Part 1 Chapter 5 (9)

Kang Soyeon. A non-ability user employee belonging to the Association and an aide who assists Praetor Yoo Young-ho by his side. The evaluation of Kang Soyeon, who took good care of the Praetor lacking social experience, was quite good.

“It was all just a cosplay of a good person, you know. So that the Association could easily control each country.”

“Why, exactly?”

Lee Gi-seong asked. The other Heroes inside the lab also had puzzled looks in their eyes.

Phoenix rescued the captured Heroes besides Lee Gi-seong and gathered them here. Kang Soyeon readily revealed the location where they were kidnapped. Kang Soyeon’s fingers were broken.

“Even the President of South Korea knows about the existence of the Cube, so do you really think the Association’s headquarters wouldn’t know about it?”

Phoenix shrugged his shoulders and stomped on Kang Soyeon’s fingers. Kang Soyeon, without their knowledge, was wiggling her fingers.

“Mmph, mmph!”

“This old lady. Trying to draw a symbol with blood, are we?”

With the blood flowing from her hand, she tried to draw a symbol somehow, but Phoenix’s gaze was monitoring Kang Soyeon’s every move.

Phoenix again burned Kang Soyeon’s mana and explained to Lee Gi-seong.

“Even if the Association is an international organization, there are those among them who try to influence various countries. Kang Soyeon was sent by the Association to control this country, and they tried to make Seonui Cheol a puppet by putting him forward as president.”

“So, Kang Soyeon-nim is Cheongsong?”

“Huh? What’s Cheongsong?”

Phoenix tilted his head. Lee Gi-seong quickly pointed at Kang Soyeon.

“An ability user who creates the Pine Tree Unit. Seonui Cheol’s trusted subordinate.”

“Oh, really? Is that an old alias? Anyway, this woman is a spy planted by the Association in Korea. They made her act as an unofficial power broker.”

Phoenix again burning Kang Soyeon’s mana, continued speaking.

“But at some point, she was connected to both the Association and the government, playing a tightrope walk. Why? Because she picked up a Cube without anyone knowing. Isn’t that right? She was told to find it, and she really did find it, but when it came time to report it, she got greedy.”

“……!”

Kang Soyeon’s pupils trembled greatly. It was shocking that a mere Villain knew about the existence of the Cube, which was top secret even within the Association.

And more than anything, she was even more shocked that Phoenix was aware of the fact that Kang Soyeon possessed a separate Cube unknown to both the Association and the government.

To Kang Soyeon, who couldn’t meet his gaze properly, Phoenix bent down.

“Why? During the Busan Dimensional Gate raid, what you smuggled out, did you think no one would know?”

How the Tattooist, no, Cheongsong, came to possess the Cube.

Phoenix didn’t know the location of the Cube Kang Soyeon smuggled out, but he had grasped the circumstances of its smuggling.

“February 10, 2012. The day a Dimensional Gate opened in Busan and the demon species Water Demon Dragon (水魔龍) appeared. You know, right?”

“Oh, that day, perhaps?”

Lee Gi-seong seemed surprised, as if something had occurred to him. Phoenix clapped his hands and agreed.

“That’s right! The day Seolhwa Princess, Seok Harang, first used her Ultimate Skill! Freezing all of the Water Demon Dragon’s wave breath, she made a spectacular debut. And at that time, you handled the aftermath of that Dimensional Gate’s appearance. Right?”

“*Gasp.*”

Kang Soyeon closed her eyes. Although she couldn’t speak with the gag in her mouth, the Heroes realized that it was a silent affirmation. One Hero asked.

“Th-then, if you picked up such a dangerous item, shouldn’t you naturally report it to the Association?”

Phoenix wrinkled his nose.

“Perhaps if it were a Hero full of justice like you, but would someone with other intentions like this woman think that way? When a blank check that could realize any miracle just fell into her hands?”

“All the more reason she should have reported it to the Association! Such dangerous items must be sealed away!!”

The Hero argued vehemently, and Kang Soyeon closed her eyes. Phoenix replied to the Hero with a pitiful gaze.

“What can you do when ways of thinking are different? Frankly, someone who picks up a Cube could use it for world peace, or, like Kang Soyeon, use it for their own selfish desires. Or, like someone else, try to destroy the world.”

The Heroes tried to deny it. But all the circumstances revealed Phoenix’s words to be true. Lee Gi-seong appealed to Kang Soyeon.

“Team Leader-nim! Please answer! Why, exactly, did you commit such an act?!”

Lee Gi-seong poured out his sorrowful feelings. He had already, on numerous occasions in battle, received Kang Soyeon’s support and saved countless civilians.

Although she sometimes threw tantrums, she was a person who always had a smile on her face.

If she hadn’t been so devoted to the Praetor, she would have been courted by many male Heroes, a woman like a sunflower.

“This is a betrayal of Praetor-nim!!”

“Mmph!!”

Kang Soyeon shook her head vigorously. Even with saliva drooling from the gag, Kang Soyeon vehemently denied it.

Instantly, something flashed through the Heroes’ minds. Phoenix clicked his tongue and wiggled his index finger from side to side.

“Love? That’s not it. This woman, it’s useless even if she tattoos ‘Commander’ on herself. So she tried to conquer his heart. Until she became S-class and could freely use the Cube, she needed the breakwater of Seonui Cheol and Yoo Young-ho.”

“Mmph, mmph!”

“Ah, she keeps twitching.”

Kang Soyeon struggled violently again, but Phoenix stomped his foot, which was on her back, down hard, subduing Kang Soyeon. From the strong impact that could crush her ribs, Kang Soyeon lost consciousness.

“Huh?”

Phoenix nudged Kang Soyeon with his foot. Kang Soyeon showed no reaction.

“…….”

Phoenix remained silent for a moment, then gently lifted his foot and stepped aside. Phoenix gestured to the other Heroes.

“…First, let’s decide your treatment. What will you do now?”

“What do you expect us to do in this situation?”

Lee Gi-seong gritted his teeth and glared at Phoenix.

“While someone from the Association is actually siding with the government and trying to mind-control Heroes, what do you expect us to do? If we don’t want to join the Pine Tree Unit like this, are you telling us to run away somewhere and hide for the rest of our lives?”

“There’s a good way, isn’t there?”

Phoenix drew a finger across his own neck. At the same time, the Heroes’ expressions darkened. Their gaze fell upon the unconscious Kang Soyeon.

Phoenix brought up the assumption they had deliberately ignored.

“It’s about silencing them. Forever. Killing to silence.”

“Are you telling us to kill Team Leader-nim Kang Soyeon right now?!”

“Otherwise, you’ll become part of the Pine Tree Unit, won’t you?”

The Heroes remained silent. A situation where neither choice was easy to make.

“Or everyone to Seoul-“

“I.”

Lee Gi-seong was the first to raise his hand.

“…I will run away as I am.”

The other Heroes were surprised by Lee Gi-seong’s words. Phoenix sat perched on the lab desk, displaying a relaxed demeanor with a leisurely expression.

“May I ask why?”

“…I don’t want to become part of the Pine Tree Unit and kill innocent people. But I can’t kill Team Leader-nim Kang Soyeon either.”

“What about joining as a Villain? Our organization always hires experienced personnel.”

“Rather than living as a Villain, I will seek asylum abroad.”

At Lee Gi-seong’s strong will, Phoenix wiggled his fingers. Glancing around, the other Heroes didn’t seem much different.

“You’ll just leave like a pushover without doing anything? Even if you’re chased for the rest of your life? The Association and the government will both chase you, you know?”

“Yes. I’m prepared. …Because I was already a dead man the moment I was kidnapped by Hellhound.”

“No, that’s…. *Sigh.*”

Phoenix sighed and tapped his smartwatch.

“Alright. Since I came this far thanks to you, I’ll repay you for it. So that neither the government nor the Association can touch you, but you can continue to be Heroes.”

* * *

30 minutes.

Phoenix was sitting upright in a rest area on a secluded hiking trail. His reverent posture, as if waiting for someone, was like a priest awaiting a divine calling.

Clunk, clunk.

A military truck came up the mountain road. From the driver’s seat of the truck that had climbed the solitary road in the dawn without even its lights on, a burly man got out and approached Phoenix.

“At this late hour, what brings you all the way to Daejeon, my dear valued customer!”

The man who welcomed Phoenix with open arms was the Chairman of the Black Market. Golden starlight twinkled in his eyes. Phoenix gently smiled and rose from his seat.

“I came to ask for a job favor.”

“Huh? Does our valued customer need a spot somewhere in Yuseong?”

The Chairman’s eyes swept over the surroundings. The Chairman sensed the people huddled together at the bottom of the mountain path and crossed his arms.

“If you’re thinking of laundering those Villains’ identities and putting them on our side, you’re mistaken. As long as their mana patterns are registered in the database, they’ll all be caught without exception at inspection. Unless they’re newly awakened individuals within the last month.”

“I don’t need that. These people, I’m giving them to you as a gift.”

Phoenix smiled and gestured. Those who had been standing hesitantly one by one appeared at the rest area.

“……Hoo.”

The Chairman stroked his chin with his hand and smiled. His mechanical eye twinkled and quickly identified the personal information of the 11 Heroes, then he raised the corners of his mouth like a beast.

“Is this completely telling both the government and the Association to go screw themselves?”

“Neither the government nor the Association can say anything. Why? Are you not confident? You said you wanted to create a PMC, didn’t you?”

The corners of the Chairman’s mouth stretched almost to his ears. The Chairman immediately pointed to the back of the truck towards the Heroes.

“Hey. Get in.”

“Who are you, suddenly….”

Lee Gi-seong started to question him with a disgruntled look, but he shut his mouth at the hand signal the Chairman made. The shape of a star drawn with fingers. That alone was enough for the Heroes to gauge the Chairman’s background.

The Heroes climbed into the back of the truck. Phoenix picked up the woman who was lying in the rest area and carried her on his back.

Vroom.

The mana engine vibrated violently and started. The Chairman, in the driver’s seat, slightly lowered the window and made a suggestion to Phoenix.

“My dear valued customer. Won’t you ride along like this? I’ve received such a big gift, shouldn’t I at least treat you to a meal for breakfast? My treat.”

“No need for food, let’s have a cup of tea sometime when you have time.”

The Chairman winked, closing his left eye. Phoenix neatly ignored it, went to the back of the truck, and threw the woman he was carrying on his back into the truck.

“Don’t forget to monitor her.”

“Yes.”

The Heroes’ gazes, glaring at the woman, Kang Soyeon, were fierce. Lee Gi-seong sent the Mini Phoenix that was on his palm flying towards Kang Soyeon. The Mini Phoenix gently landed on Kang Soyeon’s palm, and then,

*Poke.*

It pecked the tip of her finger joint with its beak. No blood came out, but the Azure Flame that flowed through its beak burned Kang Soyeon’s internal mana again.

Just as Prometheus, who stole fire from humans, had his liver pecked out by an eagle, her mana would be gnawed away for life by the Mini Phoenix, which had stolen the Cube.

“Excuse me?”

Phoenix approached the driver’s seat and tapped on the window. The Chairman’s face, glimpsed through the window, looked somehow sullen.

“What is it, customer-nim.”

The Chairman’s voice was utterly cold. Phoenix smiled and tapped on the window as if knocking.

“I only drink tea with people. Not with machines.”

*Smile.* Phoenix transformed into flames and disappeared. The Chairman, with a sour expression, stepped on the accelerator.

“Just you wait.”

* * *

“Then….”

I returned to the lab and caught my breath. Although I accidentally knocked Kang Soyeon unconscious and couldn’t find the Cube’s location, there was a way to find out where the nearby Cube was.

‘It feels just like opening a boss room door.’

Strictly speaking, the boss would come directly to me, but the tension and excitement aren’t much different.

“It’s about time I returned to my original purpose, isn’t it?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them.

*Fwaaaaaang!*

The mana I had been suppressing for nearly half a day rapidly expanded and spread throughout the entire building. Like bursting a dam holding back a flooding river, mana surged and vibrated throughout my entire body.

*Gooooooh—*

The overflowing mana swept through all the underground labs as if performing an ultrasonic scan.

“I wonder where it is?”

*Click.* I felt a place where the mana was momentarily cut off.

“Then!”

I clenched my right hand and slammed it down.

*Kwang!* The tiles shattered. The entire research building shook as if an earthquake had struck. The floor I was standing on cracked widely and collapsed downwards.

First floor, second floor. One by one, the floors collapsed, and I descended deep underground. Dust tickled my mouth.

“*Cough, cough!*”

The secret space on the 5th basement floor. The secret research building where Kang Soyeon secretly hid the Cube. The very place where the final battle of the chapter took place in the original work. Surprisingly, it connected directly below Kang Soyeon’s lab.

‘I thought she would have hidden it somewhere else, but she kept it here all along.’

Normally, I would have to wake Kang Soyeon and unlock all sorts of passwords, but there’s no need to go through that trouble.

“If I had known this, I would have just looked here first.”

I plunged my fingers deep into the massive, thick concrete sphere buried in the ground.

‘Still, treasure found.’

The mana flowing from my fingertips reached the center of the sphere. Right in the center of the sphere, which was nearly 2 meters in radius, I felt mana with an unpleasant sensation.

‘Because there’s no time to be elaborate.’

I simply inserted my hand and unleashed a burst of flames. The sphere shattered into pieces from the explosions bursting through the cracks, and I caused more explosions as I plunged my arm further inside.

*Flinch.*

‘Found it.’

Feeling the repulsive mana at my fingertips, I immediately exerted force and snatched the object. A cube as small as a sugar cube.

It was the second Cube I had obtained since coming to this otherworld. I carefully stuffed the Cube into my pocket.

“Well, then, it’s about time for the boss appearance signal to pop up.”

Drawing up mana throughout my entire body, I raised my head towards the ceiling.

*Gugugugung.*

As expected. He’s not one to be a gentleman. From a vibration even greater than when I broke through the underground, the earth’s axis shook.

And,

A brilliant flash!!!

A great light sword, piercing through the underground, plunged down towards the top of my head.