“You’re a fool.”
In the car heading to the official invitation from the Fishing Club, Menelapie suddenly spoke up.
“I’m not a fool, you know.”
“Hehe, but that name suits you quite well. How about changing it now?”
“No thanks.”
Shia used to call herself a fool all the time, and now even the emperor wants to label her as one.
What if her acquaintances started calling her ‘fool’ instead of Yeonhwa?
As the thought crossed her mind, Yeonhwa shivered for a moment and shook her head.
“Anyway, you fool. Have you ever gone fishing?”
“…Fishing?”
“Yes, fishing.”
“No, I’ve never done it personally.”
Suddenly bringing up the topic of fishing caused Yeonhwa to tilt her head.
She had heard from Director Lee, who served Yeonseo, that fishing was a hobby of his, but Yeonhwa had lived a life very distant from fishing.
“I often went to the river carrying Shia when my mind was a mess.”
As if recalling a past event, Menelapie’s golden eyes twinkled under her sunglasses.
“It seems the emperor’s job hasn’t been easy.”
“Well, that’s true, but sometimes I would lay Shia beside me, begging to catch fish because she wanted to eat them, and I would throw in a fishing rod, lost in thought. That time can be described as… how should I put it in Earth terms? A healing time.”
“…I wouldn’t know. Is it fun?”
“Very fun.”
But it’s not just about the fun of catching fish, she added as she realized they were almost at their destination and adjusted her sunglasses.
“Fishing is not so different from politics.”
Glancing out of the window, she noticed a few security personnel rushing over.
Are they at A-grade level?
It must have cost a lot to employ an A-grade Awakened as mere security personnel.
They seem pretty loaded, huh?
“You hook the bait on the line and throw it into the water, and the fish gather around. But they know instinctively or through experience that the bait is dangerous.”
“Well, if food suddenly shows up right in front of them, they would feel something is off.”
“Still, they try to eat it, though.”
Menelapie smiled slyly, raising her lips.
“I think they just need to think a little; cautiously consider whether to take the bait or not. After all, they are trying to trick the human holding the fishing rod.”
Isn’t it funny that fish try to deceive humans?
“But the watching human can clearly see what the fish is thinking, and yet in the end, they succumb to hunger and bite.”
With that, Menelapie seemed to be showing a glimpse of her attitude as an emperor.
“You’re smart enough to understand what I mean.”
“…That’s interesting.”
“Right? It’s incredibly interesting. Hehe…”
“Maybe it’s because we are both heroes? My grandmother has said similar things before.”
“Yeonhwa, I’ve been waiting for you! I’ll escort you!”
Suddenly, as they approached, the security Awakened opened the car door for Yeonhwa and Menelapie.
“Then you’ll also understand what I intend to do, right?”
“Hehe… yes.”
They will catch the fish that think they are humans.
I’ll prepare the bait.
You finish it up, hero.
Well, honestly, there’s nothing to prepare.
They’ve already bitten the bait and hooked themselves; just tearing them apart will do…
—
“Where on earth has Cheon Danaa gone…”
“I don’t know. According to the assistant, it seems one of the dimensional distortion devices activated on its own suddenly…”
The Fishing Club members were unable to hide their panic as Cheon Danaa, who had just arrived, suddenly vanished.
Their goal was to impress Yeonhwa with a meeting with Cheon Danaa, but time was running out, and although they heard that Yeonhwa arrived on the surface, they couldn’t find the missing Cheon Danaa.
“Quickly find Cheon Danaa! If Yeonhwa lady is coming, what do you think will happen if we screw this up?”
“I’m with friends who are good at mana detection, but no matter how we search, she’s not here in this building…”
“I told you to search! Who told you to sit around and detect mana? What if Cheon Danaa suddenly fainted, and you can’t detect her!”
“Yes, understood!”
Today was a significant opportunity for the Fishing Club members.
With Yeon Family, one of the most influential families in Korea and the world backing her, whether Yeonhwa would join their gathering would be decided today.
Therefore, they made considerable preparations.
They invited Yeonhwa to this penthouse made of reinforced glass to show the dimensional distortion device operating right in front of her.
However, it had been over 30 minutes since Cheon Danaa, who had just been here, went missing, and the useless security personnel still had not found her.
“Sigh, this is why Awakened people…!”
“They only got lucky and have abilities, yet they act all carelessly.”
“Oh, it’s common these days. Especially younger folks. It’s obvious they are half-hearted in their work, claiming they can detect things with mana.”
“Shut up. What if someone hears you.”
“Anyway, we must find her quickly, or Yeonhwa might change her mind…!”
“Council members? Did I come at a bad time?”
At that moment, hearing a refreshing voice, the council members all stood up from their seats.
Their faces, which had been anxious moments ago, were now filled with bright smiles.
“Oh, that can’t be! This is the perfect time for you to arrive!”
“Please, come in, Miss.”
“Yeonhwa, it’s wonderful to see you.”
“Long time no see.”
“Yeonhwa, you look great and healthy. I was there for your first birthday party; do you remember?”
As if she could remember.
Yeonhwa shrugged her shoulders and walked into the transparent glass penthouse alongside Menelapie.
The council members glanced at Menelapie, but as they thought she was merely an assistant, they didn’t show much interest.
Of course, some lingered their eyes due to her striking appearance, but since Menelapie kept a strict distance with her sunglasses, that attention quickly faded.
“What a nice room this is.”
“Normally, I would have reserved a decent room, but since it’s Yeonhwa, I thought something more extravagant was needed than the usual welcome for newcomers, so I insisted on this place.”
Sure, it’s definitely extravagant.
Everything looked like it was covered in money. That reinforced glass was made of materials that were hard to obtain.
Yeonhwa slightly observed the room filled with ocean décor and the faces of the council members, then shrugged her shoulders.
“So, everybody has gathered?”
“If Yeonhwa lady is joining us, it’s only natural we should be here!”
“Usually, even those council members who are always busy made time for this.”
“Of course! For Yeonhwa, one must create time.”
“Haha, that’s true.”
“Now, Miss Yeonhwa, we prepared this because we thought you’d be curious about what we actually do!”
They had prepared plenty of samples of the highly concentrated Simhaeui Kkot. They had even obtained a list of illegally traded mermaids.
Yeonhwa nodded along as the council members guided her through everything.
It certainly wasn’t different from what she had expected.
Just monopolizing strategic resources like Simhaeui Kkot alone was enough to jail them all, yet they had been carrying out their illicit transactions for decades, dealing with brokers both domestically and internationally.
Going down the list of various trading records written in the ledger, as well as illegal transactions of mermaids sold on Earth, Yeonhwa nodded in satisfaction as a smile spread across her face.
“What do you think? Quite impressive, isn’t it?”
“If Yeonhwa lady decides to join us, we can assure a much clearer and brighter future together…”
“Do you council members know something?”
“What do you mean?”
At that moment, all eyes focused on Yeonhwa as she suddenly grinned.
“I love fishing.”
In an instant, she noticed the mood twist awkwardly, and Menelapie couldn’t help but smile internally, realizing Yeonhwa was putting her training to good use.
“Hah! I wonder if you guys enjoy fishing for fun? This is a ‘Fishing Club,’ after all.”
“Excuse me, Miss Yeonhwa. That sounds rather frightening. Are you talking to us?”
“Oh, was my statement lacking?”
Yeonhwa shrugged her shoulders and inspected her smartwatch.
The high-performance smartwatch that wasn’t sold in the market projected a hologram and instantly connected with someone.
“Sister Yeonju.”
[Yes, Miss.]
“Is there anyone irreplaceable?”
An irreplaceable being.
And what?
Yeonju? Yeonju?!
Hearing the name, the council members felt shivers run down their spines.
Some knew who this ‘Yeonju’ was.
A senior official of the Yeon Family, a data and information-related Awakened known as the pinnacle among net runners.
She was responsible for various administrative tasks while receiving substantial support from the Yeon Family, and she managed extensive, comprehensive work that should not be disclosed to the outside world with astonishing speed, causing many among those who knew her name to refer to her as the real power of the Yeon Family.
[There are no irreplaceable beings. 7th term council member Park Ji-hoon, San Academia Cooperation chief Kang Jun-man, and Hunter Resource Control Bureau’s Non-Human Response chief, a total of 13. There are… none.]
“Oh, none?”
[Park Ji-hoon, the 7th term council member, indeed holds the position of opposition leader, but Yeonseo has indicated she might be looking to replace him soon.]
What? Replacement?!
[You can kill them if you wish. All of them.]
“Thanks, Sister Yeonju.”
[Yes, have a nice summer vacation, Miss.]
The hologram from the smartwatch disappeared, and the voice cut off.
As Yeonhwa turned her head in the frozen air, the council members trembled violently, shocked.
Sure, this Yeonhwa came wanting this all along.
No wonder they found it strange…!
However, it was true that the Fishing Club members had become narrowly focused on the glory of the past and the resource known as Simhaeui Kkot, but they were not simply fools.
They could not ignore a potential external ambush or scenarios like this.
“Haha, Yeonhwa.”
“Young as you are, you certainly carry an invigorated spirit!”
Thus, while they were sweating in fear, they maintained a relaxed expression.
And soon, dozens of guards waiting near the underground penthouse rushed forth.
They were not just ordinary guards.
The head of the security was a retired A-grade Awakened awarded with the title “Hunter,” and all the personnel employed below, even though they had not been promoted, were all rated similarly as A-grade capable.
Moreover, unbeknownst to Yeonhwa, they had impressively installed multiple magical formations that significantly diminished the mana of Awakened in anticipation of any unforeseen attack, and were still actively operating at this very moment.
If the security personnel, excluding the target of the spell, would swarm towards Yeonhwa, even as an S-grade Hunter, she wouldn’t be able to do anything in a depleted state.
“Did we think we’d meet Yeonhwa without any countermeasures in place?”
“Indeed. Yeonhwa, while it’s true you’ve become an S-grade, isn’t it a bit too arrogant?”
“Tell me, security chief. How do you assess the abilities of that security girl over there?”
One council member asked the security chief with a sly tone.
It was the man who had been glancing at Menelapie earlier.
The chief of security, possessing dual abilities in melee combat and sensory detection, could make a rough estimate of Menelapie’s Awakening level.
“She’s a B-grade, or at best, A- grade.”
“In that case, you can handle this by yourself.”
“Handling this? Hehehe… sounds rather lewd, doesn’t it?”
Enduring the condescending gazes directed at her, Menelapie calmly removed her sunglasses.
And from between her elegantly shaped brows, her deep golden eyes glinted.
“Hah.”
BOOM!!!
“Ugh!?”
“Gah!”
“Ugh….!”
“Ugh!?”
The moment her eyes opened, the council members felt an invisible weight pressing down on them, clutching their chests or collapsing in their spots.
Normally, if an Awakened sent a serious aura of killing intent towards civilians, they would invoke a phenomenon where their bodies and minds shrink automatically.
It resembled the effect of being confronted with a tiger or a lion, causing people to feel their knees go weak and freeze in place.
While this phenomenon is closer to being triggered by subsonic waves emitted by animals, research suggests that in the case of Awakened, it results from the aura or mana they subconsciously exude or their overall awakened abilities.
However, the presence of a hero surpassed that.
They felt a literal squeezing pain in their hearts.
They couldn’t breathe.
Some genuinely couldn’t breathe and were foaming from their mouths as they fell backward.
‘What… what is happening…?!’
Council member Park Ji-hoon grit his teeth and shouted to the security chief.
“Quick, stop that woman! Didn’t you just say she’s only A-grade….!”
But the moment he looked at the security chief, Park Ji-hoon could only fall silent.
“Ku, hack… ugh…!”
The security chief was the one who was suffering.
Far more than that of a civilian.
His skin appeared to flush bright red below the surface, and his eyes seemed congested with blood as he resisted the invisible pressure, causing him pain surpassing imagination, gripping his fists until they bled.
“What… what is this…”
“I have dealt with many foolish and stupid children for a long time.”
In the previous world, he had seen even worse specimens.
There had been a mad count who babbled nonsense about taking Shia as his wife.
Simple corruption was cute in comparison.
Indeed, Menelapie found it rather unremarkable to see similar individuals emerge when coming to this world.
Surprisingly, she was filled with mere curiosity.
“Why do these idiots think they’ve become something great or capable?”
From Menelapie’s perspective, this was just a toddler’s play.
She felt no need to draw her sword as she decided to put her sunglasses back on, feeling bored.
“Phew, haha…”
“What?”
At that moment, Council member Park Ji-hoon sneered.
“Indeed, Yeonhwa’s secret weapon is you!”
This remark about a “secret weapon” was absurd.
Yeonhwa inwardly contemplated if she should freeze these fools into frozen food right now.
“You think we’re the only ones here?”
“What?”
RUMBLE….!
In that very moment, a tremendous rift opened in space.
“Do you know why we welcomed Yeonhwa’s membership? It was to reduce dependence on external providers and seek independence.”
Here, the term “external providers” naturally referred to the San Guild, which provided the dimensional distortion devices.
In fact, the Fishing Club had become half bound to the San Guild, being supported and capitalized by them.
For a while, they hadn’t sought after Simhaeui Kkot, but if one day, they called for an abundant supply, they would be bound to hand over all their resources to the San Guild.
In fact, the Fishing Club had been planning to guide Yeonhwa’s membership to try and escape their dependency on the San Guild.
“But now, it’s too bad. We might be out of Yeonseo’s league, but a second-rated Awakened being has just dropped by personally!!”
CRACKLE, CRACKLE!!
With those words, countless hands emerged from the rift.
—
Gasp, gasp, gasp…!
Cheon Danaa had to endure the deathly pains pinching her insides.
It was fortunate that Isia had used a widely destructive miracle at the very end.
At the last moment, Cheon Danaa, having managed to slightly mimic Yeonseo’s abilities, reopened a rift behind her, crawled out in a heavily battered state.
‘That was close…!’
Although it was a replicated body, it had the same performance level as her original.
If she couldn’t defeat Isia with this body, she certainly wouldn’t have a shot at her original.
But that was fine.
‘I secured what I needed…’
Cheon Danaa held a radiant pink pearl glowing in her hand.
Though slightly clouded, it was undeniably a mermaid’s pearl.
Shi’a may not have known, but the two-tailed princess, the one that the Deep Sea Palace guards, had a pearl left behind by her ‘sister’ torn during transcension, and she had been unknowingly locked away in a sealed palace.
Cheon Danaa hadn’t originally aimed to kill the mermaid princess or Isia.
She had come for the “pearl.”
During the battle, she had successfully extracted the pearl residing within the two-tailed princess, all while stealthily.
[Replicate – Yeonseo]
[Replicate – Space Severance]
[Replicate – Dimensional Transfer]
Cheon Danaa’s trembling replicated arms seemed to reflect her state of being, still somehow sending the pearl back to her original body.
Though her replicated body with the same abilities was torn to pieces and lost countless replicated arms in the process, there was still a kernel of success, yet the bitter sting of defeat was engraved deep within Cheon Danaa’s heart.
“Hah, that girl… surely…”
Cheon Danaa bit her teeth and vowed to repay today’s humiliation.
“…Cheon Danaa…?”
At that moment, a suddenly heard voice made Cheon Danaa feel eyes turning towards her.
Ah, right, she had come to the pathetic Fishing Club in Korea. And she was in the penthouse of the Fishing Club…
CLICK!
The moment a sword sliced through the air before her eyes, Cheon Danaa looked up.
Before her was a woman she had never seen, her golden aura rippling as she glared at her with even more intense golden eyes.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP!
The moment she laid eyes on the woman’s golden gaze, Cheon Danaa felt the entity within her explosively radiate.
It was just like Isia.
It wanted to kill her immediately.
However, more than that, she was filled with fear.
“You.”
“………”
What the hell are you…?
“You carry a stench of ugliness.”
Through her golden gaze powers, Menelapie could sense the residual traces of the Demon King emanating from Cheon Danaa.
That alone provided enough reason for her to kill her.
But more than that, Menelapie’s murderous intent was triggered by the fact that from Cheon Danaa, she detected a heavy lingering aura of Shia.
Simple contact?
No, that could not be just from casual engagement; unless they had battled ferociously, such traces wouldn’t have formed.
That alone allowed Menelapie to comprehend a rough situation.
“Right, you deserve to die here.”
[CUT – Rose Slash]
“Ugh…?”
In the next moment, Cheon Danaa felt her head and body separate.
What the hell…!
