Chapter 262
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 262.
The room was set up like an interrogation chamber.
A room where Dante was being interrogated, and another where one could secretly observe. The bastard wouldn’t know Yoo Baek-jun had entered.
“Looks like a lab rat.”
Dante was covered in all sorts of magical devices.
Probably interrogation tools.
Nearby, numerous mages were attempting to interrogate him.
Bzzzt!
“Guhk!”
But it was all pointless.
No matter what interrogation magic they used, it had no real effect on Dante.
Because he was a Dragonkin.
“Tch, heh heh… You idiots. How many times do I have to say it… Do you get it now?”
“……”
The mages clicked their tongues and left to devise another plan.
Yoo Baek-jun looked at Dante through the window.
“Dante, how’s prison life treating you?”
“…Tch.”
Dante clicked his tongue.
Instead of answering Yoo Baek-jun’s question, he abruptly asked his own.
“How did you figure it out?”
Figure out what?
It went without saying—their plans, the schemes they had been plotting.
“It was obvious.”
“Obvious?”
“Yeah. It’s not hard to guess what you guys would do. It’s all too predictable.”
Dante let out a hollow laugh.
“You think that’s an answer?”
“Well, if I had to explain, I’d say I found out about your existence while investigating the Staggler incident.”
“Bullshit.”
Dante flatly denied Yoo Baek-jun’s casual remark.
“You knew the details of the plan perfectly. That’s not something you could’ve found out through investigation.”
Dante chuckled darkly.
“Unless you can see the future.”
Yoo Baek-jun and Dante’s eyes met.
Silence filled the room. Yoo Baek-jun scoffed without a word.
“I have a question. Why are you targeting us?”
The Sword Saint family, and now the Magic Tower.
The Black Shadow have been operating in the shadows, collaborating with various villains across the world.
‘I remember the game didn’t give a concrete reason either.’
The Black Shadow, a notorious organization among villains. They lurk in the shadows, sowing chaos wherever they go.
The problem is their motive.
No one knows their true goal. The only thing known is that they seek the world’s destruction.
‘Is that really their goal?’
During the Sword Saint family incident and now the Magic Tower, the Black Shadow have supported certain factions from behind the scenes.
He was curious about the reason.
“Oh my, you’re here already?”
“Jin Seo-yeon.”
Jin Seo-yeon arrived just then.
She glanced at Yoo Baek-jun awkwardly for a moment, but it didn’t last.
She quickly regained her composure.
“How’s the interrogation going? Is the magic working?”
“No, not at all. He’s a Dragonkin, so regular mental magic doesn’t work. I tried peering into his mind, but…”
Jin Seo-yeon frowned.
“It’s not working. It’s like trying to navigate through fog.”
“Hmm…”
Things weren’t going smoothly.
Yoo Baek-jun stared at Dante. The bastard was leisurely looking out the window.
Not that he could see them.
‘Annoying bastard.’
Being a Dragonkin, he’d have strong resistance to drugs too.
Both physically and mentally tough, so mental magic wouldn’t work well either.
‘A tricky opponent to interrogate.’
He wouldn’t talk with conventional methods.
But Yoo Baek-jun knew how to make him talk.
“…So, as you suggested.”
Creeeak—the door opened.
Everyone turned around. Jin Baek-cheon had just walked in.
“I decided to ask Father for help.”
“You’re here, Lord Jin Baek-cheon.”
Yoo Baek-jun bowed his head.
“I couldn’t refuse my beloved daughter’s request.”
‘Beloved daughter…’
Not words you’d expect from Jin Baek-cheon, but Yoo Baek-jun let it slide.
Jin Baek-cheon glared at Dante.
“And I need to find out what this bastard, who turned the Magic Tower into a mess, is plotting. So I brought something fun.”
Jin Baek-cheon smiled brightly.
Given that he looked like a young man, the smile suited him.
He widened his eyes.
“These eyes.”
“The Demon Eyes.”
His eyes glowed ominously.
The tiny magic circles engraved in his pupils activated, emitting a sinister light in all directions.
The Demon Eyes—pupils imbued with a unique power.
Yoo Baek-jun groaned inwardly.
‘I wouldn’t want eyes like that.’
They looked like something straight out of a middle schooler’s edgy fantasy.
Jin Baek-cheon smirked at Dante.
“This’ll take a while.”
“We’ll wait patiently.”
Yoo Baek-jun glanced at Ho-yeon and the other interrogation specialists he’d brought.
“We have other work to do anyway.”
* * *
Ho-yeon and the specialists assisted Jin Baek-cheon in interrogating Dante.
Meanwhile, Yoo Baek-jun interrogated other Black Shadow members in Dante’s place.
His method was simple: Tendon-Shattering Bone Crush.
‘No matter how tough you are, how can you endure your bones being torn from your flesh?’
The bastards screamed and wailed before spilling everything they knew.
Thanks to that, he gained some intel.
“Seven executives.”
That hadn’t changed.
He also got rough descriptions of their appearances, but nothing stood out.
Other than that, he learned about their basic organizational structure and the location of their hideout.
“I’ll send Min Yi-jae here. Hmm.”
Yoo Baek-jun tapped the desk.
“And recently, the Black Shadow have been more active, keeping all their members busy…”
The Black Shadow have been expanding their influence worldwide, and lately, every member has been moving frantically.
That was useful information.
‘The Evil Dragon must’ve regained his strength.’
The Evil Dragon, the main boss of Part 2, had suffered severe injuries in the original world and was recovering here.
It seemed he’d finally succeeded in healing wounds that had taken years to inflict.
‘Not like I can do anything about the Evil Dragon’s recovery now.’
To stop that, he’d have needed to possess this body years earlier.
‘For now, I’ll focus on dealing with the Evil Dragon after he regains his power.’
Yoo Baek-jun nodded.
Not bad.
‘But…’
Something still bothered him.
‘The Black Shadow—why are they active all over the world? And why target the Sword Saint family and the Magic Tower?’
That was the question.
Even in the game, their exact motives were never fully revealed.
All that’s known is that wherever they act, massive destruction follows.
‘They must have a goal. Whether it’s an unresolved plot point or something else, I just can’t figure it out.’
Given that they targeted the Sword Saint family and the Magic Tower, there must be a reason.
Lost in thought, Yoo Baek-jun waited for Jin Baek-cheon to finish his interrogation.
There was something he wanted to ask.
“Phew.”
After a long while.
Jin Baek-cheon emerged from the interrogation room, exhaling tiredly.
His eyes met Yoo Baek-jun’s.
“Were you waiting for me?”
“Yes, I have something to ask.”
“I haven’t been sleeping well lately, but if it’s important…”
Yoo Baek-jun nodded. Jin Baek-cheon smirked and gestured for him to speak.
“The Black Shadow targeted the Magic Tower. Before that, they went after the Sword Saint family. I want to know why.”
“Hmm, is there a reason?”
They’d had this conversation before. Each time, Jin Baek-cheon had said he didn’t know either.
But Yoo Baek-jun asked again because—
‘Things might have changed.’
Especially in this playthrough, big and small details had shifted, so there might be new information.
That was his hope.
And that hope—
“If there’s a reason—”
—was not misplaced.
The answer was different from what he’d expected. Yoo Baek-jun’s eyes gleamed.
“This is the only thing that comes to mind.”
“And that is…?”
“The Mark of the Master of the Magic Tower.”
Jin Baek-cheon pulled out a necklace from his pocket, shaped like an eye.
A necklace radiating immense power.
“The Black Shadow—they’ve been causing trouble all over the world. The places they’ve struck are oddly specific.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmm… Let me backtrack a bit.”
Jin Baek-cheon showed the necklace.
Pure silver, with an unremarkable stone embedded in the center.
A stone inscribed with strange symbols.
“This necklace isn’t ordinary. It’s a seal.”
“A seal?”
“Yeah. A long time ago, someone helped me greatly and entrusted this to me.”
Jin Baek-cheon smiled bitterly.
“You’re saying this, Lord Jin Baek-cheon?”
“I was young and foolish once too. Back then, I owed a great debt, and in return, they asked me to safeguard this.”
“……”
A loaded statement.
“I only realized later—though I still don’t know what it is—that this is a fragment of something meant to seal away something else.”
“So you’ve kept it as a necklace all this time?”
“Correct. Partly out of gratitude, but… I also felt a strange sense of duty.”
“Duty?”
Jin Baek-cheon nodded.
“A duty to protect this. Hard to explain.”
An unexpected word from him.
A duty to protect?
“But what does that have to do with the places the Black Shadow have struck?”
“I’m acquainted with many of the world’s prominent families and organizations. As you know, that’s part of the Magic Tower’s nature.”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“While talking to them, I noticed an odd pattern.”
Jin Baek-cheon spun the necklace.
“They’d had similar experiences to mine.”
“Similar experiences…?”
“Yes. Like me, they’d been greatly helped by ‘someone’ in their youth and, in return, received something like this.”
Yoo Baek-jun frowned.
That implied the ‘someone’ had approached them with intent.
“And you still have it?”
“Like I said—I feel a duty. I know there’s something shady, some inexplicable plan behind it.”
Jin Baek-cheon clenched the necklace.
“But I couldn’t discard it. The others said the same. Even their descendants, who inherited these after their deaths due to old age.”
A disturbing tale.
Jin Baek-cheon stared at his necklace, then suddenly looked at Yoo Baek-jun’s waist.
“Given they targeted your family, the Sword Saint family probably has something similar.”
“Wait, then…”
“Yeah. You must have one too. Did Yoo Moo-hak leave you anything?”
“……”
Yoo Baek-jun looked at the White Sword hanging at his waist.
Vrrrm! The sword vibrated.
“No way.”
“Seems like it’s that sword.”
Vrrrm, vrrrm.
Though he couldn’t understand it, the White Sword kept humming.
“The Black Shadow targeted the Sword Saint family and the Magic Tower for this?”
“Just a guess.”
But it was plausible.
‘The Black Shadow.’
Their exact motives were unknown, so players assumed the simplest explanation.
Like any villainous organization, they must want to destroy the world.
Given the Evil Dragon’s actions after his recovery, it was easy to think so.
But if that wasn’t the case—
‘If they had another goal…?’
Yoo Baek-jun looked at the White Sword.
This was a device meant to seal something—something guarded by the world’s most powerful families.
‘What are they sealing?’
Even Jin Baek-cheon didn’t know.
He’d only accepted it out of gratitude for the help he’d received.
But his story was invaluable. Now, things made sense.
‘Finally, it all adds up. Why the Black Shadow targeted the Sword Saint family and the Magic Tower.’
And why the Evil Dragon rampaged while ranting about world destruction.
That was just a secondary goal.
Their true objective was these seals.
“Which means…”
Yoo Baek-jun reached a swift conclusion.
‘There’s a mastermind.’
This isn’t a device to seal the Evil Dragon. He’s already recovering, biding his time.
That means it’s meant to seal someone else.
‘There’s someone behind the Evil Dragon.’
The final boss of Part 2.
The game’s last boss, the Evil Dragon, has someone pulling his strings.
Someone powerful enough to manipulate him.
“Interesting.”
And this was related to events even ‘I’ didn’t know about.
‘A strange coincidence.’
Each playthrough has different storylines and events.
But ‘I’ had played enough to know most of them.
Yet, in this playthrough—the one where ‘I’ possessed this body—a completely new event had emerged.
‘Feels like someone’s scheme.’
Yoo Baek-jun smirked.
A first-time event.
A mysterious mastermind he’d never faced before.
But he didn’t mind.
‘I think I’ve found a clue.’
A clue to why ‘I’ came to this world.
And perhaps how to return to the original world.
‘I need to meet that mastermind.’
No matter what it takes.