Ch.166166. Aftermath

Serin Eun was in a peculiar state of mind. The main forces of the Goegeobdan that had been pressuring her had been blown away. Thanks to the incident at the NTS broadcasting station, the aftermath was significant.

The most shocking scene on TV was that Dokgo Jun, while receiving treatment, had killed the hero monster.

[The monsters that attacked me and these monsters were in cahoots. It’s clear. From now on, our White Dragon Guild will eliminate all monsters pretending to be heroes.]

But when a reporter suggested he might be hasty, Dokgo Jun shouted while coughing up blood.

[Once you know they’re the enemy, your lives are in danger! Your lives! Don’t let worthless righteousness born of ignorance cost people their lives. No, it’s not even righteousness—it’s the height of ignorance!]

There was even an incident where the live broadcast was hastily cut off in front of the enraged Dokgo Jun.

‘It failed. The plan must have been to make Dokgo Jun and Jonghyun destroy each other.’

Why was a feeling of relief etching itself into a corner of her heart?

But what she wanted wasn’t being achieved either.

After all, if the Goegeobdan collapsed, there would be no reason for her cooperation.

‘Does it matter? From the beginning, what I wanted was just to deal with that woman.’

The screen switched to show Jo Seonghee.

Though her feelings were complicated, that woman needed to take responsibility for driving her brother to his death.

‘No, all of you who support Jo Seonghee are the same.’

It made her sick that this woman was still treated as one of the top three guilds and hailed as a hero.

When Serin Eun turned around, a child of about six years old was suddenly there.

Naturally, it was her child. The difference from before was that it “looked” like a “human.”

But its expression seemed gloomy.

“Can I… go outside now?”

“No, you need to learn more.”

“Always… always… I’ve been patient, but Mom always says the same thing.”

The child’s complaints were increasingly leaking out. But Serin Eun didn’t look at her child.

‘This is getting dangerous. Should I hand it over to the Goegeobdan? No. This child is also a means to protect me.’

She needed to utilize it. That was what it was created for, after all.

“Mom…”

As her child approached, Serin Eun showed a slightly startled expression.

Seeing her wary gaze, the child lowered its head with a dejected face.

‘…I’m sorry.’

Clearly, her parenting method was far from ideal. Even letting the child secretly relieve stress was exhausting. But it needed to grow more to be able to overturn the entire Magician Guild.

‘Even though this child’s genes are mixed with the blood of the Ancient Species, it’s not time yet.’

She hugged the disappointed child and comforted it.

“Sorry, Mom’s just too busy. Let’s play together later.”

Not yet. It needed to grow more. It could be seen as using her child, but that was the purpose for which it was created in the first place.

As she held and comforted the child, it finally calmed down.

Serin Eun lowered her gaze and confirmed that a message had arrived on the burner phone on the table.

[The power of the Ancient Species’ byproducts is certainly powerful. The Goegeobdan has reached a consensus that this power must be combined with your research, Serin Eun.]

“That’s ridiculous. That’s old news… or is it? They wouldn’t know.”

Serin Eun mocked the Goegeobdan’s message.

Certainly, the Goegeobdan was unaware of the byproducts being researched on the monster side.

But the child Serin Eun had created was mixed with the blood of the Ancient Species. That’s why it could subdue even Yu Deokmin, who possessed the power of Mahanaga, since childhood.

If a simple hybrid of human and monster could be that powerful, the Goegeobdan would have been making them continuously.

But they weren’t as strong as expected, and it took a long time.

Of course, compared one-on-one with monsters or humans, they were stronger, but there was an efficiency problem.

It meant she had known about the existence of the Ancient Species for much longer.

“Still, the fact that those below don’t know the leader’s identity shows they’ve maintained security well. It was right for Flowing Milky Way to become a high-ranking official.”

Serin Eun patted the child and moved to her seat.

*

[Glen Jonathan]

-Age: 56

[Kwon Ahseon]

-33

[Park Jemun]

-29

[The identities of these individuals have been confirmed, and the world is verifying their information and coordinating efforts.]

I hadn’t been able to attend classes for about three days. Was it because of the fierce battle? My body was in terrible shape.

Even my first evolution transformation hadn’t made my body hurt this much.

This was the result of fighting a powerhouse like Dokgo Jun.

Still, it’s fortunate that I avoided the enemy’s plan for mutual destruction, right?

[It turns out that monsters attacked Dokgo Jun. This incident proves once again that monsters deceive humanity.]

[We must no longer be fooled by monsters.]

Thanks to Dokgo Jun’s testimony, a filter has been created for monsters pretending to be heroes.

People won’t believe them so easily anymore, and they’ll be hunted.

The White Dragon Guild has already publicly declared they would hunt them all.

But the perception of me remains the same.

[Those monsters that were supposedly helping us? They’re all the same!]

[That’s right! They said they were fighting for us, but it was all lies! We should kill them all!]

[The policy of killing all monsters is correct!]

Just because the enemy was revealed to be trash doesn’t mean my reputation has improved.

Sad reality.

But not everyone thinks that way. The girl I saved is clearly different.

[That monster brother saved me! I’m grateful to him.]

She was supporting me despite the hostile atmosphere.

Regardless of the gazes of people around her.

I couldn’t hear the adults clicking their tongues, saying she was just a child who didn’t know better.

And there was one more surprising story. Dokgo Jun spoke about me with a sulky expression.

[I’m still negative about monsters, but that monster was closer to being a hero than anyone else there. I think we need to learn more about that monster.]

Dokgo Jun taking a reserved position? That’s major progress.

It felt like the mess created by the monster imposters had been somewhat repaired.

Now I probably won’t be hunted on a large scale.

I just need to regain the trust of those who still don’t believe me. There are people who do believe.

But what was longer than expected was that Saturday fell at the end of these three days.

I ended up missing classes completely.

In the end, I had no choice but to ask for help.

I tried contacting the kids on my phone.

-Geum Dohyeon: Nothing much. The instructor keeps getting angry while we continue structural work for our discussions. But how many days are you going to miss class?

The good news was that they were repeating the same thing all week.

-Geum Dohyeon: We can help you with the classes, but I have one favor to ask.

Here, Geum Dohyeon made a deal.

-Geum Dohyeon: We couldn’t do it properly last year because of incidents, but this time they’re selecting representative students for each grade.

Representative students for each grade. When this came up, I recalled the time before my regression.

Back then, it was held only once for the second-year students in a time more gloomy than the era I knew.

It’s just like Miss Korea—students vote to select the representative male and female of that grade.

Those selected become the face and models of the school.

Geum Dohyeon said he wanted to be the second-year male representative.

-Geum Dohyeon: If you give me your vote, I’ll help you.

-Do Jonghyeon: I don’t really have any thoughts on that, but who’s your competitor?

-Geum Dohyeon: There’s a guy named Woo Sangmin in the intermediate class. He has a pretty face, so he’s popular.

He’s full of wariness toward his rival, considering this a competition.

But that wasn’t all.

Geum Dohyeon invited me to a party he’s hosting this weekend.

-Geum Dohyeon: We’ve lived together at the Cheonji Guild, so this is a time to build friendships. Come. Minwoo and Sangheon will be there too. My family has prepared a private jet, so join the party in Busan.

Private jet? Ah, right. Geum Dohyeon. This guy was rich, wasn’t he? Though not as wealthy as Aerial, he comes from a considerable asset-owning family.

But wouldn’t it be better to just take the train down rather than going to Incheon Airport to catch a plane? No, no. Maybe the private jet is much more comfortable? The service and all.

It’s annoying to go to Busan, but since he’s offering to help me catch up on what I missed, it’s hard to refuse.

Plus, since Minwoo and Sangheon are coming too, I had no choice but to conclude that I’d go along with it.

[Seafood poisoning cases have increased this spring, so you should be careful. Now for this week’s weather…]

I was about to start preparing slowly while watching the weather forecast.

[Monster Daily]

That is, until this popped up.

*

Geum Dohyeon succeeded in drawing in Do Jonghyeon and heartily put an abalone in his mouth.

‘Do Jonghyeon. You’re hiding something.’

That scene at the Cheonji Guild, the suspicion. Of course, he himself knew well how ridiculous his behavior was.

To do all sorts of things just on the suspicion that Do Jonghyeon might be a monster.

‘But if Do Jonghyeon is a monster, I absolutely can’t stand it.’

The identity of the monster helping people is Do Jonghyeon? Geum Dohyeon’s jealousy from before the regression was flowing out.

‘It can’t be. But I’m going to test you.’

He had already prepared the “play” to confirm whether Do Jonghyeon was a monster or not.

‘I’ll capture a monster and release it. To see if Do Jonghyeon transforms or not.’

Cameras were already installed throughout the party venue for surveillance.

If Do Jonghyeon transforms? There was absolutely no escape route.

‘I’ll confirm it. I hope you’re absolutely not a monster.’

Even because of the friendship built over a year, Geum Dohyeon was hoping it was just his own delusion.

[Seafood poisoning cases have increased this spring, so you should be careful. Now for this week’s weather…]

“Ah, what a mood killer…”

Geum Dohyeon looked back and forth between the abalone he was eating and the weather forecaster.

“This is fresh, clean abalone. Are you kidding me?”

Geum Dohyeon ignored the weather forecaster’s words and put the abalone back in his mouth, but unfortunately, he got food poisoning that evening.

*

Two days ago

The monster imposters were now being hunted. Due to Dokgo Jun’s furious attack, those who had enjoyed pretending to be heroes had become fugitives.

Since the Goegeobdan had staked everything on this, the risk of failure and exposure was also great.

As a result, many had become fugitives or were trembling, not knowing when their identities would be exposed.

“They said they’d do anything if we joined the Goegeobdan!”

“I just believed in the Goegeobdan’s will, but what is this! They said they’d lead us to a great world!”

Those suddenly pushed onto the defensive gathered to voice their complaints.

But their ultimate grievance was with modern society itself.

“In the end, it’s because of those bastards that we’re like this.”

“We’ll be caught soon anyway. If so, let’s get some big revenge.”

“How?”

One Jaeger pulled out an invitation.

“One of the Academy students is rich and is throwing a party, inviting Jaegers and models too. They’re even providing a private jet.”

“While some of us are on edge, others are living the good life? I want to ruin it.”

Their anger was truly being gathered and erupted. However, someone brought up reality.

“But how are we going to do it? If Jaegers gather, we’ll be outnumbered.”

“But what if it’s on a plane?”

“!”

“At least I, who have an invitation, can definitely get on the plane.”

“Make a mess and…”

“If we attack from outside too?”

“We’ll…!”

A plan to deliver one devastating blow filled with resentment formed in their minds.

“We just killed a few people, and we’re being threatened like this? You filthy Jaegers. Get ready to die.”

But they didn’t know yet.

That ‘watching eyes’ were spying on them.