Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Boss, Uninvited Guest, and... (3)
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***
Yeomyeong and Seti responded by channeling mana instead of words.
Seti, who seemed to know the intruder's identity, even pulled out a small iron hammer hidden in her bag.
The atmosphere was so tense that a fight could break out at any moment.
Aiba forced a wry smile and opened her mouth.
"That... You don't need to be so on guard."
Her tone was like soothing a startled child. She wiped the blood trickling from her forehead and added,
"I-I hope there's no misunderstanding. I really just came to talk..."
Just as Aiba's tongue began to loosen, Yeomyeong cut her off.
"...Cut the wordplay. Unless you want holes in all four of your heads."
Yeomyeong's gaze wasn't on Aiba but directed behind her.
Was it thanks to getting used to the invisibility cloak?
His senses precisely detected the three organization members hiding beyond it.
"...."
Only then did the leisure vanish from Aiba's face.
She could vividly feel her comrades, hidden to back her up, holding their breath.
"...You talk about murder so lightly. And right here in the academy, no less."
"Terrorist with a long tongue."
"...."
"The spies from the Secret Society that attacked the academy—if I kill you all right here, I won't get punished; I'll get rewarded. Isn't that right?"
...She knew that much?
Aiba unconsciously showed surprise, then quickly hid it upon seeing Seti wearing a similar expression.
"Just a moment... Could you spare a few minutes? Give us a chance to prove our goodwill."
"...Goodwill?"
As soon as Yeomyeong's eyes turned ice-cold, Aiba urgently gestured behind her.
One of her comrades stepped forward from hiding and tossed a bundle of documents.
As if enchanted, the papers floated steadily through the air and landed lightly at Yeomyeong's feet without a waver.
"...What is this."
Yeomyeong asked without even glancing at the documents. Aiba explained as if making excuses.
"Data on the Incheon Murderer. Interpol's tracking info on him over the past six months, plus documents the Korean police hid—all of it is in there."
"...."
Incheon Murderer... in other words, Player.
The moment he heard that word, Yeomyeong clicked his tongue inwardly.
"...You've been digging into my past."
"I hope you're not too upset. As you know, every info broker on Earth has dug into you. We... were just doing our job."
"...."
"Blue Rat. That woman hid too well—we almost came up empty—but we got lucky. The Incheon black market is our territory."
It was ambiguous whether it was a threat or an explanation.
Yeomyeong narrowed his eyes and glared at Aiba.
It wasn't hard to read the desperation hidden beneath her feigned composure.
"Ah, but don't get the wrong idea. Truly, we have no intention of blackmailing you with your past."
"...Then?"
"To repeat, it's proof of our goodwill. Not selling your info, and giving you those documents... It's all the Secret Society's way of showing we want to be friends. I hope you understand."
Finishing her words, Aiba slyly smiled. As if she had seized the initiative.
"So, now... feeling like talking? If you're okay with it, let's move somewhere else."
By then, Seti realized things were getting complicated. She picked up the documents from the ground and looked at Yeomyeong.
Her blue eyes asked, 'What do we do?'
Meeting them, Yeomyeong fidgeted with his fist for a moment before addressing Aiba.
"Aiba."
"Yes, made up your mind? We can talk right here if you—"
"Your nephew runs a pizza place in Chicago, right?"
"...."
Surprise flashed across Aiba's face, then vanished in an instant.
If not for superhuman acuity, no one would have noticed the swift control.
"I've never had Chicago pizza, but can I get some at the funeral?"
"What the hell are you—"
Before she could retort, Yeomyeong kicked off the ground.
The mana of Wave Yang Art coiling around his body surged through his calves like waves, propelling him forward in one go.
His target wasn't Aiba but her comrades hiding behind.
They reflexively raised weapons to respond, but Yeomyeong's fist struck their hiding spot a fraction faster.
Thud!
His fist buried into the side of the frontmost one amid the bushes. The sensation of cracking ribs traveled up his arm.
"Ghak!"
As that one clutched his side and collapsed, Yeomyeong was already extending his leg toward the next.
The sudden ambush left the second one dazed, his reaction a step slow.
He belatedly raised his dagger, but Yeomyeong's Flying Leg Art had already reached his jaw.
Crack! The second one's head snapped sideways, eyes rolling back white.
He ignored the third entirely.
Seti had hurled her hammer, smashing his head and knocking him out cold.
"Wh-what the..."
Aiba's mouth trembled, unable to keep up with reality.
It was understandable. To her non-superhuman eyes, it must have looked like her hidden comrades collapsed in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, Yeomyeong snatched a dagger from the fallen one's grip and turned his head.
"Aiba."
"...."
"Now I'm in the mood to talk... How about you?"
She didn't answer. Or rather, she couldn't.
Seti had sneaked up and clamped her hand on Aiba's neck.
"Gh, grk...."
Immense pressure on the carotid arteries clouded her mind.
In her final moment of consciousness, all she saw were Yeomyeong's golden eyes approaching with dagger in hand.
***
Secret Society.
A massive information organization splitting the underworld's intel trade with Blue Rat.
Unlike Blue Rat, which dabbled in the legal world, they operated solely in the shadows... or so the underworld's common(?) knowledge went.
But the truth, learned through 'the author's note,' was more complex.
The Secret Society wasn't one organization.
A loose collective of individuals, groups, and ideologies under one banner.
From doomsday cults called apocalyptic sects to separatists shouting for imperial independence, street criminals, and beastkin rights activists—misfits with nothing in common.
The sole unifying cause?
Anti-Earth.
The hatred, jealousy, and envy built up against Earth over decades—that was the driving force binding the Secret Society.
But lately... their cohesion was noticeably weakening.
Countless reasons, but the root cause was one.
Disparity among members.
The old man's hatred from mercury-polluted gold mines in his homeland couldn't match the jobless knight's after his order disbanded.
A noble's resolve, prizing dollars over bloodline upon coming to Earth, couldn't match the youth who lost his father to the US military.
The non-mage's fury at magic on TV shows couldn't match the woman's who became a spy after losing her sister.
From a Korean perspective, it resembled the internal divides among independence fighters during the colonial era.
Militant factions pushing armed struggle versus self-strengtheners raising national levels for independence.
Amid that, pro-(?) Earth factions emerged, arguing for democratic modern civilization beyond the dimensional gates like Earth after tasting its culture—making the situation quite...
"...So why did you attack the academy?"
Seti asked Yeomyeong, who had been explaining at length.
Leaning against a tree, Yeomyeong turned his head slightly.
Seti sat cross-legged on a stump, watching him with keen interest. Beside her, Aiba and three other Secret Society members lay bound like luggage.
"Normally, you'd ask where and how I got this info first, right?"
Worrying how to dodge about Baonic's note, Yeomyeong said that, and Seti wrinkled her fine brows.
"Sure, but honestly, I doubt you'd fool me with something like this... And if it was important, you'd have told me already. Right?"
Seti propped her elbow on her knee and elegantly rested her chin, adding,
"If it's hard to reveal the source, you don't have to. It's good for us to each have a secret."
"...."
"Oh, right. I have nothing hidden from you? Should I make one now?"
Her gaze carried subtle pressure. Yeomyeong cleared his throat awkwardly and steered back to the topic.
"...The recent academy terror was carried out unilaterally by the militant faction within the Society."
"Bombing the academy and sending armed soldiers was some rogue action... The Society must be a real mess."
Seti replied with a sly curl of her lips. A merciful smile permitting the subject change.
"...Well, from the militants' view, it was a gamble worth taking. Burn the academy, shake the establishment, seize internal power, and kill the Saintess to boot."
"Saintess? Why her? Because she's Earth-mixed?"
"Who knows? Could just be the cult nuts going mad."
"Hmm..."
"But nearly killing the Saintess became a problem... Now the Society's going through a major shakeup."
Assuming things followed the author's note, that is...
Since he had already altered the future, the Society's internals might be diverging.
Aiba, a militant, approaching him was proof.
'I hope it passes without involving us... But too late.'
As Yeomyeong thought that, one of the unconscious members spoke up.
"...You know a lot about us."
Unlike the others directly hit by the superhuman's attacks, she had only been normally choked—surprisingly, Aiba woke first.
"You even know our internals and my nephew... I'd believe you were a Society executive... Did Blue Rat tell you?"
She didn't hide eavesdropping on his explanation. Yeomyeong deliberately stayed silent.
Neither affirmation nor denial hung in the air.
"...If you don't want to say, no choice. Or is it better? Keeps things short."
As Seti and Yeomyeong's gazes converged, Aiba panted out,
"Cheon Yeomyeong, let me correct one of your points about our organization. The infighting is over."
"...Over?"
"Yes, the militants split off independently."
Militants' independence? Another big deviation from Baonic's note storyline.
Originally, militants would win, turning the whole Secret Society into a terror group, with surviving moderates allying with the 'protagonist'...
Yeomyeong frowned and asked.
"...So, why did the militants come to me?"
"To correct another misunderstanding... I'm not a militant. I cooperated with the terror, but... I've quit now."
Aiba's wrinkled eyes alternated between Yeomyeong and Seti. After a pause, she sighed.
"...My nephew married an Earthling."
"...."
"The punk who frequented his pizza shop—they hit it off. Ha, after how his mother died... With an Earthling..."
Her lament stirred odd thoughts in Yeomyeong.
Abandoning revenge for family.
Was that resolve what drove her to target young students? Or something that could shake even that...
As his mind wandered, he shook his head to clear it.
"...Whatever. Let's get to that talk."
"Yes, talk, we must... Didn't expect it like this."
Aiba awkwardly raised her bound body to a half-sitting position, facing Yeomyeong.
His golden eyes reflected in her dark brown ones.
"You know? The mastermind of the last terror was a priest from the church."
"...Leather Priest."
Yeomyeong replied, and Aiba nodded.
"If you know the name, you know the abilities. During the terror, he suddenly bailed... Hid somewhere even we can't find."
"...And?"
"The independent militants gave him some... additional orders."
"Additional orders? With special professors here, what can he do alone?"
Seti eyed Aiba curiously too. After a pause, Aiba's face grew grave.
"...He's going to open a dimensional gate."
"What?"
"We don't know the exact method—just intercepted the order."
Yeomyeong and Seti exchanged looks. A dimensional gate? At the academy?
What for? There was already a small training one for seniors.
No, before that...
"Is that even possible? What, is he some legendary archmage who can open gates solo?"
"...Sacrificial lamb."
"Sacrificial lamb?"
"Sounds like code... We haven't figured it out. The order just said 'offer the blood of the black sheep to open the dimensional gate.'"
Aiba meant to say that's why she came to propose a deal despite the embarrassment.
But she couldn't speak. The mood had frozen solid.
Black sheep.
The moment they heard it, Yeomyeong and Seti's faces hardened.
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