Chapter 217

〈Chapter 217〉 Part 1, Chapter 10, Section 20

It had been quite a while since Phoenix and Baek Hee-a entered the room alone.

Those waiting outside grew increasingly anxious as the conversation dragged on longer than expected. Among them, none were more restless about the situation inside than Hwakwon master Lee Seung-hyeong.

“Could even the Executioner have been swayed?”

He was aware of a certain secret about Cheongnyeon that no one else knew. But he never imagined Cheongnyeon would storm out of a negotiation room and request a private meeting with the Executioner in his own quarters.

“I’ve been had.”

Phoenix knew everything about the VIP facilities.

All Lee Seung-hyeong could do was wait quietly outside while straining his ears to catch any sound from the VIP room.

Peeeeeek.

“Oh, it’s opening!”

The fortress-like door finally opened. Those who had anxiously waited outside greeted the Executioner with relief.

“How long did the meeting last?”

“…Three hours.”

Upon hearing the casual chatter from the heroes behind him, Lee Seung-hyeong checked his watch. He thought it had been a long time already, but he never expected it to stretch for a full three hours.

What could they have discussed? And worse, did the Executioner make some kind of backroom deal with Phoenix?

Clack. Clack.

Baek Hee-a emerged from the room with unusually determined steps and stood before Lee Seung-hyeong. Her previously sunken eyes and sallow complexion were gone, replaced by bright eyes and glowing skin as if she’d had a full night’s rest.

“…Lee Seung-hyeong.”

Baek Hee-a discarded her usual practice of addressing heroes by their code names and called him by his personal name. Her trembling voice was a mix of anger, frustration, embarrassment, and irritation.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Huh?”

Thud! Baek Hee-a rose on her tiptoes and grabbed Lee Seung-hyeong by the collar.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

“Wait, wha-?! Ugh?!”

Baek Hee-a shook him violently back and forth, venting her frustration. The ears under her beret were bright red, looking like they might burst at any moment.

“If you had told me sooner, none of this would have happened!!!”

“B-but, so what exactly?! Executioner, please calm down!”

“Does it look like I can calm down right now?!”

“It’s not his fault.”

Phoenix followed Baek Hee-a out. People immediately sensed something major had happened from his slightly turned head and pitiful smile.

“…It’s just that Lee Seung-hyeong is too kind-hearted.”

“Huh?!”

Lee Seung-hyeong raised his voice in protest. Meanwhile, Phoenix looked like a tragic heroine, lowering his head with a melancholy expression as if he had swallowed a bitter pill.

“It’s my fault, so please don’t be too hard on him.”

“A-ah, really… Lee Seung-hyeong. We need to talk separately later, understood?”

“Y-yes, yes sir.”

Baek Hee-a seemed to finally calm down somewhat, taking a deep breath and clearing her throat. Everyone’s attention was on her as she bowed respectfully.

Phoenix.

“Please have a comfortable rest. I will brief you first on today’s discussions shortly.”

“Yes, thank you. Director Executioner.”

Phoenix re-entered the room with a wistful expression. Baek Hee-a glared at the firmly closed door for a while before clapping her hands.

“I’ll brief everyone on the details soon! Please return to your positions and await further notice. Unsah!”

“I’m here.”

Park Ra-on, who had been standing quietly against the wall, stepped forward. Baek Hee-a pointed to the VIP room’s entrance.

“Please guard this area until tomorrow morning. Ensure nothing happens.”

“Director Executioner.”

Park Ra-on asked hesitantly with a trembling voice.

“Do I have to do this alone…?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Well, uh…”

Park Ra-on glanced around nervously, showing signs of hesitation. Baek Hee-a’s lips trembled, but she forced herself to maintain her composure and pointed at the door.

“There won’t be any issues like you’re thinking, so please guard it properly. You can trust me.”

“B-but if I need to step away-”

“There won’t be such a situation. If you’re still worried, I’ll assign Pungbaek and Usa to assist you. Is that fine? Please accommodate any requests from Miss Cheongnyeon. Since it’s you, I trust you with this task. Understand?”

“That’s not really a solution…”

Despite his complaints, Park Ra-on had to stand guard by the door. Additionally, an unsuspecting middle-aged man who had fallen asleep early and an old man enjoying makgeolli were pressed into service, having to put on formal attire for overnight guard duty.

“Unsah, isn’t this cruel treatment? Don’t you think so, sir?”

“Ho ho ho, we should be more careful with our words going forward. Oof.”

“Pl-please help me, seniors. If I mess up today…”

Unable to finish his sentence, Park Ra-on watched as the heroes left after casting long gazes at the VIP room.

“What on earth happened during those three hours…?”

Only Lee Seung-hyeong’s hollow voice echoed through the corridor.

* * *

30 minutes earlier.

Baek Hee-a woke up feeling more refreshed than ever.

After being awake for nearly 40 hours, her body’s fatigue had completely vanished thanks to the incredibly soft and comfortable place she rested in.

“Hnnng…”

I want to sleep more. Just 10 minutes, or maybe 5…

Baek Hee-a rubbed her cheek against the fluffy pillow, savoring its softness.

“If you come any closer, I’ll get angry.”

“…Huh?”

Baek Hee-a gradually regained consciousness upon noticing something blocking her forehead.

In front of her eyes, white fingers crossed her line of sight. When she turned her head, a blue-skinned woman was looking down at her from above.

“Did you sleep well?”

“I slept well -”

Swoosh!

Baek Hee-a shot up like lightning.

“What, what?!”

“It’s nothing serious. You looked exhausted, so I put you to sleep for a bit.”

Phoenix demonstrated by cutting the air with the edge of her hand. Baek Hee-a instinctively felt a chill down her neck.

“Uh, what exactly is going on here…?”

“You looked terrible before sleeping, so I made you take a little forced rest.”

Phoenix patted her thigh. Realizing she had been resting her head on that thigh, Baek Hee-a felt embarrassed, though she had no time to dwell on it as memories of before sleeping came back.

“Who are you…?”

“Now you seem able to have a rational conversation.”

Phoenix waved at Baek Hee-a. In the blink of an eye, her arm transformed into a monster’s gauntlet.

“Ta-da! Surprise! Are you awake now, ma’am?”

“Who’s the ma’am? Ugh…”

Baek Hee-a pressed her head for a while before shaking it vigorously.

“Here’s some water.”

“Thank y-…”

Baek Hee-a stopped when she grabbed the appropriately warmed cup.

“…”

“Why?”

At that moment, Baek Hee-a felt an overwhelming urge to slap the grinning face of Phoenix with her palm. However, fearing what might happen if she did, she drank the water instead to steady herself.

“Hmph. Fine. Let’s start with the first question then.”

“Oh, I absolutely love Twenty Questions.”

“…”

Carefully placing the cup she was holding on the bedside table to avoid throwing it, Baek Hee-a proceeded cautiously.

“Are you an SS-Rank villain?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Phoenix nodded readily. The monstrous arm served as evidence.

“So there was a reason you appeared in the women’s restroom… sigh.”

“Uh, well, I was sneaking around and following you, so don’t worry about that. Even if it wasn’t the restroom, I would have found some secluded alley to talk to you privately.”

“I see. Then next question: How did you manage to appear on the bus again…? No, never mind, that doesn’t matter. If you’re truly SS-Rank, arriving before the bus would be no big deal, right?”

“…”

Phoenix remained silent. The association hadn’t yet realized that Cheon Gaeul possessed not only the ability to copy powers but also the capability for complete transformation, known as ‘Perfect Transformation.’

As Phoenix stayed quiet, Baek Hee-a began asking the questions she truly wanted answers to.

“Why did you reveal your identity to me?”

“Just to prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings? For example, if Phoenix turned out to be a 2-meter bald giant.”

“Are you saying you revealed yourself just for that reason?”

“Not exactly. It was more of a bonus, but the real reason is different.”

Phoenix tapped the bedsheet with her palm.

“Miss Baek Hee-a, would you like to team up with me?”

“Refused. Are you trying to sway me again even now?”

“Of course. It would be too wasteful to lose someone with your talent.”

“Don’t you have limits on how much you pursue people? Do you flirt with everyone you meet?”

“Nope. It’s because you’re Baek Hee-a. Heheh.”

Phoenix kept spouting incomprehensible words. Baek Hee-a felt her head might explode if she continued the conversation.

“I will never team up with a villain.”

“But you were so submissive towards Cheongnyeon and tried to recruit him to the association, right?”

“That was before I knew you were a villain. So why did you reveal yourself? If you had stayed quiet, you could have deceived me freely.”

Baek Hee-a spoke harshly, her tone becoming increasingly rough. However, Phoenix maintained a composed expression and brushed off her anger effortlessly.

“If I hadn’t told you, you probably would have continued suffering from insomnia and sleepless nights, wouldn’t you?”

“…”

“No way. I’m sure of it. You’d keep losing sleep over worries, eventually resorting to sleeping pills just to get some rest.”

“You’re cursing me now.”

“Is it a curse? Heheh. Well, let’s save that topic for later.”

Phoenix reached into her pocket and pulled out two small orbs.

“Here’s a present for you.”

“…”

“As you can see, these are the cores of Earth Dragon and Water Monkey.”

“Are you boasting about catching them?”

“I said it’s a present, didn’t I?”

Phoenix casually rolled the two cores between her fingers. Watching her treat S-Rank cores like marbles, Baek Hee-a felt dizzy.

“Does anyone give presents like this?”

“Here.”

“…Sigh, fine. Even if they’re S-Rank cores, I won’t accept them. They’re just bribes.”

“Think of it as payment for the ferry fare. That’s all.”

Phoenix held up two fingers.

“For your private aircraft, the Baegnaroh. This is the cost for its round-trip ticket.”

“Wh-what are you implying?”

Baek Hee-a immediately caught on to my meaning. Before she could speak, I quickly interjected.

“In the future, Beast Tamer Cheongnyeon will likely travel abroad frequently for official visits. There’s no need for covert sky travel. Naturally, he’ll have to take flights, but we don’t want a repeat of the mid-air explosion incident from last time.”

Phoenix subtly moved closer to Baek Hee-a. Though she tried to inch backward, she soon hit the wall.

“That’s why you were piloting the returning flight, weren’t you? Wow, such comfort. No matter how luxurious other private jets may be, none can surpass yours.”

“So you’re trying to buy our family’s private aircraft?”

“Nope. It’s the fare for your personally piloted private aircraft. What I want to negotiate with you is this.”

Finally, Phoenix got to the main point.

“The next time we need to travel overseas for monster extermination missions, I’d like to ride on your aircraft, with you as the captain.”

“…”

“You know about my special ability…!”

“Yes. I know. Very well. Don’t worry about how I found out; just make your decision. Don’t you enjoy making choices for the good of the nation?”

Phoenix pressured Baek Hee-a to agree.

“Wow! Following Cheongnyeon alone yields numerous S-Rank cores! This feels like it could greatly benefit the country’s future!”

“Even without you, we can obtain cores easily. For instance, during the recent Black Scorpion incident -”

“I started that.”

Phoenix pulled several more orbs from her pocket and scattered them on the bed. Seeing unregistered S-Rank cores pour out before her eyes, Baek Hee-a felt dizzy again.

“I originally planned to monopolize them all, but one of my subordinates advised me to show some generosity.”

“…”

“You’re insane.”

Even with Phoenix’s breath almost touching her face, Baek Hee-a only became angrier.

“Yes. Insane. Why am I insane? Because -”

“Why did you share them?! You should have swept them all up and claimed them for our country! Knowing there were thousands of Black Scorpions, you should have handled it exclusively in secret!”

“…”

“Ah, so that’s what you mean by insanity. Hmm.”

Phoenix twisted his lips.

“Yeah, that’s your true nature coming out. Looks like you’re starting to show your real colors?”

“…”

“Because you revealed your identity, right? If you were just another villain who killed Kwanggeom, things would be different. But calculating things changes when you’re the most sought-after ramen shop owner in the world, doesn’t it?”

Baek Hee-a smiled smugly.

“If you’re a villain who ruins the country, that’s one thing. But if you’re a hero who enhances national prestige, we can do business, right?”

“Whether villain or hero, Phoenix is Korean, right? So that settles it.”

“What if I were a foreigner?”

“In that case, I would use every means possible to naturalize you or fight to the death.”

Phoenix’s expression hardened as he locked eyes with Baek Hee-a.

“Then let’s begin the real negotiations now, Lady Sun Icheol.”

“Who are you calling Lady Sun Icheol? I’m not that crazy. That’s extremely disrespectful.”

“…”

“Still not there yet? Then what shall we call you?”

Phoenix grinned and teased Baek Hee-a.

“Let’s keep talking then, General Hee-a.”

“I really want to hit you.”

“It’s just a figure of speech. Heheh.”

Having shed their artificial facades, the two dove into serious “negotiations.”