Chapter 767
Bzzzzz.
At the sudden vibration, Team Leader Choi Minwoo pulled a smartphone from his pocket.
He checked not just one device, but all five of them in turn, then moved his lips toward me.
– Jin Taekyung.
The reason he didn’t speak out loud was obvious. I immediately drew up my internal energy and spread it around us.
Whoosh.
The moment an invisible barrier of energy sealed the suite without leaving a single gap…
Bzz.
A blue light spilled from the smartphone screen resting on the table.
And in the blink of an eye, the holograms gathered into human form, and a deep, heavy voice rang out.
– Sorry I’m late. I only just saw the message… But what’s with him? Don’t tell me a fight already broke out?
Magic Johnson.
Looking at Skeleton King, clutching his chest as he lay collapsed, I answered the giant Archmage, who was blinking in confusion, in a tired voice.
“It’s a long story.”
Unlike Skeleton King or Team Leader Choi Minwoo, Magic Johnson’s reaction was short and clear.
– Fuck.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of it.
Magic Johnson, who kept muttering nonstop about his son, the beach, and even some third hole he normally kept hidden from others, rubbed his smooth, bald scalp.
– This… is truly the worst.
Only then did something occur to me that I hadn’t considered before.
If Skeleton King’s existence were exposed, it wouldn’t just be me and Team Leader Choi Minwoo taking a serious hit.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve been more careful.”
– No need to apologize, Jin. I helped you of my own will.
Magic Johnson waved off my belated apology, then suddenly furrowed his brow.
– But how did he notice? My illusion magic should’ve been perfect.
As one of the world’s three, no, now only two remaining Archmages, the illusion magic Magic Johnson had painstakingly engraved was on a level beyond comparison in both effectiveness and secrecy.
That was why his expression had now turned into a complicated mix of emotions.
– With Siegfried dead, there’s only one mage left who could see through my illusion magic… And I can guarantee this much, even if it was Michael, he couldn’t have moved her.
If Magic Johnson said so, then it had to be true.
I’d heard stories about the other Archmage too, and over the decades, most of them had turned out to be fact rather than rumor.
But even putting that aside, there were already more than enough clues, and I wasn’t the only one who thought of it at that moment.
“Japan.”
“Leviathan.”
Two voices overlapped.
Although the words were different, Team Leader Choi Minwoo, who had spoken at the same time as me with the same meaning in mind, slowly continued under everyone’s gaze.
“As you all know, what happened in Japan wasn’t just a simple terrorist attack or Monster Wave.”
– I got Chief’s message about that too. Personally, I suspect Michael Silbert’s involvement as well.
“But at this point, what we need to reconsider is his objective.”
– Objective?
“Why Michael Silbert awakened Leviathan sleeping deep in the ocean. And…”
“Why, out of all the many countries, he deliberately lured Leviathan to Japan.”
Picking up where Team Leader Choi Minwoo left off, I thought to myself.
On this planet, the five oceans covered a staggering 71 percent of the surface, and there were countless countries bordering the sea.
So why had he chosen Japan as the battlefield for Leviathan’s rampage?
‘Not to mention the second terrorist attack that struck various parts of the world on the same day.’
And the answer to that question was already here. Just like the words that flowed from Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s mouth in the next moment.
“It was all meticulously calculated from the start. Taking Japan’s situation at the time into account.”
Realizing the meaning behind those words, Magic Johnson let out a groan and muttered.
– So all those incidents, including the second terrorist attack, were meant to lure you in?
“Yes. Without a doubt.”
– But why Japan of all places? If that was the goal, luring it to Korea would’ve been simpler.
Team Leader Choi Minwoo shook his head and continued in a calm voice.
“From Michael Silbert’s perspective, he probably had no choice. Leaving aside the fact that Korean Hunters are on an entirely different level, our government has been on high alert ever since the two artificially induced Monster Waves caused by Seok Go-jun. In that kind of situation, if the magical power levels had suddenly spiked, they would’ve noticed immediately.”
– Magic Crystal Stone…!
“That’s right. But Japan, which had recently been hit by the first terrorist attack, specifically the Tokyo area, would’ve been considered a suitable location in many ways.”
Not just any Magic Crystal Stone, but an unrefined S-Class Magic Crystal Stone.
The sheer amount and concentration of magical power it emitted was enough to awaken Leviathan, sleeping deep in the distant ocean.
However, in the Tokyo area, where the magical power levels were already in chaos due to the Monster Wave caused by the first terrorist attack, it wouldn’t have been easily noticed.
Most importantly, there were no Hunter-level figures near Tokyo Bay, which Leviathan destroyed, that he needed to be wary of.
– Right. That’s it. Everything fits.
“He drew up the blueprint from the very beginning and colored it in with the second terrorist attack. It wouldn’t have been hard for him to predict that Japan, which is far from being a Hunter powerhouse, wouldn’t be able to stop a Named Monster like Leviathan with its own strength.”
As seen with the peak masters of Murim, even modern S-rank Hunters had vast differences in level.
In that sense, Japan’s S-rank Hunter, Yagamoto Kenji, had never escaped the lower end of that pyramid built on the law of power.
– If the skill Japanese netizens and Japanophiles so eagerly hyped up had really been the real deal, why did he only show up after Leviathan was already dead, despite having an entire day?
‘It’s obvious.’
Even if ordinary people didn’t know, the Japanese government had to.
That was why they had no choice but to swallow their pride and ask for help.
A country that had suffered little damage despite two terrorist attacks sweeping the world.
An undeniable Hunter powerhouse and the closest neighboring nation that could save them the fastest.
That was Korea, and in Korea, there was me.
No, ‘us.’
…
A chill ran down my spine.
Like someone jolted awake, I suddenly raised my head and stared at Skeleton King.
The guy, who had been listening blankly to the conversation without even putting his dislocated bones back in place, flinched at my gaze and shrank back.
“I-I was just sitting here and I only said it was a joke because everything felt too serious! Don’t you know what it means to lighten the mood?!”
“That’s not it.”
“Th-then what is it?”
Damn it.
A voice forced down between clenched teeth slipped out.
“It was you. From the very beginning.”
“From the very beginning, it was me? What the hell are you talking about?”
And just as Skeleton King furrowed his brow, Team Leader Choi Minwoo spoke with a deeply sunken expression.
“Michael Silbert’s target from the very beginning wasn’t Jin Taekyung. It was you.”
“…What?”
“You still don’t get it? The second terrorist attack, Leviathan, all of it was done with you as the target.”
Skeleton King’s pupils shook.
Magic Johnson, who had been thinking with his mouth tightly shut, let out a sigh and muttered.
– Meaning he suspected it even before then.
“He would’ve needed proof to turn that suspicion into certainty.”
– Enough to risk casualties on that scale?
“Do you still not know what kind of man he is? Hundreds, thousands, millions could die, and Michael Silbert wouldn’t even blink.”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s deeply sunken gaze turned toward me.
A voice rougher than usual, like iron filings scraping together, was squeezed out between his lips.
“As long as it lets him reach his goal. As long as it gets him the proof he needs to be certain, he would bring all of this to an end right now.”
Right.
That was all he wanted.
A decisive weakness that would guarantee his victory in the war against me.
That was why he had arranged every move from beginning to end, cutting off the possibility of support from other countries and forcing the situation into one where Skeleton King had no choice but to step forward.
‘And… in the end, he got his hands on that weakness.’
Not only that.
The reason he had been able to push ahead so boldly with the second terrorist attack was probably closely tied to the World Hunter Federation as well.
‘The greater the damage, the higher the chances of the Federation being re-established.’
Just how far had Michael Silbert’s calculations gone?
That sudden question made it hard to breathe.
As if an invisible rope had tightened around my neck, I drew a deep breath and looked around.
Team Leader Choi Minwoo. Magic Johnson. And finally, Skeleton King.
All of them, who had stopped talking at some point, were looking at me.
No, more precisely, they were waiting.
Waiting for my tightly shut mouth to open, for the decision that would determine which way they should move.
And after countless thoughts and worries flashed through my mind in an instant, I broke the long silence and opened my mouth.
“I…”
===
Three days had passed.
Even so, no one spoke about the tremendous roar that had echoed from the airport on the outskirts of Munich that night a few days ago, after the disaster had already swept through and Odin’s Guild Master had landed in his private jet.
Of course, the reporters who had practically been driven away from the scene earlier had desperately wanted to know the identity of that faint roar they had heard from far off, but the answer from the German Federal Army controlling the Munich area was firm.
First. No unnecessary questions or approaches.
Second. Failure to comply would result in immediate deportation.
Even the most hot-blooded reporters, offended by the first condition, had no choice but to shut their mouths at the second.
With the enormous issue of the World Hunter Federation’s re-establishment currently shaking the world, getting deported over pointless trouble would have been sheer insanity.
At present, there were two key figures in Munich who could never be left out of this discussion.
One was Jin Taekyung, who had taken incomprehensible action in front of the cameras that night, and the other was Michael Silbert, the very man who had lit the fuse on this powder keg.
“Hey, sorry, but do you have any updates on those two?”
“None.”
“Is that because there really aren’t any, or because there are but you won’t say?”
“Hmm. Both, maybe?”
“In times like this, colleagues ought to help each other. Those humorless Germans must be acting strict as hell. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Franz Meyer.”
“…You’re not German by any chance, are you?”
“Probably. One of those humorless, strict, foul-tempered Germans.”
“I didn’t say foul-tempered… Damn it. Sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“Doesn’t matter whether you meant it or not. But if you’re really sorry, throw me a decent lead or something.”
“A decent lead? How about the U.N. General Assembly being called into emergency session?”
The bearded German reporter chuckled.
“Are you kidding? Everyone already knows that. The meeting started ages ago.”
That much was true.
The U.N., newly reformed after the Great Cataclysm, had urgently convened a General Assembly starting at midnight three days earlier, right after the Munich incident, and the leaders of 185 countries, centered around the six permanent members, were now locked in fierce debate over video conference.
And the reason they had gathered was only one.
The agenda concerning the re-establishment of the World Hunter Federation.
Given the nature of the issue, the emergency General Assembly was being conducted under unusually tight secrecy.
However, information had been leaking from all sides, and the major media outlets had already gotten wind of it and gone on full alert.
“But trying to pass off something everyone already knows as a decent lead? Your sense of humor is even worse than it looks. You’re in no position to mock Germans.”
“Hmm. Really? Then what about the fact that the vote is about to begin?”
Stop.
The German reporter, who had been about to turn away, stroked his coarse beard.
“…Now that’s interesting.”
“I’m glad you think so, but it’s no joke.”
“That information, is it solid?”
“What in this world is ever solid? But if I had to put a number on it, about 99.9 percent.”
99.9 percent.
The German reporter softly repeated the number, so close to perfection, and swallowed hard.
“That means…”
“Yeah. That’s right. The U.N. will be making an announcement soon.”
The reporter who looked about ten years younger than the German in front of him, Simon, slowly continued.
“The results of the vote on the birth of the World Hunter Federation. That enormous organization meant to encompass the entire world.”