Receiving A New Request

It was difficult to criticize the foolishness of the Sea Sun Brigade member who had moved alone, because Rick Arhen was a person who had been called a national hero in Chile.

That was because, during the previous Great Cataclysm, he had written down many great achievements and made his name known as an immensely skilled individual.

Then he had recently left Chile and headed to Europe, and this incident had occurred while he was carrying out an operation there after receiving some secret order.

Because the trouble happened too suddenly for the teammates moving with him to step forward, the Sea Sun Brigade ultimately had no choice but to retrieve only his remains and withdraw. Afterward, people began focusing on the Sea Sun Brigade’s next moves.

“What do you think they will do?”

“What else would they do? They will go out for revenge. The Sea Sun Brigade has been getting beaten up here and there lately.”

Kim Dae-san let out a deep sigh and asked me.

“There must be a reason you asked to meet me, correct?”

“Why are you pretending not to know? Spend some money generously.”

“…The bounty has already been decided as policy.”

“Then there is nothing I can do. I will be going?”

“Can it not be handled with that money? There are no less than fifty of them. That is an amount that could earn you several trillion won.”

“It has become impossible for me to take all of that, hasn’t it?”

If the Sea Sun Brigade had begun to get involved, then early members of the Sea Sun Brigade, including Marcelo, would surely be deployed.

Because I had witnessed their actual military power, I expected that even if Wang Sun and the others had become Chimeras and grown stronger, there would be no answer for them if they met truly powerful people.

However, the worrying part was that the people who had to face them would inevitably be flustered by attacks that incorporated the traits of Chimeras.

In reality, one of the reasons Rick Arhen died was understood to be that, even though his sword had first pierced the Lizardman Chimera’s heart, he had been killed because of the Chimera trait that allowed it to continue moving.

The conclusion was that the Sea Sun Brigade member had been superior in physical ability.

“…Please take care of only Wang Sun.”

“How much will you put on that one man’s head?”

“…You liked ‘trillion,’ did you not? I will give you 1 trillion. How is that?”

“If I face him, I will surely have to deal with the dregs as well. Count those at 100 billion each.”

“…The ruler of this country is not the thief. A human like you is the thief.”

“If you drive such cheaply used high-class manpower into being a thief, I will be grateful. I will make good use of it?”

I looked at Kim Dae-san, whose forehead veins were bulging, told him I would see him when I came to collect the money, and left the Blue House.

“So this time, you are going to China?”

At An So-mi’s words, I met her eyes.

“Why are you making a fuss, An So-mi?”

“Do you know or not know that if you keep going only to death grounds like that, the people around you will dry up inside?”

“I know. But what does that have to do with you, An So-mi?”

“It is not because of me. It is because of Yu-jin! You are Yu-jin’s boyfriend! You are dating!!”

An So-mi spoke as if she were a spokesperson, and I looked at the new black mages who were watching An So-mi’s mood and spoke.

“An So-mi sometimes shows a hot-tempered side. As the CEO’s lover, I can only apologize.”

At my words, An So-mi ultimately charged at me, and while I kept an appropriate distance and ran away, Go Yu-jin returned to the office and smiled as she looked at us.

“Why are you doing this again?”

“He says he is going to a death ground again!”

At those words, Go Yu-jin smiled lightly and said.

“I am going with him too.”

“…Hey!!”

Everyone was put in an awkward position by An So-mi’s fiery shout, and that awkward group included “me” as well.

“That would be difficult.”

“I have suppressed Wang Sun once before, so it is right for me to go. Besides, no matter how strong he has become, we do not know what kind of Chimeras there will be, do we?”

There were truly many different kinds of monsters in the world.

And Go Yu-jin said that the Chimera known as the most dangerous and famous in the world was the invisible lizard Chimera, and that there was no way such an experimental subject would not exist.

“To handle something like that, you will need me. You need someone to buy time or draw attention, right?”

It was not absolutely necessary. However, I thought it would be fine if we went and came back together harmoniously, and thinking that I would also get paid for Go Yu-jin’s daily rate, I nodded.

“Why are you nodding again! Why are you being persuaded! If your lover is going to a death ground, you should stop her!”

At An So-mi’s outburst, this time Go Yu-jin began persuading An So-mi, and when she said she would raise the allowance for the work handled while she was absent, An So-mi’s anger settled somewhat.

‘It is newly surprising that I am not the only money-crazy one.’

There was nagging, but it had greatly decreased, and she instead changed her route to giving requests and began grumbling.

While learning from the sight of Go Yu-jin persuading An So-mi like that, we began discussing the schedule.

“We can cross the sea like last time, so what will we do about the battle?”

“I want to stand at the front and take the lead.”

Go Yu-jin had recently been working hard to become stronger.

Apparently, because the gap between her and me had widened too greatly, she was pushing herself harder as if urging herself on.

I could not criticize that part, and it was actually something I should find admirable, so I affirmed it and spoke.

“I will cast plenty of buffs on you, so try stepping forward actively. I will take care of the others except Wang Sun.”

Go Yu-jin possessed an amount of mana that made it difficult to deal with even one opponent.

If the battle became prolonged, there would certainly be many factors that would put her at a disadvantage. So I looked at her as if telling her to agree with me, and because Go Yu-jin was also an Awakener who knew herself very well, she obediently nodded and answered.

“Thank you. I will think of it as an opportunity and gain something from it.”

“Let us think of it as experiencing it rather than being greedy to gain something.”

“This is just… such a damn mess.”

In the end, An So-mi, glaring at the two of us as we exchanged sticky gazes, said a word.

The atmosphere became unsettled in an ambiguous way, but I thought it was just right, and afterward, we began preparing for departure.

We checked the relic equipment and began figuring out the movement route and the routes of the guys carrying out the terror attacks.

“At minimum, even if a battle breaks out, it must be along a movement route away from the city center. Damage could occur from our battle, or they may try to take people hostage and escape.”

Go Yu-jin, who understood what I was worried about, nodded firmly.

“Just trust me. And Wang Sun will absolutely not run away from me. I am confident I can provoke him.”

At those words, I tilted my head, but considering that she had a brief clash with Wang Sun during the First Korean Peninsula War, I merely wondered if there had been some ill-fated connection at that time.

After much discussion, we reached a conclusion, and since there was a chance that our response might already be slower than the Sea Sun Brigade’s, we decided to go for now and departed the country.

Meanwhile, Ben Smith, Marcelo, and the other executives of the Sea Sun Brigade were trying to approach cautiously, unlike what someone had expected.

“This matter feels a little unpleasant.”

At Ben Smith’s words, Marcelo also agreed.

“The fact that the Church of Ruin suddenly disappeared as if evaporating is strange, but the truly strange point is that all those Red Gates are no longer occurring.”

“Do you think there is something going on?”

At Hera, the Saintess of the Gaia Order’s question, Ben Smith nodded.

“A group like the Church of Ruin always encourages division. If they are quiet, then it is right to see it as meaning they are trying to commit something. On top of that, even though they know we were shaken considerably after the previous Black Gate incident, the fact that they are acting like this must mean they are preparing something somewhere.”

They might be preparing a calamity similar to the one during the Black Gate, or they might be trying to carry out something even more horrible.

And what they considered seriously was the powerful force they had felt from inside the Gate for a brief moment when the Black Gate closed. For now, common sense said that once a Gate was closed, it was no longer connected to this world, so they were simply ignoring it, but they could not help feeling uneasy.

“For now, we should assume that the ones carrying out the terror attacks are definitely a group connected to the Church of Ruin.”

Ben Smith nodded at Marcelo’s firm answer.

“Then it would be right to take action. Who will step forward?”

At present, the Sea Sun Brigade executives were busy because of the training of newly joined members.

There were not many people with free time, and even those who could make time were, in reality, cases where they would have to go out on dispatch after passing the burden of the members they were in charge of onto others.

“We cannot ignore Rick Arhen’s death. Someone with enough skill to subjugate them without fail must go.”

After hearing Hera’s words, Ben and Marcelo looked at each other.

But at that moment, one person raised her hand.

“But… do we really need to go ourselves?”

At Robin’s question, everyone’s gazes gathered. And as everyone seemed to think of someone and smiled lightly, Hera alone tilted her head as if she could not understand, and Marcelo spoke.

“I will contact him. If it is him… he will help.”

“You will have to pay him an appropriate price.”

“Do not worry about that part. I have quite a few good Magic Stones. If I say I will pay those as the price, he will gladly help.”

Ben and the others nodded, but Hera, who could not sympathize with this, spoke.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Ah, you have seen him too, so you will know. I mean Korea’s strongest black mage.”

“Ah, the Worst, Geum Seong-chan?”

“I do not know why he has such an unpleasant nickname as the Worst, but at least, the way I see him, even if he is not righteous, he is a chivalrous person.”

“What kind of wordplay is that?”

Hera could not understand, but the others nodded as if agreeing. However, Robin seemed to think a little differently and opened her mouth.

“The Geum Seong-chan I saw was a slave to money….”

No one was listening carefully to her voice as it trailed off, but Robin alone was certain.

‘No matter how I look at it, that person is the same type as me… A human crazy for money and valuable things….’

For some reason, she did not know why. The characteristic of such humans was that each of them had their own reason.

Robin had the justification of supporting the fallen Goyang, and she also had the reason that her family was living there.

Robin, who thought it was a reasonably justified reason, expected that Geum Seong-chan would have the same reason as well.

“Now, let us contact him and discuss cleaning up Wang Sun and all those dreg Chimeras.”

That was Marcelo’s conclusion, and soon, as he used Teleport and disappeared far too easily, everyone could only click their tongues.

“Sometimes, when I look at Marcelo, I get the feeling that he is a dragon that used Polymorph. Is it just me?”

At Robin’s words, Ben and the others told her not to be ridiculous, but Robin once again looked at him, who did not seem human, and began seriously wondering if the realm of a 9th Circle mage was truly possible.