Part 1, Chapter 9, Section 6

Day broke.

Feeling like something big would happen if I stayed in the hospital room any longer, I gave up on being a malingerer and stepped outside. I hid myself in the temporary lodging prepared by Bonghyo, then summoned all members of the Azure Syndicate and the Hwanryongdan, and fortunately, they returned promptly without much delay.

“…….”

All the Hwanryongdan members returned looking haggard. Even though they were all monstrous humans and spiritual beings, they seemed utterly dispirited, as if possessed by ghosts who had stolen their vital energy.

“Just how much did you play last night?”

I interrogated the Black Scorpion monstrous human, who was presumed to have played with them. Unlike other monstrous humans, he looked like a character straight out of a tokusatsu show; it would have been more fitting to call him ‘Scorpion Man’.

“I gave them a good experience.”

The Black Scorpion monstrous human raised his tail and jabbed his stinger repeatedly into the air. The way he did it, resembling the jabbing of a penis, made the women gathered in the room frown slightly.

“A good experience?”

“Yes. I gave your subordinates a treat while I was at it. They boasted they were each worth a hundred men, so I created an opportunity for them. Each Hwanryongdan member had to handle approximately thirty-three opponents.”

Excluding Bonghyo and Xiaolin, there were fifteen Hwanryongdan members in total, so multiplying that made it roughly five hundred.

“……Ah, don’t say any more. I think I get it.”

Since their Boy Skill had been released, they must have wanted to release that heat. It was obvious who had taken their vital energy. The Hwanryongdan members must have been mercilessly ravaged like rabbits thrown among hungry leopards.

“Then, Xiaolin. What’s the schedule for today?”

“Yes. At 10 AM, there will be a welcoming ceremony and state banquet for Beast Tamer-nim at the Central Party Headquarters, hosted by Chairman-nim and the Association.”

“Add me to that. I’m going too.”

Seok Harang, who had been leaning against the wall, raised a hand.

“The officially invited people are Cheonghwa-rang and Seok Harang, just two of them, right?”

“Yes. Xiaolin is assigned as an escort, so it’s effectively three people.”

Xiaolin’s bombshell announcement ignited controversy in many ways, but the public still understood Xiaolin’s choice. Every country hoped that the Beast Tamer would visit their nation, and they desperately wished that incidents like the recent airplane terror attack would never happen again.

“After the state banquet?”

“After a short tea time, we’ll tour the Central Party Headquarters, then inspect the Beijing area.”

“It’s called an inspection, but it’s just sightseeing, isn’t it? Did we come to work or to play? Who planned this schedule, I wonder. The Association, right?”

“Yes.”

I pointed alternately at Xiaolin and Seok Harang.

“You two cut it short yourselves. Cheonghwa is a timid child who doesn’t have the courage to do that.”

“Ugh.”

Deokbae gagged and turned his head. Not just Deokbae, everyone’s expressions weren’t good, but I decided to push Cheonghwa’s delicate character to the end.

“What are you going to do if you cut it short?”

“Of course, we have to go hunt monsters. It’s not too late to play after that.”

There’s still a long time, more than five years, until the Day of Ruin, but it’s better to deal with what can be handled quickly in advance. I pointed to three locations on the map of China spread out on the table.

“Here, here, and here. S-class monsters are probably hiding in these three places.”

“What about A-class?”

“Deokbae and the Hwanryongdan members, including Emperor-nim, will have to work hard on those. While we hunt S-class, they’ll secretly sweep up the remaining rampaging A-class monsters.”

If S-class monsters are eliminated, the other monsters will go wild, and then heroes and hunters aiming for their Cores will naturally rush in. So, before they can get ahead of us, the Azure Syndicate must take the Cores first.

“There are a total of four S-class monsters: Branch Dragon, Water Keeper, Black Sand Scythe, and Caliphera.”

“Why is only the last one’s name different?”

“The first three are already known monsters, but that one is an undiscovered monster. Probably… two years from now? That’s when it’s expected to be discovered.”

I pointed to each location and drew a path. Starting from Beijing, drawing a large circle, the travel distance easily exceeded 4,000 km.

“Essentially, one monster every two days? Considering the distance, the monsters, and people’s reactions, that seems appropriate. One day for travel, one day for hunting.”

“It’s quite something that it only takes one day to catch an S-class monster.”

“What’s the problem when there are two SS-class individuals besides me?”

“That’s true.”

Seok Harang and Xiaolin looked at each other.

“…….”

“…….”

Correction. They glared at each other. Though only a year apart in age, their circumstances were different, but both were veterans who had achieved significant feats from a young age. They probably felt similarly, being at the same level.

“I’m going back to Korea.”

“What?!”

At Seok Harang’s sudden declaration of return, the hairs on my entire body stood on end.

“Why?”

“Why, you ask? I’m a Korean hero, aren’t I? Why would I go around cleaning up monsters in China? I’m busy enough cleaning up the ones in our own country.”

“No, how many are there in Korea anyway….”

I let out a hollow laugh, but Seok Harang didn’t seem to intend to back down from his opinion. Instead, he chuckled and pointed at Xiaolin.

“SS-class should be active. Monsters in each country should be handled by that country, right?”

“What kind of narrow-minded thinking is that-“

“I agree. As monsters from the land I live in, I should handle them.”

Xiaolin calmly accepted Seok Harang’s provocation.

“Just four S-class monsters are ‘a piece of cake’. ‘A piece of cake’.”

“…….”

Xiaolin threw open her chest and thumped her sternum. Seok Harang’s expression twisted slightly, and I felt a chill from the sudden drop in the room’s temperature.

“Well… since we already caught Chaos, the final boss among monsters, there shouldn’t be any big problems.”

“Right? Hehehe. As expected, SS-class should fight SS-class.”

“…….”

An unusual tension flowed between the two. My skin tingled, so I cleared my throat for a moment.

[That’s enough.]

“?!?!”

“Ah, um.”

I touched my throat and cleared my voice again. To suppress the power struggle between two SS-class individuals with mana, I had no choice but to speak in my monstrous human form, and fortunately, both of them calmed their surging mana.

“If you want to fight, do it when you have a chance later. Don’t create innocent victims for no reason.”

I pointed at the monstrous humans in the room. Emperor, who was S-class, and Cheon Gaeul were fine, but the rest of the monstrous humans were sweating cold and frozen in place.

“Realize how strong you are, okay? Don’t go around flaunting your mana and drawing aggro, or something bad will happen. If you two want to fight, I’ll arrange a place for you later.”

“Really?”

“Is that true?”

No sooner had I finished speaking than both of them brightened up. And they looked at each other and grinned. As expected, they seemed desperate for a fight. When one awakens, they naturally want to exert that power, and if they’re going to exert it, they just want to fight an opponent worthy of them.

“Then, after you finish your business in China and return to Korea, let’s spar. You know we’re already a few days behind, right?”

“You weren’t originally the type to work that hard-“

“Will you spar with Seolhwaryeong?”

Xiaolin’s eyes blazed as she rushed at me.

“How much? How many times a day? Where? How?”

“When I have time, occasionally, once, in Busan, with practical sparring.”

“I ask the same. You said I could challenge you anytime, didn’t you?”

“……Yes, yes. I’ll spar with you.”

I welcome a battle with strong opponents too. Both Seok Harang, who gets countered by elemental attributes, and Xiaolin, who handles invisible weapons by becoming a phantom attribute, are formidable opponents, so my combat experience increases accordingly.

“Hey. It’s time.”

Gaeul, with a haggard face, patted my shoulder. Perhaps because she had just reached S-class, she seemed a bit overwhelmed by the power struggle that the two SS-class individuals had unleashed.

“Gaeul.”

“What?”

“I’ll entrust this to you.”

I took a small orb from my pocket and handed it to Gaeul. Gaeul’s eyes widened when she saw the object hidden within a blue mana barrier.

“This-“

“It’s sealed, so you keep it. Go with Seok Harang on his way back.”

“Are you sure you can entrust this to me?”

“Yes.”

It was more dangerous for me to have it. Perhaps due to the influence of the secretly hidden Cube, it kept trying to interfere, which was quite inconvenient.

“…Even so, something like this to me?”

“It’s because it’s you that I’m entrusting it.”

I shoved the orb into Gaeul’s inner coat pocket. Gaeul closed and opened her eyes briefly as my hand brushed against her chest.

“…I really should have done it yesterday.”

“……Oh, my, what lovely weather!”

Deokbae feigned ignorance and opened the window. The sky was gloomy, looking as if it would rain any moment.

“……Right! It’s perfect weather for an indoor event! Don’t you think?”

“I wonder if we’ll be held up for another day just because it rains. Haa. Well then, let’s move.”

I rose from my chair. Everyone in the room stood up from their places, ready to move.

“Then, let’s go around and eliminate the remaining threats while enjoying ourselves moderately. We still have plenty of time left until the deadline.”

July 1st.

There was still time left.

“Then, to your positions.”

* * *

At the same time the Azure Syndicate resumed its activities.

The Chairman of the Chinese Central Party, Cheonja, began pacing nervously around his office.

“Hwang-suk-gong. Are you alright? Is there anything wrong?”

“Yes. You’ve asked seven times already.”

The rabbit-eared woman, Twin Sword Rabbit Yu Hwang-suk, smiled contentedly at Cheonja’s pacing. If the Cheonja until yesterday had been frustratingly timid, the current Cheonja possessed the youthful freshness befitting his age.

“Ahem. I’ll do it one more time. Ahem.”

Cheonja, with a solemn face, reached out towards his reflection in the mirror.

“Nice to meet you. I am Cheonja, Chairman of the Central Party.”

“Yes. You did well. You just need not to stutter in front of Cheonghwa-yang. Though you’ll probably just greet her once and pass by.”

“Hwang-suk-gong!”

Cheonja immediately flushed and shouted. He felt a fever rise in his body as he recalled the blue-haired girl he had met through the door crack last night.

Through the door crack. The blue-haired woman looking up at him was haggard, but her blue shining eyes sparkled like burning flames. Cheonja was captivated by those eyes, and the white cleavage revealed by her hastily disheveled top as she came out-

“Uwaaaah!!”

Cheonja clutched his head and screamed. Yu Hwang-suk, watching the scene from behind, enjoyed his reaction and smiled.

“Why don’t you just confess right away if you want?”

“Gong! It hasn’t even been a day since we met! I committed the rudeness of visiting her hospital room late at night, so my first impression must be the worst.”

“Isn’t the entire nation’s image already the worst? She’s a young lady who came out of the Seoul underground, and she suffered that misfortune after flying here for us for the first time.”

“……That’s why I want to apologize, isn’t it?”

Cheonja gnashed his teeth. His seething anger was directed at the mastermind behind the terrorists who had harmed Cheonghwa.

“Is it that person again?”

“Yes. The information obtained through the Jinyiwei is certain. The masterminds are Dongchang-and Mao Zeping.”

“Hmph. Why would that man do such a thing…!”

Cheonja clenched his fist, filled with indignation. He was angry at Mao Zeping’s reckless attempt to kill someone, and he was also angry at himself for helplessly watching it happen.

“…It seems he intended to kidnap and brainwash her.”

“What?! What did you say? How is that possible?”

“……There are many methods Cheonja doesn’t know about. For example… Mao Zeping is a man, and Cheonghwa-yang is a woman, isn’t she?”

“Such a-?!”

CRASH! Cheonja slammed his fist down on the table. The table couldn’t withstand the mana-infused punch and split in half.

“……I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. Everyone is like that during their first awakening. So be careful when you shake hands with Cheonghwa-yang. She is an ability user who gained the power to control monsters, but lost all her mana.”

“Yes. Hmph. I understand.”

Cheonja took a deep breath and gathered his mana.

“Let’s do the final rehearsal.”

“Yes. First, regarding the movement path….”

The two rehearsed the upcoming event and performed a final check, and as they were finishing up, a sound rang out from Cheonja’s smartwatch.

[Ding-ding-ding. Good morning. Ding-ding-ding. La la la la la la la la~]

“……Chairman-nim?”

Yu Hwang-suk immediately put distance between them and covered her ears as soon as she heard it. Fortunately, it was an electronic sound coming through the watch’s speaker, so she could block it by covering her ears. Cheonja chuckled awkwardly and turned off the alarm.

“Haha. Isn’t it a good sound? It’s the song that tells me of a new morning.”

“When did you record that?”

“They sold it. At Yuseong. It’s a foreign company, but they’re really quick with things like this. Haha.”

Cheonja hummed a tune and began singing a cappella.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Chairman-nim. Um….”

Along with a knock from outside, the door opened without anyone inside having a chance to respond. The one who rudely entered the Chairman’s office was the very person Cheonja had been angry at-Mao Zeping, the Director of the Monster Management Countermeasure Bureau.

“What is it, Director?”

“Excuse me. Hehe. The preparations for the event are complete, so I have come to make a humble request.”

“A… request? Did you say request?”

“Yes.”

Mao Zeping smiled menacingly.

“How about the Chairman himself presides over the state reception and the appreciation luncheon for the Round Table?”

Mao Zeping handed his assigned role to Cheonja. Cheonja and Yu Hwang-suk exchanged glances. Cheonja glared silently at Mao Zeping, and Yu Hwang-suk stepped forward and asked,

“What are you thinking now? The event starts in 30 minutes-“

“No particular thoughts. Just.”

Mao Zeping shrugged his shoulders, even making a fist-and-palm salute.

“Wouldn’t it make for a prettier picture if the Chairman stepped forward? After all, when handsome men and beautiful women meet-“

“I’ll do it. Absolutely.”

“Chairman-nim?!”

Cheonja’s resolve burned. Yu Hwang-suk couldn’t understand Mao Zeping’s sudden action of putting Cheonja in the forefront.

“What on earth are you thinking…?”

“Hehe.”

Mao Zeping merely chuckled lowly with a meaningful expression.