A familiar scent blew through the air. This scent of magic power was one Boss couldn’t forget.
Boss ran towards the direction of the scent. She knew it wasn’t possible, but she ran and ran anyways. The scent got stronger as she drew closer, and her heart began to thump loudly.
After running crazily for a while, she stopped at a certain point. Jain ran up and stopped next to her. The two women looked forward in a daze.
Standing on top of the crumbled throne room was a certain man. He was sitting calmly on the rubble, seemingly waiting for someone to arrive.
“…!”
Boss’s eyes widened as she looked at the man. Though he had his back to her, his back seemed too familiar.
Unable to believe what she was seeing, she glanced at Jain. The fact that Jain was standing next to her meant that the man in front of her wasn’t Jain in disguise.
But it all seemed to be an illusion. She questioned whether she was dreaming. That man should have been dead. Was it just someone who looked like him?
Whish—
A gust of wind blew, blowing the man’s hair up. His face was revealed fully, and Boss turned speechless.
“…Ah.”
She subconsciously let out a yelp. The man sitting on the rubble also felt her presence.
He tilted his head, then slowly turned around. Boss carefully examined his appearance. As the man’s hair blew in the air, his well-defined facial features came into full view.
The ex-boss of the Chameleon Troupe.
It was the face of Yi Yeonjun, the man she saw as her father.
**
…My body sunk into a bottomless ocean. I could neither open my eyes nor breathe. But I was used to such pain. As long as I endured it, I knew this illusion would soon disappear.
“…Chae Nayun.”
A voice seeped in through the surface of the water. The reverberating sound took the form of a devil and swallowed me. The devil wore my mother’s face and then my brother’s face before entering my heart as despair and sorrow.
“…Chae Nayun!”
A sharp voice scratched my heart. I was stifled for breath like someone was strangling me. The faces of the people I love but could no longer see appeared before my closed eyes.
My cold heart trembled.
Why do I have to be the only one to feel such pain? Why do I have to always send off the people I love?
Chak!
A fiery pain awoke Chae Nayun.
“…Hu!”
Her eyes shot open as she let out a cough. Shin Jonghak and Yun Seung-Ah’s faces were right in front of her.
“Uwuaaak!”
“Woah!”
“Kyak—!’
Chae Nayun screamed in surprise, making Shin Jonghak and Yun Seung-Ah also screech. Chae Nayun pushed the two away and shot up.
“Haa, haa, haa….”
She clutched her chest and took several deep breaths.
“Geez… huu.”
Perhaps because Orden’s magic power had swept through her, the nightmare was worse than usual.
“Are you okay?” Yun Seung-Ah approached her and patted her on the back.
Chae Nayun nodded her head and asked, “…I’m okay. What’s the situation?”
“It’s mostly taken care of.” Shin Jonghak replied. He looked around his surroundings with the Conqueror Spear resting on his shoulder. “Orden’s magic power disappeared without a trace, and the Master-rank Heroes took care of the humanoid monsters with the Genkelope Vessel’s help.”
“…So everything’s over?”
“No,” Yun Seung-Ah answered. “There are still many humanoid monster villages in Africa and even more brainwashed people. We’re just getting started.”
“Ah…” Chae Nayun scratched the back of her neck and looked around. Orden’s palace had crumbled down completely, revealing Africa’s vast wilderness. Heroes were sitting or lying on the ground, while agents from the Genkelope Vessel were quickly moving about, rescuing and treating injured Heroes.
“…Ah, where’s Old Man Heynckes?”
She suddenly remembered Heynckes, who was at the heart of the magic power explosion.
“….”
Yun Seung-Ah’s expression turned grim. Chae Nayun’s heart sank simultaneously.
“W-What? What happened?”
“Well….”
Yun Seung-Ah pointed to her right without a full explanation.
In the middle of the wilderness where her finger was pointing to was a man who was frozen like a statue.
Chae Nayun’s heart dropped.
The man’s silver armor shone beautifully.
It was the end of the Star that had turned fully into steel…
“…!”
She didn’t have time to think. She quickly ran over to Heynckes, but she simply stood there, staring dumbfoundedly at his silver helmet.
“What…”
She touched the helmet and muttered quietly. Her voice trembled with sadness.
“This is a lie… right, Old Man?”
Chae Nayun was choked with tears in front of reality. A reality that was hard to believe. The days she spent on the cold Himalayan mountain exchanging swords with him flashed before her eyes.
…It was then.
“I told you not to call me Old Man—!”
“Aaak, jesus!”
The helmet came off with Heynckes’s shout. The startled Chae Nayun fell backward on her butt.
“Uhahahaha, that was fun.”
“A-Ah, my heart… Old Man, you…!”
“Why am I your old man? Your old man just left after treating you.”
Chae Nayun’s eyes widened at what Heynckes just said.
“Eh? Grandfather did?”
“Yep. Well, that was 30 minutes ago, but don’t be too harsh on him. Joochul is a busy man.”
“…Grandfather’s always been like that.”
Chae Nayun nodded without complaints.
“But what about you, Old Man? Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m not sure, but I seem fine for now.” Heynckes replied.
At that moment, Kim Suho appeared from the distance. A Genkelope agent was helping him walk, as he was clearly exhausted and out of energy.
“Oh, here comes the Sword Saint.”
“Kim Suho~!”
Chae Nayun’s party, including Heynckes and Yun Seung-Ah, ran over to him. Seeing that his friends were okay, Kim Suho smiled.
“It’s nice to see you guys again.”
“Ah, but rather than that—"
“Did Orden die?” Heynckes cut off Chae Nayun and asked. His expression was more serious than what Chae Nayun had ever seen before.
“…Yes, Orden is dead.” Kim Suho nodded. He had witnessed Orden’s death. Orden closed his eyes at peace and passed normally.
Heynckes asked again, “Did you confirm his corpse?”
“Yes.” Kim Suho nodded. “It scattered to dust.”
“…Dust? It turned to dust?”
Kim Suho smiled without answering him. Orden’s corpse was taken by Kurukuru. The king’s servant would surely take care so that no one would ever find it.
“Yes, it turned to dust.”
“Hmm….”
Heynckes’s Steel Eyes could discern truth from lies. However, he simply wore a gentle smile and tapped Kim Suho’s shoulders.
“Well done, as expected of a Nine Stars candidate.”
“…You overestimate me.”
“Ha! Nine Stars candidate?”
Shin Jonghak’s jealous interjection made everyone laugh.
Tiriring— Tiriring—!
“Ah, geez.”
It was then that an emergency alarm rang from the Heroes’ smartwatches. Every Hero present looked down at their wrists.
[Disaster Alert. At 3:13 p.m., a large group of humanoid monsters and monsters invaded England.]
“…It’s England this time?”
Chae Nayun frowned. But Yun Seung-Ah, who was staring at the message closely, shook her head.
“No, this is from earlier in the day. We must have gotten it late because of Orden’s signal interference.”
In other words, the message was from when they were in the middle of their operation. Yun Seung-Ah’s conjecture was quickly proven to be correct, as a follow-up message arrived.
[Update on England’s Disaster Alert. The situation has been taken care of with the help of Princess Rachel and the 9-star magician Ah Hae-In.]
“9-star Ah Hae-In and Rachel…”
Chae Nayun shrugged. She didn’t know what happened exactly, but…
“Easy fight, I guess.”
**
Five days after the Orden Annihilation Operation, treatment of humanoid monsters rose as a major issue across the world along with Orden’s African villages.
—I recently got a strange request.
Because of it, Yoo Yeonha was busy to the point she had little time to sleep, but she made time for Yoo Jinhyuk’s call.
“Request?”
—Yep. If possible, I want to take care of it alone, but you know how busy I am. So I thought I’d ask for help from my beloved niece, haha.
Yoo Jinhyuk, who had never contacted her first for more than 20 years, was asking her for help. More than anything, Yoo Yeonha was curious.
“What’s the request?”
—Looking into someone. It sounds simple, but we can’t look down on it.
Yoo Jinhyuk sent a file over the call.
The file contained a picture of the target and his personal information.
「Yi Yeongjun (real name unknown)」
「183cm 77kg」
「Male」
「Birthdate unknown」
「Ability unknown」
「Place of birth unknown」
「Family relations are unknown」
“…Yi Yeonjun? Everything’s pretty much unknown, huh?”
—Yep, we don’t even know if his name is real. But he’s a dangerous one for sure. He’s the founder of the Chameleon Troupe.
Yoo Yeonha flinched.
“The Chameleon Troupe?”
“Yeah. About a month or two ago, I got a request asking to investigate Yi Yeonjun’s past. I put it off at the time, but the client keeps upping the price.”
“Hmm….”
Yoo Yeonha rubbed her chin and sighed.
“Won’t it be too dangerous?”
—I’m the one in charge of the investigation, so I’ll be the only one in danger. You just have to look into his past whereabouts.
“…Past whereabouts?”
—Yep.
Yoo Jinhyuk nodded his head with a smile.
—Find out where he was a few years ago. In other words, I want you to narrow down the range of the past I need to experience.
“Hm… your Gift is still lively, huh?”
—I’ve saved it for times like this. The pay for this request is the highest I’ve seen in the past 20 years.
Yoo Yeonha glanced at the price offered by the client and almost choked in shock.
7.7 billion up-front.
22.3 billion after completion.
30 billion won was enough to make the request hard to refuse, but the client had even offered two pinnacle-grade artifacts. Just who was this rich maniac?
—So? Want to help? I’ll let you have 20%.
“…Hm.”
Yoo Yeonha fell in thought but quickly came to a conclusion. Investigating the Chameleon Troupe was something like a duty she had to fulfill.
‘Yoo Jinwoong and Chae Joochul. Chae Joochul and the Chameleon Troupe. The Chameleon Troupe and Kim Hajin. Kim Hajin and me.’
She knew that the Chameleon Troupe was the key to unraveling this complicated problem.
“Okay, I’ll help.”
As soon as she replied, a bell rang in her head.
It was the sixth sense Unique Skill. Because of its low level, she didn’t know whether it was signaling danger or opportunity, but she knew it was an important matter at the very least.
—Perfect. Do you know what to do?
“…Of course. If he used the internet even once, I can track him down.”
In the Falling Blossom guild, a man named Kim Hosup had risen to the number 1 position in tracking. In the current digital age, there wasn’t anyone who lived without using the internet.
Now linked with a supercomputer worth billions of won, Kim Hosup could find anyone who was born after the 1980s.
—Great, then I’ll wait for the good news. Be careful.
“Okay, talk to you later. I have a meeting to go to now.”
—Ah, wait, how is the guild business going recently?
“…Guild business? Pft.”
Yoo Yeonha laughed. With the recent Orden Incident, Essence of the Strait had risen to the undisputed number 1 position in the world.
Although Creator’s Sacred Grace skyrocketed to the rank 2 position with the help of Kim Suho and Yun Seung-Ah, the gap between the two was still huge. Essence of the Strait had also made great achievements, thanks to Guild Leader Yoo Jinwoong, Vice-Leader Yi Jin-Ah, and the rising star Chae Nayun.
The guild aside, Essence of the Strait’s subsidiary businesses were simply insurmountable.
Essential Pharmacy, Essential Dynamics, and the other conglomerate-scale businesses were on the precipice of record high revenues in their fields.
“It’s going great. At this rate, people might start calling me the Queen of Korea instead of the Queen of Seoul.”
—Ooh… Well, that’s great to hear. Looks like I can live off my niece when I grow old.
Yoo Jinhyuk laughed lightly.
—Then see you later.
“Yes, see you later, Uncle.”
Tk—
“Let’s see… Falling Blossom Team, answer.”
As soon as the caller hung up, Yoo Yeonha relayed the mission to Falling Blossom.
**
…You completed the third phase with high contributions. A streak of Stigma is added. Proficiency of Master Sharpshooter increases. You gain a significant amount of SP. Young Dwarf’s Dexterity…
Several sentences entered my faint consciousness. It wasn’t just the sentences. Chae Nayun’s voice struck my ear as well.
[Kim Hajin, are you awake?]
[You didn’t run away again, did you?]
[I heard from Old Man Heynckes. I heard you’re going to get stabbed my his knife if you don’t reply to me.]
[Message me when you wake up.]
From the looks of it, humanity seemed to have won the war.
I tried to send Chae Nayun a message.
[I’m up.]
The constraints on me were starting to loosen. Although I couldn’t move my body yet, I could reply to Chae Nayun’s Infinite Communication.
[…]
But Chae Nayun didn’t reply no matter how long I waited. It seemed she was busy with something.
“….”
I put strength into my eyes. I needed to see before I could do anything.
“…Huu!”
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for me to open my eyes. A white ceiling filled my vision.
Ssk— Ssk—
Next, I focused my strength on my fingers and toes. It was a bit harder this time around, but I eventually regained control of my body after about 10 minutes of struggling.
“Ehew….”
This was enough for now.
I let out a sigh and turned my head to the side where I was hearing the ruffling of paper for a while.
“…Huh?”
I was faced with an unexpected scene. Jin Sahyuk was lying on a couch, reading a manhwa.
“Hm? Oh, you’re awake.”
Jin Sahyuk spoke with her eyes still fixed on the manhwa. I stared at her blankly.
“…Why are you here?”
“What do you mean?”
Tak—
She closed the manhwa. She stared back at me, then muttered something I couldn’t quite understand.
“I’m protecting you from certain danger.”
