Chapter 32: The Price of Vengeance.

Now, Cynthia didn’t say anything else.

She simply handed over all the remaining data she had been keeping to Seo Jin.

Documents investigating the failure of the ‘Dawn of Humanity’ operation.
Information uncovering the truth behind Arcel’s death.

The core of the question that Seo Jin had always wanted to know.

While puzzled by the timing of handing it over, the data he received revealed the background and execution process of a really complex and planned instigation.

Seo Jin’s eyes shook as he received it, but Cynthia just waited quietly, as if telling him to check it out.

So, Seo Jin read the data, even briefly forgetting the conversation he had just had.

Thanks to that, he was finally able to confirm the complete inside story.

Why Arcel’s death was instigated.

“This is….”

In short, she had become a sacrifice of interests.

The current Allied Government is a cooperative organization formed by hastily combining the powers of various countries around the world due to the unprecedented crisis of humanity called the Encroachment War.

Therefore, even though they are in the same fence, it was only natural that political factions and internal forces were divided based on their original regions and countries of origin.

Such conflicts generally set up sharp confrontational angles on several topics.

One of the issues was ‘the utilization of combat ability users’.

In the leadership from Western countries, where illegal ability crime had been rampant even before the appearance of the encroaching species, maintained a critical view of ability users even during the Great War.

They argued for more strictly controlled command for ability-bearing soldiers.

On the other hand, generals from the East, who had a slightly more open-minded stance, had a different position.

From the beginning of the Encroachment War, they actively utilized ability holders and promoted them as heroes.

Therefore, ability users in the military naturally leaned towards the Eastern faction, and as the Encroachment War gradually intensified, this trend produced new results.

This is because the use of magic power developed, and the activities of ability users continued to stand out.

The sight of individuals accumulating merits comparable to military units gave hope to those suffering from the fear of encroaching species.

Thanks to this, people gradually began to actively support the activities of ability users.

Some particularly outstanding heroes were even called the shield of God that protects humanity, ‘Aegis’, and gained great support.
As a result, the Eastern faction eventually gained power in the Allied Forces headquarters. On the other hand, the generals of the Western faction, who had been rejecting ability users, gradually lost their ground.

This trend was not limited to the military.

The Standing Council of the Joint Government.

The politicians who could control all the power of the World Federation at the time were extremely wary of the popularity and influence of ability users who had become war heroes.

If the shields of humanity, who were receiving so much cheers from the public, retired and entered politics in the future, they would easily push out the existing political forces with overwhelming support. It couldn’t help but stimulate the nerves of the existing power members.

Therefore, the conspiracy that those who feared that heroized ability users would become a power that could not be stopped institutionally or militarily in the future had been carefully planning.

That was the super-scale public world plan that was premised on failure from the beginning, ‘Dawn of Humanity’.

The plan to eliminate the [Queen of Encroachment] centering on the strongest Aegis of the time, ‘Arciel Daylight’….

In the end, it was a disaster that sacrificed many ability users.

Afterwards, the responsibility and stigma of that failure were put on them to erase the existence of the hero who had been receiving overwhelming support from the public, and to make the public lose faith in ability users.

Arciel had become a victim of that interest.

Seo Jin’s hand trembled as he read the document.

It was a really absurd story.

The fact that someone who had shouldered and sacrificed more than anyone else had to disappear because of such ridiculous calculations….

He couldn’t understand.

Really,
Really,

Seo Jin had never been this angry in his life.

Even more so because he had watched Arcel more closely than anyone else.

The hero who had become hope for so many people,
She who had always fought for others,
The fact that she had to lose her life for such a trivial reason without receiving any reward made his head burn hot.

From the depths of the swirling emotions, sharp hatred bloomed in his heart.

On the next page of the crumpled paper, there was a list of names neatly arranged.

It was a list of those who knew about the corruption or contributed to it.

Seo Jin read each and every name that he had to kill with bloodshot eyes as if engraving it in his brain.

Then, his thoughts stopped for a moment when he found the last one at the end of his gaze.

[Michael Eisenberg]

A man who came from the Chief Commander of the Western Defense Command and was elected to the position of Secretary-General of the Allied Government after the war with his merits.

The fact that the top leader of the administrative agency, who had secured unprecedented authority in human society, was one of the fiends who killed Arcel that must be repaid….

His thoughts stopped for a moment.

A moment when he didn’t feel any emotion-

The judgment that it was impossible momentarily flashed through Seo Jin’s mind.

Even though it was right after he had sworn to do anything to achieve revenge.

The first thing that came to mind was only the feasibility close to zero.

He had clearly prepared himself.
Even so, it was too distant of a goal.

‘Secretary-General Michael Eisenberg….’

The opponent is the highest authority in humanity, the current head of the Allied Government.

Not only that. There were dozens of names to be avenged besides that human.

All of them were figures who currently held key positions in the Defense Forces and the parliament.

To eliminate them all, literally…

It meant uprooting the pinnacle of this society.

With just his own power.

With only a month left to live….

Seo Jin felt a sense of despair.

He had never felt this kind of helplessness at any moment.

Even when he faced the encroaching species with all his ammunition exhausted,

Even when he faced the approaching army of encroachment from an absolutely inferior position,

And even after Arcel’s death, when he was given the mission to fix the fate of this world alone… he had never given up.

But….

This is… really…..

At that moment, a voice was heard.

“Shall I help you?”

Seo Jin raised his head.

The eyes looking at him drew a crescent shape.

“Don’t you want to take revenge?”

He was mesmerized and looked at her as if he was possessed by the low whisper.

A small laugh brushed against his ear.

Seo Jin finally realized.

‘Ah-’

Why his old student had only appeared to him now.

Seo Jin had only a month left to live.

No matter what he did, he couldn’t achieve enough revenge on his hateful enemies.

But, if he received someone’s help-

A Special-grade Aegis, a combat ability user with the strongest magical power formula.

The owner of the highest honor of the Allied Forces, the ‘Guardian Medal’.

The girl Seo Jin was facing now was such a person, a 5-star hero character with only nine existences in the original game.

He knows better than anyone the true power that ‘Cynthia Rose’ has.

It was he who had unleashed her talent earlier than the original.

If Seo Jin could freely use the power that could turn a city into ashes in an instant at this point….

Achieving the revenge he wanted in the remaining time might not be just a dream.

If he receives her help even now, the work of repaying those hateful people who killed Arcel with trivial calculations….

‘Surely it’s a result that can be achieved enough.’

“Right? If I help you, you can do it, right?”

The voice whispering that possibility and hope.

Before he knew it, she had come close to him,

Making eye contact clearly,

A touch stroking his cheek.

It is clearly a gentle and careful touch.

“Haa-, Teacher…”

But the truth of the emotions revealed behind it felt like an action to satisfyingly confirm the prey tied to a snare…

The eyes that lovingly looked at Seo Jin’s frozen appearance for a moment curved like a crescent moon.

The following voice brushed against his ear.

It was an tone with a sticky desire that was no longer hidden.

“I have something I want.”

Seo Jin finally realized.

Why Cynthia had bothered to tell him all the truth now…

She had been waiting for an opportunity like a thorough hunter.

The point at which all the room left for him had disappeared, making the hand she extended a compromise that he could never refuse.

In order to deliver a single suggestion that would complete the last of all the puzzles.

Only for this moment,

She had been enduring and waiting until now.

“From now on, please hold me every night, Teacher.”

For the person who had decided to endure anything for the revenge of the most precious person,

Knowing that this was a proposal that could never be refused.

Cynthia smiled really satisfied.

“How is it? Isn’t it a pretty good deal?”