Part 1, Chapter 11, Section 5

Unlike the Round Table, which made judgments as pure individuals transcending nations and races, the Korean Heroes moved as a single organization under the affiliation of the Association.

The leader of that organization was Executor Baek Heea.

Dark Legion, the secrets of the Round Table, the destruction of the world, and so on. It took the Heroes a full two weeks to accept the truth of the world I had told them, and it wasn’t until July 17th that they brought their answer to the joint operation proposed by the Azure Syndicate.

While they understood it rationally, they couldn’t emotionally bring themselves to easily join hands with Villains. For that reason, they proposed a do-or-die, single-match showdown to the Azure Syndicate.

The only problem was that they were so confused that they didn’t specify exactly ‘what kind of showdown’ it would be.

We had to put our heads together to anticipate and prepare for whatever method of showdown the Heroes, or Baek Heea, would choose.

* * *

“Surely it’ll be a group battle, won’t it?”

The first to speak was Beacon.

“They suffered a major defeat once in the Seoul Reclamation Operation. They might still consider us enemies to be defeated. If so, then the showdown will undoubtedly be the Second Seoul Reclamation Operation. The Heroes will advance to Yeouido again, and they might be trying to completely subdue the Azure Syndicate with this opportunity. Just like Seonui Cheol used to capture villains and make them work for the Pine Tree Unit.”

“So they want to suppress us with force and hold us by the leash… Hmm, okay. Then the countermeasures will be easier.”

While the Association’s power had decreased, the Azure Syndicate’s power was growing day by day. The executives, unlike before, were composed of S to A-class individuals, and the residents of Seoul who had joined the Azure Syndicate as members would also step forward to help them.

“Even so, isn’t that too much? They suffered a crushing defeat once; I don’t think they’d make such a bad move again.”

Phantom refuted that opinion and stated his own.

“More than anything, if they launch another large-scale operation against us, the outcome is obvious, isn’t it? So, the showdown will probably be a 1-on-1 battle using a select few elites. A kind of tournament.”

“1-on-1 battles between executives and Heroes? Hmm, that sounds quite plausible.”

It was the most suitable showdown for a power struggle with the Azure Syndicate without being heavily exposed to public attention. Rather than being tied down again amidst monsters, a 1-on-1 battle by directly drawing out the executives would be a great advantage for the Heroes.

“But that won’t work, will it? The numbers don’t match up in the first place. I think they’ll push with their numbers rather than 1-on-1. For example, ganging up on the boss. A so-called Phoenix Raid. How about it?”

“That’s a pretty plausible opinion. Even if they capture the executives, it’s meaningless if they can’t capture me, so they’re trying to raid me. Hmm, it’s the fastest solution from the Heroes’ perspective.”

“Isn’t that only on the premise that they can defeat the Leader-nim?”

Gungseong pointed out the premise itself.

“Isn’t the only person who was a stumbling block to the Leader-nim already here?”

“……That’s true.”

Gwanggeom put his feet on the desk and even crossed his legs. He certainly was a stumbling block to me before he became a monstrous human, back when he was alive.

“But I’m not on the Heroes’ side anymore.”

“But you’re not going to fight on the Azure Syndicate’s side either, are you?”

“Right. But if my wife asks, I’ll fight.”

Gwanggeom lifted his head proudly. The executives had already suffered from the noises made by the couple in my downstairs room, so they had clearly seen with their own eyes that he was a henpecked husband who couldn’t live without his wife.

“I’m jealous. To defile a woman’s virginity twice.”

“And had a child too. But what are you going to do about that child? Boss, Seolhwaryeong is a Korean Hero, if you think about it, right? Is there no possibility of that young lady coming as an enemy?”

“……Hmm.”

I couldn’t help but fall silent for a moment. While I was trapped in the Triple Barrier and cut off from the outside, the Divided Spirit that connected me to Seok Harang had split in half.

I unintentionally sat Seok Harang down with both parents and explained things, so the three had an awkward first meeting and were still dawdling, unable to reach out to each other first.

“Most likely… there’s a 100% chance she’ll be an enemy.”

Fighting against me, or fighting against Gwanggeom.

Either way, the possibility of Seok Harang joining the Azure Syndicate was low.

“Xiaolin’s absence is critical.”

“Now you’re in a position where you have to protect Hwanryong, aren’t you?”

“And it was the Leader-nim who dispatched the War God back to China.”

It was only because it was me that I endured the combined attack of the three executives and escaped the barrier. If Hwanryong or Seok Harang were captured, no one knew what would happen. For Hwanryong, who had no combat power of her own, I placed Xiaolin, the world’s strongest bodyguard, by her side.

“Gwanggeom, what will you do if Harang points her spear at you?”

“I’ll fight.”

There was no hesitation in Gwanggeom’s words.

“If something is hard to convey with words, there’s no choice but to communicate with force.”

“Excuse me. This isn’t a shonen manga, you know? If it were a world where enemies became comrades through friendship that blossomed during battle, I would have beaten everyone up a long time ago.”

“It wasn’t friendship, but rather embedding Cores in their hearts and turning them into monstrous humans, though. …As long as I’m a monstrous human, I intend to follow your orders. At least if you consider Rusalka family.”

“Of course.”

Any Rusalka was a very important comrade to me. Weren’t both of them people who agreed to oppose Seongju?

“Then let’s summarize. The worst case is an all-out war. The second worst is a battle or raid equivalent to that. Whichever it is, please be prepared to fight at full condition. Frankly speaking, a battle could start as soon as they arrive tomorrow morning.”

No matter the form, the Azure Syndicate, the Azure Flame Phoenix, does not avoid a challenge.

“Dismissed for today. Everyone worked hard. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, so let’s all have some free time today.”

We left all combat possibilities open and, under Beacon’s leadership, devised various countermeasures for the Second Seoul Reclamation Operation.

* * *

4 PM, Phoenix Penthouse.

Having delegated full authority for the mobilization of the Azure Syndicate to Kim Ji-hwa, I separately called Gwanggeom to talk.

“Rusalka went to Russia, aren’t you lonely?”

“I am lonely.”

Gwanggeom didn’t hide his true feelings. Knowing how important tomorrow’s events were for the Azure Syndicate, he didn’t touch a drop of the alcohol he usually drank so freely.

“You can rest as much as you want the day before the decisive battle. That’s the Azure Syndicate’s tradition.”

“You’re the strange one for letting us loose like this the day before the decisive battle.”

“We always approach operations with the thought that it could be our last. So that before we die, we don’t reach out to the sky and say, ‘I really wanted to do this before I died….'”

“That’s true.”

Gwanggeom just stood by the window, looking down at Seoul.

“Trash, if you really know everything.”

“I’ll only answer what I know.”

“I had an acquaintance in Seoul… Do you happen to know what happened to him?”

“Your ball-and-chain friend?”

Gwanggeom’s face flushed.

“It’s a bit hard to hear you call him a ball-and-chain friend with that face, but you know him anyway, right? What happened to him?”

“He became a monster trying to protect the Cube from Seonui Cheol. I killed him with my own hands.”

Gwanggeom looked down at me with cold eyes, and I humbly accepted his killing intent.

“He was your partner and companion, wasn’t he? I heard he always cleaned up your messes whenever you caused trouble.”

“……He’s a guy I owed a lot to in many ways. Though he did have a slightly twisted libido. Tsk, it’s a pity. Because I got leashed….”

“……Then, listen.”

I took a sip of strawberry juice, then revealed the truth to Gwanggeom.

“Treat Cheon Gaeul well from now on. His Core is currently inside Cheon Gaeul.”

“……That actress young lady? Wait a minute. Monstrous humans are said to derive their characteristics from the original’s Core.”

Gwanggeom’s face turned pale. As if remembering Cheon Gaeul’s now-vanished nine tails, Gwanggeom shuddered.

“To think he was that kind of guy.”

“Additionally, Seok Harang’s monstrous human form uses her antennae as tentacles.”

“You really talk too much unnecessarily. Since it’s come up, let me say something.”

Gwanggeom pointed a finger at me, getting irritable.

“Why do you keep deliberately getting on people’s nerves? Even though you don’t really want to.”

“……Well. Why indeed.”

I leaned back in my chair and spun around. The ceiling began to spin 360 degrees.

“Just a feeling of wanting to share what I know?”

“What kind of feeling is that?”

“I don’t know. What can I do if it just comes out? Don’t worry about it too much and be grateful. Thanks to me killing you, the possibility of Seok Harang becoming a butterfly monstrous human disappeared.”

“……For that, I am grateful.”

From his perspective, having personally seen and killed a butterfly monstrous human once, a future where even his daughter, after his wife, became a butterfly monstrous human would have been hellish.

“So you chose suicide in the future. Thinking that everything would be resolved if you died.”

“……Were there people in the future who could stop Harang’s rampage?”

“Yes. They were very wonderful comrades.”

Of course, the comrades changed every time, but each and every one of them played the role of an ace in the right place at the right time. Talking to Gwanggeom somehow felt like two old men chatting, so I changed the subject.

“So, Gwanggeom. When exactly are you going to reconcile with Harang?”

“Reconcile? I’m just-“

“Can’t you just go on your knees and apologize?”

“……You speak very easily. Without knowing what’s in a person’s heart.”

“Yes. I don’t know. But even if I don’t know, I can’t just leisurely watch the situation, can I?”

I spread out a map and pointed to Pyongyang, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.

“There’s a monster that requires four SS-class individuals to be deployed to stop it without any damage. It even has a Cube, and it’ll get stronger day by day. It’s S-class now, but in five years, it’ll be SS-class, a truly vicious monster.”

“If you’re talking about that one, its appearance isn’t very vicious, is it?”

“Is its appearance the problem? Its performance is the problem. You know what happens to the surroundings when it starts rampaging.”

“……Yes, I know well.”

Having witnessed the devastation firsthand, Gwanggeom would also be well aware of Nucleon’s danger.

“Me, you, Seok Harang, Xiaolin. Just the four of us could do a raid, but you and Seok Harang have trouble, so we can’t catch it now. Even though you know how important the Cube is.”

“……Give me some time. I still need time. It’s only been a little over two months since I died, hasn’t it?”

“Harang has been waiting for 21 years. She’s still waiting.”

“……What was your real relationship with Harang in the future?”

My chair stopped. Gwanggeom even drew his sword and blocked the chair.

“It doesn’t seem like a simple relationship as fellow Spirits or niece, and the things you say to mess with me seem real no matter how much I think about it.”

Gwanggeom’s eyes glared sharply at me.

“In fact, aren’t you that Priest guy?”

“Pfft.”

At Gwanggeom’s question, I couldn’t hold back my bursting laughter.

“You’re not calling me trash anymore?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“……Tsk. You seem to be trying to read my mana to confirm the truth, but I can say this one thing for sure.”

At least about this, I couldn’t lie.

“I am not the Priest.”

He’s in America right now. But Gwanggeom’s face showed he didn’t believe me.

“Seems like you are.”

“Oh, come on. If I tell you, can you promise not to kill me?”

When I proposed a deal, Gwanggeom was quite flustered.

“Not an order?”

“Because if it were an order, someone of your caliber would probably ignore it. I’ll tell you the truth I know, and you bet Rusalka.”

“……Bet Rusalka? Are you insulting me… You’re serious.”

“Yes. I met someone and was able to compose myself a little.”

Gwanggeom sheathed his sword. I raised my hand first.

“I myself, the Azure Flame Phoenix, swear. I will not lie to Gwanggeom Heo Yun-hwan.”

“I also… No, no matter what, I can’t bet Rusalka.”

Gwanggeom raised his hand to swear after me but gave up. But I didn’t mind at all.

“That means you have to keep your mouth shut to that extent. You can do that much, right?”

“……If you’re satisfied with betting me, then I swear.”

Not being able to bet Rusalka to the very end was just like Gwanggeom. In many ways, he was similar to Gawain, truly a lover to be envied.

“Alright. But don’t regret hearing this. When you find out who Seok Harang’s husband in the future is, you’ll definitely beat yourself up with regret.”

“I never regret. Alright, then. Who is this scoundrel who supposedly impregnated my daughter?”

“Baek Cheonghwa.”

Gwanggeom froze.

“I knew it.”

“……W-wait a minute. No, you t-trash, no, hello? Baek Cheonghwa? Baek Cheonghwa?”

Gwanggeom fell into a state of anomie. But I was not someone to stop talking out of consideration for Gwanggeom.

“Yes. Baek Cheonghwa (白靑花). The S-class boy whose right arm you cut off after he barely managed to calm you down with Mutual Demise when you rampaged using Rusalka’s power.”

“Huh.”

Gwanggeom slumped to the floor.

“He wasn’t… dead?”

“Everyone else died except him. Well… Perhaps because his life was tenacious despite going through that chaos, he drifted across the Sea of Okhotsk and reached Alaska. My goodness, his lifespan is long, probably because he’s S-class.”

“……Is that child really our Harang’s husband?”

“Yes. He’s scheduled to come back with his hair dyed blonde in five years. In the future.”

I revealed the truth.

But there was one thing I didn’t say.

Before I became the Azure Flame Phoenix, I *was* Baek Cheonghwa-the protagonist.

Therefore, ‘I am not the Priest.’ I am the Azure Flame Phoenix.

“Th-this son of a bitch, no, I should die…. Ugh…. This way, what I promised Rusalka…!”

“What did you promise?”

“To just split that dickhead, the guy who impregnated Harang, in half…. Ahem!”

Gwanggeom tried to regain his composure, but it was too late. I shrugged my shoulders and gave Gwanggeom time to dig his own grave.

“I told you you’d beat yourself up with regret.”

Gwanggeom, unaware that I, standing right in front of him, was the one who impregnated Seok Harang, was pouring apologies and curses only on the innocent protagonist.

In any case, Gwanggeom managed to regain his fighting spirit.

Light-attribute, SS-class swordsman ‘Heo Yun-hwan’.

He newly joined as an executive of the Azure Syndicate.

“No matter how I think about it, Dark Praetor or Dark Lord doesn’t suit you, so just drop it.”

“…….”

Gwanggeom Heo Yun-hwan – New!