Part 1 Chapter 2 (3)

April 4, 2020, 1 PM, an abandoned taekwondo dojang near Incheon City Hall.

“The four attributes of earth, water, fire, and wind. Then what are the other three attributes?”

I launched a fist imbued with mana. The pure mana wave grazed Deokbae’s rock-like skin.

“Ugh! I don’t know!”

Deokbae dodged, then charged at me with his body still lowered. The shoulder attack, using his large frame, felt as intimidating as a charging bull.

All I had to do was dodge.

“First answer. One is light. Gwanggeom is a prime example.”

I pulled my foot back slightly and twisted my body. Deokbae noticed this and tried to change the direction of his fist somehow, but my elbow was already jabbing into Deokbae’s side.

Wham!

Deokbae flew through the air as he was and rolled on the floor. I waited until Deokbae recovered his posture with a breakfall, then tapped the floor lightly with the tip of my shoe.

“The second is darkness. Most monsters have this attribute. It’s also a common attribute among Villains.”

I kicked off the ground in one stride and leaped up, raising my leg high in the air. Deokbae, realizing it was too late to dodge, crossed his arms above his head. His rock-like skin seemed to be imbued with mana, growing firmly on his arms.

Koo-woong!

Deokbae’s entire body sank slightly from the downward strike imbued with mana. Deokbae, who succeeded in defending, was smiling triumphantly between his crossed arms.

“Gotcha!”

Deokbae’s hand tried to snatch my ankle. It was slow.

“You say that *after* you’ve caught me!”

His hand cut through empty air. Behind my back, wings of flame were already spread.

“!!”

Deokbae raised his guard again as soon as he saw my wings. A good judgment. Because it was already too late to dodge. I flapped my wings and struck Deokbae repeatedly.

Bang! Wham! Bang!

A loud boom echoed with each strike of my shoe against his arms. Deokbae’s feet began to crack the marble floor and sink into it.

“Alright, here comes a big one!”

Flapping my wings hard, I spun my body halfway around. A roundhouse kick, transitioning from a vertical attack to a horizontal one.

“Tch!”

Deokbae quickly lowered his guard to the left. Though his rock-like skin was already tattered, threads of teal mana were glowing.

A defense concentrating all mana at the point of impact. I slightly raised the mana across the entire top of my foot.

Fwoosh!

As blue flames flared up from my foot, Deokbae was startled. The mana, which should have been tightly woven, instantly unraveled.

Koo-woong!

Deokbae’s body, hit by the roundhouse kick, flew straight into the wall. Fortunately, the wall had a pre-woven mana net, so there wasn’t much impact. Probably.

“The last is the Illusion (幻) attribute. Illusion magic, illusions, things like that. Psychic abilities like telepathy or mind reading? All of that falls under this category.”

I clapped my hands, creating seven different colored flames before Deokbae’s eyes.

“While each person reacts to their unique attribute, there are occasionally people with talent in multiple attributes. Such people are either born with composite attributes, or their powers manifest as completely different attributes. Like the Hero ‘Lightning,’ who awakened the psychic ability of lightning by mixing fire and wind attributes.”

“Haa. Haa. Enough with the explanations, please.”

Deokbae gathered his mana and released his rock-like skin. As the rock covering his entire body disappeared, Deokbae’s bare body was revealed.

His skin was still grayish-white, and teal mana conduits were exposed like veins. His head, now uncovered by the hood, gleamed, reflecting the fluorescent light.

Indeed. So even if you become a monstrous human, your hair doesn’t grow back? New knowledge gained.

“I feel like you just thought something unpleasant.”

“Not at all. Let’s take a break first. It’s been three minutes.”

I removed the triangle kimbap I had placed on top of the cup ramen, which I had already poured hot water into-I boiled the water with my flames. The brands were completely different from those in my original world, which somehow felt new.

Deokbae slipped into the seat opposite me and bit into the warmed hot bar.

“And also, Jo Deokbae-ssi, your attitude towards your superior is terrible. How can you embarrass your master like that in front of others? Is that the attitude of subordinate number two?”

“Hey, just eat quietly when you’re eating.”

Deokbae bit into the hot bar angrily.

Though words were bubbling up to my chin, I pushed them down into my stomach along with a mouthful of ramen.

To clear up one misunderstanding, I didn’t gather all the convenience store food just to eat it myself. If I’m a master, shouldn’t I at least provide some welfare?

I ordered Monstrous Human No. 1 to be self-sufficient, so they’ll eat well on their own. Even a C-rank monster, in terms of taste alone, is better than Grade 1 Hanwoo beef for a monstrous human.

I grabbed Deokbae’s wrist as he reached for the latte drink on the table.

“Wait. The strawberry one is mine.”

“…Ugh.”

Deokbae frowned and picked up another drink next to it.

“If you want this so badly, let’s do a quiz. If you get it right, I’ll give you this.”

“That’s truly disgusting.”

His words were harsh, but his body was honest. Deokbae put down the drink he had picked up.

“Alright, quiz time. People usually say the color of flames is ‘red,’ so why are my flames ‘blue’?”

“…? You’re right?”

Deokbae fell into thought. In the meantime, I tore open the strawberry milk.

There’s no way he’d get it right. Even I only learned it after entering the Phoenix route and hearing it directly from Phoenix. Now the strawberry milk is mine. Hahaha.

“Because you like blue?”

“…….”

I threw the strawberry milk to Deokbae without a word.

* * *

2 PM. Baek Sang-woo’s Office.

“Here. The items.”

Sang-woo handed over a backpack.

“ID card, virtual account, and cell phone. The smartwatch is a bonus.”

“Wow. Thank you.”

Phoenix carefully examined the items inside the bag, then put the smartwatch on his wrist.

“As I said, there’s 1.9 billion won in the account. The matter regarding the A-rank core was rejected by headquarters. They said that cores of unknown origin cannot be trusted or distributed.”

“It’s our first transaction. I understand.”

Phoenix fiddled with the three cores in his hand, then roughly shoved them into the bag.

Sang-woo felt dizzy at Phoenix’s outrageous behavior.

“If your reputation grows and trust builds with our side, you’ll be able to trade higher grades than B-rank. Come back with an A-rank then. If you’re still alive.”

“Reputation, you say?”

Phoenix examined his ID card front and back. A location in the outskirts of Incheon he’d never visited, and an age indicating he was born in ’00.

And the name ‘Pi Nix’.

“Right. And as for the Black Market account.”

Sang-woo operated his smartwatch. Phoenix, who had been staring blankly, followed Sang-woo’s lead and operated his smartwatch in the same way.

Bzzzt-

Light emanated from a device smaller than an egg. The light, shot out in four directions, projected rectangular images between the two of them.

“You can access it like this using a function on the watch. Of course, you can only access it, and you can only register after receiving a ‘recommendation’ from an internal member.”

As Sang-woo tapped various parts of his device’s screen, a small notification window popped up on Phoenix’s screen.

“‘[Incheon Peddler] has invited you to a chat room’?”

“That’s me.”

“I get that, but I just accept this, right?”

“Yes. Before that, there’s one thing you need to do.”

Phoenix selected the notification window and accepted the invitation. The screen crackled for a moment, then began rapidly downloading some data, and the screen turned black.

“That’s the Black Market. Stolen goods, cores, monster byproducts, information about Heroes, and so on-it’s a place where all sorts of things are bought and sold.”

Sang-woo pointed at Phoenix and continued.

“What you need to do is set a ‘nickname’ to use on this Black Market. You can’t change it once it’s set, so make it carefully.”

“Then it’s simple.”

Phoenix quickly typed on the keyboard that appeared on his screen. Sang-woo, who was looking at the already black screen, fell into thought as he saw the nickname of the person he had invited.

“Done. Alright?”

“[Azure Flame Phoenix]? What’s with this nickname? Is it a trend these days for psychic ability users to have chuunibyou-like aliases?”

“Chuunibyou, you say? That’s my real name, you know.”

Sang-woo scratched his chin and nodded.

“Well, it’s unreasonable to expect common sense from psychic ability users. But will that be alright? Looking at your personality, you probably won’t engage in proper activities, and if you happen to be branded a Villain and a bounty is placed on you, this nickname will be listed, won’t it?”

“That’s what I’m hoping for. In fact, I have no intention of hiding it. Oh, while we’re at it, please teach me ‘organization registration’ too. Can I do it right now?”

“You’re trying to get everything for free, aren’t you?”

“If I collect cores later, I’ll sell them directly to President Baek.”

“Even if it’s just lip service, I appreciate it. First, go into this tab and….”

While Sang-woo and Phoenix explored the Black Market, alternating between their screens, Deokbae, who was leaning against the wall, glared at the back of his chattering master’s head, like a fish in water, and fell into thought.

‘What exactly is this guy’s true identity?’

He didn’t fall from the sky nor did he spring from the earth, so where did such a monster pop out from? Phoenix’s attitude, surprised like a child encountering new things, was utterly sickening, to the point where Deokbae wanted to leave this place immediately.

‘If only it weren’t for that wretched command.’

He could revive dead humans and turn them into monstrous humans, but he couldn’t force loyalty. So Deokbae tried a timid rebellion within the bounds of his will, but in the end, he was used however Phoenix pleased.

While Deokbae was lost in thought, Sang-woo finished all his explanations.

“Hmm. I see. So now I just need to decide on an organization name, right? Hehe. It feels like creating a guild, which is fun.”

“It’s not something to take so lightly…Haa.”

Sang-woo, sipping his coffee, raised his index finger.

“Listen carefully. Registering as an organization on the Black Market means you’ll be operating as a ‘Villain’ under your true name. If you act carelessly, bounty hunters will catch you and you’ll end up in prison. Especially newbies like Phoenix-ssi, who jump in like moths to a flame….”

“Yes. I understand. I will engrave it in my mind.”

Phoenix quickly registered the organization name. Sang-woo shook his head, but still checked the newly registered organization list.

“[Azure Syndicate]?”

“Yes. For a villain organization, it’s quite a plausible name, isn’t it?”

Even while calling himself a villain, Phoenix was still smiling.

* * *

After finishing the transaction, we left Baek Sang-woo’s office and entered a cafe near City Hall.

Deokbae seemed quite awkward entering such a cafe and was hesitant, but he successfully brought the drinks placed on the tray, following my command.

“It’s fascinating.”

I tapped the smartwatch on my left wrist. Unlike when entering the Black Market, on the small screen that popped up to the side, the payment history from the counter just now was clearly displayed.

“Even Incheon is like this, so New Seoul must be a whole new world, right? Cars flying around with autonomous driving?”

“Is that a joke?”

“Hardly.”

Devices made using monster cores as an energy source brought great advancements to human civilization. Despite having the enormous obstacle of monsters, humanity, now utilizing mana as a new energy source, stood on the threshold of a new era.

However, that was a story limited to major cities like New Seoul or Busan, and the outer regions, where monster attacks were frequent, were relatively slow in development.

“If Seoul had been functioning properly, there would have been no reason for New Seoul to exist, right?”

“So what does that have to do with us going to Seoul?”

Deokbae pointed out, seemingly reluctant.

That was true. After forming the Azure Syndicate, I told Deokbae my destination.

“There are many reasons, but if I were to explain them all one by one, we’d be here all night, wouldn’t we? For now, just remember this. The purpose of the ‘Azure Syndicate’ is to collect countless treasures and artifacts scattered across the world. Among them….”

I picked up a sugar cube and unwrapped it.

“To find a cube exactly this size. It has bizarre patterns engraved on it, so you’ll know it’s no ordinary item just by looking at it.”

“So collecting that is your goal, huh?”

Deokbae poured the coffee, ice and all, into his mouth.

“Just to collect a toy, was there a reason to kill people and revive them?”

“Toy? Pfft. Look, even just one of those ‘toys’ can destroy the Earth. Because it’s that kind of item.”

It’s not called a ‘God’s Core’ for nothing. I dropped the sugar cube into the coffee.

“Amplification of psychic abilities, awakening of psychic abilities, infinite energy extraction. Based on current research, that’s all we know, but….”

I pointed the teaspoon on the tray at Deokbae.

“Creation of monsters, monsterification of humans, mind control, natural collapse. If it falls into S-rank hands, it’s a magical item that allows them to unleash all sorts of psychic powers.”

“Perhaps the reason you want to get your hands on it is….”

Deokbae gulped. I put down the teaspoon and stirred my coffee.

“That’s right. For world peace-“

“Are you trying to conquer the world with it or something?”

“…What do you take me for? Do I look like the kind of person who would do that?”

Deokbae twisted his already fierce expression and mumbled with his mouth. It seemed like he desperately wanted to say something but was barely holding back.

“It’s alright, tell me. It’s an order.”

“A monster who treats people like insects and burns them to death, talking about world peace, what a load of crap, hmph.”

Regardless of Deokbae’s will, his true feelings spilled out. I put down the teaspoon and took a sip of coffee.

It’s bitter. Why is it still bitter even after adding sugar?

“I need to clear up one misunderstanding. I’m telling you clearly right now.”

I set the coffee cup down with a thud and said.

“This is all for world peace.”