A beautiful woman entered the conference chamber.
Her appearance stirred the room.
She was strikingly beautiful. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a peerless beauty.
Her off-shoulder dress clung to her body, flaunting sleek curves. The leg slipping out from the slit skirt was elegant, yet gave off an almost steely impression.
She was so intimidating that if you approached her based on looks alone, you'd feel like you'd get kicked and sent flying.
Though she smiled, her cold, ruthless eyes suited a dazzling night, but at the same time, they seemed to prefer the blood-soaked battlefield.
A tiger-like mage.
The world called her the Ruler of the East.
Because the Ssangajwa controlled the mightiest power in East Asia.
She was a hegemon on par with the God Seats that dominated the other three cardinal directions.
And like most saints, she flaunted an aura akin to an emperor's.
Her overwhelming presence alone stunned the politicians into silence.
They only snapped out of it when the Japanese government delegation coughed.
"Are you listening now?"
"Y-yes, Lord Heiji!"
They collapsed into their seats, sweating as they glanced to one side.
It was at Lee Geon.
Naturally, because the relationship between Lee Geon and the Ssangajwa Saint was infamously terrible. No one in the world didn't know.
It was said that the other saints were so busy keeping them apart, fearing one might kill the other.
In short, they couldn't stand the sight of each other.
Bloodshed was inevitable.
And recalling Lee Geon's temper from just moments ago...
'At the very least, there'll be knives drawn.'
Furthermore, it had been a long while since the Japanese government had seized all of Lee Geon's assets.
If Sophie had taken them because she was Lee Geon's personal physician, Ssangajwa had taken them as compensation for damages inflicted by Lee Geon and as proxy for national defense.
Absurd as it was, they'd said they understood and handed over everything.
And today, they were supposed to hand over more of Lee Geon's assets.
But why, of all times, did she have to show up at this lousy moment?
Yet whether she knew it or not, the Ssangajwa Saint smiled as she took her seat.
The seat of highest honor.
They felt Lee Geon's gaze and swallowed hard.
'W-we have to send the Japanese delegation back first.'
'Please, don't say anything unnecessary.'
But it was then.
The Japanese government official laughed.
"Ah, right. Are the donations from Lee Geon that the New Palace Seat requested returned ready?"
"You said you'd transfer them over to us urgently."
"?!"
The politicians' faces twitched.
But the Japanese side sighed, as if doing them a favor.
"We're already suffering immense damage from the breaking of the Saint's holy domain."
"You clearly ordered us to hurry before the New Palace Seat could snatch them away."
"We too are short on time, so let's skip the ceremony and hurry the contract."
Now their faces were drenched in sweat.
Perhaps this was what it felt like when the temperature dropped.
But the Japanese officials had no way of knowing.
Sure enough.
"By the way, I've been curious about something..."
"Y-yes?"
"Why does the conference chamber look like this?"
"!"
The conference table was partially smashed, and the door was ruined.
Some politicians were even foaming at the mouth and collapsed.
"Did you get into another scuffle before we arrived?"
If only that were the case.
The Korean government officials were dripping with sweat.
"W-well, that is..."
Right then.
"Ah, really? You were going to give them my donations?"
A cold voice echoed.
"Said you'd used it all up, but you were lying through your teeth?"
The politicians were on the verge of tears.
They hastily grabbed hold of the Japanese delegation.
This was the only way to survive.
"Lee Geon is here! Lee Geon is here, I tell you!"
"Please, just...!"
The Japanese side chuckled.
"Lee Geon?"
Having heard them now, they thought these people were talking nonsense, like a ghost eating rice cakes.
"We saw that press conference incident."
"It's questionable whether that was the real Lee Geon, but that man came here?"
"No, he really came! Right behind you...!"
"Haha. This is a holy artifact-grade building constructed under Ssangajwa's protection. He couldn't even enter in the first place. Besides, if it really were Lee Geon, it would automatically launch an airstrik— Huh?"
At that moment, a shadow fell over the Japanese minister.
It was Lee Geon.
The minister, seeing the young boy before him, flashed a pleased grin.
He figured the Ssangajwa had arrived and hired a part-timer again for a lookalike act.
"That's a handsome— Huh?"
But mid-sentence, sweat beaded on the minister's face.
Why?
"Uh, I've seen this somewhere..."
Sure enough, the surroundings buzzed loudly.
"That person...!"
"...TV!"
"Yesterday, that...!"
A few people rose from their seats, covering their mouths.
Even Ssangajwa seemed taken aback, her eyes wide.
The minister shot up in shock.
"What is this person doing he— Ack!"
Lee Geon's fist smashed into the minister's face.
Bang!
Screams echoed through the conference chamber.
Lee Geon cracked his knuckles and laughed.
"Long time no see, Nakamura. You've climbed high, huh? Even got a badge."
"...Y-you!"
"But I'm pretty sure I told you back then."
"!"
"Tell your bastards not to dare crawl back onto Korean soil!"
Crunch!
The chamber turned into chaos. And as if they'd expected this, the politicians pressed their palms to their foreheads.
Eventually, with things reaching this point, the Ssangajwa Saint jolted to her feet. Her eyes had completely changed.
The politicians seized the moment.
"That's right! That's the person!"
"He's the one who did this to us!"
"Quickly, please...!"
"Help us!"
They felt like a reliable ally had appeared.
'If the Ssangajwa Saint is here, the situation is different.'
Even if Lee Geon had truly returned, what could he do?
'Lee Geon is still under a saint!'
'He's a B-rank!'
That's right.
No matter that Lee Geon was the first awakener alongside the other saints, there was a gap in class.
They remembered Lee Geon's condition better than anyone.
It wasn't for nothing that Lee Geon survived his fight with Ssangajwa.
'He's alive to this day only because the Saint went easy on him.'
Of course, rumors said Lee Geon had blown away the likes of the Aries Seat, Aquarius Seat, and even Leo Seat, but who knew.
'Aries and Aquarius weren't even combat God Seats to begin with.'
'Leo just acted like a fool on his own.'
But Ssangajwa was none other than the Ruler of the East.
Even excluding Leo, she was on a different level from Aries or Aquarius.
Sure enough.
Heiji and Lee Geon's eyes met.
The beautiful woman, the moment she saw Lee Geon, let out an incredulous laugh.
"How did you get in here?"
She looked ready to bite his head off.
"You absolutely shouldn't be able to enter."
Yes. Originally, he shouldn't be able to.
But.
"Your corps commander was really damn kind."
"!"
When Lee Geon pointed at Choi Seong-hyeok, he was dumbfounded.
'That human, seriously...!'
That's right.
Come to think of it, he still hadn't gotten back his insignia that Lee Geon had scammed and ripped off.
And after learning Lee Geon's identity.
He'd wondered why Lee Geon had specifically targeted his insignia, and when he'd looked into it, this was what he discovered.
'Corps commander-level insignia contain bodily tissue from the Ssangajwa Saint.'
Her hair.
And an S-rank insignia containing a saint's tissue was, simply put, a free pass for Ssangajwa's artifacts.
'He knew that and deliberately ripped it off.'
A damnable man.
Of course, it wasn't a technique just anyone could pull off, but it might be possible for Lee Geon, who had been close to the Twelve Saints.
Anyway, if Ssangajwa found out, his execution was 100% guaranteed.
Ssangajwa was a terrifying person who, if angered by an enemy, would tear off a piece of their body.
But whether that mattered or not, Lee Geon chuckled.
"What, wanna go a round? You, of all people?"
The menacing killing intent was a bonus.
Choi Seong-hyeok flinched.
Whatever happened to the politicians was none of his business, so he'd stayed still, but the situation was different now.
He quickly blocked Lee Geon's path.
"Hold on. Right now is...!"
"Move aside if you don't want to get hit too."
"...!"
Choi Seong-hyeok felt terror.
The moment the words fell, intense magical power clashed.
[Warning. The Two-Faced Lord's holy domain unfolds.]
[The heroic spirits scream.]
At that warning, Lee Geon laughed as if it was laughable.
That's right.
That was a spirit summoning.
Simply put, calling forth souls.
And that was Ssangajwa's specialty as the second magic God Seat, the terrifying technique that differentiated them from the other God Seats.
All Ssangajwa holy knights possessed a second personality.
They implanted heroic spirits summoned from an unknown land called Alfheim into their bodies.
Those heroic spirits became the source of the Ssangajwa holy knights' magical power.
Their characteristics and might changed completely.
And the higher the grade of the heroic spirit possessing them, the higher the holy knight's rank, naturally.
The problem was, when it came to a saint, the grade of their heroic spirit exceeded imagination.
Seeing this, the politicians rejoiced.
'The grade Ssangajwa summons is at least Fairy King-level.'
That was akin to a demigod.
Lee Geon would be nothing.
But soon, they couldn't help but scream.
Something strange was happening.
***
At a similar time.
Cheon Yu-ha, who had followed her uncle, was on the roof of the temporary government residence.
That spot offered the widest view, making it ideal for observing enemies.
Of course, in the meantime, a bomb of messages—1,493 of them—had flown in from her dad, but she'd casually blocked them.
And in that time, messages like [Deputy Corps Commander! We've found the Leo Seat lord's location!], [Where did you go without attending the executive search meeting?] flooded in, but she ignored those too.
More than anything, she hated the Leo Seat.
But it was then.
"Oh my, it's been a long time."
"!"
Someone approached on the roof. A fairly pretty woman, once Cheon Yu-ha's colleague.
Of course, Cheon Yu-ha was from the Korean Leo Seat, and Fujioka Rei from the Japanese Leo Seat, so their nationalities differed.
"Did you come as conference security since you're a corps commander too?"
But soon, Fujioka Rei let out a giggle, as if she'd made a slip.
"Ah, sorry. You're not a corps commander, you're a deputy corps commander, right? It slipped my mind. I got promoted to corps commander this time."
At that, Cheon Yu-ha tilted her head.
"There was no word of personnel changes in the Japanese Leo Seat."
"Ah. I switched over to Ssangajwa. They lost me, so the Leo Seat god's power rating must have dropped, right?"
"...I heard it went up."
"?!"
Fujioka was dumbfounded.
"Anyway, the Magic Association acknowledged it, so I might soon become SS-rank? Unlike someone who became a Ten Star through tricks while being S-rank."
She swept a sly glance over Cheon Yu-ha.
"Well, poor Leo Seat corps commander, stuck unable to become a Ten Star because she's held back by an S-rank. Even though you're SS-rank."
But to Cheon Yu-ha, it seemed to go unheard.
She didn't even pretend to listen.
So Fujioka Rei's face twisted.
If Cheon Yu-ha got upset or cried, at least that'd be cute.
"Oh, right. I saw the press conference video file going around. You must've watched the news like crazy. Even if it's the masked version, it's definitely..."
The moment her uncle was mentioned, Cheon Yu-ha's head turned with a terrifying creak.
Her eyes even looked shocked.
That was understandable.
"I haven't seen it."
"What?"
"They deleted all the videos from the internet too."
"Where is it?"
"What?"
"Where'd you get it?"
"W-what?!"
"Did you save it?"
"Why is she being like this! So scary!"
She hadn't even listened when insulted! As Cheon Yu-ha approached fiercely, Fujioka Rei exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"It's because you're so hung up on Lee Geon that you still haven't been promoted!"
"!"
Fujioka gave a hollow laugh.
Cheon Yu-ha had been a bit strange ever since training together.
An oddball with such beauty who obsessed only over becoming stronger.
She wasn't even a saint, so why on earth did she like Lee Geon? It was baffling.
It was the same when talking with the other corps members.
[Honestly, that face is overkill. Just looking at it makes me nauseous.]
[Ugh, extreme disgust. How can he live with that face?]
Everyone trashed Lee Geon like that, but Cheon Yu-ha was different.
[I think it's like a medal of honor, so it's cool.]
[What?]
[That face came from saving people. As the price of his ability.]
[...!]
[How many people in the world could keep using their abilities knowing they'd become ugly? And for things unrelated to themselves.]
[Hah...! But a monster is still a monster!]
[True.]
Recalling that, Fujioka looked at Cheon Yu-ha's arms and sneered.
'Well, with those arms, she'll never become SS-rank anyway.'
Fujioka Rei grinned smugly.
"Anyway, do you really think that was Lee Geon at the press conference?"
"!"
"Even if it was him, it's a problem. The other nations' corps commanders won't acknowledge it."
"What?"
"You're the one who actually caught the Flame Lord, right? Anyway, beneath us is our great Ssangajwa Saint, and soon the corps commanders will step up to test his skills themselves. So you just keep sucking up to that Lee Geon-nim..."
But it was then.
Boom!
The roof was ripped apart, and something shot out from below.
"!?"
Fujioka Rei was struck by something that flew out and was sent flying.
"Kyaaak!"
Startled, Cheon Yu-ha rushed toward the hole in the roof.
Dust rose from inside.
Peering into the hole, Cheon Yu-ha was shocked.
"Uncle!"
"Ah. Yu-ha, you were up there?"
About a hundred meters below was Lee Geon.
At the same time, Cheon Yu-ha looked in the direction Fujioka Rei had been sent flying.
But now, Fujioka Rei wasn't the priority.
What had just shot up from below?
(To be continued)