Jean-Luc Wenger, the secretary of Simon Abkarian, was a superhuman in his late eighties with a blanched hair. He heaved out a sigh as deep wrinkles appeared near his lips.
“So you directly sent them the address.”
This old superhuman was always worried about his master Simon, the representative of Superhuman Without Border (SWB).
“What could possibly happen?”
“I heard that ‘demon hunter’ was very strong. To an overwhelming level amongst the unofficial rankers.”
“Apparently, yes.”
Simon Abkarian was an extremely ambitious man. Despite being in his forties, he seeked strength like a young child and moved his tongue like an old politician. Such characteristics of his amplified even more as he rose to be the saviour of France after a meritorious service during the war at a young age.
‘Wouldn’t the Association be in my hands sometime soon?’
The words he spoke of during a drinking-bout a few years ago, was etched into Jean-Luc’s brain.
“Didn’t that BM say he was stronger than himself? There must be some circumstances if a person that strong had been hiding his identity.”
“Circumstances as in?”
“Perhaps something that can’t be shared. Like a catastrophe-ranked demon that betrayed its comrades, or possibly another returnee.”
“Oh no, you can’t be saying that for real, Jean-Luc.”
“Simon! BM is very transparent. He’s a strong-willed person who shared the responsibility despite having no interest in the merits.”
“I know that much as well. He’s most likely not telling a lie.”
“And yet, you gave them such a first impression? It will come back to bite us over and over again.”
He was referring to Simon’s rudeness, but he merely shook his head.
“Who am I, Wenger.”
“…”
“I am the representative of SWB, a VVIP of the Association, the Hero of Gallia.”
A sense of authority dripped from his voice.
“I requested for the address, and yet BM apparently gave me the address of another spokesperson. In that case, who’s the one that started the bad first impression?”
Simon gave a crooked smile.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter what the first impression is. BM said he was an individual, right.”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})“He did.”
“Let’s say he really is awesome. He’s still by himself isn’t he? Even if he can fly or whatever, can he do what he wants to after ignoring the Grand Natural Society, the SWB and the Association?”
“…”
“In fact I couldn’t understand why BM and Li Hwa were acting like that. What’s so great about a person whose name we don’t even know that they’re revering him so much? Well, I guess both of them are also a bunch of fools with nothing but strength. They don’t know it’s the end once they get pulled into the opponent’s pace.”
He had been living for dozens of years in the battlefield after the New Era, but the old man couldn’t give a straightforward answer to this situation. An unprecedented existence had appeared and there was no historical evidence that could be referred back on.
However, the man still had his instincts.
“Perhaps that might not be the end.”
Demon hunter.
BM explained the power level of that person as ‘unfathomable’. And yet he didn’t move for personal gains nor did he belong to an organisation.
Power was given to those that strongly seeked it, and thus the strong always desired for something repeatedly. An existence like that person who deviated from the logic of power was the paradox itself.
An alarm bell was going off in Jean-Luc’s head. The old man felt ominous for some reason.
“Jean-Luc. You’re wise but always worried. Ahh, look. There’s Crow finally coming back.”
The spirit beast fluttered its wings across. The letter was still on its ankle.
A frown appeared on Simon’s face as he opened the letter. On top of the address written down, there was a red cross casually scribbled across.
Simon gave an exaggerated smile in a sarcastic admiration. He licked his lips with the tip of his tongue.
“Do you see this! How rude could they be.”
Rejection was one thing, but disregarding him like this was unacceptable – that was usually the case for all ambitious people.
Emotionally, Simon infuriatingly wrote the next letter. The content was as follows.
[Last Chance]
[Little Red Door, 60 Rue Charlot, 75003 Paris, France]
I’ll give you your last chance.
Hurry.
“Now, Crow. Off you go.”
***
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})“Here is the Set Menu A that you’ve ordered.”
Along with curry, a roasted chicken and several noodles were placed on the table.
“Should we wash our hands?”
While Bom and Gyeoul were wiping their hands with a wet tissue, Yu Jitae sliced the chicken into small pieces and placed them on Gyeoul’s plate. She, who had been excited throughout the entire day, was now holding a chopstick in each hand while disintegrating the chicken.
“So, like, Bom. Where did Yeorum and Kaeul go?”
“Ah, they both have something to do.”
“That little friend, is her name… Gyeoul?”
“Yes.”
“Hohh. I thought that might be the case. But seriously, the power of DNA is amazing. She’s so pretty. Uhahahat!”
It was now clear why Myung Yongha always laughed the way he did. Professor Myung Jong laughed heartily and blinked his eyes at Gyeoul while saying, “Ururung! Ororong!”.
She gave a slight frown at Myung Jong, before turning back to the chicken.
“Hahat! Father. You can’t do it like that.”
“Oh, okay?”
“Watch me.”
Then, Myung Yongha went “Ddork! Ddork!” and clicked his tongue. But once again, Gyeoul frowned without saying anything.
“You’re being silly, honey.”
“Sorry…”
“You too, father. The baby’s scared.”
“Urgh, I wasn’t that bad…”
Only after hearing a mouthful from the wife did the father and son restrain themselves. Soon, Myung Yongha sent a subtle gaze to Yu Jitae.
“Do you recognise me?”
“Of course.”
“Hahat, I never even imagined I would meet you here.”
Myung Yongha’s party consisted of Professor Myung Jong, Myung Yongha himself, his wife and his two sons. The lady wearing a straw hat appeared healthier than before and unlike when they met at the Lake of Life, she didn’t cough either.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Looking back at the previous iterations, she would have died but this time she was alive. The Regressor had saved her.
However, he only thought to himself, ‘Is that so’. He didn’t really feel anything apart from that.
He turned his gaze over to the side. There was a child staring blankly at Gyeoul.
It was Myung Yongha’s son. Was his name Myung Jun-il?
The child wasn’t focused on his meal and his eyes remained stuck on Gyeoul.
“…?”
And when Gyeoul turned towards him, he hurriedly devoured his bread. He looked exactly like Gyeoul when she was looking at himself.
“…Congratulations on your second child.”
“Ah, yes. His name’s Junhyuk.”
“Congratulations.”
After that, Myung Yongha stayed quiet and focused on feeding the child.“Ahuh, dude, this is spicy. Ahoo…!”
“…!”
When Professor Myung Jong fanned his mouth with his hand, Gyeoul showed interest. The Yu household was good at eating spicy food and didn’t find it painful so she was intrigued by Myung Jong’s reaction.
Wearing a bright smile, Gyeoul fanned her own mouth with a small hand. Seeing that, a flower bloomed on Professor Myung Jong’s face.
“Why are you copying me?”
“…!”
“Do you think it’s spicy as well? Nn? Uhahaha!”
For some reason, Myung Yongha’s son also carefully copied Gyeoul and waved his hand.
That was roughly how the meal continued.
It was time to have ice cream as a dessert after the meal. Myung Yongha called Yu Jitae separately and asked if he could have a private chat together. Outside the cafeteria was a bench and the two males stood near it.
“It’s nothing serious and I just wanted to say thank you very much.”
“For what?”
“Do you know who I am, Mister Jitae?”
“Of course.”
“Haha, you might be confused but in fact…”
He began talking about the things that happened with a composed voice. He talked about his wife who had been exposed to an ancient virus and how her condition worsened as the due date of her pregnancy approached.
That was when he came across Yu Jitae as well as some medicine given by BM. He said it was honestly hard to see which of the two had been effective, but something like that wasn’t important.
“I’m extremely, grateful.”
The strongest superhuman of Korea – one of the greatest magicians worldwide. Myung Yongha the Druid of Regeneration, gave a deep bow and thanked Yu Jitae.
“It’s fine.”
“I’m sincerely grateful. You are my benefactor.”
“Please raise your head. The kids might see it.”
Yu Jitae’s goodwill had been on a simple whim. He was certain that Myung Yongha’s wife would have no impact on the future and was giving compensation because he ate the mushroom that Myung Yongha had grown with care.
The pained expression of Myung Yongha of the previous iterations flashed in front of his eyes, but he still didn’t feel much about it.
“Thanks to you, we’re thinking of having a third as well. Hahat!”
“That’s good news.”
He was just curious whether he would finally be able to have a daughter or not.
“By the way.”
Myung Yongha’s voice got softer.
“Do you, by any chance, have an alias that you’re working under?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Are you registered in the Association?”
“No.”
“So I assume you don’t have any official records either.”
“That is the case.”
“…”
His gaze became more profound.
“Mister Yu Jitae, ah, is that your real name?”
“Yes.”
“I am quite confident in my ability to discern other superhumans with my eyes. That brings me to the next point.”
Since his expression was overly serious, Yu Jitae realised what his offer would be.
“From the world rankers, there are a few friends gathered in order to drive the demons away from this world.”
“…”
“Well, nowadays the objective is slightly changed, and we spend half the time playing around but…”
He awkwardly smiled before returning to his serious tone.
“There are several famous superhumans as well. We sometimes host banquets to build friendship and exchange information. It’s kind of a secret so I can’t really tell you their actual names but…”
“But?”
“If you’re okay, would you like to attend our banquet?”
Instead of talking about the organisation itself, he was offering him to participate in the banquet.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t an innocent offer.
If he did go there, the members of the Grand Natural Society would first try to check whether Yu Jitae was evil or not. And after the verification, they would turn him into a member.
Like it had always been in the previous iterations.
“Thanks for your words, but I’m okay.”
“Ah, there are lots of good superhumans there. I swear on my name.”
“I’m not interested in a social meeting of superhumans.”
“Is that so…”
He sounded regretful but the light was still in his eyes. Myung Yongha didn’t give up.
“If my offer had been too sudden, you can slowly think about it. We don’t know how the world’s going to change and we have to group together when we can.”
“I have some circumstances that stop me.”
“…It’s not something huge. You can just come and see it. Mister Jitae is a good person as well right?”
“Why do you think that?”
That’s…
Myung Yongha was about to continue, but closed his mouth.
The fact that Yu Jitae was good-natured was proven by Yu Bom, the girl who carried mother nature itself. A guardian of a child like that meant that he couldn’t be an evil person.
…At least that’s what he strongly believed based on the circumstantial evidences.
“I wish you didn’t pay too much attention to me.”
“Mister Jitae is…”
Before he could continue any further, Yu Jitae cut him off.
“I don’t have that much of a good opinion on the Grand Natural Society.”
Astonished, Myung Yongha’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting the organisation’s name to come out from his mouth.
However, the superhuman in front of him was unfathomably strong and Myung Yongha’s brain worked fast.
He instantaneously changed his line of thought.
“…Then does that mean Mister Jitae is against the Society.”
His voice was a level deeper.
There was no longer a kind and amiable superhuman. Wearing a calm and prudent expression, he gave off the aura of a soldier.
But the Regressor replied indifferently.
“A hundred people have a hundred thoughts. The flag of an organisation cannot substitute the thoughts of an individual.”
Even though they had gathered under the pretext of defending humanity, not all of them wanted to protect humanity.
“…Is it because you don’t find me reliable enough?”
Yu Jitae shook his head.
“I can trust you.”
However, there were those that he couldn’t.
***
Simon’s spirit beast, ‘Crow’, came flying but was unable to knock on the window as it always did. It did smack its head on the wall but the sound it created was a thud and not a knock.
Jean-Luc Wenger doubted his own eyes. Something red exploded and had wetted the window.
Soon, the old man looked around in astonishment.
“…!”
The crow’s neck had been snapped.
A letter was inside its mouth.
