Chapter 289
Chapter 289
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 289
Chapter Title: Episode 90. Black Flower (5)
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"I'll head out first, Season Chief!"
"Good work. Drop off the notice to the 8th Legion on your way."
"Yessir~"
Kang A-jin was the mood maker. She hit it off with anyone in no time, injecting a cheerful, positive vibe into the room.
Even Yoo Ji-tae, whom everyone in the Federation found intimidating, was no exception.
"You should head home soon too, Chief. You've been staying late every day lately. You used to always leave on the dot."
"Yeah, I will."
"If I were the Season Chief? Oh man. I wouldn't even come in. Wage thief's been my dream job. Ah, your collar's crooked."
With that, she sidled up and straightened his collar.
"See you later. Oh, and Hari-nim, take care on your way home."
She was just as polite to Bom, who had just appeared.
Bom returned the kindness with a bright smile and a greeting.
And just like that, only Yoo Ji-tae and Bom remained in the office.
"Before we go, want to run lines together?"
Bom broached the subject.
"Why?"
"Just... There are still some awkward parts."
"You did great."
"You really think so? That both of us pulled it off?"
"We did. Everyone bought it hook, line, and sinker."
He meant it.
A smile tugged at Bom's lips. Then she muttered something like, "What do I do about this..." But he had no idea why she'd say that. After all, he'd acted perfectly.
"Anyway, that was unexpected."
"What was?"
"I knew you were sharp, but I didn't expect you to fool them so naturally. And with so little time—when did you even practice?"
"I do it all the time. ...Oh, but hey."
Suddenly, Bom approached him. He was sitting on the office sofa when she casually plopped down onto his lap.
"Oppa."
She'd promised to call him that when they were alone.
Since then, Bom occasionally used the term with him.
"Oppa, do you know everyone here well?"
"Pretty much. Why?"
"Those people helping with the work—what do they do?"
"Who? You mean Jefferson Antonio and Kang A-jin?"
"Yeah."
"Why the curiosity?"
"We're going to be around them from now on. I should know."
Yoo Ji-tae looked into Bom's eyes.
In her absence, the Federation staff had unanimously praised her eyes. Jefferson called them mysteriously intimidating, while Kang A-jin said they'd suck you right in.
He'd grown used to them over time together, but up close like this, their words suddenly made perfect sense.
"Nothing much different from what you know. They're like my aides. Extensions of myself."
"Hm. How long have they been your aides?"
"A while."
"So... you're close?"
"Well, in official Federation terms, they're the closest."
Bom blinked and murmured, "A while, huh..." Her gaze dipped slightly. Her eyes went slightly crossed—one eye closing just a fraction.
Fidgeting with her fingers, she said quietly,
"Guess I need to get friendly with them quick..."
Yoo Ji-tae sensed something off around then—like maybe Bom was in a bad mood? But when she looked up again, her face was back to normal.
"Our kids must be hungry. What should we get for dinner?"
Was that just his imagination?
The Strategy Room and Federation Military Police had tracked Edrei's comms logs, movements, contacts, operations, and personal life—everything. They'd tortured him right up to the brink of death, about 20 times. Yoo Ji-tae stood by, casually verifying the truths.
The intel went straight to Jeon Gal-hae-yeon. The woman with a computer for a brain pieced together the fragments, pinpointing 870 possible locations for Q.
Immediately after, stealth squads, the Five Transcendents, and around 200 personnel including Yoo Ji-tae fanned out across the world.
Timing was critical. Word of Edrei's capture would reach Q soon. Then Q would start scrubbing traces.
"No way. It's already started."
Jeon Gal-hae-yeon, jacked into 12 computers, spat the words like they tasted foul. Q was sharp.
They'd nabbed Edrei just half a day ago. How often did Q monitor his network to catch on this fast?
"Hurry."
"Yes, ma'am!"
They had to grab every trace before it vanished.
"Whoa! This...!"
After running themselves ragged,
that dawn, the Federation secured a shocking CCTV hard drive.
It was pretty shocking footage.
"What? What's up?"
At Jeon Gal-hae-yeon's question, the Strategy Room superhuman replied.
"Footage of someone presumed to be a high-ranking Quayzar executive!"
"What?"
Jeon Gal-hae-yeon bit her lip upon review.
No. In her eyes, this wasn't just some high-ranking Quayzar exec.
"Share it fast."
"On it!"
The CCTV captured someone presumed to be Q.
Mana is the manifestation of will. Things without will are relatively free from mana interference.
That's why electronics are a superhuman's enemy.
They have eyes to see but no intent to look.
At that moment, Yoo Ji-tae was in Command Room 5. He was in a meeting with four of the "Five Transcendents"—Christoph, BM, Karp, and Genie—when a hotline came in from the Strategy Room.
Incredibly, they'd acquired footage of the presumed Q.
"Situation officer!"
At old man Christoph's order, the officer hurriedly played the video.
The screen was overall dark.
Background: a conference room, curtains drawn, dim. Seven people: five men, two women. And someone whose back of the head was barely visible, positioned at what was clearly the head seat, drawing all eyes.
Unlike the uniformed others, this one wore baggy hoodies.
"That the guy?"
"Smaller build than expected."
The meeting fast-forwards. Mute footage, but even in the low light, agitated gestures were clear. Someone yelled. Another flung papers in protest. No clue what the fight was about, but one stood and pointed accusingly at the head seat.
The Five Transcendents analyzed as they watched.
"That big guy's sword. Eme-580, right?"
"Yep. Looks like genuine Hermes make."
"Moneyed bunch. Lips not syncing perfectly—face masks, probably. Oh, hold up. Pause. Hmm... That thing on the back woman's hip. 'Shadow of the Desert'? The protective relic from the Great War."
"Silhouette matches. Sharp eyes. Puts her odds high as a top-200 ranker."
"Who was the last owner of Shadow of the Desert?"
"Dunno. Anna Kreema or Yong Jeong-guk, one of 'em... That was eight years ago, right?"
"Don't know Kreema. If it's Yong Jeong-guk, I'll ask."
As BM reached for his phone,
the back-of-head at the head seat suddenly stood.
"He's up."
The back-of-head walked toward the supers.
In an instant, the supers drew weapons and charged. Red and blue mana flared. Massive swords materialized in the air. The conference room was about to erupt into chaos when—
the world on-screen froze.
"Froze?" "Situation officer, you idiot!"
"Uh, it... Oh, it's still playing...!"
The timer at the bottom ticked to the next second.
Soon, in the frozen world, the back-of-head began to move. He approached the rigidly posed crowd.
Then, the unbelievable began.
The presumed Q (back-of-head) grabbed a superhuman's throat—and yanked it out.
"...!"
Blood sprayed. The snapped vertebrae trailed the head. That kicked off the slaughter. The back-of-head seized others' bodies and tore them apart. The slow motions revealed every detail.
"What the fu... "
"Hmm..."
Command Room 5 had assumed top rankers as victims. Elite rankers whose "Steel Body" was sky-high. Tougher than iron. Yet the back-of-head disassembled them like toys.
Toys. Apt word. As the supers died conveniently, the back-of-head started weird shit. Pulled out guts, spun them in the air, used them to garrote another. Shoved someone's severed hand into another's mouth—the one who'd flung papers and protested most violently.
The still-living victim shook his head in resistance. The back-of-head jammed his hand in, gripped the lower jaw. Amid the pinned super's full-body screams, he tensed his arm. Lips tore from cheeks, jaw dropped, mouth gaped. He stuffed the hand in. Like shoving an apple into a roast pig's maw.
"Fucking psycho..."
"Dirty tastes."
Even soldiers winced at the casual, bored sadism in killing.
"What kinda strength..."
"More importantly, why can't anyone move?"
"That brainwashing?"
The situation officer annotated: 4:17 to 9:39. All dead in that span. Minus playtime, exactly 2:02 to end it.
"Pay attention here."
The officer spoke up. What? As the Transcendents watched, the back-of-head glanced back. Wiped blood-splattered face with forearm.
"Too dark... Enhance it."
"Yes, sir!"
Even enhanced, hard to see. Arm blocked face; lens angle too high. Nose peeked briefly?
Then something odd caught Yoo Ji-tae's eye.
"Situation officer."
"Y-yes, sir!"
"Rewind to 10:08. Replay frame by frame, two at a time."
The officer complied. Yoo Ji-tae watched. Back-of-head cracked the dark room's window, pulled a square something from his waist, brought it to his face.
Looks familiar...
"Zoom here. Correct to expose the hand-held max. Loop this segment one frame at a time."
"Yes, sir!"
The Five eyed him curiously. Cubic palm-sized object. Sparkled transparently. Engravings like holes.
"Something catch your eye, Season Chief?"
BM asked. Yoo Ji-tae stroked his chin.
What is it? Looks so familiar...
Where'd I see it?
As he pondered, a jolt like electricity hit his brain.
"..."
He focused on the looping segment.
Transparent cubic hexahedron. Pressed to nose...?
Yoo Ji-tae snapped a pic with his watch.
Then messaged Gaeul.
The reply came.
Golden back-of-head gazing far out the window.
In hand... naturally, the wyvern bait guide holder he'd given her.
Gaeul had gripped and posed it without him explaining. Why? Matching transparency, size, nasal use.
He powered off the watch.
A purple-eyed woman surfaced in his mind.
No way... he thought.
Mu.
She'd seemed utterly ordinary. Regretted missing an item. Shared info to make it last. Expressed thanks. Maybe even kind.
Nothing off about any of it.
If that footage "back-of-head" was "Mu"?
That woman gleefully butchering humans so brutally? Plenty of crazy supers, but this gap was extreme even among them.
"Genie."
Yoo Ji-tae called a woman seated across Command Room 5.
World Rank 15. Moniker: "Atomic Bomb."
Genie Ansirem
The sole mage among the Five Transcendents. Revered great mage. Dungeon Express owner. And "Humanity's Last Stand" magic legion commander.
The elegantly picturesque mid-40s woman replied.
"Speak, Season Chief."
"Lend me the Tower of Mages' name right now. Just once."
"Why the Magic Tower?"
No.12 Mu (28, F)
Recalling the info, Yoo Ji-tae said,
"I want to meet a Golden Cross Guard member."