Chapter 97 - Dismay (2)

The US government couldn't even announce the cessation of hostilities yet. The troops didn't even have to keep the public peace, since the insurgents had all disappeared from the territories that had been held by the rebels. However, the Afghan government, the US government, and the UN council had to hold talks about this unprecedented event. While they were having this discussion, several members of the UN dispatched their troops as peacekeepers.

Already, half of the American forces that had been stationed in Afghanistan had moved out. They expected small acts of terror from the last remnants of the rebels, but the US soldiers knew their days were numbered. This was why the troops redoubled their efforts.

The remaining soldiers put on a small party to welcome the hero.

Food was plentiful, and alcohol was being served. The soldiers danced and laughed as they talked.

Woojin sat in the corner of the bar. He was drinking a cocktail mixed by a black man behind the bar. He didn't want to hear about exaggerated accounts of his heroism, and he wasn't interested in talking under the influence of liquor.

Everyone was feeling happy about the conclusion of the war. They were excited at the fact they'll be able to reunite with their families after returning to their home country. While he was quietly drinking his alcohol, the words spoken by the Holy Maiden kept circling around his mind.

‘I'm sorry. As the representative of Planet Alphen, I want to apologize to you.’

The Holy Maiden gave a heartfelt apology. She hadn't thought of him as a human. She only thought of him as the Necromancer who butchered... This was why she had been afraid of him. She had stayed away from him, ostracizing him.

His personal power was so great that she hadn't been able to see Woojin as a human. She had seen him as a demi-god. He really did meet face to face with gods, so it was too difficult to see Woojin as a human.

It might be because Melody was from Alphen. This was like trying to break an absolute law of the world. It was very difficult to change her assessment of him.

‘You are also human… I didn't understand. I really didn't understand.’

Melody cried. She truly felt sad, and she truly felt wistful.

What would have happened if they had seen him as Kahng-woojin instead of the Immortal? What if he hadn't been treated as the king of the damned or as the monarch of Alandal? What would have happened if the human Kahng-woojin lived alongside other humans?

She shouldn't have viewed him as the demi-god Immortal. She should have seen him as the human Kahng-woojin.

If Melody hadn't come to Earth, she wouldn't have known this for the rest of her life.

She would have never found out what kind of person the Immortal, also known as the king of the damned, was like. She wouldn't have been able to see what his homeland was like.

She was able to see Kahng-woojin as a human after she arrived on earth.

‘Please help us. We are suffering. Please save Alphen.’

He thought about the words spoken by the kneeling Holy Maiden in the past.

He had only faced the Holy Maiden on the battlefields. The Holy Maiden, who always looked at him with fear in her eyes, was asking in an earnest manner.

Woojin drank the rest of the alcohol.

“Rogers.”

“Please speak.”

Colonel Rogers sat next to Woojin, his eyes were filled with a favorable light. He would have never guessed Woojin was such an amazing person. Moreover, the thing that surprised Rogers the most was Woojin's strong mental makeup.

“Currently, I have a tail on Nasser Saatchi so I’m going to collect collect the info.”

Enough time had passed. The bastard was the middle man, so he would have had plenty of time to have come in contact with his accounting ledger.

“If I tell you his whereabouts, I would like the A team to recover him.”

“Hmmm. You don't want to do it yourself?”

Woojin shook his head. He had other things to do.

“I'll be putting a tail on the leaders of all the other main terrorist groups.”

“Oh-ho.”

Woojin's ability was incredible for doing surveillance.

This time around he had been able to track down the rebel leader Karim like some ghost, and Woojin had been able to have a final showdown with him. If the bastard hadn't been worried about his location being blown, the final battle would have never happened.

He would have hidden himself deeper into the darkness, and his terrorist activities would have become much more secretive.

“They probably saw what happened in Afghanistan, so they probably went into hiding. They'll probably reduce the size of their operation if they plan on hiding. Let's just sweep away the heads of these organization.”

If the command group disappeared above the organization's small-frys, the rest of the members were just kids taken in by a violent religion. The best thing they could do was capture the core members.

“You want to drive them into a corner, then pick off the important figures?”

“Ah, yes. Killing everyone isn't an option if I want to pursue peace for mankind.”

“…….”

Roger's heart became chilled at Woojin's word. Woojin really thought unconventionally. If he was instead a little bit off in the head, it would have been a huge calamity for the human race.

“I'll put tails on them, and you eliminate those bastards in order.”

“Hmmm. Why don't you do it yourself? Why give us this chance to take credit?”

Woojin smirked at Roger's words.

He didn't care about receiving credit or acclaim from the meritorious deed. He just wanted to set an example since they had messed with him. It had been a long time since such a thing like desire for fame had made him act. If he did this himself, it wouldn't be efficient.

Moreover, Woojin had other things to do.

“Then I'll be going, knowing you guys will take care of it.”

“I'll immediately assemble the A team.”

When Woojin stood up, Colonel Rogers stood up with him.

Woojin went to the room assigned to him. The Holy Maiden was waiting for him in front of the door. He let out a light sigh when he saw her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I want you to give me an answer.”

The Holy Maiden politely got on her knees then she bowed her head to the ground.

Woojin squatted down to get on the Holy Maiden's eye level.

"Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Didn't you say you'll try to see me as a fellow human?”

“…….”

“So why do you always get on your knees and groan like a constipated dog whenever you see me?”

“…….”

What should she do? Woojin was someone who had faced a god.

She was a human who worshipped the goddess Aria. From her perspective, Woojin was someone who demanded her respect. Nothing changed that fact.

“I'm trying harder to understand a little bit more of you, Kahng-woojin-nim.”

She'll look at him as the human Kahng-woojin instead of the Immortal.

“Eh-whew. I was going to go to Alphen anyways.”

“That means…!”

The Holy Maiden's eyes shook as it bobbed up and down. Woojin shrugged his shoulders.

Currently, only 6 star Dungeons were open on earth.

Dungeons existed as high as 9 star.

If the 9 star Dungeons opened, it would be evidence that the amount of mana on earth had reached a saturation point. At that point, there were ingredients he will be able to acquire.

Moreover, most of the ingredient were rare ingredients needed to make his equipments.

Unless he purchased it through the Point Store by saving up points, he would have to acquire the ingredients from the 9 star Dungeons. If that wasn't possible, he would have to go on an expedition to Alphen to hunt down the rare ingredients.

If he wanted to go up against Trahnet's commanders, he needed Thrash's Set Items.

“I'm going to attack Alphen. You are responsible for saving the people. I'll allow you to follow me.”

“Thank you. Thank you.”

The Holy Maiden repeatedly bowed her head to express her thanks. Her goddess had been right. The savior of Alphen, who is on earth, was none other than Kahng-woojin. There was a reason why her goddess had guided her here.

“Just be on the lookout. I won't be doing anything for the next couple days.”

“Yes.”

Woojin returned to his room, then he immediately called Ggaebi.

“Bring in your Shadow..”

[Koo-kook. I'm looking forward to see who the bastard is.]

Ggaebi called back the clone he planted on Nasser Saatchi. He felt something rush in as if it was being absorbed. He absorbed what Nasser Saatchi had seen, heard and experienced.

He developed a small headache when the several days worth of memories appeared at once inside his mind. Woojin frowned as he pressed his hand against his temple.

“I guess I don't even need to go catch him.”

Nasser Saatchi had been flipping through his ledger, and Woojin saw an important name under the unresolved cases. There several dozen names listed there, but those names weren't important to Woojin.

[Commission from Hwarang Guild Master]

“That son of a bitch?”

Woojin frowned when he thought about Hwarang Guild master Lee-sahngho. He looked like a mouse yet he dared carry out such an act. When Woojin looked back at it, he knew Lee-sahngho had plenty reasons to resent him.

“We'll see after I return.”

Woojin took a memo notepad off the table. He wrote down the location of Nasser Saatchi ‘s ledger. He wrote down all the information including his whereabouts, as well as a pattern of movement.

“Melody.”

“Yes.”

Melody opened the door to his room and entered. Woojin handed her a note.

“Give this to Colonel Rogers when he comes back. Moreover, don't let anyone in this room for the next 3 days.”

“Yes.”

When Melody left with the memo, Woojin called Ggaebi once again.

“Just stay in bed and do nothing. If you roam around, then I'll really beat you up.”

[Koo-kook. You don't have to tell me.]

Ggaebi was the one familiar that worried him. Still, he had no choice but to use him. Woojin switched souls with Ggaebi, then stood up as a Shadow.

‘Six shadows.’

He would be able to investigate the whereabouts of 6 people.

Woojin used the information he learned from Karim to choose the 6 people. They were the most radical and active leaders. He stepped out as a Shadow. He'll be able to stick his Shadows on them.

Woojin stepped out as a Shadow while Ggaebi, who was inside Woojin's body, stood up. He took out a beer from the fridge then he drank it.

“Koo-koo-koo.”

It felt good to take over a corpse, but it gave him a much greater thrill to be able to possess his master's body. After he drank a bottle of beer, he paced around the bed. He glared at the door to the room.

The Holy Maiden was out there. A plaything.

“Koo-kook. I'll behave for now.”

He wanted to play and cause accidents, but he decided to be patient. His master was still wasn’t whole yet, and Ggaebi had to grow with him.

Ggaebi let out a shrewd laugh and he fell onto the bed.

*

Sahdahng Station. Alandal Guild's Office.

The core members gathered inside the conference room. They looked at each other without saying anything. Everyone had a serious expressions on their faces.

The first one to speak was vice president Jung-minchan. He broke the heavy silence.

“Did you know about what he could do, director Hong?”

“I knew he had those abilities, but I never would have guessed about its magnitude.”

Hong-sunggoo let out a deep sigh.

He already knew Woojin used Skeleton Soldiers and Magicians. He also knew each of them was comparable to a Rank D. No, it seemed they were close to Rank C now.

Moreover, there were over 10 thousand Skeletons.

“Whew…. A person like that is really our president.”

“…….”

They all had the same president, so they all had dark expressions.

Now they were used to the reporters in front of the office. They even felt something was missing if they weren't there. However, a variety of weird civic groups started gathering in front of the Alandal's office.

Moreover, the police were brought in to block them, so the area around Sahdahng station was always crowded with people.

“Well, we can't do anything about what's been done. Let's talk about a countermeasure.”

Once again Kahn-woojin had done something really big. He had slaughtered an entire rebel force in Afghanistan.

It should have been called a war, but some people were calling it a massacre. That topic was dangerous in itself.

People were worried about the power shown by a private citizen.

The fact that the underlings he controlled were Skeletons revived from human corpses worried people. It was creating extra fear and worry about him.

“Mmm. Let's run a simulation first. How will our president react when he comes face to face with the people protesting out there?”

At Minchan's words, Woo-soonghoon raised his hand straight up into the air.

“Please speak, director Woo.”

Woo-soonghoon frowned, and he mimicked Woonji's expression.

“Who are these trash? Do they want a beating?”

“Pooh-hoot.”

Sunggoo broke out in laughter. Soon, he put on a serious expression, then apologized.

“Ah, I'm sorry. Still, it'll cause a lot of trouble once hyung-nim returns. Hyung-nim's personality won't allow him to leave them alone.”

Minchan's expression darkened.

“That is why we have to come up with a countermeasure.”

Haemin spoke with a serious expression on his face. He had gained a lot of info about the members of congress from the reporters he had gotten close to.

“The congress isn't in a good mood. We've turned down their offer once, so they aren't looking at our entire guild in a favorable light. Moreover, they became wary once it had become known how much power is at our disposal.”

“What? Do they think we will perform a coup d'etat?”

Woo-soonghoon became angry since this business involved him. However, these thoughts differed from the adults in congress. The people with power became wary when someone other than themselves obtained power.

It was either getting in the same boat with clasped hands or sinking the boat....

Woojin had refused the hand they extended. However, Alandal's presence had become too large for them to sink Alandal.

“Several members of congress are talking about barring the president from setting foot on Korea.”

Everyone frowned at Haemin's word.

Woojin wasn't causing any harm to Korea, so why were they making all this fuss....

“Ughh. Let's come up with a countermeasure."

If Kahng-woojin returned to Korea as it is, there will be trouble.

The media of the world were all praising Kahng-woojin as a hero who had saved the world from terrorism. However, the Korean government was uneasy with Kahng-woojin, and all the religious groups were going nuts about him.

If Kahng-woojin returned as it is, it was obvious he would go off like a bomb.

The people were too ignorant about him.

Kahng-woojin's first rule was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Kahng-woojin kept that rule above any law. The people of the world were putting too much faith in their own laws.

They were basically dancing in front of a lion, while not knowing that the fence had fallen.

“Eh-whew.”

This won't be resolved by moving their office. They couldn't come up with an idea, so all they could do was sigh. Woo-soonghoon spoke as he kept glancing at his handphone.

“Uh? It says the Dungeon in Daegoo just had an outbreak.”

“Huh? I haven't received that info yet.”

Minchan was puzzled as he turned on the TV. Dungeon Break happened 30 days after the first Dungeon raid had failed. There was no way Minchan wouldn’t know about such a Dungeon.

[I am in Daegoo. The Dungeon Break happened simultaneously. Currently, we aren't able to get close, and the military troops nearby are mobilizing. The government has immediately imposed martial law, and they are requesting cooperation from all the guilds.]

A helicopter from afar was filming the footage. The city was burning and the monsters were causing havoc between the collapsed buildings....

The chaotic scene meant the people hadn't been prepared for the Dungeon Break. They were experiencing a calamity that would cause an incredible amount of damage. This reminded people of the very first Dungeon Shock.

‘President.’

As they watched the breaking news, everyone thought about a single figure.