Part 1 Chapter 8 (2)

Monster Controller. Beast Tamer. Master of the Black Dragon.

The girl, Cheonghwa, who had a long, drawn-out story about having to tame monsters, humanity’s enemies, to protect Seoul, was, of course, the true leader of the Azure Syndicate-the Azure Flame Phoenix.

Thanks to the Round Table’s swift intervention, various countries licked their lips, but they didn’t give up on recruiting the ability user who controlled monsters.

Money, honor, power, men.

Countries around the world tried every trick in the book to establish connections with Phoenix, but even entering Korea wasn’t easy.

“Thieves trying to steal our nation’s treasure! Go back to your home countries right now!”

“Hey! Where do these yellow-haired foreigners think they’re going, coming all the way here to Seoul?! Get lost!”

Gimhae Airport.

The international airport, now the only gateway to foreign countries on the Korean Peninsula, teemed with foreigners visiting the peninsula, and outside the airport, angry crowds filled the area, physically blocking their entry.

“Boo-boo-boo!!”

“Boo-boo-boo-boo-boo!!!”

In the several years since the Pyongyang Incident, many left Korea, but few returned. Most of them went overseas and never came back.

These same people now cautiously returned to Gimhae Airport, one by one.

“……What a mess, really.”

The white-haired woman, her black hat pulled low, thought the angry citizens were being a bit much, but at the same time, she understood to some extent.

“Well, yeah. Considering those guys caused a ruckus and fled the airport, I’d want to kill them too, so how much worse must it be for others?”

The part where the woman particularly sympathized with the crowd’s anger was the group of ability users who had arrived in a large cluster at the front.

“Oh, come on, that’s too much. Should fellow Koreans be doing this to each other?”

The man at the forefront grinned with a good-natured smile. His hair was dyed black as if in a hurry, but the roots at his crown were golden.

“You’re really being too harsh on the workers who toiled endlessly to earn money overseas.”

A female Hero, who had even appeared wearing a hanbok, swept her melancholy gaze over the crowd. Her eyes were faint, but they contained faint annoyance and killing intent.

“Can’t someone born in Korea even enter Korea? It’s not like we’re banned from entering the country, are we?”

The ability users released a bit of their mana, pressuring the crowd. The crowd, mostly non-ability users who hadn’t awakened their mana, were terrified as if standing before a monster.

“Those bastards.”

That’s why the woman specifically came to the airport to greet them. In truth, she had come to see someone else off, not them, but since she was waiting at the airport anyway, she decided to take care of one thing.

“Everyone, please move aside. We have business with the Association-“

“You all look so well-off, having lived abroad for so long, don’t you? Wow, your mana reeks of cheese, that’s amazing.”

The woman’s teasing voice echoed throughout the airport. Her tone was gentle, but the mana contained in her voice held a bone-chilling cold that seemed to cut through flesh.

“……Huh.”

The ability users quickly realized who the voice belonged to.

A woman who had reached a realm beyond the heavens, one that S-rank ability users from foreign countries who had fled as if defecting couldn’t even hold a candle to, was leaning on the railing of the second-floor airport lounge, waving and smiling.

“Hello, ‘strangers’. No, should I say it in English?”

The woman leaped from the railing, sliding down, and softly landed in the middle of the Heroes and the crowd.

“Welcome to Korea? What brings those who even gave up their nationality back with all their bags packed?”

Seok Harang, the world’s first SS-rank Hero and the 13th Hero of the Round Table, the , spread her arms wide, welcoming the foreigners who had come to Korea.
* * *
[Yes. All the assets they left behind have been confiscated. They have been nationalized by law, and they personally signed when they renounced their nationality. If they don’t return to Korea even after the three-year grace period, all remaining assets in the country will revert to the state. This is the reply from the Prime Minister’s Office.]
“Understood. Still, please show great generosity so there’s no gossip. Foreigners are Yuseong’s customers too.”
The blonde woman, sitting in her office and typing on a virtual keyboard, scanned dozens of monitors with her eyes, giving instructions for various tasks. Beneath her headset, seven stars shone like the Big Dipper in her golden, sparkling eyes.
“Completely renovate all the hotels in Busan. Their standards will be incredibly high because they’ve experienced foreign standards.”
[Yes, Chairperson-nim.]
The man on the screen received the instructions and left. The woman, called Chairperson, Eun Yuha, took off her headset and leaned back in her chair.
“Even eight bodies wouldn’t be enough, really.”
Even with the help of the Calculation Auxiliary Device, made by grinding dozens of Cores, she was busy.
Even moving seven key figures in politics and business with the power of her ability, she was busy.
Her life had always been busy, but now she was busier than at the time when the entire Yuseong family, except for herself, had been annihilated by monsters.
“Ah. Really. Should I just become a monstrous human?”
Eun Yuha uttered creepy words that would send shivers down anyone’s spine.
If anyone knew that the reason she spoke of giving up her humanity was “because there’s a mountain of work to do, and I want to do it without rest,” they would surely be shocked.
“Or I wish I could become that Spirit thing or whatever.”
If not that, then at least an SSS-rank, Phoenix-certified, that becomes one with a Spirit. If she reached that realm, couldn’t she work without eating, pooping, or sleeping, only drinking coffee?
“I want to work 24 hours a day and earn money…”
Why were there Spirits of Fire and Spirits of Water in the world, but no Spirit of Money? Eun Yuha clutched her throbbing head, indulging in unholy delusions.
“……First, I’ll just finish what I have to do and then rest.”
Although the very thing she had to do was the reason Eun Yuha was so busy, making her feel a little choked up, for the sake of what she loved, Eun Yuha could ignore a moment’s fatigue.
Money.
And a precious business partner who infinitely earned that money.

“Welcome to New Seoul, dear customer. Because I’m waiting.”
Eun Yuha raised her teacup towards the blue-haired girl who was about to leave Seoul.
* * *
Seoul and New Seoul.
Even though only the word “New” was added in front, the two cities had distinct differences, from infrastructure to population.
There were many reasons that starkly highlighted the difference between the two cities, but above all else, the presence or absence of an S-rank Hero protecting the city from a world where monsters run rampant created the difference between the two cities.
Gwanggeom Heo Yun-hwan. Unofficially the world’s first SS-rank ability user.
– If he had become a breakwater protecting Seoul instead of going to the Pyongyang front line during the Pyongyang Incident, Seoul would not have fallen.
So said Praetor Yoo Young-ho, who commanded the Heroes, evaluating the deceased Gwanggeom.
That’s right.
The deceased.
Gwanggeom became a guest who would not return, and that fierce beast was practically the backer of Cheonghwa’s refugee organization in Seoul. It was like burying their heads in the sand, but those in New Seoul had to acknowledge Seoul.
– Can we stop the S-rank monster, the Black Flame Dragon, without Gwanggeom? A monster that flies from the Han River to the skies above New Seoul in just 10 minutes?
Although there was also Fire Fist Lee Seung-hyung, who had newly become S-rank, his fame, in vulgar terms, “plummeted” as the corruption of his uncle, the former president Seonui Cheol who had resigned, was fully exposed.
Even though he contributed to exposing Seonui Cheol’s true nature as a member of the Hero Association, he had a fatal weakness: the curse of the Fire Dragon, “a disease that causes him to cough up blood and collapse whenever he goes to Seoul.”
– Then how about inviting Seolhwa Princess, now Seolhwaryeong, to New Seoul?
– Be grateful that she doesn’t even leave the Korean Peninsula, let alone come to New Seoul, Human.
Seok Harang did not leave the Busan area.
Ultimately, New Seoul had to fully accommodate Seoul.
The foundation for this was to invite the master who led the S-rank monster Black Flame Dragon and the blue flame monsters residing in Seoul, the , to New Seoul and officially register her as a Hero with the Association, thereby continuing their relationship.
At the peak of Gwanaksan, which had now become the border between Seoul and New Seoul.
“…….”
Praetor Yoo Young-ho kicked the dirt with his foot, acting irritably. He grew anxious at the non-appearance of the ‘key figure’ long after the appointed time.
“Fellow citizens. We are currently at the peak of Gwanaksan. To welcome Cheonghwa-yang, Seoul’s EX-rank ability user and master of S-rank monsters….”
“They’ve even created all sorts of strange ranks. Right?”
The Praetor poked Lee Seung-hyung, the Hero who had come as an escort, in the side, speaking in a low voice inaudible to the reporter.
“They could just stick with S, I don’t know why those old farts at the Association had to create a new EX rank.”
“Aren’t they people who prioritize combat power? …Perhaps they themselves have no combat power.”
The young man called Fire Fist (火拳), or Fire Fist, brushed off the dust on his white suit with flames. He had come forward to serve as a common soldier, claiming he would atone for his uncle’s sins with his ability, but for various reasons, his hemp clothes were rejected, and he ended up wearing a white suit.
“Someone’s really lucky, aren’t they? Becoming a pure-hearted man who only loves one woman and pursues justice. Oh, my life. My ‘some’ girl turned out to be a double agent.”
“……..”
Seung-hyung turned his head, letting Young-ho’s grumbling complaints go in one ear and out the other. After Gwanggeom’s death and learning the true nature of his aide, Kang Soyeon, he had been living recklessly, steeped in alcohol, which he rarely touched.
“It’s alright, Praetor. There will definitely be a woman who likes you someday.”
“Hmph, so you’re saying you still have plenty? Is it all about looks, huh? Your looks are just exploding now that you’re S-rank?”
“…….”
Seung-hyung completely turned his head away from Young-ho’s jealousy, which was even becoming ugly. He wondered if a person could change so much, but during work hours, he thoroughly immersed himself in work, and his abilities improved even further.
Grrr.
Beyond the peak of Gwanaksan, a wolf’s howl echoed. Non-ability users swallowed hard, and the escorting ability users activated their mana, preparing for any unforeseen situation.
Thump, thump.
House-sized wolves appeared from below the ridge. Not just any wolves, but wolves burning with only blue flames, appearing like incorporeal ghosts.
“……What kind of monster is that?”
The reporter muttered to himself, forgetting it was a live broadcast. As those in New Seoul were flustered by the appearance of a monster they had never seen before, people riding on the wolves’ backs landed on the dirt path, one by one.
“It’s good to see you. It hasn’t been many days, but it feels like quite a long time since we last met.”
The former Villain known as , and currently a former four-term National Assembly member serving a one-year term as Seoul mayor. Ryu Cheon-seong.
“Quite a crowd has gathered. Put down your swords, won’t you? You didn’t come here to fight.”
The ability user who saved a whopping 60,000 citizens by creating a massive underground tunnel in Dongjak, exercising the abilities of construction and reconstruction, James Lee.
“……It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
And the blue-haired girl, shyly and hesitantly bowing.
Cheonghwa (靑火).
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss.”
“……Me too.”
Cheonghwa blushed shyly and lightly held the tips of the Praetor’s outstretched fingers. The corners of Ryu Cheon-seong’s and James Lee’s mouths twitched slightly, but those in New Seoul were captivated by the beautiful girl’s delicate appearance.
“Uh…”
Even Lee Seung-hyung. Cheonghwa smiled sweetly at the people of New Seoul, welcoming them.
“You must have had a hard time coming all this way. I am Cheonghwa. The ability user you refer to as the and the master of the S-rank monster Dragon.”
Of course, she was the Azure Flame Phoenix.
“The beer I just drank almost came back up. Haneulseong, how about you?”
“……I swallowed it.”
The two executives couldn’t help but feel disgusted by their leader’s demure young lady cosplay. Phoenix reached behind her back, out of sight of others, raised her middle finger, then stood before the people again, pretending to be nervous and swallowing.
“So, what… am I supposed to do now…?”
The Praetor began to recite missions to the frail girl, missions that even S-rank Heroes found difficult. His clear, ringing voice echoed at the peak of Gwanaksan, and his voice, imbued with mana, was carried by the reporters’ microphones and broadcast across the entire Korean Peninsula.
“First, registering as an ability user with the Hero Association. Second, dominating monsters in various regions, not just Seoul, but also New Seoul, Busan, and elsewhere, to make the entire Korean Peninsula a peaceful zone free from monster threats.”
And then the Praetor closed and then opened his eyes tightly for a moment for the third mission that followed.
“……Third, going to China and subjugating S-rank monsters.”
“Understood.”
Phoenix meekly accepted the Praetor’s mission. Even if she understood the first two, why did she have to go to China?
‘It’s because of me, I guess….’
Since Cheonghwa’s Azure Syndicate and the Black Flame Dragon had run wild and hospitalized all the heroes waiting in Liaodong, they hoped Cheonghwa would clear out the monsters in the Chinese region before they recovered.
That was the ostensible content of the deal made between Sir Gawain, the leader of the Round Table, and Mao Zeping, the de facto ruler of the Chinese Central Party and Director of the Monster Management Countermeasures Bureau.
So Cheonghwa, Phoenix, chose China as her next destination. While she was at it, she would awaken her kin and Spirit sleeping somewhere in that vast land.
The legal plunder of Cores, which were tantamount to another country’s resources.
The awakening of one Spirit who had been sleeping for a long time.
And the recovery of the Cube somewhere in China.
Those three tasks were what Phoenix had to do in China.
“Damn, I’m busy.”
“What did you just say…?”
“Nothing at all.”
Phoenix gave a pitiful smile and boarded the limousine prepared by the New Seoul officials.