Part 1 Chapter 10-2

The world’s first EX-rank ability user, Cheonghwa, the Beast Tamer, is widely known to be nocturnal, not engaging in any activities during the day.

Except for official activities in China, Cheonghwa was almost always found in Seoul from evening after sunset until past midnight.

If she was occasionally seen during the day, she was usually holding a strawberry drink in her mouth. People had a great interest in Cheonghwa’s habits, but they had no idea what Cheonghwa actually did during the day.

-Since she moves at night, isn’t she probably sleeping?

People didn’t expect.

On a bright, sunny summer day.

that she would be mobilizing mana to hide in the sunlight and travel all over the Korean Peninsula.

* * *

5:57 AM, near the old airport site in Yeongjongdo.

“I never thought the young lady who threw up on me back then would be such an amazing person.”

“I also never thought an elder like you would be so open-minded.”

The day I was hit by a missile in the West Sea and devoured by Seohaemugi, old man Park, who had helped me, wished to return to Yeongjongdo. I repaid the favor of borrowing a school uniform by providing him with a new place.

“Thanks to you, young lady, I’ve become a building owner. Haha, they say life is full of ups and downs, like the old man’s horse.”

“I have to repay the favor. Thanks for the 20,000 won for bus fare.”

“…*Cough*, so you knew.”

Old man Park scratched his cheek, seemingly embarrassed. I pointed to the tall hotel building erected right in front of the old airport site.

“How do you feel? About 20,000 won turning into a 20-story hotel?”

“It’s incredibly burdensome. Is this repaying a favor? You’re just trying to burden an old man and exploit him.”

“Oh, come on, you’d be lonely if you just cleaned the beach all day. You can just think of yourself as having become an inn owner and live comfortably. Those guys will do all the work anyway.”

I pointed to those wearing the Azure Syndicate uniforms. Dressed in hotelier attire, they all had their faces covered with helmets.

Correction.

They weren’t covering their faces; they had no faces-no heads. Their heads had been salted and sent to former President Seonui Cheol, because they needed to reach a higher stage to regrow their heads.

“Feel free to work them hard. They and the X-roids are all employees under you, elder.”

“Well, I’ll be.”

Old man Park scratched his head and looked up at the sign.

“To think I’d become the branch manager of Yuseong Hotel at this age.”

“That’s all because you met the right person. *Pffft*.”

The subsequent encounters were the worst, but at least old man Park was someone who made me feel many things in various ways.

“Don’t worry about monsters. They’re all ability users, and their leader, who commands them, is here too.”

I patted Seohaemugi’s back, who was dressed in a suit. Unlike other monstrous humans, Seohaemugi, who had a real monstrous human’s head, surprisingly did not cover his face.

“That young fellow certainly has peculiar tastes.”

“It’s a Yuseong special helmet. It’s custom-made.”

“*Sigh*. It’s a shame, to have his face torn up fighting a monster.”

Perhaps because he lived a detached life far from the mundane world, old man Park accepted my poor excuse about the monstrous human without any hesitation.

“The young man is pitiful. It’s a shame.”

“I’m fine.”

Seohaemugi smiled calmly. As someone who knew the relationship between the two, I felt complicated, but Seohaemugi did not want to reveal his identity.

“If my son were alive, you know, huh? He’d be just like you… *Uh-huh-huh*! My apologies, young man! You’re much more handsome than my son! *Khuhuhu*.”

“…….”

Seohaemugi remained silent. To change the depressing atmosphere, I pointed to the airport terminal widely spread out to the north of the hotel.

“Someday, when I have time, I’ll come and restore that too. Then the real Incheon Airport will be revived, right?”

“This ability thing is truly amazing. If you just have mana, you can restore buildings like this in a snap.”

“…Though we only put up a new sign.”

I knew. That sign wasn’t originally Yuseong’s. A money-grubbing ghost sacrificed its own core to restore several hotels, then simply made new signs and slapped Yuseong’s name on them.

“……It will probably take about three months, but Yeongjongdo’s infrastructure will be restored quickly. This hotel will also be usefully utilized from then on.”

“Wow, you’re truly an amazing young lady. Ugh, if I were 10 years, no, just 1 year younger, I would have tried something.”

“Why one year?”

“It hasn’t been standing up well for about a year now! *Huhuhuhu*! Ah, will I get arrested if I say things like this these days?”

“That’s enough. And if you, elder, had tried anything with me….”

I drew my hand across my neck, as if cutting it.

“The Earth would have been destroyed, you know? *Pffft*.”

“……You certainly make a brutal joke. *Haha*.”

Was it really a joke?

Ah.

The Architect restored the hotel in 10 minutes.

* * *

6:36 AM, Above Incheon Bridge.

Yeongjongdo was visible at a glance. I stood atop the main tower and greeted the sun rising above the horizon. As always, there was only one pose for the sun.

“Can’t you not do that weird pose?”

“Join me, Subordinate No. 2.”

“The command here, *Uwaaak*!”

Rock monstrous human Jo Deokbae grimaced with his mouth, but followed my command, faced the sun, and raised both arms high diagonally. Jo Deokbae’s face flushed red with shame, but the sunlight clearly illuminated his smooth head.

“The morning sunlight here is nice too.”

“Damn it….”

Jo Deokbae sat down on the main tower, settling his rear. Having grown accustomed to high places now, he sat comfortably even atop the main tower, which exceeded 200m, and opened a can of drink. I also opened my strawberry milk, bought from a convenience store.

“What do you plan to do after reviving Yeongjongdo?”

Yeongjongdo, where most of the infrastructure had been destroyed by monsters, was no different from ruins. Since the bridge had also been blown up, Yeongjongdo became a true island, and although Seohaemugi had cleaned it, it was not a place suitable for human habitation.

“Rather than Yeongjongdo itself, it’s about reviving the airport infrastructure. So that you don’t have to go all the way down from Seoul to Gimhae, but can travel abroad directly from here by airship.”

“Now you’re trying to take over the airport too. Wait, airship?”

“Yes. Airship.”

I rubbed the black band on my wrist with my index finger. A mana reaction occurred on the glass-like surface, projecting a wide holographic screen in front of me, and I tapped the screen to display a satellite image of Yeongjongdo in front of me.

“Oh, awesome. Is that *that*?”

“Yes. Magic Gear prototype.”

What kind of results would be produced if a genius scientist obsessed with research was given unlimited budget, facilities, and materials? Himeji Hikari screamed at the immense materials and began her research, working through the night, and eventually succeeded in creating the rare item she had only envisioned in her mind.

“Wow. This is really….”

Deokbae showed considerable interest in the Magic Gear on my wrist. The design, with its black coating wrapping around the entire wrist, had an aesthetic appeal even to me, considering it was a prototype.

“Make one for me too. Huh?”

“It’s not for mass production, so no. This one alone has an entire S-rank Black Scorpion in it.”

“What? Crazy.”

“Yes. It’s crazy. The production cost is crazy, and the performance is crazy too.”

All sorts of functions that would only appear in the late stages of the original work were packed into a wrist ornament just 1cm wide. Unlike smartwatches that merely project a smartphone’s flat screen into the air, the Magic Gear displayed a 3D holographic screen that provided an overview of the entire Yeongjongdo, showing a higher level of technology.

“A mass-produced version will come out in about a month or two. I’ll distribute it to the entire Azure Syndicate then, so please wait.”

“*Ugh*.”

Deokbae kept looking back and forth between my wrist and the hologram, clicking his tongue in regret. Since Hikari had left the lab, saying she would rest after making this Magic Gear, there was no way to force her to make more.

“So now, I plan to use that vast land of Yeongjongdo as a private runway for the Baeknaro.”

“And you’ll travel abroad riding that?”

“Yes. Because if I ride anything else, the plane might explode again.”

It’s not that the plane exploded while I was on it, but if the plane gets hijacked or explodes every time I go abroad, I won’t be able to face Eun Yuha. Eun Yuha was an investor who, while willing to take investment risks, was quite sensitive to losses.

“So, I’m making the safest airship in the world my private jet.”

“So there was a reason you rode that when you came from China. But is it really safe?”

“Yes. Because it moves with the power of an ability.”

I pulled up a profile from the Magic Gear. It was the personal details of Baek Hee-ah, a cold-faced woman with a white beret and short black hair, the Executor.

“Baek Hee-ah is a field commander, but her ability is very unique. She has the ability to synchronize with ‘things she rides’.”

“Like… bicycles or cars?”

“Yes. As her ability rank increases, the category of vehicles she can control expands.”

“Wow. Then she won’t need a driver’s license, will she?”

“…….”

That was true. It was true, but I was speechless at Deokbae’s uninspired comment.

“Subordinate No. 2. Can you only think such things about the infinite possibilities of the Executor’s ability? Your imagination is truly lacking.”

“I’m a little choked up, but what kind of ideas are you coming up with using that amazing imagination of yours?”

I raised my finger high into the sky.

“Do you like space travel?”

“I’ve never done it, but no….”

Deokbae’s eyes widened. Although his imagination was poor, his comprehension was excellent, so Deokbae deduced the correct answer from just the small clue I gave him.

“If there’s a spaceship, can she travel to space?”

“Exactly. However, since mana is the fuel, if it all runs out, she’d become a space stray.”

“That’s amazing. The reason you intentionally rode an airship when you came back to Korea… Ah.”

Deokbae raised only his pinky finger and grinned slyly.

“How many is she?”

“The 10th.”

“…Crazy?!”

Deokbae stood up and screamed. The sound was so loud that the cables connected to the cable-stayed bridge shook.

“You have 10 ex-girlfriends?!”

“No.”

I corrected Deokbae’s words.

“It’s 16.”

“You f***ing b*stard!!”

Deokbae swore very refreshingly, but the filter preventing profanity was still properly in place. Having evolved to B-rank, I could gradually feel a little bit of what kind of curse he was uttering.

“Why are you so surprised? It could happen.”

“That’s not just ex-girlfriend level! From what I roughly heard from Cheon Gaeul, they’re almost life partners! And you had 7 septuplets with Eun Yuha?!”

“……Jo Deokbae.”

I cleared my throat and spoke to him in a serious voice.

“That’s merely a possibility in the future. It’s not now, is it?”

“You trashy bastard.”

“……Where did the filter go?”

Deokbae was looking at me as if I were trash, and I cleared my throat with another fake cough.

“…Don’t misunderstand. It’s just a story of possibility. Just think of it as my delusion. Okay? Phoenix’s 10th wife in his head is Baek Hee-ah. Something like that.”

“Hmph, hmph. Fine. Go ahead and do as you please. Whether it’s 16 or 17, if you stretch your legs as you please and get stabbed in the stomach, it’s none of my business.”

“I’ll handle it myself. And don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you. If it did, would I have killed you that day?”

“That’s true. Phew, what a relief.”

Deokbae patted his chest and let out a sigh of relief. The encounter with Deokbae began as the worst possible connection, but it was an undeniable fact that Deokbae had been helpful.

“I didn’t expect to get so much out of a single D-rank core.”

“Then raise my activity allowance. Huh? I’m also an Azure Syndicate executive, so how long do I have to spend money while watching Kim Ji-hwa’s mood?”

“You barely spend any money, so what are you talking about? Alright.”

I held up three fingers towards Deokbae.

“I’ll pay your worth as an annual salary. 30 million won annual salary. Good, right?”

“You…. While you guys are playing with hundreds of millions and trillions of won…! Are you kidding me?!”

“What are you saying? If you have a complaint, take it up with the dead lawyer lady.”

“Aaaaargh!!”

Deokbae stomped his feet on the ground, expressing his annoyance. The tall main tower shook greatly, and I grabbed Deokbae by the scruff of his hood and flew into the sky.

“Don’t go breaking the bridge we just rebuilt, let’s go to work. Huh? Even if you calculate it monthly, it’s 2.5 million won, isn’t it?”

“Hey! If you calculate the average annual salary for a B-rank ability user, it’s 2 billion won!”

“That’s a general statement, and this is my personal villain organization, so if you don’t like it, get stronger. Do you know that?”

I spread my wings towards New Seoul and crossed the sea.

“You’re the only B-rank among the executives. They’re all A-rank.”

“Uwaaah! It’s unfair! Give me back the Water Keeper’s core! I caught that with the Fire Giant!!”

“What nonsense is that? “

I barely suppressed the urge to throw Deokbae into the tidal flat and moved my wings towards New Seoul. Deokbae continued to loudly assert his ownership of the core.

“Hmph.”

Deokbae became Deokbae(t).

Ah.

The Architect restored Incheon Bridge in three hours.