3.
Voice Girl was struck with fear.
The humiliating sight of her wearing a sign around her neck.
And of all people, it was Kim Je-cheol, the man in the hanbok, who saw it.
‘Wasn’t even the vicious Confucian girl Lee So-hye also swayed by this man and changed her views?’
Every religion or ideology has its zealots, but Confucianism abhorred theft to an extreme degree.
The difference between Confucianism and other religions is that Confucianism even despises commerce, seeing it as a form of theft.
In Voice Girl’s imagination, Kim Je-cheol, burning with righteous indignation like an embodiment of justice, was the type of person who would publicly humiliate her.
“Look at this.”
“No, please! Not the rope!”
“The sign seems quite big. Is it heavy?”
“Ah... is that what it is?”
“Where did you find this rope?”
“Y-you don’t need to know!”
Luckily, Kim Je-cheol wasn’t a fake Confucian scholar with a twisted view of the world.
‘To think she terrorized the Silent Swordsman with a 100-minute morning call. That’s not something someone sane would do.’
This was definitely something someone above her in the organization ordered her to do.
Kim Je-cheol felt a pang of sympathy for Voice Girl.
“With that kind of outfit, it must be hard to deal with anything. If you're in any trouble, let me know. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Thank you... I didn’t know you were this kind, despite what I’d heard.”
Leaning into Kim Je-cheol’s kindness, Voice Girl gathered her courage.
“There’s something I’d like to ask... but no one else must know about it.”
“Is it something criminal?”
“It’s not exactly that... but it involves my honor and the reputation of the organization.”
At this point, with the sign around her neck, her honor and reputation already seemed nonexistent.
Kim Je-cheol, being unexpectedly considerate, pretended not to notice.
“I’ll listen.”
“One of our senior executives, Whisper, went to challenge the Silent Swordsman but hasn’t returned. Could you go and check if he’s safe?”
“What?! He’s going to date the Silent Swordsman?!”
“No, it’s not a date, it’s a duel...”
“If a man and a woman secretly meet and spend time together, isn’t that a date?!”
However, in front of a man who had fallen in love, his usual considerate personality was nowhere to be found.
“Tell me. Where did he go? Tell me now!”
Voice Girl began to worry if asking him for help was a good idea.
But her concern for Whisper’s safety was just as strong.
Eventually, she told him Whisper’s location.
- The meeting spot Voice Girl had indicated was a desolate area in the middle of a mountain where people didn’t dare venture because of monsters.
“This looks like a disaster site...”
Trees knocked over, piles of dirt, and heaps of rocks marked the steep slope.
No matter what kind of fight had taken place here, one thing was for sure:
Anyone caught in this would’ve died, even a seasoned awakener.
The palm-shaped impressions in the dirt.
The branches lodged deeply into the rocks.
The abandoned villa, carved in a massive spiral, showing signs of the battle.
Everything spoke of the previous night’s fight.
Even Kim Je-cheol, who had been blinded by jealousy, now couldn’t help but worry about Whisper’s safety.
“I was sure it would be around here.”
After draining the Silent Swordsman’s mental strength with a 100-minute morning call, Whisper had challenged him to a one-on-one duel.
Calling Whisper’s phone number, a vibration came from the ground.
“...”
Throwing aside the large debris and digging into the ground, a hand appeared.
“Are you alive? If you hear my voice, move your hand.”
The hand twitched.
Luckily, it seemed like he wasn’t dead yet.
With a quick motion, Whisper was pulled up from the dirt.
He coughed up dirt and breathed heavily.
“I came at Voice Girl’s request, but this is a sorry sight.”
“Is that monster still around here?”
“When I arrived, there was no one here. Not even a wild animal was in sight.”
“Of course, that makes sense...”
The creatures must’ve run away from a force so powerful it could almost cause a natural disaster.
If there were any animals that didn’t flee, they would be even more terrifying.
Those creatures would be strong enough to not even feel the threat of a natural disaster.
They were probably some kind of mysterious monster disguised in animal form.
“Can you walk?”
“Sorry, but I have no strength left... 45% of my internal organs have been destroyed, so all my energy is going into recovery...”
You’re a monster too.
How are you still alive?
Kim Je-cheol stared at him in disbelief.
Was Whisper even aware of Kim Je-cheol’s gaze?
He coughed violently, exhaling black blood as his harsh breaths came in gasps.
“Are you really recovering? Because it looks like you’re dying.”
“It’s fine... Just help me stand. I’ll make sure to thank you properly.”
On the way back to Haenampa, Whisper’s frequent coughing only worsened, despite his claims of recovery.
“At this rate, I’ll die before we get back to Haenampa. Should we call an ambulance?”
“Awakened patients can’t escape the Association’s surveillance...”
“If you die, that’s pointless. We need to focus on surviving first. How exactly are you recovering?”
Whisper, with his body hanging limply, weakly looked up at Kim Je-cheol.
If Kim Je-cheol had meant to harm him, he could’ve done so many times already without needing to ask these questions.
Reluctantly, Whisper spoke the truth.
“I’m attempting recovery, but honestly, I’m just trying to maintain the status quo...”
<Awakening Ability - Call Whisper>
<Evolutionary Trait - Redial (C)>
Every time his magical power recovered, he merely returned his body a few seconds back.
If the time reversed by three seconds, it took 3.3 seconds to recover enough magical power to initiate the reversal.
The slight time difference caused his physical condition to slowly deteriorate.
If Kim Je-cheol hadn’t come, Whisper would’ve eventually died as his injuries worsened over time.
‘Even if someone else had come, this is still terrifying.’
With such a remarkable ability, Whisper was far from weak.
The Silent Swordsman, who had pushed him to this point, was on a whole other level of strength.
“They’re both in a league of their own...”
Whisper, now facing his slow demise, and the Silent Swordsman were both exceptional fighters far beyond his level.
“Voice Girl. The situation has come to this. We need an awakened person’s help with recovery.”
- ...I understand. Leave it to me. I’ll try to persuade the saint.
But it didn’t come to that.
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The moment Kim Je-cheol heard the phone ring, the Silent Swordsman jumped down from the tree and appeared in front of him.
Kim Je-cheol, unable to even scream in surprise, locked eyes with Haeung-eung, who handed him a notebook.
[Don’t ask the saint for help. Say that I’m the one treating him.]
“Ah, I understand.”
After a brief phone call, Kim Je-cheol finished his conversation, while Whisper shot him a disapproving look.
[Do you know how much trouble that man caused me? If you let him out so quickly, he’ll keep pestering me.]
“Still, what you did to him was too much.”
[Experiencing a morning call directly in the head while training was enough to last me a lifetime.]
Haeung-eung’s decision was inevitable.
Voice Girl was part of the organization, and as long as Whisper’s spirit remained unbroken, the morning call torment would continue.
“Please, don’t be too angry with the Silent Swordsman. I’ll try to convince him.”
Kim Je-cheol attempted to mediate.
“From now on, don’t do this again.”
“If given the chance, I’ll do it again.”
“If you want to live, don’t you have to lie about it, at least in times like this?”
“People are expecting it. They want me to defeat the Silent Swordsman. As long as there are those who desire it, I can’t stop.”
“If they’re members of the organization, shouldn’t you be persuading them yourself? But it’s beyond your ability.”
“I’m not a member of the organization. I’m a viewer.”
“Excuse me?”
“The mission I was paid for must be carried out. That’s the mission of a villain. It’s a troublesome, annoying, and dangerous mission, but if I can’t avoid it, I might as well take the payment.”
In other words, he had accepted this for the money.
“I’m just curious, how much were you paid?”
“A total of 3.3 billion was given as an advance...”
“WHAT?! 3.3 billion as an advance? Isn’t a murder contract even blocked by V-Tubers?”
“It wasn’t a murder contract... To be precise, it was a mission to make the Silent Swordsman start broadcasting...”
“Why is your broadcast so successful?”
“Starting with the CEO of Myung-ho Entertainment or whatever, the bosses gave 1 billion each for mission fees... I mean, advances.”
“They even got the CEO?”
“He wasn’t the CEO... He was the boss. They asked for it to be done with a guaranteed result, asking for it to be as painful as possible, but I’m sure those were just for the fun of the broadcast.”
“Those guys just made a murder contract.”
“We promised to get five times the amount if we succeeded, but it’s a shame...”
3.3 billion, the amount earned in donations to pay off the debt, had already been earned long ago, and he made 30 billion more.
Kim Je-cheol, feeling a momentary realization, locked eyes with Haeung-eung and changed his thoughts.
30 billion, for a real fight with the Silent Swordsman.
‘Am I crazy? Even ten times that wouldn’t be enough.’
Compared to Whisper, a newbie streamer with bad cost-efficiency, this was something no sane person would ever try.
And it only added to Whisper’s brilliance.