Chapter 645. Sincerity and Power (1)
AAU Korea Branch
“The Source of All Evil. It seems like it’s really living up to its name, doesn’t it, senior? Everywhere I go, the talks about the Source of All Evil don’t stop. It’s really the source of my stress, the source.”
In the break room, Sung Hyunjoon sat next to Yoon Soogyeom and handed him a paper cup. The smell that wafted from it felt unusual.
“Are you really okay with this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why suddenly choose espresso?”
Sung Hyunjoon had a peculiar competitive spirit with Yoon Soogyeom. If you asked what kind of competition it was, it was a matter of face value. Sung Hyunjoon sighed.
“Phew. Senior, you’re five years older than me, but you still look younger than me. But you know, if we don’t manage ourselves at our age, things go downhill fast, right? Caffeine interferes with a good night’s sleep, and if you can’t sleep well, your physical age increases rapidly…”
“Why are you suddenly giving me a lecture?”
“You don’t want to end up like Branch Manager Park, do you?”
Yoon Soogyeom took the espresso, smiling slightly at the lecture, realizing the sincerity hidden behind it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave early today.”
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that over the past few days?”
“No, today I really mean it.”
Sung Hyunjoon squinted his eyes and looked at his senior with a sidelong glance.
“Someone like you drinking such bitter espresso?”
Caffeine to a working adult is like doping to an athlete.
Sung Hyunjoon lowered his voice and asked Yoon Soogyeom, more secretly.
“Just be honest with me, senior.”
“Ugh, why are you whispering like that?”
“Isn’t it true that you don’t think ‘that way,’ right?”
“!”
It was obvious.
It wasn’t difficult to understand. Even now, such rumors were circulating among the AAU colleagues. They were also overflowing in news broadcasts on the monitors.
-There’s news of a new Evil Eye appearing on the Arcana continent. Expert Hwang, could it really be that the demons of the demon world have returned? But the name is quite ominous. It’s the Source of All Evil. What will happen to Seoul, which is permanently linked to the Arcana continent?
The voices of colleagues whispering while looking at the monitor.
“No matter how much I think about it, I just can’t help but get mad. Even if the players succeed in tackling something, what’s the point when the Source of All Evil is running amok? Raymon Sean, that bastard is messing everything up!”
Indeed.
The Holy War Alliance had successfully completed their expedition on the Arcana continent. They had cleared consecutive boss monster raids surpassing the 2,000 level.
Sung Hyunjoon took a sip of green tea and then spoke.
“Honestly, it’s not surprising that the players won a complete victory with the overall responsibility of General Manager Lee Hoyeol. But I never imagined the senior mages from the Magic Tower would be like that.”
AAU knew the prestige of the Magic Tower better than anyone.
However, everything is relative.
Because the Magic Tower couldn’t move easily, it had mostly dealt with abnormal enemies.
Sung Hyunjoon hadn’t forgotten that fact either.
“In that sense, I also understand why people are focusing so much on that dazzling Evil Eye. Even the great senior mages of the Magic Tower couldn’t handle the Ten Thrones, right?”
The Ninth Throne’s Demon King, Paimon.
During the hunt for Paimon, who appeared on Jeju Island, the Magic Tower had sacrificed four senior mages who were severely wounded.
And among them, three of the senior mages who participated in this expedition of the Holy War Alliance were among those injured.
This paints a picture.
The demons who had reached the Ten Thrones were thousands of levels high.
No, they couldn’t even be expressed by a level of 10,000.
That meant there was something beyond levels.
That’s why everyone watching the Evil Eye couldn’t help but be stirred.
Sung Hyunjoon clicked his tongue.
“But among all the Evil Eyes of the Ten Thrones, have any been this big and this dazzling? Like I said, doesn’t the name really live up to it? The Source of All Evil, it really gives off that ‘final boss’ feeling…”
“Final boss, do you really think so?”
“Honestly, it’s hard not to think that way~”
The perspective of players and non-players is different.
Unlike themselves, who could only make inferences based on the given situation, the players had an intuitive system message. Sung Hyunjoon recited the information the players had given him.
“The rank is [World] quest. The quest name is [The Root Cause]. To summarize the details, it’s about tracking down Raymon Sean, who caused chaos on the Arcana continent and the real world!”
Every time he read this.
“Anyone can see that the Evil Eye is Raymon Sean, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Hey, that’s a lie.”
“What?”
“As I said earlier, senior, you don’t really think that way, do you?”
…He avoided his gaze.
Yoon Soogyeom looked away and stared at the espresso in the paper cup. He hadn’t even taken a sip, and the espresso was slowly cooling down. Yoon Soogyeom sighed.
“Phew. You’re right. I think the Evil Eye in the Arcana continent and the Root Cause in the quest are two different things. Even if Raymon Sean appeared in the Arcana continent’s system message…”
Suddenly.
Out of nowhere, a presence was felt from the seat next to him.
Turning his head, it was gone in an instant.
Yoon Soogyeom’s hand was still holding the paper cup.
“Yeah. Raymon Sean, that bastard is a lot sneakier than we thought! Would that cunning bastard ever reveal himself so proudly in the sky of the Arcana continent? With a bounty quest even?”
“B-Branch Manager Park?!”
“Branch Manager, weren’t you on leave today?”
Park Minjae grinned crookedly.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I can feel that Raymon Sean, that bastard, is moving quietly. How could I just stay still? I need to go out and do something. Anyway, it’s fine. I’ll be drinking it gratefully.”
“Branch Manager, that…”
“I know. I’ll repay you with coffee mix later.”
The gazes on him, Park Minjae, were sharp as he walked toward the branch manager’s office, holding the paper cup.
Even so.
Only one thought filled Park Minjae’s head.
‘…I still can’t shake the feeling.’
The dazzling silver.
The proud form rising alone.
It was too similar to Lee Hoyeol, the General Manager.
tug.
The door to the branch manager’s office closed, and Park Minjae took a deep breath.
“If you think about it alone, it won’t be solved, Park Minjae.”
The General Manager always answered his questions.
Even if those answers might be to his disadvantage.
Park Minjae carefully picked up his smartphone.
No, maybe I should first wet my throat before making the call…
“Ugh, why is it so bitter?!”
Yoon Soogyeom.
This tastes like it’s gone completely crazy.
Park Minjae muttered.
“Time flies by quickly, Soogyeom. It’s just a moment.”
The credibility provided by the face value.
Park Minjae gently touched his lips as he tapped on his smartphone.
That’s when he realized too late.
“Wait. The 26th? What? Was today the day?!”
He realized he didn’t need the courage to call Lee Hoyeol.
Park Minjae.
His smartphone’s calendar background shone.
──────
D-DAY: ★General Manager’s Today’s Arcana Appearance★
──────
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The Penthouse at the Top Floor of the Gaon Building
“Taemin.”
“What now?”
“You haven’t forgotten what I told you, right?”
It seemed like if he were to leave Taemin’s side for even a second, something terrible would happen. Starting from the crack of dawn, when their physical training began, Nam Cheolmin had followed Nam Taemin around, constantly nagging him without stopping.
“First, no comment on any information regarding the Supreme Commander that you saw and heard during the Arcana Continent expedition! Second, be as vague as possible when discussing the Holy War Alliance’s actions, excluding the Supreme Commander! Third…”
He checked the checklist he had written out, speaking it all aloud.
“Why… does the suit feel so tight?”
Was there some more muscle growth I hadn’t noticed?
Already feeling frustrated, Nam Taemin raised his voice.
“Third, pretend you know nothing about the Evil Eye. Is that clear?”
“Alright. All that effort in training you wasn’t for nothing.”
“No, hyung. Do you think I’m a kid who can’t answer that kind of question skillfully? Besides, we’re not making up anything here…”
There’s no younger brother better than the older one, huh?
Nam Cheolmin handled his frustrated younger brother with ease, nodding his head as though he agreed completely.
“Exactly! Questions about the Supreme Commander will be answered by the Supreme Commander himself, so there’s no need to step in. As for the Holy War Alliance’s strength, we haven’t even fully grasped the ‘peculiar’ aspects ourselves, so we can’t comment. And the Evil Eye, well…”
Nam Cheolmin added softly.
“…We don’t even know whose Evil Eye it is.”
“Are you still brooding over it, hyung?”
“Huh? No, not at all.”
“Seriously, you’ve got to fix that analyst obsession of yours. How can you live constantly looking for the right answer? Sometimes you’ve just got to face things head-on and figure them out.”
Nam Cheolmin smiled widely.
“You’re talking like a grown-up now, aren’t you, Taemin?”
“Excuse me, I’ve always been grown-up.”
“Always been? Ha, Hisagi would probably laugh if he heard that.”
“Ha, how’s that guy…”
It was at that moment.
“I’ve been holding back all this time.”
“Ugh, AAH?! When did you get here?!”
“When? I opened the door for you when you were taking a shower.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?!”
Nam Taemin ignored Hisagi, who had curled up in the living room, and hurriedly left the penthouse.
Of course, a snake never lets go of its prey easily.
“So, this is how it feels when you’re with your brother, huh, Taemin?”
“…Don’t act so smug.”
“It’s no big deal. It’s just a difference in the kind of tension you feel in public and private settings, right? Of course, I’m not a child and don’t need to be checked by anyone…”
Knock, knock, knock─!!
“Why is this taking so long today?”
Nam Taemin kept pressing the elevator button relentlessly.
Finally, the elevator arrived.
As expected, Hisagi also boarded the elevator with him.
“Why not just take the magic route? It’s faster, isn’t it?”
“That’s true.”
“Then why don’t you just leave now?”
Hisagi shook his head firmly.
“Can’t do that.”
“Seriously, both of you…”
“Nam Taemin, I need an answer from you.”
For a moment, the atmosphere in the elevator changed.
It felt as if the venom of a snake was spreading.
However, Nam Taemin wasn’t flustered.
He had a pretty good idea of what was coming.
‘Hyung wouldn’t know any better.’
The place where Paimon, the Demon King of the Ninth Throne, had appeared in Jeju Island was shrouded in a pitch-black darkness. No camera or magic could see inside it from the outside.
But Nam Taemin and Hisagi were inside that darkness.
And thanks to that, they could face it.
The gaze of the Supreme Commander.
To be more specific…
“The Evil Eye’s gaze and the Supreme Commander’s gaze are similar.”
The ruthless gaze of the Supreme Commander, which had wounded senior mages of the Magic Tower, was the same. In the elevator, where no one could hear, the terrifying story continued.
“The Source of All Evil.”
“…”
“Yeah, that’s not Raymon Sean, is it?”
It was obvious, even without needing to say it aloud.
The [Evil Eye: The Source of All Evil] that appeared on the Arcana continent.
It was the darkness that the World Tree had referred to.
It was definitely another Evil Eye of the Supreme Commander.
Hisagi continued softly.
“When that gaze fell on the senior mages, they were gravely wounded. Now, as the gaze of the Evil Eye shines across the Arcana continent, what will become of the future of the Arcana continent?”
“…”
…Ding.
“Good morning… Huh?!”
“What’s going on, did the sun rise from the west today?”
“You two look so good together this morning?”
The elevator had reached the first floor before they realized it.
“Good together? Pffft. Shut up and go do the raid.”
Thus, the conversation between the two didn’t quite come to an end.
Thankfully, their worries didn’t last long.
VBC Today’s special Arcana guest segment.
According to the schedule and promises, the Supreme Commander appeared on set.
Lee Hoyeol declared:
“I’ll answer that question.”
A bombshell announcement that flipped the common sense of the players.
“The Demon’s Natural Enemy.”
“Akshan.”
“My class is Demon Hunter.”
A Demon Hunter with multiple screws loose?!
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