Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 124

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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 124

Advance Preparation (4)

 

 

 

“But did you really receive a naturalization offer from the United States?”

Around the time Lee Hyeon and Lee Gun-san arrived at Yongsan, where the Ministry of National Defense was located, riding in the car driven by Go Jin-woo.

Go Jin-woo suddenly threw a question at Lee Hyeon, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Lee Hyeon chuckled.

“Were you curious about that?”

“The whole world is making such a fuss, of course I’m curious.”

“Yeah. It came. Briefly, before. They said to come over together with Blue Thunder and all.”

It wasn’t wrong. He had actually received the offer when they bumped into each other at the park before.

Even after that, calls would come occasionally throwing similar enticements.

“So, so what was your, your answer?”

“Would I have done it?”

“Ri, right?”

Go Jin-woo smacked his lips.

Lee Hyeon let out a hollow laugh.

“Do you regret that?”

“Well, humanly speaking, it’s regrettable, wouldn’t it be regrettable? They say the annual salary was 10 billion.”

“Who says that? That they’d give that much.”

Lee Hyeon let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

“What, it wasn’t? Just some rumors were going around on the internet. As expected, baseless gossip…”

“That’s the base salary.”

“Huh?”

“The bonus is much more.”

“…!?”

“It would be at least double. Even if hyung isn’t as great as this amazing younger brother, you probably would have received quite a lot, right? They said they’d take good care of Blue Thunder too.”

“But, but you kicked that away?”

“What kind of guys are they? Of course they’d try to squeeze everything out of us. It’s also more convenient to be active in Korea.”

“…Damn it.”

“Do you regret it? Should I let you go?”

“Forget it!! As if they’d take good care of me if I went alone without you!!”

Lee Hyeon looked at Lee Gun-san sitting in the back seat and said.

“Hyung says so.”

“He’s a materialist who would sell out the country if given money.”

“Right?”

“Lieutenant General! I was just joking, just joking! Right?”

Go Jin-woo hastily made excuses.

Laughter erupted inside the car.

It meant the atmosphere had become much more relaxed.

“We’ve arrived.”

Soon the car passed through the checkpoint of the Ministry of National Defense building,

“I’ll wait here, so do well in the interview and come back.”

“Yeah.”

As Lee Hyeon and Lee Gun-san got out of the car, someone who had been waiting in advance approached.

She was a woman with an impressive tall stature, cold impression, and neat suit attire.

“Lieutenant General Lee Gun-san, it’s been a while.”

“Oh, isn’t it Captain Cha Yoon-jung? They said a familiar face would be waiting. It’s been a while.”

“I’m currently discharged and working at the NIS. Nice to meet you for the first time. I’m Cha Yoon-jung. Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Jang Lee Hyeon. Pleased to meet you.”

Lee Hyeon lightly shook hands with Cha Yoon-jung.

Lee Gun-san added an explanation.

“Captain Cha is also from a military academy like you.”

“You were my senior. Please take good care of me today.”

“Actually, we’re the ones who want to say please take care of us… In any case, we’ll help with all our heart and sincerity so that today’s work goes well. Then let’s go.”

Cha Yoon-jung smiled bitterly.

It probably meant that the recently worsened public opinion was also a concern for the government.

Lee Hyeon and Lee Gun-san followed Cha Yoon-jung into the Ministry of National Defense building.

After thorough security screening, they were guided to another floor following the guide’s directions.

Being a major national facility, security was definitely thorough.

“Currently, all the committee members are assembled. Today, after completing just the necessary interview briefly, voting will proceed immediately and the medal ceremony will take place. And regarding what you mentioned in advance,”

Cha Yoon-jung caught her breath for a moment before continuing.

“It will be announced separately by the Ministry of National Defense along with the press release related to the award ceremony.”

For a moment, Lee Hyeon’s eyes lit up.

She was talking about the acknowledgment and official apology regarding the disbandment of the Thunder Unit.

“I see you’ve decided to do it.”

“This might sound like an excuse, but the VIP has been tremendously angry about this.”

Cha Yoon-jung sighed with a tired expression.

“The government and ruling party are different from four years ago. The VIP had no idea about it either. So this time, we decided to open a fact-finding committee and thoroughly investigate and hold accountable all related parties. He’s someone who abhors this kind of thing the most. So even if you have no trust in the government, this time,”

“No. I’ll trust you.”

Lee Hyeon looked at Cha Yoon-jung, who was watching him carefully, and calmly shook his head.

“I don’t know about politics, but I understand good intentions. I’ll trust that you’ll restore our honor.”

“Thank you.”

Cha Yoon-jung bowed her head slightly.

“So that’s why I’m asking.”

“…?”

“If you have time today, would it be alright to spare a moment after the award ceremony?”

Lee Hyeon stared at Cha Yoon-jung silently.

Lee Gun-san chuckled.

“Is it okay to make advances like this during official duties? Of course, our Jet is quite a catch.”

“…Lieutenant General, you know it’s not like that. You’re being mischievous.”

Cha Yoon-jung sighed, then spoke with deeply sunken eyes.

“I heard there’s a separate project you’re currently working on. Our NIS would like to actively support that. So regarding discussions about this…”

Just as a gleam flashed in Lee Hyeon’s eyes,

 

[The ‘s narrative shouts that her main body seems to be somewhere around here!]

 

A message appeared before his eyes.

‘You mean here?’

 

[The ‘s narrative nods saying that’s right.]

 

Lee Hyeon quickly checked the elevator floor numbers.

The Snow Queen’s corpse was indeed currently stored within the Ministry of Defense, but Lee Gun-san hadn’t been able to find out exactly where it was located.

However, Lee Hyeon wasn’t particularly worried.

The Snow Queen would tell him directly like this.

Moreover, he had already thought of a recovery method in advance.

 

[‘Sacred Relic: Banner of Bitter Cold’ is activated to summon an ice spirit.]

[Iceberg guard ‘Samiin’ has been summoned.]

 

Whoosh!

Lee Hyeon slightly covered the back of his hand with his sleeve while summoning the spirit with minimal magic power.

An ice spirit visible only to Lee Hyeon’s eyes.

It was imitating a dignified knight, but had a very small build like an SD character.

‘They said magic power activation above a certain level gets detected by the building’s detection devices, right? Sacred relics are definitely convenient at times like this.’

He had been able to use the Golden Eyes of Truth sufficiently even when his body wasn’t in good condition. The Banner of Bitter Cold was the same.

However, doing this had the disadvantage of only being able to use minimal functions,

but Lee Hyeon had his own specialty that could make up for the insufficient magic power.

 

[Consciousness is bestowed upon the summoned spirit!]

[‘Trait: Fighting Style’ is applied and the spirit begins to take on the characteristics of a clone from now on.]

 

The spirit trembled for a moment, then its appearance changed slightly as it transformed to resemble Lee Hyeon.

 

[‘s narrative watches with curiosity as the subordinate that carries your temperament transforms.]

 

「Still, it seems to have become quite useful. Clone technique.」

‘It’s thanks to the Great Sage, thank you.’

「Hmph. That’s obvious.」

Son Wukong laughed triumphantly with his arms crossed above Lee Hyeon’s head.

For the past few days, Lee Hyeon had learned clone techniques from Son Wukong every night.

Of course, an independent entity with completely separated personality and thoughts like the mythical Son Wukong was still impossible,

but instead, imbuing consciousness into a spirit to ‘expand vision’ was sufficiently possible.

In other words, whatever the spirit with clone characteristics detected while moving, the main body Lee Hyeon could detect exactly the same.

‘This should help with searching and exploring the surroundings in emergencies. This way I can keep communicating with the Snow Queen too.’

The spirit, which looked like a small version of Lee Hyeon from his childhood, stared intently at Lee Hyeon.

‘Go.’

The spirit nodded and then sank down through the elevator floor.

 

[‘s narrative follows the spirit.]

 

Lee Hyeon felt his demonic senses expand dramatically.

It felt like in a strategy simulation game when areas discovered by scouts are marked clearly on the minimap.

It was somehow novel.

‘This shouldn’t be difficult either then. Now,’

Just then, the elevator stopped.

Ding!

“We’ve arrived.”

‘I just need to finish this well.’

All preparations were being completed well.

From recovering the Snow Queen’s corpse to getting support from the National Intelligence Service.

The preliminary preparations for going to catch Xu Changyou were being carried out smoothly.

A slight smile appeared on Lee Hyeon’s lips.

 

* * *

 

News from Korea could be easily accessed in China as well.

“Our leader seems incredibly busy, doesn’t he? He’s constantly adding fuel to the fire?”

At a famous restaurant in Beijing.

Xu Changyou chuckled while looking at his mobile phone.

A commentary from a Chinese state newspaper regarding the ‘Blue Thunder Unit Dissolution Gate’ currently shaking Korean public opinion.

The content mainly consisted of criticizing the Korean government, calling it baseless scheming.

Zheng Yizhi, who was standing behind him like a bodyguard, glanced over and said.

“Because of that, there seems to be a lot of talk within the committee as well. Things overseas keep going wrong, and now even old dirty laundry from Korea is being exposed, so everyone’s nerves are on edge.”

“Chairman Peng’s face must be incredibly crumpled.”

“They say purge talks are already beginning in earnest within the party.”

“The fuel we provided seems to have been pretty good too. Haha.”

Xu Changyou flipped his phone over and placed it on the table while laughing.

Feng Jinghao’s downfall was already practically a foregone conclusion.

Xu Changyou’s side had thrown an enormous amount of material to the opposing faction for this purpose.

It was to switch horses.

And,

today was the turn for negotiations toward this goal.

“There weren’t just one or two people caught in Chairman Peng’s snare all this time. Now they all want to cut themselves free from it. I was wondering when I’d be able to cut it off…… As expected, having a good friend makes things flow so smoothly like this?”

Soon, the person who would replace Feng Jinghao and lead the Central Hero Committee was scheduled to arrive directly at this place.

China’s pride, a top ranker.

But someone who had been branded a dangerous element by Feng Jinghao and forced into confinement,

the appearance of Dao Zu Lu Wuchen.

“They say he’s arrived downstairs.”

When Zheng Yizhi spoke after hearing communication through his earpiece,

Xu Changyou was looking toward the door.

“I know. Something formidable is coming.”

A cold smile appeared on Xu Changyou’s lips.

His fingers placed on the table were twitching.

“Top ranker, top ranker, I’ve only heard about it in words, but sensing it like this is no joke?”

Xu Changyou could understand why, despite all his efforts until now, he couldn’t easily become a top ranker.

That thing was already a different existence.

It wasn’t human.

A demigod.

It was just wearing human skin,

an existence that could cast that off at any time and gain immortality.

‘I wondered why such an existence stupidly got pushed aside by Chairman Peng and lived in seclusion for decades…… Now I understand. That wasn’t being pushed aside, it just didn’t feel the need to do so. Anyway, in their eyes, human life probably all looks the same.’

A hollow laugh escaped.

At the fact that he had been carelessly evaluating such existences by his own foolish standards all this time.

His past self, who had been so arrogant just for reaching the meager position of High Ranker, seemed pathetic.

Therefore,

‘I want it. I want to reach that position as soon as possible.’

He felt greedy.

Someone’s face naturally came to mind.

Jang Lee Hyeon.

The face of his old friend.

‘So come quickly, as soon as possible, my friend. That way I can,’

Xu Changyou’s lips twisted.

‘Devour you and rise to that position.’

He could feel Lu Chen getting closer and closer.

Along with it, Xu Changyou’s magic power was also stimulated and rippling when,

Drrrk. Drk.

‘What?’

Xu Changyou flipped his mobile phone over again, then twitched one eyebrow.

 

―Chairman Peng.

 

“He must have cleverly found out that I’m meeting Lu Chen?”

Was he going to beg for his life, unlike his usual self?

Deep down, he wanted to hear Feng Jinghao’s pleading voice,

but Xu Changyou was about to decline Feng Jinghao’s call.

However,

“Lu Chen still needs a bit more time to fully ascend, so how about you take the call?”

At Zheng Yizhi’s recommendation, Xu Changyou brought the mobile phone to his ear.

It was because he thought there must be a reason, since it was advice from his sworn brother who usually didn’t express his opinions well.

Click.

“Oh my, Chairman! Have you been well all this time? What brings you to call? You’re someone who usually doesn’t contact me much?”

『I heard you’re meeting Lu Chen?』

Still that warm voice like a neighborhood grandfather.

Xu Changyou wore a bitter smile on his lips.

“I thought all your limbs had been cut off, but I guess you still have some rats left here and there?”

『Thinking of our past relationship, I’m feeling worried. So may I give you one piece of advice?』

“Why are you being so pathetically persistent, unlike yourself, Chairman? Fine. Keep it short. I’m a bit busy.”

『Lu Chen doesn’t match your nature. Unlike greedy you, he’s someone like an immortal who transcended the mundane world long ago. That’s why his nickname is also Daozu (道祖, an immortal who follows the Way). Give up the idea even now.』

“Haha. I wondered what you were going to say. You called just to say something like that?”

『It sounds like you’re determined to go after Lu Chen after all.』

“This is disappointing. I thought someone like you, Chairman, would at least threaten me with some big weakness or try some other persuasion. Ah, have you run out of tricks?”

『If that’s your choice, then it can’t be helped.』

Feng Jinghao’s voice became much more relaxed.

『As an adult, there’s nothing to do but use the rod on a child trying to go down the wrong path.』

Xu Changyou was about to throw a sneer, asking what he could possibly do.

Right at that moment,

Thump!

Suddenly his heart beat loudly.

Thump thump thump thump-

 

[Your heart has been infected with an unidentifiable poison!]

 

“……!!!”

His accelerating heart. His blood flow reversing.

As if an invisible hand was tightly squeezing his heart, his breath was suddenly cut off.

Xu Changyou’s eyes widened,

『But that rod will be quite painful. Painful enough that you might die.』

Feng Jinghao spoke in a still calm voice.

‘……When on earth did he!!’

It was poison.

Something that could burst his heart whenever the other side wanted…….

But since he had been careful to protect his body from Feng Jinghao’s clutches all this time,

Xu Changyou had no idea where he could have been infected with the poison.

Then a sudden thought occurred to him and he looked at his sworn brother Zheng Yizhi.

At that moment, he realized.

“Zheng Yijie……! You!!”

The fact that he had been stabbed in the back by his sworn brother.

Just like he had done to his friend in the past.

Zheng Yizhi was smiling faintly.

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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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