Ch.569Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (1)

Batori, Zenros.

Amidst all the incidents piling up, there’s one issue keeping everyone on edge.

-Is Black Taejo actually Taejo?

No matter how patriotic Taejo might have been, he still hasn’t completely established his alibi.

-What if Taejo is just pretending to be patriotic?

Some people raise such suspicions.

-What if he’s using his playboy image to claim he’s Black Taejo, and he’s actually colluding with the Syndicate to take down Haeguneul?

Others raise different suspicions.

-What if everything Taejo has shown us as Armored Taejo was all an act, and his real identity was Black Taejo all along?

Still others suggest this theory.

-That’s nonsense

“Ah, this bait isn’t getting any traction.”

In a dark warehouse.

A woman in a tracksuit with dyed black hair, known as “Shaman,” scratched her cheek as she scrolled through the comments.

“Is it because of the vulgar insult that people don’t believe it?”

Armored Taejo had used serious profanity at the press conference.

While some people live lives where they can’t even call their fathers “father,” Armored Taejo had invoked his mother to prove his innocence.

Even though his mother is officially missing, Taejo had no hesitation in swearing on her to claim his innocence.

But that claim was false.

“The more I think about it, it really seems like Taejo is pretending to be Black Taejo.”

Having faced him directly, she knew well.

Though there might have been reasons to reveal himself, because it was deliberately done, Shaman understood the situation more clearly than anyone else.

“Chief. This isn’t working. We got blocked from the community.”

“Why?”

The men in traditional Korean clothes sitting at the computers clicked their tongues and pointed at the monitor.

“I don’t know if the Syndicate is using bots to report us or if Haeguneul is deliberately cutting us off, but your opinion is being silenced right now.”

“But I’m right!”

Shaman pounded her chest in frustration.

“I’m telling you, that’s not Black Taejo—it’s Taejo pulling a scam! Jangsaengwon, don’t you think so too?”

“…Do you want my honest opinion?”

The man who removed his headset and clicked the document edit button, Jangsaengwon, shook his head.

“He swore on his mother that it wasn’t him. Would an S-class hero really swear on his mother?”

“That mother is historically trash. And what he swore was true, wasn’t it?”

“Even if it’s true, people don’t see it that way.”

“I’m telling you, he’s using that too!”

“What then, should we call his patriotic partner to testify? That they met with Armored Taejo on the bridge of lovers on such-and-such date at such-and-such place?”

“Ugh…”

Just cross that final line.

To reveal the truth, you need to dig into what everyone implicitly ignores.

“If only we knew who he was with…”

“Chief. Want to make a bet? I’ll put 1 million won on him being a clone created by the Syndicate.”

Ooooh.

The other men in traditional clothes applauded Jangsaengwon’s challenge.

“Scared?”

“…Are you saying my theory is wrong?”

“Scaaaared?”

“Fine. Let’s bet 1 million won. If you’re right, you give me 1 million won, and if I’m wrong, I’ll give you 10 million won.”

Ooooooh—

“I don’t have to pay 10 million, right?”

“Of course not. What kind of conscience would an S-class have to take 10 million from a C-class?”

“Alright. Then everyone here is a witness…”

Smirk.

Jangsaengwon brought up a screen.

“Give me 10 million won.”

“……”

On the monitor.

The Hero Association’s live broadcast showed two young men glaring at each other.

Taejo in a helicopter.

And another Taejo standing on top of a dark tower like a black building in the middle of the wilderness.

“…A hologram?”

“10 million won.”

“How can two people exist in the same place at the same time…? A doppelgänger? Is one of them an elaborately created fake?”

“Please give me 10 million won.”

“A sophisticated fake created by some collaborator? Is Black Taejo the real one, and the Armored Taejo there is someone disguised as Taejo? Are they all in on it—the Association President and everyone else in that helicopter…?”

“They don’t call you ‘Shaman who kills people’ for nothing.”

Jangsaengwon let out a hollow laugh.

“Come on, you have over 10 billion in your account, and you’re being stingy about 10 million?”

“Ah, right! Maybe Taejo learned the ability to create a doppelgänger and is acting! A staged play between Black Taejo and Taejo…!”

“For crying out loud.”

“……”

Jangsaengwon extended his hand toward the blank-faced Shaman.

“Stop grasping at straws and just give me the 10 million.”

“……”

“They’re fighting each other right now—are you saying that’s all an act?”

Shaman blankly stared at the screen.

[Die, you father-insulter!]

[What are you gonna do, Taejo!]

[Die—!!]

KABOOM!

…She could only bite her lip as she watched the battle.

* * *

[Impressive. A solo self-battle.]

From a distance away from the battlefield, I watched the staged play with Hyun Se-rin.

[It’s hard enough to play Go by yourself, but to engage in an ability battle alone? Impressive, truly impressive.]

“He’s doing pretty well, I admit.”

Hyun Se-rin spoke somewhat curtly, not hiding her dissatisfaction.

[Why are you so angry again?]

“It’s just so unfair being a woman, not a man.”

[What now?]

“He got for free the technique that I had to sacrifice my body to obtain.”

[It wasn’t free.]

I pointed my index finger toward Hyun Se-rin’s heart.

[He got it in exchange for this.]

“That’s exactly why I’m more annoyed.”

Hyun Se-rin grabbed my finger and held my hand.

“Some of us have to do all sorts of things to learn techniques from the Goblin, but he just calls you ‘big bro’ a few times and gets all the good stuff.”

[He’s a pitiful guy. Look at him now. He’s attacking with all his might because he wants to kill his past self.]

BOOM!!

The battlefield echoes with explosions.

A dark Jindo dog and a silver-steel dragon clash with each other, battles erupting in all directions.

KYAOOOO—!

The scrap metal dragon opens its jaws wide and bites the black iron Jindo dog’s body, and the dog melts like liquid inside the dragon’s mouth.

Metal manipulation-liquefaction.

A special metal manipulation method that Armored Taejo cannot handle, but Black Taejo, who is more advanced than Armored Taejo, can.

CRUNCH!

The black iron Jindo dog, which melted into liquid and escaped from the scrap metal dragon’s mouth, bit the dragon’s nape in return.

Rumble.

Soon the scrap metal dragon collapsed as if its parts were disassembling, and only the liquid-like black Jindo dog stood proudly with its head held high on top of the debris.

“With just that level of manipulation ability?”

“Kugh! You fake!”

Armored Taejo is pushed into a defensive position.

He showed the ability to control metals like animals similar to Black Taejo, but Black Taejo overwhelmed Armored Taejo by demonstrating a more advanced ability to “liquefy” metals.

It’s natural.

Even if you play Go by yourself, switching positions, it’s only natural that the side you want to win has the advantage.

“You bastard! How dare you use my ability like that! Give it back, you filthy bastard!”

‘Yoon Hye-ra is having fun.’

Armored Taejo shouted with his hand outstretched like a child throwing a tantrum, and seeing this, Black Taejo sneered with an expression of indescribable contempt.

“Acting like everything belongs to you, you spoiled brat.”

“W-what did you say?!”

“Knowing nothing, but thinking you’re a real hero because everyone praises you. Not even realizing that others are carrying that heavy spotlight on their backs just to shine it on you.”

Sincerity seeps through.

To others, it might sound like condemnation of the original, but it’s actually closer to self-loathing.

Everyone wants to deny their dark history.

If asked who is darker now, it’s obviously Black Taejo, but the dark history is the Yoon Hye-ra-possessed—

“What are you gonna do, Taejo!”

“……”

…childish Taejo.

“You know girls don’t like serious guys like you, right? What’s the point of playing around with my ability like this? Can you even meet girls with it?”

“……”

“Are you angry? Frustrated? Can’t say anything? All you can do is call me ‘unpleasant’ and shout ‘die, original’? Typical clone, aren’t you?”

“……”

Black Taejo continues to grip his cane tightly, his face hardening.

[Good camera work.]

The Association’s helicopter hovering in the sky is precisely capturing Black Taejo’s face.

“What? Are you mad?”

“Huff…”

His slightly reddened ears were clearly filled with anger, and he just raised the corners of his mouth coldly while fidgeting with both hands.

“I’m the one who should be angry! I don’t know how you cloned me, but you’re the bad one for having my face and using my ability!”

Taejo waves his middle finger up and down.

Black Taejo just silently fiddles with his cane, glaring at Taejo with a face that seems to say, ‘How can I sew his mouth shut and kill him?’

“…Shouldn’t we stop this?”

Even Hyun Se-rin expressed concern about Yoon Hye-ra’s reckless provocation.

“Isn’t this going too far…?”

[It’s fine. That script was written by Taejo himself.]

“Huh?”

[Yoon Hye-ra is just an actor. The PD is the Goblin, but the scenario, script, and lead role are all Black Taejo’s.]

Being himself, he knows best what to say.

[Hye-ra is such a good kid—how could she say such things carelessly? She can only do it because it’s acting.]

Yoon Hye-ra thinks of herself as just an actor.

That’s why she can speak so convincingly.

[It’s all acting, just acting.]

“Hey, do clones have parents too?”

[…It’s acting. Everything is just acting to make the world believe that Black Taejo is a clone.]

“If you’re a clone, who’s your dad? Am I your dad? Wow, I never gave birth to a disrespectful brat like you!!”

“You.”

Black Taejo delivered his final line.

“Your mother, Min Ji-young.”

A clone is.

After all, something created from the original.

[Anyone can see he’s a clone of Taejo.]