Chapter 92

Chapter 92

Franz's surface reason for visiting South Korea was to avenge his disciple, but the reality was different.

He didn't much care where his disciple had gone off and gotten beaten.

Laura was already an acknowledged transcendent. If she'd gotten thrashed out there, she'd have to overcome it with her own strength.

If anything, the fact that she'd lost and still come back alive meant heaven had smiled on her.

She'd been getting a big head after becoming a transcendent, so he figured the experience would do her good.

Franz fixed his gaze on the man before him.

'Choi Junho.'

A rising star who'd shot up like a comet.

He'd crossed the sea to see this man. Franz's eyes, fixed on him, were layered with deep suspicion.

The chilling alias: Head Breaker.

Add to that a forcefulness that didn't hesitate for even a moment the instant the numbers didn't add up.

And a cruelty that left an unstoppable enemy utterly wrecked.

In him, Franz glimpsed a disposition far closer to a villain than to a righteous transcendent.

Other nations might covet his power and treat him as a state-certified transcendent, but a transcendent with a twisted heart would only go on to produce another League—another Three Evils.

Franz had come to this conclusion while watching footage from the World Transcendent Day event, in which Choi Junho faced off against Schwantner, Laura, and Traore.

All three belonged to the European Union, so Franz knew their abilities well. Three transcendents who were by no means lacking had launched a coordinated attack—and still been pushed back by Choi Junho.

'This one is far too dangerous.'

Given the slightest misstep, he could become a great evil that would burn the world down.

Franz recalled old memories of meeting the Three Evils who founded the League. Even in their youth, they had been no ordinary talents.

There had been a time when he thought that so long as they protected the world from monsters, he didn't care if their thinking was warped. But that complacency had birthed a monster called the League.

Franz still regrets it.

If only he had acted when he'd first felt that unease, or changed their minds—if only he'd steeled his heart and done something—the League might never have appeared. But the League's Three Evils had climbed toward heights beyond his reach.

So before Choi Junho went badly astray, he wanted to know what the man was thinking.

If Choi Junho were to join the League, which had swelled its ranks by exploiting the conflict between Awakened and non-Awakened?

'If he holds twisted ideas... I will stop him.'

Even at the cost of his life.

If a transcendent of Choi Junho's caliber joined the League, it wouldn't be a minus one—it could be a minus one hundred, or worse.

Humanity, already struggling to hold its own against monsters, could be driven to extinction.

"Come at me."

Franz shouted in a resolute voice.

Thirty minutes later.

"Ow! I'm dying here! A young punk is beating up an old man!"

Franz lay collapsed, wailing.

* * *

The results of testing Choi Junho were brutal.

Starting from his left shoulder, his entire arm and wrist were broken clean through, and his right arm was bent and snapped the opposite way.

Even his legs, which he was barely keeping upright, were in peril from the Arc Mines that relentlessly drilled into him.

Unlike Franz, who was completely wrecked, Choi Junho was fine. Only his clothes were torn, and he had nothing but minor scratches.

"How is it right for a young punk to beat an old man like this!"

But Franz's voice as he spoke was trembling.

He'd been able to see a fragment of Choi Junho. It was absolute madness and bloodlust. There existed in Choi Junho a purity that could never be mixed with the League—those who claimed to act for the world's sake.

And this was the power of a man who hadn't even been a transcendent for a year?

He'd never experienced viciousness like this. It was like a killing machine, programmed on how to annihilate a human being.

As a German transcendent, Franz had faced countless monsters on the front lines, and had fought the League's villains since the League's earliest stirrings.

Among them was Hell Master—and Franz was one of the few transcendents who had faced him and come out unscathed.

Even the League's Three Evils didn't employ methods this vicious. Choi Junho was far stronger and far more dangerous than he'd anticipated.

"So why did you test me?"

Choi Junho, who had drawn close, clicked his tongue and sprayed him with a recovery potion. The broken bones slid back into place, and the shattered fragments took shape again.

The pain throughout his body vanished like a lie. Judging by how he pulled it out as though it had been prepared in advance, Franz couldn't shake the suspicion that he'd foreseen everything from the start.

That calm expression made the madness and bloodlust he'd glimpsed moments ago feel like a lie.

"...You noticed, didn't you."

At those completely unexpected words, Franz felt utterly dumbfounded.

"Did you think I wouldn't? I know you're not with the League."

"You knew I was lying?"

"That's why you're still alive."

Otherwise, he said, his neck would have been broken.

"......"

Then what had he been acting for?

His resolute determination? These injuries? Why, exactly?

Franz, who had thrown away his confusion over Choi Junho's identity, shouted.

"And knowing that, you still wrecked me like this?"

"You're strong, old man. There was no way to win without injuring you."

"Don't lie to me, you brat!"

"Think of it as the price of testing me."

"...Fine, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have thought of testing you in the first place. It's all my fault."

Ironically, hearing that put his mind at ease.

If Choi Junho had been with the League, there was no way he would have let him live.

It was a single thread of hope obtained by letting his old body get wrecked.

"So you do know how to reflect on your mistakes."

"Enough, spray another recovery potion!"

"This one's expensive."

"You think I don't have that kind of money?"

"I'll be billing you."

"Stingy brat! In my day, when a colleague fell into debt, you'd take out a credit loan to lend them the money!"

"That's crossing the line."

So he'd been dancing in this bastard's palm from the very beginning.

He felt hollowed out, and the injured areas began to throb.

Shhhk!

This recovery potion—it worked well, but damn if it didn't hurt like hell.

* * *

I'd known from the start that old man Franz was testing me.

I played along anyway because I was curious about the skill he hadn't yet lost.

He'd stepped back on his own, but I wanted to experience the skill of a man once called one of the Ten Great Transcendents in his prime.

As for the results—it was quite impressive.

His experience and his applications of Arc Mine, in particular, were things even I could take a few notes from.

"So, are you satisfied, wrecking an old man like this?"

"I know you're perfectly fine."

The reason the match had ended so anticlimactically was simple. The way to overpower an opponent who competes through experience and know-how is to hit harder and faster.

As a result, he ended up a wreck, but the power of Shinseong Group's special recovery potion was tremendous. Even if he had internal damage, it succeeded in making his exterior look perfectly fine.

"Cold-blooded bastard."

Franz, who had been glaring at me, slumped down with a deflated look.

"So, how was it?"

"How was what."

"My skill."

"...Just try saying you're going to the League. I'll call up everyone I know and raid you."

Anyone listening would think I was out of my mind like I was in my Blood Lord days.

And even if he did that, he couldn't catch me.

Franz didn't seem to have meant it seriously either.

"Were you that worried I'd join the League?"

"Of course I'd be worried. These kids these days—the moment something rubs them the wrong way, they flip everything upside down and run off to become villains."

"I'm not like that."

"Have you even thought about how much you've flipped upside down?"

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Franz sighs as he looks at my expression. Something's irritating him.

So he's saying I'm a troublemaker?

"Then again, it's because you're that dense that the worst hasn't happened."

"I have no intention of joining the League."

"I know. Who do you think I am, deaf?"

Saying he doesn't believe me. What a shameless old man.

"The point is that the League's ideology is that dangerous. What I just told you—didn't it tempt you?"

"Not really."

"Really?"

"Being swayed by nonsense just means you're that stupid."

What the League says is sweet, but that's all it is. The words spouted by forces attempting revolution are always, as ever, sweet and nothing more.

If they can't offer something as an alternative, it's nothing but empty talk.

Create a world where the Awakened are treated well? Then what about the non-Awakened?

Just because I'm Awakened doesn't mean my whole family is.

The League completely excludes any mention of that part, prattling on as if they'll create a righteous world led by the capable. So the incapable can just die? Even if you sympathize at first, if the ones who have to be culled are your family, would you accept it with a smile?

Internal contradictions can be resolved internally. Like I did.

"...Heh heh. I see. I was thinking about it wrong from the start."

Franz let out a hollow laugh after hearing my thoughts.

"Do you believe me now?"

"Couldn't you have told me in advance?"

"Would you have believed me obediently?"

"Maybe I could have?"

Franz's voice trailed off.

"You already know the answer yourself, old man."

"Not giving an inch, are you. Vicious bastard."

Who's he calling vicious.

Seeing him maintain his old-man lecturing stance to the very end, I had to admit it was impressive in a different way.

"You don't seem too worried about the League."

"Why should I bother with people like that?"

"You should. If the world ends, it'll be because of them."

"The world doesn't end that easily."

Even when I went mad as the Blood Lord, it didn't end.

It just got seriously wrecked.

Franz shakes his head. What now?

"In the early days, when the Awakened first appeared, there was a Prophet with a prophecy gift. Do you know of him?"

"I don't."

I'd never heard of him, nor was I interested.

Was prophecy even possible in the first place? It just seemed like spouting off and bragging when one or two things happened to come true.

Then I could prophesy too.

I will not go mad, I will live peacefully, and I will not cause any trouble.

Prophecy. So easy.

Unlike my negative answer, Franz spoke with a serious expression.

"Unfortunately, the Prophet was a man who hadn't even received a proper education. But he feared that the world could be destroyed not by monsters but by humans, and he left numerous prophecies in the place where he lived."

Franz said the Prophet's prophecies matched the great upheavals that followed.

"Unfortunately, we don't have all of his prophecies. By the time we found them, a significant portion of the Prophet's predictions had been lost."

The Prophet was from a small coastal village in Namibia untouched by civilization, he said.

He couldn't read or write, so he left his prophecies as pictures carved into stone.

"The last prophecy the Prophet left was this: 'The darkness that thinks itself light will devour all the blessings of the world.' We believe this darkness is the League, and the blessings are gifts."

"......"

"The League has absolute powerhouses in Blackhound and Hell Master, but its core is undeniably Argos. He doesn't age, he keeps the world within his sight, and he cunningly schemes."

That Argos is cunning—I agree.

Who's he calling someone born to be a villain?

That's an insult I've never heard before.

"Interpreting the prophecy, we consider the devouring of blessings in two directions. The first is multiple gifts. It's already known that Argos is a possessor of more than a dual gift."

"What's the other?"

"To devour a gift means to take a gift. It refers to the Awakened being brought into the League."

"That sounds plausible."

To me, it seemed like a ring for the nose and an earring for the ear—fits whatever you want it to fit.

"In the end, it means Argos is a villain capable of bringing destruction to the world."

"Have you ever seen Argos?"

"I have. But even that appearance—there's no knowing if it's real."

That's how cunning he is?

"So the story is that we need to join forces to eliminate the League."

"Yes."

Franz nodded.

I didn't think the League's forces were that strong.

The number of transcendents currently belonging to the League is known to be around forty.

No single force possesses that many transcendents, but the League is also scattered in cells, so it can't project its full strength in one place.

If they gather in uselessly large numbers, we can just kill them all.

"You don't have to be convinced by what I say right now. Just don't let it go in one ear and out the other."

"Sure."

The end of the world—prophecy sure is grandiose.

I'm going to try not to overthink it.

If I kill them one by one as I see them, someday they'll be gone.

We told the restaurant, got new clothes to change into, and headed to the hotel where Franz was staying.

"The world can exist because there are many kinds of people. Remember that."

After leaving those words, he went inside.

He seems intent on warning me about the League's danger to the very end, but—I don't know.

South Korea is the most free from the League in the world, so maybe that's why I can't feel it.

"Anyway."

The prophecy Franz had mentioned earlier had been stuck in my head.

Devour all blessings?

Somehow, it almost sounds like it's talking about my Blood Devour.

Surely not.

* * *

Franz's visit to South Korea this time had been fruitful.

Experiencing the skill of a monster named Choi Junho had been satisfying, and so had learning that the man's nature was fundamentally incompatible with the League.

If the League had made a move on him, they'd probably have all had their heads smashed in, thanks to his personality.

Except that his forcefulness was excessively cruel.

"Where's the respect? The respect?"

His external wounds had all healed, but his bones still ached.

Which meant the injuries he'd sustained in his match with Choi Junho had been severe.

Laura showed her concern.

"You're really okay, right?"

"Ugh, even if I'm not, I have to act like I am."

"...That's why I told you to be careful around Choi Junho."

"You don't want to hang around Choi Junho, so you duck out on him?"

"Sorry."

When Franz raised his eyes, Laura apologized immediately. But he could sympathize with why she'd done it.

That madman thinks he's the only sane one around.

Still, overall, it had been a satisfying visit.

The food had been good, and he'd seen how the city ran under a strict surveillance system.

"Did you get a good look around?"

"Yes, I saw everything worth seeing."

"So while your master was getting beaten up, you were having a good time?"

"......"

"Tch, in my day, disciples followed their masters around like they were heaven itself."

"Are you just going to repeat the same thing?"

By the time they arrived at the airport, bickering the whole way, Franz and Laura were surrounded by reporters who had been waiting for them.

"Grand Master Franz! Did you enjoy your visit to South Korea?"

"What's your impression of the country?"

"What did you discuss with President Jeon Hancheol?"

The reporters, who hadn't been able to get close just moments ago because Choi Junho was at his side, pounced with their questions all at once.

Franz smiled and answered the interview with utmost sincerity.

"It is a very beautiful country—dynamic, with no shortage of capable individuals. I caught a glimpse of the makings of a world leader as a great power of the Awakened."

When calm Korean came out of his mouth, the reporters all marveled and poured out more questions.

A giant from a foreign land praising South Korea was a code that worked regardless of the times.

The mood froze when the questions turned to advice for South Korea, things the country should be wary of—and then a negative question about Choi Junho came out.

"With the recent emergence of Transcendent Choi Junho, social conflict has been deepening. We'd like to hear your thoughts on this!"

"Some say Choi Junho's forcefulness is no different from a villain's. What is your opinion?"

"Don't you think it's a national embarrassment for a transcendent to carry himself as lightly as an idol……"

"How do you view the social phenomenon of a Hunter more brutal than villains appearing……"

All of them were topics perfect for grabbing headlines.

"……"

Laura, who could understand Korean, hardened her expression, and Franz's face, which had been answering gently, also stiffened as he quietly stroked his chin. It was a habit of his when he was displeased.

The reporters who had been firing off questions had, before anyone noticed, gone silent as clams.

They had been overwhelmed by the aura Franz was giving off.

"Are you not people who serve the nation, but a breed that feeds off peace?"

"……!"

Under his icy gaze, the reporters couldn't answer and froze.

Though he had stepped down from the Ten Great Transcendents, he was a towering figure of Europe and counted among the strongest transcendents.

The reporters, mere ordinary people, were so cowed that they couldn't say a word.

"This peace was built on the sacrifice of the Awakened. Drunk on that peace, you forget their sacrifice, drag out their every flaw, and burn it up as gossip, stirring conflict."

No one could refute Franz's sharp rebuke.

This entire scene was being broadcast live.

"The peace we enjoy was not made for free! Remember that!"

No wonder the Awakened shuddered and left for the League.

Some couldn't bear the pressure and hung their heads.

They didn't even have the courage to face this much.

Scanning the reporters with contemptuous eyes, he spat out a curse.

"Trash! Ficken!"