Chapter 192: 192

Act 8

Su-hyeun went to the Authority building to meet Bak Yun-gyu . Two cups of warm tea waited for him in the reception room . When Su-hyeun saw that Bak Yun-gyu was prepared for him, he grew concerned .

“…Are you okay?” Su-hyeun asked .

He asked because of the awful look on Bak Yun-gyu’s face . He was an awakener, not an ordinary person, so he must have good stamina . But he had dark circles under his glassy eyes .

“I’m okay . ”

“Work too busy?”

“Yea . It’s not easy to hold down a job and climb the tower at the same time…”

Bak Yun-gyu usually didn’t show it when he went through a hard time .

“Anyway, the case you called to ask about…” Bak Yun-gyu said .

“Yes . ”

“I don’t think this is a big deal that you have to take care of . It looks like some vicious awakeners made trouble, so the Authority is investigating now . ”

Crimes by awakeners went on constantly . Although the Dump Guild had gone, and the crime rate was quite low, it was impossible to prevent all crimes from strong awakeners .

“I know, of course, you’re interested in the crimes of awakeners like the Dump Guild—”

“Are you sure it was a crime of awakeners?”

“Yes?” Bak Yun-gyu tilted his head as if he was puzzled . He looked at the record on his tablet . “A group fight in Paris, France . People showed aggressive tendencies, such as wielding their fists or fired weapons at other people . It’s assumed that some sort of mind control skill was involved . ”

Bak Yun-gyu briefly explained the case, then asked again . “Isn’t it hard to see how this was related to the dungeon?”

Su-hyeun nodded at the question . Indeed, this incident didn’t seem to relate to any dungeon . There was no monster, and the sudden aggression of the citizens was much closer to a mind control skill, as Bak Yun-gyu said . That was why everyone missed it . Everyone had missed the early signs in his first life, too .

“I’ll go check it out,” Su-hyeun said .

“But, as I said earlier, it isn’t anything big . You don’t have to do that…”

Bak Yun-gyu stopped talking and shook his head . He knew that Su-hyeun wouldn’t listen to him even if he tried to stop him . There was no reason that Su-hyeun had to listen to him . Also, he thought there might be a chance that this was something serious, as Su-hyeun said . There was nothing wrong with believing in Su-hyeun’s idea . If it wasn’t a simple crime committed by awakeners, then things might get worse .

“Okay,” Bak Yun-gyu said, “then, I’ll take care of the process . ”

“Good . And—” Su-hyeun asked for a few other things as well .

Bak Yun-gyu listened to all of Su-hyeun’s requests, then asked with a confused face, “Mr . Su-hyeun . Are you saying that—”

“You know . Just in case . If there’s anything that happens related to it, please let me know as soon as possible . Even a minor case is fine . ”

“…Okay . I will . ”

“I’ll leave for Paris tomorrow . I have people to meet with today . ”

“If you have any additional information or requests, please contact us immediately . ”

Su-hyeun and Bak Yun-gyu got up from their seats after that . Bak Yun-gyu lent Su-hyeun his tablet that had the information about the case . Su-hyeun rechecked the record and made a few phone calls .

“Hey, Hak-joon . It’s me . You picked up really quickly . ”

The first person he contacted was Hak-joon . Then, Su-hyeun contacted Thomas, Gordon Rohan, and Lee Ju-ho .

***

Su-hyeun met Lee Ju-ho first . They met in a small cafe in Yeouido . This place was Su-hyeun’s favorite .

“Is Hak-joon going to be late?” Lee Ju-ho asked .

“It looked like he was meeting Yun-seon . I told him it’s okay to take his time . So, he’ll come after dinner or something . ”

“Thomas won’t be here today, will he?”

“I guess not, since he’s in Japan now . In fact, Gordon, Thomas, and you are doing all of the work of the Paragon Guild . ”

“Yea . You and Hak-joon leave a big gap . ”

“But I can’t stop climbing . If you really need my help, leave me a message . ”

“It’s fine . There’s nothing that serious, yet . Well . There shouldn’t be anything serious . ”

The two drank their drinks and had a small chat . Of course, the topic got to their main subject quickly .

“So, why did you call? I heard you even called Mr . Rohan . ”

“Yes, I did . ”

“Why? Is there anything wrong?”

“Not yet . ”

“Not yet?”

“Yes . ”

Lee Ju-ho could sense a hidden meaning in Su-hyeun’s words . Lee Ju-ho, who was stirring his drink with a straw, took a big gulp from his cup .

“Sigh— Just tell me now . ”

“Why are you drinking so quickly?”

“Because! Big things always happen when you act like this . Let me get into the right mindset first . ”

Su-hyeun laughed at his reaction . Lee Ju-ho even corrected his posture to sit upright and opened his mouth to say, “Ok . I’m ready . Tell me . ”

“Check out this incident . ” Su-hyeun held out the tablet that he had borrowed from Bak Yun-gyu .

Lee Ju-ho quickly read the record of the incidents on the tablet . And soon, when he finished reading, he looked very confused .

“Isn’t it just some awakener’s crime? Why? Do you want to catch this person?”

“Yea, I’m thinking of catching them . But I feel like this isn’t just a case from an awakener . ”

“What do you mean? If it isn’t from an awakener, is this because of monsters or something?”

“It doesn’t look like it’s because of monsters . ”

“What are you trying to say?”

“But it could have happened because of a dungeon . ”

“…?”

As Su-hyeun went on, Lee Ju-ho became more confused . He had no idea what Su-hyeun was trying to say .

“Look at this . Significant points,” Su-hyeun said .

“You mean, no magic was detected?”

“Yes . ”

“Even if there was no magic detected, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t the act of an awakener, wasn’t it?”

“Yes . Actually, I think the same thing . ”

“Then, why?” Lee Ju-ho asked in frustration .

“But what if this is about emotion?”

“Emotion?”

Lee Ju-ho was still confused . Su-hyeun turned the page and showed it to Lee Ju-ho again . That page was about another case . There were clips of overseas news and records .

“…Beijing, the capital city of China, was paralyzed . Half of the citizens didn’t go to work, as if they had decided collectively . Shops on the streets are closed even on weekdays…economic damage… What the hell?”

It was an absurd case . More than 20 million people lived in Beijing, and, according to the news, half of them didn’t go to work . It sounded like a funny and nonsensical story, but it was actually a significant case because the capital of China was paralyzed .

“It happened this morning . I’m sure the internet is busy talking about it right now . ”

“Ok . But what about this?”

“Wrath and sloth . ”

“Wrath… sloth…?”

“Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust . ”

The seven deadly sins . Lee Ju-ho blinked his eyes a few times and looked over the tablet again . When he read again about the first and second cases, he could see what Su-hyeun was trying to say . In Paris, people recklessly attacked each other . It was wrath . In Beijing, half of the people didn’t go to work . Sloth .

“Are you linking the cases to the seven deadly sins?”

“Doesn’t it make sense?”

“It does…but…”

“Yes, I know . I’m overthinking it,” Su-hyeun shrugged and went on, “But anyway, this isn’t something to just overlook . ”

“If it affects the whole of Beijing, it isn’t something small, for sure, whether it’s because of dungeons or awakeners . ”

There was nothing bad to worry about . If they were related to dungeons, as Su-hyeun said, they could figure out . Even if they were crimes of awakeners, they could take action .

“Our first destination is Paris, then Beijing . And please find more related incidents,” Su-hyeun said .

“Something related to the seven deadly sins?”

“Yes, please . ” Su-hyeun nodded and got up from the seat . “Maybe those two aren’t the only ones . ”

***

Beijing, China . Wang Shuian, an ordinary office worker who lived there, was confident that he had been very busy . He was born in an impoverished family, but he had been studying hard and working without rest . He finally had managed to enter a major Chinese company in his late twenties . He thought he had made his success in his own way . He never spent a day meaninglessly . But…

Wang Shuian frowned at the sunlight, lying in bed . The alarm from his phone continued . Usually, he turned off the alarm as soon as he heard it and got out of bed . But today he felt too lazy to even turn off the alarm . He had been lying in bed and doing nothing like this for the past couple of days already .

He even didn’t want to think, so there was no way he could move an inch . ‘Bothersome’ came to him as if it was his reward for his entire busy life so far .

Rumble—

He was hungry . It was natural, since he hadn’t eaten for two days . He thought about making instant noodles or something, but the same thought crossed his mind again .

He really didn’t want to do anything . Laziness suppressed his hunger . And so many people in Beijing were in the same situation as him .

***

Paris, the capital city of France, had been paralyzed because of countless recent accidents . An accident from a dungeon would be better, since the government could ask for an overseas guild to help . But what had happened there were just simple assault cases . The problem was that there were so many of them .

“It drives me nuts!”

Benoît, the director of the Awakeners Authority of France, sighed . The only thing he could do these days was just sitting down in his office and sighing .

He could catch the criminals . But the problem was that there were so many of them . And these weren’t one-sided assaults, either . It was always a two-sided fight . At regular intervals, when people met each other’s eyes, they began to swing their fists or weapons at each other . Numerous people had died because of it .

Even the police who tried to stop people used violence as well . In the process, some of them used guns, and the situation got worse and worse . It was certainly not an ordinary case . It was evident that something was causing this . And it must have seemed like it was related to awakeners .

The National Police Agency asked for help from the Awakeners Authority as soon as they figured that out . But the problem was that even the awakeners who had been dispatched by the Authority showed the same symptoms .

Adel Castle was the best awakener in Europe . This was the time that people really needed his help . But Adel continued to refuse even the Authority’s requests for cooperation . He said the price was too low and demanded an outrageous fee .

Ring, ring, ring—

The phone rang as Benoît was trying to figure out a solution . He knit his brow and reached out to the phone .

-Sir! We have good news .

“Good news?”

Benoît, who had been wallowing in sorrow, opened his eyes wide . Right now, there was only one piece of good news possible .

“Can we get help from Adel Castle?” Benoît asked in a loud voice, starting to rise from his chair .

He thought if they got help from S-Rank awakeners, even if not Adel Castle, it would be good news .

-No, sir . It was the Paragon Guild .

The reply that came back to him was very different from what he expected . But the Paragon Guild sounded familiar .

“Paragon Guild? What’s that?”

-It is the guild formed by Kim Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan .

“Kim Su-hyeun…? Gordon Rohan?” Benoît opened his eyes big .

His eyes were filled with joy and surprise . He remembered that there had been an uproar when Kim Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan formed a guild together .

“So? What about them?”

-The Paragon Guild contacted us… They said they would handle the situation .

Benoît sprang to his feet . “Where are they? Where should I go now?”