Part 1 Chapter 2 (14)

Just for that brief moment until Gaeul woke up.

I used the blackboard in the empty lecture hall to organize my complicated thoughts.

From the plans I had made in the magma, I started listing the urgent ones that needed immediate attention, prioritizing them one by one.

1. Recovering the Cube in Yeouido.

I know where the Cube is. It’s in a free dungeon where an S-rank field boss is hiding. I just need to go there, cut its neck, and retrieve the Cube.

2. Unifying the Villains of Seoul.

Originally, I had planned to slowly expand my power by subjugating them one by one through force, like playing a game of capture the flag.

However, due to the unexpected appearance of the dimensional gate, I had no choice but to drastically revise my plan to place the Villains under the Azure Syndicate.

‘I can’t let them easily escape just because they’re afraid of the dimensional gate.’

The Villains need to act as a breakwater against the monsters coming down from the north. The monster in Pyongyang continuously produces monsters with the Cube’s power, and since most of these monsters are D- to B-rank, they’re a perfect source for core trading.

‘And those funds will be usefully employed in raising the protagonist.’

Coincidentally, I also have some very secondary goals like buying some land and buildings in New Seoul, opening a cafe, starting a rental business, and driving some supercars, but vast funds were necessary for world peace.

‘Because I also have to travel all over the world. Hmm. Innocent. No problem.’

On top of that, I need to collect all the Cubes. There are 24 of them outside the Korean Peninsula alone, so to collect them all, I’d have to ride countless planes and trains for five years.

Can’t I just fly there myself? Getting gut-punched by a missile from someone like Mao Zeping is something I’ll never accept again.

‘And finally….’

I looked at Cheon Gaeul, who was blinking her eyes while holding my hands, with satisfaction and spoke. Cheon Gaeul was quite flustered by my ‘new face’ remark.

“Cheon Gaeul-ssi. Are you an ability user?”

“…No?”

Cheon Gaeul is an ordinary person without abilities. If she awakens her ability and grows properly, she has the potential to rank among the top A-rank ability users, based on her 88% Illusion attribute affinity rate.

But I’m sorry. I broke that flag.

“Yes. You’re an ordinary person without abilities. Even if you’re excellent as an actress, can a woman alone safely make it down to New Seoul?”

“If Phoenix-ssi just helps a little?!”

“Why. Would. I?”

I deliberately spoke, breaking each word. A faint tremor could be felt in the hand I was holding.

“What benefit do I get from helping Gaeul-ssi? You want me to take you to the Hero Association? As you might expect, we’re Villains, aren’t we?”

I let go of Gaeul’s hands and spread my arms wide over my shoulders.

“Wow! Gaeul-ssi is repaying the kindness of having her life saved with hostility! I’m about to be thrown into prison just for saving someone while passing by and handing them over to a Hero out of goodwill!”

“Th-then please send me to the hunters! Hunters are fine, aren’t they?”

Gaeul gradually started trembling all the way to her shoulders. I stood on one leg on the chair Deokbae had kicked.

“Deokbae-ssi, what do hunters like the most?”

“Money.”

“What if there’s a bounty on us?”

“They’d report us immediately.”

At Deokbae’s answer, I gestured as if to say ‘See?’, and kicked the chair upright.

“Oh dear. Then hunters won’t do either. They’ll definitely report us the moment they see us. Then we’d have to run, and the Association would start a persistent pursuit, wouldn’t they? I’d rather not deal with such bothersome things. What’s left is….”

I pointed alternately at Deokbae and myself.

“It would be ‘Villains’ like us, so would that be alright? As for me, I’m not interested in that kind of thing anymore, and Deokbae is impotent-Yah!-Ah, you startled me. Go stand by that wall with your hands up.”

My eardrums almost burst. I gave Deokbae a physical punishment. Deokbae huffed with his face but moved like a robot, facing the wall and raising both hands high.

“Ahem. Anyway, most Villains won’t leave Gaeul-ssi alone, you know? Do you know how many pieces of trash there are in this world who’d drug you with sleeping pills or aphrodisiacs, knock you out, and then try to rape you? Isn’t that right, Jo Deokbae-ssi!”

“…[Muffled sounds].”

Ever since he realized there’s a mute filter, he’s been trying to openly curse. It’s proof that he evolved to C-rank and his mana increased, but he’s insolent.

I decided to give Deokbae a more restrictive command soon and approached Cheon Gaeul, who was turning pale.

“H-Heeek?!”

“Let’s say you miraculously manage to avoid Villains. What’s left then?”

Now Cheon Gaeul was trembling even her teeth, terrified. I hugged Cheon Gaeul tightly, just like before, and patted her back.

“Among monsters, you see, there are not only those who see humans as prey, but also those who consider them sexual playthings. Oh, and there’s no gender distinction here, alright? There aren’t just one or two monsters who’d try to screw anything with a hole. Later on, there are even humans who say it’s possible to screw monstrous humans… Oops. Cut.”

Remarks about monstrous humans are still a no-go. I cleared my throat and patted Cheon Gaeul’s back. Fortunately, her pounding heart gradually slowed its beat.

“So I’ve been thinking. A way for me not to have to escort Cheon Gaeul-ssi all the way to New Seoul, and for Cheon Gaeul-ssi to safely return to New Seoul!”

“…Hoo. Alright.”

Cheon Gaeul gently pushed me away. I responded to her weak strength by breaking the hug and creating distance.

“Tell me. I’ll do anything I can. I’ll repay the favor too. I definitely won’t repay kindness with hostility, as Phoenix-ssi said. Never.”

“Well, it’s nothing special. It’s simple. It depends on Cheon Gaeul-ssi’s effort.”

I spread my Azure Flame wings behind my back. I deliberately enlarged them to fill the entire lecture hall, showing off my power.

Gaeul pretended not to be, but she was startled. Her fidgeting fingers, restless with anxiety, stiffened.

“If you have power, you won’t be attacked by monsters or Villains, right?”

“…Yes.”

Gaeul herself must be keenly feeling that. She almost died to a monster just now.

“Then you just need to gain power, right?”

“It’s not that simple of a problem, is it?”

Gaeul clenched both her fists. In her moist eyes, a resolute will, mixed with a sense of injustice, was visible.

“All I can do is ‘act’. Wealth? All I have as property is one house in New Seoul. Power? What power could a mere actress have?”

“You have your body, don’t you?”

Slap.

My cheek stung. My head didn’t turn, but Gaeul’s palm was touching my cheek. More precisely, it was in the air, 1cm away.

“Ahhh…!”

Gaeul clutched her hand, in pain. A very thin mana wall had already formed between Gaeul’s hand and my cheek.

No matter if the opponent was Cheon Gaeul, I couldn’t allow her to lay a hand on Phoenix’s sacred body.

“I understand your will. You don’t want to sell your body, right?”

“Of course not! What woman would willingly sell her body! If there were another way, I’d choose that!”

I felt a strange mix of emotions hearing those words come from Cheon Gaeul’s mouth, of all people.

“Hoo. Alright. Someone who has nothing but their body doesn’t even want to sell that?”

I sat down on the desk. The hatred and despair towards the world that I felt when I first took Cheon Gaeul as a comrade came to mind.

A woman who received no help from Heroes, was betrayed by people, and left alone in the midst of monsters. An ordinary person who barely survived after being raped by monsters and passed around like a toy for her first experience in life.

Cheon Gaeul’s past, which I hadn’t heard directly but had learned from the community. I recited the fragmented stories of what she had gone through over five years, one by one.

“She miraculously survived the monsters thanks to passersby, but alas! The tragedy didn’t end there. The people who saved the woman were vagrants hiding underground. Beast-like men took the woman as spoils of war and gang-raped her for several years. That legacy… how many times was it?”

I don’t even remember if it was three or four times. I hadn’t heard it directly from Cheon Gaeul, and it was an unpleasant setting just reading the summary posts.

But Cheon Gaeul’s expression was gradually hardening. Is it because hearing about the future she almost experienced makes her feel different?

“Living like a slave, the woman eventually awakened her ability. The men, just like the monsters, played with the woman like a toy, then abandoned her to the monsters again. The men hid and watched, snickering, as the woman was assaulted by the monsters.”

As Cheon Gaeul’s past setting was revealed and it became known that she was the main heroine, the community naturally erupted.

Even if it was just a game, did they really have to inflict such severe pain on a single human?

“But the woman, who was about to die to a monster, miraculously awakened her ability at that very moment.”

Masquerade. Gaeul instinctively copied the ability of the man who had mocked her, killing the monsters and then the men. That was the day of Cheon Gaeul’s awakening, and the night of her first murder.

“The woman who awakened her ability took the lives of those who had forcibly taken her. Well, among them were not just men but women too… but that’s not important.”

I dispelled my wings and turned my gaze to the window. The mana fluctuations I felt from afar seemed to indicate that Shadow Phoenix was engaged in a major battle with the Heroes.

Seeing how chaotic the Heroes’ mana fluctuations were, I wondered if I should have beaten them up a bit more. I twisted my veil and continued speaking.

“Do you know what the woman learned the most during those few years? How to use her body. Flirting, acting alluring, because the only value she had was her own body. Fortunately, the woman had a good figure.”

I recalled my time in bed with Gaeul. It was hard to believe she had gone through such hardships for five years, given how meticulously Gaeul managed her body.

In the game, one of my comrades who had made anti-aging jokes to Gaeul knelt and apologized after learning about her past.

“…That.”

Deokbae’s expression twisted as he looked at me. Displeased, I flicked my finger and sent Deokbae flying. Deokbae crashed through the wall and rolled down the hallway.

“…….”

Gaeul’s expression now looked like she was about to cry. It seemed the medicine was starting to take effect.

“Alright. That’s the end of the story. You probably don’t want to hear any more, so let’s stop at a good point. …Is it long? Hmm. If I wanted to, I could go on longer-“

“You can stop!”

Gaeul cried out, almost sobbing. I nodded and smiled, feeling that Gaeul’s will had been broken.

After hearing this much, she probably won’t say she’ll wander around Seoul alone.

“Then let’s go back to the original topic. Anyway, Gaeul-ssi, you need to unleash the strongest ‘power’ you possess.”

“Th-my body-“

“No. I know you have a good figure, but your Illusion attribute affinity rate. Do you know how high 88% is? It’s top-tier A-rank. To give you an idea, if you just raise it by 2% with an elixir or something, it’s S-rank-“

“Wait a minute!”

Gaeul waved her hand, cutting him off.

“So Phoenix-ssi, you’re saying I have the talent of an ability user?”

“Yes. Ah. It’s a bit difficult to call it ‘talent,’ but every human can awaken as an ability user-“

“So in the end, you’re saying I should awaken as an ability user and return to New Seoul on my own? And until then, I should remain as a member of your organization?”

“……Yes.”

I suddenly felt depressed. It felt like having the strawberry I deliberately saved to eat last on a strawberry cake snatched away.

“…As Cheon Gaeul-ssi said. You’ll have to stay with our Azure Syndicate until you awaken your ability.”

Gaeul lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought. I wondered if I had pushed her too hard and tried to comfort Gaeul.

“Well… don’t be too hurt. It’s just a story about something that could happen. However, you also need to understand that realistically, the ways I can help Gaeul-ssi awaken as an ability user are limited right now.”

“You’ll help me? With awakening my ability?”

I conjured Azure Flame and shaped it into a circle.

“Among Gaeul-ssi’s affinity rates, there’s also Wind attribute over 50, you know? Not to mention Illusion attribute. Just as I can awaken people with Fire attribute affinity over 50 as ability users, it’s the same for Wind attribute and Illusion attribute, you see?”

“What?!”

Deokbae, who had just returned, froze as if greatly shocked.

“You mean there are seven attributes to mana?! Are you saying there are six more guys like you besides you?!”

I clapped my hands, praising Deokbae.

“Wow! Jo Deokbae, your classroom behavior is poor, but your comprehension is excellent! Yes. There are six more like me besides myself.”

The seven executives of the Dark Legion. By now, they’re probably secretly active all over the world, hiding their identities and building their own forces. While brainwashed.

“Anyway, if you just meet them, Cheon Gaeul-ssi can also become an ability user, that’s what I mean.”

“I… can become an ability user?”

Gaeul covered her mouth with both hands, shocked. I approached Gaeul and straightened her crumpled veil.

“If it were up to me, I’d make you an ability user right now and send you to New Seoul. But if I send you off like this, without the power to protect yourself, I think I’d feel really uneasy.”

What if she were to be attacked by monsters again and face death?

Currently, Cheon Gaeul is the only main heroine who isn’t an ability user. I plan to keep her with me until she gains the power to protect herself.

Twitch. A massive mana fluctuation spread from the south. It seemed the battle was finally beginning in earnest.

“…Five minutes. I’ll give you five minutes to think. So, during that time, consider it. Whether you’ll follow us, or just escape Seoul alone.”

I approached the window and broke it with mana. The cold night air was slowly beginning to settle.

“Jo Deokbae-ssi, protect Cheon Gaeul-ssi. If you do anything inappropriate, you’ll really regret it.”

“……Understood.”

Why is he trying to set the mood again? I grabbed the window frame and leaped towards the rooftop.

“Whoops.”

I grabbed the railing and stepped onto the rooftop, then moved my mana to summon the Mini Phoenix that was flying in the sky. At my call, the Mini Phoenix quickly flew to my hand and landed.

“You feel it in the south, right? Where the fake is fighting. Please fly over there.”

-Understood, squawk.

The Mini Phoenix spread its wings and flew south, towards where the battle was in full swing. Through the connected mana, my vision synchronized with the Mini Phoenix.

Below, descending Mount Gwanak, at the end of the path created by Shadow Phoenix running down the mountain, the battle was reaching its climax.

“There’s nothing as fun as a free-for-all among low-levels.”

I moved my mana to create a rocking chair and lay down on it.

It would be nice to have some popcorn.