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chapter 112
Just before Kim Min-jung and Um Ki-seon made contact with Astra.
Fortunately, Kim Min-jung managed to reach Lee Hyun by phone.
It was just after Lee Hyun had come out of the Tower of the Five Elements.
“Where have you disappeared to this time that I can’t get hold of you?” she asked.
[Closed training.]
“Wouldn’t the company’s underground training room be more convenient?”
[I had something to do. You know how I cram training into my leave period.]
Damn mysticism.
Kim Min-jung clicked her tongue lightly.
On the other end of the line, Lee Hyun chuckled softly.
[What’s up? You know I hate being contacted during training. Reunion stuff?]
“All of them have already been contacted. Most said they’d come. Don’t be late again because you decided to train in the middle of it, senior.”
[So it’s a company matter then… What is it?]
“When have I ever only called for company matters?”
[Act like you haven’t?]
Hearing Lee Hyun’s reply, she had nothing more to say.
Still, Kim Min-jung somehow found his reaction irritating.
[Alright. Just kidding. But from the sound of your voice it doesn’t seem like you called for something trivial?]
Um Ki-seon, who had been listening beside her, gave her a subtle nudge.
His eyes said they had already arrived near the destination.
Kim Min-jung spoke.
“Astra has entered Korea. We received a formal notice saying they want to coordinate with the Committee, so Assistant Um and I are going to meet them.”
[Who came?]
“Michael.”
There was a momentary silence over the phone.
[He came to check our strength. And while he’s at it, he’ll probably make a scouting offer.]
“You knew, senior? That Michael Shephard secret?”
[Roughly. There were times we bumped into him before and it felt odd. We pretended not to notice on their side.]
Both Kim Min-jung and Um Ki-seon looked stunned.
Um Ki-seon told her the whole story of why he had left Astra.
When had it been? He had accidentally discovered that all of his legacy and skill tree data were stored in Astra’s database.
A hunter’s data is mostly kept secret. If it leaks externally, it would expose their weaknesses.
At the time he didn’t know how it had been extracted.
But because it was something that should never have happened, Um Ki-seon had loudly protested at headquarters—only to be disciplined for insubordination in return.
In anger, he stormed out of Astra.
During that process, he was ostracized by colleagues he had trusted.
“No, Knight. You’re being too paranoid.”
“Of course it’s wrong that they have our private data. But it also gave us access to strength-training and custom-item support, didn’t it?”
“If we’re not discharged, what’s the problem? Even if you’re hurt and discharged, the pension keeps coming. Consider it payment.”
“If you really don’t like it, just leave and build a new skill tree from scratch, can’t you?”
Mostly gaslighting: “You’re the one being too sensitive.” There was even persuasion framed as being necessary for the team’s development—sharing information among members was natural.
But for Um Ki-seon, who had spent his life valuing personal training, it was intolerable.
Then he returned to Korea after contacting his friend Kim Min-yul and was scouted by White Burn; there he reunited with Kim Min-jung—his friend’s older sister—and felt a flutter.
Anyway,
while reviewing the past, Um Ki-seon concluded that Michael Shephard was the one who had dug up his information.
He didn’t know through what route Michael had obtained it, but the theory made sense only if he was behind it.
Still—
‘He figured it out that fast?’
Um Ki-seon scoffed and shook his head.
No matter how many times he saw him, their team leader just didn’t seem like the same person.
[It’s a type of psychometry. The activation condition is touch.]
“How should we proceed? Should we wait until senior arrives?”
[No. If I’m there they’ll behave much more cautiously. We need to find out their exact intention first.]
Lee Hyun paused as if thinking, then continued.
[Then let’s do this.]
Lee Hyun’s instruction was simple.
First, the two of them would make contact with Astra.
Listen as much as possible and act half-swayed, half-convinced.
And—
“…You want us to shake hands?”
[I’m not telling you to hand over data. There’s a method.]
“A method?”
[Do you have a bracelet you don’t use? If it’s wooden, even better.]
“Hold on a second.”
Kim Min-jung pulled the car over to the roadside. Um Ki-seon, catching her cue, bought a wooden bracelet from a street vendor.
“We bought one, but what are you planning to do with it?”
[We’re going to put an incantation on it now. A fun incantation.]
“…?”
Kim Min-jung suddenly wondered why this man was acting like that, but Lee Hyun’s chuckle didn’t stop.
As soon as the call ended, Lee Hyun also phoned Section Chief Seo Aeri.
[Sorry to contact you during leave. But this is an emergency. Back up Kim and Assistant Um.]
He asked her to monitor their movements and contact him immediately if anything happened.
And…
as he expected, the moment Michael Shephard fell into the trap, Lee Hyun immediately pinpointed the location and leaped through space.
Flash!
“Long time no see, OverZero.”
At Lee Hyun’s greeting, Michael’s eyes, which had been wide, narrowed again.
“…Jet. I see. So this was all your trap.”
He didn’t know how they’d discovered his secret and prepared a counter, but it was a pretty deadly curse.
It was so severe it even shook Gabriel mid-communication…
[Gabriel is reporting excruciating pain!]
[Gabriel’s Revelation Eye is flashing, saying he has no idea where this particular mage originated from.]
Michael clenched his jaw.
A curse that confuses even the archangel Gabriel.
What on earth did they use?
The problem was that this curse had passed so naturally through the Revelation Eye, which had prophetic properties, and struck him.
‘…When someone tried to ambush me before, Gabriel would immediately inform me by revelation.’
Michael did not know how to interpret this first-time situation.
‘This proves it wasn’t a coincidence that my name was erased from the [Apocalypse].’
Michael bit down hard.
‘I need to come up with a countermeasure against Jet… somehow!’
But,
[Umasal is having another fit!]
Gagging!
Michael vomited blood again.
“Colonel!”
“Pull yourself together, Michael!”
The agents were at a loss because of Michael’s condition.
Their commander was one of America’s proud top-24 high-rankers.
For someone of his caliber to be unable to exert power like this was disconcerting.
“It’s better not to waste effort trying to purge the curse. It’s pretty nasty.”
Lee Hyun gave such men advice bordering on a rebuke.
[Curse Invocation: Spell Reversal, Killing Force Amplification, Spread of Hit]
[‘Relic: Mask of the Golden Vahana’ curse invocation successfully fired its killing force at the opponent!]
[The effect of ‘Title: Heir of Jecheon Dae-seong’ is applied, increasing the relic’s potency by 70%.]
[The potency of the killing force and curse is amplified, and the infection speed increases.]
The relic’s potency was amplified by the title of being the descendant of “Jecheondae-seong.”
Added to that, Kim Min-jung’s Uma King killing force was leveraged, so the effect was definite.
“Kak kak kak! Now you can send curses across space too! Masterful cunning—this monk is moved to tears!”
“You handle relics with such precision. The medium didn’t miss and hit exactly on target.”
Saojeong and Bungmawang, who had accompanied Lee Hyun, burst into praise, and Sun Wukong nodded in satisfaction with a contented look.
As if it were only natural for his disciple to do so.
Thud!
Lee Hyun took two axes out of his inventory and walked forward slowly.
“So you want to scout us to America?”
“…Yes.”
Michael forced a bitter smile and straightened his back again.
This time blood dripped from his ear, but he didn’t care.
“I’ve had many scouting offers before.”
Lee Hyun’s mouth twisted.
“This is the rudest scouting offer I’ve ever received.”
“I regret that. I don’t think ‘sorry’ is the right word.”
“You regret? Not ‘I’m sorry’?”
“Yes.”
Michael nodded curtly.
“I’m merely acting for America’s national interest. I think I was wrong in some respects toward you, but I’m not sorry. If you were in my position you’d have made the same choice.”
Arrogant despite wrongdoing.
Lee Hyun’s mouth crooked further.
Well. Michael Shephard had always been like that.
Proud of being American, seeing it as an honor to serve in Astra…
So all his choices and judgments were based on his country, not himself.
Perhaps he would even die fighting for his country’s glory and accept death with a smile.
A patriot hard to find in these times.
‘The problem is that sometimes that goes too far and turns into coercion or force toward other countries.’
Lee Hyun decided to respect that attitude.
Of course, that didn’t mean he would forgive him.
“How will you compensate then?”
“That is…”
“Don’t you dare blather that you’ll raise the scouting offer.”
Crackle! Crackle!
White-blue sparks violently leapt over Lee Hyun’s shoulder.
And,
flash! flash!!
In an instant, lightning arcs spread in a hemispherical shape, surrounding Michael and the Astra members.
“…!”
“…!”
“…!!”
The faces of Donovan and the other agents hardened.
They realized Lee Hyun had cut off their escape route.
Kim Min-jung and Um Ki-seon subtly prevented them from the perimeter. Seo Aeri had also joined and was ready to activate her legacies.
‘Jet’s gotten stronger! Much more than four years ago!!’
The agents who knew Lee Hyun had the same thought.
He didn’t look like a high-ranker, but his momentum rivaled Michael on a good day.
Z-team members realized this and were shocked.
“I could kill you all here right now and send you back to America, and Astra couldn’t protest.”
“…Maybe. Perhaps the answer will be buried by their over-loyalty rather than their own will.”
Michael smiled bitterly and wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
“But we mean it. Good. One of the most important core people of Cheongroe is right here.”
His gaze had already hardened again.
“State your desired conditions. I’ll accept most of them.”
He looked as if he had returned to when he first met Kim Min-jung.
He did not look like someone infected by Umasal.
“And if there’s nothing?”
“There will be. No one is without greed. In fact, Jet, you will have more than you need. You are an ambitious man.”
Lee Hyun snorted.
“What do you think you know about me?”
“I know. Of course I know. You’re similar to me.”
“I’m similar to you?”
“If you had no ambition, could you have risen out of that hell like this? Seeing you today made it clearer. Jet, you’re the kind of talent who should be with us.”
Lee Hyun read the madness glinting in Michael’s eyes.
A trickle of blood.
A wry laugh escaped him for some reason.
“You’re going to stand stubbornly to the end? A man who came to negotiate doesn’t have that posture.”
Lee Hyun’s pupils flashed like spear points.
“You don’t understand until the end. Let’s see how long you can keep that up.”
Whoosh!!
For a moment, a fierce gust of wind blew—
Flash—
Lee Hyun stamped the ground hard.
Screeeech!!
“…I simply can’t understand it. Why would you still have any attachment to a country that abandoned you once?”
Whoosh!
Suddenly, behind Michael a white winged illusion rose. His eyes sank deep like a monk’s.
“Can’t be helped. We’ll suppress your recruits and take them to America to persuade them.”
He assumed a stance.
A pose a monk would show in self-discipline training.
[Myth, ‘Servant Who Bestows Revelation’ reveals its holiness!]
Despite the dizziness from the Umasal infection, Michael thrust out a palm strike at the axe that was coming for him.
Kraang!!
