Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: The Price of Deceit
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The Guseong Gate Exchange in New York.
Two men sat facing each other in the VIP reception room.
Smith, Director of the American Hunter Management Bureau.
And Kang Il-seop, Commander of Mad Castle.
They regarded each other with grim expressions. Though they exchanged simple greetings, a frigid chill hung in the air between them.
Kang Il-seop was the first to get to the point.
“I went out of my way for you, and this is how you repay me? By stabbing me in the back?”
The courtesy he had maintained until now was gone. Smith was slightly taken aback but didn't let it show.
“Now then, shall we hear the traitor's excuse?”
At the deliberately harsh choice of words, a wrinkle creased Smith’s forehead.
“Shouldn't you first tell me what this is about?”
“Mana guns. Did you really think we wouldn't find out?”
Smith inwardly thought, *The time has come.*
“We simply determined it wasn't important enough to include in the analysis report.”
“That's for us to judge. You promised to share all the data.”
They had received the research materials in addition to the report, but as expected, there was no mention of mana stone weaponry.
It was clear the information had been intentionally omitted.
“Do you really think you've become heroes just because you were in the spotlight for a moment?”
“Our topic right now is about traitors. You're a traitor who broke a promise, and I'm here to hear your excuse before I deliver retribution. You want to talk about heroes? Then let me make one thing clear. Whether we're heroes or not is a matter of opinion, but one thing is certain: a man who deceives his comrades can never be a hero.”
Smith wanted to say something, but he couldn't.
*Dammit.*
Just two days ago, he had said the exact same thing.
—If they find out, the relationship we’ve barely managed to build could be jeopardized. We must not omit any data.
He had argued against it to the very end, but the White House had been unyielding.
—It has the potential to become a next-generation weapon. This data must never be released.
The US government made no compromises when it came to weapons, and Smith had been forced to suppress his conscience and come here today.
Even so, as the representative of the US government, Smith could neither apologize nor admit to the omission.
“We will recognize the transfer gate built in New York.”
“Are you trying to negotiate?”
“I'm suggesting we reach a rational agreement for the sake of the future.”
“Bullshit is still bullshit, no matter how you dress it up.”
Smith tried to change the atmosphere somehow, but Kang Il-seop was determined to make their position clear on this occasion.
“I've heard the American Hunter Management Bureau's position loud and clear. Now, we'll show you our position through our actions.”
Kang Il-seop stood up, leaving no room for negotiation.
“Aren't you being too hasty? There should be much for you to gain from this opportunity.”
“And you expect me to make a deal with someone who might betray me again?”
Kang Il-seop, still on his feet, glared at Smith and spoke.
“Have you ever been honest, even once?”
The words struck Smith’s heart like a needle.
“Take away the lies and deceit, and what's left of your life?”
Spitting out the words, Kang Il-seop left the room.
Left alone, Smith habitually brought a cup of tea to his lips and found it incredibly bitter. It wasn't strong whiskey, yet it was difficult to swallow.
“Is it time to quit?”
Today had been one of the hardest days of his life.
“I acknowledge you. I just can't say the words.”
After forcing down the bitter tea, Smith made a call.
“Send the data to Mad Castle.”
—Sir, if we do that…
“It’s fine. I'll take full responsibility.”
—Understood.
After hearing the reply, Smith made another call.
“I'm turning myself in. The charge is leaking classified information.”
Ending the call, Smith picked up the teacup again. It tasted unbelievably smooth.
Upon arriving at Mad Castle, Kang Il-seop received a report before he could even calm his anger.
“The US sent the missing report.”
Kang Il-seop checked it immediately; nothing was missing. A nagging feeling made him pull out his smartphone, just as a message arrived.
—It was sent by mistake. No need to return it.
Reading the message, Kang Il-seop was filled with a multitude of thoughts.
“A liar to the very end.”
Smith’s final lie left behind not anger, but a bitter aftertaste.
***
The cold that had arrived with the new year finally retreated, and the wind began to carry the scent of new grass.
News related to Devist Nolan was now more often reported as concluded rather than chaotic. The world was slowly returning to its daily routine, but this wasn't the case for everyone.
The Valley of Trials in the northwest of the Azelan Continent.
A group appeared before a sheer cliff. It was a precipice that seemed to stretch endlessly, as if reaching for the sky itself.
“Thank you for coming with me.”
Aisi, at the head of the group, turned around and smiled.
Her gaze finally rested on Oh Min-jae, who couldn't hide his worried expression.
“You have to come back.”
He tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice couldn't help but tremble.
“I won't be long.”
After saying her goodbyes to Oh Min-jae, she turned her gaze to Wang-sik's group.
“You're already qualified to pass. All you have to do is prove it.”
“No need to be nervous.”
“You’ve worked so hard until now, Aisi. You’ll pass with ease.”
Sa Seon-gi simply nodded his head in place of words of encouragement.
“I’ll be back.”
Aisi didn't feel the need to say much more.
She turned around with confidence, stood before the cliff, and held out her hand. A black space, like a black hole, formed on the cliff face and swallowed her whole.
A brief silence fell over the spot where she had vanished.
“Hoo.”
The silence was broken by Oh Min-jae’s sigh. Gong Yeong-ji was about to approach and comfort him, but Wang-sik spoke first.
“Don't worry. Aisi is probably surprised in there herself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because it'll be too easy. So easy that she'll feel foolish for being so nervous.”
Oh Min-jae knew Wang-sik wasn't just saying that to comfort him.
“Trust in her skill. She's grown that much.”
Only then did Oh Min-jae look at the expressions of those around him.
They all looked certain.
***
Before the cliff.
Oh Min-jae was staring blankly at one spot.
“I think I really like Aisi a lot.”
It was a sudden confession, but no one beside him could say a word.
“I’m sure she’ll come back, but I’m also anxious and feel sorry.”
Finally, Min Ha-na stepped in.
“That’s not because you feel sorry, it’s because you’re in love. When Aisi comes out, confess to her properly. If you spend your time agonizing over what a manly confession would be, the time will fly by.”
Oh Min-jae forced a nod.
The time that tormented Oh Min-jae dragged on for a full ten hours.
“She’ll really be okay, right?”
Just as his anxiety was peaking, the silent cliff began to radiate light. And piercing through that light, the person he had been waiting for appeared.
“Aisi!”
The moment she reappeared, Oh Min-jae didn't hesitate for a second and ran toward her.
He swept her into his arms in an instant.
“Don’t cry. It’s okay now.”
“I like you!”
Aisi was surprised for a moment, but she answered by hugging Oh Min-jae tightly. Watching them, Min Ha-na murmured with a pleased expression.
“Now that was a manly confession.”
They waited for the couple to have their moment.
***
Aisi was given a week's vacation.
This was thanks to Min Ha-na's absolute insistence that no matter how important their schedule was, the two, who had officially become a couple, deserved at least this much consideration.
After their vacation, the two returned with a relationship that was clearly different from before, and those around them acknowledged them with warm smiles.
But after her sweet vacation, a bigger problem awaited Aisi.
Becoming the Chieftain of the Beastkin.
It was a situation where she would have to risk her life once more.
Aisi decided to resume her training. But she wasn't lonely, because she had the members of Mad Castle.
“Aisi, welcome.”
“Ha-na! I missed you!”
“You ready?”
The four members welcomed her.
“I’ll do my best.”
Though she was now an adult, Aisi in her human form was still kind and pure.
While Aisi began her training, Oh Min-jae was also focusing on the trading company's affairs.
“Good. At this rate, we can stop expanding the business's size.”
The reports from each trading company alone exceeded 100 pages.
“It'll be enough once we add Dusk's operations.”
The back-alley markets also had plenty of potential to be utilized.
“It would be best to create a new trading company and give it to Dusk…”
As he was planning how to create a point of contact between them, someone knocked on the door.
“We have a visitor from the Magic Tower.”
“Please show them to the drawing-room.”
Oh Min-jae stopped what he was doing, gathered his documents, and headed to the drawing-room. The visitor was Sodoban, the 5th-floor mage with whom Oh Min-jae had the deepest connection.
“It's been a while.”
“The atmosphere in the Tower has been quite tense lately.”
It was only natural for the mood to be sour after the failure of the Double S-rank gate.
“Have you been well?”
As Oh Min-jae's reputation had grown, Sodoban had at some point started speaking to him formally.
“Thanks to you, I’ve been well. I was actually about to contact you. With the recent developments concerning the Alchemist Guild, I think we need to renegotiate our contract.”
Oh Min-jae was now thinking of having the Alchemist Guild produce the magic materials.
In fact, that was what Sodoban had come to discuss, so he was relieved that Oh Min-jae had brought it up first.
“I was thinking of offering you a stake in all magic material sales. Your profits should increase by about thirty percent compared to before.”
Sodoban’s expression brightened as he looked at the contract Oh Min-jae presented.
“Additionally, I’d like to make a donation to the Magic Tower. Would that be possible?”
The clause suggested a profit increase of not just thirty percent, but, by a quick calculation, more than double. On top of that, if he made a donation to the Tower, Sodoban's own standing would rise tremendously.
“In return, I’d like to ask a favor.”
“Please, speak freely.”
“As you know, I have a great interest in magic. While I've received plenty of help from you, I was wondering if it might be possible to get a line to someone a little more skilled…”
Sodoban understood his meaning. He had always known this day would come. He had been pondering how to handle this moment, and now Oh Min-jae was offering to handle it with a deal that would double his profits.
“Of course, you should. As it happens, there is someone who wishes to meet you, Master. He is on the 7th floor.”
Oh Min-jae had secretly hoped for the 8th floor, but he couldn't get any greedier here.
“Thank you. My relationship with you, Sodoban, will remain unchanged, so please don't feel slighted.”
“Of course. However, you may have to wait a while for the introduction. Not only him, but I too will be tied up with Tower affairs for the foreseeable future.”
“Is something big happening?”
Sensing Oh Min-jae’s interest, Sodoban paused for a moment.
*I need to prove my worth.*
At their first meeting, he had held the upper hand, but now their positions were reversed.
Sodoban intended to prove his necessity and, at the very least, level the playing field of their reversed relationship.
So, he lowered his voice and revealed a crucial piece of information.
“Lady Lilia has completed her research.”
“Lady Lilia, you mean…”
“Yes. The foremost authority on gates and a 9th-floor mage of the Magic Tower. She is also Master Falcon's teacher. I imagine something interesting is about to happen.”
With those words, Sodoban rose from his seat.
It wasn't overt, but his shoulders were squared with a newfound sense of importance.
“If a big project comes up, I trust there will be a place for me to invest?”
“Since Lady Lilia is taking the lead, I cannot say for certain what will happen. However, I will do my utmost. Recruiting investors is my specialty, after all.”
“I’ll be counting on you, Sodoban. Please feel free to visit anytime.”
Oh Min-jae spoke with the same polite expression he had on their first meeting, deliberately playing along.
Sodoban, satisfied, gave a smile and departed.
The moment he left the room, Oh Min-jae's expression hardened drastically.
***
Falcon, an 8th-floor mage, carefully stepped onto the final stair leading to the 9th floor.
A chill crept up from the tips of his toes as they touched the white stone corridor.
This was a place where those without sufficient ability could not even set foot. Pushing back the cold with magic, Falcon stood in the white hallway.
From the outside, the 9th floor looked barely large enough to hold three or four laboratories, but the space he actually entered was different.
A Subspace Laboratory.
The actual size of the 9th floor was five times that of the 1st floor.
At the end of a straight path extending through a black void, a circular hub with ten diverging paths appeared.
Each of these paths led to the laboratory of a 9th-floor mage.
At the end of these paths were the ten mages known as the greatest on the continent, excluding the single 10th-floor Archmage whose face was unknown even to them.
Falcon took the path at the 3 o’clock position.
The other paths vanished, and a luminous door appeared at the end of the white corridor.
“Master, it is Falcon.”
The door opened automatically, emitting a brilliant white light. As he stepped inside, his vision shifted once again. The laboratory, which felt as if it were floating in a clear sky, was an open-concept space without walls.
Like an island in the sky, the lab was filled with rows of neatly arranged experimental equipment. To visit his master, who had a cleanliness obsession, Falcon had bathed and shaken out his new clothes several times.
“So, you were disgraced?” a woman with a sharp gaze said. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, with wavy, back-length blonde hair, pale skin, and strikingly red lips. Though she looked young, Falcon knew she was well over a hundred years old.
Her obsession with cleanliness extended even to her appearance, so she had always looked the same, from the very beginning.
His master, Lilia, was a mage skilled enough to change not just an illusion, but her actual physical appearance.
“You fool.”
Lilia had a magic circle floating above a round desk over five meters in diameter.
The luminous circle changed shape with her every touch, causing the powerful mana within it to fluctuate erratically.
“You've tarnished my name?”
“I apologize… Gack!”
Without looking away from the magic circle, Lilia extended her left hand. The air around Falcon became an invisible fist, squeezing his throat.
“The word ‘failure’ has never been attached to my name.”
“I… I know.”
“What did you say when you became my disciple?”
“That… I would never fail…”
She was a person who pathologically detested failure.
Falcon trembled, not daring to resist. He could use his power to breathe, but his master would not let such an act go unpunished.
Fortunately, just as his mind was about to go blank, she released her grip.
As Falcon collapsed to the floor, coughing and clutching his throat, Lilia spoke.
“I will give you one more chance.”
Lilia spread her hand over the circular table. Complex equations materialized and scattered light.
The light slowly seeped into a piece of parchment Lilia produced from her robes, leaving behind clear text.
“You have six months to interpret this perfectly and make the preparations.”
The parchment floated down in front of the fallen Falcon. As he picked it up with a trembling hand and got to his feet, he forgot he had nearly died just moments before and asked in a shaky voice.
“H-Have you completed it?”
“Have I ever known failure?”
“Co-Congratulations.”
“Congratulations for an inevitable success?”
“My apologies.”
Falcon tucked the parchment into his robes and bowed deeply.
“In six months, I will conduct the demonstration myself. If your preparations are not perfect, I will use you as the sacrifice.”
“I-I will keep that in mind.”
Falcon kept his head bowed, facing her frosty expression.
***
Oh Min-jae summoned Aisi and the Mad Castle members to the Ironclad Spider's Nest.
“Lilia?”
Wang-sik, who had been listening quietly, recalled the name.
“She's a female mage known as a genius in gate research. I heard she's over a hundred years old, but she's still kicking. There was a rumor she died, so I was secretly hoping it was true.”
“What could she be planning?”
“The last we heard of her was ten years ago. For her to reappear now means a decade-long research project is finished.”
“Should we assume it’s gate research?”
“Given Sodoban's reaction, that’s highly likely.”
A sense of foreboding washed over them.
Oh Min-jae had tried every possible avenue, but there was no way to find out what they were researching. Usually, when a large gate was being created, orders for consumables to the Alchemist Guild would increase, but that wasn't happening either.
On the contrary, even the high-ranking mages who used to visit frequently had stopped coming.
*Something is definitely happening.*
The Magic Tower was the place Oh Min-jae was watching most closely, and it had never been this secretive before.
*This doesn't seem like an ordinary gate…*
Time continued to pass, filled only with growing concern.