Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 270
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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 270
To South Africa (3)
Waaah! Waaah!
The baby burst into tears in shock.
But Oh Su-heon had no time to care about such things.
“Hey! Answer me properly!”
Oh Su-heon was grabbing Lee Hyeon by the collar.
The situation didn’t look like simple fooling around.
His face was so rough it seemed like he’d devour Lee Hyeon right then and there.
“Hey! Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!”
“Su-heon, put that hand down and talk! Okay?”
“What kind of behavior is this on such a good day! First calm down your anger…”
His colleagues rushed over in panic.
Lee Hyeon answered in a calm tone only after his colleagues pulled Oh Su-heon away.
“It’s exactly what you heard.”
“Are you joking right now? We personally carried the coffin to the burial ground! We saw Su-chan hyung lying with his eyes closed in the mortuary until the very end! And now you’re joking around with a dead person…!”
“I’m saying this because it’s not a joke.”
Oh Su-heon tried to shout with his face turning bright red, but Lee Hyeon firmly cut him off mid-sentence.
“That’s why I want to go check it out.”
“…”
Oh Su-heon pressed his lips tightly together.
From Lee Hyeon’s suppressed voice,
he could sense various deep emotions.
The surrounding colleagues just rolled their eyes around silently.
Waaah! Waaah!
* * *
Lee Hyeon had been contemplating for a long time.
Whether or not to tell his colleagues about matters related to Moon Su-chan.
That a dead person could come back to life.
Or that he might not be human.
There were too many secrets to reveal all these facts.
But…
Lee Hyeon remembered the day of Moon Su-chan’s funeral.
The funeral of an orphan with no siblings or relatives.
There were too many difficult things for Lee Hyeon to handle the role of chief mourner alone.
Moreover, he himself had barely emerged from the brink of death, having lost his eyes and not being in his right mind.
It was his colleagues who helped ensure that funeral could be held safely, it was his colleagues who made sure the ceremony hall wasn’t quiet,
and it was his colleagues who stayed by his side to cremate Moon Su-chan and move him to the burial ground.
Even though they were injured too.
Even though they had suffered so much in the 【Ice Palace】, they somehow helped Lee Hyeon.
Therefore,
the name Blue Thunder was extremely precious to Lee Hyeon.
Family beyond colleagues.
And now that they had gathered again after being scattered,
Lee Hyeon didn’t want to hide this fact from his family.
Above all…
There was a decisive trigger for Lee Hyeon making up his mind like this.
“You want to go to South Africa? Why there all of a sudden?”
At a meeting with Mo Jeong-gyeon, Lee Hyeon requested a new long-term business trip.
If that wasn’t possible, he wanted to combine vacation and annual leave to go.
“Isn’t Guild Master the person I respect most in this world? So I wanted to follow in Guild Master’s footsteps on a pilgrimage to gain deep inspiration…”
“Do you want to get your head beaten with a long bamboo pipe?”
Like Son Wukong, and like Mo Jeong-gyeon, there were too many people targeting Lee Hyeon’s head.
“There’s something I want to find.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“…”
“However, since you directly conquered 【Primordial Dragon Tiamat’s Nest】, I wanted to ask if there are any points to be careful about when visiting that area.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon narrowed her eyes as if trying to figure out Lee Hyeon’s true intentions.
“You were there together at that time too, weren’t you?”
“I was a backup member at the time, so I was quite far from the dungeon. Originally, strict orders were given that I absolutely couldn’t go near Nine Heavens.”
“That would make sense. But the nest…”
Mo Jeong-gyeon twisted her lips subtly.
“If your purpose is the dungeon itself, it might be difficult.”
“Is there a reason?”
“You didn’t know, it seems. The South African government is secretly using that place as a ‘mine’.”
“…That’s,”
“Right. It’s too dangerous. It’s a stupid thing to do.”
【Primordial Dragon Tiamat’s Nest】, the so-called 【Nest】, was never completely conquered.
It was merely temporarily sealed by four top rankers including Mo Jeong-gyeon.
The beings inside could break the seal and escape again at any time.
To think they were using that place for resource extraction.
Suddenly, Guam came to mind.
They probably made some kind of side passage next to the sealed area, but it was too dangerous.
‘Wait… The South African government is using it like that?’
Lee Hyeon’s thoughts went elsewhere.
He remembered the emerging association that South Africa was recently actively participating in.
‘Dark Side of the Moon.’
“This fact became known not too long ago. They had been hiding it too cleverly until now. It seems they only distributed through a few friendly countries.”
As expected.
Dark Side of the Moon had their hands on the 【Nest】.
“…How did it become known?”
“The Jiseo Order is targeting that place. Thanks to terrorism occurring there, several intelligence agencies caught them by the tail.”
Whoosh-
Mo Jeong-gyeon exhaled white smoke in a long stream.
“Wasn’t the Jiseo Order mainly active in North African regions like Egypt or Algeria?”
Dark Side of the Moon was one thing, but Jiseo Order was a completely unexpected name.
“Do you know what kind of being the god those fanatics worship is?”
“Isn’t it the Underground God?”
“Then what’s the origin of the Underground God?”
“I don’t really know.”
The Jiseo Order was called the worst cult group. Unlike other religious organizations, their god was a being that lacked any proper mythology or origin.
However,
“That would make sense. It’s originally a god that didn’t exist in ‘this’ world.”
“…!?”
Lee Hyeon’s eyes widened.
Because he understood what Mo Jeong-gyeon was saying.
‘The Outer Sea!!’
Was the Jiseo Order actually a group that worshipped beings from the Outer Sea?
On one hand, it seemed to explain why that cult had only shown signs of madness and chaos all this time.
“But some of those traces lead to the 【Nest】.”
“…!”
“If you’re seriously considering making contact with the 【Nest】, it would be good to take these aspects into consideration.”
“…Thank you for the advice.”
Lee Hyeon had obtained too much information all at once.
‘An organization related to the Outer Sea is also connected to the 【Nest】…? And the Dark Side of the Moon was managing this? Could this really be a coincidence?’
Lee Hyeon had inwardly suspected that if there was a group related to the Outer Sea on the surface, it would be the Dark Side of the Moon.
Because Feng Jinghao, whom they had used as a pawn while coveting the U.C.O., had been in a state of erosion by the Outer Sea.
But if it wasn’t simply that….
‘There’s something else. Even among those related to the Outer Sea, there are conflicting interests between them.’
And,
‘The Mountain God’s eyes weren’t ordinary when mentioning the Outer Sea either.’
[‘Sacred Relic: Noeancheongjeong’ detects an anomaly.]
So Lee Hyeon first conveyed this news to Zhu Bajie, who had returned to the United States.
『South Africa…. There certainly was such an incident. It’s also true that the Jiseo Order is currently targeting the 【Nest】. However, we’ve been keeping it buried because international public opinion would become too dangerous if it were revealed to the outside.』
Zhu Bajie let out a sigh.
『But we handled it with utmost secrecy, yet the Mountain God already knew about it? 【Malakh】 was also keeping an eye on it. She’s really not like a human woman.』
Then his voice sank deeply.
『But the underground god is part of the Outer Sea? And what the Jiseo Order is trying to find is also in the 【Nest】 because of that…? Even 【Malakh】 didn’t tell us this, hmm….』
Mo Jeong-gyeon knew the real purpose of the Jiseo Order.
Something that even ASTRA, the world’s top awakener organization, hadn’t known until now.
『I understand for now. I’ll take note of it. Ah, and about what we discussed before. Soon, the heads of awakener organizations from major allies including NATO are planning to gather for a meeting. The behind-the-scenes negotiations are already finished, and only the heads’ decision remains.』
“Yes. I’ll be counting on you.”
『I should be the one asking for favors. Anyway, I’ll try to design the plan well before you head over to South Africa.』
Until the end of the call, Zhu Bajie seemed very pleased.
And for good reason, since Lee Hyeon and Zhu Bajie had been working on a secret project together with the allied nations that had joined the UN multinational force during the ‘Sima Society Subjugation War.’
―A new alliance organization.
Just as the five emerging superpowers had gathered to help or join the Dark Side of the Moon,
opinions quickly converged on creating a secret cooperation organization of awakener agencies centered around ASTRA.
In other words, they would be creating a force to oppose the Dark Side of the Moon.
The specific framework wasn’t completed yet, and the scope of the cooperation organization’s authority hadn’t been detailed either, but,
‘If completed, it would create an alliance organization capable of encompassing the entire world. In martial arts novel terms, would it be like a martial arts alliance?’
Though it was still in its early stages,
Lee Hyeon had no doubt that this cooperation organization would play a very significant role in the future.
‘It won’t just be wary of the Dark Side of the Moon, but will also take on the role of a criminal organization to punish the 13 organizations belonging to the axis of evil.’
And what Lee Hyeon would be responsible for here….
Lee Hyeon’s thoughts reached that point before he shook his head.
‘The cooperation organization can’t have that kind of enforcement power right away. But at least it would be a means to pressure the South African government.’
The Dark Side of the Moon couldn’t fail to catch wind of the cooperation organization’s establishment either.
The South African government would also show some ‘wavering’ reaction in response to this,
And Lee Hyeon had a plan to approach the 【Nest】 accordingly.
However….
‘The situation surrounding the 【Nest】 is becoming more complex than expected?’
For the South African government, dealing with the Jiseo Order alone would be headache enough, but with the added pressure from the cooperation organization, it would be quite a predicament.
For Lee Hyeon, this was very good news.
The more they wavered, the more he could gain from his side.
And now,
‘With the situation becoming this complex, it’s become quite burdensome to move alone.’
Especially Zhu Bajie had strongly dissuaded Lee Hyeon.
Saying that he was no longer just himself but someone representing an organization. So he had to be especially careful about dangerous actions.
‘Now that most of the Chosen Ones have regained their divinity, it will become much harder for them to be active on the surface due to causality constraints.’
Previously it was due to insufficient status, but Sha Wujing wasn’t still maintaining his SD character form for no reason.
Because of this,
Lee Hyeon ultimately had no choice but to reveal the facts about Moon Su-chan to his colleagues.
‘Still, it would be good if there was something else that could stir up more chaos.’
Lee Hyeon’s eyes sank deeply.
‘Wait. Don’t I have a decent card?’
Just as Lee Hyeon’s thoughts turned to a certain mask that had been stuck in Kibisis for a long time,
“…Real good job, seriously.”
After the brief commotion had interrupted the company dinner,
Lee Hyeon was dragged home by Go Jin-woo.
“I had to tell them eventually.”
“Even so, that… Ugh. Did you have to drop it like a bomb? Even if you were going to do it, it wouldn’t have been too late to do it after confirming everything!”
Lee Hyeon stared blankly at the grumbling Go Jin-woo.
Go Jin-woo snorted.
“What? Why? Are you annoyed by the nagging?”
“A mere subordinate employee is being quite rude to the CEO.”
“….”
“Show some manners.”
“….”
“Do you want to get fired, Employee Go?”
Go Jin-woo’s face instantly turned deathly pale before blooming into a bright smile.
It was the smile of capitalism.
“Hehehehehe. How could that be? I must have momentarily failed to recognize my benefactor and lost my mind. Is the tea to your taste? Or should I heat it up a bit more and bring it to you?”
“It doesn’t suit my refined palate, but just this once, I shall forgive you with a heart as vast as the ocean.”
“Thank you, my lord. Ehehehehe.”
Go Jin-woo’s groveling attitude couldn’t have looked better.
Money really was the best.
Of course, he didn’t know what expression he might be making while bowing deeply, but as long as he didn’t talk back.
“…But,”
Go Jin-woo slightly raised his head again.
His eyes sank deeply.
“Is what you said earlier true? Su-chan is….”
“Yeah. He’s in South Africa. More precisely, in the 【Nest】. But this is also based on eyewitness accounts, so I need to confirm it directly.”
“This is really giving me a headache. Of all places, it had to be there….”
Just as Go Jin-woo was scratching the back of his head, the front door opened and Lee Gun-san entered.
“Phew…. Really, what kind of bolt from the blue is this? At a company dinner that was supposed to be fun. Su-heon has calmed down a lot. But the others are still quite shaken.”
He looked at Lee Hyeon with stern eyes.
“What are you planning to do?”
“To get my brother back, I need the General’s help.”
Lee Hyeon’s eyes filled with intense power.
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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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