Hunting the Hidden Mastermind (2)
An Earthling from Myanmar, Su Myat Mon.
She had entered as a guest of the Seongcheon Yun Clan in the early days of the Transfer and was now an Awakened in her fifth year. ‘Being transferred to the Yun Clan’s territory, which is favorable to Earthlings from the start, means I was lucky.’ Of course, other factions had likewise promised good treatment to otherworlders.
The royal families of the two great kingdoms, as well as lords, great merchant unions, and organizations large and small, were each sponsoring Earthlings.
However, the Seongcheon Yun Clan, which possessed the peculiarity of having an otherworlder as its progenitor, had especially favorable conditions even among them.
She had grown steadily under their protection.
To accumulate Karma, she could not stay holed up in a safe place forever, but since she could receive the Yun Clan’s help in truly desperate moments, crises were never at a truly serious level. ‘I’m sufficiently grateful for that fact.’ Without their help, it would have been difficult for her to survive and grow to this point.
Having only been initiated into chakra for a mere five years, she stood at the end of the Upper Stratum with the Deep Stratum in sight; moreover, she had been able to greatly strengthen her Unique Skills and Stats through Karma. ‘If I went all out, I could probably surpass even a Deep Stratum practitioner, couldn’t I?’ To that extent, Myat Mon was an otherworlder who had benefited greatly from support.
And yet, the reason she had been swayed by sweet talk to betray and topple the Yun Clan and decided to take part was… ‘But that’s that and this is this. It’s not like I’m going to live here forever, so shouldn’t I take everything I can get before the end?’ …In the end, it was because of greed.
The Seongcheon Yun Clan was one of the massive entrenched powers representing Sabacheon.
If she succeeded in toppling such a force, truly enormous Karma would be generated.
Considering that this would be enough to serve as a trigger for war, she would surely be able to secure at least the amount needed to return to Earth.
She had no regrets about this place anymore, so how could she miss such a golden opportunity?
‘They encourage child abuse without a care, yet they put on airs about protecting world peace. It’s disgusting.’
It was still vivid in her memory.
The sight of children collapsing to the floor, convulsing after being electrocuted in the name of training.
It wasn’t that she particularly sympathized with those children.
The values of this dimension were such that there was nothing she, an otherworlder, could say about it, nor was she the type to empathize and let her emotions sway with such things.
It was merely another small trigger that had lowered her psychological barriers.
‘But I didn’t think I’d be found out this early.’
Myat Mon, furrowing her brows, sighed.
She hadn’t originally planned to cut and run so soon.
She had intended to remain in the Yun Clan until all plans were complete, continuing to receive their support while participating in shaking them up whenever necessary, carefully maintaining her dark activities…
‘How in the world did he find out? His power was something that even those prideful Deep Stratum practitioners of the Yun Clan couldn’t detect.’
A newly arrived Awakened named Hun.
Because of that Earthling from Korea who shared a hometown with Yun Jiyun, the progenitor of the Yun Clan, all her plans had fallen apart.
No matter how extraordinary the potential of the Unique Skill he possessed, outstanding performance required strengthening commensurate with it by nature.
‘…There’s nothing to be done about the past. Now is the time to think about what comes next. Rather than staying there and quibbling for no reason, it’s better to protect myself as much as possible.’
Though she personally prided herself on having thoroughly erased the evidence, if the Yun Clan set its mind to investigating, she didn’t know when or where she might slip up.
Having already been discovered once by the one called Hun, it was wise to pull out quickly before she became unable to escape entirely.
“…Your request has been accepted, Su Myat Mon.”
“Phew, that’s a relief. Then will you open the path?”
A hut located on such remote outskirts that it was impossible to determine which nation it belonged to.
Inside that small, shabby house, Myat Mon conversed with a stern-looking old man.
“Before that.”
A strange flash occurred in the old man’s right eye as he looked at her with a cold face.
And after slowly scanning her with the eye over which a complex pattern had manifested, he nodded.
“…Nothing unusual.”
“Do you think I’m that stupid? I checked multiple times before coming here. I’ve passed through several relay points over the past few days, so even if I was being tracked, it would have fallen off long ago.”
“That is not something you can know. From the moment you failed your mission and came here, I cannot fully trust your words.”
“Ha! Well, fine. Anyway, since you’ve checked, will you open the path?”
“Wait. I have sent a report above.”
At the old man’s answer, Myat Mon let out a small sigh.
This was why she had wanted to stay with the Yun Clan for as long as possible.
Whether for security or not, these people had overly complicated procedures for everything they did.
Of course, considering her position where she couldn’t act openly, it was only natural, but still, couldn’t they show some flexibility?
‘There’s a limit to caution. They could smash the Yun Clan without difficulty even in a frontal fight.’
But considering their ultimate goal, caution was unavoidable.
Because, strictly speaking, toppling the Yun Clan was merely the beginning.
Rumble—!
At that moment, a loud roar echoed from behind where the old man stood.
A sound she had heard when she was at the Yun Clan not long ago.
It was the noise made as a passage connected through collapsed space.
“Permission has been granted. Enter.”
“Sigh, finally.”
Myat Mon, letting out a deep sigh, shuffled her feet forward.
Several days had passed since her identity was exposed by Hun at the Yun Clan before she finally reached this place.
She had been forced to spin around in all sorts of ways to shake off any possible pursuit.
Truthfully, in an ordinary position, reaching the higher-ups after fleeing upon being exposed would have been difficult.
But she was a talent whose abilities currently rivaled those of a Deep Stratum practitioner.
Since she was even expected to formally ascend to the Deep Stratum before long, it was not strange that she received special treatment.
Woooom.
—As she entered the passage, the entrance slowly collapsed with a strange vibrating sound.
Before long, the rift in space had disappeared completely.
Now, only a single old man still sitting in the same spot remained.
“…….”
Without a word, he cleaned up the scene and left the hut.
Since this place could no longer be used, he did so to move to the next location.
It was a wandering life that had continued for over a decade, but he did not complain in the slightest.
‘Not much left now. Soon…’
The intense anticipation writhing in his chest.
Suppressing it, he strode away without noticing.
That something unknown, unobservable by the old man’s chakra, had already swept over him and his surroundings once.***
“…The pursuit failed.”
Ruset, who had come to find Hun, said with a gloomy face.
“Sigh, and I thought we finally had a lead…”
Naturally, the Yun Clan was also aware of Myat Mon’s escape.
Hun had honestly revealed what he knew about her to those who sensed something was wrong and arrived late at the scene, and the Yun Clan had immediately formed a pursuit team to track her trail, but…
That too had ended in failure after all.
“Such preparations aren’t made in a day or two. Crossing back and forth across the borders of the Hongsan Kingdom and the Cheonghae Kingdom, and all the numerous decoys and sabotage spread throughout the process. No ordinary force could manage it…”
Ruset let out a deep sigh, seeming worried.
Some conspiracy was beginning to unfold centered on the Seongcheon Yun Clan, yet they still couldn’t grasp accurate information about the mastermind.
The demonic practitioners’ attack had come even before the matter regarding General Buryeong, which was being conducted in secret with the Hongsan Kingdom, had ended.
They needed to clearly distinguish friend from foe first, but since they couldn’t determine where the enemies began and ended, they couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
“…The recent movements of the two nations are unusual. Not only are border conflicts accelerating, but public opinion is shifting to extremes to a strange degree. This can only be seen as someone pulling strings from behind.”
This was why even the Cheonghae Kingdom, which appeared to have taken a step back, could not be easily trusted.
Because the two nations were showing similar movements as if staged.
“I see. What about the interrogation results? I heard most of the demonic practitioners who carried out the attack, as well as those who tampered with the barrier, have been captured.”
“…There hasn’t been much progress on that front either. Demonic practitioners aren’t targets susceptible to interrogation in the first place, and as for those who cooperated in the chaos, aside from the fact that someone tampered with their minds…”
Ruset spoke cautiously, gauging Hun’s reaction.
The truth was, the reason she was disclosing all these internal matters to him was entirely to request his cooperation.
No matter what anyone said, he was the only ability user who had uncovered facts that even the clan’s elders had failed to reveal.
‘At least a mind-system practitioner who had reached the Deep Stratum intervened. If they hadn’t conducted a detailed inspection on the captured suspects, they wouldn’t have noticed in the first place.’
Even then, the information they could obtain was extremely limited.
In such a situation, since there was someone who had rummaged through Anton’s mind and brought out information about the culprit, the Yun Clan had no choice but to swallow their pride and ask him.
“Hmm, what about the suspected spy in the upper echelons?”
“Ah, that is…”
At his question, Ruset put on an awkward smile.
That alone was enough to guess how the situation was unfolding.
‘Well, if they’re in the upper echelons, their chakra level must be extraordinary, so investigating their mental state must be burdensome.’
Though perhaps not as much as demonic practitioners, contacting a high-level practitioner’s mind carried the same risk that their mind state might be contaminated.
Moreover, to a practitioner, the mental world was no different from their very being itself.
The proud high-level practitioners would never accept the unreasonable demand to completely disarm and fully open themselves to find a spy who might not even exist.
Weren’t even the elders who held decision-making power included among the suspects?
“…Besides, it would be meaningless if the spy is voluntarily cooperating. Also, if the investigator harbors ill intent, the situation could worsen instead…”
Ruset averted her gaze furtively and added a few words.
Though Hun hadn’t said a word, she looked as if something had stung her.
“Understood. If there is anything I can help with, I shall do my best.”
She welcomed his words with a bright face.
Given enough time, the Yun Clan’s power alone would be able to uncover the mastermind.
Though they had suffered a setback recently, they possessed more than enough latent power to do so.
But the problem was precisely that they lacked that time.
“Then please come this way. Ah, I’m asking just in case… about the demonic practitioners…”
“Hmm, we’ll have to try and see. Well, it shouldn’t be a big problem.”
Hun followed behind Ruset to where the suspects were imprisoned.
To intervene in their minds and extract information, just as he had done with Anton.
But he already knew.
That this was all mere formality, and no matter what new information he learned through this, the probability of using it was not very high. ‘Finally.’
…Because the big fish had just bitten the first bait he cast.***
The Great War, which had continued for over a hundred years and only ended several decades ago.
The prolonged war had left deep scars on many.
Countless people losing their lives and sustaining disabilities was a given.
A dark age for human civilization that had declined across all facets—social, economic, and cultural.
Thus, people could not help but be enthralled by the Brain Emperor who had put an end to the long war and ushered in a new era.
Though resentment toward the enemy nations still remained, it was a time when everyone keenly felt that continuing the war would benefit no one.
But as is the way of the world.
Not everyone had suffered from that war.
There was no need to even bring up demonic practitioners.
For there were certainly those who profited by reflection as well: war merchants enjoying a peak season that continued day after day, power holders who had firmly secured their positions, and lords and mercenaries who found new opportunities through the war.
To begin with, there was no way a war could have continued for a hundred years on the instigation of Demonic Path cultivators alone.
It must have been possible because there had been a certain degree of agreement among some of the vested interests at the time.
To them, the Thunder Emperor and the Yun Family, who had forcibly put an end to the war, were no different from enemies who had stolen their power.
“How unexpected. Could Lady Miyat have made some sort of mistake?”
“You know very well that couldn’t be the case, don’t you?”
“Hmm. I never imagined there would be someone capable of seeing through that person’s power.”
At the middle-aged man’s words, Miyat inwardly sighed and looked around.
After traveling again and again for several days, this was the place she had finally arrived at.
From a large ink-wash painting to delicate sculptures and elegant porcelain, the office was filled with ornaments that were not particularly extravagant, yet looked extraordinary at a glance.
“Well, understood for now. I will arrange a place where you can rest comfortably for the time being.”
“···Since I’ve come all this way, shouldn’t I at least pay my respects to the elder?”
Miyat, who had been rising from her seat, hesitated and carefully spoke.
She wondered if she might at least be able to make herself known to the person in charge here.
“With all due respect.”
But the middle-aged man facing her answered firmly without so much as blinking.
“That person is extremely busy attending to affairs of state. If he were to concern himself with every matter like this, he would collapse from overwork.”
In the end, Miyat had no choice but to accept his words and withdraw.
In truth, merely making herself known was not such an important matter anyway.‘Coming into direct contact with those in power would help more with acquiring karma, but··· well, for now, this much should be fine.’There was still plenty of time, after all.
Whether she proved her abilities in the approaching age of chaos, or somehow crossed the wall and reached the depths.
She would absolutely climb higher.
And just as she finished all her business, exchanged farewells with the middle-aged man, and was about to leave the office.[Hmm, then this is the end of the line for now, is it?]
As if the entire space were vibrating.
An unidentified voice rang out.
“Huh?!”
“Who···!”
Those present had no time to react.
Before they could do anything, their bodies, crushed by a strange pressure, came to an abrupt halt.
The only things they could move, even slightly, were their eyes.
Two pairs of eyes, busily moving to grasp the situation, fixed on a single point.
Riiiiip—
—rrrip
—With a spine-chilling sound, space began to tear open in a long vertical line.
Soon, beyond the gaping rift, a lone figure who had crossed over from the other side set foot on the office floor and stretched vigorously.
“Ahh— thanks to you, I made it here comfortably enough.”
Then, after taking a deep breath, that being turned her gaze toward Miyat, who had gone rigid.
A pair of black horns rose high from either side of her head.
Black-and-red reversed eyes, and jet-black wings folded neatly behind her back.
“Since you’ve helped me this far, won’t you lend me just a little more assistance?”
Hella, the Demon King of another world who had descended upon Saba Heaven, wore a refreshing smile across her entire face.