Baldur’s face had distorted for only a split second before returning to its original expression in a heartbeat. It was almost as if the previous distortion had never happened, a flash of that had appeared for a moment.
However, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t miss it.
Baldur began to speak.
"I don't know what you're talking about,” he said calmly.
“When you were commanded to come here, how much did they say you could help me with?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked in return.
“...”
“I’m asking you what the President of the Association ordered you to do?” Lee Jun-Kyeong repeated with the same level tone.
Baldur’s face gradually changed, morphing from a friendly and smiling facade into a slightly cold and stiff expression.
“To cooperate as much as possible if there's anything you want.”
Even Baldur's way of speaking had changed.
This was the weird and uncomfortable feeling that Lee Jun-Kyeong had felt toward him.
‘It was a facade.’
His true heart had been hidden by his good deeds and smiling face.
Although he still hadn’t fully uncovered Baldur’s true self yet, the other man had at least dropped his pervasive smile.
Lee Jun-Kyeong did not back down.
"Then let me know. Which of the Nile’s hosts is a Hero of Asgard?"
Baldur raised both hands in response to Lee Jun-Kyeong's repeated questions.
Before he knew it, Baldur’s glowing smile had returned and his expression had returned to the tranquil one the Hunter always had.
"I'll get in touch with the higher-ups first and let you know," he said in a beautiful tone. "As it’s a bit of classified information."
This was enough.
He had confirmed that there was an Asgardian spy hiding inside the Nile.
"Very well, then."
"Goodbye, then."
Lee Jun-Kyeong had been the one to enter the room, but Baldur ended up leaving in the end.
***
Scritch. Scritch.
Like always, the only sound in the room was of a scribbling pen.
There were piles of paper piled up here and there, but the person handling the documents had no complaints or protests as he moved the ballpoint pen silently.
Tak.
He finally put down his ballpoint pen and, stretching with his hands clasped, he muttered as he looked out of the window, “So that brat wants to kill a Sponsor.”
Yeo Seong-Gu had said that about Lee Jun-Kyeong’s purpose, which was the very goal Odin had as well.
[<The Endless Investigator> says…]
[<The Voiceless Sage> says…]
He could hear the voices of those bastards right now. After he had become a Hunter, those voices never stopped, almost as if they were auditory hallucinations.
Nothing had changed even after he had gotten stronger.
Those bastards had just supported him and encouraged him even further after just watching him struggle.
‘Kill.’
Ordering him to kill monsters.
‘Fight.’
Ordering him to fight with his life on the line.
.
Those voyeuristic bastards who looked down on him from above never did anything.
Everything was up to the humans—no, it was up to the Hunters to do.
“How noisy,” Odin, Jang Hyo-Jin, muttered, and the voices soon were cut off.
Currently, it had been about three years since the gates and Hunters had appeared. However, that was a timeline that only applied to the majority of Hunters.
‘I am…’
Odin was reminded of a terrible memory, a nightmare that the most powerful Hunters, those with their own Territories, had experienced.
It had been the very price of the strength they had been given by the Sponsors.
Asgard had been created to save mankind, and Odin remained unchanged on the purpose.
‘Only by killing the Sponsors…’
Only by doing so would he be able to bring about the salvation of mankind.
He, Jang Hyo-Jin, openly expressed his convocation as he began to speak as he looked at the sky outside the window.
"I'll kill you, bastards, one day."
There wasn’t a single quiver to his frosty voice.
[<The Endless Investigator> smiles as it watches over you.]
[<The Voiceless Sage> is disheartened by your choice.]
However, in return, all he could hear were some playful tones.
In the past, he would have broken things and screamed at the voices out of fury and frustration.
However, things were different this time.
Smirk.
Odin laughed.
‘What in the world makes you think so?’
He had asked Yeo Seong-Gu, who had said that Lee Jun-Kyeong was someone who could kill a Sponsor, why he thought that.
He had originally thought that Heimdall had said it simply so that he could win his favor. However, what Yeo Seong-Gu said next was extremely convincing.
‘The Hunters that had been sponsored by <The Ruler of the Riverside>...’
Gunther, and his Sponsor, <The Ruler of the Riverside>.
‘All of those Hunters lost their strength. It’s the first time this has ever happened. This was the first time that Hunters had lost power to anything other than death.’
He knew Yeo Seong-Gu was telling the truth.
After Choi Yeong-Seong of the Northern Army Guild had died, many other Hunters had lost their power.
Although Odin had focused on and studied the mysterious phenomenon, he hadn’t been able to find an association between them.
However, it was only a matter of course.
‘I hadn’t thought that Choi Yeong-Seong’s death had anything to do with the Hunters losing their power in the first place.’
It wasn’t possible to keep track of who a Hunter’s Sponsor was.
For a Hunter, the Sponsor was both their greatest weakness and greatest strength.
It was only natural to hide it. No Hunter would mention their Sponsor unless there was a special reason. Moreover, their Sponsors had also shackled them, to keep their names from being revealed recklessly.
Therefore, while most Hunters thought that they weren’t revealing their Sponsors out of their own will, in fact, it was something that was forbidden by their Sponsor as well.
“How quaint.”
Odin laughed.
The antique phone in the president's office suddenly rang loudly.
“…”
The only people who knew this number were the people from Asgard.
Odin picked up the phone.
–This is Baldur, sir.
A welcoming expression blossomed on Odin’s face.
Baldur continued to speak.
“Do your best to help him,” Odin answered simply.
His order was simple, just to do whatever Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted.
After the call had ended, Odin picked up the phone once again.
On the other end, someone answered the phone before it rang three times.
“President,” the other person said so naturally that it could have felt a little awkward for Odin to be calling him. However, Odin continued with a grin.
"Let's have a meal."
From the other side, a polite reply quickly came over.
There was another thing that Yeo Seong-Gu had told Odin.
‘The day the special gates disappear, something cataclysmic will happen.’
It was a warning, and the source of the warning was from Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Odin’s smile never left his face.
He would be dining with the president and also the other heads of society today.
Dining with these people only took place when Odin had something to order from them.
He was now planning on getting prepared.
‘Did he say it was a cataclysm?’
Odin chuckled as he thought of Lee Jun-Kyeong and the smile lingered on his face.
***
The cataclysm would cause much to change. In fact, a lot would be destroyed and much more would be reorganized. After its advent, the number of surviving secret organizations became incredibly low.
Therefore, just surviving was proof that the remaining secret organizations had had much stronger power than the ones that had fallen.
Asgard was among them.
They would suffer great damage, but much of their strength would still be left behind. Following that, they would show their ability to the world.
‘They also had many strings within the other secret organizations.’
Spys.
From the very beginning, the Heroes of Asgard would either go to the other organizations or turn a Hero from another organization to Asgard’s side.
There was quite a number, and once the cataclysm occurred, Asgard would rally them all.
Asgard would then be reborn into a larger organization compared to before the cataclysm.
That was why Lee Jun-Kyeong had brought up the topic to Baldur.
‘There are spies even in Egypt.’
Even though it was difficult for him to figure out anything about who the spy in the Nile was, as there was so little information for him to go on, Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure that there was a spy among its ranks.
Baldur had admitted to it, and so Lee Jun-Kyeong waited for Asgard’s response.
“Whew. It’s really hot,” Jeong In-Chang said as he stood next to Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was lost in thought.
“I mean, it is Egypt,” Won-Hwa remarked.
“That’s what I’m saying. It’s so hot.”
“But isn’t it still better than being cold?” Won-Hwa retorted.
Lee Jun-Kyeong, Jeong In-Chang, Won-Hwa were walking together, looking around the streets of Egypt.
There was nothing they could do, so they were just waiting.
"Snort."
Fenrir was walking next to Lee Jun-Kyeong and kept shaking his head because it was hot.
"By the way, Mr. Lee,” said Won-Hwa.
The physician hadn’t asked a question so far, so it was about time he had one.
"May I ask what your final goal is?"
It was an awkward question to hear while walking in the middle of the Egyptian street in the scorching sun.
"Come to think of it, I've never heard of your final goal, either,” Jeong In-Chang said, taking Won-Hwa’s side.
“Although we know that you’ve always acted with a purpose in mind, Mr. Lee…even if I can figure out the short-term goal, I still can’t seem to figure out the final one.”
Jeong In-Chang also seemed to be curious about the answer to Won-Hwa’s question.
“Mmm…”
The Hunter continued to walk and muse over the topic.
“To become the strongest in the world?” he tossed out.
“...”
“It doesn’t seem like you want to conquer the world, either…”
Jeong In-Chang continued to mutter to himself as if he were playing twenty questions, and he finally nodded as if he had realized something.
"What is it, Mr. Jeong?” Won-Hwa asked as he stopped in place and looked over at the Hunter.
The same went for Lee Jun-Kyeong as well.
Jeong In-Chang’s face seemed to be certain of what he had uncovered, seemingly thinking that he had figured out the purpose Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t even mentioned yet.
“Snort?”
Even Fenrir seemed curious.
Jeong In-Chang nodded as he looked around at everyone.
"I think conquering the world is right,” he said.
"Why?" Lee Jun-Kyeong asked about the completely ridiculous answer.
“Mr. Lee is…”
Jeong In-Chang continued as he looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong with narrowed eyes.
“It’s clear that you want to create a world where polygamy is allowed.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong asked incredulously, “Excuse me?”
“…?”
“I don’t know if you know, Mr. Won-Hwa, but there Mr. Lee has quite a few women hidden around.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly blocked Jeong In-Chang’s mouth because he thought that it would be impossible to predict what the Hunter would continue to say if he was left alone anymore.
Jeong In-Chang seemed to struggle against him for a while but soon stopped, seemingly having noticed something.
“Hunters,” Jeong In-Chang muttered while looking around, having freed his mouth.
Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t just blocked his mouth because he didn’t want to hear his nonsense.
“They should be of Hero-Grade.”
There were unusual and powerful Hunters around them.
Heroes were approaching their party, as if to surround them.
Before anyone knew it, the streets had become completely silent.
“...”
The previously noisy and lively streets were now nearly empty, and the few people that were left were terrified, completely busy with trying to run away.
“What in the world is…”
It wasn’t easy for Heroes to be getting that sort of reception.
The faces of Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party hardened.
"Grr."
Fenrir was also expressing hostility with his fangs completely bared.
‘They’re strong,’ Lee Jun-Kyeong thought as he felt the aura of the approaching Hunters.
‘It might be at the Knights of the Round Table gr...’
He was trying to find a target to compare them to, trying to identify them by comparing their strength with the strength of those he fought.
‘Maybe Heracles.’
No.
This wasn’t comparable to the Knights of the Round Table, nor was it on the level of Heracles.
Their mana seemed slightly turbid.
Moreover, their mana was obscured under the mana of one enormous presence.
"Step back," Lee Jun-Kyeong said.
"Mr. Lee?" Jeong In-Chang asked, bewildered at Lee Jun-Kyeong’s harsh tone.
However, the Hunter still stepped back with Won-Hwa.
Thud.
It was an unimaginable thing to be able to hear a single step in the streets of Cairo, the capital city of Egypt.
However, this was the reality they were experiencing.
Thud.
There was another step.
The enormous presence that obscured everyone else approached.
‘Arthur.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong had finally found a target to compare the presence to.
Before they knew it, his visage appeared in front of their eyes.
In this scorching Egyptian climate, he was wearing a tightly tailored black suit made of leather as if he wasn’t affected by the temperature.
He approached Lee Jun-Kyeong, flanked by men who all wore the same leather armor.
Lee Jun-Kyeong had guessed his identity.
“Set.”
The most terrifying Hero of the Nile was now standing before their eyes.
Baldur’s face had distorted for only a split second before returning to its original expression in a heartbeat. It was almost as if the previous distortion had never happened, a flash of that had appeared for a moment.
However, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t miss it.
Baldur began to speak.
"I don't know what you're talking about,” he said calmly.
“When you were commanded to come here, how much did they say you could help me with?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked in return.
“...”
“I’m asking you what the President of the Association ordered you to do?” Lee Jun-Kyeong repeated with the same level tone.
Baldur’s face gradually changed, morphing from a friendly and smiling facade into a slightly cold and stiff expression.
“To cooperate as much as possible if there's anything you want.”
Even Baldur's way of speaking had changed.
This was the weird and uncomfortable feeling that Lee Jun-Kyeong had felt toward him.
‘It was a facade.’
His true heart had been hidden by his good deeds and smiling face.
Although he still hadn’t fully uncovered Baldur’s true self yet, the other man had at least dropped his pervasive smile.
Lee Jun-Kyeong did not back down.
"Then let me know. Which of the Nile’s hosts is a Hero of Asgard?"
Baldur raised both hands in response to Lee Jun-Kyeong's repeated questions.
Before he knew it, Baldur’s glowing smile had returned and his expression had returned to the tranquil one the Hunter always had.
"I'll get in touch with the higher-ups first and let you know," he said in a beautiful tone. "As it’s a bit of classified information."
This was enough.
He had confirmed that there was an Asgardian spy hiding inside the Nile.
"Very well, then."
"Goodbye, then."
Lee Jun-Kyeong had been the one to enter the room, but Baldur ended up leaving in the end.
***
Scritch. Scritch.
Like always, the only sound in the room was of a scribbling pen.
There were piles of paper piled up here and there, but the person handling the documents had no complaints or protests as he moved the ballpoint pen silently.
Tak.
He finally put down his ballpoint pen and, stretching with his hands clasped, he muttered as he looked out of the window, “So that brat wants to kill a Sponsor.”
Yeo Seong-Gu had said that about Lee Jun-Kyeong’s purpose, which was the very goal Odin had as well.
[<The Endless Investigator> says…]
[<The Voiceless Sage> says…]
He could hear the voices of those bastards right now. After he had become a Hunter, those voices never stopped, almost as if they were auditory hallucinations.
Nothing had changed even after he had gotten stronger.
Those bastards had just supported him and encouraged him even further after just watching him struggle.
‘Kill.’
Ordering him to kill monsters.
‘Fight.’
Ordering him to fight with his life on the line.
.
Those voyeuristic bastards who looked down on him from above never did anything.
Everything was up to the humans—no, it was up to the Hunters to do.
“How noisy,” Odin, Jang Hyo-Jin, muttered, and the voices soon were cut off.
Currently, it had been about three years since the gates and Hunters had appeared. However, that was a timeline that only applied to the majority of Hunters.
‘I am…’
Odin was reminded of a terrible memory, a nightmare that the most powerful Hunters, those with their own Territories, had experienced.
It had been the very price of the strength they had been given by the Sponsors.
Asgard had been created to save mankind, and Odin remained unchanged on the purpose.
‘Only by killing the Sponsors…’
Only by doing so would he be able to bring about the salvation of mankind.
He, Jang Hyo-Jin, openly expressed his convocation as he began to speak as he looked at the sky outside the window.
"I'll kill you, bastards, one day."
There wasn’t a single quiver to his frosty voice.
[<The Endless Investigator> smiles as it watches over you.]
[<The Voiceless Sage> is disheartened by your choice.]
However, in return, all he could hear were some playful tones.
In the past, he would have broken things and screamed at the voices out of fury and frustration.
However, things were different this time.
Smirk.
Odin laughed.
‘What in the world makes you think so?’
He had asked Yeo Seong-Gu, who had said that Lee Jun-Kyeong was someone who could kill a Sponsor, why he thought that.
He had originally thought that Heimdall had said it simply so that he could win his favor. However, what Yeo Seong-Gu said next was extremely convincing.
‘The Hunters that had been sponsored by <The Ruler of the Riverside>...’
Gunther, and his Sponsor, <The Ruler of the Riverside>.
‘All of those Hunters lost their strength. It’s the first time this has ever happened. This was the first time that Hunters had lost power to anything other than death.’
He knew Yeo Seong-Gu was telling the truth.
After Choi Yeong-Seong of the Northern Army Guild had died, many other Hunters had lost their power.
Although Odin had focused on and studied the mysterious phenomenon, he hadn’t been able to find an association between them.
However, it was only a matter of course.
‘I hadn’t thought that Choi Yeong-Seong’s death had anything to do with the Hunters losing their power in the first place.’
It wasn’t possible to keep track of who a Hunter’s Sponsor was.
For a Hunter, the Sponsor was both their greatest weakness and greatest strength.
It was only natural to hide it. No Hunter would mention their Sponsor unless there was a special reason. Moreover, their Sponsors had also shackled them, to keep their names from being revealed recklessly.
Therefore, while most Hunters thought that they weren’t revealing their Sponsors out of their own will, in fact, it was something that was forbidden by their Sponsor as well.
“How quaint.”
Odin laughed.
The antique phone in the president's office suddenly rang loudly.
“…”
The only people who knew this number were the people from Asgard.
Odin picked up the phone.
–This is Baldur, sir.
A welcoming expression blossomed on Odin’s face.
Baldur continued to speak.
“Do your best to help him,” Odin answered simply.
His order was simple, just to do whatever Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted.
After the call had ended, Odin picked up the phone once again.
On the other end, someone answered the phone before it rang three times.
“President,” the other person said so naturally that it could have felt a little awkward for Odin to be calling him. However, Odin continued with a grin.
"Let's have a meal."
From the other side, a polite reply quickly came over.
There was another thing that Yeo Seong-Gu had told Odin.
‘The day the special gates disappear, something cataclysmic will happen.’
It was a warning, and the source of the warning was from Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Odin’s smile never left his face.
He would be dining with the president and also the other heads of society today.
Dining with these people only took place when Odin had something to order from them.
He was now planning on getting prepared.
‘Did he say it was a cataclysm?’
Odin chuckled as he thought of Lee Jun-Kyeong and the smile lingered on his face.
***
The cataclysm would cause much to change. In fact, a lot would be destroyed and much more would be reorganized. After its advent, the number of surviving secret organizations became incredibly low.
Therefore, just surviving was proof that the remaining secret organizations had had much stronger power than the ones that had fallen.
Asgard was among them.
They would suffer great damage, but much of their strength would still be left behind. Following that, they would show their ability to the world.
‘They also had many strings within the other secret organizations.’
Spys.
From the very beginning, the Heroes of Asgard would either go to the other organizations or turn a Hero from another organization to Asgard’s side.
There was quite a number, and once the cataclysm occurred, Asgard would rally them all.
Asgard would then be reborn into a larger organization compared to before the cataclysm.
That was why Lee Jun-Kyeong had brought up the topic to Baldur.
‘There are spies even in Egypt.’
Even though it was difficult for him to figure out anything about who the spy in the Nile was, as there was so little information for him to go on, Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure that there was a spy among its ranks.
Baldur had admitted to it, and so Lee Jun-Kyeong waited for Asgard’s response.
“Whew. It’s really hot,” Jeong In-Chang said as he stood next to Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was lost in thought.
“I mean, it is Egypt,” Won-Hwa remarked.
“That’s what I’m saying. It’s so hot.”
“But isn’t it still better than being cold?” Won-Hwa retorted.
Lee Jun-Kyeong, Jeong In-Chang, Won-Hwa were walking together, looking around the streets of Egypt.
There was nothing they could do, so they were just waiting.
"Snort."
Fenrir was walking next to Lee Jun-Kyeong and kept shaking his head because it was hot.
"By the way, Mr. Lee,” said Won-Hwa.
The physician hadn’t asked a question so far, so it was about time he had one.
"May I ask what your final goal is?"
It was an awkward question to hear while walking in the middle of the Egyptian street in the scorching sun.
"Come to think of it, I've never heard of your final goal, either,” Jeong In-Chang said, taking Won-Hwa’s side.
“Although we know that you’ve always acted with a purpose in mind, Mr. Lee…even if I can figure out the short-term goal, I still can’t seem to figure out the final one.”
Jeong In-Chang also seemed to be curious about the answer to Won-Hwa’s question.
“Mmm…”
The Hunter continued to walk and muse over the topic.
“To become the strongest in the world?” he tossed out.
“...”
“It doesn’t seem like you want to conquer the world, either…”
Jeong In-Chang continued to mutter to himself as if he were playing twenty questions, and he finally nodded as if he had realized something.
"What is it, Mr. Jeong?” Won-Hwa asked as he stopped in place and looked over at the Hunter.
The same went for Lee Jun-Kyeong as well.
Jeong In-Chang’s face seemed to be certain of what he had uncovered, seemingly thinking that he had figured out the purpose Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t even mentioned yet.
“Snort?”
Even Fenrir seemed curious.
Jeong In-Chang nodded as he looked around at everyone.
"I think conquering the world is right,” he said.
"Why?" Lee Jun-Kyeong asked about the completely ridiculous answer.
“Mr. Lee is…”
Jeong In-Chang continued as he looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong with narrowed eyes.
“It’s clear that you want to create a world where polygamy is allowed.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong asked incredulously, “Excuse me?”
“…?”
“I don’t know if you know, Mr. Won-Hwa, but there Mr. Lee has quite a few women hidden around.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly blocked Jeong In-Chang’s mouth because he thought that it would be impossible to predict what the Hunter would continue to say if he was left alone anymore.
Jeong In-Chang seemed to struggle against him for a while but soon stopped, seemingly having noticed something.
“Hunters,” Jeong In-Chang muttered while looking around, having freed his mouth.
Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t just blocked his mouth because he didn’t want to hear his nonsense.
“They should be of Hero-Grade.”
There were unusual and powerful Hunters around them.
Heroes were approaching their party, as if to surround them.
Before anyone knew it, the streets had become completely silent.
“...”
The previously noisy and lively streets were now nearly empty, and the few people that were left were terrified, completely busy with trying to run away.
“What in the world is…”
It wasn’t easy for Heroes to be getting that sort of reception.
The faces of Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party hardened.
"Grr."
Fenrir was also expressing hostility with his fangs completely bared.
‘They’re strong,’ Lee Jun-Kyeong thought as he felt the aura of the approaching Hunters.
‘It might be at the Knights of the Round Table gr...’
He was trying to find a target to compare them to, trying to identify them by comparing their strength with the strength of those he fought.
‘Maybe Heracles.’
No.
This wasn’t comparable to the Knights of the Round Table, nor was it on the level of Heracles.
Their mana seemed slightly turbid.
Moreover, their mana was obscured under the mana of one enormous presence.
"Step back," Lee Jun-Kyeong said.
"Mr. Lee?" Jeong In-Chang asked, bewildered at Lee Jun-Kyeong’s harsh tone.
However, the Hunter still stepped back with Won-Hwa.
Thud.
It was an unimaginable thing to be able to hear a single step in the streets of Cairo, the capital city of Egypt.
However, this was the reality they were experiencing.
Thud.
There was another step.
The enormous presence that obscured everyone else approached.
‘Arthur.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong had finally found a target to compare the presence to.
Before they knew it, his visage appeared in front of their eyes.
In this scorching Egyptian climate, he was wearing a tightly tailored black suit made of leather as if he wasn’t affected by the temperature.
He approached Lee Jun-Kyeong, flanked by men who all wore the same leather armor.
Lee Jun-Kyeong had guessed his identity.
“Set.”
The most terrifying Hero of the Nile was now standing before their eyes.
