Chapter 70
I handed the evidence I'd picked up in the forest earlier to the old man.
The smartphone containing the agents' messages, and the decisive piece of evidence: the necklace.
The old man fiddled with the smartphone he'd been given, then snorted.
"...Just as expected, but still... what fools."
The old man motioned to the Awakeners around him, then spoke with one who came over and nodded.
"I'll give you a box of mana stones and 5,000 credits."
"...?!"
My eyes went wide.
A box of mana stones and 5,000 credits.
It was an even bigger reward than completing the trade request I got from the constellation.
And I hadn't expected them to actually pay to buy it either.
"Isn't this a bit much? That's too much..."
"Ho ho, not at all. If you think about how much these things you brought will benefit us, this is actually barely enough. Thanks to you, the trump card in my hand has become very powerful."
The old man stroked the necklace with a satisfied look before hardening his expression and staring straight at me.
"...If that's the case, then I have just one more favor to ask. From now on, please guard me for about two hours."
"Guard you? This Shingil Station is already full of Awakeners..."
"Our Awakeners are reliable enough, but... with you here, things will go much more smoothly."
I could read an unmistakable fighting spirit in the old man's eyes.
Just what in the world was he planning to do that he'd put it so strongly?
Curious, I asked.
"Where exactly are you going that you want me and the Awakeners to escort you?"
At my question, the old man clasped his hands behind his back and calmly said one sentence.
"The Administration's main base. I'm going there myself, to where Candidate No. 2 is."
"...!"
Candidate No. 2.
Like Candidate No. 1, he was a key figure in the existing Administration and another pillar of this election.
"You can just go into a place like that?"
"No."
"Then...?"
"We'll have to force our way in."
He also said the Administration's main base was currently being used exclusively by Candidate No. 2.
Candidate No. 1 had begun full-scale preparations for the vote, left the main Administration building, and set up a separate campaign camp.
"...Fine. I'll do it."
Thinking of the credits and mana stones I'd receive, I readily agreed to help.
I signaled to the golems and drones.
With a clanking sound, the golem that approached supported my back solidly, while the drones circled high in the sky and began keeping watch in all directions.
Originally I hadn't planned to get too involved—
but that was too much credit to pass up.
"Let's go."
We crossed past Shingil Station and began heading toward the Administration headquarters, where Candidate No. 2's faction had set up.
***
"Why isn't there any contact?"
Choi Ui-won, Candidate No. 2 at the Yeouido Administration, impatiently tapped the desk.
It had been a long time since the agents who went to capture the elf should have reported back, yet his phone remained silent.
Then it happened.
From outside, he began to hear bustling footsteps and a noisy commotion.
'Did they finally bring the elf back?'
They hadn't contacted him directly.
The agents may have been in touch with each other and brought the elf in alive.
Full of anticipation, he looked toward the door and rose from his seat.
Boom—!
"H-hey, what the hell!"
With a tremendous roar, the thick door in front of him was ripped off and sent flying intact.
"Aaaagh!"
"Ghk!"
Along with the shattered door, the agents screamed and rolled around on the floor.
And above them, a four-legged monster that looked as if it were made of some unknown steel climbed atop them as though trampling them.
"A... monster...?"
At its appearance, like something straight out of an old video game, Choi Ui-won backed away and pressed himself against the wall.
Security inside the safe zone was supposed to be tightly managed, so where had a monster like that come from—
While he was still flustered, people casually walked in through the collapsed doorframe, cutting through the dust.
The one standing at the very front was instantly recognizable.
Candidate No. 4, Lee Han-yeon.
Behind him were presumably Awakeners there to protect him.
...There was even a little girl.
"Y-you, Lee Han-yeon! Did you do this?"
"Oh? Using casual speech with me?"
"Has this old bastard finally gone senile! What do you think this is, barging in here like this!"
Choi Ui-won shouted, veins bulging in his neck.
He'd brought a monster and Awakeners in and taken down his agents.
Just that alone was enough to make his intentions obvious, so Choi Ui-won shouted even louder.
Then he immediately ran to the desk and pressed the emergency bell under it, summoning the agents.
He had a few trump cards prepared for times like this.
Five restraint necklaces he had received from a constellation.
Choi Ui-won was using three of them to forcibly dominate powerful Awakeners from outside Yeouido and command them.
'If just those three come, that old bastard, the leftover Awakeners, and that bizarre steel monster will all be wiped out in an instant. And this time, I'll even take Lee Han-yeon here and—'
Just as Choi Ui-won was about to smile, Lee Han-yeon clicked his tongue while standing with his hands behind his back.
"Councilman Choi. If you don't want to needlessly create more victims, don't call them."
"Hah! You barge into someone else's main base and start spouting this frozen nonsense—wait...?"
Choi Ui-won hesitated and looked at Lee Han-yeon.
"...How did you know that?"
"You pressed the button under the desk, so those guys will be here soon enough, right? With their necklaces dangling from their necks."
"How do you know that!"
"Ah... well, how could I not figure it out when I know how loyal the men under you are."
"You son of a bi—"
Clink—
Before Choi Ui-won could even finish speaking, Lee Han-yeon took something from his pocket and tossed it lightly to the floor.
It was a necklace emitting an unpleasant red glow.
The moment he saw it, Choi Ui-won's heart thudded.
'That... why is that in that old man's hands?'
It was definitely the very same restraint necklace his agents had taken to place around the elf's neck.
Because the elf's combat power was unknown, he had set the bar as high as possible and assembled a team only of agents with combat skills, even handing them items including the necklace.
Then why was it that, instead of the men bringing back the elf, that old man was standing here holding the necklace?
"I hear they weren't all that strong, either."
Lee Han-yeon glanced sidelong at the youthful girl holding a spear.
She looked no older than her early twenties at most.
"You said they were all taken down without a single scratch, and the necklace was recovered?"
The girl nodded.
His mind went completely blank.
'No way... no, the fact that the necklace is here means it really...'
As if he had noticed Choi Ui-won's troubled gaze, Lee Han-yeon curled up the corners of his mouth.
"Don't make this complicated."
Without stopping, Lee Han-yeon waved the smartphone he had taken from his inner pocket as if to show it off.
Then after fiddling with it for a moment, he opened the message screen on the phone.
"Just cooperate with us obediently and resign from your candidacy. This phone contains all of your messages."
"...Even the phone..."
Choi Ui-won's expression hardened.
"What do you think will happen if the Gallery finds out about those horrible things you tried to do to humans and even other races? This won't end with a resignation. Do you think we'll leave someone who treats people like slaves in this Yeouido safe zone?"
"..."
Choi Ui-won carefully checked the contents of the smartphone screen Lee Han-yeon held out, and his pupils trembled violently.
The phone indeed contained the messages Lee Han-yeon had mentioned, messages he had been hiding from people all this time.
Choi Ui-won ground his teeth, and now his whole body started trembling so hard that even his shoulders shook.
Anyone could tell Choi Ui-won was furious right now.
"Don't be ridiculous! Who do you think laid the foundation for this Yeouido safe zone! I built this place! Me!"
As if he were raging, Councilman Choi shouted, flecks of spit flying from his mouth.
But soon he clamped his mouth shut and fell into an unnervingly quiet silence.
'Looks like he's finally backing down.'
Everyone thought that inwardly and was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when—
"Hey, block them!"
"Damn it! What kind of strength is that...?"
"Ugh...!"
Thud—! Crunch!
From the corridor outside the office, a loud commotion broke out, and the Awakeners Lee Han-yeon had stationed outside were slammed into the wall with screams.
"..."
Then, cutting through the pale dust, three men wearing blood-red necklaces around their necks walked in with cold eyes.
They were the Awakeners Choi Ui-won had summoned with the emergency bell.
A thin, vicious smile spread across Choi Ui-won's lips.
"...Fine. If it's come to this, we'll just clear everything up here... Kill them all!"
At the order, they hesitated at first.
However, once the necklace around their necks flashed—
Their atmosphere changed immediately.
The first to move was the man armed head to toe in a black, special-forces-like outfit.
He smoothly pulled the heavy shotgun slung over his shoulder free, and without the slightest hesitation, aimed the vicious muzzle at Lee Han-yeon at the front and pulled the trigger.
Bang—!
With a deafening blast that seemed to tear the eardrums apart, the buckshot packed with dozens of steel pellets spat fire and was mercilessly discharged.
A point-blank shot with nowhere to dodge. A trigger pull without hesitation.
No one in this room could react to that attack.
Right—no human could react.
Clank— BOOM!
The golem, which had been waiting at a distance, hurled its heavy steel body forward with beastlike speed, perfectly blocking the shotgun's line of fire.
Crackle—! Piiing—!
The buckshot fired at close range struck the golem's thick, steel-like back shell dead on.
Then, instead of piercing through, a chilling scraping sound rang out as scarlet sparks flew in all directions.
The bullets, unable to overcome the golem's hardness, began to ricochet at the very speed they'd been fired.
Piiing—! Thwack!
"Kraaah!!"
The one who suffered the most severe wounds was none other than the man who had pulled the shotgun's trigger himself.
Without even a chance to defend himself, the dozens of fragments that rebounded violently at point-blank range mercilessly pierced the gaps in the man's tactical gear, as well as his thighs and shoulders.
The ricochet had weakened the force, and luckily his vital spots were spared by sheer fortune, so it didn't seem to be a serious injury, but he wouldn't be able to keep fighting.
As their comrade collapsed in a bloodied heap in an instant, the remaining two brainwashed men froze in place, dumbfounded by the unexpected turn of events and the steel monster.
The girl with the spear did not let that brief opening slip by for even a second.
She kicked hard off the floor and leapt forward in an instant, closing the distance before they could even react.
Then the spear in the girl's hand traced a gentle arc and shot out like a snake.
It wasn't aimed at a person.
What the spear was aiming for was the restraint necklaces constricting the men's necks.
Swish—! Ssshh—
The sound of an extremely light, razor-sharp wind cutting through the air rang through the narrow office.
"Uh...?"
The spear tip cleanly sliced only the necklaces apart, without leaving even a scratch on the men's skin.
Clink, clatter.
The instant the necklaces were cut free and fell, Choi Ui-won's eyes filled with shock.