Though his anger hadn’t subsided yet, seeing Ian looking like a hermit crab made his heart melt naturally.
“But hyung, what brings you at this hour?”
Choi Jaeheon opened his mouth.
“I got an urgent call from Yoon Taegyeom. He said Alexander Gray came to the house today?”
“Alexander Gray? Who’s that?”
Vermouth asked indifferently as he roughly pulled on his crumpled shirt. Ian also tilted his head. Though Alexander had enthusiastically announced his name, it hadn’t stuck in these two people’s minds.
Choi Jaeheon looked back and forth between the two as if dumbfounded and said,
“The Master of America’s Empire Guild. That blonde man who came to our front door this morning and was chased away by you.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Vermouth chuckle and nod.
“You mean that noisy peddler I chased away this morning. He didn’t seem like the type to quietly back down.”
Choi Jaeheon pressed his throbbing temples. To treat America’s rank 1 Guild Master as a peddler and turn him away at the door—truly typical of him. That arrogant bastard probably saw most humans as beneath him.
“I’d pack our bags immediately and move to a place no one knows, but considering Empire Guild’s intelligence network, it would be meaningless.”
Choi Jaeheon went on to explain the situation.
“After you chased him away, he went straight to the Management Bureau headquarters. And he strongly demanded an official meeting with you, Ian, from the Korean government.”
“To the Management Bureau? Why me?”
“It’s not just a simple tantrum. He tried to negotiate with the Management Bureau, claiming he has tremendous classified information related to threats to humanity. He said he’d share that precious information that only he knows with Korea. On the condition that you meet him.”
Ian’s expression became subtle. What classified information related to threats to humanity?
‘I have a feeling it’s all information I already know.’
But there were always contingencies. Just in case, it might be better to meet and hear about it. Since he’d decided to live here, ensuring this place’s safety would make the future more comfortable.
“What does Taegyeom hyung say?”
“Taegyeom is avoiding a definite answer and buying time for now. He’s defending the position that no matter how great the information is, we can’t let him meet Korea’s precious healer as he pleases. But since the other party is Empire Guild’s Guild Master, and given the conditions, it seems the higher-ups find it hard to just ignore.”
He didn’t want to put Ian in front of another guy. He trusted his younger brother, but he couldn’t trust Alexander. Because he’d seen how he’d used all kinds of methods to scrape together Awakeners until now. But still, this time he decided to leave the decision to Ian.
Because if he kept protecting him just because he was his younger brother, it seemed he’d never escape the position of older brother. He wanted to face him as human to human.
“So Ian, what do you want to do? I’ll let you decide.”
“Me?”
“If you don’t want to, I’ll overturn the Management Bureau and even risk a diplomatic dispute to completely block that bastard’s approach. Speak comfortably.”
At Choi Jaeheon’s firm declaration, Vermouth also subtly exuded power and chimed in.
“Just give the order, Ian-nim. If you wish, I’ll throw that bastard into the middle of the ocean right now.”
At the two men’s brutal overprotectiveness, Ian let out an empty laugh. If these two made up their minds to block Alexander, a major international incident would definitely occur.
‘That won’t do.’
Ian sat up while still covered by the blanket.
“No. I won’t run away anymore. I’ll meet him. Let’s hear what this so-called great classified information is.”
Ian’s eyes sparkled as he said this.
A few days later. Republic of Korea Awakener Management Bureau headquarters VIP reception room.
After strict security checks and complicated document procedures, Alexander Gray’s official visitation request was finally approved.
In the spacious reception room with its cold atmosphere sat Ian, Choi Jaeheon, Vermouth, and Team Leader Yoon Taegyeom attended as a witness from the Management Bureau side.
Alexander, sitting with his legs crossed on the opposite sofa, had none of the foolish appearance from in front of the door a few days ago, instead wearing the perfect mask of a gentleman. The highest-grade luxury suit wrapping him from head to toe and his relaxed smile. The very image of the ruling class that manipulated the world.
“Pleased to meet you, Ian-nim. I’m Alexander Gray, Master of Empire.”
Alexander politely extended his hand, requesting a handshake.
“Yes, pleased to meet you.”
Instead of taking Alexander’s hand, Ian bowed from where he stood. With Choi Jaeheon and Vermouth’s eyes wide open and glaring, it wasn’t easy to hold another man’s hand. Even if it was just maintaining courtesy.
The corner of Alexander’s embarrassed eye twitched minutely, but it was only for a moment. He skillfully withdrew his hand while maintaining his smile.
“Very well. Since you’re all people whose time is precious, I’ll get straight to the point. Won’t you come to our Empire? I’ll give you everything you want, Ian-nim. A blank check where you can write in any amount, the finest penthouse in Manhattan, New York, a private jet. Of course, American citizenship is also guaranteed.”
At Alexander’s shocking proposal, Yoon Taegyeom swallowed a breath. It was a proposal that exceeded a single nation’s budget. But Alexander’s words didn’t end there.
“However, I didn’t fly all the way here just to talk about money. Ian-nim, you have a mission to save humanity.”
Alexander pulled out a state-of-the-art tablet he’d prepared with a deliberately solemn expression and pushed it to the center of the table. On the screen appeared several photos of grotesque, pitch-black bodied monsters. Seeing them, Choi Jaeheon and Vermouth immediately recognized their identity.
Shadow Stalkers.
“Look at this. These are mutant monsters that poured out of a newly opened S-rank gate in western America recently.”
Alexander’s voice settled heavily in the reception room.
“These guys are on a different level from the monsters we’ve known until now. When you’re wounded by them, no matter how much our Empire’s A-rank healers pour healing magic on it, it doesn’t work at all and the wounds rot away pitch-black. Far from healing, even the healer’s life force gets scraped away. As if under a terrible curse.”
Alexander continued his dramatic announcement with a voice full of emphasis.
“We’ve discovered that the power they use is completely different in origin from the ‘mana’ that existing Awakeners handle—an unknown substance. A power that gruesomely gnaws at life, extremely malicious and bizarre. Doesn’t it seem like the ‘power of demons’ that appears in fairy tales?”
Alexander leaned his upper body over the table, staring piercingly into Ian’s eyes and whispered.
“So our America’s most authoritative research team gave this terrible power a new name. We call it ‘demonic energy.'”
Alexander was convinced he’d exposed a massive secret that would change human history.
Korea’s Awakeners, slow on information, probably hadn’t even grasped the identity of this terrible power yet, so he expected Ian would also be shocked and confused before this unknown power. Then the rest would be easy. He just needed to praise and flatter the still-young man and bring him to America.
Great America! Being there would make Ian happier than being in the small country of Korea. Because he was a healer who could use ‘divine power.’
‘Come on, be amazed. Fear the unknown power. And rely on me, the only one who recognized your value!’
However.
“……”
Ian’s expression was utterly calm. No, rather he was so lacking in tension that transparent tears were even welling at the corners of his eyes from holding back a yawn. Boredom itself.
‘What. And I thought it would be some great secret.’
Ian laughed emptily inside.
That great ‘demonic energy’ that America’s numerous genius researchers had worked day and night to newly discover? Demonic power?
To Ian, it was just a tediously familiar and unpleasant smell. Until just recently, he’d encountered it as naturally as breathing on Lancia’s blood-soaked battlefields, and he’d met demons even recently.
Demons appearing on Earth. That fact didn’t surprise Ian. It was just a calm impression that now they were starting to appear in other countries too, not just Korea.
“So?”
Ian asked indifferently, propping his chin on his hand.
At the unexpectedly dry reaction, a flustered twitch occurred at the corner of triumphant Alexander’s mouth.
“Pardon?”
“I mean, the monsters are spewing out demonic energy and it’s a problem. So what am I supposed to do about it? What does that have to do with me?”
Alexander was flustered. This wasn’t the reaction he expected? Ian was now acting nonchalant before humanity’s great crisis, as if watching someone else’s house burn.
“Th-this is a threat to all of humanity! It’s impossible to treat this infection with existing healers! Only that special power you possess, Ian-nim, only your divine power can purify this demonic energy!”
What, he knows about divine power too? Well, there would be clergy on Earth too. Among them, there would be people like Ian who served gods and received power. In the past he would have said such things didn’t exist, but Ian had already directly encountered the existence of a god through Regnasia.
He thought it wasn’t impossible.
