Chapter 58

<Chapter 58: Grasp (1)>

Friday evening.

The base of the Saviors of Truth.

Six executives, including Unknown, gathered again.

“…”

In the cold silence, Unknown skimmed through the newspaper.

It was the newspaper that Maestro had handed over.

[Yesterday at 10 p.m. Shinwa Group, Bihon Guild joint operation! Villain ‘Vagabond’ of the Saviors of Truth killed!]

The newspaper had an article about Vagabond’s death.

[The world was shocked by the video of about a minute released by the Shinwa Group.]

[…Omitted. The villain called Vagabond had a combat power that was indescribable. Even though six S-rank superhumans appeared, the battle lasted for 20 minutes. They all shivered at his strength.]

[…Omitted. But in the end, the superhumans won. They suffered a lot of damage, but they gained more than they lost. If they had not dealt with this powerful villain now, the damage that would have occurred later would have been incomparable to now.]

Vagabond’s strength.

[We thank the Shinwa Group and Bihon Guild for trapping and dealing with such a powerful villain. NY Times- Crian Beriton reporter.]

The praise for Shinwa and Bihon, who perfectly trapped and dealt with Vagabond.

The article had those two contents written at length.

“David.”

In the midst of suffocating tension, Unknown called Maestro.

“…Yes. Boss.”

“Jayce is dead.”

Jayce Scarlet.

Vagabond’s real name.

“…Yes.”

The other executives, including Maestro, bowed their heads.

“I can understand that he fell into a trap. Jayce was stupid from the start, I knew that.”

Unknown tapped the armrest of the chair with his index finger.

“But I can’t understand why he died.”

Unknown’s expression was very empty.

He didn’t feel sad, angry, or anything else about his subordinate’s death.

“Jayce was a stupid bastard who was crazy about fighting, but he wasn’t foolish.”

Vagabond’s detection ability was unparalleled among the executives.

He could detect all magic and life forms within 1km.

How did they pierce Vagabond’s detection network and form a perfect encirclement and kill Vagabond?

And that by only six S-rank superhumans outside the top 100?

It was something that Unknown couldn’t understand with his common sense.

“David. Why do you think Jayce died?”

Silence passed.

“…That.”

Maestro couldn’t answer.

He had a guess, but it was awkward to say it out loud.

Unknown twisted his lips.

“I see.”

Vagabond’s detection ability, combat power, personality, superhumans’ response speed.

And so on, he considered everything.

“There is a traitor in here who gave Vagabond’s information to the superhumans.”

The Korean superhumans must have known Vagabond’s information in detail.

Otherwise, they couldn’t explain Vagabond’s death.

“…”

“…”

A cold tension flowed between the six executives.

They all thought about it in one corner of their minds.

Unknown looked at the executives with a joyful expression.

“Answer truthfully to my question.”

Black mist swirled around Unknown.

“Kuk!”

“Kak!”

At the same time, the six executives grabbed their hearts and groaned.

The ‘Oath of Absolute Obedience’ that twisted their hearts was activated.

“Is there anyone in here who leaked information about Vagabond in any way? If so, answer.”

If they lied to Unknown’s question, their hearts would twist and die instantly.

“…”

“…”

But the executives were all quiet.

No one answered.

“Hmm.”

That meant that there was no one who leaked Vagabond’s information to the outside.

Unknown retracted his magic.

“My guess was wrong.”

On second thought, there was no way that an executive would be stupid enough to betray him even with the Oath of Absolute Obedience.

The six executives sighed in relief at the same time. They were worried that there might be a traitor in here, but they were relieved that there wasn’t.

‘…Whew.’

Among them, Hermit’s relief was different. He actually stuck to Kang Seo-yul and did something similar to betrayal, so he was more than worried.

Fortunately, it seemed to have passed well.

“Hmm.”

Unknown tapped the armrest of the chair with his index finger again rhythmically and sank into thought.

‘There was no traitor.’

Then how did Vagabond fall into a trap and die?

Unknown’s brain spun like a top.

He established hypotheses one by one and eliminated them one by one, looking for the best answer.

“I don’t know.”

But the answer didn’t come.

The information was too scarce.

He wouldn’t have concluded that there was a traitor among the executives in the first place if there was another answer.

‘Did something transcendental intervene?’

“…Boss. What should we do?”

Maestro broke the silence and opened his mouth.

“What do you mean?”

“The investigation of the other races and the revenge of Vagabond.”

“Hmm.”

Unknown stroked his chin.

Honestly, he didn’t care about Vagabond’s revenge.

Vagabond was stupid and weak, so he died.

The word revenge was a luxury for such a stupid guy.

But the investigation of the other races was different.

The investigation of the other races was necessary to achieve the goal of uncovering the truth of the 10 years of emptiness. Therefore, he needed to send another investigator.

But it was too late to send another executive for the preparation of the national war.

And there was no guarantee that another executive wouldn’t end up like Vagabond.

Unknown himself had no spare time to find an item that could replace the root of the world.

“David.”

Therefore, he wouldn’t send six executives. Unknown wouldn’t move either.

“Send your subordinates, Sword Spirit and Ghost Spirit, to Korea.”

“Yes.”

* * *

“When I considered all these reasons, I concluded that there would be no attacks from the executives for at least four months.”

I said, looking at Jia and Yu Hwa in turn.

Their faces were full of worries until a little while ago, but now they looked a bit relieved.

They both saw Vagabond’s incredible power with their own eyes, and they were worried that they might be retaliated against by the Saviors of Truth later, so I explained that they didn’t have to worry.

The fact that they would be busy preparing for the national war terror.

The fact that Unknown would take the action of ‘observation’ rather than acting directly in this mysterious situation.

The fact that if they sent another villain, it would be more likely to be a regular villain rather than an executive.

And so on, I told them that they didn’t have to worry about being retaliated right away.

“So don’t worry about it, and think about how to maximize the benefits you gained from this executive handling the case.”

This incident greatly increased the brand reputation of the Shinwa Group and Bihon Guild.

They received a great applause from the world for perfectly killing one of the Saviors of Truth executives who had not even found a clue until now.

…Well, who wouldn’t clap after watching the released battle video?

“This is really, what should I say. If it was someone else’s words, I would have snickered and said how can you be sure of that. But since it’s Seo-yul’s words. I feel very relieved.”

Yu Hwa stretched his legs and spoke with a relaxed face.

“Thank you. Seo-yul.”

Jia also thanked me with a much more relaxed face.

“Thank you. I’m more grateful. Thank you too, Yu Hwa.”

If it weren’t for these two, I wouldn’t have even thought of dealing with Vagabond.

It was thanks to them that they trusted my words completely that I was able to deal with Vagabond.

Long live connections.

“By the way, you two. I heard today is your last written exam. Did you do well?”

Yu Hwa looked at me and Jia with a smirk.

She looked like she was praying for us to fail the exam.

What should I do with this?

“I got a perfect score.”

“I got three wrong.”

We both did really well on the exam.

“…”

As expected, Yu Hwa’s expression soured. His eyes seemed to say ‘Wow. Unlucky.’

I tried to ignore Yu Hwa’s gaze and got up from my seat.

“Anyway, you both worked hard.”

“…You worked harder than anyone else, what are you talking about.”

Yu Hwa looked at me with a sour eye.

“Besides, the lie you told me. Keep it in your mind. You know that, right?”

“…Hmm.”

Yu Hwa seemed to be sure that I was the one who played the role of bait.

I didn’t even think I could fool her in the first place.

“You know I’m a woman who holds a grudge more than you think, right?”

“Yes. I know.”

That’s natural because the person who played the role of bait was [an unidentified acquaintance who only Jia knows].

She must have thought of me.

“If you need anything next time, I’ll help you out. Contact me if you need to.”

I left the room after saying that.

* * *

“Nyaang!”

As soon as I entered the house, Goldie greeted me.

“Oohoo oohoo. My Goldie. Did you wait for me?”

I hugged Goldie and flopped down on the bed.

“Ugh. I managed to solve it somehow.”

I succeeded in dealing with Vagabond, who boasted of his overwhelming power, in such a short time.

It was something to be very happy about,

But I wasn’t entirely happy.

“…I got beaten up even though I used an A+ rank ancient artifact.”

Even though I had the air superiority, I could only endure.

That too against Vagabond who didn’t activate [Red Oath] at all.

“Sigh.”

The wall of ability was too thick and high.

Well, it was a miracle that an E-rank nobody like me lasted for a minute against an S-rank superhuman.

It was all thanks to the Distelion Ring, Heavenly Wings, Wind Path, and all kinds of racial traits.

I confirmed the cheat-like nature of my ability again.

“…Tsk.”

But on the other hand, this means…

That even after using all those cheat-like abilities, I could only last for a minute.

“This miserable body.”

I can only sigh.

“Nyaang?”

Did my self-deprecation bother him?

Goldie looked at me with a worried expression.

And then he lifted his front paw and pressed my cheek.

Ah. Healing.

“My Goldie. Are you giving me a poke-poke to cheer me up?”

“Nyaa.”

I rubbed Goldie’s head roughly.

He made a gurgling sound as if he liked it.

“Okay. I’ll cheer up.”

I feel energized thanks to Goldie. And well, there’s no need to think only negatively.

My physical ability has enough room for growth.

Even though I was an E-rank nobody who used an A+ rank ancient artifact, I lasted for a minute against an S-rank villain Vagabond.

This means that

If my physical ability rises to D-rank, C-rank,

And even to S-rank and use an ancient artifact, there will be no one who can oppose me.

“…And I have some time to spare thanks to this Vagabond handling case.”

As I told Yu Hwa and Jia earlier, Unknown probably won’t be able to intervene in Korea for a while.

No matter how interested he is in the other races, he can’t give up the national war terror operation that he has been preparing for a long time.

He won’t do the stupid thing of dividing his already scarce manpower again.

Considering Unknown’s personality, he won’t act emotionally to avenge Vagabond either.

It must be certain.

And also considering all kinds of circumstantial evidence,

There won’t be any big problems for a while.

“…I have to grow hard during this time.”

One month before the national war begins.

That period will probably be the cold war period.

The preparations for the attack were over by then in the original work.

“Nyaa.”

I scratched Goldie’s neck and thought.

The goal is to achieve B-rank in all abilities by one month before the national war begins.

If I’m greedy, I’ll raise it to A-rank.

It will be hard, but not impossible.

“If luck follows me well, things might get easier.”

…Like this time.

I put my hand on my chest and smiled.

I put my hand on the red tattoo of the heavenly race on my chest.

“I never thought this would come out here.”

The trait that the heavenly race heretic judges commonly possessed.

[Heavenly Punishment]

I raised my right hand.

“…It became a dual attribute here.”

Zap-

Lightning flashed in my hand.

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