Chapter 15
I’ll translate the full chapter into natural English and keep the HTML structure exact, including the styled block for the skill display.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chapter 15
Seoul, Seocho.
At the center of it all stood a massive building, towering over everything around it.
The Korea Superhuman Association’s Seoul branch, also known as its headquarters.
And within that building, a room known as the association president’s office.
Baek Hyeonho sat down as naturally as if he’d always belonged there, in a room whose lights had only recently been turned on after a long time.
“What would you like to drink?”
As he asked while taking a seat, the woman already sitting there—Hale Irene—answered in her usual unhurried manner.
“Coffee... coffee is fine.”
“Sugar?”
“A lot...”
Not long after she spoke, a cup of coffee was placed on the desk.
As if she’d been waiting for it, Irene took a sip.
“......”
“Is it to your taste?”
“......It’s delicious.”
“I’m glad to have your approval.”
Baek Hyeonho smiled, looking pleased. Seeing that smile, Irene removed the sunglasses she’d been wearing and folded them away into her lap.
At that, Baek Hyeonho asked, “Irene.”
“......”
Without answering, Irene looked at him.
“What business brought you here to Korea so urgently?”
He skipped over all unnecessary small talk and went straight to the point. For the Irene he had investigated, this seemed like the right approach.
“......There’s someone I need to find.”
As if confirming his guess, Irene gave a light answer.
“Someone you need to find...”
Baek Hyeonho’s eyes rolled slightly at those words. Someone Irene wanted to find. Ah, perhaps...
“If you mean Yu Jin...”
“......?”
Irene tilted her head. Seeing that reaction, Baek Hyeonho gave a bitter smile.
“A Korean superhuman you met when you visited the United States some time ago.”
“......Some time ago... Ah.”
Only after hearing the explanation did Irene seem to remember, nodding slightly.
“......There was someone like that.”
“......”
Someone like that.
Yu Jin. If you attached the family name, Kim Yu Jin. He was one of Korea’s prides, an individual regarded as its current representative figure.
Because he was an SS-class superhuman, just like Hale Irene in front of him.
A few years ago.
When Kim Yu Jin, then only twenty and newly awakened, had first manifested his power, Irene had been sought out in the United States.
The American side had arranged it after hearing that Korea had produced an SS-class superhuman.
Kim Yu Jin, freshly awakened, and Irene had once engaged in an unofficial battle.
And the result was...
Kim Yu Jin’s crushing defeat.
They were both SS-class, and yet no one had expected the gap to be that immense.
‘They probably knew.’
They must have bet on a fight with Irene in the United States, knowing full well what would happen. Of course, the Korean side had known that too.
They were simply curious.
Whether someone like Kim Yu Jin could even touch Irene, even a little.
The answer, as already mentioned, had been a devastating difference.
The name of America’s symbol, the strongest superhuman in the world, stood far too high. Even when they were the same SS-class.
By now, time had passed and Kim Yu Jin had become Korea’s symbol and representative superhuman.
‘Even if they fought again now...’
Would the result be any different? Baek Hyeonho couldn’t be sure. No, more accurately, he was probably certain it wouldn’t.
‘You can tell because you saw it yourself.’
A few years ago, during an S-class Gate incident that had appeared for the first time in over a decade, the mission had been to hunt down a mountain-sized dragon made of bones called the Skull Dragon.
Even the S-class hunters who had participated had been terrified by that creature’s overwhelming presence. No one had been able to step forward recklessly, and everyone had been left in a state of helpless anxiety.
Then—
“...Move aside.”
Irene had stepped forward. The slender, pale woman had walked out with a blank expression and swung her staff.
And just like that, the dragon vanished like dust in a flash of light.
Baek Hyeonho still remembered that sight. It was as vivid as ever. That alone was more than enough to prove why she was called the strongest in the world.
“If it isn’t Yu Jin, then... exactly who did you come all this way to see in this faraway little country?”
Baek Hyeonho asked. The mere fact that Hale Irene had come to Korea from the United States had already triggered far too many things.
He’d had to contact the American side in a hurry. The Korean government had practically been thrown into a frenzy.
And this hadn’t even been a scheduled visit. It had been a sudden appearance, with a somewhat forceful threat attached to it at that.
Was there really a reason Irene had to come to Korea with such determination? As Baek Hyeonho wondered aloud, Irene replied,
“...That’s right. A small country.”
She nodded as she spoke.
“If things had gone normally, it would have been a place I never needed to come to... a place I never would have cared about.”
Her words were calm and honest. And they were true. Even if Korea had an SS-class superhuman, Irene wouldn’t have cared.
That was the kind of person she was. Someone who didn’t spare even a shred of attention for anything that wasn’t herself.
“Then why...”
“I can’t help it...”
Irene’s bright eyes seemed to pierce straight through Baek Hyeonho. Feeling that gaze, he flinched slightly.
Then—
“God of War.”
“...!”
At the name that left Irene’s mouth, Baek Hyeonho’s eyes widened. God of War? Why would that word come from her lips?
“He’s here...”
So her reason for coming to Korea was the God of War? A crease formed between Baek Hyeonho’s brows.
“You mean you came to find him?”
“Yes...”
A low hum of vibration swept briefly through the president’s office.
“I have to find him... no matter what...”
“......”
It was a simple threat. She could do anything. She had said she’d come to Korea right away, breaking whatever procedures and red tape stood in her way if necessary. Irene’s momentum and emotion were entirely sincere.
And Baek Hyeonho could also understand why Irene had come here so far with such force.
“Hah.”
With a short sigh, Baek Hyeonho asked her,
“...So you’re asking for permission to operate in Korea?”
Nod.
Irene belonged to the United States, but for her to work separately in Korea, permission had to come from the Korea Superhuman Association. When it came to superhumans, the Association wielded more influence than the government.
“...Miss Irene.”
“...Yes.”
“Do you know what you are to the United States, and to the world beyond it?”
“...I do.”
Irene said,
“A human disaster. A walking nuclear bomb...”
For a statement delivered in such a dull voice, it was unnervingly clear.
“......”
He had expected her to say the strongest superhuman, or America’s symbol, or something like that. But she was far more objective than he’d anticipated.
That was right.
A walking nuclear bomb. That was the most accurate way to describe her.
‘Superhumans above S-class are all weapons, one and all.’
Those even higher, the SS-class, were often described as national assets. They were the kind who could erase a country if they set their minds to it, and not even in much time.
“...I won’t deny that. Then you understand what it means for someone like you to move freely in Korea.”
Allowing a dangerous element belonging to the United States to operate in Korea was something neither the government nor the Association would look on favorably.
The United States, which had sent her, would feel the same.
“...So. I looked for you...”
Taking another sip of coffee, Irene said,
“...Please help me.”
“...Hah. Me, of all people?”
“Yes.”
Her brazen attitude left Baek Hyeonho momentarily speechless.
“Do you really think an old man like me has the power to do something like that?”
At that, Irene shook her head.
Irene let her gaze sweep over Baek Hyeonho once, lightly.
“...It’s different...”
“Well, well... I appreciate you thinking highly of me, but...”
It would be difficult to grant her independent activity. Especially if she was here to find the God of War.
‘A shame.’
He had hoped to make use of the existence called Hale Irene, but if that was her objective, then he couldn’t shoulder the consequences.
Just as Baek Hyeonho was about to refuse,
“I heard.”
Irene cut in.
“Heard what...?”
“About that matter with the one from China...”
He froze.
At Irene’s words, Baek Hyeonho shut his mouth. She’d called it “that matter,” but it had been a person, and he could guess who she meant.
“I’ll handle that.”
“...Irene? Do you even know what kind of situation—”
“It doesn’t matter...”
Her eyes shone with a startling clarity.
“...I can do it.”
It was a terrifyingly high sense of self-confidence. And, in truth, if it were her, she would probably handle it without issue.
As Irene spoke, her blue eyes began to tint with gold.
“...I’ll take care of the United States...”
By that point, Baek Hyeonho’s expression had changed completely.
“...Why are you going this far?”
“...Someone I have to find.”
She had to find the God of War. It was the same answer repeated again and again. And all because of that one reason, she was going this far?
“......”
“...If you refuse. I’ll do it the old way...”
“The old way?”
“Violence... explosion...? Subjugation...?”
“......”
He didn’t bother asking what exactly she meant. He also felt like he shouldn’t ask. Every word that came out of her mouth sounded ominous.
“......”
He cast her a look, silently urging her to continue. Seeing that, Baek Hyeonho thought it over. He’d already been considering a few things regarding the terror incident, after all.
‘If Irene were to...’
If she agreed to help with this, what benefits could he gain? The calculation took no time at all.
If there was profit to be made, there was nothing to ponder.
Still—
“Very well. I accept your proposal.”
“Then—”
“...However.”
Even with all those benefits before him, there was still one thing Baek Hyeonho had to demand of Irene.
“There’s one more condition.”
“...?”
At those words, the beautiful human disaster narrowed her eyes sharply.
◈ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◈
‘...Who is it?’
Cold sweat gathered on me. It started at the base of my throat and soaked my back. I couldn’t even turn my head, so I just stayed frozen like that.
Hero’s Super-sensory
The newly acquired skill. It was a transformed version of the B-class skill Hero’s Instinct.
The moment it activated, I could tell far too clearly what was around me.
-No, I mean... this time the professor...
-Well, Irene, you know...
-Hey, did you hear about that this time?
People’s voices came drifting in from outside the door. Things I normally wouldn’t have heard were now stabbing straight into my ears.
Just as the word super-sensory suggested, my heightened senses caught everything.
And that was why I knew.
‘What the hell.’
There was someone right next to me.
‘Since when...’
Since when had they been there?
With super-sensory active, I could tell someone was beside me. It wasn’t exactly an aura I felt; more like something half-transparent had appeared in my vision.
Someone was leaning against the window, looking in my direction.
‘What?’
What was this? If I wasn’t hallucinating, then something was definitely there. Who was it? I couldn’t tell who. I could only see that someone was there.
Cold sweat rose slowly down my back. At this distance, the fact that I hadn’t noticed them at all meant...
‘...They’re a superhuman.’
Of course they were a superhuman.
‘Is that what an stealth skill is?’
Which meant this person was specialized in infiltration techniques among superhumans.
‘I’ve seen this before at school.’
One of the things they taught at the Superhuman Training School. Superhumans with skills like that usually...
‘Either serve in the military in a legitimate field—’
Or work as private mercenaries or hired assassins in the illegal world.
‘...So.’
That meant there was a fifty-fifty chance this was someone on the bad side. And since they’d entered my room without a word, the odds leaned even more toward bad.
‘What do I do?’
More than why they were here, I needed to figure out how to get out of this situation.
I didn’t look directly at them. If I did, I might give away that I’d noticed.
I tried to move as naturally as possible.
‘I didn’t notice him even when Jeon Yuseon was here.’
The Association’s superhuman. Someone who was said to be A-class had failed to see this stealth technique and had left.
Or maybe...
‘He might have known and left anyway.’
I considered every possibility.
‘First, I need to get out of the room.’
I needed to leave this enclosed space and think. Either way, what mattered was being out where people could see me.
But then—
‘Why can’t I hear anything?’
The voices of the people I’d been sensing with super-sensory, and all the other sounds too, abruptly cut off.
Had the skill turned off? No. If it had, I still shouldn’t have been able to sense that person.
It was strange.
Strange, but I moved toward the door anyway. And then—
Swish—!
The dangerous presence leaning by the window moved too. I couldn’t hear footsteps, but I could feel them drawing closer and closer to me.
No way.
‘Did they notice?’
Had they noticed that I noticed them?
A little hurriedly, I grabbed the door. I opened the hospital room door, and then—
“...Huh!?”
The second the door opened, someone was standing there. Seeing that, I let out a startled breath and stumbled back.
Standing in front of the door was a woman. A tall woman with blonde hair and sunglasses.
“Wh-who are you...”
Just as I asked in confusion, click. The woman lifted the sunglasses she was wearing. Bright golden eyes appeared. My first thought on seeing those eyes was that they were beautiful.
“Huh?”
And then, strangely enough, I felt like I’d seen that face before.
Hold on...
“...Huh? Huh?”
As I pieced together who she was, my reaction got harder and harder to manage. No way. It couldn’t be. If it was, there was no way she’d be here.
Because—
“Irene...?”
That face belonged to Hale Irene, the American SS-class superhuman I’d just seen in an article.
At my words, Irene’s brows drew together. Was she annoyed that I recognized her? Then Irene moved her pink lips and said something.
“Hello...”
‘Korean?’
Her Korean was amazingly fluent. Then Irene looked behind me and suddenly reached out a hand.
“Strange thing.”
Irene’s fingers twitched slightly.
Then—
“Kheuk!?”
A scream rang out from behind me. I whipped around in a hurry, and—
“Keugh... ghaaah...!!”
“......!”
The person who had been watching me in stealth finally revealed themselves, only to be sprawled on the floor.
Their body was bound in golden rings.
What the hell was going on? While my eyes trembled at the unfolding situation,
“Then...”
Irene naturally stepped into the hospital room.
And then, the woman sat down—on top of the sprawled-out figure, using him like a chair.
“Lee Jinwoo.”
“Yes...?”
“...Talk.”
“......?”
It was a request for conversation, but for some reason it sounded exactly like a threat to me.
And an extremely scary one at that.