kill everyone here, then start afresh with a clean slate.

– Crack! –

As Omen was reinforcing his grip on the invisible shackles.

“Kuh, kuhuk! Kack! Khap!!!”

– Pshhhhh!!! –

One of the executives summoned their magical energy and managed to break the shackles.

“……?”

“Huff, huff…! Kuh, kuhuk…!”

The executive who had broken free seemed to have exhausted most of their strength, sweating profusely.

“…….”

Omen could have reactivated the shackles immediately, but he silently waited for the executive to catch their breath.

This too was a whim. If they had just died, at least they would have suffered less.

He was curious about what had driven them to break free from his shackles.

Omen, on a whim, released the shackles on the other executives as well.

“Kuhuk! Huff!”

– Cough! Cough! –

“Kuh, kuhuk! Kuhum!”

For a while, the conference room echoed with the coughing of the Demons.

“Hoo, hoo…. Leader!”

The executive who had broken the shackles finally managed to steady his breathing and spoke up.

Omen looked at the executive and let out a sneer.

“So, what? Did you come up with a good idea on the brink of death?”

It was a clear taunt, but the executive tried hard to hide his displeasure.

In fact, he wanted to rush at the leader and tear his throat out.

And for good reason, as Omen’s shackles had definitely been imbued with a clear intent to kill.

If he hadn’t forcibly broken the shackles, he would have certainly died.

But for the executives, who were merely average A+ class Demons, to oppose S+ class Demon Omen was akin to suicide.

Even the difference in the grade of their armed equipment was significant, charging at Omen in anger would result in nothing more than their own death, without even inflicting a scratch on him.

Therefore, the executive contained his anger with his breath.

If he wanted to live, defying Omen at this moment was not an option.

Instead, the executive offered a suggestion that might pique Omen’s interest.

“Kuk, kuhum…. …There is a way to identify the traitor among us.”

“…And how do you propose to do that?”

“First, place a temporary shackle on all of us. Then, release the curse only from the one who brings clear evidence of who the traitor is. We will take care of the personal matters. Just grant us this one opportunity, Leader. If you do, we will uncover both the traitor and the mastermind behind these incidents.”

“……Hmm.”

Omen stroked his chin.

It wasn’t a bad suggestion.

With a few modifications.

“Not bad. But I won’t give all of you the opportunity at the same time.”

Since he didn’t know who the traitor was among them, or even how many there were, he couldn’t just release them all at once.

“One at a time will leave this room. The rest will stay with me, every step of the way, until the traitor is revealed.”

This way, no matter who the traitor was, they wouldn’t be able to disclose internal secrets to the enemy while with Omen, and it would be difficult for them to conspire with each other.

“And for the one who leaves, in addition to the temporary shackle, I will place a ‘Shackle of Surveillance’ on them.”

The Shackle of Surveillance.

A dark magic that allows the caster to see, hear, and feel everything the shackled person experiences.

In simple terms, it’s like attaching a black box to the body of an executive.

This dark magic requires a continuous expenditure of magic energy to maintain, so it’s not used in normal circumstances, but it’s entirely feasible to apply it to one person for about a week.

This way, even if the executive going outside is the traitor, it would prevent them from leaking internal secrets to the enemy.

At the first sign of suspicious behavior, Omen could simply accelerate the temporary shackle and kill them.

“Good. We’ve come to a rough conclusion.”

Omen stood up, his red robe fluttering, and left the conference room.

Soft sighs of relief could be heard from various corners.

The remaining matters were now up to the surviving executives.

They continued the meeting among themselves, discussing who would go out first.

And once outside, what they would start with and how.

“Whoever among you betrayed the leader, what were you thinking? Are you satisfied now that things have come to this? We could all be dead by tomorrow!”

“Calm down. Let’s think about surviving first.”

“Right. Time isn’t on our side. Let’s decide who will go out first and what the best first move would be once outside.”

Perhaps it was because Omen had just brandished the whip so threateningly.

The meeting proceeded at a rapid pace.

There were differing opinions on who should go out first, but when it came to what should be done first, they were unanimously in agreement.

“Park Shin-hoo…”

“We need to recapture Park Shin-hoo.”

“The information he holds is our lifeline.”

Director Kim Hak-yong, who died because of Park Shin-hoo’s tip-off.

The Credo Assault Team that went missing while trying to kidnap Park Shin-hoo.

The Stellaport hideout devastated by the Taesan Group, Park Shin-hoo’s background.

Park Shin-hoo’s escape from the torture chamber.

At the center of all these incidents was Park Shin-hoo.

The executives believed that he must know something.

However, even if they succeeded in recapturing Park Shin-hoo, there was nothing they could learn from him.

Park Shin-hoo truly knew nothing, he was merely a host being exploited by Kang Seo-jun.

“Park Shin-hoo knows everything.”

“We won’t let him slip away this time!”

Unaware that this was completely the wrong direction,

the executives of the Red Cross Society unanimously prioritized the recapture of Park Shin-hoo as their most urgent matter.