Chapter 385

“Isn’t that right, you peninsula bangzi?”¹

“What are you saying, you mainland chink bastard?”

A heavy silence descended.

Even with translation magic, foreigners like Magic Johnson had no idea exactly what bangzi and chink meant, leaving them bewildered. Team Leader Choi clicked his tongue quietly, while one man’s face hardened like stone.

“What?”

“What, asshole?”

“Say that again, bangzi.”

“Sure. Chink.”

“You fucking—”

“Fine. Let’s get this straight. I’m a dog. You’re a chink.”

“…!”

I watched his face twist violently. Just as he was about to shove back his chair and leap to his feet, the woman sitting beside him raised a hand to stop him.

“Enough.”

She was a beautiful woman in her early twenties, with an air as clean and refreshing as a soft drink. A calm voice continued from between her lips.

“I’d appreciate it if you both toned it down.”

Tone it down, huh…

I stared at her for a moment, then shrugged.

“Sure, if you insist.”

Perhaps my unexpected answer had caught her off guard. Her eyebrows curved slightly.

“I heard you weren’t easy to deal with, but you’re accepting it more readily than I expected.”

“I have to accept it. It’s your request, after all.”

“You fell for the beauty trap? Ah, this is why being pretty is such a hassle.”

When she nonchalantly swept back her long hair, I let out a quiet laugh.

“Did you just laugh?”

“You seem more interesting than I expected, Ms. Pai Chen.”

Pai Chen. That was her name.

I couldn’t let myself be fooled by the looks and atmosphere of someone who could have been a university cover model. She might not have married, but she was well past fifty.

She was also a Senior from a generation far beyond mine—and one of the heroes of the Great Cataclysm.

“So you knew who I was from the start. Hmm. I thought kids these days might not recognize me.”

That wasn’t wrong. Compared to other S-rank Hunters, Pai Chen had definitely appeared in the media far less often.

Behind the scenes, it wasn’t uncommon to hear that she had assumed a new identity and begun a new life.

But I had known about her since I was little.

“My mother’s been a fan of yours for years. You starred in that romance movie that came out about twenty years ago, didn’t you?”

“Oh my. How long ago was that? Still, it’s nice to meet someone who remembers.”

“Would it be all right if I came to get your autograph sometime? I think my mother would love it if I brought her one from you.”

“Of course. And from now on, just call me Chen. My full name sounds too stiff. If you want to be more casual, you can call me older sister.”

“Excuse me? What are you talking about? I looked you up online, and you’re five years older than my mother.”

“……You really aren’t easy to deal with. Just as I heard.”

But there was someone else who was truly not easy to deal with.

“You fucking turtle-dick…!”

His voice boiled over. The man who had briefly been forgotten amid our conversation glared at me with furious eyes.

“How dare a bangzi from some weak little country look down on me? Do you even know who I am?”

“…Wow. That line was fucking terrible.”

Pai Chen rested her chin on her hand, looking back and forth between us with interest.

“Indeed. I’ve been wondering since earlier—do you even know who this boy is?”

Pai Chen wasn’t the only one who wanted to hear my answer.

Everyone was staring at my mouth except Team Leader Choi, whose expression had reached a state of near enlightenment.

The man huffing and puffing like a seven-year-old who had lost an argument, Magic Johnson, America’s Archmage, and even the young man from Britain. Their attendants were no exception.

Under everyone’s gaze, I nodded.

“Of course I do. Wu Heixing.”

He competed for first or second place in media exposure even among S-rank Hunters, so there was no way I wouldn’t know him.

At my answer, the man who had been picking a fight with me about bangzi since earlier—Wu Heixing—widened his eyes.

“You knew who I was, and you still acted that way?”

“Even a stray dog passing by would know there’s one complete piece of human trash among the S-rank Hunters.”

“W-What did you say?”

“Why? Who doesn’t know that your hobby is getting attention and your specialty is committing crimes, then working the media afterward?”

“…!”

“Come to think of it, didn’t you cause trouble last year? You uploaded a raid photo on your official social media with some bullshit about ‘the only drug my country allows me.’ Then a month later, you got caught taking actual drugs. Was it marijuana?”

“Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

“Team Leader Choi, don’t stop me.”

“It wasn’t marijuana.”

“Huh?”

Team Leader Choi cut in abruptly and calmly corrected the Taekyung Wiki.

“It was cocaine and methamphetamine.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

“You’re welcome. Now that things have come this far, what’s left that we can’t say?”

Look at that enlightened expression.

Leaving Team Leader Choi behind as he seemed to be giving up on everything and preparing to ascend to immortality, I continued speaking to Wu Heixing with a broad smile.

“Damn, how did you think of setting up foreshadowing like that? This bastard is Wu Heisunwon at minimum. Purple Raid.”

“W-What did you say?”

“Come to think of it, there’s another one. Five years ago, you got caught sexually assaulting someone after drugging them at some club called Burning Moon. How did you get acquitted? Under Chinese law, for something like that, it wouldn’t have been strange if you’d been executed two or three times.”

“…!”

“I heard rumors that you’re the son of someone at the very top of the Communist Party. Did you buy your way out with money and power? Look at this clever bastard.”

“Sh-Shut your mouth! How dare a lowborn bangzi speak to me that way!”

Wu Heixing’s face flushed bright red as he shouted. Then someone who had been quietly watching the entire situation opened his mouth.

“You’re loud.”

An arrogant voice flowed smoothly through the room.

“Frivolous and vulgar. I hear you’re descended from a Chinese aristocratic family. Did the elders of your house never teach you proper etiquette?”

Wu Heixing bit his lip when he recognized the speaker.

“Y-You’re…”

“You’re?”

Faintly green eyes beneath neatly groomed brown hair swept slowly over Wu Heixing, then moved away.

“William.”

At the young man’s call, a middle-aged man with half-gray hair stepped forward from behind him.

His shoes were spotless, his suit pressed sharp as a blade. He stood tall, surveyed the room, and spoke in a pleasing baritone.

“Everyone, rise and pay your respects to His Royal Highness Prince Felix Alexander Louis, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus, Knight of the Garter, and Knight of the Thistle.”

The Duke of Cambridge and the Earl of Strath… Fuck, why are his titles so long?

Anyway, Prince Felix-whatever sternly added,

“Everyone, just call me His Royal Highness Prince Felix.”

“…”

“…”

Look at everyone’s faces. They looked more uncomfortable than anyone else in the world.

Naturally, the most spectacular reaction came from Wu Heixing, who had just called me a lowborn commoner.

And why wouldn’t it? If this came down to social status, how was he supposed to beat a member of the British royal family?

“S-So, this is…”

“Ah.”

Prince Felix looked at the flustered Wu Heixing and nodded as if he had just understood.

“I see. Are you a stutterer?”

“A st-stutterer?”

“If not, why can’t you speak properly? Did your family fail to provide you with speech training?”

Long live His Royal Highness the Prince.

I didn’t even have to step in myself. The third in line to the British throne was injecting carbonation straight into me, and I could feel it fizzing all the way down to my duodenum.

I was grinning so hard my mouth threatened to split when Prince Felix suddenly turned his gaze on me.

“You.”

“Hm? You mean me?”

At my question, the middle-aged man standing behind Prince Felix opened his mouth.

“When His Royal Highness Prince Felix Alexander Louis, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus, Knight of the Garter, and Knight of the Thistle, deigns to ask you a question—”

“That will do, William.”

Prince Felix raised a hand and cut off the parrot. Then he gazed at me with benevolent eyes.

“I have cast aside my dignity and personally intervened because I have always believed that the barriers between social classes must be broken down.”

“…?”

“What does it matter whether one is a commoner or a noble? We are all simply equal people beneath God. So don’t let that man’s words hurt you too much.”

What the fuck is he talking about?

I was momentarily at a loss for words when Team Leader Choi whispered discreetly.

“I believe he thinks you’re a commoner.”

“…!”

Has that prince bastard lost his mind?

As I stared at Prince Felix with an incredulous expression, he slowly rose from his seat and extended the back of his hand toward me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Well, go on.”

“…Go on? What is it this time?”

The middle-aged man—whether he was a secretary or a parrot, I couldn’t tell—spoke with a pleased smile.

“Kiss the back of his hand and express your gratitude for the benevolence His Royal Highness Prince Felix Alexander Louis has shown you.”

“…”

Are these people complete lunatics?

Did these eighteenth-century fuckers all arrive here in a time capsule?

My head was still reeling when a message spell from Team Leader Choi reached my ear.

• No.

I replied through Sound Transmission.

• What do you mean, no?

• In any case, no. Just smile and let it pass. Prince Felix is famous for being a bit of an oddball.

• If I break the back of his hand right now, wouldn’t that make him even more famous?

• No. Absolutely not!

• Just a little damage to the back of his hand. Or even just one finger.

• I said no!

I hadn’t known Message Magic could carry this much emotion. Team Leader Choi must have been desperate in his own way.

Fine. He’s a British prince. It can’t be helped.

I was trying to swallow my anger when—

“Hey, Sibeol-jwa.”

What now?

I looked warily at Magic Johnson, who had suddenly approached me.

I hadn’t expected much from Wu Heixing, who was infamous for his anti-Korean sentiment and various scandals in the first place. But the joy of seeing in person the S-rank Hunters I had only watched on television was gradually running out.

“…No, please. Call me by my name instead of Sibeol-jwa. Would you like it if I called you Fuckson instead of Johnson?”

“Hmm. Now that you mention it, I see your point. Jin, then?”

“That’s much better. But why?”

“It’s nothing special. You’re not thinking of kissing the prince’s hand, are you?”

That sounds pretty special to me.

Taken aback, I immediately asked,

“Of course not. What is this, the Middle Ages? Would you want to if you were me, Johnson?”

“I would.”

“What?”

A flash of enlightenment struck my mind.

I had completely forgotten. Magic Johnson was an American national hero—and the nation’s gay icon.

Time magazine’s choice for “the world’s most influential LGBT person” looked at me with a perfectly serious expression and made a proposal.

“So I’d like to express your gratitude to the prince on your behalf.”

“…”

What a way to package it.

But unlike Magic Johnson, Prince Felix quietly withdrew his hand.

“We are all equal human beings beneath God. This antiquated etiquette must disappear. Magic Johnson, I will accept your kind offer at a later time.”

“…”

Was that really something the bastard who had just held out his hand to me could say?

Pai Chen had been listening too. Apparently just as dumbfounded, she muttered,

“Oh my. He’s shameless. He may not be a criminal, but he might be even worse than Wu Heixing.”

“Even so, he’s better than Wu Heixing. That bastard should have been executed under the law.”

“That’s true.”

Wu Heixing had shriveled in the presence of one heavyweight after another, but now sparks flew from his eyes.

“Th-this, this, this bangzi bastard!”

“Enough with the bangzi routine. Even the national anthem gets hard to get through from the second verse onward. The same goes for me going easy on you.”

“……Going easy on me? You? On me?”

His tone made it clear that he genuinely couldn’t understand. I nodded.

“Yeah. It just became obvious.”

I had a pretty good idea what level Wu Heixing was at, but he hadn’t realized in the slightest who I was.

A fight starts with sizing up your opponent. This one was over before it even began.

“So stop picking fights for no reason and leave while I’m still asking nicely. Let’s each focus on doing our own jobs.”

“You’re a mere A-rank Hunter, yet because Comrade Chairman expects great things from you, you’ve forgotten your place and started running wild—!”

“Ah.”

I’d been wondering why he had acted like an asshole from the moment we met. So that was it.

The reason was so obvious and childish that a dry laugh escaped me.

“Still, calling it cute would be a stretch. You’re too damn old.”

“…!”

“What are you going to do? You want all of the Chairman’s expectations and attention for yourself, but some Korean guy has edged you out.”

“You…”

Wu Heixing’s face flushed with shame and fury as he realized I had seen through his thoughts.

By now, everyone’s attention was fixed on us. He must have felt their contemptuous stares all the way to his bones.

And when people like him found themselves in situations like this…

They always cross the line.

My prediction was dead on.

A faint movement.

His fingertips slid almost imperceptibly toward the hilt of his sword.

The magnanimous Chairman Xiao Yang hadn’t asked anyone present to disarm as a sign of trust, but that consideration would be poison to Wu Heixing.

Draw it. Don’t hesitate.

No matter how reckless I might seem, I did at least consider the circumstances.

I had held back until now only because I had come to help China at the Chairman’s request. If Wu Heixing drew a weapon, I would have grounds to rough him up within reason.

That’s it. More. More.

As if he were being controlled by me, Wu Heixing’s hand reached for the hilt. Just as he was about to seize it—

Step. Step.

Several sets of footsteps echoed through the hallway outside the quiet underground bunker.

Wu Heixing’s hand stopped, and the tightly shut door opened at almost the exact same moment.

The moment I saw the man who entered alongside Minister of Defense Wei Penghu, Wu Heixing’s existence vanished from my mind.

“I’m too late. Have you all been waiting long?”

Bold features that looked as though they had been painted with a brush, and a solid build that even his clothes couldn’t conceal.

He looked like a middle-aged man barely into his forties, but beneath that skin lurked an old tiger and a cunning snake.

Lee Jungryong.

When Lee Jungryong’s eyes met mine, a deep smile formed at the corners of his mouth.