Chapter 89
Chapter 89
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: ?
Chapter Title: Despair and the Director's Return
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Want... to get your strength back, yeah?
Rub-a-dub-rub.
Something's off.
This sensation—it was the massage Kim Deokja from the Hunter Association always gave my body whenever I passed out or collapsed.
Yet even as my body stirred toward wakefulness, when it should have felt comfortable by now, it only felt heavier.
"It hurts... my body's all pins and needles..."
Still, I had to wake up.
My last memory.
It was hazy—right before I blacked out while being carried on Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon's back.
When I glanced back, there was Yeongno, mocking me with a sneer and pointing derisively, asking if I was running away.
But I could see Lee Seolgi crying inside that Yeongno's heart.
That's why I wanted to rescue her quickly.
My childhood friend, who had lost control of her own body because of me, after getting into a fight with the branch family.
I had to restore her to normal as soon as possible.
"Gasp!"
When I opened my eyes, this wasn't the familiar hospital room with its usual ceiling.
This was Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon's Velvet Room, bathed in dim lighting.
But unlike usual, though the color was the same, the bookshelves and furniture that always surrounded the room were nowhere to be seen.
It was completely empty.
"Where is this?"
"Awake now, Yongchan?"
"Ah, Branch Chief!"
At that moment, Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon walked out from behind me.
I tried to rush over and ask her something, but my knees buckled, and I collapsed involuntarily.
"...Huh?"
Again.
The pain I'd felt from the edges of consciousness all the way until now.
My whole body felt limp, like it wasn't even mine.
Meanwhile, Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon looked down at me as I nearly collapsed again, her face etched with worry.
"Yongchan, listen without panicking."
"...?"
"You've just woken up after a full week, Yongchan."
"......What?"
What the hell did that mean?
It felt like I'd just lain down and woken up, but a whole week had already passed?
"From my investigation, Yeongno takes nine days to devour the mind and body of the person it possesses."
"What does that even..."
"Which is why, now that nine days have passed and Yeongno has fully revived, it's already laid waste to most of South Korea's legions."
And it went further, seizing control of North Korea's nuclear bombs and various iron-laden heavy weaponry to turn the upper half of the Korean Peninsula into a scorched wasteland.
Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon told me everything about the situation outside.
"So... we're in the middle of a war right now?"
"No, the war ended in a single day. With Seolgi's abilities added to its own, Yeongno is now trying to sell off the northern Korean land it conquered to foreign powers."
"Wh-what? Huh?"
Then came a story I never could have anticipated.
No, wasn't the monster rule that if it destroyed a country, it'd make it its own home?
Selling off the land out of the blue?
"Yeongno was never some dumb brute of a monster."
"Then what is it?"
"Even as a husk, it holds the position of head of the Supreme Lee Clan. It's annihilated most of the southern forces on the peninsula and outright devoured the north..."
Yeongno, which a thousand years ago had been subjugated by a united human assault from East Asia after letting its guard down.
Maybe that's when it learned to fear humans.
And this era was even more globally connected than back then.
Stirring up North Korea, international society's pariah, might be tolerable.
But if it went further and indiscriminately targeted 'advanced nations'...
No matter how revived it was, it knew it'd become the target of an 'America-led global beatdown.'
"Right now, it's leveraging the voice it can wield in the World Council as a hunter..."
Yeongno was craftier than I'd imagined.
"It's made a deal with the world's top ten clans—the representatives of all hunters."
"A deal?"
"Yes."
Rather than reigning as a petty queen over tiny Korea when it could be an empress of the world, it offered the advanced nations of the international community this bargain.
"The North Korean land it's conquered, plus the surrounding seas."
"...?"
"In exchange for ceding all that to the top ten clans, it's demanding they recognize it as the legitimate heir to the Supreme Lee Clan."
"Wh-what?!"
The Korean Peninsula, brimming with geopolitical value.
Offering up the entire north in return for acknowledging a monster possessing a human body as a hunter clan's head.
Such a contract...!
"Of course, the deal passed through the UN assembly two days ago."
"Wha—?!"
"Now, all that's left is for the heads of the top ten clans to visit the Supreme Lee Clan's territory in person to finalize it."
I'd thought there was no way it'd happen.
"Not something to be surprised about, Yongchan."
"This isn't surprising...?"
"No. Regrettably, this only hurts us—those connected to Seolgi—but for every other nation, it's nothing but good news."
Handing out free East Asian land connected to the Pacific.
Plus, Yeongno itself had contracted to stay within the peninsula.
To the other top ten clans, it was like watching a fire across the river—a pure boon.
And so.
"Does that mean it's all over now?"
I woke up to find the nation's overthrow already complete.
With even the military wiped out, Yeongno was effectively above the president.
And it didn't end there.
"Yongchan, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
"What's left?"
"......"
Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon wore an incredibly troubled expression.
"That strike you landed on Yeongno back then..."
"Strike? ...Oh, you mean that punch with the black light sparkling around it?"
"Yes. That technique is called 'Black Fist'—a divine art that even S-rank hunters can't attain."
Was it?
Back then, I'd just thrown everything I had into it without thinking.
I hadn't realized it was such an incredible move.
But if I'd used a god-possessed technique, shouldn't she be happy? Why did Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon look so sad?
"Listen carefully, Yongchan."
"Y-yes, Branch Chief..."
I still couldn't stand, my whole body tingling.
She knelt down to my eye level on the carpeted floor and let out a deep sigh.
"Your mana circuits... they burned out irreparably from using a technique too powerful for them to handle."
"......What?"
Finally, with great reluctance, she forced the words out—facts far more shocking than anything before.
"Burned mana circuits..."
"Exactly as it sounds. The mana circuits that let hunters use their abilities—they're completely gone. You're just an ordinary human male now, Yongchan."
...What the hell was this?
Was today April Fool's or something?
I couldn't believe it at first, so I laughed it off awkwardly.
"No way! Suddenly turning into a normal guy? Come on."
"......"
"That can't be. Look—Armament ON."
The first skill I'd gained after awakening as a hunter.
I tried activating Armament right away, the source of all my power, to don my suit.
But nothing happened.
"...? Armament... Armament! Armament!"
I kept shouting it.
I even tested my gun-type skills like Fire Shot and Ice Gatling.
"Damn it, Neural Enhancement Module!"
I tried to enter Bullet Time with neural enhancement, but when nothing worked, frustration boiled over, and I called out to Levi.
"Levi, my abilities aren't coming up. Is it broken or something?"
But the scariest part of all.
"Levi? Hey, Levi!"
My one and only partner, who always chatted with me—even dropping the occasional flirty line.
There was no response from Levi at all.
"Don't mess with me... Levi, Levi! Levi!!"
"......"
"Branch Chief, this is a lie, right?"
"...We tried everything to restore you, but even Deokja's abilities weren't enough. I'm sorry."
"Damn it... This can't be happening... I still have someone to save, and now I've lost all my powers?"
The girl I'd loved since childhood—I couldn't even save her.
My country, where I was born, had fallen to some monster possessing her body, and on top of that, all the power I'd built up was gone.
"Damn it..."
This couldn't be real.
"The reason I brought you to my room is that the Hunter Association's Korean branch is currently under seizure and search."
"Seizure...?"
"Yes. As you know, Yeongno is the de facto ruler of Korea now... and it's desperate to find you."
But I couldn't even fight.
I was nothing but a burden needing protection.
"I can really feel it... all the power inside me is gone."
"...Yes."
"Am I really done for? My friendships, my promises, my future—everything...?"
"I'll leave you alone for a while."
Perhaps pitying me, Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon thought I needed time to myself.
She stood up and vanished into the shadows of the Velvet Room.
Maybe because of the destroyed mana circuits.
I couldn't even stand on my own anymore.
But shedding tears of injustice? Screw that.
"Don't... give up...!"
Instead of wallowing in despair, I had to prepare to fight back somehow, and fast.
Restore the mana circuits somehow.
If not, storm in bare-handed and force Seolgi back to normal, no matter what.
Don't despair.
If I fall here, Seolgi's truly done for.
As I burned with the will to crawl like a overturned turtle and fight to the end.
"Prince, actin' all unmanly like this?"
"...Ah!"
"Want me to help ya out?"
Why? How?
How was she here?
A girl with a youthful appearance belying her age, her ample breasts bouncing, sea-blue hair, and sparkling eyes.
...My orphanage benefactor from back then, and the mentor of my life.
"Director?!"
"Yongchan, ya wanna control yer mana circuits again, yeah?"
"...! Yes!"
Director Go Malsuk slowly helped me to my feet, then pulled me tightly into her embrace.