Ch.196Chapter 8. The Syndicate Is Everywhere (2)

Kim Jin-ho.

Born on February 2, 2002, a power-user born on the day when all clocks pointed to ‘2’.

With such an obvious setup that reminded me of someone, I thought he’d be second-in-command at first glance, but surprisingly, he was Korea’s undisputed number one.

And his mastery of magical power and abilities was arguably the best in the world.

If the Chairman was an omnipotent god,

Kim Jin-ho was someone who could dare to reach that divine position—even I could sense his true “dignity at the pinnacle.”

The embodiment of justice.

Someone who always volunteered to face danger for the sake of the nation and the world, willing to throw away his life for justice.

If heroes existed, if the world were to choose someone who had walked a heroic path in human history as humanity’s guardian, he would certainly qualify—that’s how confident I was about this man.

The only unfortunate thing was:

He died before the original story even began.

In the original work?

Of course he doesn’t die.

Perhaps due to the curse of his birth date, he loses his title as Korea’s number one to the protagonist, falls to second place, and becomes jealous of the main character.

On top of that, the woman he had feelings for happens to fall for the protagonist, essentially making him an NTR victim. In truth, he was basically a plot device character deliberately created by the author to elevate the protagonist.

Such a being died fighting the Seven Deadly Sins.

He fought one-on-one against an entity I could barely handle and claimed victory, but with half his body taken by the demon, he ultimately died.

“Ha, haha… If I’d known this would happen, I would have served my country one last time before dying…”

Those were his last words.

As a power-user, even if he died, he could have closed his eyes in relative peace if he knew someone reliable would succeed him.

If it had been his own flesh and blood, he might have been anxious, but at least he could say he fought demons for the sake of the nation, the world, and his child.

But he was too busy serving his country by eliminating villains and fighting demons.

“Hey, Lord of Radiant Wings? Why don’t you meet some women…?”

“I don’t have time for women. I need to subdue one more villain in that time.”

“You’re an adult now, how about serving your country through childbirth?”

“How can a child born without love be patriotic? If someone I truly love appears, I’ll confess and serve my country, so don’t worry.”

That’s what he said, but he probably never imagined he would die before reaching his fifties.

So I asked the Chairman.

“Manager Do. Wouldn’t it be easier to occupy Korea if Korea’s strongest just died? There’s no reason to revive this man as an earth-bound spirit, is there?”

“There are four reasons.”

Of course, it wasn’t just out of sympathy.

“Saving a life creates gratitude.”

Even though his body died, his soul lives on, so he will be grateful for being allowed to continue existing, even as a spirit.

“Repaying kindness with kindness.”

He’s not the type to ignore the kindness shown in saving him, so when a great crisis befalls the Syndicate someday, he will help us at least once.

“Borrowing prestige.”

By borrowing the prestige of Korea’s S-rank number one, the Syndicate can move comfortably in Korea under the protection of the Lord of Radiant Wings.

“Patriotic loyalty.”

If the Lord of Radiant Wings, even with just his soul revived, miraculously succeeds in reproduction through his powers and abilities, that child would be of great help to our Syndicate in managing Korea in the future.

“That’s not even four principles of Buddhism—what is this? You’re making me feel like I’m doing something bad. Isn’t it just out of sympathy?”

“I’m asking because of sympathy. In other words, it could also be called mercy.”

“I think it’s just that sympathy…”

I persuaded the Chairman with these four reasons.

There was one more personal reason.

Restraining the protagonist.

At that time, I didn’t know Ymir was a woman, so if I failed when the protagonist dropped the meteorite, I planned to tell the Lord of Radiant Wings, “Kill the protagonisttttt!”

In other words, it was a kind of insurance.

My own insurance that I couldn’t tell others about.

A doomsday prevention measure based on the idea that if the protagonist was male, the male Lord of Radiant Wings could kill him without hesitation.

“Fine. But reviving even just a soul requires an enormous price. How will you pay that price?”

“Is it alchemy?”

“Do you think it’s easy to keep an S+ rank soul tethered to this world? If I hold the Lord of Radiant Wings’ soul here, I won’t be able to come to the frontlines for a while. Due to mana deficiency.”

The Chairman’s point was valid.

“Even if we revive the Lord of Radiant Wings as a soul, he’ll barely maintain his spirit form. Without regular mana supply, even maintaining his spirit form will be difficult.”

There were plenty of concerns.

“The depreciation might go negative within a month, or he might disappear entirely. Add to that my mana investment and the time I won’t be able to be on the frontlines, it seems completely useless.”

The losses were substantial.

“I think it would be more beneficial to infiltrate Korea while it’s destabilized by the Lord of Radiant Wings’ death. What do you think, Manager Do?”

Using his death would be more efficient.

It was extremely disadvantageous, but I dared to propose a “deal” to the Chairman.

“Chairman.”

“What?”

“You’ll need to rest for 10 months, no, a year anyway, so wouldn’t it be fine?”

“……”

A single sentence that would be just 40 characters in text.

“Deal.”

With that sentence, I used the Chairman’s help to turn the Lord of Radiant Wings into an earth-bound spirit.

Looking back now, it doesn’t seem like it was necessary.

But if Baek Seol-hee is under less stress thanks to him being alive, that’s good in its own way.

Anyway.

That became the fundamental reason why the Lord of Radiant Wings, S-rank number one, couldn’t come to the frontlines.

Until last year, he was a human tactical nuke.

Now he’s become a ghost tactical nuke (single-use).

* * *

“So you’ve become a one-time bomber now?”

“That’s right.”

Kim Jin-ho casually picked up a wine glass, but it was immediately taken away by Baek Seol-hee.

“What are you doing?”

“How can you drink wine in that condition?”

“This can’t be helped! Do you know how inconvenient it would be if I shrink even more here?”

“How?”

“I can’t tell Senior Seolhee about that.”

Kim Jin-ho subtly gestured toward the bathroom with his eyes.

“Anyway, I can’t go outside recklessly now. For public events, I need to restore my body to normal and face other people’s gazes. What would happen if my body suddenly became transparent in front of others?”

“The KOSPI would collapse and KOSDAQ would crumble, Seolhee.”

“……”

Baek Seol-hee covered her face with her hands.

“Despite everything that’s happened recently, I never imagined something like this would happen. Maybe we should just make it public… No, that would cause even more chaos.”

“If they hear that the S-rank number one, the world’s number one has fallen, people claiming to take the number one spot would flood in. Naturally, everyone would target you, Seolhee. After the Lord of Radiant Wings comes Snow White—that’s the academic consensus.”

“Moreover, from the recent footage, you fought really well, senior? It looked like you were making the Goblin’s techniques your own while fighting him.”

“…Are you close with the Goblin?”

“Me?”

Kim Jin-ho tilted his head.

“It’s a bit strange to ask if we’re close. Well, we did talk before our final battle.”

“What did you talk about?”

Baek Seol-hee’s ears perked up.

She was genuinely curious about what these two had discussed, especially since someone she was concerned about had formed a strange relationship with someone she knew.

“I told him that after this fight was over, I’d introduce him to a woman.”

“…What?”

“You, senior.”

“…Nonsense.”

“Oh? You don’t seem to dislike the idea?”

“That’s not it. I’m just dumbfounded. So why are you telling me this?”

Baek Seol-hee changed the subject, worried that this perceptive guy might get strange ideas.

“Right. Ki-jo hyung, you suddenly said you were coming, but why bring Seolhee noona? If I’d known this would happen, I would have forced myself to maintain my original form.”

“Showing the truth is more convincing. Now, it seems Seolhee will need to officially act as Korea’s number one.”

Association President Jung Ki-jo opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“After the Dueoksini incident and the Sephiroth Knights’ attack, international affairs are moving rapidly in many ways. Tremendous things are happening behind the scenes.”

“Skip the introduction and get to the conclusion.”

“Three S-ranks from Japan are coming to Korea.”

“……”

Kim Jin-ho immediately frowned.

“Who?”

“Nadeshiko. Hayabusa. And Susanoo.”

“Wasn’t the last one recently defeated by that Dark Charisma guy or whatever?”

“He was. That’s why he’s coming to ‘apologize,’ he says.”

“…Three S-ranks?”

“Yes. Moreover.”

Jung Ki-jo continued with a somewhat transcendent expression.

“The S-rank heroes, Nadeshiko and Hayabusa, have proposed staying at Sejong Island for a month.”

“…Do they know about my condition?”

“No, it’s not that. No one knows the reason. Even Japan seems to be in chaos right now.”

“It’s strange enough that three S-ranks are visiting Korea, but two of them want to enter Sejong Island? For what purpose? To check on Zenros?”

Japan has a total of five S-ranks.

One is coming to apologize, and one is coming to visit a friend who became Zenros, so that’s understandable.

“Why are they coming to Korea? They should be protecting their own territories in Tokyo and Kyoto.”

“We’re checking through all channels, but there’s a strange rumor that we’re investigating.”

“Strange rumor?”

“Yes. It’s a bit absurd, but I guess that’s typical of S-ranks.”

Jung Ki-jo’s face turned very pale.

“They say they want to find ‘that person’ on Sejong Island to determine the legitimacy of the Rider.”

“…Legitimacy?”

“Yes. They want to determine who the true Rider is.”

Sigh.

“They say they want to reclaim the legitimacy of the Rider who was NTR’d by the Goblin.”

Jung Ki-jo let out a deep sigh.

“Please don’t cause international problems for such a reason…”

His lamentation merely dissipated into nothingness.