Chapter 258
Chapter 258
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 258
Chapter Title: 드래곤을 유괴하다-258화
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 258
Chapter Title: Episode 84. Who Is Our Enemy? (2)
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“My son died fighting a monster.”
He began his story.
“My one remaining daughter became a superhuman too, but back then, I wanted to turn her into a civilian. My wife had already passed, so we couldn't have a third child. We fought a lot because she kept holding out.”
Yoo Ji-tae recalled the woman who had collapsed in tears before the portrait.
“Season. Do prophets have children?”
“Well, I don't have any biological ones.”
“Then don't have any for at least the next ten years.”
“......”
A deep breath sent smoke billowing.
Black and red skin. Amid the snow-white beard, his mouth opened with the smoke.
“Life throws all sorts of things at you. That stubborn girl finally found someone to marry in her later years. She comes to me out of the blue, saying she's going to show me a grandchild. A lump of flesh giving birth to another lump of flesh. So, like I told you, I said don't have kids. My daughter got married before the war. The war broke out right after the honeymoon.”
But the child was born anyway.
“Who can stop a couple from sleeping together? My daughter stubbornly swelled her belly right as the war was winding down. Damn, who does she take after with that pigheadedness? If I'd thought of her as my daughter, I should've isolated her from her husband... Anyway, the kid was born. The belly swelled. What could I do?”
“Did you yell at her?”
“Of course. It hadn't been long since your own blood turned into a corpse. In times like that, you think you can have a kid? I tore into them. The couple cried and wailed together. I planned to keep my temper up until dirt was shoveled over my eyes. But once the baby was born...”
He chuckled in a low voice.
Soon, a thicker smile spread across his lips.
“...that little guy's tiny pecker was just too cute, wasn't it? My genes are strong. The grandson looked just like my deceased son. So I bought him a stroller. Japanese-made. Expensive, pretty, huge. The shock absorbers were amazing. It didn't even shake going over speed bumps.”
Christoph turned to Yoo Ji-tae.
He had been laughing heartily, but suddenly killing intent flickered across his face. His expression turned even more savage.
The beastly gaze of someone ready to charge and rip someone apart lingered at the corners of his eyes.
“The Korean government floats an island to train kids who hunt monsters in the sky. Kaliovan declares an era of peace. Sister Valentine buries herself in the primeval forest with her buff young studs, saying the world will be fine without her. Young Dominator Bljenk... that kid's gotten twice as strong as any witch. Seeing that made this old man's thinking outdated.”
The old man's words quickened.
“I had a dream.”
“Of watching a child grow up peacefully.”
“Teasing my daughter and son-in-law as they aged.”
“Waiting to spend time growing closer to my wife, who went on ahead as the back-room granny.”
“I thought it was okay for me.”
To one old superhuman, this wasn't just the death of a young life.
“I planned to tend the garden and flowerbeds.”
“My acquaintances teased me, saying I'd gone senile.”
“I was serious. As I got older, flowers strangely appealed to me.”
“So I grew flowers. Tended the garden.”
“Put in a slide and seesaw for the kid to play on.”
“I thought it was okay for me.”
In his mind, one era had come to an end.
“When Michael was born, I planted an oak tree in the garden.”
“He'll become a father someday too, right?”
“Someday he'll come to me boasting about a great-grandchild. You know it.”
“By then, thirty or forty years would pass, and the oak would be decent-sized. If I was still alive, I'd cut it down to make the kid's front door.”
“I thought that's how it would be. I didn't know the tree would become the kid's coffin.”
Because the era surrounding him had changed. This old superhuman could no longer remain a child's grandfather. And soldiers don't grieve over deaths.
“They say you become a child again when you age. Have I grown naive?”
“Or am I as loose in the head as those bastards gossiping about me?”
“Gone soft, to the point where it's okay to hold a stroller instead of a sword. An era where you can tend flowers. An era where you can die in peace.”
“I thought that era had returned to my life.”
Bloodshot veins filled his eyes.
Veins bulged on the hand gripping the cigarette.
His skin reddened further with rage.
A voice crushed word by word leaked out.
“It was all my delusion.”
The old soldier raged in silence.
'If poking around everywhere was the problem, then it was a problem.'
Christoph turned his body after those final words.
The old man, who had grasped so much believing an era of peace was coming, now had to let it all go.
This wasn't just the old soldier's view of changing times.
The Alliance didn't make a big fuss.
But they slightly shifted their attitude from their previous silence on every incident.
The change was tiny. But it existed.
In response, the world sensed something stirring.
A few days later, people gathered in the Alliance conference room.
Chairman Kaliovan.
Four of the Top 5 Transcendents, including BM and Christoph.
Total Heaven Society members like Regeneration Druid Myeong Yong-ha and Royal Sword Minamoto.
And Strategy Director Je-gal Ha-yeon along with some staff.
Finally, Season and Won took seats.
Alliance Chairman Kaliovan spoke first.
“I hear that comms station was for logistics support.”
“Yes. As you'll see in the pre-submitted report, it was a Quasar logistics support comms station. Used like a control tower of sorts.”
“And the underground fortress found before that. Who built it?”
“At least a ranker in the top 200 wizards.”
Kaliovan tilted his head slightly to the side. Leisurely motion exuded ease. He stroked his lower lip with pale, long fingers, as if pondering.
“...That's strange.”
A slow voice flowed out soon after.
“As strange as Christoph not finding traces at the comms station. How does a half-Alliance terror group with only brigade scale build an underground fortress with a top 200 wizard?”
“I'll explain from here.”
The response came from elsewhere.
Small stature, skinny build. Round glasses. Neatly tied-back hair. Dry gaze hazy.
It was Command Strategy Director Je-gal Ha-yeon.
“Among the secured supplies, there were inconsistencies. KSR-series healing meds, 407 artifact rounds. And one-way teleport gate v04.”
“......”
Those who heard felt the oddity.
KSR-series healing meds were made in Japan, scrapped for side effects.
407 artifact rounds were infiltration-type ammo used in Mexico, banned for excessive cruelty.
One-way teleport gate v04 was old Russian gear, fully replaced just before the great war.
Strange items to find in one place.
“...Did they prepare this long ago?”
A staffer's question leaked out.
Je-gal Ha-yeon shook her head.
It wasn't that simple.
“Internal appraisal confirmed no fakes. All logistics were genuine. The v04 was even direct-use Russian stock, and some consumables were brand new, untouched.”
Items that shouldn't be used, were.
Items nations should have scrapped, pristine.
“They have a backer.”
Kaliovan hit the nail on the head.
“Yes. Quasar has supporters. At the national level. That fits the underground fortress and comms station perfectly.”
Sighs followed Je-gal Ha-yeon's conviction.
A anti-Alliance terror group. Headache enough.
But a group backing the terror group? Worse headache.
If national scale?
Must be on guard.
“Origin of those logistics?”
“Searching everywhere. Nothing solid. Known fully scrapped. Direct disposal by each nation's arms firms, no extra steps.”
“Not a specific nation then.”
“Also consider those unhappy with the Alliance's current moves...”
Je-gal Ha-yeon and Kaliovan's Q&A raced ahead.
A staffer grimaced, raising a hand.
“W-wait! Groups that can reach every nation's arms industry? Where the hell is an organization like that?!”
Je-gal Ha-yeon turned to him.
“What else? Invisibility.”
It hit like a lead weight. Air grew heavy fast.
Transnational Mine organization. Invisibility.
Her words drew puzzled looks.
“Invisibility... I thought they halted all activity after Noah died recently.”
“Right. They hunkered down like always. Abandoned units. Cut tails.”
Je-gal Ha-yeon scowled, as if just thinking of it annoyed her.
She still hadn't found hard proof on Noah's killer.
On one hand, it was odd, like he said. Mines are cunning, cautious. Long-lived, plenty patient. They watch till certain. No way they'd back an anti-Alliance group and leave traces lightly.
“That's the strange part. No gain antagonizing the Alliance now. Mines backing Quasar doesn't fit.”
“That's what I'm saying. Who wants to guess? Why would they?”
Je-gal Ha-yeon put hands on hips, tilting her head.
Why does a scared dog flinch?
“......”
No answer. She let out a hollow laugh.
“It's a chance to blow their nose without touching it. Ride someone's back for fun.”
“Whose back?”
“Dunno. No proof yet. And I don't speculate on hunches. Wrong sometimes.”
Je-gal Ha-yeon slid her gaze to one man.
In her mind, Noah's killer sat right there. But no proof, so she never even thought it.
Silence stretched. Kaliovan spoke.
“Speak.”
“Pardon?”
“Speak. Ha-yeon. Who do you think's behind it.”
“......”
Je-gal Ha-yeon closed her mouth, pondering.
“Can I deflect the question?”
“As you like.”
Then she turned to Yoo Ji-tae.
“Prophet Season. Who do you think?”
Je-gal Ha-yeon scratched itching backs.
Since getting the report, some staff wondered Season's take.
Her floundering grew the curiosity.
Too few fragments to infer.
Time for strategic intuition.
Usually questions flew to Christoph, but his face was sour.
So all eyes turned to Yoo Ji-tae.
He'd been half-leaning back, just listening.
No answer even to questions.
Preparing heavenly revelation? Everyone puzzled.
Truth was, Yoo Ji-tae didn't know either...
Everyone probably thinks this.
Supply origins: Japan, Russia, Switzerland.
Japan's royals flip-flop famously. Russia's anti-Alliance lean known. Neutral Switzerland easy for diverting arms. Plus? Post-great war, these three's close allies: exactly two.
Korea, America. But US VP didn't die?
So Korea, Japan, Russia, Switzerland. One of those four?
No.
To him, this was the start of a flow. Backlash against the Alliance's reckless military expansion. Christoph's 'some entity' might center it, accelerating world flow. But even without it, world flows this way.
Similar in 6th round.
When he killed Kaliovan to rule Earth alone. Declared Alliance dictatorship. Wielded overwhelming force worldwide.
Those wary of him weren't specific nations.
“Prophet. Speak. Who is our enemy?”
Silence dragged; impatient Kaliovan pressed.
Yoo Ji-tae finally opened his mouth.
“The entire world.”
The conference room exploded like a bomb.
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