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The captured Chronos was handed over to the heroes of the Association.

After the bald joke, Baek Kang-woo, who became awkward, and Jeong Ha-yul, who remained silent, ate buckwheat noodles together.

Then, they headed to Seoul in Baek Kang-woo’s car.

Even inside the car, only silence flowed. No conversation continued.

“…I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please forgive me!”

Jeong Gyeoul bowed her head again.

If we were to assign blame, Jeong Gyeoul was the absolute perpetrator.

It was only natural for her to apologize.

After her first apology was rejected and she couldn’t even go home, she waited until Baek Kang-woo’s anger subsided a bit.

Thinking it was about time, she threw out a second apology.

“…? That was already resolved earlier. I was only angry for a very short moment, and it was just a joke.”

“What?!”

After getting out of the car, she couldn’t bring herself to go home and instead killed time at the training ground.

Then, she received another call from the Association, got into Baek Kang-woo’s car, and just kept an eye on the situation.

In an atmosphere where it was unclear whether she was eating the buckwheat noodles with her mouth or her nose, she finished the meal as if she was about to throw up.

She was tense the entire way back home…

But it turns out the issue had already been resolved long ago. It was even just a joke.

‘Then what was all the suffering I went through for?’

Even if Baek Kang-woo, a man in his 30s, got upset with Jeong Gyeoul, who’s in her mid-teens,

it would be ridiculous to think that would last an entire day.

After all, Jeong Gyeoul is the youngest in the Demon King’s family, but she’s like a daughter to them.

What kind of father would sulk all day because his middle school daughter teased him?

Baek Kang-woo’s lack of conversation and expression wasn’t because of that.

“I was thinking about something strange, so I was like that. Did you think I was still angry? Pfft.”

“…What was so strange?”

If it was something like the coins he invested in the rising market tanking,

or all his stocks turning blue, it would be understandable.

But Baek Kang-woo doesn’t deal with coins or stocks.

After a big loss, he only invests a little in blue-chip stocks.

If it wasn’t those two things, what could be so serious that he’d be like that all day?

“Chronos. Doesn’t something feel off?”

“Huh? Why him?”

He did seem strange during the entire fight.

No, actually, the one who was stranger at the time was Jeong Gyeoul herself.

Anyway, it seemed like he didn’t even use half of the various techniques the Association had informed them about.

Even though he had supposedly accumulated a lot of time while raiding the Groom Lake Air Force Base, he didn’t seem that strong.

His physical abilities were on par with a Demon Realm Lord, but that was it.

More than Chronos, what stuck in her memory was the strange color mixed in with his magic power.

“Would the U.S. really imprison an S-Class Awakened without proper defenses? Serena is an A-Class with no combat abilities, and even though she wasn’t imprisoned, all sorts of things were attached to her.”

Thinking about it, that’s true.

Even though the U.S. has started to fall behind K-Hero Power,

they were still the strongest hero nation before that.

If they had secretly imprisoned Chronos, an S-Class Awakened who controls time,

it wouldn’t have been a big problem to prevent his escape.

Just like how the Satan Church Cult Leader is stuck in the lowest level of the Association and still can’t escape.

The U.S. should be the same, right?

“Don’t tell me… they intentionally released him and sent him to Korea?”

“That might be a stretch, but it’s a possibility. Things might have gone wrong in the process, leading to the destruction of the air force base. Or he might have really escaped from there.”

The Groom Lake Air Force Base in Nevada is a secret base at Latitude 51.

It’s the infamous Area 51.

The mysterious military base where alien corpses are said to be kept and UFOs are researched.

It’s been a long time since Awakened appeared on Earth, so such a secretive area wouldn’t have stopped at facilities for dealing with ordinary people.

It would have been equipped with defenses specifically for high-level Awakened.

It started to seem unlikely that Chronos, who was knocked out after a few hits from Jeong Gyeoul, could have escaped.

“…The Association! Call the Association!”

If this is a U.S. conspiracy,

then Chronos was intentionally captured.

In that case, the Association’s transport vehicle currently moving Chronos is in danger.

Not only the MZ operator Jeong Gyeoul had been grumbling to, but also the lives of the Association staff who had come on a business trip to Sokcho were at stake.

Since it was Jeong Gyeoul’s first time working with the operator and she didn’t have the number,

Jeong Ha-yul, who had exchanged contact information after working together a few times, quickly made the call.

“Yes, I’ve received the hero’s call.”

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just in case, it might be good to request additional support from the Association for the transport vehicle.”

So far, it’s just a conspiracy theory by Baek Kang-woo and Jeong Gyeoul.

Now that the Association’s transport vehicle has entered Seoul, if nothing’s wrong, there’s no need to convey the conspiracy theory to the Association.

“…? I don’t know what’s going on, but… I’ll do as you say.”

Even though Jeong Ha-yul and Jeong Gyeoul were both superiors to the MZ operator,

the operator’s attitude toward the Jeong sisters was clearly different.

“Nothing’s happening, right?”

“…That’s a relief.”

It hadn’t been long since they returned from the Realm of Immortals, and an S-Class villain had invaded, forcing them to rush to Sokcho on a business trip.

They had already been through enough to be considered victims of unfair treatment, so it seemed like there wouldn’t be any more incidents.

But Jeong Gyeoul was at the center of all the unfair treatment,

and she was someone who loved incidents and accidents.

***

Two days had passed since then.

Around 2 a.m.,

while they were deep in sleep, they received an emergency call from the Association.

Normally, only Baek Kang-woo and Jeong Ha-yul would have been called, but…

Baek Kang-woo, Yoo Eun-chae, Jeong Ha-yul, and even me.

All the mobile phones in the Demon King House rang simultaneously.

There was no way to stay asleep.

They answered the phone with irritation, but what they heard was…

extremely shocking.

“…It’s a disaster! The villains from the lowest floor have escaped!”

Is this for real or just a joke?

“How did that happen?”

“Well, Chronos suddenly went berserk…”

The conspiracy theory Baek Kang-woo and Jeong Gyeoul had been talking about in the car had become reality.

“…What exactly does the Association do? You caught the Fox Mask, the 12 Apostles, Lee Cheol-jin, and even the Satan Church Cult Leader. You should at least keep them properly imprisoned.”

“…I’m sorry. I have no words.”

A thud was heard.

Whether it was an act or real, it sounded like someone had banged their head.

If they had started with excuses like “It’s not my fault” or “It’s not the Association’s fault,” I would have flipped the Association upside down, regardless of the villain escape incident.

Seeing them immediately bang their head, even though they’re just employees following orders, made me feel a bit soft-hearted.

“Was it just the lowest floor that was breached, or was it all of them?”

“…Except for the F-Class villains on the underground first floor, all of them have escaped.”

“Oh no…”

Among the villains I’ve captured so far, the most dangerous ones are on the lowest floor.

The Fox Mask, the 12 Apostles, Lee Cheol-jin, and the Cult Leader.

Even Chronos, who was just captured this time.

And not just that, but all the villains from every prison except the underground first floor have escaped simultaneously.

What is this, a villain liberation special? Seriously impressive.

Since even the beings from the Realm of Immortals don’t know about this, it’s not our gods.

I don’t know which god has decided to test me with this unfair treatment,

but seriously, if I meet them, I’ll kill them.

***

DEFCON 2 has been declared.

The Association’s Black Code, which is only activated when a doomsday species appears in the country, has also been declared simultaneously.

The Association’s Black Code takes precedence over wartime operational control, so operational authority hasn’t been transferred to the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command.

In a situation where a U.S.-led terrorist attack is suspected,

it’s a relief they didn’t do something crazy like handing over operational authority to the U.S.

All military equipment’s ammunition has been switched to anti-Awakened rounds,

and live ammunition has been distributed to the entire army.

With the Black Code activated, the entire Association is surrounded by barriers that even high-level Awakened would find difficult to penetrate.

It’s theoretically a panic room that can withstand a nuclear explosion.

Access is controlled to a level where even the President can’t enter or leave without the Association Chairman’s permission,

and all internal staff are unable to leave the Association.

It’s practically a wartime system.

A nationwide alert has been issued.

The South Korean citizens, who have been periodically trained in doomsday response, are heading to shelters in an orderly manner… or not.

They’ve started hoarding supplies.

Even in the midst of this, the sight of them leaving the mild-flavored ramen for others is beautiful.

Somehow, Chronos managed to pull this off.

Or maybe the escape plan was just that meticulous and detailed.

The whereabouts of the villains are unknown.

“They’re not showing up on magic detection?”

Jeong Gyeoul scattered her magic power, but it was no use.

“If it doesn’t show up on your detection, then no one else’s will work either. Stop wasting your magic power.”

“I’ll activate the magic power detector.”

“…That thing won’t catch them if they’re just hiding their magic.”

“You didn’t think the Association was just slacking off, did you?”

Jeong Gyeoul couldn’t help but be stunned by Jeong Ho-min’s words, which perfectly matched her thoughts.

‘…Did he double Awaken with mind-reading or something?’

 

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