Chapter 60
Chapter 60
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Traitor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The sticky heat of Singapore's night clung to the skin.
The 5-star hotel housing the temporary headquarters of the Asian Subjugation Force.
The top-floor conference room was permeated with a chilling cold in stark contrast to the tropical night outside the window.
This space, provided under the Singapore government's full promise of cooperation, was nothing less than the heart of the strategy that would decide Asia's fate.
Dozens of hologram screens covered the walls, flickering chaotically with mana concentration levels across Asia and lists of hunters dispatched from each country.
Aileen didn't spare a single glance for the splendid night view unfolding beyond the window.
Her eyes were fixed solely on the screen displaying the personnel roster as she irritably downed her wine.
Yoo Jihyun, seated beside her, was in much the same state.
The tips of her fingers flipping through the tablet PC betrayed an unmistakable mix of anxiety and anger.
"...Yoo Jihyun, have you seen this list? It's truly a spectacle."
Aileen's low, subdued voice shattered the heavy silence filling the room.
Yoo Jihyun nodded in lieu of a reply.
Her finger had paused over the hunter rosters from Japan, China, and the Southeast Asian Union.
"I'm looking at it. It's so ridiculous I can't even force a hollow laugh. Japan pulled their promised S-rank Sato and sent a bottom-tier B-rank team instead. China flat-out cut their support forces, claiming they need to reclaim their own territory first. This is them openly backing out."
She had anticipated something like this to some degree, but not this brazenly overt.
"In the end, it's just them squabbling over their own rice bowls. Fools. A massive wave is crashing in, and they're fussing over puddles in their front yards."
A cold sneer curled at the corners of Aileen's lips.
For this subjugation operation, she had poured astronomical sums of money in the name of the Benedict family and orchestrated a flawless victory in the public opinion war.
Yet the moment real combat began, those self-proclaimed heroes of humanity had slunk away as if by prior agreement.
The fervor they displayed across SNS—posts preaching love for humanity, brimming with eagerness to rush to the front—had vanished without a trace.
"In the end, the only ones we can count on are you and me. Just the two of us."
"Heh, nothing new there. Wasn't it the same back then?"
Yoo Jihyun let out a wry chuckle.
Aileen set her empty wine glass down as she spoke.
"The problem is we can't cover every front ourselves. While we're pushing the main gate, there's no mid-line to hold back the mobs spilling from the sub-gates. One breach anywhere, and the main force is at risk."
If that happened, the media hyenas would swarm like they were lying in wait.
It was patently obvious they'd scream that Aileen's strategic oversight had driven innocent Awakeners to their deaths.
The two pored over the map in review for a long while, heaving deep sighs.
If only there were one more—just one ace capable of dominating a battlefield on the level of Aileen or Yoo Jihyun.
They would have no need for such agonizing deliberations.
In the end, they had no choice but to settle for the next-best option.
"...We'll have to ask Woojin oppa to handle as many enhancements as possible."
Aileen's sharp gaze softened for a fleeting instant at Yoo Jihyun's murmur.
"We must tread carefully. The watchfulness game is already this cutthroat—if Woojin oppa's enhancement ability leaks publicly, the entire world won't leave him be. Minimal force enhancement. That's it, nothing more."
"Right... Those enhanced items flooding the market unchecked would unleash chaos beyond control."
Aileen let out a soft burst of laughter at that.
"Heh, the man we love is truly something else, isn't he? He could upend the global economy and power structures just by sitting on his hands."
Yoo Jihyun's cheeks flushed pink at the word 'love'.
But she made no effort to deny it.
"Hmph, well... Y-yeah, that's true. I miss him... Woojin oppa."
It hadn't even been that long since they'd left, yet she ached for those simple breakfasts shared with him.
That warm embrace.
"Same here. Most of the critical matters are wrapped up, so there's no real need for us to linger... Huh?"
It was then.
*Ring—*
Aileen's personal terminal let out a sharp tone unlike its usual notifications.
A security alert that could only be triggered by direct informants or her Benedict family secretarial staff.
"Who could it be?"
Aileen's eyes narrowed.
The screen blazed with Catherine's name prefixed by 'Urgent Report' in bold letters.
She initially assumed it was some political flare-up in America or Europe.
But the instant she checked the attached photo...
*Crash—!*
The priceless wine glass in Aileen's hand shattered wretchedly against the hotel floor.
Yoo Jihyun shot to her feet in shock.
"...W-what?! What's going on?!"
It was the first time she'd seen Aileen lose her composure to this degree.
America?
Or the European Union?
Aileen offered no answer to Yoo Jihyun's frantic questions.
Her pupils quivered violently as they licked over every inch of the photo on the screen.
In the photo, Kim Woojin wrapped his arm around a young woman's shoulder, beaming with the purest happiness imaginable.
The woman blushed demurely, the picture of a flawless date scene.
Aileen thrust the trembling terminal toward Yoo Jihyun.
"...You take a look. I need confirmation if this is overwork-induced hallucination."
"What in the world could have... Uh...?"
Yoo Jihyun's every thought circuit ground to a halt.
And precisely three seconds later,
Her voice emerged low and icily trembling.
"What... What the hell is this? Woojin oppa... Why... with that bitch?"
The word that escaped her lips was no longer 'that girl' but 'that bitch.'
Aileen's mind was already airing a full 16-episode revenge melodrama to its grand finale, while Yoo Jihyun fired up her delusion engine at full throttle.
'She thought of me... as just a maid who cooks? Swapped me out the second I was gone? Only I... only I was sincere?!'
Inside Yoo Jihyun's head, a real-time live feed of Jo Ayoung and Woojin's conversation played out.
– Pfft, Jihyun? She's just the maid. All she knows is cooking—no fun at all. Has to be cute like our Ayoung.
– Hehe, knew you'd say that. If it's just free meals, I get it. Oppa belongs to me anyway.
Of course, none of it had actually happened, but to a hunter blinded by jealousy, the boundary between fantasy and reality held no meaning.
'Then that... kiss? The heartbeat when he held me—all of it lies?'
In truth, she had been the aggressor, but such trifling details mattered not a whit to Yoo Jihyun now.
Fine electric sparks crackled with sharp pops, spraying outward around her.
*Crack—!*
The marble floor beneath Yoo Jihyun spiderwebbed with cracks and shattered.
Memories flashed by in a montage: slipping in and out of Woojin's home to clean, preparing meals with utmost care, feeling like she'd conquered the world at the sight of him savoring her food.
"These...?"
A steely glint of murderous intent filled Jihyun's eyes.
"We have to go back. Right now."
Aileen, who had been staring vacantly into space, snapped back at Yoo Jihyun's chilled voice.
"You're right. I let myself look foolish for a moment there."
The two women, who would normally tear into each other over Woojin, forged their first perfect alliance in life.
Aileen dialed immediately.
"It's me. Get a plane ready right now. Airline schedules? Spare me and scramble the private jet. Yes, it's urgent."
She hung up and murmured lowly.
"How dare... pull this stunt while I'm gone? After kissing me, hugging me...?"
Yoo Jihyun froze mid-motion and turned to Aileen.
"...Hold on."
"What?"
"One word I don't know? What's this 'hug'?"
Oh no.
Aileen had forgotten that Yoo Jihyun was unaware she'd had Woojin sign what amounted to a slave contract, receiving a '30-second hug' as recompense.
"I-is that the priority right now! A common enemy has surfaced! We deal with her first!"
Yoo Jihyun wore a dubious expression but nodded provisionally.
Otherwise, she and Aileen alike would end up as dogs that lost the chicken in the chase.
"Fine... We'll hash that out later. Anyway..."
Recalling the message she'd glimpsed, Yoo Jihyun asked.
"Catherine the secretary messaged asking for orders on handling it. What'd you tell her?"
Aileen replied with a frosty smile.
"I told her to kill the woman."
"...?!"
Yoo Jihyun's face twisted in disbelief.
"Are you insane?! Jo Ayoung's on Director Jeong's line! How do you plan to handle the backlash?!"
Yoo Jihyun and Aileen were still unaware that Jo Ayoung had quit her civil servant post.
As Yoo Jihyun recoiled in horror, Aileen flashed a venomous grin and backpedaled.
"Joking. You were too worked up—I was just loosening the tension."
"R-right? You scared me."
As Yoo Jihyun clutched her chest in relief, Aileen's eyes sank into deep shadow.
"Not to kill, but to capture. Kim Woojin and that woman. Tie them to chairs so tight they can't twitch..."
Yoo Jihyun mulled it over briefly, then nodded with a smile even frostier.
"Hehe, smart move."
The two women's eyes gleamed razor-sharp, mirroring the Singapore skyline.
Woojin, blissfully ignorant of the colossal storm barreling toward him, was ripping into chicken in Ayoung's living room alongside Sangjin and Ayoung.
"You crazy about chicken too?"
At Woojin's question, Ayoung, gnawing on a drumstick, blushed and averted her gaze shyly.
"Well... My parents always got chicken whenever something good happened. It's the most special food to me."
Memories cling to food.
To Ayoung, chicken embodied those warm times with her parents.
Which was why her siblings Gayoung and JinYoung had 'good thing = chicken' etched deep into their psyches.
Woojin chuckled at the sight.
"I see. Eat up then. Here—take my drumstick too. I'm not big on drumsticks."
Woojin casually plopped his drumstick into Ayoung's bowl, but her eyes went wide as saucers in shock.
'No way... For real? Yielding a drumstick? D-drumsticks are only for family... right?'
It was a bombshell for Ayoung.
With three siblings, she always surrendered the two drumsticks to her younger ones, never tasting one herself.
The quiet resentment she'd borne as the eldest melted away under Woojin's casual gesture.
'H-he definitely likes me for real!'
Today alone: 'our cute Ayoung', 'pretty Ayoung', 'lovely Ayoung', capped with the knockout 'my woman'.
And now yielding a drumstick to boot?
This was tantamount to declaring her family.
How do strangers become family?
As far as Ayoung knew, there was just one way.
"Stuff yourself. Gotta be ready to grind hard starting tomorrow. Sangjin, you take your Cheongsimhwan?"
"Already did. Doubled up just in case."
"Good man. Pop one at the first sign of trouble! It's good for you too."
Woojin flashed a satisfied grin.
Gayoung and Jinyoung, stuffed to the gills on chicken, were gleefully playing with Sangjin's skeleton soldier 'Takky' in the living room corner.
"Kyahaha! This guy's a riot! Oppa, his name's really Takky?"
"Tak, tak tak!"
Watching Takky display unexpected childcare prowess, Woojin mused.
'Competent little guy... Skeletons from necromancers aren't supposed to be like this...'
Seemed crossing into reality had tweaked something.
His own enhancement ability was proof enough.
'Scored big from this gate. Wonder when Aileen and Jihyun will swing by. Gotta invite them along next time.'
As Woojin drifted into peaceful reverie of the two women...
*Ring—*
The 1204 door lock disengaged with a rough clunk, and Catherine and Kim Cheolsu burst through.
Woojin and Sangjin rose to greet them warmly.
"Oh? Cheolsu hyung? Feeling better now?"
Kim Cheolsu scratched the back of his head, unable to meet their eyes, mumbling awkwardly.
"Ah... Well, thanks to you, President, I'm okay, but... things got kinda weird."
Woojin cocked his head.
"So what's the deal? How'd you get the passcode...?"
In that instant, Catherine surged forward, declaring in a voice like ice.
"Traitor President Kim Woojin! By order of the Benedict family, your person is hereby restrained effective immediately! Cooperate meekly, and there'll be no need for embarrassment!"
"...Pardon? What? Traitor?"
Catherine's voice rang out shrill and unyielding.
"That's right! You filthy traitor!"