BRDM 126

chapter 126

Before entering the Ministry of National Defense,
Lee Hyun had a brief conversation with Lee Gunsan.

“But how do you plan to take the Snow Queen? You can’t just carry her out openly, right?”

It was one thing for Lee Gunsan to use his own connections.
But the corpse stored at the Ministry of National Defense was a national property.

If Lee Hyun declared he would take it, they’d call him insane.
The fact that the Ministry had surrendered to him was an entirely different matter.

“Not even on a loan basis, right?”

“Of course not. From what I know, the experiments have been halted, so it can’t even be moved out anymore.”

“Experiments? What were they trying to do?”

Lee Hyun’s eyes gleamed.
He had found it strange already.

Xuchangyou had created Pingxin using a relic.
Surely the Ministry wouldn’t keep such a corpse just for display.

“I don’t know the exact details—it’s classified. But I think they were preparing something called the Spirit Weapon Project.”

“Spirit Weapon Project…?”

“You know how boss monsters’ corpses usually retain a strong remnant of their will? The plan was to extract that will along with magic power and inject it into the Snow Queen’s corpse.”

“…!”

“Then, the troublesome will would crystallize. Through refining, they could transform it into an artificial spirit. Once that’s done—”

“Even an artificial spirit is still a spirit… meaning it could be weaponized.”

“Exactly.”

Lee Hyun was dumbfounded.
He thought, What a crazy but ingenious idea.

But if it succeeded, it could greatly strengthen their forces.
All the boss monsters the Ministry possessed were of high rank.

If they could be turned into artificial spirits,
the military would command a wide range of combat powers.

It would also make controlling soldiers easier. They wouldn’t want to create another “Cheongroe” again, would they?

He could clearly see the Ministry’s intentions.

“Was that idea yours, General? Even I never thought of using them like that.”

“The initial concept was mine. I came up with it while trying to find a way to lift the curse on you.”

“Ah.”

Lee Hyun scratched his cheek with a finger.

Pfft.

Lee Gunsan laughed lightly and continued.

“But I was ousted in the meantime, and the project was snatched away by some brigadier general.”

“The one who was originally my evaluation chair, Brigadier General Han Dongwook?”

“Yeah.”

“So he had a reason to eliminate me.”

“Haha. A damn long-standing grudge, that one.”

Lee Hyun narrowed his eyes playfully.

“But since we’ve heard nothing about the results, I’m guessing it failed.”

“Failed miserably. Something went wrong halfway.”

“What kind of problem?”

“There were three stages: implantation, assimilation, and extraction. They managed assimilation, but extraction failed every time.”

Lee Hyun nodded knowingly.

“The frozen will wouldn’t break, right?”

“Exactly. It was tougher and colder than expected. They tried all sorts of things to melt it… and in the end—”

“…the corpse must’ve been ruined.”

Lee Gunsan nodded.

“It turned into a kind of graveyard.”

* * *

A graveyard.
That was the perfect word for it.

To create a spirit crystal, they had injected dozens of boss monster wills into the Snow Queen’s corpse.

Just from the ones General mentioned: Shadow of Obsidian, Frostfeather Hawk, Abyssal Drake, Howling Wind, Crimson Fox… quite a list.

At first they tried dark-type bosses.
Later, to forcibly melt the crystal, they even injected fire-type magic—like the Bonfire Sprite or the Serpent of Bloodflame.

Especially the [Serpent of Bloodflame]. Wasn’t that the boss monster first known about 40 years ago, thanks to the Mountain God? They had that corpse stored too?

Apparently, it had been slain by Mo Jeong-gyeon before he started White Burn in earnest.

In any case,
the Snow Queen’s corpse was now heavily contaminated.

There was even the risk she could not be recovered at all.

Still, Hyun had sent a clone to check.

But did she freeze it even harder instead?

While surprised by the Snow Queen’s countermeasure,
Hyun briefly wondered how he would handle it.

[Absorbed magic is too great. ‘Frost Veil’ cannot contain it.]
[Overload detected in magic circuits.]

“Mr. Jang Hyun?”

“Ah, I’m fine. Please continue.”

Hyun hid his right hand behind his back and nodded.
They were in an empty meeting room, discussing the business plan.

He needed to focus.

The Frost Veil etched on his hand glowed faintly,
but he masked it with his will so it wasn’t obvious.

At the same time—

Clack!

[Curse Scripture: Magic Seal, Frost Reinforcement]

He used the curse scripture to lock the energy inside the Frost Veil,
preventing it from spreading through his circuits.

Thanks to that, the chilling aura in his body calmed down.

「Kekeke! This isn’t just residual will, it’s pure grudges! And when that meets extreme frost, of course it grows savage!」

Sa Oh-jung jumped off Hyun’s shoulder, laughing.

「But wow, there are all kinds of things in here! Kekeke! Sister-in-law, do you think you can purify them?」

「Hard to say. I’ll have to look inside first. If we burn them carelessly, we might lose everything. Some of them might even strengthen their grudges instead…」

The Bat Demon King fluttered his tiny wings, carefully examining the Frost Veil.

I’ll leave it to you.

Hyun entrusted the two demon kings with the aftermath and focused on Agent Cha Yoon-jung’s report.
Truthfully, he had hardly heard the earlier part, busy controlling his magic.

“…as a result, Xu Changyou has severed ties with Chairman Peng, who is now almost certain to lose his position.”

But Hyun could guess the gist.
Xu Changyou and Peng Jinghao had clashed,
and Peng was on the verge of being ousted.

“And now… Lu Wu-chen, huh. Hard to say yet whether this is good or bad.”

At his words, the others turned their eyes to him.

Lee Gunsan nodded.

“Still, compared to Chairman Peng, Lu Wu-chen was considered relatively moderate. That’s something, at least.”

Hyun had never met Lu Wu-chen directly.
By the time Hyun was active, Lu had already left politics.

But he had heard plenty of stories.
Some said he was like an immortal sage.
Others, that he was hardly human at all.

They had expected someone would replace Peng Jinghao—
but since it was Lu Wu-chen, much would have to be reevaluated.

Cha Yoon-jung continued.

“The exact deal between Xu Changyou and Lu Wu-chen is unknown. But Xu has moved his base to Tianjin, where Pingxin’s HQ is, and vast supplies are pouring in there…”

“So he’s reorganizing Pingxin under his control.”

“Yes. That seems to be the case.”

Lee Gunsan’s words were met with a nod from Cha.

Michael, listening through his translation device, added:

“Lu Wu-chen also provided some of his skill books and items. And since moving to Tianjin, Xu Changyou almost never leaves the building.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“The analysis from home is that aside from reorganizing Pingxin, he is also preparing to climb back as a top ranker.”

Not something to take lightly.

Clack.

Michael set down his coffee.

“Furthermore, intel suggests that members of the Abyssal Cult and City Cartel are now at Pingxin HQ.”

Even the NIS hadn’t known that.

Cha Yoon-jung whipped her gaze toward him.

“Just as Korea and the U.S. joined hands, so too have they. It’s blocs against blocs now.”

“…”
“…”
“…”

A heavy silence fell between them.
Only the sound of Hyun sipping iced Americano through a straw broke it.

None of these matters could be dismissed.

The leap toward top-ranker status—
Xu Changyou had already received full backing from the Central Hero Committee.

Now, if the already top-ranked Lu Wu-chen decided to groom him seriously,
Xu might reach that position for real.

On top of that, the Abyssal Cult and City Cartel were infamous villain guilds.
They had been designated as such internationally.

Bringing them in without caring about global scrutiny
meant they were openly declaring hostility against White Burn and Astra.

Who knew what defenses were being set up at Pingxin HQ?

Cheongroe and Astra versus the Central Hero Committee, the Abyssal Cult, and the City Cartel…
After this clash, the international repercussions would be enormous—whether good or bad.

Michael added, “There is also a report that Xu’s right-hand man, Zhang Yijie, has vanished after a clash with Peng. Some say all this is to recover from that…”

Hyun cut in, “Still, we should assume the worst and plan accordingly.”

Michael grinned, agreeing.

Clack.

Hyun set down his iced Americano.

“In that case, this is actually better for us.”

Better?

The three others turned to him again.

Hyun spoke firmly.

“The longer we wait, the worse it gets. We’ll move Z-Team immediately. We’re already ready.”

“…!”
“…!”
“…!?”

It sounded as casual as announcing a walk.
But it was true.

They had rebuilt the team,
restored the unit’s honor,
and just retrieved the Snow Queen’s true body.

[The <Snow Queen>’s true body has been secured within the ‘Frost Veil.’]
[However, absorption is incomplete, relic functions are temporarily halted.]
[Absorbing… 1%, 2%…]

The comrades had also wrapped up their previous commitments and rejoined Z-Team.
They were ready to move.

Lee Gunsan chuckled.
Michael nodded knowingly.

“Astra is also ready. Just tell us the operation date, and we’ll support you anytime.”

“Are you truly fine with this?”

Michael smiled.

“Didn’t I already say? We accepted all your conditions. We have our director’s special approval too. And we’d like to see Cheongroe’s strength with our own eyes.”

His fangs gleamed between parted lips.

“But if your level is lower than we expect, then Cheongroe will have to serve as backup.”

They would help enthusiastically—
but would also deliver harsh judgment if needed.

It was pressure, no doubt.

“As much as you like.”

Hyun smiled back, daring them to try.

The one panicking was Cha Yoon-jung.

“P-please wait! If you push this quickly, it’ll be hard for us to coordinate! At least the schedule needs to be discussed…”

“The NIS only needs to monitor Pingxin HQ via satellite and relay the data.”

“If that’s difficult, we’ll borrow satellites ourselves. That might be better anyway.”

Cha grew flustered at Michael’s casual smile.

The NIS wanted to join not only because of the Blue House’s orders,
but also to mediate international disputes bound to arise.

White Burn’s recent exploits had already dazzled the world.
With Jet, Cheongroe, and Astra involved,
a massive battle was certain—
and the fallout would be tremendous.

So they had to insert themselves, at least partly.

“B-but Cheongroe hasn’t fought together in four years! To sync again, investigate the operation site, make a plan—that takes time…”

“You saw at Ulleungdo. Syncing can happen on-site.”

“…Ah.”

“As for the operation site, we’ve already finished reconnaissance. What matters now is seizing this moment of enemy confusion.”

“I-I’ll get the director’s permission! Please wait!”

Cha ran out with her secure phone.
She returned shortly, breath ragged.

“One week! Could you give us just one week…?”

Hyun shook his head.

“No more than three days.”

“U-understood. We’ll try to match the schedule.”

Cha immediately began planning in her head.

Michael ran a hand through his hair and stood.

“Then we must hurry our own preparations. Our director will be quite busy managing the diplomacy.”

“I’ll get my boys ready too. Can’t have them cowed when stepping out into the world again. Haha.”

Lee Gunsan rose with a laugh as well.

Without these allies, the operation would have been delayed.
Hyun bowed his head slightly in gratitude.

Until the day of the operation.

D-3.