Chapter 191 – Senior (2)

Different positions, a relationship of enemies.

Olivier, who specialized in reconnaissance, had watched over and bided her time against the Hero, the greatest nemesis of the Demon King’s army.

“…”

And now she was on a plane with that very same Hero. Sitting right next to him, no less.

He was once the most fearsome being she knew, but now that he was on her side, there was nothing more reassuring.

Clear clouds were visible through the window.

They were on their way back from an overseas business trip with the Hero.

Olivier turned her head.

There, the Hero was asleep.

“He’s sleeping well.”

He was in a deep slumber, so unlike him.

For some reason, a faint smile escaped Olivier’s lips.

The Hero, who had possessed a sharpness like a finely honed blade in the other world, seemed a bit like a person with a screw loose here.

No, perhaps it was his state in the other world that had been wrong.

After all, that was a world where you killed or were killed.

Just in case, Olivier waved a hand in front of the Hero’s eyes.

He really seemed to be asleep.

Even sleeping like this, he would probably wake up in an instant if he sensed any killing intent.

A mischievous urge overcame Olivier, and she took a lipstick out of her handbag.

An opportunity to draw on the sleeping Hero’s face was not a common one.

She had been tormented by this man more than once, so she felt a little revenge was in order to feel better.

“Umm…”

The moment she took out the lipstick, a low groan escaped the Hero’s lips.

Startled, Olivier stopped what she was doing.

Fortunately, the Hero didn’t wake up.

But his reaction was strange.

Seeing the Hero drenched in sweat, Olivier took out a handkerchief.

They were rivals, but his existence was of great help to the current Demon King.

If he caught a cold from the sweat, fell ill, and couldn’t perform his duties properly, it would be a loss for the Demon King as well.

Therefore, this was purely an act of loyalty to the Demon King.

Olivier wiped the sweat from the Hero’s brow. A faint groan escaped his lips.

Without realizing it, she placed a hand on his shoulder.

In the past, he would have snapped his eyes open at the mere hint of her approach, but he didn’t.

Perhaps it was because they were no longer enemies. The strange sense of trust wasn’t unpleasant.

Using the power of an Elder Succubus, Olivier peeked into the Hero’s dream.

It might have been simple curiosity. Or perhaps she wanted to find out what tormented him so she could use it against him.

The dream the Hero was having.

The world seen through the Hero’s eyes.

Countless corpses were strewn across a vast field.

The dead, pierced by swords and spears, lay there.

The Hero looked upon his fallen subordinates.

Those who died on his command.

He felt a heart-wrenching agony as he gazed at those who could no longer answer his call.

The Hero found a soldier he had shared a meal with among the pile of corpses.

He saw the people who had sacrificed their lives for him, either by following his orders or by protecting him.

She could feel his mental state being worn down. And yet, he kept getting back up, growing stronger.

Olivier couldn’t bear to watch it all and pulled her hand away.

With her power as a succubus, she could enter his dream. But the realm was too severely damaged for her to play any pranks.

Olivier couldn’t be sure.

Just because he was strong, just because he was the Hero, didn’t mean only good things had happened to him.

There were times he was framed even after saving people, and times he was stabbed in the back due to misunderstandings.

He had been the target of immense malice and had even been used as a tool of war.

Those he was close to all sacrificed themselves for him, and those who weren’t tried to use him.

In that hellish battlefield, the path he ultimately chose was that of the conqueror.

‘How can a person carry all this and still be able to smile?’

Perhaps the job the Hero had found here, that of a porter, suited him all too well.

An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to bear all of this.

Because he was always smiling so freely, she had unknowingly forgotten.

The Hero was strong, but he carried a terrible trauma.

She thought he had overcome that trauma when he saved the other world last time.

But it had only been a small comfort.

In the end, the appearance of the 100 Mages and the Demon King Gamigin had resulted in the mass death of countless people in that world.

Perhaps his quest to save people was, in a way, a quest to save himself.

Olivier suddenly felt a pang of pity for the Hero.

Though they were once enemies, they were allies now. It was only natural to worry about him.

The Hero broke out in a cold sweat.

Olivier wiped it away. At that moment, the Hero’s eyes snapped open.

Startled, Olivier quickly placed her hands back on her lap.

Waking from the nightmare, the Hero’s eyes darted around to assess the situation.

Even after such a terrible nightmare, he acted as if nothing had happened.

She exchanged some pointless jokes with him.

All the while, Olivier watched the Hero’s expression.

She didn’t understand.

A man who walks the path of a conqueror so that the deaths of his comrades will not be in vain.

“Don’t worry, I won’t die.”

“Why are you suddenly raising a death flag?”

Seeing the Hero look at her like she was a crazy succubus, Olivier regretted saying anything.

It couldn’t be helped.

Seeing the memory of the Hero sobbing where no one could see him every time a comrade died had softened her heart.

All of Olivier’s clones share the memories they see and hear.

Olivier, working as the secretary to the Agency Director, felt a persistent gloom after reading the Hero’s dream.

The Hero she had known as an enemy was a monster among monsters who crushed every attempt to kill him.

The Director and the Section Chief, conversing inside, spoke as if they envied the Hero.

Being famous isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

It just meant the Hero would push himself even harder.

He was busy running all over the place, as if he couldn’t rest until he handled everything himself.

Kim Min-jeong sat at her desk and continued with her work.

Soon, the Tactical Section Chief came out.

The right-hand man of the current Disaster Agency Director.

He gave Kim Min-jeong a slight smile and spoke.

“You’re beautiful.”

“…?”

Kim Min-jeong felt a sense of bewilderment at the Section Chief, who had suddenly complimented her appearance.

Their conversations had always been strictly professional.

“Thank you.”

“Do you have a boyfriend…”

“That remark constitutes sexual harassment.”

“Ah…”

The Section Chief nodded as if he understood and said it was a joke.

In public agencies, no, in all companies, employees receive sexual harassment prevention training.

He had shown a lot of interest in her before, but he had never been this direct.

‘This damn beauty of mine.’

Kim Min-jeong scoffed, lamenting her appearance that could crumble even the strictest of rules.

“Secretary Kim, have the car brought around.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Oh, right. Secretary Kim, if you don’t have a boyfriend, Section Chief Tak…”

“That remark constitutes sexual harassment, sir.”

“Ah, right. Young people should handle these things themselves. Haha.”

Once the car was ready, the old-geezer Director went outside.

Watching him go, Kim Min-jeong let out a quiet sigh.

It seemed her beauty was always causing problems.

‘And only the Hero is oblivious to it.’

Her self-esteem soaring, Kim Min-jeong pitied the Hero for missing out on half of what life had to offer.

Although the modern world was relatively peaceful, with Gate disasters constantly occurring, the war would never cease.

And fighting is always followed by sacrifice.

‘What am I even doing.’

Kim Min-jeong scoffed.

Thanks to sharing his dream in a misguided attempt to tease him, she had spent the entire day thinking only of him.

“Time to head home.”

It seemed she needed to go shopping today for a change of pace.

* * *

The Tushin Guild was in shambles.

Their recruitment and use of Villains, their illegal activities with hunter brokers, and their inhumane acts.

All of it was being laid bare.

The fall of Korea’s third-ranked guild.

The Tushin hunters uninvolved in the affair were finishing their questioning and leaving to find other guilds.

Thanks to Tushin’s dismantlement, other top-tier guilds were scraping together capital to recruit new talent even before the free agency season began.

“Impressive.”

The white-haired man, imprisoned, said as he looked at me.

Honestly, I am pretty impressive.

“You’re screwed. They found out you dodged your military service.”

“Is that really the problem here?”

The white-haired man, Seol Ji-hoon, let out a dry laugh at my words.

Of course, that wasn’t the real problem.

“So, how is it? Getting by okay?”

“The three meals a day are good, so it’s bearable.”

“You planning on living there forever?”

“Do you think there’s a fool who would keep the nation’s top S-rank tanker locked up forever?”

Seol Ji-hoon was right.

The Agency was already considering transferring him to their jurisdiction.

“Normally, that would be the case, but they left you to me. Whether you live or die is up to me.”

“Do you wish to put me in your ridiculous display case as well?”

“It would be fun to turn you into a gym rat. But sadly, I don’t think that’s possible. My guild already has too many S-ranks.”

Seol Ji-hoon, this guy, knows his own value well.

Most importantly, he hadn’t caused any trouble as a Villain. He’d probably be questioned for a bit and then released.

“You could find a guild you like, or you could retire as a hunter and live your life.”

“I’m relieved I won’t be meeting my end at your gym.”

What does this punk take me for? Is a gym the same as an execution ground? Huh?

“There’s another option.”

“Another…?”

Seeing a look of incomprehension on the arrogant punk’s face was a little satisfying.

“I can send you back to the world you came from.”

“…!”

That place no longer has a Demon King.

Another might appear someday, but they won’t be defeated so easily now.

“You must have family you left behind there.”

The moderate faction had all returned to their original worlds, and I had sent the hardliners to the afterlife.

Seol Ji-hoon, this guy, had a choice.

“They’re all dead.”

“That’s a shame.”

So, no choice then.

“Is there a spot for a Special Hunter?”

What kind of Villain is hoping to become a Special Hunter?

“I have no need for an insolent junior like you.”

“That’s a pity.”

After Lucky Boy Lee Han-seong’s death, there had been only one Special Hunter in the country.

But now, it seemed there were two.

“As a Special Hunter, there is something I must tell you.”

“What’s a guy in a holding cell going on about being a Special Hunter for?”

“Let’s just say I’m a Special Hunter candidate.”

This bastard’s suddenly got a thick skin, huh?

“There are still hardliners left.”

Been a while since I heard that name.

“You really weren’t close with the other Villains, were you? The hardliners were wiped out ages ago.”

When that punk Kei came after me last time, I swept them all up.

I mercilessly beheaded all the ones who couldn’t be reformed.

Only a few lucky survivors are in holding cells.

After the incident was resolved, I extracted information from the Villains and raided their hideout.

And there, I witnessed something absurd.

Kei was dead.

It wasn’t a suicide.

It seems he was killed by the perverted woman who was with him.

“There was someone who used to hang around with Kei when he was alive.”

The fact that he used the phrase ‘when he was alive’ meant he knew Kei was dead.

It wasn’t that unhinged woman, Kim Yeo-jin. She was killed by Siegfried.

“If Kei led the organization, there was someone who moved independently.”

“I get that you’re proud of your former workplace. But they weren’t much.”

The Villains truly pose no threat. Not to me, now.

This guy, who should know my power better than anyone, still didn’t relax his expression.

“That person is a little different.”

“Different? How?”

A look of blatant disgust appeared on Seol Ji-hoon’s face, as if he didn’t even want to think about the person.

“That person is very dangerous.”

* * *

A young man, home from work, took off his suit jacket and put it in the styler.

The man hummed as he loosened his tie and prepared a meal in the kitchen.

“Hmm-hmm~”

Humming happily, the man placed a lightly cooked steak on a plate.

With a knife and fork in hand, the man began to eat.

As he took a large bite of the steak, blood dripped from his mouth.

“Mmm, delicious as always. Meat loses its flavor when you cook it.”

The man, his mouth full of blood, smiled and looked to his side.

“It would have been great if you all could have eaten with me.”

There were several people in the direction the man was looking. But none of them had their eyes open.

“Kei. My friend, you pushed yourself too hard. I told you to enjoy life.”

The man smiled as he looked at his best friend, Kei.

Kei gave no response to the man’s words.

“Our pretty Yeo-jin, you were always so worried about dieting, and now you have a body that doesn’t need to worry about it anymore.”

On the other side, Kim Yeo-jin’s eyes were closed.

“It’s a shame, all of you. Delicious things should be shared. Right, friends?”

The man said, looking at the heads of his colleagues, which were hanging like clothes on a rack.

“This is why I told you not to mess with the kids. You all ended up like this because you crossed the line.”

The man clicked his tongue and finished swallowing the steak in his mouth.

He sprayed a disinfectant from a bottle for his friends.

“Still, you were my friends. I should get revenge for you, right?”

The man grinned, showing all his gums.