It was just as expected.
The Korean government could not raise its voice against the United States.
All it did was repeat, “We regret this, we regret this, we regret this.”
The United States offered only a perfunctory apology on the matter, with no further compensation of any kind.
Korea could have chosen to cooperate with other nations and seek a joint response, file a complaint with international organizations such as the ICJ or WTO, or use international media and NGOs to apply diplomatic pressure. But to do that, it would have had to blow the matter up and make it public.
In that case, of course, it would have had to be prepared for diplomatic and economic retaliation.
And for that, the Korea of the present was far too weak, and far too dependent on the United States in too many ways.
Even this much was kept under strict secrecy, out of fear that if the public found out, it would provoke national outrage.
From start to finish, it was suffocating.
His worries grew over how he should properly teach a lesson to the United States, which clearly saw not only him, but all of Korea, as a complete pushover.
When even the United States approached Suho, the tense Tower Management Agency, in close consultation with the government, came up with a special privilege for him.
It was none other than a tax reduction benefit for Jeong Suho.
If Jeong Suho used the OnTower auction house, he would only have to pay 10% in taxes. It was a privilege among privileges, something that had never been applied to any Admittee before.
But Suho was merely lukewarm.
That paltry amount of money had no meaning to him anyway.
“Haha... What do you think...?”
“You really didn’t have to... Money is, well... Anyway, thank you for looking out for me.”
Director Kim Gyusik, who had come to meet Suho with his entourage, felt his heart drop at Suho’s indifferent reaction.
He had pushed rather hard to secure the privilege, hoping to make up for the recent incidents with Russia and the United States, but Suho’s response was utterly cold.
“More importantly...”
When Suho lowered his voice, the director swallowed hard.
“Have you identified the terrorists who attacked my house last time? The intruders made up of Admittees.”
“Ah... Yes, as it happens, I came prepared to tell you about that as well. They were revealed to be an infiltration special forces unit dispatched by Russia, called ‘High Specter.’ Their main objective was to kidnap your family, Suho Admittee, and then use them to threaten you into...”
The director’s lengthy explanation continued along with the screen of the laptop he had prepared, but for Suho, one word was enough.
Russia.
Because that was what he had wanted to know: where they were from, and who they were.
‘Russia, is it... Kidnap my family? I can’t just let this slide.’
Suho’s eyes gleamed fiercely.
* * *
From that day on, the Sanarae Clan Leader, Frost Sword Lee Danbi, stuck close to Suho’s side.
Lee Danbi was thirty-one years old, two years older than Suho.
Suho himself was on the handsome side in a likable way, but Danbi’s beauty was so exceptional that, by comparison, it had the effect of making him look extremely ordinary.
On top of that, unlike Joshua, Danbi had no stealth skill, so she always looked like a girlfriend staying by his side.
All the more so because she was different from the androids Minsu and Minji, whose actions, expressions, and attitudes were restrained.
“Um... If the two of us are always walking around together like this, won’t people misunderstand?”
“Misunderstand? Misunderstand what?”
“Just, well, like thinking we have some kind of special private relationship... things like that...”
“Don’t worry. Anyone who gets a pointless misunderstanding in their head will have a hole blown clean through their—oh my! Ahaha. I must be crazy, what am I saying? Ahaha. We just have to be careful so there are no misunderstandings.”
Danbi, whose face had turned bright red all by herself, fanned herself with her hand and quickly walked ahead of Suho.
Before he knew it, Lee Danbi had gone so far ahead that he couldn’t catch up even if he ran.
He couldn’t tell what this woman was doing, whether she wanted to guard him or what.
In truth, leaving misunderstandings aside, the burdensome thing was the very existence of Lee Danbi herself.
With her beauty, martial might, wealth, position as the leader of a top-class clan, and charismatic leadership, Lee Danbi had a massive following not only among men but among women as well, and her popularity pierced the sky.
She was more famous than the top actress in Korea.
Perhaps because she knew that fact well herself, she always tied her long hair into a ponytail and pulled a cap low over her head.
Even so, her looks could not be fully hidden, so when she went out with Suho to crowded places, she had to wear sunglasses and a mask as well.
‘It was convenient when I went around with Joshua because he had stealth abilities...’
Unlike Danbi, who seemed somehow excited, Suho found many things regrettable.
* * *
A place of rest without any burden, anytime and anywhere, because it consumed no time. Whenever Suho felt even the slightest bit tired, he entered the subspace warehouse.
That day, he lay down in the movie-watching area inside the warehouse to enjoy the new installations.
He took out a mountain of nachos, popcorn, and other snacks, then lay down on the king-size bed.
Bzzzzzzz—
After adjusting the electric reclining bed into a comfortable position, he lay back at an angle and chose the movie [Out Justice League] 6.
It was a story in which Superman turned evil and drove the whole world toward complete destruction, and the reason was none other than the death of the woman he loved, Lois Lane.
“Huh...!”
He abruptly sat up in the middle of watching the movie.
While immersing himself in the film and empathizing with Superman, he suddenly realized something.
‘That’s right, Superman... Superman is exactly this kind of case.’
That superhuman who turned evil and drove the world to destruction.
No, why on earth had that righteous and powerful man done such a thing?
Because his body was steel, but his mentality was like a sunfish?
Right, that was true too... But the more important core of it was “connection.”
Superman, an alien not originally from Earth, had very few connections to Earth to begin with. That was why he had also struggled to adapt to Earth from childhood.
His only meaningful connection was his girlfriend, Lois Lane. But when she died, he immediately turned evil.
Because Earth was no longer a meaningful place to Superman. Rather, that lump called Earth had become nothing but a planet he didn’t want to think about and found irritating.
‘Damn it...’
Wasn’t this terrifyingly dangerous?
Somehow, it didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.
‘I could end up like that too...!’
That anxiety wrapped around Suho.
For now, he was holding onto his sanity by spending time on various small things, but in truth, compared to what Suho possessed, those things were always matters he could do or not do, either way.
Money, fame, power—none of it mattered. They were all trivial.
‘Wait... Who am I close to? Rabi? No, no. He won’t help. That guy wouldn’t blink even if Earth disappeared. Family? Other than family...? Seongsik? And...’
Suho abruptly began checking his own meager human relationships.
‘No... It can’t go on like this. I can’t live like this. I need to make more connections...’
He had to get along more closely with more people.
It was the sort of simple goal children just entering school might have, but in this moment, for Suho, it was more desperate than anything else.
* * *
Even afterward, many people tried to approach Suho’s party with ulterior motives.
However, most of those street-trash types were dealt with at the level of Minsu and Minji, or Suho’s other additional androids.
Behind them, there was an elite team from the Sanarae Clan attached on rotation, and behind them, even Lee Danbi was there. But in truth, situations where they needed to step in almost never occurred.
It was a sufficiently safe situation, but the feeling of being targeted and attacked by someone was not pleasant.
On top of that, the helplessness of being unable to do anything amid such threats left him feeling bitter.
“...It would have been nice if I were a little stronger too.”
In the car on the way to open a business location, Suho muttered the words while looking out the window, and Danbi replied in alarm.
“Suho, your specialness can’t be fully explained in words. What’s the big deal about being strong? There are plenty of Admittees with strong combat power in the world, but there isn’t even a second person like you, Suho Admittee, in the whole world.”
“Still... that’s that, and being strong is being strong. If I had power too, I wouldn’t have to get anyone’s help. I could just go whoosh! Bam. And beat them all up...”
“That’s...”
Looking at Suho’s clumsy punches, Danbi was about to offer some words of comfort, but then worried she might accidentally hurt a man’s pride and shut her mouth.
Suho, who had opened his phone and was browsing the OnTower auction house, grumbled.
“Phew... I was thinking of at least trying to deck myself out with some item power, but surprisingly, good items don’t show up. Defensive items are even rarer. I think B-rank or something was the best I’d seen.”
At those words, Danbi’s eyes lit up.
“Item power?”
“Yes, things that can supplement my lacking combat strength... Well, even then I wouldn’t be as good as combat-class Admittees, but if I wore high-grade items, wouldn’t it be a bit better?”
“Of course. Absolutely. That’s a good idea.”
“But there aren’t any. At the auction house, there isn’t really anything I like...”
“Ah... that... um...”
Danbi seemed to want to say something, her lips twitching, but she was hesitant, so Suho asked.
“What is it? Do you have something to say?”
“Ahaha, ah, I’ll just tell you. I don’t know why you don’t know this, Suho, but... there’s a separate high-grade item shop called ‘Arcane Arsenal’ used by Admittees of A-rank and above.”
Seeing Danbi scratch her cheek as she spoke, as though worried Suho might feel embarrassed, he ended up staring blankly.
“Uh... there’s something like that?”
“Why didn’t you know this... Ah! Right, Suho Admittee, you said you’ve never belonged to any clan until now, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“That must be why. While the OnTower auction houses are operated and maintained by the Tower Management Agency, high-grade item shops are stores maintained by large clans. They only operate offline, too. They’re not widely known.”
“Whoa...”
“Still, in terms of the variety of items, the OnTower auction house has far more. At Arcane Arsenal, they don’t deal in materials other than Etherium, and mostly handle equipment.”
Good heavens, I’m S-rank... Why didn’t I know this kind of high-level information? As expected, being a fake S-rank just doesn’t work.
No, still, because I’ve been at least pretending to be an Admittee, I’m taking one step toward the secrets of the world like this...
Danbi pulled Suho out of his stray thoughts.
“Since we’re on the subject, would you like to go? Today, right now?”
The hesitation did not last long. After all, none of the things Suho had planned to do were particularly urgent.
“Sounds good.”
They immediately turned the car around.
The car arrived in front of a building on the outskirts of Seocho-dong.
It was an ordinary building that looked nothing special, and at around twenty stories, it was not particularly tall either.
When Danbi placed her palm on the sensor at the entrance to the underground parking lot, the barricade rose.
Danbi turned to Suho and smiled brightly.
“That barricade is just for show.”
“Pardon?”
“The real thing is the barrier. You can’t see it right now, but a powerful barrier is always deployed here. The transparent barrier is only released when there’s ether authentication from an Admittee permitted to enter. The barricade is nothing more than a sign that the barrier has been released.”
“Ah... ether authentication?”
“Yes. Since you’re S-rank, Suho, we can go up and register you right away.”
“No, no! Hahaha, how many times would I even come here? Besides, even if I do come, I-I’m always with you, Lee Danbi. So there’s no need to go through the trouble of registering me too! Of course not.”
“...Well... if you insist...”
For some reason, Danbi blushed.
As soon as they passed through the barrier in the underground parking lot, a passage like one seen in a parking tower appeared.
Danbi skillfully drove the car manually into the loading area. Then a vehicle lift carried the car upward with the people still inside.
Not long after, when the door opened, a bright, wide, open space appeared.
The men waiting in front of it, neatly dressed in tuxedos, bowed their heads.
“Lee Danbi Admittee, welcome to your visit. Please entrust your vehicle to us and enter.”
“Thank you.”
Suho and Danbi, along with Minsu and Minji, got out of the vehicle and walked inside. The black, gleaming swords worn at the waists of the men serving as guides were striking, so Suho kept glancing at them.
“Danbi, those people earlier were Admittees too, right?”
“Of course. Most of the people in charge of security or guidance here are B-rank Admittees.”
“Wow.”
If that was true, even with Minsu and Minji here, they would be of no help at all.
If a battle broke out, they would be smashed apart without being able to exchange even one proper move.
Unlike how it had looked from the outside, the building’s interior was quite wide and deep. After handing over the vehicle and walking for a while on the neat carpet, a splendid arched arcade leading indoors appeared.
In front of it, another woman joined them and guided them.
“Lee Danbi Admittee, it has been a while. The people beside you are your party...”
“Yes, the two in the back are guard androids, and this person is... you’ve probably heard of him at least once. He’s Jeong Suho Admittee...”
“Hah...! Korea’s tenth...!”
She covered her mouth in admiration, and Suho awkwardly scratched only his head.
Watching him, Danbi smiled softly and asked the woman again.
“Do you have any good new items in?”
“Of course. We have weapons, armor, and accessories. Since it has been quite a while since your last visit, there should be plenty worth seeing.”
“Oh, I’m looking forward to it. Right, has any high-grade Etherium come in by any chance?”
“Ever since the previous S-rank Etherium incident, the atmosphere these days is that high-grade Etherium mostly goes up on the OnTower auction house side... As for Etherium, we’ve actually only been receiving low-grade stock.”
“If you say low-grade, how low?”
“Mostly E-rank and D-rank. Ah, but unfortunately...”
“Ah, don’t tell me... again?”
“Yes, Han Taewoong Admittee purchased all the low-grade Etherium, so there is none remaining in the shop right now.”
Han Taewoong!
At that name, Suho’s eyes went round.
“Excuse me, but by Han Taewoong, do you mean the S-rank Admittee Han Taewoong?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The guiding woman smiled with crescent eyes and confirmed it.
“You mean the S-rank druid, Steel Grizzly Han Taewoong, right? Waaah...”
Han Taewoong was Korea’s representative tanker, and he was also the Admittee Suho had admired most since long ago.
But as if she had no regard for Suho’s pure admiration, Danbi tossed out a remark.
“Steel Grizzly, my foot... He’s just a slow-witted bear.”