Ch.186Chapter 7. He Thinks He’s the Protagonist of a Shonen Manga (4)

How to Subdue an Ability User.

One. Cause a concussion.

WHACK!

Swing the club at the speed of light and strike the agent’s head from behind.

Hitting the nape of the neck like a pressure point rarely causes actual unconsciousness.

To truly subdue someone effectively, you need to shake their brain and cause a concussion with a powerful blow, like hitting the back of their head with a frying pan.

Not enough to kill them, of course.

Through countless experiences, I’ve mastered the art of easily subduing ability users, and I knocked the agents down one by one with swift blows to their heads faster than anyone else could.

CRACK!

Taowu quickly cut off the agents’ Taegeuk Watches and gathered them in one place, while Qiongqi ignited flames to melt them instantly.

This will trigger an emergency.

If the sudden signal from the Taegeuk Watches disappears from above, especially when it happens inside the ship, it would be strange not to notice.

Whether S-class or A-class, they’ll come running within 30 seconds at most. That’s only natural.

“We need to move quickly.”

“Let me heal them first!”

Ymir extended her hand toward the agent whose heart had been stabbed, channeling magical power into him.

It was closer to rapid cell regeneration than healing, but there was no need to quibble over details since she had saved someone with a pierced heart.

“W-what is this?”

“You’re lucky. I’m not someone who kills people.”

I grabbed the collar of the Zenros member who was following us and threw him backward.

Qiongqi had already gathered the fallen Zenros members in one place, and Taowu had also tied up the Zenros imposters, binding them so they couldn’t move.

“Go to Yangyang with Qiongqi for now. It’ll be a bit difficult moving as a group.”

“Don’t worry! I’ll be back soon, so please hang in there!”

Ymir quickly spread her hands toward the wall.

A golden wall formed on the lounge wall, and Qiongqi jumped through the dimensional gate first.

“Taowu.”

“Just a moment!”

Taowu swept one hand behind him and thrust it forward, creating a powerful wind in the lounge that instantly blew the unconscious people through the dimensional gate.

The only ones left in the room were me and the agent with the pierced heart.

Everyone else had gone through the dimensional gate Ymir had opened without exception.

The Zenros members, the Wijungcheoksa spies, and those who tried to replace Zenros—all of them would be thoroughly restrained and managed by the Syndicate’s agents, more strictly than they would have been here.

They may be restraining ability users, but the Syndicate excels in that field more than anyone else.

“Hey. Are you conscious?”

“W-what is this…?”

“Think of it as punishment for trying to smoke indoors. Fortunately, you didn’t die. Just think of it as the knife passing through your heart momentarily.”

Literally, he was lucky.

“Y-you…! You’re not the guy I know…!”

“Correct. But I don’t have time to chat with you.”

THWACK.

I channeled magical power into my hand and struck the agent’s head.

The agent collapsed sideways, and I immediately concealed myself using spirit form.

CRASH!

The lounge wall collapsed.

The one who attacked the lounge was none other than Battle God Lee Jun-young.

“W-what is this…!”

‘That’s what I want to know.’

Instead of coming down the stairs, he just punched a hole through the passenger ship to get inside.

What kind of brutish yet effective method is this?

“Hmm, what’s this? Suddenly barging into a place like this.”

Heavenly Demon Lee Ye-ryeong entered through the gaping hole in the side.

“There’s nothing here?”

“…Just now, dozens of Taegeuk Watches vanished from here.”

“Oh my, really? Could someone have secretly infiltrated?”

“…Was it you two?”

“Not me. I don’t kill people.”

Ye-ryeong drew a firm line.

“No matter how much you think I betrayed the country, I don’t do bloody things like this. …It hasn’t even been a minute, has it?”

“That’s right. And in that minute, people disappeared…!”

Jun-young clenched his fist toward Ye-ryeong.

“If only you hadn’t shown up!”

“You think you could have responded faster? That’s just speculation. A hypothetical. If someone was determined to do this, they would have done it even if you were in the next room.”

She’s right.

Just look at Wijungcheoksa, who tried to replace Zenros by mobilizing Hero Association agents right under everyone’s noses.

Without even the S-class heroes knowing.

“Anyway, this is serious. Did Zenros disappear too? What happened? Huh? That’s a big problem. The person I came to rescue is gone.”

“…Don’t talk about rescue so casually.”

“When people suddenly disappear like this, what else would you call it? Haha, the government’s going to be in an uproar. I wonder how many heads will roll for this management failure. The top brass will escape again, and only the working-level staff will suffer.”

Indeed.

So the traitorous Heavenly Demon was actually a Korea-hating Heavenly Demon?

Perhaps the bubbly persona she showed the protagonist was just an act because she fell for him at first sight, and this is closer to her true self.

‘I was going to kill her, but maybe she’s still okay.’

I had planned to kill her before she became a heroine.

More precisely, before she became a “demon.”

Even for someone like me, facing an S-class who becomes a demon would be challenging without fusion.

And if she becomes a demon resented and hated by 50 million Koreans, she would surely want to overturn the entire Korean peninsula.

She’s not a villain.

She’s just someone who would become the most dangerous person in the world if she ever became a villain or demon.

‘Is it because of Ermina and Juliana?’

Somehow, for some reason.

When I think of foreign heroines now, I get the feeling they’ll snort mana powder, steal genes, and become demons on their own.

‘Was there some other reason?’

I don’t remember clearly.

I feel like there was one more negative factor about Ye-ryeong—

‘Ah, I remember now.’

Just like Ermina was a drug addict.

This woman also has a serious flaw.

“Hey, Jun-young. Why don’t you just bail on this garbage country too?”

“…I’m different from you.”

“Oh, really? If I were you, I would have gone to the Middle East long ago. There, you could drive around with a truckload of women and no one would care.”

A traitorous broker.

“Why are you so loyal to this trash country? If you went to the Middle East, you could earn more than 50 trillion, no, 100 trillion won like me.”

A woman who constantly encourages others in Korea to betray their country.

Knowing her background would make it understandable, but seeing this without context was quite unpleasant, I recall.

“Jun-young. If I were you…”

“What’s happening here?!”

Other heroes rushed in from behind.

The fact that they came down the stairs normally confirms that Jun-young really did rush here in that brutish way, and that we really did make the people here disappear at an impossible speed.

“…Check the CCTV! Hurry! At least 15 minutes from now!”

“Checked, sir! But…”

“Ah, I’ll wait outside. I’m not going to listen to this report.”

Ye-ryeong waved her hands and jumped out through the hole.

“…All we see is the agents bringing Zenros down here.”

“What? Who gave that order?”

“No one, sir. The agents just brought Zenros down here on their own.”

“Damn it…! What were you doing without checking that?!”

His anger is justified.

Multiple Zenros suddenly disappeared, and even Hero Association agents suddenly vanished—it’s bound to be confusing.

“Based on the circumstances… they must have been kidnapped…”

“By whom?!”

“Heh—”

I let out a light chuckle.

After materializing from inside the storage room where the fake Zenros had emerged, I stepped out—in a form that completely excluded the Goblin elements, a compromise based on Ymir’s suggestion.

“As for Zenros, rest assured. They’ve all been moved to a safe place.”

“Y-you… who are you?!”

“If you’re asking who I am.”

It’s only natural to answer.

“I am—”

* * *

At that moment, somewhere underground in Gangwon Province.

“We’ve tied them all up!”

“Put restraints on all the ability users so they can’t use their powers. Make sure they can’t harm themselves. Gather the real Zenros separately, explain the situation to them, and start identifying the people who tried to replace them.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Qiongqi’s command, the secretaries quickly moved with various tools.

“What do you think? More systematic than you expected, right?”

“…It’s amazing. When did you prepare all this?”

“Since the day we killed Dueoksini.”

Ymir accepted the drink Taowu offered and carefully observed the movements of the Syndicate agents while catching her breath.

“Not all of them… are ability users, are they?”

“That’s right. Many of them are actually people who’ve been harmed by ability users. People who lost family members, got fired from their jobs. The Syndicate is a gathering of those who have experienced sorrow in this age of special abilities.”

“……”

“Well, I’m not going to force you to join. Our methods are… a little extreme.”

“AAAAARGH!”

Someone had already started screaming.

Ymir’s expression darkened at the agonized screams, but when she learned that the screamer was the person responsible for stabbing an innocent agent, she let out a sigh.

“…Huh?”

“Did you just think it’s fortunate that man is suffering?”

“N-no, that’s not it. Just…”

“We’re not torturing him that much. We’re just completely depleting the ability user’s magical power.”

“…Depleting?”

“Not eliminating it entirely, but like boiling water in a filled canteen until it evaporates. If the water seems to be refilling, we boil it again. We keep them in a state of mana dehydration.”

“Do we have time for detailed explanations?”

Dusting off his hands lightly, Qiongqi neatly arranged his hair and handed over a tablet.

“We should head back.”

“Oh, as expected of our leader.”

“…It’s not because I’m the leader. We can’t leave Manager Do alone—”

[HAHAHAHAHA!]

A cheerful laugh echoed through the speakers.

The overwhelming presence made Qiongqi and Taowu flinch.

“…What is this?”

“He seems like a completely different person…?”

“Of course. That’s not the Goblin anymore.”

Ymir stuck out her tongue as she looked at the unidentified man on the tablet.

“The teacher said we should be thorough if we’re going to do something. …It’s admirable, really.”

[I am!!]

In the video.

[An ally of justice, ‘The Dark Charisma’!]

The unidentified man wearing a black helmet was striking a meaningless pose.

[Hmph☆]

With a truly incomprehensible laugh.