Absence 6

It was a fleeting moment.

From the world’s greatest entrepreneur to a mere criminal.

“…Why?”

As if unable to understand.

Han Joon-hyuk, with his limbs bound, asked.

“Your actions are driven purely by national interest. Your judgment in everything must be based on national interest. Isn’t suddenly bringing me down contrary to national interest?”

The Leader of the People always prioritizes national interest.

Even if it means countless sacrifices.

As for actions against human rights, she must have done plenty of those too.

All in the name of the greater good.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been swayed by that trivial human rights nonsense?”

That’s why Han Joon-hyuk couldn’t comprehend.

He couldn’t rightfully accept his own defeat.

“National interest, you say.”

However, there was one fact Han Joon-hyuk didn’t know.

“You can rest easy. There are plenty of replacements for you.”

To her, Han Joon-hyuk wasn’t someone who could be called an enemy.

“Nonsense. Do you think my replacement can be easily found?”

Han Joon-hyuk declared.

It was a very realistic statement.

S-class Awakener.

War hero.

Chairman of the Firefly Group.

Talents with such a combination of experience and ability are rare.

That’s why Lee Yeon had turned a blind eye to his ambitions to some extent, wasn’t it?

“Let me correct one misunderstanding.”

Without even a trace of mockery.

Lee Yeon answered.

“Your fate was decided from the very beginning.”

“What…?”

From the start, the man had been merely dancing in the palm of her hand, she said.

“I’m not the type to bet everything. I always make preparations. For instance, even if I were to lose my life in an unforeseen accident, this country would still run smoothly.”

Lee Yeon speaks.

Her true intentions that no one but her right-hand knows.

“Seo Han-byeol, Kim Wan-seung, Baek Kang-hyuk… They’re all excellent talents. Even if an unprecedented national emergency were to occur, they could each achieve outstanding results in their respective fields of hunting, military, and economy.”

That’s why she left Seo Han-byeol at the forefront.

If her actions were to be revealed someday, a clean symbol to counterbalance it was needed.

That’s why she placed Kim Wan-seung at the highest position in the military.

If by any chance soldiers were to be re-examined as victims, a symbol to control this was needed.

That’s why she supported Baek Kang-hyuk’s business.

He was a businessman with upright character, without any corruption.

“Impossible.”

This time, Han Joon-hyuk was truly dumbfounded.

These were stories beyond Han Joon-hyuk’s comprehension.

“Such thoughts are not for a superhuman.”

Lee Yeon had called herself the Leader of the People.

Her actions were clearly those of a herald for the great Korean people.

However, the series of facts Lee Yeon just listed were not.

Such things should not be thought of by a Leader of the People.

A superhuman is unique and irreplaceable.

Even if they were to seek a replacement, it would be in their later years.

She’s just in her late twenties or early thirties, a young person.

Moreover, she should have the youthful vigor of single-handedly shouldering the strongest country in the world.

Why would such a great superhuman make such preparations as if they might die at any moment?

It would be more fitting for her to speak rashly and think impulsively, unable to control her youthful vigor and power.

“That’s obvious.”

But Han Joon-hyuk’s intuition was certain.

It was his intuition as a businessman.

“From the start, dictatorship for me was… Yes. It was a means or a process towards a goal.”

There was no lie in Lee Yeon’s words.

“Besides, if there’s extra betting money, there should be something to bet on, right?”

It was the pure truth.

“Han Joon-hyuk. You were a kind of chip for me to use when necessary.”

“…Ha.”

Only then did Han Joon-hyuk correctly understand Lee Yeon’s essence.

She is not a superhuman.

She was something pretending to be a superhuman.

“The time has come, so I’m using you up. That’s all there is to it.”

“Ha, haha…!”

Han Joon-hyuk finally accepted his defeat.

And then he laughed for a long time.

But he regretted it.

It was such a regrettable thing.

Han Joon-hyuk had overestimated Lee Yeon.

What if he had known this fact a little earlier?

Beyond sufficient preparation, he might have even been able to covet that seat of power.

There was no final struggle.

And so, a mere domestic violence offender vanished from this world.

“…Finally.”

A spear shining with a unique light.

Lee Yeon, holding it, raised her joy in front of the glass container where the girl’s, the ‘Star Queen’s’ body floated.

“The Spear… is complete…!”

The time for revenge was approaching.

But, before that.

“…First.”

The spear cut through space.

It shattered the misconception that abilities related to spatial movement don’t exist in this world.

The power of a transcendent being, not human.

No, a power that even transcendent beings couldn’t obtain.

“Let’s go eliminate that criminal.”

She crossed through space.

It was the land of China, separated by the Great Wall she herself had built.

The dwelling of a criminal who harbored malice towards innocent students.

Shanghai.

Once the capital of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, but today, a region occupied by terrorists taking advantage of the Great Wall separating China and Korea.

However, now there were no terrorists there.

Only the corpses of terrorists remained.

TROKA, having lost its leader and its stronghold captured, faced virtual dissolution.

All thanks to the efforts of a single person.

[Level Up!]

[Lv. 98 → Lv. 99]

A game alert echoing in the air.

The man, the ‘returnee’, smiled.

“Hya, how sweet.”

Explosive level up.

Overwhelming strength.

Even hidden skills not present in the original work.

“This is what a real protagonist is like.”

He’s truly worthy of being called a protagonist.

Unlike those so-called heroes who are just good-looking, useless in defeating the demon king, yet treat others like errand boys!

“…Thinking about it again, it’s fucking annoying.”

An unlucky, unhappy past.

Recalling it makes his rising smile sink.

“That traitorous bitch.”

Grr.

He gritted his teeth.

“You’re trying to interfere with me even here? This is a world where I’m the protagonist!”

Michaela Ernst von Wittelsbach.

The image that appeared in the man’s mind was hers.

The man had been able to learn quite a lot of information through various media.

Of course, the title of the Academy’s first foreign exchange student couldn’t help but be famous.

One fact he learned was this:

The criminal who betrayed him is living in luxury in this world too, deceiving people.

“I can’t forgive you.”

The perpetrator was living on nonchalantly as always.

Regardless of memories about the victim.

The man couldn’t forgive.

He will definitely take revenge.

Definitely!

[The Constellation ‘Administrator of the Abyss’ sheds tears at your story.]

[The Constellation ‘Rampaging Black-Eyed Dragon’ vows revenge.]

[The Constellation ‘Sword Saint of Flames’ swears to fulfill your revenge.]

Unlike his thoughts, the Constellations had humanity.

They wanted to help him.

[The Constellation ‘Heart of the Demon King’ watches you closely.]

Enjoying such behind-the-scenes settings not present in the original work is also a privilege of the protagonist.

“Definitely…”

“─What is it that you can’t forgive?”

In an instant.

An enormous pressure weighs down on the man’s body.

“You…!”

Overwhelming charisma.

The fiery red hair is like a lion’s mane.

The flickering golden eyes are looking at a different world.

“L-Lee Yeon!”

Lee Yeon.

She suddenly appeared before the man.

He didn’t ask how.

This is a world where that traitor exists.

It’s quite possible for the original work to be twisted.

“What a coincidence. I too have not the slightest intention of forgiving.”

Lee Yeon held the long spear as if wielding a great sword.

“The crime of terrorism against innocent students.”

The tension was brief.

The man soon regained himself.

“I shall execute summary punishment.”

“Ha…!”

It’s just a difference of one level.

Above all, because he was the protagonist.

“You fucking insane criminal bitch, who do you think you’re talking to like that!”

There’s no reason to be afraid.

The man’s gaze turned to her body.

The strongest in the world setting.

A villain with a somewhat plausible backstory.

A character quite popular in the original work.

One who originally wouldn’t connect with anyone.

If he could subdue such a strong criminal and trample her underfoot.

How incredibly satisfying would that be.

“Time for some discipline.”

Slurp.

The man swallowed his dry saliva greedily.

“An ability that steals from others, is it?”

He then unwrapped the bandages on his right arm.

Black mana rippled.

“It’s useless.”

Lee Yeon made no response.

She spoke only in a dry tone.

“That ability has limits. More precisely, the Constellation that gave you that ability has limits.”

She had already traversed countless battlefields.

She had seen abilities like theft many times before.

“With that ability, you can only steal what the Constellation can steal. You can’t steal what the Constellation doesn’t know.”

Constellations are not gods.

They are neither omniscient nor omnipotent.

Unless they are the Star Queen.

Lee Yeon’s ability is special.

No player has ever been able to steal her ability.

“How about… we test it…”

“Mm. No.”

The man sneered.

[‘Theft’ has been activated.]

[Target: Lee Yeon]

The black mana all too easily stole Lee Yeon’s light.

“This is…?”

“Your words are certainly correct! Other trash players couldn’t steal your ability! Because your ability is special, made by patching together the abilities of dead people like a rag doll!”

Creation.

An ability to create anything without limits, truly god-like.

The foundation that allows Lee Yeon to reign as a dictator.

It’s unimaginable as something belonging to an individual.

In fact, it wasn’t something individual.

It was the result of experiments she conducted on her own body.

Partially disassembling various abilities from corpses and stuffing them into her own body.

An artificially created ability.

A rag doll golem made from the bodies of corpses.

That is the true identity of the hero that the ignorant masses don’t know.

Because it was such an ability, the Constellations couldn’t grasp its full nature.

They couldn’t steal it.

“But I knew everything!”

The protagonist is different.

The protagonist knew everything.

“It’s an amazing ability. With this, even that traitor…”

Power overflows.

Now, no one can stop him anymore!

“Idiot. Who told you to let your guard down?”

If he had attacked without letting his guard down, the outcome might have been unknown.

It would have been a pathetic and unsightly end.

How should I train her?

For a moment, the man indulged in imagination.

“Indeed.”

The imagination was very brief.

He immediately looked at Lee Yeon.

Even having lost her ability, her charisma didn’t waver.

She exuded composure.

“I got a bit excited. Unlike me, I let my guard down.”

Suddenly, the man’s gaze turned to the spear in Lee Yeon’s hand.

“That, could it be…!”

“Now, disappear.”

The hero’s spear mercilessly aims at the criminal.

─Baekbeom.

It’s a spear technique as vulgar as a butcher.

A disorderly technique of using a spear like a sword.

Therefore, a spear with a trajectory incomparable to anything in the world.

“Ah, aagh…!”

The man’s body is pushed back by the force.

Neither physical enhancement nor creation is of any use.

“Impossible! Why is the Spear already complete!”

─Yaksan.

A strike as heavy as a mountain.

The spear carries all of Lee Yeon’s skill.

It’s human strength that no Constellation can steal.

In one strike, all of the man’s means of resistance are destroyed.

“In the original work, it was much later…”

And then.

─Halla ja i un han ga ra in ya.

A strike that pulls down the Milky Way.

A flash that drags down even the stars beyond the sky to human land.

The universe opens.

The vast sea swallowed the man’s body.

In that place, as always.

Only evidence of justice’s victory remained.

[‘Theft’ has been deactivated.]

[Skill: 1UP is consumed.]

The golden eyes understand the flow of mana.

The ability has returned, but Lee Yeon couldn’t be completely satisfied.

“Did I miss?”

Even though it would have been just a fly’s life anyway.

There wouldn’t be a second chance.

If it had been the complete Spear, no matter what ability he had, it would have been useless.

Failing to finish off such a bug decisively, some adjustment was indispensable.

Moreover.

“By the way…”

Lee Yeon’s gaze turned to the man’s bloodstains.

“Original work, he said.”

Original work.

Referring to the original piece before being adapted into a play or movie script, or translated into another language.

“It might be worth… knowing about.”

It might be a lie.

But the man knew too much to just ignore.

The secret of her own ability.

The existence of the Spear.

Those things that no one but Lee Yeon knows.

Well, she had plenty of means.

Lee Yeon created a bottle and collected a few drops of blood.

She had been wandering in darkness.

In deep, deep darkness.

I’m dying like this.

That’s all she thought.

She didn’t think it was an unsatisfactory end.

Because she had repaid the favor, even if just a little.

…No.

It was indeed an unsatisfactory end.

That child shed tears.

Because of her weakness.

If she could, she wanted to get up right away and comfort her.

To tell her she wasn’t bad.

And a miracle happened.

Strength returns.

Her eyes open.

She sees the girl.

The girl who’s reddening her eyes seeing her awake.

“…Sorry. For causing unnecessary worry.”

No other words were needed.

Lee Ha-yul embraced the crying girl.

The girl cried for a long time.

She cried and cried for a long time.