Chapter 172
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: This is Just Curiosity.
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A particularly large window offering a full view of the scenery.
In front of it, she was talking on the phone with her smartphone pressed to her ear.
"......That's how it turned out."
[Is that so? It failed in the end, then.]
"Sorry it failed."
[No need for apologies. The only thing that matters is the result.]
The voice coming from the other end of the line was cold and utterly devoid of emotion.
It wasn't just because it had passed through a voice modulator; it fundamentally lacked any trace of humanity. Even so, she didn't flinch.
She simply offered a clean counterargument.
"If you want results, give me proper support. You can't expect me to produce outcomes when you dump a job on me out of nowhere with zero backup."
[We told you from the start: no support because that country has reverse gods.]
"I know."
She spoke irritably.
Then, removing her sunglasses, she continued.
"I just don't get it. Why's some two-bit violinist so damn important that you'd send me on this crapshoot?"
[There was a prophecy. That man will become the spark that threatens our organization's very existence.]
"You seriously believe one performer could pull off something that catastrophic? For real?"
[Believe it. The great star's prophecy is never wrong.]
"If it's that infallible, then why's our organization's position in this country gone straight to hell lately? Or is that just my imagination?"
[Think whatever you want. But if you ever harbor thoughts of defying the organization...]
"No plans like that."
She scoffed.
It wasn't just because she knew betrayal meant instant death.
To keep indulging her hobby—while maintaining her public image as a kind-hearted soul—she had no choice but to rely on the organization's power.
[Then move as instructed.]
"One thing: is it really fine to pull out like this? What about the mission I was running?"
[We're scrapping the Midas contact play. You ditched the pawn you were using anyway, right?]
"Pawns are a dime a dozen. Make another."
[No. It's too risky to push plans in that country now.]
Not like before.
They'd already lost plants embedded in their base and Infinity Guild—not to mention three high-ranking executives. No way they could keep running reckless ops there.
The cold voice continued in a low tone.
[More than that, our side takes priority now. Get moving.]
"Yeah, yeah. Orders are orders."
[One last thing: make sure you don't leave a trail.]
"Relax. I never made direct contact or interfered, per instructions. At most, I just nudged the pawn along."
She replied with a mocking lilt, then turned.
Grabbing the handle of the carry-on behind her, she added curtly.
"See you when I land, comrade."
[Good luck, comrade.]
Click.
After ending the call, she deactivated her anti-eavesdropping item and dragged her carry-on straight to the gate, muttering under her breath.
"I'm a top idol singer everyone in this country knows by name, and they treat me like this? Out of sheer spite, I gotta climb to high exec ASAP..."
The Liberation Brigade's hidden cadre.
The shadowy mastermind behind this whole affair.
Claire boarded the plane, grumbling all the way.
To escape this godforsaken country infested with reverse gods and carry out her new mission.
But she had no idea.
Two pairs of eyes had watched her every move—from the call to boarding the plane.
[She's gone.]
"Yeah."
[Doesn't seem like she noticed?]
"If she had, she'd have pulled that shady crap right in the middle of the airport? Even blabbing about the Liberation Brigade on an open line."
[She used an anti-eavesdropping item, so no way she thought anyone could snoop.]
Yuna Kyung pointed out coolly.
Using the item meant Claire had been as cautious as could be.
It was just that Rimon Asfelder—eavesdropping on that silent convo with nothing but a single thread, no gear or skill—was too freakish.
At her words, Rimon scoffed.
"For a crime syndicate grunt, getting tailed this easily is straight-up sloppy."
[No, that's not easy at all. You and Princess Sis figuring out she's Liberation Brigade? That's the weird part.]
"What's weird about it? Clues were everywhere."
The reason he'd found the Liberation Brigade card on Moon Cheonyeop but restored it perfectly and let the guy walk instead of finishing him right there.
To dig into Moon Cheonyeop's backers.
Tata running into a guy nursing a grudge against Rimon? Fine, coincidence. She was White Dragon Clan.
But him wedging into an incident that could spark Seven Dragon Society chaos? Pure chance?
If not...
What if Moon had a handler pulling strings?
True to form, Rimon hadn't let mere suspicion lie.
While tailing Tata, he'd tasked Li Chingwei with probing Moon's backers. And she'd delivered beyond expectations.
She'd even called in a high-level healer to patch him up.
And uncovered that Claire was the one who'd feigned comfort while slyly stoking his grudge against Rimon.
Hell, Moon getting that card in the first place was basically her doing.
If Claire—convinced she'd severed the tail clean—knew the truth, she'd be floored.
[Poor Liberation Brigade saps. If that uncle hadn't gotten on your radar, Team Leader, they wouldn't have lost their tail so quick.]
"Surveillance? All I did was plant a few bugs while he was laid up in the hospital."
[...And that's plenty? Back in PAB days, you'd get dinged for that.]
"But now I'm Black Dragon Clan's security chief."
[Who the hell gave a rabid dog a blade...?]
"Who else? Our princess."
One thing he could say for the Seven Dragon Society: when it came to crushing annoying pests, they pulled out all the stops. Rimon approved.
Yuna Kyung stuck out her tongue at his cackling grin.
Right now it was serving as a Liberation Brigade tail-grab, but those bugs were originally planted on Rimon's say-so to snag dirt on Moon.
Without this mess, god knows what leverage he'd have exploited. Moon was pitiable, really.
Of course, total self-own. Zero sympathy.
The second he'd played that Liberation Brigade card, a cell had his name on it.
So Yuna Kyung swept away any scrap of pity for Moon and shifted focus.
[Anyway, Team Leader. You cool just letting her fly off? Level 80s high-rank player—gotta be cadre at least.]
"It's a Liberation Brigade tail we finally nabbed."
Rimon sneered.
They'd botched the op hard.
Rush for results while ignoring the steps—like the White Dragon Clan.
Not even clocking a cadre getting tailed? Case closed.
Given how they lopped off tails without mercy, this was a golden shot.
"Tail her right, snag the body at minimum. Head if we're lucky."
[Like that call guy?]
"Yeah. To puppeteer a cadre player that easy? Specter-rank at least."
[Fair, but... what if you lose the tail?]
"You asking me that?"
[...Yeah, dumb question.]
Yuna shook her head at Rimon's icy smirk.
Far as she went.
Whatever disguise.
Any hole she hid in.
Once in Rimon's sights, clean escape was off the table.
No one outran a Sword Master.
Now they just had to shadow Claire quietly and wait for her Liberation Brigade linkup.
That call? She was taking direct orders from a specter at minimum.
Play it right, maybe thin out their specters further—down to nine after Yujin, Ryu Gangcheol, and Bellos bit it.
Sabotage ops or swipe secrets en route? Icing on the cake.
[Never pegged a date for sparking all this.]
"Who did?"
Rimon chuckled.
Headache city when Ainsa begged him to die saving Tata.
But zero casualties, and a Liberation Brigade tail? Win all around.
That was why.
As Yuna Kyung gazed at the departing plane, she spoke up out of nowhere.
[...Team Leader, just curiosity.]
"Shoot."
['Back then.' If I'd pulled a White Princess—betrayed but didn't wanna die, begged you to fix it—what would've happened?]
Too heavy for "just curiosity."
But Rimon didn't flinch or stall.
Answered casual as if she'd asked what if he'd had pizza for dinner.
"You'd have lived."
[My siblings?]
"Eighty percent shot at saving 'em."
[...Not a sure thing.]
"I'm a Sword Master, not a god."
A god, touching the world's laws, could tweak providence for 100% odds.
But he was a bladesman.
Could slay gods, sever laws—but not rebuild the world like a toy.
That's why even Rimon drew a hard line: no negotiating hostages.
One slip, and they'd spam the ploy endlessly, racking up needless victims. Experience taught him that.
Likewise, knowing Rimon had picked the path maximizing saves, Yuna nodded evenly.
[Eh, good enough.]
"Brushing it off easy."
[You asked me back then: my life or my siblings—which mattered more?]
"Siblings safe, so you're good?"
[Didn't get perfect, but kept what counted.]
Say her life mattered more? Maybe she'd live, kids saved too.
But unlike now, one or two might've died or gotten hurt.
Or post-suicide, useless kids culled—worst case.
Dodging that? Plenty to be content with.
[Plus, died and got reborn as this cute bluebird.]
How else to snag an experience like this?
Rimon let out a wry chuckle at her grinning banter.
...Of course, had he known Li Chingwei and Ainsa's convo at that very moment, his smile would've melted away.