The Spatial Ability User Who Puts Safety Above All Chapter 90

An Individual Who Threatens a Nation (1)

 

“After conducting a thorough analysis of all the remaining evidence and considering every variable in the situation… it seems that China once again attempted a terrorist attack against AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”

A week had passed since the series of major incidents that had erupted simultaneously across Seoul, and Cha Seong Hyeon was now reporting the results after having thoroughly investigated the events.

“China again… and AbsoluteSafetyFirst again? Just how stubborn are they? Honestly, at this point, shouldn’t they be the ones feeling afraid?”

Director Jeong spoke with a deep frown etched across his face.

“What’s unusual this time is that there are signs China tried to get involved as secretly as possible. And even more strangely, the ones who actually attacked AbsoluteSafetyFirst weren’t Chinese.”

“Didn’t you say China carried out the attack?”

“That part can’t be confirmed precisely, so we can’t say for certain who led the assault this time. China might have commissioned it… or conversely, the attackers might have dragged China into it.”

“Who the hell were they?”

“It appears to have been Black Mamba and the Ten Kings of Darkness that he leads.”

“…Huh.”

When Cha Seong Hyeon suddenly mentioned a completely unexpected name, Director Jeong looked shocked and couldn’t continue speaking for a moment.

“We managed to find a few traces of them with great difficulty, but surprisingly, those traces all ended at Hannam Bridge and completely disappeared after that.”

“So you’re saying… Black Mamba and the Ten Kings he brought with him attacked AbsoluteSafetyFirst at Hannam Bridge, but instead AbsoluteSafetyFirst eliminated them all?”

“Yes, that seems to be the case. We’re still in constant contact with AbsoluteSafetyFirst. If they were truly targeting him… then the fact that AbsoluteSafetyFirst is still alive would mean they were the ones who got eliminated, wouldn’t it?”

“That would make sense… Incredible… Even Black Mamba brought the Ten Kings and still failed? How many high-ranking magic users has Black Mamba devoured so far… There are even rumors he’s unofficially taken down all kinds of promising high-rankers… Is something like this even possible?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for days myself, but I couldn’t find an answer as to how something like this could have happened. But one thing is certain… From now on, I think we should be even prouder to be the country that possesses AbsoluteSafetyFirst than the country that possesses Jumong, the so-called Fifth Star.”

“If all of this is true, then that’s probably right.”

Director Jeong nodded as well, agreeing with Cha Seong Hyeon’s words.

“But does AbsoluteSafetyFirst know that China was involved?”

Director Jeong, who had been murmuring while nodding, suddenly asked the question that had come to mind.

“I think he does. Out of nowhere, he even asked me for some information related to China.”

“What kind of information?”

“Information about China’s high-ranking officials, the locations and photos of important institutions, and various data related to Chinese military bases.”

“…Isn’t that a little dangerous?”

“I was worried about that too, so I carefully tried to convey that if China were to collapse, it could lead to major chaos. But we can’t openly try to stop AbsoluteSafetyFirst. If we did, the friendly relationship we’ve built up so far could collapse all at once.”

“That’s true…”

“The good thing is that AbsoluteSafetyFirst doesn’t seem to have any intention of destroying China.”

“Really? That’s a relief. But… do you realize how strange this conversation we’re having right now is?”

“I do. The fact that we’re sitting here discussing whether or not a single magic user might destroy the world’s second-strongest nation… Even I find it absurd.”

“A magic user with power on the level of national authority.”

Director Jeong spoke as if he were in admiration.

But now was not the time to simply admire it.

“The fact that there was a terrorist attack against such a magic user, and we not only failed to notice it but also couldn’t respond at all… That’s the worst part.”

“I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t something that ends with an apology. We have to fix the problem. Even if the cow is already lost, you still repair the barn. From now on, I’m going to personally oversee everything related to AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”

Director Jeong intended to devote every possible effort to protecting Seon Yul, both in the light and in the shadows, as well as supporting him.

That was the best choice for the Republic of Korea.

And it was the best way to respond to the damned Gate invasions.

 

***

 

“About this much should be enough…”

Seon Yul continued gathering information related to China through Cha Seong Hyeon.

He then organized all the collected information on a large whiteboard that he had set up in one corner of Absolute Space.

It had already been a week since he eliminated Black Mamba.

Cheon Li Yu had been busy running around to sort out her real-world affairs just as she had said she would, and during that time, Seon Yul gathered information about China.

Naturally, instead of searching for it himself with difficulty, he obtained high-quality information very easily through Cha Seong Hyeon, who could practically be called his all-purpose information source.

Of course, in the process, the sharp-minded Cha Seong Hyeon seemed to have roughly figured out what Seon Yul was planning to do, but that didn’t really matter.

Even if Cha Seong Hyeon knew, nothing would change. In fact, Seon Yul had intentionally hinted at it so that Cha Seong Hyeon would understand that something like this was going to happen and prepare to handle the aftermath.

Naturally, Cha Seong Hyeon carefully tried to convey that China absolutely must not collapse completely.

But even that was within Seon Yul’s expectations.

Seon Yul also had no intention of destroying China, so he casually reassured him not to worry and continued receiving information.

“About four more days and it’ll be done.”

After slowly reviewing the collected information, Seon Yul nodded slightly and muttered.

A plan had already formed in his mind.

“I should go together with Li Yu once she returns.”

Although Li Yu wasn’t absolutely necessary for this plan, she had said she definitely wanted to participate, so he intended to wait for her.

 

***

 

Two days later, Li Yu returned after finishing everything she needed to sort out.

And together with her, Seon Yul moved to Shanghai, China.

Shanghai was practically the most developed city in China.

Especially after the world entered the era of magical civilization, Shanghai had become an even more important city because it was home to the Huanglong Bang, founded by China’s strongest magic user, the Extreme King Li Yixiang.

Of course, Seon Yul had come to Shanghai for a reason completely unrelated to the Huanglong Bang.

From the beginning, Li Yixiang was unlike most Chinese magic users… he maintained a strict distance from the Chinese government and only dealt with them through business relationships. Therefore there was no reason to provoke him.

Instead, the reason Seon Yul came to Shanghai was Ding Xiaoning, one of the core executives of the Chinese Communist Party and the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

According to the information obtained from Cha Seong Hyeon, Ding Xiaoning was currently at the Communist Party Inspection Department in Shanghai.

Click, creak.

Seon Yul opened the rooftop door of a high-rise building from which the Communist Party Inspection Department building could be seen in the distance.

Using Real Painting [The Door], Seon Yul had reached the rooftop with absurd ease. He then gazed toward the Communist Party Inspection Department building located about 2 km away.

While looking at it, Seon Yul opened the entrance to Absolute Space at a position where the building could be clearly seen.

Shhhhh.

He stepped inside, where Cheon Li Yu was waiting.

“Did you get the position?”

“Yeah.”

“Are we doing it right away?”

“Well, there’s no need to drag it out. You checked the photo, right?”

“Yeah.”

Cheon Li Yu had already memorized Ding Xiaoning’s face through his photo, so she immediately looked toward the Communist Party Inspection Department building visible outside Absolute Space and activated Divine Eye.

Tssssssss!

Her gaze pierced through everything and began thoroughly searching the inside of the building.

The target she was searching for was Ding Xiaoning.

Ten minutes later, she finally located him in the underground level of the Communist Party Inspection Department.

“What the…? He’s underground.”

Cheon Li Yu immediately shared her vision with Seon Yul as she spoke.

Originally, their plan had been simple: if Ding Xiaoning was somewhere inside the building, they would begin the second stage of China’s punishment plan ‘Cutting Off the Snake’s Head’ by eliminating him with a long-range sniper shot.

But from the very beginning, the situation deviated from expectations.

“Hm, these guys built a pretty deep bunker office down there. Is it for nuclear defense?”

“Maybe it was built for nuclear defense originally, but right now it kind of feels like they’re hiding down there because of you.”

China was not foolish, so they had already realized that Black Mamba had failed.

Because of that, they genuinely feared Seon Yul’s retaliation.

Although they had tried to intervene as secretly as possible, if Seon Yul had noticed their involvement even slightly, another overwhelming retaliation like the previous one could arrive.

Since they had already experienced that once, it was clear they were being cautious in advance.

“Maybe. But even if they hide like that, the result will be the same.”

Seon Yul began concentrating while the shared vision remained active, opening the entrance to Absolute Space.

The entrance he created this time was extremely small compared to normal.

It was like a tiny hole, only about 10 cm in diameter.

And the place where he opened it was right behind the back of Ding Xiaoning’s head as he sat at his desk inside the underground bunker office.

If Ding Xiaoning had been a magic user, he might have sensed the faint mana reaction that occurred when the entrance to Absolute Space opened.

But unfortunately, he was just an ordinary person.

So he had absolutely no idea that a tiny hole was forming in the air behind his head.

And from that hole…

Bang!

A gunshot rang out as a single bullet shot through.

That was the end of Ding Xiaoning.

Seon Yul had very simply eliminated Ding Xiaoning, the 7th-ranked member of the Chinese Communist Party, thereby beginning the ‘Cutting Off the Snake’s Head’ plan.

His target this time was the corrupted Chinese Communist Party.

More precisely, he planned to cut off all the heads of the party so that slightly more normal new heads could take their place.

That was the core of the ‘Cutting Off the Snake’s Head’ plan.

And that was why he began by eliminating the seventh head, Ding Xiaoning.

 

***

 

Naturally, the death of Ding Xiaoning, the 7th-ranked member of the Chinese Communist Party, caused a massive uproar. Even worse, no one could determine how he had been assassinated.

Who, how, why…

Everything was uncertain.

There was at least one person they suspected for the ‘who’ and ‘why,’ but the ‘how’ was completely impossible to figure out.

And even their suspicion itself could not be confirmed.

Because of this, the Chinese government stumbled around in confusion and failed to respond properly. During that time, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu easily eliminated the 6th- and 5th-ranked members of the party, Zhang Xiachun and Liu Yiqian.

Once those two were killed following Ding Xiaoning, the Chinese Communist Party clearly realized the intention behind these assassinations.

Someone was openly sending a warning message to China.

And at this moment, there was only one person who could be doing something like this.

The person they had been thinking about in the back of their minds all along.

AbsoluteSafetyFirst.

By this point, the Chinese government found this warning from AbsoluteSafetyFirst almost absurd.

How were they supposed to interpret the situation where a mere individual was openly issuing a warning to them… the second most powerful nation in the world?

They were extremely bewildered.

But one thing was certain.

They absolutely had to protect the remaining 1st to 4th-ranked members of the Communist Party.

If they failed to protect them after things had escalated to this point?

It would be no different from China publicly announcing to the entire world that it was incompetent.

So China mobilized all its power to protect those four individuals.

But here arises one major question.

Why did Seon Yul start eliminating them from the 7th rank?

In terms of efficiency, it would have been far better to start with Wang Tao, the 1st-ranked leader, and work downward.

Even Seon Yul obviously knew this.

And yet he deliberately carried out the assassinations in reverse order.

The reason for that was…

“No matter how hard you try to stop me, if I want someone dead, they will die. That’s what I’m showing them. I’m planning to deliver a very clear warning this time… Whoever ends up sitting in the seat of ruler of the Chinese Communist Party, I’m going to plant the extreme fear that if they touch AbsoluteSafetyFirst, they themselves will eventually die.”

The reason Seon Yul was going this far was to deliver an unmistakable warning to everyone in China.

Blocking him was useless.

War or not, the one who would die first was they.

If those two facts were made clear, then no matter who eventually sat in the No.1 position of the Communist Party, they would have no choice but to be cautious.

“But to do that, we’ll have to eliminate the remaining four, right?”

“We will. It’s not like we can’t do it.”

At Seon Yul’s words, Cheon Li Yu smiled faintly and nodded.

The two of them had no confidence.

They had absolutely no confidence that this plan would fail.