Chapter 127: Conclusion |
Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense
127 – Conclusion
“Cha… Myung-jun…!!”
Hee-cheol spoke through gritted teeth, and Myung-jun responded.
“It’s been a while. This is the first time we’ve seen each other since Sejong City, right?”
“…Have you come to kill me?…”
“I’m considering it.”
Hee-cheol felt a sense of composure in Myung-jun’s voice, the kind only the strong could afford. A composure that said he could crush someone like Hee-cheol anytime, like a bug.
Hee-cheol’s instincts told him that his chance of survival lay within that composure.
“Now you ask? From the first time we met, you tried to detain me under the guise of an investigation and sent Awakener from the EDA to capture me. In the process, my girlfriend was nearly murdered. And after I made my presence known, you tried to take me away with soldiers. Then in Sejong City, you tried to forcibly convert the Liberal Clan into a government clan.”
As Myung-jun recounted the events after his regression, he felt his anger towards Hee-cheol rising.
Even disregarding the events before his regression, the actions Hee-cheol took to capture him after were by no means forgivable.
Hee-cheol then desperately tried to explain himself to Myung-jun.
“I understand you may have grievances against me, but there was no malice in any of those actions. They were all decisions made for the country.”
“For the country, huh.”
“Technological prowess that easily surpasses human scientific achievements, strange materials that defy the laws of physics, combat strength capable of suppressing an Overflow and easily defeating me. Any one of those could have made South Korea the strongest and wealthiest nation in the world.”
Resentment was evident in Hee-cheol’s voice.
If only his plans had succeeded, or at least if Myung-jun had followed his words, the status of South Korea would have been laughably higher than it is now.
Hee-cheol could not comprehend Myung-jun’s way of thinking.
Myung-jun, who would rather flee the country, lifting buildings to escape, than be restrained, even though the nation offered a fair compensation.
However, Myung-jun countered Hee-cheol’s resentment with a calm expression.
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why should I make South Korea a strong and wealthy nation?”
“That’s a natural duty you must fulfill as a citizen of South Korea…”
“Like the duty of national defense?” Myung-jun said.
“Are you talking about the duty of national defense where soldiers are told to eat all the rice bought with the precious taxes of the citizens, while the higher-ups embezzle hundreds of billions, and they don’t even properly treat injured soldiers but build golf courses for the generals instead?”
“That’s just a part…”
“You said you would pay a fair price, right? Let me tell you an old story. A long, long time ago, in a far-off land, there lived a blacksmith.”
The blacksmith in Myung-jun’s story was someone who could forge the most powerful weapons in the world. People competed to buy the blacksmith’s weapons at high prices, and although the blacksmith became wealthy, he was eventually threatened by those armed with his own weapons and forced to give them up for next to nothing.
As Hee-cheol listened to the story, he couldn’t help but flinch with each word Myung-jun uttered.
The fate of the blacksmith as told by Myung-jun.
It was the very fate Hee-cheol had tried to force upon Myung-jun.
“Of course, if I had accepted your offer, you would have paid me properly at first. At least until the government’s power surpassed that of the Liberal Clan. But what about after that? What if EDA agents armed with weapons made by our clan threatened to take over the clan? How would I stop them then?”
“…So, you rejected the offer because you couldn’t trust the promises made by the nation?”
“A promise made by the powerful to the powerless is worth no more than a scrap of toilet paper.”
“So, now that you have power, you will do as you please? Even if it means killing me, the head of the EDA who oversees all the Awakener of South Korea?”
“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”
“I am the Director of the EDA!”
Hee-cheol yelled with fury.
“I am a government official who came here on an official request from the Chinese government! If you kill me, not only will the South Korean government not forgive you, but the Chinese government won’t either. Do you think if you kill me and escape with that woman, a Tibetan independence activist and traitor to the Chinese government, both countries will just let it slide? They will crush you and the Liberal Clan immediately with that ‘power’ you so love!”
“Well, sorry, but things don’t work that easily here. War isn’t something you can just start because a government official like you got killed. Especially when the power held by the potential enemy is strong.”
Myung-jun’s words were true.
Unlike South Korea, where an attack on the Liberal Clan could have been decided unilaterally by a commander, now that the clan members had settled in a ‘foreign’ country, attacking them would mean risking ‘war’.
Myung-jun’s words clearly pointed out that fact.
“Serious concerns, diplomatic protests, summoning ambassadors, final warnings, trade retaliation… Powerful countries prioritize diplomatic protests over war not because they lack strength, but because war itself is a filthy and arduous ordeal. Even if I took a V-sign photo next to your corpse and uploaded it to the internet, the South Korean government wouldn’t be able to do anything, would they?”
Hee-cheol had no rebuttal.
Even if he died, combining all of South Korea’s Awakener forces wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Liberal Clan.
Even reflecting on the current battle, it was doubtful whether bringing all the EDA agents would have been enough to defeat Cha Myung-jun alone.
Wounded pride made Hee-cheol glare at Myung-jun with gritted teeth.
“So, even if it means making enemies of both the South Korean and Chinese governments, you’re saying you’ll kill me?”
“I told you. I’m considering it.”
Deep down, Myung-jun didn’t want to forgive Hee-cheol either.
Even setting aside the grudge from before his regression, where he was locked up in the basement of the Ministry of National Defense for 30 years under the pretense of ‘national duty’, Myung-jun knew all too well that Hee-cheol was not a person who could ever truly reform. If he didn’t kill him now, Hee-cheol would undoubtedly create more victims in his quest for revenge.
‘He would go as far as killing every soldier in South Korea if it meant getting his revenge.’
Myung-jun faintly sensed that his decision now would be a pivotal one, shaping the flow of the world’s future.
At that moment, the Keeper, sensing Myung-jun’s dilemma, spoke to his consciousness.
‘Are you really thinking of killing him?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘But he is a champion protected by the Heroes Nebula. If the Nebula learns that their champion was killed by the champion of another god, won’t it react?’
‘Likely.’
‘And the moment you kill him, the South Korean government, having lost its strongest Awakener, won’t stay idle either.’
‘I know.’
Myung-jun made up his mind.
‘If’ Hee-cheol acted differently than he expected, then he would let him live.
Rising to his feet, Myung-jun dusted off his legs and approached Hee-cheol.
He then extended a hand to the kneeling man.
“Get up.”
“Are you… sparing me?”
“If you promise not to engage in any hostile actions against the Liberal Clan after you leave here.”
Hee-cheol nodded frantically, accepting Myung-jun’s offer.
He took Myung-jun’s hand and rose to his feet.
“Kuhuk…”
Suddenly, the pain that Hee-cheol had forgotten in the face of death swept through his body, along with the overwhelming sense of despair he felt in front of Myung-jun’s overpowering might.
The sensation that Hee-cheol felt in the presence of that emotion was one of the most primal human feelings: jealousy.
‘Why does someone like him…’
Unlike himself, who always put the nation first, Myung-jun was a selfish traitor who only thought of his own freedom and gain. Myung-jun’s abilities were excessively strong for someone who had turned his back on his country for freedom.
Hee-cheol was paralyzed by the thought that if he had such power, South Korea would have long since conquered the world.
‘Should I kill him?’
Was the boiling rage transforming into energy? Hee-cheol felt a faint stirring of his psychic power within.
Energy enough to summon a single insectoid puppet, which would be sufficient to kill Myung-jun, now exposed without his suit.
In Hee-cheol’s eyes, Myung-jun, oblivious to Hee-cheol’s thoughts, turned his back and began walking towards his suit.
‘Now is the time.’
Fear that the opportunity might be lost forever once Myung-jun donned his suit pressed mercilessly on Hee-cheol’s mind, and he slowly raised one hand. Trembling, his hand held an insectoid puppet with sharp mandibles capable of severing fragile human bones in a single strike.
‘Go!’
The moment he sent his will, the sound of something sharp tearing through flesh filled the air, and Hee-cheol’s eyes caught the sight of Myung-jun’s blood spraying into the void.
Yet, Hee-cheol could not rejoice at the sight of Myung-jun’s blood he had so longed to see. The blood was not from Myung-jun’s neck but from his palm, which was pierced through while gripping the head of the bug tightly.
“Wait… just a minute!!!”
Hee-cheol desperately tried to shout at Myung-jun, who was looking at him with a cold, indifferent expression, but Myung-jun did not hear his next words.
– Bang!!! –
Instead, a bullet fired from a turret summoned by Myung-jun spoke for him.
“Gah… ack…”
Hee-cheol looked at the huge hole in his chest with disbelief.
And with eyes full of jealousy, he glared at Myung-jun until he collapsed.
It was an anticlimactic end for the strongest Awakener in South Korea, who, aside from Myung-jun, was the only one to have defeated one of the Twelve Celestials.
“…Damn it. How does everything you do fall exactly within expectations?”
As soon as Hee-cheol died, Myung-jun pulled the insectoid puppet from his palm, and the special fibers inside the glove immediately detected the wound and began to release a coagulant and painkiller.
Then, like mycelium spreading from a fungus, the fibers moved to autonomously repair the damaged area.
Watching the scene, Myung-jun completely ignored the corpse of Hee-cheol lying at his feet. He clenched and unclenched his fist, assessing the condition of his injury. Then, with an indifferent expression, he stepped into the open suit.
Flames erupted from his entire body as he shot into the air, heading towards the Shadow Hawk hovering above. He was on his way to meet his junior, Deki, who had boarded the Shadow Hawk before him and was waiting for him.
She waited for Myung-jun with an expression as if she were in a dream.
====
***
====
Two hours after Myung-jun and Deki had left the scene aboard the Shadow Hawk, Yeon-bi, who had received a report from a soldier who discovered Hee-cheol’s body, arrived at the scene with a grave expression and examined Hee-cheol’s wounds. She then reported her findings to Hao-ran, who had arrived with her.
“Are you certain?”
“Absolutely.”
“And your reasons?”
“Firstly, the overwhelming traces of destruction at the earlier battle site. Despite such extensive devastation, the nearby soldiers didn’t feel anything. Our satellite surveillance also failed to capture any significant combat. There is only one entity on the entire planet with that level of battlefield concealment ability.”
“And the other reason?”
“At both the battlefield and here, we found giant footprints that seem to weigh at least several tons. Judging by their shape and depth, they appear to be left by a robot or power suit. And the only place that can make and operate such equipment is…”
“Only one on the entire planet. So that means…”
“Yes. It’s certain.”
Yeon-bi spoke with a tone that left no room for doubt.
“EDA Director Moon Hee-cheol has been murdered by Cha Myung-jun of the Liberal Clan.”
