Ch.104104. The Second-Years Make Their Move.

The executives of the Apocalypse Cult all have different personalities and characteristics. Moreover, even though they’re of the same rank, if they have grudges against each other, it can disrupt mission execution.

This is the same with the military. The Army, Navy, and Air Force all have different characteristics. Because of this, even when they try to cooperate, it might not work properly.

That’s why the military has the Joint Chiefs of Staff that oversees all branches.

Similarly, the Apocalypse Cult needs an authoritative figure to control its executives.

“Flowing Milky Way,” who occupies the head seat at the executive meeting, is exactly that case.

He’s like the Joint Chiefs of Staff who oversees all the cult executives. Within the cult, he’s referred to as the Grand Executive.

For reference, “Flowing Milky Way” is not a metaphorical expression. It’s his name.

His face showed distinct Native American features.

Dark, reddish skin. But a face closer to Western than Eastern.

He watched Leviathan’s activities and sighed.

“They say even ‘they’ don’t know about that monster.”

Speaking fluent Korean, he looked at the remaining executives.

Only four executives of the Apocalypse Cult remained.

“The losses are greater than expected. It’s not easy to raise someone with powerful abilities.”

“So you, as the Grand Executive, are preparing for this?”

A young voice was heard from within a robe hidden in darkness.

“I’ve already prepared ‘one.’ Since our plans have been delayed, I’ve reinforced the lower ranks sufficiently.”

“But executives need to command. We eventually need to select executives. To select new ones, they need to go through ‘tests,’ which wastes human resources.”

A somewhat dignified voice was heard.

And next came a relatively older-sounding voice.

“In my time, we went through all those sacrifices. It’s no exception now. The ‘middle’ ranks may be temporarily empty, but they can be cultivated faster than executives.”

The Grand Executive, Flowing Milky Way, nodded.

“I’ll select three more new executives, and I’ll keep ‘one’ by my side to teach them common sense.”

It was at this moment that the older voice expressed doubt.

“If someone is qualified to be an executive of the Apocalypse Cult, wouldn’t Eun Serin also be eligible? As you all know, if she undergoes monsterization, she’d be stronger than Lee Myunghyun.”

Flowing Milky Way nodded.

“But Eun Serin is a woman who sacrificed herself for that ‘one.’ She must attend to the being created by the cult leader’s orders.”

“Can we trust her? She’s probably the one who betrayed us to the White Dragon Guild.”

The young voice seemed strangely excited.

“She’s become arrogant since entering the Academy. Lee Myunghyun should have dealt with her properly.”

“You seem jealous. That’s not good.”

The dignified voice reprimanded the young voice.

“The Academy was originally going to be our attack site, but several incidents occurred. Security has been strengthened. It’s dangerous even for executives to go there recklessly. And actions like Lee Myunghyun’s are dangerous, right? Grand Executive.”

“That’s right. Lee Myunghyun thought he could handle ‘that monster,’ but it was a clear misconception. To control a monster, you need maternal instinct. A mother figure. It shouldn’t have been done because it could have produced results different from the cult leader’s intentions.”

The Grand Executive nodded.

“What’s important is that we need to retrieve that monster from Eun Serin before time passes. Because we can’t teach its instincts to be too gentle. We’ll retrieve it before the end of this year. We’ll decide Eun Serin’s usefulness then.”

Flowing Milky Way now changed the topic.

“This is probably the most important agenda. Within this year, we’ll reveal ourselves in front of everyone.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

The dignified voice laughed. But what’s important is how they reveal themselves.

Following the human monsters, it’s the debut stage of the humanoid monsters that will make everyone suspicious and throw them into confusion.

Flowing Milky Way naturally pointed to the Academy.

“I hear there are many talented individuals at the Academy this year. We should eliminate the buds early.”

“But Grand Executive, didn’t you say security is tight? And yet you’re targeting the Academy again? Are you getting dementia?”

When the young voice expressed confusion, Flowing Milky Way shook his head.

“You’re young. We’re attacking the symbolism of the Academy. Why do you only think of the Academy itself when we talk about attacking it?”

“Attacking the Academy doesn’t necessarily mean the ‘place’ called the Academy?”

“In the end, it’s the people that matter.”

Flowing Milky Way was checking the Academy’s schedule.

*

The school trip ended without being able to go to the United States.

Now, there won’t be anything special until the end of November. Originally in the future, Eun Serin would be operating covertly and would now be reaching her conclusion.

The current Eun Serin is quite quiet. She even almost died at the hands of Lee Myunghyun.

I don’t know what Eun Serin is plotting, but at least she won’t commit suicide, which is a relief.

Her end in the future was being suspected and committing suicide.

“Let’s see. The Apocalypse Cult at that time…”

In my room, I diligently created a chart about the Apocalypse Cult.

It might be meaningless now that the future has changed, but I noted down important points as I remembered them.

Anyway, after the emergence of humanoid monsters, they appear nationwide. It’s impossible to catch them all individually.

While monsters mainly target ordinary people, humanoid monsters have will and attack important government offices or guilds, gradually reducing our strength.

Among them, the biggest incidents in our country were the Seoul Invasion Operation, Incheon Airport Occupation, and Busan Port Blockade Incident.

There are many other minor ones, but these three are the biggest.

In terms of scale, the Seoul Invasion Operation; in terms of urgency, the Busan Port Blockade Incident.

The Incheon Airport Occupation caused the most damage, even more than Devil.

Of course, the three major guilds responded to these three incidents.

Park Taesang handled the Seoul Invasion Operation, Dokgo Jun handled the Incheon Airport Occupation, and Jo Seonghee handled the Busan Port Blockade, successfully defeating them.

The humanoid monsters spread from our country to the rest of the world, gradually killing off humanity.

The closest event is the Incheon Airport Occupation in mid-November, followed by the Seoul Invasion and Busan Port Blockade in December.

As mentioned earlier, November is when Eun Serin is mainly active. But for now, she’s quiet.

Anyway, if we can defend against these activities in advance, humanity will suffer less damage.

As I mentioned before, there were also assassination incidents… The response to these was actually quick.

[The Association has captured the perpetrators of the ongoing disappearances and murders through specialized searches and magic detection.]

Surprisingly, the damage from assassinations was much less than in the future.

Society is clearly less chaotic, which seems to be why the response capability is particularly excellent.

Moreover, the difference is that it wasn’t humanoid monster assassinations but assassins using ‘that powder’ who were caught.

The humanoid monsters still haven’t been caught.

So should I have been able to prevent assassinations here too?

“No.”

I currently have a security detail. With all the incidents happening around me lately, everyone is suspicious.

[They say accidents only happen when you’re with Do Jonghyun.]

[Jonghyun, I heard there was another accident in Jeju? Why does this happen wherever you go?]

It was said jokingly, but even the security detail is well aware of the situation.

So I can’t run around trying to prevent everything.

“To prevent as much as possible…”

I need to tell them not to go where they’ll die, or something like that.

The problem is I can’t think of how to do that.

At the very least, they need one more person with them during the assassination, or they need to avoid the location.

Frustrated, I turned on the TV. At that moment, Detective Conan was airing.

In the Kaito Kid episode, someone receives a notice card.

“A notice card?”

At that moment, a good idea came to mind.

“Yes, this could work! I don’t even have to go myself!”

I tried my best to recall those who would be assassinated.

After making a list, I looked for ways to bypass IP tracking.

“Still, if I send it, I’ll be suspected, so I should go somewhere as a third party to do it.”

For now, I’m satisfied with having come up with a good method.

The next day, I went to school feeling somewhat refreshed.

Entering the classroom and naturally approaching the others, I felt something strange.

Everyone’s expressions were odd. Specifically, everyone except one person avoided my gaze.

“What’s wrong?”

“…”

Cheongi glared at me with what seemed like an angry expression.

“Cheongi?”

“Did you enjoy your date? Yeah, you’re so great.”

At that moment, I felt my heart sink.

How did Cheongi find out?

I was so flustered that I couldn’t think of anything. And then suddenly, Yoo Deokmin approached me.

“The seniors want us to gather after class. The atmosphere doesn’t seem good this time, so be careful.”

Yoo Deokmin left without even looking at me. At the same time, my suspicion turned toward him.

Cheongi’s family must have been sleeping in the morning, right? When I returned, they had just woken up.

So after that, I just went to have lunch, which means someone must have told him.

But I didn’t know who, so I couldn’t ask recklessly.

“Even after I told you, you boldly the next day… Even if you’re not dating, it’s still not right, is it?”

“I’m sorry.”

I know what would happen if I made unnecessary excuses in this situation.

Excuses won’t work in the current situation.

Kim Cheongi left the classroom and only came back right before class started.

Of course, he didn’t talk to me.

He talked with the other training class kids, not directly involved, but an awkward atmosphere permeated all of us.

How did it end up like this again? We’re not dating, but we’re close.

But Cheongi likes me, and somehow it was discovered.

This is the worst. The worst.

Of course, time might resolve it. Plus, the second-year students’ harassment has officially begun.

Originally, they mainly picked on me or started fights with me, but now the second-years were collectively bullying “some” first-years.

Those “some” were mostly those who received special classes.

“Hey, feeling comfortable?”

“Want to act like shit after coming back from the school trip?”

Unlike when they usually picked fights with me, they started directly harassing us.

For me, since I’ve been constantly picked on before, nothing changed, but I could see the other kids were confused.

“Were they too nice to you in the special class? Stay after it’s over. Time for review!”

Of course, this level could be excused as seniors guiding juniors who aren’t performing well.

But their actions gradually expanded.

“Hey! A senior is passing by and you don’t greet them?”

Baek Dongguk’s loud voice echoed in the corridor. I don’t know where he saw us from, but he was angry from quite a distance.

I stepped forward as the representative.

“Hello.”

“What kind of shitty greeting is that? Is this how you treat your seniors?”

“I’m sorry.”

He’s making a fuss when we couldn’t even see him? This is picking a fight. I know exactly what to do in this situation.

Unless you want to turn things upside down, apologizing and moving on is “initially” effective.

Plus, with the special class, we get called in for everything, and unlike before, the kids looked anxious.

After about four days, Kim Cheongi finally spoke to me.

“Sigh…”

With a face full of concern.

“Jonghyun, can we talk?”

Now’s the time. The timing for me to make excuses and apologize is right now.

“Cheongi, I’m sorry about that time. It was sudden…”

“No, that’s… not the issue.”

Cheongi hung his head low.

“It’s too painful. The second-years are bullying us too much lately…”

“…So that’s what’s happening.”

“It’s too hard. They’re making us do punishments and telling us not to listen to MP3 players these days.”

“!”

It’s started. The second-years’ bullying. But I won’t leave it be.

Unlike before, we can confidently report it now.

“Don’t worry. There’s no reason to endure it.”

I asked him to gather evidence so we could report the second-year students.