Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 124

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 124. Avatar Roster
Killing the Avatars directly would never end.
Besides, he had no time for that.
Their ranks would be replenished endlessly anyway.
How could one eradicate a plague that kept reappearing?
‘I need to make them useful instead.’
Better to leave them be.
But not completely unattended.
At minimum, Park Sang-min had to recognize them as Avatars.
Who was ally and who was enemy.
Whom to exploit and whom to aid!
The Park Sang-min that Park Chan-woo knew possessed the capability for exactly that.
The real problem was ‘how to make him believe it.’
He couldn’t simply appear before Park Sang-min and declare, ‘Those marked with my ink are Avatars—take care.’
“You hear the news?”
“What news?”
“That Yi Hyeok-soo applied to join our Safety Department!”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Da-yeon saw him entering through the main gate this morning, clear as day.”
That was when it happened.
Park Chan-woo, who had scaled the wall and slipped into the Abyss Safety Department in concealment, focused on the voices echoing through the corridor.
‘Non-existence doesn’t work on people encountered on Earth.’
He couldn’t simply walk about openly.
He could only move cautiously, using camera blind spots and the gaps in people’s sightlines.
Park Chan-woo wore the Brilliant Lord’s Glasses and pulled his hat low over his face.
From what he glimpsed, the two women walking the corridor were not Avatars.
“Apparently he’s quite handsome?”
“They say he looks like a sculpture.”
“Wow. But he’s probably just passing through, right? The Minister sent him love calls several times, and he never showed up once. He’s probably just being polite.”
“This time it seems more serious. Maybe there’s something he can’t handle alone?”
“So he came to cooperate with the Safety Department?”
“Probably.”
“Where do you even pick up all this gossip, anyway?”
“My crush told me.”
“Ah, the Planning Department team lead?”
The conversation flowed naturally.
‘Yi Hyeok-soo is here right now?’
Park Chan-woo stroked his chin.
Then, slowly, he nodded to himself.
‘…Things might actually work out better than expected.’
* * *
“I’m afraid I cannot cooperate.”
Inside the Minister’s office.
Park Sang-min rose from his seat and bowed his head.
At the same time, Yi Hyeok-soo’s expression darkened.
“Why not?”
“There is insufficient verified data on the threat Avatars pose.”
“I believed you maintained a separate roster of Avatars. And did you not say that roster was leaked to them?”
“They are indeed quite exceptional Awakened Ones. We classify and manage all Awakened Ones by category—Initial Awakeners, Semi-Awakeners, Special Ability Users, and so forth. I cannot speak to how the leak occurred, but it is a matter we will handle ourselves.”
Park Sang-min answered calmly.
His expression unwavering.
Yi Hyeok-soo felt frustrated.
He had seen Avatars gathering on Bukhansan.
They were beginning to form organized groups.
Before it grew worse, they had to be stopped.
“…Avatars are monsters who have sold their souls to demons.”
“What have they done?”
“They clearly massacre people within the Abyss….”
“Do only they do so? Do non-Avatars commit no murders?”
Yet Park Sang-min’s words were not without merit.
Currently, Avatars cause problems only within the Abyss itself.
At least on Earth, there have been no incidents caused by someone being an Avatar.
They’ve caused no problems whatsoever, so why should we sanction them separately?
Besides, murders happen even without Avatars being involved.
People kill, and commit far worse atrocities without hesitation.
So this isn’t exclusively an Avatar problem.
It’s a catastrophe born of human moral decay.
“Minister. Once they begin forming groups, they’ll cause problems we can’t contain. The fact that the list leaked means there are Avatars within this very building. We must resolve this before they grow stronger and reveal themselves.”
Yi Hyeok-soo refused to back down.
He’d been repeating the same argument for over five hours now.
Round and round, like a hamster on a wheel.
But Minister Park Sang-min was equally unyielding.
“Yi Hyeok-soo. That ‘Avatar list’ isn’t certain. We can only speculate. Unless they directly tell us they’re Avatars, there’s no way to know for sure.”
“So you’re saying you won’t add the Avatars I saw on Bukhansan to the list?”
“I’m saying we need evidence. Proof that they’re Avatars. Certainty. Something concrete that Avatars exist within this building. Moreover—”
Park Sang-min exhaled slowly.
“In fact, I received a call just moments ago. The whereabouts of those people you called ‘Avatars’ from Bukhansan—all of them have vanished without a trace.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Several of them were identified through composite sketches and were people we were already monitoring. But they all disappeared from Bukhansan. And apparently, an unknown Abyss opened halfway up the mountain.”
It was bizarre.
All those Avatars simply evaporated?
“There should have been bodies.”
“It was clean. Only some traces of battle remained.”
……
Yi Hyeok-soo’s brow furrowed naturally.
The thirty-some Avatars he’d killed. Their bodies should have remained.
After all, they died on Bukhansan, on Earth—not in the Abyss.
Yet all of them had vanished.
Even the monster known as Balzac.
Had they all entered the Abyss and destroyed themselves?
Or were they still unable to come back out?
“Yi Hyeok-soo. We want to stand with you, humanity’s savior. But this is a sensitive time. Neither I nor the Abyss Safety Department can move hastily.”
Park Sang-min sighed again.
Truth was, he understood.
The dangers posed by Avatars were already being shared internationally.
In some countries with weaker law enforcement, Avatars had become a social problem.
Their depravity was so severe that gangs and the mafia paled in comparison.
But still.
The evidence remained weak.
South Korea had yet to face an actual problem caused by Avatars.
Moreover, there wasn’t even certainty that these people were definitely Avatars.
‘If there are Avatars in the upper ranks, the problem becomes far graver.’
A careless move would only invite backlash.
The list was managed in absolute secrecy.
Only a handful could access it.
If it had leaked, it meant Avatars were already inside this building and held significant rank.
But no one knew if it was one person or many.
His hands were tied.
He couldn’t move.
Not on Yi Hyeok-soo’s word alone.
He wanted to stand with the savior and lend his strength, but the risk was too great.
Park Sang-min finally offered his parting words.
“Bring me solid proof. Then I’ll do what I can.”
* * *
‘Damn it……!’
Yi Hyeok-soo’s expression hardened as he left the minister’s office.
He’d never imagined something so straightforward could become so complicated.
But reality was cold.
As Park Sang-min had said, intention alone couldn’t solve this.
Yet the frustration gnawed at him.
I’d witnessed the atrocities of Avatars countless times.
Even granting that the Abyss was a lawless realm, their depravities were simply unbearable to watch.
‘Avatars vanishing from Bukhansan. An Abyss opening halfway up the mountain.’
It was nothing but riddles.
Nothing seemed to unfold according to his will.
‘If they won’t help, then I’ll solve it alone.’
Avatars are humanity’s evil.
The Seer’s words had never proven wrong.
If Park Sang-min and the Abyss Safety Department turned their backs, then Yi Hyeok-soo would resolve the matter single-handedly.
Just as he was turning to leave the building, fever still burning through him—
“Yi Hyeok-soo.”
“……?”
He wondered if he’d misheard.
But somehow, a familiar voice had reached his ears.
Still, when he glanced around, there was no one there.
“……Seer?”
“Take a Warp across quietly.”
Zzzzzziiing!
In an instant, golden light coalesced before Yi Hyeok-soo’s eyes, forming a perfect circle.
A Warp.
Beyond it stretched familiar ground.
Gulp.
Yi Hyeok-soo swallowed and stepped through the Warp.
And then, before his very eyes—
“Hah……!”
The territory of the Second Night sprawled before him.
But what came next was even more astonishing.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, Seer!”
The Seer was suddenly standing beside him.
Park Chan-woo stood there in full battle armor.
Yi Hyeok-soo repeated the words in disbelief.
“Isn’t this where the Second Night took place?”
“It’s mine now.”
“Hack!”
He spoke madness as naturally as breathing.
No matter how godlike the Seer might be, to seize another Creator’s land like this?
“That’s not the issue, Yi Hyeok-soo.”
“……Then what is it you’ve called me for?”
“You must have seen the Avatars gather in a mob at Bukhansan.”
“……That’s true.”
Yi Hyeok-soo was deeply shocked.
He hadn’t known the Seer was aware of that much.
But Park Chan-woo had been listening quietly from beyond the wall during his conversation with Minister Park Sang-min.
“I handled them.”
“……!!!”
“The real problem is the Abyss Safety Department.”
It was shocking news, but his counterpart was the Seer.
Even if a hundred Avatars, Balzac among them, threw themselves at him together, they couldn’t so much as graze a hair on his head.
Yi Hyeok-soo, who had quickly steadied himself, pressed for details.
“Is there a problem within the Abyss Safety Department?”
“As of today, ninety-eight Avatars have been confirmed within the Safety Department. There are likely more.”
“……That many?”
Insane. Yi Hyeok-soo nearly cursed aloud.
He’d never dreamed there were so many Avatars lurking within the headquarters itself.
“Seer, is there any way to identify them?”
“Only I can make a direct distinction.”
“……Then they must be eliminated.”
“No. We must use them.”
Park Chan-woo’s will remained unchanged.
Killing them isn’t the best approach.
But we must remain vigilant against other avatars because of them.
Even if we eliminate them, new avatars will simply be deployed.
Park Chan-woo drew a pair of glasses from his pocket.
“These are…?”
“Special ink has been marked on the avatars’ necks, just below the collarbone. With these glasses, you’ll be able to see it. It won’t wash off, no matter how hard you try.”
The special ink and glasses had been obtained through Dagon, the demon merchant.
Naturally, there was no ordinary way to remove it.
In fact, they wouldn’t even know it was there.
Yi Hyeok-soo accepted the glasses carefully.
A way to distinguish avatars—glasses that could reveal them.
Yi Hyeok-soo trusted the prophet, so he was certain of it, but would Minister Park Sang-min truly believe his word?
“Thank you.”
Park Chan-woo offered counsel freely to Yi Hyeok-soo as he accepted the glasses.
“Yi Hyeok-soo. The method for using avatars is simple. Just gather them together in one place. Then they’ll turn on each other and destroy themselves without any further effort.”
“…So gathering them in one department would work, then.”
It was a simple matter.
As long as he could convince Minister Park Sang-min.
Of course, Yi Hyeok-soo wasn’t entirely without doubts.
“But, prophet, the avatars at Bukhansan were clearly organized and united. Would simply gathering them together truly be effective?”
“Balzac was no ordinary human. He was a being forcibly transformed into a demon by the Creator. The Half-Demon can brainwash avatars to form groups. But there are none like that here yet.”
A Half-Demon.
It was a term he’d never heard before, but the Balzac he’d faced was certainly no human.
In any case, it meant that unless there were such exceptional circumstances, avatars would never truly trust one another.
Yi Hyeok-soo nodded heavily.
“…Yes. Leave it to me.”
He would see it through.
Above all, this was the prophet’s direct request.
The fact that he’d suddenly appeared here on Earth, specifically at Korea’s Abyss Safety Department, was truly unexpected.
But didn’t that itself testify to his genuine commitment to humanity’s salvation?
Watching him, Park Chan-woo considered it.
‘Yi Hyeok-soo is trustworthy.’
Together with Minister Park Sang-min, he had no doubt they would keep at least Korea safe.
He’d never witnessed such synergy between two people before, but within Korea at least, they were the most reliable he could call upon.
With two heroes joined together, the Abyss Safety Department’s concerns could finally rest.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
“I’m counting on you.”
* * *
One urgent problem had been solved.
The rest was work for Yi Hyeok-soo and Minister Park Sang-min to handle.
This was all he could do for them.
Now only one thing remained.
…That young man visible in the distance.
‘Han Min-o.’
That young man was Han Min-o.
The younger brother of Han Shin, and the second son of the Han Yeon Group!
Park Chan-woo’s task was simply to wait beside Han Min-o for the Large-Scale Snipe Abyss to open.

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