Black Lobby Hunting (2)
A human from Earth, Su Mi-yat Moon, hailing from Myanmar.
She had entered the Seongcheon Yoon Clan as a guest early in the teleportation process, and this year marked her fifth year as an Awakened One.
‘It’s lucky that I was teleported to the Yoon Clan’s domain, which has always been friendly to Earthlings from the start.’
Of course, promising good treatment to Earthlings was also par for the course for other factions.
Both royal families of the two great nations, along with lords and massive trading guilds, were sponsoring Earthlings in their own ways.
However, the Seongcheon Yoon, having the peculiarity of being founded by an otherworlder, was particularly favorable among them.
Under their protection, she steadily grew.
While she couldn’t just stay in a completely safe place to accumulate Karma, the ability to rely on the Yoon Clan’s help during truly critical moments meant the crises she faced weren’t too serious.
‘I’m truly grateful for that.’
Without their assistance, surviving this long and achieving her growth would have been incredibly difficult.
After only five years of practicing Chakra, she was on the brink of entering the advanced level, and she had greatly enhanced her unique skills and status through Karma.
‘I might be able to surpass even the advanced practitioners if I give it my all.’
In that sense, Miyat was indeed a very fortunate individual who had benefitted from sponsorship.
Yet, the reason she decided to betray the Yoon Clan and join the scheme to bring them down was…
‘But that is that, and this is this. I’m not going to live here forever, so I might as well take as much as I can before I leave, right?’
In the end, it was greed.
The Seongcheon Yoon Clan was one of the powerful vested interests representing Sabacheon.
If successful in bringing down such a force, it would undoubtedly generate immense Karma.
Considering it would be enough to trigger a war, she figured she could certainly secure at least the amount necessary for her return to Earth.
Now that she had nothing to be sad about here, how could she pass up such a golden opportunity?
‘I find it disgusting how they encourage child abuse while pretending to uphold world peace.’
The memories were still vivid.
Children, convulsing on the ground, having been electrocuted under the guise of training.
She didn’t particularly sympathize with those kids.
From the start, it was something that she, as an otherworlder, couldn’t voice an opinion on based on the values of this dimension, nor did she have the temperament to get emotionally involved.
It was merely a small trigger that lowered her psychological barriers.
‘I never expected I’d be found out this quickly.’
Frowning, Miyat sighed.
Originally, she hadn’t planned to show her hand this soon.
She aimed to stay within the Yoon Clan until all plans were complete, receiving their support while discreetly undermining them whenever necessary…
‘How on earth did they figure it out? His power was something even the Yoon Clan’s advanced practitioners couldn’t detect.’
Recently arrived, a rookie Awakened One named Hoon.
Because of this Earthling from Korea, who happened to be on the same wavelength as Yoon Ji-yoon, all her plans unraveled.
No matter how extraordinary the potential of her unique skill, exceptional performance required suitable reinforcement.
‘…What’s done is done. It’s time to think about the aftermath. It’s better to lay low than to persist and get caught.’
Personally, she was confident that she had erased all traces, but if the Yoon Clan was determined to investigate, she might be caught unawares at any moment.
Since she’d already drawn the attention of Hoon, it would be wise to pull out quickly before she couldn’t escape anymore.
‘…Your opinion has been approved, Su Mi-yat Moon.’
“Hoo, that’s a relief. Then could you open the way for me?”
In a secluded hut that seemed impossible to determine its country of origin.
Inside the small, shabby house, Miyat conversed with an old man with a stern demeanor.
“Before that, let’s address one thing first.”
A peculiar glimmer flashed in the old man’s right eye as he looked coldly at her.
Then, with his gaze scanning her carefully, he nodded, revealing intricate symbols in his eyes.
‘…Seems there are no abnormalities.’
“I’m not that stupid, you know? I’ve confirmed several times before coming here. If I passed through many transfer points over the last few days, any traces of pursuit would have fallen off long ago.”
“Well, I cannot be sure of that. From the moment you arrived here after failing your mission, I cannot fully trust your words.”
“Ha! Well, fine. Now that you’ve checked, could you please pave the way?”
“Wait a moment. I’ve sent word above.”
Miyat sighed softly at the old man’s answer.
This was why she wanted to stay with the Yoon Clan for as long as possible.
Regardless of security, their procedures were far too cumbersome every time they needed to get something done.
Certainly, considering her position of being unable to act openly, it made sense.
Still, couldn’t they show at least a little flexibility?
‘There should be limits to being cautious. I could easily smash the Yoon Clan if I just fought openly.’
But thinking about their ultimate goal, caution was unavoidable.
After all, bringing down the Yoon Clan was merely the beginning.
Ku-uh-uhg—!
At that moment, a loud noise reverberated from behind the old man.
It was the sound she had heard when she was still with the Yoon Clan not long before.
The sound resulted from a rift opening up and a passage forming through the collapsed space.
“The approval has been granted. You may enter.”
“Haa, finally.”
With a deep sigh, Miyat shuffled forward.
It had been a few days since she had been caught by Hoon after her identity was exposed in the Yoon Clan, and now she was trying to reach this place.
She had been circling around using various methods to throw off any potential pursuers.
In truth, it would have been hard for any usual location to notify the higher-ups once her identity had been exposed and she’d fled.
However, she was still a talent with skills matching those of advanced practitioners, so being given special treatment wasn’t shocking.
As she anticipated, it would not be long before she formally reached the advanced level, further justifying the privileges she received.
Uu-wu-ung—
As she entered the passage, a strange vibration reverberated, and the entrance slowly began to collapse.
Eventually, the gap of the completely vanished space remained.
Now, there was only one old man still sitting in the same place.
“…”
He left without saying a word, tidying up the scene as he stepped out of the hut.
This place was no longer usable, so he was moving to the next location.
It had been over a decade of a nomadic life, but he didn’t complain at all.
‘There’s not much time left. Soon…’
A wild excitement wiggled within his chest.
While stifling that feeling, he moved briskly, unaware that something unknown, invisible to his chakra, had already swept through him and his surroundings.
*
“…We failed to track.”
Lucette, who came to find Hoon, said with a gloomy face.
“Haa, just when I thought we had caught a lead…”
Naturally, the Yoon Clan had also gathered information about Miyat’s escape.
They sensed something was off, and upon arriving late at the scene, Hoon had honestly revealed everything about her, prompting the Yoon Clan to immediately form a pursuit team to track her traces…
But it ended in failure.
“Such preparations for that sort of countermeasure cannot be thrown together in a day or two. Traversing the borders of Hongsan Kingdom and Cheonghae Kingdom, not to mention the numerous bait and counter-operations scattered in the process. It would be unrealistic for any ordinary faction.”
Lucette let out a deep sigh, clearly worried.
Some scheme was beginning within the Seongcheon Yoon Clan, but they were still in the dark about the Outlaw.
Before the matter regarding General Bu-ryeong, secretly underway with Hongsan Kingdom, could even be concluded, there were further attacks from the Mage Practitioners.
They had to identify friends from foes first, yet they had no clue where the line was drawn, making it frustrating for everyone involved.
“…Recent movements from both nations have been suspicious. Not only is the border dispute accelerating, but public sentiment has drifted bizarrely towards extremes. It’s evident that someone is working behind the scenes.”
That was why it was hard to trust even the seemingly retreating Cheonghae Kingdom.
It was as if they were following a script, showing similar behaviors.
“I see. What about the interrogation results? I heard we’ve mostly caught the Mage Practitioners who attacked, as well as those who tampered with the barriers.”
“…It’s quite the opposite. The Mage Practitioners are not the kind you can interrogate meaningfully, and for those who cooperated with the chaos, all we’ve been able to gather is that someone was toying with their minds.”
Lucette cautiously spoke as she cast glances at Hoon.
The fact that she was revealing all these confidential matters to him was entirely to request his assistance.
No one could doubt that he was the only skilled individual to uncover truths even the elders of the clan had missed.
‘At least a mental practitioner reaching the advanced level got involved. If we hadn’t conducted precise tests on the suspects, we wouldn’t have even realized it.’
Even after doing so, the information gathered remained very limited.
In those circumstances, someone who had rummaged through Anton’s mind had acquired information on the culprit, which led the Yoon Clan to have unpleasant remarks.
“Hmm, what about the suspected high-level infiltrator?”
“Aah, that…”
At his question, Lucette gave an awkward smile.
Just by that alone, one could infer how the situation was unfolding.
‘Well, if it’s a high-ranking individual, their chakra level won’t be trivial, so probing their mental state would be a burden.’
Even if they weren’t as difficult as Mage Practitioners, touching the minds of high-level practitioners could risk corrupting one’s senses as well.
Besides, for practitioners, the mental realm was akin to their very essence.
Asking proud high-level practitioners to completely disarm themselves and expose everything just to find a potential infiltrator was unreasonable.
Weren’t even the decision-makers suspected?
“…If the infiltrator is cooperating voluntarily, it becomes meaningless. Besides, if the one examining them holds ill intentions, it might worsen the situation…”
Lucette deflected her gaze slightly as she added a few more words.
Hoon hadn’t said anything, yet she appeared to be somewhat cornered.
“Understood. I will assist in any way I can.”
Her face brightened at his words.
Given enough time, the Yoon Clan would ultimately uncover the Outsiders.
Despite their recent setbacks, they had more than enough strength to achieve this.
But the issue was that time was precisely what they lacked.
“Well then, please follow me this way. Oh, just to check, about the Mage Practitioners…”
“Hmm, we’ll have to see how it goes. But I don’t anticipate significant problems.”
Hoon followed Lucette toward where the suspects were imprisoned.
Just as he had done with Anton, he intended to delve into their minds for information.
But he already knew.
This was all just a formality; the likelihood of discovering genuinely new information to be actionable was low.
‘Finally.’
…Just now, the bait had caught a fish.
*
For over a hundred years, there had been a massive war that only came to an end several decades ago.
The prolonged conflict left many scars upon the people.
Countless lives were lost, and many remained disabled as a result.
The human civilization fell into a dark age of decline socially, economically, and culturally.
Thus, people could not help but celebrate the person who brought the long war to a close and ushered in a new era.
Though grudges against the enemy nation remained, it was acutely felt by all that continuing the war would benefit no one.
However, as often is the case in life…
Not only the victims of the war existed.
There was no need to mention the Mage Practitioners.
Undoubtedly, there were war merchants who capitalized on revenues during peak seasons, power holders who solidified their positions, as well as lords and mercenaries among those who found new opportunities due to the war.
After all, it wasn’t just the infighting of Mage Practitioners that allowed the war to last for a century.
Some degree of agreement must have existed among certain vested interests at that time.
For them, the ones who forcibly ended the war—the brain and the Yoon Clan—were as good as their enemies who robbed them of power.
“That’s surprising. Is there a chance Miyat made a mistake?”
“You know full well that’s unlikely.”
“Hmm, I didn’t expect anyone could see through her power.”
As the older gentleman across from her spoke, Miyat internally sighed and glanced around.
Finally arriving at her destination after days of incessant movement.
The office was filled with impressive decorations, from grand ink paintings to delicate sculptures and elegant ceramics; it wasn’t overly flashy but certainly exuded an air of significance.
“Well, I understand for now. I’ll arrange a comfortable place for you to rest for the time being.”
“…Now that I’m here, shouldn’t I at least pay respects to the elder?”
Miyat paused, having stood up, and cautiously brought it up.
Hoping that she could make a good impression on this location’s leader.
“Pardon my presumptuousness.”
However, the gentleman facing her remained unflinching, responding curtly.
“Due to heavy matters of state, that person is exceedingly busy. If we focus on such trivialities, they may collapse from overwork.”
In the end, Miyat couldn’t help but concede to his words.
In fact, making an impression wasn’t such a critical issue.
‘Interacting directly with a power holder would be more beneficial for my Karma accumulation… But, well, for now, this is sufficient.’
After all, there was still plenty of time.
Whether she proved her abilities during the looming era of chaos or managed to transcend barriers to reach the advanced stage.
She was determined to climb to the top.
Having concluded all of her affairs, Miyat exchanged farewells with the gentleman and was about to depart the office when…
[Hmm, so I take it this is the end of the line?]
The whole space vibrated.
An unidentified voice resonated throughout.
“Huh?!”
“Who…!”
The individuals in the space hadn’t even a moment to react.
Before they could even think to act, an eerie pressure suffocated them, paralyzing their movements.
The only part of them that could still shift were their eyes.
As they scrambled to comprehend the situation, two pairs of eyes fixed onto a certain point.
Zzt-zzt— zzt—
With an unsettling sound, the space began to tear vertically.
Soon, from the open crack, a figure crossed over and landed on the office floor, stretching their body comfortably.
“Woohoo— I made it here thanks to you.”
After taking a deep breath, the being turned to stare at the petrified Miyat.
A pair of high black horns sprouted from either side of its head.
With black and red eyes and elegantly folded black wings behind it.
“Since you’ve helped me out, I’ll give you a little more assistance.”
The Demon King Hela descended into Sabacheon with a bright smile plastered across their face.
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