Let's Make a Deal
The next morning.
“Did you sleep well?”
“This one rested as peacefully as one might expect.”
The two people who hadn’t slept a wink traded the polite fiction that they had.
“I just got off the phone with the team leader~.”
Ryeonhwa tried to hide her exhaustion as she spoke.
“The headquarters is in total chaos right now, so he said he’d come here in person to meet you.”
Even after laying the unconscious operatives across every available bed, there still hadn’t been enough room; they’d ended up dragging cots into other rooms as well. With the emergency medical staff they’d called in on top of that, the place was far too hectic for any calm conversation.
‘Oh? If he’s coming to me, that works out perfectly.’
“How delightful. If one intends to receive this one, such consideration is only natural.”
It wasn’t a bad arrangement for Mu Yeonghui either. She wouldn’t have to go anywhere, and it was safer this way.
‘I have no desire to walk into someone else’s front yard when I still don’t fully trust them.’
She still hadn’t completely let go of her suspicions toward the Ghost Countermeasures Division.
Ryeonhwa, unaware of these thoughts, simply took Mu Yeonghui’s attitude as cooperative. She forced a bright smile and asked in a gentle voice.
“Shall I prepare breakfast? Just tell me if there’s anything you’d like.”
Mu Yeonghui refused the kind offer with a shake of her head.
“B-but you didn’t eat anything yesterday either!”
“This one is not bound by the crude sustenance of mortals.”
The grandiose refusal of “I don’t need to eat” actually came out better than her original intention. In truth, Mu Yeonghui really wasn’t bound by human food.
She had already reached the pinnacle of both martial arts and Taoist cultivation long ago; she was a being who could live on mist alone. Now that her half-transcended body had fully become an immortal, there was no longer any need to consume food.
‘More importantly, could you leave me alone for a bit? I want to check my physical condition before I meet your boss.’
“For the time being, refrain from meddling in this one’s affairs. Before facing your leader, this one wishes to meditate in tranquility and ensure her noble vessel has not grown dull.”
The simple statement “I just want to check my body for a moment” came out so pompously that Ryeonhwa flinched and quickly retreated to the living room.
Left alone in the room, Mu Yeonghui sat in the lotus position.
She had long since transcended the need for specific postures, but this one still felt the most comfortable.
She turned her awareness inward.
Upper dantian.
Middle dantian.
Lower dantian.
All three dantians, each housing profound internal energy, were perfectly intact.
But then—
‘What the hell is this energy?!’
A fourth power, completely different from the three types of internal energy stored in her dantians, pulsed throughout her body.
‘It’s not concentrated in the dantians at all. It’s spread through my entire body like innate qi… just how much of this is there…?’
No matter how she tried to measure it, the amount was impossible to gauge.
This was absurd.
Originally, Mu Yeonghui’s internal energy had been one cycle per dantian—three cycles total. Even that much was enough to be recorded in the annals of the Murim world, and she had always been able to measure her own energy with perfect precision down to the smallest fraction.
Yet now she couldn’t even get a rough sense of the power flowing through her.
‘Only now I notice something like this?!’
The realization that she had only just become aware of this immense, unidentifiable force left Mu Yeonghui genuinely shocked.
A martial artist of her caliber should have noticed the moment any foreign energy entered her body. But she hadn’t sensed this one at all.
Because it felt far too natural.
It existed as though it had always been a part of her from the very beginning.
‘What the fuck is this?!’
It was like waking up to discover you’d turned into a blue whale and somehow failing to notice it for an entire day. The absurdity left her momentarily stunned.
And that was exactly when—
“The team leader is here!”
‘Of all the damn timing!’
Unfortunately, Sobum had arrived at that exact moment.
Mu Yeonghui desperately gathered her composure and stepped out of the room.
“So you’re the Untouchable?”
“…That’s quite the avant-garde greeting for a first meeting.”
The moment their eyes met, Mu Yeonghui froze at Sobum’s words, momentarily lost for what he meant.
Sobum, on the other hand, looked at her as if she were the strange one. He stood there awkwardly, not even attempting to sit. Having a middle-aged man like himself inside such a girlish room was already mortifying enough.
“Didn’t you call yourself the Untouchable yesterday? Are you going to deny it now?”
‘…Ah, fuck!’
Only then did Mu Yeonghui remember what she had said the day before. She inwardly cursed her own mouth.
‘Did that nonsense already spread?!’
She had never imagined it would blow up all over the internet. For now, she tried to explain herself.
‘Wait, actually my title is the Invincible One. I didn’t give it to myself—it’s an exaggerated nickname the overly dramatic Murim people stuck on me, and it got weirdly…’
The reflexive excuse came out completely distorted once again.
“Untouchable is merely this one’s alias. It is not a name this one bestowed upon herself, but a false title given by foolish warriors attempting to define my existence…”
Mu Yeonghui stopped mid-sentence.
‘…If it’s a false title, then why the hell am I calling it my alias?!’
Her own mouth was the truly foolish one, spouting such contradictory nonsense.
Meanwhile, both Ryeonhwa and Sobum wore dumbfounded expressions at the ridiculous term “alias.”
“Alias? Don’t people usually just say nickname?”
“How strange. If people gave you a nickname like that, you’d have to be quite famous. Yet I only learned of you yesterday.”
Sobum studied Mu Yeonghui with eyes full of suspicion.
“Then what is your name?”
“Mu Yeonghui. That is the name this one has defined for herself. Engrave it upon your soul until the moment of your death.”
“…”
The perfectly ordinary self-introduction of “I’m Mu Yeonghui, remember it” had come out sounding incredibly arrogant. Sobum’s face hardened.
“Then where do you belong?”
“That is…”
Mu Yeonghui started to answer but closed her mouth.
The question wasn’t simply asking for an affiliation. It was asking where she had come from.
But she couldn’t answer that.
Murim.
Martial arts.
Profound Realm.
‘There’s no way I can explain any of this!’
The concepts were far too vast to lay out here, and even if she did, there was another problem. Would they even believe her?
‘If I tell them I went to the Murim world and came back, they’ll just think I’m completely insane!’
If the other party had been an ordinary person, she might have demonstrated her martial arts as proof. But—
‘This guy is at least at the peak master level. No matter what I show him, he’ll just think it’s a similar ability, only a bit stronger than theirs.’
Therefore, Mu Yeonghui decided to exercise her right to remain silent.
‘Sorry, but even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand. Besides, why should I have to explain my personal life to you?’
“You are not qualified to hear this one’s words. From the beginning, this one has no obligation to reveal her existence to you.”
Her arrogant refusal twisted Sobum’s expression.
“Are you seriously saying that right now? You waltz into someone else’s jurisdiction without notice, do whatever you want, and then refuse to even reveal your identity?!”
“That is this one’s decision. Or does the law require one to answer every question posed by another?”
“It may not be written into law, but it’s an unspoken rule!”
Hunters were powerful assets.
When such individuals moved freely through another’s jurisdiction, it naturally drew attention. Especially for those who were exceptionally strong, it was customary to notify the local countermeasures division before visiting.
“What exactly are you thinking? If you’re a Hunter too, you should know that acting this uncooperatively toward a Ghost Countermeasures Division is a bad idea.”
“This one knows nothing of such things.”
“You—!”
Sobum took her honest ignorance as deliberate provocation.
“If you don’t know, then get the hell out of my city right now!”
“Team leader!”
Ryeonhwa quickly stepped in to calm Sobum, whose emotions had flared after so many things happening at once.
‘Well, if he tells me to get out, I could just leave…’
Mu Yeonghui watched them and pondered.
Moving to another city wouldn’t be a problem, but what came after was.
‘If I go to another city, won’t I just get dragged into more weird incidents and get kicked out again?’
Rather than taking that risk, it seemed better to negotiate with the people she had already caused trouble for.
‘I’m not here to cause unpleasant incidents. I’m simply looking for a place to stay in peace. I can’t give you the details, but I’m not an evil person, so I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave me alone.’
“Do you truly believe this one came here merely to threaten the likes of you? This one seeks only a place of tranquility. You need not know who this one is, so cease your meddling. If you do so, this one shall acknowledge you.”
‘…Goddamn mouth!’
The negotiation line that had started as something close to a plea had come out sounding like a challenge. Naturally, Sobum exploded.
“Are you even listening to yourself?!”
‘No, that’s not what I—!’
“Get out of here right—”
Just as Sobum was about to issue another expulsion order, his phone rang.
He flinched and immediately answered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news.
“Ryeonhwa, bad news. We’ve got reports of a Ghost appearing.”
“Again? We already had three yesterday!”
“Yeah. Our luck’s been terrible since yesterday.”
“But we don’t have anyone left to send out!”
With Bori and all the operatives down, the only ones left were Ryeonhwa, Sobum himself, and about a dozen reserve operatives.
“Your ability isn’t really suited for direct combat, is it?”
“…It’s not that I can’t use it in battle, but there are some side effects…”
“And it’s been a long time since I retired from active duty. This is awkward.”
Mu Yeonghui found their anxious conversation rather odd.
‘What’s going on? Don’t they have a Profound Realm expert?’
Still unaware that the Profound Realm master was Ryeonhwa, she found it strange that the two were complaining about having no combat power.
‘Did something happen to that Profound Realm expert? From the sound of it, the other operatives are having problems too…’
Mu Yeonghui had no idea.
The “operatives” they were talking about were the very ones she had knocked unconscious a few days ago. She hadn’t realized they were only supposed to be out for a few days and simply saw this as an opportunity.
‘Perfect. I’ll offer to help them in exchange for a deal!’
Having quickly come up with a plan, Mu Yeonghui tried her best to adjust her expression.
She would smile in a friendly manner and say she would help them, and in return they should leave her alone.
However.
Even when she tried her hardest to smile, her naturally expressionless face only managed to curl the corners of her lips in what looked like a sneer.
And so—
‘Looks like you’re in trouble. I could help you, but you’ll have to help me too.’
“You appear to be in quite the predicament. If you wish, this one could lend you her magnificent power. Of course, an absolutely non-negotiable price will be required.”
Thanks to her speech impediment, the offer came out sounding like something an irresistible, beautiful devil might say.