Chapter 614

〈Chapter 614〉 Part 2, Chapter 2, Episode 09

“Damn, I’m screwed!”

Dressed as an office lady, Sun Gyeoul sprinted down the sidewalk. Her situation of being late on her very first day of work made her feel dizzy.

“Why did Dad have to do something like that?!”

Her attempt to get a job at a foreign company, one even connected to Oracle, had reached the ears of Sun Icheol. Because of this, the relationship between father and daughter worsened again, and after a big fight where Sun Gyeoul declared she would leave home, she finally managed to fall asleep.

After only getting about two or three hours of sleep, she woke up to find it was already a little late. Even though she tried to prepare as quickly as possible, there was still a basic amount of time needed for preparation, leaving Sun Gyeoul with no choice but to rush.

“Haa, haa.”

Just barely safe. Sun Gyeoul arrived in front of the office just five minutes before 9 o’clock. The window was open, perhaps for ventilation, and while catching her breath, Sun Gyeoul quietly opened the door.

“I’ve arrived…?”

The scene inside was markedly different from yesterday, causing Sun Gyeoul to tilt her head in confusion.

The largest-sized bed had its mattress changed, and there was no one who should have been inside. Just as she began to relax, thinking she might be the first to arrive, the shower room door opened.

“Oh, Yuna, you’re here?”

“……”

Sun Gyeoul stared at the naked man who emerged for quite some time. He started drying off the water from his body while using a towel to dry his hair.

“You can come in late today, so… uh…”

It was only then that the man realized the person who had arrived was Sun Gyeoul. Sun Gyeoul’s gaze was fixed on the man’s lower half.

Pshhh—ooowww!

Sun Gyeoul’s mind went into an anomie state. It was different from what she had seen as a child when she entered the bathhouse with her father; instead, it looked like a snake had taken residence.

“Eh, eh, well, you see…”

And memories began to surface in Sun Gyeoul’s mind. Though it had been said in jest, his words about possibly needing to have sex with her suddenly came back to her vividly.

“Hmm…”

He wrapped the wet towel around his waist to cover himself.

“Gyeoul-san, sorry to ask you to do something right after arriving.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Could you go down to the first floor and grab some drinks? One thing you want, a strawberry smoothie, and… a Mint Chocolate latte.”

Sun Gyeoul rushed downstairs.

***

“They’ll be gone for a bit to go home and freshen up. Since the shower facilities here are a bit cramped, it’s hard to properly organize them.”

“Yes, yes…”

“There isn’t much difficult work to do here. Do you see that whiteboard over there? Just follow the schedule and act accordingly. While I’m out on business, could you please look after the office and this AI?”

“Allow me to introduce someone—this is Kim Penril.”

Nyaahaaa—

Penril, happily licking the cup of Mint Chocolate latte, let out a pleased meow. Sun Gyeoul tilted her head slightly while repeating Penril’s name under her breath.

“Rather… unique name, isn’t it?”

“You got that right? Taking care of Kim Penril’s food is also part of Gyeoul-san’s duties. At designated times, please go down to the café on the first floor to pick it up. I’ll inform Manager Huan ahead of time.”

The first mission for office worker Sun Gyeoul?

Supplying regular nourishment to strawberry-lover me and mint-loving Penril.

“And another task… you need to drive away any visitors coming to the office.”

“Drive them away?”

“We’ve already posted the notice. Recruitment is now closed. From now on, I plan to personally scout new members.”

“Scout….”

Gyeoul’s gaze briefly glanced at my lower half. Penril cleverly climbed onto my thigh and purred while lying down, and I continued speaking while gently stroking her fur.

“Today’s schedule involves fitting battle suits for three people. I’ll take them directly, so Gyeoul, please wait here with Gaon. Gaon will explain the details.”

Kim Gaon has experience working at Matryoshka. She’s the most suitable person to teach about the Hero Guild disguised as a studio.

“After fitting the three, I’ll also fit yours along with Gaon’s.”

“Me, too?”

“Of course. We might need to go to Seoul for filming, so we must move safely, right?”

Today’s agenda is fitting battle suits. We’ve secured a tremendous amount of funding for it. Once we measure their body sizes, the task will be done.

“Any questions?”

“…If… if we go to Seoul, do we explore the inner areas too?”

“The inner areas?”

“…..Never mind. It’s just… I’m a little nervous about going to Seoul, the city of monsters, because of Dad.”

“Ho ho, worried because of your father, huh? Don’t worry. If necessary, Gyeoul, you can stay behind in the office.”

“……”

Gyeoul remained silent.

***

A short while later.

While I briefly explained our team’s work, the four who had gone home returned to the office.

“Gaon, I’ll leave the office in your capable hands.”

“Leave it to me, boss. If any peddlers show up, I’ll chase them away immediately.”

In the office were Gaon, Gyeoul, and Penril. I climbed into the self-driving taxi waiting outside with the three of them.

“Bro, are you insane?”

When we were alone, Nuri immediately scolded me. Raon, who had already received word from Yuna, didn’t look too happy either.

“What?”

“Dark Legion! Dark Legion! A world domination organization! They’re suspected to be the masterminds behind the Week of Blood!”

“That’s true.”

The villain organization at the top of the global monster hierarchy. They control beasts and create superhumans. Though their leader remains shrouded in mystery, the organization operates through seven executives.

“But you’re trying to recruit one of them? Kim Penril? Are you kidding me?”

“…Penril of Gale. Over a thousand heroes have died by his hand. If this gets out, even … Commander wouldn’t be safe.”

“It’s fine. He’s just keeping his name on the roster like Princess Snowflower. Besides, he’s currently on hiatus from his duties as a Dark Legion executive.”

“……??”

They were confused. Even Yuna, who had already heard the explanation, looked at me with a complicated expression. Since we still had some time before reaching the suit shop, I explained to them how I persuaded Penril.

* * *

Early morning.

After sending Eun-Yuha away, I deliberately entered a secluded alley where no one could see me.

“Reveal yourself.”

Though I might seem crazy talking to an empty alley, sound does carry with the wind.

“If you’ve already gotten what you wanted, at least show your face, Penril.”

“…Guess I’ve been spotted.”

Green winds swirled through the alley. In front of me appeared a green-haired woman clad in a black rider suit.

“Shall I say ‘pleased to meet you’?”

“Hmm. Since you’re bound to die soon anyway, exchanging pleasantries won’t hurt.”

Penril was utterly relaxed. Even in a place guarded by Light Blade, Penril could freely enter and exit because wind exists everywhere.

“Is your presence around me solely for the purpose of killing me?”

“Yeah. I won’t tell you when though. If I do, you’d definitely take precautions.”

“Even if I struggle desperately, you’ll kill me instantly, right?”

“You know me pretty well. What an honor, Commander.”

Penril raised her nails seductively and laughed. The emerald-green wind blades protruding from her knuckles seemed ready to split my torso in two at any moment.

“Pity. There are still plenty of women I haven’t slept with.”

“Sorry, but that’s not happening. The more you sleep around, the more trouble it causes for us. For the peaceful destruction of the world, you’ll have to die.”

“Not right now, though, Penril.”

“…True. Hmm.”

Penril yawned. She was so laid-back it was almost overwhelming.

“Let’s make a deal. Join my side. I’ll give you a lot of help.”

“Feh. What kind of help?”

“Hmm. Like providing you with Mint Chocolate daily?”

“….Do you think I’d betray Dark Legion just for Mint Chocolate? Sorry to disappoint, but even if you’ve done some research on me, do you really think anyone would abandon their organization for just Mint Chocolate?”

“Wow. You calling me stupid? There’s no way anyone in the world would betray their organization for just Mint Chocolate.”

Shock. Penril called me stupid. She wasn’t falling for the Mint Chocolate.

‘Duh. It’s 2025.’

There’s something more important than the daily three cups of Mint Chocolate for Penril, who’s operating in mission mode.

“You’re worried about P, aren’t you? The Blue Flame’s P.”

“…You bastard.”

Penril’s eyes began to gleam with killing intent. Her ease gradually disappeared.

“Didn’t you think I’d know about the existence of that person? Azidahaka, Hydra, Karna, Chaos, Rusalka. And the seventh executive hidden behind the veil. Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”

“When and where did you find out? Answer me!”

“Even if I answer, you wouldn’t understand. The important thing is that I know about P.”

Pfft. My throat tightened. In the blink of an eye, Penril grabbed my neck with her sharp nails.

“If you don’t answer properly, I’ll crush you right here.”

“I’ll answer. If I don’t, you won’t trust me. Hmm, why do you think I left America to come to Korea?”

“……”

The countless infrastructures aside, the reason the protagonist came to Hell-Joseon and the reason Oracle risked everything to send me to Korea is just one.

“America is already under that person’s control. To be precise, the president is being coerced by force… but that’s beside the point. Anyway, I know a lot more than you think. I’m not just any ordinary commander.”

“Seems like it. But so what? Either way, death is the same.”

That’s true. Death is the same for everyone. But that applies to the executives as well.

“Actually, you’re trying to kill me because you don’t want to die, right?”

“……”

Penril fell silent. That hit the nail on the head.

The reason Penril sticks to her mission so faithfully is because someone higher up pushes her to the brink of madness. No one loves freedom and indulgence more than Penril, yet she diligently follows the mission to kill me because if she doesn’t, she’ll end up dying herself.

“Create a plausible excuse. Even if you fail the mission, P will laugh it off and let it slide.”

“Plausible… excuse?”

“Exactly. For that, I’ll need logs of your conversations with P.”

“……”

Penril didn’t lower her guard. Given that it involved P, she wasn’t willing to share her information easily. Honestly, even without all the details, it wouldn’t cause major problems.

“Your conversations are conducted in local languages, right?”

“That’s right. If we use English unnecessarily in Korea, people might find it strange.”

“In that case, let’s assume you spoke Korean. What language did P use?”

“English?”

“Right. So when did P set the deadline for the mission?”

“……Korea Time?”

“Exactly. But here’s the thing…”

I pulled up two maps. One showed South Korea in blue, and the other North Korea in red.

“There are two Koreas on the Korean Peninsula. Republic of Korea and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

“What’s the difference?”

“One’s clock is still ticking, while the other’s has stopped.”

“……?”

Penril still didn’t understand. So I decided to reveal the answer to this unbeatable logic to ease her suspicion.

“Don’t you get it? In North Korea, they count years differently. They start counting from the birth year of North Korea’s supreme leader.”

“……”

Penril quickly searched her magical gear and broke into a wide smile.

“With this, I can buy 1900 extra years…!”

“Right. This guy was born 1900 years after Messiah.”

“But P told me to calculate using AD… specifically, to kill you by March 1st, AD 2025…”

“Hmm, the key point isn’t that. It’s about strongly appealing to P with such absurd logic. I don’t want to carry out this mission. I want to relax and enjoy myself more. I want to stretch this mission until December and spend more time playing in Korea.”

“Are you serious? Do you think I haven’t tried that?”

Penril earnestly confronted me. But the moment she took the bait I threw, she was already trapped in my trap.

“So now, you just need to act cute. Isn’t the world supposed to end on December 25th anyway? I’ll try my best to protect the world for eleven months, but isn’t it okay for you to start moving in December?”

“…Are you magnanimous, or just plain crazy?”

“Whichever it is, the important thing is that you’ll join my team by the end of November. Personally, I have some experiments I want to conduct.”

Click. I approached Penril and placed my hand on the wall next to her face. Our breaths were close enough to feel each other, but Penril didn’t flinch.

“Can magic power be supplied to an executive?”

“……Huh?”

Penril’s face turned red.

“Executives are ultimately special ability users, right? So if we have sex, wouldn’t my magic power increase? Wouldn’t you become stronger too?”

“W-Wait a minute.”

Flustered, Penril took a step back, but the wall blocked her escape.

“Alright, that was my personal wish. Now, here comes the real part.”

I lowered my tone and revealed the real method for Penril to persuade P.

“Tell P this while delivering a whole strawberry cake: you’ve infiltrated deep into enemy territory as a spy. You haven’t been discovered yet. Create a perfect character. How about becoming a green-cat-eared maid girl? Then, send real-time updates about our teammates. Who joined and who had sex with me.”

“……”

“Exactly. Become an enemy within. Surely, P would love that. Heroes will gather around the last commander of humanity. Then, convince him that we can be wiped out all at once. Appropriately boast that with your strength, you can sweep away even 100 or 1,000 men gathered by someone like me.”

“Will… will that work?”

Bingo. Asking if it would work was itself proof that she had been convinced. I patted Penril’s shoulder and smiled.

“Of course. I know P better than anyone else in this world.”

The only way to bring Penril into our team.

“If P doesn’t buy it, then it’s fine to cut off my head.”

The fact that someone holding a sword to Penril’s neck lowers it is precisely the method to bring Penril to our side.