Chapter 44

I was planning to take a humble approach, if possible.

To do that, I’d first have to subtly approach Yang Won-hoon.

If I tried to start a conversation with a gentle smile, he’d probably react indifferently.

Without getting discouraged, I planned to use the resources I had at my disposal—Ilseong and JW. If possible, I was even thinking of borrowing the power of Daehyeon Group’s Poong Taeseok.

Whatever it took, I was confident I could eventually make the corners of Yang Won-hoon’s mouth turn up.

But then.

Why the hell is that guy a Demon.

Let’s think.

If the leader, Yang Won-hoon, is a Demon, would the executives under him be human?

Even if I were Yang Won-hoon, I don’t think I would have left them alone.

Then if the executives under him are Demons, what about the people further down?

This won’t do.

I clicked my tongue and sent Head of department Kim Yoon-joong a text summarizing the current situation.

After that, my thoughts naturally drifted toward the need to get stronger, and fast.

To win the war with minimal casualties for my team, and for everyone else, being B-Rank is far from enough.

I need to be at least A-Rank, not just in Mana, but in Advanced Magic as well.

Advanced Magic is especially urgent.

The best way would be to have a Past Life Lucid Dream, but if that doesn’t work, then like the initiation ceremony last time…

“My thanks are so late. Thank you so, so much.”

Lost in thought, the beauty beside me bowed her head deeply.

It was the hundredth time I’d heard thanks from Lee So-yeong.

“I made this myself, but I’m not sure if it’ll suit your palate.”

“So-yeong insisted on treating you.”

So that’s why they were late.

She said she had cooked in the hotel kitchen.

Perhaps because she’d been in front of the fire, beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

Naturally, there was no trace of the Mana Disease to be found.

I pushed aside the thoughts in my head and took the plate.

“Smoked salmon. I’ll enjoy it, thank you.”

I speared a piece of salmon with my fork and put it in my mouth.

And I was shocked.

The taste was so stunning it scattered all the thoughts that had been floating around in my head.

I thought I was pretty confident in my poker face, but it was hard to control my expression.

I glanced to the side and saw that Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan and the executive director were in a similar state.

“You really have to acknowledge So-yeong’s cooking skills.”

Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan said in a trembling voice.

“Does Chairman Lee get to eat this every day? I should have had a daughter too.”

The executive director’s eye twitched as he gave a thumbs-up.

After checking their reactions, Lee So-yeong turned her head.

“H-How is it?”

If I told that brightly shining face that it tasted bad, I felt like it would cause a huge wound.

I wiped my mouth with a napkin and nodded.

“It’s delicious. You have excellent skills.”

“Eat a lot. She’s been practicing for the past week just to make this for you.”

Lee Jeong-hwan pushed the food in front of him toward me.

“So that’s what this meant? A shame, but I guess I can’t steal this one.”

The executive director went so far as to scoop the food from his plate onto mine.

Are you telling me to go to hell alone?

Forcing a swallow, I said with a composed face.

“This makes me feel too bad. Ms. So-yeong. Could you perhaps cook something for the executive director and the Chairman as well? With your most confident dish.”

“Oh my! Of course! Could you wait just a moment?”

Lee So-yeong clapped her hands happily and headed back to the hotel kitchen, leaving behind the words that she would try making a dish of beef wrapped in leaves.

After Lee So-yeong had completely disappeared, Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan looked at the executive director with an anxious face.

“We’re in big trouble.”

“This friend seems to improve every time I see her.”

“This is no time to be relaxed.”

“…What’s the matter?”

“Even I have a hard time enduring that beef dish.”

“More than the salmon?”

“Compared to that, the salmon is on the delicious side.”

The executive director stood up, his face set with determination.

“I’ll go teach her that even a chaebol’s daughter can’t just mess around without knowing how the world works.”

The executive director advised more seriously than ever before. I agreed. For the sake of the ingredients being sacrificed for that dish, we had to stop this.

“Cooking is So-yeong’s only hobby. Please. Please just bear with it.”

In the end, we were only able to calm down after agreeing that Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan would eat all the leftovers.

Once things had settled down, Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan slyly took out a small box.

“What is this?”

“A gift.”

When he opened the box, a red, palm-sized orb came into view.

From it, I could feel an extremely dense, and at the same time, familiar energy.

“It’s an Abraxas Heart.”

Excluding its effects, its pure Mana Capacity was far greater than the ring or the necklace.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one surprised, as the executive director’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“How did you get this? We sold it a year ago.”

“It came up at a Black Market auction.”

“Must have been quite expensive.”

“It’s nothing compared to the price of saving So-yeong.”

The auction price was 830 billion.

That was the number Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan spat out, unable to withstand the executive director’s nagging.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised too.

I had expected to receive ingredients for an Elixir, but I never imagined he would prepare something of this caliber.

The energy I could feel from it alone was incredible. But if Wi Jeong-rak were to make an Elixir based on this…

Normally, I would have feigned some humility, but I couldn’t even do that with this.

“I will gratefully accept it.”

I quickly took it and put it inside my coat. Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan watched me with a pleased expression, then suddenly asked.

“By the way, didn’t you say you found Yang Won-hoon earlier? He’s over there.”

Where Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan pointed, Yang Won-hoon was standing.

In his 50s, a well-tailored suit, and strong prescription glasses.

He had a gentle impression that would suit a university professor more than the head of a criminal organization like the Black Market.

“It’s a bit ambiguous.”

“Ambiguous? What is.”

“Have you, by any chance, heard any rumors about there being Demons in the Black Market?”

At my question, not only Lee Jeong-hwan but also the executive director shook their heads.

And quite firmly at that.

“No matter how rotten those guys are, even they have lines they won’t cross. They don’t deal with Demons.”

“The Black Market is probably even stricter when it comes to Demons.”

The executive director added.

“The moment Demons are mentioned, the Association wipes everything clean, so the Black Market has to be even more careful. As far as I know, since that fellow Yang Won-hoon took command, that side of things is completely clean.”

That’s what I knew, too.

So why is Yang Won-hoon, the President over there, a Demon from the get-go.

“Why, are you suspicious of Yang Won-hoon?”

It’s not suspicion, it’s certainty.

Even now, Demonic Energy is surging behind his back.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I sent the text, but there’s no reply from Head of department Kim Yoon-joong.

Should I call him?

Or should I draw out the energy embedded next to my heart and summon the Association President?

If I have to fight anyway, it’s better to take out the head first.

But the location is terrible.

The battlefield of S-Ranks in the middle of a city.

Damn it, it feels like the button for a nuclear weapon is in my hand.

The worst-case scenario is Yang Won-hoon escaping from here.

I could probably find him somehow with my tracking magic, but if he decides to hide, it will take a long time.

So I absolutely have to settle this here.

It was then.

My eyes met with Yang Won-hoon’s.

This was the second time.

This time, he even smiled faintly.

“He’s coming this way.”

Just as the executive director said, Yang Won-hoon walked toward me. With each step he took closer, I tightened the reins of my tension.

But what was this.

Yang Won-hoon spoke with a good-natured smile.

“You’re Choi Gi-woong, right? Could we perhaps talk for a moment? Just the two of us.”

“No.”

“Oh, well then, I guess it can’t be helped.”

It was when Yang Won-hoon turned around. At the same time, my phone buzzed with a text.

It was Head of department Kim Yoon-joong.

-On my way. ETA 10 minutes. Requesting tracking and surveillance.

I looked up from my phone and said.

“Let’s talk.”

“?”

“I changed my mind.”

There are largely two guidelines for dealing with Demons.

Kill them on sight, do not attempt to converse with them, and if they are of a level impossible to kill, flee.

Right now, I was about to break all three.

I shook off the executive director and Lee Jeong-hwan, who wanted to come with me, and entered the private room.

I sat down after casting layers of soundproofing magic inside.

Originally, I had planned to arm myself with a kind smile and a gentle tone of voice. On top of that, I was going to make a breathtakingly good offer.

But now, there was no need for that.

What kind of offer do you make to a Demon.

I fired the opening shot.

“Weren’t you continuously avoiding the Association?”

“Yes. That’s right, I was avoiding it.”

“Why?”

“……”

Even though I deliberately crossed my legs and questioned him as if it were an interrogation, he only made a troubled expression.

He didn’t show the characteristic confidence of an S-Rank Awakener.

Is he putting on an act of being naive?

“Why did you come here.”

“Because of you, Choi Gi-woong.”

Yang Won-hoon scratched his head.

“I was so curious, I just couldn’t stand it.”

Yang Won-hoon raised his voice in excitement.

“How did you figure out that Byeon Hui-yong was a Demon?”

Suddenly?

Byeon Hui-yong is the name of the Demon I caught a while ago.

“I was planning to catch him myself. That bastard had offered one of our people as a Sacrifice.”

Noticing my gaze, Yang Won-hoon began to spill everything on his own.

“But then I heard someone killed him first, so I just let it be. But then, there was something strange.”

“……”

“The fact that Byeon Hui-yong was a Demon, you seemed to be strongly convinced of it, Choi Gi-woong. How did you do that?”

“Do I have to tell you?”

“No, no. Of course you don’t have to.”

Yang Won-hoon waved his hands dismissively.

If you don’t talk, you can die, I won’t open my mouth either, and so on.

The threatening remarks that should have come out by now didn’t.

“Why were you avoiding the Association?”

“…You’re being overly wary of me.”

“Because you’re a Demon.”

The reaction was worth dropping the bomb.

Yang Won-hoon took a sharp breath.

“How did you know?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“Uh, um. People from the Association must be on their way now, right? For the record, I have no intention of running away.”

Yang Won-hoon smiled and continued.

“Ah, it’s hard to trust a Demon, right? Fine. One more thing. I’ll lay my cards on the table first.”

Yang Won-hoon opened his palm.

“Being a Demon, it’s not as great as I thought. The sticky feeling, and the strange feelings I get whenever I see an Awakener.”

“……”

“My goal is to become human again.”

Woooong-

At the same time, a whitish light bloomed from his hand.

That’s Divinity. Although compared to what I use, it’s pathetically weak and shabby.

Still, it was definitely Divinity.

Misinterpreting my reaction, Yang Won-hoon smiled triumphantly.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? I created it after researching to death. It’s a type of power that doesn’t exist in this world yet, so I don’t know what to call it.”

The hand that had extinguished the light was red and swollen as if it had been burned.

“After making it, I found it’s an extremely fatal energy to Demons. Very fatal. To the point that it stings even me, the user.”

Yang Won-hoon’s eyes, as he looked at it, were filled with pride.

“I believe this power can turn Demons back into humans.”

Honestly, I was a bit shocked. To gain enlightenment about Divinity on one’s own means one of two things.

Either he was born with an enormous talent for Divinity, or he had poured in enough time to overcome a lack of talent.

“It’ll be soon. As soon as I become human again. What the hell. I’ll just offer up that whole Black Market thing.”

Yang Won-hoon’s voice was full of anticipation, and his face was flushed as if he were incredibly excited.

I didn’t say anything in response.

I can say this with certainty.

With that kind of half-assed Divinity, he can never become human again, no matter what he does.