Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 245
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 245
54. Preparation (4)
"How did Adrian-nim get here?"
I secured Kang Min-hee first.
Naturally, that process was anything but peaceful, and the sight of the special forces units deployed for facility defense being dismantled without resistance was fully exposed.
A one-sided massacre where the word "battle" couldn't even apply.
Of course, since I only cut off limbs and destroyed equipment without taking lives, "massacre" isn't quite the right word, but the shocking visual effects and the screams and groans echoing from all directions created a scene that seemed to bring hell itself down to this world.
Naturally, the suit-clad man serving as the guide was utterly stunned, and Kang Min-hee, who as a soldier had virtually no real combat experience, also turned pale.
She protested toward our party, who were walking without a single change in expression.
"A-Adrian-nim! Stop this! Why are you harming innocent people!?"
I looked at Kang Min-hee coldly and replied.
"Firing a gun means you intend to kill the other person. You can't call that innocent. Anyone who fires a gun should know they might get hit too isn't that what a soldier is?"
Was it because of my reaction, so different from when I'd acted friendly as her cousin?
Kang Min-hee flinched hard, but then seeming to decide she had to stop me, she grabbed my hand as it reached toward the soldiers fleeing with their will to fight lost, and clung on.
But the gestures I made when using magic were just a habit, not a requirement.
"Kkeuk!"
"Aaaah!"
Kang Min-hee had mustered her courage to hang onto my arm, but regardless of her effort, the ankles of the special forces soldiers trying to flee were severed.
"I understand you're angry because they shot at you. But if you hadn't forcefully invaded this place, there wouldn't have been a battle at all."
Did she know someone among those who got hurt?
Or was she just pitiful seeing soldiers no different from herself being taken down so pathetically?
Where had her usual confident demeanor gone? At her tearful protest, I who had been bulldozing forward with her hanging on me came to a full stop.
"Why should I show consideration for the people imprisoning my subject Benjamin?"
"Th-That's..."
"Benjamin surely must have revealed that Count Reiers is my subject. So imprisoning him anyway means you intend to be my enemy, doesn't it?"
Seeing her at a loss for words, I spoke to her as if admonishing.
"Benjamin, who helped you get to Earth, is also your benefactor. What exactly were you doing while he was imprisoned?"
"...."
"Don't tell me you actually led the charge and orchestrated his imprisonment to secure a fully functional dimension shift ability?"
"That's not it!"
"But you didn't actively work for Benjamin either. If you truly cared for him, you'd have reported it to higher command or the Blue House. You condoned Benjamin's imprisonment through inaction."
Of course, being a soldier...
It wouldn't be easy for an officer who went through regular training to betray his superiors.
But sometimes, silence is also a crime.
That was the point I made.
"I'm sorry."
Just as Kang Min-hee was surprised by my appearance at first, she and her troops didn't know I could travel between Earth and Rondel.
If they had known, they wouldn't have stood by like this.
Because they'd never know when I might come crashing in.
In other words, she could never be free of responsibility for this situation.
So I spoke to Kang Min-hee forcefully.
"To us, you're a criminal. So follow along quietly."
She had no choice but to nod.
"Hey, what are you doing with the compass? Instead of guiding me to where my subordinate is imprisoned."
When I kicked his backside, the terrified man in the black suit bowed and scraped repeatedly.
Asking Kang Min-hee as we walked, I learned that he was the private-sector manager of the Gift Research Institute.
Seeing how he looked nothing like he belonged in a research institute, I roughly understood what kind of position he held.
"So he's a guy who throws his weight around off the back of connections."
At my words, the suit-clad man named Han Jin-woo gave a sycophantic smile.
I followed him as he moved, and shortly after, we arrived at the lowest floor of the lab where Benjamin was being held.
It had been less than a day only about 12 hours since the two of them had crossed from Rondel to Korea.
But the time difference between Rondel and Korea was tenfold.
In other words, Benjamin had been imprisoned for nearly five days.
"You came."
Yet he rose from his seat with complete composure and greeted me as casually as if we had met yesterday.
His reaction suggested he had expected us to come.
I checked Benjamin's condition and confirmed there was nothing wrong.
Then he spoke to Han Jin-woo in a mocking tone.
"What did I tell you? Didn't I say you'd regret it?"
There was no answer from Han Jin-woo.
Instead, Kang Min-hee responded to his words as if in disbelief.
"So you already knew these people could travel between worlds? That's why you weren't excited even though you finally returned to Earth."
"That's correct."
From Benjamin's earlier statement, I belatedly realized that Han Jin-woo was the mastermind behind the imprisonment.
"Kek!"
So I grabbed him by the neck and said.
"Looks like we have a guest. Let's head up."
Then, holding Han Jin-woo in one hand like a shopping bag, I snapped my fingers.
At that, the scenery around us shifted, and a lush surface park came into view.
"Grand Duke Lawrence!"
The moment we left the lab via teleportation, the one greeting us was the President of South Korea.
Kang Min-hee, who apparently hadn't expected the President to be waiting, swallowed air in shock, while Han Jin-woo, who had been choking as his neck was held, brightened at the prospect of possibly surviving.
President Kim Min-guk had brought a large contingent of soldiers and guards, but the peculiar thing was that the guards meant to protect the President weren't watching us the greatest threat but instead scanning the outside to ensure no one approached.
"Did you know that my subject had been imprisoned, Mr. President?"
At my direct question, the President shook his head firmly.
"Ah, no. I was just informed of it myself. I immediately ordered his release, but I was one step too late."
A check with the Myriad Mirror showed no falsehood in his words.
I acknowledged that and decided to let my anger subside.
So, for the soldiers dying down in the facility beneath our feet, I cast a large-scale 8th Circle Revive spell.
-Fwoosh!
Even amid the anomaly of a powerful, massive light descending over the surface, those guarding the President did not threaten us.
At that, I smiled.
"I will trust you, Mr. President. The soldiers I subdued down below have all been restored just now."
At that, the President and his entourage let out sighs of relief.
But their expressions hardened at what I did next.
"In our Rondel, the land where a nation's king stands is recognized as extraterritorial anywhere overseas. And a radius of fifty meters from the ground the king stands on becomes temporary territory."
-Crack!
Because I invoked Rondel's international law and crushed the neck of Han Jin-woo, whom I held in my hand, with a single hand.
I hurled the neck-broken wretch in front of the President like tossing trash.
"Han Jin-woo, who kidnapped and imprisoned a key minister of the duchy, is hereby sentenced to death and executed under duchy law... And First Lieutenant Kang Min-hee, who stood by and did nothing, is also sentenced to imprisonment and will be detained in the duchy."
A law that could bend any way one pleased, with no way to verify it.
The President narrowed his brow at my sudden action, but soon let out a sigh as if there was nothing he could do.
From his position, this situation must have been utterly humiliating.
But they could never afford to make an enemy of us.
After all, they were currently preparing for war with Japan.
No matter how much the President had a duty to protect his people, he couldn't trade one man's life for the nation's future.
"Let's put this entire matter behind us."
"Understood."
I answered calmly to the President's words and brought the matter to a close.
Having shaken off my displeasure, I rose into the air once more with my companions.
"I'm not in a good mood today, so I'll return for now and visit again later."
"Yes, I'll await your news."
With that, I teleported to Reiers County.
* * *
As the Adrian family all of them strikingly handsome and beautiful vanished, a gust of hot air surged up from the underground lab, now left with a gaping hole.
President Kim Min-guk clicked his tongue while facing that wind tinged with burning, and the Chief Secretary asked with a resentful look.
"Are you sure that's all right? Isn't this too one-sided?"
How could it possibly be all right?
In such a humiliating situation.
"There's no helping it. We're the ones who provided the cause this time."
But the President maintained as calm an expression as possible, and the Chief Secretary, who had no choice but to find that very sight frightening, spoke while furtively gauging his mood.
"The female First Lieutenant he took with him is the one who succeeded in the dimension shift."
"I know."
I'd wondered if he might not realize it, but the quick-witted President Kim Min-guk already understood Adrian's purpose.
"The imprisoned subordinate is nothing more than a Justification/Cause. He clearly intended to secure First Lieutenant Kang Min-hee."
The problem was their position knowing that, they still had no choice but to hand her over.
"What good is rising as a new powerhouse if we're groveling before a single person like this?"
"We need to find a means of response."
The President agreed with the Chief Secretary's words with a firm expression.
Currently, South Korea and Adrian's faction maintained an alliance, but the two were not equal an invisible hierarchy had been established between them.
If things continued like this, they would keep being dragged around endlessly.
Therefore, even if they maintained the alliance, they needed a means to watch each other's positions on equal footing.
"Come to think of it, I believe there was an interesting report related to Gifts."
"You mean synergy?"
"Yes, that."
Synergy.
It meant when Gifts met other Gifts, producing a far more powerful effect than expected.
Kang Min-hee's dimension shift with Benjamin's help could be considered part of this.
In this situation, there was only one thing the President could order.
"Superpowers should be countered with superpowers. Strengthen the research on synergy."
The President had no intention of antagonizing Adrian from now on.
But he thought they needed to keep a trump card prepared for a possible emergency.
* * *
Upon arriving at Reiers County, I had to consider what to do next.
For now, I had forcibly brought Kang Min-hee over by putting forward various Justifications/Causes, but I needed to decide how to use her going forward and how to treat her.
I could simply brainwash her with magic, but wouldn't that be a bit much for a relative?
So I arrived at the reception room of Reiers County to have a talk with her, but...
"Huh?"
-Flash!
Suddenly, a beam of light pierced through the ducal castle's building, and a figure I'd briefly forgotten appeared.
"Lord Exceed!?"
Just as Arc Scarlet's joyful cry suggested, Lord Exceed the Demon King of Earth and the reincarnation of Grand Duke Lucas had appeared.
"Wait."
I grabbed Arc Scarlet by the ponytail as she hopped cheerfully toward him and held her back.
"Ow! What are you doing!?"
The reason was that his expression was unsettling.
He was looking around at our members with a stiff, utterly serious face.
Then his gaze fixed on Kang Min-hee, and I stood in front of her, blocking his line of sight.
"Weren't you not using descent because of the aftereffects? You have no idea how startled I was when you appeared without any notice."
At my words, Lord Exceed's expression finally relaxed, and a smile crept onto the corners of his mouth.
But to me, that smile looked like a business smile.
"It's been a while. I was actually planning to greet Adrian-nim on his next visit."
Planning to greet?
His words were in the past tense.
That meant something had changed.
"But having seen this unscheduled visit, forgive my rudeness I've ascertained the full situation through Selin."
I could understand why his gaze had turned to Kang Min-hee.
Of course he'd be fascinated by someone who'd succeeded in a dimension shift.
But I had a feeling his earlier gaze wasn't purely out of curiosity.
And then, looking straight at me, he said,
"I'd like you to make your stance clear now."
Even as Arc Scarlet beside him desperately tried to draw his attention, his eyes stayed fixed on me.
I immediately questioned what he meant, but he raised his voice and asked with utter seriousness.
"Whether you'll side with the Sepia Goddess, or join hands with us to stop her."