Part 1, Chapter 6 (8)

4:18 PM, Azure Syndicate Hideout, Seoul.

The executives gathered in Phoenix’s penthouse. It was an emergency summons, leaving no time to even go down to the first-floor lounge.

“What’s going on, all of a sudden?”

“It seems an S-class monster landed on the coast in Japan.”

Jihwa brought up a screen. Since his clairvoyance still only reached within Seoul, he had to rely on satellite images from the association or the government for confirmation.

Related information was listed on the screen, and the executives grasped the situation. Ryu Cheon-seong was the first to speak.

“S-class monster Moby Dick. The whale monster that appeared at the Naha Gate in 2011, sank Okinawa, and then hid in the deep sea. I didn’t know it was a Water Dragon, 2nd form, though.”

“Ah, I remember that. The strongest monster in East Asia before Pyongyang?”

Ryu Cheon-seong explained, and James chimed in. Cheon Gaeul bit her nails and asked,

“It’s a problem that an S-class is suddenly active, but why did it hide its presence and then appear on Tsushima Island? There must be a reason.”

“A reason? Of course, there is.”

All eyes naturally turned to Phoenix. Phoenix, who was sitting on the sofa with his chin propped up, clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. I never thought it would come to this.”

“Don’t keep it to yourself, tell us.”

“…….”

Phoenix paused to catch his breath. The executives braced themselves for a long explanation. Phoenix’s tightly sealed lips parted.

“Moby Dick is coming to kill Seok Harang.”

“……?”

“That’s it?”

“……Do you need more explanation?”

The executives frowned. Phoenix continued, looking dumbfounded.

“Why? I, I tried to summarize the explanation, you know?”

“You summarized it too much.”

Everyone nodded at Deokbae’s words. Phoenix lowered his head. His face turned red like a tomato.

“I, I worked hard to shorten it….”

“Leader-nim.”

Jihwa raised his hand and called Phoenix.

“I don’t understand, so why would a monster from Okinawa specifically come to kill Seolhwa Princess?”

“A, a good question!”

Phoenix perked up his ears and raised his head. The executives gave Jihwa a thumbs-up behind Phoenix’s back. Phoenix soon raised his head and cleared his throat.

“To explain this in detail, I’d have to talk about the existence of Terra, and the correlation between Spirits and monsters….”

Phoenix subtly glanced at the executives. Although they didn’t show it, they seemed slightly disgusted. At least Gaeul smiled and nodded at Phoenix.

“It’s okay. Just tell us. I’ll summarize it appropriately for you.”

“……Should I say thank you for this?”

Phoenix drank water, moistening his parched mouth.

“The monsters, the magic beasts that cross the dimensional gate, their primary target for elimination is humans. But before that, there was a primary target, and that was Spirits. Not on Earth, but in this world, Terra.”

“I heard that last time. Boss’s original world, Terra, is now full of monsters, right? Wow, so the monsters are coming from Boss’s world?”

At James’s words, Phoenix tilted his head and gave an awkward smile.

“…Something like that? Dimensional gates open, and monsters pop out. Among them, especially those dangerous species that don’t have a Core but emit purple light are ‘magic beasts’. They’re the ones trying to kill Spirits and humanity.”

Phoenix subtly glanced around and cleared his throat.

“In short, Moby Dick woke up from its slumber after sensing a Spirit’s reaction. Sensing Seok Harang’s mana reaction.”

“Ah. So the Fire Dragon from the Gwanak dimensional gate, too?”

Yooishin clapped his hands. The executives’ sharp gazes turned to Phoenix. Phoenix rolled his eyes and made excuses.

“Oh, no. I didn’t expect that either…. Back then, I couldn’t hide my mana well either…. W-well, dimensional gates just appear suddenly, don’t they! I didn’t know either!”

“So if Boss uses a little bit of power, another dimensional gate could open? The one the Fire Dragon came out of?”

At James’s question, Deokbae’s face turned pale.

“Hey, that fake of yours. You said it was executive-class?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That executive called Fenrir or Pering. You said the Fire Dragon in Gwanak was exactly his level?”

“You remember that?”

Phoenix was dumbfounded, but the other executives were even more so. Jihwa fussed.

“Th-that Fire Dragon, which was killed in one blow by Fire Fist, was similar in rank to Leader-nim? That doesn’t make sense!”

“It was killed in one blow by Fire Fist as soon as it transformed into its 2nd form. Is there something special about fire attributes? Hmm. I don’t quite understand.”

Ryu Cheon-seong demanded an explanation from Phoenix. Phoenix pointed at Gaeul.

“I saved Gaeul-ssi while going to block the dimensional gate, right? At that time, for me, a dimensional gate was something troublesome to have. …Though I didn’t expect my Shadow to appear.”

“What? So you’d die from one punch from Lee Seung-hyung? That’s not it either.”

When Gaeul pressed him, Phoenix raised both hands and pushed one across the other, answering,

“That Shadow Phoenix, known as the Fire Dragon, I cut about 90% of its health. I broke its wing bones so it couldn’t fly.”

“……Fuck.”

Deokbae, recalling a painful memory, swore and sighed, but no one heard his voice. Phoenix, looking embarrassed, pointed at Gaeul.

“That day, a dimensional gate opened, and I went to close it immediately, saved Gaeul-ssi, and then rushed straight to the dimensional gate’s origin point. Just as the Shadow Phoenix charged at me, I immediately broke its wings with a bat.”

“…Indeed, looking at the combat data from Anyang, its regenerated wings were asymmetrical.”

“And I applied Azure Flame to prevent its wings from regenerating. Even if the Heroes hadn’t been there, if I had left it for just 10 minutes, it would have died on its own. From dot damage.”

“Then.”

Ryu Cheon-seong stroked his beard and asked,

“Then what is Fire Fist Lee Seung-hyung? His awakening in Gwanak… surely not?”

“Yes. I awakened him. I was trying to pass the buck to someone and escape to Yeouido.”

“Leader-nim. Go catch me an elemental Spirit right now. I’ll give it my all.”

“The conversation is going off-topic again. Just a moment.”

Jihwa quickly raised his hand again.

“Leader-nim. Am I understanding this correctly? Just as the Fire Dragon-Shadow Phoenix of Gwanak attacked you, did the Water Dragon-Moby Dick of Okinawa also attack Seok Harang-nim, the water Spirit?”

“……Perfect.”

Phoenix nodded with a surprised expression. Jihwa seemed a little embarrassed. Gaeul poked Jihwa’s side with a tentacle.

“You’re good at interjecting at the right time, aren’t you?”

“Hehe. When I was an assistant manager, I couldn’t even imagine interjecting during meetings that went off-topic. There’s always one person who changes the subject when you’re talking about something important.”

Jihwa glared at Deokbae. Deokbae snorted.

“No, I’m innocent too. Do you know what he hit the Fire Dragon with? He grabbed me and swung me, me!”

“……? What nonsense are you talking about?”

“……It’s called Monster Weaponization. For example-“

Phoenix swiftly moved behind Yooishin and patted his back.

“It’ll tickle a bit.”

“Hyaaaah?!”

As Yooishin screamed, light emanated from his Core. Yooishin’s body rapidly scattered into green light, and mana began to move around the Core.

“Wh-what?!”

“Yooishin-ssi?!”

Soon, a recurve bow with an jade-colored body and blue flame patterns appeared in Phoenix’s hand. Yooishin’s green Core was located near the grip of the central riser.

Phoenix swung the bow like a stick and then placed it on the table.

“Ta-da! This is Monster Weaponization! Yooishin has transformed from a monstrous human into a Core Weapon!”

“……Don’t ever tell me to become a monstrous human again.”

Ryu Cheon-seong broke out in a cold sweat. James reached out with a curious expression and grabbed the bow limb.

“Wow, this is interesting too.”

His thumb happened to brush Yooishin’s Core.

[Hyaaaah!]

Yooishin’s Core, where James’s thumb had touched, glowed, and Yooishin’s moan burst out. A momentary silence fell over the room, and James, with a stiff face, put the bow down.

“Restore to original state.”

“Yes.”

Phoenix quickly grabbed the bow and infused it with mana. The bow disappeared into light again, and Yooishin regained his physical form.

“Haa, haa, haa.”

Watching Yooishin panting heavily, Deokbae pointed at him in disbelief.

“Hey, he gets turned into something cool like that, but why did you swing me around like a bat, body and all?”

“Oh, that?”

Phoenix replied as if it were obvious.

“High-grade weapons are cool, you know. Deokbae-ssi, were you D-class or C-class back then? Don’t you know that low-level weapons usually have crappy textures?”

“You fucking piece of shit!!”

“Leader-nim…?”

“Hey. You’re going off-topic again.”

Jihwa chuckled softly, calling Phoenix, and Gaeul chimed in. Phoenix smiled awkwardly and shrugged.

“Well… it’s not that urgent, is it? It’s just an S-class monster. More importantly, Seok Harang is in Busan. We don’t need to worry about it.”

“Can Seolhwa Princess handle it alone?”

Phoenix nodded vigorously at Ryu Cheon-seong’s question.

“Her Affinity Rate has already broken 95. The rest, if she awakens this, it’ll immediately be 96, SS-class.”

Phoenix tapped his temple with his index finger. Ryu Cheon-seong sighed with a momentarily envious look, then cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“Th-then what about Busan? No matter how capable Seolhwa Princess is, there will be areas she can’t pay attention to while fighting Moby Dick, won’t there?”

“The Heroes are rushing to Busan right now, aren’t they? It’ll be fine.”

Phoenix smiled and picked up his water glass. Gaeul raised the corner of her lips with a coy expression and said,

“Eun Yuha also went down to Busan?”

Phoenix’s expression stiffened.

“I’ll just go out for a walk for a bit.”

Immediately, his wings unfurled, and Phoenix was about to leap out the window. Gaeul quickly continued,

“She went with Gwanggeom.”

“Ah, well then.”

Phoenix’s wings vanished instantly. James breathed a sigh of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted.

“Then, let’s leave the Busan matter to the Heroes and focus on Seoul. Any more questions? If not, we’re dismissed.”

“Are you really okay with that? Is it okay not to help?”

When Gaeul asked with a worried look, Phoenix fiddled with his white butterfly badge and replied with a confident voice.

“Yes. I think she can handle it alone.”

“……Haa.”

As Jihwa sighed with a crestfallen face, Yooishin patted Jihwa’s knee with his hand, comforting him.

“Cheer up. I understand your difficulties, Jihwa-nim.”

“It’s always like this…. No tension.”

“Why would there be anything to be tense about?”

Phoenix patted Jihwa’s stiff shoulder and smiled brightly.

“It’s not a big enough deal for me to worry about, puhuhu!”

* * *

4:24 PM, Tokyo, Japan.

“We must dispatch Heroes immediately! If not, then the Maritime Self-Defense Force!”

The Foreign Minister angrily asserted his opinion. Even at the emergency NSC (National Security Council) meeting convened in the early morning, the Foreign Minister’s voice was unrestrained.

[Foreign Minister Okamoto, please calm down.]

Beyond the screen, Chief Cabinet Secretary Sagami calmed Foreign Minister Okamoto. Given the gravity of the matter and the time, they immediately began the meeting remotely from their respective locations, without time to gather at the Prime Minister’s residence.

[Fortunately, our proud Round Table member, Jilpungek, is coming from America, isn’t he? Along with Sir Gawain.]

“That will take several hours. What if Tsushima suffers damage in the meantime?”

[We have Heroes. They will be able to prevent the damage. And according to Oracle’s Twitter….]

The Chief Cabinet Secretary brought up a small screen.

[Moby Dick reportedly brushed past Tsushima and then changed direction towards Busan. It’s heading for Korea.]

“I-is that so? Hahaha.”

The Foreign Minister laughed, trying not to show it. He considered it a blessing that the area below the screen was not visible. The Chief Cabinet Secretary’s eyes gleamed sharply as he asked,

[Foreign Minister-nim, are you perhaps…?]

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just a little worried about the people of Tsushima, and more importantly, there’s a passenger ship, isn’t there?”

[Those are people who left for Korea despite being heavily advertised not to. Even if the bereaved families make a fuss, we can just gloss it over as usual.]

“Even so, the passenger ship should arrive on time, shouldn’t it? So that Korea doesn’t make a fuss about it as a diplomatic issue.”

The Chief Cabinet Secretary chuckled.

[It sounds like you’re saying the passenger ship absolutely must arrive…. Well, fine. That’s your position as Foreign Minister. But rest assured. What power does Gwanggeom have now that he’s dead? He’s a tiger with his teeth pulled.]

“Ha, haha. Right?”

The Foreign Minister moved his lower body on the bed. The bed, which had sunk, rose, shaking the black-haired girl sleeping soundly on it.

“Well…. I’ll be moving soon too. I’ll see you at the Prime Minister’s residence.”

[Understood. Please keep your smartwatch on so you can be reached at any time. I’ll see you in 30 minutes.]

Beep. The screen turned off. The Foreign Minister sighed and pulled up his pants.

“I was enjoying myself so much….”

With a regretful expression, the Foreign Minister pressed near the girl’s heart. Soon, the girl’s eyelids lifted, revealing red mechanical eyes that scanned the Foreign Minister’s face, and a mechanical voice spoke.

[Entering hibernation state as per Master Okamoto’s command. Thank you for enjoying Yuseong’s X-roid today.]

The Machine Doll in the form of a girl powered down. The Foreign Minister, dressed, clicked his tongue regretfully as he looked at the X-roid in hibernation.

“Yuseong really makes things like this well.”

The Foreign Minister grinned. He subtly returned and stroked the girl’s face with his finger. The black-haired, red-eyed girl strongly resembled someone.

“And I get something like this just for letting some cargo pass through.”

The Foreign Minister quickly left the room, promising himself a next time.

The Foreign Minister left, and the cold room remained. The Machine Doll, abandoned on the bed, was transmitting its data somewhere, unbeknownst to anyone.