Chapter 597: Encounter (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 597: Encounter (4)
The young man knew.
He knew all too well how meticulous Han Ju-hee, an associate of his organization, could be.
She never spoke carelessly, never acted without certainty, and never held onto baseless convictions.
That was why it had taken so long to join hands with her, but in the end, it had been a great boon to the organization.
During every operation, her prudence would point out details they had missed.
That was why this was so unexpected.
-“I will vouch for his identity.”
When she had offered to vouch for none other than Kim Do-jin, who was practically an enemy of the organization.
He even felt a faint pang of jealousy.
Wasn’t this the same woman who, despite working with them, always drew a line and never let anyone get too close?
Pushing aside the faint emotion, his rational mind quickly sensed something was amiss.
‘Something must have happened.’
Something he didn't know about had occurred between the two of them, and that must have been the catalyst.
If so, what was it?
‘I’ll never find out.’
The fact that she wasn't speaking of it herself meant she intended to keep the matter buried.
If that was the case, there was no way for them to find out.
The only other option was to ask Kim Do-jin directly, but…
‘He’s just as difficult to deal with.’
Calling their situation a ‘mess’ had clearly been a mistake.
But watching him choose to power through instead of apologizing afterward, he truly understood.
He understood how Kim Do-jin had been able to torment the organization for so long.
Therefore, he had to completely disregard whatever incident or story had transpired between them.
He focused his thoughts solely on the present situation.
‘Can I trust him?’
The answer was already decided.
‘For now… I suppose I can.’
His attitude was brazen from start to finish, despite being in what was essentially enemy territory.
His rougher-than-expected speech, and the anger toward the world that occasionally peeked through it.
All of it felt ‘genuine’ to him.
And one more thing.
Han Ju-hee’s guarantee was reason enough to place a certain amount of trust in him.
However.
‘Hmm… this makes me want to be a little petty.’
A bit of emotion stirred within him.
The atmosphere among his colleagues was already sour.
At a time like this, no one would notice.
No one would notice that he was being petty.
Besides, his proposal wasn't born purely of spite.
Wasn't it rational?
If he were caught trying to take the Black Stone, he would be branded a public enemy of the Vatican Orthodox Church.
In other words, he would no longer be able to live in the light.
Then, the only place he could turn to for shelter would be them.
Conversely, what if he succeeded?
‘That would be a good thing in its own right.’
It would mean gaining a powerful weapon like the Black Stone as one of their cards.
But there was one precondition.
This was all only possible if Kim Do-jin accepted his proposal.
‘It won’t be easy.’
This was not an offer one could accept out of mere bravado or spirit.
One wrong move, and his entire life could go up in smoke.
In the end, this was just a means to an end.
A way to knock down the spirit of an overwhelmingly formidable opponent, even if just a little.
It was truly nothing more than a simple ploy.
“Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”
“…The point is in the attempt itself—huh? Yes? What did you just…?”
He thought he had misheard.
So he asked again.
“That Black Stone. I’ll go get it.”
“……”
No.
“…Why?”
Shit.
The thought that should have stayed in his head slipped out of his mouth.
Thanks to that, the other man’s gaze turned strange.
It felt like he was being looked at as if to say, ‘What is this crazy bastard on about?’
He quickly tried to salvage the situation.
“What I mean is… were you really going to accept? If you want, I can pretend I didn't hear you and we can just move on.”
“No, it’s fine.”
The man grinned, his eyes fixed on him.
With a smile brimming with confidence, a smile that was somehow irritating, he answered.
“I’m the type to keep my word.”
“…Haha.”
One thing was certain.
They would either lose everything and be utterly destroyed, or they would grasp everything and reign supreme.
The moment they joined hands with that man, there would be no middle ground in their future.
A chilling energy seeped from the unpredictable future, and he smiled, secretly trembling with a fine tremor that no one else could see.
* * *
As the conversation was nearing its end, the man spoke.
“Once the operation is over, as a gesture of welcoming you, Do-jin, as a true colleague, we will tell you our names and a secret that no one else knows.”
A secret, huh?
It was all too predictable.
‘He’s probably going to confess, We are actually the Apostles of the Seven Deadly Sins.’
I’d already figured that much out through that shadow fellow and Jincheon.
That Hexagram’s executives were composed of the Apostles of the Seven Deadly Sins or something of the sort.
But for now, I decided to play along.
I had a rough idea of who was the Apostle of which god, but there were still a few I was unsure about.
“Let’s end our conversation here. I hope we can meet face-to-face next time.”
“Sure, whatever.”
I might have sounded indifferent, but I was actually looking forward to it.
The moment I would finally meet them in person.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated, as they say.
I felt like I could only gauge the extent of their power by meeting them face-to-face.
One by one, the screens turned off.
“See you next time, cutie♥”
Starting with the woman with late-stage princess syndrome.
“Heh heh, you moron. To think you’d crawl into your own grave. It was a pleasure meeting you!”
“I pray for your safety.”
“W-wanna go get something to eat…”
“……”
The Muscle Pig, Jincheon, the Glutton, and the Lazybones vanished from their screens in turn.
Finally, after Blondie disappeared without a word…
“…Are you crazy?”
Han Ju-hee, who had been waiting silently for the conversation to end, glared at me and let loose a torrent of nagging.
“Infiltrating the Vatican? Why on earth would you agree to such a ridiculous plan—!”
“They said it was for trust.”
“That was clearly just a ploy to break your spirit. You must have known that.”
“Ahem.”
Well, I wasn't completely oblivious.
Who would accept a mission that even Tom Cruise in the movies would shake his head at and refuse?
Other than me, that is.
“Don’t worry too much. I have a plan.”
“What kind of plan? Surely you’re not relying on your meager friendship with the Saintess, are you?”
“Uh, um.”
How did she know?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
After finishing the pointless argument with Han Ju-hee, I immediately returned to the guild hideout and cleaned out my ears.
“Jeez, she nags so much. Is she my wife or something?”
Just a little more patience.
They say a gentleman can wait ten years for his revenge.
A fleeting lecture was nothing in the grand scheme of achieving perfect vengeance.
After giving my ears, which had suffered through the nagging, a brief rest, I immediately contacted the Saintess.
-“Yes, Do-jin.”
The Saintess accepted the call as if she had been waiting.
Her veiled face appeared on the small screen.
“I’m glad I caught you.”
-“I was just on a break. You have good timing.”
Hehe.
She let out a small laugh, as if pleased.
-“But what brings you to call? You, who never contacts me unless I call first.”
Her words had a bit of a sting to them.
I laughed awkwardly and explained why I had called.
That I was putting on an act to infiltrate Hexagram.
And about the item they had demanded.
“As proof of my trustworthiness, they’ve demanded I retrieve the Black Stone, hidden in a secret vault beneath the Vatican.”
-“……!”
I could feel it.
The utterly shocked expression she must be wearing behind her veil.
She asked.
-“How on earth did they…?”
With that, one thing became certain.
The Black Stone, which the US government had announced was destroyed, was sleeping soundly in the Vatican.
I relayed what I had heard to her exactly as it was.
“They said the former Saintess stole it from the US government.”
The moment the words left my mouth, her upper body shot forward toward the screen.
-“That’s a lie!”
The Saintess denied it, her voice filled with anger.
This was a first.
The first time she had ever raised her voice like that.
My eyes widened slightly in surprise, and she hastily pulled back.
-“I-I’m sorry. I lost my composure for a moment at the slander against the former Saintess.”
“…It’s alright.”
I understood.
To her, the former Saintess must have been a teacher or a parent.
If someone insulted a person like that to me, I would have been furious enough to scream my head off, too.
-“But it’s true. The former Saintess did not steal the Black Stone.”
“Then please explain. How did the Black Stone end up in the Vatican’s possession?”
After a moment’s hesitation, she finally spoke.
-“…We made a deal with the US government.”
“A deal?”
-“Yes. The Black Stone was an incredibly dangerous object. Dangerous enough that a failed experiment could have easily wiped out half of the United States.”
“……”
On the assessment of the Black Stone, at least, the Saintess and Blondie were in agreement.
A special mana stone with enough destructive power to easily wipe out a country—no, far more than that.
-“The former Saintess, realizing this early on, held a secret meeting with the US president at the time. After a long discussion, they struck a deal.”
“The terms of the deal were…”
-“…In exchange for the Black Stone, the Orthodox Church would give a portion of its donations to the US government for the next hundred years.”
“Ha.”
It was a truly unbelievable deal.
The amount of donations the Vatican Orthodox Church collected each year was astronomical.
To give away a portion of that, and for a hundred years at that.
I thought it was absurd, but I quickly understood.
For an object destructive enough to wipe out a continent, it seemed plausible.
-“Ever since then, we have hidden the Black Stone in a secret chamber in the Vatican, its location passed down only by word of mouth to each new Saintess. But how on earth did they…!”
I could hear the confusion in her voice.
Of course she would be confused.
An enemy organization knew about an object in a secret chamber whose existence was only passed down orally to the Saintess.
Where could the information have leaked from?
“Could the former Saintess have…”
She shook her head with difficulty.
-“She passed away. A long time ago.”
Then the probability of the information leaking from her was extremely low.
“I’m just asking, just in case…”
-“Of course, I haven’t told anyone either.”
I see.
Her tone sounded a bit sulky.
I quickly tried to soothe her.
“I-I was just asking to be sure, so please don’t be too upset.”
-“…I know.”
No.
Judging by her tone, it seemed like she didn’t know at all.
Just as I was wondering how to placate her, she made a declaration.
-“In any case… even for you, Do-jin, I cannot give you the Black Stone. That… is something that must never, ever see the light of day.”
“……”
We were at a dead end from the very beginning.