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Chapter 41
Serious Chae-ri was surprisingly logical.
“If chocolate isn’t sweet, who would call it chocolate?”
“…….”
“Is it still chocolate if you make a healthy chocolate without any sweetness?”
It was hard to argue against the reasoning of Phyraion IV.
Above all, though, enduring her gaze that silently said, ‘Are you really competent?’ was almost impossible.
Phyraion had been called a genius since birth.
He had been praised as a hero for defending his homeland.
His entire life had been a testament to competence itself. And yet, Chae-ri’s eyes were more than just humiliating—they were unbearable.
Phyraion trembled and suddenly felt a surge of indignation.
“Fine. Let’s say I made a potion that didn’t live up to your expectations.”
“It’s not ‘let’s say,’ it’s ‘you did make it.’”
Chae-ri’s firm words made Phyraion flinch.
She was clearly stricter than usual.
“But what if Davis had made it? Would you act the same way?”
Phyraion had already been feeling a subtle sense of inequality with Davis.
No matter how hard he tried to rationalize it, this was intolerable.
He couldn’t believe he would be outdone by Davis, and especially by the card owner.
For Phyraion, this was even less tolerable than Chae-ri’s judgmental gaze.
“Davis wouldn’t do that.”
“What?”
“Davis is the king of sense.”
Chae-ri shrugged.
It was the look of a child thinking, ‘Our dad is the best, right?’ and Phyraion nearly lost his composure.
“Our Davis would never do that!”
“…….”
Phyraion gritted his teeth. If he got slapped by Chae-ri, it was only natural to take revenge on Davis.
‘You brat. Just try bringing some money. I’ll squeeze you dry.’
He even thought of making an artifact shaped like a ladle to release high-frequency stress-inducing attacks.
Jeju Island was once called Samda-do.
It was named for its wind, stones, and abundance of women, but that had changed.
Now was the age of Tower Civilization.
Jeju Island was now called “Beauty Island.”
There was a legend that people who awakened in Jeju became beautiful, and many Jeju awakenings were indeed physically stunning, regardless of age or gender.
Lee Cheong-ha, the ruler of Jeju, was one of the prime examples.
Although she personally didn’t care for it, she was known as “Jeju’s Most Beautiful” and called her sub-rulers for a meeting.
“I think we need to bring in Choi Deok-gyu.”
“You mean the Seoul ruler?”
“Yes. To attract an L-rank awakener, we don’t have much choice.”
The public often assumed L-rank awakener = Svita, but sub-rulers and higher ranked guild members thought differently.
‘Maybe the real L-rank awakener is someone else, and Svita just acts as a proxy under a contract with the Seoul Guild.’
Some had such suspicions.
“It doesn’t matter whether Svita is the real L-rank or not.”
What mattered was that the Seoul ruler had a deep connection with the L-rank awakener.
“I’ll handle it myself.”
“You, Guild Leader?”
“Yes. I’m beautiful, aren’t I?”
“…….”
“Someone like Choi Deok-gyu should be seducible, right?”
Lee Cheong-ha, Jeju’s Most Beautiful.
In reality, she didn’t like her own beauty.
She believed that because of it, her archery skills were underestimated.
Her true ambition was not to be Jeju’s Most Beautiful, but Jeju’s Best Archer, and eventually Korea’s Best Archer.
She was truly among the top five archers in Korea.
“But… Guild Leader……”
“There’s no other way.”
She frowned. Normally, she would never do such a thing.
“We’re not a strong guild like Busan, and we don’t have money like Incheon.”
Geographically, Seoul was too far, and they couldn’t offer enticing conditions to an L-rank awakener.
“We also lack a system like Daegu’s promising talent cultivation.”
They were bound to fall behind in competition with other guilds.
“But the leader of Choi Deok-gyu’s guild……”
“Yes. He’s younger than me.”
She didn’t deal with the young ones. To her, they felt like rookies.
But at this point, did that really matter?
At age 68, Lee Cheong-ha had made up her mind.
“The L-rank awakener is Jeju Guild’s hope.”
If she could just attract an L-rank awakener, even for help or guidance, she would do it—if not the leader, then his son.
For the advancement and growth of Jeju Guild.
Awakeners were hard to age at first glance.
Lee Cheong-ha was one such person, looking decades younger than her actual age.
She appeared to be in her early thirties.
‘I heard she drives a yellow van every morning?’
The meaning was unclear, but there had to be a reason.
During tower raids, such quirks were part of strategy.
[Surround the castle 7 times an hour, do it precisely for 7 hours, the castle collapses and you get an A-rank clear.]
└ “Does that even make sense? lol”
└ “Anyone who believes this must have low intelligence”
└ “Really?”
└ “I cleared A-rank (photo attached)”
After this incident, the saying spread: ‘Rankers always have a reason for their actions.’
A strict route in a yellow van, with “Sullivan Kindergarten” written on it, had been temporarily moved to Seoul Guild’s 4th floor.
There was definitely something special there.
‘This info was hard to get.’
Without Jeju Guild infiltrating numerous guilds with spies, it would have been almost impossible to gather this information.
Recently, Seoul Guild’s security had become extremely strict.
‘Route checked.’
Now it was time for the van to arrive.
‘Huh?’
Chae-ri flinched. Honestly, it was a coincidence.
She was just looking out the window and happened to spot someone.
One of the characters revealed in the art of The Final Mastermind is Human.
It was none other than Jeju Guild Leader Lee Cheong-ha.
A ruler whose beauty rivaled Eom So-young.
Initially, she appeared as a cool, charismatic supporting character, inspiring the term halcrush (grandma crush).
Later, she became a gag character, probably.
Eventually, aside from the L-rank awakener, the strongest awakener would be male lead Kang Se-hyun.
Lee Cheong-ha decided to seduce Kang Se-hyun with her beauty, a first-of-its-kind move.
“Do not pity me. Think of it as a kind of martyrdom. I am ready to sacrifice myself. For the sake of Jeju. I will use everything I have at my disposal.”
At the time, she was in her 70s.
She approached Kang Se-hyun prepared for shame greater than death, but unfortunately, the male lead already had a love interest.
Se-hyun, who only had eyes for the heroine, would never be seduced.
During this process, a few comedic episodes occurred, making her a gag character to relieve the fatigue of the apocalypse world, earning readers’ sympathy.
[Grandma, hang in there ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
└ “Look at the pathetic state ㅠㅠ”
└ “Why is she doing this?? (seriously)”
└ “Hitchhiking in this day and age?”
└ “Why is she waving a towel?”
└ “Understand, everyone. She’s never done seduction in 70 years.”
└ “She must have read Seduction Techniques (1978).”
└ “I have no idea. Probably even she doesn’t know.”
Some of her best-commented chapters included questions like:
‘Why is she waving a towel?’
Apparently, she waved it at the van.
The driver, Choi Deok-gyu, either didn’t notice her or just passed by.
After a short while, Kim Myung-ja spoke.
“Seems faster than usual?”
“Yeah. Top legal speed.”
50 km/h, the fastest allowed legally in Seoul. They were driving as fast as legally possible.
Kim Myung-ja sharply noticed the change in Choi Deok-gyu’s driving.
“Why? Is there a rush?”
“No, nothing in particular. Just some crazy old lady keeps showing her legs and waving a towel.”
Kim Myung-ja flinched.
“In this weather?”
