Ch.582Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (14)

Until now, I’ve caused incidents and escaped from scenes in various ways.

Sometimes I’d phase out of this dimension with my spirit form, disappearing from everyone’s sight.

Sometimes I’d escape on a motorcycle.

Sometimes I’d throw myself into a dimensional gate with Ymir’s help.

But those were all very specialized escape methods.

In the original work, it’s different.

The Goblin in the original work escapes in a simple, reliable, and pure way.

By running.

And the passing scholar now is the same.

Ta-at.

I leap over the citizens blocking the road in one bound.

With my white scholar’s robe fluttering, I step on walls, run along them, and launch myself onto the rooftops.

“After him—!”

Agents from the Hero Association chase after me with fire in their eyes.

They look like A-rank heroes at a glance, and they’re the physical enhancement type. With them chasing me so determinedly, it’s not easy to shake them off.

“Don’t let him escape!!”

Why are they so eager to catch me?

Is it because people misunderstand me as the Haeguneul bomber?

Or do they just want to catch me and unmask me?

‘They’ve been bought.’

Even among Hero Association agents, there are those who’ve taken Haeguneul’s dirty money.

Whether they’re lobbying for recruitment, greasing palms, or getting advertising deals—there are heroes directly or indirectly connected to Haeguneul financially.

Take Snow White, who froze Haeguneul headquarters—even she’s connected.

Among the advertisements Haeguneul obtained by half-threatening the Hero Association, some use Snow White’s portrait rights.

‘They’re venting their frustration.’

They have a pretext too—they’re trying to get insurance.

‘They’re trying to catch me to curry favor with Haeguneul’s chairman.’

The chairman isn’t dead yet.

The chairman and the Choi family didn’t lose a single person in the headquarters building.

They’re all hiding in branch offices or vacation homes.

Just because Haeguneul’s headquarters collapsed doesn’t mean Haeguneul has completely fallen.

‘This is just the beginning.’

For us and for them.

Since they haven’t completely collapsed yet, these heroes are rushing to catch me now.

“Stop!! I will definitely catch you, Scholar Mask!!”

[How annoying.]

Their persistent pursuit is troublesome.

I’m running away to shake them off, but if they keep chasing me like this, there’s no point in running.

Therefore.

I’ll escape in a new way, different from what I’ve done before.

It’s still physically running away, just applying existing methods differently.

‘If the outward appearance is different, then it’s different in its own way.’

Ta-at.

I land in the middle of an intersection.

They must have read my escape route, as heroes block the roads from three directions.

“We won’t let you escape!”

“We’ll hold you until you talk with the Association President!”

“…I’ll be the judge of whether you’re a terrorist or not.”

“Huff, huff, damn, you’re fast!”

They all look different, but having four A-rank heroes pressing in from all directions is not a common sight.

-Ah, this is… currently four heroes are pursuing Scholar Mask….

To make matters worse, some helicopters have found my position and are broadcasting live.

With everyone watching, this is the perfect time to show a new side of the passing scholar.

“Who are you?”

[I’ve been asked that question a lot today.]

“Stop joking around! If you’re affiliated with the Hero Association, take off your mask now, and even if you’re not, remove your mask and reveal yourself!”

[Ah, you’re curious about who I am?]

I turned toward the physical enhancement hero who was grinding his teeth at me, and raised my hand to my mask.

[If you’re so curious, I’ll show you.]

“Huh…?”

Click.

I removed my mask.

Perhaps not expecting me to reveal my identity, the hero stared at me with a blank expression.

“You….”

[Yes, it’s me.]

“Are you kidding me?!”

Beneath the mask was another Scholar Mask.

I just pretended to take it off, creating another Scholar Mask by infusing magical power into the outer layer.

“So you have no intention of revealing yourself, you bastard!!”

[Of course not. If I wanted to let you know who I am, I wouldn’t have worn a mask in the first place.]

I gripped the removed mask.

Soon the magical power that formed the mask began to create a new shape, transforming into a round, circular object.

“That’s…!”

[Korea has many diverse organizations. Each has intertwined interests, and those directly or indirectly involved with those interests have connections to the Hero Association.]

“!!”

[Haeguneul associates, foreign spies, Hwalbindang double agents, and if there’s one more, it would be ‘devil worshippers’.]

By another name, Pandemonium.

[Coincidentally, there are four of you here.]

“W-what…?! Is that true?! W-who’s a devil worshipper…!”

“N-not me! He’s lying!”

“Such incitement….”

“…….”

It might be none of them.

It might be all of them.

Just throwing a stone of suspicion creates ripples in the water, and amid that confusion, I just need to escape.

[I only speak with true heroes, real champions. In my eyes, you all fall short.]

“W-what…!”

[If you’re curious about my identity, come as pure heroes. That is all.]

I held the circular object high in the air.

[Come, White Wind Cloud.]

Flash.

Light bursts from the circular object made of magical power.

As the white light rises high toward the open sky, the sound of something “running” begins to be heard from somewhere.

“W-what is that?!”

“This sound….”

Clop, clop, clop.

“Hoofbeats…?”

The unidentified sound of hooves echoing through downtown Busan.

It was clearly approaching the intersection.

“Over there!!”

When one hero turned his head, a shadow formed above him.

“A horse…?”

Neeeiiigh!!

With a rough whinny, a white horse leaps over the hero and gallops toward me.

“A-a machine?!”

It’s not just an ordinary white horse.

It’s a horse made entirely of machinery, with golden light shimmering along the lines connecting its mechanical parts.

And on its head, a gleaming golden horn.

Neeeiiigh!!

Making a mechanical horse sound, the white horse charges toward me.

At full speed, without slowing down, as if it’s going to run me over.

Just before impact.

[Well then.]

I lightly turned to the side, grabbed the horse’s neck, and lifted my body.

Flutter—

Though not intentional, my robe billows dramatically as I land on the white horse’s back.

I put strength in my legs, mount the saddle, and grab the reins fluttering right in front of me.

I am currently a scholar.

And scholars naturally don’t run around recklessly.

There’s only one way for a scholar to depart:

[Hya—!]

Riding a horse and galloping away.

Neeeiiigh!!

With a fierce whinny, the white horse galloped straight down the Busan road.

“Kyaaak!!”

Brushing past the heroes at a speed that A-rank heroes couldn’t match.

Beep.

The Syndicate watch inside my sleeve flashes.

I tore off the wrist guard covering it and threw it behind me, and soon a familiar face “icon” appeared on my wrist.

-You seem to be having fun?

[This is just the beginning.]

The magical power flowing from the Syndicate watch flows along my wrist and seeps into my mask.

-Yes, the beginning of Haeguneul’s collapse.

Simultaneously, on the inside of my mask, a magical power screen appears at the bottom of my left eye.

-Just follow the guidance. I’ll signal you as soon as you’re out of CCTV range, then transform back to your original form.

[Seems like it’ll be soon.]

The speed is faster than I expected.

In horse form, it’s already exceeding 400 km/h.

[At this rate, I’ll be riding the national highway like the Autobahn.]

-You’ve never even been on the real Autobahn.

[It’s just a figure of speech.]

In an instant, we left the city center.

Even when people are in the way, there’s no need to slow down—the horse simply jumps high over them. We leave the road and gallop into the mountains.

Being in horse form, we can continue running even after leaving the road and entering the mountains.

Clop, clop, clop.

Running along mountain paths, the white horse maintains its speed and heads deep into the mountains.

The helicopters and ability users have already lost me, and now no one can find the passing scholar in this location.

[Transform.]

I immediately changed from scholar to goblin.

At the same time, the white horse made a great leap forward from the slope toward the mountain highway.

Crackle!

As I floated slightly, golden light flashed from inside the horse and its form began to change.

The horse’s legs folded inward, black wheels protruded from the front and back of the horse’s body—

[TransForm, DGB, Bike—!]

Transforming into a bike, it lands on the national highway and immediately speeds forward.

[…Taotie.]

-Yes, what?

[This voice, can’t we get rid of it?]

My reflection glimpsed just before entering the tunnel showed the Goblin riding a motorcycle.

It’s good that the scholar riding a horse changed back to his original form, but the voice that comes out during transformation is a bit much, isn’t it?

-Why? It’s fun.

[…….]

-I was just kidding. Did you not like my voice modulation?

[…….]

-Or should I speak Korean from now on? I think my English pronunciation is pretty good.

Come to think of it, here’s one secret I haven’t mentioned until now.

-I timed it pretty well, didn’t I?

All along, the transformation sounds of DGB Rider have been Taotie Cheon Ju-yeon speaking in real-time.