Chapter 49

Chapter 49

The villains who recognized my face belatedly were stunned.

“W-what the hell!”

“He’s going to kill us all!”

“R-run!”

I quietly watched the chaos unfold. Heartworker had called them benefactors, but to me they were just ordinary villains.

And an ordinary villain was someone who had to die.

Are there any righteous villains in this world?

I say there are none. There can be villains who have their own stories, whose personal sense of justice got twisted into something society can’t tolerate. Like Berserker.

But among villains committing money-related crimes, there is no such thing as one who stays on the straight and narrow.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“These guys are Jagalchi, right?”

“Th-that’s correct.”

The villain organization, Jagalchi.

The moment I heard that name, I could make my decision with certainty. Kill them all.

“Stay where you are. If you’ve got a weak stomach, close your eyes or something.”

“……”

Heartworker, who had been trembling all over once I stopped suppressing my killing intent, squeezed his eyes shut. A good choice, if he had a weak stomach.

I drew a dagger from inside my coat and used blade storm.

Shwaaah!

A villain right in front of me was torn to shreds.

* * *

Meeting the state-certified transcendent Choi Junho was an unexpected stroke of luck.

He told Kim Jonghyeon, who had a bit of skill with his hands, to come to Seoul, and offered to help with his mother’s treatment—the very goal of his life.

Money! And women!

Kim Jonghyeon wanted to follow Choi Junho right that instant, but the organization he supplied goods to held him back.

The villain organization “Jagalchi,” rapidly growing these days, had taken in villains who fled to Busan after the great purge in the Seoul metropolitan area, and was expanding at a breakneck pace.

At this rate, it would grow into one of Busan’s top organizations.

If Kim Jonghyeon stopped supplying them and went silent without a word, he was terrified that their blade would come for him sooner or later. So he tried to use Choi Junho’s authority to break free.

Yeah, he figured a few villains might end up dead or injured.

But he never imagined the whole lot of them would end up dead.

Aagh! Aaaaagh!

“Ugh, uuugh!”

Screams of agony echoed through the building one after another. At some point, Kim Jonghyeon, eyes squeezed shut, clapped both hands over his ears and collapsed to the floor, trembling.

This was Jagalchi, of all places. The organization currently gaining the most momentum.

He’d thought there was nothing in Busan that could go up against them. Not even Busan’s elite villain response team, nor any other organization, could bring Jagalchi down.

And yet what filled the building was the thick smell of blood, screams of agony, and deep terror. What followed were sickening wet tearing sounds. Each time, screams rang out.

An organization counted among Busan’s largest villain groups had just been handed its death sentence—by a single person.

Was this even human? Even if a monster had charged in, it couldn’t have produced this kind of horror.

“……”

At some point, even the screams stopped entirely. Footsteps approached. A squelching texture reached his ears. It was made of the blood and flesh of the villains who’d been running their mouths just moments ago.

“Open your eyes.”

Choi Junho’s voice was no different from when he’d told him to close them. If he hadn’t heard the screams just before, he would’ve thought the man had stepped out for a cigarette and come back.

Maybe he’d imagined it. Maybe the terror had made him overreact.

But the moment he opened his eyes, Kim Jonghyeon was greeted by a hell on earth.

“Hurk! Bleeegh!”

Seeing the blood and flesh torn to shreds, Kim Jonghyeon started throwing up.

After vomiting for a long while, until nothing but bile came up, a water bottle rolled over to him from the side.

“Drink.”

“……”

Kim Jonghyeon drank without a word. He didn’t want to look, but his gaze drifted to the bits of flesh scattered all over the building.

Why go this far?

He felt it was too much, even for this. Choi Junho paid him no mind and walked over to one side of the building.

“Jagalchi isn’t the kind of place you think it is.”

With a thud, the wall was punched through. A safe was revealed behind it, and he grabbed the door and ripped it clean off. When he pulled out the contents, packs of white powder spilled out.

“It’s drugs.”

Choi Junho didn’t stop there. He looked around a few spots in the building, then kicked the floor with a light tap, and a hidden passage leading underground was revealed.

Not long after he went inside, screams rang out, and moments later, ragged children and women began climbing up behind Choi Junho.

“It’s human trafficking.”

“……”

Kim Jonghyeon stared blankly at the scene. He’d never dreamed the organization he knew was this kind of place. He’d thought they were just slightly illegal—brothers who’d strayed a tiny bit down the wrong path, selling goods on the black market.

But that belief crumbled before his eyes.

Choi Junho had known everything from the very beginning.

“This is what villains really are, Heartworker.”

“W-why did you show me all this?”

“I didn’t do it to show you. I just killed them because they’re villains.”

Having said that, Choi Junho pulled out his smartphone and began contacting the Busan villain response team.

* * *

After leaving the cleanup to the Busan villain response team, I received an invitation from the Mayor of Busan and headed to City Hall.

“I’m Yoo Seongsu, Mayor of Busan.”

“Choi Junho.”

Yoo Seongsu, the Mayor of Busan, was a heavyweight opposition-party politician and a leading next-presidential candidate for the opposition.

He was credited with protecting Busan from the threat of monsters, and had elevated Busan’s standing through linkages with nearby cities Yangsan and Gimhae and exchanges with Ulsan, Pohang, Daegu, and Changwon.

From where I stood, it was all typical showpiece achievements, though.

If anything, the economy had improved at the cost of fostering villains and increasing public safety instability.

But I can’t deny that it works quite well on the citizens.

“I never expected the transcendent Choi Junho to come to Busan.”

“I had business here. While I was at it, I came across a villain organization and contacted you.”

“For something like that, you handled it pretty brutally.”

There was a reason for that—today’s villains had been dealt with using my new gift, blade storm. Combining Slash’s sharpness with Nuri’s wide-area blade storm, the gift tore apart anyone caught in it.

Its power was so horrifyingly cruel that it could be linked to Erasure, but I figured it was too cruel for that connection to hold.

Erasure was a villain who literally erased all traces. The scene I’d left today was far too brutal for that.

“They were trafficking drugs and people alike. I couldn’t hold back, so I handled it on the spot.”

“Hm! I’d like to thank you for working hard for Busan’s public safety.”

“Before the villain response team arrived, I looked around and found something interesting.”

“Something interesting?”

“There’s evidence that the villain organization Jagalchi has been bribing various departments at City Hall.”

“…Evidence alone isn’t enough to punish public officials who sweat for the citizens. I hope you understand.”

“I believe it’s connected to someone quite high up.”

I looked into the Mayor’s eyes as I said it. A faint ripple stirred in the eyes of the seasoned politician, then quickly settled.

“Are you saying I’m connected to it?”

“Who knows.”

“I’m a mayor elected by the votes of Busan’s citizens. Don’t forget that even a transcendent belongs to the state.”

That’s a lot different from what I think.

“Elected power has a time limit, but a transcendent’s power lasts a very long time. Couldn’t you say my power is eternal?”

“……”

How dare elected power rub shoulders with lifelong power?

Whether my words had gotten through to him or not, the Mayor stared at me, speechless.

“In any case, since this happened in Busan, I’d appreciate it if the transcendent Choi Junho would take his hands off it now.”

“I’d like to act, but the evidence is lacking. However, I’d like you to know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“If someone cooperates with villains, I consider that person a villain too. Because they’re benefiting villains. Look into how I handled a reporter on the first day I became a state-certified transcendent, and you’ll have a standard for your future actions.”

“I haven’t seen it, so I wouldn’t know.”

“There might be a chance to show you soon.”

“……”

The Mayor of Busan, unable to even break even, shut his mouth.

For now, the evidence wasn’t perfect, so I’d let it slide once—but there wouldn’t be a next time.

Should I have just arrested him?

Thinking I’d need to go up to Seoul and gather information, I wrapped up the meeting with the Mayor.

I brought Heartworker and his mother up to Seoul, helped get his sick mother admitted to the hospital first, then took Heartworker to the National Guard Bureau.

“From now on, you’ll be affiliated with Shinseong Guild.”

“Me, in Shinseong Guild?”

“Did you think getting admitted to Shinsung Hospital was easy? Shinseong Guild’s influence was behind your move to Seoul, too.”

“What am I, that you’d go this far…”

“I recommended you, to be precise. Your job is simple. Learn the processing technique I’ll teach you, and master it as fast as possible.”

“Processing technique?”

Heartworker’s eyes lit up. It was the same look he’d had in my past life when I learned the processing technique and he showed it to me.

“Once you reach a satisfactory level, I’ll guarantee you a hundred-million-won salary and performance bonuses.”

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it.”

“So you believe me.”

“The eye for reading people is what I developed supplying villains. I looked you up, and they say you’ll earn over 1.5 trillion won. Of course I should stick with you.”

So in the end, what he believed in was the money I’d make. I didn’t care either way.

I looked into his eyes and said,

“Right. And don’t go drooling over women.”

“Ugh, why that…”

“You know why, don’t you?”

“……”

Heartworker had a serious weakness for women.

In my past life, I’d dressed it up nicely as him finding his own way to survive, but the truth was he couldn’t overcome his urges, went to the black market, met the wrong person, and died.

“If I disobey your orders…”

“Imagine whatever you like.”

“Kgh!”

Heartworker’s face went pale. Whatever he was imagining, he seemed to be in the right frame of mind to listen to me.

“Take a few days off first. I’ll call you when things are ready on this end.”

“……”

Was that really something to make a face like he’d lost his country over?

It was around the time the conversation was wrapping up.

There was a knock from outside, and Jung Dahyun came in.

“Excuse me.”

Jung Dahyun, stepping inside, locked eyes with Heartworker.

Hmm, this isn’t good. I’d just warned him, and now he runs right into Jung Dahyun.

Jung Dahyun was rated the best among young Awakened for both talent and beauty.

She was so beautiful that there’d once been talk that she could charm villains with her looks alone and bring them in for arrest. Having seen her, there was no way Heartworker would just let it pass.

This was going to be a hassle.

But Heartworker’s gaze toward Jung Dahyun was strange. His eyes went wide as if he’d seen a ghost, and he shot up from his seat in a panic.

“R-Rakshasa Girl! Hiiik! Spare me!”

Heartworker, in his panic, tried to flee and tripped.

“……”

A strange silence fell over the conference room.

* * *

Heartworker went back. Even as he left, he couldn’t bring himself to meet Jung Dahyun’s eyes.

So this was the dignity of Rakshasa Girl. He seemed more afraid of her than of me.

From what I heard, a significant number of villains who’d fled the three Bureaus’ attacks during the Seoul metropolitan area villain suppression operation had come to Busan. They spoke of Jung Dahyun with frothing mouths, and the stories that spread were so tremendous that Heartworker, who’d only heard the tales of valor, was overcome with fear.

Like how she deliberately shoved a grenade into the mouth of a villain charging with one of his own, or how she said villains didn’t need arms or legs—cut off their limbs to cripple them before arresting them.

The best of the lot was the story about how she cut off the legs of a villain strapped with bombs, made him crawl along the ground, drew a finish line, and blew up whoever came in last.

Truly, human imagination was something else. These were tales of valor more brutal than most vicious villains.

Jung Dahyun made a tearful face.

“Where in the world is there a public service Hunter like that?”

“There aren’t any villains like that either.”

“Then that means the rumors are more vicious than the villains.”

Jung Dahyun let out a deep sigh.

“Notoriety has a way of spawning vicious rumors too.”

I knew exactly how she felt, having been subjected to all sorts of slander myself back when I was Blood Lord.

I felt sorry for her. I looked at Jung Dahyun and said,

“Let’s go eat. When you feel like this, a hearty soybean paste stew is the best. Want to go, for old times’ sake?”

“Sounds good.”

As expected, soybean paste stew is the best when you’re feeling down.

Jung Dahyun and I talked as we left the National Guard Bureau. Fortunately, it seemed she hadn’t been hurt badly enough to be deeply shaken.

“It means I’ve become that much more decisive. In fact, my arrest numbers have gone up a lot compared to before. The Director is concerned, but I think it’s not a bad change.”

“You could call it cruel, but it breaks the villains’ spirit and saves more of our colleagues.”

“Exactly. That’s why this operation was such a big success.”

Jung Dahyun made it clear that despite the ugly rumors, she had no intention of changing her approach to arrests.

“And there might be another agency established above the three Bureaus. An Administration.”

An Administration would mean an Administrator at vice-ministerial rank. Sitting above the three Bureaus, its authority would be truly immense.

According to Jung Dahyun, this was the government’s way of signaling that it intended to take the initiative and push hard, based on the villain suppression operation and my capture of Nuri.

The most likely candidate to head the new Administration was Jung Juho.

Was he testing the waters because his approval ratings were high? I’d have to watch and see how it played out.

“Also, starting with the United States, several countries will be visiting soon. They’ll probably apply for an exchange match.”

“What’s an exchange match?”

“It’s where each country brings its promising talents to gauge each other’s strength. When they visit, Level 8 transcendents come and serve as judges.”

“You?”

“I’ve been out a few times myself.”

Jung Dahyun answered with a bashful look. So she must have won.

Exchange matches involved Awakened of every level, from Academy students all the way up to transcendents, sharing their opinions.

Just looking at it, it seemed like a pain.

“The one thing you need to watch out for is yourself, though.”

“Me? Why?”

“The visiting transcendents will want to test your skills. They acknowledge you for catching Nuri, but underneath there’ll be plenty of doubt.”

“I don’t care whether they believe it or not.”

“Their position is different, and so is the government’s.”

Jung Dahyun smiled bitterly.

South Korea was a relatively stable country when it came to monsters, but other nations disparaged it, saying it had simply been lucky—its small territory and concentrated urbanization meant there weren’t many places to defend.

What was so wrong with that? If they had complaints too, they should have concentrated all their infrastructure in the cities.

They found fault with the strangest things and took pride in it.

Should I just kill them if they spout nonsense in front of me?

“You can’t kill them.”

“Hm?”

“Transcendent-level combat power is incredibly precious, both for our country and for others. Precious enough that even overseas travel is strictly controlled. In the worst case, it could lead to diplomatic severance, so you need to be careful.”

“So what should I do?”

“Subdue them without hurting them?”

…That was the hardest spell in the world. Why was I given these trials every single time?

Rather than subduing someone without hurting them, it’d be better to just not fight at all.

Let them not believe it. Even so, catching Nuri had been credited to me, and all the money had come to me too.

I was listening to Jung Dahyun’s information about exchange matches when we were almost at our destination, the home-style diner.

A small figure darted out from a corner about thirty meters ahead and charged furiously toward us.

“W-wait a moment! I-I’m Go Yejin from Media Force. Just a quick interview… Aagh!”

She hit her head hard enough that I heard a thunk. I’d reflexively darted forward and was clutching my head when I raised my hand up.

That was a face I’d seen before. I brought my hand to the blood streaming from a split in my forehead and reflexively licked it.

“I-I’m Go Yejin from Media Force… Eek!”

Go Yejin froze stiff at the sight of me licking blood.

I remembered now. The headline-crafting master of a reporter.

I held out a recovery potion to Go Yejin, who was clutching her forehead.

“Spray it.”

“Huh? B-but that’s supposed to be incredibly expensive…”

“Bleeding all over the place here is the bigger nuisance. Spray it.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

If I ran short on recovery potions anyway, I could just get more from Lee Sehee. As long as I didn’t waste them, it was effectively an infinite refill.

“So what’s your business?”

“I-I’m Go Yejin from Media Force, and I’d like to interview Transcendent Choi Junho. A-ah, would that be possible?”

“I’m not really interested. And didn’t your outlet write a lot of bait articles back when I was a public service Hunter?”

“Did we? That won’t work, then.”

Jung Dahyun, who’d been wearing a worried expression, sharpened. She was famous enough that she’d been hounded by reporters to the point of exhaustion.

Go Yejin’s expression turned desperate.

“P-please. Since then, I’ve written a lot of articles praising you, Transcendent. Please take a look at these!”

Go Yejin held out a tablet, saying they were articles she’d written.

<Japan even aired a special broadcast analyzing Transcendent Choi Junho. The reason the Japanese archipelago was turned upside down by Choi Junho!>

<The situation in countries around the world, marveling at South Korea—the only nation on earth with a transcendent who fights monsters alone!>

<The real reason the world is paying attention to South Korea right now? The secrets behind Transcendent Choi Junho’s growth!>

<The reason nations that missed out on Transcendent Choi Junho weep tears of blood in regret?! …Some countries are even discussing ‘impeachment’!>

<The hunting method of Korea that the world is watching is “this!” A lightning analysis of Choi Junho’s hunting style!>

<The 18 reasons transcendents around the world were shocked by Transcendent Choi Junho—revealed!>

<The global prestige of Transcendent Choi Junho, who single-handedly subdued a Level 8 aerial monster that two American transcendents couldn’t bring down together!>

“……”

It was a feast of headlines that left me speechless. It was close to moving, even. To think the perfected form of the nationalist clickbait thumbnails I’d once wished for, if only briefly, to be noticed—was right here.

Come to think of it, Yunhee had mentioned it in passing once. Reporter Go Yejin was famous for pulling such provocative headlines that you should never click on her articles. But the moment you let your guard down, she was famous for crafting headlines you had no choice but to click.

My admiration was short-lived. I looked at the information that had been flickering in my head for a while now and asked.

“More importantly—you’re an Awakened?”

“What? H-how did you…?”

“I just had a feeling. We can talk about the interview later. How about a meal?”

“Yes! Thank you! Thank you!”

I decided to start by taking Go Yejin along to eat with us.

The reason I’d noticed Go Yejin was an Awakened was because information had come through from the blood I’d accidentally licked earlier.

It wasn’t heart-blood, so it was fragmentary, but it was a form I’d never seen before.

ㅇ…ㅓㄱ…ㅡㅗ…ㄹ?

What kind of gift was it?