Ch.78Chapter 3. Where There Is National Pride, There Is Dueoksini. (5)

Sejong Island, abandoned container warehouse inside a military base.

“Kuh, kuhek, heok….”

The young man collapsed on the concrete floor, coughing up blood.

The pain was overwhelming, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

“Damn, that cursed Goblin…!”

“That’s what happens when you rush out suddenly and get beaten up like that.”

A red-haired woman approached the young man’s side.

With skin and simple white clothes from head to toe, everything else about the woman was blood-red as she reached her hand toward the young man.

“I’ll heal you right away. Wait.”

“…….”

A red light emanated from the woman’s hand, and soon the wounds covering the young man’s body began to heal rapidly.

Was it the sight of wounds healing at an incredible speed?

Or perhaps just the cells in the wounded areas experiencing accelerated time?

The principle wasn’t clear just by looking, but it was certainly the power of an “ability” different from ordinary hemostasis.

“I’ll put it on your tab. Shoot me one later with ‘Janghwa’ unnie. Mr. Dueoksini.”

“Shut up.”

The young man, Dueoksini, put his mask back on that he had placed on the floor.

Although the eye part was broken, revealing his slanted eyes, Dueoksini merely gritted his teeth while touching the area that had been in pain.

“Damn, that cursed Goblin…!!”

“If you were completely overwhelmed, why not just admit it? There’s a reason he’s S-class, you know.”

“Even so, his magical power is below average!”

“But he uses that magical power so efficiently. Did you see any waste when he used his magic? Was he the type to excessively consume mana like you? No. And we still don’t know what type of ability he has.”

“…….”

Dueoksini hung his head low.

A clear defeat.

The Goblin had immediately matched his specialty of “ultra-high-speed combat,” and even in nearly stopped time, the Goblin had followed his speed and intercepted him.

“Damn it. How could he have such an ability…. No, this is clearly strange. He doesn’t have enough magical power for that. I’m telling you, beyond using it efficiently, he’s drawing mana from somewhere else!”

“What, you think he’s drawing power from sunlight or something?”

“Sunlight…?”

“Yeah. How else would he draw such large amounts of magical power from nature? He’s probably just stuffing his body with as much mana as possible and then using it.”

“…….”

Dueoksini pressed his mask on with his hand, deep in thought.

“Using mana with extreme efficiency while simultaneously drawing mana from external sources…?”

“Either way, you still lost.”

“…I won’t lose next time.”

Dueoksini gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing fiercely.

“Next time, I won’t be interrupted, and I will absolutely not be defeated. And that woman, ‘Platinum Sun,’ will definitely be recruited into our Wijungcheoksa.”

“That gold inspector you’re obsessed with?”

“Yes. I think I roughly know who she is.”

Dueoksini tapped on the screen of a Taegeuk watch without the Taegeuk symbol, and soon light rose from the watch, beginning to sparkle like a hologram.

A 3D display.

The overall blue sparkling light created the image of a person, and the scattered magical power around it made the woman’s profile text sparkle in mid-air.

“Ermina Sternfeld?”

“Yes. The woman I turned into a demon this time. Her name is Naberius.”

“I thought you hated using English.”

“Would I give Korean names to demons or villains?”

“Ha, really.”

Though this technology was at least two generations ahead of what existed in standard Taegeuk watches, they handled the hologram naturally as if they had been using it all along while continuing their conversation.

“So this woman is the gold inspector?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not her. It’s her partner… this woman is the gold inspector.”

Flash.

The hologram sparkled.

There, in the profile data registered at Sejong Academy, was ‘Ymir.’

“What are you planning to do with her? E-class? Is that a mistake?”

“It’s correct. She’s hiding her identity. That’s why a woman like Ermina dared to attack her.”

Dueoksini handed one of Ymir’s files to the red-haired woman, who smirked as she looked at it.

“Ermina Sternfeld attacked Ymir, who was in the same group, while trying to hide the fact that she took mana powder during a treasure hunt?”

“It doesn’t seem to be a lie.”

“Interesting. So she was hiding her power, and after being attacked, she revealed her true strength and delivered justice.”

“That’s why we need to manage her well from now on.”

Dueoksini took the woman’s hand.

“Hongryeon. Listen carefully. Don’t reveal her identity outside. When reporting, keep the gold inspector’s identity secret.”

“What?”

“For now, only you and I know about this. There’s nothing about the gold inspector anywhere.”

“You want to keep it secret from the organization?”

“Yes.”

Dueoksini staggered as he got to his feet.

“The existence of the gold inspector shouldn’t be known. She’s still a green apple. She needs to ripen more to be delicious….”

“In what sense are you saying that?”

“She needs to make her first appearance in a more dramatic setting. Making her debut against someone like Ermina has no style. We need to create a bigger stage….”

Dueoksini’s eyes curved into crescents.

“Wasn’t it April when they go out for practical training from the hero cultivation university?”

“If you’re talking about the academy’s regional practicum, April is correct. Why? Are you planning to hold everyone hostage in some large-scale hostage situation?”

“For the most perfect and dramatic entrance.”

Dueoksini spread his arms as he stood up.

“Would it be fitting for the great special-class hero, the Gold Inspector, to make her name known by merely catching someone like Naberius?”

Clank.

The sound of the warehouse door opening came from outside.

“Sergeant Lee, I’m telling you! I heard ghost voices inside…!”

“Hey, there’s a lock on the outside, how could there be voices….”

“…….”

Dueoksini moved at the speed of light.

Then he reached into the soldier’s clothes, pulled out an item, and grinned.

“Smoking foreign cigarettes.”

Thwack.

Something penetrated the soldiers’ hearts.

* * *

After the commotion ended that evening.

I immediately returned to the safe place, the Tavern Owner’s house.

“I heard there was a commotion? They say the Goblin tried to kill an A-class hero.”

“It wasn’t an A-class hero. It was someone who had become a demon. Dueoksini appeared.”

“…Out of nowhere?”

“He suddenly jumped out from the sea.”

“……That really is out of nowhere.”

Although I hadn’t specifically contacted him, the Tavern Owner had already grasped all the information available through the internet.

“So the situation was like this.”

I told him exactly what I had experienced, and the Tavern Owner seriously organized the keywords on a whiteboard.

“So Wijungcheoksa is pretending to be Pandemonium, trying to promote Ymir, an S-class ability user, as a hero?”

“Yes. They’ll probably create an environment where heroes have no choice but to step in. Whether it’s a hostage situation or terrorism.”

“They dress up as Western demons to act as villains, and then have a hero in hanbok solve the problem? Interesting. That’s not even a childish idea.”

“Because they are children.”

They’re ability users.

At most, they’re 25 years old.

Even if someone is whispering in their ears from behind, they’re the type to fall for it if it sounds enticing enough.

“So what does Manager Do want to do? It seems like they’re trying to recruit this student Ymir.”

“I’m seriously thinking it might be good to start recruiting her.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m going to carry out my mission to prevent her from falling into Wijungcheoksa’s hands.”

The Chairman had said:

Observe the situation at the academy and recruit those with outstanding abilities.

“I’ve done some recruiting with Baek Seol-hee, but there’s a world of difference between winning someone over romantically and bringing them into the Syndicate. But… Ymir is different. She’s not a hero, just an ordinary college student.”

“Unlike the princess who already has an affiliation, she’s easier to recruit? Hmm. You know they’re thinking the same thing, right?”

“Of course.”

Even before I thought of her as the original protagonist, I was thinking of bringing her to my side.

And now she’s the protagonist with purification abilities?

She’s not just priority number one, she’s practically priority zero.

“So we need to gather information about Wijungcheoksa and Pandemonium?”

“As a second priority.”

“And the first priority is? The student Ymir?”

“Yeah. Specifically, the curriculum targeting Ymir.”

This is just my prediction, but I strongly feel that I won’t need to constantly monitor Ymir.

“They, especially Dueoksini, will set up something flashy. They might approach casually in daily life like ordinary people to warn or persuade her, but they’ll never cause a large-scale incident that way.”

“So they’ll appear somewhere more attention-grabbing, and that will happen within the academy’s educational process?”

“Yes.”

It could be called the flow of the original work.

A predetermined large-scale event.

The academy’s regular curriculum includes several major events such as field training, outdoor intensive training, overnight training, and so on, just like outdoor exercises.

Originally, these were special events for developing romance with each heroine, but now the meaning will be a bit different.

“From now on, Dueoksini will cause trouble whenever a big event unfolds around Ymir, and I’ll step in each time.”

“Then won’t Dueoksini try some other means? Like attacking on a regular weekday?”

“Absolutely not.”

I have a certain conviction as a villain.

“He wants Ymir, the magical girl Gold Inspector, to become a hero. And he wants that hero to walk the same path as them.”

Like a certain clown who knows the bat-man’s identity as a wealthy gentleman but uses every means to destroy the bat-man’s identity while never touching the wealthy gentleman.

“I’m going to make Ymir one of us.”

“…But Manager Do. What if something goes wrong?”

“What?”

“You’re already working on Baek Seol-hee. Aren’t you worried about getting stabbed in the stomach for two-timing?”

“……I have a good solution for that.”

I raised my cup of cinnamon punch toward the Tavern Owner.

“I just need to make them all fall for me, whether it’s two or eight.”

“……What are you counting on?”

“Obviously….”

After putting down my cup of cinnamon punch, I pointed up with one hand and down with the other.

“My goblin club.”

“…You seem very confident.”

“Of course. That’s what I’ve been using for my work all this time.”

Me.

Do Ji-hwan, manager of Yimemangryang and the Goblin.

“Do you think I’m at the same rank as the four directors under the Chairman for nothing?”

I’m a man who can “persuade” anything with just one goblin club.

“I think I need to change my approach.”

If it were a man, I would kill him.

But since it’s a woman.

That is.

Kill the men.

And the women—