Chapter 60: Chapter 60

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

Unable to make any sense of the situation, let alone accept it, Ho Sung blinked awkwardly.

“Is he… dead?” Ho Sung murmured, looking back and forth between Ace’s corpse and Min Sung

“S-s-sir?” he called to the champion, panicking. At that point, Min Sung, annoyed, tilted his head and glared piercingly at Ho Sung.

“You did it on purpose, didn’t you? Why didn’t you move out of the way?”

Ho Sung, startled, dropped the sword in his hand along with Ace’s corpse stuck to it.

“I-I’m so sorry! It was an accident! I swear! It-it just happened so suddenly… Agh! Why did I have to level up now of all times!? It’s not like I killed a monster! What do we do now? He’s dead, and we didn’t find out where the bomb is,” Ho Sung said, still in a panic. Then, collapsing to his knees, he murmured deliriously, “Agh… what do we do? We’ve lost the only way to know the director’s whereabouts now…”

“Get up,” Min Sung said.

“I’m terribly sorry, sir. It’s all my fault. Now, Seoul will lie in ruins all because of me,” Ho Sung said, clenching his teeth in shame.

“What are you saying? Why would Seoul lie in ruins?”

At that question, Ho Sung replied wearily as if he found the answer obvious, “Well… Ace is dead now, and we didn’t get to find out where the bomb is. Now, the bomb will wipe out the city…”

“Bowl.”

At its master’s voice, the doll crawled out of Min Sung’s pocket, jumped down and landed on the ground.

“Yes, master?” the doll asked, looking up at Min Sung, who pointed toward the body with his chin and said, “The body. It’s all yours,”

“Really? Can I?” Bowl asked, its eyes bursting into black flames.

“That’s right.”

With its master’s permission, the doll waddled toward the corpse. All the while, Ho Sung watched it in a daze as the doll spread its bony hand out toward the corpse, cackling. Then, the black flames in Bowl’s eyes grew larger, and it started chanting a spell.

“I now claim ownership of your death, deceased one. Death, my prisoner, my soul, rescue this soul with great mercy, for it will serve me as the living dead for all eternity.”

A black Aura flowed out of doll’s fingers, coiling itself around Ace’s lifeless body.

“Rise, my undead minion!” Bowl cried out. At that moment, the ground started to shake and shatter, and the flames on the doll’s eyes became even larger. Shortly after, Ace rose to his feet slowly, waddled toward Bowl, and stood next to it as if waiting for its master’s command. A jaw-dropping experience, Ho Sung watched the ritual take place with widened eyes and his mouth agape. Unlike Ho Sung, the champion remained completely unfazed. With his hands in his pockets, he walked toward the doll and said, “Ask him where the director is.”

At its master’s command, Bowl looked up at Ace and said, “Where is the director?”

“Central…Institute…Underground…Villains…Detention… Center…” Ace said ominously and incoherently.

Hearing that, Min Sung called for Ho Sung.

“Ho Sung Lee.”

“…Sir. Oh! S-sir!” Ho Sung let out, startled after staring at the undead Ace in a daze.

“Tell Ji Yoo Kim to look through their underground prison. I don’t care how you get into contact with her.”

“Y-yes, sir. But, uh… Shouldn’t we learn how to defuse the bomb too?” Ho Sung asked. At which point, Min Sung signaled to Bowl with his chin, and the doll asked its new undead minion about the bomb. However, as if his intelligence had been lost after becoming undead, Ace shook his head slowly instead of giving an answer.

“What do we do?” Ho Sung asked anxiously.

“She’ll take care of it,” the champion replied nonchalantly, and a drop of sweat fell from Ho Sung’s temple.

—

‘I will settle this myself. You go back to the Institute and do what you need to do.’

Thinking back to Min Sung’s remark, Ji Yoo closed her eyes, a dark expression on her face. the champion’s voice lingered in her head.

‘Seems like you have no other option but to trust me, don’t you think?’

The sense of powerlessness brought about a type of pain that was almost unbearable. It wasn’t an overstatement to say that the country’s military was mostly composed of Central Institute soldiers. Yet, the entire country fell into a crisis at the hands of a single terrorist, the one named Paul Ace.

Having told the citizens to evacuate to the outskirts of Seoul, Ji Yoo put her pale, skinny hand on her warm forehead. At that moment, the door to the control room opened, and Ji Yoo’s voluptuous secretary rushed in, greeted her with a quick bow and said, “Ma’am.”

“So, anything?”

“No, ma’am… Nothing worth noting.”

At the secretary’s reply, Ji Yoo brushed her bangs up and bit down on her lower lip. Then, the secretary’s phone started to go off. As the secretary answered it, Ji Yoo looked at her anxiously.

“Ma’am, good news. We’ve identified the location of the Director of Investigations.”

“Where!?” Ji Yoo asked in a hurry.

“He’s being held at the Villains Detention Center.”

At that, a blank look appeared on Ji Yoo’s face.

“The Detention Center…?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the secretary replied, nodding affirmatively.

“He was right under our noses all along,” Ji Yoo said, chuckling. Then, turning to the secretary with a serious expression, Ji Yoo said, “Put a search team together. Now.”

—

Armed to the teeth, the Central Institute soldiers started searching through the rubble of the prison. Although the building itself was durable enough to withstand the explosion, the previous bombing had still caused substantial damage. The walls were cracked and the debris complicated the search, making it difficult for the search team to move around the scene.

“Get a move on! There’s not a minute to waste! We have to find the director at all costs!”

At the captain’s command, the soldiers hastened their pace. Then, while the search was still in progress, Ji Yoo arrived at the scene.

“How’s the progress?”

“We’ve already swept through the premises, but no sign of him. Is he really here, ma’am?” The captain replied with a troubled look on his face, looking away from Ji Yoo. At that point, a wave of confusion washed over her.

‘Did Ace trick us?’

When that thought entered her mind, she felt sick to her stomach. However, shaking that feeling off, she reminded herself of the urgency of the situation.

‘There’s no time. I have to trust Min Sung Kang.’

“Don’t let up. Keep searching until you find him,” Ji Yoo said emphatically. Bowing to her, the captain urged his team to keep searching, and Ji Yoo, too, joined in with the team. Walking around while clenching her sweaty hands, she heightened her senses.

‘If Tae Gyum really is here, then Ace wouldn’t have made it easy for us to find him.’

Getting into contact with headquarters, Ji Yoo requested a detailed map of the prison. Shortly after, the map arrived on her cellphone. When she started examining the map, her eyes began to sparkle.

‘This would be a good place to hide a hostage.’

After moving at the speed of light through the soldiers who were searching through the rubble, Ji Yoo arrived at the exact spot she had seen on the map.

‘This is it…’ she thought, looking ahead nervously. In front of her, was the solitary confinement block, where criminals with the highest villain rating were held. However, it hadn’t been used for a long time. No matter how heinous the criminal might have been, the confinement was a harsh enough environment to infringe on the inmate’s human rights, forcing the Institute to shut it down.

In the tight, confined space of the cells, there was just enough room for a person to sit. Not only that, there was not a single window or opening, which meant that there was no light source whatsoever. The possibility of her subordinate suffering in such a place while wearing a time bomb broke Ji Yoo’s heart.

Taking her rapier out of the inventory, she cut the chains wrapped around the metal bars. The thick, sturdy chains unraveled as the blade cut through them like paper. Catching her breath, Ji Yoo opened the cell door.

“Ah…” Ji Yoo let out, staring into the cell with somber eyes. In that tight, claustrophobic room, she saw the Director of Investigations sitting on a chair. He was covered in wounds and dried blood. Bound by a magically-reinforced chain, there was a thick roll of cloth around his mouth and a bomb made with an enchanted stone next to him.

‘Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.’

[00:20:07]

There was much less time than Ji Yoo had expected. Should it have taken her longer to find the director, Seoul in its entirety would have been swallowed by the explosion.

‘Ace wasn’t lying,’ Ji Yoo thought. Bigger than any of the bombs Ace had used up to that point, the bomb was big enough to cover Tae Gyum entirely. A timer ticking down on a bomb that size was already terrifying in and of itself.

Although weary, Tae Gyum looked toward Ji Yoo with eyes filled with loyalty. At the same time, they were also filled with guilt and shame for putting the country and the Institute in danger.

“We found him! Get me the bomb squad! Now!” the captain shouted. Meanwhile, Ji Yoo walked toward Tae Gyum, kneeled in front of him and placed her hand on his shoulder, saying, “This isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself. In fact, this is on me.”

At Ji Yoo’s kind words, Tae Gyum dropped his head and tears started streaming down his eyes.

“It’s all over. Wait just a little longer. Bomb technicians will be here any minute now.”

Just as Ji Yoo finished her sentence, the bomb squad arrived. She backed away to let them through, and the team rushed to Tae Gyum. However, while Ji Yoo was waiting anxiously, she sensed trouble in the air. Sure enough, the team leader turned toward Ji Yoo with a dark expression on his face.