Shadow War
Kim Seojun muttered without so much as blinking.
"If it's an Other Will, that certainly makes sense. Unless your mind has split somehow, there's no other way to explain your current antics."
He accepted what I'd said without grilling me or making threats. I asked, a little impressed.
Was this what they called a protagonist's dignity?
"You're just going to believe me like that?"
Kim Seojun tilted his head.
"Is there a reason to doubt you?"
"Reasons are overflowing. I'm the one who killed you any number of times in the future."
Of course, I'd died a lot more myself, but still.
Kim Seojun slipped a hand into his pocket and spoke in an indifferent tone.
"I have no interest in futures that won't happen. Just explain how this Other Will of yours came about."
This crazy bastard was ridiculously cool. I'd expected some kind of moving reason, but no.
I organized my thoughts for a moment, then muttered sulkily.
"I was just looking for a way to survive."
"A way to survive?"
"Just like you looked at countless futures and chose to cooperate with the Director early on, I thought about which path would let me live. But it wasn't easy. Humans are so good at scheming and there are so many of them that I just kept dying over and over."
Of course, among those futures were ones where I dealt a devastating blow to the human world and went out in a blaze of glory.
But what good was any of that? While my older siblings laughed and conquered Earth, I'd be shooting the breeze with the King of Hell.
"In the end, I had no choice but to change my approach. If conquering the human world was too hard, did I really need to fight at all? Pretty smart choice, right?"
Kim Seojun narrowed his eyes.
"...Continue."
"So forming a common ground with something originally marked for extermination was impossible. That was like a command engraved into the soul. So I got help from another soul that wasn't bound by those shackles."
"How, exactly?"
I put a finger to my lips.
"No comment on that. It's an extremely dangerous form of sorcery — can't let it spread."
Kim Seojun nodded.
"Fine. I understand."
"Aren't you letting that go a little too easily?"
Kim Seojun snorted.
"You'd hide anything you want to hide to the bitter end anyway."
"..."
Somehow it felt like he'd seen straight through me, and that was a little embarrassing.
"So is that why you came here? Just to ask about this?"
It felt a bit too sharp-edged for a simple check-in on my activities. After the previous life-saving incident, Kim Seojun had shown a certain degree of trust in me.
Sure enough, Kim Seojun rolled his gaze for a moment before tossing out:
"Do you know about the German hunter's disappearance case?"
"Ah, that Friedrich... what was it. Croatia?"
"Friedrich Krautz. Get your people-names and country-names straight."
For a second he shot me a look of pure contempt, so I shot back.
"Try living in another land yourself. See if you adapt right away."
"...At least you'd know the famous people. Not everyone in the world is like you."
"..."
"Anyway, Hunter Krautz is currently under the Hunter Administration's protection. His wife was taken by the other side."
"Huh? How'd that happen?"
Kim Seojun gave me a broad rundown of the world's political situation.
The content was quite complex.
The Director had contacted the upper lines and revealed the cult's existence, and an underground war had broken out between the legitimate ability-user organizations and the cult.
It wasn't making the news, but secret bases in various countries were being blown up and actual armed clashes were occurring.
Fortunately, the war situation seemed to be going reasonably well.
"We've retaken several American states the cult had occupied, and right now we're replacing the heads of Third World nations."
"...So there were a lot of spies in the Third World, huh?"
Kim Seojun nodded.
"We estimate hostages from our side are being held there. Krautz's wife included."
Strict surveillance had been difficult for fear of it escalating into a diplomatic issue... and the cult had exploited that gap well.
The Director had barely managed to calm Krautz, who was ready to turn South Korea upside down to find his wife. He was currently staying in a safe house.
Kim Seojun continued.
"Given Krautz's personality, he could be manipulated by the cult, so we decided to carry out the rescue operation in secret. Meaning I'll be away for a while."
Only then did I realize why Kim Seojun had come.
"...No wonder you showed up in the middle of the night. So what do you need me to do?"
Kim Seojun answered flatly.
"Hurry up the toy production. We'll handle setting up the supply system on our end."
"...!"
That was pretty unexpected.
I didn't bother hiding my surprise as I asked.
"Why? All of a sudden?"
Kim Seojun confessed in a complicated tone.
"To be honest... if we were going to leave you as you are, it'd be easier to just cut off your arms and legs and lock you up. That way we'd buy time until the next one gets summoned."
"...!"
So this guy was even factoring in the possibility of the cult assassinating me.
I absently rubbed both shoulders.
"...That's a bit much!"
"That's why I'm telling you. From now on, protect your own body. I'm not going to tell you to actively help humanity or anything."
"You fucking bastard. Cutting off my arms and legs was your idea, wasn't it."
At that, Kim Seojun burst out laughing.
"It was the Director's idea."
"..."
Come to think of it, that tracked.
Kim Seojun was brutal to his enemies, sure, but at the end of the day he was a hero fighting great evil for humanity's sake. He had his own kind of romance about it.
The Director, on the other hand... a born strategist. For a more certain victory, he'd sacrifice family or friends without blinking.
I shuddered with a chill, and Kim Seojun spoke as if to prevent a misunderstanding.
"Still, the Director did hand you the premium-grade factory, didn't he. Though even that wasn't free."
I shook my head firmly.
"No, that was free. I earned it through my efforts on Bukhan Mountain."
"Nonsense. You moved to protect the people around you. We're grateful as humans, but compensation wasn't necessary."
My mouth fell open on its own.
"Wow..."
Kim Seojun smacked his lips and added,
"Again, that was the Director's thinking. In a world like this, what's the point of fretting over what's fair?"
"Of course you have to fret over what's fair. That's how the world changes."
"......!"
Kim Seojun looked down at me for a moment, then gave a small nod.
A little later, once the conversation had more or less wrapped up, I asked.
"But don't you sleep?"
"Sleep?"
No matter how strong a hunter he was, he was still human. Seeing the exhaustion hanging so heavily on him made me feel a little bad.
I patted the bed invitingly.
"You look exhausted. Get some sleep here before you go."
"......."
At that, Kim Seojun's brow furrowed, and he looked out the window.
"...I'll take the thought. Ah, and remember this."
"Hm?"
"The Director seemed quite disappointed about that wrecked car of his."
"......!"
Don't tell me the arm-and-leg-cutting thing was because of that?
This guy was completely insane!
With those parting words, Kim Seojun dissolved into shadow and vanished. His exit was every bit as abrupt as his entrance.
"That Director guy... looks like I'll have to replace his car one more time."
When I checked the news in the morning, sure enough, the world was groaning under rebellions and riots everywhere.
Election fraud, corruption, religious issues, espionage charges — regimes across the globe were being overturned under every pretext imaginable.
So all those leaders were cult members, huh?
Faith was a matter of belief, which made it hard to pin a crime on anyone. Unless you caught them red-handed forcibly opening a gate, they could just deny the charges and that would be that.
That was why they were using such extreme methods. From an ordinary civilian's perspective it was a bit shocking, but Kim Seojun had said it was a method used often enough throughout history.
"The scale of this is insane. Right?"
I said it to Eldrisa beside me, and she tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
I poked the tip of her high nose.
"You eavesdropped on our whole conversation yesterday."
"..."
A guy on Kim Seojun's level had broken into our nest and the witch hadn't reacted at all — that would have been the weird part.
Eldrisa seemed to concede the point as she asked,
"So what are you going to do now?"
"About what?"
"It gets dangerous once that hunter leaves his post. And the Director will be too busy to even blink."
"What do you want to do?"
Eldrisa tilted her head.
"Hmm? Wait around and kill whoever shows up, I suppose?"
"Not going out?"
"As long as those two — mother and daughter — are here, it's hard."
She took protecting the two of them as a given.
That was so heartwarming I couldn't help smiling.
"Eldrisa."
"Yes."
"Instead of that, try installing some shrubs around the house."
"..."
Eldrisa blinked in surprise.
"That's certainly one approach, but... if it goes wrong, the floor's going to be painted in blood, you know?"
"Why would that be a problem?"
"Wouldn't it be bad for Yena's education? Kang Jiye would get angry, I think."
I slowly shook my head.
"What matters is living our everyday lives. We can't just stay locked inside because we're scared."
A large-scale event was about due to hit.
That was probably why the Director and Seojun duo were rushing around so hard.
Might as well ease their worries a little and throw the first punch before the other side made a move.
"Hehe. A family trip abroad. Exciting, right?"
"Pardon?"
"We set the traps and go on vacation. By the time they show up, they'll all be dead."