Chapter 13: A duty that must be kept

The person who plotted to kill Limon by involving the Liberation Brigade.

The Director of the PAB, known as the Yama of Players.

Kang Jeong-su stepped out from among the PAB agents and spoke in a stiff voice.

He had intended to reveal himself depending on the situation, but it was unexpected for Limon to call him out first.

“If you didn’t want to make a scene, you shouldn’t have started this in the first place.”

“It is not as if I wanted this to happen.”

Even in this situation, he did not forget his polite address.

Was it because there was no respect behind it that it didn’t sound like a term of honor?

Or was it because of the resentful look in his eyes?

Limon brushed aside the useless thoughts.

Instead, he looked down silently at the body of Yuna Gyeong held in his arm and spoke in a low voice.

“I can guess your circumstances well enough, but as a matter of basic duty, I will ask you first.”

If the opponent had been anyone else, he would have started what needed to be done immediately.

But because of the bond he had watched over for three generations, Limon asked calmly.

“Why?”

Kang Jeong-su gritted his teeth.

Ever since he was a child, he had heard stories of Limon from his family elders until his ears practically bled.

That was why he knew the meaning behind this question.

But he had already made his choice.

There was no way to reverse that decision.

No, even if he could go back, he had no intention of doing so.

He had simply made the best choice given the situation, so he had done nothing wrong.

“This is all the result of your own doing, Elder.”

“Because of me?”

“Yes. If you hadn’t provoked the Infinity Monarch’s temper, none of this would have happened.”

“…”

“Did you really think you could touch the Infinity Monarch’s brother-in-law and just walk away? Simply because you were once a hero of the nation?”

Seeing the silent Limon, Kang Jeong-su shouted as if spitting out the words.

“Get a grip, Elder. This is no longer the Heroes Age!”

Kang Jeong-su knew well enough what kind of existence Limon used to be.

How great of a hero he was, what achievements he had made, and how much respect he had commanded.

He also knew what kind of uncontrollable mad dog he was.

“In the past, you could have gotten away with anything. Back then, this country needed you, no matter what.”

Before the Iron Age began.

Limon was, without a doubt, an absolute being.

An era where neighboring countries coveted territory from the outside and subversive elements plotted conspiracies from within.

Overwhelming power was required to maintain peace, and the one who reigned at the pinnacle of that power was the existence known as the Sword Master.

That was why it was the Heroes Age.

A time when the world was protected by a few heroes, and everything they did was accepted as a heroic act.

“But Elder, there are Players now, and there are Monarchs.”

However, the times had changed.

Players had brought peace to a world once protected by force and violence through wealth and prosperity.

Above all, the appearance of another absolute being—the Monarch—made people naturally realize one fact.

The Sword Master was no longer an irreplaceable existence.

“I am saying that you have become an obstacle to this country’s growth.”

If Limon had been a nobody.

If he had conformed to the times and quietly stepped down.

If he had at least compromised with reality for the sake of profit.

He might have lost his position as an absolute being, but he could have remained as a hero in the history books.

“Why do you not realize that if the times change, you must change as well?”

But Limon did not change.

He lost the power that surpassed even royal authority.

The wealth he had accumulated over hundreds of years was taken away.

Even his honor as the Guardian Deity of Humanity was forgotten.

He had fallen to the point where he was more than miserable—it was a mysterious collapse—and became a mere low-level civil servant.

Yet, this hero of the old era continued to play hero, insisting on that damn chivalry and justice until the very end.

“Just because you performed some services for the country in the past, how much longer must we sacrifice ourselves for your selfish behavior!”

Kang Jeong-su remembered.

No, he couldn’t forget.

His grandfather was a war hero who deserved praise.

But he was teased his whole life as a lucky man who avoided death and gained merit only because of Limon.

His father was a politician who deserved respect.

But he wasted his political career trying to maintain Limon’s standing in a changing era.

And eventually, as the Sword Master fell, he withdrew his presidential candidacy and was kicked out of politics.

Even so, he had tried not to resent Limon.

Even though it became impossible for him to enter politics and he suffered all sorts of disadvantages simply for being from a family close to Limon.

He lived frantically, recalling Limon’s achievements his grandfather told him about, trying to clean up the messes Limon made, just as his father had done.

“I am tired of protecting you now. If you want to resent someone, resent yourself for being behind the times!”

But even that had reached its limit.

Now that Limon had provoked the Infinity Monarch’s temper, Kang Jeong-su had no more choices.

Whether for the national interest or for his family.

It was clear whose side he had to take between a fallen Sword Master and the Monarch, the absolute being of the new era.

And Limon evaluated that soul-baring cry from Kang Jeong-su very simply.

“What is this moron blathering about?”

“……Pardon?”

“Hey, you bastard. When did I say I wanted to hear that kind of excuse?”

He had poured out his life’s resentment, only to be completely ignored.

Limon growled at Kang Jeong-su, whose face had frozen into a dazed expression.

“Didn’t I tell you when I trashed that son of a bitch? Tell them it was all my responsibility if anyone asks later.”

“That is…….”

“Who are you ‘protecting’ and ‘overlooking,’ you prick? Anyone hearing this would think I owe your family a debt. But I see how it is.”

Limon sneered.

Kang Jeong-su talked as if his family had been sacrificed for generations to protect Limon.

But was that really the case?

While Kang Jeong-su’s grandfather might have been teased for being lucky, it was an era when the Sword Master was absolute.

The connection of having his life saved three times by Limon was plenty to boast about, and by brandishing that friendship, he was able to rise through the military ranks.

The same went for Kang Jeong-su’s father.

Because he supported Limon, he was able to gather voters by riding the coattails of the old hero’s popularity.

If he hadn’t bragged about his friendship with Limon to the voters, he wouldn’t have even been able to become a member of the National Assembly, let alone a presidential candidate.

And Kang Jeong-su himself?

He talked as if he had only suffered disadvantages because of Limon.

But without the connection to Limon, would an ordinary man like Kang Jeong-su have ever been able to become the Director of the PAB?

“Well, none of that matters. I’m not curious about why you stabbed me in the back either.”

Limon didn’t bother pointing out those facts one by one.

If things go well, it’s one’s own merit; if things go poorly, it’s the ancestors’ fault.

It was Kang Jeong-su’s freedom to believe he could have lived better if Limon hadn’t existed.

More than anything, Limon had no interest in Kang Jeong-su.

The only thing he wanted to hear was one thing.

“What I want to ask is why you did this to Gyeong.”

As if only now recognizing Yuna Gyeong’s corpse in Limon’s arms, Kang Jeong-su flinched for a moment.

Then, he wore a sour expression.

“It was Agent Yuna Gyeong’s choice.”

“Is taking hostages and threatening her into a suicide bombing a ‘choice’?”

“That is not something I did.”

“But it is something you turned a blind eye to.”

“I protested as well! But the Monarch wouldn’t accept it, so what more was I supposed to do!”

He argued that if he had acted rashly, he might have lost the hostages along with Yuna Gyeong.

Even if he had refused, he claimed he would have been killed, and someone else would have become the PAB Director to execute the plan.

To the hysterically shouting Kang Jeong-su, Limon spoke quietly.

“You should have fought.”

“……What did you say?”

“You should have charged in like a mad dog until the very end.”

Whether he died charging in with PAB agents.

Whether he died insulting the Infinity Monarch on a broadcast.

Or at least stepped forward to sacrifice himself instead of Yuna Gyeong.

Limon spoke calmly, saying he should have done something, causing Kang Jeong-su to look aghast.

“Are… are you saying I should have died instead of Agent Yuna Gyeong right now?!”

“Yes.”

“……!”

“If you are the PAB Director, you should have died rather than throwing your subordinate into a death trap because of a Player’s threat.”

The PAB was an organization created to control Players.

Limon, as a former hero and once the head of the institution that became the prototype for the PAB, spoke coldly, stating that its Director should not be cowed by a Player’s might.

“I would understand if you couldn’t die because you lacked courage. But if that was the case, the least you could do is feel ashamed for being alive.”

Just as everyone in the world cannot be a hero, not everyone can risk death to do the right thing.

So, he could forgive the betrayal.

“But Jeong-su, in the end, you won’t even bow your head once to me, let alone to Gyeong.”

Excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses.

Even with Yuna Gyeong’s corpse before him, he only shouted justifications for his betrayal and argued for his legitimacy.

Limon knew the reason why Kang Jeong-su would never apologize.

It was the way of those intoxicated by power.

It was the habit of those who viewed people as tools and thus felt neither shame nor regret.

In the end, Kang Jeong-su wasn’t afraid of death.

He had simply betrayed Limon and abandoned Yuna Gyeong to her death to discard the old rope that was the Sword Master and grab the new rope that was the Monarch.

And that was something beyond the scope of what Limon could tolerate.

‘……Say whatever you like. No matter what you say, nothing will change now.’

As if giving up on further excuses, Kang Jeong-su glared sharply at him, and Limon met his gaze calmly.

“Is that what you think?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”

“Yes. Because I am going to kill you.”

“Ha!”

Kang Jeong-su laughed at him openly.

He then pointed to the forces surrounding them and spoke.

“Do you think it’s possible for you to break through them and kill me?”

The people surrounding Limon were by no means ordinary soldiers or Players.

There were 30 elite agents outstanding in combat even within the PAB, which consisted only of high-level Players.

50 members of the military’s most elite [999 Unit], armed with high-grade items and cutting-edge weapons designed specifically for killing Players.

40 members from the raid divisions of [Stardust] and [Cheonjong], two of the leading giant guilds in the country.

50 S-class mercenaries from the international private military company [Black Wolf], notorious for doing anything for money.

On top of that, there were about 30 convicts, criminals, and killers brought in through plea deals and massive rewards.

A total of about 200 people.

Furthermore, every single one of them was a high-level Player of Level 60 or above, or possessed equivalent skill.

This was a force capable of wiping out five or six cities in the blink of an eye—effectively enough to wage a war.

That was why Kang Jeong-su was confident.

With this much, they could even face a Monarch.

Naturally, he believed it was impossible for an outdated relic like Limon to break through them and harm him.

But Limon did not answer Kang Jeong-su’s question.

He merely looked at those 200 people with indifferently sunken golden eyes, as if looking at a swarm of ants gathered around sugar.

Only after examining them all did he speak in a low voice.

“Before I answer that question, I will ask one last thing.”

“Ask what?”

Was it because of that strangely calm attitude?

Despite holding an overwhelming advantage, Kang Jeong-su reacted irritably to the creeping sense of unease rising within him.

Limon asked him quietly.

“Is trying to kill me truly your own choice?”

“Or is it the will of the One-eyed Old Woman who is currently cackling and eating away at your brain?”

At that moment.

Kang Jeong-su flinched instinctively.

It wasn’t just because of the out-of-nowhere, nonsensical question.

Limon’s eyes looked at him as if seeing the invisible, or piercing through his very soul.

The jet-black radiance lurking within those pupils that should have been golden made his skin crawl.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Does calling it nonsense mean this is entirely your choice?”

“Yes!”

Perhaps because he felt humiliated by being overwhelmed by Limon’s gaze, Kang Jeong-su answered firmly out of spite.

Limon looked at him with indifferent eyes and slowly nodded.

“Fine. If this is something you’ve done of your own will, then that is enough.”

As if the confirmation was over, Limon looked away from him.

He then turned his gaze toward the 200 humans surrounding him…

No, toward the hundreds of bizarre shadows mixed among them, wearing sneers as if looking at prey caught in a trap, and opened his mouth.