Chapter 596: Encounter (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 596: Encounter (3)
The six people who appeared one by one on the six screens were a truly motley crew.
From their appearances to their speech, personalities, and auras.
When you belong to the same organization, you’d expect at least one similarity, but not with them.
They were different in every single way.
It was an unsettling feeling, like six immiscible substances forced together.
That was why.
“…What a complete mess.”
The words escaped my lips before I even realized it.
It was less a negative comment and more a sigh at witnessing a sight so difficult to comprehend.
But unless they could read my mind, how would they know?
“Wh-What…?”
“Hmph… what a bold child.”
“This arrogant bastard…!”
“……”
“……”
Two remained silent while three spat out cold fury.
As the atmosphere instantly turned frigid, the last one to appear tried to mediate.
“Calm down, everyone.”
His piercing blue eyes, which didn't lose their light even against the dark background, stared at me.
“As I said before… we should at least hear him out.”
The mood settled in an instant.
From this, I realized something.
That man, who looked the most fragile, was the very center of gravity holding these people together.
Which meant he was either the boss of this organization or someone of equivalent status.
“Mr. Kim Do-jin?”
Before answering, I paused to think.
I’d gotten off on the wrong foot.
One wrong move and this could end with us becoming even more estranged, without a proper conversation ever taking place.
I should hurry up and explain before that happens… or should I?
A belated thought occurred to me.
The beings before me were outlaws who were closer to their fists than to words.
Having fought them countless times and even lived among them for the sake of a mission, I knew them well.
I knew that lowering myself would be of no help among them.
That trying to smooth things over would only make me look like a pushover.
This was a misunderstanding born from a careless remark.
At the same time, it was a power struggle.
My standing would be determined by how I navigated this situation.
“What’s there to talk about? It looked like a mess, so I said it looked like a mess.”
I crossed my legs, leaned back against the chair, and asked in the cockiest tone I could muster.
“Is there a problem?”
Whether this was my fault or not, trying to play nice now would only give them an opening.
So, I had to push back harder.
This would instill two perceptions in them.
One, that I was by no means an easy opponent.
And two, that the man named Kim Do-jin fit into this world better than they thought.
I straightened my index finger and pointed at each person on the screen, adding a few extra comments.
The first was a woman with straight hair that fell to her lower back and neatly cut bangs.
Was that called a hime cut?
Anyway, I started with my raw first impression of the woman who was gleefully licking her bright red lips as she looked at me.
She was clearly an arrogant, stuck-up girl who’d been worshiped by men her whole life.
She acted just like the old Han Ju-hee.
Back then, this is how my younger self would have described her.
“Terminal princess syndrome.”
“Hmph…?”
Next was a guy wearing nothing but a black tank top, as if to show off his bulging muscles.
“A muscle pig who looks like his head is filled with muscle too.”
“Huh?”
As for the two bastards I’d beaten up, I lumped them together without going into detail.
“Two morons who barely survived getting their asses kicked by me.”
“……”
“Heh heh.”
Then there was the pig who hadn’t stopped stuffing something into his mouth since the screen turned on.
There was no other way to describe him.
“A pig.”
“Oo-ooh…”
I nonchalantly met their increasingly murderous glares and asked the blond man.
“To put it nicely, you’re a group full of personality. To put it badly, you’re a mess.”
Is there a more fitting description?
“If there is, I’ll apologize.”
The man, who had paused at my question, soon gave a bitter smile.
“…I don’t think there is.”
That was a signal.
A signal that he wouldn't nitpick about my earlier words anymore and that we should move on smoothly.
He was a pretty reasonable guy.
In times like these, it’s polite to respond to the other party’s goodwill.
“Well… I didn’t say it to make you feel bad, so don’t get too worked up.”
I said it because you’re all so unique, and I was wondering how a group like this even came together, okay?
The other five seemed dumbfounded by my words but didn’t dare to speak up.
Of course they wouldn’t.
Their leader had declared he wouldn’t hold it against me. If they said anything more, they’d just be admitting that they really were a mess of a group.
After the short but intense power struggle, the real conversation began.
“I heard from Ms. Ju-hee. You wish to join us… is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It turns out your goals and mine aren’t so different anymore.”
“‘Aren’t so different anymore,’ you say…”
A deep smile formed on his lips.
“That sounds like you’ve had a major change of heart in a short amount of time.”
I shrugged and readily admitted it.
“I have. I worked my ass off, but the treatment I got in return was pretty shitty.”
“I see.”
“I’m tired of being cursed at by worthless nobodies who have no abilities of their own.”
I poured out my intense emotions.
Hoping my fabricated sincerity would strike a chord with them.
“So I’m going to flip everything on its head. Then they’ll understand. Just how precious and valuable the peace they enjoyed was.”
Ah.
I got a little choked up as I spoke.
Perhaps these words weren’t a complete lie.
There was a time when I truly thought that way.
Of course, it was only for a brief moment.
“But let’s get one thing straight before we move on.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“I don’t want to work under you. I just want to join hands with you.”
I drew a clear line.
So they wouldn’t see me as just another useful card to play.
“You mean you want to be our equal.”
“Or you could just hand over the leader position to me.”
When I took it a step further, the man laughed.
“Haha, unfortunately, I don’t think that will be possible.”
His tone was utterly cold, contrary to his smiling face.
Was that his way of telling me to watch myself, that I was crossing a line?
After issuing his warning, he continued.
“From our perspective, we have no choice but to welcome you, Mr. Do-jin. We’d be getting rid of a very annoying obstacle and gaining a powerful ally at the same time. However, there is one problem.”
“Spit it out.”
Honestly, even without hearing it, I knew what was coming.
“The question is, how much can we trust you?”
In short, it was a matter of trust.
Something essential for working together, yet always difficult because it’s so hard to prove.
This was the first and highest hurdle I had to overcome to be accepted into the organization.
But the process of proving myself wasn’t something I needed to worry about.
Those who wanted to accept me, to trust me, would have already prepared it.
So I asked bluntly.
“Stop beating around the bush and tell me. What do I have to do?”
“I like how straightforward you are. Then I’ll get right to it.”
A smile mixed with various emotions appeared on his face as he continued.
“We… no, we would like you to acquire an item necessary for our great undertaking.”
“An item?”
An item.
What could it be?
“Have you ever heard of something called the Black Stone?”
“The Black… Stone?”
I frowned unconsciously.
The Black Stone… that’s the thing.
“Are you talking about the one that appeared for a moment during the first generation and then vanished?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The Black Stone.
The true identity of this item, which appeared only once when the first-generation Hunters were active, was none other than a mana stone.
It was a truly mysterious object, the size of an adult’s fist, containing an amount of mana equivalent to at least several hundred S-rank mana stones.
And even that estimate of several hundred S-rank mana stones was just a guess from back then.
That was the limit of what the measuring devices made with the technology of that era could handle.
That’s why, for a time, the Black Stone even gave rise to urban legends among Hunters.
What was it again?
“I remember it as a mana stone with a creepy story, something like if you made a bomb with the Black Stone, you could wipe out an entire continent.”
It probably wasn’t that powerful, but it was a way of saying how incredible it was.
I mean, wiping out a continent with a single fist-sized mana stone? That’s just ridiculous.
“You know your stuff. I thought most of the current generation of Hunters wouldn't know about the Black Stone.”
“Well… I just happened to pick it up somewhere.”
It wasn’t a lie.
I’d heard about it from a first-generation Hunter old-timer I used to work with.
How amazing the Black Stone was, and what kind of creepy stories surrounded it.
And…
“As far as I know, I remember it being destroyed when a problem occurred during an experiment by the US government.”
The owner of the Black Stone had been the US government.
To be precise, it was an S-rank Hunter belonging to the US, but I remember them selling it for an enormous sum.
I don’t know the exact amount since it was never disclosed, but rumor had it that it was enough for not just three, but thirty generations to live in luxury for their entire lives. Only the person who received the money would know for sure.
The man nodded at my words.
“That’s right. That’s what’s publicly known.”
“…‘Publicly known’ implies the reality is different?”
What is this?
Is there some hidden story about the Black Stone that I don’t know?
“Yes. In truth, the Black Stone was stolen by an assailant who attacked the laboratory. To hide this, the US government disguised it with the convenient excuse of a failed experiment. And one more thing.”
He continued, smiling as if he was enjoying this.
“The story you heard as a creepy tale was not an exaggeration in the slightest.”
“…What?”
“The Black Stone can really wipe a continent off the map.”
“……!”
“Of course… that’s only if you can properly draw out the power it holds.”
A dizzying shock tore through my mind.
The creepy story… wasn’t just a story.
And for him to suddenly bring up the Black Stone to me meant one thing.
“Don’t tell me you want me to find the Black Stone that was stolen decades ago?”
“That’s right.”
The man nodded with a bright smile.
Ah, what should I do?
At this point, wouldn’t punching him in the face count as self-defense?
As I scrunched up my face, he spoke again.
“Ah, of course, we’ve already located the Black Stone. All you have to do, Mr. Do-jin, is go to the place we tell you and retrieve the Black Stone stored there.”
So, what do you think?
“That should be doable, don’t you think?”
“……”
Doable, my ass.
Then and now, the United States is the strongest country in the world.
To have snuck into one of their labs, stolen the Black Stone, and remained uncaught to this day, the culprit must be a pretty big deal. And he wants me to snatch the Black Stone from a big shot like that?
This just sounds like a roundabout way of telling me to stop screwing around and get lost.
“I have a lot I want to say… but let’s hear you out first.”
At this point, I was getting curious.
Right.
I can curse him out later. For now, let’s just listen.
Let’s hear just who this big shot is who stole the Black Stone from the US government and got away with it.
The man answered with a beaming smile.
“The Saintess.”
“……?”
Huh.
“To be precise, the Former Saintess is the one who stole the Black Stone. And it is currently stored in a secret chamber hidden deep beneath Vatican City.”
“……”
As I fell silent for a moment to think, he started blabbering on his own.
“I know, I know. It’s a very dangerous mission. The moment you’re caught, you’ll become the public enemy of every Orthodox Church believer in the world, and it’ll be hard to set foot on this land ever again. But we will accept you either way, Mr. Do-jin. Even if you’re a sinner branded by the Vatican Orthodox Church, we will never abandon you. So trust us and…”
Okay.
I’m done calculating.
“Sure, I’ll give it a shot.”
“…The meaning is in the attempt itself—huh, yes? What did you just say…?”
I answered him again as he asked back in a tone of disbelief.
“That Black Stone. I’ll go get it.”
I thought it over three times in a row, and it seems doable.
When I answered in a confident tone, he asked again, his mouth agape in a daze.
“…Why?”
“?”
Is this bastard crazy?