CH 98

“Grand General…!”

As the Grand General stomped out of the great hall, all the Yeti generals and knights clenched their teeth, suppressing their fury as much as they could. The fact that a mere mortal was enslaving them infuriated them.

In contrast to the generals and knights, the Grand General stayed silent and calm as he ordered them, “Don’t say anything.”

“Why don’t you just ascend to the throne…!”

“I said, don’t say anything,” the Grand General solemnly repeated.

“But!”

“I only serve one king, and that’s all I’m going to say,” the Grand General said.

“…”

“…”

As the Grand General had responded that way, the generals and knights could no longer say anything. Although they were frustrated with the Grand General’s stubbornness, his unyielding spirit had made them truly loyal to the Grand General; thus, they merely maintained a grim silence, simply hoping he would change his mind soon.

“We’re the King’s subjects, and the subjects have only one job, which is wishing for His Highness’ safe return, so…” the Grand General began. Beneath his helmet, his eyes shone coldly like the snow in the fields. He continued, “I’m just going to protect him.”

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* * *

Phantom Demon Jeong Yoo-Jin returned to the Winter King’s chamber, which had turned into her private room at some point, and sank into a sofa. Everything annoyed her. She had made no progress with the mine, so the [Everlasting Ice Crystal] was far out of her reach. On top of that, Council, the punitive force, and the damned White Tiger Clan were forcing their way into this place to get her, and…

‘…Why did he have to die like that?’ Yoo-Jin thought bitterly.

…Gwak Do-Woon’s abrupt death also irritated her.

“Okay, I’ll buy time by any means necessary,” Do-Woon said with a nod.

Yoo-Jin had hated Do-Woon, who had not known about her or her mother’s situation for his entire life, and yet had suddenly come forward and shamelessly tried to act like her father. At first, she had intended to reject his request to stay with her, but Do-Woon had pleaded, saying he would even be glad to do menial tasks for her. Thus, she had thought she could exploit his fame, and had thus allowed him to stay with her. But…

‘That was my mistake,’ Yoo-Jin thought, closing her eyes.

After that, Do-Woon had always acted like her father whenever she tried to do something. She had pushed him away, but Do-Woon had continued to make her open her heart. Any time Yoo-Jin had said resentful things about her father, her mother had always soothed her and told her not to hate her father too much. She had also told Yoo-Jin that Do-Woon had not abandoned them, and in truth, it was she who had left Do-Woon without saying a word. Yoo-Jin had gradually begun to understand why her mother had said such things.

However, Yoo-Jin had never wanted to reveal how she actually felt; she thought it would be like betraying her mother, who had passed away after missing Do-Woon her entire life. That was why Yoo-Jin had lashed out at Do-Woon before he left the Dungeon, telling him not to return alive, even though she had only sent out Do-Woon because she had no other choice.

Still, Do-Woon had resolutely accepted her order without question, making her love and hate him at the same time. If he had only shown up sooner, a little bit sooner, and given the same affection to her mother…

In the end, just as she had spitefully ordered him to, Do-Woon had really died. Thus, Yoo-Jin now felt empty, as if there were a hole in her heart. She finally faced the truth she had ignored until now: She loved her father.

‘You… suddenly left the same way you came to me…’ Yoo-Jin thought, covering her face with her hand.

Crack!

Yoo-Jin smashed the wine glass in her hand with ease as she thought, ‘I’ll take revenge for you by any means necessary.’

She gritted her teeth, her eyes shining viciously. She did not know the name of the man who had spoken to her through Do-Woon’s pendant, but she assumed he was the ‘Hahoe Mask’, the man who had brought the Highoff Clan’s downfall. Thus, she intended to capture him no matter what; then, she could take revenge for herself, Do-Woon, and her Clan members all at once, making him suffer more than they had.

Drip!

Drip!

Perhaps due to her sheer fury, she did not notice the glass shards cutting into her hand, making her bleed profusely as she clenched her fists tightly.

Just then…

[The Celestial ‘Weeping Mōryō’ observes you carefully.]

‘He is…!’ Yoo-Jin quickly stood up upon seeing the unexpected message that suddenly popped up before her.

She knew ‘Weeping Mōryō’ very well, as Do-Woon had served the deity as his apostle. In contrast to his divine name, which made him look feeble, the deity’s divine class was much higher than that of Yoo-Jin’s Guardian.

According to rumors among Players, the deity had played an active role in the legendary . The fact that he had participated in the war was already enough to convey the power of ‘Weeping Mōryō’. Such a deity had appeared out of nowhere, which meant Yoo-Jin had to devote all her attention to the message.

[The Celestial ‘Weeping Mōryō’ asks whether you need power.]

‘Power?’ Yoo-Jin wondered, unable to answer quickly.

From what she knew, ‘Weeping Mōryō’ was a deity with a strong Alignment toward evil, which meant he was closer to a devil than a deity. Such deities made Players mortgage their souls in times such as this, adding fuel to the fire of their indignation.

[The Celestial 'Weeping Mōryō’ says he will give you a chance if you want one.]

‘An opportunity?’ Yoo-Jin thought. Her mouth suddenly dried up as she remembered Do-Woon’s advice not to trust or rely on a deity completely.

“…What do I need to do?” she eventually replied. She could no longer care about such things. As her back was already up against a wall, she would do anything to resolve the crisis, even if she had to sell her soul to a devil.

[The Celestial ‘Aurora-Shrouded Sky’ worries about the choice her subordinate has made!]

[The Celestial ‘Weeping Mōryō’ intentionally ignores your Guardian.]

[The Celestial ‘Weeping Mōryō’ wants to give you a gift.]

Whoosh!

Yoo-Jin opened her hands wide, and a pool of light formed in them. Her eyes briefly widened, but soon, the look in them was replaced with a cold gleam.

* * *

‘What on earth has Chang-Sun done?’ Kim Hyeong-Jun wondered, bewildered.

He maintained a straight face as he revealed himself, but he could not stop his back from sweating. Although Hyeong-Jun thought he had perfectly concealed himself while closing on Chang-Sun, it seemed that Chang-Sun had noticed him approaching furtively with several other people.

‘He’s even stronger than when he was in the training institute,’ Hyeong-Jun realized.

The part that shocked Hyeong-Jun the most was Chang-Sun’s ability to instantly kill over a dozen Yetis at once. Fire-type skills were certainly very effective against ice-type monsters, but terrain and conditions mattered whenever one used a skill.

Amid a constant, raging blizzard, the damage of fire-type skills was naturally weakened significantly; however, Chang-Sun seemed to be completely unaffected. As far as Hyeong-Jun remembered, even the section chiefs could not take out over a dozen Yetis in a flash the way Chang-Sun could. Thus, it was safe to assume that the disadvantages Players experienced in ‘Yeti Hill’ did not apply to Chang-Sun.

‘Or he’s still that powerful, even with the restrictions…!’ Hyeong-Jun thought. No matter what the answer was, he was bound to be nervous as he thought, ‘I misjudged him.’

The scrawny middle-aged man who was standing beside Hyeong-Jun asked with a grin, “Sir, doesn’t it look as if we need to be paid more?”

“…How much more do you need?” Hyeong-Jun asked bitterly.

“Hmm, I don’t know. If he’s the target, we’ll undoubtedly sustain significant damage, so shouldn’t this much additional payment suffice?” the middle-aged man replied as he spread out all his fingers, making Hyeong-Jun wince.

Men such as this would not start at a mere 10 million won, so that meant he wanted at least 500 million won more. Although Hyeong-Jun wanted to snap in response and ask why the man was asking so much for killing a single rookie, he held back. The middle-aged man grinned as he continued, “Well! The price may seem expensive, but we’re technically losing money here. We used quite a lot of money to secretly enter the Dungeon, and the items we’ll use in the fight don’t appear out of thin air. If we consider the cost of cleaning up after the battle…! Oh my, we should actually request more, but we won’t, because you’re Director Kim’s son.”

Still, the man’s narrow eyes shone sharply, insinuating that he and his group would just abandon Hyeong-Jun if he refused to pay.

‘Shit…! I have no other choice,’ Hyeong-Jun thought. He wanted to snap at them and call them a bunch of robbers, but he held back because they were skilled assassins, even though they acted like gangsters. He bit his lower lip. ‘I went to all the trouble to bring them here, so I can’t just let them walk away like this.’

There was a notorious assassin Clan in Eastern Europe called ‘Crna Ruka’, which had become renowned around the world under the names ‘Black Hand’ and ‘Unification or Death’. They usually earned money by receiving ransoms from the families of politicians or the wealthy, and often received assassination requests as well.

The Clan was led by the Killer Overlord, who was famous for his [Single Red Dot[1]] technique. The Clan’s members were so talented that they would leave no trace during a job. The people Hyeong-Jun had hired were from a Blank Hand branch that had escaped to Korea when they were caught smuggling in Hong Kong. They were currently under a new alias, the ‘Black Ghosts’, but just as a leopard could not change its spots, they were still living like wild dogs in Korea.

Hyeong-Jun’s father, Director Kim Yeon-Seung, was acquainted with the Black Ghosts; that was how Hyeong-Jun had been able to ask them to kill Chang-Sun. Of course, it was partly due to his father’s repeated insistence that he had no intention of letting Chang-Sun live, as he had humiliated Hyeong-Jun. Still, the media would go wild if he killed Chang-Sun outside a Dungeon, where there were too many eyes. Thus, he had chosen ‘Yeti Hill’ as the location to assassinate Chang-Sun in, so as to destroy as much evidence as possible…

The preparations needed were difficult. As the Black Ghosts were wanted criminals, Hyeong-Jun had needed to change their identity one by one and create a fake Clan so they could join the punitive force. Naturally, Hyeong-Jun had spent a lot of money in the process. Nevertheless, he had thought that all his efforts would finally come to fruition.

Despite that, the plan to conceal themselves in the blizzard and stab Chang-Sun in the back while he went up against the Yetis had gone awry from the start. Hyeong-Jun could not begin to fathom what Chang-Sun had done; even though he could understand if Chang-Sun’s senses were very sharp, even the section chiefs had trouble in the blizzard. Thus, it made as little sense as the way Chang-Sun had taken out the Yetis in a flash.

Regardless, they could not continue to deny the reality they saw with their own eyes; thus, Hyeong-Jun accepted the increased assassination fee suggested by the Black Ghosts’ leader, saying, “…Okay, but please make sure to get the job done neatly.”

“Whoa, of course! Hey, boys, what are you waiting for? Show our dear young master a good spot to watch the show!” the leader replied, rubbing his hands like a fly as he fawned over Hyeong-Jun. In contrast to their frivolous leader, however, his subordinates moved around stiffly like robots.

‘That Lim Joo-Han bastard should also do a good job,’ Hyeong-Jun said. He looked sideways furtively, but nothing was there.

He was not the only person who held a grudge against Chang-Sun. Joo-Han, who had joined the White Tiger Clan the same year as Hyeong-Jun, would also play an active role in the assassination, so he was on standby in the vicinity. If Chang-Sun attempted to run away or things went south, Joo-Han would immediately take action. In other words, the Black Ghosts were not the only people who had come here to kill Chang-Sun, and there was one more group.

‘Well, that bloodthirsty Blood Wolf Group is very reliable,’ Hyeong-Jun thought with a nod. He had not only hired assassins, but also mercenaries, to surround the area; thus, he was sure that no one would be able to escape the area, not even Chang-Sun.

‘It’s a bit disappointing that Department Head Shim Geon-Ho didn’t join the fight… but he did say that he’d cover for me if something happened,’ Hyeong-Jun recalled.

Just as the sly Executive Director Oh’s right-hand man would, Geon-Ho had given no definite answer; however, he had implied he would be able to erase any traces of the assassination.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear anything and assumed you were with the Future Strategy Department because you had an assignment to take care of. Seeing as those Yetis are very vicious, it wouldn’t be strange to find a few corpses in the snowfield,” Geon-Ho said. 

That meant Geon-Ho would stand to profit if Hyeong-Jun succeeded, but would feign innocence if Hyeong-Jun failed or other people witnessed the assassination. Nevertheless, Hyeong-Jun thought Geon-Ho was doing enough, as he had nothing to worry about if Geon-Ho, Chang-Sun’s superior, turned a blind eye.

‘He gave me an interesting toy too,’ Hyeong-Jun thought with a grin.

“You can use this in times of need, but don’t return it to me,” Geon-Ho instructed. 

Feeling the object in his inner pocket, Hyeong-Jun quietly disappeared, along with three assassins who had begun to follow him at some point.

“Did you wait long, bro?” the assassin leader asked with a hideous smile as he arrogantly approached Chang-Sun. He assumed Chang-Sun had not reacted out of fear but…

“Gyeo-Ul.” Chang-Sun remained expressionless as he said a word the leader did not recognize.

Wondering what the word meant, the leader tilted his head. “…?”

“Kill him,” Chang-Sun said concisely.

Paaah!

Immediately after Chang-Sun finished speaking, a figure jumped out of the assassin leader’s shadow. As the leader hurriedly looked at him, Baek Gyeo-Ul fiercely swung his spear, clad in black shadow armor with his eyes shining blue.

1. The raw is ‘일점홍’, which refers to creating a red dot of blood on an enemy’s forehead with one attack. ☜