Chapter 106: Nine City Reconstruction (1)
“Why are you looking at me with those eyes.”
Director Yeon Jae-won asked with an awkward yet calm smile.
But the look in Jeong Bo-hoon’s eyes as he stared at him was far from gentle.
“I clearly warned you until the very end.”
“……”
Yeon Jae-won couldn’t continue speaking and kept glancing around nervously.
It almost seemed as though Chae Jin-young could hear the sound of him desperately racking his brain for a way to turn this situation around.
In a situation where he should be on his knees begging for his life, the fact that he was already looking for excuses rubbed him the wrong way.
But out of consideration for Jeong Bo-hoon’s face, he decided to hold back and simply watch for now.
At that moment, Yeon Jae-won looked at Chae Jin-young and brightened as he opened his mouth.
“You must be the secret agent Psycho, right? It’s a bit undignified to meet like this.”
At the sudden polite tone, Chae Jin-young grew curious about the Director’s true intentions.
“So what do you want to say.”
When Chae Jin-young spoke bluntly in informal speech, Yeon Jae-won flinched as if startled.
But he quickly put on a bright smile and said.
“Aren’t you the hidden number-one contributor to protecting the Republic of Korea? Do you know how much I’ve wanted to meet you?”
“Oh, is that so.”
Chae Jin-young let out a snort.
Until now, the Director of the National Intelligence Service had never once praised the secret agents of the Intelligence Department, let alone handed out even a simple commendation plaque in person.
Of course, one could make the excuse that it was to avoid exposing the secret agents’ identities.
But he could have awarded commendations through the Intelligence Department Director whose identity was already public, yet he never did.
He had merely used them as tools to fill his own achievements.
“How about joining hands with me? Even the 1st-grade villains of GODS are no match for you at all. With my power and your strength, there would be nothing in the world to fear.”
The corner of Chae Jin-young’s mouth curled up.
“This is why consistent people are so nice. No need to bother changing your mind.”
“What do you mean…”
Yeon Jae-won unconsciously felt his legs weaken at Chae Jin-young’s chilling voice.
“Director, I have some business with GODS. Please take care of this.”
“I’ll handle it thoroughly.”
As Chae Jin-young disappeared beyond the broken wall, Jeong Bo-hoon turned to look at Yeon Jae-won.
Yeon Jae-won swallowed hard at the sharp gaze.
“Director Jeong, haven’t we gotten along well these past three years?”
“If only you had behaved properly until the end. This grave was dug by you yourself.”
Jeong Bo-hoon took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth as he spoke.
Tap. Tap. Click—
He lit it and took a deep drag.
Cigarette smoke rose hazily in the wrecked office of the Director of the National Intelligence Service.
Yeon Jae-won blankly stared up at the smoke.
“There’s a lot to do, so let’s not drag this out—let’s go.”
As the mountain of tasks ahead came to mind, Jeong Bo-hoon already felt his head throbbing.
But wounds like this—if you try to hide them, they fester and rot beyond saving before you even notice.
Just moments ago, he had almost died because he tried to cover it up quietly.
If it hadn’t been for Chae Jin-young’s help, the government of the Republic of Korea might have fallen into GODS’s grasp.
That was why Jeong Bo-hoon decided to be even more decisive.
Of course, Yeon Jae-won was not someone who would surrender easily.
“Director Jeong, how could you do this to me…”
Before he could finish speaking, Jeong Bo-hoon’s fist struck his face.
Taking into account that he was an ordinary person, he didn’t put much force behind it.
Crack!
The nasal bone shattered as he collapsed, and two front teeth flew into the air.
“Grrk…”
Yeon Jae-won rolled his eyes back, foam bubbling from his mouth as he fell.
“If only you had listened when I spoke with words.”
Jeong Bo-hoon grabbed the unconscious Director of the National Intelligence Service by the nape and dragged him outside.
There, agents from the Intelligence Department who had been contacted were already waiting.
From Investigator Na Ji-hwan to Advisor Choi Hee-yeon, Executor Hong Jun-su, Dolsae Wang Geun-seok, and other secret agents operating in the shadows.
“Advisor, support Psycho. The rest of you—root out the GODS members who have infiltrated the National Intelligence Service, Peace Party, Liberty Party, and Future Party. I’ll seek cooperation from the media and the Association.”
“Yes, Director.”
The agents bowed and scattered in an instant.
“Huu… A bloodstorm is coming.”
Jeong Bo-hoon muttered bitterly as he exhaled cigarette smoke.
***
Sss…
The man in the black coat rolled once across the floor before quickly regaining his posture.
He knelt on one knee, scanning the ground as he was pushed back a few more meters.
“Interesting.”
With a short remark, he slowly rose to his feet.
It had truly been a long time since anything had dealt him such a blow, when most physical force didn’t work on him at all.
Just what was the identity of that tentacle?
The energy felt similar to what he sensed from his father, making him even more curious.
At that moment.
Tss-ts-ts—
Another portal opened, and a tentacle shot out once more.
Swoosh—
The man dodged the tentacle that stabbed toward him like an arrow.
He immediately flared the hem of his coat and transformed into black smoke, scattering.
Srrr—
The instant he began to seep into the ground.
Boom boom boom!
The earth suddenly split and began to heave upward.
Whoosh—
Before the ground could crush and grind him, the man quickly leaped outward.
He tried to fly away again like smoke.
Tss-ts-ts— Ts-kwa-kwa-kwa—
But his body was pinned in midair as if nailed in place, unable to move at all.
Even when he emitted black mana, it was blocked by the unidentified power enveloping him.
It felt as though a powerful barrier had completely surrounded his body.
Whoosh—
A figure leaped down from the broken wall.
Codename Psycho.
And GODS’s number-one enemy to be most wary of: the False Prophet.
The man in the black coat unconsciously tensed upon seeing Psycho.
“Name.”
Psycho asked for his name right away.
“I have no such thing. I am a shadow forged by my father’s grace, the darkness that will cover the world.”
The man spoke with reverence toward Godfather.
He seemed proud of his very existence.
But Psycho’s reaction was utterly cold.
“So in the end, you’re just a test subject? Something to be discarded once broken.”
“How dare you insult my father…”
The test subject spat out in a voice filled with rage.
Bound by psychokinesis, there was only one thing he could do now.
Crack—
The small orb located at his core split in half.
Kwaaaaa—
Like a volcano erupting, dark crimson energy surged from his body.
At the same time, the psionic energy holding him was destroyed, freeing him from the psychokinesis.
“You guys are making progress too, huh.”
At Psycho’s arrogantly mocking words, the test subject let out a laugh.
“Heh heh heh… Data on you continues to accumulate. Even if I die here today, it doesn’t matter. The information will be transmitted to my brothers connected to my mind.”
“Connected minds. How convenient.”
“I’ll drag out everything about you today.”
Shwaaa—
A dark crimson shadow surged up from the ground where Psycho stood, instantly covering him.
At that moment.
Crackle crackle—
Blue lightning shot toward the test subject like a flash of light.
It happened so quickly that the test subject couldn’t react in time.
Choi Hee-yeon, holding a hellstone demonic sword tinged with red light, swung it at the test subject once more.
Ts-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Lightning streaks tore into the test subject in the blink of an eye, like a flash of thunder.
Psssh…
His torn body scattered like smoke before reforming to its original state.
“……”
Though the test subject felt no physical pain at all, the interference made it extremely difficult to concentrate.
Rumble rumble!
Choi Hee-yeon’s lightning ability, empowered by the hellstone, struck toward the test subject even more powerfully and swiftly.
After the hell dungeon raid with Psycho, she had absorbed a 1st-grade magic stone and become a 1st-grade Hunter.
Her movements, as well as her mana, had grown tremendously—her ability activation was now flawless, without any waste.
Faced with this unexpected reinforcement, the test subject decided to eliminate Choi Hee-yeon first and released dark crimson mana.
Tss-ts-ts…
Just as he had tried with Psycho, he attempted to trap Choi Hee-yeon in the shadow prison.
Tss— tss-ts-ts…
Regardless of air or ground, black portals opened everywhere around them.
Shwaa—
Black tentacles burst out from all directions, wrapping around the test subject’s body.
He tried to scatter into smoke once more.
Rumble—
But black lightning pierced straight through his body.
“Grrrk…!”
Even though he felt no pain, his body began to tremble violently.
And the test subject was bound by the tentacles.
Psycho, who had approached right in front of him before he knew it, spoke.
“Let’s see just how many test subjects are spread out there.”
“…No… don’t…”
Having understood the words, the test subject barely managed to utter them in a voice laced with fear.
The confidence he had shown just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
“Yes, we will.”
Pshuk—
Immediately after, he felt a sensation as though a tentacle was piercing through the back of his head.
And regardless of his will.
Tss-ts-ts-ts—
His consciousness connected to every test subject with whom he shared a mind.
In other words, the black-coated test subject’s vision, hearing, and everything else was being transmitted in real time to the other test subjects.
The familiar yet eerie power flowing from the tentacle devoured the test subject’s consciousness and began to erode the rest of the test subjects like a spreading signal.
Psycho spoke to all the test subjects beyond the black-coated one.
“Farewell.”
Crunch—
As the tentacle wriggled once.
Pop pop pop—
The brains of every invisible test subject scattered across the world exploded.
Pop—
The black-coated test subject in front of him also had his head burst open, scattering black blood as he collapsed into the air.
Only then did Choi Hee-yeon approach Psycho and ask.
“You handled it quickly, unlike you, junior. Wouldn’t it have been better to extract some information?”
Psycho answered nonchalantly.
“I already got the information. Even the location where the test subjects are being created.”
“Are we storming in right now?”
Choi Hee-yeon spoke eagerly, but Psycho shook his head.
“They’ll just move the lab anyway. One of them noticed and completely severed the connection. That one is probably the main body.”
***
Crackle—
“……”
Godfather felt a tingling sensation at the back of his head.
It was truly astonishing.
He had never imagined that the False Prophet could affect all the test subjects sharing consciousness.
If he hadn’t severed the connection with the test subject in time, his own mind would not have remained intact.
Of course, it would have had no effect on the ‘real’ Godfather.
But for him, who was acting on behalf of the great Godfather, it would have been quite fatal.
“I can’t afford to be careless.”
He shook his dizzy head once and stood up.
The laboratory that had been mass-producing shadows similar to himself needed to be blown up and all traces erased immediately.
After some time, it would be restarted and released again into the political and business circles of various countries.
***
Ziiing—
Passing through heavy iron doors, Godfather arrived at a vast conference room.
Eight chairs were arranged in a circle around a round table.
There were seven prophets plus Godfather’s seat, totaling eight, but now half were empty.
“You’ve arrived, Father.”
The three prophets who had arrived earlier and were waiting stood from their seats.
Edgar Malone, Liliana Belanov, and Zhang Weiren.
All of them had successfully carried out the orders given and returned.
“The relay zone activation is complete. However, the False Prophet remains a major obstacle to us.”
At Godfather’s words, Edgar immediately clenched his fist and said.
“I’ll go to Korea right now, rip out his throat, and offer his head to you, Father.”
“Edgar.”
“Yes, Father. Just give the order…”
Boom!
Suddenly, dark crimson mana enveloped Edgar’s body, and in an instant, his head was slammed into the floor.
“How utterly arrogant. You could never face him alone.”
“Kuht… I’m sorry, Father…”
Edgar apologized while lying flat on the floor.
Godfather looked at the remaining two prophets and spoke in a low voice.
“The False Prophet is not someone any of you can handle.”
“We are ashamed, Father.”
The prophets bowed their heads as they spoke.
It was a statement that wounded their pride, but they couldn’t even make excuses.
And since Godfather said this much, it was certain that the False Prophet was no easy opponent.
“In any case, confronting him now is meaningless. It would only result in a loss of power. We will proceed according to the original plan.”
“Then…”
As Godfather slowly raised his right hand.
Tss-ts-ts—
A small portal rose up from the ground.
Beyond it, a beautiful rural landscape harmonized with nature was reflected.
“We begin the dimensional gate opening experiment.”
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