Chapter 71
"Eun-ha! Yoo Eun-ha!"
When I woke up, Lee Yoo-jeong was there to greet me.
Nothing's as refreshing as waking up to a beautiful woman.
"Senior Yoo-jeong. I missed you."
I pulled Yoo-jeong's head close and explored her lips as she was trying hard to wake me up.
"Mmph. No, wait. Let's save this for tonight. I have something to tell you."
"Something to tell me?"
"Soo-ji came out of the training room with horns growing from her head."
That must be because of me, right? It's from being corrupted by me.
Early spec upgrades are important. Playing it safe and following the original work despite knowing the future isn't my style.
So I have no regrets.
"Ah, that. It's because she was corrupted by me. She's a Mutant now."
Han Soo-ji's transformation drew the interest of the Heroines.
"I bet this is all Yoo Eun-ha's fault."
"Probably."
They blame me for everything that happens.
Meanwhile, Han Soo-ji, whether aware of my intentions or not, was happily shrinking and growing the horns on her head.
"You can shrink these?"
Of course. I can freely control mine too. If Han Soo-ji couldn't do that much after awakening with my demonic power, she'd be an Imugi.
"Wait, what's with your eyeballs and pupils? Did you get hit somewhere?"
"How's it any different from you becoming a Dark Elf?"
"At least mine can be turned ON/OFF? And I'm getting an Elf awakening soon too."
That was half-and-half chicken Reina speaking.
"I can turn the horn shrinking ON/OFF too you know?"
Said Han Soo-ji while shrinking her horns.
"By that logic, I'm an ON/OFF paper too."
"No Rachel, don't butt in."
"Shouldn't I be included here? I did give birth to your child after all."
That's seriously misleading. That child wasn't made through sperm and egg fertilization.
Moreover, despite being called my child, she follows Yoo-jeong more.
Even now she's sleeping on Yoo-jeong's head, clearly favoring Yoo-jeong over me.
"I don't see what giving birth has to do with this. Wait, why are you glaring at me?"
"Hold on, that Rachel person is Reina's mother? And she gave birth?"
"Well, it's a bit different, but basically yes."
"Wait, then what about me."
Han Soo-ji's eyes welled up with tears.
Women's tears are special as long as they're not that victim cosplay juice-squeezing at police stations or courts.
I want to lick them.
So wanting to make her cry more, I gently embraced Han Soo-ji and whispered in her ear.
"Soo-ji. Let me say it again. I'm the only one who can accept a Villain like you. So shouldn't you act in a way that pleases me?"
"I-I'm sorry."
"Just kidding. I just want us to get along well. Understand?"
After patting her back, Han Soo-ji finally seemed to relax and sighed.
"Then I'm the most normal one here?"
Lee Yoo-jeong said meaningfully, looking quite proud for some reason.
"How exactly? You just hole up in your room typing on your laptop all day."
"Yeah, you Hikikomori."
A small vein popped up on Lee Yoo-jeong's temple, who usually showed no expression.
"At least I'm human. Here we have two with ears and one who grew horns and got all menacing. Wouldn't I, being human, be the ultimate winner?"
Well, if we're using being human as the standard, Yoo-jeong is the winner.
"Heh, you don't know but Elves have super long lifespans? We barely age too?"
"Becoming a Mutant means no more periods."
Catfight?
No, this seems more like a pride battle over who's the most normal. If you consider that humans are Earth's masters and the absolute majority are normal humans, then Yoo-jeong is the most normal.
No, wait. The fact that she uses abilities already means she's not a normal human, right?
"Hey, Yoo Eun-ha. Who's the most normal among us?"
"No, you're all weird."
I don't get why they're fighting over something so pointless.
"Hey, you shouldn't say that even to me who gave birth to your child?"
Rachel pushed Ray towards me with teary eyes.
It's cute how they all want to prove their presence to me.
But I have no immunity to this kind of situation.
Even during my office worker days, since most of the women I slept with were married, they never met each other.
"Ah screw this, I don't know!"
So I used Kate to escape.
* * *
Blue House
In the secret space created in the Blue House, President Ha Jeong-seok was having a meeting with Shinohara Yuzuki, head of the Shinohara family of Japan.
Anyone could see this was different from a normal summit.
Formally, Japan's Prime Minister should have visited Korea, but the real power lay with Shinohara Yuzuki. Hence, due to diplomatic image concerns, Shinohara Yuzuki had to meet with Ha Jeong-seok separately.
"I should have visited Japan last time. Why did you come all the way here."
Ha Jeong-seok frowned.
He had planned to pressure Association President Choi Cheol-sik about the Hanseong Academy matter. Meeting separately with Japan's power holder like this wasn't good.
"We need to show America that Japan and Korea are allies. As head of the Shinohara family, I should naturally visit Korea."
'What bullshit.'
As head of the Shinohara family - she's still just a girl showing signs of youth. How dare such a young bitch try to sit as an equal with him. Just how far back has Japan regressed? To have a woman with little political experience sitting in this position.
Even though he wanted to chase her out immediately, current Japan was so firmly in Shinohara's grip it was called the Shinohara Shogunate. He couldn't just drive her away.
"Hmm, that makes sense, but do we have more to discuss?"
"Hasn't Korea's top Hunter academy, Hanseong Academy, been treated as a Villain academy lately?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Would it be alright if I transferred in?"
What connection is there between Hanseong being treated as a Villain academy and Japan's power holder transferring in? Could there be other motives?
"As head of the Shinohara family? Couldn't you have entered a famous academy in Kyoto or Tokyo?"
Those academies are no worse than Korea's academies. So what's the intent behind insisting on entering Hanseong?
"Using Shinohara's power to investigate matters related to Sin by infiltrating Hanseong Academy. That's what America wants as well."
The US-centered world order had long collapsed, yet America still trying to act as the superior nation was as unwelcome to Ha Jeong-seok as Japan.
"Don't you realize this is clearly interference in internal affairs?"
"Ahaha. Let's put aside personal feelings between our countries. This is not interference in internal affairs at all. This isn't the Japanese colonial period, is it? If we must compare current Korea and Japan to the past, wouldn't it be like Joseon and the Tokugawa Shogunate?"
"It's not 'Japanese colonial period', it's 'Japanese colonial occupation period'."
"That's another way to put it."
Right. Well if you want to bring up centuries-old history, the relationship wasn't bad. However, as the world was reorganized after the Great Cataclysm, Korea became stronger than Japan through Hunters and officially ended the uncomfortable past between the two countries. The reason Ha Jeong-seok was particularly wary of Japan was that with China already being troublesome enough, he couldn't know what schemes Japan might plot behind the scenes to politically damage his administration.
"You sure talk smoothly. But why should we accept Shinohara's help when we have plenty of excellent Hunters?"
If he wanted to, there were more than enough capable Hunters he could infiltrate into the academy. So why let in Japan's power holder who might later become grounds for interference in internal affairs?
"I heard relations between the Blue House and Hunter Guild aren't very good. To infiltrate Hanseong you'd need at least Guild level, and using Hunters would increase the Association and Guild's authority while decreasing the Blue House's power, wouldn't it? Conversely, if we cooperate under the surface, you won't need their help."
"Hmm, that's true."
As Ha Jeong-seok furrowed his brow, Shinohara Yuzuki carefully opened her mouth.
"I heard Korea's high-ranking officials like apple boxes?"
"This is."
Shinohara Yuzuki called her retainer to take out an apple box from subspace.
Opening that box revealed it was filled with A-Class Cores. Occasional S-Class Cores could be seen too - selling it all would fetch an enormous sum.
Moreover, since it was received as Cores rather than direct cash, there wouldn't really be any issues.
"We absolutely have no other intentions towards Korea. Please accept this not as a bribe but as a gesture of goodwill."
"Since you call it goodwill, I'll accept it. However, all I can do is let you transfer into Hanseong."
"That alone is more than enough, thank you."
The negotiation was successful.
Since she used Korean and even gave an apple box, Ha Jeong-seok couldn't completely dismiss Japan either.
After leaving the secret room with a veil over her head, Shinohara Yuzuki's retainer Shinohara Mariko asked.
"My lady. Aren't we helping Korea more than necessary? I also think we should be friendly with Korea, but this could give the Prime Minister leverage."
"We can cut the Prime Minister anytime. Eventually, sooner or later, future Korea will be in the Hunters' hands. It doesn't hurt to make friends early. I'm curious about that promising rookie called Yoo Eun-ha too."
Though the Blue House is holding on well, Korea will ultimately be run by Hunters. Ha Jeong-seok is just a barking gang member with no talent as a Hunter after all. Maybe future presidents will even be Hunters.
"What about the main house? If you're away too long, the Prime Minister might find fault."
Shinohara Yuzuki is Japan's power holder. Even if it's infiltration, transferring to a Korean academy would obviously cause controversy.
"Don't we have a retainer with transformation abilities for times like this? We'll use a body double."
"Yes, my lady."
The groundwork was already laid.
The female student Yoo Eun-ha. Shinohara Yuzuki was curious about her.
An existence too outstanding to be called a student. Someone with the power to take down a student who became at least an A-Class Mutant by swallowing a Fragment of Sin in just a few moves.
Getting close to a Hunter who will lead Korea in the future wouldn't be bad for Shinohara.
* * *
New York
The American Hunter community was also paying attention to the Sin that appeared in Korea.
Alex, who had represented America in the Hunter Alliance, was in charge of everything regarding Korea's Sin.
He had already found a house for his daughter to stay in Korea.
Though he wanted to go himself, he had too much work in America so decided to send his daughter Rosemary.
Conveniently, Korea's academy was world-renowned so he could feel at ease sending his precious daughter there.
"Father. You're telling me to go to Korea?"
A girl with long blonde hair neatly tied up attractively asked Alex.
"That's right. On the surface it's study abroad, but underneath it's investigation of Sin. But that's not all - get close to some Hunters making names for themselves in Korea now. This era is ultimately the Hunters' era. Especially becoming friends with Yoo Eun-ha, Divine Sword's sister, would be good for you."
This is the great Hunter era. It was good to build connections first with promising Hunters across borders.
"What does she look like?"
"She looks like this. Rosemary. Though I think my daughter is the cutest, wouldn't it be better to have this child by your side? She's receiving even higher expectations than Divine Sword did as a student."
Rosemary looked at the photo Alex handed over.
A white-haired woman swinging a sword wreathed in white flames in the middle of a group battle.
Seeing her, Rosemary became interested in the white-haired woman. She'd never seen a woman with such perfect looks and figure before.
'Maybe I can make this girl my doll too.'
"Hmm. Hanseong Academy you said? Might as well go."
Rosemary became America's youngest Hunter. She has nothing much to do. This could be a good chance to increase her dolls.
* * *
Unknown Dungeon
-When's Baekhwa coming back?
-For real that slave girl needs to bring her master quickly.
-Why? Shia is cute too.
F-uck, I want to see them pressing their breasts together in a hug.
-Pervert OUT!
-Hey honestly neither has shown their face yet, isn't it about time?
"Ahaha. Sorry. Master has been a bit busy lately. Then that's all for today's Baekhwa TV!"
Choi Shia sighed as she ended the broadcast.
How long must she keep doing this.
Ah, of course it's what Master ordered, so she should do it gladly. But seeing sexual comments in chat makes her want to kill the viewers who wrote them.
After all, only Master can do anything to this body, whether verbally or physically.
Choi Shia crushed the head under her foot.
"Oh my, isn't this the famous Songdo Killer?"
"Hm?"
Perhaps there was more trash left. Or maybe new trash came in. Glancing back, she saw dozens of Villains in black outfits.
"We were going to take this dungeon but to think the Songdo Killer would be here."
"Looking at that body gets me so hard, what do you say? Let's catch that bitch and fuck her hard."
"Don't know her face though?"
"Even if her face is shit we can just fuck her with that mask on."
Such vulgar behavior. No need to listen to trash talk. But something particularly irritated her ears.
To call a face Master acknowledged shit. This is hard to let slide.
Though it's not a face to show such trash, Choi Shia removed her mask to show her face to the trash.
"You dare insult a face Master praised?"
Choi Shia gripped her sword.
These pieces of trash are saying things they shouldn't.
And these pieces of trash seem starved enough to commit visual rape just from seeing her face.
"Ohoho. That's quite a cute face?"
"Makes me want to make her do fellatio all the way to her throat."
"Did you show us your face because you want us to rape you, you bitch?"
Where do they get the nerve to spout such nonsense.
I was going to kill them anyway, but my ears are dirty now.
"I showed my face because I can kill all of you?"
[Ahaha. That's exactly right Divine- no, Demon God Sword. Let's kill them all and go fuck Eun-ha.]
'What kind of speech habit is this child using with Master. Right. First I need to kill those things.'
Shia's lips stretched into a grin as the sword in her hand flashed an ominous light.
* * *