It happened in an instant.
Before the missile struck the luncheon hall.
Sensing the attack with his keen instincts, Limon grabbed President Han Jeong-guk and escaped, followed by a fierce explosion that seemed to chase them.
It was a narrow escape; a single step slower and they would have been caught in the blast.
However, once they successfully escaped.
Limon tossed Han Jeong-guk, whom he had just saved, far away.
At the same time, he spun his body like a top on one foot and swung his sword.
Pabebababababat!
Between the sword shadows that embroidered the air like fluttering petals, a swarm of tiny butterflies made entirely of crystal was torn to shreds.
Limon’s blade, mercilessly carving up the butterflies that were as beautiful as works of art, appeared infinitely cruel.
But compared to the transformation that occurred on the ground where the fragments of the crystal butterflies fell, that was nothing.
Crack, crack-crack-crack!
The marble foundation turned into transparent crystal.
Quartz pillars shot up from the cracked earth.
Even the blades of grass turned into shards of crystal.
Like the hands of King Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold, the way everything it grazed turned into crystal was truly a nightmare.
While it might look beautiful on the surface, its reality was a cruel curse that twisted and crushed the nature of all things.
To think what would happen if a living person touched it. It was a horrifying thought.
Yet, while facing a swarm of butterflies capable of turning more than a thousand people into blocks of crystal in an instant, Limon did not take a single step back.
He simply stood his ground, swinging his sword to cut down each butterfly as it flew in.
Because his speed was so immense, it appeared to others as if the crystal butterflies approaching Limon were exploding on their own.
It was a clash between a storm and a tsunami.
A storm of blades that cut down everything that approached.
A tsunami of curses that turned everything into transparent stone.
It was a hellish sight where a calamity and disaster capable of destroying an army swirled together.
However, the confrontation ended unexpectedly fast.
No matter how large the swarm, they were crushed and swept away by the storm.
The crystal butterflies, which numbered in the tens of thousands, had no choice but to melt away in the curtain of blades that cut through thousands of them per second.
“Damn it. Usually, they say you don’t even bother a dog when it’s eating…”
The person responsible for accurately landing tens of thousands of sword strikes in a dozen seconds without a single error.
Limon muttered with a bored expression as if this were nothing special.
Then, he turned his head slightly. In the direction opposite to where the crystal butterflies had flown.
Appearing behind President Han Jeong-guk, who was rolling on the ground, stood a man with slicked-back hair and rimless glasses, his hands behind his back.
Limon asked coldly.
“Is it a cowardly surprise attack from a guy who calls himself a Monarch?”
“It was meant as a greeting, but I didn’t expect you to consider it a surprise attack.”
“If you greet me twice, people are going to die, you punk.”
Contrary to his words, Limon’s attitude was indifferent.
The act just now was merely a formality to pry Han Jeong-guk from his hands.
He knew the opponent truly had no intention of a surprise attack.
Of course, using a curse that could massacre thousands as a greeting was not the act of a sane person, but the man had the right to do so.
He was the Infinite Monarch, Lee Cheon-gi. One of the ten absolute beings who ruled this Age of Iron.
“Mr. Lee Cheon-gi! You’ve finally arrived.”
“It seems you’ve suffered quite an ordeal.”
“Haha, can we really call it an ordeal? I simply endured, believing you would come to save me.”
Because he had been moved and thrown so suddenly, Han Jeong-guk had been rolling on the ground with a dazed expression for a moment.
Finally coming to his senses, he welcomed Lee Cheon-gi with a bright smile.
For him, it was the moment his long-awaited savior appeared to rescue him from the atrocious traitor known as Limon.
However, Limon looked at Han Jeong-guk with pathetic eyes.
“Hey, President. Do you even know what you’re babbling about? That guy was just trying to kill you along with me.”
“Ha, what kind of nonsense are you talking? There’s no way Mr. Lee Cheon-gi would do such a thing…”
Han Jeong-guk, who had scoffed and turned back to Lee Cheon-gi, trailed off.
He had expected Lee Cheon-gi to agree, but for some reason, the man was looking at him with a cold face.
“…Mr. Lee Cheon-gi?”
Why aren’t you denying Limon’s words? To Han Jeong-guk, who asked with eyes full of anxiety, Lee Cheon-gi spoke calmly.
“Isn’t it much easier to deal with a hostage-taker who has lost his hostage rather than one who uses the hostage as a shield?”
“So you tried to get rid of the hostage first? Even though I’m the President?”
“The President can just be re-elected. There are plenty of people to fill that vacancy.”
“Then why did you spare him?”
“The one who saved him was you, not me.”
“…!”
The color drained from Han Jeong-guk’s face.
From the missile that just flew in to the attack of the crystal butterflies.
Only then did he realize that his escape from all those attacks was not due to Lee Cheon-gi’s consideration.
What if Limon had left him behind and escaped?
What if Limon hadn’t thrown him far away before the crystal butterflies swarmed?
By now, instead of the President, he would have been a charred President or a presidential sculpture.
“Mr. Lee Cheon-gi, you…!”
“Excuse me, but I am busy right now.”
Han Jeong-guk, who was about to shout in rage after realizing he had almost died, shut his mouth again.
Lee Cheon-gi was staring at Limon as if he had no interest in the President at all.
The moment Lee Cheon-gi glanced back at him, a chilling shudder ran down his spine.
“Could you please excuse yourself for a moment?”
The words sounded like a polite request.
However, Han Jeong-guk could tell.
It was not a request, but an order.
He knew that if he refused that request, Lee Cheon-gi would remove him in another way.
Lee Cheon-gi’s eyes, looking at him as if he were a buzzing fly in his ear, made that fact clear.
“I-I see. Then I’ll leave the rest to you, Mr. Lee Cheon-gi.”
Face flushing with humiliation, Han Jeong-guk eventually turned around and fled in a hurry.
Watching his retreating figure disappear as fast as a bullet, fitting for a high-level player, Limon spoke flatly.
“Aren’t you being a bit too merciless to the President of a country?”
“I don’t think those are words to be spoken by someone who took that President hostage.”
“There’s no reason for a traitor to care about that, right?”
“I am the same.”
It didn’t matter whether Han Jeong-guk held a grudge over this or not.
Nothing would change anyway.
Limon nodded his head as he watched Lee Cheon-gi speak so calmly.
“Well, I suppose so.”
Even if he was the President, that was all he was.
He wasn’t in a position to dare question Lee Cheon-gi.
There was that much of a gap between the man who was the ruler of a nation only for a fixed term and Lee Cheon-gi, an absolute being of this era.
A Monarch was someone who could change the President tomorrow with a single word.
However, Limon, the one who had summoned him, was not intimidated in the least while facing Lee Cheon-gi.
He simply adjusted his grip on his sword and asked nonchalantly.
“We don’t need a long talk, right?”
“That is unfortunate. For my part, there were many things I wanted to hear from you, the supposed guardian deity of humanity.”
“Don’t talk crap you don’t mean, punk. It doesn’t make me happy to hear such hollow lip service.”
“No, I am serious.”
Contrary to his answer, Lee Cheon-gi shook his head slightly at the smirking Limon.
Then he spoke with a cold face.
“Whatever else there is, I must hear about the Black Dragon Princess.”
“Huh? Why are you asking me that?”
Limon blinked as if wondering what this sudden nonsense was.
“There is no need to feign ignorance. I already know that you have been in contact with the Black Dragon Princess.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Perhaps because his trick was easily seen through, Limon made a grumpy face and took the opportunity to ask what he was curious about.
“Why are you so interested in the princess of the Black Dragon Clan? No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure out the reason.”
“It is a reason you do not need to know.”
“Punk, is that what you say to someone you’re asking to tell you about her?”
“That and this are different matters.”
‘Ho, look at this guy?’
Limon felt a sense of interest at Lee Cheon-gi’s determined attitude, which felt like even a blade wouldn’t pierce it.
After narrowing his eyes for a moment, Limon suddenly opened his mouth with a slight smirk.
“Hey, then how about we do this?”
“Do what?”
“We exchange one question each. In return, I won’t ask about the reason you’re chasing the princess of the Black Dragon Clan.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I had something I wanted to check before I settled things with you anyway.”
Lee Cheon-gi fell silent for a moment as he looked at the smirking Limon.
But his hesitation did not last long.
Not only was this an overwhelmingly advantageous deal for him, but his ‘Lie Detection’ skill told him that Limon’s words were not a lie.
“Very well. You ask first.”
“Alright, then I’ll ask just one thing.”
As if deciding to concede this much, Limon had a satisfied expression as he looked at Lee Cheon-gi, who gave him the first chance to ask.
And then, in a flash.
An ice-cold voice sliced through the air.
“Was it your decision to force Na-gyeong to do such a thing?”
The smile that had been there just moments ago seemed like an illusion.
In response to Limon’s question, as he stared directly at him with eyes that had turned black, Lee Cheon-gi asked back in a low voice.
“Who is Na-gyeong?”
“Is that the first time you’ve heard the name? She was my teammate.”
“I cannot possibly know the names of every single one of your teammates.”
Limon stared at Lee Cheon-gi for a moment as if trying to determine the truth.
Even within the black radiance that seemed to pierce through the constellations, it only looked as if a stained-glass mirror was in one eye instead of a pupil.
Other than that, Lee Cheon-gi looked the same as usual, so Limon asked again.
“Then I’ll change the question. Who did you order to handle me?”
“I left it to Manager Park.”
“What’s that bastard’s exact name?”
“Manager Park’s name…”
Lee Cheon-gi reached into his pocket.
After flipping through several business cards, he pulled one out and said.
“It says Park Hyeon-gun.”
“Right, that’s enough.”
Limon no longer doubted Lee Cheon-gi’s words.
There was no way Lee Cheon-gi, who didn’t even know he had only one teammate, would know about Yoo Na-gyeong.
Above all, that business card proved it.
A guy who didn’t even care about the name of his own close associate wouldn’t have investigated Limon’s relationships to take a hostage and use Yoo Na-gyeong.
If it were Lee Cheon-gi, he would have come to handle Limon himself, as he was doing now, rather than plotting such a bothersome thing.
Because that was the way of an absolute being.
“Now it is my turn.”
“Sure, what do you want to ask?”
“Where is the Black Dragon Princess right now?”
“I don’t know.”
“…”
Lee Cheon-gi fell silent, perhaps not expecting such an answer.
Limon cackled.
“Hey, think about it. I’ve been here holding a hostage for a while. How would I know where she is ‘now’? It’s not like I put a tracking device on her.”
“Then I will also change my question. The last time you…”
“Uh, no you won’t.”
“…What did you say?”
“I said you can’t change the question.”
Limon argued casually, saying that what they agreed on was exchanging one question each, not changing questions to ask and answer multiple times.
Lee Cheon-gi countered with a sunken voice.
“I answered your changed question.”
“Yeah, thanks for the gift.”
“Are you saying there is no reciprocation?”
“If you expect something in return, it’s not a gift, is it?”
“…Indeed, you are not wrong.”
Lee Cheon-gi stared at the shamelessly smirking Limon for a moment.
Then, he slowly nodded his head.
Snapping his fingers, he created dozens of blazing fireballs in the air and spoke quietly.
“Then let us see if you can still say those same words after I have severed your limbs.”