novelraw Chapter 183 : Intermission: New Year’s Day (2)
Chapter 183 : Intermission: New Year’s Day (2)
Clang…
Silken Bodhisattva carelessly tossed aside her blade, sending it scraping across the floor.
She was drenched in sweat as she stepped down from the ritual guillotine.
“Kagh!”
Wiping the blood that trickled from the corner of her mouth, she reported to Chun-hyang.
“I’ve laid the Cursewrit on every target on the kill list.”
“You’ve worked very hard.”
The sacrifices who had been dancing in a circle around the ritual guillotine now lay dead.
Chun-hyang surveyed the long ring of corpses and asked, “Was it a complete success?”
“…No. I failed on exactly one target.”
Her face pale, the Silken Bodhisattva reeled from the backlash of her failure and spat the words.
“The President’s daughter. Dia Kim.”
“What?”
“That name… it wasn’t her real one.”
“Pfft. And here I thought it was just a strange name.”
Chun-hyang covered her mouth and giggled.
“So he had at least one basic precaution in place for his daughter. That man… honestly.”
“…”
Even after sacrificing hundreds of lives to obliterate an entire nation’s government, Chun-hyang seemed utterly serene, as if she’d just finished a mundane chore.
Silken Bodhisattva, the one who had carried out the deed, glanced down at her own trembling fingertips before asking Chun-hyang, “I don’t understand.”
“Hm?”
“The world is going to end in ten years anyway.”
She met Chun-hyang’s crimson eyes.
“Is there really a reason to… destroy everything like this? To end it with our own hands, right now?”
“Of course there is.”
Chun-hyang chuckled and rose to her feet.
“The late President claimed that when the Awakened use their powers, some sort of contamination worsens, the ‘Erosion Rate’ goes up, and eventually the ‘Gate’ will open, destroying the world… but no. The truth is the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
“When humanity has sufficiently Awakened and can wield that power at will, only then do we earn the right… to open the Gate.”
It wasn’t that the Gate would inevitably open because the Awakened used their powers.
Rather, the Awakened had to use their powers in order to open the Gate.
Chun-hyang was speaking of a world where cause and effect were reversed.
“This whole process is just one big ‘tutorial.’”
“A tutorial…?”
“It was a classic trope in old fantasy novels. Don’t you know? To prepare humanity for a clash with another world, they grant us Awakening abilities and give us trials as a so-called tutorial.”
Chun-hyang shrugged.
“Truth is, humanity completed the tutorial thirty years ago, the day they defeated the first Demon Lord. We could have opened the Gate then… but the cowardly Old Five got scared and slammed it shut.”
“…”
“I’m just trying to open that Gate now, albeit a little late.”
Silken Bodhisattva asked hesitantly, “What’s behind the Gate?”
“That’s what we’re doing this for, to decide that for ourselves.”
Chun-hyang smirked. “We can’t just wait for the Gate to open on its own. We have to open it ourselves and go there of our own free will.”
Her red eyes stared off toward Seoul.
“If I’m going to hell anyway, I’d rather go to a hell of my own choosing…”
***
The Blue House. The Presidential Office.
Before the scene of the massacre, a man stood with a grim expression.
Blond hair, a youthful face, a blue suit, and a white scarf.
It was Ryu Yeon, the opposition party leader and congressman who, by agreement with the president, had become minister of the newly established Ministry of the Future. The “Archmage.”
The bodies had already been removed, but the office was still soaked in blood.
Ryu Yeon’s fists clenched, his knuckles turning white as he took in the horrific sight.
“Congressman Ryu Yeon. No, Minister Ryu Yeon.”
A voice came from behind. He turned to see an aide from the President’s office hurrying toward him.
“In this incident, the President, the Prime Minister, and every member of the cabinet have been killed.”
The aide took a breath and faced Ryu Yeon, his tone resolute.
“With the President incapacitated, you, Minister Ryu Yeon, must assume the duties of Acting President.”
Startled by the unexpected declaration, Ryu Yeon pointed to himself. “Me?”
“Authority is succeeded by cabinet members in the order prescribed by law. And, as of now, the only surviving cabinet member… is you, Minister Ryu Yeon.”
Ryu Yeon let out a hollow, disbelieving laugh.
“The opposition party leader succeeding the presidency… What kind of sick joke is this?”
“There is no procedure for appointing an Acting President. You must assume your duties immediately, effective now.”
Ryu Yeon squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before he gave a heavy nod.
“What’s the current situation?”
“All ministers and vice-ministers of every government department are dead. The government is completely paralyzed.”
“Just as the presidency fell to me, the bottom of the cabinet, each ministry must follow its own line of succession. Find the next-in-command for each department and convene them. We’re holding an emergency meeting.”
The aide led Ryu Yeon to a newly prepared conference room where people from various government departments had already gathered.
Ryu Yeon declared to them: “The monsters who committed this heinous act of terror must be punished accordingly.”
“…”
“They’re the ones who wanted a war, so let us give them one.”
The faces in the room, a mixture of grief and fury, nodded in unison.
Ryu Yeon gave the order. “As Acting President, I declare a national state of emergency. Immediately convene the New Five Heroes and have all military units on standby for deployment to—”
“Sir, it’s urgent!”
Another aide burst into the conference room.
Panting for breath, he delivered the news. “A group calling themselves the Crimson Poverty Front… is attacking Hero Tower!”
The name shocked them, but the target of the attack shocked them even more.
Ryu Yeon’s face had disbelief written all over it.
“They really have a death wish. As if this massacre wasn’t enough, they’re launching a direct assault on the strongest Hunters?”
“…”
“What’s the situation at Hero Tower?”
The aide, sweating profusely, replied, “Well, sir, most of the New Five Heroes are currently outside of Seoul on Gate defense duty. They’re saying the response is inadequate…”
A look of dismay crossed Ryu Yeon’s face as he asked urgently, “Most of them? Then… which Hunters are left at Hero Tower right now?”
“Of the New Five Heroes, the one with the least combat power…”
The words that followed made every face in the room turn pale.
“Only Death-Medic.”
***
Yeongdeungpo, inside Hero Tower.
“Hold them back!”
“These damn bastards, do they know where they are?!”
A firefight had broken out in the wrecked building entrance.
Agents in black suits erected barricades and fired their weapons at the intruders.
The Hero Tower Security Team weren’t used to seeing combat.
And why would they be?
This was Hero Tower. The headquarters of the Republic of Korea’s strongest
Hunters. No fool with a death wish would ever dare to attack this place.
But now, those fools had arrived. And they possessed a level of combat prowess far beyond that of ordinary Villains.
Flash!
The Blinker in the shabby brown coat and Choraengi Mask was the first to enter the fray.
Jeon Woo-chi used a series of lightning-fast teleports, snatching the weapons from the security guards’ hands.
“Huh?”
“What the—”
In a blur, the assassin in the Imae Mask, a ring of energy glowing behind her as she moved at high speed…
Iljimae rushed forward, dual-wielding daggers.
“Kegh!”
“Aargh!”
Before they could draw other weapons, the guards fell, spraying blood.
And for the agents who barely managed to pull out their sidearms?
A muscular knight with a massive greatsword dealt with them. A man in the Butcher’s Mask.
Chevalier charged.
THOOM!
The sound of his foot hitting the ground echoed through the lobby.
“Fire!”
“Stop him!”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
The knight charged through the rain of bullets like a tank.
Using his greatsword to deflect the hail of bullets, he simply crushed the defensive line, smashing the security team members to the ground.
CRUNCH…!
In an instant, the entrance was cleared. The three intruders calmly walked deeper into Hero Tower.
But they were forced to a halt before long.
“That’s far enough.”
A group of people stood waiting for them in the corridor ahead.
“You will not defile this place with your filthy feet.”
Chosen Two, Mu-gung Hwa.
And with her were the assistants and secretaries of the other Heroes.
Click.
Their Awakening Inhibitors disengaged in unison from their wrists. Feeling her power return, Mu-gung released the safety on the pistol in her hand.
“Power restoration confirmed. Prepare for combat.”
Jeon Woo-chi clicked his tongue. “Hey, scrubs. Don’t get ahead of yourselves. You don’t have to die if you just stay put.”
“We may be lacking, but we too have fought alongside the Five Heroes.”
Click!
Mu-gung aimed her pistol forward and snarled, “I’d rather die here than let villains like you pass.”
“Then as you wish…”
Flash!
Using his signature Blink, Jeon Woo-chi teleported behind Mu-gung, a smirk on his face.
“I’ll kill y—?!”
But Mu-gung had already pivoted, her pistol aimed right at him.
Horrified, Jeon Woo-chi frantically kicked the gun away and tried to Blink back.
But Mu-gung’s other hand clamped down on his shoulder, and she teleported with him.
“We already have your combat data.”
“…!”
From the moment the Crimson Poverty Front had declared war, Mu-gung had been analyzing their data.
She had reviewed records of their previous encounters as the Black Parade and had finished researching the abilities of those identified as Crimson Poverty Front members.
“Codename Jeon Woo-chi. When you teleport, anything you’re touching goes with you.”
“This bitch…!”
Jeon Woo-chi tried to pry her hand off, Blinking repeatedly, but Mu-gung desperately clung to him and used her own ability.
My ability is… Force Break!
The palm of the hand gripping him flashed with white light.
BOOM!
The ability activated, and Jeon Woo-chi’s tattered brown coat exploded in a circle.
“…!”
But in that split second, Jeon Woo-chi had managed to shed the coat and roll backward.
“Whoa, that was way too close… You’re pretty good, lady.”
Jeon Woo-chi, dripping with cold sweat, lifted one corner of his mouth.
“But I’m afraid it’s time we parted ways…”
“…?!”
By the time Mu-gung whirled around, it was too late.
Fwish!
Iljimae’s daggers tore into Mu-gung’s back, and an instant later, Chevalier’s charging greatsword slammed into the side of her jaw.
“Kah…”
A bloody Mu-gung crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Her comrades who had stood against the villains with her were already down. They had finished off the last one standing.
Jeon Woo-chi was grinning as he picked up her fallen pistol and aimed it at her.
But then…
“Domain, Advent.”
Death-Medic’s languid voice echoed through the area.
“Golden Hour.”