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Chapter 205: Elite (1)
Chapter 205: Elite (1)
Chapter 205 Elite (1)
“I heard that Seheranbad is culturally well developed. We’ll try to make a formation so that we can move efficiently.”
Ashton, reaching great enlightenment from Yoon-seok’s words, left somewhere. He was probably trying to seek advice from Seheranbad challengers who migrated to Earth, but…
“Why? Are you going to tell him not to do it?”
Yoon-seok, who was trying to chase after Ashton, stopped. Unlike usual, Lee Su-yeon was watching him with calm eyes.
“I was thinking about it.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
“The items Ashton brought were given voluntarily, but that’s not what he’s trying to do here.”
“In short, you don’t want to do it because it’s bad?”
Lee Su-yeon sighed at Yoon-seok’s honest answer.
“You’re soft-hearted in strange ways.”
She didn’t understand Yoon-seok. It was obvious from the tragedy that happened in Hanguk Hospital and Kang Hyung-woo’s death, Yoon-seok didn’t show mercy to those who he saw as an enemy or someone who must die. But he always contemplated before taking action to check whether it was right or not.
‘…Is it that important?’
After the Tower appeared, most challengers learned the truth that they have to win to survive, and to win; they have to seize opportunities. And looking at his deeds, Yoon-seok seemed to have realized that truth more than anyone else. Except for times like this.
“What about the Crown Prince?”
“The Crown Prince was a challenger.”
“Do you mean you don’t want to do that to civilians even though you kill challengers?”
When Yoon-seok nodded, Lee Su-yeon asked as if she was curious.
“Do you feel guilty if you kill someone?”
Yoon-seok shook his head. This was expected. If he were a person who felt guilty about that, it would’ve been impossible for him to become this powerful. The Tower was such a place, after all. However, Lee Su-yeon had even more questions.
“Then what’s wrong? You’re not a person who’s afraid of what others think.”
It wasn’t just Yoon-seok. Most challengers who crossed over slowly became numb to such human emotion. Therefore, they valued reason, not emotion, abandoning the morality of the old times. But why was a challenger as strong as Yoon-seok bound by such things and distinguishing between right and wrong until now?
“Because I have to.”
Yoon-seok paused before adding:
“I don’t know about other people, but at least I have to.”
“Even if it seems inefficient to others?”
Lee Su-yeon asked again as if she were unconvinced. It was then that Yoon-seok’s lips drew a thin line.
“…Inefficient?”
He didn’t trigger any magic, but the atmosphere in the hall changed.
“What’s efficiency?”
He didn’t sound angered. But, Lee Su-yeon felt suffocated. It was because she couldn’t feel any emotion, let alone anger, in Yoon-seok’s voice.
“If I kill everything I see, is that efficient?”
Soon, Lee Su-yeon realized what she had been mistaken about. Rather, she had to be grateful. If he weren’t a person like this, no one would be left living in front of him.
“…”
She suddenly remembered when Yoon-seok identified himself as a Demon. At that time, she jokingly asked if he was going through an emo phase, but now the meaning of that word was evident. Demon, something other than good or evil. It was ironic, but he was walking on the demon path to avoid becoming a monster.
This man was called the Savior of Earth.
“…I-I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
Lee Su-yeon cried. It wasn’t an attitude a grown-up adult (?) would show, but… when he thought about it, she was like this when they first met. No, she was sensitive to every word and trembled for quite a while after. Although he didn’t know what it was, Yoon-seok thought it was because of her past life trauma.
‘She’s not a normal kid, but was it too much?’
Yoon-seok sighed and held Lee Su-yeon’s hand. Then, he slowly let his magic drift through his hand. Did she calm down a little? The shaking subsided slightly.
“…I’m sorry. I was mistaken. I’m sorry for saying that without knowing anything.”
Instead of avoiding the current situation, it looked like she understood why Yoon-seok set this outdated standard. Yoon-seok swallowed what he was going to say.
“…As long as you understand.”
When Yoon-seok returned to his usual tone, Lee Su-yeon’s face brightened. Then, she said she would put it into good words for Ashton and punched her chest, asking him to count on her. But, Yoon-seok shook his head.
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“…What? Not necessary?”
“Come to think of it; I’m not telling you to kill whatever you see, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Lee Soo-yeon trailed off, baffled. If he’d planned to do this from the start, why did he talk about it with a solemn look? Albeit genuinely curious, Lee Su-yeon was stressed in case she might say something to offend Yoon-seok. Then, Yoon-seok quietly spoke.
“Of course, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to smash everything as Ashton wants.”
“…What are you going to do then?”
“I’ll make a fair deal. Or find worthless ones who are not worth the deal.”
Deal? Worthless ones? What did it mean? Lee Su-yeon decided not to ask. She thought she wouldn’t understand even if she listened.
“Anyway, I’ll tell Ashton.”
Yoon-seok called Ashton. Exhausted, Lee Su-yeon drooped on the sofa. But then-
“What do you mean it’s not important… what? What did you say?”
Yoon-seok’s breath, as he was on the phone with Ashton, quickened. There was tension in his stern expression. What was going on? What happened in that short time that Yoon-seok, who assassinated the Crown Prince as if he were taking a walk in the moonlit night, was nervous?
“Where? Yes. I’ll go first. Please hurry up and set up a support group.”
Lee Su-yeon widened her senses and listened in to the call, but Yoon-seok hung up.
“…What’s going on?”
Lee Su-yeon carefully asked after seeing Yoon-seok stand frozen. Yoon-seok replied with a serious look she had never seen before.
“My parents are back.”
“…?”
“They’re waiting in front of the main gate now.”
At first, she thought she’d heard it wrong.
After being called to the Tower, Yoon-seok spent time away from his family, and he hid the fact that he was a challenger by making all sorts of excuses. The reason was simple: they would be worried. He didn’t know when he might die. It was already too much for him to focus on survival, and it would’ve been hard to believe even if he told them honestly.
That was why he didn’t tell them.
“Don’t tell me that they still don’t know you’re a challenger?”
Yoon-seok shook his head at Lee Su-yeon’s question. He didn’t visit and talk to them in person, but Yoon-seok’s parents knew he was a challenger since about two months ago. When 70% of Seoul was destroyed by a large-scale rift, the Tower of the Truth-seeker was just discovered in the Southern Sea.
Ashton delivered the news directly to his parents, who were selected as challengers. However, he didn’t tell them the whole truth.
“They know I’m a challenger, but they don’t know it was me.”
Ashton told his parents that Yoon-seok was an ordinary challenger helping him. That measure was aimed to prevent his parents from leaving the Tower, saying they were worried about their son.
“Isn’t that enough? You can just go out and act normal.”
“It’s not as easy as it sounds…”
Ashton’s work was excellent. He created a virtual character named Choi Yoon-seok and told his parents how he grew and how highly valued he was in the organization. He also made up alibis on his behalf, saying that he went on a long-term mission when his parents asked to meet him. And the problem here was…
“I don’t know anything.”
“What?”
“I don’t know anything about this Choi Yoon-seok Ashton made up. How am I supposed to act?”
Choi Yoon-seok, whom his parents knew, was an ordinary (?) elite agent. They didn’t know him as the idol of the pseudo-group called Guwon-gyo or that he was the Heavenly Destroyer who became the Co-Sect Leader of the Demon Cult.
“I’ll probably get caught after a few words. They enjoyed listening to fake stories in the Tower.”
“Then how did they find out this time?”
“I don’t know. Was it {Blood Ties}? I guess it was because of this Unique Skill. I heard they went around catching monsters with agents, but it seems they gained a new ability after ranking up. And Ashton couldn’t say anything because he already knew.”
Lee Su-yeon found the current situation absurd. This was a person who wouldn’t even blink with a hundred thousand enemies in front of him.
“Why are you hiding it? Can’t you just tell them right now?”
“No.”
“Why? If I introduced you to my mom as my boyfriend, my mom would’ve liked it, though?”
“That’s because it’s your mom.”
“Did you just curse at my mom?”
“Why is that cursing?”
“Anyway, why are you hiding it?”
Yoon-seok smiled bitterly. How could he say that in front of his parents? Regardless of being the hope to save the world or not, he was the murderer who killed hundreds of people in Hanguk Hospital. And, he wasn’t human anymore.
“Anyway, that’s enough, so let’s hurry up and go. If we keep them waiting, they might suspect something.”
Beating around the bush, Yoon-seok headed out. It was fortunate that Lee Su-yeon was next to him. She was quick-witted and knew the works of this organization inside out…
“…Why aren’t you coming?”
“What? Do I have to go too? Why?”
Lee Su-yeon smiled innocently and shrugged. He didn’t know why, but it seemed like revenge for before.
“Are you going to be like this?”
Only then did Lee Su-yeon move when Yoon-seok smacked his lips.
“Great, let’s go. Did you say they were at the front gate?”
As if her crying and apologizing that she did something wrong never happened, she was humming in a good mood. Maybe she had the power called Mood Swings.
“What are you doing? Are you not coming?”
“Ah, I should go.”
Yoon-seok abandoned his thoughts and followed Lee Su-yeon. Soon after he reached the main gate, his mother, among many nervous agents, found Yoon-seok and ran to him.
“Yoon, Yoon-seok!”
It was their first reunion in six months.
“Ahem!”
Feeling a little awkward, his father was busy trying to appear cool, dry-coughing, and his mother asked about this and that. Was the work alright? Wasn’t it dangerous? What did you eat in the Tower to become so tall? But you look good. By the way, who’s this girl?
“Nice to meet you. Madam. My name is Lee Su-yeon. I work with Yoon-seok Oppa.”
Lee Su-yeon bowed politely and greeted his mother. A co-worker. His mother appeared to like Lee Su-yeon quite a bit.
“Oh, my. Really? Is Yoon-seok nice to you?”
“Of course, ma’am. Except he becomes scary whenever he’s angry.”
“Yoon-seok gets angry?”
“Yes. But don’t worry about it. Work is work, right?”
Is this what they called giving someone disease and then medicine? Yoon-seok felt like he was sitting on a thorny cushion.
“He’s soft-hearted, so he suffers alone. Su-yeon, please help him.”
“Yes, I will.”
“How old are you, Su-yeon?”
“I’m seventeen.”
“Seventeen?”
His mother was greatly surprised at Lee Su-yeon’s age. She did look young at first glance, but she didn’t expect her to be this young.
“Then what about school…?”
“Studying is good, but what can I do? One day when I opened my eyes, I was in the Tower. My parents passed away, so I didn’t have to worry anyone. Since it happened, I’ve decided to work for the public interest.”
In that way, Lee Soo-yeon smiled bitterly. In response, his mother hugged Lee Su-yeon as if she felt sorry for her and approached Yoon-seok with a whisper.
“Take care of her. Got it?”
“…Yes.”
Yoon-seok answered reluctantly. His mother would never know Lee Su-yeon was one of the only rankers on Earth, and she could hear her even from 100m away. When Yoon-seok turned away, Lee Su-yeon made eye gestures at him to his mother. It seemed like she was protesting that he had already forgotten his mother’s advice to treat her nicely.
“By the way, so your new job… What do you think? I think the Director-General cherishes you. Is he nice?”
“Yes. He’s a very good person.”
“True. Yoon-seok, you should do well, too. There’s no place like this in the world where they’ll arrange bodyguards for us because we’re an employee’s family.”
At his mother’s words, the bodyguards around him flinched. His mother thought all the benefits provided by the Global Challenger Federation (formerly the U.S. Challenger Management Department) were common employee welfare.
“Aren’t they guard agents? Who’s that auntie carrying around so many people around her like that?”
The eyes of those who discovered the bodyguards gathered unknowingly. Yoon-seok secretly spread his magic to the point where neither rats nor birds could make a peep. Then, he noticed Ashton from afar. He was wearing a black hat and sunglasses, so he stood out from a distance.
He must’ve come because he was worried, but it looked like he thought they would draw attention…
“It’s Director Ashton.”
“But what’s he doing there?”
Yoon-seok made the barrier thicker.
“Come on, ma’am. Since you’re here, I’ll guide you.”
Lee Su-yeon, spotting Ashton, crossed her arm with his mother’s. Nice save.
“Oh, my. Shall we?”
Yoon-seok breathed a sigh of relief. So far, it proceeded smoothly. But crisis always arrives during carelessness.
“Oh, you’re the same guy back then, right?”
A man who was passing by recognized Yoon-seok and spoke to him. His face was strangely familiar.
“The 5th-floor exploration challenger who sat at Seat 34. Who carries a weird, summoned pet around.”
He remembered. Was he an 8th mission challenger? He didn’t know his name, but there was a time when he deliberately let him win during the lecture so as not to make a fuss.
“Yes, yes… then we’ll get going.”
Yoon-seok ignored it and wanted to pass by quickly. But his mother didn’t intend to let it pass.
“Exploration? 5th floor? Summoned pet?”
His mother stood with her head tilted.
“Aren’t you mistaken? My son is from missions. On the 14th floor.”
Her voice was loud and confident as if she were boasting of her children who joined a large company. The man was flustered for a moment and soon realized the situation with a laugh.
“…14th-floor mission? Pfft! Bahahaha!”
It appeared he wanted to turn into a speck of dust.