Chapter 180: The Arrangement

Yu Jia's trembling voice gave all her emotions away. It was a mixture of surprise, fear, sadness, and guilt. Her mind was in turmoil, flooded with various memories, so it was no wonder that she was very emotional at the moment.

"I'm sorry,” Yu Jia apologized to Lee Shin.

Her voice and tone had completely changed from before. Lee Shin felt no sympathy toward her though, merely considering her to be useful in achieving his goals.

"How did you end up being possessed by the demon soul?" Lee Shin asked.

"I think it happened while I was climbing the Tower. On my way, I encountered a necromancer, but he was much stronger than me. After the possession by the demon soul, I don't even remember anything," Yu Jia replied.

It was very rare to come across a necromancer. He had only encountered a necromancer once in his past life.

"Alright, then do you remember the atrocities you committed on Earth afterward?" Lee Shin asked again.

"Yes… Occasionally, some memories fade away when I lose consciousness, but I can remember most of them,” Yu Jia replied.

"Well, that's good, because even taking your life would not be enough to pay for what you did," Lee Shin said.

The organization Reverse had committed all sorts of crime—kidnap, terrorism, murder, and many more. Their extremist ideology spread across the world, and their sympathizers were not a small number. Even at this moment, many were living under the influence of Reverse.

Lee Shin organized his thoughts on what needed to be done.

"You need to take control of all the remaining minions of Reverse on Earth. Make sure they don't cause any more trouble. And change their beliefs. This world does not belong to challengers. You understand?" Lee Shin said to Yu Jia.

Upon hearing Lee Shin’s words, Yu Jia seemed to be filled with determination. Lee Shin was aware that reversing the deeply ingrained beliefs would be extremely challenging, but there was no other way. It was her responsibility and her mistake, and she had to rectify it herself.

"I'll do whatever it takes to fix the problem. I will bear the consequences of my actions,” Yu Jia said.

"Good," Lee Shin replied.

"A-and thank you… for saving my life," Yu Jia thanked Lee Shin.

"Don’t mention it. I didn't do this for you,” Lee Shin replied.

Yu Jia nodded. Lee Shin turned his head to check the surroundings.

"Where are all the challengers you kidnapped?" Lee Shin asked.

"I'll take you there,” Yu Jia replied.

Following as she led the way, Lee Shin also had the chance to briefly hear about the organization and how they ended up hiding in this Hindu temple. Reverse had rapidly expanded its influence worldwide, even attracting influential civilians, and the reason behind this was their deputy leader, a hypnotist.

"Don't worry. He never disobeys my words,” Yu Jia said with confidence.

Lee Shin nodded in response and entered the place where the kidnapped challengers were held. Dozens of them were locked up behind iron bars and were in handcuffs that restrained the challengers from using mana. Most of them looked familiar to Lee Shin.

Clang! Clang!?

Lee Shin could hear the sound of handcuffs and metal chains clashing. When he turned his head toward where the sound was coming from, he could see Park Joo-Hyuk there with his mouth covered by an iron mask. He looked particularly miserable compared to the others.

"Ah… Well, that challenger attempted to escape and tried to rescue others, but I caught him." Yu Jia scratched her head with a troubled expression.

It seemed like Park Joo-Hyuk somehow managed to escape using his unique ability. However, as skillful as he was, he still had a hard time dealing with her and was ultimately caught. That was because Yu Jia also possessed the power of a demon soul after all.

Moreover, she was currently ranked 9,782th in the Integrated Ranking of the Tower, which meant she was quite powerful. When he heard her name, Lee Shin realized that she was the same woman whom everyone had assumed to be dead.

[Psychokinesis]

The next moment, Lee Shin forcibly broke off the handcuffs from all the challengers in the room and released them. He could see various emotions like astonishment, confusion, joy, and anger on their faces.

"Master!"

The challengers approached Lee Shin with joy, expressing their curiosity about how he got here and how he was able to return to Earth.

"Yu Jia, you can hide yourself well, right?" Lee Shin asked.

"Yes, I've been living like that all this time," Yu Jia replied.

Although others seemed to be curious about who this woman was, Lee Shin did not plan on telling them about her. That was because it would be troublesome and burdensome if the news of Lee Shin saving the leader of Reverse got out, regardless of his motives.

Though most of these people here were friendly toward Lee Shin, one could never be sure how information might leak. None of these challengers knew that Yu Jia was the leader of Reverse. Instead, they were only curious to know who this beautiful lady, who seemed close to Lee Shin, was.

After sending Yu Jia away, Lee Shin told the challengers to come up slowly. Then, he went up.

There were already many Indian military personnel gathered there, just as he expected. Challengers who defended the temples and other Indian challengers had also gathered. At that moment, a man in military attire approached and stared at Lee Shin, an air of arrogance surrounding him.

"I'm Lieutenant Hartman from the Central Command of the Indian Army. You flew in with a Skeleton and committed terrorism in a Hindu temple… Have you lost your mind?" the Lieutenant criticized Lee Shin.

He took a puff of his cigarette and blew smoke in Lee Shin’s direction, throwing a disdainful look toward Lee Shin.

"Are you not saying a word? Why? Is it because you’re scared to see my soldiers lined up? Or is it because you are surprised that we were not frightened when you pretended to be Lee Shin?” the Lieutenant asked in a mocking tone.

"…What?" Lee Shin could not hold his laughter at his absurd words.

The Lieutenant had thought that this man in front of him was an imposter.

"Well you probably thought some purple hair, a purple robe, and the ability to control Skeleton would make you look like Lee Shin, but you were foolish to think that. Didn’t you think that countries would be aware of the whereabouts of a challenger at the level of Lee Shin?" the Lieutenant said in a confident voice.

“Ha.” Lee Shin did not say much.

It was not hard for Lee Shin to understand their reaction. People usually had difficulty breaking free from their fixed beliefs and objectively assessing the situation. The belief that challengers could only return through the Dimension Gate was so ingrained that it was not easy for most to consider other possibilities.

Because Lee Shin did not appear at the Dimension Gate, they simply concluded that he was not on Earth. Furthermore, it seemed that China had not sold his information to other countries yet.

'What are they even planning to do...'

The next moment, Lee Shin looked around his surroundings. It seemed difficult to pass through without any violence.

"Are you laughing right now? You must be out of your mind. Just follow us quietly. We will thoroughly interrogate you about your affiliations and the reasons for the terrorism here. You scum." The Lieutenant chewed and spat out the cigarette and smirked.

"Well, I just came here to rescue the challengers who had been kidnapped," Lee Shin replied.

"What did you say? What nonsense...!" Lieutenant Hartman's face got distorted at Lee Shin’s words.

Then, dozens of challengers walked out of the collapsed temple. His eyes widened in shock as if they were about to pop out. They were the ones who had disappeared after being abducted by Reverse during the WA.

"What on earth is going on?” Lieutenant Hartman could not believe what he was seeing.

"Am I good now? Since I just proved it, I think now it’s your turn to answer. Why did you hide them?” Lee Shin asked.

After hearing Lee Shin’s words, the Brahman monk at the back as well as Lieutenant Hartman had bewildered looks on their faces.

"What do you mean I hid them... What nonsense! And even if the challengers were kidnapped and held here, you should have come here with our permission!" Lieutenant Hartman started getting angry and raised his voice.

'I guess there was some kind of a connection.'

It was evident that there was a special relationship between that monk and Lieutenant Hartman. The monk praised Yu Jia, the leader of the organization Reverse, as ‘Deva’ and concealed her secret base. Also, it seemed that although Lieutenant Hartman was aware of it, he had been pretending not to notice them.

As Lee Shin was about to say something to them, a helicopter approached from above. At the same time, Hartman's phone started ringing. When he saw the caller ID, he quickly answered it as challengers started pouring out of the helicopter. The next moment, men in black military uniforms surrounded Lee Shin and pushed away the Indian Army.

"Hello, my name is Ha Tae-Suk, the Director of Disaster and Safety Management at WCA. And these people are our agents from the Safety Management Division. Are you… Mr. Lee Shin?" Ha Tae-Suk asked.

Since most of their faces had been covered, Lee Shin could not be too sure. However, other than Ha Tae-Suk, these people did not look Korean.

"Yes, that’s me," Lee Shin replied.

Ha Tae-Suk looked a little surprised at Lee Shin’s answer but he quickly regained his composure.

"How did you come here?" Ha Tae-Suk asked.

Based on his reaction, it was clear that Ha Tae-Suk came looking for Lee Shin after figuring out that Lee Shin was here. The question was, how did he know he was here, because he had no way of knowing.

“The Chairman, Jeon Jae-Yong, has made a request, because the current situation is being broadcasted live worldwide,” Ha Tae-Suk explained to Lee Shin.

Upon hearing those words, Lee Shin quickly scanned the surroundings. Among the crowd, he was able to spot a few individuals who were holding their cell phones. It seemed like they were the ones broadcasting this scene.

“You came here quite fast,” Lee Shin muttered.

"I was near this place. And you don’t need to worry. We will take care of everything from here," Ha Tae-Suk reassured Lee Shin.

After nodding at his words, Lee Shin looked at Lieutenant Hartman. He looked tense and rigid as he was speaking on the phone.

“The upper ranks in India would have already concluded their discussions because not only Korea, but the United States and China would have brought pressure to them,” Ha Tae-Suk explained.

Lee Shin expected the United States to get involved, but he did not expect China to get involved in this too. When Lieutenant Hartman hung up the phone, Ha Tae-Suk approached him.

“Lieutenant Hartman, you are suspected of having dealings with the monks at this Hindu temple and receiving bribes,” said Ha Tae-Suk.

“W-what are you talking about! When did I—” Lieutenant Hartman started to panic.

“And we’ve also uncovered your ties with Reverse. They are a global criminal organization and your ties with them is a serious crime. The authority to punish those involved with Reverse lies with our organization, the WCA. So, I suggest that you come along with us quietly,” Ha Tae-Suk continued on.

After saying that, Ha Tae-Suk forcefully restrained Lieutenant Hartman.

“Hey! Let go of me! You can’t do this!” Lieutenant Hartman shouted.

He tried to resist, but as a person who was not a challenger, Lieutenant Hartman could not win against Ha Tae-Suk. The soldiers who had been gathered could not make any moves, as another officer had arrived on the scene quietly. In fact, the situation was quickly resolved as soon as Ha Tae-Suk and his people arrived.

As soon as Ha Tae-Suk saw the challengers who appeared from behind, he finished assessing the situation and called the higher-ups.

“I didn't expect to receive this kind of help. Thank you." Ha Tae-Suk politely bowed his head.

"Aren't you curious though?" Lee Shin asked.

Ha Tae-Suk flinched after hearing his question, but he did not respond with another question. Instead, he just smiled.

"Well, my job is not to satisfy curiosity.

Haha

. Where would you like to go? We'll escort you," said Ha Tae-Suk.

Lee Shin nodded in response to Ha Tae-Suk’s words.

"Let's get going. And there's some news I need to share with you," said Ha Tae-Suk.

Since there were too many Korean challengers here, and they could not transport them all at once, Ha Tae-Suk made Lee Shin and Park Joo-Hyuk get on the helicopter first. The rest were told that they would leave on a plane that would arrive later.

"What's the news?" Lee Shin asked.

"Are you aware that the Task Force from various countries have recently been mobilized to the Putorana Plateau in Russia?" Ha Tae-Suk asked.

"Yes, I am aware of that," Lee Shin replied.

"Oh… I somewhat expected that you would already know since you came here alone, but wow. You actually knew it," Ha Tae-Suk muttered. "Well, we recently heard that a challenger named Cha Yu-Min was found there."

"Huh? Why would Cha Yu-Min be there...?" Lee Shin was confused.

"He's currently unconscious, making the investigation difficult, but it seems like he was subjected to forced experiments by Reverse after being abducted," Ha Tae-Suk explained.

After the short conversation, Lee Shin could sense Park Joo-Hyuk's gaze. It seemed like Park Joo-Hyuk was worried because he thought Cha Yu-Min had some special significance to Lee Shin.

"Nevertheless, his condition is not too bad. However, some members of the other Task Forces suffered significant injuries during the process of capturing him," Ha Tae-Suk explained again.

"Cha Yu-Min is that powerful...?" Lee Shin muttered.

"It seems like he was affected by the power of sacrifice enhancement, which is believed to be the ability of their leader, Yu Jia. Moreover, he was in a state of complete shadowization," Ha Tae-Suk added.

It seemed like Yu Jia had used her ability to bring about complete shadowization in Cha Yu-Min. When he was in that state, even an army of ordinary individuals would not stand a chance against him.

"The damage must have been great," Lee Shin commented.

"It was okay. In fact, I have a question to ask you about that..." Ha Tae-Suk hesitated.

"What is it?" Lee Shin asked.

"A person claiming to be the leader of the Platinum Group came looking for you,” Ha Tae-Suk replied.

"..." Lee Shin remained speechless for a while.

Lee Shin wondered why Cain came to Earth. He could feel a headache starting.

"And he seemed to have displayed considerable power in capturing Cha Yu-Min. If it wasn't for him, there would have been even more casualties," said Ha Tae-Suk.

‘How did Cain manage to get to the Putorana Plateau?’

The Dimension Gate had clearly appeared in China. If he used the same Dimension Gate as Lee Shin, he should have arrived there.

"He is currently waiting for you, Mr. Lee Shin, in South Korea," Ha Tae-Suk replied.

Lee Shin felt like his head started to pound upon hearing those words.

"We need to hurry, before that guy causes more trouble," Lee Shin said.