Chapter 69

Chapter 69

In this life, Jung Dahyun was a fairly special figure to me.

Compared to when I was the Blood Lord, it was like night and day.

To be honest about Jung Dahyun, even when I first met her after returning to the past, I didn’t think much of it.

Looking back on that time, I consider meeting Jung Dahyun a stroke of luck. She strongly guided me when I was about to become a public service Hunter without much thought, and she was a great help in keeping me from getting distracted.

When she died by my hand in my past life, Jung Dahyun never once bent her upright convictions until the very end.

For me, it was the first time I witnessed such unyielding justice—someone who burned herself for what was right even at the threshold of death.

So in this life, I wanted to see the justice she pursued extend outward.

The reason I bothered to guide her toward Level 7 was precisely that curiosity. She earned the epithet Rakshasa Girl along the way, but that should be fine.

But the guy facing me had a strange look on his face.

“You tricked me.”

“Tricked you how?”

I said I’d let you live if you beat me, didn’t I? That offer still stands.

I’d never lied, yet he was throwing a fit all on his own.

“Don’t think you’ll die easily.”

“Good resolve. Give it everything you’ve got.”

“Hraaah!”

With a look of determination, the man ripped a boulder from the ground in front of him and hurled it at me.

It must have weighed several tons, but he threw it like a ball—the epithet Hundred-Man Strongman suited him well.

KWANG-KWANG-KWANG!

A terrifying roar erupted as shattered rock fragments scattered through the air.

In that gap, his fist, packed with tremendous force, came for my face.

Whoosh!

It felt like the wind was being torn apart.

Normally, a body couldn’t withstand that kind of power, but his faithfully trained physique was enduring it.

A baseline Awakened who had pushed his body to the extreme—he was the perfect teaching material to show Jung Dahyun the truth.

I deflected his hand to the side.

“Most people prepare for the next attack, but you should also consider the variables that can arise from it.”

Arai easily dodged my counterattack. He fiercely struck back, but I lightly caught his arm and flicked him away. Normally, he would have been crushed by an Arc Mine.

But right now, this was a lesson.

“At around Level 7, you can dodge and counter. But you barely dodge and then throw out an obvious attack like this. What matters is maintaining a pace where you can launch your own attack at any moment.”

I extended my hand in a straight line, then twisted its trajectory and adjusted its speed.

At first, Arai had been blocking well, but his hands and feet began to grow disordered.

“Kuhk!”

“The reason I don’t fall for it and he does is that I can control not just the form of the attack but the will behind it. When you mix will into an attack, even without a large motion, the opponent’s honed senses instinctively shift into a defensive stance. Since he fell for it, I gained the upper hand. From here, you need to be able to layer in one more feint.”

Jung Dahyun, who has Intuition, can guess, predict, and gain Insight into an opponent’s attacks in even more varied ways.

In that sense, this Hundred-Man Strongman was a fully matured Level 7, making him perfect for a demonstration. His fundamentals were solid and his combat experience was rich. He followed the direction I led him in, which made it easy to give advice to Jung Dahyun.

Though the one actually on the receiving end didn’t seem to appreciate it.

“Stop toying with me and kill me!”

“Ah, sorry. Just a bit more. But were you from Korea? Your Korean is good. So why didn’t I know your name?”

“……”

Arai’s mouth closed.

But the apology was genuine. I’m not originally the type to toy with someone and then kill them. If it’s a villain, I kill as fast as possible without dragging it out—but I’d drawn it out to educate Jung Dahyun.

“In exchange, I’ll kill you without pain.”

“Shut up!”

It was a kindness I was offering, and he was trying to refuse it.

After his all-out attacks were blocked a few times, he completely lost his will to fight from that point on. And he began looking for any chance to escape from my grasp.

I couldn’t let such a valuable teaching material go. I raised my attack speed to drain Arai’s stamina, and eventually his exhausted movements began to slow.

Hm, is this about his limit?

As expected, using tremendous force takes a toll on endurance.

Seems I’ve squeezed out everything I can.

Crack!

“Kraaaah!”

Arai screamed as his arm broke. Even so, the power in his fist remained.

I’m not particularly greedy for strength-related gifts. As long as your Force utilization is high enough, you can exert power equivalent to a strength gift depending on your physical training.

I lightly flicked aside his fist and broke his forearm and shoulder in turn.

I even broke his legs so he couldn’t run.

Jung Dahyun was already good at the process of neutralizing villains like this, so there was nothing I needed to explain.

“Kkeuuu!”

Crawling on the ground with a wretched scream, his appearance was truly that of a villain’s end.

Villains really should look like that. Seeing that, those who would become villains would be frightened and careful.

It’s not strictly necessary, but should I squeeze out some information about the League too?

Jung Dahyun, who had been watching from the side, spoke up.

“Um, you said you’d send him without pain……”

“Ah, right. I did say I’d send him without pain.”

I’d forgotten.

Really.

“My gifts tend to be a bit painful by nature. Sorry.”

I swung my hand blade and took Arai’s head clean off.

Leaving the corpse crumpling behind me, I turned my gaze to Jung Dahyun. She should have realized something from watching this.

“Did you feel something?”

“…Yes.”

“Can you put it into words?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

Jung Dahyun, who had been furrowing her brow trying to think, apologized. I understood. Realization is inherently hard to articulate at first. It’s only completed when you give it concrete form and make it your own clear shape.

“It’s hard to grasp all at once. What matters is concretizing it and making it yours.”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s move.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you know Busan is overflowing with people who need to die right now? I’ll explain while we kill, so carve it into your eyes.”

I could have her face them directly, but the odds would be almost nonexistent.

Come to think of it, why did that dead guy think he’d be dueling Jung Dahyun?

Anyone could see Jung Dahyun was the weaker one.

Did he think I’d push him to fight a strong opponent so he could gain enlightenment when pushed to his limits?

He must have watched a lot of hero comics.

The surest way to advance to the next step is after ‘safety’ is secured first. What’s the point of dying and leveling up?

Calling Berserker to secure safety and then having them spar was an extension of that.

“Let’s go.”

Jung Dahyun and I moved to find other people who needed to die.

* * *

Busan was a place where Yoo Seongsu had sunk deep roots over the past ten years.

Though the citizens had been deceived all that time, there was no corner of Busan’s interests that Yoo Seongsu’s hands hadn’t reached, and villains wearing the mask of Hunters lurked in every direction.

When news of Busan City Hall’s fall broke, some villain organizations fled to Japan or went into hiding, but the remaining forces that couldn’t escape were far more numerous.

“Sweep them all away.”

Under the thorough command of Jung Juho of the National Guard Bureau, Yoo Seongsu’s forces were rapidly eradicated.

The reason this was possible was thanks to Brainwashing. Yoo Seongsu, true to being the incarnation of desire, showed remarkable resilience against Brainwashing and held out quite a while.

On top of that, they extracted information from all surviving subordinates through Brainwashing as well, so Yoo Seongsu’s forces were dragged out one after another like sweet potatoes on a vine.

The largest purge in history. And with tens of trillions of won recovered, the media was shocked and reported it day after day.

<Busan City alone recovered 50 trillion won!>

<Will the largest Yoo Seongsu Gate in history blow open? The opposition party is not uninvolved!>

<Yoo Seongsu, who caused conflict—Busan was actually a safe zone for monsters!>

<Opposition: “We have nothing to do with the Yoo Seongsu Gate.” Controversy dismissed!>

<A slaughter broadcast in broad daylight—is this really okay?>

<Is it acceptable for a Hunter more cruel than a villain to walk freely like this?>

As the incident called the Yoo Seongsu Gate dominated TV day after day, the opposition party’s approval rating plummeted.

The opposition party, which had protested it was political purging, had no choice but to prostrate themselves under a crossfire of public opinion and offer apologies.

Though it seemed some strange news items were mixed in there too.

“It’s all thanks to our Transcendent Choi Junho.”

A broad smile hung on the President’s face as his approval rating rose from the backlash. They say he loses his mind whenever approval ratings come up—seems it was true.

“I only did what needed to be done.”

“So modest on top of everything. How could I not adore you.”

He didn’t need to adore me, though.

Perhaps reading my thoughts, he gave an awkward laugh and changed the subject.

“Ah, and the Japanese side sent their thanks as well. They said they’re grateful for Transcendent Choi Junho’s grace.”

“I’m glad it helped promote friendship between our countries.”

“Also, the Japanese side’s proposal to sweep the League was declined.”

“I see.”

“From their perspective, a transcendent from another country crossing over to conduct operations isn’t an easy decision. Try to understand.”

“Yes, it’s no issue.”

If I see them, I’ll just erase them.

But I could feel the President carefully gauging my reaction.

“Is there something you’d like to say?”

“May I ask you one thing?”

“Speak comfortably.”

“It might be a bit awkward.”

“If it’s truly awkward, I won’t answer.”

“Then I can ask comfortably. So, um.”

It really must be something hard to answer. That only made me more curious. What on earth is he trying to ask? Is he going to ask if I’m a villain?

That I could confidently say no to.

But the words that came out of the President’s mouth were completely different from what I’d expected.

“By any chance, do you have multiple gifts?”

What is this now.

Is this something to agonize over asking?

There was no need to hide it, so I answered readily.

“Yes.”

“…Really?”

“Truly yes.”

If anything, the President who’d asked the question and Cheon Myeongguk, who’d been tense the whole time, looked deflated.

“They say that normally, having multiple gifts means you can’t wield them properly……”

“I’m different.”

Because I stole all the gifts that other people had completed.

But was there a reason to be that cautious?

“I-I see.”

“You can speak comfortably.”

“I’d like to, but I’m not mentally prepared right now. Haha, even asking whether someone has multiple gifts is normally quite rude.”

“I understand.”

“Instead, don’t reveal to others that you have multiple gifts. It’s important information.”

“Yes.”

In any case, the number of people who know I have multiple gifts is extremely small.

It used to be quite a lot, but they’re all dead.

* * *

“Whew! He’s a difficult one to deal with.”

After Choi Junho left, the President let out a sigh.

Though he was old enough to be his uncle, dealing with Choi Junho was harder than persuading the opposition party leader.

Even today, just asking about his gifts had left his hands soaked with sweat.

“But I gained useful information.”

Handling Nuri and even Yoo Seongsu.

He could pride himself that the contract with Choi Junho was the most successful of his achievements.

And he’d even learned that Choi Junho handled multiple gifts. He decided to be satisfied with glimpsing even a portion of why he was so strong.

“And.”

The President looked at Cheon Myeongguk and smiled.

“Has your thinking changed a bit because of this incident?”

“It’s changed a great deal.”

“That’s more like it.”

The President was unawakened and Cheon Myeongguk was an Awakened, but their thoughts were polar opposites.

This operation to capture Yoo Seongsu had also been carried out according to Cheon Myeongguk’s argument, and the result had been suppression through conflict.

“In the end, what enforces justice is power.”

“It was a sense I’d forgotten after being away from the field so long. Watching Transcendent Choi Junho this time, I realized it.”

“How was it, seeing him up close?”

“I was afraid.”

Even now, just recalling the moment Choi Junho appeared through Transfer sent a shudder through him.

The sight of him annihilating enemies before him as if they were worth less than nothing. At a glance it might look refreshing, but what if that target became him? What if it became South Korea? It felt like his vision went dark.

As if sensing that thought, the President spoke.

“That’s exactly why I said we should bring him under our power all the more.”

“I wondered whether we could control that power to the very end.”

“You need to pull yourself together.”

Was that even possible? What if a few accidents turned everything upside down?

Letting out a sigh, Cheon Myeongguk revealed his honest feelings.

“What you say is right, President, but the world won’t accept it as is.”

“That kind of opinion is already emerging.”

“What’s urgent right now is public opinion regarding Transcendent Choi Junho. Both domestically and internationally.”

“It won’t be easy.”

“There must be forces stirring things up from behind.”

“We can’t declare them to be the League either.”

Choi Junho’s enemies were scattered everywhere. There could be reporters who saw his actions as tyranny, or guilds. There could be public service Hunters jealous of his too-rapid rise in rank, or corporations that suffered heavy losses because of the Big Bang Series.

“And those who support the League’s ideology are mixed in as well.”

It was, quite literally, a mishmash of all sorts jumbled together.

Their goal was one.

To make Choi Junho be imprinted on the public not as a ‘hero’ but as a ‘villain.’

The raid on the Busan City Council was a perfect piece of material to use as the opening skirmish.

Even if he’d earned merit by capturing the Busan mayor and city council members who’d tried to incite civil war, the fact remained that he’d ultimately carried it out on his own terms.

Attempts were being made to use that extremism as a talking point to shift public opinion on Awakened.

This was happening not only domestically but overseas as well.

“Especially once he goes to the gathering, it’ll become a headache.”

“If they pick a fight, I won’t hold back.”

“There will definitely be trouble when you go to the International Superpower Federation. You received an invitation, didn’t you?”

“Because I’m the most talked-about transcendent these days.”

Choi Junho’s existence was known widely not just in South Korea but around the world.

His renown was especially high for having hunted Nuri alone.

Even though the hunting process had been briefed to the United States and various other countries, there were still many Hunters who didn’t believe he’d hunted it alone.

“We plan to inform Transcendent Choi Junho soon.”

“There’s no grounds to stop him…”

“No.”

“……”

A brief silence hung between them.

As there were those who didn’t look kindly on Choi Junho’s actions, the possibility of a clash breaking out there was very high.

How were they supposed to prevent this?

Cheon Myeongguk’s head was just starting to ache.

“Why not just let him go?”

“Excuse me?”

“There’s no point in us worrying about it, is there? We send Choi Junho off to the International Superpower Federation and just kick back and relax. The bigwigs over there can handle him on their own. Choi Junho is too special a delicacy for me to savor all by myself. What do you think?”

“…A wise decision, sir.”

Just the fact that Choi Junho would be leaving South Korea for a while made it feel like the vigor that had vanished was coming back.

And as a bonus, the whole world would get a taste of Choi Junho.

Both of their expressions brightened.