Chapter 386: On Thin Ice (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 386: On Thin Ice (2)
Five years ago.
The Vatican's Papal Office, the very heart of the Orthodox Church, was breached in a surprise attack by villains.
The layers of high-level divine magic protecting it were nullified, and the Paladins, the pride of the Orthodox Church, were defeated.
It was an unprecedented crisis where the Pope, one of the two faces of the Church, was left in critical condition, and hundreds of priests were killed.
After suffering countless casualties, the Orthodox Church barely managed to repel the villains.
They realized something.
That relying solely on divine magic had been their mistake.
Thus, they turned their attention to magic, one of the emerging security methods of the time, and pitted the world's mages against each other in a competition.
And the one who beat out countless other mages to design the Vatican's security system was Han Ju-hee.
Since then, she has been treated with the utmost respect as a benefactor of the Vatican.
“…The Saintess of the Vatican.”
Her gaze, which seemed lost in deep thought, turned to me.
“Professor Baek Hyeon-a… so she’s still alive.”
“For now.”
“…It must be Ju-yeon’s power.”
“That’s right.”
A somewhat bitter expression appeared on her face.
Was it because she found it bitter that her sister was helping an outsider instead of her?
“Indeed… if it’s the Saintess, it might just be possible.”
She wiped the bitter look from her face and nodded as if in understanding.
Then, her sharp gaze fell upon me.
“But I have one condition.”
“…I think removing your name from the ledger I handed over to the prosecution should be enough.”
“I wonder. That might be true if it was entirely your own decision… but it wasn’t, was it?”
“……”
Cunning.
Just as Han Ju-hee said, my reason for removing her name from the ledger wasn’t entirely of my own free will.
The repercussions that would hit this country if her name were revealed by the prosecution.
That was also a concern.
“I’ll hear your condition first, then decide.”
She answered immediately.
“I will guarantee your life and Professor Baek Hyeon-a’s. In return, stop antagonizing the organization.”
“I refu—”
Just as I was about to refuse.
“Please, answer carefully. This… will be my final offer.”
I could feel the desperation intertwined with her sharp gaze.
It seemed she genuinely wanted me to stop opposing the organization.
Of course, she would.
After all, her daughter, Seo-yeon, and her sister, Ju-yeon, are by my side.
If the organization were to become truly hostile toward me, they might be in danger too.
Therefore, her offer was, in effect, for their sake, not mine.
I understood her concern to some extent.
My greatest fear is also that the people around me will get hurt because of me.
But I can’t let that fear control me.
That’s exactly what my enemies want.
“I know what you’re worried about, but don’t be.”
As I voiced my gentle refusal, her face crumpled in anger, and she unleashed a cold fury.
“Do you really think you can save everyone?”
“That would be impossible.”
There are at least several hundred enemies targeting me.
In contrast, I only have one body.
No matter how powerful one person is, there’s a limit to what they can do.
Even if I ran myself ragged, I couldn’t protect everyone around me.
Nor should I.
“Instead of trying to protect them, I just need to help them protect themselves.”
“……!”
A look of utter shock settled on her face, as if she’d never considered such a thing.
“Hunter Han Ju-yeon, not to mention Seo-yeon, are no longer children. I don’t understand why you only think of them as people who need protection.”
As I pressed her on this obvious blind spot, she cried out as if in desperation.
“You only say that because you don’t know the organization’s true power! They are—!”
Not worth listening to anymore.
I cut her off.
“You’re the one who doesn’t know, Hunter Han Ju-hee.”
“What… did you say?”
“How strong Hunter Han Ju-yeon has become now that she’s reached S-rank. How hard Seo-yeon is training to get stronger, and just how far she’s come.”
I stared straight into her trembling pupils and asked.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“That’s…”
An overbearing attitude leaves no room for conversation.
‘I’m right, so you just do as I say.’
How could anything get through to someone who starts with that premise?
Believing only she was right, she failed to properly understand the other person. And the other person, not wanting to talk to someone like that, wouldn't open up.
“Seo-yeon told me something.”
“……?”
Her curiosity piqued by Seo-yeon’s name, she lifted her head.
“She said that in the past, you might have been intense, but you were never overbearing.”
“……”
Seo-yeon hadn’t actually said that.
It was just me, her ex-husband, voicing the change I’d noticed in her.
“When I realized you were an external advisor for Hexagram, a thought suddenly occurred to me.”
It was rare for her to show such emotional turmoil in front of others.
So I had to press my advantage.
“I wondered if perhaps Hexagram had something to do with the change in you.”
The trembling in her eyes intensified.
“Tell me.”
“…Tell you what.”
“What their goal is, and why you’re involved with them.”
I cornered her with a calm voice.
For a moment, hesitation flickered in her eyes.
Finally, she spoke.
“…They have a grand objective, one that far surpasses anything you can imagine.”
She let out a short breath and rose from the sofa.
As if even this vast space, reserved just for her, felt suffocating, she walked to the window overlooking the Gangnam cityscape and continued speaking.
“What do you think a Hunter is?”
A random question.
But there was only one answer.
Beings who protect the world from the unknown threats that appear at any moment.
Beings who bring back various elements from beyond the rifts that accelerate the rapid changes of this era.
The entire development of Hunter society revolves around rifts and the dungeons that form within them.
Therefore.
“They’re indispensable.”
“Exactly.”
Placing a hand on the spotless, transparent window, she nodded.
“If Hunters didn’t exist, this country… this world wouldn’t last a single month before facing its end.”
It might have been a slight exaggeration, but it wasn’t entirely impossible.
A world without Hunters would meet its end within half a year, at most.
“They are precious. They deserve respect, and they deserve to be treated well.”
I responded to her somewhat empty tone.
“…I think they’re treated well enough.”
The work is dangerous, but the rewards that follow are enormous.
Not only is the compensation unparalleled by any other profession, but with decent looks and skill, it’s even possible to achieve celebrity-like fame.
The prime example of that is Son Si-woo.
He entered the Hunter world as an orphan with nothing, accumulated more wealth than he could spend in a lifetime, and seized both fame and honor under the title of the ‘National Hunter.’
A dangerous job, but one with more than enough compensation.
That’s what being a Hunter meant to me.
“Is that so…?”
Apparently, she didn’t think so.
“Hunters who risk their lives to clear a dungeon and fail are condemned by everyone. People who have no idea how many variables a dungeon contains just denounce them, claiming the failure was entirely their fault.”
She continued, one corner of her mouth twisting into a smirk.
“And that’s not all. There are those who think that because Hunters have power, their sacrifices are to be expected.”
As she poured out the rather long speech, her emotions grew more and more intense.
“Hunters even face more restrictions. If they get into a dispute with a civilian, they’re automatically blamed, and they can even face aggravated punishment for being ‘unable to control their anger.’”
An Awakened Being is both a protector of this world and a potential threat.
In fact, aren’t villains considered one of the two greatest threats to the world, alongside rifts?
Because of the various problems they cause, some people treat all Awakened as potential criminals.
There are even some extremist groups who insist that all activities of the Awakened must be under strict control.
“Wealth? Honor? That’s all just fair compensation for our sacrifices. Just because we’ve earned those things doesn’t mean we have to endure all these insults!”
Her expression, stained with a sense of injustice, pleaded with me.
As if asking me to sympathize, to understand her heart.
After that emotional outburst, she continued in a slightly calmer tone and expression.
“I… I wanted a world like that. I even tried to make it happen. But nothing changed. Not one bit.”
The world didn’t change.
No, it changed for the worse.
With the widespread use of the internet and social media, an age arrived where it became all too easy to spread condemnation.
After her cynical lament, she spoke again in a more refined tone.
“You asked, didn’t you? What Hexagram’s goal is.”
“……”
“Like me, they want to change the world. A world where Hunters who dedicate themselves to it are respected and treated better than they are now.”
In that moment, a dizzying picture formed in my mind.
‘Changing the world’ was just a nicely packaged phrase.
There are other words for what an organization moving in the shadows does to change the world.
Revolution, or treason.
If they succeed, it will be called a revolution. If they fail, it will be called treason.
I stared at her, my face a mask of horror.
“A world that revolves around Hunters, the indispensable beings of this world.”
She said with a completely emotionless gaze and expression.
“That is the world Hexagram desires. And…”
She uttered words that aligned with their outrageous goal.
“I am someone who sincerely wishes for such a world to come.”