Chapter 45

〈 Chapter 45 〉Part 1, Chapter 4 (2)

“Sorry, but I can’t trust that…”

Sky Castle’s statement was acknowledged by Phoenix. There were still many things lacking to gain blind trust.

“Well, how can we earn your trust?”

“Anyone can talk a big game. You seem to be S-Rank, sure, but I’ve never heard of you. Care to share any notable combat history?”

“Explaining that would take all day, and probably drag on until the Hero Association arrives. Just trust me. Blessed are those who believe.”

“…We’re not getting anywhere with this.”

Sky Castle took off his fedora. Scars crisscrossed his forehead where the brim had hidden them.

“Alright then. Assuming you handle those two, do you have the firepower to deal with the remaining 152 heroes?”

“Excuse me, but it seems there’s some major misunderstanding here.”

Phoenix smirked, her lips curling in obvious provocation.

“We could beat whatever number of heroes come with our organization alone. Even if Light Blade comes too, we’d win.”

“You must be possessed by some crazy ghost.”

The Ritual Master came out of the passage, shaking his fan like he was about to exorcise someone.

“What? Beat Light Blade? If you had that kind of power, why are you even here? Why don’t you just go to New Seoul now and cut off all the heroes’ heads?”

“Ho ho ho… So, for the sake of clear communication, let me state this clearly.”

Phoenix snapped her fingers. All the exits from the main hall were blocked by flames.

“The reason we asked you to join us is quite simple. We’re planning to occupy all of Seoul, and we don’t want you showing up later trying to claim a share. That’s it.”

“If you fight alongside the Blue Wind Sect, we’ll recognize your control over your respective territories afterward. However, any territory abandoned by those who flee will be claimed by the Blue Wind Sect.”

“…”

Deokbae’s additional explanation left the Ritual Master frozen in place. His tightly clenched fan looked ready to snap at any moment.

“The Land Dogs of Gangseo have already fled with their tails between their legs. Same goes for others. So, what will you do? Fight or flee?”

“With these forces against the heroes? Impossible.”

Sky Castle slammed his fist on the desk behind him. Broken pieces fell to the floor.

“Tomorrow the heroes will invade New Seoul, and all villains will flee. Has there ever been a successful uprising in this land? They’ve always been crushed by the government. Same thing here!”

“Uprising? You think too highly of yourself, Sky Castle.”

Phoenix tapped the podium.

“We’re villains. We’re bandits who occupied an ownerless Seoul. Those who refused to enter New Seoul and broke free from Sun Icheol’s rule. Isn’t that the essence of the villains who remain in this Seoul soil?”

“There are types like that. But we’re different. Different.”

Sky Castle’s voice rose.

“When the government abandoned Seoul, did they care about the citizens of Seoul? No! They abandoned the people again! They blew up the bridge while people were crossing it! Do you think they’d treat those who remained as citizens when they return to Seoul? Absolutely not. We picked up swords and discarded the law to protect ourselves and survive!”

“Pretty deep distrust of the government, huh?”

“I know Sun Icheol well. He’s no saint. Once he occupies Seoul, he’ll reclaim the ownerless land and redistribute it to New Seoul supporters. The original Seoul citizens will be suppressed using the Pine Tree Brigade.”

“That’s understandable.”

The meeting had turned into a verbal duel between the representatives of the two groups – Phoenix of the Blue Wind Sect urging a fight and Sky Castle of the Villain Coalition hesitating to make a rash judgment.

“We need to fight. If there’s something worth protecting, we need to fight. But we can’t blindly trust you and put all our people in danger. We-”

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

Phoenix clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention.

“We’ll lend you Core Weapons. Lighthouse! How many spares do we have right now?”

“80 firearms models, 30 swords.”

“Send them all. You know how to use them, right?”

“Is this fine? If this gets out, it’ll attract public attention.”

A silent rock monster interjected. Phoenix waved dismissively.

“They’re temporary one-time-use items anyway. Once the core energy is used up, they become useless decorations. And do you really think they’ll have time to worry about Core Weapons?”

“In that case…”

Lighthouse tapped his watch and gave orders to his subordinates. The Ritual Master, who had returned to his seat after leaving the passage, fanned his face and asked.

“Why are you helping so much? It’s not just charity, is it? You’re really just trying to get us under your thumb now, aren’t you?”

“I told you from the beginning. We’re giving you the chance to join the Blue Wind Sect. We’d like to consolidate forces without unnecessary fighting on our side too. Like Architect here.”

“Call me Architect.”

Architect raised an eyebrow when his gaze met Sky Castle’s.

“Not bad for me. If they want to protect our people.”

“Indeed. That’s how you persuaded him.”

Offering A-rank breakthrough opportunities to those stuck at A-rank threshold, and safety to those seeking it…

Sky Castle put his fedora back on.

“…Fine. We’ll form a united front. But we won’t follow your commands.”

“For now, that’s all we can agree to. Okay, got it. But…”

Phoenix bit her lower lip and smiled slyly.

“You’ll need the Blue Wind Sect’s help. Contact us whenever you need our command.”

* * *

<April 12, 2020, 1 PM, Guro Blue Wind Sect Base>

“What made you tell such a lie, Director?!”

Ji Hwa shouted at me, putting down his spoon. I stopped my hand that was about to scoop ice cream.

“It’s not a lie.”

“What isn’t?! Calling the director Settling Frost Princess?! The world’s top water attribute user and strongest freezing magician!”

Ji Hwa seemed about to lose his mind. I put the spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.

“Melt the ice, problem solved.”

All eyes turned to me. I pointed at myself with the spoon.

“Basically, all battles are about elemental advantages. Elemental advantages based on the seven magical attributes. No matter how tough the boss, find its weakness and it becomes easy. Same goes for monsters.”

“If it’s that simple, why has humanity been so helpless against monsters until now?”

In response to Gaehul’s question, I split the flames into seven.

“It’s because the magical attributes haven’t been fully discovered yet. It’ll likely be officially announced in academia in 2-3 years, but who knows it now? Still, the heroes on the field probably have a rough idea through experience – like how fire attribute heroes struggle against water attribute ones.”

“So can a fire attribute director beat a water attribute Settling Frost Princess?”

Shaking his spoon left and right in response to Ji Hwa’s question.

“It’s about level advantage over elemental advantage. Higher magic rank wins unless it’s a hard counter. Have there been any S-rank fire mages before?”

“That’s true, but… Can Phoenix defeat both Hwakwon and Settling Frost Princess?”

I clicked my tongue at Ji Hwa’s concern.

“Of course. If not, we’d have planned a different strategy and fled the country. Anyway, let’s continue discussing battle lines instead of explaining magical relationships.”

I erased the flames on the table and brought up a screen. A map of Seoul appeared.

“The government heavily promoted this operation. They’ll likely come up through these two routes.”

“The route bypassing Gwanaksan?”

“Isn’t it possible through Incheon or Gangwon?”

“It’s possible, but less likely. Heroes are people too, so they’ll likely be transported by car via highways from New Seoul. Or possibly high-speed trains.”

Another screen appeared on the table. The enemy had conveniently announced the full list of participating heroes.

“S-rank 2, A-rank 12, B-rank 27, C-rank 51, D-rank 60. Considering D-rank are mostly logistics and medical teams, that’s practically 92, which means we need to deal with 90 excluding the two S-ranks.”

“…This seems like a very unfavorable fight.”

Deokbae wiped his neck with his hand.

“How much firepower do we have excluding you? Are you planning to take them all down alone?”

“Mr. Jo Deokbae. Who said I’d fight alone? There’s an organization called the Blue Wind Sect.”

My flames spread across various points on the screen.

“We’ll be conducting thorough guerrilla warfare. Urban warfare across Seoul.”

“Planning to turn all of Seoul into a sea of fire?”

Gaehul shot back. Given that we’re cooperating on the condition of rebuilding Seoul, she seemed uneasy about destroying it while fighting.

But no worries. We have a redevelopment expert on our side.

“Even if we destroy all of Seoul, it’s fine. If we supply Architect with time and mana, he can restore everything. We have plenty of cores anyway. If we run out, we can just pop upstairs for a bit.”

“Is that man really that amazing?”

Ji Hwa seemed oddly awkward. Having established our base in Digital District, we’ve likely been monitoring Dongjak near Guro with our special abilities. I clicked my tongue again at Ji Hwa’s doubt.

“Don’t you know what’s happening underground in Dongjak? That gentleman spent six years building a small city down there. Most of Seoul’s refugees are likely there?”

With enough mana, Architect’s ability allows him to construct buildings effortlessly. Realization dawned on Gaehul’s face.

“The underground refugee rumors weren’t false?”

“Thoroughly hidden. Architect’s been digging tunnels toward New Seoul whenever his mana recharges. But the refugee influx exceeds the escape rate.”

“We recruited them by providing weapons and safety.”

“Fortunately, he was someone we could reason with.”

I tapped the table to regain everyone’s attention.

“In short, there’s no need to preserve facilities. Architect won’t leave Dongjak until the battle ends. As long as Dongjak underground remains unharmed, we can join the fight. Therefore, we need to limit the battlefield to here and here.”

Two red circles appeared on the map.

Guro in the west, Gangnam-Seocho in the east.

“Is there any guarantee they’ll come this way?”

“We’ll make them come. By setting traps and bait.”

“Director Ji Hwa, approximately how many cores are left from last time?”

“D-rank 40, C-rank 20. No B or A-rank.”

“…Phoenix, you’re not thinking what I think you are, are you?”

Gaehul’s face went pale. I pulled out the S-rank core hidden in my bosom and smiled.

“Just keeping things simple between us. Monster gathering. Understand? Good for heroes who can collect monsters easily, good for us to define the battlefield by collecting heroes in one place.”

“Planning to fill Gangnam and Guro with bugs?”

“Wouldn’t it be great to gather all of Seoul’s cockroaches in one place and burn them? Since we can control those two areas… We’ll evacuate the people beforehand.”

I subtly checked Gaehul’s reaction. Though she didn’t show it, she seemed slightly relieved.

“Will Heaven Star cooperate?”

“We need to make him cooperate. With monsters rampaging in his front yard and heroes invading, he’ll have no choice but to fight.”

“How about support? Are we really only providing weapons?”

“That’s right. We’ll withhold until they explicitly request orders.”

I marked the administrative districts of Seoul’s map with dots. The areas outside where the Blue Wind Sect had planted flags.

“All wanted villains, but look closely and they’re somewhat different. While there are genuine villains like the Land Dogs of Gangseo or Black Flame Dragon of Gangdong, there are also survival criminals like Architect of Dongjak. These are people who prioritize their own survival to the end; they’re not obedient followers.”

“And what about Guro’s Lighthouse?”

“You were a potential sex offender. Reform in the Blue Wind Sect,怪人 #3.”

“I shall remember that…”

I scooped more melted ice cream into my mouth. It had turned creamy and spread rich strawberry fragrance.

“One thing we must absolutely avoid: killing heroes. Killing heroes unnecessarily would only cause trouble for us. We’re trying to occupy Seoul, not weaken Korea’s national power.”

If we kill heroes recklessly, China or Japan might interfere.

“Our enemies want to capture us, not kill us. This isn’t war. While villain solidarity is broken, hero solidarity is famously tight, right? ‘How dare you kill my comrade OO! Unforgivable!'”

“Rather than provoking them, capturing them as hostages sounds better… Yes, that would be better.”

“Oh, hadn’t thought of that. Thanks, Gaehul. You’re brilliant as always.”

“Cancel! Cancel that last part! Don’t capture them, release them!”

Beeep.

I lightly ignored Gaehul’s protest and tapped my smartwatch alarm. I had already contacted Yuhwa, president of Milky Way through the black market.

[Milky Way]: Let’s revisit our contract. You know what happens if Seoul recapture operation succeeds, right? I’ll get the promised quantity regardless of circumstances. Of course, I trust you, dear customer ^^7

“Look who’s playing both sides.”

I was about to send a message when Gaehul’s eyes met mine.

“Who is it?”

“……Um, business partner?”

Gaehul’s glare was anything but ordinary. She probably felt uncomfortable seeing me casually contacting people while she barely managed to contact her parents.

I lowered the message window. Others seemed uneasy with the cold atmosphere Gaehul was emitting.

“Hem! Alright, let’s summarize.”

At my words, Ji Hwa brought up the meeting notes he was organizing on the screen. Clearing my throat, I pointed at the screens.

“The battlefield is Guro and Gangnam. The lure is monsters. Gather all of Seoul’s monsters in Guro and Gangnam, then ambush the heroes who come to deal with them.”

“The key tactic is guerrilla warfare. The Blue Wind Sect follows my command. Ignore Gangnam until they explicitly request support. Start commanding only when requested. Complete annihilation is fine as long as Dongjak doesn’t fall.”

“Our deployment is simple. Mr. Deokbae at the Guro battlefield, while Director Ji Hwa, Gaehul, and I stay at the headquarters on Yeouido.”

The map showed the Blue Wind Sect’s headquarters marked with a star.

That’s where Sun Icheol is actively searching for the Cube – the National Assembly building.

“Then let’s get started. Time to prepare for the surprise that will shock the nation.”