Chapter 226: If (4)

Booooom!

The whole building shook when the next bomb exploded a little closer. In response, the Pantheon priests unleashed their auras and created a barrier. The Inquisitor, Kim Gong-Ja, and Ja Su-Jeong stood up with some difficulty after stumbling from the explosion.

Even though the guild was under a terror attack, the Inquisitor was cheerful.

“American products are definitely high quality! It appears it was worth spending so much money on the building’s structure. It’s sturdy enough to withstand the destruction!”

Ja Su-Jeong brushed the dust off her face. She was calm, like she always was. “Thank you, Mr. Inquisitor. But this isn’t the end. The organization that is performing these terror attacks is made up of about five million people. An endless number of explosions may follow afterward.”

“I see! Five million! How many of them are actual believers, and how many can actually take action?

Hahaha.

Faith is abstract, but death isn’t.”

“Again, even if only one in a thousand, or even one in ten thousand takes action, that’s five hundred people, so five hundred explosions.”

The man in charge of the Tower’s religion adjusted his hat. “Yes, and five hundred is a number we can handle. It would have been nice if we could have identified and prevented the potential terror attack in advance, but it’s already too late. I’ll take responsibility for my mistakes and clean up!”

Ja Su-Jeong hesitated for a moment, which was unusual for her. “When you say clean up...”

“I’m going to kill all the suspects, of course. It’s difficult to reduce five million to two million, let alone half a million. But it isn’t really difficult to reduce five hundred to two hundred and then to fifty, and so on.”

Ja Su-Jeong blinked at him.

“I have to ask the Black Dragon Master to declare martial law!” the Inquisitor went on. “It’s probably been seven years since the last time she did that.

Ah

, this peace lasted for quite a while, let me tell ya!”

Kim Gong-Ja was at a loss for words.

The wall of the guild building trembled after yet another explosion.

“How?” Kim Gong-Ja blurted out. “How can you say something like that?”

The Inquisitor turned to him. “

Hmm

?”

Kim Gong-Ja looked at the Inquisitor’s eyes, which were seemingly innocent despite resembling a snake’s.

Retaining the innocence of a beast, the Inquisitor smiled. “Why

shouldn’t

I say that? If I think, speak, and act this way, I can reach conclusions quickly. Why shouldn’t I discuss matters this way? Is it because it offends you, Mr. Part-Timer?“

“That isn’t the point—”

“No, that

is

the point. Someone has to do it. If it needs to be done anyway, it’s quicker to solve it without formalities. Caring about the public’s feelings is a politician’s virtue, but the others and I promised a long time ago that we would leave those things to the Black Dragon Master!”

Kim Gong-Ja gritted his teeth, getting ready to shout at the Inquisitor in his face. However, Ja- Su-Jeong stopped him with a small hand on his shoulder.

“Mr. Gong-Ja, don’t try to change him. We don’t have time right now. You should

use

him instead.”

“Use him?”

“Surprisingly, the person in front of you is also a human who can be persuaded with words.”

With some difficulty, Kim Gong-Ja thought,

The number of victims from the bombings should be reduced as much as possible. Sacrificing innocent people just because they are suspicious should also be minimized. What should I do? What should I do to persuade the Inquisitor and use him like Su-Jeong says?

He realized something.

“The Pantheon.”

The Inquisitor stopped walking. “What?”

“The Pantheon,” Kim Gong-Ja repeated, the tone of his voice going up an octave. “You said that the assistant leader your guild captured is dead. You killed him yourself, so he must have died within the Pantheon!”

Just a little while ago, some leftover blood from the assistant leader’s blood stained the Inquisitor’s hand. He tilted his head.

“Yes, that’s right. So?”

“But how did the man in the square know that the assistant leader was killed? It’s not like he’s clairvoyant and able to peer into the torture chamber inside the Pantheon.”

Kim Gong-Ja finally saw the Inquisitor’s brow furrowing slightly.

“There’s a traitor among the Pantheon who told the cultists about the assistant leader’s death!”

The Inquisitor was about to make the sign of cross, though it was unclear if he was trying to cast another barrier or kill his associates, the Pantheon executives. It was impossible to tell for sure. After yet another boom, Kim Gong-Ja’s world turned upside down. He managed to stand back up only to stumble and fall once more.

Back on the ground, Kim Gong-Ja didn’t feel much of anything, except something very warm covering his back. Somewhere in the distance, he could swear he heard cicadas crying a painfully long tune.

Despite his muffled hearing, he heard someone mutter, “The fucker had an unnecessarily quick-witted bastard by his side, huh?”

Kim Gong-Ja didn’t know who it was, but the voice didn’t belong to the Inquisitor nor Ja Su-Jeong. That meant he had to be one of the Pantheon priests. The owner of the voice walked away with loud footsteps. “Poor thing. We had a long plan for you.”

Who was he talking to?

“All you had to do was act like the puppet you are, Pantheon Master, but we have no business with a marionette whose threads are snapped. You’re out. Fortunately, today is the big day, so I’ll make the time loss minima—”

Kim Gong-Ja forever lost the chance to see the traitor’s face. After a flash of light, a scream followed. The man who was enjoying the success of his betrayal could no longer make a sound.

As much as he could betray his boss, his boss didn’t completely trust him either. Actually, his boss had never fully trusted anyone else in the first place. The traitor had overlooked this fact until the very end.

“

Ahaha...

”

Someone with a small hand tapped Kim Gong-Ja’s cheek.

“Are you okay? Still breathing?”

“

Ugh...

Fuck...” Kim Gong-Ja mumbled.

“The first word you say is a swear word. You truly are Mr. Fire Emperor’s subordinate. What’s your name?”

“Kim Gong-Ja...”

“If you can swear and say your name, you’re at least half alive. Can you open your eyes, Mr. Kim Gong-Ja?”

He could. Blood kept staining his vision red. It took some time to realize that the blood wasn’t solely his. The Inquisitor was also drenched in it. Reeking of it, too.

“That’s good,” the Inquisitor said. “Fantastic. It seems I’m not alone in this predicament.”

“Pantheon... Master...”

“Yes?”

“How is Manager Ja Su-Jeong?” Kim Gong-Ja said with some difficulty.

What had happened to her? Kim Gong-Ja desperately hoped that the Inquisitor had made an error in his calculation.

“Now isn’t the time to worry about others,” the Inquisitor said before throwing up blood.

The blood was too vivid. A few pieces of flesh were mixed in it, too.

“Find a doctor...” Kim Gong-Ja muttered.

The Inquisitor raised a hand to stop him. “No need. We don’t have enough time. I won’t be able to survive.”

“If you don’t...”

“I know. It’s rather more efficient to do what I can for the time being.”

He hunched over, vomiting more blood. Crimson splashed on Kim Gong-Ja’s cheek.

“

Ugh.

”

Without fully realizing it, Kim Gong-Ja stood up. When he was very young, he and his orphanage director had gone to an amusement park. It felt like he was back in that damn teacup, having trouble maintaining his balance in this dark red world.

Kim Gong-Ja somehow managed to regain his balance to stand up properly. Something that had been covering his back slipped and fell to the floor. He desperately tried not to think about that as he looked at the Inquisitor, who was sitting right in front of him. However, Kim Gong-Ja wasn’t sure he could call it sitting.

The Inquisitor’s body was missing from the waist down. “As you have pointed out, it seems that this terror attack was prepared more thoroughly than I expected. My bad on that one.”

“Stop talking... Your body—”

“That is precisely why I have to say something at least. That way—” he coughed blood again. “

Ah

, the proud American product is helpless when it comes to an explosion from the inside. The damage is... If the Pantheon ended up like this, I can’t tell what state the other guilds are in.”

“Pantheon Master, please stop talking. I’ll bring—”

“Instead of bringing help, take these.”

The Inquisitor took two things out of his pocket, a small doll and a hand mirror decorated with a pitch-black dragon on the rim. Without knowing what they were, Kim Gong-Ja accepted them.

The Inquisitor smiled. “The doll is called Idol. It means you are my agent. The Pantheon is now yours for the time being.”

Kim Gong-Ja froze. “Mine? Why?”

“Like I said before, you’re the only one who can move here right now.”

Kim Gong-Ja gritted his teeth, but he didn’t look around.

The Inquisitor continued. “However, honestly, I don’t know if that Idol will mean anything... It’s the system I built, so I’m not sure if it’ll work after I die. Still, it'll be better than nothing for now... More important than that is this second item, the mirror.”

“Mirror...”

“It’s called the Black Dragon Mirror. To communicate with the other guild leaders... This is one of the communication devices that the Black Dragon Master gave us. Tell them you are my agent...”

The Inquisitor stopped talking. Kim Gong-Ja waited for his next words. It took time to realize that waiting was fruitless.

Kim Gong-Ja asked, “Pantheon Master?”

The answer would never come.

“Pantheon Master.”

Life had a tenacious way of moving forward, but it also had a tendency to disappear without warning.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Dazed and with debris falling all around him, Kim Gong-Ja looked down at the two keepsakes in his hands. It didn’t take long for determination to show up on his face.

“I have to do something...”

But what? And where would he even go? He was just a Class E Hunter. Fortunately, the Inquisitor was not the only one who died, and Kim Gong-Ja wasn’t the only survivor.

“Fuck...”

People were trying their hardest to get up. A voice came from the mirror in his hand.

—Hey, is anyone alive? If so, please answer.

Kim Gong-Ja knew the owner of this voice. Probably everyone in the Tower knew it.

“Black Dragon Master?”

—

Huh

? What? Who are you?

Kim Gong-Ja took a deep breath and briefly explained the situation. After a brief silence, the Black Dragon Master replied.

—Okay. Well, he was the one most likely to die before his time.

“Do you believe me?”

—Yeah, there is a Skill I received from the Paladin a while ago, so I can kinda tell...

Ah

, shit.

The Black Witch groaned for a long time. She seemed to be in very rough shape.

“Are you hurt?”

—A little. It’s been a long time since an assassin managed to stab me...

She was the Rank 2 Hunter and led the strongest guild in the Tower. Even though such a person of interest had become the victim of an assassination attempt, Kim Gong-Ja maintained his rationality. Or maybe he was just paralyzed by this series of major incidents that just took place.

Whichever the answer was, only the Black Witch’s voice could be heard from the Black Dragon Mirror. Although quite a while passed until Kim Gong-Ja explained the entire situation, no one else joined their chat.

—This is quite big. It may be the second largest attack since the Tower was built. Well, we’ve made a lot of enemies...

She coughed.

—The guy who stabbed me was a section chief, or maybe a deputy chief from the U.S. Ministry of States. I thought he was just an ordinary cigarette addict who got fired from his position.

Ah

, fuck... I can’t believe those CIA motherfuckers. Now they’re using cultists to fuck us over...?

“Black Dragon Master, where are you? I’ll find you.”

She laughed, but there was coughing mixed in.

—It might be different if Miss Secretary or your boss gets here, but what can

you

do even if you make it here?

Kim Gong-Ja knew better than anyone else that he wasn’t strong. “Still, I have to do something.”

—You’re young...

There was sadness in the Black Witch’s voice. It was a very brief, sorrowful sigh, but it immediately disappeared before the cold calculation that had to be made.

—But you’re weak, so you aren’t needed. Usually, in situations like this, the guild leaders hold a meeting and decide a commander-in-chief but, due to the circumstances, we can’t.

“Black Dragon Master...”

—I will take command.

The Black Witch’s breath quickened as the master of the city spoke. Her voice did not come only from the Black Dragon Mirror. The Babylon Plaza, which was already in ruins, led to many streets and the slums. On every street, there were streetlights with speakers attached, blasting her voice in every corner of the city.

—From this moment onward, I declare martial law. I’m the Black Dragon Guild Master. I repeat. I declare martial law.

She paused to cough some more blood.

—The outside world has mobilized unidentified enemies to cause several explosions inside the Tower. All the communication to the other Five Guild leaders has been lost. The casualties may be in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands.

There was another cough.

—When the Tower was built, it belonged to no one. Now, intruders are slaughtering us, claiming the Tower belongs to God. Some claim that the Tower belongs to the United States and that they are here to kill their enemies. Some thugs who only know violence say the Tower belongs to them.

The voice of the person with the highest authority in the Tower echoed through the speakers until it reached the Babylon Plaza.

—Ten years have passed, and we can finally say with conviction that this Tower is ours, and that we are its residents. The Tower’s sky, waterways, and land are our airspace, territorial waters, and land. And what we call those who pollute our sky, water, and land are enemies.

The Black Witch swallowed her saliva. Or perhaps it was blood. Holding back another cough, a single declaration rang out from the speakers.

—This is war.

Every speaker from every alley in the city carried out the same message.

—This is war.

A mother who wrapped herself around her child heard the echoing message.

—The Tower’s security has failed. We, the Black Dragon Guild, declare martial law and say that we will achieve victory in this war as quickly as possible. We also promise that we’ll show zero tolerance and retaliate against the enemies who dared to try to bring down our Tower.