Black Mamba (2)
China, having accepted Black Mamba’s proposal, immediately began setting the stage.
First, they kept provoking the border area of the former North Korean region, drawing the attention of the Republic of Korea’s Gate Management Bureau toward that side.
It was already an area where minor disputes occasionally occurred, but once China began openly stirring up frequent large and small conflicts, it naturally became impossible not to pay close attention.
At the same time, they provided the Black Mamba members with a sophisticated smuggling route to secretly enter Korea.
This was a route commonly used by China’s secret agents.
Thanks to this, Black Mamba and the Ten Kings were able to enter China first, then quietly slip into Korea aboard high-speed boats provided by the Chinese.
In truth, China had already done most of what it promised just by setting things up to this extent.
But China went one step further and provided Black Mamba with a piece of information.
It was the highly likely possibility that NoReasonAtAll was actually the famous Korean singer, ‘Cheon Li Yu.’
Black Mamba could have found AbsoluteSafetyFirst using his own methods anyway, but even so, high-level intelligence like this was always welcome.
“Then if we track Cheon Li Yu, we’ll be able to find AbsoluteSafetyFirst soon enough.”
Black Mamba and the Ten Kings were casually discussing their plans inside the safe house in Seoul that China had provided.
Originally, Black Mamba intended to locate AbsoluteSafetyFirst using his level perk, ‘Preliminary Designation.’
Preliminary Designation was an ability that allowed Black Mamba to designate someone as a ‘candidate’ once he learned a unique name or title that could specifically identify them.
However, once someone was marked with Preliminary Designation, he had to wait at least six months for the ability to properly manifest.
And during those six months, if he happened to come within 1 meter of the designated target… even by pure coincidence, the Preliminary Designation would be erased, and he would permanently lose the ability to designate that person ever again.
In other words, once he made a Preliminary Designation, he absolutely had to wait six months.
After those six months passed and the ability could be activated, the Preliminary Designation could then be converted into ‘Target Designation.’
Once someone was in the Target Designation state, Black Mamba would immediately be able to confirm their presence if the designated target entered a 1-kilometer radius centered on him.
However, after activating Target Designation, he had to find the target within two months.
If he failed to find the target within those two months, the designation would be deleted just like before, and he would forever lose the ability to designate that person again.
The ability Black Mamba truly relied on was this Target Designation.
He already knew that AbsoluteSafetyFirst lived in Seoul, South Korea, so he intended to wander around Seoul using the information he gathered from China and elsewhere until he personally located him.
But thanks to the valuable intelligence China had provided, finding AbsoluteSafetyFirst had become easier than expected.
“Let’s start by finding Cheon Li Yu. She’s supposedly a very famous singer here in Korea, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate her, right?”
“We’ve already gathered the addresses of all related locations… from her residence to her agency.”
The Lion King had completed this basic investigation even before entering Korea.
“Once we find Cheon Li Yu, AbsoluteSafetyFirst should definitely be somewhere nearby, right?”
“There’s a very high chance.”
“Then… It’s basically over.”
Black Mamba believed that everything would end once he found AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
His awakened ability, ‘Space and Target Designation,’ was not only specialized for one-on-one combat, but it also had the advantage of superior range, giving him overwhelming superiority against long-range magic users who relied on distance attacks.
Its rank was SS, which was somewhat low for someone holding a seat among the Seven Stars, but the reason he had managed to maintain his position for so long was precisely because of this powerful PvP-specialized ability.
Black Mamba had always protected his position by locating magic users who seemed likely to surpass him and eliminating them first.
And this time, just like every time before, he believed eliminating AbsoluteSafetyFirst wouldn’t be particularly difficult.
“We’ll split up and search for Cheon Li Yu.”
The Lion King left the safe house with the other Ten Kings to search for her, while Black Mamba remained behind, resting comfortably and waiting for news.
However, there was one fact they did not know…
Cheon Li Yu was not in Korea.
***
Hawaii Beach.
Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu had set up a large tent and tarp here and were fully enjoying their vacation.
Hawaii, once known worldwide as one of the greatest vacation destinations and visited by massive numbers of tourists every year, was now being used as a private resort exclusively for the two of them.
Perhaps because of that, the time they spent there was immensely satisfying.
Their bodies were relaxed, their moods were good, and since they talked a lot, they naturally began speaking more casually to each other.
Since their age difference wasn’t large to begin with, they simply decided to treat each other as friends and speak comfortably.
“That’s right. Just dodge like that.”
At the moment, the two were practicing mock combat on the white sandy beach.
Seon Yul believed Cheon Li Yu’s awakened ability, Divine Eye, could be used not just for scouting or support but also directly in combat.
So whenever there was time, he sparred with her and taught her how to apply the Divine Eye ability during battle.
“Yeah… when I activate Divine Eye and focus, I can definitely see something.”
“Of course. From what I can tell, your Divine Eye ability is so incredible that it could easily rank among the top five awakened abilities in existence.”
“Hey, isn’t that praising it a little too much?”
“What are you talking about? Just looking at the rank alone, there aren’t many SSS-rank abilities in the world. If you had just a bit more combat sense, you might already have become one of the Seven Stars.”
“But I’m a combat idiot with no sense.”
Cheon Li Yu said this jokingly while making a mock gloomy expression.
“Combat sense can be developed through training.”
Seon Yul responded with 100% seriousness, completely accepting her joke as a genuine statement.
He definitely wasn’t a very humorous person.
“Geez… honestly.”
Cheon Li Yu shook her head with an expression that clearly said she had lost.
“Hm? Why?”
“Nothing. Let’s keep practicing! I’m going to become a combat genius instead of a combat idiot!”
“Alright. I’ll help you.”
Looking at the utterly serious Seon Yul, Cheon Li Yu couldn’t help but think he was truly amazing.
At the same time, that seriousness also felt dependable and reassuring.
“Yes! I look forward to it!”
So she smiled.
Being with Seon Yul was enjoyable, and she happily accepted his intense training with a smile.
***
Half a month had already passed.
For those fifteen days, Black Mamba had spent all his time inside the safe house.
When he first entered Korea, he believed he could eliminate AbsoluteSafetyFirst and return to Africa within a week.
But now, all those beliefs had completely collapsed.
“Just where… is Cheon Li Yu?”
Frowning deeply, Black Mamba spoke irritably to the Lion King.
“Well… no one knows. Even her agency and the people around her are searching for where she went.”
“Haah…”
Black Mamba sighed in disbelief at the Lion King’s answer.
The only fortunate thing was that AbsoluteSafetyFirst was still in the Preliminary Designation stage.
Black Mamba was waiting to convert it into Target Designation only after finding Cheon Li Yu.
So technically, there was no time limit yet.
However, just because there was no time limit didn’t mean he could wait indefinitely.
“Contact China… and ask them to help find Cheon Li Yu. First, we find her, then we’ll decide what to do next.”
It was somewhat strange that they came to capture AbsoluteSafetyFirst but were currently searching only for Cheon Li Yu.
But under the circumstances, this was clearly the most urgent matter.
***
While Black Mamba continued wasting time in Korea, Cheon Li Yu in Hawaii was undergoing relentless hard training under Seon Yul, improving day by day.
Shrrrk!
The moment Seon Yul fired Arachne’s threads in four directions, Cheon Li Yu activated Divine Eye and looked at the four strands of thread flying toward her.
‘Head, left shoulder, right side… and left ankle!’
Instantly identifying where each of the four threads was aiming, Cheon Li Yu avoided them all with the minimum possible movement.
Papapapap!
Of course, if Seon Yul had wanted, he could have instantly manipulated the wires mid-movement… after seeing her dodge, and neutralized her evasion.
But since this was training, he didn’t go that far.
“Very good!”
Seon Yul raised his thumb while praising her.
The distance between them was only five meters.
Avoiding four wires launched simultaneously at incredible speed from such close range with minimal movement was absolutely not easy.
The only disappointing part was that a counterattack should have followed automatically after the dodge, but she hadn’t reached that level yet.
“Your evasion and defense are basically perfect now. Seeing you reach this level in just two weeks… it wasn’t that you lacked talent, you simply lacked experience.”
This wasn’t empty praise.
Cheon Li Yu’s skills had genuinely risen tremendously in a very short time.
She could now use Divine Eye far more freely, moving beyond simply seeing far away or seeing through things…
She had begun to see everything.
“My attacks still feel… awkward.”
“That’s natural if you’re not used to attacking with weapons or something similar. Later, we should look for a weapon that suits you, Li Yu-nim.”
Seon Yul had been thinking continuously about what kind of weapon would suit Cheon Li Yu.
At first, he had considered ordinary weapons like swords or bows.
But the more they trained, the more he felt that offensive weapons didn’t suit her.
Recently, he had started considering defensive weapons, and the most promising candidate was a shield.
However, before introducing a shield, he wanted her evasion ability to become completely solid first, so he hadn’t recommended using one yet.
‘Once her evasion ability becomes perfect, then we’ll train shield blocking…’
‘If those two are combined, at the very least, no one will surpass her in defensive capability.’
In truth, Cheon Li Yu didn’t really need offensive power.
Seon Yul could cover the offensive side himself.
And even Cheon Li Yu could provide offensive support by safely using firearms inside Absolute Space.
“Alright, let’s keep going!”
Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu continued their training.
They planned to rest and train here for at least another month.
And for Black Mamba…
That was the worst possible news.
***
“How about withdrawing for now?”
Nearly two months had already passed since Black Mamba and the Ten Kings arrived in Korea.
During those two months, they had tried every possible method to locate Cheon Li Yu, but in the end, they failed.
“…What did China say?”
“They’ve mobilized every information source they have in Korea to find Cheon Li Yu… but they couldn’t even find a shadow of her.”
“How does that make sense? A celebrity as famous as Cheon Li Yu just disappears for months? And you’re saying there’s no departure record either? Then where on earth did she vanish to?”
The decisive reason they kept searching for Cheon Li Yu for two months was because of China’s information that she was definitely in Korea.
China had checked her immigration records through an informant planted inside the Korean government.
According to those records, Cheon Li Yu was indeed inside Korea.
So both China and Black Mamba’s side searched the entire country thoroughly to find her.
“We don’t understand it either… but right now there seems to be no other option. Perhaps you could withdraw temporarily and return later when another opportunity arises?”
“That’s not possible. Since we came this time, we’ll settle it no matter what.”
The biggest reason Black Mamba insisted on this was that one of his Preliminary Designation slots was currently being occupied by AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
Black Mamba had a total of two Preliminary Designation slots.
He needed to manage those two slots carefully to use his ability efficiently, but as things stood, having one slot permanently occupied was becoming increasingly inconvenient.
Another reason was that he felt he should not allow AbsoluteSafetyFirst any more time to grow.
Black Mamba was still confident that if they fought right now, he would definitely win.
But if things kept being delayed, the uncertainty would inevitably grow.
So he wanted to decide everything during this opportunity and leave Korea.
Thus, the situation had become extremely awkward since they still couldn’t find Cheon Li Yu.
And at that very moment…
The long-awaited information arrived from the Chinese government.
Finally…
They had found Cheon Li Yu.
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