Just Maintain Neutrality
Not even a full day had passed since the establishment of the PS Association when good news arrived at FC Guild.
Jo Yun-a, Han Si-Eun’s closest friend and a hunter of FC Guild, had been promoted to S-class.
With every member of FC Guild already enrolled in the PS Association, the promotion was a cause for celebration not only for the guild but for the Association as well.
“Congratulations, Hunter Jo Yun-a.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you, Chairman.”
To mark Yun-a’s promotion to S-class, Jeong-Hoon had lent them Lumen’s banquet hall. When he came down in person to offer his congratulations, Yun-a beamed and shook his hand.
“I’m already grateful you helped me, and now you’re throwing a whole celebration party… Aren’t you going a little overboard?”
“Not at all. A friend of Hunter Han Si-Eun’s is a friend of mine. A friend’s friend is a friend, right?”
Yun-a’s light teasing was met with a casual shrug from Jeong-Hoon. She clicked her tongue softly. She had only meant to needle him a little and liven the mood, yet he had shut it down before it could even begin.
“You really don’t leave any openings, do you?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I figured the reason you treat me so well was something like, ‘If you want to catch the general, shoot the horse first!’ You know?”
She glanced across the hall at Si-Eun, who was smiling brightly while greeting people, and gave a sly little grin. Jeong-Hoon only tilted his head, completely lost.
“……Wow. You really never even thought about it that way, huh.”
His friendship with Si-Eun had begun as pure fandom and grown into something genuine; romantic feelings simply never entered the picture for him. Finding the game no longer fun, Yun-a shook her head—then smiled again, a new idea sparking.
“Well then, since you’re Si-Eun’s friend, that makes you my friend too. So we’re friends, right? Looking forward to it from here on, Jeong-Hoon.”
She was deliberately testing him, fishing for any reaction that might hint at something more.
“Oh? You’re right. We’re the same age. Then I’ll drop the formalities. Yeah, looking forward to it.”
“……Whaaaat?! Si-Eun! This guy is no fun at all!”
“I take my eyes off you for one second and you’re already causing trouble!”
Having failed spectacularly to fluster him, Yun-a called out in protest toward Si-Eun, who was still chatting with someone else. Si-Eun accelerated over in a blur and promptly smacked Yun-a on the head.
“I’m so sorry, Chairman! I looked away for a moment and—”
“No, no. Yun-a and I just became friends. So please don’t worry… Hmm. It feels weird talking casually with Yun-a but still using honorifics with Hunter Han Si-Eun. Mind if I drop them with you too?”
Jeong-Hoon made the suggestion with a little shake of his head. Si-Eun shot Yun-a a sideways glare.
“I mean, he already said we’re friends, so—”
“Haa… Are you really sure about this?”
Even after becoming friends, Si-Eun had deliberately kept a respectful distance because of Jeong-Hoon’s social standing. She asked carefully. Jeong-Hoon simply nodded.
“Then looking forward to it, Jeong-Hoon!”
“Yeah. Feels like we’re finally proper friends now.”
Months into their friendship, they had only just started speaking casually. Jeong-Hoon scratched the back of his head at the slight awkwardness. It had come easily with Yun-a, but with Si-Eun the formal speech was so ingrained that it felt strange to let it go.
“……You all look like you’re having fun. Meanwhile I’m over here working.”
Min-Ha, dressed in her uniform, passed behind the slightly awkward Jeong-Hoon and muttered under her breath. He could only nod with an embarrassed expression. Though still a minor, she was already a vassal of the family and busy with her rigorous training; she had no time to enjoy the banquet at all.
The Blue House presidential residence.
Inside the traditional hanok-style complex, in the president’s private living quarters, President Seong Hyeon-Jang sat alone in his study, sunk deep in thought he could not escape.
As president he had always carried the heavy responsibility of leading the Republic of Korea. Yet the more he learned about the true nature of Lumen—no, of the Aurora Group as it was now called—the more that sense of duty began to fray with doubt.
Just who was the true master of this country? Was it not the people, as the Constitution declared?
But looking at the Aurora Group, the real power that ruled this nation from the shadows was not the people—it was Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon.
Seong Hyeon-Jang knew from personal conversation that Jeong-Hoon was a good man. Being a good man, however, granted no one the right to dominate a country from behind the curtain.
That was why the president remained lost in these heavy musings.
He had created the PS Association exactly as Lee Jeong-Hoon wanted. Of course, had it been Jeong-Hoon alone pushing for it, Seong Hyeon-Jang would have stalled with every excuse he could invent. But the people needed reassurance. The country had to be told it was safe. So he had pushed the PS Association plan Jeong-Hoon proposed.
“Haa……”
Still uncertain whether founding the PS Association had been the right move, Seong Hyeon-Jang opened his eyes and reached for the empty glass on his desk.
“Your glass is empty. Shall I refill it for you?”
“……Who are you?”
A white-haired young man, his hair bleached completely white, smiled and lifted a bottle of whiskey, giving it a little shake. Seong Hyeon-Jang’s eyes narrowed.
The Blue House residence was where the president and his family lived. Security was absolute at all times—yet a youth who still looked barely past boyhood had somehow slipped inside.
“Haha. Just a citizen who wanted to submit a personal petition to the president. Ah, I’m still a minor, so I don’t have voting rights yet. Please don’t turn me away at the door because of that.”
A minor—no, a boy—had infiltrated the residence. Seong Hyeon-Jang stared at Yong-Ha with open suspicion.
“Are you with the Aurora Group?”
“Heavens, no! Don’t say such horrible things. I’m someone who loathes the Aurora Group—more precisely, Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon—with every fiber of my being.”
Yong-Ha gave an exaggerated full-body shudder. The president’s eyes went wide.
“D-Don’t tell me—Nova?!”
“……Well, I can guess what you mean by that, and it doesn’t exactly make me feel good. But yes, for the moment you’re thinking in the right direction.”
Only the family knew of the Organization. To the public—and even to the president—it remained unknown. Yong-Ha understood the question as asking whether he belonged to Nova, the group behind the recent incidents, and simply nodded while pouring whiskey into the empty glass.
“Hmm. Thirty-year-old whiskey really is excellent liquor.”
“……What does someone from Nova want here? If you’ve come to threaten me into giving you something—!”
“Shh. Absolutely nothing of the sort. I really did come to submit a petition.”
Yong-Ha inhaled the aroma of the poured whiskey, shrugged, and raised both hands to show he carried no killing intent.
“I do not negotiate with terrorist organizations.”
“You’ll change your mind once you hear me out.”
Yong-Ha’s nonchalant shrug made Seong Hyeon-Jang wipe his sweat-slick palms on his trousers. Anyone capable of infiltrating this far without being detected was a master of his craft—someone who could take the president’s life at any moment. Remaining calm was impossible.
“Within as little as a week, or as long as a month, the Aurora Group and Nova will fight their decisive battle.”
“What?!”
“So please prepare plans to ensure the safety of the citizens accordingly—and do not make any rash moves.”
No matter how much the president disliked the Aurora Group, it was still a Korean conglomerate. Lee Jeong-Hoon was a Korean citizen with Korean nationality. The idea of an attack on the people and their property forced Seong Hyeon-Jang to shake his head.
“You think a demand like that will work?!”
“It has to work. My goal is Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon’s head—not the destruction of the Republic of Korea.”
As he spoke, Yong-Ha drew up his mana and let the pressure settle over the room. Seong Hyeon-Jang felt it instantly: this was no joke.
“All I ask is that you remain neutral. I want nothing more than that.”
“……”
The president’s mind raced, trying to understand the purpose of such a threat. For a moment he wondered if Yong-Ha feared the military more than Aurora—but the Korean military only outnumbered them. Aurora was far more elite, possessing combat power that surpassed even regular armed forces.
“I really did come here out of concern for the citizens. But if the president ignores my petition… well, then I have no choice. I’ll have to burn Korea down along with everything else.”
Under Yong-Ha’s quiet, relentless pressure, Seong Hyeon-Jang’s eyes darted.
“Why go this far? What is your reason?”
“I already told you. The goal is Lee Jeong-Hoon’s head.”
“I mean the reason you’re targeting Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon. Isn’t he someone the world needs right now?”
Ignorant of the Organization’s true aims, the president could only ask. He knew Nova held radical ideas, yet their obsessive focus on Jeong-Hoon still made no sense.
“Ah, that? I just fucking hate that bastard who thinks he can stand above me and rule simply because he was born into a good bloodline.”
Yong-Ha answered with a bright, open smile, laying his true feelings bare. Reading the madness behind that sincerity, Seong Hyeon-Jang had no choice but to nod.
“One month. Exactly one month. After that, I will inform the Aurora Group.”
“Thank you for your consideration. Ah—and during that month there may be some noise while I eliminate Aurora’s collaborators. I ask for your understanding in advance.”
At the promise of a month’s blind eye, Yong-Ha bowed deeply and vanished.
With that, the first button had been fastened successfully.
The home of Kim Sang-Myeong—a self-made entrepreneur who had built his own company in his twenties—was every bit as lavish as his reputation suggested.
He lived alone in a penthouse that commanded a sweeping view of the entire city. He had lost his family ten years earlier when the world changed.
Fresh from the S-class promotion party Jeong-Hoon had hosted for Jo Yun-a, Kim Sang-Myeong had barely stepped through the door before pulling a tablet from his bag to review the next day’s schedule.
The house was utterly silent and empty, yet that very stillness was perfect for concentration.
“Oh? Because of the ‘Regressor’ nickname I figured you were an Awakened hiding your identity, but you’re a genuine Non-Awakened?”
“……I have no intention of cooperating with Nova. Leave quietly, if you would.”
Yong-Ha’s sudden appearance shattered the quiet. Kim Sang-Myeong powered off the tablet at once and spoke.
“Oh? Did I ever say a single word about being from Nova?”
“I may not look it, but I have my fingers in some rather dangerous businesses. I know who the true leader of Nova is.”
Under Kim Sang-Myeong’s razor-sharp gaze, Yong-Ha flinched despite himself. How could a Non-Awakened businessman radiate a presence greater than someone who had walked through countless life-or-death battlefields?
“Haha. So the man they call the Regressor really does have something special, doesn’t he?”
“……If you won’t leave, I’ll call security. The guards in this building should prove at least a little troublesome even for you.”
“Ah, that would be inconvenient.”
Yong-Ha had not expected Kim Sang-Myeong to take such a hard line. He shrugged. He had only just secured the president’s neutrality; killing a figure of this magnitude here would let the family rally all of Korea behind them and wipe the Organization out.
Threats against his life clearly meant nothing to the man—his expression remained utterly detached.
“Come now, I’ve come all this way. Could you spare just a little of your time? It’ll only take a moment.”
“A single moment that makes an enemy of Aurora could cost me everything.”
“I guarantee I won’t get caught. Just a little time. If you refuse even that, then I have nothing left to lose either.”
Faced with Kim Sang-Myeong’s flat refusal, Yong-Ha drew up a faint thread of mana and let the pressure settle. He was not truly threatening the man—only showing how desperate he was.
At that, Kim Sang-Myeong had no choice but to nod.