Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 125

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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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Chapter 125. Han Min-o
“……Did you perhaps forget something?”
Minister Park Sang-min tilted his head.
Less than an hour had passed since he’d given his final farewell and shown Yi Hyeok-soo the door.
Yet here Yi Hyeok-soo was, returning before even that hour had elapsed.
‘The atmosphere has changed.’
And his face brimmed with confidence.
There was an uncanny certainty in the set of his shoulders and the clarity of his gaze.
When he’d left the minister’s office, irritation had still clung to him.
“There are ninety-eight avatars confirmed within the Government Building today, Minister.”
“……What do you mean by that?”
At Yi Hyeok-soo’s words, Park Sang-min’s expression froze in an instant.
For a moment, comprehension eluded him.
There was no known method to identify avatars.
Even the Abyss Safety Bureau could only ‘conjecture’ by synthesizing information from inside and outside the Abyss.
Yet Yi Hyeok-soo’s tone was bold. Bold enough to cite the exact number—ninety-eight.
And the surprise didn’t end there.
“I’ve found a way to identify avatars. Limited to the interior of the Government Building, but it’s possible.”
“……You’re saying it’s possible to identify avatars?”
“Yes. If you wear these glasses, you’ll see a special mark below an avatar’s neck.”
Yi Hyeok-soo withdrew a pair of glasses from his breast pocket.
Ordinary glasses, utterly unremarkable.
Park Sang-min, taking them in hand, furrowed his brow.
Distinguish avatars with such flimsy glasses?
“……I don’t follow. They don’t appear to be Abyss tools. How exactly can you distinguish avatars with them?”
Another question nagged at him: the nature of the glasses themselves.
The glasses Yi Hyeok-soo had produced were not Abyss artifacts.
No Mana or special properties infused within them.
Had they originally come from the Abyss, they would have dissipated the moment of transfer.
The fact that they hadn’t vanished meant they were procurable on Earth.
“The lenses have a special coating. I’ve applied a specialized treatment to distinguish the ninety-eight avatars identified thus far. Once you put on the glasses, you’ll see marks on the necks of the avatars.”
“I understand you spent an hour inside the Government Building……”
Had he spent that hour marking the necks of avatars?
‘There are things youth and audacity alone cannot accomplish.’
Park Sang-min sighed inwardly.
His concern remained that Yi Hyeok-soo was pushing matters recklessly.
Courage was admirable. So was resolve.
Yi Hyeok-soo was a great hero—he had saved a million souls.
But Minister Park Sang-min stood in a position where he must protect fifty million people in South Korea.
He could not lightly embrace such reckless challenges.
Thus, he had no choice but to speak candidly.
“Your evidence remains insufficient. On what basis should I believe that these ninety-eight are avatars? First, explain to me your method of identification.”
“Regarding the method of distinguishing avatars, I cannot explain it.”
“Then I and the Abyss Safety Bureau cannot join forces with you, Yi Hyeok-soo.”
Then Yi Hyeok-soo answered with measured precision.
“However, I can stake everything on the fact that they are avatars.”
He would stake everything.
An ambition entirely different from his previous visit.
‘……It’s not a lie.’
Minister Park Sang-min was a man who had lived many years and met countless people.
Rare though they were, those possessed of unwavering conviction gave off this presence.
They were far removed from slick-tongued con artists.
They kept their word, come what may.
They proved it through action.
Even if they must descend into a thousand-fathom chasm or leap into roaring flames.
They are those who dare, and succeed.
Which sort was Yi Hyeok-soo?
A charlatan, or a true hero?
“Everything? What do you mean by staking everything?”
“If they are not avatars, I will forfeit my life.”
“……”
Life itself was everything.
Yet it was also the easiest thing to speak of lightly.
Park Sang-min kept his mouth closed, studying Yi Hyeok-soo quietly.
Yi Hyeok-soo didn’t look away.
‘Is this the moment I must choose?’
If he didn’t accept Yi Hyeok-soo now, Park Sang-min sensed that Yi Hyeok-soo would never truly commit to the Abyss Safety Bureau.
But if he accepted Yi Hyeok-soo and it were later revealed they weren’t an Avatar, his career as minister could be finished.
If he were younger, he wouldn’t hesitate.
But aged as he was now, Minister Park Sang-min had too much to protect.
He couldn’t afford to stake everything.
‘Though it seems like more than just youth…’
Behind Yi Hyeok-soo’s boldness and conviction lay something deeper.
Some vast driving force that moved him forward.
Something like unshakeable faith itself—or perhaps trust in an absolute existence……
“Do you believe in God, by any chance?”
“…I do.”
“They say God doesn’t play games of chance.”
“No. He abhors games of chance.”
The answer came without the slightest hesitation.
The response was curious in its phrasing, yet Park Sang-min found it deeply reassuring that they shared the same faith.
Park Sang-min switched to a different pair of glasses.
The prescription wasn’t quite right, but at least he could see reasonably well.
“Still, ninety-eight people. That’s more than I expected.”
“There will be more.”
“Just ninety-eight confirmed so far…… Including those absent today or out on field assignments, we’re likely looking at at least two hundred.”
“I concur, Minister.”
Minister Park Sang-min gazed upward at the ceiling.
So many. Far too many. The number of Avatars.
What exactly were Avatars, anyway?
Yi Hyeok-soo had called them monsters who’d made pacts with demons.
Park Sang-min’s own assessment aligned with that.
If such creatures truly threatened to disorder Earth, they deserved extermination.
As a devout believer, shouldn’t he at least prevent demons from desecrating sacred ground?
“Do you know of any method to eliminate Avatars?”
“They must be driven into a single location. They don’t trust one another.”
“Pardon? But didn’t you say they’d already congregated on Bukhansan? And didn’t you also mention we needed to stop them before they formed such a collective?”
Yi Hyeok-soo smiled faintly.
The Seer had asked him that exact same question.
“Once an Avatar reaches the Half-Human Half-Demon stage, it can brainwash other Avatars and assemble them into a group.”
“Wait. Half-Human Half-Demon? Are there stages among Avatars?”
“A human who’s been fully demonized—that’s what we call Half-Human Half-Demon. They become far more powerful and malevolent than I could handle alone.”
“……”
He wondered if he’d heard correctly.
Wasn’t this Yi Hyeok-soo the one they called humanity’s savior—who’d defeated the Yong Divine Beast solo and achieved a Legendary Quest and a Unique Achievement?
The legendary Yi Hyeok-soo…couldn’t win against them?
‘This is insane.’
Yet he wouldn’t be lying.
Yi Hyeok-soo was someone who’d cleared countless Abysses.
He naturally possessed far more information than what was currently known.
If this were true, then Avatars were indeed a threat that demanded urgent attention.
If monsters stronger than the savior Yi Hyeok-soo were to emerge, who could stop them?
Prevention was the only option.
Park Sang-min nodded slowly.
“…I think I need to take a brief walk.”
He left the minister’s office, still wearing the new glasses.
After roughly thirty minutes had passed,
Minister Park Sang-min returned, his face taut with tension.
His pupils trembled wildly, and cold sweat poured down his face.
“Are you alright, sir?”
“Well, it’s all right. It’s just more shocking than I expected…….”
Park Sang-min made a circuit of the Government Building, identifying who among them was an Avatar.
What he found was nothing short of horrifying.
‘They’ve already consumed nearly everyone.’
Numerous high-ranking officials, beginning with the head of the Planning Department, were all Avatars.
This could not possibly be coincidence.
The Avatars were protecting one another’s backs.
It wasn’t merely within the Government Building—there were higher-ranking politicians behind them, ones who had helped maneuver them into those positions.
His mind snapped into sharp focus.
Now came the moment of choice.
Believe, or do not believe.
If he believed, he would have to believe completely; if he did not, he would have to sever his bond with these two people here and now.
Park Sang-min drew a long breath, his eyes burning with resolve.
“Yi Hyeok-soo. Let’s make one promise.”
“What sort of promise?”
“That the two of us will never betray each other. Not under any circumstance.”
Trust was the cornerstone of this operation.
One had to think long-term, maintaining perfect composure until the very end.
A moment’s wavering, and the enemy would turn the tables and consume him instead.
Yi Hyeok-soo nodded.
“As long as you don’t become an Avatar, sir, I have no intention of betraying you first.”
“Good. Then…… what should we call this operation?”
“……I beg your pardon?”
“It’s rather like a spy thriller, isn’t it? If we give ourselves an operation codename, it’ll feel far more credible. Shall we come up with one?”
For the first time in ages, his blood stirred with purpose.
Rooting out Avatars who had made pacts with demons.
Deceiving and being deceived in turn, driving their faction to ruin.
Yes—this required an operation name.
He was asking Yi Hyeok-soo to choose it.
Yi Hyeok-soo fell silent for a moment, then spoke.
“The Seer.”
“…The operation codename is ‘The Seer’?”
Park Sang-min tilted his head, caught off guard by the name.
The Seer, no less.
Did it refer to Yi Hyeok-soo himself?
Yi Hyeok-soo nodded again, more firmly this time.
With far greater clarity of purpose.
“Yes. We’ll go with ‘The Seer.'”
* * *
Park Chan-woo watched Han Min-o emerge from the Han Yeon Group building.
His face was strangely rigid, tense.
A bodyguard stood at his side while numerous attendants ministered to him.
‘This doesn’t match what I heard.’
The misfortune-haunted younger brother, concealed in Han Shin’s shadow.
Within the Han Yeon Group, Han Min-o was treated as if he barely existed.
Yet the scene before him now was the polar opposite of such treatment.
Rather, he was being attended with extraordinary deference.
But then.
‘Avatars swarm all around him.’
The bodyguard, the attendants, even third parties observing from a distance.
By the reading of the Glasses of the Radiant Sovereign, the number of Avatars was staggering.
At minimum, fifty or more clung to Han Min-o alone.
‘They’re trying to confirm something before the large-scale Abyss begins.’
Whether he truly had contracted with a Divine Beast, no doubt.
Subtle. Precise.
And so.
‘There’s no crack through which I can slip.’
Unless he stood directly beside Han Min-o at the moment the large-scale Targeted Abyss erupted, it would be useless.
A handful of Coins would not allow him to escape.
They would strike at him relentlessly if he tried.
Without his help, Han Min-o could not survive.
Yet the question of how to draw close remained.
‘Openings can be made.’
Of course, he felt no concern.
He had already laid his plans.
Screeeeeech!
“What—what is that?”
“An Abyss!”
“Insane! Why is an Abyss appearing all of a sudden—!”
“It’s a Targeted Strike! A Targeted Abyss!”
Violet smoke billowed outward, centered on Han Min-o.
A Targeted Abyss.
But not a large-scale one.
The target of the strike was only a single Creator.
‘Adora. Excellent timing.’
The Creator of Death herself—Adora.
Seizing the moment of confusion, Park Chan-woo walked slowly toward Han Min-o’s side.

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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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