That marked the end of the ordeal.
Reinforcements of the Association belatedly arrived and began investigating across the underground fortress. They found 137 deceased and 2 survivors.
Although they had found 3 survivors, a rash action of a superhuman ended up killing one of the surviving terrorists on the spot. The private that killed the terrorist was a 15-year-long friend of the dead hostage who had entered the military together.
He got punished with paid suspension of 3 months, and 120 hours of mental therapy as a measure of security.
Yu Jitae conveyed the information he found from the underground basement about the regiment-sized force located in Africa to the Association. He wanted to go personally but couldn’t do so because he had to go to an arboretum for Gyeoul’s homework with Bom and Gyeoul. And at home, he had to spend time alone with Bom so he had no time.
His spot was replaced by one of the 5 Transcendents of Chaliovan, Christoph Willbald Freeman, the old man who loved talking about his instincts. An operational squad was formed with him at the centre and they attacked the base in secret.
However, Quasar of the 7th iteration was a lot more cautious than what Yu Jitae had expected.
In that location was a subordinate army of South African Nations united (SAN), with actual soldiers of SAN positioned. It was revealed that Quasar had been secretly using one of the unused buildings as a communication office. It was a problem that occurred due to the negligent maintenance of the troops.
Several hotlines of battalions were connected to the building but the lines were disconnected the moment the troops of the Association bombarded in, and the one inside the communication office was also clueless.
Until he eventually died from the torture, he continued throwing out wrong pieces of information.
“Haha, these random retard bastards…”
The old superhuman with good instincts, King of Mercenaries, Christoph, licked his fangs with his tongue.
The next day, the headquarters received a report from him with a fairly shocking title.
[My senses do not tell me where the tail connects to]
Christoph had never said anything negative about his instincts or senses a single time in the past 50 years. In fact when he wasn’t sure about something, he simply didn’t mention his instinct at all.
So why was it that he intentionally used the phrase, ‘my senses do not tell me’?
– Doesn’t that mean that the interruption of the trace is too perfect, my lord?
That was Clone 1’s opinion to which Yu Jitae agreed.
The old man wasn’t one of the 5 Transcendents of Chaliovan for nothing. He might have been a weak old dotard in front of him, but it was safe to say that no-one in the Association could be as efficient or effective as Christoph in terms of individual missions.
The fact that he wasn’t able to find anything despite that, meant it wasn’t something simply in the realms of ‘hiding it well’.
Hiding something would leave trails of them hiding it. And even if they were to hide those on top, it would still leave traces of hiding what was hidden.
Christoph’s words meant that there was no such a thing in the first place. It meant that the communication station of Troop 0713 was as clean as if it had never been used by the Quasars at all.
In other words, it meant that the communication centre was a space created with utmost care of an ultra high ranker whose understanding of ‘location’ and ‘traces’ had reached that of Christoph’s.
“Tch. That old man. I never liked him ‘cuz he always talked about his instincts and whatnot.”
“It just doesn’t work anymore I guess. Or he’s gone senile.”
But after Yu Jitae devastated them before, Christoph’s reputation by people of the Association’s Central Command Centre was being depreciated. His self-centred personality added even more to his negative reputation.
Since he couldn’t simply ignore the matter, Yu Jitae headed to the area in person the next day. And immediately, he realised what the method that got rid of the traces was.
“…”
The clue instead was that the traces had been erased way too perfectly.
There were only 2 people according to his memories in this world that could erase the traces of mana so perfectly.
One was himself,
And the other was…
“…”
It was such an absurd thought that he had to review his own hypothesis.
Was this true? But it shouldn’t be.
He was confused.
…The other person that could do this was the woman who had been at the Rank 1 spot for a very short period of time, after the witch released her title of sovereign and until Oscar Brzenk rose to be a sovereign.
Her name, Wings of Snowlight.
She was the woman who taught Yu Jitae the manipulation of mana to manage traces.
However, she was already dead. She died during the Great War when trying to save people. People already found her corpse, and she also had a grave.
He wondered if she had revived herself but that couldn’t be the case judging from his experience. Yu Jitae had never seen her true self in his 7 iterations.
The Regressor had simply learned her way of manipulating mana by forcibly pulling out the immense amount of mana sitting in her grave, and forming it in the shape of her avatar.
In fact she didn’t even teach him, because the avatar of Wings of Snowlight had no plans of teaching him her skills. He nonetheless threatened her and stole the skills from her.
So in other words, didn’t that mean someone in the 7th iteration had used the mana left behind in her grave to form it into an avatar, thereby stealing the skills from that avatar like he himself had done?
Yu Jitae had to confirm this so he immediately headed to the National Memorial Board of Korea.
“No-one’s allowed past this place.”
He then sneaked into the grave that was being protected by soldiers.
As he had expected, the grave of Wings of Snowlight had been robbed already. He had no idea who the robber was because there was not a single trace remaining…
Feeling slightly irritated, he returned. Back then, Wings of Snowlight was very upset and expressed her anguish throughout the transfer of her skills.
[I was not allowed a single rest when I was alive. Now I am about to enter an eternal sleep to rest comfortably but you are tormenting me even now…]
[Am I not even allowed to rest in death…]
[If only I did not know of such skills. At least I would have been able to rest in my death…]
After being exposed to daily life in the 7th iteration, he knew what feelings Wings of Snowlight had been feeling back then, and also understood that his actions from back then was a sin not so small. Because of an ethical reason like that, he wasn’t planning to visit her grave in this iteration but…
“…”
Yu Jitae became more vigilant.
This was not something that should be taken lightly.
In fact, the executives of the Association whose horizons had broadened from the previous incidents also took this to heart.
[Quasar]
During a meal, Chaliovan said to Zhuge Haiyan regarding Quasars.
‘This is not a simple group of terrorists.’
‘There is no way that is the case.’
His words were firm and Zhuge Haiyan also agreed with his words. Around 2 weeks later, as if to prove their thoughts, another incident came knocking on their door.
Near the Great Lakes of Michigan, USA.
A boy who had been fishing in the cold weather with bodyguards suddenly vanished underwater. An extensive investigation followed it but when they discovered the boy on the other side of the coast, he was found dead with his ears and tongue ripped out.
The boy’s name was Michael Willbald Freeman.
The grandson of King of Mercenaries, Christoph, was murdered.
***
That day, Yu Jitae wore black clothes and Bom followed him with black hair.
Beneath the lights of the cathedral’s chandelier, they attended the funeral. A lot of people were present with unending sounds of tears.
“Michael, Michael! Will you come back to me if I rip all those bastards into pieces? Huh?” One of them bursted into rage before being pulled away by superhumans.
“Please open your eyes. I have your favourite candies with me…” There was another who cried with a jar of candies in hand.
However, the dead boy would not come back.
Magic engineering had developed and so did technology.
Despite that, there was still no way to revive a dead person into their normal state. Death was still death.
Yu Jitae waited in a line and only after a long time was he able to stand before the deceased.
In American Catholic funerals, there was the culture of allowing people to meet the deceased for the last time with the coffin open. Some people still followed these cultures despite religion having lost a lot of authority in recent times.
He stood in front of the coffin, and looked at the pale body of the boy. His ripped ears entered his sight.
Ripping his tongue and ears was most likely as revenge for cutting off the important communication line of Quasar. No-one necessarily mentioned it but it was quite obvious that it was.
“He is about the size of Gyeoul,” said Bom.
The boy appeared to be around 10 years old.
“It must have been painful…”
Saying that, she felt sad about a child whom she was seeing for the first time. Yu Jitae wasn’t really that sad and even now, there was instead a myriad of complex thoughts muddling his head.
“Stay here for a bit Bom.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Just to talk to someone.”
After the funeral, he looked for Christoph. The superhuman who was old yet as big as a beast, didn’t really look that depressed. He was smoking a cigarette alone at the back of the cathedral.
“Christoph.”
“Season. You’re here.”
“Sorry about what happened to the child.”
Christoph heaved out a mouthful of smoke. The old man nonchalantly said through the thick smoke.
“There is no way the prophet came all the way here to console a lowly old man. So, what brings you here.”
“Let’s have a talk about what happened after the communication office operation of Africa’s Quasar branch.”
“Alright. What is it. Don’t beat around the bush.”
“What did you do after the operation.” Yu Jitae asked.
“Why are you asking that.”
“I have gone through the records of the 5th Command Room and discovered that you had nothing scheduled for a long time, with neither work-related or personal schedule written down.”
“As you turn older, it’s natural to rest more.”
“Don’t you think of yourself as young.”
“Don’t pretend like you know me well.”
Christoph sucked in a very deep breath through the cigarette. His consequent sigh was just as deep.
“…Nothing much. I was just personally looking into it.”
“Looking into Quasar.”
“Right. Chief Advisor Season. You’re aware that there are around 7 special troops tracking Quasar apart from you, yes?”
Yu Jitae nodded. The communication office connected to battalions that he found was the most relevant recent success with no other troops having meaningful outcomes.
“With all their data in mind, I followed my instincts and scavenged through everything.”
“What everything?”
“All the governments around the world… I went through them a lot. They probably haven’t told others yet because of my fame as an old veteran hero of the war, but there is most likely a lot of governments that do not like me.”
“So, any results?”
“There is one thing. One very strange point.”
Christoph held the cigarette with his other hand.
“There is someone…”
“Someone?” Yu Jitae asked.
“I have no idea who it is though.”
“A group? Or an individual.”
“Don’t know about that either. But it feels more like an individual.”
“Their gender? And age?”
“Not sure about either of them.”
“Any traits, or their rank.”
“Not too sure about their rank, but it’s probably high. As for their trait, it’s that the being can control human relationships and societies exceptionally well like a monster. That’s what I felt.”
“What you felt? You mean everything you said is based on your instincts?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Yu Jitae gave a faint frown.
The word ‘instinct’ was one that didn’t sit well with him. However, he still didn’t disregard it. According to Christoph, the opponent was an individual that could manipulate the relationships of human society well like a monster.
And that person might as well be the very person that robbed the grave of Wings of Snowlight.
“What made you think that.”
“There is something. In some countries… there is something, something strange with them. But there was nothing weird on documents and none of the people were doubtful or skeptical either.”
“If neither the documents nor people find it weird, then what makes you claim there’s something strange. Is there anything else apart from that instinct of yours?”
“Even the god doesn’t know, so how would an old man like me know?”
“I’m not a god. I’m just another desperate human. Tell me everything you know.”
The old man pondered as he burned through another cigarette. Soon, he opened his mouth while throwing the cigarette butt away.
“They were too fast.”
“About what.”
“Prophet. Following your words, the Association was preparing for the ‘Night’. But us gathering power is buying the wariness of other nations. Because of the growth of the military organisation, Association, governments are feeling pressured.”
“Is that not natural?”
“Right, but I’m saying that their reaction is way too fast.”
“On what standards?”
“My experience. That’s why I’m saying it’s based on my instincts.”
“So, you mean there is one ‘individual’ that is inducing that situation from behind?”
“Exactly.”
After that, Yu Jitae threw several more questions but the conclusion was the same.
According to his instincts, there was one suspicious guy moving the world, to antagonise the Association.
“…”
Yu Jitae nodded and was about to head back. However, right before turning around, he felt slightly soft inside. Reflecting on the principles of daily lives, he carefully asked.
“How do you feel.”
“You’re asking that now.”
“If there’s something to do, leave it to me or One. We will help you take some time off.”
“It’s fine. Just go. I am still young.”
When the hesitant Yu Jitae was again about to turn around, the old man’s voice flew in like a lingering regret and stopped him by his ankles.
“Are you, not a god?” he asked.
“Like I said, I’m a human.”
“A human huh… You were behaving just like an old god but… so you mean you are a creation just like me, yes?”
“If the doctrine of creation is correct, then yes.”
“I happen to be a creationist. Then can you listen to one of my stories as the same human?”
Yu Jitae turned and faced the old man.
“I had a son and a daughter.”