CH 453

“Just... Just what is up with that man?!” Elena muttered to no one in particular as chaos ruled her mind.

She only had one purpose: to approach and then befriend East Asia's mobile nuke device. In other words, Kang Jin-Ho! Her goal was to become an acquaintance with that two-faced man who pretended to be someone ordinary.

On paper, her mission sounded like a 'romantic' scenario usually found in 007-esque espionage movies. However, the reality facing her was anything but.

Elena didn't mind not receiving any support from the Round Table. Well, this was an unsanctioned mission, after all! The threat of some danger and interference from third parties always existed in espionage movies. But those things only helped the agent's accomplishment shine even brighter at the end of the day, didn't they?

This might sound trite and old-fashioned, but... Elena was fully prepared to sacrifice everything and anything for her mission. No matter how difficult and dangerous the trials and tribulations facing her way were, Elena believed she'd overcome them all with her unwavering resolve and unshakable mentality. However, her problem this time was totally beyond her expectation.

What was the image of 'Kang Jin-Ho' in Elena's head? The way she saw it, Kang Jin-Ho was someone like a... a demon king? For now, he was crouching in the shadows, hiding, biding his time... No, hang on! It wasn't like he was biding or hiding, now was it? Kang Jin-Ho had already devoured Korea, figuratively speaking, so to say he was biding his time? Now that would be a strange way to describe him.

Elena couldn't tell if it was deliberate or accidental, but... For some unfathomable reason, Kang Jin-Ho was not the trending topic despite the scale of what he had done and the ripples caused by his actions.

However, the other description was too wordy for Elena's liking, and 'biding his time' was the shortest option available. Besides, incorporating that concept would result in the description of 'A man who is biding his time but will soon bring a massive storm to East Asia', which didn't seem like an exaggeration, anyway.

The time Elena spent chatting with Kang Jin-Ho wasn't long enough for her to accurately gauge what kind of a person he was. However, that brief exchange was still enough for her to detect the savagery and violence lurking just under Kang Jin-Ho's surface.

The powerful presence he revealed that day, that oppressive pressure crushing down on her... It had been forever branded to her soul. Elena would undoubtedly experience countless many things in her life, but that encounter would forever be etched in her memories, never to be forgotten.

So, to summarize... The man named Kang Jin-Ho was a powerful existence who swallowed up South Korea in the blink of an eye. A demon who hid his cruelty and capacity for violence and patiently bid his time!

“But... Isn't this a bit...?”

Elena's trembling eyes stared at Kang Jin-Ho in the distance. Her mission still hadn't changed. Approach that demon king-like Kang Jin-Ho and somehow become friendly with him! That was because even an idiot could predict how those hard-headed Round Table knights would choose to act against Kang Jin-Ho.

Then again, those old men tried to cover up their lack of meticulousness or imagination with convenient excuses like 'We're too busy' and 'We don't have time nor manpower.' Expecting something better from them would be a fool's errand.

Elena had a pretty good hunch that the Round Table's top brass would act like they were the CIA during the Cold War. They'd assassinate the target first, and then act all haughty and mighty while saying things like, 'Leaving this guy alive would've been even worse. Be grateful that the extent of chaos is only this much!'

'What a hopeless bunch of stuck-up old farts...'

There was no denying that the Round Table had been protecting world peace. No one doubted the organization's efforts in maintaining the stability and peace of the world. Even if one could legitimately question whether or not the Round Table's actions had any effect overall...

'However, it's gotten too old-fashioned.'

Elena wasn't trying to disparage the Round Table. Not only did she acknowledge the Round Table's authority and all the efforts by its members to protect the peace, but Elena also respected them for it. However, she firmly believed certain things could never be resolved using their usual tactics. This Kang Jin-Ho 'crisis' was one of those things.

Eliminating Kang Jin-Ho? Of course, that was not a bad solution.

Why would Elena even want to protect Kang Jin-Ho? It's not like they were the best of chums, now were they? If it had been possible, Elena would have loved nothing more than to eliminate Kang Jin-Ho with her own two hands.

She was confident that the destabilizing disturbance rocking East Asia would instantly calm down once Kang Jin-Ho was removed from the picture. However...

Eliminating Kang Jin-Ho? In other words, killing that man? How?

Here was the core of the problems plaguing Elena. With globalization came more places to monitor in the name of world peace. Economies and politics became much more intimately connected than ever before, after all.

However, the Round Table was conceived as a secret organization from the get-go. Which meant it'd always have a problem recruiting new operatives. Even if new agents were found, the organization still needed to maintain its secrecy, so it continued to employ inefficient systems and an antiquated chain of command.

With the organization's situation like that, it was no wonder that analyzing a person down to the finest details and observing them for a length of time was impossible for the Round Table's agents. Even if the agent assigned to the mission put their heart and soul into compiling a report, it'd often go unread by the higher-ups.

As such, the end result would be... something like Elena's current situation.

Elena submitted a report unequivocally stating that assassinating Kang Jin-Ho was an act of lunatics and should never be attempted. However, the higher-ups would most likely go with the exact opposite recommendation. As if... As if the thoughts in their heads were like, 'Wow, Kang Jin-Ho is so dangerous we mustn't attempt to kill him? Then we gotta prove that gal wrong!'

Actually, it’d be so nice of the Round Table higher-ups if they reached that far but didn't go through with their stupidity. However, the Round Table tended to dismiss the opinions of a mere Pawn like her. The knights sitting pretty around the table only knew how to view the world through an atlas. An opinion or impression from a single individual like her could never persuade them.

If the Round Table were sticking to their old ways, they should be assembling a team of assassins to eliminate Kang Jin-Ho right about now.

'...And they will spectacularly fail.'

Elena was sure about this. The Round Table was definitely underestimating Kang Jin-Ho. If the decision to eliminate was left to Elena, she'd have at least mobilized an entire knight order. However, the hard-headed higher-ups of the Round Table would never come to a decision like that. They'd probably send a handful of assassins and try to get rid of Kang Jin-Ho.

The end result of such carelessness was too obvious. Kang Jin-Ho would become even more cautious after learning about the existence of an organization wanting to assassinate him. And naturally, he'd become hostile to the Round Table. In the worst-case scenario, Kang Jin-Ho might even decide to abandon his facade and run around wildly like the fat pig from North Korea!

'And it's my duty to stop that!'

From the get-go, there were only two solutions to this problem. Come out strong, or be conciliatory.

Since the Round Table would obviously resort to a hard-line tactic and fail, it was up to Elena to go with a more conciliatory approach. That was her way of showing loyalty to her country and... And her service to the Round Table. Most important of all, though... This was obviously the best way to maintain world peace.

That was what Elena thought. That was... until she started following Kang Jin-Ho around and monitoring him from afar.

So... How was she supposed to explain the new findings?

Of course! There was no way Kang Jin-Ho would ever carry on with his daily life with the same oppressive presence he revealed to Elena. The gap between Kang Jin-Ho she first saw by the beach and then 'Kang Jin-Ho' at the rest stop was unimaginatively humongous, after all!

Even an idiot could guess that Kang Jin-Ho was hiding who he really was.

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

“...Even so, there's gotta be a limit to that, right? Right?” Elena quietly gritted her teeth.

This was her third day of tailing Kang Jin-Ho. And in these three days, 'shocking' was simply too inadequate to describe what she had witnessed. So, what's so shocking about him, you ask? Well...

'First of all... He doesn't do anything!'

Basically, Kang Jin-Ho was like the true final boss hiding in the shadows. On the surface, he didn't do anything, but in reality... He was the overlord who controlled the Korean martial society to his whims.

None of that should come as a surprise, however. China's Three Kings or Europe's Round Table were similar in that aspect, after all. This backstory might sound like it's straight out of a B-movie, but real life was usually stranger than fiction, anyway!

Even so...!

'I mean, seriously! What does he actually do?!'

The Round Table was always busy with something or rather. Not only did the knights need to control and regulate various European nations, but they also had to somehow manage those countries not under the Round Table's influence. The level of effort required to pull this off was absolutely murderous. People even jokingly said that a knight would never die in the line of duty as overwork would get to them first!

Sure, South Korea was a small nation. Even so, managing a country should not be easy at all. However, Kang Jin-Ho... He really didn't do anything!

Kang Jin-Ho's daily activities were exceedingly simple. After waking up early in the dawn, he'd silently lay on his bed as if he was meditating. Once the morning came, he'd leave his room to have breakfast. Then, he'd put on some tracksuits and walk around his neighborhood for an hour or so as if... he was on a stroll?

After that, he'd jump in the car and drive to an orphanage some distance away. Kang Jin-Ho would try to do chores and hang out with the kids there (Elena noticed the kids being a little annoyed/bothered by his presence) and then, in the afternoon, he'd head to the pizzeria he used to own not too long ago.

Even though the workers there were clearly busy dealing with the influx of customers, Kang Jin-Ho would try to shoot breezes with them before sheepishly leaving the store after their glares got too much for him to handle. He'd end the day by joining his friend named Park Yu-Min in a PC Room to play computer games until late at night.

Then, after coming home, Kang Jin-Ho would sheepishly dodge his mother's rebuking glare, wash up, and hit the sack.

With the exception of minor deviations here and there, Kang Jin-Ho didn't stray too far from this itinerary. As for Elena's conclusion after following Kang Jin-Ho around for three days...?

It was extremely simple. Straightforward as it could get.

“...He's a bum, isn't he?”

If not, a slacker. A ne'er-do-well!

Good thing Elena was observing this routine with the full knowledge of who Kang Jin-Ho was. Otherwise, she'd definitely have thought a real unemployed bum was lazing his days away! Even the sight of Kang Jin-Ho's mother nagging him for wasting time in a PC Room late into the night was what Elena expected to see from an unemployed slacker's interaction with his parents!

'Holy cow, he's getting nagged by his mother...?'

The eye of the storm responsible for bringing the reign of terror in South Korea's martial society was getting scolded by his mother? A man who pushed China and Japan, two global powerhouses capable of influencing the entire world, into a state of panic... was running into his room to escape from his mother's nagging?! What a... priceless sight this was, then. Something Elena might never get to see again for the rest of her life!

Elena had never felt so grateful toward an inanimate object like the telephoto lens she bought at a great cost to her wallet just for this mission.

Well, Kang Jin-Ho's behavior could make sense in some way. Since he was an extremely meticulous man, Kang Jin-Ho could be faking his daily life to absolute perfection. For that one-in-a-million chance that someone was monitoring him, Kang Jin-Ho could be hiding his true self with all these inane actions during his day. In other words, he could be a terrifying sociopath!

But, but...!

“Aigoo... Thank you, young man... For helping me with this heavy thing. It must've been difficult for you to pull it up all this way…”

Kang Jin-Ho briefly shook his head. “No, ma'am. It wasn't difficult.”

“Mm... I don't have anything to offer you, but... Ah! How about this? Drink this, young man.”

“No, ma'am. You don't have to give me anything.”

“Don't say that. I'd feel bad if I didn't thank you properly somehow. So, please accept this, okay?”

“In that case, I'll gladly accept, ma'am.”

Elena's cheeks began twitching uncontrollably. Her eyes were taking in the sight of Kang Jin-Ho politely accepting a bottle of drinking yogurt from a kind grandma with a bent back. [1]

'That... That son of a...!'

When Kang Jin-Ho jumped into his car earlier, Elena sat up and took notice. She figured something must be happening today, judging from how ruthlessly Kang Jin-Ho's car was scything past the traffic to go somewhere in a hurry.

And when his flashy red car suddenly braked and stopped by the roadside, Elena felt like crying out, “YES!”. Ditto for when Kang Jin-Ho urgently exited his car, too!

But all strength in her legs abandoned her after witnessing why the man, who had driven his supercar like a lunatic, suddenly slammed on his brakes.

Kang Jin-Ho rapidly rushed up a steep side street only to... offer aid to a grandma struggling to pull a handcart up said steep street.

He even snatched the cart's handle away from the grandma and began pulling it up the street before suddenly stopping midway as if he was unhappy about something. He then proceeded to put the grandma inside the handcart and pull it up the steep hill with the speed of a man walking on a flat terrain.

The grandma kept saying it was fine, that Kang Jin-Ho didn't need to help her, but he only let go of the handcart after pulling it all the way to the top of the steep hill.

Elena's jaw fell in silence as she dazedly watched Kang Jin-Ho walk down the hill while slurping the yogurt through a straw.

He was supposed to be East Asia's ticking nuke. The demon king who'd drive the entire world into chaos. However, after observing Kang Jin-Ho for three days in a row...

Elena arrived at an exceedingly simple conclusion that didn't exactly align with previous 'colorful' evaluations.

“...Maybe he's a nice guy?”

Elena held her head reflexively with both hands.

This couldn't be right. No, this had to be a mistake...!

1. The Korean drinking yogurt, AKA Yakult, is a drink made out of milk, water, sucrose and syrup, and it comes in tiny little plastic bottles. Unlike its 'yogurt'-like name, though, it's not actually based on yogurt. ☜