Chapter 92

〈 Chapter 91 〉 Section 4. How to Tackle a Villain (3)

* * *

After the sea and Mount Baekdu had dried up and worn away, and after the time of palace intrigue and patriotic fervor.

"Did your mana recover a bit?"

"It’s completely full now."

My body is filled with the mana that Gonggi transferred to me.

To be precise, I reclaimed the mana that I had previously given to Gonggi.

It’s a bit complicated to explain, but now is not the time for explanations.

"You know that taking back what you gave is the worst thing, right?"

"Please make an exception this time. I promise to refill it as soon as this is over."

"You’re joking. You can’t make such a request when you’re asking for help."

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

"I’m saying this so that Manager Do will say he’ll refill it."

I fell for it.

Gonggi winked and lifted her teacup, and I ended up making a verbal promise to refill her mana.

"We can’t go straight to Seoul, can we?"

"I’ll take you on my private jet to Gimpo Airport. That way, we won’t be tracked, and you can travel comfortably."

"Please bring my bike too."

"Of course. So, can I brief you now?"

"Just a moment."

I asked for Gonggi’s understanding and closed my eyes.

'Status window.'

To check my current level, I displayed my current physical status on my eyelids.

# # #

[Goblin]

Occupation: Villain

Affiliation: League 'Imae Mangnyang'

Rank: Villain S, ?? ??? EX

Skills: Physical Enhancement, Goblin Club

Status

Strength: D (35 / 200)

Endurance: E (66 / 100)

Agility: A (134 / 500)

Mana: C (67 / 300)

Luck: F (0 / 0)

# # #

It barely increased.

My rank didn’t go up at all, and only the first digits of my stats changed.

At least my mana showed the most noticeable growth due to continuous use, but the others didn’t increase as much as I’d hoped.

Of course, I can’t expect much growth in such a short time, but human greed knows no bounds.

'Well, this is still a good improvement.'

Compared to others who don’t see their stats increase even after a month, this is tremendous growth.

And the status window doesn’t reveal everything about me.

"I’m ready."

"It seems a bit of my mana has mixed in, but that wasn’t intentional, right?"

"Actually, it’s better. I’m very grateful."

"...Won’t that interfere a bit when you transform?"

"Use the mana in a way that aligns with Manager’s mana affinity."

The total amount of mana flowing through my body is at the 'A' level.

Of course, the mana I received from Gonggi is classified as 'fire attribute,' which might limit the abilities I can use, but because it’s fire attribute, there are countless ways to use it within the category of flames.

"Manager. I can perform sufficiently well now."

With my A-level mana, my mana control skills, and the Goblin Club, I’m not afraid of any S-rank villain.

No matter which S-rank villain comes, I won’t back down, and if I can pinpoint their weaknesses, I can definitely win.

It’s 3 a.m.

The sun won’t rise for a while, but assassinations usually happen at night.

"Who will be coming from the Halbin Party? From the mask, it seems the Stake is there."

"The key is 'Yeonno.' He’s the one who personally declared he would assassinate Yuliana."

Gonggi displayed a video on the TV screen.

In the video, a man wearing a mask, sitting in a pavilion that looks like a nobleman’s house, held a pipe.

"Look at Yuliana Feiglin of October Travel. I will now reclaim the future of this country that you stole. I will kill you and take back the future of this country. Resistance is futile. You, who dared to run away with our treasure, will surely die. That’s all."

Beep.

The video ended with a straightforward death threat.

What’s notable is that the man called Yeonno wore a mask with horns, similar to a goblin mask, which could be a tiger or a lion.

"I looked up the term 'Yeonno.' It’s said to be one of the traditional yokai. It seems they took that as a motif."

"Korean yokai...."

From what I gathered, it’s a predatory yokai that swallows things.

It looks like an ordinary man on the outside, but will he act according to the motif of his name?

I don’t know.

Even in our Imae Mangnyang, many of the officers’ names or villains’ names are similar to their abilities, but there are also those with strange names that don’t match at all.

"So when did this man declare he would assassinate? The date isn’t in the video."

"Um... today?"

"......?"

"About four hours from now. They originally planned to kidnap her in Yangyang on her way to the airport. After stealing the treasure, they would kill her. But the information leaked, and Yuliana ended up staying in Samcheok. Everything got messed up."

"......."

Just from the story, I can get a rough idea.

"Didn’t Manager leak this information through the 'Madams'? That information?"

"...Hehe."

Madam is not a single person.

There is only one Madam on Jeju Island, but there is at least one Madam in each city.

Madam, indeed.

"Even if October Travel moved secretly, if they were planning such a large-scale assassination attempt with that treasure, they wouldn’t have moved so secretly. The Halbin Party might not have noticed, but they gathered the information...and spread it to the Halbin Party."

"Right. In a sense...the Righteous Party might also be moving now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just a hunch."

"......That’s what I hoped."

It’s perfect.

Regardless of Ymir’s case, I was thinking of dismantling the Twoyokshini. If the Righteous Party appears, I can execute them more decisively.

"Whether it’s the Halbin Party or the Righteous Party, I’ll handle them. What’s my mission?"

"To execute the villain. The target is...a bit complicated."

Gonggi scratched her head as if explaining was annoying.

"Yuliana Feiglin caused an incident, the Halbin Party is targeting Yuliana, and the Righteous Party has a reason to intervene because a foreign company’s person caused the incident. And the League’s goal is to maintain the current world order as much as possible for world conquest."

"From the way you’re talking, it seems the situation is really messed up?"

"Right. The League...needs to 'protect' Yuliana Feiglin now."

"Really?"

Suddenly?

"Protect her from the Halbin Party?"

"Yeah. It’s problematic if Yuliana Feiglin dies in Korea. If the granddaughter of October Travel is killed by a Korean villain, it could become an international issue."

"But it’s fine if she dies outside of Korea, overseas?"

"Right. It doesn’t matter if she dies after returning to her home country and taking medication. But the actions she has taken are quite terrible."

"From the way you’re hesitant to explain, it seems to be a rather sinister matter."

"...Yeah."

Gonggi doesn’t like such topics.

"It’s problematic if October Travel collapses. While Stern and others don’t have much influence in Korea, if October Travel fails, most flights to Gangwon Province will be blocked. This will significantly reduce the League’s income from the Gangwon area."

"So I’m suddenly a bodyguard."

"Right. It’s an annoying situation."

But I’m doing this for the benefit of the entire League.

"So what treasure did Yuliana steal? Is it some traditional pottery made by a master craftsman?"

"The contents inside are the problem. It’s specifically..."

Gonggi displayed another person’s face.

"Do you know who this is?"

"...'Armored Taecho'?"

The president’s grandson.

An S-rank hero.

A delinquent who wears a powered gryphon suit.

Not quite a villain.

Just his actions are at the level of a delinquent.

"What’s the connection with him?"

"Yuliana stole this man’s genes. And she’s trying to flee abroad now."

"......."

No.

* * *