Chapter 528
Chapter 528
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 528
Chapter Title: Omen of Ruin (2)
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, nestled in the northern half of the divided Korean Peninsula.
The land simply known as North Korea was a world that operated on a grotesquely distorted structure.
The 'Otherworld Transition' that began the moment the 21st century dawned brought massive changes across the globe.
Awakenings and summonings occurred without regard for where the subject was or what situation they were in.
Thrown into dimensions with environments utterly unlike Earth, these people had to struggle desperately just to survive, building up their own strength in the process.
Whether to gather karma and return to Earth, or to settle down stably in that world.
Just like Awakeners summoned from harsh places like Africa or Middle Eastern conflict zones, a particularly high number of those from North Korea chose to remain as settlers...
But not everyone made that choice.
For people who had lived their entire lives caged and brainwashed, their experiences in the otherworld were nothing short of a monumental revolution that shattered their mental frameworks.
Facing a vast world, overcoming countless adversities, and gaining superhuman power, they naturally began to yearn.
To return home with this strength and make the world a better place to live.
Even if not for such grand ideals, they could at least seize high positions to live lavishly, or bring their families to safer places.
With such expectations, a considerable number of North Korean Awakeners chose to return.
Superhumans brimming with ambitions and confidence proportional to their abilities began appearing across North Korea.
It was the dawn of an era of upheaval.
A massive event that shook the foundations of a society that had stagnated and rotted under long years of dictatorship and information control.
And so time passed.
North Korea, kept sealed shut by obsessive information control and dictatorship—
—had changed nothing at all.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Success."
A subdued woman's small voice leaked from somewhere amid the room filled with expensive-looking porcelain, sculptures, paintings, and all sorts of art pieces.
"Oh? Well done, comrade. That mustn't have been an easy mark. You're reliably trustworthy, as expected."
In response, a middle-aged man who had been leisurely admiring the artworks nodded with a satisfied smile.
Then, glancing around and realizing he was alone in the room, he burst into a hearty laugh.
"But you're still not going to show your face to the end? Isn't it proper to face each other when exchanging words?"
"I'll pass. We're not close enough for that."
"That's a shame. I thought we'd shared quite a bit of rapport with the Oath of Reverse Heaven lately."
"Who knows. In any case, we've kept our end of the bargain."
The woman's voice, coming from somewhere, remained curt despite the man's friendly tone.
Though it might have been disappointing, he just shrugged it off nonchalantly and slowly began walking.
"Then I suppose it's time for me to get moving too."
He left the art-filled space and stopped before a door in a dim corner.
With a light cough, he straightened his clothes, then knocked politely.
Knock knock—
"Pardon the intrusion for a moment."
But his courtesy ended there.
Without waiting for a response from inside, the man flung the door open and strode in.
Though separated by just a single door.
The moment he stepped forward, a musty smell hit him along with a rush of stale, humid air.
A dark, filthy, utterly repulsive space in stark contrast to the lavish, pristine corridor outside.
"Glad to see you're as hale and hearty as ever today."
Yet the smile on his face didn't falter in the slightest.
The man strode toward someone cowering in the corner and bowed slightly.
"Keh heh heh, I've come to tell you that the moment you've longed for has finally arrived."
No reply came from the other.
Shivering in fear, the figure just kept wedging their gaunt body deeper into the corner.
With a smirk at the familiar behavior, the man finished his words.
"...Our great Leader Comrade."
A cripple now confined to a single room like livestock.
Who could believe that this man once ruled the northern Korean Peninsula?
In the transitional period when the whole world was reeling from the sudden emergence of Awakeners.
North Korea, sealed away as it was, underwent massive changes too.
Whether revolutionaries rising up with cries of change or villains driven by personal greed, Awakeners with abilities couldn't be suppressed by the old regime.
And that's when he appeared.
"Uh... ah..."
"Oh dear, I only meant to greet you briefly, but time's up already. Then I'll be off."
As always, after toying briefly with the 'Great Leader,' he bowed politely.
Laden with mockery he hadn't bothered to hide from the start.
The absolute being who crushed not only the old regime but even the returnees who rose up relying on their abilities.
He took control of all of North Korea and maintained the system as if nothing had happened, lording over it as the new dictator.
He devoured the throne that seemed eternal, along with everything passed down through generations.
A monster who ascended to transcendence with a rare and supremely dangerous mental ability.
—Commonly known as the 'Usurper'.
"Heh heh, the unification our Leader Comrade so desired. I'll make it happen for you."
The moment he made up his mind.
The muzzles of war turned south.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Thanks to the efforts I'd poured into building my information network, my eyes and ears scattered across Earth were far from ordinary.
"...A Korean transcendent is dead?"
That allowed me to grasp most of the circumstances surrounding the incident the moment it broke.
My expression hardened as I compiled and analyzed the sudden flood of reports from my subordinate organizations.
"The Oath of Reverse Heaven is moving North Korea to start a war."
The death of Heukyeon, the transcendent guarding the Military Demarcation Line.
The Oath of Reverse Heaven was surely involved.
North Korea's sole transcendent, the Usurper, had a bad matchup with Heukyeon and couldn't deal with him.
That was why he'd holed up in the north no matter what happened in Seoul.
'Usurper...'
With a short sigh, I quickly recalled the information I'd gathered on him.
He wasn't affiliated with the Oath of Reverse Heaven.
But they weren't completely unconnected either.
It was more like a mutually beneficial partnership where they provided rough support.
'There's a clear power disparity between them... But given the Oath of Reverse Heaven's previous policy of avoiding intervention on the peninsula, even this relationship wasn't so bad.'
The Oath of Reverse Heaven rooted in China, and the Usurper who swallowed North Korea whole.
In a way, it resembled the old state relations.
South Korea, with its clear superiority in superhuman forces, hadn't touched North Korea recklessly—all because of China.
"...Tch, should I have just pretended not to know, slipped in, and dealt with him ages ago?"
Of course, it was just talk.
Inter-Korean relations were a tangled mess of complex international political issues.
Try to bulldoze through with brute force alone, and it might spark a full-scale war.
I'd been putting off such problems to avoid escalating damage by meddling...
'...Wait, doesn't it not matter anymore?'
Pausing mid-thought, I reviewed the information again.
And immediately reached a conclusion.
War was already in the countdown.
The situation had completely changed from the previous balance.
"If things have come this far already... maybe I should just clean up that bastard first for good..."
North Korea's Usurper had reached transcendence through mental manipulation abilities.
Unless facing another transcendent, resistance was nearly impossible, and even equals would gradually get contaminated the longer they faced him, unwittingly pulled along by his will.
'Even Yulryeongja, who hadn't fully crossed the transcendent threshold, became East Asia Branch Chief largely due to that guy's influence.'
Of course, Yulryeongja had earned the position through schemes and management skills rather than raw power.
But it was also true that he, having maxed out his mental unique skill beyond most transcendents, had an advantage handling the Usurper.
In other words, even the Oath of Reverse Heaven was wary of him to that extent.
"And they let him off the leash like this? What's the Oath of Reverse Heaven's game? The Lord still needs more time to break free of his restrictions."
The altered causality from the Lord's regression became shackles binding him.
The Oath of Reverse Heaven's quiet moves from the shadows were all to minimize the burden on him.
'Even if he's not officially one of theirs, he's still influenced by them. And they even helped assassinate Heukyeon...'
But there was no more time to sort out my thoughts.
Beeeep—
The complex data center built for Hesperon.
Having performed beyond expectations at times, ransacking Dr.'s lab at others, it had expanded repeatedly, now housing a staggering array of machinery.
Vreee—!
Beep beep bleep!
Alarm sounds of every kind blared from the computers filling the space.
"Kuh! That mad bastard is really starting a war?"
Hesperon gritted his teeth as he monitored North Korea's situation in real-time via satellites hacked by Titan.
Artillery muzzles aimed south were loading shells, missiles moving one by one to launch positions.
War was truly upon them.
Naturally, the South Korean government was in chaos too.
No one had expected North Korea to break decades of ceasefire and actually start a war.
'No, who cares about them right now.'
Left alone, the damage would multiply exponentially.
Win or lose, war itself would leave indelible scars.
I had to try everything possible before the enemy attacks began in earnest.
"Habis! How much time left?"
It wasn't generous, but not hopelessly short either.
If he went all out, victory could come before then.
...Though I couldn't guarantee removing the culprit would cancel the attack orders...
'Just do whatever it takes! At this point, who cares about the aftermath! Deal with that lunatic first!'
In such situations, there was only one being I could truly trust.
Shaaaa—
The main body's shadow slowly expanded, swallowing the living room.
Temperature plummeted as darkness engulfed everything in an instant.
Frosty breath dripped down amid the forming rime, and from the shadow's center, my maximum firepower slowly rose.
[Ku ku kuk— Seems this body has been taken quite lightly. I thought I'd firmly imprinted that this land is my domain.] The eerie smile carved into the mask covering his face evoked chills from the abyssal-clad figure, infernal light blazing in his eyes.
A being emanating soul-shrinking pressure just by looking, the incarnation of death made manifest.
[To think a mere loach dares muddy the waters without knowing its place.] The reincarnation of Hahoe Mask Hans.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Nice weather, huh."
The Usurper, stepping outside, murmured softly while gazing at the sky.
Unlike his ordinary middle-aged appearance, he was the absolute ruler with North Korea in his grip.
From party executives to Awakeners.
Nothing escaped his reach; everything in this land was mere puppets dancing to his whims.
...Perfect for smashing to bits.
"Don't you think so, comrade?"
[Hoh? Quite the taste. Not many humans would call this weather good.] Beneath the overcast sky threatening imminent rain.
The Usurper turned to his uninvited guest with a faint smile.
"Maybe I'm the twisted one. Nice to meet you anyway. I've heard the name plenty, but this is my first time seeing you in person."
Despite the sudden visit, he showed no surprise.
"Hahoe Mask comrade."
As if he'd known who was coming from the start.
Hans, silently regarding him, tilted his head slightly and spoke.
[No long talk. Cancel the attack orders to the military.] "Hmm, why should I?"
[You know it too. Surprise attack or whatever, you can't beat the south.] The north-south power gap was that vast.
It might be a pyrrhic victory, but South Korea would ultimately win.
And then everything he'd seized would be destroyed.
"Ah, there's one misunderstanding."
Despite knowing that full well.
The Usurper smiled brightly, brushing it off.
"That's exactly what I want."
[...Is that so.] Hans slowly nodded, sensing the sincerity in his words.
He'd half-suspected it, but it was true.
With negotiations failed, only one task remained.
[Then die.] Thus fell the cold death sentence.
Splurt—
Black, dead blood gushed from the Usurper's seven orifices.
