Chapter 137

The evening the world turns indigo.
Kim was talking to the professor separately. The professor and Ghost came to Building 4 and asked for a meeting, and Kim didn’t refuse.
I would have come to you if you hadn’t come to me first.
Now is not the time to save yourself.
The main topic was, of course, the talks.
“What can I do?”
“I don’t know, what can I do?”
“If the talks end this way, it won’t be much different from what we’ve seen so far, and if anything, it’ll be a little better because they’ll be wary of the Legion.”
The professor seemed to collect her thoughts as she spat the words out of her mouth. Whatever the outcome of the talks, she was right, dealing with the Legion would not be a problem.
When he fought with active cooperation from the start. Just as Kim’s role as Whitefang in Kilikia pitted the Council against the Legion, the Professor has been creating situations for legitimate interference.
It’s business as usual, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
“Friction with the guards, political connections… I don’t want to lose a single day to all that nonsense.”
If countries would stop seeing Cellbrox Labs as an “intruder”. We could save many more lives if they were willing to accept us as a partner in the fight against the Legion.
As it was, even that seemed like a stretch.
“It’s a big moment.
More than a professor, Kim valued this meeting. What the professor said was secondary. What mattered was the second half of the meeting, after defeating Legion.
A legion is a cooperative alliance under the guise of taking on a villain. It’s about creating a sense of community. Once you pave the way, you can lead the way to the next.
As the regent of Cadillac said, the first talks in 41 years. If it ends on an ambiguous note, the talks may not even be held when another crisis erupts.
You need an “enemy” that is both recognizable and threatening.
To strengthen connections between countries.
Therefore, this is a legitimate behavior.
“I have an idea.”
“Really?”
I answered the ghosts who half-heartedly asked if I thought they couldn’t come up with anything more pointed this time. A way to drive a stake in the heart of the optimistic bosses.
“We become the legion.”
“……what?”
“Literally.”
Trying to explain to a frozen ghost.
The professor asks, ready to shout eureka.
“We’ll just terrorize this place!”
The professor was wise indeed. It seems like just yesterday I was shoveling snow, but I’ve grown up so fast. Kim ruffled his hair in satisfaction, as if he were treating a great pupil.
“Exactly.”
For the greater good.
* * *
At the end of the day as a guard.
Dinner time rolled around, and the compound’s dining hall was bustling. As Pablo and Leila sat across from each other, another agent joined them at the table.
“Ah, Mr. Westcreek.”
Leila smiled at him, welcome. It was a kind smile, as always, but Westcreek could recognize the melancholy beneath the brightness.
“He must not be in a good mood.”
“Ahhhhh. Can you see that?”
“I’ve been watching it for a while.”
I didn’t have to ask why.
“Are you dissatisfied with the progress of the talks?”
“Maybe my expectations were too high.”
“Well, everybody does. Who would have thought they’d be so shitty?”
Uncharacteristically, Leila doesn’t react to Pablo’s harsh words, because she’s heartbroken.
“I get it, there are stakes everywhere and…. It’s hard to grasp the stakes unless you’re face-to-face with the Legion, and I wouldn’t have believed it if it were me.”
“Everyone does it. They need to be beaten up to wake up.”
“I don’t think so.”
She smiled bitterly.
“The professor and the director are the hardest to deal with, and Mr. Hyun seems to be busy with Kilikia.”
“Oh, and being too resourceful is something to think about.”
They were taking on too much responsibility for a single agent. Even Kim Yi-hyun is an active agent. It was breathtaking to watch.
“You must be so stressed.”
* * *
“After all, bombs are the best, right?”
The professor said with a twinkle in his eye. His usual intellectual and calm demeanor was gone, but today he was full of life.
“If we use the prefecture’s spell, there will be no evidence. The problem is the CCTV and…….”
“I think we should keep the number of people running as low as possible. Don’t tell the agents, especially Leila…….”
“Yeah, I don’t want to take a risk. What’s your goal?”
“I don’t know. It could be arbitrary, but I’d prefer it to be impactful…….”
For Kushan, it was ridiculous. Professor Kim and Yi Hyun. They looked eerily similar as they put their heads together to formulate a plan.
“Now, stop for a second.”
Listening to the back-and-forth conversation, he interrupted.
“What the hell, I’m in the middle of something.”
“Do you have anything to add?”
“No! That’s not what I meant.”
Looking back and forth between the two, I said cautiously.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“You know it when you hear it.”
“So. You’re saying you’re going to… shoot, shoot, bomb… yourself?”
The two would-be criminals exchanged glances.
He looked at Kushan, not knowing who to say first.
“No?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Kushan remained silent. He bowed his head deeply and wrapped his hands around his face. Aside from Kim, the professor had no idea what had happened to him.
“……I don’t know. Do whatever you want.”
I’m sure it was unacceptable, and there was no way around it.
* * *
Lucerne International Exchange Center, three guest rooms.
-What about Ishrad’s research? I know there are others outside of your home country who supported him in the early days of the catastrophe, but I haven’t heard much about them. Is there any reason you can’t make it public?
-……Of course, past help has not been forgotten; the desire to contribute to peace on the continent is great, and while the researchers in the ivory towers are working feverishly….
-Not seeing any results yet?
-I’m ashamed to say.
The conversation, which could have been a meeting or a hearing, was broadcast live on TV. Ainoa leaned back in her rocking chair as she listened. Rock, rock, rock. A sense of boredom washed over her.
Five days of meetings. Three days had already passed, and today was the fourth.
The meeting was lackluster. What should have been the main agenda item, Legion, ended with the irresponsible conclusion that “countries will take care of it.
In their minds, it was.
‘It’s serious business, it’s not funny.
We sat around talking about the importance of the agenda. As far as Ainoa was concerned, the agenda was productive. Reinforcing the inviolability treaty was one of them.
“I never thought I’d see the day in my life when I’d look at my brother and feel sorry for him.”
Adrian was already worn down by the subtle and overt disdain and demeaning. His persistent attempts to convince them of the dangers of the Legion have fallen on deaf ears.
The most vocal of the Shirans, the Emperor of Shiran, has remained indifferent, while the Führer of Harenhal and the Regent of Cadilac, the next most vocal, have denigrated Bastitera at every opportunity.
Even as an observer, I was skeptical.
“I think it was a foregone conclusion.”
Carmen, standing near the door, escorting as usual, replied.
“Bastiterra has never been accepted by the international community – it’s not a matter of one side or the other, it’s a matter of both sides hating each other.”
It’s a long history.
Mutants born with horns on their heads. Pekatum excelled at everything he did with his body. Good deeds or bad, it was obvious which one would get the most attention.
Bastitera was founded by the exiled Pekatum. Fleeing their homeland, most Pekatums became mercenaries or criminals, and became infamous. Hatred built and built for hundreds of years.
It was a horrible cycle that wasn’t going to end overnight.
“Ugh. I feel like crap in a lot of ways, crap.”
Pak.
I fiddled with the remote and turned it off. It was the selfishness of civilization. You can get them if you want to, but electronics like TVs are only meaningful if they’re widely available.
You spend a lot of money on a box of idiots, and you don’t have a station or anything in Bastitera.
The world outside the pond was bewilderingly vast in Ainoa’s eyes. How many centuries would it take for the backward Bastitera to catch up with the technological prowess of the great powers.
I was worried and frustrated.
“What the hell, I don’t understand the mindset.”
“I’ve heard that three times today, Ainoa.”
“I know, I’ve got a lot of frustration in my body and no one to listen but you.”
Ainoa remembered her embarrassment at the party. She shuddered.
“If you’re going to look at me with distaste because I’m a Pekatum, then look at everyone else the same way. Do my horns look like some kind of toy or decoration? Or does it make me look haggard and cheap?”
I’ve had proposals that would actually make my ears dirty, if not my eyes. I lost all sense of humanity at the sight of a princess of a country being treated like a prostitute.
Carmen smiled bitterly and continued with the promised repertoire.
“And you don’t even know the strings?”
“I’m saying it’s a problem of ignorance, really. I know the situation, of course, but you don’t know….”
In fact, she didn’t have to come all the way to Ainoa. Adrian, the de facto representative of the Bastiera, was there, and what difference would it make if she accompanied him?
Nevertheless, there were two reasons for traveling so far. One was to see the city. I accomplished my goal of seeing a city in another country with my own eyes.
The other was deeply personal.
“I didn’t expect you to not contact me for half a year.”
“Why didn’t you contact me directly, send a letter?”
“Not that I haven’t thought about it…….”
Apparently, Kim had been traveling somewhere all this time, and in whose hands would the letter fall? It was easy to see a future where the Asterike Line would be cut off.
“I don’t mean to get in the way of their relationship.
Perhaps it was because I had spent my life suppressing my greed, but Ainoa was still difficult for me.
“Ehhhh, I’m torn anyway.”
I was about to ask for sympathy.
The most unexpected thing that rang out was.
─Kaaaaaah!
It was an earth-shattering binge.
“Hic! What, what?”
Ainoa craned her neck in panic. Carmen, meanwhile, was alert as if a switch had been flipped. She rushed to the window and quickly glanced outside to assess the situation.
“What the hell.”
What we saw was worse than we expected.
Building 9 opposite. One of the buildings assigned to the Shiran Empire. Black smoke billowed from the rooftops like a thick cloud. Smashed railings crashed downward with an eerie crunch.
“Carmen. What’s going on?”
“It looks like a bombing.”
“…Terrorism. Could it be them again?”
“Probably not.”
Carmen broke out in a cold sweat.
“This is Legion.”
No, it doesn’t.