Episode 83. To Kill the President of the Association (2)
The fight between the two women was very fierce. The earth around the two melted down, unable to withstand the heat. The monsters charging toward them were caught up in the heat and turned to ash.
The two were the main culprits that destroyed the defense line, but they were serving as the best defense line at the same time.
‘Still… if they keep going at it, there’s no telling how many Rifts will occur.’
The two women’s powers were dangerous not only because they were extremely destructive but also because they were much better at drawn-out battles than other Awakeners. It would take too long to wait for one of them to collapse from exhaustion.
Then, it was important for me to intervene and disrupt their fight before they turned the Monster Fields into a Rift festival.
“Ajusshi, do you think I can get in there? Won’t I end up saying goodbye to the world before I even get into high school?”
“Hm… I don’t know.”
“……!”
Sung Hyun-woo’s face grew pale at my reply. But when I laughed at his surprised face, he realized I was joking.
“Don’t worry. You won’t die.”
“…….”
“Little kids get hurt when big kids fight. But you’re also a big kid.”
Pat.
I patted Sung Hyun-woo on the back. There was no reason for him to feel intimidated.
He looked like a child and was recently expressing rich emotions. But Sung Hyun-woo inherently belonged to those monstrous humans over there, not to hunters over here. He was the First Disaster, and he could rival them.
“Hyun-woo.”
“Yeah?”
“Read her memory. Seol Ah-rin’s.”
Sung Hyun-woo’s gaze slowly moved. His eyes glimmered faintly, and his face changed over time.
“Oh….”
His face got redder, and he frowned. He clenched his jaw and his fist, then gasped. The stones on the ground rose to the air and crumbled. His uncontrolled telekinesis began to run wild.
“She’s… a bad person.”
Even though Seol Ah-rin had not yet caused a major incident, she was a villain. A villain who belonged to a vicious group that was bold enough to kill the Flame Queen’s husband.
There was no way a woman like that lived a virtuous life, and her evil acts were enough to provoke Sung Hyun-woo.
“A real bad person.”
After all, a villain who couldn’t be rehabilitated was Sung Hyun-woo’s emotional trigger.
“Hyun-woo, if she’s a bad person, you should go and punish her.”
“…….”
“Not the old lady over there. Just put the bad woman in a Rift. The biggest and most dangerous of all Rifts.”
Sung Hyun-woo nodded slightly. At the same time, he disappeared from my sight.
Crack!
“……?”
Seol Ah-rin and the Flame Queen froze instantly. The two stopped moving, just like someone had picked up the remote and pressed pause.
“What… the hell… is this?”
Seol Ah-rin murmured slowly. But before she could do anything, a storm raged on the spot. Dust rained down, and an invisible power swept her away.
Her small body rose into the air, and with the sound of hitting something heavy, Seol Ah-rin was flung away.
“You… bastards… Ahhhh….”
Seol Ah-rin flew far away, and she was sucked into a horrendous, gaping Great Rift.
It wasn’t until I saw that she was entirely gone that I jumped into the burning Monster Fields. The Flame Queen stood there looking puzzled as she stared at the sight.
“Flame Queen?”
And I slowly approached the perplexed Flame Queen.
“We’ve met before, right? That other time.”
Even though I respected her as a senior hunter, shouldn’t she have to pick up after herself?
“I’d like you to help us organize the mess you created here.”
* * *
“Can Jeong Si-woo destroy the Great Rift along with the Monster Fields at his current level?”
“It’s not impossible. But the possibility is extremely low…….”
“Then he’ll do it.”
Tap tap.
Kim Min-jae murmured, dissatisfied.
So far, Jeong Si-woo made it through difficulties when there was only 1 percent, no, 0.1 percent possibility of succeeding. Unless it was completely impossible, he kept trying, and his challenge never failed. He was the very symbol of victory.
Kim Min-jae didn’t think that this time would be different, that Jeong Si-woo would fail. Instead, he expected Jeong Si-woo to calmly get through it.
“Considering the Rifts, by-products, and potential use as a training facility for hunters, it would generate a huge flow of money. If the wall project is successful, we could use it as an example and build more farms elsewhere. And then… the Association would grow into a mega-organization that can reach across the world.”
“So, there was a 70 percent chance of steady advancement… But that kid messed everything up.”
Tap tap.
Knocks on the table rang out. Kim Min-jae felt quite dissatisfied. Numerous calculations went through his mind.
Jeong Si-woo was definitely an outstanding individual and a hero that humankind needed. However, to Kim Min-jae, he was insignificant.
Kim Min-jae didn’t need an extraordinary hunter with exceptional abilities. The people that Kim Min-jae needed the most were obedient hunters with average talent. The perfect type to manipulate.
“Would the Association’s hounds be able to get rid of Jeong Si-woo?”
It was a rather dangerous question. However, the people standing behind Kim Min-jae didn’t even blink an eye as they answered indifferently.
“Yes.”
“And the probability of success is?”
The hounds answered without hesitation.
“100 percent.”
Kim Min-jae smiled faintly at the reply. It looked like he didn’t need to take matters into his own hands. He had even thought of using his hidden powers to get rid of Jeong Si-woo… But the longer he kept his secret, the better. Kim Min-jae touched his wristwatch as he leaned into his chair.
“You will all enter the Fields as backup. You’ll get rid of the numerous emerging Rifts and monsters. And unfortunately, in the process, the prospective hero rookie Jeong Si-woo dies.”
“Yes.”
“People will talk about him for a very long time. A week or a month. They’ll write eulogies on the Internet, and some will write letters. They will mourn the death of a young hero, but unfortunately, the Monster Fields will remain intact.”
Kim Min-jae paused momentarily before continuing.
“And then, Kim Min-jae, President of the Association, will announce plans to spend a huge sum of money on building a wall that will protect the civilians. Since a great deal of money will be needed, he will also receive donations in the hero’s name.”
Kim Min-jae’s eyes glinted like those of a snake.
“…It’s going to be quite an interesting picture.”
* * *
The Flame Queen readily accepted my request. She apologized to everyone, saying she was sorry for causing pain and did her best to stop the monsters and destroy the Rifts.
It was just the addition of one more person, but the effect was enormous. Wizards were the most effective in mass slaughters, and her characteristic was Fire. Scorching heat swept through the entire area. It was hard to believe a single human being could create such heat.
“On the right!”
It wasn’t just the Flame Queen that helped. The Monster Field Commander Park Young-joon was also as valuable as 100 hunters.
He slaughtered the monsters at an unbelievable rate for an old hunter. And whenever anyone was in danger, he rushed over immediately to save them.
The situation wasn’t that bad. The Great Rift showed no changes since it swallowed Seol Ah-rin. I couldn’t tell if she was destroying all the monsters or whether she had blocked the entrance, but not a single insect crawled out, let alone a monster.
‘It may be possible.’
My Outstanding Insight was also affirmative. The synergy that hunters instinctively created in dangerous situations was amazing. The monsters were swept away like dust, and the Rifts collapsed.
“Grrrr… Gawk!”
I grabbed a dashing Goblin by the neck. There was no need to do anything fancy. I simply strengthened my grip and crushed the Goblin’s head.
I shook the blood off my sleeve and looked around. There were explosions everywhere, and I could hear the sound of metal clanging with metal.
We were going to win on this chaotic battlefield. We were going to knock the despicable Kim Min-jae off his pedestal and build the foundation to kill him.
-The Association’s elite team is entering the Fields as backup…….
I could hear a voice from the receiver in my ear. It said that the Association was sending backup.
Instead of feeling excited, I was suspicious. Why would the picky Kim Min-jae bother to send his forces to the Fields? For what purpose? Was he trying to share credit now?
No, he wasn’t someone who obsessed over small achievements like this. Deploying his people meant that he was aiming for something big.
“…Wait.”
I thought from Kim Min-jae’s perspective, wondering why I would have sent the hounds. And something came to my mind.
In the past, I had a similar experience. I wasn’t the victim, but I realized how blind Kim Min-jae was with greed and how nasty and vile he was.
-Jeong Si-woo, did you say you were an Analyst at the Travelers guild?
-I heard that all the Travelers guild hunters are dead. It was an unfortunate accident. They tried to protect civilians, and the Association’s support team arrived late. There were no survivors…….
I didn’t know at the time, but I immediately noticed it when I looked into it again after a few years.
Hunters that rebelled against the Association and refused to comply. Hunters that declared they wouldn’t join the Association, who didn’t require the Association’s help and were willing to form their own organization. A nice Rift that appeared just at the moment. And the numerous artifacts found inside the Rift…….
Only then did I know. The reason why their bodies were in worse condition than other hunters who died in the Rift. The reason why they were torn to pieces with no intact body parts.
It was simple. They had died not because monsters preyed on them, but because humans preyed on them.
Humans don’t eat dead humans. They eat what the dead person leaves behind.
I could see the black coats from afar. They were uniforms that symbolized the Association and meant that the people wearing them were hounds. They were usually annoyingly slow, but right now, they ran toward us at the fastest pace I had ever seen.
‘If I die… he’ll benefit too much.’
There was no reason to think it over. The Mirage sparkled as it rose from the back of my hand. This was better anyway. I was going to kill him, and now I had proper justification.
Who would blame me for killing someone who threw the first blow?
Ring!
I heard my phone ring.
I lifted my hand and tapped the receiver twice.
-Si-woo, where are you? We’re almost there. Mr. Zhang Wei and Yoo Ji-yeon too……!
As soon as I heard Han Yeon-soo’s voice, I smiled.
The Association’s hounds? They could come all they want. No matter how many they were, they could hardly be a match for the Five Heroes.
I stood still with my hands folded behind me, looking at the Association’s hounds rushing toward me.
They had no idea.
That they were running right into the lion’s den.
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