Ch.593Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (25)

“Body swapping requires a target.

If the condition for that target is a ‘physical body,’ then naturally, this ability cannot be used without a physical body.

[How unfortunate.]

I sat down openly on the sofa.

I held a glass of whiskey in one hand, crossed my legs, and raised the glass with the Goblin club resting on my shoulder.

[Have a drink. Today is the death anniversary of the human Choi Ho-jung.]

“You bastard!!”

Choi Ho-jung charged at me again.

But he simply passed through me, toppling the sofa I had been sitting on and tumbling to the floor.

Crash!

At the same time, the whiskey glass fell to the floor and shattered.

The red carpet soaked up the alcohol, and I got up and headed back to the mini-bar.

[You know that even in a suite room, you have to pay for damages when you break things like this, right?]

“You…! Just what…!”

[You seem curious. About how all this is happening.]

I pointed to myself.

[Let me introduce myself. Ghost Goblin. An astral projection made of magical energy.]

“A-Astral projection…?!”

[A projection made purely of mana. My actual body isn’t here. You’re old, so you might not understand, but have you heard of an ‘avatar’?]

“…Acorn?”

[Tsk.]

As expected.

Was it nonsensical to use analogies from content that didn’t exist in a world transformed by the Great Cataclysm?

Or was it because this old man was a -normie-, or perhaps because it was one of the business items he had ruined that led to such a strange answer?

[Since you’ve become an ability user, I’ll tell you. This isn’t my actual body. I’ve only sent my soul here.]

“Y-Your soul…! That can’t be possible-“

[You’re saying that after trying to take over an ability user’s body? How absurd.]

He tried to swap souls himself, yet he doesn’t believe that I can send my soul from a distance.

[You’re so foolish. This situation is so pathetic that I regret mobilizing all these resources.]

“Sh-Shut up…! You, you…!”

[Do you feel like you’re being played? Right now? I don’t understand. After deceiving the world all this time, why are you so angry when you’re the one being deceived?]

Rumble.

The barrier begins to shrink further.

[You’re truly an incomprehensible creature. Do you think everything in this world is your tool?]

“Of course…!”

Choi Ho-jung clenches his fist and shouts.

“I am the master of this world! Haeguneul extends across the globe, and I am at the center of the global stage!”

[Is your dream world domination or something?]

“Those who were born with abilities play childish games against the world and talk about world domination, so why can’t I?!”

[You have a point. Except this isn’t child’s play for us—we’re dead serious.]

I had thought about it.

Haeguneul and the Syndicate cannot coexist.

[To someone who sees everything except themselves as tools, our actions might seem like child’s play. Like optimists who chase ideals and don’t look at reality.]

“Hehe, that’s right…! Reality isn’t so soft…!”

Choi Ho-jung clutched his stomach.

He had harmed himself before the body swap, but his body had already healed.

“This commotion here, do you think the world will just stand by and watch? The Syndicate’s executives have all come out and deployed a barrier—do you think the world will just sit still?!”

[I’m sorry, but we can handle all of that too.]

“Wh-What…?”

[As always, you think people will come out to watch this kind of disturbance.]

Fire-watching, water-watching, fight-watching—and isn’t ability-watching the best spectacle of all?

[Citizens coming to film, fools watching mindlessly, people panicking and acting disorderly in confusion. And among them, Haeguneul’s spies.]

“!!”

[So predictable.]

It was in the original work too.

[I bet they’ll disguise themselves as righteous citizens, saying ‘I’ll join the fight too!’ and try to break the barrier from the outside.]

“You, how did you…know that…!”

[Because that’s what I would do.]

In fact, that’s exactly how it happened in the original work.

When the protagonist and heroines deployed a barrier from the outside to trap a demon, Haeguneul interfered to use that demon for their own purposes—and it wasn’t just once or twice.

[Sorry, but we’re serious about capturing you, so we’ve mobilized every means available. Want to see?]

Static.

I turned on the TV hanging in the suite room and connected it to the magical signal from outside to show the footage.

“Th-That…!”

[The chaos you’re expecting doesn’t exist.]

Outside, Gwanghwamun was dead silent.

[All that exists is controlled chaos.]

At the four directions of the burning barrier, S-rank heroes were positioned right in front, each aiming their weapons.

[With four S-ranks standing at the front line, if anyone tries to cross that line and cause trouble.]

That person would be.

[Haeguneul’s dog. Someone who can be dealt with without mercy.]

The barrier continued to shrink.

* * *

At that moment, near Gwanghwamun in Seoul.

“Impressive.”

Jung Ki-jo, the president of the Hero Association, clicked his tongue as he looked up at the flames unfolding from the top floor of a hotel near Gwanghwamun.

“I never thought I’d be collaborating with you people.”

[It’s about taking down Haeguneul. We’re quite serious about this, you know?]

The voice coming through the radio in the president’s hand was electronically distorted.

[Don’t forget the conditions. Make sure no strange people barge in.]

“Ah, of course. After you’ve set the stage like this, I can’t let anyone meddle with unnecessary actions. Not with so many S-ranks here.”

The president scanned his surroundings.

The number of S-rank heroes guarding the hotel was four.

“Armored Taejo, Princess Bari, Firefox, and Thunder Empress… Isn’t this combination arranged by your side, not ours?”

[I wonder. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you suggesting those four are cooperating with our Syndicate? I wish they were.]

The person on the other end of the call chuckled softly, brushing off the president’s sarcasm.

[The Tae siblings have political grudges against Haeguneul, and Firefox and Thunder Empress just happened to be near Seoul. It’s only natural for S-ranks to manage the scene in such a dangerous situation.]

“…Then.”

The president swallowed hard and pointed upward.

“Is it really possible? Seriously?”

[Of course. We didn’t wait for this day for nothing. The moment Choi Ho-jung abandoned his body, all conditions were met. The rest is just about pulling off a decent ‘scam’.]

“You openly call it a scam….”

A scam.

Targeting the entire nation.

“You’ve enlisted the Lord of Radiant Wings to ask for cooperation from the entire nation, but what if something goes wrong?”

[We enlisted the Lord of Radiant Wings precisely to ensure nothing goes wrong, so rest assured.]

Currently, there was no one on the streets of Gwanghwamun.

People were pressed against the windows inside buildings, but no one dared to come out onto the streets to point their Taeguk Watches at the suspicious ball of flames unfolding at the hotel and record it.

-Citizens of Seoul, this is an announcement. The current situation is real. Please do not come out onto the streets….

Instead of the noisy villain alarm, it was the pleasant voice of a young man.

At the serious voice of a young man who rarely appears publicly, citizens were exercising self-restraint without anyone acting rashly.

“…Right. Since we’re handling this with the Lord of Radiant Wings, it should go well. We sounded his alarm instead of the siren….”

[That’s how serious the situation is. Hehehe, it’s quite convenient at times like this. That guy.]

The president was a bit uncomfortable with the way they were treating the Lord of Radiant Wings like a useful tool, but he composed himself by considering the enemy’s status, the strategy, and the consequences of this “Lord of Radiant Wings summons.”

“…Mistakes will not be tolerated. As this is a battle that has mobilized the Lord of Radiant Wings, there must not be any ‘casualties.’ No civilian damage, absolutely not.”

[Of course. Do you think we would make mistakes? Rather, you should be the one preventing that, right?]

The blue flames continued to burn in the sky, as if setting it ablaze.

[The S-ranks need to do their job as barriers well, to prevent any ‘Haeguneul spies’ from meddling and causing accidents while trying to rescue Choi Ho-jung. That’s the only way to justify sending three… no, including the Goblin, four of our people.]

“Understood. Let me ask just one last thing.”

The president checked his surroundings and then whispered very quietly into the radio.

“…Can we really ‘come back’ after this is over?”

[Of course. If everything goes according to the Goblin’s plan. It might be quite ‘chaotic,’ but do your best. So our people… don’t get bothered.]

Click.

The radio connection was cut off.

The president closed his eyes tightly, clutching the radio, and soon reached for his wrist, which was covered with a wide golden cloth.

Crackle.

[Mr. President! What is this about?! A sudden Lord of Radiant Wings call!!]

[Those blue flames, is it terrorism?! I’m heading there right now!]

As soon as the golden cloth was removed, all sorts of signals started coming in to the president.

“I’m telling everyone. Move according to instructions. Don’t meddle. Don’t act on your own, and never act rashly. Move only according to instructions.”

Speaking with an authoritative voice, tensing his neck, the president warned all heroes rushing to Seoul.

“This is a real situation where the Lord of Radiant Wings alarm has sounded. If anyone does anything foolish….”

The president.

“I will consider them traitors to humanity who are pretending to be heroes while helping the enemy, ‘the demon’.”

He issued a clear warning to prevent anyone from daring to intervene.

“Do not interfere. All who interfere will become criminals.”

* * *

“Heh, heheh, hehehehe…!”

Choi Ho-jung starts to laugh, his body trembling.

[You’ve gone mad.]

“No, no. You’re the mad one. Abilities are truly amazing. And you….”

Choi Ho-jung glares at me and points at me with his finger.

“Then, I can swap souls.”

[…….]

“Instead of a body that dwells in flesh, I can just swap souls directly, right? Your soul is empty right now, isn’t it? Hehe, then…!”

Choi Ho-jung reaches out to me.

“I’ll trap you in this body, and I’ll become a soul and escape this barrier to take your body! Change—!”

Choi Ho-jung’s wish.

“…Again?”

[How unfortunate.]

It did not come true.

[To believe what your enemy tells you.]

“Th-That can’t be…! The soul swap was successful! Look! As proof, I am now in your astral… Huh?”

Choi Ho-jung looked down at the wrist of what was “my astral form.”

“Why are you… why is your voice coming from the wrist…?”

[The call is over. Soul hijacking, good effort.]

Slowly.

[I’ll make good use of the bodyguard’s body you created.]

Not me.

[The strongest hero of humanity will.]