Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 017
Chapter Title: One Cigarette, One Proposal
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The next day.
Behind the mansion, in the small shaded backyard tucked between the building wall and the fence.
I'd stepped out for a moment to catch my breath, and without a word, I put a cigarette in my mouth.
This morning, Min Chae-ryeong and Chae So-yeon had come here. They'd heard Ji Ye-won had woken up and wanted to question her.
Well, "question" might not be the right word. But no better term came to mind, so interrogation it was.
Ji Ye-won surprisingly knew a lot of details about the Dawn Corps' situation.
She called herself a lowly foot soldier, but the depth of information she provided was anything but ordinary.
Probably picked it up from her friend Kim Min-ah. Unlike Ji Ye-won, Kim Min-ah held a position akin to a quasi-executive.
Anyway. Min Chae-ryeong, who met Ji Ye-won for the first time today, seemed quite satisfied with the intel she shared.
Two days ago, when interrogating the sniper we'd locked in the basement, she'd been full of complaints about how he wouldn't utter a word. But today's session kept a faint smile on her lips the whole time.
She had all sorts of talents under her command. She must have figured out how to make use of Ji Ye-won's information in her own way.
But for me, the organization's structure, hideouts, minor plans—none of that mattered.
There was only one important thing.
The Dawn Corps' plan involving the Talisman on my finger. What exactly was the scheme that she—and her friend Kim Min-ah—had betrayed the organization to stop?
"There you are."
Just then, Min Chae-ryeong approached me from around the corner of the building.
"Were you looking for me?"
"No, just out for a breather."
I hid the cigarette behind my back, and she gently shook her head.
"It's fine. I came out for a smoke too."
"You smoke?"
"Sometimes. Only when things get tough."
She pulled a cigarette from her pocket and put it in her mouth. She immediately lit it with a lighter.
She put on a feigned look of surprise at my actions, then let out a soft chuckle.
"What's got you so stuck? From what I saw, you seemed pretty satisfied with what Ji Ye-won had to say."
"Satisfied enough, yeah. Locations of those unidentified bases. Personal info on key members there. Details on upcoming terror plots. And so on. All valuable intel, whether I hand it to the police or use it myself. Valuable intel, but—"
Min Chae-ryeong stared blankly up at the sky. The cold winter sky was tinged gray.
"The most important bit—the 'Dawn Project'—has next to no information. Kinda takes the wind out of my sails."
"I feel the same."
Dawn Project.
That was the name of the plan tied to the Mana Absorption Talisman.
The project name itself screamed Dawn Corps, and it involved the Talisman meant for the protagonist. It had to be a core plot hook piercing right through the original story.
But Ji Ye-won, who betrayed the organization to stop it, knew almost nothing about the project's contents.
She hadn't even figured it out herself—Kim Min-ah had. Ji Ye-won had just betrayed them to help her friend.
Of course, she'd heard some details from Kim Min-ah, but that wasn't enough to grasp the full picture.
Even so, from the rough info she had, it was easy to guess just how insane the Dawn Project was.
According to her, the first phase targeted simultaneous terror attacks on major cities worldwide.
Estimated casualties: hundreds of millions or more. But she said even that was just the beginning.
This was the Dawn Corps' core plan—the grand ambition that birthed the greatest criminal organization in history. It wasn't going to end with mere terror.
She knew nothing beyond that. All Kim Min-ah had told her was that the Talisman was key to the project's heart.
"Hundreds of millions..."
She muttered listlessly, clearly lost in thoughts of the Dawn Project just like me.
"Hard to take at face value. Even if Dawn Corps is the world's biggest crime syndicate, you think they could pull off something that massive?"
"No reason for Ji Ye-won to lie to us."
"True. But the scale... What the hell are they planning? Stockpiling nukes somewhere?"
"Maybe. Their whole ideology boils down to smashing the corrupt world and starting over. Could be they're aiming for a full nuclear apocalypse."
My guess was a popular theory floating around the community forums too.
In the late game, mass slaughters in the hundreds of thousands happened routinely, and the story's tone barreled toward total apocalypse anyway.
"Whatever their game is, at least we can breathe easy for now. The project's core—the Talisman—is right there on your hand."
Min Chae-ryeong glanced at my right hand. It was covered in a black leather glove, just in case someone might recognize the Talisman.
"...You've got some guts. Thinking of scarfing down billions in that panic."
"You know it was unavoidable."
"Was it really?"
Min Chae-ryeong stepped right up to me. A sharp whiff of cigarette smoke mingled with a sweet fragrance tickling my nose.
"So-yeon collapsed, Ji Ye-won passed out. You were alone, and you 'gambled' by putting on the Talisman. Something fishy about it, don't you think?"
"...What do you mean?"
"The whole situation's too convenient. Beating one-in-ten-thousand odds? Hard to chalk up to pure chance."
"It was chance. I got lucky."
"Hah, chance."
A sly smile curved her lips as her hand gently overlapped mine. Her slender fingers stroked the back of my hand, slow like a snake's tongue.
My heart pounded—not from anything romantic, but pure tension born of fear.
Min Chae-ryeong's eyes curved into crescents. They gleamed with sharp intensity. I knew that look. I'd seen it once before.
"Back with the Professor Shin Jin-woo incident, you called it a coincidence too."
Right, when she'd summoned me personally over that. Her eyes had burned just like this.
A serpent's gaze fixed on prey pierced me coldly.
"But they say enough coincidences make inevitability, right? What do you think?"
"Two times is too soon to call it inevitable."
"I know. But this one's too convenient."
Min Chae-ryeong slipped off my glove. The Talisman emerged, glowing with a faint blue light.
Her fingers hovered over the ring. She couldn't just take it off—not that she tried. Once settled, no Talisman could be removed from its wearer, no matter what.
"How many coincidences do you think piled up in this mess?"
She whispered softly, her fingers teasing around the ring like she was coveting it.
"One. The case you brought me just happened to tie into Dawn Corps' core project."
"Two. The betrayer you said you had to save just happened to steal the project's key item—the Talisman."
"Three. Every other soul on site, except you, just happened to be combat-ineffective."
"Four. So you 'gambled' and wore the Talisman, and it just happened to beat the insane odds and settle."
"And five. After crushing the enemies with it, backlash left you on death's door from the arriving reinforcements—and just in time, regenerated So-yeon swoops in, takes them out, and saves your life."
"So? Two might be iffy, but this many? Feels inevitable, doesn't it?"
Her chilling whisper wrapped around me. I swallowed hard.
Inevitability? Sure, I could call it that. This whole chain was arranged by the damned Blissful Heavenly Demon who built this world.
No clue why he'd handed me the protagonist's golden opportunity.
But if his intent was to land me in headaches like this via the Talisman, then yeah—it hit the mark perfectly.
"If it's inevitability, not chance—does that mean I orchestrated the whole thing?"
"Of course not. You're no god. But I can't help thinking you might've nudged one or two."
"Why the hell would I?"
"Who knows? Some backstory I don't have?"
Min Chae-ryeong grabbed my collar and yanked me down. She glared imperiously from above.
"Like, say, you're in bed with Dawn Corps, and this was all a ploy to recover the Talisman?"
"...If so, I'd have killed Ji Ye-won, So-yeon, everyone, and bolted ages ago."
"Still got Guard duties?"
"You know piling speculation on speculation has no end."
"Then give me a convincing explanation. No more 'coincidence' dodges."
"If it's coincidence, what else do you call it?"
"Keep stonewalling, and I have ways."
Our gazes clashed. I couldn't show weakness. That'd just fuel more suspicion.
Whatever methods she used to probe me, she wouldn't catch anything suspicious. No matter how elite her team, they couldn't uncover the system or quests locked in my head.
'Wait, no—mind-reading superpowers exist.'
And that's not all. Mind control, truth compulsion, lie detection—the world overflowed with powers perfect for extracting info.
If she had a subordinate with one of those and forced the truth out of me?
A sudden chill froze my expression. She caught it, and a thick smile spread across her lips.
"What, nervous? Scared I'll uncover your secrets?"
Right on the mark.
Her hand gently stroked my nape. It seemed tender at a glance, but I couldn't suppress the goosebumps.
It felt like a razor-sharp blade pressing in.
"Or are you worried I already know everything?"
I knew it was bluffing, but the quiet pressure radiating from her nearly made me avert my eyes.
Instinct screamed: Yield here, and it's game over.
The moment I showed weakness, she'd stop at nothing to expose my secrets.
She had the motive and the means.
"So, let me make a straightforward proposal."
Fortune or misfortune, though.
Min Chae-ryeong chose to claim me whole over digging for secrets.
"How about coming under me?"
Be my subordinate. Or I'll dig up your dirt.
It was phrased as a question, but the intent was pure threat.
She seemed convinced I had some shady circumstance I couldn't share—probably thought I was tied to Dawn Corps or some equivalent crime group.
"Under you meaning transfer to Special Countermeasures?"
"Exactly."
"Guess the testing phase is over."
"No need anymore. Before, you were just useful enough. Now? You're an asset no one else can have."
As she'd said, just having the Talisman on my finger skyrocketed my value beyond compare.
"Don't want someone else snatching you while I wait."
Her hand layered over mine, on the Talisman.
One hand on my nape, the other on my right hand.
She draped herself against me like we were dancing at a ball. I was taller, but I stood there awkward as a country bumpkin new to the waltz, caught in her grasp.
Her narrow, slitted eyes curved into seductive arcs.
"So no more waiting."
Her breath tickled my nose. The cigarette smoke smelled like scented tobacco—or maybe she naturally carried this sweet aroma—as a sugary fragrance wafted gently.
"If word gets out about the Talisman on your right hand, every organization will come gunning for you."
Dawn Corps included, but even without them, plenty would covet the Talisman.
Couldn't remove it once worn, sure—but kill the wearer and claim it? Fair game.
"But I can protect you from Dawn Corps' grasp. Even other groups."
A soft whisper lingered in my ear.
I now knew it wasn't bluffing—I'd seen her pull it off.
Finding Ji Ye-won on the run from Dawn eyes, covering battle traces from police, securing this safehouse. All her handiwork.
"You sure about taking on a shady unknown like me?"
"Didn't I tell you before? Whatever your deal is, I'll crush it and use you. Dawn member or criminal—don't care, as long as you deliver the ability I expect."
"So if I join you—"
"Right. I'll drop the secret-digging. At least while you're my loyal subordinate."
Our eyes met. A seemingly kind smile, but the cold glint beneath swept over me.
That gaze silently warned: Choose your next words carefully.
I hesitated a moment, but it was no real dilemma.
"...Alright. I'll join you."
Bending to Min Chae-ryeong here beat making an enemy of her. Obvious choice.
"Smart choice."
A deep smile bloomed on her lips. Her tongue flicked across her dry winter lips.
She looked thrilled, like she'd finally claimed her prize. That melting expression hinted at the intensity of her possessiveness.
The hand that had caressed my nape now patted my head approvingly.
"Work without regrets, and I'll treat you right."
And so.
About three weeks after joining the Academy Security Force.
On this day, I officially became Min Chae-ryeong's subordinate.
"Pardon?"
Or so I'd thought.
"...The captain rejected my transfer?"
Until two days later, when the Security Force captain suddenly entered the picture.