Part 1 Chapter 9-21

Moved back to the hospital room by Hwanryong, I summoned the Azure Syndicate. Because Seok Harang didn’t return to Korea, Cheon Gaeul had to wait at another base and then return, and I, feeling sorry, had to become Cheon Gaeul’s makeup dummy.

“So, is everyone here?”

Jo Deokbae had resurrected. Cheon Gaeul was next to me. The Black Flame Dragon, unable to enter the room, was waiting as a Core. All the Azure Syndicate executives I had brought to China took their seats in the hospital room.

“Where’s Eun Yuha?”

“I don’t know. She said she had urgent business and left.”

I could roughly guess. Since the negotiations had successfully concluded, all the roles I had asked Eun Yuha to perform were finished, and she was now freely doing her own thing.

Like bribing Chinese heroes to transfer Cores, or figuring out how to somehow insert her PMC into the Black Scorpion hunt, or setting up a situation to facilitate the intervention of Korean heroes, where she could exert more influence.

Or she might be doing all three simultaneously. Because Eun Yuha’s greed for money is unparalleled.

“So, we just need to leisurely watch the heroes squabbling among themselves, right?”

“Why make the heroes fight each other?”

“To weed them out. Those who will fall and those who won’t.”

Among heroes, there are those who later fall into villainy or become monstrous humans. I intended to primarily filter out at least the Asian heroes with this opportunity.

“What if a B-rank barely manages to kill and defeat an S-rank Black Scorpion? But it’s such a chaotic battle that no one seems to notice, and the B-rank is on the verge of collapsing. What would they do then?”

“Wouldn’t they obviously save them?”

This was Cheon Gaeul’s thought, still close to that of an ordinary person. I posed the same question to Jo Deokbae, who had a stronger evil alignment.

“Wouldn’t they obviously kill them and steal it?”

That was indeed Jo Deokbae’s way of thinking. I pointed out the stark contrast between the two.

“There are those who show heroic aspects despite being villains, but there are also those who show villainous tendencies despite being heroes.”

“Well, the former would be me, though it’s embarrassing, and who’s the latter? How many times has it been with them?”

“It’s just an example. Why do you always think that way when I speak?”

I frowned and glared at Cheon Gaeul. Perhaps realizing she had gone too far, Gaeul obediently bowed her head and apologized.

“Sorry. I misunderstood.”

“No.”

Sorry. There is indeed such a person. I pretended she had misunderstood, preemptively to avoid being pressed about who it was.

“So, we need to watch carefully this time. Those who can be recycled will be turned into monstrous humans, and those who can’t will be made into monstrous humans and forced to labor for life.”

“There’s no option not to kill them?”

“There’s an option not to save them. …Ow.”

Cheon Gaeul struck my head with a Tentacle.

“Are you going to keep messing around?”

“Tch.”

Perhaps because she rose to S-rank, her intuition is excellent. I cleared my throat and changed the subject.

“Well… I’ll leave alone those who can be rehabilitated to a reasonable extent. I’m talking about the malicious bastards like the Pine Tree Unit. That Bonghyo fellow, he also picked out members for the Hwanryong Group from the Dongchang who were suitably ‘gray’.”

Everyone who had their true colors exposed by me at least once was a ‘gray’ type. Bonghyo also didn’t seem to have any intention of increasing the number of members beyond that.

“But would those trashy bastards participate in this subjugation operation?”

“They would, wouldn’t they? If they just come and catch one, they can take an S-rank Core.”

On the hospital room’s TV screen, a video of the Emperor proudly declaring before reporters was playing on repeat.

[…Therefore, I request all the Heroic Warriors watching this video. Monsters are still crossing the desert and attempting to attack citizens! We wish to resolve this with our own strength, but if many comrades assist us, we will certainly not forget your grace!]

“The ‘grace’ would be the Cores, right?”

“They’ll probably process the monster byproducts and pay for them. Though they’ll make a decent profit off it.”

There was considerable disagreement regarding the conditions the Emperor put forth in his speech. Some argued, “Why bring in foreign powers when we can solve this with our own strength?” while others, moved by the Emperor’s resolve, immediately flew through the sky to come.

“So, what happened to the ‘spoon’ from Korea?”

Seok Harang’s reason for being absent was partly the condition of establishing a final defensive line in case of unforeseen circumstances, but more than that, it was because he had gone out of his way to attract a group of heroes from Korea who were impatiently waiting to join in.

“How many are planning to come? Jo Deokbae, do you know?”

“Hold on. Wow, it’s almost the same force as during the Seoul Recapture Operation? Only Seok Harang isn’t there.”

Deokbae recited the strength of the support forces officially announced by the Korean Association. Most of them were those who had participated in the Seoul Recapture Operation, and among them were individuals who had not participated in operations overseen by Seonui Cheol.

“Hongpan, Bulgasari, …KIMCHI.THE.RIPPER? What, are all the A-ranks coming out?”

“Let me see. …Lee Seung-hyung is coming too?”

Gaeul showed an uncomfortable expression. I, feeling guilty, quickly raised my hand to make an excuse.

“Wait. I’m not uncomfortable with Lee Seung-hyung anymore. We even rode in the same car from Seoul to New Seoul, didn’t we?”

“That’s the problem. Didn’t Lee Seung-hyung fall for you? There’s a huge fuss about you and Lee Seung-hyung having something going on.”

“What? This crazy bastard.”

I genuinely got goosebumps. What kind of person is this Lee Seung-hyung, anyway, that he’s not satisfied with just Cheon Gaeul, but he’s also trying to cause a scandal with the Azure Flame Phoenix?

“Not my type.”

“Your face might be his type, though. When I filmed a drama with him a while ago, I noticed something: he likes big breasts. He kept subtly looking at my chest, I’m telling you!”

“Fine. I’ll go burst his heart.”

“Don’t mess things up again and just stay put, huh? Why would he fly all the way to China? He must have come to earn foreign currency, not to see your pathetic breasts, waaaah?!”

I unleashed a small sun in front of Deokbae’s eyes. Deokbae clutched his eyes and rolled on the floor. While he could comment on Cheon Gaeul, who boasted the best figure among heroines, I couldn’t tolerate him daring to insult my body as pathetic.

“Ahem. Well… fine. If Lee Seung-hyung looks at these breasts, I’ll poke his eyes out.”

“Go ahead. But that’s strange.”

Cheon Gaeul retracted the Tentacle she was about to poke Deokbae with and asked.

“Is there really a way to get here from New Seoul?”

“There is.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

There is, but it’s something I didn’t expect to appear at this timing. Though its construction might be complete by now, as it’s a means of transport that only appears after the summer of 2025 in the original story, I didn’t think it would be used for something like this.

“What is it?”

“……A ship (vessel).”

“Are they coming across the Yellow Sea? Do they plan to run by land? Wouldn’t that be too late?”

“It’s a ship, but a slightly different kind of-“

“Yaaaah!”

Bang! The hospital room door burst open, and a white-haired tomboy stomped in, huffing.

“Do you wanna die?! What you said wasn’t there at all?! Only I was utterly humiliated!”

“Hmm. As expected. It wasn’t there.”

“What? As expected? Aaaas expected?! This bastard wants to die…!”

“Thanks, Seok Harang. It was a great help. Really.”

Seok Harang’s face flushed red as she threw the late-night snacks onto the table, fuming. Chicken, pizza, popcorn, etc. Seok Harang had readily accepted the request to buy snacks for the heroes to eat while watching the Black Scorpion hunt party, and while she was at it, I told her to buy some ice cream from the ice cream shop.

“Here. Deokbae-ssi, this one’s for the alien. Gaeul unnie, the one with almonds. And you, eat this.”

Seok Harang threw an ice cream cup at me. It seemed like she threw it telling me to eat whatever, but Seok Harang had brought my share of ice cream in strawberry flavor. I stirred the ice cream around with a spoon, drawing a cross in it.

“Seok Harang.”

“What.”

“Has there been any contact from the Korean Association? Not regular communication or information transfer, but something like a secret.”

At my question, Seok Harang blinked, scooping up blueberry-mixed ice cream with her spoon. She even checked her watch again. And then she shook her head.

“No?”

“……Is that so. Then they won’t use that.”

“What?”

“The ship.”

Seok Harang put a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Then she pointed the spoon at me, her eyes widening. It seemed like something clicked for her.

“Did you ask because you were curious how the heroes are coming?”

“Yes. I asked because I was worried they might ride that. As expected, they’re not bringing it out.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? The heroes are trying to come aboard right now.”

“……Huh?”

I unconsciously dropped my spoon. Gaeul’s Tentacle, like a ghost, fortunately snatched the spoon I had half-eaten from.

“They’re really coming on that?”

“Yeah. Wanna see?”

Seok Harang adjusted the TV to a Korean channel. Setting aside the embarrassing broadcast introducing my achievements and the talks, Korean broadcasters were transmitting two main types of videos.

One was the Black Scorpions’ movement path and the Emperor’s speech about Black Scorpion extermination.

And the other was the sight of heroes boarding a ‘ship’ to exterminate those Black Scorpions.

“Hul.”

The ship that Lee Seung-hyung had just finished boarding was an airship that I missed and was very familiar with.

“They’re coming to China on that now?”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

Of course there was a problem.

Only one person in Korea could operate that ship, and that young lady should have endured until the original story’s timeline, hiding her special ability and identity with the help of the association. Precisely because of Seonui Cheol’s suppression-

“Ah.”

I brought down Seonui Cheol.

“No, even so.”

It hadn’t been long since Seonui Cheol stepped down, yet she was already revealing her joker card and special ability. I couldn’t understand what on earth she was thinking.

“Hey. It worked out perfectly, didn’t it? We can just ride that on the way back. Yuha unnie was also worried the plane might explode again.”

“Y-yeah. It won’t explode.”

An airship that can go to the moon by itself wouldn’t explode just because I’m on it. I pretended to be calm and picked up my spoon again.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

Gaeul handed me a perfectly clean spoon. I put the ice cream in my mouth and carefully observed the airship as its door closed.

‘To think I’d see that already.’

The airship Deathdinath. An aerial base that became the original protagonist’s means of traveling the world, and the wings that became humanity’s hope in its final moments. Unlike its appearance five years later, when it was found in an old warehouse covered in dust, it was now sparkling as if it had just been repainted.

“Why? Do you want to ride it too?”

“I won’t have a reason to ride it.”

The Phoenix has never ridden that airship, and I won’t have a reason to ride it in the future either. Because the Phoenix riding that airship would mean one of two situations.

Failing to reach godhood.

Or falling head over heels for the protagonist.

In many ways, it was a no-go for the Azure Flame Phoenix.

“Still, since I’ve come all the way to China, maybe I should ride it when I go back to Korea.”

It would be slower than the Black Flame Dragon, but the mental stability would be more comfortable.

“You’re going back with the heroes? Won’t that be awkward?”

“Not at all. …No, the monstrous humans are the problem.”

There’s no problem with me riding it, but Cheon Gaeul and Jo Deokbae are the problem. Deokbae left the country with me, so I could excuse him as a bodyguard, but considering his big mouth, it would be better to transform Cheon Gaeul into Jo Deokbae instead.

“I’m fine? I don’t mind going as a Core.”

“I’m okay as long as I’m not a shoe or an insole.”

“……Understood. Then we’ll go comfortably when we leave.”

“Alright. Then I’ll tell the association, okay? To let Cheonghwa ride with us when we go later.”

Should I say it’s fortunate that I get to return to Korea for free without paying for a plane ticket? I chewed and swallowed the late-night snacks Seok Harang bought, and watched the ascent of the Death-, no, the Baeknaro, into the sky.

[Ah, at the moment I speak, the ‘Baeknaro’ has begun its takeoff.]

“Why is its name like that?”

“What’s wrong with it? It’s not bad, is it?”

“…Y-yeah, you’re right.”

Honestly, it’s better than a strange name like Deathdinath, but the nuance from the name is the problem. Because it sounds like it could explode any moment.

“Hey. Then I’m leaving, okay? Once that arrives, I’m supposed to ride it to Cheonghae.”

“Have a safe trip. Don’t overdo it for no reason.”

“I’ll just protect people. I’ll be back.”

Seok Harang bowed to Jo Deokbae and Cheon Gaeul and leisurely left the hospital room. I ate the late-night snacks that she and Seok Harang had bought, and watched the Death-, no, the Baeknaro’s movement as it flew towards this Chinese land.

“Huh? What are you looking at again?”

“I’m curious who’s on board.”

I checked the list again. Colleagues overflowing with potential, veterans rich in combat experience, and even S-rank Fire Fist Lee Seung-hyung; the lineup was truly outstanding. But unfortunately, only one hero currently caught my attention.

Unsa Park Raon.

One of the heroines was coincidentally on the airship, flying towards this place. I was anxious, worried that it might explode.

“……It’s probably just a groundless fear.”

Surely it wouldn’t explode with two heroines on board.