Chapter 728
That’s how humans are. When success keeps piling up, confidence grows, and little by little, they start closing their eyes and ears—ones that used to be wide open.
But Team Leader Choi was a decent man, even before he became an outstanding hunter and manager. Especially in how he always tried to gather everyone’s understanding, even though the final decision rested with him.
“…So I’d like to hear your opinions.”
With that quiet line, Team Leader Choi finished, and the figures seated on the sofa fell silent for a moment.
No—more precisely, not all of them were people. At some point, a monster had naturally taken a seat among them.
And that monster looked more serious than ever.
“This body is against it.”
All eyes turned to the firm refusal, delivered without the slightest hesitation. Skeleton King didn’t care about the attention and continued.
“The reason is as everyone here knows. Excessive expansion of power invites vigilance, and human envy and jealousy inevitably lead to danger. Am I wrong?”
I realized again—this bastard had really become human.
When I awkwardly shook my head, Skeleton King’s voice grew even firmer.
“This body also wishes to avoid further attention. If other humans learn my true identity, you will also be in trouble. So stop talking nonsense.”
He ended with a harsh rebuke. Everyone, including me, exchanged looks as if we’d agreed in advance.
He wasn’t wrong. There was truth in it.
There definitely was…
“Is that what someone who wants to avoid attention does? You made an SNS account the moment you got a phone.”
At my sharp remark, Team Leader Choi, Im Jeok-jung, and Song-Yi nodded one after another.
“I agree with Jin Taekyung.”
“That’s true. I don’t use that kind of thing, so I didn’t know, but that guy seems pretty famous.”
“It’s not just ‘pretty famous.’ It hasn’t been long since he made it, but he already has over a hundred thousand followers.”
Hit right in the bullseye, Skeleton King faltered—then puffed out his chest at Song-Yi’s words.
“As of today, it’s one hundred twenty thousand.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course. Advertising offers are pouring in from everywhere.”
I chuckled at how proud he looked.
“Look at this son of a bitch. Do you want to be broken into one hundred twenty thousand bone fragments?”
“Delete the account right now. This is your last warning.”
At my threat, Skeleton King hesitated, then answered in a gloomy voice.
“…Okay.”
“It’s good you’re being compliant, but you didn’t post any weird nonsense on there, did you?”
In modern society, the ripple effect of the internet is enormous. Unlike the Murim Alliance, where information only spreads through messengers, here you can broadcast something to the whole world with a few finger taps.
‘It’ll be a headache if that guy wrote something stupid.’
And to my very reasonable concern, Song-Yi chimed in blandly.
“Fortunately, nothing special. I checked it, and he just uploaded a bunch of selfies.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And most of his followers are overseas. Especially men. The ratio is overwhelming.”
“If that’s the case, that’s a relief, but why men… Ah.”
A realization hit me. I remembered whose hands had shaped Skeleton King’s handsome face.
‘Magic Johnson.’
The greatest Archmage of the century.
And the greatest gay of the century.
The current Skeleton King was the product of Magic Johnson’s tastes—unthinkable magic performed with two staffs.
He was handsome at a glance, but more than that, his face and body perfectly matched the needs of a very specific crowd.
And the number of people who’d gathered because of that was a whopping one hundred twenty thousand.
With that many, even if the Demonic Path came back with a hundred thousand troops, they could beat them into the dirt.
Of course, whether they’d only beat them was another question.
‘Still, this guy is something else.’
To rake in that many followers in such a short time, without any fame or name to start with.
Even the Murim Alliance Lord couldn’t do that.
Unaware I was looking at him with new eyes, Skeleton King fiddled with his phone and spoke with a mournful expression.
“I cannot bring myself to delete the account. You are the most cunning and cruel human being in the world.”
“What kind of sin did I commit in my past life to be called cruel by a monster?”
“Ah, such a sudden farewell. Some unknown woman who will no longer be able to see this body’s dazzling face will shed endless tears.”
“What’s with that weird phrasing?”
“No, it’s better you don’t know.”
Sometimes, the truth is more beautiful when it stays hidden.
After trading a silent agreement with Song-Yi through eye contact, I looked around and spoke.
“Anyway, everyone’s on board, right?”
Im Jeok-jung nodded like it was obvious.
“Sure. I’ll follow whatever you and Team Leader Choi decide.”
“Song-Yi?”
“Well.”
Song-Yi crossed her legs at an angle and continued.
“Listening to all that, it’s ultimately for everyone’s sake, so if I say I don’t like it, doesn’t that just make me the bad guy?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You weren’t nice to begin with.”
“Oh my. Listen to this guy.”
Smiling as she raised her middle finger, Song-Yi suddenly sighed.
“It’s honestly spectacular. When I got the transfer offer from Team Leader Choi and left the Ares Guild, I never thought it would turn out like this.”
“I know. Should you’ve just stayed there?”
“Hey, I couldn’t help it. The branch manager was a total pervert. I figured it’d be better to work under someone young, handsome, and rich. But I had a bad feeling from day one.”
“Day one?”
“Yeah. I ran away from a perverted bastard and ended up with a weirdo. I was starving, but he burned all the meat, then suddenly asked me what my zodiac sign was. Taurus. Isn’t that completely insane?”
“I see.”
I chuckled and didn’t say anything else.
Honestly, I felt sorry for Im Jeok-jung and Song-Yi. Since the Peace Guild was founded, they’d been dragged through all kinds of unexpected messes they never asked for.
“Um.”
“What? That reaction.”
“Nothing. Just… it’s not too late yet.”
“What?”
“This might be a lot more dangerous than you or Uncle Jeok-jung think.”
Unlike usual, my voice had no laughter in it. Song-Yi’s eyes sank.
“How dangerous?”
“You need to understand we’ve already gone beyond a domestic scale.”
“You have a habit of underestimating yourself, but you and Team Leader Choi left ‘domestic’ behind a long time ago.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration. I’d become known worldwide after defeating the Arch Lich in China, and Team Leader Choi was constantly in the media as the new head of the Ares Guild and the successor to the living savior.
But this was a different matter.
No—this problem existed precisely because of everything we’d achieved so far.
I shrugged.
“Someone said the bigger the body, the more there is to eat.”
“So. How much are you going to get eaten?”
“I’m not planning to. And I’m going to keep it that way.”
Song-Yi stared at me, then suddenly spoke.
“You know what?”
“What?”
“It’s already way too late to back out. For both Uncle Jeok-jung and me.”
Im Jeok-jung answered quietly.
“I never even consider backing out in the first place.”
“Uncle…”
“Late or not, once we start, we go together until the end. Even if it’s only for the people who left first.”
Then Im Jeok-jung asked softly,
“Don’t you think so, Team Leader Choi?”
At that question, everyone’s eyes turned the same way.
Team Leader Choi, who’d gone quiet at some point, was staring at an empty seat.
The empty seat of someone whose warmth had lingered there until recently—yet now could never be filled again.
And he spoke.
“I went to the grave today. And someone had carved words beside the tombstone.”
His voice stayed calm.
“Thank you for coming. I love you. Please come again next time.”
No one spoke.
Team Leader Choi continued.
“So I hope we can all go see him next time. Next year, the year after… even decades later.”
It was his resolve—after having to send someone precious away first—not to let the same thing happen again.
The four characters “all together” carried the will to prevent a repeat.
‘Decades later.’
Yeah. That was enough.
I didn’t know what we’d look like then, but for now, it was enough to go together.
“Team Leader Choi.”
At my quiet call, he nodded heavily.
“I understand. Let’s begin.”
The general discussion had ended before we even spoke. Team Leader Choi pulled out his phone and called the first person.
Beep, beep.
Click.
The call connected before even three rings. A heavy voice—honed by a hectic political life—came through.
– This is Baek Hanseong.
There were plenty of people named Baek Hanseong in South Korea.
But in this situation, there was only one Baek Hanseong Team Leader Choi would call first.
“Yes, President. I’m calling because there’s something important.”
– Haha. Hmm. When you say it like that, it already feels strange. I’m looking forward to it, but on the other hand, I’m getting anxious.
Im Jeok-jung and Song-Yi fell silent at the presence of someone powerful enough to move a nation. Skeleton King widened his eyes and whispered to me.
“President Baek Hanseong, is that perhaps…?”
“That’s right. Our President…”
“I know. Isn’t he a popular celebrity with over ten million followers?”
“Damn it. A human with a hundred times more than this body.”
Watching Skeleton King grumble, I thought,
‘Please, I hope he dies…’
Then I remembered.
‘Right. He’s already dead.’
===
The hallway was dazzlingly bright. An A-rank Magic Crystal Stone packed with enormous energy supplied power to the entire building nonstop, and the people filling each floor were busy with their tasks.
Until, at some point, sudden darkness fell.
Crackle.
Whoosh.
The light draining from the lamps faded, and every machine stopped.
Panicked shouts erupted everywhere, shattering the brief silence.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, looks like a power outage.”
“Is that your answer? No, damn it… That’s why I told you to replace the Magic Crystal Stone ahead of time. You’ve been sucking it dry for over twenty years—was it begging you to kill it or what?”
“That’s true. Experts say an A-rank Magic Crystal Stone should last at least thirty years.”
“So is it important why it ran out ten years early? Are you so curious you’re going crazy?”
“Ah, no.”
“Okay, everyone focus! Security and tech will be here within two minutes, so everyone stay put—don’t move a finger! Anyone with spare mana lanterns, bring them now!”
But the department head’s shout was quickly buried, and in less than a minute, the surroundings brightened again.
The power that had cut out briefly returned.
“Damn it. This isn’t even dog training…”
The grumbling department head waved off the late-arriving security team.
“Ah, as you can see, everything’s fine. But why the sudden outage?”
“I asked our team leader, and he said it’s rare, but it happens once every few years. The technical team will have to confirm the exact cause, but…”
“Well, that’s their job.”
The hunter on the security team smiled awkwardly as he checked various things.
Whether any items had gone missing during the outage.
Whether anyone had been injured.
Whether anything suspicious had been noticed, and so on.
But it was just procedure. And there were mountains of urgent work piled up—no one had the time to pour sincerity into an outage that lasted a single minute.
“Sorry, but can you ask more questions later? We’re in a bit of a situation right now.”
The security team member nodded at the department head’s words.
“Of course. No problem. But you seem busier than usual—did something happen?”
“A document came down from above. They say something big is going to break out today.”
“Something big?”
“Yeah. We don’t know the details, but it sounds like it came from the Blue House. Everyone’s on high alert because of it. At this rate, we won’t even be able to leave on time.”
“Oh. Then I wasted your time for nothing.”
“Don’t say that. We’re all working for the country. Anyway, take care, and we’ll talk later.”
“Yes. Take care.”
But as they headed back to their posts, none of them knew.
During that short window—less than a minute—something ghostly had roamed the building in the thick darkness.
And one item had vanished from the [Evidence Storage Room] deep underground.
Hundreds of employees, the elite hunters of the security team, even the alarm magic—none of them realized.
The being that had finished everything with ease left the building at leisure.
Step.
Step.
Accompanied by someone’s footsteps.
“Sehwan, did you check the third floor?”
“Yes, team leader. No issues. But what did the technical team say?”
“It hasn’t even been ten minutes. How would the cause be known already?”
“That’s true. By the way, isn’t the weather really nice today?”
Swish.
Behind the security team member joking with his superior, a dark shadow flickered faintly.