Ch.103Chapter 4. Digging is a Hero’s Basics (1)

Gangneung City.

Flying through the air, I transformed into my spirit form mid-flight and landed with Qiongqi at the penthouse of a hotel in Gangneung.

While the penthouse at the hotel in Samcheok had served as our command center for the start of the operation, this penthouse in Gangneung was purely a space for Qiongqi to stay.

“Ugh…”

I released my transformation as soon as I entered the penthouse through the window in my spirit form.

“Are you okay?”

Qiongqi, also in human form, examined the condition of my hand. Despite trying to look cool while blocking Snow White’s attack, it was too much to take an S-rank’s power with just a hand wearing a mana glove.

“My goodness. I think I got frostbite.”

“It’s both frostbite and some broken bones.”

“There’s no ability user with healing magic available right now. Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“Someone from Seoul going to a hospital in Gangwon Province? That won’t work. If I go anywhere, it should be to a Seoul hospital. Ugh…”

I sat in a chair and placed my arm on the tea table.

“Phew…”

The magical power of Qiongqi that had been inside my body returned to him as our fusion was released. Now I had to deal with my broken left hand using only my own magical power.

“Self-healing… increased regeneration speed… ugh, this is going to be tough.”

“That’s why I told you earlier on our way here. Next time, just cut her down. You might not get hurt.”

“I could have hurt her too. It was a sword made from your magical power. A sword condensed from your power—don’t you think Snow White would have been cut by it? She would have been gushing blood right there.”

“…Well, that’s true.”

Qiongqi came to my side and very gently raised a flame of magical power in his hand. Like thawing frozen flesh with a warm hair dryer, the heat of his magic slowly spread, driving away the cold that remained in my hand.

“Snow White is really something else. How can she use freezing abilities in this way? It’s not just frostbite, but leaving her magical power in the target’s body.”

“She’s S-rank. Number two in this country. She should naturally have abilities of this level.”

Snow White’s freezing magic doesn’t simply end with freezing the target. Like her magical power remaining in my hand, her freezing ability continues to stay in the body, forcibly maintaining the frostbite condition.

The frostbite will persist until my body’s magical power naturally pushes out the magical power left by the S-rank.

It would heal quickly if I just stayed still, but Snow White’s ability was definitely frightening.

“Removing the magical power is one thing, but what about the broken bones? Can you grip a motorcycle handlebar?”

“You said you’d fly me to Seoul, remember? But we need to hurry. My Taeguk Watch is probably on fire right now.”

“Why?”

“Well…”

I briefly explained the situation.

“So she’s that angry because she couldn’t contact you?”

“Yes. And I also need to contact another woman quickly.”

“Do Ji-hwan, are you two-timing right now?”

“From the looks of it, I’m not just two-timing but multi-timing.”

I’m in a situation where I’m developing feelings for someone as Goblin and also as Do Ji-hwan.

Snow White strictly distinguishes between the two, while Ymir thinks they’re essentially the same person.

“With Snow White, I can just say I woke up late, but not with Ymir. She’s almost 99% certain that I’m Goblin.”

“Really? So she’s not two-timing between Do Ji-hwan and Goblin?”

“Absolutely not.”

“What’s your evidence?”

“My intuition tells me so.”

After organizing my thoughts on the way to Gangneung, I concluded that Ymir had half-suspected Do Ji-hwan was Goblin even before meeting me as Platinum Sun on the beach.

Perhaps among the abilities she stole from demons, there was something that gave her a clue about my identity. Or maybe she realized something through my helping her.

“Alright. So we need to go to Seoul, but going to Yangyang Airport now would cause a commotion, right?”

“That’s right.”

With four S-ranks fighting each other, Yangyang Airport essentially won’t have any flights taking off this morning.

They’ll need to clear the runway, and above all, the road from Samcheok to Yangyang will need maintenance.

We managed to leave Yangyang Airport immediately, but from the nation’s perspective, there’s too much to clean up.

The issue of Juliana Faygreen’s gene theft.

The source of the rifles seized by Hwalbindang and information control.

The problem of Goblin and Qiongqi appearing at Yangyang Airport for no apparent reason from a civilian’s perspective, along with Armored Taejo and Snow White.

While they’ll be busy dealing with those issues, I had my own matters to resolve.

“Sigh. So now let’s—huh?”

Qiongqi’s Taeguk Watch started ringing. It wasn’t just any ringtone but a very unique one, like a child roughly singing a nursery rhyme.

“Ah, Chairwoman!!”

[Good job, Qiongqi.]

Qiongqi answered the phone with a very disciplined posture.

[You really did well. There’s too much to praise in just three minutes, so I’m sorry, but I’ll skip the compliments.]

“Ah, yes!”

I was worried about Cheonriran being spread throughout the Gangneung area, but the chairwoman wouldn’t call on a channel that could be intercepted by Cheonriran.

[The other directors were quite envious when they heard. So I’ve set up a competition for the next turn, so Qiongqi doesn’t need to worry about that.]

“Phew……”

Qiongqi let out a very deep sigh.

“Thank you so much! Chairwoman!”

[It’s nothing. You just did what needed to be done.]

Since she had been worried that other executives might be jealous of her fusion with me, she was genuinely happy that the chairwoman had taken care of the other executives.

[Instead, Manager Do will have a hard time. Manager Do?]

“Yes, Chairwoman.”

[I’ll develop and send you a special Taeguk Watch, so you won’t have trouble with GPS tracking next time. And how are your injuries? If you need medicine, I can send you some new ones.]

“That’s fine. I plan to use this injury.”

[Use it? Ah, to appeal to someone?]

“Yes.”

I checked the condition of my damaged left hand, from which Snow White’s magical power was draining.

“I’m going to wear a cast on my left hand in front of Snow White.”

[To naturally make her suspicious?]

“Yes. I want her to realize who she used such violence against, and then create psychological debt.”

[As expected. Ah, it’s almost…]

It was already close to three minutes.

[Good job, both of you. I’ll take care of October Travel, so you two get some rest.]

Click.

The call ended.

The call duration on Qiongqi’s Taeguk Watch showed ‘2:57’.

“Sigh. This is really inconvenient. What if it gets reduced to one minute later?”

“The chairwoman will find a way.”

“True. Sometimes I think, what if we just kill Cheonriran?”

“…From my perspective, since he hasn’t killed anyone or done anything bad yet, killing him seems a bit much. Sigh, anyway… Director? I’m sorry, but could you drive me to Seoul?”

“Sure, sure. But since we’re going… can I stay in Seoul for a day? At your place, Manager.”

“…What?”

“Did you just say yes?”

Qiongqi winked at me and extended her hand.

“…Tsk.”

Hopefully, no one will come looking for me in Seoul.

I followed Qiongqi, trying to suppress my uneasy feelings.

* * *

An hour later, Yangyang Airport.

“Why did you fight Goblin at the airport! Who was on that plane?!”

“Were you suppressing a villain when Goblin appeared? Who was locked in the iron cage!”

“The plane has been confirmed as October Travel’s private jet! What’s your relationship with Faygreen Company?!”

Journalists gathered at the airport extended their fists toward the heroes with their Taeguk Watches’ microphone function turned on. Normally they would extend microphones, but not having brought any, their extended fists looked somewhat comical.

“I cannot tell you. It’s confidential.”

“Are you ignoring citizens’ right to know!”

“It’s a measure for citizens’ safety. For details, the Association will…”

While journalists backed by numerous citizens’ eyes confronted management personnel from the Association, Snow White hurriedly entered the hastily set up tent.

“Good job, unnie.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“What a shame. We were so close to catching him.”

“…Well.”

Snow White clenched and unclenched her right hand, then accepted the iced americano that Tae Yi-rin handed her.

“Nara.”

“It’s Yi-rin.”

“…Right, Yi-rin. Did you find a way this time?”

“No! He just flew away on a winged tiger, so there was no way to figure it out even coming here in person.”

Tae Yi-rin shrugged with both hands raised.

“To think he’d escape using such a classic method. Tsk. If he had disappeared suddenly like mist as before, I would have noticed right away.”

“…Maybe he was conscious of you and disappeared riding Qiongqi.”

“Come on, no way.”

“Right?”

It was just a coincidence.

Goblin simply escaped using Qiongqi’s flying ability, and thanks to Qiongqi’s power, he was able to fight against Snow White.

“…….”

No.

He could have won.

If.

If Snow White had been a “target for execution,” Goblin would have cut her down before she could even respond, using some method.

The fact that he didn’t means he has ulterior motives of seeing her as a hero and wanting to recruit her into his organization, The Syndicate.

“Useless….”

Next time, she would definitely catch him.

“But unnie. You managed to wound Goblin once. How did you do that?”

“What?”

“It was in the video. In the footage of you and Goblin facing off between the split glacier. Look here. Goblin’s hand is frozen white.”

“…….”

Goblin had let her hit him.

That was the only way to describe it.

“…It was luck.”

A wound created by Goblin, not by her own skill.

“Next time will be different. …Yi-rin. Excuse me for a moment.”

Snow White took her coffee and went outside with her Taeguk Watch.

Outside was crowded with people, but Snow White tapped her Taeguk Watch from an angle where others couldn’t see.

“…What’s this.”

Still.

The ‘1’ from the message sent via SNS hadn’t disappeared.

“Why hasn’t he seen it yet…? With all this commotion in the country. Is he sleeping…? Ah, maybe….”

Snow White covered her mouth with her hand.

“With his wife…?”

-Honey, who keeps sending these messages?

-Snow White? Honey, are you cheating on me?

Her heart sank.

-I told you to get rid of all those other women! Who is this girl now!!

“…Did I just make a mistake…?”

Snow White’s eyes began to shake greatly.

“Could they be… making love right now…?”