Chapter 124
Chapter 124: Poison Demon and the Chocolate Factory (3)
"Remarkable."
Park Jae-yeol clicked his tongue as he watched the British broadcast.
They too had deployed National Intelligence Service agents to gather information for the broadcast, but—
It still lacked the reach of the American and British broadcasts.
Pyeon Jae-yeong said quietly,
"We need to land another blow right now."
"Agreed. Is there anything bigger we can use?"
Just then.
The door swung open, and someone wearing a deeply pulled-down baseball cap walked in alongside the head of the Presidential Security Service, saying,
"There is!"
The 2 men mid-conversation spun around in alarm.
"Chief... Han?"
"It has been a while. Your Excellency, Minister."
Chief Han removed her cap and gave a slight bow.
Her face was covered in wounds, and her clothing was little better than rags. Whether from bullets or blades, she was wrapped in bandages all over, and she was limping.
But the light in her eyes burned as hot as the sun.
"How did you get here?"
"Shouldn't you first ask why I came?"
"...Is it to have the warrants dropped—the ones both Korea and France have issued against you?"
"I have no interest in anything like that."
She unslung the backpack she was carrying, set it down, and took a seat.
She winced slightly, clearly in pain from her wounds.
It was a completely different attitude from how Chief Han used to carry herself before Park Jae-yeol.
Pyeon Jae-yeong shouted at the head of the security service.
"What are you standing there staring for! Arrest Chief Han this instant!"
This was the French Embassy, fortified by both National Intelligence Service agents and Presidential Security Service guards.
That she had reached this place without being stopped was something that shouldn't have been possible.
And yet, even at Pyeon Jae-yeong's order, the security chief simply stood watching Chief Han without moving.
Pyeon Jae-yeong may not have caught it, but Park Jae-yeol, a military man, read the look in the security chief's eyes.
‘...Reverence.’
Different from the look directed at him, the President.
Park Jae-yeol asked the security chief.
"You were a Tower Climber, weren't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"And Chief Han trained you."
"Yes. Your Excellency."
The time she had taught him was brief—far less than the time the security chief had spent with Park Jae-yeol.
Park Jae-yeol exhaled a short ‘Haah—’ and reached out to restrain Pyeon Jae-yeong.
"Leave her."
"Your Excellency!"
Park Jae-yeol turned to Chief Han.
"Speak."
"Many countries are now raising questions about the Nameless Hero, but that alone is not enough to bring down the French government."
"True. It is all circumstantial—the most critical evidence is still missing."
Pyeon Jae-yeong frowned and added,
"We need to establish that the Nameless Hero was at Killian's manor first."
"The Nameless Hero was at the manor. I witnessed it myself."
"You are currently on France's most wanted list—Level 1. As a criminal, your testimony will be attacked for lacking credibility."
Chief Han smiled bitterly at that.
"I suppose it would."
"Your intentions are admirable, but we need another way."
"I told you. I have something bigger."
"...!"
Both men narrowed their eyes.
Chief Han spoke.
"Myself and Im Ye-rin. Not only us—there were more than a dozen women who had been kidnapped, all present at that location."
Park Jae-yeol furrowed his brow.
"Yes. But Im Ye-rin has vanished. She had some ability from being a Tower Climber, I suppose..."
"Even with Im Ye-rin, her testimony wouldn't be much more credible than yours. Guilt by association—she'd be seen the same way."
Pyeon Jae-yeong clicked his tongue and continued.
"More than that, those women are not all being sheltered by their home countries the way we are. America and Britain took their own citizens home, but the women from other countries are being tightly managed by France. Managed—in name only. It is no different from imprisonment."
"I have already met with all of them."
"What?!"
Before either man could even react with full surprise—
Ziiip—
She opened the backpack she had brought and pulled something out.
What she placed on the table were montages of a single individual and a stack of written testimonies.
"These are montages drawn by the kidnapped women based on what they witnessed at Killian's manor, along with fingerprint-signed statements. I also have recorded video files of the statements being made."
"H-How did you possibly—!"
"I have already handed identical materials to the United States and Britain. The leaders of each country will be making their announcements in a few hours."
The montages varied slightly from one another, but it was unmistakable that they had all been drawn from the same person.
...The Nameless Hero.
"All that remains now is the 2 Koreans here at this embassy."
Park Jae-yeol and Pyeon Jae-yeong looked at each other.
France's lies were on the verge of being exposed.
"Extraordinary. This is certainly credible evidence. Without question!"
Everything about it was astonishing.
She was someone France had stripped of her Artificial Dantian.
Even granting that she had internal energy built up through Tower Climbing—had she truly accomplished all of this with her bare body?
Park Jae-yeol could only groan. Pyeon Jae-yeong couldn't close his hanging mouth.
Chief Han spoke to both of them.
Her voice was unwavering.
"All of it—it is vengeance. For the Nameless Hero. For that person."
Swish.
She pushed the montages toward the 2 men and asked,
"Who will make the announcement that completes this vengeance?"
Snatch!
Pyeon Jae-yeong had grabbed the montages before even realizing it—
"..."
—when the back of his head went hot, and he turned.
Park Jae-yeol was glaring at him with blazing eyes.
"Ah, that was... I just didn't want the papers to blow away."
Pyeon Jae-yeong scratched the back of his head, and Park Jae-yeol jutted his chin.
"Minister Pyeon."
"Yes."
"Arrest Chief Han."
"Yes. I will have the handcuffs brought—"
"Not handcuffs."
"Sir?"
"Use bandages."
"...!"
Park Jae-yeol turned to Chief Han with a warm smile.
"Chief Han, get treated and rest. I will give you Minister Pyeon's room."
* * *
"It used to be a lot bigger, didn't it..."
I scratched my temple as I looked over the poison herb field.
I had retrieved everything I had brought to Killian—the Blood Energy Beads, Yin-Cold Beads, and numerous other treasures and wooden boxes, all of them.
On top of that, the items Killian had gathered in preparation for the auction, as well as the treasures he hadn't managed to offload or had separately stored away, had all been moved into the poison herb field.
It had been a vast field, but the sheer volume of what I had brought in made it feel slightly cramped.
That aside.
"Is the real culprit those guys?"
Thwack—! Thwack, thwack!
The ones plowing and shoveling away, expanding my poison herb field.
Under normal circumstances it should have stretched all the way to the far end—as far as the eye could see. But since it hadn't been unlocked yet, I was forced to grow the poisons and herbs within a limited space.
Even ingredients that could be picked up easily in any marketplace or large apothecary back in Gangho were scarce here, so I had to cultivate as much as I could myself.
"I could really use a decent herb merchant to show up as I climb the Tower."
So that was why I had decided to put these guys to work.
Yesterday I had asked through Omar as interpreter.
"Anyone here who knows how to farm. Raise your hand."
2 of them raised their hands.
"Where did you learn?"
One of them answered haltingly.
"The 2 of us are from Bordeaux. We've done a lot of grape farming."
Bordeaux! The premier wine-producing region of France.
I immediately gave them a proper scolding.
"If you're capable of something as noble as farming, why were you doing this kind of work?!"
"Ah, well, one thing led to another..."
"You idiots! You became thugs because you had nothing else to do?!"
Thud! Thud!
I smacked each of them once. I had held back enough not to kill them, yet they both lost consciousness and only came around later.
And then there was an unexpected candidate who also knew farming.
"Boss. I also... know how to farm."
Omar glanced around nervously, probably because of how I had just hit the others.
No wonder he was so good with a shovel.
"Oh?"
"Yes. I grew up raising all kinds of things on poor land. The soil here is so good—I think I could manage it well."
When I said nothing and just stared at him, Omar flinched and bowed his head.
"S-Sorry! I should have just lived farming all along."
"Then I never would have met you."
"Sir?"
I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Wouldn't I?"
Omar grinned.
【Omar recalls the word ‘Inyeon’—fate—that he once heard in Korea. +500 Happiness】
Anyway, it worked out.
As a test, I handed the guys plows and had them clear the stones.
They were genuinely skilled.
What those 2 had said about grape farming was no lie.
"Omar, teach those guys some Korean."
"Korean?"
"Right. It is frustrating not being able to talk to them."
"Korean is really hard to learn, though."
"Normally you learn fast when you get hit. I'll give you a week."
I called the guys over.
When Omar told them he would be teaching them Korean going forward, their eyes went wide and they said something.
"Omar. What are they saying?"
"They're saying a week is impossible."
Jolt!
I stood up and smacked them on the backs of their heads.
I hit them lightly, but their eyes snapped wide open.
"Aaaahk!"
Aaaahk?
Is that Korean now.
"See? They already learned one."
"...I will teach them diligently."
Omar picked up a stick.
【King Sejong rejoices at the spread of Hunminjeongeum. The language of the land flies to France. +1 Happiness】
Kim Tae-yang.
Stop sending weird messages.
Omar taught them Korean while plowing alongside them.
Then, wiping his sweat, he muttered to himself.
"Ah, I really wish we had at least one ox."
"An ox? There are some right there."
I pointed at the guys.
A while later.
"Mooo—! Mooo!"
I had a wooden yoke made and fitted it onto them—
10 human oxen plowed the field.
Since I intended to treat them as livestock from here on, I stripped everything except their undergarments and burned the rest.
"Omar! Do black oxen work harder, or yellow oxen?"
"Black ones, sir!"
Immediately—crack!
"Moooooo!"
Now even the yellow ox was no worse than the black.
Perfect specimens.
They were rotten enough that I had no qualms about keeping them locked up and working them to the bone—or just killing them. And since the outside world already believed them all dead, there would be no annoying business about disappearances or investigations.
If only I had known—I should have brought more of Killian's men back with me.
‘Are there any more alive somewhere?’
Several days now without so much as a sip of water, nothing but hard labor.
Even so, being former Tower Climbers, they had the strength of real oxen and had been holding on—but they were finally nearing their limit.
Vile creatures.
Having lived their whole lives as the ones dealing the harm, the look in their eyes said their current existence was total chaos.
‘If you want to find your footing, this is the only way.’
Thwack, thwack!
"Mooooo......"
Night fell.
I lit the fire in the furnace, and Omar prepared the meal.
"I'm fine with Bungeoppang."
"I-I'll cook properly, sir."
After several days of nothing but Bungeoppang, Omar seemed to be growing tired of it.
‘This is getting old? Something this delicious?’
Omar had a talent for cooking too.
"Wow, you..."
"How is it?"
"You're a man of all trades."
"Thank you!"
There were barely any ingredients—a few vegetables, some meat I had set aside to feed White Night, and salt. That was about it. But what Omar made with that was more than decent.
...
Gulp.
The 10 human oxen watching us eat swallowed their saliva.
"What should we do about those guys?"
"Don't feed them yet. Hunger makes for harder work."
These ones had been living with fat stored up in their bellies—they could stand a few more days of starving.
Eating something good made me think of family.
My parents' cruise vacation was one month—they would have already returned to Korea and resumed their daily lives.
That had been possible because I had made all the arrangements in advance.
When I had met Pyeon Jae-yeong in Paris, I had demanded the warrants against my parents be lifted.
Under the orders of Minister of Justice Pyeon Jae-yeong, my parents would be living peacefully, carrying only the warm memories of their trip.
Then the people remaining.
Chief Han was someone who would hold on no matter where she was, and she would have looked after Im Ye-rin too.
She would have become a star after all this—so even if she were detained somewhere, her life wouldn't be in danger.
If she was locked up, I could get her out later.
"The one problem—it's Bo-reum."
I was supposed to be her older brother, and vanishing without a word for so long would obviously have her worried again.
‘I need to slip out at some point and check in.’
And on another note—
Was it all right to leave Omar with these human oxen?
They would obviously try to resist the moment I was gone.
I had drained their energy as much as possible, but with 10 of them in sheer numbers—
White Night was around, but White Night would simply maul them to death.
‘That won't do.’
‘Do you know how much care went into making these oxen.’
‘It'd be a waste.’
Besides, I was thinking White Night should stay with Bo-reum.
The outside world was no doubt in an uproar, and there was a high chance a conflict had broken out between France and Korea.
Paris had already been a city with no shortage of rough characters, where she had suffered maddening racism—
A young, pretty woman like Bo-reum trying to survive alone in Paris right now was not a good situation.
"Which means Omar has to manage everything by himself."
Swish. I turned my head.
"Moo... moo."
‘They're ripe enough.’
‘Time to get lonely.’
"Oxen. Come eat."