Chapter 257:
Yu-hyun dragged Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia to a quiet place and told them what he had learned.
“The Unleashed Collectors we caught today were just bait.”
“What?”
“Is that true?”
“Didn’t you find it strange? Even if they are globally dangerous, it’s a stupid thing to waste their members like that.”
Kang Hye-rim cautiously voiced her opinion.
“But they are such extremists, maybe they are capable of doing such things?”
“That might be possible, but that’s not the case. They have been notorious overseas for years. But why do you think they haven’t been rooted out yet? It’s because they are smarter than you think.”
“More precisely, it’s their leader.”
“Ms. Jia is right. From what I checked today, the ones we caught at Blessing Scenery Palace Square were all just tails.”
Yu-hyun had captured the Unleashed members and examined their books thoroughly.
And he was able to find one common point among them.
“They were bait. And surprisingly, they themselves didn’t even know that they were bait when they participated in this.”
“Did you find out anything else?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
No matter how much he looked at the books, there was no mention of where to join after this job or anything like that. In the end, they were used as disposable pawns.
Maybe they knew they were disposable and still went ahead with it.
‘Their loyalty was extraordinary.’
People who fell into extreme ideologies were easily influenced by meeting someone who recognized and agreed with them.
Throwing away their lives in madness was not something limited to religion.
Extreme ideologies also ruined people as seriously as religion.
‘Was his name Jin Cheong-woon-woon?’
The founder of Unleashed and the undisputed person who always occupied the top spot on Interpol’s most wanted list.
The only things known about him were his name and that he was from a Chinese ethnic minority.
Everything else was hidden in mystery and even the intelligence agencies of various countries could not easily catch him.
He didn’t even reveal his face, so there was no way to recognize him even if he met him on the street.
‘What is he planning by throwing away dozens of members this time?’
The seed of a story that creates a realm of ideology. And the smoke screen operation at Blessing Scenery Palace Square.
Yu-hyun was sure that these two things were related somehow.
‘Jin Cheong-woon-woon is thorough and brilliant enough to avoid being caught for a long time. His subordinates sincerely believe in and follow him, so his leadership and charisma must be outstanding. Anyone who sees his book would know that it’s golden.’
But strangely enough, Jin Cheong-woon-woon didn’t show much prominence in his previous life.
Even after the end of the realm, Jin Cheong-woon-woon’s whereabouts literally disappeared like smoke. Everyone was too busy surviving to care then, but it was strange that there was no news of anyone like him.
‘Maybe he had that potential in him, but he couldn’t bloom in his previous life… Or maybe he got some kind of special ability this time.’
Yu-hyun’s eyes sharpened.
In fact, Jin Cheong-woon-woon was not someone to be ignored.
Yu-hyun felt two gazes as he walked around Blessing Scenery Palace today.
‘One of them was a Teller from the Tragedy Comedy.’
He was a very high-ranking person, for he noticed that Yu-hyun recognized him even though Yu-hyun acted naturally and did not show any signs.
The Tellers who belonged to the Tragedy Comedy usually had no ranks, but they gave titles like leader or boss to the very outstanding ones.
Perhaps, that Teller was also one of those who had a title.
‘And the other one was, an unidentified gaze.’
It was hard to tell because he was so far away, but I felt it for sure.
The gaze that pierced through the wall of the building and looked at me as if it could see through me came from several kilometers away.
‘There is a long-range specialized Collector. And a very impressive one at that.’
Collectors who shoot arrows or guns usually judge the level of their abilities based on their ‘eyes’.
How clearly they can see things that are far away, how vividly they can see things that others cannot.
Those ‘eyes’ were the most necessary talent for a long-range specialized Collector.
At the end of the apocalypse, in Jamila’s case, she could see up to 36km away when she used her skill to see far. If the earth was not round, she would have been able to see further.
‘But, that was almost at the end of the ordeal. There is no way there is someone with that level of ability right now.’
Even considering that, the gaze that watched me was out of the norm.
Even Jamila, who showed off her great talent in the future, could barely see over 3km at best right now.
I did not think it was Jin Cheong-woon-woon-woon’s. It must be someone close to Unleashed.
‘There must be more than one person like that.’
Unleashed were troublesome people even in my previous life, but they grew even more frightening this time.
It was too drastic to say it was just because of the second Phantasm Shock.
I knew the reason.
‘Golden light.’
A fragment of the Book of Genesis that gave power to Park Mooncheol.
That golden light fragment was given to the Collectors who belonged to Unleashed.
***
The owner of the gaze that Yu-hyun felt moved to the promised contact point after witnessing everything that happened in Blessing Scenery Palace.
A lush mountain slope where no people came and went. There were members who had arrived first on a rock there.
“So. How was it? Shena.”
Jin Cheong-woon-woon asked his subordinate who had been fascinated by what happened in Blessing Scenery Palace, Shena Lynch.
He said subordinate, but Shena was actually an executive-level member of Unleashed, and an old member who had been active with Jin Cheong-woon-woon since the beginning.
A ginger-haired Irish woman with freckles on her face.
She opened her mouth.
“As you said, boss. That man is very dangerous.”
Shena observed Yu-hyun closely. Even if Jin Cheong-woon-woon had not asked her, she would have checked him out of curiosity.
A Teller who gave up all protection and fought with other Collectors.
Considering that all the Tellers she knew were always selfish, arrogant, and haughty, Yu-hyun was nothing short of a mutant.
“I see. If it’s your judgment, then it must be so.”
“It’s not an exaggeration. More than anything, that Teller, I think he felt my gaze for a moment.”
“Your gaze?”
There was no Collector here who could see farther and more accurately than Shena.
She could see up to 4.7km away, and even penetrate some obstacles in between.
To exaggerate a bit, the only thing that could surpass Shena was an artificial satellite. That’s how powerful she was.
“Besides, her strength was no joke. Even though she didn’t show her full power, she easily subdued our people, targeting only us.”
“Hmm. Maybe it’s because she’s a Teller, she can see things that others can’t. I don’t think our information leaked out, so maybe she has some kind of skill to find out the enemy’s information?”
“More than anything, the two Collectors she leads are not easy either. What were their names? Swordmasterand Mad Dog? To be honest, there aren’t many people here who can fight and win against them.”
Some of the officers were enraged by Shena’s provocative words.
“That’s hard to let go.”
Among them, a giant man who had been sitting quietly on a rock opened his mouth. He was an Indian-looking person with slightly dark skin.
“They’re just guys who got stronger by joking around with the Spirits. On the other hand, what about us? While others were sweeping up all kinds of points, we fought desperately against the realm and became stronger.”
The officers gathered here were all proud of their own strength.
The Collectors in this realm are too weak. They earn points easily and become stronger. On the other hand, what about us?
We came here after bloody efforts and continuous fierce battles.
Some of those who were with us died or were captured or left.
That’s how we were filtered out, and there were less than 10 officers left. The subordinates below them were those who were influenced by Jin Cheong-woon-woon-woon, but in fact they were not real Unleashed.
The giant man was saying this.
Don’t compare us with those greenhouse orchids.
“I have a different opinion.”
The one who broke his words was Jin Cheong-woon-woon-woon, their leader.
“…Boss.”
“Of course, Abenaki, you’re right too. Surely we are much stronger than the average Collectors. You’ve all seen the changed status window. Is there anyone below level 70 here?”
No one answered. All the officers here had passed level 70.
“But still, we can’t say for sure that we’re the strongest. Just look at Wimuhyeok, who is known as the strongest in this country.”
“Hmm.”
The officers all made a sour face when the name Wimuhyeok came up.
They didn’t want to admit it, but he was a man who none of the officers here could beat, except for Jin Cheong-woon-woon.
“There are also quite a few high-ranking Collectors in this country. Strength is not absolute and abilities have compatibility. We might be able to beat them, but on the other hand, we might lose too.”
“So what do you want us to do? Give up?”
“Abenaki. Listen to me till the end. I’m not saying to give up. We’re human too, so let’s admit our shortcomings. Since we’re all gathered here, I’ll tell you. We can’t fight our enemies head-on. That’s why I tried to approach Wimuhyeok. But there are still many problems.”
Jin Cheong-woon-woon smiled as if he enjoyed this unfavorable situation.
“Coming to this country was definitely the right choice. I felt it for sure.”
“That’s related to the prophecy you mentioned?”
A man with black tattoos all over his face asked.
Jin Cheong-woon-woon nodded.
“Yes. And the prophecy says that Kang Yu-hyun, the Teller, is very dangerous.”
No one disagreed with Jin Cheong-woon-woon’s prophecy.
They were able to come this far thanks to this man’s sudden awakening of a power called prophecy.
And thanks to Jin Cheong-woon-woon, the officers were able to become much stronger than before.
“Besides, they’re chasing us. If we go on like this, our operation will fail.”
“Then what do we do? It doesn’t seem easy to attack them separately.”
“That’s suicide. The answer is simple.”
Jin Cheong-woon said that and showed them the small seeds he took out of his pocket.
“They’re going to come after us anyway, right? We don’t need to go ourselves.”
The officers’ faces relaxed, knowing what these seeds meant.
“He’ll come to us on his own, anyway.”
With the power of these seeds, it was no big deal to trap them in hell for life.
No matter how strong they were, they all had weaknesses.
No one could ever survive in their own hell.
***
Seo Sumin’s academy life was going smoothly.
Yura had recovered and was discharged from the hospital, and they spent more time together than ever.
Recently, Gu Seo-yoon also visited her a few times and chatted with her.
Of course, the students who watched them thought that Seo Sumin and Gu Seo-yoon were dating, but Seo Sumin didn’t care about their reactions at all.
All she had in her mind was the upcoming first exam.
“Ah. Are you taking the first exam?”
“Yes.”
The training room of White Flower Management.
There, as usual, Yoo Young-min was receiving Seo Sumin’s guidance and training his body. He found a convenient topic to talk about and asked her happily.
“Well, it’s about time for the academy exam.”
“I have to do well on this exam. I have to secure a good rank in the first round to get the privilege.”
“Right. There was something like that.”
Yoo Young-min realized what Seo Sumin’s situation was.
She was a reincarnated heavenly demon. She already had a much stronger power than other collectors, but her age as a minor restricted her actions.
In a situation where her access to the realm of ideas was strictly controlled, the only thing she could do right now was to get the privilege through the exam.
If she passed that, she would be granted access to the realm of ideas, even if it was temporary.
But she had a slight concern.
“I don’t know about the practical part, but the written part is hard no matter how I think about it. And there’s also a part where you have to work as a team. Being strong alone is not enough to meet all the criteria for evaluation.”
In Seo Sumin’s view, other A-rank students were weaker than her in terms of power, but they were better than her in other things because they had received professional education since they were young.
She worried that she might not get the privilege at this rate.
She couldn’t use her real power, the Seven Black Sky Divine Skill, which would be crazy.
So she said something like a complaint to Yoo Young-min.
“Do you want me to tell you how?”
An unexpected answer came back.
“…You?”
“You’re so dismissive of me. Even though I know more about the academy than you do, Miss Heavenly Demon? From the first exam to the second, the final test, and what they do next year. And also the system that gives you privileges and stuff like that.”
He had no choice but to know that.
Yoo Young-min was the author of a novel that featured students living in the collector academy as the main characters.
He had all the developments that would happen in the academy in his head.
“…Tell me.”
Seo Sumin unwittingly gained the strongest ally.
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