abcnovels
Chapter 362
Chapter 362
Chapter 362
“See? No one else is complaining. You should leave.”
“No, this...”
The clan leader of the Black Sword Sect backed down with a look of betrayal. He didn’t seem to be able to argue with an A-grade hunter.
At this moment, Choi Yeonseung’s Future Sight skill was activated.
‘!’
...It was a future in which the leader of the Black Sword Sect said nasty things about Choi Yeonseung in the Chinese hunter community and quietly tried to ruin his image.
‘...Eh, that’s not a big issue.’
Choi Yeonseung quickly calmed down after seeing the vision. He had initially thought that he would see a bleak future, but it was just a trivial detail.
-Maybe this is what it means to see the future.
The goddess of sloth made a suggestion about the ability.
Choi Yeonseung couldn’t cherry pick the visions. Just like the goddess of balance, he would get all sorts of visions, some more useful than others.
Future Sight was a strong power that could shake even the mind of a constellation. Thus, it was impressive that the goddess of balance could use this power while also preserving her sanity.
-Didn’t you say that she looked like a pushover?
-What do you mean? Don’t say something that will make the constellation misunderstand.
The goddess of sloth passed over this matter as if she had done it countless times before.
Once the situation was settled, the clan leader of Myodusa, still bewildered, asked, “Hunter Choi Yeonseung. There’s no way you picked us because we’re a Korean clan... May I ask the reason?”
“You’ll find out one day.”
Choi Yeonseung refused to explain. He couldn’t tell the clan leader that he had used Future Sight to make the decision.
“...!”
The leader of the Myodusa clan looked baffled. Was the clan valuable in a way that he didn’t know about? Did Hunter Choi Yeonseung see something special in Myodusa?
‘I should work hard.’
The Myodusa clan leader vowed to do his best along with the clan hunters.
***
“What? Senator McGlas has been kidnapped?”
Choi Yeonseung was stunned. He had tried so hard to protect the politicians from the forces of the explosion constellation, but he still failed in the end.
‘Should I have protected him myself? No. Even if I had stepped up, the constellation would’ve just targeted someone else.’
Choi Yeonseung decided not to blame himself as he was at a huge disadvantage anyway. His side had many vulnerabilities, and the explosion constellation only had to target one of them.
He asked, “How badly were the hunters hurt?”
“No hunters were injured.”
“I see. I’m glad. Tell them not to feel bad because it isn’t their fault. If the constellation had stepped in directly, it would’ve been difficult even for an A-grade hunter to deal with the situation.”
“...Uh, Choi Yeonseung, Senator McGlas isn’t our senator. The Albuquerque hunters were supposed to look after him, not us.”
“...!”
Choi Yeonseung paused. No wonder the secretary informed him about the incident so calmly. Choi Yeonseung had actually wondered why the secretary was so nonchalant about the incident, but he figured that it wasn’t any of his business.
“That’s good.”
“Things didn’t go well...?”
“It’s fine, it’s none of my business. In any case, I understand. I’m curious about the situation on site.”
Choi Yeonseung decided to stop worrying. Instead, he would just stay on top of this situation indifferently. He had to wait and see what the evil god constellation was actually up to.
-The Brucol Building has been plunged into chaos. The evil god constellation who has kidnapped the senator hasn’t made any demands so far.
-Some hunters have tried to approach the constellation, but they all failed! The evil god constellation warns that the hostage might lose his life if people keep trying to approach him!
This was an unprecedented situation: a building in the downtown area of a large city was being occupied and a senator was being held hostage in it.
Only an evil god constellation could pull off something like this.
The goddess of sloth listened to the urgent live broadcast and tried to come up with an explanation.
-Maybe he’s trying to regain his strength.
-To what extent will he recover?
-I can’t say exactly because I’m not an evil god constellation, but... This stunt won’t help the explosion constellation that much. Successor, you know this as well, right? It’s unexpectedly hard to capture souls.
If this were a peaceful era without terrorism, the explosion constellation would be able to terrorize people and take their souls with a single act of terror.
However, the world was full of violence and terrorism. Unlike the early days of the Abyss gate, people were no longer distressed by news of monsters wreaking havoc. There was so much violence and chaos that people had become desensitized to it. Thus, they weren’t fazed at all by some minions of an evil god constellation committing acts of terrorism.
As such, the explosion constellation couldn’t really terrorize people.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ asks how to handle a case like this.]
-Since he won’t negotiate, people will probably gather hunters and try to break through by force. The senator will probably have a rough time.
Choi Yeonseung’s statement was unnerving, but in reality, the senator’s chances of surviving this ordeal were not great.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ worries about what will happen if the other person calls your name.]
-Ah... That won’t happen.
-It would actually be good if the senator calls Successor by his name.
The goddess of sloth explained it to the goddess of balance. The whole world was focused on this crisis, and given that Choi Yeonseung was known worldwide, targeting him specifically would probably backfire on the explosion constellation.
-The explosion constellation will probably call out Successor. He has all sorts of reasons to do that.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ asks if you plan to respond.]
-I will fight, but I won’t rush into a disadvantageous fight and take responsibility for a loss that could’ve been avoided.
The explosion constellation knew quite a bit about humans. Of course, it was rather absurd to capture a senator who had nothing to do with Choi Yeonseung, but the explosion constellation had to have some sort of plan.
Perhaps the plan was to draw in Choi Yeonseung and then blame him for anything that happened to the senator. After all, it only took one bad moment for a hero to fall.
-The evil god constellation has announced his conditions!
“!”
***
“This constellation... He’s very aggressive!”
“That’s right.”
After being contacted, A-grade hunters gathered on the boulevard in front of the Brucol Building.
Many hunters had refused to escort the senator at first, saying things like “Are you crazy? You think I have nothing better to do than to babysit some politician?” However, it was a different story now that the senator was being held hostage.
In times like this, the hunters should at least pretend to try to rescue Senator McGlas in order to save face.
A-grade hunters generally had nothing to be afraid of, but that didn’t mean they were untouchable. If all the politicians were to unite right then, it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to destroy the businesses that the A-grade hunters were running or investing in.
That was why the hunters had gathered here...
“Joseph Grant, Armas Garcia. You sure look fancy.”
“With this much power, can’t we just wipe it out?”
“Try explaining that to the senators...”
The B-grade hunters whistled nonchalantly. They were usually extremely arrogant, but not in front of A-grade hunters.
In any case, these hunters were pretty relaxed thanks to their status, but the same couldn’t be said about the hunters below them... They couldn’t afford to be relaxed in such a situation.
“Are they the Albuquerque guys? It looks like they’re really worried.”
“Well, someone has to be held accountable for this mess.”
A Rolls-Royce pulled up on the main street and a man in a suit jumped out. It was clear that he wasn’t a hunter; he was a high-ranking corporate executive.
“Isn’t that Noam Nichols? The people at Parker Group must be furious.”
Noam Nichols was one of the executives of Parker Group and the chairman’s right-hand man. He was so bad that people went as far as to say that signing a contract with the Greedy Owner of the Treasure House wouldn’t be as bad as signing one with Noam Nichols.
This man had come here for only one reason...
“?? ?? ???! ??? ?? ??? ?? ???! ??? ?????! You’re fired!”
“N-Nichols, listen to us for a moment...”
Nichols turned away without listening. He got back in the car and drove off.
The hunters of the Albuquerque clan fell on their knees as if the sky was about to collapse on them. Without the support of Parker Group, the clan wouldn’t survive more than a month.
[’Endless Linked Explosions’ declares that there are conditions if you want to save the hostage.]
[He requests a one-on-one duel!]
“!”
“...!!”
At that, the hunters sprang up and desperately asked questions.
“Is the duel in the Otherworld? What are the other conditions? How do you set the limit?”
[’Endless Linked Explosions’ laughs!]
[’Endless Linked Explosions’ says there are no such things as limits. He declares that only one duelist will walk away alive.]
“...”
The hunters had thought they were being clever, but their expressions suddenly dropped. That was one of the most dangerous battles preferred by constellations.
It was a duel in which one of them would put their life on the line!
‘Is he crazy?’
‘Fighting for our lives one-on-one? Has the explosion constellation lost his mind?’
The hunters snorted at this ridiculous condition. Hunters fought as a team even against monsters of their rank, so risking their lives in a one-on-one duel was out of the question. These hunters wouldn’t do it even if the explosion constellation threatened to destroy Earth, let alone to save a senator.
“Hunter Grant, perhaps...”
“I’m sorry, but my abilities aren’t suited for one-on-one fights”
“Hunter Garcia?”
“Ugh, I actually sustained quite a few injuries in China... They haven’t healed yet because of interference from the Chinese side.”
“...”
The senator’s aide realized that there was something wrong with the hunters present.
‘These bastards have no intention of helping!’
The aide wanted to curse them into oblivion, but he exercised restraint with a patience of steel. Fighting with these hunters wouldn’t make things better anyway.
“Can’t we just ignore his conditions and attack?”
“But then we’d have to take responsibility for anything bad that happens...”
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung is here!”
“!”
“He really came??”
The crowd of hunters was abuzz at the news that Choi Yeonseung was here. If any other hunter had come, they others would’ve said something like “I guess they’re just here to show off.” However, Choi Yeonseung was a bit different.
Maybe... Maybe he was here to actually help?
“Perhaps he was supposed to marry Senator McGlas’ daughter?”
“It sounds plausible...”
“P-plausible... Are you guys nuts? The senator doesn’t have a daughter.”
***
The aides of the politicians were the country’s brightest minds.
The US senators were so authoritative that each of them could realistically be a candidate for president. Therefore, their aides weren’t considered secondary senators for nothing. They were outstanding people who had experience in all fields and were able to make the best decisions in all sorts of situations.
Among them, the senior adviser Mark was the leader, and he had made the best decision in this situation.
He had immediately gone to Choi Yeonseung.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, you’re the only one who can do this!”
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, please!”
Mark hadn’t come alone; he had also brought Derek with him, another senator from the same party.
Senator Derek was a close friend of McGlas, who was being held hostage. He pleaded, “Hunter Choi Yeonseung. If you save Senator McGlas, I will forever be indebted to you! Please!”
-I think you had better help, Hunter Choi Yeonseung.
Adaquaniel advised Choi Yeonseung from next to him, and the latter nodded.
-I figured you’d say this, Adaquaniel. You must’ve been touched by his efforts to save his friend...
-Huh? No. Senator Derek is a leading figure in the Liberal Federalist Party. If you save his friend, he’ll owe you. Then you’ll be able to get him to pass any bill you want.
-......
Adaquaniel left Choi Yeonseung speechless, but she was right!
‘I’m worried that Adaquaniel is adapting too quickly to Earth.’
-I think that angel was always like that...
Choi Yeonseung ignored the goddess of sloth and focused on the situation at hand. He did so to see into the future.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t confident about winning, but he just wanted to confirm it.
What were the real intentions of the explosion constellation?
‘Ugh!’
He felt his brain becoming twisted, as if he were trying to force himself to perform a difficult and esoteric martial art.
Dozens, or rather, hundreds of images flooded his mind; some of them were outrageous.
He could see himself teaching martial arts to the Abyssal races, humanity building factories in the Abyss and asking other races to work, the goddess of balance being happy as she hugged a small angel...
At any rate, one specific image convinced Choi Yeonseung of everything.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ asks if you are okay.]
Choi Yeonseung nodded.
What he saw in the future was a clear victory.