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Chapter 77

From out of nowhere, a violent windstorm struck and ruined the clear day on the mountain.

Its howling wind, capable of hurling even massive boulders effortlessly, relentlessly lashed at the summit, bringing in a freezing chill. It was a bitter cold that would completely extinguish a person’s body heat and freeze their mana.

And this was just one such example of the weather at the peak. Being one of the most affected, the advent of mana and its subsequent mutations had turned the peak of Mount Everest into a nightmare. However, amidst the nightmarish alpine environment, an incongruous sound echoed.

Creak-

A brown rocking chair slowly swayed to and fro with the wind. Beside it was a laid-out pristine white longbow, its owner being the old woman dressed in a white coat and fedora who was rocking back and forth. She seemed comfortable—her white hair was in a ponytail, her eyes were closed, and she was leaned back.

The old woman, Ha Baek-Yeon, was seemingly enjoying the harsh mountain conditions as if she were at a resort. And just like she was at a resort, she was having a leisurely call with wireless earphones in her ears.

“I cornered every part of them thinking I might find their main body, and then they happened to lead me to the Dream Demon’s refuge. So, I just killed them all.”

—You killed them all? How many were there?

“Thirty-four. Fourteen of them were A ranks, and the rest were B. There were quite a number of them.”

Hearing Ha Baek-Yeon’s casual recounting of the event, Kwang-Soo was in sheer disbelief.

If the Dream Demon provided them with a Dream Refuge, then they should’ve been quite experienced demons yet... she sounds like she dealt with mere underlings.

If made public, such an incident would probably receive a ton of spotlight for being a significant extermination mission. But, Ha Baek-Yeon appeared utterly uninterested.

Unlike normal heroes, she was indifferent to such accolades. Plus, dealing with such demons was just a walk in the park for a Perfect One like her.

—Then, did you find anything that could serve as evidence?

“Of course not. People who exploit demons would’ve already prepared for such contingencies. Their tracks are likely covered by now.”

-Tsk. Nothing’s straightforward, is it?

While they did succeed with their primary objective of safeguarding those affiliated with the workshops, without something to leverage against the Barmuths, the core issue remained unresolved.

Unsatisfied, Kwang-Soo scowled at the phone in his hand, which prompted a slight smirk from Ha Baek-Yeon.

“Relax. You’ll just add more wrinkles to that ugly face of yours, and that’s the last thing you should want.”

—...Stop spying on me.

“I’m not spying on you; you’re just in my field of view."

Whooosh!

From the imperceptible summit of Everest to the artificially created island of Babel in the North Pacific, she had seen through thousands of kilometers as though it were nothing. Her abnormal sight, or rather, her capability that transcended conventional understanding, made Kwang-Soo grimace. Then, letting out a sigh, he glared in the approximate direction he thought Ha Baek-Yeon would be.

—Can I make one request?

“What, keep an eye on him?”

—Yes. Since they won’t mess with the workshops now that they know you’re involved, they might pour all their efforts into harming him instead.

Aiming at the workshop was, in some ways, a more straightforward and moderate approach from the perspective of the Barmuths. But with that path blocked by Ha Baek-Yeon, it was likely that they would shift focus and target Se-Hoon, the root of the entire issue.

We need to keep an eye on him everywhere, especially outside of Babel.

However, because he had responsibilities of his own, he wouldn’t always be by Se-Hoon’s side to protect him. Thus, the best course of action was to ask Ha Baek-Yeon, who could see anywhere on the planet, to provide protection.

“Hm...”

Considering it upon seeing how solemn Kwang-Soo was, Ha Baek-Yeon stroked her chin, but unfortunately...

“I don’t think that will be possible.”

—What?

“I normally would have... but I’m not as free as I used to be.”

Kwang-Soo’s expression hardened. Though anyone could become busier depending on their circumstances, it was a different story when it came to a Perfect One.

—Did something happen?

“The Black Sea is beginning to stir. I’m not too sure... but I think something might happen soon.”

Despite being able to observe the entire world, there were some things that even Ha Baek-Yeon couldn’t see through: the Abyss of Demons covering Antarctica, powerful demons like the Ten Evils, and the Six Great Demon Realms scattered around the world.

And among these, one of the Six Great Demon Realms, the Black Sea, was suddenly moving north from the Antarctic Ocean.

“There’s also been some unrest around the African continent recently. I’ll take a look whenever I have some time, but I can’t promise you anything.”

—I guess there’s nothing I can do then.

Kwang-Soo accepted that everyone had different priorities, after all, he himself would have prioritized killing the Doppelganger if he knew its location, so he reluctantly let go of any regret.

At that moment, Ha Baek-Yeon glanced somewhere in the distance and then smirked.

“Don’t worry about it too much, though. The situation is becoming quite interesting.”

—What, how?

“You’ll find out later. Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on the workshops as promised, so you should work on arranging that meeting with my sibling’s grandchild.”

With that, Ha Baek-Yeon ended the call and Kwang-Soo frowned. Seeing him, she chucked for a bit before turning her gaze.

“Hm. That should be an A rank.”

In an alleyway of a city in China, a demon was carefully emerging through an opened manhole cover.

Realizing it was one of the demons on her watch list, she reached toward the bowstring of the white longbow, still leaning against the rocking chair.

Twang-

And she lightly flicked the bowstring with her index finger.

Unlike how insignificant her movement seemed, the blue arrow that was launched tore through the surrounding whirlwind, vanished beyond the horizon, and then precisely pierced through the demon’s head from above.

Poof!

Just like that, the demon vanished in a spray of blood.

Never having moved her body, she confirmed that the target was eliminated with her eyes closed.

Creak-

Under the now sunny sky, where there wasn’t a trace of the storm, the chair slowly started to rock again.

***

“The Barmuth Family: A Comprehensive Review of the Mass-Produced Blacksmithing Industry.”

“Head of the Family, Max Barmuth: ‘We will reconsolidate our foundation and move forward again, focusing on the projects that are currently in preparation.’”

“Small and Medium Workshops that Defeated the Barmuths: ‘We will form a new group to protect the non-contracted blacksmiths by joining forces.’”

Headlines revolving around the Barmuths, who had secured an overwhelming market share over the vast mass-produced equipment market, raising the white flag to the small and medium workshops also in the mass-produced equipment market filled every news site worldwide.

The entire world had been shocked by the unbelievable news, and those who heard about it belatedly naturally flocked to Eun-Ha’s review videos—the starting point of it all.

D-grade Mass-Produced Longsword Comparison Mukbang (Eating it fr) Ryu Eun-Ha

Views: 94,282,146 Comments: 150,216

The view count had nearly reached 100 million in less than a week. Each follow-up video also garnered over ten million views, turning Eun-Ha’s serious equipment reviews—via chewing and eating each piece like food—into a hot topic.

Furthermore, as time went on, the attention only grew larger and larger.

I expected it to go viral to some extent... but I didn’t think the response would be this good.

He seriously wondered if taking advantage of Eun-Ha’s newfound talent to make mukbang videos for money was a good idea.

“This is really unbelievable...”

Peeking over his shoulder, Lea looked at the news with a curious expression.

“How were the Barmuths torn apart overnight like some local hole-in-the-wall shop? This isn’t photoshopped or anything, right?”

“What are you talking about? It’s all over the internet. Don’t you watch the news?”

At his chiding, Lea rested her chin on his shoulder, and grumbled, “Well, some nasty underclassman has been nagging me to develop an enchantment for mass-produced sword aura equipment, so I didn’t have time to watch the news. I’m sorry for not knowing about the outside world~”

Catching sight of the dark circles under her eyes, which suggested that she had been engrossed in her work, Se-Hoon indifferently muttered, “If you can’t do it, then don’t.”

“...It’s not that I can’t do it; it’s just that the time and budget given are ridiculously insufficient. Those two situations are clearly different!”

How could he be so indifferent when she was trying to solve the most complicated problem of the current blacksmithing industry that dozens of companies and research teams had given up on?

Despite her frustration, however, Se-Hoon just put on an incredulous expression at her words.

“Did I say anything wrong? I just want you to hurry up a bit since I’m already done preparing on my side. Yet you’re here complaining...”

It wasn’t like he had threatened to lock her up if she couldn’t finish the development in a few months, so he couldn’t understand her.

And seeing his genuine puzzlement, Lea gave him a big smile.

“You should definitely start your business alone in the future. Ah, never mind; everyone around you will just die of anger anyway. Hahaha.”

Instead of responding, to the strange remark that seemed to be caused by the stress of work, Se-Hoon pulled out a credit card from his pocket.

“Take it.”

“What’s this?”

“Didn’t you say you were short on budget? There’s about twelve billion in it; buy whatever you need with that.”

The card was connected to an account with the money he received in compensation for handing over the blueprints to the workshops. He had also been told that it would take time to see profits in the account due to initial investment costs, but it didn’t matter since he deemed there was already more than enough to cover Lea’s and his own research expenses.

“...”

Taking the credit card, Lea looked at it with a blank expression. Soon after, she turned to him with a serious look.

“I love you, Boss.”

“Sure, sure. Now, stop with the nonsense and go get some work done.”

“Yes!”

Leaving him with that polite response, she rushed over to one corner of the disorganized classroom. Shaking his head after seeing that, Se-Hoon turned his attention back to his phone.

People are starting to suspect that someone is controlling all of the workshops in the background.

Since every piece of the Barmuths’ mass-produced equipment had simultaneously been outclassed by superior alternatives, it would be odd not to suspect anything weird.

Professor Kim In-Cheol will probably appear pivotal... and that means their most likely suspect would be that man, Ludwig.

It was common knowledge that Se-Hoon and In-Cheol were close, but logically, it would be insane to think that a freshman who had just enrolled had created all those blueprints.

As such, it was more than likely that many would think Ludwig was secretly supporting various workshops to develop the blueprints and take over the mass-produced equipment industry.

Then when they realize a Perfect One is involved, most won’t even think of intervening. The UD Group is a different story though.

Wurgen Kruger, the head of the UD Group and one of the wealthiest conglomerates in the world, was also a Perfect One like Ludwig. With his strength, he wouldn’t back down easily, especially since they had a cooperative relationship that was tied by blood with the Barmuths.

The crux of the matter is whether the Barmuths will mention me or not.

Se-Hoon had intentionally revealed his involvement in this incident to the Barmuths. Besides wanting to exploit any opening the Barmuths exposed when they rushed to deal with him, he was also curious about the nature of their relationship with the UD Group.

If it’s a solid, cooperative relationship, they’ll draw the UD Group in, but if not, they’ll just hide my identity from them.

Se-Hoon knew that anyone who knew the truth of this incident wouldn’t take him lightly anymore. With his talents, not only would the UD Group rather kidnap him and make use of his talent, but even the Barmuths would do the same.

If the Barmuths decide not to inform the UD Group... then it’d be for the best to completely remove them from this game.

There were three Perfect Ones involved in this situation: Ludwig, the Emperor of Ascension and his backer; Ha Baek-Yeon, the Visionary who was also protecting the workshops; and Wurgen Kruger, the Barmuths’ collaborator.

However, Ha Baek-Yeon couldn’t be counted since she only took on the protection of the workshops and wouldn’t interfere beyond that, making it essentially a one-on-one situation.

If the UD Group is going to assist, the Barmuths wouldn’t rush anything...

For a while, Se-Hoon pondered over how he could ensure that the UD group would withdraw from this fight. Then, suddenly, the news site on his phone refreshed, revealing a breaking news headline.

“The Pilgrimage Church: ‘We will cooperate in protecting weak blacksmiths for the peace of humanity.’”

“Pilgrim Karl Andersen: Supplying superior equipment to believers is the true proof of faith.”

“...Huh?”

***

Inside the laboratory, Michael was sitting at his desk, expressionless.

“UD Group has decided to completely withdraw from this matter. It seems that the Pilgrimage Church’s involvement was the decisive blow,” Michael muttered.

“...”

“Even if we reveal that Lee Se-Hoon is behind all this, the UD Group will probably sever ties with us and try to win him over instead of joining forces with us. No, that’s what they will do.”

Looking at his eldest son Vier, who stood silently before him, Michael then calmly began informing Vier of the news that he received from the family.

“The damage the family has suffered from this incident is almost too much to list. It’s so serious that your grandfather is reconsidering passing on the headship to me.”

“...”

“Your uncle must be thrilled right now. He thought he’d be stuck underground for life, but now an opportunity has arisen.”

Michael looked at the nameplate in front of him: Vice Dean of Borsippa.

Caressing it, he reminisced about how much effort he put in to reach this position and to pave the way to becoming the Dean.

Crack!

All of a sudden, the nameplate flew towards Vier’s face and shattered to pieces.

Drip.

Blood trickled down Vier’s face, flowing under his chin.

If Vier were an ordinary person, his head would have been crushed, but since he wasn’t, his only injury was a cut on his forehead. Seemingly dissatisfied by the fact that it was merely a superficial wound, Michael furrowed his brows.

“Vier.”

“...Yes.”

“It’s not about your succession anymore. My lifetime promise of headship is about to vanish because of your foolish actions.”

Seeing Michael’s eyes harboring a hint of murderous intent, Vier quietly said, “I apologize.”

Even with blood flowing from his forehead, Vier’s expression was unchanging. And seeing that undisturbed demeanor, Michael took a moment to catch his breath.

“You must have prepared something if you’ve come to see me so brazenly. Speak.”

“I’ve made contact with the Puppeteer.”

“...”

Michael’s eyes widened.

The Puppeteer was one of the Ten Evils, someone far surpassing the demons they commissioned before. So the news that Vier had been able to make contact with such a demon made Michael look at him with a more serious expression.

“And the price?”

“Apart from the usual commission, he wants the body of the target.”

“Indeed, with that kind of talent, he wouldn’t simply hand it over to us.... Accept his condition only if we are allowed to study it first. When is the date?”

At Michael’s inquiry, Vier’s eyes sparkled.

“The next extermination practical.”