The Battle of the New York Branch
“These traitors…”
Fernandez ground his teeth as he muttered the words, enraged that they were after Jeong-Hoon’s life. For the past ten years he had believed the last of them thoroughly purged. He never imagined they would show themselves so brazenly.
“Traitors? That word doesn’t sit well with me. We were never part of your little family to begin with.”
The man standing beside the hooded figure who seemed to be their leader stepped forward, grumbling. Aura rolled off both of them in crushing waves—SSS-class power, and not just raw strength. These were men who had mastered both martial arts and magic.
“Silence!!! How dare you wield the family’s power!”
Fernandez’s single roar shattered their combined pressure. Even among SSS-class Awakened there were levels, and Butler Ju, Fernandez, and Jeong Si-Min stood among the few who could scarcely find equals on the entire planet. Two auras alone could never threaten him.
The real problem was numbers. Seven of them. Even setting aside the two SSS-class, the remaining five consisted of two S-class and three SS-class, their auras carefully restrained. The odds were forced against Jeong-Hoon’s side, which was why the three veterans did not attack first.
“Wait a second… that so-called Gaju is right here, isn’t he? Why don’t we just kill him now?”
“Don’t be hasty. We deal with the Gaju only after every preparation is complete.”
The casual confidence that they could end Jeong-Hoon whenever they pleased made not only the three SSS-class but Min-Ha as well burn with fury. Yet the enemy held the advantage, so none of them could charge in.
“What do you say, Gaju? Hand over Senator Richard to us and we’ll overlook tonight’s little incident. America is hardly a loss for people like you, is it?”
“Shut up, you fake martial artist. Do I look like the kind of idiot who would say ‘yes’ to that?”
The voice of the hooded leader sounded far younger than Butler Ju’s, yet he spoke with the archaic cadence of a wuxia novel. Jeong-Hoon cursed him and raised his right hand—specifically, he raised his middle finger.
“Heh heh heh. An insolent finger. Cutting it off wouldn’t put your life in danger, I suppose.”
“You think I’ll allow that?”
“Joo Yeong-Cheol, was it? You seem to be someone high up in this ‘family.’ Do you really believe four of you can stop us?”
“Do I look like I’m bluffing?”
Butler Ju unleashed his aura. Fernandez and Jeong Si-Min matched him at the same instant. The three pressures resonated, forming a shockwave that blasted outward.
“Kh…!”
The two SSS-class—leader and his companion—weathered it without serious harm. The three SS-class staggered. The two S-class took the wave full-on and were flung backward. In that opening Jeong Si-Min blinked forward, fist already loaded with a killing blow aimed at an S-class. The SSS-class beside the leader intercepted in a flash of shadow-stepping power.
BOOM!
The ability to slip between shadows let him match Jeong Si-Min’s blink. He shook out his numbed wrist and grinned cockily.
“Whoa! That would’ve killed me if it landed clean!”
“Hmph.”
Jeong Si-Min only snorted and blinked back into formation. Success would have been ideal; failure simply meant regrouping. Nothing more.
“So negotiations have failed. Fine. Kill everyone except the Gaju. Attack!”
“Min-Ha! Protect the Gaju and the senator!”
As the seven Awakened surged forward, Butler Ju’s shout rang out. Min-Ha’s power—Sealing—activated, a barrier of pure defense blooming in front of Jeong-Hoon and Richard. Against anything short of a full coordinated assault, it would hold for a short while.
“Gaju, Senator—take the emergency exit!”
Min-Ha shouted first in Korean, then again in English, but the senator had already collapsed into panic the moment seven high-rank Awakened appeared. He was far beyond listening.
“What are you doing? Hurry—ah, damn it! Follow me!”
Jeong-Hoon tried speaking to the terrified Richard, realized the man understood no Korean, and spat out the short English he could manage.
While Jeong-Hoon dragged Senator Richard toward the emergency exit, the seven Awakened could not stop them. The order to charge had been given, yet Butler Ju and the other three blocked their path completely. When the attackers changed tactics and tried to chase the pair out of the banquet hall, Butler Ju and his companions were right on their heels. The resulting free-for-all scattered them across the Lumen New York branch, battles erupting in every corridor and room.
“Hahaha. So you are my opponent. A life-and-death duel between martial artists… it feels like destiny.”
“I have nothing to say to a traitor of the family.”
Facing the hooded leader in a hallway, Butler Ju’s expression made it clear that even speaking to the man was distasteful.
“Heh heh. As my vice-commander already said, we were never members of your family. We merely share a larger purpose and cooperate with someone connected to you.”
“If that man was the vice-commander, then you must be the commander.”
From that brief exchange Butler Ju extracted several useful facts. The family traitors he believed eradicated still existed, and they had stolen both magic and martial techniques. With those stolen arts they had built a terrorist organization targeting the Gaju and recruited unregistered powerhouses. The man before him was their commander—meaning the group possessed real scale.
Having drawn those conclusions, Butler Ju no longer needed restraint. And he certainly would not allow the arrogant fool who had just declared he would kill Jeong-Hoon in front of him to live.
CRASH!
Butler Ju stepped in with footwork and drove a fist loaded with internal energy, the technique flowing perfectly. The hooded man met it with a fist of his own.
“Kh! I was too reckless against the real thing!”
He failed to fully neutralize the blow. His own fist was knocked aside and the impact tore the hood free, revealing a man in his early thirties—short sports cut, bold features, the very picture of a Korean man.
“Not merely fluent in Korean—you are Korean yourself. Another useful piece of information.”
Butler Ju filed away the knowledge that the family’s enemies also kept their base in Korea, then drew his energy higher. The shape of the force concentrated around his fist changed. The commander raised his own mana and forged energy of his own. When Butler Ju’s energy turned black and shot forward, the commander punched to meet it.
CLAAANG!
The impact and sound of striking solid metal made the commander grimace. Since reaching his current realm he had never felt pain from smashing iron. Yet striking Butler Ju’s energy hurt.
“Attribute conversion? That’s magic, not martial arts!”
“It is martial arts.”
Butler Ju answered shortly and shifted stance. The movement carried a clear ready position, yet something about it felt familiar. The commander’s face twisted.
“Boxing is not martial arts!!!”
“If you use energy while doing it, it becomes martial arts.”
The commander lunged, fists flying. Butler Ju slipped them with nothing more than a lateral shift of his torso. A barrage followed; every punch was avoided with pure weaving. Then came the uppercut, fist sheathed in energy condensed hard as steel.
THWACK!
In an instant the commander’s jaw snapped sideways and a fountain of blood sprayed from his mouth. The strike looked light, yet it would have killed an ordinary Awakened outright. Being SSS-class, he merely staggered from the dizzying shock and hastily retreated. Butler Ju closed the distance with light steps, ducked low, and hammered unprotected body blows into the man’s midsection.
BAM! BA-BAM!
Sounds like bursting drums rang out as shockwaves erupted from the commander’s core and shattered the walls.
“Ghk!”
“Hmm. You claim you are not a family traitor, so I was unsure what to call you. Looking at you now, though, your lack of real combat experience is exactly like Nova’s. I’ll simply call you Nova.”
Butler Ju had realized the man relied solely on overwhelming SSS-class power to crush lower ranks; his actual skill was unimpressive. There was no need to distinguish him further.
“You damn old bastard! If you learned martial arts, use proper martial arts!”
“I have been using martial arts this entire time. Martial arts is not only flashy footwork and sky-splitting energy blasts. Well, if you survive this, you may come to understand.”
Enraged, the commander swung. Butler Ju seized the arm, twisted, and locked the waist before executing a perfect back drop.
“Gaaaaah!”
Under the colossal impact the commander finally understood. What Butler Ju used might look like play, yet it was unmistakably martial arts. Every single strike carried precise mana control. Even the back drop had instantly flooded his body with destructive force.
“Heh heh heh! I see… I see it now. So this is why they warned us to be careful of the family. Then I shall go all out as well!”
Laughing like a madman, the commander staggered to his feet and poured out mana. Light exploded around him and his movements transformed. He abandoned the unfamiliar martial arts and returned to the field where he was strongest—his superpower.
Having escaped through the emergency exit with Senator Richard, Jeong-Hoon frowned at the man who kept trembling and babbling.
“Uh, look, just… shut up!”
They had entered the secret passage beyond the emergency exit. The plan was to slip out as quietly as possible and reach safety. Yet Richard continued muttering like a broken man. There was no guarantee Nova had brought only seven people. They still possessed two hundred A-class Awakened; any number of them could already be roaming the Lumen New York branch.
“Damn it. I should have brought more people after all.”
Leaving the Twelve Vassals behind for the corporate merger now felt like a crushing regret. Seeing that his words had finally silenced Richard, Jeong-Hoon nodded.
“Uh, so… I’m going safety zone. You follow me?”
“O-OK! OK!”
Somehow managing to convey his intent in clumsy English, Jeong-Hoon watched Richard nod frantically and stamp his feet.
“Um, no fast, slow, silence move. Okay?”
“……Fast? Slow? Oh, OK! I’m not hurry. Just…….”
Aware that Jeong-Hoon’s English was limited, Richard restricted himself to the simplest possible words and resolved to stay quiet. He had not understood the Korean conversation in the banquet hall, but atmosphere needed no translation. Both of their lives were on the line. In a way, his own careless judgment had dragged Jeong-Hoon into danger. Watching the young man remain so calm made Richard deeply regret underestimating him. The twenty-year-old “kid” had clearly weathered far more storms than a sixty-year-old senator.
“Ah, right. I want Nova name list. You now have?”
Squeezing out whatever English he could, Jeong-Hoon asked whether the senator currently possessed Nova’s roster. Richard hesitated a moment, then nodded.
“OK! Here!”
Matching Jeong-Hoon’s level, he answered in short English and drew a carefully hidden USB from inside his clothes. Jeong-Hoon accepted it with a smile.
“Thank you!”
They were communicating somehow, yet the entire exchange left Jeong-Hoon feeling ridiculous. He firmly decided that from now on he would always bring at least one vassal capable of interpreting.