Part 1 Chapter 5 (19)

At the same time, Azure Syndicate Headquarters in Yeouido.

“Gaeul-ssi, do you know the story of the green frog?”

“The green frog crying after losing its mother? Why do you ask?”

“It just came to mind.”

Phoenix squirmed with a slightly uncomfortable expression. However, Gaeul didn’t release the two hands wrapped around his waist and tightened her grip even more.

“Excuse me, Cheon Gaeul-nim?”

“What?”

“Could you please let me go now?”

Phoenix turned his head and pointed at the two arms wrapped around his waist.

Ever since they came down to the lounge, Cheon Gaeul had made Phoenix sit on her lap like a teddy bear and hugged him.

Phoenix initially complied obediently with Gaeul’s clinginess, but as more and more executives arrived, he grew increasingly anxious.

In the end, Phoenix couldn’t escape Gaeul’s clutches until all the executives had gathered.

“No. Tell me why. Do you dislike this?”

“It’s not that I dislike it, but, well, my dignity as the leader…”

“Haneulseong and Jihwa have more dignity than you, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

When Deokbae scoffed, Phoenix bristled. However, none of the executives gathered in the lounge challenged Deokbae’s words. Phoenix lowered his head. Gaeul stroked his head with a Tentacle.

“At this rate, I feel like I’ve completely devolved into the Azure Syndicate’s mascot.”

“Anyway, publicly, Jihwa-gun is the leader, so it’s not much different.”

“Agreed. I think it’s better for the boss to just be a figurehead. A Tactical Weapon that only steps forward when needed.”

At the combined attack of the two The Eldest, Phoenix gritted his teeth.

“Hmph, that’s enough. Let’s stop now.”

Gaeul tightened her grip again, but Phoenix flicked his finger and briefly teleported.

A Mini Phoenix, which had somehow appeared on the chair, burst into flames, and Phoenix sat firmly in the chair. When Gaeul glared at him with a sullen face, Phoenix cleared his throat and drew attention.

“Ahem. Attention. Let’s prepare for the operation. Haneulseong, how many people have left Seoul?”

“The number has shown a steady increase since the first day. Even when we told them we couldn’t specifically help, they left Seoul. 2,714 people have left Dongjak.”

Gwanggeom’s death didn’t just affect New Seoul. It affected the entire Republic of Korea, and nearly 100,000 people departed overseas while Gwanggeom’s state funeral was underway.

How many of them would actually return to the country? Just like New Seoul, Seoul was no different.

Those who felt uneasy slowly tried to leave Korea.

“Jihwa. What’s the international reaction?”

“There’s nothing particularly different. China is still blocking information, and Japan is closely monitoring the situation. Public opinion on both networks mourns Gwanggeom’s death while also wanting to dispatch their own Heroes.”

“As expected.”

Ryu Cheon-seong nodded.

“If we pressure them through the association, they’ll naturally have a justification. We’ve been refusing the association’s support by ‘selling’ Gwanggeom until now.”

“International public opinion is probably still too formidable to start a war without justification. There’s also America and Russia.”

The quantity and quality of Heroes had become a nation’s power in the world, but the former great powers remained great powers. The Republic of Korea had almost stepped over the threshold of becoming one of those great powers, but everything turned to foam when Pyongyang exploded.

Clap. Phoenix clapped his hands.

“Then, we should slowly fill the power vacuum so we can cope even if war breaks out, right? Alright, here’s the operation outline.”

Phoenix displayed a screen before the executives’ eyes. Everyone was astonished by the systematically organized operation details and individual missions.

As all the executives swallowed their drinks and read through the operation to the end, Deokbae, who finished reading first, asked Phoenix.

“You didn’t do this, did you?”

“Which part? The organization? The idea?”

“Both.”

Gaeul and Ryu Cheon-seong raised their heads. Architect also subtly lowered his screen. Jihwa was still looking at the screen.

“I drafted the framework. Eun Yuha helped with the detailed guidelines and settings. The core of this operation is, as expected…”

“Me, then.”

Jihwa’s eyes sparkled. Phoenix nodded with trust.

“The City Hall Snake. We’re going to raid an S-rank monster to prove that Seoul is safe. Architect will establish a field beforehand to prevent it from escaping, and the rest will attack the snake according to Beacon’s orders. The participants are-“

“Everyone except Phoenix. With the full power of the Azure Syndicate.”

“That’s right.”

There are no actual S-ranks in the Azure Syndicate. So, Eun Yuha wanted to test the full power of the Azure Syndicate, excluding Phoenix.

“I’ll handle all the monsters outside the wall Architect creates. Beacon, you must succeed in the snake hunt by any means necessary, according to the snake’s weaknesses I’ve told you. Understood? However, people must not die.”

“Then…”

Jihwa’s eyes naturally swept over Deokbae and Gaeul.

“Is it okay if monstrous humans die? They revive, after all.”

“What?”

“Hey, you’re a monstrous human too, you know?”

Even under Deokbae and Gaeul’s gazes, Jihwa’s eyes remained fixed on Phoenix. Phoenix nodded with a stern expression, then sighed.

“…Emotionally, I want to stop it, but Beacon, do as you see fit. This snake hunt is predicated on a battle that will occur under the condition that I’m absent. Instead, if it becomes absolutely impossible, I’ll step in. Understood?”

Everyone’s gaze turned to Jihwa. Jihwa pushed up his sunglasses and smiled.

“I will succeed in the snake hunt without anyone dying and without the leader-nim’s help.”

Gaeul subtly poked Deokbae’s waist with a Tentacle. Deokbae listened, despite his displeasure.

“Why is he like that? Did he eat something wrong?”

“…He’s just excited about getting a position.”

“I can hear everything.”

Jihwa puffed out his chest and acted smug. Deokbae and Gaeul found his ‘fox borrowing tiger’s might’ act slightly annoying, but for the operation, Jihwa was the overall commander.

“Just try to command strangely. I’ll pluck your eyes out immediately.”

“Don’t order suicide attacks or anything like that. I have some bad memories similar to that.”

Phoenix whistled, ignoring Deokbae’s gaze. The other executives exchanged glances.

Ah, he must have done something like that before.

“No… but you haven’t done it since then, right? There’s no need for it anymore anyway.”

Phoenix scratched his cheek, then snapped his fingers.

“Take Blue Feather too. Monsters don’t appear near Dongjak anymore, so you can take all the defense forces as well.”

“…Are you referring to Blue Feather?”

“Yes. Their leader too.”

A shadow fell across Jihwa’s face.

The expressions of everyone else, except Architect, also darkened. Jihwa retorted Phoenix’s words.

“…Couldn’t that person stay here? They’ve been quite good at taking down monsters crossing Mapo Bridge by themselves.”

“Didn’t I say ‘full power’? Do you think A-rank ability users are common, Jihwa-ssi? More powerful people than them will be joining in the future, so think of this as a preview.”

Jihwa lowered his head. Phoenix lowered the screen in front of him.

“The City Hall Snake is an S-rank monster that we absolutely must catch, even for the sake of our strongest ally. Understood? We must secure the Core, no matter what.”

“Wait a minute.”

Gaeul raised her hand, cutting off Phoenix’s words.

“Stop saying ‘ally, ally’ and tell us specifically who it is?”

“Uh, um, surprise?”

“You told Eun Yuha everything, didn’t you?”

Everyone nodded and glared at Phoenix. Faced with a 1:5 executive coup, Phoenix scratched his cheek, then raised both hands and extended his index fingers.

“What’s 1+1?”

“If you say ‘kiyomi,’ I’ll eat you in your sleep, you know?”

Gaeul raised two Tentacles. Phoenix sweat profusely as he replied.

“…It’s 2. Then-“

Flames erupted on both of Phoenix’s index fingers. The straight flames swayed left and right, twisting.

“S + S, wouldn’t that naturally be SS?”

* * *

“The state funeral is over, young lady.”

Baek Sang-woo finished his report over the phone. On the screen, Eun Yuha was wrapped in a blanket, wearing a mask.

[Good work. …Achoo!]

“Do ability users catch colds too?”

At Baek Sang-woo’s innocent question, Eun Yuha glared, then coughed again and turned her head.

[Baek Sang-woo, you, do you know how cold I was for five days?]

“How would I know? You’ve worked hard. So, can we start the work now?”

[Start quickly. Damn it, we can’t fall behind them.]

“…Chairwoman-nim. It’s problematic if you burn with competitive spirit in a situation like this.”

Eun Yuha took off her mask and yelled.

[Shut up! Do you know how much is riding on this deal? Don’t you know we have to gain a more advantageous position than the other party in a deal?]

“……That young lady will probably come up with something even crazier than an S-rank Core anyway.”

[That’s why we have to prepare even better! Damn it, I haven’t rested for a day and now I’ve even caught a cold. What is this?]

Eun Yuha continued to complain.

“That’s why I said we should just go for it from the beginning.”

[Harang’s intuition was so good that there was no opening to swap the body. *Sniffle*. If they had noticed, it would have been chaos. *Sniff*.]

Eun Yuha, who had sniffled, blew her nose with a sorrowful expression. Baek Sang-woo blinked for a moment, then checked the time.

“It’s one minute before midnight.”

[Achoo! …Then let’s begin.]

“Yes, ma’am.”

The screen turned off, and the scheduled time arrived.

May 15th, midnight.

Baek Sang-woo held a shovel in the tunnel. The dirt was dug deep, and beyond it, a wooden coffin appeared.

“I’ve lived long enough to now be swapping human corpses.”

Beyond the tunnel, Eun Yuha’s Machine Dolls appeared, carrying wooden coffins of the same size.

Thump. At Baek Sang-woo’s command, the Machine Dolls pulled out the entire wooden coffin buried in the dirt. The Taegeukgi and the Hero Association’s flag were tied together on the coffin.

Baek Sang-woo sighed as he watched the coffins being swapped.

“……If I go to Incheon, I’ll have to get an exorcism.”

* * *

May 15, 2020, 3 AM, at the foot of Gwanaksan Mountain.

“Alright, here’s Gwanggeom’s corpse!”

Phoenix put his foot on the coffin and announced. The executives’ gazes turned cold.

“Even so, stepping on the coffin of the deceased is a bit…”

Ryu Cheon-seong openly showed his discomfort and reprimanded Phoenix. Baek Sang-woo, standing opposite, also nodded.

“He’ll definitely be struck by lightning from the sky someday.”

“So you’re saying I should be struck too?”

Eun Yuha’s eyes glinted sharply as she interrogated Baek Sang-woo. Only the executives felt their insides burn at the outrageous actions of the two leaders, who committed inhumane acts without hesitation.

“…Are you really going to do it?”

Gaeul looked back and forth between the coffin and Phoenix’s hand with a very flustered expression. In Phoenix’s hand was a golden, glittering monster’s Core.

Phoenix placed the Core, wrapped in mana, on his chest and spoke.

“I, Phoenix, the monstrous human creation master. I’ve realized something while creating over a dozen monstrous humans. That is…”

“When turning an ability user into a monstrous human, if the Core’s rank and the ability user’s level are similar, you can create them with maximum efficiency.”

Eun Yuha cut Phoenix off and interjected. Dark circles briefly showed beneath her eyelids, which were covered with makeup. Phoenix retorted to Eun Yuha with a shocked expression.

“…Eun Yuha, young lady? I was just getting really inspired and it was my moment to explain, you know?”

“Explain it to someone else later. I’m a bit sleepy right now.”

Eun Yuha covered her mouth with her hand and yawned. She was forcibly enduring the sleepiness that was about to overwhelm her from the sedative in the ability user’s cold medicine.

Phoenix, with slumped shoulders, opened Gwanggeom’s coffin. Inside was Gwanggeom, smiling with his eyes closed, along with his Iron Sword. Phoenix raised a finger and beckoned.

“Deokbae-ssi?”

“Hey. Even so, isn’t it a bit much to make me do something like this? Why are you trying to make me trash too?”

“……Really? It would be better to take him out.”

Phoenix looked at each executive one by one, but no one met his gaze. Phoenix fiddled with the Core in his hand.

“Then let’s just create him as he is.”

Phoenix straightened his posture and stood before Eun Yuha. Eun Yuha was struggling to wake herself up somehow. Phoenix handed the S-rank Core in his hand to Eun Yuha.

“Here. It’s the promised gift.”

“Thank you. So, I’ll entrust you with the request?”

“Of course.”

Eun Yuha held out the Core again.

“Please use this Core to revive Gwanggeom-nim.”

“…Let’s reconfirm the terms of the deal. Jihwa!”

Kim Jihwa, wearing sunglasses, flicked the paper with his finger and read the clause.

“Condition one. Gwanggeom’s revival is only possible as a monstrous human.”

“Accepted.”

Eun Yuha nodded. Jihwa then read the next clause.

“Condition two. Monstrous human Gwanggeom’s affiliation is with the Azure Syndicate, and he will be dispatched in a long-term lease… format to the PMC Knights Order that Eun Yuha will create.”

“Accepted.”

“And finally, the third.”

Phoenix interjected. Jihwa’s mouth flapped like a goldfish’s before he stepped back.

“After monstrous human Gwanggeom’s revival, Eun Yuha will be solely responsible for persuading Gwanggeom. If she fails to persuade Gwanggeom and he refuses orders, monstrous human Gwanggeom will die again. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

“Of course.”

The decisive reason Phoenix, who had desperately wanted Gwanggeom dead, accepted Gwanggeom’s monsterification.

“If I succeed in persuasion, Gwanggeom-nim will continue to live, even if as a monstrous human, and if I fail to persuade him, I agreed to hand over Eun Yuha to the Azure Syndicate.”

“Young lady?!”

Baek Sang-woo cried out in surprise. He had never heard about the case of failed persuasion.

Phoenix picked up the Core from Eun Yuha’s hand.

“If I fail to persuade him, I cannot take responsibility. There will be no leniency or anything of the sort. Reviving Gwanggeom is a big gamble for me too.”

“The higher the level, the stronger the resistance to orders… right?”

For a moment, Deokbae’s eyes glinted, but Phoenix didn’t notice.

“Alright. Then let’s begin.”

Phoenix held the Core and bent down into the coffin. Gwanggeom’s exposed chest had the wound Phoenix had pierced sewn up with needles.

Rip. Tear.

When a tearing sound was heard from inside the coffin, everyone grimaced. Architect couldn’t even hold back his vomit and spilled beer onto the dirt floor.

“Mana is fine, the Core is fine. The problem is the incantation…”

Phoenix raised his upper body, looked around, and smiled awkwardly. He was a bit embarrassed to let others hear the incantation for monstrous human chanting.

“…It’s not essential anyway.”

While reviving Cheon Gaeul as Phantom, Phoenix realized something. That the executives’ emotionally explosive chanting actually had little meaning in monstrous human creation.

Thud. Phoenix pushed the Core into Gwanggeom’s wound. The golden light from the City Hall Snake penetrated Gwanggeom’s heart, and soon, purified mana extracted from a cube seeped into Gwanggeom’s heart.

“Hey there, father-in-law.”

Phoenix whispered into Gwanggeom’s ear in a voice so low no one else could hear.

“I’m sorry for getting Harang pregnant.”

Flash.

Gwanggeom’s eyes flashed. Gwanggeom lifted his eyelids and silently glared at Phoenix.

“…….”

“…….”

Several seconds passed with them silently staring at each other. Gwanggeom, whose hair had turned golden, quietly opened his mouth.

“Are you that scoundrel of a priest who got my daughter pregnant?”

“…….”

Phoenix stammered, unable to answer. Gwanggeom quietly rose and picked up the Iron Sword resting on his body. Phoenix waved his hands frantically and made excuses.

“J-joke! A prank! A surprise to celebrate your revival!!”

“Father-in-law.”

Gwanggeom rose from the coffin, and Phoenix put distance between them. Those who had been listening intently all backed away.

“You called me ‘father-in-law’ in Daejeon, didn’t you?”

“Wow…”

Eun Yuha’s gaze, in particular, turned rotten as she looked at Phoenix. Phoenix stomped his feet and shouted.

“Ah, it was a joke! Why would I marry someone like Seok Harang?!”

“Phew.”

“Hmm.”

Cheon Gaeul let out a sigh of relief, and Eun Yuha crossed her arms, tilting her head. Gwanggeom quietly raised his hand and unfurled a Barrier of light.

“So you’re saying Harang is ugly?”

“Of course not! How much I like Seok Harang!”

“Is that so? Then let’s have a talk first.”

“Ah, I told you it’s not like that!!”

Gwanggeom’s Ultimate Skill covered Gwanak.

About three hours later, only traces of an immense battle remained in Gwanak.