Chapter 428
Chapter 428
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 429
Chapter Title: The Explosion in the 3rd District
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"I'm reporting live from the scene in Seoul's 3rd District! Following the terror threat from the King of Demons, Kim Sun-woo, all citizens in the 3rd District have evacuated, and the Association's bomb disposal squad is investigating the buildings."
January 2nd, Seoul 3rd District.
A swarm of reporters had gathered in front of the building, delivering the news straight to their cameras.
Ever since Kim Sun-woo's terror threat had thrown the entire world into chaos on New Year's Day, journalists from every country had flocked here.
It wasn't just reporters who had shown up.
Various citizen groups were protesting, voicing their dissatisfaction with the Association's handling of the situation.
"Hey? It's the Special Task Force!"
At that moment, ten Special Task Force agents appeared.
The reporters recognized them instantly and, as if on cue, swung their cameras around simultaneously.
"Wizard Kim Deok-hyun! Please explain the situation!"
"Have you found any explosives?"
Kim Deok-hyun narrowed his eyes amid the barrage of questions from the reporters.
"...What the hell is this? They all just here to gawk?"
Kim Deok-hyun asked the agent next to him. The agent scratched his head.
"Ah, well."
"Forget it. Clear out all those reporters. Make sure no one gets in—lock it down tight."
"Yes, sir!"
The agents shouted in unison and charged toward the reporters.
—Come on, folks, please leave. It's dangerous here.
—Wha—? W-Wait a sec! Just one minute for an interview!
Kim Deok-hyun watched the scene for a moment, let out a small sigh, and looked up at the building in front of him.
"...What a way to kick off the new year."
After Kim Sun-woo's terror declaration, Seoul's 3rd District had been sealed off as a no-entry zone, with all citizens evacuated.
The current time was 12:55 p.m.
Kim Sun-woo had announced 1:00 p.m., so only five minutes remained.
"Team leader!"
Just then, a bomb disposal squad member rushed over with a tense expression.
"Results in?"
"Yes. We investigated every building in the 3rd District, but there were no traces of explosives."
"Not a single one?"
"Yes. We even checked accounting for the unique properties of mystic bombs, but still, no special traces."
Kim Deok-hyun felt a twinge of doubt.
Only five minutes left until the deadline, and nothing found?
Jeong Hyun-su, who had overheard, stroked his chin and turned to Kim Deok-hyun.
"Looks like Kim Sun-woo was just trying to scare us? Logically, we've torn the whole 3rd District apart, and nothing turning up is weird."
"...No. Too early to call it."
The Kim Sun-woo he knew wasn't this simplistic.
He wasn't one for baseless actions, and he operated intelligently, out of sight.
If the explosives were sloppy enough to be found easily, Kim Sun-woo wouldn't have announced the terror in the first place, given his personality.
So the conclusion was one of two things.
Either he backed off under the Association's watch, or they still hadn't found the explosives...
Kim Deok-hyun bit his lip and spoke to the bomb disposal agent.
"Keep searching to the end. There's a chance we missed them."
"Yes, sir!"
"Wait!"
He called back the agent who was about to dash off.
"...One minute left, then everyone stops. Just in case something goes wrong."
"Yes, understood."
As the agent disappeared, Kim Deok-hyun anxiously scanned the surroundings.
He couldn't shake the feeling that Kim Sun-woo might be watching him from somewhere nearby.
At that moment, an alarm blared from his communication magic tool.
—Kim Deok-hyun, status on 3rd District?
The voice belonged to the Flame Lord.
Having lost his child to a demon, he was now personally overseeing the scene.
"All citizens have evacuated safely. But no explosives found yet."
—...Still nothing? Tsk. Hand off the rest to the others and track down Kim Sun-woo's trail. That guy's definitely somewhere on site.
"...Understood."
With no choice, Kim Deok-hyun nodded at his superior's order.
As he pondered where to start investigating.
"One minute left!"
An agent's voice rang out loudly. Kim Deok-hyun checked his wristwatch.
12:59 p.m.
Only one minute until the announced time.
"Come on, everyone—stop what you're doing and gather up!"
All the agents halted their tasks and assembled in one spot.
"Whew. We worked through the night."
"...Yeah. But it won't really blow, right?"
"Psh. We searched everywhere and found zilch. It's fine."
"...Still feels uneasy, though."
Ignoring the chatter, Kim Deok-hyun fixed his gaze on his watch.
And time ticked by.
"Ten seconds left!"
The noisy 3rd District fell deathly silent in an instant amid the agents' voices.
"Five seconds!"
4, 3, 2, 1.
...
A heavy silence descended for a moment.
Contrary to their fears, nothing happened in Seoul.
Tension slowly drained from the agents' faces.
"What? As expected, nothing hap—"
Kwaaaaaang—
A deafening roar like tearing eardrums shook the building in front of them.
Debris rained down from the structure, and the entire building began to collapse.
"Wh-What?!"
"S-Senior! Where did that bomb just go off?"
Jeong Hyun-su asked Kim Deok-hyun, eyes wide.
Staring at the building, Kim Deok-hyun muttered in response.
"...Under the building's foundation."
Lee Seo-jun, who was on site for the Special Task Force's mission, bit his lip as he watched the collapsing building.
He had prayed it wouldn't happen, but his worst fears had come true.
Just as announced to the Association, Kim Sun-woo had blown up three buildings in Seoul's 3rd District—a full-on provocation.
"Kim Sun-woo... You really..."
Lee Seo-jun clenched his fist.
The reason behind Kim Sun-woo's actions.
He, and all his friends, knew the intent.
It was because there were still no countermeasures against the "Cruas descent" that Kim Sun-woo had been warning about.
...But.
This was far too reckless a move.
Even without showing his face and provoking the Association.
Even without forcing "fear" on the citizens.
Surely there had been other ways.
With this, Kim Sun-woo had branded himself as the "King of Demons" in everyone's minds and made the Association his perfect enemy.
Now, even if the misunderstanding that he wasn't a demon was cleared, he had no place to return to.
Feeling a deep sense of despair, Lee Seo-jun pulled the [Compass of Connections] from his pocket.
As the prophecy he had heard foretold, chaos was descending on the world.
Which meant the day when Kim Sun-woo, hiding somewhere, would reveal himself was approaching.
Just then, the compass needle, which had been still, began to move in response to Lee Seo-jun's emotions.
East.
Lee Seo-jun followed it, turning his gaze. A cluster of towering buildings.
...Kim Sun-woo is somewhere in there.
［As announced by the King of Demons, Kim Sun-woo, at 1:00 p.m., three buildings in Seoul's 3rd District were bombed and collapsed. Thanks to the Association's swift response, citizens evacuated quickly with no property damage or casualties, but citizens in the 4th District, named as the next terror site, are trembling in fear.］
［The Association revealed that the mystic bombs used in this terror were hidden not inside the buildings but in the ground beneath, and they plan to thoroughly investigate the 4th District based on this intel. Some mystic experts say detecting "mystic energy" is difficult, making it impossible to find the bombs in the 4th District.］
[Next news. Hanseong Group has announced they will provide living spaces for citizens planning evacuations from Seoul.]
[This decision came on the order of Hanseong Group Division Chief Han Se-yeon, who stated they will continue to do their utmost for the citizens. They also expressed support for the Cruas descent theory advocated by 'Kim Sun-woo,' revealed as the King of Demons, and will provide mystic energy for great beast suppression to the Association.]
Inside Ha-ryeong's building.
I stared at the holographic news on the TV, feeling a momentary bafflement.
"...What the hell."
It was reporting that Han Se-yeon was supporting citizens and contributing to the Cruas subjugation.
Her unexpected actions left me puzzled for a second.
"...Come to think of it, she probably knows by now."
That Kim Sun-woo and Kim Jin-woo were the same person.
The news had been buzzing about the two being the same, and Kim Jin-woo had vanished...
"...Is that why she's acting like this?"
It made sense.
I'd acted like I knew a ton of info in front of her, so she might believe in the Cruas descent too.
"I wonder if she's doing okay..."
Various thoughts crossed my mind.
When it came out that Kim Jin-woo and Kim Sun-woo were the same, what emotions had she felt?
Looking back, there were a few reasons she might come to hate me.
Given the hidden ties between her brother Han Se-jin and the two Kings of Demons, she might think that I, a former demon, had used her to become "king."
In the end, I'd have to face the consequences of all I'd built.
By the way, Elin. Where's she been up to?
As those thoughts swirled, I glanced back at the TV screen, and my eyes caught a red-haired woman in sunglasses standing behind Han Se-yeon.
For some reason, she looked familiar.
I muttered blankly, staring at her.
"...Elin?"
Why the hell is she there again?
No way that's a gathering of people who feel betrayed by me, right?
Three days had passed.
Kim Sun-woo's terror, which had shocked the world from the start of the new year, continued without a single day skipped, plunging Seoul's citizens into a pit of fear.
There had been zero deaths or injuries so far, but the Association still faced global condemnation for failing to stop Kim Sun-woo's attacks.
The Association, always the world's punching bag, was innocent this time too.
The terror method, revealed after three days, involved summoning mystic bombs via summoning rituals.
Since the rituals didn't activate without mana detection, it was impossible for the Association to find them.
The only mystery remaining was how the rituals had been embedded in the ground.
Even the Association couldn't solve that one.
"...Still, I don't get it. Why do my followers keep increasing? Not that I'm complaining. Hmm."
And Kim Sun-woo, the mastermind behind it all, had been acting strangely lately.
Every single day without fail, he stared into empty space, muttering odd things to himself.
Ha-ryeong watched him curiously.
What on earth was he seeing and muttering about? Something invisible to me?
"My king. Is something the matter?"
"Hm? Nah, nothing."
His response was always the same.
Nothing at all. Don't worry about it...
It was bizarre behavior impossible to ignore, but since it was the king's order, Ha-ryeong nodded.
"More importantly, I have a report. 85% of Seoul's citizens have now evacuated."
"...Really? In just three days, that's more than expected."
"It seems largely due to the approaching random terror period you announced for day 8."
That's why the terror period had been set that way from the start.
To gradually instill fear and erode trust in the Association, which couldn't stop it.
And with Han Se-yeon's evacuation support luckily aligning, this was the result.
"My king. The day of Cruas's descent is drawing near. Shouldn't we start preparations?"
Cruas's descent was imminent.
But Kim Sun-woo paid it no mind, just sitting blankly on the sofa, staring into space.
Kim Sun-woo smirked and turned to Ha-ryeong.
"Don't worry. Preparations are pretty much done already."
"...Pardon?"
Kim Sun-woo looked away and gazed at the [Outsider's Benefit] window floating before his eyes.
[Held Points: 532,500]
[Karma Rate: 69.3]
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