Part 1, Chapter 5 (3)

Eun Yuha.

The youngest daughter of Yuseong, the top company in South Korea’s business world. She seems to have it all, with a background and appearance that anyone would envy, but she lacks proper character.

A wild child who runs rampant, relying solely on her background. A psychopath who loves to hit people with wads of cash. A villainess who would have been abandoned long ago if not for her brothers. The undisputed number one celebrity people wish would get eaten by a monster.

After much deliberation on how to define all these images in a single phrase, people found the most fitting word to describe Eun Yuha.

Yuseong’s wild child.

That is Eun Yuha’s publicly known image.

Of course, it’s an image she deliberately created herself.

“Who in South Korea would know? That that wild child is actually Yuseong’s owner, and the presidents of each group are all dolls controlled by Eun Yuha.”

[Exactly. It’s a fact that no one knows except me, my confidant, Gwanggeom-eoreusin, and that girl Seok Harang. How did our dear customer know?]

Beyond the screen, Eun Yuha’s smiling face was full of composure. But inside, she was probably burning black with anxiety.

“Indeed. How would I know? So, here’s a quiz! I’ll give you exactly seven chances, thanks to the Eun Yuha special. Try to guess how I know you.”

[Seven chances? Are you making fun of me right now?]

“Of course. Fufufu.”

7. Eun Yuha’s symbolic number.

The 16 heroines introduced on the official website were each assigned a number according to their introduction order. Eun Yuha was the 7th among them.

Omake Number 7.

The ‘s ability, kept secret from others, allows her to control machine dolls as if they were real people, but she can only move exactly seven dolls.

Eun Jaemin is one of them, the public face of the Yuseong Group, acting on Eun Yuha’s behalf.

My deliberate offer of seven chances was an allusion that I knew about Eun Yuha’s ability.

After much thought, Eun Yuha finally parted her lips.

[……Have we ever met before? Besides at the Incheon container.]

“Wrong. 1. I’ve never met Miss Eun Yuha’s real body. Oh, and I’ll give you a hint like this every time you get one wrong.”

[Thank you. But then there’s no way you’d have noticed the true nature of my ability. Even if you’re an S-rank like Gwanggeom-eoreusin or Seok Harang and could figure it out, you wouldn’t know that I’m Eun Yuha.]
“Fufufu.”

This is why Eun Yuha is so good. Eun Yuha is smart enough to move an entire group and multitask seven people. It’s no exaggeration to call her a genius.

She’s so smart that she sometimes digs her own grave, but in terms of intelligence, she was one of the top two among the original heroines.
Even if I just subtly drop hints without explicitly explaining, she’ll deduce a truth close to the answer from it.

Eun Yuha clapped her hands.

[Then do you work for some intelligence agency? Honestly, if it were the US or Russia, they would have figured out information about me.]

“2. Don’t worry, they’re not skilled enough for that. Your dolls are hard to notice unless you’re an ‘exceptional’ S-rank.”

It’s Seolhwa Princess and Gwanggeom who are strange for noticing it.

[Oh, then are you a regressor? A reincarnator?]

“Huh?”

I was dumbfounded. Why would she suddenly mention regressors or reincarnators when things were going well?

“Why is the topic suddenly shifting to fantasy? You’re someone who never makes wild guesses without evidence.”

At my reply, Eun Yuha covered her mouth and chuckled. I instantly realized I had fallen into Eun Yuha’s trap.

[As expected. You know not only my ability but even my personality. Thanks for the hint. Fufufu.]

*Grind*. My teeth naturally ground. She deliberately threw out a wild guess to extract information from me, and at the same time, she imitated Phoenix’s laugh to tease me.

“Ugh.”

Thinking about it, when I took this girl’s individual route, I was tricked like this countless times. It had been so long that I was flustered and showed a weakness.

It’s not that I’m stupid at all. That cunning little brat is just ridiculously smart.

“3, 4. I won’t give you hints anymore. I’ll just tell you if you’re right or wrong, okay?”

Eun Yuha waved her hand and laughed. Ah, I fell for it again.

[That’s enough. We’ll have many more encounters in the future, so let’s get to know each other gradually. Right now, we’re too busy talking about our deal.]

“…….”

This bitch.

[Why? Do you want to continue? Then come to my house. You know where it is, don’t you?]

“…Who doesn’t know you’re trying to confirm whether I know your house or not based on my reaction?”

[You didn’t fall for it. Huhu.]

Eun Yuha covered her mouth with her hand.

[But do you know something? If someone truly didn’t know, they’d usually argue, ‘How would I go if I don’t know?’ They wouldn’t pause like that and change the subject. And our customer doesn’t seem like the type to talk while digging double and triple traps.]

“…If someone ever breaks through the roof and falls onto your bed, you’ll know it’s me.”

Eun Yuha chuckled.

[You’re not denying it. Good. I absolutely love that cool side of you, our customer, who talks so frankly.]

“I’m sorry, but my love is already elsewhere, so I can’t accept yours. Look for another business partner.”

[Oh dear. Is it love that money can’t buy? That’s a shame. I was hoping I could acquire it with an S-rank ability user mercenary.]

“Instead, we have a really solid deal, don’t we? Go ask around. See if there’s any other business partner who brings in A-rank Cores this well.”

Both Eun Yuha and I laughed. I had felt it when we talked in the container, but now I was certain.

This woman. She really gets along well with Phoenix.

“Then, shall we get to it?”

[Shall we return to the topic of our deal?]

Even the timing of changing the subject was perfect. I tapped my smartwatch, bringing up a screen. Eun Yuha’s eyes quickly scanned the list on the screen.

The Cores earned over two weeks since the Seoul Reclamation Operation. It was a list detailing all quantities. Eun Yuha scanned the list and her eyes widened in confusion.

[The quantity is small this time? I thought there was more before the operation. Did the monsters dry up after the operation?]

“That’s not it. We had some use for them on our end.”

[Use for them?]

I tapped the bathroom wall as if knocking.

“This is all built up with monster Cores. Though the interior decoration is severely lacking.”

[…….]

Eun Yuha was silent for a moment. She was probably racking her brain. If I were to guess….

“Yes. You can restore buildings with Cores. Yes. There’s an ability user with that kind of power. So what kind of buildings are we restoring? We’re mainly restoring residential facilities right now. The refugees who truly remained in Seoul. We’re securing living spaces for them, so we don’t have any Cores left over right now.”

[…….]

Eun Yuha’s face properly scrunched up. Bingo. I hit her good.

[Then-]

“Yes. So what I’d like you to send in future transactions is a large amount of food and relief supplies. We need enough to feed at least 60,000 people. Right! We can’t conduct transactions without the government and association noticing. So that’s the main issue we’re negotiating with the government this time.”

[Official recognition.]

Eun Yuha cut me off. I nodded with a benevolent smile. Before I could even open my mouth, Eun Yuha began.

[You’re trying to make the government, New Seoul, acknowledge the existence of the Seoul refugees, who are like an urban legend. But to do that, there must be a corresponding quid pro quo, and it can’t be the Cores since you’re trading all of them with me. Then, as expected….]

Eun Yuha laughed in disbelief.

[You’re trying to extort the government by using the lives of 60,000 people in Seoul as leverage!]

“…Half-correct? Fufufu.”

Even Eun Yuha doesn’t know about the existence of the Cube. Therefore, she didn’t consider the possibility of ‘being able to control monsters’ at all.

That’s why the envoy sent by Seonui Cheol’s thoughts are stuck there.

Ten Heroes and 60,000 refugees protected by the Villain Alliance. And the fire-attribute monsters surrounding them from all sides.

That’s right.

Since things have come to this, we decided to become righteous bandits for a while.

* * *

“…60,000 people were alive in Dongjak’s underground? Are you telling me to believe that now?”

Jang Hujeong’s hands trembled. An urban legend, almost a taboo in New Seoul, had come out of the opponent’s mouth.

‘People still live in Seoul, and they’ve hidden underground to escape the monsters.’

This was a problem on a completely different level than dozens of villains illegally occupying buildings and living like bandits. Most New Seoul residents were displaced people who had escaped from Seoul, and most of their families, friends, and lovers had remained in Seoul and lost contact.

In other words, among the 60,000 people in Dongjak’s underground, there might be those whom they had buried in their hearts.

Haneulseong tapped the table with a relaxed expression.

“Yes. Originally, there were more. Fortunately, there was no problem with drinking water. The Han River was right next to us. The problem was food….”

Haneulseong cast his gaze toward Beacon. Beacon adjusted his sunglasses and continued.

“We raided all sorts of food storage facilities, avoiding the monsters’ eyes. Grocery stores, department stores, even small convenience stores. Well… in the end, most of it was expired, and on top of that, we even resorted to touching monsters.”

Beacon smiled sadly. Guro alone was no different from a survival experience zone. If monster corpses couldn’t be used as human food, then surely, the day after someone died, unidentified meat would have appeared in their rice bowl.

“Architect, James Lee, saved a staggering 60,000 refugees. Until now, they were hidden underground, but we judged that they could no longer remain in Seoul amidst dangers like dimensional gates.”

Phantom opened his mouth.

“Our Villain Alliance decided to protect them. You all know better than anyone what state Seoul is in, don’t you? I’m talking about the fire-attribute monsters rampaging in the Guro and Gangnam areas.”

“…We call it ‘the volcano erupted’.”

Yoo Young-ho scratched his cheek. The abnormally generated fire-attribute monsters. Among them, there were some that didn’t look like monsters, like small canaries, but they all had one thing in common.

Monsters without Cores.

The monsters that had occupied the Guro and Gangnam areas were all strong and fierce, but after being hunted so diligently, they didn’t yield any rewards and were engulfed in flames.

So the association newly defined those monsters. Monsters moved by mana-mana beasts (魔獸).

“Yes. Those unidentified monsters are still looking for prey in Gangnam and Guro. So we decided to make Yeouido and Dongjak our last stronghold. However.”

Beacon pointed to a map spread on the table. A route that stretched long, connecting Dongjak and Anyang.

“Since the monsters don’t leave Guro and Gangnam, we can travel between them like this. Just like the path you took to get here.”

“Gwanaksan.”

The envoy chose the hiking trail from Anyang to Yeouido. That sloping path that Fire Dragon had created and Seolhwa Princess had solidified.

Haneulseong drew a line across the map with his finger.

“The remnants of Fire Dragon still remain, don’t they? Didn’t you all feel it yourselves? As you came all the way here from Anyang, did you encounter any dangerous monsters?”

“…There were a few D-rank ones around Gwanak.”

Jang Hujeong nodded.

“I understand what you’re saying. As someone who serves the nation, it’s natural to protect the 60,000 citizens of Seoul. However, realistically, we don’t currently have enough power to evacuate all of them.”

“That’s why I’m telling you. Just know that 60,000 citizens are still in Seoul. Just acknowledge that. The rest, we’ll take care of surviving on our own.”

“…Are you saying you’re going to establish a kingdom in Seoul now?”

“Puhaha!”

Haneulseong burst into boisterous laughter. His large, pot-lid-like hands thumped on the table.

“A kingdom! Are we going back to the Joseon Dynasty now? My friend, no matter how much we’ve lived like primitives here, we are 21st-century modern people. We are citizens of the Republic of Korea under President Seonui Cheol. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s true.”

“Indeed. However, my friend.”

Haneulseong’s gaze returned to the Praetor.

“Realistically, it’s difficult for the association and the government to save even the citizens here in Seoul, so for the time being, we will protect this place. We’re saying we’ll act as a vigilante group so that the residents of Seoul can safely survive in Seoul.”

“…….”

Yoo Young-ho gritted his teeth. Although he hadn’t commanded them himself, it was an undeniable truth that the association’s Heroes had been so easily toyed with by Seoul’s monsters and villains.

If the villains hadn’t interfered, Seoul would have become South Korean territory again by now. That was the prevailing opinion currently gathering in New Seoul.

“If it weren’t for the Fire Giant and that S-rank….”

As Yoo Young-ho bit his lip and growled, Haneulseong spread his arms and tilted his head upwards.

“They are individuals unknown even to us. If such individuals existed, they would have already beaten up Heroes in Gangnam. Wouldn’t they? Why would we let ourselves be arrested while holding onto such power?”

That was the problem. If they were part of the same alliance, why would the Fire Giant and the S-rank monster specifically move alone in Guro and Gwanak?

“Are you truly saying they are unknown individuals? Are you telling us to believe that?”

“Whether you believe it or not, that’s your freedom. We’d like to know too, you know? Their true identities.”

The gazes of the villains and the envoy clashed. Haneulseong placed his arm on the table and leaned his upper body forward.

“We’re the most curious about those individuals. Judging by their attacks on Heroes, aren’t they fellow villains? If we joined hands, at the very least, we wouldn’t be arrested by Heroes. Wouldn’t we? And-”

“We could also protect the 60,000 citizens of Seoul. …Of course, no one knows what might happen to them. Huhu.”

Though their words were flashy, villains are not the kind of people who save others out of goodwill and a sense of mission, like Heroes.

Jang Hujeong slammed the table and stood up.

“Are you threatening us with the lives of 60,000 Seoul citizens right now?”

“They are lives we have gathered. So.”

Haneulseong laughed fiercely.

“What problem would there be if we abandoned them again? As you said, we are villains, after all.”