Ch.130130. Ways of Mourning

When Amon opened his eyes again, he realized that his arms wouldn’t move.

He was momentarily confused, but soon remembered that his arms had become pillows for his lovers and regained his composure.

‘I thought I’d been dragged to another strange place.’

Only then did Amon feel relieved.

After checking on the lovers using both his arms as pillows,

“Sniff.”

With his nose feeling slightly stuffy after waking up, he sniffled and took a moment to review the conversation he had in the black sea.

‘Goetia visited that place.’

To make contact with external entities at the world’s boundary and gain power from them.

‘No wonder Sonia’s purification ability wasn’t working properly.’

The reason became clear why demons who should have been nodding off just from her spreading her wings remained unaffected.

Amon added the Outers to his list of hostile forces and began formulating a new strategy against them.

His thoughts naturally led to the incident where he had annihilated the giant in the black sea. Unlike with the Ghost, he had completely destroyed the giant on the spot.

‘Perhaps… this could be the key.’

Amon believed this might be related to why Ghost specifically asked for his help.

‘My ability…’

Sonia’s recoil absorption, Kathy’s future sight.

The thought that he might have such an innate ability made his heart race for the first time in a long while.

The opportunity for growth is always exciting.

Amon prepared to meditate, planning to engage in self-reflection for the first time since childhood.

However, that pleasant time couldn’t even begin.

Waaaaaang-

A siren suddenly blared throughout the palace in the dead of night.

With the spine-chilling siren sound, Kathy and Sonia who had been sleeping kicked off their blankets and got up.

“What’s happening!?”

Even the sleepyhead Sonia, who would normally rub her eyes and dawdle, showed nimble movements.

Amon conveniently explained via a text message on his phone.

[Intruder alert.]

With that brief message sent through the secure communication network, they immediately rushed toward the main palace.

***

Right after winning the war against AI, the Crown Prince prided himself on not letting his guard down.

In fact, to counter the AI, he had to deactivate turrets and drones and weaken the security network, so he compensated by increasing manpower.

He never dreamed that this was exactly what the enemy was waiting for.

The so-called Trojan Horse.

As manpower increased hastily, so did opportunities for spies to infiltrate.

Eventually, the spies disabled the security network from within, allowing those waiting outside to enter the palace without any resistance.

The Crown Prince couldn’t hide his bitterness at being so thoroughly deceived.

‘They probably moved at this hour to be wary of Amon.’

Otherwise, there would be no explanation for why they remained silent until after Amon had finished his report and left.

‘I’ve lost.’

In the end, security is a battle of wits.

In that sense, the Crown Prince had been overwhelmingly defeated in that battle.

‘Even though they say there’s no such thing as absolute security…’

He had been too complacent.

Of course, the Crown Prince had done his best, but

In any case, the enemies’ patience had paid off, and since he had lost, he could only describe himself as having been complacent.

Having finished this line of thought, the Crown Prince closed his eyes in resignation.

‘Kidnapping or assassination.’

Their intentions were unknown. But one thing was certain.

A defeated royal has no choices.

The Crown Prince lamented that even in this dire situation, no one was coming to save him.

‘Perhaps I purged too many.’

Originally, the Crown Prince’s power base was the military, centered around his five-star general grandfather.

But during the recent purge of the conspiracy, he had eliminated all those individuals, leaving no close aides by his side.

It had been a bold decision that allowed him to completely bring down his political rivals, the second and third princes, and eliminate the maternal relatives who needed to be removed,

but he hadn’t considered how vulnerable this would make him to external intrusion.

Eventually, the intruders eliminated the remaining guard warriors and approached right in front of the Crown Prince.

The intruders were a group in black martial attire with black hairnets over their faces.

The Crown Prince immediately recognized them as the Saljugye.

At the front of the Saljugye group was a martial artist wearing a black bamboo hat leading them.

The Crown Prince addressed the black hat.

“What business brings you to me at such a late hour?”

No answer came.

Instead, the black hat simply drew his sword.

From this, the Crown Prince realized there was no room for dialogue.

Immediately after, the black hat rushed toward the Crown Prince.

And just before his sword reached the Crown Prince’s neck, the Crown Prince thought:

What a futile end.

Contrary to that thought, the Crown Prince did not die.

The moment the sword slightly cut his skin, the black hat’s head exploded.

While the Crown Prince stood frozen at the incomprehensible sight, familiar voices were heard.

When the Crown Prince turned his head, he saw the hacker triplets.

“Just as Your Highness said.”

“The Trojan Horse is such a common tactic after all.”

Coming from the older brother who was once a Megacorp employee and nearly replaced by a gingerbread man, those words carried weight.

Levy gave her brother a smirk and turned her head toward her gingerbread brother.

“Brother. I’ll leave this to you.”

The gingerbread man, Mage, nodded.

“It’s been a while since I held a gun.”

Though easily forgotten due to his recent work as a netwalker, he was once the security director of Megacorp.

Whirrr-

Mage began warming up his beloved minigun.

As the barrel of the machine gun capable of turning humans into 1cm² meat chunks began to rotate, the Saljugye members grew tense.

Soon, bullets began pouring from the minigun’s muzzle at a laser-like speed.

Drrrrr!

And so began Mage’s one-man army rampage against the Saljugye.

After leaving the intruders to Mage, Levy approached the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince questioned her about her incredibly timely appearance.

“Who are you…?”

“The current Crown Prince sent me.”

“Hyun did?”

“Yes. I happened to be on the phone with His Highness.”

Before the Saljugye stormed the palace, Lee Hyun and Levy were talking on the phone in their respective rooms.

Lee Hyun claimed he was calling late at night merely to ask about dealing with hacking, but no one believed that.

While the man and woman were exchanging emotions over the phone late at night, suddenly Lee Hyun urgently asked Levy for a favor.

– “My brother is in danger.”

Upon hearing this warning, Levy quickly texted Amon’s group.

Then she headed to the Crown Prince with her brothers, the only forces she could bring immediately.

Levy finished her explanation.

Hearing this, the Crown Prince understood but wasn’t completely convinced.

“I understand Hyun sent you. But how did that child know first?”

The internal security network was disabled by spies like the Trojan Horse.

The external support forces quickly scaled the walls and reached the Crown Prince in just minutes.

How could Hyun notice first when even the Crown Prince’s close aide, the Minister of Justice, hadn’t noticed anything?

To the Crown Prince’s question, Levy hesitated briefly before speaking.

“Actually… the leader of Saljugye seems to be a member of the Sword Circle.”

“Is that true?”

“The current Crown Prince is still connected to the Sword Circle members through PIP. He was sharing their location and vision while talking to me.”

“That makes sense.”

The Crown Prince understood.

If that were the case, the Saljugye’s movements would have been immediately transmitted to Hyun, allowing him to respond faster than anyone else.

Levy nodded and turned her gaze back to the battlefield.

Her brother’s performance was overwhelming.

Mage had replaced his entire body except his gingerbread head with machinery, showing his high aptitude.

The result was a humanoid tank that fired a minigun like a rifle, launched missiles from his shoulders, and shot shotguns from his elbows.

He demonstrated overwhelming combat power against what appeared to be double-digit numbers of Saljugye members.

“Haha! Now it’s my time!”

Being entirely mechanical, he had been cautious of hacking until the AI was neutralized, but now with the AI gone, Mage had no reservations.

Rat-tat-tat!

Mage showed what a one-man army looked like as he turned the tables on the Saljugye.

Watching this, the Crown Prince firmly believed they would overcome this assassination attempt as well.

Until Mage was hacked.

“Huh? Brother?”

“Wasn’t there only one AI???”

There was one hole in their plan.

The assumption that there was only one AI involved this time.

The new AI that hacked Mage’s body spoke through his mouth.

[Why did you think that only one of us came to Joseon?]

While the previously destroyed AI had a cheerful voice reminiscent of a rational mad scientist, this AI had a somewhat arrogant and oily voice like a young nobleman.

With the appearance of the new AI, the tide turned against the Crown Prince’s side once again.

Moreover, Mage, who could be considered their greatest strength, had his body taken over.

The AI pointed the minigun’s muzzle at the Crown Prince and Levy.

[Unlike that friend you deleted, I don’t particularly care about the process.]

This AI displayed confidence, stating it was different from its predecessor.

The AI began rotating the minigun’s barrel just as Mage had done moments ago.

Seeing her brother pointing a gun at her, Levy let out a groan.

“Ugh… why didn’t I think of that?”

Levy blamed herself.

Beside her self-blaming figure, her brother shook his head.

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t think of it either.”

That’s when it happened.

From the darkness where nothing could be seen, someone denied this.

“It’s not your fault. That’s this AI’s ability.”

A familiar voice, one they wanted to hear and had been waiting for.

And before they could call Amon’s name, Amon emerged from the shadows.

Above Mage’s head.

The sensor on Mage’s back detected Amon, and his elbow fired the shotgun.

But Amon easily avoided it by stepping on air.

Mage immediately discarded the minigun for close combat and clenched his fists.

But as if on cue, bullets pierced both his knees, and a spear was lodged in his right shoulder.

Mage faltered.

Amon didn’t miss this opportunity and inserted a portable EMP into the back of Mage’s neck.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Mage.”

Reading Amon’s intentions through the sensation at the back of his neck, the AI shouted.

[It’s an illusion! A futile effort! Such a thing won’t even scratch me!]

Amon didn’t respond.

He simply pulled the pin on the EMP grenade and created distance.

Boom!

A massive electromagnetic wave burst from the grenade.

Having replaced his entire body with machinery, this was extremely fatal for Mage.

Amon asked a question to Mage, whose body below the neck had turned into scrap metal.

“Mr. Mage?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been a burden again.”

“Not at all. If it weren’t for you, I would have arrived here too late.”

“Thank you. I’m indebted to you again.”

The gingerbread man, Mage, nodded weakly.

As Mage closed his eyes, the Crown Prince bit his lip and said:

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I would be a dead man. Joseon will not forget your sacrifice.”

The Crown Prince showed his condolences to Mage who had closed his eyes.

Amon’s group looked at him as if he were a strange person.

Of course, the Crown Prince also noticed the attention focused on him.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there no culture of mourning comrades in the West?”

Amon answered as the representative.

“No, we have our own way of mourning.”

“Then are you curious because I’m not doing it your way?”

“That’s not it either. In Joseon, we should follow Joseon’s ways.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

To the Crown Prince’s question, Amon sighed deeply and approached Mage.

And then,

Knock!

He separated Mage’s head from his body.

“Eh?”

Forgetting his dignity, the Crown Prince let out a stupid sound, to which Amon replied:

“Please prepare some appropriate audio jams and flour after the battle.”

“Huh? Huh???”

The Crown Prince was confused.

Regardless, Amon handed Mage’s head to Levy.

“You take good care of it.”

“Yes.”

After entrusting Mage’s head to her, Amon left to deal with the remaining Saljugye members.

Levy saw Amon off and watched his battle.

When her mouth got bored,

Knock!

She tore off a piece of Mage’s cheek and tossed it into her mouth.

Watching this scene, the Crown Prince exclaimed in horror:

“Aztec?”

“No.”

Levy denied it with a serious face.