Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 121

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker

Devours Myths

 

Chapter 121

Advance Preparation (1)

 

 

 

3 AM.

Those with families had already left by taxi, while the ones who wanted to keep partying had passed out drunk and were sleeping together in the guest rooms Lee Gun-san had prepared.

But strangely, Lee Hyeon couldn’t fall asleep.

He sat quietly on the wooden bench in the yard, gazing at the night sky.

Being away from Seoul, there were quite a lot of stars visible.

“What are you doing there looking so pitiful?”

Lee Gun-san approached with a smile, holding steaming coffee cups in both hands.

“Can’t sleep, General?”

“What about you?”

“Just have a lot on my mind.”

“I’m similar. Maybe it’s because you all gathered after so long, but I’m feeling very good. Want a cup?” “Thank you.”

Lee Hyeon carefully accepted the coffee cup Lee Gun-san offered.

It was hot chocolate.

“Is it drinkable?”

It’s very sweet.”

“Hehe. I get that from my regular shop too.”

“You’ve become quite the chef.”

“I always liked good food, but after retirement, there’s no hobby quite like this.”

Lee Gun-san chuckled as he took a sip of his hot chocolate.

“Though my wife nags me quite a bit about managing my blood sugar.”

“……I think you should listen to that.”

“That’s why I’m making an accomplice like this.”

Lee Hyeon let out a hollow laugh.

Lee Gun-san had this playful side that didn’t match his age.

“How does it feel meeting your old friends again?”

“Very good. Makes me wonder why we didn’t do this sooner.”

“Have you matured?”

“Aren’t I always late with things like this? I guess that’s why.”

Lee Hyeon smiled faintly while looking toward the annex where the guest rooms were.

Meeting his old colleagues definitely filled a part of his heart that had been empty.

And the fact that he could be with them again made his heart feel bigger.

“You always say you’re late. But that’s just your own thinking – from what I’ve seen, that’s not the case at all.”

Lee Gun-san continued while looking at the same constellation in the night sky as Lee Hyeon.

“Nothing in this world is ever late. There’s only the difference between starting and not starting.”

“……”

“People who start know what they lack. And they try somehow to fill that gap.”

Lee Hyeon found himself looking at Lee Gun-san without realizing it.

Lee Gun-san’s smile had deepened.

“But people who can’t start never know what they lack. Even if they know, they pretend not to until the end. Because they don’t listen to their inner voice.”

“……”

“Everyone has weaknesses. But they don’t want to acknowledge those weaknesses. Or they’re afraid to reveal them.”

“……”

“But the you I’ve observed all this time is someone who knows how to listen to their inner voice. You know how to acknowledge what you lack, and you know how to face yourself honestly.”

Lee Hyeon felt a strange sensation.

He’d had a similar conversation with Son Wukong.

“That’s not a choice you can make without courage. So keep believing in yourself with that same courage.”

Lee Hyeon didn’t answer for a moment.

He just turned his head back toward the night sky.

And then,

“Thank you. For saying such kind words.”

“Hehe. Haven’t I always said? What I do from the sidelines is just an old man’s advice from the back room.”

Lee Hyeon smiled quietly.

This was what he was always grateful to Lee Gun-san for.

Even when he was lost, Lee Gun-san didn’t pressure him, always believing in him and waiting from afar.

And always cheering him on.

Because he was always there,

it seemed like he could come to where he needed to be.

‘Without this person, could my brother and I have come this far? Wouldn’t we still be wandering?’

Lee Hyeon saw Lee Gun-san as a great tree.

A tree that cast long shade to rest under……

“Now then, shall we briefly discuss what we need to do going forward?”

Lee Hyeon nodded.

The team was roughly complete.

But that didn’t mean they could immediately go after Xu Changyou.

There was a lot to prepare.

“You asked me to arrange access to the Ministry of Defense, right?”

Lee Hyeon’s eyes sparkled.

 

[The narrative of bolts upright from the throne!]

 

“Three days from now, 2 PM. Does that time work?”

“I’ll make time even if I don’t have it.”

“Hehe. Your body seems to be getting excited already.”

 

[The narrative of clenches its fist tight.]

 

The Ministry of Defense had the Snow Queen’s corpse stored there.

If he could retrieve that, he could greatly enhance the Ring of Bitter Cold too.

It would be a sufficient counter against the Ring of Extreme Cold that Xu Changyou boasted about.

“The Ministry of Defense plans to hold a military decoration review committee for you. Four years ago during the Gangneung incident, didn’t you refuse? There was some internal backlash at the time, so they want to award everything at once this time. But,”

“There will be opposition.”

Lee Gun-san took a sip of hot chocolate and nodded heavily.

“It won’t just be some opposition. It will be very significant. It won’t just be jealousy.”

Lee Hyeon sensed deep concern and sighing in Lee Gun-san’s voice.

“The same people who disbanded Blue Thunder?”

“You could say they’re similar.”

Lee Gun-san nodded and continued.

“There are quite a few people in the military who have connections to the Central Hero Committee.”

“……”

“And such people think they’re being cornered the more you stand out.”

Lee Hyeon could understand what Lee Gun-san was trying to say.

“They’ll try to suppress me by any means necessary, fearing their dirty secrets might be exposed.”

“They’re no different from that bastard Changwoo.”

Lee Gun-san let out a sigh.

“The problem isn’t just the committee, but there are quite a few who have connections with other forces. The review board will probably be crawling with such bastards.”

“I don’t know when South Korea’s Ministry of Defense became so internationally corrupted. Or was it always like this?”

Lee Gun-san smiled bitterly.

Even he found it too frustrating to watch.

Then he asked Lee Hyeon in a serious tone.

“As a civilian, they have no justification to touch you, but once you go in there, you’ll look like prey that fearlessly entered their front yard. They’ll try to tear you apart by any means. Will you still be okay with that?”

The dissolution of the Thunder Unit was nothing short of a shameful history for the Ministry of Defense.

After all, they had torn apart with their own hands the main heroes who solved the Gangneung incident.

Because they knew how pathetic this choice was,

they had never once announced it to the outside world.

But now Jet, whom they had abandoned, had returned?

Naturally, they couldn’t help but be on high alert.

Under normal circumstances, a review board for Lee Hyeon wouldn’t even be held,

but it was only being held because the merits of the Ulleungdo operation were too great to simply cover up.

So even at the review board, they would try to diminish Lee Hyeon’s achievements by any means.

There was a high possibility they would either give him a modest medal and chase him away, or not even give him that much and close the review board.

“Of course, the Ministry of Defense doesn’t only have such shit-star generals. There are many patriots who want to help you too. Still,”

“They’ll be very conscious of others watching. It’ll be hard for them to openly help.”

Lee Gun-san quietly nodded and let out a sigh.

The coffee cup had already reached the bottom.

“Honestly, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t want to take you there. You’re absolutely not someone who should be disparaged like that. They might even try to frame you with undeserved accusations.”

“It’s fine.”

Lee Hyeon placed his coffee cup on the floor of the pavilion and stood up.

“I was already prepared for all of this when I decided to rebuild Blue Thunder anyway.”

“You…”

“And I actually think this worked out well.”

Lee Gun-san looked at Lee Hyeon’s profile.

His lips were slightly twisted as he gazed at the full moon.

Cold eyes.

It was exactly the same look he had shown when he first announced his plan to go after Xu Changyou.

“You have something in mind, don’t you.”

“In a way, this is the same as entering enemy territory. And as you know, I,”

“…never fight battles I can’t win.”

“Why would I fight a losing battle? It would only cause great damage and waste time.”

Lee Hyeon was well aware that he was not a welcome figure at the Ministry of Defense.

Therefore, at first, he had even considered enduring the humiliation and secretly retrieving only the Snow Queen’s corpse,

‘But I don’t like that. They’re the ones in the wrong, so why should we endure the disgrace?’

If it were just him bearing the disgrace, he could fully endure it.

But,

now he was no longer alone.

He was the symbol of the rebuilt Blue Thunder, the face of Z Team.

He could no longer tolerate Blue Thunder being carelessly gossiped about by those people.

If that was the case,

he had to crush them head-on as well.

Was it because such determination from Lee Hyeon was conveyed?

Lee Gun-san’s eyes changed strangely.

“You said three days from now? The timing is just right too. General, I’d like to ask you for just one favor.”

Thump!

Lee Gun-san felt the fighting spirit his former disciple was showing.

And he felt his vigor too.

The feeling of blood he thought had cooled with age boiling again.

His spine straightened. His heart beat loudly.

He wanted to see how far this child could soar.

“What… should I do?”

Because of that, Lee Gun-san didn’t even realize his voice was slightly trembling.

And at the several ‘requests’ Lee Hyeon made,

he burst into loud laughter.

 

* * *

 

“This man, really! I told you so many times that you need to manage your blood sugar…!”

When Lee Gun-san returned to his room with a grin,

his wife Choi Hye-jin’s nagging poured out like a waterfall.

“D-dear, you weren’t sleeping? At this hour…”

“How could I possibly sleep now? I know perfectly well how much you’ve been overexerting yourself lately!”

Lee Gun-san had to somehow appease his wife’s glaring eyes while making excuses.

Just as he was a famous alchemist, his wife was also a renowned healer.

And,

she was also his personal physician.

“Just sit down there.”

Lee Gun-san quietly sat down.

Choi Hye-jin silently placed her palm on Lee Gun-san’s back for a moment. A milky radiance flashed and slowly seeped into his body.

Lee Gun-san’s complexion became much more comfortable.

“Hehe. This feels good indeed.”

“Does it feel good, you rascal?”

“Your touch always feels good, dear.”

“Not my touch. What you’re doing now.”

“It feels good. Of course it does. After over 40 years, my dream is finally about to come true.”

Lee Gun-san smiled brightly.

A mischievous smile that didn’t suit his age.

Choi Hye-jin let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.

Then she narrowed her eyes again.

“This is really the limit now. You know that, right?”

It wasn’t a joke.

Lee Gun-san also nodded heavily.

“Of course. I know. I know what you’re worried about too. But trust me. I’m Lee Gun-san. Your reliable husband, Lee Gun-san.”

“Sure you are. If only you’d keep your word.”

“What you’re worried about will absolutely never happen, so don’t worry.”

Choi Hye-jin sighed and couldn’t say anything more.

She could only hope her husband wouldn’t overexert himself any further.

Hehe.

Lee Gun-san smiled warmly while looking at his wife.

Whether it was when they first met 50 years ago or now, only their age had changed but nothing else.

His wife was still cute and lovable.

So Lee Gun-san made a resolution.

He would live as long as possible,

so he wouldn’t miss anything—not Lee Hyeon’s path, nor his time with his wife.

 

* * *

 

The next day.

The main news pages of various portal sites were plastered with one type of headline.

 

 

They were all about Lee Hyeon.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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