Chapter 420: A Difference in Class (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 420: A Difference in Class (2)
The first day of the operation concluded successfully.
We had managed to capture the largest route to the Black Market and the surrounding areas.
With this, the remaining enemies were isolated on the upper levels.
If we could just deal with them, the Black Market in China would cease to exist.
However, just because the outcome was good didn't mean the process was perfect.
There had been a heart-stopping moment where we were nearly driven into a dangerous situation.
And so.
“I-I am truly sorry!”
Thud!
The moment the meeting began, China’s representative, Minister of National Defense Chen Lao, who had nearly caused the crisis, slammed his head onto the field desk and apologized to them.
But their expressions didn't change in the slightest.
Except for one person.
The Saintess, Sophia, whose face was hidden by a veil, making her expression unreadable, asked.
“First, please explain what happened.”
The moment her low voice echoed through the room, they finally understood.
Even the benevolent Saintess was in a state of absolute fury.
Under the intensified pressure, Chen Lao squeezed his eyes shut and explained the situation.
“I-I had no knowledge of this.”
“The Minister of National Defense, representing China, didn't know?”
“…It may be hard to believe, but it is the truth.”
He himself was so dumbfounded he felt like he was going crazy.
The order he had received was clear: annihilate the Black Market that had escaped the government's control.
To that end, he had even formulated a plan with the representatives from various nations who had graciously responded to his request for support.
But as the plan steadily progressed, some people grew to regret it.
To be precise, they regretted losing the massive profits that flowed from the Black Market.
“It seems many words were exchanged because of that.”
They had spoken behind the Minister of National Defense’s back.
They argued that if they just eliminated the organization called Hexagram, they could bring the Black Market back under their control as it was before.
“They seemed to see it as an opportunity, rather than a problem.”
They believed that if they could seize this chance to tighten the leash on them again, the Black Market operators would obey without complaint, even if they imposed a higher tax rate than before.
“The Public Security officers who urged for surrender were all acting under their orders.”
Upon discovering this belatedly, the Minister of National Defense had flown into a rage and arrested all of them.
Disobeying orders on a battlefield where lives were at stake was no different from sending one’s comrades to their deaths.
“…They will all pay for their sins, without exception.”
Seeing him seething with anger, his cheeks puffed and trembling, everyone realized.
He was not involved in this incident in the slightest.
But that didn't mean they could just quietly sweep this under the rug.
Han Ju-hee, who had been listening to him in silence, opened her eyes and spoke.
“We are still in the middle of an operation, so let’s set this aside for now. However.”
Her eyes, fixed on the Minister, were filled with rage.
An icy fury that seemed capable of freezing everything it touched, belying her title of Scarlet Witch.
“After the operation is over, they will all have to pay for their sins. Every single one of them.”
Hearing her sharp, menacing voice, the Minister of National Defense let his head fall limply.
‘Something big is about to happen.’
Even after the operation was over, his mind would not be at ease.
So he thought.
*
The team members had just finished their first real battle, their first time killing people.
When they gathered for dinner, they didn't seem to be in bad shape.
“Oh… this is better than I thought.”
“Right?”
“Mm…! It tastes like my mother’s cooking.”
“Your mother’s cooking…?”
“My mother’s food back in Bulgaria was rustic like this.”
“Ah, r-right…”
Unlike me, who couldn't even eat dinner after my first real battle, they were eating well, which made me feel secretly proud.
I thought to myself that the kids were mentally much stronger than I had expected.
Feeling proud of them, we parted ways. I lay down on the field cot in my assigned barracks and closed my eyes, but then…
“Do-jin… are you asleep?”
“……”
A shadow lingered at the entrance of the barracks.
Why was I hearing the voice of Im Na-eun, who had said she was going to bed first and left for her own barracks, outside mine?
With no other choice, I sat up in bed.
“…I’m still awake. Come in.”
As if she’d been waiting, Im Na-eun lifted the flap and slipped inside.
Seeing the shadow cast over her smiling face, I knew exactly what was going on.
Now that she was alone at night, it must have finally hit her.
The moment her magic had made a person go pop and explode.
“Um… so, you see, there’s this thing…”
What was she so embarrassed about?
Seeing her struggle to speak was pitiful. I silently extended my arms, and as if she’d been waiting, she rushed into them.
“S-Sorry…”
“For what?”
“I-I thought I was fine, even when we were all having dinner together…”
“But you started thinking about it when you tried to sleep?”
“Y-Yeah.”
A tearful voice came from the head buried in my chest.
Well, it made sense.
I had also stayed up for several nights with my eyes wide open after my first real battle.
“A-Are you disappointed…?”
“No.”
Disappointed? Far from it.
“It’s only natural.”
I was proud of them at dinner because it seemed like they were taking that natural reaction in stride.
I’m not disappointed just because they aren’t.
This is the average response.
I gently patted Im Na-eun’s back and offered some comfort.
“Try to think about it a little differently.”
“How…?”
“You didn’t kill a person. You saved people.”
“Saved…?”
“That’s right. They were bastards who spent their entire lives leeching off of others, killing them. And they were planning to keep doing it.”
The villains gathered in the Chinese Black Market were, without exception, trash beyond any hope of rehabilitation.
They were red-listed fugitives, driven to a paradise at the edge of a cliff, with nowhere else in the world to set foot.
Even if they had survived today, what they would have done is obvious, isn't it?
“The longer they lived, the more people they would have robbed and killed. Right?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“You stopped that future. You saved the people who were scheduled to die by their hands. A lot of them, too.”
Hearing this, one might think…
Sophis…
“…It sounds like sophistry.”
“……”
Right, sophistry.
Bringing up a future that hasn't even happened could certainly sound that way.
But who cares?
Whether it’s sophistry or whatever else.
“Still, I’ll believe it. Because you… no, because Master said so…♥”
As long as it can bring the other person comfort, that’s all that matters, right?
“Master…”
The fear in her eyes was replaced by an ever-deepening affection as she slowly moved up my body.
“Could you comfort me just a little more…?”
I guess I have no choice.
“…Take it off.”
“Yes, Master…♥”
I’ll just have to play along for a bit.
After one whirlwind of passion swept through.
Na-eun, looking much better than when she first came in, finally headed back to her barracks. Just as I was about to get some sleep for tomorrow…
“…Hey, you asleep?”
Another uninvited guest arrived.
“So you see, you didn’t kill a person, you saved…”
“You’re good at spinning plausible bullshit.”
I offered her the same comfort I gave Im Na-eun.
“Fuck, sob… it feels so fucking bad… H-Harder, pound me faster…♥”
She asked me to push her to the point of passing out to forget the sensation left in her hands.
“Ooh, ooooooh…♥”
So I did.
“Haah, haah…!”
After she collapsed, panting for breath, I cleaned her up with Clean Magic and sent her on her way.
“Puppy… are you sleeping?”
Woof! Woof!
Grrrrr… ruff ruff!
*
He needed a sacrifice.
A scapegoat to take the heavy burden he carried alone and depart in his stead.
The moment he obtained enough sacrifices, he could break free from his shackles.
That was why he tried so desperately, but it wasn't easy.
“Popularity isn’t always a good thing, is it?”
“……”
Son Si-woo agreed with the words of the woman, Michelle, who whispered as she lightly embraced him from behind.
The more time passed, the more he realized.
Great fame was not an entirely good thing.
The biggest problem he felt now was none other than his presence.
‘I stand out too much.’
People recognized him far too easily.
The slightest move he made was written up as a news article, and everyone would know of his whereabouts.
Because of the passive approach he was forced to take, gathering sacrifices was not easy.
That was why.
That was the reason he had decided to participate in this operation.
“Shall I help you?”
Son Si-woo shook his head at Michelle’s question, who had at some point moved away from his back.
“…I don’t need it.”
He looked at the corpses strewn about and felt his heart swell.
‘With this much, I can speed things up significantly.’
He was always anxious.
This life, nothing but a hollow shell.
He was afraid of when his act would be exposed, and he would sometimes have nightmares about it.
The moment everyone turned their backs on the useless version of himself.
And then, the image of him dying alone and lonely in the pitch-black darkness.
And looking down at that sight, the face of Kim Do-jin, mocking and jeering at him.
‘That is the one thing that can never happen…!’
It was a nightmare, but it was also the catalyst that spurred his lazy self into action.
He was probably laughing even now.
At the foolish me who coveted this old body, leaving behind such a prime one.
So I have to show him.
‘My choice was not wrong.’
If he didn't, he felt like he would truly fall into a bottomless pit from which he could never climb out.
“I can do it. I will do it. I must, I must…”
He muttered to himself endlessly as he took a dagger from his coat.
A dagger with strange characters densely inscribed on its blade.
Holding it in a reverse grip.
Shunk-!
He plunged it straight into the heart of a corpse at his feet.
The characters engraved on the dagger that pierced the heart emitted a faint glow and drank the still-warm blood.
Gulp.
Gulp…!
Once the corpse, completely drained of blood, shriveled up, the light from the characters faded.
Confirming this, he retrieved the dagger and plunged it into the heart of another corpse.
Shunk!
Shunk!
Over and over, until all the surrounding corpses were withered husks.
He continued.