Chapter 139

Kim Chun-tae, no, Cha Song-jin trembled.

“Eek.”

It had been months since he was captured by the villains of the Top. He was desperately dreaming of returning.

Until he met the vice guild master of Sirius and was scouted as a core member not long after becoming an awakener, Cha Song-jin thought light had finally entered his life.

“Sob sob.”

Though he was dissatisfied with having to use the rustic alias Kim Chun-tae and hide his identity, such complaints were very trivial considering he was now part of an S-rank Gate conquest team.

There was also Vice Guild Master Jin Yeon-hwa’s promise that he would be able to properly make his name known once this job was over.

He believed without a doubt that his life would be smooth sailing from now on.

But it ended up like this.

Sirius’s conquest failed, and he was in the pitiful situation of being captured by villains and attending to their needs.

What crap would they do to him today? Cha Song-jin quickly curled up his body after confirming Gemini’s face. Seeing him trembling while hiding in a corner, Gemini said:

“Really, how long are you going to be so scared? Someone might think we’re going to eat you!”

Trickster, who was in the corner, said to Gemini:

“That’s why you should have played with him a bit.”

“Hmph, it’s because he’s too weak.”

Gemini often rolled Cha Song-jin under the name of ‘training’. There were several burn marks from not being able to avoid the sparks she shot.

“That guy is ruined. If it weren’t for his talent, I’d want to just burn him up!”

Cha Song-jin drew in a sharp breath at Gemini’s cheerful words. He knew better than anyone that those words weren’t a joke at all.

“By the way, why are we all gathered today for once?”

Unlike Gemini who likes to always be stuck in the Top, Trickster, Cube, and Assembler usually moved around busily.

Them all gathering meant there was something to do.

Gemini’s eyes started to sparkle.

“What is it, what is it?”

“A message came from that assemblyman.”

“Hmm?”

“Because we didn’t properly complete the last job.”

Assembler’s face was full of irritation as he said that. At those words, Gemini’s gaze turned to Trickster.

“That’s why you should have burned it completely and come out!”

Trickster was the one who led the operation that day. It was also him who said to abandon them and retreat at the sudden appearance of a third party, and assured them that was enough.

Despite the resentment from the two, Trickster, who hid his face between shadows, was still calm.

“I thought it would be better for them to die feeling despair there. Who would have known they could conquer an S-rank Gate with just that personnel?”

Trickster’s words made sense too.

They clearly thought they would dry up and die in there, but they came back alive.

“If you had let me finish it properly in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Well, I wonder if you could have finished it properly.”

Gemini flared up at Trickster’s words.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying I couldn’t have beaten those guys?”

“They’re people who conquered an S-rank Gate with just that personnel. It means they’re clearly not ordinary. They weren’t opponents to look down on so easily.”

“Are you looking down on me? Huh?”

Again, again.

Cha Song-jin quickly curled up against the corner after confirming Gemini’s hair rising into the air.

Though they sometimes seemed to get along well, their relationships were always precarious like thin ice. With just one word, one glance, the atmosphere could instantly become hostile like this.

Hot flames brushed past Cha Song-jin’s body. Gemini, unable to contain her anger, started shooting fire in all directions.

‘Damn it!’

“You bastards, stop it, stop! Our belongings will all be ruined at this rate.”

Only after Blood Demon Chu Ma-geol stepped in did Gemini calm her anger.

“But old man! That guy is looking down on me.”

“Why are you doing this over something that’s already passed? I heard you got a new job this time. Can’t you show it there?”

Chu Ma-geol succeeded in soothing Gemini instantly. If someone else had said such words, she would have torn them apart right away, but even Gemini was weak to Chu Ma-geol. Chu Ma-geol clicked his tongue looking at the cage Cha Song-jin was trapped in and said:

“Put away the flames. Our Chun-tae will be scared.”

He wanted to cry every time he was called by that name. I’m not Chun-tae, I’m Song-jin.

But if they called him Kim Chun-tae here, it was better to quietly become Kim Chun-tae.

Trickster also threw in a word:

“Don’t worry, this time I’m thinking of properly setting up the stage as you want. I’m planning to do it properly if only because I don’t want to face that guy.”

“Since when were we people who licked the asses of members of the National Assembly?”

“I don’t intend to lick his ass, but I don’t want to be branded with an incompetent image either.”

Trickster’s voice saying that was truly chilling. Cha Song-jin quickly covered his ears at the conversation passing between them. He strongly felt that the conversations passing here were too dangerous for him to hear.

A member of the National Assembly! Surely it couldn’t mean the villains of the Top knew a member of the National Assembly?

Moreover, they’re going to carry out a job!

He wanted to be left out of that job, but…

“Since we have that guy too, we can do something dangerous.”

Hope disappeared at the following words.

“Ughh.”

Cha Song-jin bit his fist and cried.

“There’s a newly opened department store…”

Cha Song-jin squeezed his eyes shut at the following words.

‘I’m going to end up there too, yeah, I’m definitely going to become a terrorist. I, my life…’

Cha Song-jin’s wish was to succeed in life, not to become something like a terrorist.

But regardless of his wish, the world was pushing him onto the path of a villain.

* * *

I scrunched my face at Professor Geum’s words.

“So you’re saying I have to wait a few more days?”

[The functions you wanted aren’t just one or two! It’s not something that comes out just like that!]

“You’re making masks, aren’t you? Be honest.”

Professor Geum went quiet at my words.

“I told you that wasn’t urgent, didn’t I?”

[It’s almost done! Just a bit more and it’ll be finished, okay?]

—Doesn’t that sound exactly like someone?

I just clenched my fist at Ray’s words. I want to say this isn’t the time for such jokes, but it can’t be helped.

[Ahem, ahem. Anyway, I’ll contact you as soon as the item is completed, so keep that in mind!]

“I understand.”

Somehow it feels like I ended the call without even breaking even.

“Haa.”

Do I have to postpone contacting Jeong Ho-san for a few more days?

What I asked Professor Geum for was a smartphone that couldn’t be traced.

Because all the notes sent through Han Seo-hyeon were ignored, and I felt the need to have a proper conversation with Jeong Ho-san.

—You sent such pathetic notes, so of course he ignored them.

‘What? Then should I just leave it?’

For reference, the notes I sent were roughly like this:

「Go back to the guild. Or I won’t see you for the rest of your life!」

「Don’t worry about me, I’m doing very well. Just go back to the guild! Stay away from Inspector Do Chae-hee!」

「If you go see Inspector Do Chae-hee, I really won’t see you for the rest of my life?」

Jeong Ho-san’s reaction to these notes was cold.

It was obvious he already thought those notes ‘couldn’t be trusted’. Because he would believe I was captured by villains.

—That seems like too good an interpretation. He might just not want to hear it.

“Ho-san wouldn’t do that! He’s not the kind of kid who just ignores someone’s words. Just, anyone would see that situation back then was a bit… It’s understandable to have such a misunderstanding.”

—Well, if that’s how you want to think, go ahead. The problem is that your notes aren’t having any effect at all, right?

As Ray said, despite my desperate pleas, Jeong Ho-san was moving together with Do Chae-hee.

Though it felt like my insides were burning up, I have no intention of going to meet Jeong Ho-san again ‘for now’.

The first reason is that if I appear in front of that guy again, I feel like I won’t be able to come back, and secondly…

“What if it doesn’t work even if I ask?”

—Are you scared again?

“No, I’m stating the facts. What if it doesn’t work? From the start, Jeong Ho-san is a guy with terribly stubborn persistence. He’s not someone who’ll listen just because someone tells him to.”

—Birds of a feather flock well together.

“Compared to Jeong Ho-san, my stubbornness is nothing, you know?”

—Why don’t you just leave that guy alone?

“Leave him alone? What do you mean leave alone? What if something goes wrong again?”

In the past, Seol Rok-jin kept Do Chae-hee alive for quite a while. But Do Chae-hee’s life was absolutely not comfortable. She was thoroughly played with and died after seeing her dream shatter before her eyes.

Moreover, since the future has changed, I can’t be certain whether Seol Rok-jin will keep Do Chae-hee alive for long or what. He might decide to get rid of Do Chae-hee who will properly become a ‘stumbling block’. If that happens, Jeong Ho-san will be included as a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

The problem is that I can’t tell Jeong Ho-san this fact. If I tell him what I know, Jeong Ho-san is the kind of guy who would jump into danger wrapped in straw!

Is it such a difficult request to just live happily without knowing anything?

“Arghh.”

—It really seems like a situation that could make your insides burst.

“I’m going to make him quit, just watch.”

I’ll find a way somehow. I haven’t given up hope yet. For now, I’m planning to watch until Do Chae-hee’s unpaid leave ends. I just need to prevent him from formally entering the Awakener Crimes Department.

“If it really doesn’t work…”

—If it really doesn’t work?

“No, I’m not thinking that far yet. For now, things might work out well. For now, isn’t the important thing to stop Seol Rok-jin’s plan?”

I should focus on what I can do right now, putting aside issues that seem impossible to resolve.

—You mean what you mentioned before?

“It’s about time for it to break out around now.”

The assassination of the assemblyman is slowly running out of juice for them to suck me dry with.

“The one I killed was ‘for now’ an assemblyman with scandals. I also didn’t take any personal gains at all. It turned out like this because Seol Rok-jin quickly turned the perspective to ‘Is it right to take private revenge just because you have power?’, otherwise they wouldn’t have had anything to say.”

The public took Seol Rok-jin’s side due to his media campaign.

“But that alone isn’t enough to give the message Seol Rok-jin wants.”

So he’ll cause an incident with awakeners soon.

Whether it becomes terrorism or whatever. It will become something that destroys the place for awakeners to stand in some way.

Personally, I vote for terrorism.

The terrorism that ‘Jeong Ho-san’ was supposed to cause in the original life didn’t happen in this life.

Whether it’s because I’ve been causing incidents so there was no time for terrorism, or whatever, Seol Rok-jin’s side has been quiet.

It would be right to expect a massive terrorism to break out, as big as what happened in the past, no, enough to make up for everything that’s happened so far.

The reason I’m not doing anything and just quietly bowing my head is also to prevent that terrorism.

“They could pull out an insignificant awakener like in the previous life to commit terrorism… They could also use the Top.”

—By the Top, you mean those guys we saw at the Ice Palace last time?

I nodded at Ray’s question.

“They’re not opponents who would listen to others’ words at face value, but they failed their last mission, right? They’ll try to do something even if just to make up for that.”

Seol Rok-jin and the Top. Those two’s thoughts match perfectly.

Moreover, since they have an escape ability user, they could even commit terrorism in the city center.

Rather, I thought it might be appealing. They haven’t had a proper job to use that escape ability user even after securing him, so they might want to have a splendid debut match with this opportunity.

“Actually, committing terrorism in the city center is certainly a high-risk affair. Not only will large guilds actively respond, but the government will also strongly deal with the terrorists.”

That’s why Seol Rok-jin only used people who didn’t matter ‘even if they died’ for terrorism.

But now the Top has a perfect escape route. They just need to cause havoc and run away.

—If it’s those villains of the Top rampaging, don’t you have no answer too?

“Well, facing them head-on is out of the question.”

But there’s no need to face those villains head-on.

“I’ve roughly made plans. Though I don’t know if they’ll go according to plan.”

I’m monitoring places where terrorism is likely to occur, so I can move out immediately if a problem arises. It’s impossible to prevent terrorism from occurring, but at least I can prevent the damage from growing larger.

I plan to do my part in the meantime.

“I need to take apart this damn sword.”

The magic sword Park Sang-pyeon used. It’s finally time to deal with this thing.

—Come to think of it, you said you were going to take that apart last time too, but something came up.

The magic power dwelling in this magic sword was amazing. If it weren’t for the fact that it blows away the user’s life, it wouldn’t be strange to call it S-rank.

—Your obsession with chairs ended, so now it’s swords?

“Honestly, I should have done this first, but Ray said analysis would take time so I was just holding onto the chair. Even though I gave you that time, you ended up failing.”

—Urgh. I’m a bit weak with techniques not from my world too. This seems to have the power of the demon realm touching it.

The demon realm. They say there are actually dimensions connected by Gates where demons exist.

Ray spoke excuses at length. That he can’t know demon realm technology because it’s not something humans originally handled, or that it’s normal to not be able to handle it at all unless you’re a contractor.

To compress that long excuse, it’s this:

“In the end, it’s a lack of ability.”

—Urgh!

It was Ray’s knockout.

I examined the sword closely. A sword touched by demonic power. It really is a magic sword in the literal sense.

The sword wrapped in a waterproof cloth was still emitting an ominous aura. Even the bloodstains Park Sang-pyeon left were still there, making my chest chill just looking at it.

“But it’s a waste to just leave this alone.”

There’s one surest way to understand this.

I carefully placed my hand on the sword’s handle.