Chapter 103: The Enemy Within (3)
Kududududu…
The ground began shaking violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
The Creep also churned and bubbled like boiling lava.
Standing above the contaminated zone, Chae Jin-young pushed the Creep away with psionic energy and looked up at the towering Devil’s Flower in the depths.
The flower bud that had not yet fully bloomed.
This was the result of Chae Jin-young arriving and interfering before No. 78 could complete it.
“Void energy and wrath energy?”
『Correct. They’ve fused quite convincingly.』
Chae Jin-young murmured as he watched the black and red currents flowing along the flower’s stem.
A power he hadn’t sensed at all when he first arrived here.
It felt like a signal that something major was about to happen.
Kwa-tzzzzzt—
He tried to seize the flower stem with psychokinesis, but met tremendous resistance.
It reminded him of the first time he faced the Void Church cult leader’s energy fusion barrier.
With cyclic energy amplification, he could probably break through.
But he had already consumed far too much cyclic energy in the hell dungeon.
With unknown events looming ahead, he needed to conserve strength for now.
And truthfully, Chae Jin-young was curious.
“Where will the path to Renard open?”
“Renard?”
The variant tilted his head in confusion, but Chae Jin-young brushed it off.
“Just something like that.”
It wouldn’t appear in Hongcheon’s contaminated zone like in his previous life.
That zone had already been purified.
Even if it had remained, he had already thwarted Min Hae-joon and GODS’s plans, so the probability was near zero.
Tzzzzzt—
The flower petals unfurled on their own, revealing the massive eyeball.
The blood-red eye turned toward the dark night sky.
And then—
Shukwaaaaa—
Jet-black and red energy shot high into the heavens.
Only a faint red line remained in the dark sky.
“What? That’s it?”
The Devil’s Flower released no further power.
The black-red fusion energy enveloping the stem gradually faded.
Crack— crack-crack—
The petals began wilting and decaying rapidly from the edges.
“It seems its sole purpose was to spread the Godfather’s power evenly across the entire planet. That’s all it did.”
The variant spoke.
It wasn’t called a “relay zone” for nothing.
“Kind of anticlimactic.”
Chae Jin-young had half-expected a disaster-grade dungeon gate to appear right in front of him, but nothing happened, leaving him disappointed.
In hindsight, it made sense.
In his previous life, he had never heard any news about Devil’s Flowers or relay zones.
There had only been successive GODS terrorist attacks and gate overflows causing chaos.
The impact of the relay zone activation was something no one could feel at all.
That was also why he hadn’t been overly anxious about stopping the relay zone activation.
“Once we grind the kids through some disaster-grade dungeons, we’ll probably find some clues.”
Chae Jin-young looked forward to where the portal to Renard might open while thinking about disaster-grade dungeons.
With Zero-Grade hunters’ growth stagnating at the moment,
Disaster-grade dungeons would be the key medium to break through their limits.
To prepare for the coming all-out assault from GODS—and the eventual emergence of the Demon King’s army beyond that—they needed to become much stronger.
“We should make use of this too.”
Chae Jin-young took out a hellstone from his sub-space.
A divine ore as light as aluminum yet with unimaginable strength.
If weapons and armor were made from it and distributed to hunters, dungeon mortality rates would drop dramatically.
“You travel the world and report immediately if any disaster-grade dungeons or suspicious portals appear.”
“Understood.”
At Chae Jin-young’s words, the variant nodded and vanished back into the Creep.
“Then let’s head back to Korea.”
***
“Director Yeon Jae-won of the National Intelligence Service, I’ll give you one last chance. Step down now, put everything aside, and quietly finish out the rest of your term.”
Chairwoman Cheon Ji-hee spoke into the smartphone.
Her body was still bound to the chair, so Jeong Bo-hoon held the phone for her.
“Think carefully. And the same goes for Assemblyman Park. If you don’t back off right now, there will be no merger between the Future Party and the Peace Party.”
The other side remained completely silent until the call ended.
They must have been quite shocked.
Jeong Bo-hoon had never imagined it, but learning that even the floor leader of the Peace Party was involved gave him a pounding headache.
“Does the NIS Director’s meeting with Peace Party Representative Son have anything to do with this incident?”
“It can’t be said to be directly related, but yes—that too was groundwork for the Director’s presidential run next year.”
At Jeong Bo-hoon’s question, Cheon Ji-hee nodded.
The ambition of the NIS Director, whose term ended this year.
It was none other than a presidential candidacy.
Jeong Bo-hoon had never even dreamed of it.
In truth, he hadn’t had the time to pay attention to what the Director was up to.
From the moment secret agent Psycho—Chae Jin-young—appeared until now, Jeong Bo-hoon had been relentlessly busy.
Unfortunately, this overlapped with the period when GODS began acting in full force, multiplying his workload.
Even then, the Intelligence Department suffered from a severe shortage of hunter personnel, causing difficulties.
Things had finally started to ease after beginning cooperation with the CIA’s Awakener Intelligence Division.
“I thought things were finally getting better, but they’ve gone and shat out a massive pile. Damn bastards.”
Jeong Bo-hoon couldn’t help but let out a thick curse as he thought about the Director and the Peace Party’s crimes.
It wasn’t just because of their deviation.
The biggest problem was that if Psycho learned of this, no one could predict what would happen.
The best course was to quietly handle everything within their own circle.
“Do you have a plan for what to do now?”
At Cheon Ji-hee’s question, Jeong Bo-hoon paused for a moment before answering.
“If they step back quietly, I plan to bury it like this. But if they don’t…”
“…….”
Jeong Bo-hoon’s eyes darkened.
“Then blood will have to be spilled.”
He began making calls on his smartphone.
Starting with media outlets friendly to the Intelligence Department, all the way to Yoon Soo-ho and the Japanese Awakener Association.
Detailed discussions would have to wait until he returned to headquarters, but he laid the groundwork in advance.
“For now, the yakuza arrests will be reported as entirely handled by Ji-eun.”
“Will that be okay…?”
“It probably won’t. But I’ll take full responsibility, so don’t worry.”
Jeong Bo-hoon tried to predict how the NIS Director would react.
He would almost certainly go berserk, blinded by power.
“And the yakuza will be handed over to the Japanese Association. I’d love to cut all their heads off, but… adding more chaos to an already chaotic situation isn’t necessary.”
Yamakawa Shinichi’s group was still completely frozen by Eun Ji-eun’s ice ability.
Some had fainted outright, but none were dead yet.
“What about that thug?”
Eun Ji-eun pointed at the Sacred Faction boss, also frozen and unconscious, and asked.
“That one… we’ll have to take him with us.”
After roughly finishing preparations, Jeong Bo-hoon approached Cheon Ji-hee.
He grabbed the ropes binding her with both hands and snapped them effortlessly before speaking.
“Chairwoman, you made the right choice.”
“…Once this is over, I’ll have to retire from politics.”
Cheon Ji-hee had chosen to side with Jeong Bo-hoon, but her political career was effectively finished.
Her relationship with the ruling Peace Party was over.
Her position within her original Future Party would also become precarious.
But there was no reason to pity her.
Everything was a consequence of her own actions.
She couldn’t be said to have paid for her sins with just this, but since she had promised future cooperation, he would keep an eye on her.
“You stay here and keep strict watch over the yakuza until the Japanese Association arrives.”
“Yes, Director.”
At Jeong Bo-hoon’s order, Eun Ji-eun snapped to attention and replied.
He grabbed the Sacred Faction boss by the scruff and said,
“I need to meet the Association President.”
***
“You came all the way here. What’s the matter?”
Yoon Soo-ho asked as he looked at Chae Jin-young who had come to his office.
“I have something I’d like to entrust to Shin Young Group.”
Tzzzzzt—
A portal connected to sub-space suddenly opened.
And then—
Rumble rumble rumble—
Hellstones poured out onto the office floor in a torrent.
Yoon Soo-ho frowned at the floor that instantly turned into a mess.
“…….”
“Why the face? You went to the dungeon with me—you know how incredible these hellstones are.”
“…Yeah.”
Yoon Soo-ho reluctantly nodded in agreement.
“We can make weapons, armor… and maybe even research enhancement agents or something.”
Chae Jin-young trailed off as he suddenly remembered Anu devouring hellstones.
“It’d be good to look into whether we can develop enhancement agents or similar things.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Yoon Soo-ho was displeased about the hellstone terrorist attack on his office, but separately from that, he evaluated the potential uses of hellstones positively.
He had personally marveled at their strength while exploring the hell dungeon.
It had been a shame that he couldn’t bring back more due to the limits of sub-space backpacks and the lack of proper mining techniques.
He never expected Chae Jin-young to bring back such a massive quantity of refined hellstones.
“If it’s not enough, just say so. I can give you as much as you need.”
“Did you set up a hellstone workshop in your sub-space or something?”
“Well… pretty much.”
“…….”
Yoon Soo-ho pondered whether to take Chae Jin-young’s words as a joke or not.
Regardless, Chae Jin-young stood up.
“High quality is important, but mass production is the top priority. As many hunters as possible need to be equipped.”
“Got it.”
Tzzzzzt—
After hearing Yoon Soo-ho’s reply, Chae Jin-young opened a portal and moved elsewhere.
His destination was the headquarters of the Crystal Guild.
Specifically, Shin Soo-jeong’s office.
She sat with her chin propped on her hand, wearing a grave expression.
Chae Jin-young tilted his head and asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“Chairwoman Hannah’s injuries are serious, they say.”
“Hannah Adams got hurt? By who?”
Even Chae Jin-young furrowed his brow at the news that the world’s number one ranked hunter had suffered severe injuries.
“Michelle said she’ll contact us as soon as she meets with the Chairwoman. And that’s not all—Vladimir Zhukov is also in critical condition.”
“If two Zero-Grades are down…”
“It’s either a prophet… or the Godfather.”
Chae Jin-young stroked his chin.
The absence of Zero-Grades had played a huge role in them losing the relay zones so easily.
They had been seriously injured but not killed.
That meant one of two things.
Either the prophets had fought with death on the line and barely escaped with their lives.
Or they had overwhelmingly crushed the Zero-Grades and deliberately spared them.
Chae Jin-young leaned toward the latter.
Prophet Yulia Müller, whom he had faced in Russia’s Volgograd contaminated zone, was proof.
The prophets’ explosive—and abnormal—growth.
It was still just speculation, but worth serious consideration.
“But it really is quite the coincidence.”
“……?”
Chae Jin-young raised the corner of his mouth, and Shin Soo-jeong looked at him questioningly.
“GODS launched their all-out offensive right when I was away.”
“Now that you mention it… yeah.”
Shin Soo-jeong nodded.
Before Chae Jin-young left for the raid, when they had checked Michelle’s foresight together, the terrorism had been limited to Korea.
Of course, he later realized GODS had overloaded her foresight with their scheme.
But the all-out assault happened precisely while he was absent.
If he had known worldwide chaos would erupt, he would have postponed the raid and investigated immediately.
“Who could it be.”
Chae Jin-young muttered, the smile fading from his lips.
“The enemy within.”
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