169 – 169. At the Black Dragon (3)
“Do you have a plan in mind?”
“Yes. It was rushed, though.”
“What kind of plan?”
At Seol Ah-hyun’s question, Ahn Soo-ho looked at the door of the president’s office behind his back.
A little while ago, Ekaterina went out of the room immediately after guiding her. She’s probably waiting outside the door by now.
‘I’m sure you can’t hear it.’
Ekaterina is an ordinary person. She did not have as good hearing as a superhuman.
But there is only one wall between them. She had to decide what to say and what not to say, if she was ever wary of sound leakage. Words like return or future.
“It’s okay. Because the soundproofing measures in this room are perfect. No one can overhear anyone out there.”
At that time, Seol Ah-hyun spoke as if he could see right through his heart. Feeling ashamed for nothing, Ahn Su-ho continued his words with a shy smile.
“Then what… …. So let me tell you about my thoughts on this situation. First of all, I need to go over the premise…….”
“Premise?”
“Yes. Ahyeon and I have been talking about the Winter Alliance paying for the Artifact trade until now, but in fact he may not have paid yet.”
In the beginning, the silver transaction was a transaction in which both the Chinese party members and the Winter Alliance were cautious. Since he used a good broker called Xiaomei to transport his goods, he must have put a lot of effort into paying the bill.
However, in this case, the goods were not transported properly, so there was a possibility that the payment also stopped in the middle. From the point of view of the Winter Alliance, there is no reason to pay the price because the broker’s mistake caused the item to be lost.
“If the Winter Alliance hasn’t paid the price yet, there’s no need to frantically steal the primordial silver from me. Because there is virtually no loss. Of course, it would be different if there was a reason they needed the primordial silver no matter what…….”
In the beginning, silver had excellent performance, but in the end it was a kind of weapon. There were plenty of substitutes.
“But in that case, wouldn’t the Chinese side try to catch Suho? It’s because Suho intercepted the goods and didn’t get the money he was due.”
“It’s better than having the Winter Alliance target me. No matter how terrifying the local public security and intelligence departments are, aren’t they going to be as rampant in a foreign land as they are in their own country?”
“Really? If you watch a movie or something, the public security is about to go into a shootout in Busan…… ?”
“That’s because it’s a movie.”
This world was also a novel at first, but Ahn Su-ho did not bother to talk behind the scenes. He continued.
“The things I just said are just hopes. The Winter Alliance may have already blown 3 billion dollars and turn on the lights in their eyes to try to get the primordial silver from me. But he’s already settled in my right hand, so even if I want to take it out, I can’t…….”
“There are many ways to unbind artifacts.”
“Yes. So in that case, the Winter Alliance will come out with coercive means. Intimidation accompanied by violence, in the worst case, even assassination.”
“The opponent is an S-class guild that is one of the top five in Korea. Moreover, what stands behind it is Yeoil Group, the second-largest conglomerate in Korea. If they turn out to be Suho’s enemies, it will be quite difficult.”
“That’s right, but… ….”
Ahn Su-ho looked down at his body. From the talisman to the breath of the morning star, to the token of the frost spirit, to the primordial silver. It’s so embarrassing that I collected them.
“…… Well, the hardest thing is to hire a contractor and try to kill me. Wouldn’t it be enough if we fight over everything?”
“Yes? Are you saying that now?”
“You say horse? To be honest, I’m not at the level where I’m going to be beaten by some assassin, right?”
Over the past three months, Ahn Su-ho’s military power has grown noticeably. Even excluding his Kang Sky skill, the strength of the combination of his body’s strength and various artifacts was equivalent to that of an A-class superman.
‘Maybe it’s more than that.’
In the past, I have commented that the duration of the morning star’s breath is low, but that has now become a thing of the past as I obtained the Silver of the Beginning this time.
The combination of Talisman and Original Silver is beyond perfect.
As long as the talisman was not overloaded, it could continuously wield the force of a special lease platoon.
Even Sylvie, attached to his right arm, was awake 24 hours a day, so it was somewhat of a countermeasure against an unexpected assassination. Ahn Su-ho didn’t show a confident attitude for nothing.
‘Of course, it will be difficult for so-called real people to come… ….’
At least I won’t be lethargic anymore. Even though he himself disapproved of his arrogance with his items rather than his physical strength, the fact that it was also Ahn Su-ho’s strength and ability remained unchanged.
“Moreover, Mr. Ahyeon. The Winter Alliance won’t be able to mobilize illegal means so easily. Because there are many eyes.”
“When it comes to seeing eyes… ….”
“No matter how much I was a victim of the parasitic monster, it is true that I staged such an armed demonstration against the special lease. But there’s no way the police would have let me go, right?”
“Ah.”
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Let’s say that, Seol Ah-hyun nodded as if she finally understood.
“At least one or two watchful eyes are attached. The Winter Alliance must have figured out that much. Are you trying to blackmail or assassinate me illegally? You can do it, but it won’t be tiring.”
Suppose, for example, that the assassination of Ahn Su-ho failed.
Ahn Soo-ho will of course turn the assassin over to the police. The police will interrogate the assassin and try to find out who is behind it, and in the process, the possibility that the Winter Alliance or Yeoil Group will be stepped on is not zero. On top of that, there is also the possibility of getting caught about secret back-and-forth dealings with the Chinese side.
Of course, the Winter Alliance or Yeoil Group will not stand still in the process. They will mobilize all kinds of means and connections to defuse the investigation.
However, it was true that some risk had to be taken.
“But Mr. Suho… …. Isn’t it too rude to say that you just have to catch and report the assassination whether or not it comes?”
However, from Seol Ah-hyun’s point of view, it was an uneasy plan. Ahn Su-ho grinned at the concern she expressed.
“Don’t worry. Because this is the worst case scenario. Isn’t it just a matter of persuading the Winter Alliance not to use coercive means in the first place?”
“Do you have any materials needed for persuasion?”
“There are plenty of ingredients. It’s in my head. Because I am a regressor.”
Actually, it’s a possessed chair. The fact that I knew a lot of magazines like this and that was there anyway. As Seol Ah-hyun looked at her with curious eyes, Ahn Su-ho added briefly.
“Even though there is no physical property equivalent to 3 billion won, there is knowledge that is worth that much. It’s all up to you to write it though.”
If things didn’t go well, he could reveal Sung Yu-jin’s secret and threaten him in reverse. Of course, in that case, he would completely dislike Seong Yu-jin, but he was a villain in the original work anyway, so it didn’t change that much.
“And finally… …. In the first place, I am not the one to whom the Winter Alliance or China should hold responsibility for this matter. This is the broker Xiaomei who made the mistake of transporting the goods. Green House, Black Dragon, Hansung Group, etc. It is much easier for a broker who has been born in the shadows than me, who is complicatedly entangled in this and that. Perhaps, if the arrow of resentment were headed toward it, wouldn’t it be headed that way first?”
“………… And. Suho, you speak very cruelly. It is said that it was Suho who stole the goods from that broker.”
“It’s better for me to take it than to have it stolen by the Dawning. It is an inevitable sacrifice for the cause.”
At Ahn Su-ho’s words, Seol Ah-hyun nodded his head as if he half understood. She is a regressor from the future. The ‘small sacrifice for the greater good’ that Ahn Su-ho spoke of was a concept she was already very familiar with.
“For now, that’s all I thought about. How are you? That’s enough though…….”
“Um, you said it at length, but in the end, it’s all based on optimistic predictions or uncertain methods. There is no clear solution.”
“Ugh.”
Ahn Suho made a sound of pain at Seol Ah-hyun’s harsh evaluation. From Ahn Su-ho’s point of view, these were desperate measures, but they were not very satisfactory to Seol Ah-hyun, who had gone through all the battles as a regressor and leader of a guild.
“…… Then, does Ah-hyun have any clear solutions?”
“Not yet. But you can start making it now.”
Seol Ah-hyun’s confident words. When Ahn Su-ho tilted her head, she pointed to my chest and said.
“No matter how difficult a problem is, it’s easy to solve just by looking at the answer sheet. You haven’t already forgotten what my superpower is, have you?”
“Ah.”
Only then did Ahn Soo-ho understand Seol Ah-hyun’s words.
Seol Ah-hyun’s psychic ability is future poetry.
Generally, it is the ability to look into the future for a few seconds to a minute, but it can also look into the distant future only in a few cases that meet certain conditions.
For example, if you activate your ability while in physical contact with another person, you can randomly observe yourself and the distant future involving that person. Even An Su-ho alone had won Seol Ah-hyun’s trust in this way in his first meeting.
“But isn’t the future that can be seen in that way random?”
“Since it is random, you can watch it over and over again until you find the future you want. It was the first time I met Suho. Well, I quit because the future I wanted came out at once, but in the first place, this ability has a limit on the number of times, or it doesn’t work. It might be tiring if you use it a lot, but…….”
Still, dozens of times is enough. As Seol Ah-hyun covered her breasts, she exclaimed confidently.
‘So-called future gacha.’
Every time you turn the gacha once, a scene from a random point of view unfolds at random. That scene could be a scene of two people eating normally, or it could be a future that is the key to solving this situation that the two people want now.
Getting a hint from the future and coming up with a countermeasure for the present made things complicated like the time paradox, but Ahn Suho didn’t bother to think deeply.
“Okay, I’ll see…” !”
For some reason, with a strangely tense face, Seol Ah-hyun held Ahn Su-ho’s hand. If you only need physical contact, you could just touch your fingers in moderation, but you dare to interlace your fingers one by one.
The moment Ahn Soo-ho was jokingly trying to point out the fact, Seol Ah-hyun’s eyes exploded in red! Bouncing up
Immediately. A scene of an unknown future unfolded before her eyes.
The unfolding scenery is a cold underground parking lot.
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Looking at the cracks on the floor and pillars, it must have been after a battle.
Seol Ah-hyun’s vision turned to the left. She is now peeking into her future, borrowing her own vision of her future. In other words, the movement of her gaze was due to her future self turning her head.
“… ….”
There, a woman with a pale, tired expression was trembling.
A woman with eyes as red as her red hair like flames.
Seol Ah-hyun pondered for a while, wondering where she had seen her face, and soon remembered that she was Mid-summer’s younger sister, Mid-winter. She must have said that she was a freshman in the academy. She remembered seeing her once in the past.
‘But why is this person…… ?’
Here it is. The moment she thought so, her vision returned to her. This time to the right.
“I can’t believe it… ….”
Then Midwinter’s older sister Midsummer was there. The same was true of her pale face. The single blood that flowed from her forehead clearly indicated that she, too, had participated in her battle.
It’s not a normal situation even if you pretend.
The moment she thought so, Seol Ah-hyun finally felt that her own vision was shaking little by little. It’s like she’s drunk. As she stumbles, her vision returns to the center, and she tries to go down.
‘Come to think of it.’
Wasn’t both Midwinter and Midsummer looking straight down? What the hell is going on in that direction?
That question immediately disappeared like a candle in front of the wind in the next scene.
‘Huh?’
A blood-stained parking lot pillar. Beneath him, Ahn Su-ho lay leaning against him with his head bowed.
A seemingly serious injury. There was no intact place on her body, and even her right arm near the shoulder showed no signs of being cut off or ripped off.
“Suho? Fine…… Huh?”
In Seol Ah-hyun’s ears, she heard her own voice. Her voice uttered by her future she, not her present she.
His voice trembled beyond words. Like an aspen tree in midwinter.
But there is no reply.
For the rest of her time that she could glimpse, Ahn Su-ho lay motionless. She’s like a dead body. Soon after, a bright light burst out, and the future scene ended.
“… ….”
Seol Ah-hyun stared blankly into space for a long time even after the future poem was over. He wondered if the sight he had just seen was true, he saw it in the future, so it was clear that it was the future that would soon come, but his head couldn’t keep up with the scene he saw with his eyes.
“…… Ahyeon?”
Ahn Su-ho asked at the unusual appearance. Seol Ah-hyun gave strength to her hand that was holding him.
“Suho… …. I think we’re in big trouble.”
A deep sense of uneasiness crept up in her eyes.
***
“aaa! sh*t! sh*t! Zenzaaa!!!!”
The old man’s roar echoed in the dark laboratory.
It is normal for the space of a laboratory to be bright, far from being dark by nature. However, whoever sees the scene will never harbor any strangeness.
Because the laboratory was not a laboratory with solid images, but a dull and dark laboratory with the feeling of a bad scientist making an evil plan in a cartoon movie.
“Another failure! Also! Also! Also! Oh oh oh oh oh!!!!”
In the middle of the dark laboratory, Na Ju-yong, the head of the laboratory, was shouting in love with a reddened face. The few assistants who had been hanging around watched him and slipped away.
“Heo Eok. Huh Eok. Huh Eok. Huh.”
How much did he scream like that? Najuyong, who had barely calmed down, looked at the camera in front of him. A camera for recording images for recording experiments.
“………… Experiment number 173. Failed test result. The cause is thought to be a failure to establish ability due to the lack of physical strength of the test subject. More.”
Pude deudeuk. The Naju dragon clenched his fists in anger. It was worth it. In this country, obtaining the test subjects needed for human experimentation was a matter of picking stars in the sky, but such experiments have already failed over 100 times.
“The experiment doesn’t seem to be going well.”
A question that touched Na Ju-yong’s heart at that time.
Na Joo-yong wondered if anyone dared to ask him such a sarcastic question. However, the moment he turned his head, he had no choice but to subdue the anger that was about to boil.
“Still, please don’t scream too much. Aren’t all the researchers around you scared?”
“…… Director Seong Yujin.”
The one who appeared there was Seong Yu-jin, a submaster of the Winter Alliance and one of the directors of Yeoil Group.
“I stopped by while passing by. How is the progress of the experiment, Director Na Ju-yong?”
“…… As you can see, not much progress has been made. Almost 30+ times it keeps failing for the same reason.”
“Obviously lack of physical strength…… Did you say that?”
The experiment that Na Ju-yong is currently conducting is a multi-ability experiment. It was an experiment in which two or more psychic powers were implanted into one person’s body.
All superhumans can basically only have one superpower. You can get something similar to the second ability with artifacts including Talisman, but the essence of that ability is external, and there is only one ability that superhumans can have internally.
It was a kind of limit set in the body of a superman, regardless of talent or qualifications. And it was also the point where Na Ju-yong was repeatedly blocked.
Yeoil’s multi-ability research, led by Na Ju-yong, produced some results. It’s because they have secured the technology to extract abilities from superhumans, store them in some way, and transport them.
However, the problem was fixing the extracted abilities. As I said before, a kind of limit was set in the body of a superman, so he never had more than two superpowers.
Without a single exception, it’s as if there’s a rule that says it shouldn’t be.
That’s why the last 30 or so experiments have failed every time. Seong Yu-jin was puzzled by Na Ju-yong’s explanation and asked.
“The limits set in the body of a superman… …. It’s an interesting hypothesis, but don’t counterexamples already exist? It’s the same with Chaeryeong senior. Even if that Greenhouse student last time was-“
“Those two are miraculous samples that were forcibly achieved using all sorts of expedients in ‘Cradle’. Even then, neither of them are perfect multi-talents. Although it can be used as a reference for experiments, it is now impossible to create a person with multiple abilities in the same way.”
“That’s why you needed the primordial silver.”
A superman’s body can only hold one superpower. That is the limit of the superman.
Then what if you forcibly open that limit by strengthening the body itself?
“That’s right. It was one of several candidates at first, but not anymore. Body strengthening through primordial silver. I was able to find out the extent of the effect through this case piecemeal.”
Superhuman enhancement plan through the primordial silver. At first, it was a plan that only had possibilities, but Na Ju-yong was convinced after seeing the Neverland incident.
If we succeed in transplanting the mighty power of the primordial silver perfectly into the body of a superman, it will also be possible to have two superpowers in one superman’s body.
“So, Director. How is the recovery plan going?”
“You don’t have to worry, Warden.”
Na Ju-yong wanted to make the experiment a success as soon as possible. Seong Yu-jin replied with a fishy smile at the question that clearly showed her longing.
“…… The plan is already well underway.”