Chapter 81

Chapter 81

“What is this…?”

Lee Chantae wore a look of surprise at Choi Junho, who had come knocking late at night. Then he was surprised a second time, seeing the man dangling limply from Junho’s grip. It was Diawara, the transcendent affiliated with Guinea.

Had he attacked in the dead of night? No—if he’d gone after Choi Junho, there was no way he’d still be alive.

Something was going on. Instinct told Lee Chantae that this was no ordinary situation.

Junho cleared up the mystery for him.

“He’s a League spy. He even suggested the two of us raise hell together.”

“Diawara did?”

“Let’s talk inside first.”

“…Come in.”

Once inside, Junho explained how he’d come to capture Diawara.

It was the stupid act of a stupid man.

Sticking your face right into a lion’s head while it sat there minding its own business.

“I still don’t understand why he thought I was with the League.”

…It wasn’t just Diawara. Plenty of others probably thought the same.

Lee Chantae recalled the stories that surrounded Choi Junho.

Among them, the rumor that he might be a League spy was already an open secret.

After all, he had every qualification for a villain: methods harsher than any villain’s, a temperament that charged in without looking left or right, and a cruel gift.

The only reason people didn’t say more was that no villain with actual League ties would ever act so blatantly villainous.

No one in the world would go undercover and then openly reveal their identity.

Anyway, Diawara was a fool who’d believed baseless rumors and acted on them. The result was his current predicament, caught and trussed up.

Lee Chantae let out a hollow laugh at how things had ended up this way, even as he busily racked his brain for how to turn the situation around.

“Do you have something in mind?”

“I was thinking of contacting Japan’s Awakened affairs department as is.”

“That’s not a bad option, but while we’re at it, it’s better to expand the board. You’re friendly with Macho Man, aren’t you? Let him know.”

“Not Japan?”

Lee Chantae shook his head firmly. Relations between South Korea and Japan were better than ever, but it wouldn’t do to forget that they had spent far longer as rivals.

Since capturing Diawara could easily be spun as having wrongly seized an innocent transcendent, they needed to draw in the United States—a country that could decisively widen the board.

“If we let this get buried, public opinion could turn ugly. At times like this, it’s better to make use of the US. They’re the most aggressive country when it comes to rooting out the League, so they’ll want to get to the bottom of this. Macho Man will create the situation you’re looking for.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Lee Chantae shook his head as he headed with Junho to where the US delegation was staying.

He never would have imagined something like this happening at World Transcendent Day.

If it became known that Diawara was a League spy, the fallout would be considerable.

Traveling with Choi Junho, he felt as though he’d encountered more incidents and accidents in the past few days than in decades.

‘He kicks up a storm wherever he goes.’

*

The day after Diawara’s capture, every country participating in the event was thrown into an uproar.

Guinea’s backlash in particular was beyond imagination.

They couldn’t accept that Diawara—their country’s only transcendent—was a member of the League.

They insisted I had picked a fight out of nowhere and seized him, and the number of parties sympathetic to that claim was considerable.

Why were they accepting it?

The situation flipped when the recording of my conversation with Diawara was made public.

Guinea tried to dig in and insist even that was fabricated, but once the United States and Japan weighed in, public opinion turned.

I looked at James Reed, whose expression had turned grave. Just as Lee Chantae had said, once I let it be known that Diawara was with the League, he came running at once and, when the rumors gained traction, advised me to release the recording to every country.

But why was he so serious?

“What’s with that face over one little thing?”

“It’s not little! This is seriously damn serious!”

With that, James Reed began to lay out his thoughts.

The League’s ideology was rooted in a supremacist ideology that put the Awakened first, and so it was an awfully sweet doctrine to Awakened who harbored quiet grievances.

That was why there were a great many Awakened who sympathized with the League even without joining it. It spread like a poisonous mushroom, he said, and there were quite a few cases of invisible sabotage during operations to arrest or assassinate League members.

The governments of every nation had failed to root out the people cooperating with the League, and they had no grasp at all of how large it was or how deeply those people were embedded.

Vagueness becomes unease, and unease becomes fear.

The League had fed on that fear to grow its ranks, and it had become a headache for nations the world over.

And now Diawara had been captured. As Guinea’s only transcendent, he was powerful enough to overturn a nation if he set his mind to it. Had things gone differently, Guinea itself could have been flipped and turned over to the League.

But I found the man in front of me more suspicious than any of that.

Just now, he’d delivered that entire explanation in Korean, far too fluently.

“You. You’re pretending you can’t speak Korean, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about, Junho! I seriously can’t speak Korean!”

“You were doing just fine a second ago.”

“I guess me being excited made it sound damn fluent!”

…I definitely smell something.

I’ll have to shake him up a bit more later.

James Reed, avoiding my gaze, shouted.

“The problem is getting Diawara to open his mouth!”

“Why is that a problem?”

“If he doesn’t talk, it could look like we strong-armed and detained a transcendent for no good reason!”

Even with the recording?

When I gave him a look of incomprehension, James Reed explained that our grounds for holding him were weak. We needed to make him confess as quickly as possible.

Why was that a problem?

Getting someone to open their mouth was the easiest thing in the world.

“Leave that to me. I’ll make him spill even the underwear he’s got hidden away.”

“That’s possible?”

“Yeah. In exchange, the US lays the groundwork a bit.”

“Of course! The US wants to damn well wipe out the League! Just trust me and go all out!”

“That’s a relief.”

I brought Diawara over right away. It had been two days, but the man hadn’t been awake for even a minute of it. Every time he came to, I knocked him out again.

“You’re doing it right now?”

“Yeah. It’ll be over quickly.”

“Just what method are you going to use…”

“Like this.”

I placed my hand over Diawara’s head.

*

Information about the League was passed along to the Japanese government as well.

Naturally, Japan was thrown into an uproar too. They were already suffering from the League as it was. And the fact that a state-affiliated transcendent was actually with the League could only come as a shock.

On the final day of the event, the gathering of all participants was in disarray.

Diawara, brainwashed by me, knew all sorts of things—like a golden goblin, as expected. I gathered that information, cross-checked it, and worked together with the US and Japan.

Of all his information, three things were the most useful: first, how the League made contact with key figures in each country; second, how the League’s forces were operated in Africa; and last, how they artificially amplified power.

“The last matter is especially serious.”

So Lee Chantae said. Was it? Amplifying your own power would hardly last long and would surely come with severe aftereffects.

“Being able to artificially cultivate the strong means the League’s fighting strength can grow exponentially. The League could even bring down national governments with overwhelming force.”

From the government’s standpoint, I supposed that could be true. Most of them would be nothing but scarecrows anyway, but an opponent would fare differently against me than against someone else.

“If we dig deeper, it means the level of research the League conducts internally has reached the world’s highest standard.”

On this point, Lee Chantae said the League couldn’t help but hold an overwhelming advantage.

These were people who had put supremacist ideology front and center from the start, so anyone unnecessary was ruthlessly used up as experimental material, he said.

While state organizations ruled out human rights abuses and all manner of abnormal methods, the League mobilized every conceivable idea to carry out inhumane experiments.

Of course, there were places that conducted inhumane experiments out of sight, but because they had to avoid surveillance, they couldn’t achieve the same efficiency as the League, which committed such things out in the open.

“The method for amplifying power is probably an inhumane means as well.”

Since it was something impossible through normal means.

If it had been possible, it would have been widespread long ago.

In any case, Diawara’s existence made every country aware that League forces had infiltrated their ranks, and they had no choice but to square off against them in vigilance.

From the League’s perspective, with the governments of every nation burning through their strength internally, they were holding a royal flush.

“We’ll only be more on guard. There won’t be any clear solution.”

It was just as Lee Chantae said. In the meetings that followed, there were no groundbreaking measures—just “Let’s be more wary of the League!”

At least it’s more comfortable now that they don’t suspect me.

I’d brought in a League spy, and rather than praise, I’d gotten suspicious looks, so it stung a little.

After the meeting ended, I received an invitation from Japan’s Prime Minister.

“Thank you for preventing what could have become an unfortunate incident.”

Prime Minister Taketa bowed his head slightly to me. The Japanese people I’d seen since coming here generally struck me as courteous.

“I only did what had to be done. If anything, I should thank Japan for helping make this public so easily.”

“It’s only natural that we cooperate. As a nation suffering at the League’s hands, Transcendent Choi Junho’s contributions are immense.”

“Thank you for acknowledging that.”

“Without Transcendent Choi Junho’s cooperation, the event would have suffered a major setback. Allow me to thank you once again.”

The Prime Minister and the Awakened Minister heaped praise on me without pause. Usually, when people had a request, they led with praise and circled around the point—so what did he want from me?

“Lately, the League’s remnants have been running wild within our country.”

“I had heard there were League forces in Japan.”

“Because of that, our ability to respond to monsters has fallen considerably.”

Why was he telling me this?

“So we intend to take measures to raise our hunting capability, and we need Transcendent Choi Junho’s strength.”

“What kind of measures?”

“I’m aware there is a villain in Korea called Berserker.”

“Yes.”

“Would you put in effort to help Berserker naturalize in Japan?”

“Berserker?”

I’d assumed he was going to say he wanted to recruit me, so this was completely unexpected.

Berserker becoming a Japanese transcendent? That madman, a transcendent? From Japan’s standpoint, that would be a disaster.

Wouldn’t I be better than that lunatic?

Ah, of course, I didn’t mean I was going to Japan.

“I’ll have to decline.”

“As expected…”

“However, I can’t block Berserker’s choice on my own authority, so I’ll pass your proposal along to him.”

The Prime Minister’s clouded expression brightened.

“Ah! If you would do that, I would be most grateful.”

*

After Choi Junho went outside, the Prime Minister muttered, his expression far more at ease.

“So he does pass it along, at least. It seems he’s not entirely opposed.”

“Your sincerity came through.”

“Bring in Berserker, and bring in Choi Junho along with him. Not a bad plan.”

“Thank you.”

Originally, the Prime Minister had intended to use Choi Junho as a time bomb.

He had thought that if just a few transcendents died in a handful of clashes, it would whittle down other nations’ strength.

But on the day of the briefing, after seeing the 1:3 match between Choi Junho and Schwantner, Laura, and Traore, he changed his mind.

To face three transcendents and overwhelm them. It was martial prowess beyond imagination, and he realized that the report on the Nuri hunt was not a lie but the truth.

Rather than use Choi Junho, bring him into Japan.

Trying to bring in the unhinged villain Berserker was part of that plan as well.

“Berserker and Choi Junho are the closest of friends. If we embrace Berserker, then after the contract ends, we can bring Choi Junho over as well.”

The Prime Minister nodded, but clicked his tongue.

“Having to bring in a madman to get Choi Junho—look how far we’ve fallen.”

There wasn’t a single normal person around Choi Junho.

His younger sister, Choi Yoon-hee, was a promising Hunter, but her forcefulness was merciless—on her first hunt, she’d cut off three of a villain’s legs. Jung Dahyun, once his coworker, was a genius counted among Korea’s finest, but now she was called the Rakshasa Girl and had become an object of fear for villains. His business partner, Golden Ear Lee Sehee, was a bloodless, tearless businesswoman famous for raking in gold with a sickle.

Berserker, too, was hardly sane—his epithet had “mad” in it, after all.

But in the course of investigating Choi Junho, the Prime Minister had arrived at one conviction.

“Among them, Choi Junho is the most abnormal of all.”

The Awakened Minister nodded in agreement.

*

“Kid, so what are you saying?”

At Berserker’s question, Debuffer Shylo, who had crossed over from the United States, lifted his eyes and spoke.

“The League wants you to rejoin, Berserker.”

Shylo’s attitude as he spoke was utterly insolent.

He was displeased with the situation of having come all the way to the southern tip of this cramped country.

Yeosu? The scenery was fine, but he couldn’t understand why he was stuck in a town reduced to ruins by monsters. Berserker was surely insane, just like his epithet suggested.

Even so, to dispatch him to this far-flung place. He was thoroughly displeased both with the League for overestimating Berserker and with the reality of not being treated well himself.

Debuffer Shylo was one of America’s greatest genius Awakened, the very man who had plunged the entire United States into shock when he threw in with the League.

At the time, nearly a thousand innocent civilians had died at Shylo’s hands, and because of his habit of collecting parts of corpses, his crimes were exposed for all the world to see.

After that, Shylo became a member of the League.

He was currently twenty-seven years old, and until just a short while ago, he had been famous as the one expected to become the world’s youngest transcendent.

But that title had been broken when Choi Junho appeared. So his feelings toward Choi Junho were not good, and neither were his feelings toward Berserker, who was known to be close to him.

They’re just a couple of overhyped guys from the world’s backwater.

Perhaps unaware of these inner thoughts, Berserker wore a puzzled expression.

“Me? The one who ran wild as he pleased and wiped out your forces in Korea? Why?”

“Because you are a transcendent.”

“So my value has gone up.”

“You may take it that way.”

“Hmm.”

Berserker gave a small nod.

Even that displeased Shylo. When an invitation came, one ought to be bowing and scraping in gratitude—yet here he was, deliberating. The League was the means to open up a new world to a man trapped in this narrow pond.

“There’s nothing I want from the League.”

“The League can give you everything you want.”

“Even if what I want is power?”

“The transcendents in the League are the strongest in the world. You could learn a great deal from them.”

“Heh heh. That part does tempt me. Not bad. But I’m not biting.”

No matter how much he played hard to get, an Awakened would always chase power in the end. But Berserker didn’t know his place—not even a little.

Shylo felt the urge to kill him. That smug look, preening because he’d been shown a bit of courtesy, was unbearable.

“Get one permission, and the story changes.”

“Permission? What permission?”

“I have a master.”

Berserker laughed low and pulled out his smartphone to make a call.

The person he was calling was none other than Choi Junho.