Chapter 113: Void Energy (1)
『The method is simple. You’ve already done something similar.』
“Me?”
Chae Jin-young tilted his head at the tentacle’s words.
『When you compressed the red-haired test subject’s red mana. Didn’t you feel it was similar to wrath energy back then?』
“Yeah, I remember.”
Chae Jin-young recalled the moment he first encountered Test Subject No. 78 in the Iceland contaminated zone not long ago.
When he had compressed the red mana the creature unleashed, it had felt powerfully close to wrath energy.
『If we compress all of our black mana to the smallest possible size, it can be converted into void energy. Galomah was able to do it freely. That’s how his clone was able to pass through Gehenna’s barrier.』
Even while being forcibly pulled toward Galomah’s main body, the tentacle had collected fragments of information—an impressive feat.
Gehenna’s barrier was designed not only to protect against outsiders but also to prevent the demons inside from easily leaving.
The stronger the mana, the more fiercely the barrier reacted.
Taking advantage of that, Galomah had split his void energy into low-level mana fragments and gradually leaked them outside the barrier.
Then, reassembling those tiny fragments that had slipped through resulted in that clone.
Through the shared consciousness with the tentacle, Chae Jin-young had glimpsed the entire process, even if only in fragments.
“Compressing all our black mana would take quite a long time. We’d be completely defenseless during that period too.”
To compress such a vast amount of black mana to its absolute smallest size, Chae Jin-young would have to focus solely on psychokinesis control.
Meanwhile, the tentacle—deprived of mana—would become extremely vulnerable to shocks.
In other words, the process needed to be carried out in a place free from any interference.
『There might be another way, but for now, this is the best option.』
Chae Jin-young pondered for a moment before nodding.
“Since it has to be done anyway, the sooner the better.”
『Wait. There’s something we need to do first.』
“……?”
『Since we’re doing this, it would be best to replenish more black mana beforehand. And if we can obtain even a small amount of void energy, it will greatly aid the conversion.』
Though Chae Jin-young and the tentacle already possessed an enormous amount of black mana, compressing and converting it would drastically reduce the quantity.
Increasing the amount even slightly was an excellent decision.
“Black mana and void energy… perfect prey comes to mind.”
『Galomah’s clone? It would take him a long time to come back outside Gehenna again. Absorbing him would be difficult anyway.』
“He’s on Earth. The Horsemen of Calamity.”
『Hm… those guys would be just right.』
The Horsemen of Calamity possessed considerable amounts of black mana, and they also carried energy.
Of course, the red knight used wrath energy, which was different.
But if even one of the remaining two knights carried void energy, it would be a success.
Tss-ts—
Chae Jin-young opened a portal and returned to the power plant.
His sister was still training her psionic energy.
He withdrew the tentacle he had summoned in front of Chae So-young, and she tilted her head.
“What? Is training over?”
“No. We’ll continue back on Earth. But I won’t be able to watch over you for a while.”
At Chae Jin-young’s last words, Chae So-young asked in a worried voice.
“Oppa, is something wrong?”
“I need to train too. I don’t know how long it’ll take.”
“…How much stronger are you planning to get this time?”
Chae So-young soon made a fed-up expression.
The already unbridgeable gap between them seemed about to widen to the distance between heaven and earth.
She didn’t necessarily aim to catch up to her brother, but having the gap grow even larger wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Her competitive spirit was no weaker than anyone’s.
“When I finish the work, I’ll come back to hell, so keep training until then.”
“Thanks to you, I’ve roughly gotten the hang of it.”
“Good. Let’s head back for now.”
Tss—
Chae Jin-young opened a black portal and returned to the exact spot where he had first opened the gate of hell.
The cliff in hell’s wasteland.
Standing before the faintly remaining magic circle on the ground, Chae Jin-young and Chae So-young.
While he could open the “Gate of Hell” anywhere on Earth.
In hell, it could only be opened precisely above this magic circle on the cliff.
Crackle crackle—
The gate of hell tore open savagely, ripping through space.
Chae Jin-young and Chae So-young stepped through the portal and returned to the living room of their home.
Before fully diving into the work, he needed to take care of urgent matters first.
He picked up his phone and dialed someone.
“This is Psycho.”
***
“Weren’t you on vacation?”
Jeong Bo-hoon furrowed his brow with unease at Chae Jin-young’s sudden call.
He had no choice but to feel this way right now.
They were in the middle of thoroughly rooting out anyone even remotely connected to GODS, and if Psycho barged in at this moment, everything could turn into chaos.
That was precisely why he had readily approved the leave request when Chae Jin-young said he wanted to take time off during such a hectic period.
―Even on vacation, can’t I at least contact my Director?
“Of course you can… though finding someone who actually does that would be harder than imagining it.”
―It’s nothing else—I’m just going to take Dolsae sunbae with me for a while. It’s about time to put him to work.
“Dolsae? Sure, losing just one of him won’t matter.”
Even though a much younger agent was boldly making demands, Jeong Bo-hoon showed no sign of being offended.
If anything, he wished this was all there was to it.
―Ah, and can I extend my leave a bit more? It might drag on longer than expected.
“You want more rest? Do whatever you want.”
Jeong Bo-hoon genuinely hoped Chae Jin-young would take a long break.
With cooperation from the CIA on intelligence matters, there were no issues, and agent strength had reached an all-time high.
In particular, Choi Hee-yeon’s swordsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds as if she had awakened some new ability.
Stimulated by her, Executor Hong Jun-su was also training in swordsmanship, striving to overcome the limits of a mana-less Hunter.
―Thank you. Director, you should take it easy too.
“Don’t worry about me.”
After ending the call with Chae Jin-young, Jeong Bo-hoon looked down at the man in front of him.
Park Jeong-jae, floor leader of the Peace Party and a member of the National Assembly.
A gag was stuffed in his mouth.
Returning to business, Jeong Bo-hoon removed the gag and spoke.
“I apologize, Assemblyman.”
“Director Jeong… did you threaten Chairperson Cheon in the same way?”
A slight tremor could be felt in his voice.
But his eyes remained sharp.
The dignity of a five-term assemblyman still lingered.
Of course, to Jeong Bo-hoon, he looked like nothing more than a petty opportunist.
That was precisely why he still had value for “conversation.”
“Threaten? I merely had a ‘conversation’ with Chairperson Cheon to guide her back to the right path.”
“The right path. How arrogant. You seem quite full of yourself after taking down the Director of the National Intelligence Service so easily. Korean politics isn’t that simple. If you touch even one assemblyman with the complacent mindset of ‘it’s just one person,’ it could set off a chain reaction and plunge everything into anarchy.”
“I know that well. That’s exactly why I want to have this conversation with you.”
Jeong Bo-hoon wanted to conduct this major purge as efficiently as possible.
If not, that ultra-high-performance vaccine called “Psycho” might wipe everything out indiscriminately.
History had proven time and again that corruption and misconduct could never be completely eradicated from those who run a country.
No matter how virtuous a king or how incorruptible a president, it was impossible.
Even if the leader did everything right, they couldn’t stop all the rot below.
And such deep-rooted evils couldn’t be solved by one or two people stepping forward.
That was why Jeong Bo-hoon’s strategy was to recruit someone like Chairperson Cheon Ji-hee and surgically remove only those deeply tied to GODS.
The first step had been arresting the Director of the National Intelligence Service.
“You want to talk to me? Is this the state of someone who wants a conversation? We can’t talk like this.”
Park Jeong-jae said while looking down at himself tied to the chair.
Jeong Bo-hoon let out a short laugh.
Even if cooperation was on the table, the other party was still trash.
There was no need to treat him with gentlemanly courtesy.
“Assemblyman Park. Do you understand what it means that I’m alone with you right now?”
“What do you…”
Park Jeong-jae’s eyes wavered at Jeong Bo-hoon’s sudden change in demeanor.
Without giving him a chance to respond, he pressed on.
“It means if you die here, no one will know. The only thing that’ll come out is a headline: ‘Assemblyman Park Jeong-jae goes missing, suspected GODS involvement.’ Do you get what I’m saying?”
“…….”
Park Jeong-jae had never in his life been threatened like this.
The shock was overwhelming.
“You know what kind of position Chairperson Cheon holds in Busan right now, don’t you?”
The moment Chairperson Cheon Ji-hee joined hands with the Intelligence Department, she began gaining fame by uncovering massive numbers of GODS spies infiltrating Busan City.
Of course, it would have been impossible without the Intelligence Department.
And the Intelligence Department would have faced far dirtier situations during the operation without Chairperson Cheon.
“I admit I was blinded by power and made a foolish choice. But I never intended to put our citizens in danger.”
Jeong Bo-hoon barely held back a laugh at Park Jeong-jae’s excuse.
“I’m giving you a chance right now to reverse that foolish choice.”
“…….”
Park Jeong-jae closed his eyes tightly.
The Intelligence Department, the Awakener Association, and even the Defense Intelligence Command had all mobilized to eradicate GODS.
To at least keep his rice bowl intact, he needed to take the opportunity while it was offered.
“…What do you want me to do?”
After long deliberation, Park Jeong-jae finally spoke.
Jeong Bo-hoon nodded and took out the prepared pill.
“Now you’re ready to talk, Assemblyman.”
***
“Domestic affairs are still chaotic, but it seems like things will work out well.”
Chae Jin-young nodded at Choi Hee-yeon’s words.
“With the Director personally running around handling it, of course it’ll go well. Looks like I don’t need to step in.”
Though he had pretended otherwise to Jeong Bo-hoon, he had a rough grasp of how things were progressing domestically.
He had heard not only from Choi Hee-yeon but also from his sister.
Variants traveling around the world were also providing him with information.
Unless an unprecedented crisis erupted that even Zero-grade Hunters couldn’t resolve, Chae Jin-young had no intention of intervening directly.
He had felt the same in Renard: while force could resolve problems, guiding things in a good direction was an entirely different matter.
Especially when it came to politics, he believed it was better left to experts like Jeong Bo-hoon.
『Shouldn’t we check how much our disciple has grown?』
At that moment, the Heavenly Thunder God Sword suddenly interjected.
It had seemed unusually quiet lately, but it finally spoke up.
Chae Jin-young, who had been about to leave, nodded since the topic had come up.
“Pick up the sword and swing it once.”
Fortunately, the training ground was empty, so Choi Hee-yeon immediately took hold of her hellstone demonic sword.
She assumed a refined stance and lightly swung the blade.
Swoosh—
A normal sound of cutting through air rang out.
Crack crack crack— Boom boom boom boom!
Far-off dummies were instantly sliced in half, and blue lightning raged like a storm.
Shattered dummy fragments and destroyed facility debris flew chaotically.
The Heavenly Thunder God Sword, more excited than anyone, moved busily at the sight.
『Did you see that? Hee-yeon has innate talent for thunder and swordsmanship. Of course, she still lacks control over her power, but if I had taken her as a disciple earlier, she would have blossomed even more magnificently. Well, meeting her now is fortunate enough. Back when I was in the Heavenly Thunder Sect…』
“I’m leaving now. Keep training hard.”
Before the Heavenly Thunder God Sword could ramble on, Chae Jin-young stepped through the portal.
He arrived at a neatly organized office.
The man he had contacted in advance was sitting and waiting.
A hulking, muscular build barely contained by his suit. And a gleaming bald head.
“Long time no see, Psycho.”
It was Dolsae, a secret agent from the Intelligence Department.
“Dolsae sunbae, how have you been?”
“Thanks to you, I was doing fine. Until the incident broke out.”
Dolsae had also been involved in the current operation to root out GODS spies.
Fortunately, since he was in charge of the Jeolla region, he hadn’t been as swamped as those in Seoul.
“It’s a shame you were doing fine.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You should’ve been half-dead from brutal training.”
At Chae Jin-young’s words, Dolsae’s expression darkened.
He realized he had made a slip.
After escaping the hellish collective training of the Intelligence Department, Dolsae hadn’t trained as diligently as before.
Now officially a 2nd-grade Hunter, he could reach 1st-grade when activating his “Berserk” ability.
In truth, 1st-grade Hunters numbered only a few hundred worldwide—not many at all.
He didn’t need to exert much effort to live comfortably.
But to Chae Jin-young, that wasn’t enough.
“Ah, I haven’t just been playing around. Once this job is done, I’ll dive back into training…”
“No. We’re starting today, sunbae.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s going to handle the GODS spies in Jeolla if I’m gone?”
“I already talked to the Director about that. A replacement will arrive soon.”
At the thunderbolt news, Dolsae’s eyes widened in shock.
It was as if he had just been told he was fired from the Intelligence Department.
In a way, it wasn’t entirely different.
“N-No… wait a second…”
“Let’s go—to Pakistan.”
Tss-ts—
Chae Jin-young opened a portal heading to the largest contaminated zone on the Pakistan-India border.
To meet the White Knight.
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