Ch.90Chapter 4. How to Conquer a Villain (3)

After the Qiongqi and patriotic time until the East Sea waters and Mt. Baekdu wear away.

“So, has your magic power recovered a bit?”

“It’s completely filled up.”

Inside my body flows the magic power that Qiongqi transferred to me.

To be precise, I’ve reclaimed the magic power that I had previously placed inside Qiongqi’s body.

My magic power resides within the executives’ bodies, and they can use it to wield greater power.

It’s a bit complicated to explain, but now isn’t the time for that.

“You know that taking back what you’ve given is the worst thing, right?”

“Please let this one slide. I’ll refill it right after this job is done.”

“I’m joking. When you’re asking for help, you can’t really complain.”

“Then why bring it up?”

“Because saying that would make Section Chief Do promise to refill it.”

I’ve been played.

Qiongqi winked as she lifted her teacup, and I suddenly found myself making a verbal promise to refill her magic power.

“I won’t be able to go straight to Seoul, I guess.”

“I’ll take you with me on the private jet to Gimpo Airport. That way you can travel comfortably without being tracked.”

“Please load my bike too.”

“Of course. Shall we start the briefing now?”

“Just a moment.”

I asked Qiongqi for a moment and closed my eyes.

‘Status window.’

To check my current state, I projected my physical condition onto my eyelids.

# # #

[Goblin]

Occupation: Villain

Affiliation: The Syndicate “Yimemangryang”

Rank: Villain S, ?? ??? EX

Skills: Physical Enhancement, Goblin Club

Status

Strength: D (35 / 200)

Endurance: E (66 / 100)

Agility: A (134 / 500)

Magic Power: C (67 / 300)

Luck: F (0 / 0)

# # #

It’s increased very, very slightly.

My rank hasn’t improved at all, and my stats have only changed in the first digit.

Magic power shows the most noticeable growth since I’ve been using it constantly, but the others haven’t increased as much as I’d like.

Of course, not much time has passed, so I shouldn’t expect huge improvements, but human greed knows no bounds.

‘Physical training and ability ratings are completely separate things.’

My strength and endurance seem decent enough, but the problem is that these are rated by ability user standards.

Compared to normal people, I’m obviously Hercules or the Hulk, but someone with true A-rank strength or endurance could lift and swing a 10-story building by themselves.

Unfortunately, I’m not capable of that level.

When I swing my Goblin Club and destroy everything, that’s not strength but magic power—a technique using abilities.

At the very least, I’d like to increase my magic power more.

Imagination is the power I use most, and I need magic power to make that imagination real.

‘I suppose I’m being greedy even saying that.’

Compared to others whose stats don’t increase by even 1 point in a month, this is tremendous growth.

Besides, the indicators shown in the status window don’t reveal everything about me.

“I’m done reviewing.”

“I think some of my magic power got mixed in too, but that wasn’t intentional.”

“That’s even better. I’m grateful.”

“…Won’t that interfere with your transformation a bit?”

“I just need to use power in a way that aligns with Director’s magic power characteristics.”

The total amount of magic power flowing in my body right now is roughly ‘A-rank’ level.

Of course, if I were to classify the magic power I received from Qiongqi by attribute, it would be ‘fire attribute,’ which somewhat limits the abilities I can use. But because it’s fire attribute, the ways I can use it within the fire category are endless.

“Director. I can perform sufficiently now.”

With A-rank magic power, my magic control ability, and the Goblin Club combined, even S-rank doesn’t scare me.

No matter what S-rank comes, I won’t lose, and if I identify and target their weaknesses, I can definitely win.

The time is 3 AM.

It’s still a while before sunrise, but assassinations typically happen at night.

“Who’s the opponent from Hwalbindang? I see from the mask that Malttugi is involved.”

“The key person is ‘Yeongno.’ He’s the one who personally volunteered to assassinate Juliana.”

Qiongqi displayed a video on the TV screen.

In the video, a masked man in casual attire sat in what looked like a nobleman’s pavilion, holding a long pipe.

-Juliana Faygreen of October Travel, behold. From now on, we will reclaim the future of this country that you have stolen. We will kill you and take back our country’s future. Resistance is futile. You, who dared to try to escape with our treasure, will certainly die. That is all.

Beep.

The video ended with that straightforward death threat.

What’s peculiar is that the one called Yeongno wore a horned mask that looked somewhat like a goblin mask, though it was ambiguous whether it was a tiger or lion.

“I looked up the term ‘Yeongno.’ It’s one of the traditional monsters, apparently. He probably took that as his motif.”

“A Korean monster…”

From what I gather, it’s a predatory monster that devours things.

On the outside, it looks like an ordinary man, but will he act according to his namesake?

I don’t know.

Even in our Yimemangryang, many executives and villains have names that match their abilities, but there are also those with strange names that don’t match at all.

“So when does this man plan to assassinate her? There’s no date in the video.”

“Well… today?”

“…?”

“About four hours from now. Originally, they planned to kidnap her on her way to Yangyang to catch a flight. Then they would steal the treasure and kill her. But the information leaked, so Juliana ended up staying in Samcheok. Everything got messed up.”

“……”

I can roughly understand just from hearing this.

“Director, you leaked that information through the ‘Tavern Owners,’ didn’t you?”

“…Hehe.”

Tavern Owner isn’t singular.

While there’s only one Tavern Owner on Sejong Island, there’s at least one in every city elsewhere.

Because they’re Tavern Owners.

“I don’t know how secretly October Travel was moving, but if they’re attempting such a large-scale assassination over this ‘treasure,’ October Travel must have been moving extremely covertly. Even Hwalbindang would have had difficulty noticing. You gathered information… and spread it to Hwalbindang.”

“That’s right. More precisely, information leaked from the Syndicate. You know, like that time when Hwalbindang showed up at the place you were supposed to handle?”

“You wouldn’t have been fooled, so it was a counter-operation?”

“Right. I leaked information through that guy. Now he’s become ‘mysterious.'”

Becoming mysterious.

It’s slang.

Similar terms include “getting public security’d” or “getting hammered.”

Well, they’re not pleasant terms, so there’s no need to go into detail.

If someone joins the Syndicate but actually collaborates with Hwalbindang, from the Syndicate’s perspective, they’re just bedbugs that need to be eliminated.

Unless Hwalbindang helps achieve the Syndicate’s vision, their goals are completely different from what the Syndicate wants.

“I don’t understand why someone who joined the Syndicate would leak information for such an organization. Did they have family there or something?”

“We’re investigating. Or maybe they were working for this country’s benefit rather than the entire world, even within the Syndicate. Hwalbindang is an organization that only thinks about this country’s interests.”

They’re different, but similar to Dueoksini over there.

While Dueoksini’s side aims to make Korea great by turning everything else into demons, Hwalbindang focuses on eliminating corrupt officials within the country.

“…It’s a bit surprising that Hwalbindang stepped in rather than Wijungcheoksa. Given the current situation, Wijungcheoksa would seem more appropriate.”

“I agree. In that sense… perhaps Wijungcheoksa is also moving now.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Just a hunch.”

“…That’s what I was hoping for.”

This works out well.

I was thinking of smashing Dueoksini apart from Ymir’s case, and if Wijungcheoksa appears, I can execute them more thoroughly.

“Whether it’s Hwalbindang or Wijungcheoksa or whoever, I’ll handle them. What’s my mission?”

“To execute the villains. The target… it’s a complicated situation.”

Qiongqi scratched her head as if annoyed at having to explain.

“Juliana Faygreen caused trouble, Hwalbindang is targeting Juliana, and Wijungcheoksa has reason to get involved since a foreign company’s person caused trouble. And the Syndicate’s goal for world conquest requires keeping the current world order as undisturbed as possible.”

“Seeing how you’re beating around the bush, it seems the situation is really messed up?”

“That’s right. Right now, the Syndicate… needs to ‘protect’ Juliana Faygreen.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly?

“Protect her from Hwalbindang?”

“Yes. We can’t let Juliana Faygreen die in Korea. If the granddaughter of October Travel is killed by a Korean villain, it could become an international issue.”

“So it doesn’t matter if she dies outside Korea, abroad?”

“Right. I don’t care if she goes back to her country and dies from taking pills or whatever, but what she’s done now is quite terrible.”

“Seeing how reluctant you are to explain, it must be something quite sinister.”

“…Yes.”

Qiongqi doesn’t like these kinds of topics.

“We can’t let October Travel collapse. People like Stern don’t have much influence in Korea, but if October Travel falls apart, most flights to Gangwon Province will be blocked. That would significantly reduce the Syndicate’s income from the Gangwon area.”

“So I’ve suddenly become a bodyguard.”

“That’s right. It’s an annoying situation.”

Yet she’s stepping in for the benefit of the entire Syndicate.

“So what’s this treasure that Juliana stole? Is it some traditional pottery made by a master craftsman?”

“The contents are the problem. It’s…”

Qiongqi displayed another person’s face.

“You know who this is, right?”

“…’Armored Taejo?'”

The president’s grandson.

S-rank hero.

A troublemaker who wears a powered dragon robe suit.

Not quite a villain.

Just that his behavior is childish.

“What’s his connection to this?”

“Juliana stole this man’s genes. And now she’s trying to flee abroad.”

“……”

No way.