Episode 6: Mafia Game / Chapter 102: Someone (2)

TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk

The alliance’s method of ‘broadcasting’ was directly transmitting telepathic messages to the viewers’ heads. They would suddenly hear a voice, and when they focused on that voice, they would see a clear scene as if they standing in the broadcast.

{There is news that Earth’s independent troops, who have recently joined the alliance, have eradicated doppelgangers and a monster of night, and subjugated the Cayenne star. We take you now to Reporter Leleo on the Cayenne star.}

After the news anchor finished speaking, a white-skinned, pointed-eared, beautiful woman appeared in the middle of a field of shining flowers. Her long, thin tail swayed elegantly behind her.

{This is Reporter Leleo. I am currently here on the Cayenne star. Can you see the plentiful shining flowers here? They are amazing flowers that convert the heat and energy from the Cayenne star into various matter and energy necessary for life. Overseer Richard, who was the first to report this, called them ‘solar flowers’. Like you can see here, many different lifeforms have evolved throughout the Cayenne Star’s long history, the most recent inhabitants of the Cayenne star having a glorious civilization, one where they could even build an enormous floating city.}

Following Reporter Leleo’s words, the viewers were shown the past appearance of the Cayenne star deciphered using psychometry. A beautiful city floating in the sky, a beautiful field, and the now ruined city. Once they walked through this, the viewers would be standing in the middle of the great ruins.

Reporter Leleo walked next to them as if she were on a hike.

{However, due to the invasion of the monsters, the ‘cayennings’ have become extinct, not leaving a single descendant behind. Even the enormous amount of karma they had accumulated throughout the star’s long history had lost its path and degenerated into the monsters’ energy source. However, the independent troops of Earth have avenged the now extinct Cayenne star residents. We were also able to collect a significant amount of karma that had been about to be completely absorbed by the monsters. It is the precious inheritance the Cayenne star residents left behind for the life and freedom of karmalings.}

Leleo took a few steps forward, twirled around and, while looking back, said,

{Now we will meet the heroes of Earth who eliminated the monsters from the Cayenne star.}

A black-haired man appeared next to Leleo.

He was tall and gave a cold impression. He was Choi Hyuk.

{Hello, Overseer Choi Hyuk.}

{Hello.}

{Excuse me, but I heard that your karma level was at the level of middle ranked warriors.}

{That is correct.}

{Although the monster of night isn’t a combat-oriented monster, it is still a high ranked monster. While it must have been difficult to handle it with the strength of a middle ranked warrior, there are many warriors who were shocked to learn that you killed the monster of night by yourself.}

{It wasn’t that difficult.}

Although Choi Hyuk’s reply was short, Reporter Leleo skillfully continued to ask questions and made the interview interesting. The key point she was attempting to highlight was the fighting capabilities of the newly joined earthlings, and among them, Overseer Choi Hyuk’s fighting talent.

While talking about his fighting talent, there was no way Choi Hyuk’s sword wouldn’t catch her eye. Choi Hyuk didn’t hide it and revealed his sword. She showed a dramatic reaction.

{Whaaat?! A middle ranked warrior with a Weapon of Vow…?? Oh my god.}

Reporter Leleo, who couldn’t close her mouth as she examined ‘Choi Hyuk’s Imprint’, had difficulty continuing to speak.

{Fr-from what I know, isn’t this unprecedented? There’s no doubt that the emergence of a Weapon of Vow after such a long time is a fortune for the alliance… but I thought that if a Weapon of Vow were to emerge, it would be from the hands of a top ranked warrior. For a middle ranked warrior…!}

Reporter Leleo’s tone, which had been calmly complimenting and giving reactions up until now, dramatically changed. Her voice became louder and she stuttered her words. The reaction she was showing now was real and not because this was her job. She couldn’t hide her excitement.

Choi Hyuk’s interview became longer than expected. Only after a long while later did Reporter Leleo end it, while still excited, and hurriedly followed the original script.

{Yes. However, the reason why earthlings, who have joined only recently, could come out victorious against the much stronger high ranked monsters, doppelgangers, was largely due to Overseer Richard’s outstanding commanding ability.}

Richard was briefly called out at the end of the interview. Leleo analyzed and complimented his outstanding commanding ability. It seemed she had pulled herself together as her previous excitement was no longer apparent.

After watching the end of the interview, Commander Mack opened her closed eyes. With a smile, she asked,

“How was my present?”

“… Exhausting.”

“Haha! It’s still the best present. It was an actual interview on Laniakea’s central broadcast. This means that there will be those in the alliance headquarters who watch it, let alone those in other superclusters. Then they will start handling information about you over there. Your name will spread throughout the universe. On top of that… Since you were hiding such a huge secret, your name will be spread to countless people. You must be happy. You’re only a middle ranked warrior who recently just joined, yet you’re much more famous than me.”

Commander Mack was leaning against the air as she gave a sidelong glance. Her gaze fell on ‘Choi Hyuk’s Imprint’ hanging from his waist.

“Although it wasn’t really a secret.”

She said to Choi Hyuk, who followed her gaze and looked down at his weapon. He had thought he knew better than anyone else that his weapon was amazing, but after receiving such heated reactions… It seemed it was more amazing than he thought.

Looking at Choi Hyuk’s dull reaction, Mack shook her head.

“It’s fine if you brag and put it out there a little more. You… want to go to the center, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

Choi Hyuk replied without a sliver of hesitation. Commander Mack shook her head as if saying there was no stopping him.

“Haha, what a troublesome subordinate. So troublesome.”

After mumbling ‘troublesome’ a few more times, she raised her slouched body and, with a lower voice, said,

“Although I don’t know too much, looking at the mood, there seem to be a few people up top that don’t like that earthlings joined the alliance… That in itself isn’t strange. Recently, joining the alliance has become very picky, and even if they did join, I heard that many go through a harsh hazing. However… If this incident wasn’t simply an accident but the result of someone’s trickery, then this is an incident that significantly crosses the line, even considering other incidents up until now… That’s why I was curious. If this really is true, then why? What did the earthlings do for them to act this way…? And I was extremely curious, okay?”

She had leaned her face in closer and closer before leisurely leaning against the air with a disinterested expression as she said,

“But you had a Weapon of Vow. How did you make it? Even I’m only using a Weapon of Sentiment.”

A blue crystal, which had been hidden beneath her blue hair, poked out a little. Although Choi Hyuk wasn’t aware of it, it was a strong weapon with quite the reputation in the Laniakea Supercluster. A karma-crystal ‘Mack’s Desire’.

Choi Hyuk looked down at ‘Choi Hyuk’s Imprint’, which was a new Weapon of Vow currently making waves throughout space, and replied,

“A friend… gifted it to me.”

“… Although you were the one who made it, the cost of the materials and the necessary facilities must have been no joke… What an amazing friend. A real amazing friend… Even your friends are troublesome.”

“Do you know Flame-Rain?”

“Although I don’t know a lot… I know that she’s the young lady of a great family in the Flame Wing Tribe. She’s famous for being an eccentric young lady who goes around to different clusters and joining the war… And while there are a lot of absurd rumors, even I don’t know of her true identity. But what’s clear is that I don’t want to know her identity either. I get a hunch that nothing good will come out of it if I knew.”

Mack clasped her hands and said,

“The incident this time might have actually been because of her and not you. Looking at how she goes around the boundaries of the alliance shows that there definitely is a story behind her… Meaning it could be a family who wants to obstruct her or one that possesses a grudge against her. But if she shows great interest towards you, then that’ll be more than enough for you to become a target.”

“… They’ll entrap all of humanity because I’m a target?”

“I told you. She’s the young lady of the Flame Wing Tribe. If they are a family with direct ties to the Flame Wing Tribe, then they can shake the fate of a newly joined species on the palm of their hands. Although it’s a classic example of the irrationality of the alliance… it’s still a fact.”

“…”

Mack moved and placed her arm over Choi Hyuk, whose mouth was tightly shut. Then she said,

“I’ll give you a piece of advice. If you want to be friends with such a troublesome people, then you have no choice but to quickly become successful and scram off to the top.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Yeah. I’ll thoroughly make use of you, so do your best to accumulate contributions.”

To reach the top, one needed the help of someone up top.

“If you go up, don’t forget my help.”

Choi Hyuk needed Mack’s help, and Mack was also looking for a way to use her subordinate, who had become a hot topic throughout space, for her own benefit.

“This interview is only the start. With their own wrongdoing and because of the public opinion about you… You should be able to get a great reward. You can look forward to it.”

“Thank you.”

Mack slowly nodded at Choi Hyuk’s reply. She took her arm off his shoulder and, with a serious voice, turned to a different matter.

“Yeah. One more thing. You reported that the monster of night ‘saw’ something, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why I looked into it… And I found a trace that something had escaped towards Earth during that time.”

“To Earth?”

He was slightly taken aback. For the monster of night’s final trick was aimed at Earth and not himself. It was a result he had never expected.

“There are cases like this. Cases where they read a warrior’s past and inversely invade their home star… Looking at how weak the detected karma was, it might have sent an immature doppelganger queen to avoid detection… is my guess.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It is dangerous. Very dangerous. Depending on the situation, it might even result in the early shutdown of Earth. It’s a situation where even Dragonic might be in danger if there’s a slip up.”

“What do we need to do?”

“If it’s an immature doppelganger queen, then it’ll take around 2 months before it starts laying larvae, meaning we need to find it before then. But, since it’s a queen and immature, it’ll be difficult to find it using the wide area identification device. There is no other way besides using a small identification device to search for it. A doppelganger queen in an undeveloped state is in a spirit form. That is why you can’t see it with your eyes and must use your karma senses to find it, and confirm it once more with identification devices. That is why it’s complicated, but if someone hides it as well, then the problem becomes even more serious.”

“… Hides it?”

“Yeah. There are cases like that since they burrow into the openings of people’s hearts. If it’s one the monster of night sent, then there is an especially high chance it’ll make use of the information the monster of night collected. The person might not simply hide it but even offer to grow it.”

“I understand.”

Although it was a headache, Choi Hyuk calmly nodded his head. Since there was a month left and they had identification devices, they could find it even if they had to do a total inspection. Because they were going to progress forcefully, it didn’t matter whether someone hid it or not.

Mack nodded her head as if pleased with Choi Hyuk’s calm expression.

“Yeah. I’ll keep a lookout, and if the resolution takes too long, we’ll intervene. Of course, if you are able to resolve it yourselves without our intervention, then people’s evaluation of you will rise.”

She was pressuring him, telling him to try and resolve this by himself. Of course, Choi Hyuk had no thoughts on asking for help either.

“Understood.”

**

Once he returned to Earth, Chu Youngjin suddenly began to see ‘her’.

On corners, on crowded crosswalks, beyond store windows, on the other side of the street, and behind strangers, he saw the figure of a girl who couldn’t possibly be there.

This was a frequent occurrence ever since the moment Lee Hyejin was murdered in the gym 3 years ago. When he ran towards her figure, hoping it was her, he would be met with nothing or strangers. A sweet illusion, a cruel reality.

However, the frequency of occurrences was especially high these days. Then, when he turned at a corner, she was standing there. She didn’t disappear.

“…”

Chu Youngjin didn’t say anything and neither did she. If she (it) had said something, then he would have been suspicious. However, like the illusion he had always seen, it didn’t say anything. It simply stood in the corner of his vision.

Chu Youngjin slowly passed by her (it). She slowly followed behind him. No matter where he went, she wouldn’t leave his sight.

‘It seems I really am crazy now.’

Even as he thought this, Chu Youngjin was simply happy at the fact he could see her.

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