Seoul (10)
“Is this the name of the a.s.sociation’s President?”
“Yes!”
The mantis didn’t stop its explanation, even when people from the a.s.sociation had arrived.
Instead, it explained more desperately, since it thought that the time allotted for speaking would be reduced. It talked about how it met him and what talks and deals they had made.
“Well…”
It didn’t come as a surprise that the mantis wasn’t attached to humans. From all the information I received from Kirikiri, and from the stages, I confirmed, multiple times, that this was normal.
If there was a good chance of success, all humans would be willing to do business with Rulers. For the sake of their own safety, humans would even sell their families and countries. There was no way that the mantis wouldn’t do the same.
Furthermore, they were intelligent beings and didn’t feel bound by human society or rules. They felt threatened here on Earth, where only humans existed.
It was more or less natural. Anyway, the mantis’s value increased once more in my mind. This bug was pretty smart, eloquent, and well-versed. It was a considerably good pet for Yong-yong.
Regardless of whether I was listening or not, the mantis continued gossiping beside me.
Soon, the people of the a.s.sociation arrived in the living room. The mantis stared at them as if telling them to go away.
Its mouth was still at work, whispering nonsense. I sent a blow to its head for scaring the people needlessly.
“Ow.”
“I’ll listen to you later, so don’t worry and wait.”
* * *
There were five people from the a.s.sociation: team leader Oh Sang-jin, four members under him, and Lee Sung-eun.
They looked at the woman kneeling on the floor of the living room with doubtful eyes, but no one explained what she was doing.
(T/N: It’s the mantis, but in human form. In case you didn’t realise xD)
The two team leaders came forward as representatives to introduce themselves.
Lee Ho-jae asked Kim Min-hyuk, who was also listening to the introduction, “Hey, who’s Park Min? Is he the Park Min I know?”
Lee Ho-jae’s question confused Kim Min-hyuk. This man never had any interest in anyone.
Does he not remember the name of the first challenger who cleared the Tutorial?
Park Min was a challenger who had been supported by the entire Order of Vigilance. In fact even Lee Ho-jae had once given Park Min potions and equipment.
Park Min was a famous challenger, not only because of the support he had. He cleared the Tutorial and became even more famous.
There was no one in Korea who didn’t know his name except for the man sitting on the couch.
Why in the world is he asking who Park Min is?
People from the a.s.sociation had come to say h.e.l.lo.
When Kim Min-hyuk turned his head to the side, his eyes fell on the people from the a.s.sociation. He tried his best to mask his embarra.s.sment.
Kim Min-hyuk quickly talked about Park Min because he could understand how they felt.
He was the first Korean challenger to clear the Tutorial, and now he was the president of the Korean Awakened a.s.sociation.
“Oh, right. That was him.”
Lee Ho-jae looked at the mantis. Seeing that, Kim Min-hyuk decided to come forward and introduce the people of the a.s.sociation. He introduced team leader Lee Sung-eun and Oh Sang-jin again.
Lee Ho-jae raised a question that arose in his mind after hearing the team leader’s introduction Oh Sang-jin. “You were in the Order of Vigilance?”
Oh Sang-jin was a former member, so he was so nervous before and looked so scared at this moment.
He was from the Order of Vigilance.
“But why aren’t you with the others? Why go to the a.s.sociation?” Lee Ho-jae asked casually.
Kim Min-hyuk began to feel the same sting of pain from a little while ago. Within the Tutorial, the Order of Vigilance had a special position.
In its early days, the Order of Vigilance had almost the same influence as the national government. There were many reasons why people did not protest much against them.
First was because of Lee Ho-jae’s strength. The second was because the Order of Vigilance tried to keep the order somehow. The third was because they tried to help people rather than hurt them.
The last reason was that there was no way to protest against them. No one would gain anything by rebelling.
The Tutorial was a place where people could not gather except for special circ.u.mstances, such as tournaments. For the people there, the society wasn’t the entire Tutorial, but the waiting room in which they all were sent before clearing a floor.
Unless any individual was forced to do something irrational, there was no need to rebel against the Order of Vigilance. It was unrelated to any individual.
It was the Order of Vigilance members who were unhappy with the Order of Vigilance’s dominance. They argued they could do more with their influence and power. And some tried to place themselves as the leader of the Order of the Vigilance, even though it was impossible to do so.
Splitting and independence attempts took place in the Order many times. There was once a time when such a situation lasted a while. However, under the influence of this independent group, people’s discontent followed.
Compared to the Order of Vigilance, which provided goods almost free of charge and didn’t interfere unless someone committed a crime, the new independent groups forced people to pay, interfered with one thing or another, and abused their power.
Naturally, a decision had to be made on the day of Great Harmony.
The independent groups soon admitted defeat. They remembered the independent group’s members who were beaten like dogs on the day of Great Harmony.
Even before Lee Ho-jae entered the meeting, they had surrendered and reached an agreement with the leaders of the Order of Vigilance.
Team leader Oh Sang-jin belonged to such a group. For that reason, he did not return to the Order of Vigilance, and even after coming to Earth, he stayed in Korea, away from those who were part of the Order of Vigilance.
After surrendering, team leader Oh Sang-jin once spent time with Lee Ho-jae in a small tent.
Of course, the atmosphere had been far from harmonious. He was punished and experimented with until the end of the day of Great Harmony.
At that time, Lee Ho-jae was just getting a clue about the mana circuit on the sixth floor.
Naturally, the subject of the experiment was human anatomy. The experiment had not been carried out by cutting open Oh’s body.
Lee Ho-jae made an incision on his body and wanted to visually check the reactions of the surrounding muscles and nerves when mana flowed.
Oh Sang-jin’s only role was to check Lee Ho-jae’s back’s reactions and inform Lee Ho-jae. Of course, there was no physical pain for Oh Sang-jin, but mentally, he had a painful time.
Even Kim Min-hyuk did not know about this. And Lee Ho-jae himself did not remember it. Team Leader Lee Sung-eun, who came with him, did not know either. The same went for the members of his team.
It was a traumatic moment of the past that only team leader Oh Sang-jin remembered. Thanks to that, when team leader Oh Sang-jin sat on the couch facing Lee Ho-jae, he shivered without making eye contact.
Sometimes the team members whispered and tapped on his shoulder, asking if he was okay, but Oh Sang-jin was frozen from shock, and couldn’t respond.
Regardless, team leader Lee Sung-eun firmly did what she had to do. She talked about what happened at Seoul Station and listed the aggregated damage.
There had been numerous casualties and property losses. After getting a stern warning, the listening party said it would never happen in the future.
Finally, she made it clear that this was only the a.s.sociation’s decision. If the government tried to punish Lee Ho-jae, the a.s.sociation would ignore the principle that the Awakened would defend him and would no longer be involved.
Considering how many times they had heard about the incident at Seoul Station through the news and heard from team leader Oh Sang-jin in the car about how crazy Lee Ho-jae was, it was a reckless move.
However, Lee Sung-eun thought she should still deliver what she had to say. And there was also a difference in Lee Sung-eun and Oh Sang-jin’s perceptions.
Team Leader Lee Sung-eun saw the burned Seoul Station but also knew there had been no actual deaths. All who had been taken to the intensive care unit survived in the end.
Lee Sung-eun thought that Lee Ho-jae was a reckless person, but he was not a crazy person who killed people. Team leader Oh Sang-jin thought Lee Ho-jae was the world’s craziest person.
That was the difference.
“Hmm…”
So when Lee Ho-jae held his chin in one hand and hummed under his breath, their actions were different.
Lee Sung-eun calmly waited for Lee Ho-jae’s answer while Oh Sang-jin quickly got off the couch and knelt on the floor.
“I have nothing to do with the a.s.sociation! I resigned already!”
It was an instant reply.
* * *
[Lee Ho-jae]
“I have nothing to do with the a.s.sociation. P-please, save me…”
Why are you asking me to save your life?
Oh, he probably has a story for this. The stories of those who came from the a.s.sociation were not significant.
It would have been just another boring story. I felt that we should end our conversation here.
“Team Leader Oh Sang-jin, what are you doing?!”
“First of all, you need to go back home.” I jumped up from the couch and sent the screaming man home.
The a.s.sociation members sprang up in surprise, but I gestured to them to sit down again. But they didn’t sit back, so I forced them to sit down.
“Hey, what did you do?” asked Kim Min-hyuk from the side.
What do you mean?
“I told you. I sent him back home.”
“…You knew where his house was?”
I didn’t know. But he did.
Following the reverberation of his powers, I found the location of the man I just sent back.
He was in an ordinary house in Seoul. I wondered if he had reached safely, but when I heard him faintly talking to someone in his home, I guessed that he had been sent to his house.
“I did a good job, don’t worry.”
I looked at the people from the a.s.sociation, who were now one less in number.
To be honest, he should have said anything but that he had nothing to do with the a.s.sociation. That was just nonsense.
(Note: In case you don’t understand Hojae meant; He meant Oh- Sangjin should not have said he that he had nothing to do with the a.s.sociation as he obviously did)
“I have a favor to ask.”
“I will do my best,” one of the men said in a quivering voice.
Of course, I knew he was scared, but somehow I felt embarra.s.sed. People were watching us, and it was a bit weird to be treated like this in public.
“Well, I’ll be grateful, anyway. You don’t have to do it.”
It felt like a burden, and I hated it.
“All you have to do is deliver a message. To your a.s.sociation’s President.”
The man who had joined hands with a G-cla.s.s had to be dealt with. Of course, the G-cla.s.s was kneeling next to the couch.
I had to double-check the facts it had said from the a.s.sociation’s President.
“First of all, I’ve already dealt with Pyongyang’s G-cla.s.s.”
Next to me, Kim Min-hyuk whispered, “Don’t you think it would be better to let them know about it later?”
But I ignored him. It didn’t matter much.
“And tell the President that if he wants to see its face, he’ll have to come here.”
Saying that Pyongyang’s G-cla.s.s had been dealt with would instill the idea that their deal may have been revealed.
“Lastly, if he dares to run away, tell him I’ll catch him.”