Chapter 771
Ziiing.
It wasn’t hard to figure out where the vibration was coming from. After all, I had something in my pocket that made a similar sound.
“Team Leader Choi Minwoo. I think your phone’s ringing. Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s not important right now.”
“Why, are you afraid I’ll make a move while you’re on the call?”
“That’s…”
Team Leader Choi trailed off.
Honestly, the fact that we were locked in a standoff like this in the first place was absurd.
No matter how innately talented Team Leader Choi was, or how rapidly his skills had improved, there was no way he could stop me.
The only reason he had managed to hold out until now was entirely because of my consideration.
Consideration for a friend I would inevitably have to defeat.
And on a more practical level, there was good reason for that consideration.
“If it’s a direct call, then it must be important. You should answer it. I need time for enough witnesses to gather anyway.”
“Witnesses… you say?”
“Yes. Witnesses.”
Watching Team Leader Choi ponder the meaning of those words, I continued slowly.
“What happens next will be better the more people see it. For all our sakes.”
There was no other way.
Team Leader Choi and I had been in the same boat for a long time. If I killed Michael Silbert, then Team Leader Choi would obviously be implicated as an accomplice too.
And not just him. The Peace Guild. The Ares Guild. My family, my friends, everyone connected to me would get dragged into it.
If that happened, it would all be over.
‘To prevent the worst-case scenario, I have to draw the line where as many eyes as possible can see it.’
Soon, I would become a criminal as infamous as the Prophet. Maybe even more infamous.
A traitor to humanity who, when accused of colluding with an undead monster, beat down his former comrade without hesitation and fled with that monster.
And…
The murderer who killed the legendary hero, Michael Silbert, in broad daylight.
“It won’t end with just a broken bone or two. While you’re answering the phone, you should check your potions too.”
At my calm remark, Team Leader Choi bit his lip.
“…You’re serious.”
“My deliberation is over, and the path I have to take is decided.”
At some point, as the things I had to protect grew more and more numerous, I had started agonizing over every choice again and again.
But once a decision was made, hesitation had to be thrown away.
The moment you look back, hesitation appears. And with it, an opening.
That was how I gradually learned not to look back.
In Murim. In the modern world.
Amid all the monsters charging in to kill me, and the detestable human crowd even worse than those monsters.
“This is the path I chose, and for now, it’s the best one.”
Sacrifice the Skeleton King, or hand this world over to Michael Silbert.
Faced with that impossible dilemma where I couldn’t choose either, I made my decision.
Rather than be controlled like a puppet,
I’d rather become the traitor who killed a hero and colluded with a monster.
And by doing that, I would rip out the root of this calamity.
‘He… dies by my hand today.’
Whoosh.
A scorching surge spread through my body. As if chewing the words over, I released the Energy Wave I had gathered to its fullest and let it spread in all directions.
Ruuuumble!
A violent tremor shook not just the building, but the entire area around it.
Under a pressure utterly incomparable to what Team Leader Choi had released earlier, the hologram TV, which had been flickering silently, cut out, and the alarm devices installed throughout the building began blaring.
Beep. Beep! Wiiiing!
“What the hell is this… Huhk!”
“Kyaaah! Aaak!”
“Emergency! This is an emergency! Everyone, please evacuate!”
The murmuring voices that had risen because of Team Leader Choi’s earlier vibration instantly turned into screams.
Amid the countless presences moving outside the door and the urgent shouting, Team Leader Choi, who had been staring at me with a drained expression, suddenly raised the [Hero’s Sword].
Thud!
The silver blade plunged into the floor as easily as if it were tofu. After squeezing his eyes shut for a moment and opening them again, he pulled a smartphone and a potion from his pocket with a resigned look.
And the next moment, I saw it.
Team Leader Choi’s eyes widening, and then his fingers moving rapidly across the screen.
Flash.
With the unique glow of a hologram, the image of a giant man appeared in the air. Magic Johnson opened his mouth with a more urgent expression than ever.
“Damn it. Why’d you answer so late? Did you see the material I sent? I just found something strange a moment ago… Wait, what’s going on over there now?”
Magic Johnson, who had been rambling without pause, finally noticed something was off and looked back and forth between us, but instead of answering him, I strode forward.
To be precise, toward the documents in his hand.
‘This is…’
Documents packed with a few photographs and lines of tiny text.
But with my terrifying dynamic vision, I took in everything in barely ten seconds, and at the same time, a possibility I had never once considered rose in my mind.
‘Why the hell is this… Wait. If that’s the case… then?’
One thought hooked onto another, tangling together chaotically.
Just as I was groping through the pale fog that had suddenly filled my head, trying to make sense of the truth hidden behind it.
“Ah.”
With the sigh that slipped through my parted lips, the energy that had been boiling inside me as if ready to explode began to subside.
Whoooosh.
The Energy Wave scattered, and the vibration quickly started dying down.
But my eyes, and my mind that had caught a glimpse of the truth beyond that fog, were more unsettled than ever.
‘If this is true.’
Yes. If that was really the case…
Letting the words swirling in my mouth trail off, I stared blankly at Magic Johnson, then slowly turned my head toward Team Leader Choi.
And toward the [Hero’s Sword] planted in front of him like Excalibur.
“Team Leader Choi.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you suddenly draw your sword like that? It’s scary.”
“Huh?”
“I need to think, so put your sword away first and calm the people outside down. It’s unbelievably noisy.”
“…Huh?”
‘I mean, what is this? Has he lost his mind?’
That thought came through his gaze so clearly that a hollow laugh escaped me.
No matter how it looked to everyone else, after snickering to myself like a madman for a while, I slapped myself hard on both cheeks.
Smack!
Maybe I hit too hard.
My skull rattled from the full-force slap, but thanks to that, the mind that had briefly gone AWOL snapped back into place before it could desert entirely.
‘Good.’
Finally back in reality, I looked at the two men staring at me in bewilderment and opened my mouth.
“Alright, everyone. Now then, together…”
First, brightly. Then emotionally.
And the last part, solemnly.
“Let’s kill every last one of those fucking bastards and carve out a fourth path for us to survive.”
At that grand and solemn declaration, Team Leader Choi and Magic Johnson’s eyes twitched.
“Mr. Jin Taekyung…”
“Hey, Jin…”
What more was there to say?
As if I already understood everything, I gave a faint smile and nodded.
At the new hope I had glimpsed at the very last moment, a heat unlike Scorching Yang Energy kept rising from somewhere deep inside me.
No, not just rising.
Overflowing.
Drip. Drip. Splash.
“…What the hell.”
Was this really overflowing?
Before the fourth path could even begin, that heat, no, that red liquid, came gushing out of my freshly cleared nostrils, and the gazes of the two men turned cold.
“My nose is bleeding. It’s bleeding a lot.”
“It’s like watching the fountain in my mansion’s plaza. More specifically, like the baby angel statue in it pissing.”
“So you should’ve hit me a little more gently.”
“At this rate, you might collapse from blood loss. Choi, do you have a potion?”
“I actually just took one out. I really didn’t think I’d be using it in a situation like this, though…”
“Good. Give it to Jin quickly. But what did you mean earlier about a fourth path? No, forget that for now. Deal with the nosebleed first, then explain.”
“Here, take this. Ah, since the blood is spraying everywhere, could you step back just one step?”
As I took the potion Team Leader Choi handed me, I thought to myself.
Maybe heading straight out to fight Michael Silbert would’ve been a lot cooler than this.
But this was still me.
A man who, even if he looked pathetic and embarrassingly disheveled right now, still struggled desperately to reach the best possible outcome.
The real, unvarnished truth of this era, running day and night for this world in places no one else sees.
“What are you doing? Drink it already. In one gulp.”
“Jin, are you bad at drinking potions? If you want, I can help.”
Looking with fearful eyes at Team Leader Choi, nagging like an old mother-in-law, and at Magic Johnson, who for some reason had suddenly licked his lips, I hurriedly poured the potion into my mouth.
Whoooosh.
And when that icy Healing Energy, like a block of ice, made one full circuit through my body, I saw it on the hologram TV, which had returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
Gray hair. Gray eyes.
A man who seemed as if he had been born somewhere between light and darkness stood before a storm of camera flashes, and beneath his silent figure, stiff subtitles scrolled past.
===
(Live)
[UN Emergency General Assembly, Overwhelming Vote Approves Re-establishment of World Hunter Federation.]
[Michael Silbert: I offer unreserved praise for the UN’s decision for humanity, and I propose an inaugural ceremony for the re-established World Hunter Federation.]
“Turn off mute mode!”
Beep.
At Team Leader Choi’s urgent command, the sound trapped in the speaker poured out like a tide.
“Does your statement mean you intend to become the representative of the World Hunter Federation yourself?”
“Michael! Can an inaugural ceremony really be held under the current circumstances?”
“When and where do you intend to hold it?”
“Washington Post! Just one comment, please!”
Shouts that were practically screams.
Countless reporters, far more than the cameras could capture, crowded around him and hurled question after question, but instead of answering, Michael Silbert merely raised one hand with a grave expression.
Shhh.
Even though it was only a hologram, even though he was realistically several kilometers away, it all felt vivid.
The air surrounding a single man. The atmosphere of a stage prepared for one man alone.
The sheer presence of that bastard, radiating such suffocating force that it crushed you just by watching and listening.
Right now, the only person there who could open and close his mouth however he pleased was Michael Silbert alone.
“I swear to God, the only reason I proposed the re-establishment of the World Hunter Federation three days ago was for this world, for humanity.”
I could feel it. The upheaval swallowing them whole.
And at its center stood a born agitator and orator, standing beneath a spotlight brighter than at any other moment of his life.
“The representative of the World Hunter Federation should be someone other than me.”
The hero of the Great Cataclysm who had once already saved humanity from a Demon King. The living Savior.
A voice imbued with Internal Energy rang out without end. People who couldn’t withstand the upheaval lifted their heads to the sky and shouted.
Sky. Slayer. Cheon Tae-min.
The many names given to one man.
But at the same time, not a small number of people were chanting someone else’s name.
Michael Silbert’s name.
And amid the fever spreading like wildfire, he continued without pause.
“The inaugural ceremony will be held. Without fail. Whether it’s the mad terrorist who calls himself the Prophet, or any monster, or even if the Demon King returns, the hunters of the World Hunter Federation will gather in one place, elect their representative, and swear themselves as humanity’s sword and shield!”
“Waaaaaah!”
My ears rang.
Now I could hear the cheers not just through the speaker, but with my own two ears.
Through the cracks of the tightly shut door, the people of this city shouted together as one.
No, maybe not just this city.
Maybe from all over the world.
From every place where light still shone and electricity still flowed.
Bathed in countless cheers, that hero stood shining all by himself, without the slightest suspicion that he was the mastermind behind all of this.
And in the blazing heat that felt ready to burst, Michael Silbert raised his voice and eyes more powerfully than ever.
Toward the ecstatic crowd. Toward the cameras trained on him.
Or perhaps…
“Two days from now. Seoul, Republic of Korea.”
Toward me, who had no choice but to watch him from here.
Michael Silbert declared it to the whole world.
“In the homeland of the Savior, and the place where the World Hunter Federation first began, we will rise once again. Just as we did back then.”