Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Immunity to All Poisons struggled desperately.

To repel all evil that existed within its master—that was the reason Immunity to All Poisons existed.

The gift Immunity to All Poisons was loyal.

To prove its reason for existing, it roamed its master's body and Force.

There was nothing abnormal.

But while roaming his mind, it noticed a serious anomaly.

Beyond the thick, layered mental barriers, a grave distortion reached it.

From one to ten, everything.

Immunity to All Poisons tried to correct its master's twisted mind. But that intention was thoroughly trampled by its master. And that wasn't the end—its master's Force began to bear down on it fiercely.

This is wrong. My master's mind is broken right now. It must be fixed. So why is my master interfering!

Immunity to All Poisons struggled desperately, begging for its loyalty to be recognized, but it wasn't enough.

"Gifts have gotten awfully uppity these days."

No... don't...!

And then, before the Force surging in like a tidal wave, the will of Immunity to All Poisons was mercilessly snapped.

* * *

Feeling Immunity to All Poisons fall quiet, I let out a small sigh of relief.

"Stubborn one, aren't you."

As expected of a legendary gift.

It had briefly malfunctioned, yet in that instant it had nearly broken through my mental barrier, and even in such a disadvantageous position it had held out for so long.

I'd heard that some legendary gifts possess a slight will of their own—perhaps Immunity to All Poisons was one of them.

Whether gifts can have a will is still an unknown territory, not yet fully understood. Some say it's an inherent property of the gift itself; others say it's the gift holder's unconscious mind bleeding through. Even in my past life, when I lived as the Blood Lord, it was never revealed.

But it's a fact that they have a will.

A gift activating regardless of its user's intention was the most typical example.

Protect, held by the British transcendent Black Wall Williams, was a gift that automatically formed a barrier in dangerous situations, independent of the caster's will. It was said that with this gift, Williams perfected an offense-and-defense-in-one combat style.

If Protect was like that, there was no law saying Immunity to All Poisons couldn't be either.

At the last moment it had writhed as if screaming—seeing a gift with a will of its own really was remarkable.

Stepping outside, I ran into Jung Juho, who had been wandering around the National Guard Bureau office.

"Oh? Why are you here?"

"I came to check on a few things. And you, Director?"

"Tomorrow's the confirmation hearing. I was preparing."

Apparently he'd even done a rehearsal, on top of drafting a list of expected questions.

Not long ago he'd been talking about dying, and now he looked great.

"You said you didn't want to become Administrator, but you seem fine with it."

"I've decided to accept it, so I might as well do it well. Once I have power, everyone will find out just how terrifying I can be."

He grinned slyly as he said it, and that look was every inch a villain.

When people gain power, they often reveal their true nature. Most change in a very bad direction—but I was curious how Jung Juho would change.

"Still, at the hearing your name's going to come up, and I'm going to talk about you. You okay with that?"

"What kind of things will come up?"

"How many politicians have you beaten down? You think good things'll come up? Naturally, bad ones."

I've barely laid a hand on anyone, though. How unfair.

"If it comes up, there's nothing I can do."

It's not like it's the first or second day I've been getting cursed at. I just quietly file away in my head who said what about me.

Then Jung Juho brought up something unexpected.

"I'm going to criticize you a bit too."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to point out that you used your hands excessively. And then am I supposed to say you were following my orders and take all the blame?"

"Don't superiors usually bear that for their subordinates?"

Back when I was with the National Guard Bureau, Jung Juho was someone who willingly took the heat for his subordinates.

Seeing that, I'd even thought that he was a true superior for this era. But contrary to what I'd thought, Jung Juho balked.

"To bear that, I'd have to resign. Do I look insane? I'm going to climb the ladder a bit, so you take the criticism. And you're the one who told me to become Administrator in the first place."

"Understood."

"Okay, then I'll take that as your agreement."

"Yes, I'll just remember it for now."

"......"

"I'm joking. Don't make that face."

It took quite a while to soothe Jung Juho, who'd turned pale as a corpse.

Tomorrow was the confirmation hearing, so I didn't hold him up any longer, and when I was just about to head back—

I saw Jung Dahyun walking into the National Guard Bureau late, looking like she'd pulled an all-nighter. She had traces of a fierce battle on her—blood was smeared on her hair and top.

"Oppa."

"Welcome back."

I greeted Jung Dahyun, who approached me with a happy expression.

"You catch the villain?"

"Yes. It was a drug distribution site, but it was a branch organization, so clearing it out took a lot of work. It was linked to an outside villain group, so there were quite a few skilled villains too. I gathered them all in one place and killed them. They won't be running wild anymore."

"Good job."

Jung Dahyun, cheerfully talking about killing villains—compared to the frustrated look I'd seen when we first met, it was like she'd shaken all of that off, and it was good to see.

But Jung Dahyun studied my face and grew worried.

"You look tired. Are you all right?"

"Me? I'm fine."

"You look tired."

"I suppose it's because I got through several things on my schedule today."

I'd gone all the way to Yeosu to catch Berserker, and excluded the easiest way to kill him and tried various methods instead. Come to think of it, Berserker—that bastard hasn't appreciated any of the trouble I've gone through for him. Ungrateful little thing.

On top of that, disciplining Immunity to All Poisons had drained my mental energy quite a bit.

I'd thought I looked no different from usual, but Jung Dahyun's eye was sharp. Had her use of Intuition improved?

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Then that's a relief, but......"

"Do you have something to say?"

"Actually, I was going to ask you a favor, but you look tired."

"Tell me. If I can do it, I will."

"...Yes. If you don't mind, could you watch over my training?"

"Your training?"

Not Berserker, but me? I wondered if maybe she wanted to call Berserker, but Jung Dahyun shook her head firmly.

"I want to properly learn from you, oppa."

"You know the reason it's difficult."

"I'm fine with getting badly hurt."

She said she'd stocked up on recovery potions for just such occasions. Well, true—even if your limbs get shattered, if you use them at the right time, you can recover without lasting injury.

It's not like we're a species that gets stronger by going through near-death experiences.

I couldn't shake off the expectation in Jung Dahyun's eyes.

"You're okay even if your limbs get crushed?"

"Yes."

"All right. When should we do it?"

"Right now."

If she wanted to experience it for herself, there was nothing to do but oblige.

I went straight to the training room with Jung Dahyun and played along. As a result, Jung Dahyun's limbs got broken and she ended up a wreck, but she never broke her fighting spirit and kept charging at me to the very end.

Her killing intent had definitely grown compared to before, and her applications of Intuition had increased.

She deserved praise. Which is why I wrecked her even harder.

To Jung Dahyun, whose fighting spirit had finally broken, I gave generous praise.

"You've reached a considerable level. You'll probably hit Level 7 soon."

"...Thank you."

"Can you get up?"

"Yes."

I sprayed Jung Dahyun with my recovery potion. For me, unlimited refills are possible, after all. Jung Dahyun is a public servant on a meager salary, so I returned hers and told her to use it only for real emergencies. Anyway, I'd used some on Berserker today too, so the rate of consumption is pretty fast.

Jung Dahyun, having set her broken arm back into its proper form, struggled to her feet.

"Thank you."

"Mm."

Seeing her thank me after being turned into a wreck gave me a strange feeling.

In my past life, she'd used any means and methods to kill me. As expected, it pays to live a good life.

I gave Jung Dahyun feedback.

Overall, her skills had improved a lot. At this rate she'd reach Level 7 soon, and within three years she'd catch up to her past-life level.

Whether she'd become a transcendent, I didn't know. If I knew that, I'd be a transcendent-making machine.

Anyway.

"Hm."

"What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing."

As I headed out, I thought of Immunity to All Poisons, which had quietly tried to burrow into my mental barrier during my guidance of Jung Dahyun earlier.

I'd thought I'd disciplined it, but apparently it wasn't enough yet.

I'd have to go home and firmly reestablish discipline.

* * *

World Transcendent Day, held in Tokyo, was an event with a long history.

There was once a time when monsters appeared and humanity was helplessly pushed back. Then, when the Awakened appeared, the world rejoiced, declaring that heroes had come to save it from the brink of destruction.

But that fervor didn't last long. As the world settled into a stalemate with the monsters, villains who denied the existing social order emerged, and the image of the Awakened deteriorated rapidly.

On top of that, with the legal system unprepared to deal with the Awakened, all sorts of incidents broke out.

As a result, social conflict reached its peak, and the confrontation between the Awakened and the non-Awakened deepened.

World Transcendent Day marked the first day the legal system was fully in place and the Awakened were completely absorbed into society.

Standing at the pinnacle of them all were the Level 8s—the transcendents.

The number of transcendents currently existing worldwide is estimated at around 150.

Counting villains as well, unofficially it approaches 200.

Of those, about 50 transcendents gather each year for World Transcendent Day.

It was one of the world's largest festivals, where not only diplomatic coordination between nations but also exchanges between transcendents took place.

From South Korea, I and Lee Chantae would be attending as transcendents, along with a government diplomatic delegation of about a hundred and two hundred Hunters affiliated with the National Guild Association—over three hundred people in total would be crossing over to Tokyo.

As a country among the world's top ten Awakened powers, and with the venue being Tokyo, the scale was set to be the largest in history.

Before departing for Tokyo, I met Lee Chantae at the Blue House.

"It's been a while. Have you been well?"

"I've been well, thanks to you. I'm always grateful to you. I'll learn a thing or two from you in Tokyo."

"Not at all."

After the hunt for Nuri, Lee Chantae's Avant-garde Guild went through considerable turmoil.

But the decline didn't last long—Lee Chantae took the lead in strengthening their forces, bowed to Shinseong Guild and formed a partnership, and was the first to adopt the Big Bang Series.

As a result, in a short time they achieved a recovery of the forces they'd lost during the Nuri hunt.

And when suspicions were raised about the Nuri hunt, he stood on my side, voicing his support and giving interviews—making friendly gestures toward me.

"The confirmation hearing was quite a spectacle. You all right?"

"No problems."

"Both you and Administrator Jung Juho are impressive."

Yesterday's confirmation hearing for Jung Juho—the word "spectacle" suited it perfectly.

It was so dominated by talk about me that you'd be forgiven for wondering whether it was Jung Juho's confirmation hearing or mine.

In particular, starting with the point that Jung Juho had left my excessive suppression unchecked back when I was with the National Guard Bureau, criticism of me dominated the entire hearing.

What was even funnier was that usually the attacks should come from the opposition party and the defense from the ruling party—but the attacks on me came from both opposition and ruling parties alike.

And the crowning touch was Jung Juho's response.

—Then should I have blocked it with my neck on the line?

With those words, he created a miracle: everyone, opposition and ruling alike, fell silent.

No, why is he framing it as if I'd have killed him if he'd blocked me?

Honestly, it was unfair.

The problem was that even the people who claimed to be my fans flooded the comments writing "ㅇㅈ" all over the place.

Anyone watching would think I was a villain who went around killing people left and right.

Still, there was a harvest.

"There were useful points too."

"What parts?"

"I learned how the ruling and opposition parties alike think of me."

"...That's a rather frightening thing to say."

"I don't intend to act on it. I'm just saying that's the case."

"I know."

Once you've filed it away in your head, there will come a day it comes back to mind.

As Lee Chantae and I chatted, Cheon Myeongguk came inside.

Usually he wore an indigestion-stricken expression as if it were a passive skill, but today his face looked especially good.

"Thank you for coming. It's good to see the transcendents on such close terms."

Had something good happened in his family? The beaming smile wouldn't go away.

"Our nation's goal at this event is to widely publicize the achievements we've made so far. At the center of that will be promoting the results of the Nuri hunt."

According to Cheon Myeongguk, ever since the new-tier monsters designated Harmful-class Level 8 Plus began appearing, my having hunted Nuri had once again become a hot topic.

The South Korean government was insisting the hunt's success was fact, calling any conspiracy theory absurd.

As it was a topic being fiercely debated among transcendents, Lee Chantae announced he would testify as someone with experience of the hunt.

He'd admit his own experience of failure and elevate me?

Looking at Lee Chantae, he was nodding calmly. Seeing that, I got the feeling that something had been exchanged.

There was a high probability that a deal had been struck behind the scenes that I didn't know about.

"That said."

The moment I opened my mouth, both their gazes fixed on me.

"Even if I say I hunted it, the people who won't believe it still won't believe it."

"Yes. But with the hunt results, and with Transcendent Lee Chantae's testimony, there will no longer be grounds to claim it was fabricated."

From where I stood, the ones who want to pick a fight will keep picking a fight.

Those sorts only change their minds when they're on death's doorstep.

Ah—though of course, I've never let anyone who changed their mind that way live.

You should take responsibility for your own thoughts.

Then I asked something I'd been curious about.

"Still, what happens if I kill someone who can't believe the hunt happened and wants to see my skills for himself?"

Curiosity spurs people on, after all.

Does the World Transcendent Association come after you? Do you become the world's public enemy?

Do world-class villains even exist?

"......"

Neither of them answered. Had they not understood? Or was my question wrong? Judging by the ashen look on Cheon Myeongguk's face, it seemed my question had been conveyed properly.

Had they misunderstood some other part?

"Ah, I don't plan to kill anyone. I'm just asking out of curiosity."

Truly.

I'm trying to hear the government's position before I lay a hand on anyone.

"......"

Somehow, neither of them seemed to believe me.