Then I'll Explain
Dan Miryu drank the coffee Mi Soryeong had brought him. He had lost count of how many cups had gone down, and his stomach felt packed with nothing but coffee.
Beyond the laptop, Hwang Seokgu pressed a finger to his upper lip. Even that tiger of a man had gone black and dead beneath the eyes through a meeting that had stretched past twelve hours.
The officers of the Temporary Hero Association filling the conference room were no better. Lips were cracked, and eyes opened only to fall shut again. At one seat the coffee cans had piled into a mountain, and someone else slapped their own cheek, trying to drive the drowsiness off.
"Yes...... We'll move on to the next item......"
The moderator barely forced the words through a voice gone to shreds, then traded places with another officer. The moment he sank into the cushioned chair, he was out cold.
No one blamed him. As if the sight were routine, Hwang Seokgu flicked a hand, and staff from outside slipped in and carried the collapsed man away. A few of the others watched with open envy.
They were the Temporary Hero Association—people who could now say, without shame, that they were the Korea Hero Association—and duty and paperwork were grinding them to nothing.
Korea was in chaos in the aftermath of the Ilshikgyo–Europe war, and with a hero's name on their backs they wore themselves raw to keep the country safe.
"......As for expanding heroes' rights, we expect a favorable result."
The official dispatched by the government said it with a face gone slack. Playing go-between had worn him down from both sides; every time he moved his head, another handful of hair shed loose.
"A pleasant answer will not do. Give us a clear confirmation. Can it be done, or can it not?"
Dan Miryu's words came out sharp.
The official flinched under his look.
"......We're in a meeting on this side as well...... There's a limit to handling it on a temporary basis...... The police and the prosecutors are in a difficult position too......"
Bang!
"......Are you joking with me?"
Hwang Seokgu brought his fist down on the table. It caved in, sunk in the shape of that fist.
His tiger eyes flashed.
"The country's gone to hell, and you can't even issue one lousy temporary license right? People are protesting outside, every shop's shut, villains are walking the streets, and you still haven't come to your senses?"
Fury had stripped even the polite speech off him. He glared at the official, who poured sweat and scrambled for an excuse.
"......We are discussing it as quickly as we can. It isn't as if the VIP is unaware."
"You know how many times I've heard that? Every meeting. Over the phone, from the assemblymen, in the National Assembly. You going to wait till you've heard it a hundred times before you actually do it?"
"......I'm sorry, but this is not a simple matter. Have we not already guaranteed heroes a minimum of rights?"
"That rat-dropping of a right? They bitch about excessive force, bitch that we won't cooperate with the police, and the second something goes wrong they haul a hero in—and you call that a right? Ain't it common sense to give heroes the authority to investigate on their own, the power to arrest, and the right to request a warrant? Hell, before common sense—is it even right that a hero can't grab a villain when he wants?"
A tiger's roar lay under the human voice. At the sight of Hwang Seokgu's face gone fully tiger with rage, the official's legs shook like an electric massager.
Terror kept him from meeting those eyes. All he managed was to open a mouth gone bone-dry.
"......We'll re—review it."
"Not a review. Bring a definite answer. Quit wasting time."
"......Yes."
"We'll end the meeting here. Dismissed."
Hwang Seokgu kicked his chair back and swung Dan Miryu's feed over onto his own smartphone.
"You've been too hasty, Chairman. What are we to do if you storm out of the meeting?"
"You've been watching for days yourself, haven't you? The country's a disgrace. And they still handle business like that. You think I wouldn't lose my temper?"
Hwang Seokgu had not yet come out of his tiger form. Dan Miryu sighed at the sight.
"I thought I'd taken care of most of it. Take my hands off for a little while, and it's this much of a mess."
"That's what I'm saying. The moment you're gone, they carry on like you're dead...... How do they mean to deal with the mess after?"
"What else can I do? When I get back, I'll collect the blood price."
A cold killing intent settled in Dan Miryu's eyes. A bitter taste filled Hwang Seokgu's mouth.
"Tsk. What a blow to my face. I didn't know it would come to this without you. Right up until I left I was talking big, and now I'm ashamed of myself."
"Not at all. Who could have known it would turn out this way?"
"Much obliged."
Hwang Seokgu let his huge frame down into the chair in the chairman's office. The chair groaned to receive him.
"Haa...... When are we ever going to catch these villains proper? We can't do a thing, so the kids under me just keep dying......"
"I'll return as quickly as I can. Please don't worry. Things here will be finished soon."
"Wai—"
Boom!
Flame shot up outside the window on the heels of an explosion. Hwang Seokgu's face went hard.
"Which bastard's liver swelled up that big?! I'm hanging up!"
Click.
The screen went black in front of Dan Miryu.
"Will he be all right?"
Mi Soryeong, who had stayed at his side through the whole meeting, brought a warm towel.
"He should be...... He's the elder......"
Dan Miryu wiped his face with the towel. A little of the fatigue lifted. Sleep came rushing in to take its place.
"Sleep a bit. If there's trouble, I'll wake you."
"Yeah. Wake me later."
He drifted toward the bed.
Mi Soryeong's phone shrilled.
"Hm? What's wrong, Yumin?"
She stepped outside as she answered. A nameless unease settled over Dan Miryu.
No. It isn't. It can't be......
A mask flickered past and raised a thumb, as if to tell him that what he was thinking was right.
"......What?! All right?! I'll be right there!"
Mi Soryeong shrieked and scrambled into her clothes.
"What's going on?"
Inwardly, he prayed. Please, let it not be something serious.
"Mr. Phantom threw Chuyeon into a crater! We have to go!"
"What?!"
Sleep fled, and rage surged up in its place. The necklace opened and forced his body into peak condition.
"That man, I swear—!"
"Eek!"
Dan Miryu swept Mi Soryeong up in a princess carry.
"No time, so we're going fast! Hold on tight!"
"O-okay!"
Green light wrapped him. He threw the window open and kicked off, then kicked again in midair and shattered the air.
His body shot forward as if a sonic boom had torn loose.
"Straight to Pele's room!"
"Got it!"
"So. You did all that to my son over nothing but a stone?"
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know he'd go that far either."
"Then you should have pulled him out at once, not used him because it suited you! What were you going to do if something went wrong?!"
"Sorry! I'm really sorry!"
Pele knelt with both hands raised, taking the scolding from Dan Miryu and Mi Soryeong.
"I've never seen Mom and Dad that angry......"
"If one's own child came to harm and one did not grow angry, that would be the strange thing. Disciple, a parent's love is greater than a god's. Should harm befall you, your parents would kill even a god."
"Truly?"
Hong Yumin pressed a firm hand down on her quick-witted disciple's head.
"I, too, would do so, should you come to harm. Do you not know that king, teacher, and father are one?"
"Ehehe."
Embarrassed by the love, Dan Chuyeon squirmed.
"Wub-frub-lebu-rerra. (I would, too, Chuyeon.)"
"I'm hearing things."
"So it would seem."
"Krung."
Hong Yumin snapped her fingers, and the sound cut off at once.
A waterlogged voice went on for a while after that, but no one heard it.
Only after Pele had apologized until her hands were as low as her feet did the group go to the one who had made this mess.
Hong Yumin briefly hauled up the phantom thief, who hung upside down with the magma at his throat.
"Pwah! I thought I was going to suffocate."
"Then die."
"Wai—"
The magma gulped, and bubbles burst across it.
"I had no idea magma could be used for water torture."
Dan Miryu looked at the phantom thief with eyes gone cold as brine.
"He will not die of this much. Worry not."
"Why would I worry? He's a man who would come back alive from a fight with a god."
Dan Miryu did not let it pass. He could bear his own suffering. A hand laid on his son, he could not.
"Yumin, sink him deeper."
"Aye."
Nothing but a pair of feet stuck out of the magma.
Only after a long run of hauling him out and plunging him back in did Dan Miryu let out a sigh.
"Haa...... Master, please take him out."
"Very well."
The phantom thief's head came clear again.
Dan Miryu rapped the mask.
"Mr. Phantom. Do you know what you've done wrong?"
"......A great many things. I went too far this time."
"Too far doesn't begin to cover it. List everything you've done wrong and there would be no end. The times you've sworn it would never happen again outnumber even those. Keep this up and we truly cannot work with you."
Mi Soryeong said it without mercy.
"It's fine if you involve the two of us. That was our decision. But you don't involve the child. Understand? Do this once more and I won't let it go."
"......I understand."
The phantom thief turned his apology on Dan Chuyeon.
"I'm sorry, Chuyeon. You must have been badly startled. I'll see to it that nothing like this happens again."
"With words alone?"
Dan Chuyeon shot back.
"You played with a person's life, and you're going to apologize with nothing but words?"
"......What is it you want?"
"What do I want? For you to please stop tormenting our family. Do you have any idea how much everyone suffers because of you? Last time, and this time too. Do you think we're easy marks?"
"I'm sorry."
"And......"
Dan Chuyeon tore into the phantom thief, and everyone watched with open satisfaction.
"Our boy knows our hearts best."
"Yeah. He's saying everything we wanted to say."
"As expected of my disciple."
"Grrrng, grrrng!"
"A little more. That one needs a proper scolding."
Not a single person stood on the phantom thief's side.
"Whew! I'll stop here. There won't be a next time."
"......Thank you."
Dan Chuyeon pointed at the stone, now laid neatly in one place.
"So what is that stone, exactly? What makes even Lady Pele say it's important?"
Every gaze gathered at the phantom thief's mouth.
"That stone is a fragment of the records—a one-time pass to the Tablet of Records."
"The Tablet of Records?"
Dan Miryu tilted his head.
"Mr. Dan Miryu, this is what I told you on the beach. The thing we had to take from Hawaii."
"Don't tell me it's tied to the Stone of Resurrection......!"
At those words, every eye but Pele's flew wide.
"You! Only now do you speak of a thing so grave?!"
"I was not certain it was here. I thought it had no master. I did not even know that it had one."
Hong Yumin shook him until he swung and dangled.
"Are those words, or a fart?! Do you know what happens if it passes into the Eclipse God's hands?!"
"Well. If it had, wouldn't he have been fully resurrected?"
"You dare jest?!"
"Stop. The talk isn't getting anywhere."
Pele held Hong Yumin back. Seething, Hong Yumin retreated.
"Explain it properly. You said that thing stood equal to the Stone of Resurrection. And you said there was more than one."
The Divine Eye looked down on the phantom thief.
"You are going to explain all of it."
"Would it not do to speak only of that?"
"Hilarious. You take us for fools? Shut up and say everything you know."
Beneath him, the magma boiled and popped.
"Otherwise, you will talk whether you wish to or not."
"Hmm......"
The phantom thief considered.
"As for whether you are qualified...... Well. All of you have met a god over this affair. I'll say a little."
"A little? Say all of it. What kind of trick is this?"
"Pele."
In less than a blink, the phantom thief was standing behind the group. The loosened vines flopped, then sank into the magma.
"These are things you will all know when the time comes. I would ask you not to be hasty."
"......Right. So you're the one holding the reins."
Pele swallowed her anger.
"Fine. Let's hear that little bit. If it sounds dangerous, I'll hold myself back."
"Thank you."
The phantom thief swept a hand through the empty air and drew a picture there.
Of the four objects that were siblings to the Stone of Resurrection.