Hunting the Hidden Mastermind (1)
“Hey, hey! Have a drink and let it all out!”
From across the table at the beer pub, a familiar voice urged me to drink.
It was the voice of Gang Tae-san, my childhood friend of ten years whom I’d long grown tired of hearing.
“I know it’s late to say this, but honestly, you were the bigger loss. Right? What does the renowned Han Seong-hyeon have to regret so much that he’d grovel and get dragged around by some woman? I didn’t say anything back then, but every time I saw you like that, I was so frustrated….”
Without a word, I accepted the drink my friend poured and knocked it back in one go.
A sense of strangeness both familiar and foreign.
But I, who was suppressing the pain of a breakup with alcohol’s intoxication, had no leisure to pay attention to anything else.
—There was breaking news recently that shocked the entire world, wasn’t there? Flash reports that the leader of a worldwide terrorist organization active across the globe had finally been arrested in America. Additional news came in that the ‘■■■’ had been sentenced to death. This was handed down with unprecedented speed….
I let the news coming from a corner of the shop flow in one ear and out the other, drinking myself into a stupor.
Then, hugging the toilet and wailing for a lost relationship, making a disgraceful scene of myself before being dragged out by my friend who kept apologizing to everyone around us, but….
Well, things like that happen in life, don’t they?
It was just an ordinary thing that anyone could experience.
‘…Come to think of it, maybe not.’
I really shouldn’t have made that call.
Not deleting the number out of some lingering attachment was an eternal regret.
Now that I’d finally been blocked, it hardly mattered, but still.
‘With her personality, she’ll spread rumors everywhere saying I deserved it. Maybe she even recorded it.’
My job was a freelance video editor.
I’d started it as a hobby in high school, but before I knew it, I’d abandoned my grades, the college entrance exam, everything, and devoted myself to this work.
Fortunately, I seemed to have a knack for it, so I earned a decent income even while others were off at university, meaning I didn’t have much to complain about.
…At least, until I gave my liver and gallbladder—everything—to a female streamer I’d met through work and started dating, only to be suddenly dumped.
‘Ahh… I don’t want to live. I wish the world would just be destroyed already.’
Sprawled out like slime, cooped up at home, I let out a deep sigh.
Of course, it was just the usual whining.
If the world ended every time I had such complaints, Earth wouldn’t have a trace left.
[■■■■■—!]
But.
The world really did end.
“…….”
After opening my eyes, I stared silently at the ceiling for a long while.
“…What kind of absurd dream is this now.”
I muttered lowly, then slowly rose and looked around.
The bedroom of a house on the outskirts of Seoul, now familiar.
I furrowed my brow and rubbed the bridge of my nose.
“Huh. Who’d have thought.”
It was a dream that felt strangely similar to one I’d had not long ago.
The way it ended with the world being destroyed by the descent of an unknown being, too.
But the circumstances leading up to the ending were clearly vastly different from back then.
‘Video editing… I’d never even thought of that.’
In the previous dream, I’d entered university normally and enjoyed campus life.
Since it was just a dream, it didn’t mean much, but I couldn’t help finding it rather interesting.
And that ugly sight I’d shown after being dumped by a woman….
“Ahem, hem! Of course, what really matters is the ending.”
The unidentified divine being that had appeared once more in his dream.
By now, it was certain.
He would inevitably become entangled with it, sooner or later, in some way or another.
“Tch, just being the Byeoncheon Hoeju alone was already a headache.”
I clicked my tongue lightly, picked up a cup of morning coffee, and fell into quiet thought.
The dream that had repeated again, following the last one, somehow felt like it was whipping him to move more aggressively.
‘Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since Hoon stayed in Sabacheon.’
He hadn’t planned to stay that long.
At the time, he’d only been thinking of awakening Lamyu.
But his feet had become unintentionally tied there, making him stay far longer than expected….
“Well, it’s not like that was so bad.”
Hoon acquiring chakra, a useful ability, and through it obtaining new possibilities were excellent gains.
After all, weren’t all avatars his most precious assets?
However, there was one problem.
It was the fact that the place was currently plunging into chaos where not an inch ahead could be foreseen.
‘Originally, I hadn’t planned to intervene so actively.’
By the looks of it, a large-scale war was on the verge of breaking out at any moment.
If that happened, the Yoon Clan of Seongcheon, which had long claimed to be protectors of peace, would be swept this way and that until they ended up in imminent peril.
They spoke of balance and neutrality, but if you thought about it, you couldn’t deny that calling them opportunists wouldn’t be wrong, could you?
‘They’ve done me favors before, and I can’t just turn a blind eye and leave knowing they’re headed for danger.’
In the end, the conclusion was all but already decided.
“Hoo, it can’t be helped. So it comes to this again.”
In a way, perhaps it was a predetermined fate from the moment he’d followed Lamyu and arrived in Sabacheon.
As a trans-dimensional professional troublemaker… no, as a world savior, how could he sit back and watch such a wicked conspiracy!
‘Right, let’s swiftly crush them and quickly sort out the situation. Luckily, I have the intel Hoon obtained this time, so based on that…’
Fortunately, the problems that had constrained his actions until now had all been resolved.
The reason Hoon had visited Sabacheon and the culprit behind his feet being tied there.
Lamyu, who had been in a long slumber all this time, had finally awakened.
***
Lodgings moved to from the previous room, which had been wrecked from the battle with Anton.
“I can’t move to another dimension.”
“……”
Hoon blinked his bloodshot eyes—a side effect of the Demonic Eye—as he looked at Lamyu’s face, who was fidgeting and gauging his reaction.
“Um, it seems like some kind of lock is in place. It’s not forever, and I think it can be undone somehow… It’s a bit unclear. I’ll need some time to find out for sure.”
These were the words that came out while exchanging information with the awakened Lamyu.
Meaning they would be tied to Sabacheon a while longer.
Of course, just the fact that she’d escaped her completely defenseless, unconscious state was something to be grateful for.
Anyway, with this, there was less worry about problems like her being kidnapped while he was away.
‘I hadn’t planned to leave here quickly in the first place.’
Originally, Lamyu had needed more time to come to her senses.
However, stimulating the bond of their covenant during the fight with Anton had somehow affected her, causing her to open her eyes far earlier than expected.
As a bonus, Hoon’s chakra had reached the Upper Layer in the process.
‘The truly difficult conditions had already been met from the start, so this kind of growth isn’t strange.’
The two most important things in chakra cultivation were understanding the element and the mental strength to manifest it.
These were things he already possessed in abundance.
What Hoon lacked was only the minimum proficiency in the mystery called chakra.
And the continuous real battles against formidable foes, experienced with all manner of growth buffs applied, were more than enough to fill his lacking proficiency.
‘Though the Deep Layer likely requires a special enlightenment beyond that.’
For now, this much was sufficient.
Hoon had been someone who, even in the Lower Layer, had effortlessly felled Deep Layer powerhouses.
Now that he had reached the Upper Layer and solved the chakra output problem that had constantly held him back….
“…The atmosphere around you has changed a lot. I wasn’t asleep for that long, was I?”
Perhaps sensing the aura emanating subtly from Hoon, Lamyu tilted her head.
Then, seeming to decide it didn’t matter, she slowly looked around and spoke again.
“So what do you plan to do from here on out? From what you’ve told me, it seems like things are going to get very dangerous here soon. Don’t we need some kind of countermeasure?”
“Don’t worry about that. I have something in mind.”
Hoon shrugged and turned his gaze to the window, watching the members of the Seongcheon Yoon Clan busily engaged in cleanup.
The assault itself hadn’t lasted very long, but the damage they’d suffered in the meantime was practically astronomical.
He’d heard that not only the main family but those in other regions had been attacked simultaneously, so for the time being, they would likely lock their front gates and devote all their efforts to internal organization, much less any external activities.
‘Besides, they haven’t rooted out all the spies yet. They seem to be somehow identifying the perpetrators who breached the barrier, but singling out the traitor in the upper echelons won’t be easy.’
The Seongcheon Yoon Clan, which had borne one of the great pillars of the world called Sabacheon, began to creak into silence.
That void was precisely what the mastermind who’d orchestrated this scheme most desired.
He hadn’t yet grasped the entire plan, but it didn’t matter.
‘I’ll just go find out from here on.’
Hoon squeezed his sore eyes shut, pressed them firmly, and sprang up from his seat.
Then, striding toward the door to leave the room, he stopped short.
“Ah, right. I forgot to ask something important.”
“…Yes?”
He looked at Lamyu, who was blankly gazing out the window, and asked a question.
It was about the Unique Skill he hadn’t been able to ask due to her losing consciousness right after awakening.
Though her original abilities might have some temporary restrictions, the Unique Skill granted by the system should still be usable.
While they were here, it was her only means of self-defense, so he needed to know exactly what kind of supernatural ability it was.
“Ah, that?”
Lamyu nodded at his question and answered readily.
She wouldn’t hide it from Hoon, her protector, even if she might from others.
“「Space-Time Control」. It seems somewhat similar to an ability I originally had… but I think I’ll have to try using it to know the details.”
***
“Ah! You’re out?”
As Hoon left the room and came out into the lodging lobby, Myat, an Earthling from Myanmar, welcomed him.
Sitting alone in the empty lobby, she quietly smoked a cigarette, watching people busily coming and going outside.
“I heard the child you were keeping woke up. But are you alright, Mr. Hoon? Mr. Morris still doesn’t seem ready to get out of bed.”
She had happened to be at the training grounds for night training, so she’d avoided the commotion at the lodgings.
Of course, enemies had rushed the training grounds as well, but those who came there were far from enough to trouble her, an Upper Layer practitioner.
“I’m fine. Is Mac Morris’s condition very serious?”
“Well, actually, it’s not that serious. He’s a sturdy person, after all. It’s just a bit of PTSD, so once he rests for a few days, he’ll shake it off and get back up.”
In truth, under normal circumstances, it shouldn’t have ended at that level.
The terrifying chakra reaching the Deep Layer inflicted severe mental shock upon lower-ranked practitioners merely by exposure.
This, too, was thanks to Hoon responding swiftly on the scene.
“Phew—”
“—anyway, you’re really incredible. I knew you were growing fast, but to think it was to this extent.”
Myat exhaled smoke and looked at Hoon, bursting into an incredulous guffaw.
How long had it been since he started chakra that he’d already reached the Upper Layer?
This wasn’t merely fast growth, was it?
‘A monster. No, is he insane? What kind of life has he led all this time…’
No matter how much chakra was a mystery unconstrained by time as long as conditions were met, there were limits.
Would anyone believe that less than a month had passed from entry to the Upper Layer?
He’d be lucky if he wasn’t cursed at for no reason.
“Haha! Thank you for the compliment. But Myat, have you heard about Anton?”
Hoon, having nothing particular to say about his rapid growth, changed the subject.
He could hardly explain that he was merely an alt he was newly raising after already peaking in other fields.
“Hoo—”
“—well, that’s right. I never thought he’d do such a thing. I did have the impression he was a bit gloomy and twisted, but….”
She gave a bitter smile and tapped the ash from her cigarette.
Unlike Hun, who had only recently come here, she had known Anton for years.
And now someone like that was imprisoned alongside the assailants they had captured this time, so it was only natural that her feelings would be complicated.
“You seem worried.”
“I am. It’s not as though we were complete strangers.”
“Then why did you do it?”
The question came out of nowhere.
Miyat, who had been about to put the cigarette back between her lips, paused and slowly turned her head to look at Hun.
He was gazing quietly at her, a faint smile on his lips.
His pair of eyes gleamed, bloodshot so red they looked as if they might drip blood at any moment.
“Pardon? What are you saying I did?”
“Hmm. Are you playing innocent?”
“No, I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Hun…”
“I understand how you feel. Even Anton himself doesn’t know why he did it, so it would be nearly impossible for someone else to dig it out. …However?”
Miyat silently stared into Hun’s eyes.
Meeting her gaze, he continued speaking with amusement in his voice.
“There’s no such thing as impossible in this world.”
A declaration filled with certainty.
“……”
Whoosh.
—The instant those words ended, darkness swallowed the tiny ember at the end of the cigarette and wrapped around the entire lobby.
A pitch-black darkness in which not a single point of light existed. ‘Is this darkness chakra?’ Hun looked around with interest.
It wasn’t simply blocking the light.
To deploy a barrier of this scale instantly, without the slightest sign.
From the moment he had spoken, she must have sensed something and prepared it in secret.
[…Well now, this is troublesome. I never imagined there would be someone capable of restoring even erased memories and checking them.]
Then Miyat’s voice, vibrating through the entire space, resounded from all directions.
[But more than that, you’re arrogant. To come meet me alone even knowing that.]
“Ahaha— Well, if you have the skill to back it up, isn’t it confidence rather than arrogance?”
Hun smiled brightly.
He had already hunted down two deep-level practitioners.
What was more, he had even caught an upper-level practitioner without Thought Rampage, so there was no reason for him to get pointlessly nervous now.
Of course, since he didn’t know what unique skill his opponent might possess, he couldn’t completely let his guard down.
[Hehehe, that’s true. Besides, if the fight drags on and people come, I’ll be the only one at a disadvantage.]
“Exactly. So if you’d quietly…”
[Then I suppose it can’t be helped. It’s a shame, but I’ll withdraw from here for now.]
Hun, who had been preparing for battle, frowned at those words.
This place was within the Yun family’s territory.
On top of that, all disturbances in the barrier had been repaired, and security had been strengthened even further.
There was no way someone of Miyat’s ability could escape from this dragon’s pool and tiger’s den…
[You said it earlier, Mr. Hun, didn’t you? The same applies to me.]
Her voice flowed into Hun’s ears as he drew up his chakra to the utmost and kept watch on his surroundings.
[There’s no such thing as impossible in this world.]
“Wait…!”
[Then farewell.]
Whoooong.
—A storm raged within the darkness.
A whirlwind that sucked inward from the outside toward the center.
Gritting his teeth, he swiftly raised his chakra and pierced through the darkness, but by then, everything was already over.
“……”
The lodging’s lobby had returned to its usual appearance, as if it had never been swallowed by darkness at all.
Standing alone in the middle of it, Hun looked around with a hardened expression.
But no matter how carefully he searched, there was no trace of Miyat anywhere.
“…She’s gone?”
Only he remained here.
After confirming that fact once more, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
“Good. Then…”
Hun lightly clapped his hands, rubbed his palms together, and wore a sinister smile.
“Shall we begin the hunt in earnest?”
Praying that his guide would climb as high as possible.