Chapter 62
Kim Segyun’s undead auction had drawn everyone’s attention.
As everyone marveled at the absurd performance of the Priest undead, unlike anything they’d ever seen before...
one person was stunned by something else entirely.
“Iron Wall... is back?”
“Yes. That hulking bodyguard was Iron Wall. The distinctive pair of vajras and his electrically charged attacks leave no doubt.”
Naturally, among the necromancers who attended the auction were some affiliated with Kaiser Corporation.
As one of them gave Kaiser a full report on the auction, Iron Wall Choi Kang’s name came up, too.
“...I understand. You may go.”
“Yes.”
After dismissing the necromancer, Kaiser sank into deep thought.
Kaiser knew about Iron Wall, too.
He’d even raided a dungeon alongside him once, though only once.
Kaiser had already been at the top of his game back then, but Iron Wall had been strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
The problem was that he’d disappeared one day.
At the time, even the Hunter industry hadn’t made much of Iron Wall’s retirement, though it had come as a bit of a surprise.
But now...
He was considered the first case of a warrior-class Hunter growing frail with age.
That was how serious and long-standing his condition was.
“If it were only Zephyros, you could call it a one-off or a coincidence... but Iron Wall is another matter.”
There was a world of difference between healing Zephyros, who’d been active until fairly recently, and bringing Iron Wall, who’d been retired for almost a decade, back to the field.
Of course, he didn’t seem to have started raiding dungeons yet...
“So Kim Segyun really is the only hope...”
Kaiser’s hand trembled faintly as he lifted the glass in front of him.
It was uncharacteristic of a Crusader who could control his body perfectly.
But it couldn’t be helped.
He’d drunk too much while trying to strengthen his faith.
When he was diagnosed with alcohol dependency, all he could do was laugh hollowly.
Kaiser was the very embodiment of what people called self-discipline. He’d never once had trouble with alcohol or drugs, so he’d never imagined he’d end up like this in his twilight years.
Even the conclusion from the alchemy research institute he trusted had been shocking.
─Extraction failed. The substance’s identity could not be determined, either.
─It appears to have already undergone an alchemical process.
─The work of an alchemist with high-level alchemy skills.
─Among the best in the world.
Didn’t that mean Kim Segyun had an alchemist like that?
Why on earth would an alchemist of that caliber be working for him?
Kaiser didn’t have an alchemist like that, either.
Actually transmuting things as an alchemist was difficult, if not nearly impossible.
But even without making gold, a high-level alchemist had countless ways to rake in money.
That was why most of them ran their own companies or held executive positions and shares in multinational pharmaceutical giants.
There was only one person Kaiser could think of as Kim Segyun’s alchemist.
But why would an alchemist of that caliber settle for being the CTO of such a small pharmaceutical company?
Kaiser found it hard to understand.
At the same time, he came to a decision.
If it had become impossible to persuade Kim Segyun anyway...
“Then I should recruit this alchemist instead.”
Perhaps they simply didn’t understand how the real world worked.
More precisely...
It was more likely that Kim Segyun didn’t understand the true worth of the alchemist working under him.
Maybe this miraculous liquor was the alchemist’s work, too.
His hand trembling harder and harder, Kaiser picked up the phone.
“It’s me. I need to go to Seoul right now. No, not Kim Segyun.”
He paused, then carefully pronounced the difficult-to-say name written in the report.
“Im Gyuseon... That’s the person we’re going to recruit.”
Kaiser gave the order.
**
The Kang Min-guk administration had a knack for pushing through anything it had decided on, like a bulldozer.
People sometimes saw that as authoritarian, but the results were so good...
the prevailing view was that it was far better than a government that hesitated and waffled while trying to read public opinion. That widespread approval had translated into the administration’s overwhelming popularity.
An 85 percent approval rating in its third year in office.
By the standards of South Korea’s political history...
No, even by the standards of world politics, it was an almost unbelievable approval rating—and it had held steady.
What happens when a government’s approval rating climbs above 80 percent in its third year?
It gains such immense power that a mere gesture can move mountains.
And now I was seeing that immense power in action.
It was like watching a government agency that never budged suddenly turn like clockwork at a single word, getting exactly what it wanted.
And so, it took less than a week to draw up the framework for the state-run undead repair center...
and the process of distributing the undead was over.
─Brother! If you had that many, you could’ve sold more to me!
After the state-run repair center was announced, Ahmad did get in touch to grumble about it, but even he couldn’t ignore the issue of nationality. It was just a little sulking, nothing more.
The other world-class necromancers were astonished, too.
At the same time, something else happened...
Intelligence agencies from various countries approached the necromancers who’d received the undead.
It would’ve been a real disaster if I hadn’t added a retrieval function with Imperial Decree.
The necromancers who received recruitment offers reported them to the NIS, and the offers themselves were outrageous.
Hundreds of billions to trillions of won.
Even the reckless folks up north had apparently offered 10 trillion won.
With each undead worth 2.5 trillion won, they were practically companies that could walk around.
If they couldn’t be retrieved, something would’ve gone wrong sooner or later.
Fortunately, no one was foolish enough to accept the offers.
After all, I’d demonstrated that I could retrieve them before distributing them. No one would be foolish enough to try.
Besides, the government was offering a pretty high salary and even allowing them to use the undead in individual dungeon raids. There was no need to get greedy.
Anyway, it was all like watching someone else’s house burn to me.
Now that I’d handed them over, if some idiot did show up, I could just retrieve the undead and help redistribute them.
The government would handle the rest just fine.
That was when it happened.
─Please help me. Someone keeps...
The moment I received the unfinished message, my mind went blank.
It was from Ms. Gyuseon.
She was one of the people dearest to me, so I immediately called Director Cho Hyeong-bin.
─Yes, this is Director Cho Hyeong-bin.
“Director Cho, I need to ask you a favor.”
─Go ahead.
“I just got a message... something like this.”
After hearing what it said, Director Cho grew serious, too.
─Yes. What do you need?
“Please track her location.”
─...I’ll get right on it. But there are several legal issues, so...
“Yes, of course.”
Then I headed for the rooftop of the building.
The helicopter waiting there took off immediately at my command.
We soon arrived near the location from the tracking signal, and...
“Is this near Ms. Gyuseon’s house?”
It was hard to find a place to land, so I rappelled down into a nearby vacant lot.
Only twenty minutes had passed since I received the message.
“There!”
Following the tracking signal, I spotted a group of men in suits at the side of the road, along with two women.
One of the women was definitely Ms. Gyuseon, but who was the other one?
Honestly, I didn’t even want to know.
“Ms. Gyuseon!”
I shouted and sent Unit 1 scattering around the group.
So I could disassemble them on the spot if they tried to hurt her.
Startled by my voice, Ms. Gyuseon’s eyes widened as she spoke.
“CEO?”
The others seemed just as surprised. They flinched and looked my way.
But... that face was familiar.
“You. Don’t tell me...”
“...How did you find me?”
That was what I wanted to ask.
What were you doing here with Ms. Gyuseon?
“Sofia Heinrich. I believe I told you I never wanted to see you again.”
“...I didn’t want to see you, either. You’re the one who came here, not us.”
“What are you doing with our CTO?”
“I was simply making her an offer and telling her about a great opportunity.”
Ms. Gyuseon?
When had she been discovered?
“She’s too talented to waste away as the CTO of a small company like this. An MIT valedictorian with outstanding ability in molecular biology, microbiology, chemical engineering, alchemy, and more. Kaiser Corporation values talent.”
...It would’ve been strange if she hadn’t been noticed.
No, I’d thought the necromancer recruitment was someone else’s problem, but my own house was on fire.
“You asked me to help...?”
“I was on my way to work when these strange people suddenly...”
Sofia Heinrich, who’d just been branded one of those strange people, grimaced miserably.
She let out a long sigh and spoke to Ms. Gyuseon.
“In any case, think it over seriously. You’re far too talented to waste away at a small company like this.”
“As I’ve said, I’m very happy where I am. Money doesn’t matter to me.”
“People change their minds all the time. Well, I’ll be going.”
She started walking, but when she noticed the mist coiling around the area, she furrowed her brow.
“Are you not going to clear this?”
“......”
Should I just let her go?
I was a little angry.
While I was debating what to do...
“Ha! Forget it. I’ll get through on my own!”
As she said that, her necklace glowed and something like a barrier formed around her body.
But...
The moment she reached the spot where Unit 1 was gathered...
it didn’t last even 0.1 seconds.
Krrrrack! With a tremendous cracking sound, the barrier shattered in an instant.
At the same time, Sofia Heinrich collapsed on the spot, her expression blank with despair.
“...What did you do?”
“H-How...”
She looked at me, her face filled with overwhelming terror.
Tears streamed from her eyes.
And something between her legs...
“Don’t look.”
“Huh?”
Ms. Gyuseon hurriedly stepped in front of me to block my view, then took off her coat and draped it over Sofia Heinrich’s lap.
What was that about?
Then she patted Sofia gently and helped her up, leading her toward her home.
Sofia’s legs seemed to have given out. She staggered, and Ms. Gyuseon had to steady her and help her up several times.
“M-Ms. Gyuseon.”
“This might take a little while. Go to the lab first. I’ll come find you later.”
...What on earth was going on?
Sofia and her bodyguards, too, could only look back and forth between her and me, bewildered.
“Let’s wait for now.”
...I hadn’t done anything.
I had no idea why she was acting like that.
**
[Using Aias’s Sevenfold Necklace.]
[Defends against 7,777,777 attacks for 7 seconds.]
A Relic-grade necklace that made her ‘almost’ invincible for seven seconds.
No one in the world had ever been able to break through its invincible defense.
Not even her own grandfather could do it.
At least for seven seconds a day, she could be invincible.
Even Kim Segyun’s infamous disassembly ability couldn’t do anything to me for those seven seconds.
Thinking that, she activated the necklace and stepped into the mist Kim Segyun had spread. No—she tried to step in.
But...
She couldn’t even get inside.
The moment the barrier’s outer edge touched the mist, it shattered.
[The barrier has been completely destroyed!]
Beyond the barrier as it broke apart, she saw the mist’s unknowable source: overwhelming hunger itself.
When she saw the message appear at the same time, she was first stunned, then gripped by terror.
She could barely control her body with fear.
She’d lost control...
And now...
“You can wear the clothes over there. Just tell me if you need anything else.”
“...Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
After washing up and changing clothes, Sofia came out to find Gyuseon smiling warmly as she handed her a mug.
“What is it...?”
“Yuja tea.”
“Yuja... tea?”
It was warm.
The fresh, citrusy scent rising from it made it impossible to resist bringing it to her lips.
She took a sip.
“I-It’s delicious.”
It wasn’t really tea, but it reminded her of the orange marmalade her mother had made for her when she was very little.
She could buy hundreds of millions of jars of that marmalade now, but this yuja tea tasted like that warm jam she’d never been able to recreate.
“Um...”
“It’s good, isn’t it? Do you want to take some with you? Should I pack some for you?”
Gyuseon spoke softly with a warm smile.
This, too, was a warmth she hadn’t felt in a very long time...
Tears began to well up in Sofia’s eyes.
“Oh my, why are you crying? You’re all right now. Everyone makes mistakes...”
“Waaaaaaah!”
And so...
She clung to Gyuseon and cried for a long while.