Part 1 Chapter 4 (2)

“I’m sorry, but I cannot trust those words…”

Phoenix affirmed Haneulseong’s statement. There was still much lacking to gain blind trust.

“Indeed. How can I make you believe me?”

“Anyone can win with just their mouth. It’s certain that you’re S-rank, but I’ve never heard anything about you. Would you care to mention any actual combat achievements?”

“If I were to explain that, it would take more than an entire day, and the story would drag on until the Association Heroes arrive, wouldn’t it? Just believe me. Blessings will come to those who believe.”

“…You’re impossible to reason with.”

Haneulseong took off his fedora. His forehead, hidden by the brim, bore several gruesome scars.

“Fine. Let’s say you handle those two. Then, do you have enough power on your side to face the remaining 152 Heroes?”

“Excuse me. It seems there’s a big misunderstanding between us right now.”

Phoenix twisted the corner of his mouth. It was an obvious sneer, filled with provocation.

“No matter how many Heroes come up, our organization alone can defeat them all. Even if Gwanggeom comes with them, we can win.”

“It seems a crazy evil spirit has truly possessed you.”

The quack shaman huffed and puffed, coming out into the aisle as if ready to sprinkle salt.

“What? You can defeat Gwanggeom? If you have that much power, why are you here? Go to New Seoul right now and just lop off the Heroes’ heads.”

“Puhuhu. Exactly. For our smooth communication, let me make this clear.”

Phoenix snapped his fingers. All the doors leading out of the main assembly hall were blocked by flames.

“There’s only one reason we’re telling you to join us as subordinates. We’re going to conquer all of Seoul, so don’t even think about coming in later to claim a share. That’s it.”

“If you join the Azure Syndicate and fight, we will acknowledge your dominion over your respective districts later. However, the lands of those who flee will be conquered by our Azure Syndicate.”

“Kuh….”

At Deokbae’s additional explanation, the quack shaman stood still, unable to move. The tightly gripped fan looked as if it would crumble under the force of his hand at any moment.

“Gangseo’s Mongrel has already tucked his tail and run. The others are the same. So, what will you do? Will you fight back, or will you flee?”

“Fight the Heroes with this force? Impossible.”

Haneulseong punched the table behind him. Broken fragments fell to the floor.

“Tomorrow, Heroes will invade from New Seoul, and all the Villains will flee. When have you ever seen a rebellion on this land succeed? They were always suppressed by the nation. It’s the same!”

“Rebellion? You seem to have a rather generous opinion of yourself, Haneulseong-nim.”

Phoenix tapped the podium.

“We are Villains. We are a band of thieves who have occupied Seoul, which has become a no man’s land. Those who refused to enter New Seoul and escaped Seonui Cheol’s rule. Isn’t that the true nature of the Villains remaining in Seoul?”

“There are such people. But we are different. Different.”

Haneulseong’s voice grew agitated.

“When the government abandoned Seoul, did they care for the Seoul residents? No! They abandoned the citizens again! They blew up the bridges even though there were people crossing them! Do you think they will treat those who remained in Seoul as citizens when they come here? Absolutely not. We threw away the law books and picked up swords to protect ourselves and survive!”

“Isn’t your distrust of the government too severe?”

“I know Seonui Cheol well. That man is by no means a good person. If he occupies Seoul, he will reclaim the ownerless land and redistribute it to his supporters in New Seoul. And he’ll suppress the existing Seoul citizens by mobilizing the Pine Tree Unit.”

“I agree with that.”

The meeting had already turned into a heated debate between the representatives of the two factions. Phoenix of the Azure Syndicate, urging them to fight, and Haneulseong, the representative of the Villain Alliance, who found it difficult to make a hasty judgment.

“We’ll have to fight. If there’s something you want to protect, you’ll have to fight. But we can’t blindly trust you and put all the people in our area at risk. We-“

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

Phoenix clapped his hands, gathering everyone’s attention.

“I’ll lend you Core Weapons. Beacon! How many spare units do we have right now?”

“80 model guns, and 30 bladed weapons.”

“Let’s send all of them. You know how to use them without me telling you, right?”

“Is that alright? If that gets out, it’ll attract public attention.”

The silent Rock Monstrosity interjected. Phoenix waved his hand as if it were fine.

“They’re temporary, single-use items anyway. Once the Core energy is used up, they become useless decorations. And will they even have time to worry about Core Weapons?”

“If that’s the case.”

Beacon tapped his watch and gave orders to his subordinates. The quack shaman covered his face with his fan and asked. He had already moved out of the aisle and returned to his seat.

“Why are you helping us this much? You wouldn’t just help us for no reason. Are you really telling us not to freeload later and to claim our share now?”

“I told you from the beginning. We’re giving you a chance to join the Azure Syndicate. We also want to consolidate our forces without the hassle of fighting. Like Architect ahjussi here.”

“I told you, it’s Architect.”

Architect shrugged his eyebrows when his gaze met Haneulseong’s.

“There’s nothing bad for me. They said they’d protect our people.”

“Indeed. That’s how he persuaded them.”

To those stuck at the threshold of A-rank, a higher realm; to those who desired safety, safety.

Haneulseong pulled his fedora down again.

“…Alright. We will form a united front. However, we will not take orders from you.”

“So, that’s as far as it goes for now, right? Okay. I understand. But…”

Phoenix bit her lower lip and curved the corner of her mouth upwards.

“You will need the Azure Syndicate’s help. Contact us anytime you need our command.”

* * *

April 12, 2020, 13:00, Guro Azure Syndicate Hideout.

“Why did you tell such a lie, Leader-nim?!”

Jihwa put down her spoon and yelled at me. I stopped my hand, which had just plunged a spoon into the ice cream.

“It’s not a lie?”

“What else would it be but a lie! No matter how strong you are, Leader-nim, she’s Seolhwa Princess! The world’s number one water attribute user and the strongest Ice Art User!”

Jihwa looked like she was about to go completely crazy. I picked up my spoon and put the ice cream into my mouth.

“Ice can just be melted.”

The gazes of three people gathered on me. I pointed to myself with the spoon.

“Basically, all battles are about elemental matchups. Matchups based on the seven attributes of mana. No matter how difficult a boss is, if you just hit their weakness, they become a fool. It’s the same for monstrous humans.”

“If it’s that simple, then why has humanity been so easily and helplessly defeated by monsters until now?”

At Gaeul’s question, I divided the flame into seven.

“They just haven’t discovered the attributes of mana yet. It will be officially announced in academia in about two or three years, but who knows about it right now? Still, the Heroes in the field probably know it instinctively, right? Like a fire-attribute Hero being completely useless against a water-attribute Hero.”

“So, can you, Leader-nim, who seems to be fire-attribute, defeat the water-attribute Seolhwa Princess?”

At Jihwa’s question, I shook my spoon from side to side.

“Level is what overcomes elemental matchups, isn’t it? The one with the higher mana rank wins. Unless it’s an extreme hard counter. Has there ever been an S-rank pyromancer until now?”

“That’s true, but… then can Phoenix-nim defeat Fire Fist and Seolhwa Princess?”

I clicked my tongue at Jihwa’s concern.

“Of course. If not, I would have immediately devised another plan and fled from Seoul to another country. Anyway, let’s discuss the correlation of mana another time, and for now, let’s continue the meeting on how to form the battle lines.”

I extinguished the flame on the table and brought up a screen. A map showing Seoul at a glance.

“The government extensively promoted this operation. So, they’ll likely come up through these two main routes.”

“That’s a route that bypasses Gwanaksan Mountain, isn’t it?”

“Is there no possibility from Incheon or Gangwon direction?”

“There is. But it’s low. Heroes are people too, so they’ll be transported en masse from New Seoul to the vicinity of Seoul by car via highways. Or they might restart the high-speed train.”

Another screen appeared on the table. The enemy had already kindly announced the complete list of Heroes participating in the operation, without missing a single one.

“2 S-ranks, 12 A-ranks, 27 B-ranks, 51 C-ranks, 60 D-ranks. Since D-ranks are practically supply or medical teams, it’s effectively 92 people, and if we exclude the two S-ranks among them, we have to face 90 people.”

“…This seems like a very disadvantageous fight.”

Deokbae ran a hand down his neck.

“How much power do we have without you? Are you planning to smash everything by yourself?”

“Mr. Jo Deokbae. Who said I’d go wild by myself? We have an organization called the Azure Syndicate.”

My flames spread to various places on the screen.

“We will wage thorough guerrilla warfare. It will be urban warfare, with Seoul as our stage.”

“Are you planning to turn all of Seoul into a sea of fire?”

Gaeul shot back. As she was cooperating with the Azure Syndicate on the condition of rebuilding Seoul, the idea of fighting while destroying Seoul seemed to bother her.

But there’s no problem. A redevelopment expert has joined our side.

“It’s fine to completely destroy Seoul. Architect will restore everything if we just supply him with time and mana. And we have an abundance of Cores, don’t we? If we run short, we can just go up there for a bit.”

“Is that ahjussi really that amazing?”

Jihwa seemed somewhat awkward. Since she had established a base in the Digital Complex, she must have been aware of the abilities in Dongjak, which was next to Guro. I clicked my tongue again at Jihwa’s suspicion.

“You don’t know what Dongjak’s underground is like right now, do you? That man has built a small city underground over six years. Most of Seoul’s refugees are probably there.”

Architect’s ability is to construct buildings instantly as long as mana is supplied. Cheon Gaeul looked surprised, as if something had just occurred to her.

“So the rumors about underground refugees weren’t just rumors?”

“They’re thoroughly hidden. Architect has been digging tunnels towards New Seoul whenever his mana recharges. However, refugees are flowing into the underground faster than he can recover, so they’re unable to escape. He’s busy building tunnels.”

“We recruited them on the condition of providing weapons and safety.”

“Fortunately, he was someone easy to talk to.”

I tapped the table to get their attention.

“Anyway, there’s no need to spare any facilities. Architect won’t come out of Dongjak until the battle is over. He’s joining on the condition that there’s no damage to Dongjak’s underground. So, we need to limit the battlefield to here and here.”

Two red circles appeared on the map.

Guro in the west, Gangnam-Seocho in the east.

“Is there any guarantee the enemy will come this way?”

“We’ll make them come. We’ll set traps and lay bait. Jihwa-ssi, roughly how many Cores do you have left from what I gave you last time?”

“40 D-rank, 20 C-rank. No B or A-rank.”

“…Phoenix-ssi? This isn’t what I’m thinking, is it?”

Gaeul’s face turned pale. I subtly pulled out an S-rank Core from my pocket and smiled.

“It’s just about making things easy for everyone. Mob pulling. You know? It’s good for the Heroes because they can deal with a bunch of monsters at once, and it’s good for us because we can gather the Heroes in one place and secure the battlefield.”

“Are you planning to turn Gangnam and Guro into monster havens?”

“It’d be good to gather Seoul’s cockroaches in one place and burn them, wouldn’t it? Conveniently, those two places are areas we can control… and we’ll evacuate the people beforehand.”

I subtly glanced at Gaeul. Though she didn’t show it, there was a hint of relief.

“Will Haneulseong cooperate?”

“We’ll make him cooperate, won’t we? If monsters run wild in his backyard and Heroes invade, he’ll have to fight whether he likes it or not.”

“How will we provide support? Will we really only provide weapons?”

“We should, shouldn’t we? They said they don’t want to take orders. It’s on hold until they explicitly request it themselves.”

I marked points on the administrative districts of Seoul’s map. The areas other than those where the Azure Syndicate had planted its flag.

“Even if they’re all wanted Villains, they’re a bit different if you look closely. While there are true villains like Gangseo’s Mongrel or Gangdong’s Black Flame… Dragon, there are also survival-type criminals like Dongjak’s Architect. They’re people who will fend for themselves until they die, not docile types who obey others’ orders.”

“What about, uh, Guro’s Beacon?”

“You were a potential sex offender. Rehabilitate yourself in the Azure Syndicate, Monstrous Human No. 3.”

“I will keep that in mind…”

I scooped up more ice cream and moistened my mouth. It had already melted slightly, becoming soft like cream. A rich strawberry scent spread in my mouth.

“One thing we must make sure of is never to kill Heroes. If we needlessly kill Heroes, we’ll only get into more trouble. We’re trying to conquer Seoul, not weaken the Republic of Korea’s national power.”

If we needlessly kill Heroes, China or Japan will try to interfere.

“Our opponents are trying to arrest us, not kill us. This isn’t war. While Villains have terrible camaraderie, you know Heroes’ camaraderie is incredibly strong, right? It’ll become, ‘You killed my comrade OO, I can’t forgive you!'”

“So, instead of provoking them, we should take them hostage. …Yes, that’s better.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that idea. Thank you, Cheon Gaeul-ssi. You’re smart, as expected.”

“Cancel! I take back what I just said! Don’t take them hostage, let them go!”

Beep.

I lightly ignored Gaeul’s protest and tapped my smartwatch at its alarm. I was already in contact with Eun Yuha, the president of Milky Way, Yuseong, with whom I had established a trade through the Black Market.

Though I didn’t know they would text first.

[Milky Way]: I’m reminding you about the contract. You know what happens to our deal if the Seoul Reclamation Operation succeeds, right? For whatever reason, I will receive the promised quantity. Of course, I trust you, my customer ^^7

“Look at this one, playing both sides.”

I was about to send a message immediately but met Gaeul’s eyes.

“Who is that?”

“……Hmm, a business associate?”

Gaeul’s gaze was unusual. She probably felt uncomfortable that I was contacting someone so casually when she had barely managed to contact her parents.

I closed the message window. The others also clearly looked uncomfortable from the cold aura Gaeul was emitting.

“Ahem! Alright, let’s summarize.”

At my words, Jihwa displayed the meeting contents she was organizing on the screen. I cleared my throat and pointed at the screens as I spoke.

“The battlefields are Guro and Gangnam. The lure will be monsters. We’ll gather all of Seoul’s monsters in Guro and Gangnam, then ambush the Heroes who come to deal with them.”

“The core of the strategy is guerrilla warfare. The Azure Syndicate will follow my command. The Gangnam side will be left alone unless they request support first. Command will begin only when a request for command comes. It doesn’t matter if they’re wiped out. As long as Dongjak isn’t breached.”

“Our troop deployment is simple. Only Deokbae-ssi will be on the Guro battlefield, and Jihwa-ssi, Gaeul-ssi, and I will naturally be at the headquarters in Yeouido.”

The Azure Syndicate’s command headquarters, marked with a star on the map.

That place was the National Assembly Building, where the cube Seonui Cheol was actively searching for was located.

“Then, let’s start preparing. Preparing for the betrayal that will shock the nation.”