Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“……”

Oh Jongyeop couldn’t bring himself to speak at the gruesome scene unfolding before his eyes. Usually so cheerful that he’d already established himself as the mood maker of the National Guard Bureau, he was nonetheless in no state to open his mouth.

Jung Juho, who had drawn near at some point, surveyed the scene still being cleaned up and spoke.

“Is this your first time seeing something like this?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll see it often from now on. That’s what it means to fight villains and monsters.”

“More than that, I never knew Junho was this skilled.”

“You’re his friend and you didn’t know?”

“I—I only knew he was amazing.”

“I see.”

The memory of Junho casually hunting the Saber Tiger came back to him. Perhaps he was even greater than Jongyeop had thought.

Just what kind of guy is he?

His publicly listed level was 5, but a Level 5 Awakened could never hunt a Saber Tiger alone. That meant he was at least Level 6. He had even matched Director Jung Juho’s strike from a moment ago as an equal.

Jung Juho was a Level 7 Awakened who closely trailed the Level 8 transcendents said to be the strongest in existence. As the most likely candidate to reach Level 8 next, it was highly probable that Choi Junho’s level had already reached 7.

‘Level 7 at twenty-five? I really did try desperately to kill myself.’

If anything, Jongsu—the one who innocently called him “hyung” and treated him warmly—was a step above him.

That was when it happened. Jung Juho fumbled the scabbard in his right hand, then caught it again.

“Director?”

“It’s nothing.”

His expression unchanged, he took the scabbard in his left hand and walked on.

* * *

“……”

Jung Juho stared at his right hand, which still hadn’t lost its tingling numbness.

The reason was clear. The aftereffects of blocking Choi Junho’s attack head-on hadn’t dissipated.

It had been only a single clash. Yet Choi Junho’s blow lingered stubbornly, like the lingering ache of a first love.

“The boy is Level 7.”

The number from the level measurement had clearly been Level 7.

Jung Juho recalled the collision with Choi Junho.

The boy’s gift was Arc Mine. The same as Germany’s Grand Master Franz. But Jung Juho, who had seen Franz before, hadn’t known Arc Mine could be this tenacious and this powerful.

The dead villain boss from earlier was the same. Hadn’t his head burst from just the aftereffect of a light touch? Anyone watching would have thought a bomb had been planted in his skull.

At this point, he had to accept reality.

“So he might be Level 8.”

The words Jung Dahyun had spoken during Choi Junho’s level measurement came back to him.

That the level measurement device had a limit of 7, so he might have been classified as Level 7.

“Twenty-five. Level 8. Does that make any sense?”

Since Awakened first appeared, the youngest person to reach Level 8 was twenty-nine. And even that had come with the full support of a nation.

Choi Junho, by contrast, had been unemployed until the beginning of this year. There was a gap that simply couldn’t be reconciled.

Did he do a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats plus a 10km run every day like someone else?

In any case, if Choi Junho really was Level 8, the situation changed.

Level 8 was classified as “transcendent,” the object of every Awakened’s admiration.

They were a nation’s core strength and a measure of its national power.

South Korea was one of the world’s top-ten Awakened powers.

But whether that power could be fully wielded was another matter.

Of the four, one belonged to the state and three to large guilds. To borrow their strength in a crisis, the country had to stomach heavy losses.

Even now, a fierce struggle for initiative with the large guilds was underway.

If, in that situation, Choi Junho became a Level 8 transcendent belonging to the National Guard Bureau, the balance would shift.

Jung Juho, who had long kept the large guilds in check as part of the government, was tempted by the emergence of a new Level 8 transcendent.

Treatment that would never disappoint was possible. But there was one thing that bothered him.

He couldn’t tell what Choi Junho wanted. His past was unclear.

Above all—could this one be controlled?

Honestly, if Jung Dahyun hadn’t brought him in, he would have mistaken him for a spy sent by a rival department to sabotage his promotion.

“First, I’ll have to hear what the man himself thinks.”

Returning to the National Guard Bureau, Jung Juho summoned Choi Junho.

* * *

“We’ll extract every last piece of information from the villains arrested outside the factory. Wait a little, and we’ll know about Erasure and the League.”

“Yes.”

I nodded. I’d already heard all the information I needed.

“I’m sorry for sending you into what turned out to be a trap.”

“It’s fine. There was no danger.”

“That’s a relief.”

Having said that, Jung Juho closed his mouth and simply watched me quietly. He seemed to have something to say, so I waited for him to get to the point.

“Would you consider getting a level measurement?”

“Haven’t I already had one?”

“I mean a measurement above that.”

“Above that?”

“Choi Junho, I think you might be Level 8.”

“……”

I stayed silent, neither confirming nor denying. Jung Juho seemed to find my reaction unusual.

“Level 8 is a being with power strong enough that we call them transcendent. It means you’re a rare, special existence in South Korea. Does that not stir anything in you?”

“I suppose it’s accurate to say I never gave much thought to levels.”

“Others risk their lives to raise their level. You’re different.”

“I figured being a public service Hunter was good enough.”

To me, level was simply the measure of the Blood Lord. How many people had I killed to obtain that power? I’d grasped it in the end, but the more I did, the darker the shadows of the past grew.

“Do you want me to get a level measurement, Director?”

“I do.”

“Is it good to become Level 8?”

“It is. You can gain wealth, honor, attention—everything.”

“May I ask in detail?”

Jung Juho began his explanation of Level 8. Called the pinnacle of a nation’s power, Level 8 was classified as transcendent and revered as the strongest Awakened.

In fact, some places assessed national power by the number of Level 8 Awakened a country possessed, and the safety rating—that a nation’s existence wouldn’t be shaken by ever-stronger monsters—would rise. That was a condition for attracting foreign investment.

So every nation was desperate to secure Level 8 transcendents. It was a position where one could seize wealth, honor, and power all at once.

I thought I understood what becoming Level 8 meant.

“So it means becoming a hassle.”

“…That’s about the sum of it.”

My one-line summary must have been apt, because Jung Juho let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s good PR for the National Guard Bureau, too.”

“If you want, you can earn astronomical amounts of money.”

Honestly, I didn’t much mind borrowing authority to throw my weight around. There were benefits I received in return, and even when trouble arose because of me, Jung Juho made an excellent shield.

Jung Juho frankly admitted that the National Guard Bureau couldn’t provide the same financial guarantees as the large guilds.

“But belonging to the state comes with free hunting under the nation’s protection, tax reductions, and… though, thinking about it, the large guilds really do seem better on the money front. You’re not actually going to leave, are you?”

So not getting measured wasn’t even an option.

Well, if Level 8 was the final goal of every Awakened, he’d assume no one would turn down that seat.

Except for someone like me.

Honestly, I had no great desire for money and no interest in making a name for myself. After my previous life, my mind worn down, my top priority was my family’s happiness.

But if I became Level 8 and grew more famous than I was now, would my family be happy? Parents who tended an orchard in their hometown while their child went his own way? Yunhee, who was just starting to spread her wings in the Shinseong Guild?

I was certain that being Choi Junho’s parents and Choi Junho’s sister would make them unhappy, hounded by the attention around them.

“You said that becoming Level 8 would greatly expand my authority. I’m a public service Hunter, so I’d be given public authority to exercise on my own.”

“…That’s right.”

“Even if I’m given authority, I don’t think I’d abuse it. Don’t worry.”

“No—you’re a bomb that could go off at any moment. A nuclear bomb, at that.”

I decided to assume he said that because he’d never actually tasted a nuclear bomb.

“I remembered the ledger we obtained during the drug ring bust.”

The countless names written in that ledger.

Some had paid the price, but far more were still living on, enjoying their wealth and power unchanged.

“If I become Level 8, may I arrest those people without worrying about the consequences?”

“…Hold on.”

Is that a no?

Jung Juho, watching me, had his eyes closed.

“The reason we didn’t arrest them all was partly to prevent massive chaos, but also because some of the names were falsified. And some were petty offenders who’d used it out of curiosity a few times. There was room for leniency, so they got off with light punishments.”

“I see.”

“In any case, there was an effort to contain things without letting them expand too far. So those with relatively light crimes only received weak punishments.”

“You went through a lot, Director.”

“I appreciate the recognition. In any case, once you’re Level 8, it’s possible. But the people tangled up around them will raise all sorts of hell.”

Then just arrest those bastards too.

I wanted to ask more, but my counterpart looked exhausted.

“I won’t get the measurement.”

“…Why?”

“Wealth, honor, and power are all fine, but I don’t want the attention.”

“……”

“That said, I’m not keen on going somewhere else either. So there’s something I’d like to ask of you, Director.”

“What is it?”

“I heard that the heads of the National Guard Bureau, the Foreign Cooperation Management Bureau, and the Anti-Monster Defense Front Bureau can appoint Black Agents.”

“Don’t tell me—”

“I want to become a Black Agent.”

Jung Juho deliberated carefully over my request, and in the end accepted the proposal.

Then, with a face burned white, he sank into his chair.

“This—I’ve gained a hidden blade, but somehow I feel like my own neck will be the first to go……”

“Trust me.”

“I’m saying that because I can’t.”

Have I really given him no reason to trust me through my mission performance so far?

I’d have to work hard so Jung Juho could trust me.

* * *

With the negotiation finished, my interest shifted to a place called the League.

Just what was it, that Jung Juho and the people of the National Guard Bureau showed such wariness?

Jung Dahyun answered my question.

“The League is a villain organization operating secretly across the entire world. It’s made up of cells, so it’s hard to root out, and it exerts tremendous power by interfering in sensitive matters.”

“But it’s still just a villain organization, isn’t it?”

Jung Dahyun shook her head.

“Because the world’s worst villains belong to the League.”

That was strange.

In my previous life, I was the Blood Lord, called the worst villain in history. I’d caused every kind of blood calamity, not just in South Korea but across the world as I roamed from place to place later on.

And yet I didn’t know about the League. The gap between what Jung Dahyun was saying and the information I had was so extreme that I couldn’t tell which was correct.

Had my appearance caused some kind of variable?

Only half a year had passed, and I’d stayed quiet without causing any incidents. It was too soon for a worldwide villain organization to emerge because of me.

According to Jung Dahyun, the reason the League was dangerous lay in a slogan called Esper First.

It was an ideology that, preaching Awakened supremacy, held that the superior Awakened should rule the world.

The problem was that many people accepted this as right. Not only Awakened controlled by state power, but even politicians of Awakened origin in key posts across various nations secretly showed their support.

Because of that, several Third World nations had collapsed, and incidents had occurred where Awakened seized political power.

In response, developed nations led the way in designating the League as an enemy of the world and were carrying out joint operations to wipe it out.

They had even blocked all information about the League across the global internet so that prospective Awakened couldn’t come into contact with it at all.

It was astonishing. To think the League was that large an organization. But didn’t the fact that I didn’t know about it mean it would soon disappear?

Having finished her explanation, Jung Dahyun told me about the results of teaching Yunhee over the past few days.

“Yunhee’s talent is quite remarkable.”

“She is.”

The more you push her, the more something new emerges? Perhaps Yunhee had the greatest talent of all when it came to being pushed. Her defining trait was that the more she was driven into a corner, the more her talent blossomed.

“She said she learned a lot. Thank you.”

“Not at all. If anything, I was treated to good food. Which reminds me—may I treat you sometime too?”

“Of course. I look forward to it.”

“Oh, no. You shouldn’t look forward to it. My cooking isn’t very good. Since I was treated by you, Junho, I feel it’s only proper that I treat you too.”

“I’ll wait happily.”

Jung Dahyun’s expression brightened.

“Yes! I’ll practice hard.”

* * *

Even after returning home, the word “League” wouldn’t leave my head.

An organization this large—there was no way I wouldn’t have known about it.

The reason I kept thinking about the League was simple. Their existence could act as a variable.

This life had been twisted considerably by my presence. But the scope was limited to those around me; everything else flowed in the direction I remembered.

That was why I couldn’t overlook the League. An organization that Awakened rallied to, even if only some, and to which the world’s worst villains belonged.

It wasn’t a place the former worst villain could afford not to know.

Why on earth didn’t I know about them?

Had there really been no offer for me to join?

“Wait.”

That was when a scene flashed through my mind.

“…I remember now.”

At last, an old memory worn away by the years surfaced.

It was from when I was out of my mind.

Back then, quite a lot of people had approached me. Some bore hostility toward me, some wanted to use my power. All of them died by my hand.

Among them was a faction that had offered to accept me as one of their own.

They revealed that the place they belonged to was called the League.

They had said the world’s discord stemmed from inferior beings holding power. They’d argued to me that to make a new world, the world had to be overturned at least once.

After hearing the whole story, I killed the man.

After that, more came from the League a few times to try to persuade me.

Each time, I killed whoever came.

I killed and killed, and when they kept pestering me, I went to their base and killed the rest who remained there.

After that, the name League was never heard again, and in my memory, the League was forgotten.

In my past life, South Korea had become a League-free nation because of me.

“Ah, so it was them.”