Part 1 Chapter 10 1

A full ten days had passed since Phoenix returned to Korea.

People had expected Cheonghwa to return to Korea on the Baeknaro, having gone to China like a flash of light, but Cheonghwa disappeared somewhere again like a flash of light.

Where on earth did he disappear to?

According to the testimony of a Hero who was on the Baeknaro, as soon as they entered the airspace over the West Sea, he summoned the Dragon and disappeared towards Seoul.
People cast suspicious glances at the Black Flame Dragon’s loyalty, abilities, and safety regarding Cheonghwa.
And as people became convinced that Seok Harang could single-handedly manage not only Busan but also New Seoul-the entire Korean Peninsula-the entire peninsula gradually regained stability.
Shouldn’t we start heading back to Seoul now…?
Public opinion in New Seoul began to change.
* * *
26, 2020, 3 AM, Azure Syndicate Hideout.
“Yes. So, it’s definite that it will be released that day, right? I understand. Thank you for checking.”
[Yes. I confirmed it while I was here, so there’s no mistake. My, what a peculiar young lady.]
“…Anyway, thank you, Praetor. You went through a lot dealing with the higher-ups.”
[Ugh. I really don’t know why I get along with you so well. Huh? Debating for three days and nights in a relay just to decide on one epithet-]
Beep.
Having finished my business, I hung up the phone with Yoo Young-ho.
‘It’s an international call, I should save money.’
Yoo Young-ho is currently in the UK. Recognized for his past achievements, Yoo Young-ho transferred his affiliation beyond the Korean branch to London, where the Hero Association’s headquarters are located. He became one of the ‘higher-ups’ who are sponsors of the Round Table and find joy in assigning epithets to Heroes.
“Congratulations. War.”
“I think it’s an undeserved epithet, but.”
The monstrous human who shed Unjang’s shell, War Xiaolin, twisted her long hair shyly. Having volunteered to be my escort and remaining in Seoul, she stubbornly refused to leave my side, always citing the reason that she was protecting me.
“How long do you plan to follow me around?”
“Until I defeat you?”
“You win. Now get lost.”
“Don’t joke around.”
I waved my hand, shooing Xiaolin away, but Xiaolin flopped onto the chair, openly protesting to me. I wondered what kind of escort she was, lounging on the sofa wearing only a tank top and Dolphin pants, but at least very few beings could set foot in this penthouse.
“I can see your underwear.”
“I’m not wearing any underwear?”
“Let me correct myself. I can see everything inside.”
“It’s fine if you see it?”
Reasoning with her was impossible. Xiaolin seemed to have thrown away all shame after becoming the God of War, as she was practically walking around naked in this room.
“Still, I wear a suit when I go outside.”
“Without underwear, that is.”
“Anyway, no one notices, right?”
Xiaolin adjusted her mana to transform her clothes. With a tight black suit and a blue tie, Xiaolin instantly transformed into a bodyguard straight out of a spy movie.
“So the clothes are made of mana.”
“Yes. Do as you please.”
As for the clothes’ design, I had told her by recalling skins from my memory, but Xiaolin kept not wearing underwear no matter what she wore. When going out, she insisted on a full-body covering bodyguard style, but when she was in my hideout, she walked around in revealing outfits, testing my patience.
So I decided not to care anymore. Believing that I would get used to it eventually.
“Xiaolin.”
“Yes.”
“When dawn breaks today, ride Red Hare and go to your family home.”
“Ugh.”
Xiaolin openly frowned.
“Do I really have to go?”
“It’s been three days, so a Core must have appeared. …Indeed, is it still awkward to see him directly?”
“It’s not that…. It’s just annoying to go to the family home.”
Perhaps because she was the Phantom Dragon’s monstrous human, Xiaolin found my request quite bothersome. I couldn’t force her to obey since she wasn’t my monstrous human, but it was a top-secret mission that couldn’t be entrusted to anyone else.
“If not you, who would go to your house?”
“Even if I go, my older brother will be too busy to see me, and my lord is even busier. So, in the end, I’ll have to see my father….”
Xiaolin frowned.

“…Do I have to call ‘that thing’ Father now?”
Xiaolin had a very displeased expression.
Mao Zeping.
Mao Zeping, China’s second-in-command, created with the cunning hero Cao Mengde of the chaotic times as a motif, suffered a downfall where he lost everything to me and the Phantom Dragon. I took the Phantom Dragon and the Cube from his future self, and the Phantom Dragon took his body and his subordinate organization, Dongchang.
“Indeed, it would be hard to call him Father.”
The reason I utterly destroyed him was partly to prevent the evil deeds he committed in the future of the original story, but also because he killed his own daughter, Xiaolin.
“Putting worms in his own daughter’s heart, and then bursting her heart just because he lost once. He was truly an unspeakable bastard.”
“But you were the one who caused that defeat. That’s why he died.”
“If he didn’t want to die, he should have won.”
“That’s why I’m challenging you until I win, aren’t I?”
She never thinks of losing a single word. I know Xiaolin’s weaknesses inside out and easily gain the upper hand by exploiting them, but as Xiaolin is growing, she might catch up to my level someday.
“Among current humanity, you’re probably the closest to me.”
“In what sense?”
“Naturally, the level of your supernatural ability. Yes. To express it in Hikari’s terms.”
I pointed to the screen hanging on the wall. On it, the Azure Syndicate’s rankings, expressed in Himeji Hikari’s style, were listed from top to bottom.
“Level 96. That’s your current level.”
“It feels like a game?”
“…Complain to Hikari.”
In the original story or from a Spirit’s perspective, the term ‘Affinity Rate’ would have been more appropriate, but Hikari changed it to a more intuitive term for ordinary people. As soon as Xiaolin saw her epithet, which was third from the top, her eyes widened.
“Why am I third place?!”
“Because you’re third.”
“If I fight , it’s a draw!”
“Still, it says your level is 96. Complain to Hikari.”
“Ugh….”
Xiaolin seemed quite dissatisfied with the ranking, but she didn’t seem to have the courage to complain to Hikari. Xiaolin’s shoulders slumped.
“Still, aren’t you one of only four SS-ranks?”
I slowly read down the ranking from the top.
“99, Phoenix. 97, Seok Harang. 96, Xiaolin. 96, Gwanggeom. Congratulations. Now you truly stand shoulder to shoulder with Gwanggeom.”
“It’s an honor to have achieved the same level of skill as that person, but….”
Xiaolin frowned again, displeased with something.
“What now?”
“That person, after being resurrected as a monstrous human, isn’t he neglecting his training too much?”
Xiaolin, unlike the Phantom Dragon’s monstrous human she was, criticized Gwanggeom for being lazy. While she was quite surprised that Gwanggeom hadn’t actually died but had been resurrected as a monstrous human by me, Xiaolin was greatly disappointed by his current appearance, which was 540 degrees different from what she had seen back then.
“Why? He’s diligently swinging his sword, isn’t he? With his waist.”
“That sword isn’t *that* sword!”
As someone who usually valued martial arts, Xiaolin was enraged by Gwanggeom’s behavior of not practicing swordsmanship.
“Did you perhaps like him romantically?”
“He was someone I respected as a martial artist! Ugh, to see such a person panting under Anastasia…. It’s so sad to witness the disgraceful state of someone I admired since childhood.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t have gone in and out anywhere as a spirit body.”
“I was just happy that came up to Seoul.”
Separately from Xiaolin coming to Seoul as my escort, Anastasia, also a member of the Round Table, is currently staying in Seoul for a while. Originally, they were wandering around near their newlywed home in Busan, but they had no choice but to come up to Seoul, and naturally, they brought along a dog on a leash.
I pointed my finger directly downstairs.
“If you’re happy to see her, why don’t you go visit? She should be right below here.”
“……Are they perhaps doing it right now?”
“Xiaolin.”
I had to change Xiaolin’s way of thinking.
“There’s never a moment when that couple isn’t doing it. Keep that in mind.”
“……That’s truly amazing. Is that the power of love?”
“Yes. Their love overflows so much that they get reported by residents.”
They were practically driven out of Busan. Reports of the blonde foreign couple making love outdoors in the Busan area at all times of day and night piled up, and eventually, unable to find a place out of sight, they had to come up to the Azure Syndicate’s hideout.
“The soundproofing is thorough, you see. There are no people, and the view is good. I gave them a room on the condition that they don’t engage in outdoor play. If you’re curious, go visit.”
“I don’t want to see it. Anyway, this ranking will soon be overturned. I will rise to second place, and someday, the moment will come when I stand side by side with you.”
Xiaolin raised her epithet War, which was on the ranking, next to me.
“I look forward to it. Now go. With Red Hare.”
“It’s faster if I go alone.”
“…Ride it.”
“Understood.”
Xiaolin pouted and changed her clothes. The blue-based battle robe was the attire Xiaolin wore when engaging in official external activities.
“Then I’ll be going. Father…. No, I’ll go retrieve the Core that Mother gave birth to now.”
“Ah. While you’re there, go to Bonghyo too.”
“To my older brother too?”
“Yes. Bonghyo will be waiting for you directly at the manor. I have something I’m supposed to receive. You can give this as a gift and bring it back here.”
I took a box from the drawer and threw it to Xiaolin. The small box, sealed with a mana barrier, had a lock that no one could open, and only Spirits, not humans, could open it.
“What’s inside this?”
“An accessory.”
“…Is it perhaps for my older brother?”
Xiaolin half-closed her eyes and questioned me. Ever since she learned Bonghyo’s name, Xiaolin had been desperately trying to keep me and Bonghyo apart for some reason. Even though neither I nor Bonghyo could have a romantic relationship with each other.
“Xiaolin. I don’t like that Baek Cheong-yeong guy.”
“But my older brother might like you.”
“That guy? You really don’t know your brother at all. Don’t you know how much of a deviant he is? Whose idea do you think it was to make Mao Zeping like that?”
“…….”
Xiaolin’s jaw dropped in shock.
“I thought you were the one who did that until now….”
“Ask him directly. It was his doing.”
“I’ll go right now.”
Xiaolin left my room with a disbelieving expression. The direction she descended, passing through the window as a spirit body, was towards the small stable in Yeouido Park, newly prepared for Red Hare.
“Fast.”
A red trajectory shot westward across the night sky. Red Hare’s steps, galloping towards Beijing, were swifter than ever, as if understanding its master’s feelings.
“Though it’s too high-level a talent for a delivery person bringing one S-rank Core and one USB.”
Now that I had chased out the exhibitionist who had been freely coming and going in the room, I was finally alone. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.
“Should I rest for 10 minutes?”
Creak, creak, creak!
“……I guess I should just work.”
I had to concentrate on work again, using the sounds coming from downstairs as white noise. I pondered deeply over where to use the ‘S-rank Core born from the Black Scorpion’ that Xiaolin would bring from China.
“Regularly supplied S-rank Cores are quite a problem too.”
Many people, including the Azure Syndicate’s executives, are eyeing the S-rank Cores I possess.
Two are officially known. And two I obtained by catching the Black Scorpion. I have four S-rank Cores.
The executives want mana enhancement, Eunyu wants them as items to sell, Hikari wants them for research, and the Association wants monstrous humans resurrected with S-rank Cores to command. There were countless demonic hands eyeing my S-rank Cores, whether directly or indirectly, and I had to utilize the Cores appropriately.
“Always keep one as insurance.”
It seemed I should always carry one, just in case another Cheon Gaeul incident occurred. I put the three colored Cores on my desk into my pocket, and tossed the remaining black Core into the air, catching it as I thought about its use.
Monsterification, monstrous human enhancement, facility maintenance, fund acquisition, research investment, friendly exchanges, and so on….
“Who needs it most urgently…?”
Ultimately, it was a problem I had to decide. My thoughts continued to deepen, and I couldn’t make a decision until the sun rose.
“Alright. I’ve decided.”
A very simple answer emerged.
“I’ll just meet everyone and invest in the person who needs it the most.”
It was a clear answer.