Chapter 788

Paris, France. The Élysée Palace.

Despite the French fondness for fine food, President Emmanuel had finished a short, simple breakfast. Now he gazed at a box of cigars he had carefully stored away, overcome by memories.

At last, the day has come to take these out.

President Emmanuel had not smoked in twenty years.

In his youth, he’d been known as a cigar aficionado. But everything had changed after he met one man.

“I hear you like cigars.”

“Ah, I enjoy one now and then as a hobby.”

“Then that’s quite an expensive hobby. Most people can’t afford to spend over ten thousand euros a month sitting in their garden and burning grass.”

“…!”

“You said you wanted to go into politics, didn’t you? Then you’d be wise to cut back on the cigars. They’re a monster that devours both your time and your health. And there’s no easier target to tear apart than an extravagant politician from a family of businesspeople. Now, off you go.”

His first meeting with the powerful man, arranged through his family’s connections and enormous lobbying efforts, had ended just like that—with the absurdly simple advice to cut back on cigars.

But Emmanuel, a promising young lawyer, hadn’t forgotten it.

As soon as he returned to his mansion, he threw every last one of his cigars—worth hundreds of thousands of euros—into the fireplace and began living a far more modest life.

A few years later, at Easter, he received a card bearing the image of two ravens.

Congratulations on your rebirth.

M. S.

That was how Emmanuel was chosen by Michael Silbert. The following year, he made a dazzling debut in French politics under the glare of the spotlight.

And after that?

What more was there to say?

Emmanuel rose faster than anyone.

It took barely a decade for him to become someone no political heavyweight—not even a prime minister or president—could treat lightly. Michael Silbert’s shadow covered everything.

“Run in the next presidential election. You won’t be the youngest president, but I’ll help you make history as the longest-serving.”

I’ll help you.

At those words from Michael Silbert, Emmanuel—now a senator who embodied Paris and the leader of the largest party in parliament—had a sudden certainty.

The election was over before it had even begun.

He would be the next master of the Élysée Palace.

And at last, on the day that prediction came true, President Emmanuel mustered the courage to ask the benefactor who had come to see him:

“Why did you choose me, of all people?”

The answer was brief.

“You listened well.”

“Pardon?”

“I want only one thing. Give me your absolute loyalty, just as you have until now. If I tell you to bark, bark. If I tell you to bite, bite. Don’t repeat your predecessor’s mistake, and I’ll put not only enormous wealth and honor in your hands, but this entire country.”

“…!”

“Will you be loyal to me?”

“No. I’ll obey you.”

Michael Silbert laughed aloud at that perfect answer and handed his new watchdog a box of cigars decorated with gold leaf.

“These are…”

“A gift. When my goal is realized, you’ll be as good as a king. Save these cigars for that moment.”

The memory of that day was still vivid.

As President Emmanuel gazed at the box and sank into thought, he felt his heart pound.

A king. A king.

A king in the twenty-first century—in this country obsessed with revolution, no less.

It was madness.

But when Michael Silbert said it, that was different. He was a man who had made countless impossibilities and wild imaginings come true.

President Emmanuel suddenly recalled the last words of his father, who had used the chaos of the Great Cataclysm to amass an astronomical fortune almost overnight.

“Everything that happens in this world is an investment and a deal. If someone wants something, give it to them freely. But always get back more than you gave.”

People had despised his father, calling him the “Merchant of Death.” But even if he had gone to hell, he probably had no great regrets.

He must have watched his son make a better deal than anyone.

Young lawyer Emmanuel had given one man a loyalty bordering on obedience, and in return had become President Emmanuel.

Soon, he would possess power beyond the presidency—power so absolute that Emmanuel the First would hardly be too grand a name for him.

“Emmanuel the First…”

President Emmanuel murmured dreamily. Then the grandfather clock against the office wall chimed.

Dong. Dooong.

A bird and a dwarf popped out of the clock and spun around. Emmanuel checked where the hour hand pointed and blinked.

“Noon? Already?”

He must have lost track of time while reminiscing. He slowly tapped his desk.

It’s taking longer than I expected.

With the time difference between France and Korea, it was now eight in the evening in Seoul, where the World Hunter Federation’s inaugural ceremony would be underway.

He checked his smartphone just in case, but no word had come from the person he was waiting for.

Well, it would be strange if it ended early.

This wasn’t just any gathering. It was the World Hunter Federation’s first inaugural ceremony.

Given its importance to the future of global security, a meeting as long as a full marathon was hardly surprising.

Still, even with his unwavering faith in Michael Silbert, he couldn’t help feeling a little anxious.

Knock, knock.

President Emmanuel frowned at the sudden knock.

“What is it?”

An attendant’s voice came through the crack in the closed door.

“It’s time for your meal, Mr. President.”

“I don’t need it. And don’t let anyone near my office until I call for them myself. Understood?”

“Yes, I’ll pass that along.”

How could he have an appetite with the most important moment of his life just ahead?

President Emmanuel cursed inwardly at his dim-witted attendant, then stared down at the smartphone in his hand.

After hesitating, he tapped one person’s number.

Brr. Brr. Brr.

The call rang on and on.

Emmanuel ran his hand over the cigar box, trying to suppress his anxiety. At last, there was a click, and someone answered.

“The ceremony—how did the inaugural ceremony go?”

The other person was silent for a moment before replying.

“It ended successfully.”

The words he’d waited so long to hear.

Joy surged through Emmanuel, and he burst out laughing. He punched the air without realizing he’d clenched his fist and thanked the man who had given him the answer he wanted so badly.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! Huginn, you’ve worked so hard, too—!”

“Thank me? I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

“What?”

At that moment, Emmanuel realized something.

The voice on the other end was deeper and rougher than usual.

And its owner wasn’t in Seoul.

He was standing outside the door.

The price of realizing it too late was about to be paid.

Crash!

With a thunderous boom, the centuries-old office door burst into dust.

A massive man with graying hair strode through the opening and gave the frozen president a friendly smile.

“Long time no see, Emmanuel. You little rat—I could tear you apart and kill you, and it still wouldn’t be enough.”

“You—you’re…”

“Funny, isn’t it? A moment ago, I thought I could fall asleep in three seconds. But looking at your face has driven the tiredness right out of me. Johnson, who should be in Switzerland right now, probably feels the same way. Don’t you think?”

Chuck Hagel laughed heartily.

He shoved Huginn’s smartphone into his back pocket, then spoke to Emmanuel, who stood frozen like a statue. His voice was different now, deep and dark as an abyss.

“Michael Silbert is dead. By the hand of the new Alliance Leader we chose ourselves, in the name of the World Hunter Federation.”

“…!”

“Now it’s your choice. Get dragged out with your arms and legs broken, or walk out on those cotton-swab legs of yours.”

It was over. All of it was over.

Everything he’d built, along with every future he could have had, had collapsed.

Faced with a reality he couldn’t believe, he trembled, forgetting even to breathe. After turning it over in his mind again and again, he finally managed a word.

“C-cigar.”

“What?”

“Could I smoke one cigar before I go?”

Chuck Hagel blinked, then let out a booming laugh.

“A cigar? Now that sounds good.”

Then he drove a fist like a lump of iron straight into Emmanuel’s face.

Wham! Crash!

Teeth and blood sprayed through the air. Emmanuel flew back like a cannonball, shattered the window, and disappeared from sight.

“Asshole. What kind of question was that?”

Chuck muttered and looked down through the broken window.

Dozens of Ares Guild members waiting below were pouring potions over the president who had fallen from the sky.

“Is he alive?”

“Ah, yes. He’ll live.”

“Good. Just keep him breathing.”

“Understood. But, Mr. Hagel, where are we headed next?”

“Don’t worry about that. Our mission is over.”

“So we’re heading straight back?”

“No. Wait a little. There’s still something to do.”

Chuck opened the cigar box sitting neatly on the table and smiled with satisfaction.

“Something very important. Mm.”

A little while later, people drawn by the unexpected commotion saw their president being carried away, his body crushed, and pale smoke drifting out through the Élysée Palace’s broken window.

But that was not the last shock awaiting them.

When they picked up their smartphones to report this unprecedented crime, an enormous bomb no one could have foreseen rocked the world.

Breaking News: World Hunter Federation’s first official announcement: “Two hours ago, we summarily executed Michael Silbert and his followers, who betrayed humanity. The operation is still ongoing.”

Unprecedented bloodshed. Choi, descendant of the Savior and interim spokesperson for the World Hunter Federation: “We will reveal the truth, along with all the evidence.”

[Live] World Hunter Federation Official Press Conference

The press conference began amid confusion and shock on a scale that “unprecedented” could hardly capture.

And even as Choi Minwoo calmly continued speaking before everyone, captured by hundreds of camera lenses, the key figures of the New World Hunter Federation spread across the globe like dandelion seeds on the wind, uprooting the weeds Michael Silbert had left behind.

One day. Two days. Three…

They were still at it on the day a young man finally woke from his deep sleep.