Chapter 122
“Damn it.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Why the hell are we doing this?”
“We're watching Kim Segyun.”
The two had such distinctly East Asian features that they could blend into a crowd without anyone realizing they were foreigners, yet they were speaking fluent English.
And their mission was to keep Kim Segyun under surveillance.
“No, I get that... but why are we suddenly back to close surveillance?”
“You have to ask?”
“Knowing the reason just makes me more annoyed.”
They were agents with the CIA's East Asia branch.
They were privy to most of the relevant information.
Kim Segyun was an important figure and had always been under surveillance, but there was another reason the alert level had suddenly been raised this high.
“I can't tell if this country belongs to Kaiser or the United States.”
“Can't be helped. We're too deeply entangled with him.”
Even so...
Was it really appropriate for a U.S. government agency to help a private company pursue profits, even going so far as to assign it a dedicated satellite?
“The bigger problem is that he's almost certainly noticed us.”
The CIA's intelligence network had already learned that Kim Segyun possessed a detection ability with an enormous range.
They'd also confirmed that he'd demonstrated that ability several times to the National Intelligence Service and caught double agents, so they couldn't help feeling uneasy.
“We should've just stuck to satellite surveillance, damn it.”
“No matter how I think about it, that ability gives me the creeps. He doesn't even leave a body behind.”
Even if Kim Segyun killed them here, the U.S. government would simply deny their existence. They'd die for nothing.
“But why are they so touchy about keeping us on him all the time?”
Their superiors wouldn't tolerate losing sight of Kim Segyun for even a moment.
“Why do you think?”
“Is this because of Kaiser, too?”
“Of course.”
“That damned old man.”
“Would it make you feel any better to know that the old bastard's $100 billion bet is in our hands?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Kaiser bet on the companies Kim Segyun owns going down. His reasoning is clear: Kim Segyun announced he'd stop challenging Level 70 Gates.”
He'd tried to gloss over that announcement with what people called ‘Fever Time,’ but...
that effect couldn't last forever.
In the end, it was a comparison between permanent Pacification and a one-off, month-long doubling of its effects...
Naturally, ordinary Pacification was overwhelmingly better.
One by one, people started pointing that out, and as Wall Street kept its short positions and poured even more money into the short-selling market, stock prices began to slip again.
For South Korean investors, it must have felt like going from heaven to hell and back.
“What if Kim Segyun suddenly changes his mind and says he's going back to challenge Level 70 Gates?”
“There'd be chaos.”
“That's why they're so sensitive to his every move. If he heads out to challenge a Level 70 Gate, Kaiser plans to close his positions immediately and bet on prices going up.”
“Oh, damn! He's moving!”
As soon as he said it, Kim Segyun, whom they were watching, began to move.
“Where is he? What's his destination?”
“I'm listening in... Gyeongsangbuk-do. He's going to Gyeongsangbuk-do.”
“What's there?”
“There's no Gate there that he could challenge. There's one unexplored Level 50 Gate, but Kim Segyun's already over Level 70.”
None of the newly generated Level 70 Gates were located in Gyeongsangbuk-do.
“Then why the hell is he suddenly going to Gyeongsangbuk-do?”
“I'm checking. Just wait a moment.”
The CIA agent listened intently for a long while, then his expression suddenly twisted.
“G-guh... ngh...”
“What? What's wrong?”
The other agent hurried over in alarm, and his face instantly went pale.
A mass of black threads had already burst out of the computer and pierced through the CIA agent's head.
“Holy shit!”
He swore and tried to run, but his feet abruptly stopped.
At some point, a single thread had pierced straight through his head.
It hadn't merely pierced his skull...
It had connected to his nervous system and was taking control of his entire body.
As he stared at it as if to ask, Why...? a strand pierced his eyes, too.
Blood poured from his punctured eyes.
─ Stop . star . ing . you . id . iots.
Though both his eyes had been pierced and he could no longer see, he couldn't even feel the pain.
He couldn't even scream.
His nervous system had already been taken over.
─ Hmph.
After even snorting at them, Greed issued a few more commands, then turned the agents' brains to mush.
They weren't dead.
They were simply better off dead.
**
“You said you were heading out because someone was bugging us. Why'd you suddenly go quiet?”
Greed had been so out of control that I was startled and waited. After extending tendrils into the underground cables, Greed soon came to its senses.
─ Took . care . of . it.
“You didn't kill them, did you?”
─ Didn't . kill . them.
“...Really?”
Greed could lie, so I had to ask properly.
─ I . mean . it.
“You didn't say you hadn't killed them, then turn them into something like vegetables, did you?”
─......
This thing...
“Just wait till you get back. I'll let Gluttony chew you up, spit you out, and savor every bite.”
─ Please . spare . me.
“You really are impossible. You never listen.”
Whatever the case, Greed must have taken care of it somehow.
I didn't like Greed going around killing people without my orders, but it had handled the matter properly, at least.
I'd lecture it later...
For now, it was time to get started on the project to screw over Kaiser.
“We have to wrap this up quickly.”
I'd blocked the wiretaps, but...
there was nothing I could do about them watching through satellites.
If I simply flew there, I'd show up on radar.
To evade the satellites... I had to do something they wouldn't expect.
The Pride swarm rode the air currents, gathered in midair, and formed a duplicate of me.
“Phase Shift.”
I used Phase Shift to teleport there in an instant.
Even the United States, with all the crown jewels of modern science at its disposal, couldn't easily track someone who'd suddenly vanished through space only to pop up in midair somewhere else.
And if I repeated that not just once but several times...
“Ugh, I'm getting motion sick.”
I still wasn't used to it, so all I got was motion sickness...
but how much more of a panic were my American friends in, trying to find me after I'd vanished?
**
“Kaiser! Kim Segyun!”
“Don't make a fuss. It's probably some kind of teleportation.”
It would be stranger if a mage of his level and stature couldn't use so much as a teleportation spell.
The question was, why had he hidden himself?
“...Gyeongsangbuk-do.”
Because of Kim Segyun, Kaiser had memorized the names of Korean regions, something he'd never expected to do.
Muttering the strange name, which was difficult even to pronounce, Kaiser fell into thought.
“If he's going to such lengths to hide where he's going, there must be something there.”
An entire CIA branch had even lost contact with its agents.
“Then should we withdraw for now?”
At Kaiser's order, capital in short positions began to withdraw, closing them like the tide going out.
Since they were moving on such a massive scale, some losses were inevitable, but once Kaiser made a decision, it was as good as an absolute command.
“This decision cost you approximately $1.5 billion, sir.”
Kaiser gave a calm nod at the financial officer's words.
$1.5 billion. Nearly 2 trillion won.
But to Kaiser, who had put his entire fortune of $100 billion into this, a loss of $1.5 billion was merely part of the process.
And if someone had lost money, someone else had gained.
“South Korea's National Pension Service, the Dungeon Development Corporation, and Kim Segyun personally made profits along the way.”
That report made Kaiser's brow twitch.
“How much?”
“It looks like they made around $2 billion in profits.”
“......”
Kaiser felt a simmering anger, as if he'd been toyed with.
Still...
At least he hadn't fallen for Kim Segyun's tricks.
That was what he thought—until he received another report a few hours later.
“M-Mr. Kaiser... I'm sorry, but...”
Kaiser's brow trembled as he looked at the document they cautiously handed him.
Then he crumpled the paper and threw it away, gritting his teeth.
“That bastard dares to mock me? Kaiser?”
The report said that Kim Segyun had simply gone on a leisurely outing.
And on Kim Segyun's social media...
(Photo)
A break for the first time in ages.
#Pohang #HandOfHarmony #Vacation #vacation
He'd even posted a photo of himself with the hand-shaped sculpture at Homigot, in Pohang.
Seeing Kim Segyun's smiling selfie made Kaiser grind his teeth.
“Fine. Let's see how far you can push your luck.”
**
Everything has its proper order.
It would be ideal to finish something in one fell swoop, but there was always a risk.
I knew someone like Kaiser wouldn't take the bait all at once.
In that case, I had to keep my cards hidden as much as possible and get under his skin.
The moment my opponent lost patience would be my chance.
A fisherman will wait hundreds of hours for one big catch.
One hundred trillion won...
And when you added Wall Street's capital to his, the total came to several hundred trillion, approaching a quadrillion won.
A quadrillion!
It was easy to say ‘a quadrillion,’ but had any individual ever wielded that much capital?
That kind of capital could only be handled by a national government.
After I tested the waters nearly ten times over the course of a month, they stopped reacting rashly.
Their response had grown dull.
Along the way, I realized quite a lot of profits, so my supply of ammunition had actually increased.
“The harvest season is here.”
Pohang City, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
It was home to one of the two unexplored Gates left in South Korea, aside from the newly generated Level 70 Gates: an unexplored Level 50 Gate.
I headed there again.
As I made my way there, I kept in touch with CEO Kim Myeongjeong.
“Has there been any movement from Kaiser?”
─ No. I think he's completely dismissed it as a bluff now.
Well, that made sense.
After being fooled ten times, even I wouldn't believe it anymore.
But wasn't this the kind of world where something could happen on the eleventh try, even after you'd been fooled ten times?
I'd even hidden this new ability for the sake of this opportunity.
“Invisibility.”
I activated one of the effects of Baal's Authority: Invisibility.
Its efficiency depended on how much mana you had. With my mana pool, I could hide so perfectly that even my presence was almost impossible to detect.
In that state...
[You have entered Level 50 Gate, ‘Sea Dragon's Grave.’]
[‘Sloth’ adjusts your timeline.]
[You will temporarily remain at Level 50.]
[Time remaining: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds]
[All abilities gained through leveling up have been reduced by 35%.]
A 35% reduction?
I wouldn't care even if it dropped by 90%.
“All right, everyone. Let's get this done as fast as possible.”
From Gluttony and Pride to Greed.
I unleashed all the forces at my disposal throughout the entire dungeon.
It might seem like overkill.
But I intended to clear it before they even realized I'd disappeared.
And so, a dungeon that had remained stubbornly unconquered for decades...
[You are the first to subdue Level 50 Gate, ‘Sea Dragon's Grave.’]
[As a first-clear reward, some of your class's primary attributes have increased.]
[Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, has been pacified!]
It was cleared less than five minutes after I entered.