The Final Three Minutes
A terrorist attack had struck the party Jeong-Hoon was attending.
That not a single one of the Twelve Vassals had been at his side was a terrible misfortune.
That every last one of the Twelve Vassals was gathered together when the attack began, however, was pure luck.
In the Gaju’s absence, a unanimous vote of the Twelve Vassals could muster and deploy the full power of the family.
“Is Nova’s objective still unknown?”
“Nothing since their first declaration.”
At the Chief Butler’s question, Head Maid Jeong I-Yeong shook her head as she answered.
After announcing that they would bring the hotel down if anyone tried to escape, Nova had fallen completely silent.
The government was still flailing, unable to form any coherent response.
The Twelve Vassals, by contrast, had already secured the hotel’s internal blueprints, mapped Nova’s positions and the survivors’ movement routes from them, and drawn up a rescue plan.
“The real problems are timing and how we clean up afterward.”
The Chief Butler rubbed his temples as he picked at the unresolved points.
If they seized the initiative for the rescue themselves, they would have no choice but to commit the family’s forces on a massive scale. That would make the cleanup a nightmare. However much the government already knew of their true nature, the family was still a secret organization.
“Chief Butler, still not ready?”
Jeon Mun-Jae, the vassal in charge of Apollon, strode in and put the question to the brooding Chief Butler, who only shook his head.
“Not yet.”
He held back Jeon Mun-Jae, who looked ready to storm the hotel that very second, and felt the family’s greatest weakness like a knife between the ribs: their strength was scattered.
Right now the Twelve Vassals had united and pooled their power into one fist, but the family had always specialized in prevention, not in mopping up after the fact. Once they lost the initiative, the limits of being a secret organization left them being dragged along even when they possessed more than enough force to end the crisis.
“When we realized the Association was rotten, we should have guessed someone inside had already colluded with Nova…”
The perpetrators of this attack were Nova. But the ones who had made it possible for Nova to carry it out were traitors inside the Association.
It sounded like wild speculation, yet this party had been thrown together in a rush. So many people had been unable to attend on such short notice that the absentees outnumbered the guests. The only way Nova could have known about a gathering like that and chosen it for a terror strike was if a mole inside the Association that had organized the party had leaked the information.
“Chief Butler, have you grown soft with age?”
“What?!”
“You’re letting the fact that they got the first move crush you. No matter how Nova plays this, rescuing the Gaju is the family’s absolute top priority, isn’t it?”
The words of Jeon Mun-Jae, youngest of the Twelve Vassals, struck the Chief Butler like a slap. It wasn’t the insolence that shocked him; it was the realization that he had been shaken badly enough for someone so young to rebuke him to his face.
“Or are you counting on that last resort? That thing would put an enormous burden on the Gaju, wouldn’t it?”
At the mention of the final contingency they had secretly prepared without telling Jeong-Hoon, the Chief Butler’s face twisted and he shook his head.
“The hotel’s going to come down the moment we launch the operation anyway. Why not just go all out?”
“And how exactly do you propose we clean up the mess afterward?”
“The Gaju will handle that.”
The Chief Butler’s mouth fell open at Jeon Mun-Jae’s declaration that they would create the disaster and leave Jeong-Hoon to fix it.
“Th-that’s—”
“The Gaju I know can do it. No—he will do it. As one of the Twelve Vassals, that’s how much I trust him. Are you telling me the Chief Butler, head of every vassal, can’t?”
Jeon Mun-Jae was ready to raise hell on nothing but faith. The Chief Butler slowly nodded.
If anyone else had said it he would have shouted them down as mad. But the young man was right: he was the Chief Butler, first among the vassals. For him not to trust the Gaju was unthinkable.
After splitting the groups so finely that he ended up paired alone with Si-Eun, Jeong-Hoon suddenly shuddered.
“Are you tired?”
“No. Just a sudden chill.”
Wondering if the tension had gotten to him, he glanced at Si-Eun.
“It’s quiet on this side, thankfully. Do you think the other groups are all right?”
“They’ll be fine. I stationed people I trust.”
Being paired with Si-Eun had been Jeong-Hoon’s own iron will at work.
He never even considered the possibility that the government might launch a rescue. He was certain the Twelve Vassals would come. So he had poured everything into dividing the groups in preparation for their operation.
First he had dispersed the vassals as evenly as possible. When the Twelve Vassals launched their plan—knowing full well they might be monitored—they would contact him and their fellow vassals. If those vassals were already scattered throughout the hotel, able to report every situation in real time and gather the survivors, the escape would gain a massive advantage.
Pairing Si-Eun with himself was simply an extension of the same logic. She was not of the family; even when the rescue began she would not be on the contact list of the Twelve Vassals. Putting her in a group with a vassal was also problematic. In a situation that demanded maximum dispersal of fighting strength, attaching Si-Eun to a vassal for the sake of the operation would force Jeong-Hoon into that same group, and the numbers would balloon. The whole point of splitting the groups would vanish.
To anyone who didn’t know the full picture, of course, it looked like pure tyranny on Jeong-Hoon’s part. Yet Kim Sang-Myeong—who crushed the other businessmen with sheer charisma—had backed him.
If you oppose Chairman Lee’s decision, we may end up depending on Hunter Han Si-Eun alone to protect every one of us. Have you forgotten that those people are Chairman Lee’s bodyguards?
Once Kim Sang-Myeong pointed out that the people being assigned to the splinter groups were Jeong-Hoon’s own staff, everyone had faced reality and agreed at once.
Chairman, you’re buying us all a proper meal for this later, right?
Buying what?
Chairman Lee, you’re a huge Han Si-Eun fan, aren’t you? You just wanted to operate as a two-person team with her.
…No?
Jeong-Hoon had no idea what had given him away, but Kim Sang-Myeong’s convenient misunderstanding had let him divide the groups exactly as planned.
“If any other S-class hunters had been here, you wouldn’t have needed to take this risk, Chairman. It’s a shame.”
“If the place had been packed with S-class and higher hunters to begin with, Nova never would have attacked.”
“The others never cared about this party in the first place. They actually approve of Lumen swinging the hammer. I only showed up because FC Guild is so small I couldn’t afford to snub them.”
The S-class hunters who already understood the party’s true purpose had boycotted it as a show of will. Jeong-Hoon had learned that fact on the ballroom floor, and it had let him act with confidence.
“But why did you come, Chairman? Wouldn’t refusing have sent an even stronger message?”
“I wanted to. But politics is a game of reading the roo—agh!”
Mid-shrug, Jeong-Hoon crumpled as a pain like his eardrums being shredded lanced through his skull.
This is a transmission sent because of eavesdropping concerns. You’ll get a bit of a headache—please bear with it.
Along with the headache, Jeon Mun-Jae’s voice rang inside his skull. Jeong-Hoon thought furiously, That’s not “a bit”!
At the order to stay put, Jeong-Hoon swallowed hard and signed to Han Si-Eun not to move.
He had no idea how they would come, but it would not be flashy. The moment they made a spectacle of themselves, Nova would drop the hotel—and they knew it. So they would come as stealthily as possible. They might even use magic.
Thinking that, Jeong-Hoon scanned the floor and the surroundings as carefully as he could.
“Maybe they’ll use something like teleportation?”
“What?”
“My people just told me they sent a rescue team.”
Si-Eun knew magic existed, so she nodded as if that made perfect sense—then felt an overwhelming presence crash down on them.
And then—
KWA-KWA-KWANG!!!!
From the hotel ceiling—no, from far above it, from the rooftop—came a colossal impact. A vibration that shook the entire building.
Kugung!
It didn’t stop at one. The sound kept descending, floor after floor.
The sound of everything in its path being smashed to pieces.
KWA-ANG!
The source of the noise slammed down directly in front of Jeong-Hoon, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
“…Chairman! Are you all right?!”
“Glad to see you’re in one piece.”
Three figures who had punched a straight line down from the sky like a lightning bolt, pulverizing everything in their path, stood half-hidden by the dust.
“H-Head Maid? Representative Yeo? President Jeon?”
“Yes, sir. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Head Maid Jeong I-Yeong, holding a fantastically ornate staff straight out of a fantasy novel; Yeo Tae-Hyeon of Shine Mall and Jeon Mun-Jae of Apollon, both in what looked like special-forces gear, came into sharp focus.
Jeon Mun-Jae pressed a hand to his ear and transmitted.
“Chairman, need a radio?”
“No, I’ve got one.”
At Yeo Tae-Hyeon’s question, Jeong-Hoon pulled out the radio he had carefully stowed inside his suit and clipped it on. He had taken it off earlier because it interfered with combat focus, but now that the net was live it was essential.
“That was one hell of an entrance. What now?”
“The operation is ready. Just follow us, Chairman.”
They had smashed their way in from the rooftop down; Nova would collapse the hotel for certain. Jeong-Hoon was just starting to worry when the radio crackled.
At the voice he assumed belonged to one of the Twelve Vassals, Jeong-Hoon nodded. If the command element had been taken out, the Nova members responsible for the explosives would be thrown into confusion. That bought them time.
Yeo Tae-Hyeon used that window to radio his own subordinates.
“All right, Gaju—run!”
“Once the operation fully kicks off we only have three minutes.”
“We’ve gotta haul ass until then!”
At the three vassals’ words, Jeong-Hoon and Si-Eun broke into a run behind them.
While they ran, the operation blew past Phase Two and slammed into Phase Three. The moment it did, the radio went insane.
Flamma earlier, and now Diana—both were businesses whose trials Jeong-Hoon had not yet passed. From that he deduced that the vassals were using their assigned companies as call signs. And as he pieced the operation together from the radio traffic, his expression hardened of its own accord.
He had just realized the plan had a fatal flaw.
“W-wait a second. If we fail to suppress the Nova force holding the core, the hotel comes down!”
A single mistake and the building would collapse, producing mass casualties. Of course a core detonation wouldn’t bring the structure down instantly—but escaping through a collapsing building still meant people would die.
“We can hold them for now. And we were planning to bring it down anyway.”
Jeon Mun-Jae’s confident words were joined by transmissions from the Twelve Vassals waiting outside. Photon was another company whose trials Jeong-Hoon had yet to pass.
The overall strategy the Twelve Vassals had crafted consisted of five phases.
Phase One: Jeon Mun-Jae, Jeong I-Yeong, and Yeo Tae-Hyeon breach the hotel and secure Jeong-Hoon.
Phase Two: Once the infiltrated vassals neutralize the command element, Shine Mall and Apollon forces storm in.
Phase Three: Shine Mall protects the hostages and secures escape routes while Apollon keeps Nova in check.
And then Phase Four.
KWA-KWANG—!
The instant the order fell, a powerful explosion shook the entire hotel.
“President Jeon—you didn’t—”
“Yes. We detonated every core at once. The hotel is collapsing now.”
Phase Four: deliberately collapse the hotel. There was no way to run a full-scale rescue operation and still save the building. So they would bring it down themselves and seize the timing. If Nova blew it while people were escaping, the whole timetable could unravel.
“Even if it takes time to come down—”
“That’s what this is for.”
Cutting Jeong-Hoon off, Jeong I-Yeong raised the staff she carried. Instantly, layer upon layer of magic circles unfolded around her, rising to claim the entire hotel as their domain. A final pulse large enough for Jeong-Hoon to feel it washed outward and wrapped the building.
Gravity Hold
Jeong-Hoon’s jaw dropped at the sight of Jeong I-Yeong’s magic propping up the collapsing hotel.
The staff crumbled to powder and disintegrated. Jeong I-Yeong forced out the transmission to everyone, then collapsed. Yeo Tae-Hyeon scooped her up without missing a step.
“Details later. Run, Gaju!!!”
In the urgency of the moment Jeon Mun-Jae had called him Gaju instead of Chairman. Jeong-Hoon broke into a full sprint.
The reason they had launched such a desperate escape operation—even to the point of collapsing the hotel—was simple.
The demolition traps Nova had planted were vicious beyond belief. If the vassals deployed in force to suppress them and made even a single mistake, every core would detonate simultaneously. The psychic techniques had been layered so densely there was no time to disarm them. So the plan was to detonate them themselves, then hold the hotel up with Jeong I-Yeong’s magic while everyone ran.
The Chief Butler’s voice came over the radio. Jeong-Hoon ignored it and flicked a dagger toward a shadow that had just flickered into view.
“Ghk!”
The blade buried itself cleanly in a Nova member’s throat; the man crumpled. Nova fighters kept bursting out from every direction as they ran for the exit. With their command gone and the hotel collapsing, they were in complete chaos—there was no real resistance. The problem was that every second counted, and they kept popping up.
The Chief Butler’s countdown made Jeong-Hoon’s pulse race. He clicked his tongue at the sound of running feet behind them.
“President Jeon! There’s nobody on this route but us, right?”
“Nobody! Whoever’s behind us is Nova!”
The routes had been carefully divided in advance. If anyone else had entered Jeong-Hoon’s escape path, a radio call would have come in. None had. Therefore: Nova.
“It’s coming down anyway—what the hell!”
Deciding there was no need for mercy, Jeong-Hoon yanked out every grenade he had and hurled them behind him.
KWAANG—!
The grenades detonated and the corridor behind them collapsed.
“What?!”
He had assumed Jeong I-Yeong’s Gravity Hold would keep everything standing; the fact that it had given way left him stunned.
“That means the Head Maid’s magic is starting to fail.”
With less than a minute left, the Chief Butler’s voice turned urgent—urgent enough that he had dropped radio protocol entirely.
“The exit—damn it!!!”
The second-floor window they had marked as their exit should have been coming into view by now. Instead a fire shutter had slammed down across it. Jeon Mun-Jae clicked his tongue.
“This much is nothing!”
Jeon Mun-Jae shattered the fire shutter with a kick, then smashed the window beyond it.
“Gaju, move!”
Jeon Mun-Jae’s shout and the dwindling countdown should have driven Jeong-Hoon forward—but his body felt like waterlogged cotton. The suit’s battery had died long ago. The fact that he had managed to keep pace with S-class fighters like Jeon Mun-Jae, Yeo Tae-Hyeon, and Han Si-Eun until now was already a miracle.
“Uwaaaaah!!!!”
He forced his limbs to move, but he couldn’t generate any speed.
“Chairman!!!!”
Seeing him, Si-Eun poured every last drop of her acceleration into one final burst. In a world that had all but frozen, she wrapped her arms around Jeong-Hoon and leapt straight through the shattered window into open air.
The crushing G-force of the acceleration blacked out his vision. Then he felt his body flying through empty sky, knew they had made it out, and smiled.