After summoning all of his equipment, Junhyuk turned on the camera. He could see their faces, and after looking at each other, the American, Steve, spoke up.
“We’ve made a decision.”
Junhyuk remained silent, simply staring at him, and Steve cleared his throat. At that point, Kaito said, “I apologize for my comments.”
Junhyuk stared at Brigadier Kaito. They did not want problems with Junhyuk since he was the only one to destroy a tear. So, the Japanese delegate, Brigadier Kaito, had been pressured by the other countries to make that apology.
“I want to make this absolutely clear, if there are any other disagreements, you should let me know now.” He continued, “That way I can make my own decision.”
His statement carried nuance, and the delegates frowned.
The decision he would make would be simple. He would delay destroying the tears. As a result, astronomical damage would befall those countries.
They were all frowning, and Junhyuk asked, “What is your decision?”
Steve explained, “There are a hundred monster areas. Every country will contribute. So, for each destroyed tear, we are willing to pay you $500 million. When you finish the job, you’ll have earned $50 billion.”
Steve looked confident, but Junhyuk laughed at him. He would get mana and bloodstones from the areas, so he would earn way more than $50 billion.
Junhyuk nodded and answered, “OK. But I must have the rights to the monster bodies, and the items dropped in the area. I’ll agree to $500 million under those conditions.”
Steve was aghast. Most did not know about it, but some of the delegates knew of the inherent value of monster areas.
Junhyuk continued, “I told you before that I will be risking my life. However, I have no intention of dying. And I also have to pay my team members. I won’t force them to work for free. So, decide now.”
They all looked despondent, and he asked, “What is your decision?”
Steve looked at the others. He was looking specifically at the delegates from China, Russia and the United Kingdom. They all nodded, and Steve sighed deeply.
“We must all agree to the terms. So, each country will keep the monster bodies and resulting items, but we will pay you $1 billion for each tear you destroy. How about that?”
The truth was that it wasn’t hard for him to kill monsters elsewhere, so after some thought, he answered, “OK, but no country will tax me or my team members.”
Steve did not have a chance to reply because the Chinese delegate suddenly spoke up, “That’s nonsense! Every team member must pay taxes to his or her country.”
Junhyuk looked at the other delegates and said, “I’ve heard the Chinese opinion. Does anyone have anything else to say?”
The Chinese delegate scowled. Junhyuk was making all of the decisions by himself. If he didn’t focus on a country first, the damage would be absurd. The monster areas’ radii increased by one kilometer every five days. Those who would be last in line would lose major cities. In five hundred days, the radii for the areas of monster-controlled territory would reach a hundred kilometers.
Biting his lips, the Chinese delegate said, “I agree with you.”
They wanted him to go to his or her country sooner than later, so they all agreed with him. Junhyuk was thinking that the team members would be risking their lives, so he had to pay them accordingly. Himself as well.
“OK. Then, write up an official contract agreeing to what we discussed just now. When you have all signed the contract, I will begin moving.”
Steve frowned and said, “Sure, we’ll get it done. But could you tell us one thing?”
Junhyuk stared at Steve, and Steve swallowed hard.
“How long will it take to destroy each tear?”
Junhyuk thought about it and said, “It depends on the teams, but at least five days for each tear.”
A tear would be gone every five days, but that also meant that one of the monster areas would reach the hundred-kilometer radius.
The delegates scowled.
Junhyuk looked at them and said, “There is one more thing.”
His eyes sharpened.
“You haven’t provided me with all the documents concerning your experts. Experts will be the deciding factor of the success or failure of a campaign.”
Junhyuk looked at their faces. They had all been hiding their experts, so he had only received documents on their novices.
He continued, “I need more information on the experts. If you want, you may continue hiding them, but I wish you wouldn’t.”
If a country was hiding its experts, he would place them low on the list.
“After you have signed the contract, we will talk some more.”
After he finished talking, the video conference ended. He turned off the camera and walked out of his room. Once he had returned his equipment, he yawned very hard.
He had to do it anyway, but with experts, he could attack five monster areas simultaneously. At first, he would take the experts with him into the tears, but later on, he would be able to send teams of experts on their own.
For that, he had to know more about them. On top of that, if the experts formed teams, they would be able to kill him too. If all their powers focused on one person, even Junhyuk wouldn’t be able to survive.
“I must know about their powers.”
—
Jennifer was pacing slowly across the hotel penthouse, and she turned around to look at the group of men working on their laptops.
The three men had been assigned to track the Dark Knight, who had just participated in a video conference. But they had failed.
They were all internationally-known hackers and they had all failed. Someone intelligent had to be working for the Dark Knight.
Jennifer clicked her tongue.
“Have you located him?”
One hacker sighed heavily.
“I hacked Guardians, but his image was being fed from somewhere else, another country. I hacked through fifteen countries, but any more than that is impossible now.”
“How is that possible?”
“If he has a supercomputer at his disposal, it’s possible.”
Jennifer waved her hand and said, “Fine, you may all leave now.”
They left, and she sat on the bed and said, “Helen, come in here.”
A woman with a blond ponytail walked in. Helen had deep blue eyes like the ocean, and Jennifer offered her a seat.
“They all failed.”
Taking a seat, Helen said, “Too bad. I wanted to meet him before the others.”
Staring at Helen, Jennifer asked, “When you do meet him, can you restrain him?”
Helen shook her head.
“You’ve seen it as well, Jennifer. I can’t kill that many monsters alone.”
“But in a one-on-one fight, can you kill him?”
While Jennifer waited for the answer, Helen poured some wine in a glass.
“Our powers may be similar, but not our equipment. His armor is basic, but his weapons are high quality. His attack power must be insane.” After taking a sip of the wine, she added, “I can’t kill him.”
Jennifer drank an entire glass of wine before saying, “He must be stronger than you. You are practically crying.”
Helen stared at Jennifer. Jennifer had been born with everything. She had never been to the Dimensional Battlefield, so she was like a child whining.
To survive the Dimensional Battlefield, one had to know one’s limitations, but more importantly than that, one had to know the enemy’s powers. Helen knew the Dark Knight was at least an expert, possibly a champion.
If the Knight was a champion, everything made sense. Experts wouldn’t be able to get all of that equipment.
Helen was too wise to face the Dark Knight alone, and not even Jennifer would make her do it.
Jennifer would gather more experts and make a team to deal with the Dark Knight, but that would only happen if the Dark Knight didn’t do Jennifer’s bidding.
Helen didn’t think about it any further, choosing to finish her wine instead.
—
Junhyuk didn’t recognize the number, but he picked up the phone anyway. It was Eunseo.
“Did you change your number?”
“I asked Elise for a safer phone. I have to be careful.”
Junhyuk agreed with her. Each country would try to contact her separately. To avoid unnecessary attention, she should be more careful.
“Certainly.”
“The contract’s been written and the delegates already signed it. What do you want to do?”
“I’ll go.”
There were people following her around, and she wouldn’t be able to get rid of them, but he had his teleportation.
Elise was at Guardians HQ, and she would cooperate, so he could teleport to her house. Elise’s house was right next to HQ.
“Come tomorrow at eleven. You’ll have to meet some delegates.”
“I thought so. I’ll be the Dark Knight anyway.”
“We can’t train for a while.”
“Nothing we can do about it. I’ll think of some other way.”
Junhyuk hung up. He had to move, but more importantly, he had to be more careful about his security.
“I’ll talk to Elise.”
He called her and heard her voice when she picked up.
“What’s up?”
“I have to go into Guardians, but I need your help.”
“Hm. Did you know I had to divert satellites today?”
“That’s why I am asking you.”
Elise agree heartily, “OK. But can I see you today? I have some new equipment prototypes, so I want your advice.”
“I’ll go now.”
He was shocked once again by what she could do. It hadn’t been that long since he had given her materials, but she had already made prototypes.
He wanted to check on the new equipment, so he went to see her.
