Chapter 173 – Fabrication [Alter]

Siguk stared intently at the old woman.

“What’s wrong?”

The old woman, sensing that something was off about Siguk’s condition, grew slightly tense.

In terms of power, especially combat ability, he was an existence she could never hope to match. But if he were to suddenly have a seizure or something, she at least had to protect the children.

Amidst her tension, she slowly began to draw up her Mana.

However, Siguk did not attack her. No, he never intended to attack in the first place.

‘Kim Yanggi is A-Rank?’

Siguk stared fixedly at the old woman’s two eyes. He even used his All-Seeing Eye Skill to check her pulse.

‘It doesn’t seem like she’s lying…’

Maintaining his All-Seeing Eye, Siguk asked her.

“Kim Yanggi is A-Rank? Since when?”

Though she felt the question was strange, the old woman suppressed that feeling and answered.

“Well, I don’t know that either. He was already A-Rank by the time I was old enough to understand. Come to think of it, that Kim Yanggi fellow lived quite a long time too. He made public appearances until 2099.”

“What?”

Siguk felt incredulous.

Kim Yanggi being alive until 2099 meant he had lived to be over 110 years old.

“That’s impossible.”

“Do you perhaps know Kim Yanggi?”

At the old woman’s question, Siguk glared at her.

At his fierce gaze, she flinched slightly.

“No, it’s just… you spoke as if you knew him.”

“…I know him well. We even worked together.”

This time, she was the one surprised.

‘He says they worked together?’

Siguk’s appearance, even generously estimated, was that of someone in their mid-twenties.

Yet from his mouth came words about collaborating with a Korean A-Rank Hunter who died 80 years ago. From the old woman’s perspective, it was nothing short of astonishing and absurd.

‘Is he insane?’

The old woman, who had relaxed slightly, tensed up again.

Because once a madman’s eyes roll back, there’s no telling what they might do.

“Kim Yanggi isn’t A-Rank. He’s C-Rank. He did command B-Ranks, but that was purely due to his social power, never because that bastard Kim Yanggi’s own abilities were great.”

Listening to Siguk’s muttering, the old woman could infer why he looked so bewildered and seemed on the verge of having a fit and causing trouble at any moment.

‘Kim Yanggi… Kim Yanggi…’

For the safety of the children she protected, the old woman tried to recall information about Kim Yanggi from memories built up over many long years.

‘Kim Yanggi… Rank… National Policy Advisory Council… YK Group… A powerful figure in the Korean underworld… Ah!’

Suddenly, a memory surfaced in the old woman’s mind—words from her mother, who had passed away over a hundred years ago.

“Come to think of it, I heard a strange story when I was young.”

Siguk’s gaze returned to the old woman.

“My mother was an administrative staff member at the Superhuman Association. She wasn’t an Awakened One, but she had an excellent memory, so she rose to a fairly high position among the administrative staff. Sadly, in her later years, she lost all that brilliance to Alzheimer’s.”

The old woman observed Siguk’s expression.

A frown had formed between his brows, as if urging her to get to the point quickly.

“Starting a year before my mother passed, I quit my job and spent time with her. Then one day, my mother said something like this.”

“…”

“She said Kim Yanggi was originally C-Rank, but had somehow become A-Rank…”

“…!”

Siguk’s pupils trembled.

Through his mind flashed various conspiracies and realities concerning the artificial enhancement of Superhuman Ranks.

‘NAC was said to be secretly researching Superhuman Rank enhancement and Superhuman gene inheritance. And Ululu Tumbebe actually made Rudolf Krauf, who was B-Rank, into an A-Rank. The same goes for Black Wolf.’

Kim Yanggi, who was C-Rank, had somehow become A-Rank.

That meant NAC or Ululu Tumbebe had exerted influence in Korea as well.

‘It must be NAC. Ululu Tumbebe, at least in this world, didn’t flourish that greatly.’

After all, the world Siguk now stood upon was, from his perspective, practically a past life.

The world where B-Rank Villain Lee Siguk was executed on May 1, 2042, at the Osaka 3rd Superhuman Prison in Japan—a world where civilization had already collapsed.

Here too, it was already a matter of past history.

It meant Siguk didn’t need to care so much about it.

But.

‘What if history repeats in a similar form in the world I lived in?’

The world where Nayeon survived and became an exemplary scientist, the world where A-Rank Hunter Lee Siguk achieved heroic feats, controlled South Korea, and unified East Asian criminal organizations.

If history repeats in a similar direction there too?

Then the story changes.

‘It wasn’t my intention, but after the revolution, while Korea superficially stood in the ranks of pro-American nations through the ROK-US alliance and US Forces Korea, its diplomatic policy axis ended up leaning more towards Russia than the US. The US must have viewed that unfavorably. And if I disappear from there…’

Siguk clenched his fist.

Suddenly, words his Familiar once said to him came to mind.

The words telling him not to trust Nam Hanseok.

‘Nam Hanseok… If the US incites that bastard… it will shake. The system I built… the power…’

The Korean version of the 2030 system Siguk had built was, in fact, incredibly fragile.

It was a system that relied solely on the existence called Siguk.

Yeo Jeongyeon and Lee Dongseok played their roles, but clearly, the two alone had their limits.

Han Changmyeong, who rose from NIS Director to Senator, and from Senator to Minister of Foreign Affairs, did build some power in the parliament and ruling party to check Nam Hanseok. But unlike Yeo Jeongyeon or Lee Dongseok, he never showed clear loyalty to Siguk.

‘Nikolayevich realistically can’t exert influence on Korea. The private equity fund owned by the Blavatsky Joint Venture is beyond even the Russian government’s control…’

Feeling stifled, Siguk headed towards the window.

Gazing beyond the sky, into space, Siguk let out a sigh.

‘What truth are you trying to show me? What truth are you trying to show by throwing me here and even taking my Familiar away?’

Siguk, quietly placing his hands on his hips, stared into the void.

Looking at his back, the old woman and Byeoli couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable anxiety.

Contrary to the original plan—though there was no real plan to begin with—Siguk spent a day at the YK Building with Byeoli.

After having dinner with wild boar hunted by the old woman’s familiars, the Giant Crow and the giant Pit Bull Terrier, Siguk and Byeoli went to sleep in a specially prepared room on the 5th floor.

Of course, only Byeoli slept.

Siguk couldn’t sleep at all, merely gazing quietly at the night sky from a space that was once used as an office.

‘Why on earth did the Darkness send me here?’

Looking at the sky, a sea of countless stars unseen in the Seoul of Siguk’s second-life world, he wondered.

Why did he end up here?

How could he return?

Amidst that chain of thought, feeling a complex mix of emotions, Siguk was swept by a desire to smoke a cigarette, something he hadn’t wanted in a very long time.

‘What truth are you trying to show by sending me here? If you had the power to send me here in the first place, shouldn’t you be able to send me back? No, if you want something from me, couldn’t you just use your own power to handle it yourself?’

Siguk quietly sighed.

He looked at Byeoli, sleeping obliviously in what appeared to be a crude sleeping bag made of dog skin.

A Superhuman of this era, not much different from a primitive human.

If she had been born about 150 years earlier, she would have received decent treatment anywhere. But a girl born in this barbaric age of collapsed civilization was merely a barbarian or primitive human with a peculiar ability.

And for some reason, Siguk was showing her a side of himself he usually didn’t show.

The kind of side he only showed to Nayeon.

‘Nayeon…’

Siguk’s gaze returned to the void.

‘Nam Hanseok will definitely try to seize control of the JH Group. Since my ruling funds came from there, he’d believe that if he just knew the flow and source of those funds, he could replace my role.’

Of course, merely seizing the JH Group wouldn’t allow Nam Hanseok to replace Siguk’s role.

But at the very least, it would sufficiently strengthen his grip on the political world.

Moreover, it would make it easier to control the petty bourgeois members of the lower house, selected by lottery and weak to money.

Lee Dongseok and Yeo Jeongyeon would resist, but if the US supported Nam Hanseok and Russia completely withdrew its hand from Korea, they would eventually succumb to him.

‘Unless Yeo Jeongyeon assassinates Nam Hanseok.’

Of course, that possibility was low.

If she were at least B-Rank, maybe. But as a mere C-Rank, she wouldn’t be able to get past the Superhuman agents of the Blue House Prime Minister’s Security Service, who guard the Prime Minister at close range.

‘And Lee Dongseok won’t be tanking for her either.’

Siguk quietly shook his head.

‘In the end, Nayeon might get dragged into the complex world of politics. No, she’ll have no choice but to be dragged in. She holds nearly 20% of JH Holdings shares.’

Siguk sighed.

‘Do I just have to wait? Powerlessly, here in this ruined Seoul?’

If the truth the Unknown Darkness spoke of was the change in Earth’s rotational axis, the resulting acceleration of Dungeon Breaks, and the ensuing end of human civilization, then Siguk already knew it for sure.

Through the 132-year-old Druid old woman, he had absorbed most of the relevant information.

‘I’m going to go crazy.’

Siguk gazed quietly into the void and let out a long sigh.

A spider, having built its web in a corner of the office ceiling, watched that scene quietly.

And through that spider, the Druid old woman was monitoring Siguk’s condition.

‘Who on earth is he? Who claims to have worked with Kim Yanggi? If he worked with Kim Yanggi, he should be at least around my age…’

She struggled to search her memories, making deductions about Siguk’s identity.

‘An ageless Hunter… A-Rank… Korean or Northeast Asian… A personality disorder bordering on psychopathic… I can’t think of anyone…’

But no matter how much she dusted off the cobwebs in her old memory warehouse to find information, she couldn’t recall anyone matching Siguk’s description.

‘No. I shouldn’t get too deeply involved. I have children to look after. If I think too much about that person, the children might end up in danger.’

In the end, the old woman stopped trying to deduce Siguk’s identity.

‘He’s just a passerby anyway. Let’s not provoke him.’

The old woman even stopped monitoring Siguk.

Then she quietly closed her eyes, hoping she could wake up in the morning, and fell asleep.

“Then, have a safe trip.”

In place of her immobile main body, the Familiar cat saw Siguk and Byeoli off.

Siguk quietly nodded, then swept his gaze over the children once before climbing onto the neck of the Giant Crow.

After confirming that Byeoli was tightly hugging his waist, Siguk ordered the crow to take off.

Caw-!

The crow let out a loud cry and spread its wings.

Creating a fairly strong gust of wind, the crow soared into the sky.

‘Where should I go?’

The old woman had spoken of the triplets guarding Yongsan-gu, Jung-gu, and Jongno-gu.

But Siguk had no particular desire to go there.

‘I wonder what happened to Guro-gu?’

Siguk’s gaze turned southwest.

Looking at the endless ruins and the distant shape of Gwanak Mountain, Siguk finally set his course there.

Caw-!

The crow cried loudly, turning to fly southwest.

‘After all, the Darkness always sought me out on its own whim. There’s no choice. I have to wait. I can only wait.’

Sitting on the crow’s neck, arms crossed, Siguk thought.

‘It’s questionable if it’s even the same timeframe, but anyway, they’ll do fine without me. I just hope Seongjun does exactly as much as I hoped he would.’

With that, Siguk, wearing a serious expression, felt the cool wind as he headed towards Guro-gu with the crow.