Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Chapter 36: Wandering Steps (1)
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It had been a full day of waiting at his private residence for any possible developments.
“Hoo.”
A long sigh sent the ice in his glass clattering and collapsing.
Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa rubbed his eyelids as he poured whiskey into his now-empty glass.
He glanced at the smartphone next to the glass, but there were no new messages.
‘This is strange.’
There had been no official reports of any incidents, but photos of a top-floor officetel half-destroyed overnight had been circulating on Chinese social media.
He hadn’t yet confirmed the identity of the resident or exactly what had happened there.
‘The Americans definitely made their move.’
It was highly likely that the unidentified ultimate target of the association had been eliminated.
So why hadn’t he heard from the man he’d sent to Beijing?
‘It feels like chasing a chicken only to lose the dog.’
Sitting there swigging alcohol was starting to turn his stomach.
‘Not even knowing who the association’s target is.’
It was utterly ridiculous.
There were three Koreans with enough influence to access key association intel.
Yang Hye-won, head of the Korean branch under the association.
Unlike her, Kim Yul had no direct ties but had recently been building connections with prominent figures.
And finally, K, who in the early days of this game had gathered the association’s key players in one place.
K could even be said to have laid the foundation for the association’s formation.
He still seemed to wield considerable influence over its members.
Yet none of those three worked for the Korean government.
More precisely, no one was feeding intel to the Ministry of National Defense.
‘That arrogant bitch Yang stuck with the NIS.’
A military academy graduate who chose another government agency over the military.
As a result, Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa and other Defense Ministry figures had no solid intel pipeline and couldn’t pinpoint the association’s target.
The only rumor was that it was a young player from the Gongcheongdan.
That only deepened Kim Jong-hwa’s resentment toward K.
After all, everyone knew K was a key part of the investigation team.
‘You insolent bastard.’
When he should be handing over intel for his own country, he pulls this exclusion crap?
Nothing about the guy sat right with him from top to bottom.
Kim Jong-hwa ground his teeth and downed the whiskey in one gulp.
He slammed the glass down roughly, his anger sharpening further.
This time, it wasn’t aimed at K, but at Kim Mu-won.
‘It’s been ages since I sent him to grab the guy, and still no word.’
Had he failed? He should’ve seen it coming from the guy’s bold promises.
“Useless bastard. Should’ve sent someone more competent……”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.”
At the voice right beside him, Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa snatched up the glass and lunged.
But the glass stopped dead mid-air with a clunk.
If not for the unmelted ice spinning inside, it would’ve been hard to believe it had been flying and then halted.
Kim Jong-hwa, mid-lunge, was gripped by an iron hold.
“You bastard! Intruder!”
He bellowed urgently, signaling the players stationed at the residence.
The players would rush in and grab the intruder any second now.
As Kim Jong-hwa glared murderously, space warped smoothly, and a figure appeared.
“No matter who you sent, they wouldn’t have beaten me.”
The white man was familiar enough—he was definitely K.
Stealth magic?
He’d heard traps were set everywhere as countermeasures.
How had he slipped past them into the room?
As Kim Jong-hwa clenched his teeth and racked his brain, K greeted him casually.
“Long time no see, Colonel.”
“…….”
“Oh, right, you got promoted. Brigadier General, then?”
“…….”
“Didn’t mean to startle you by dropping in so suddenly. Feel kinda bad now. Came to return the favor for that gift you sent, Brigadier General.”
Only after the thud did he notice the large bag on K’s back.
K unzipped the bag himself—the kind used for bodies.
He nudged it with his foot.
“Come out.”
What wriggled out from inside……
“You……!”
It was Kim Mu-won, in his underwear, hands and feet tightly bound.
He didn’t spare Kim Jong-hwa a glance and knelt beside the bag.
As Kim Jong-hwa swallowed hard at the sight of Kim Mu-won’s battered face……
“The others, I just left in China. Too much hassle to carry them.”
Don’t worry, he hadn’t killed them.
K continued nonchalantly, expression unperturbed.
“Living life, I’ve noticed people fall into rough types.”
He even perched his butt on the armrest of the sofa where Kim Jong-hwa had been sitting.
“One type can’t grasp reality and thinks they’re bigger than they are……”
“…….”
“Know what their defining trait is?”
Instead of answering, Kim Jong-hwa fixed K with a murderous glare.
“No matter how much you explain, they don’t get it until they experience it themselves.”
K let out a scoff and muttered leisurely.
“You strike me as exactly that type, Brigadier General. Figured I’d come explain once more before you bulldoze things your way again.”
K placed shards of broken stone where the glass had been.
Only then did Kim Jong-hwa realize the players stationed at the residence hadn’t shown up.
“Seen these before? Barrier magic stones.”
His heartbeat pounded: thump, thump, thump.
He couldn’t move a finger. His hands even trembled faintly. He sensed death looming.
“You can’t even tell if this was used here or leftover from elsewhere. Same with whether a barrier’s up right now or not.”
So quit sticking your nose into player business.
K’s low warning followed.
Kim Jong-hwa, fighting his terror of death, glared harder to deny and ignore his state.
“No matter how smoothly you talk, you’re still just vermin chasing personal gain even in national crises! If wartime’s on the horizon, military control is obvious! All this freedom and cooperation talk—you’re just threatening us because you don’t want to sacrifice the few for the many!”
Spitting venom eased the fear a bit.
“Hoo, still not getting it……”
K muttered in exasperation and reached out.
“Won’t sink in no matter how many times I explain.”
No point wasting more time on someone like that.
With a quiet mutter, K grabbed Kim Jong-hwa by the nape.
The brigadier general thrashed wildly, roaring.
“You think I’ll die quietly?!”
Even as he bellowed, his eyes flicked involuntarily to the door.
Hoping the nearby players would burst in and save him.
It was as good as admitting he couldn’t escape on his own power.
“Ha, who said anything about killing you?”
Ears ringing with disbelief, Kim Jong-hwa halted his struggles and looked up.
K nodded toward the front.
“Over there.”
Turning, he saw the man he’d forgotten momentarily.
Kim Mu-won, crawled from the body bag, bound hand and foot, kneeling in his underwear.
Realizing his own fate, Kim Jong-hwa’s cheek twitched.
* * *
“Stopped by your study first—found some interesting stuff.”
Public documents and bank records suggested some budget embezzlement.
“Do you know someone named Lee Joo-mi, ma’am?”
His phone had steamy texts with his mistress intact.
Plenty of nude photos and videos exchanged too.
“Just got a new text—says your son misses you a lot, Brigadier General. Sorry you had to have your personal messages exposed like this.”
Looked like an illegitimate kid too.
‘Man, people have all kinds of skeletons.’
Shaking my head, I filmed all the documents and phone logs on video.
Of course, I didn’t forget to capture Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa kneeling beside Kim Mu-won.
‘He thought I was gonna kill him.’
I’d never kill a civilian with player power.
That’s my unbreakable red line, a contradiction if I want harmony between players and civilians.
‘Player world and the ordinary one need to stay separate.’
Killing Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa was never an option for me.
So I went with the next best: leverage his weaknesses to pin him down.
‘Can’t let him keep meddling in player affairs.’
Choi Sung-woo’s phone and Kim Mu-won’s phone.
I diligently filmed the brigadier general with both, then stood.
“Word’s gonna come soon about replacing the Defense Ministry’s new unit head with a player. Play nice if you don’t want this hitting the news.”
I spoke calmly while handing Kim Mu-won’s phone back to him.
“You—once internal cleanup’s done, round up the players and start training. Report regularly, and if he starts shit, you’re cleared to shut him up just enough.”
If he didn’t want the world seeing him begging for his life in his underwear, he’d behave.
Same for the five other players who’d rushed from Beijing after Kim Mu-won’s chat for rescue.
“Yes, sir! Got it!”
Kim Mu-won snapped to attention.
I glanced once at Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa, trembling with shame and humiliation, then walked out without lingering.
‘Told Lim Nam-gyu, so Director Yang Jo-cheol will step in soon.’
That’d clear out the civilians over the players assigned to Defense Ministry direct units.
‘That’ll do for now.’
Some players who joined the military side probably did so just because it was the army.
‘NIS side, outside Yang Hye-won’s party, are mostly under protective watch.’
They figured the military would give clear roles and affiliation.
But right now, the military wasn’t a good choice.
It’s run by people who think the army should seize power and control everything in wartime.
‘Unlike Yang Hye-won’s player team, the Defense direct unit is headed by an ordinary human.’
I know most soldiers have prepped steadily for wartime.
But that prep assumes war against humans.
Would it help against mana beasts?
‘I don’t think so.’
Ordinary folks can’t even guess player or monster limits.
That’s why I came straight to Brigadier General Kim Jong-hwa to sideline him.
‘Control is obviously needed, like he says.’
Organized response versus chaos—the outcomes differ vastly.
What I’m pointing out is ordinary humans trying to wield that control.
The war closing in isn’t something human perspectives can handle.
Human society can’t properly address a single player-caused issue right now.
Guys robbing banks with invisibility or stealth magic.
Personal vendetta types, plus those privately gathering monsters or players for coups or civil wars.
Tons of incidents, but how many are actually controlled?
They just bury them with info blackouts.
They can’t even dream of regulating, stopping, or managing player actions.
Ordinary people lack the power to rein in players.
‘If you realize this isn’t your field, step back.’
Damn system