Chapter 750

Deep beneath the sea.

In a place so dark—filled with countless wreckage and corpses—you couldn’t see an inch ahead, a bluish-white flame suddenly bloomed.

Whoosh, KWAaaaaah!

The water parted and moisture evaporated.

A flame carrying an aura that defied even the natural order—no, a spear shot forth like a beam of light.

Toward the massive shadow moving at an unbelievable speed.

Toward the calamity that must never be allowed to live.

But just as the energy imbued in the spear was unnatural, that mythical monster was also an existence that defied the natural order.

Kwarururuk!

The sea convulsed.

At the same time, countless whirlpools—large and small—rose from the depths and blocked the spearhead surging forward.

Gugugung!

A fierce collision, shockwaves spreading out in layered rings.

By the time the impact and roar that shook the world subsided, the flame that had shattered everything in its way had also spent its strength and was dying out.

Far away.

Without ever reaching the monster’s body as it sank into the thick darkness.

Swish. Thud.

The sea fell quiet.

The spear, swept helplessly by the current, was caught in someone’s hand.

From the back of the man silently staring into the darkness where the monster had vanished, an emotion seemed ready to erupt like a volcano.

No, let me correct that.

It didn’t seem like it would erupt—it felt like it would explode the instant anyone touched it.

At that moment, when I’d let the monster that must never be allowed to live slip away…

…Even now, at this very moment.

The moment a sharp voice I hadn’t intended escaped my lips.

Fwoosh.

===

Along with a vivid cluster of green light, everything filling the surroundings melted away.

The sea dark as night, the massive wreckage left behind by skyscrapers, the nameless corpses that had died with their eyes wide open.

And what filled the empty space left by the vanished hologram were dozens of unfamiliar faces.

Men in expensive tailored suits and military uniforms.

Among them, the old man sitting in the seat across from me opened his mouth with a grave expression.

“Huh. To let Leviathan escape.”

It was the first time I’d seen his face today, but from what Team Leader Choi Minwoo had told me, the old man was one of the three most powerful figures in Japan.

No, if you judged purely by the authority he actually held, he might as well have been number one.

The Minister of Defense was an incredibly high-ranking post even in peacetime, but in a wartime situation like this, he had more power than anyone.

However, I didn’t like him.

To be honest, I wanted to deal with that damn old man first, even more than the currently absent Leviathan.

The reason was simple.

Because it was precisely that man who’d erased the last chance to catch Leviathan an hour ago.

Having already grasped the whole chain of events, the words that came out of my mouth couldn’t be pleasant.

“That’s right. Unfortunately, we missed it. If someone had helped at the last moment, we might’ve caught it.”

The air in the conference room froze in an instant. Among the Japanese who were only gauging the atmosphere, the Defense Minister glared at me with displeased eyes.

“What you said sounds very much like you’re implying Japan is responsible. Is this old man’s hearing failing, so I misheard?”

“I heard you’re over eighty, yet you’re still quite sharp. The old man’s ears aren’t dim either.”

“What did you say?”

“Are your ears really failing? You heard it already, why keep asking?”

“What nonsense…!”

Bang!

The Defense Minister slammed the table and turned his head toward Team Leader Choi Minwoo.

“Are you just going to stand by and watch such rudeness!”

The usual Team Leader Choi Minwoo would’ve shot me a warning look by now.

That is, if he were in his usual state.

“Is the ‘rudeness’ the Minister of Defense is referring to, perhaps, the act of slamming a table in a meeting like this?”

“What did you say?”

“Japan officially requested support through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we responded by risking danger and coming here. But…”

As his words trailed off, Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s gaze turned cold and sank.

“Why didn’t your side deploy additional troops?”

“To my knowledge, at the moment Mr. Jin Taekyung attacked Leviathan, at least two thousand Hunters had been mobilized. The Ground and Air Self-Defense Forces were also on standby.”

“That was…”

“I know. I know most of them probably wouldn’t have been much help in the fight. But if Japan’s Hunters had been deployed, even belatedly, they could’ve slowed Leviathan’s retreat, even if only for a moment.”

Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s words were clear and precise, and they were accurate.

What I needed was precisely that moment.

Just a little support and sacrifice to disrupt and delay a monster fleeing with its wounded body.

But in the deep sea I’d risked entering, all I could do was watch the bastard’s retreating shadow slip farther and farther away.

And that was a problem for Team Leader Choi Minwoo and the two hundred or so Hunters who had been preparing to deploy from the aircraft as well.

“When I couldn’t stand it anymore and tried to lead the Hunters out myself, your side blocked the deployment. Even seizing on-site operational command authority.”

“If you wanted to minimize your own sacrifices and only take the credit, you should’ve done it properly. Then things wouldn’t have come to this.”

The Defense Minister bit his lip hard and spoke.

“The encirclement… the encirclement was perfect.”

Hearing that, the Skeleton King asked me with pure curiosity.

“If it was perfect, shouldn’t it have been unbreakable?”

“Uh, right.”

“But I heard it was breached?”

“Yeah. It was breached.”

“And you lost track of its location because of the Magical Power it emitted?”

“Yeah.”

After listening to my helpful answers, the Skeleton King muttered.

“What is this, are they idiots…?”

….

….

With that one sentence that stabbed straight into the truth, the temperature in the conference room plunged below freezing.

But even as I watched them clamp their mouths shut and only weigh each other’s reactions, I didn’t feel the slightest satisfaction.

‘Crazy bastards.’

Watching bastards worse than monsters sit there calling themselves an operations command, I couldn’t even muster a hollow laugh.

‘And I can’t just say “fuck this” and quit.’

Confirmed casualties were already around 100,000.

And that was only because, as a small mercy amid the misfortune, the tsunami Leviathan caused had stopped at the outskirts of Tokyo.

If that bastard came back after I left, Tokyo would be renamed Atlantis.

‘If the bastard gives up on Japan and targets somewhere else…’

That would be a problem in its own way.

Of course, the idiots—including the old monkey right in front of me—would probably dance with joy just because they survived.

But since they were exactly the sort of bastards who would do that, it only made my mood worse.

Letting out a deep sigh of one hundred percent purity, I spoke to the Defense Minister, who’d turned into a stiff statue.

“No need for further talk. Call someone else in charge.”

“A-another person in charge?”

“The Prime Minister. Or the Emperor. Anyone would be better than you.”

“The Emperor?! How dare you speak of the Emperor of the Great Japanese Empire…”

“I’m going crazy, really. What era is this ‘Empire’ crap? If you got knocked out by two atomic bombs, you should’ve returned the ‘Emperor’ title too. Shouldn’t you?”

“That was the cruel and brutal act of destruction by the American Yankees!”

Staring at the Defense Minister shouting furiously, I plugged my ears.

“I feel like I’m getting radiation sickness. I feel like I’m getting radiation sickness. I feel like I’m getting radiation sickness. I feel like I’m getting radiation sickness.”

“Damn it!”

Was it because he’d lived long enough? Or had he lost his fear from radiation contamination?

Just as the wildly raging Defense Minister charged at me with his old body, the Skeleton King reached out and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

“Stop. You old and insignificant huma… no, Yellow Monkey.”

“Y-You! Let go of that hand immediately! How dare a hairy Yankee bastard lay hands on the Minister of Defense of the Great Japanese Empire!”

“How dare you insult the great United States of America in front of me?!”

“I haven’t forgotten yet! The terrible acts you committed against this land and its loyal Imperial subjects!”

“Spirits of Pearl Harbor, descend upon me!”

‘Crazy bastards…’

A fierce argument between a Japanese imperialist born in the 70s or 80s and an American monster from the demon realm.

Watching those awful hybrids with my own two eyes filled my chest with something grand, but it wasn’t over yet.

Swaaaa.

“…?”

‘What is this?’

A sudden chill crawled over my skin, and the fluorescent lights blurred.

Even the people struggling to separate the Defense Minister and the Skeleton King shuddered as if they’d been splashed with cold water.

‘What is this all of a sudden?’

When I turned my head with that question, my eyes met Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s midair.

In that instant, I realized something and opened my mouth, stunned.

In my ears, the shout I’d heard just moments ago echoed vividly.

‘Spirits of Pearl Harbor, descend upon me!’

No, fuck. Don’t tell me…

Shrrrk! Crash!

The eerie energy twisted into a whirlwind and shattered the fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

I was already running through the sudden darkness that fell, heading straight for one person.

“Look closely, and feel their grudge…!”

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

Crack!

It was a huge relief.

Thanks to the traditional promotion system that still prioritized family and connections over ability even in the 21st century, most of the high-ranking officials and generals in the conference room were ordinary people. They were too terrified to even hear the Skeleton King’s shout.

And maybe my insistence on calling someone in charge got through, because not long after, the person in charge…

No, the Prime Minister arrived.

“To come all this way to help our country! Truly thank you, Jin-sang!”

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you. Prime Minister Koizumi.”

To think the day would come when I’d see this guy in person.

I’d only ever seen compilations of his quotes online, so meeting him like this made me feel—just for a moment—like I’d run into a celebrity.

Of course, given the situation, I couldn’t show it. The important thing right now was Leviathan.

At least, I wanted it to be.

I did.

“Let’s get straight to the point. To track Leviathan—”

“I heard the Minister of Defense was rude to Jin-sang. Once this matter is concluded, I will severely reprimand him, if only to console Jin-sang’s feelings!”

“Uh, um. That’s very kind of you.”

“Why that expression, Jin-sang?”

“No, it’s just… we need to talk about Leviathan too. And the title you’re calling me by is a bit…”

“What title do you mean, Jin-sang?”

“Ah, it seems to have a different meaning in Korea. Then shall I call you ‘Gyeong-sang’ by taking the last character of your name?”

As if that would work.

It felt like dodging shit only to get hit by piss.

‘Is he telling me to get hurt next time I fight Leviathan…?’

I seriously agonized between ‘Jin-sang’ and ‘Gyeong-sang’ before finally letting out a sigh.

Well, at least it wasn’t ‘Jung-sang’ (serious injury).