Chapter 80: How To Capture A Hero (1)
About a week had passed since the treasure hunting commotion.
Ermina Sternfert began her defense with legal professionals from her homeland.
She became an ordinary person.
Her future as a dazzling A-Class ability user disappeared, and now she was left to live the life of an utterly incompetent person, at least according to her own judgment.
The Korean language could be so nuanced.
A one-letter difference, yet the nuance or feeling embedded in the word could vary greatly.
Ability user or non-ability user.
This was from the perspective of someone who had abilities.
Superhuman and Ordinary person.
This was from the perspective of someone without abilities.
However, those who believed in the ‘superiority’ of abilities described themselves as superhumans, and referred to non-superhumans or ordinary people as ‘incapable’.
Those who were not born with the blessing of superpowers.
Unlike themselves, the generation that would lead the new era, these were the beings of an outdated era that should become extinct and disappear.
During the wandering years of adolescence, due to the influence of the environment, those who thought that only those with abilities were superior sometimes treated those without superpowers as ‘disabled’.
If those with physical deficiencies were considered disabled.
Then, to ability users, ordinary people were ‘deficient’ of super abilities.
From an ordinary person’s perspective, this was an extremely unpleasant and detestable viewpoint, but would it change even if you told them their thinking was wrong?
Not at all.
It would not change.
One was born with special abilities, and losing one’s powers was impossible.
Some time ago, it was rumored that such a thing happened in North America, but people didn’t care much because they were accidents that happened by chance.
But…
Now, the situation has changed.
Whether this was a misunderstanding or not, whether it was true or not, we could not know.
But given the circumstances, the concerned party who could confirm this was unable to say anything, and the subject to ask if they really had such abilities had disappeared without a trace.
“-Goblin, can you erase abilities?”
People began to wonder.
And this was no different for the organization.
With the help of Brewer, I temporarily left Sejong Island and headed to Busan, then straight up to Seoul and entered my house.
“Ah, this is Manager Do Ji-Hwan.”
And I greeted them.
“It’s been a while since we’ve greeted each other directly. Nice to see you, Chairwoman. And directors.”
Through video conferencing via a special relay device in my house in Seoul, I greeted the leader and executives of Yi Maemangyang on a channel that did not fall under government surveillance.
No one showed their faces.
They were each wearing masks according to their own concept, but I had already confirmed the faces under the masks separately.
I was also wearing a mask.
The reason for wearing a mask was that everyone had to maintain their concept from their respective positions or because they could not show their faces.
It was not that they were inconveniently wearing masks to solidify the concept of a secret society meeting.
[Was it difficult to get out? It doesn’t seem like it should have taken a week.]
“It was harder than I thought. People were going in and out from Germany to Sejong Island, and since an A-Class ability user lost her superpower, the entire Sejong Island was on alert.”
[We were also on alert. Even if the report comes in, we need to be able to believe it.]
The woman who had directly received the report, Gunggi, brought up a document on the screen.
[Yumir. Are you saying this woman has purified Ermina Sternfert, who became a devil?]
“Yes. I suspect she might be the party responsible for the series of events that happened in North America, which caused a total loss of mana.”
[The method is to directly extract the seed of the devil that nests in the belly of one who became a devil?]
“Yes.”
I did not have visual material, so I could not visually communicate what I had seen, but I conveyed the situation in detail.
“She inserted her hand, which had turned gold, into Ermina’s abdomen. The hand made of mana penetrated Ermina’s abdomen, but no blood splattered. It did not affect the human body; instead, she took out the devil’s seed she had grasped in her hand and put it into a golden bead.”
[Ruyi Jingu Bang.]
At the leader’s words, the other executives paused for a moment.
It was a bit surprising that the leader, who usually didn’t speak much, said something and that the word was not an ordinary word. It was related to the leader’s superpower, which made everyone flustered.
[There’s no need to be surprised. Whether it’s sealing an ability in a bead or sealing a demon in a bead, the mechanism is the same.]
[Just because the mechanism is the same doesn’t mean just anyone can do it, Chief.]
[Then it means that only that woman called Yumir and I can use this technique in the whole world.]
Yumir had used the Chief’s technique.
Although extraction was the polar opposite of what the Chief did, the act of extracting something from an ability user was the same.
[Yumir. Platinum Sun. Solar Platina. She’s currently meeting with Manager Do as a teacher and student?]
“…Yes. That’s correct.”
The real proposal would start from now.
[What do you think, Manager Do?]
“I think she’s worth drawing into Gyeolsa.”
[What about when you put your personal feelings aside?]
“Yes. Her ability is incredibly outstanding, and she doesn’t seem to have a strong desire to walk the path of a hero. Leaving everything else aside, if Pandemonium… keeps trying to recruit her from that angle, I think it would be better to recruit her into Gyeolsa first.”
A woman with special abilities.
Moreover, her ability was somewhat similar to the Chief’s.
[What kind of magical power do you feel from her?]
“I think it was at least an S-class.”
[Well, if she carries that massive mana pouch and isn’t S-class, that would be strange.]
“……”
Regardless of the size of her mana pouch, Yumir simply has a lot of mana.
[So what’s your plan, Manager Do? How are you going to recruit her into Gyeolsa?]
“I will dedicate myself to bringing Yumir to our side in Gyeolsa.”
[Hmm….]
A somewhat scoffing sigh came out from the Chief.
[Manager Do. I have a question.]
“Please go ahead, Daool.”
[So, you’re saying you’ll flirt with Yumir to make her only look at you and ensure she doesn’t betray Gyeolsa?]
“Yes. That’s correct.”
That was the bombshell.
I felt like I was now standing on the execution block, about to be dissected by these women.
[Is that the best plan you’ve thought of, Manager Do?]
“Isn’t that the most certain resource I have to convince her? For the sake of our goal, we should not be picky about our means and methods. That’s what you’ve always said, Director.”
[Still, I’m a bit opposed to the idea that the method is through the use of your looks.]
One of the directors outright rejected my strategy.
[Do we really need to recruit her that badly just because she has power? What about recruiting her in another way?]
“What kind of way are you suggesting?”
[Acting like a true villain. Take hostages, or purely recruit her as a part of the large organization, or make her an offer she can’t refuse!]
“Those might be ways too, but unfortunately, according to the data we have researched, Yumir currently doesn’t have any weaknesses.”
I displayed briefly on the screen the contents of Yumir’s personal information from the reports Brewer had investigated.
“She doesn’t have any family. She was raised in an orphanage in Canada, and that orphanage was wiped out completely by a villain attack.”
Although Yumir hasn’t directly said it to me yet, she didn’t have a family. The lack of background information on the protagonist made me wonder if this was correct. For a moment, I wanted to kill the author who hadn’t fully unraveled the protagonist’s settings before they came to Korea.
“Yumir is a person who wants affection. Especially now, she is being ostracized among her peers for being a foreign E-class ability user. She is less attractive than the people here, but if there’s an additional seat on the board, she could be by the side, so she would be envied and targeted.”
Objectively, she wouldn’t lose against the Chief in comparison, but if I said such a thing, I could be punished immediately, so I decided to moderate it properly.
“I will use that point. If the agenda passes, I will use my full power to seduce Yumir and make her one of us in our organization.”
[Director Do. Are you planning to build a harem?]
“How dare I dream of such a thing as a harem. However.”
I stood up from my seat and bowed politely.
“I will devote myself to the organization and do my best to achieve the chief’s grand dream.”
[Okay.]
The Chief’s answer came.
[Subdue Yumir. Make her move for the organization. Don’t choose the means and methods. Mobilize everything that Director Do can. However.]
The Chief attached a condition.
[Tell her you’re married.]
“……Pardon?”
What did she just say?
[Tell her you’re married. If she sincerely tries to seduce you even after knowing you’re married? Then I’ll approve.]
“Chief?”
[Isn’t that right? Whether a married man tries to seduce her or not, if she knows he’s married and still dates him, that becomes ‘adultery’.]
“……”
The Chief was…
[Nice. Make her have a guilt that she can’t erase for a lifetime. There is no easier way to make her a villain.]
Something.
[By the way, say you have a kid too.]
“Chief, should I go there right now?”
[No, no. I’m talking seriously right now. I’m not angry. I’m really talking seriously, so listen carefully.]
It was going out of control.
At the same time.
[Make Yumir have the psychological debt of being an adulteress for her lifetime. Isn’t that the true ‘fall of the villain’? The fact that she dated a married man who has a child.]
She knew how to use a person’s weakness too well.
[Make her into someone who cannot be accepted by anyone in this world except the organization.]
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