Chapter 70

〈 Episode 70 〉 Chapter 1, Part 5 (3)

Yun Yuhwa.

The youngest of the Yu-Sung Group, Korea’s top conglomerate. With a background and looks anyone would envy, she appears to have it all—but her character leaves much to be desired.

A reckless brat who relies solely on her family name, prone to hitting people with wads of cash—a certified psycho. If not for her older brothers, she’d have been cast aside long ago. She consistently tops the list of famous individuals people wish would get eaten by monsters.

After much deliberation, society found the perfect single word to encapsulate all these images of Yun Yuhwa.

Yu-Sung’s chaotic troublemaker.

That’s how Yun Yuhwa is publicly known.

Of course, this image was crafted deliberately.

“Does anyone in Korea know that this troublemaker is actually the true master of Yu-Sung, and all the group presidents are just puppets controlled by Yun Yuhwa?”

[Indeed. Besides me, my loyal followers, Elder Light Blade, and young Seok Harang, no one knows this. How did our esteemed customer figure it out?]

On the screen, Yun Yuhwa’s face beams with confidence. But deep inside, her mind must be burning with frustration.

“Well then, here’s a quiz! I’ll give you seven chances under the ‘Yun Yuhwa Chance’ rule to guess how I know about you.”

[Seven chances? Are you mocking me right now?]

“Of course. Puh-hehe.”

7. Yun Yuhwa’s symbolic number.

Among the sixteen official heroines introduced on the site, each was assigned a number based on their introduction order. Yun Yuhwa is number seven.

Bonus fact: Number 7.

To others, it’s a secret—her ability as a Puppeteer allows her to control mechanical puppets like real humans, but only up to seven at a time.

Yae-min is one of them, acting as Yun Yuhwa’s public face for the Yu-Sung Group.

By giving her exactly seven chances, I subtly hinted that I knew about her ability.

After pondering for quite a while, Yun Yuhwa finally spoke.

[…Did we meet somewhere other than the Incheon container?]

“Ding. 1. No, I’ve never met the real Yun Yuhwa. Oh, and every time you’re wrong, I’ll give a hint.”

[Thank you. But if so, there’s no way I could have guessed the truth about my abilities. Even someone S-Rank like Elder Light Blade or Seok Harang might notice, but they wouldn’t know it’s me.]

“Puh-hehe.”

That’s why Yun Yuhwa is great. She controls the entire group and multitasks seven human puppets—she’s incredibly smart, truly a genius beyond words.

Sure, she occasionally makes mistakes due to overthinking, but even among the main heroines, she ranks top-two in intelligence.

Even without direct explanations, if I drop subtle hints, she can deduce truths close to reality.

Yun Yuhwa clapped her hands.

[Then, are you working for some intelligence agency? Honestly, countries like the U.S. or Russia might have uncovered information about me.]

“2. They’re not skilled enough to do that, so don’t worry. Your puppets are hard to detect unless by an S-Rank of exceptional caliber.”

Which makes it odd that Princess Snowflower and Elder Light Blade noticed something.

[Uh… Then, are you a time traveler? Or someone reincarnated?]

“Huh?”

What’s with the sudden shift to fantasy themes? Why bring up time travelers or reincarnated beings?

“Why the sudden leap into fantasy? You’re someone who never speculates without solid evidence.”

At my response, Yun Yuhwa covered her mouth and giggled. Instantly, I realized I had fallen into her trap.

[Ah, I see. You know not only my abilities but also my personality well. Thanks for the hint. Puh-hehe.]

Grinding teeth. She deliberately threw out wild guesses to extract information from me and mocked me by mimicking Phoenix’s laugh.

“Ugh.”

Thinking back, when I followed her personal route, I lost count of how many times I fell prey to such tricks. It’s been too long since I last tangled with her, and I let my guard down.

It’s not that I’m stupid—it’s that this cunning brat is exceptionally intelligent.

“3, 4. No more hints. I’ll only tell you if your answers are right or wrong.”

Yun Yuhwa waved her hand and smiled. Ah, I’ve fallen for another trap.

[Alright. We’ll have plenty of opportunities to learn more about each other later. For now, we have important business to discuss.]

“…”

This woman…

[Why? Do you want to continue? If so, come to my place. Don’t you know where it is?]

“…Do you really think I’d fall for that? Checking if I know where your house is by seeing my reaction?”

[You didn’t bite. Hehe.]

Yun Yuhwa covered her mouth again.

[But you know, usually someone who doesn’t know would argue, ‘How can I go if I don’t know?’ Instead, you paused and changed the subject. Doesn’t seem like our customer enjoys setting multiple traps while talking.]

“…When someone breaks through the roof and lands on your bed, I’ll recognize you instantly.”

Yun Yuhwa chuckled.

[Not denying it, huh? Great. I absolutely adore how straightforward and cool our customer is.]

“Sorry, but my heart already belongs elsewhere, so I can’t reciprocate your feelings. Look elsewhere for deals.”

[Oh dear. Is love something money can’t buy? It’s a shame—I thought maybe I could hire an S-Rank special ability user mercenary to win your affection.]

“Instead, we’re doing some serious trading, right? Go ask around. Can you find any other partner who brings in A-Rank cores as consistently as we do?”

Both Yun Yuhwa and I laughed. Reflecting on our conversation during the container meeting, I’m now certain.

This woman really pairs well with Phoenix.

“Shall we move on?”

[Back to business?]

Perfect timing. I tapped my smartwatch to bring up the screen. Yun Yuhwa quickly scanned the list displayed on the screen.

A full inventory of cores collected over two weeks after the Seoul restoration operation. Yun Yuhwa skimmed through the list, her eyes widening in surprise.

[The quantity is lower this time? There were more before the operation. Have the monsters gone extinct?]

“Nope. We’ve used some internally.”

[I used some?]

I knocked on the bathroom wall lightly.

“All these cores? Used to build this structure. The interior decoration is still lacking though.”

[…]

Yun Yuhwa fell silent. She’s probably thinking hard. Let me predict…

“Yes, you can reconstruct buildings using cores. Yes, there exists someone with that ability. So, what building is being restored? Right now, mainly residential areas. We’re securing living spaces for refugees who remained in Seoul. We’re short on cores because of this.”

[…]

Yun Yuhwa’s expression darkened. Nice hit!

[So-]

“Yes. Therefore, in future transactions, we’d appreciate large quantities of food and relief supplies. We need enough to feed at least sixty thousand people. Right? We can’t keep trading secretly without drawing attention from the government and association. That’s our primary negotiation point with the government.”

[Public acknowledgment.]

Yun Yuhwa cut me off mid-sentence. I nodded kindly before she continued.

[You’re trying to make the government and New Seoul officially recognize the existence of the urban legend—the refugees in Seoul, aren’t you? But for that, there needs to be sufficient compensation. Cores are traded exclusively with me, so that’s not it. Then, it must be…]

Yun Yuhwa laughed, finding the whole situation absurd.

[Using the lives of sixty thousand people in Seoul as leverage to blackmail the government!]

“…Half correct. Puh-hehe.”

No matter how smart Yun Yuhwa is, she doesn’t know about the Cube. Thus, she hasn’t considered the possibility of controlling monsters.

Therefore, the accident involving the envoy team sent by Sun Icheol remains unresolved.

Ten heroes protected by the villain alliance and sixty thousand refugees surrounded by fire-attribute monsters.

That’s right.

In light of these circumstances, we’ve decided to become temporary anti-heroes.

* * *

“…Sixty thousand people living underground in Dongjak? And you expect me to believe that?”

Jang Hujung’s hand trembled. The forbidden urban legend of New Seoul had just been revealed by their opponent.

“Still people alive in Seoul, hiding underground to escape the monsters.”

For most residents of New Seoul, who were displaced from Seoul, this was a problem of an entirely different magnitude compared to dozens of villains squatting in buildings or thievery gangs. Many families, friends, and lovers of the New Seoul residents were left behind in Seoul and lost contact.

In other words, among the sixty thousand people underground in Dongjak, there might be those they had mourned.

Sky Castle tapped the table casually.

“Yeah. Originally, there were more. Luckily, water wasn’t an issue since the Han River was nearby. Food was the problem though…”

Sky Castle glanced at Lighthouse, who adjusted his sunglasses and continued.

“We looted all sorts of food warehouses without being detected by the monsters—grocery stores, department stores, even convenience stores. Unfortunately, most of the supplies were expired, and some were even tampered with by the monsters.”

Lighthouse chuckled sorrowfully. Guro alone was practically a survival training ground. If monster corpses couldn’t be used as human food, unidentified meat would undoubtedly have ended up on plates after someone died.

“Architect James Lee saved sixty thousand refugees. They’ve been hiding underground until now, but given the dangers of dimensional gates, they can no longer stay in Seoul.”

Phantom spoke up.

“Our villain alliance has decided to protect them. You know better than anyone else the current state of Seoul, right? The fire-attribute monsters rampaging in Guro and Gangnam.”

“…It’s like a volcano erupted. That’s what we call it.”

Yu Yinghuo scratched his cheek. The abnormally born fire-attribute monsters. Some were small like canaries, not looking like monsters at all, but they all shared one common trait.

Monsters without cores.

The monsters occupying Guro and Gangnam were strong and fierce, but after defeating them with great effort, they offered no rewards, only engulfed in flames.

Thus, the association redefined these monsters. Creatures moved by magic power—Demon Beasts.

“Yes. Those mysterious monsters are still hunting for prey in Gangnam and Guro. That’s why we’ve chosen Yeouido and Dongjak as our final stronghold. However…”

Lighthouse pointed to the map spread out on the table, tracing a route connecting Dongjak and Anyang.

“The monsters don’t leave Guro and Gangnam, so we can travel between them safely, similar to how you arrived here.”

“Gwanaksan.”

The envoy team chose the hiking trail from Anyang to Yeouido. The steep path prepared by the Fire Dragon and reinforced by Princess Snowflower.

Sky Castle traced the map with his finger.

“There are remnants of the Fire Dragon’s work still lingering, haven’t you felt it? Did you encounter any dangerous monsters while climbing from Anyang to here?”

“…There were a few D-Rank ones near Gwanaksan.”

Jang Hujung nodded.

“I understand what you mean. As public servants, it’s our duty to protect the sixty thousand citizens of Seoul. However, realistically, we don’t have the resources to evacuate them all immediately.”

“That’s why we’re telling you. Simply acknowledge that sixty thousand citizens still remain in Seoul. That’s all we ask. The rest—we’ll handle ourselves.”

“…Are you suggesting you’re establishing a kingdom in Seoul?”

“Puhaha!”

Sky Castle burst into hearty laughter, slapping the table with his massive hand.

“Kingdom?! Are we returning to the Joseon Dynasty? Come on, even if we lived like cavemen down there, we’re still modern citizens of the 21st century under President Sun Icheol. Right?”

“That’s true.”

“Exactly. Just listen to this.”

Sky Castle turned his gaze to the administrator.

“Realistically, the association and government can’t rescue the citizens of Seoul, so we’ll guard this place for now. We’ll act as vigilantes to ensure the Seoul residents survive peacefully.”

“…”

Yu Yinghuo gritted his teeth. Although he didn’t command them, it was undeniable that the association’s heroes were easily toyed with by the monsters and villains in Seoul.

If the villains hadn’t interfered, Seoul would have been reclaimed as Korean territory by now. That’s the prevailing opinion in New Seoul.

“If it weren’t for the Flame Giant and that S-Rank…”

Yu Yinghuo clenched his lips and growled as Sky Castle raised his arms and looked upward.

“They’re unknown to us. If they existed, they would have wiped out the heroes in Gangnam long ago, right? Why keep such power hidden if we’re going to get arrested? That’s what I’m saying.”

That was the issue. If they belonged to the same alliance, why did the Flame Giant and S-Rank rogue operate independently in Guro and Gwanaksan?

“Do you truly expect us to believe they’re completely unknown entities?”

“Believe it or not, that’s your choice. We’d like to know too. What’s their identity?”

The gazes of the villains and the envoy clashed. Sky Castle leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.

“We’re the ones most curious about them. Judging by their attacks on heroes, aren’t they fellow villains? If we cooperate, we’d at least avoid capture by heroes, right? And—”

“We can also protect the sixty thousand Seoul citizens… Of course, none of us knows what might happen to them. Hehe.”

Their words may sound polished, but villains aren’t like heroes driven by goodwill and a sense of mission.

Jang Hujung slammed the table and stood up.

“Are you threatening the lives of sixty thousand Seoul citizens?”

“If we saved them, then…”

Sky Castle grinned wickedly.

“What’s the problem if we abandon them? After all, we’re villains, aren’t we?”