Chapter 282

Words : 2871 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

Chapter 282 “Hmm...” Luize was lying on the couch, scrolling through her phone with a detached expression. “With only two days left until the new school term, what changes will Babel bring?” “Babel insider: ‘There will be a major announcement at the opening ceremony.’” “The Chairman of Heroes Association: ‘We require the Perfect Ones to take more responsibility for their actions.’ Wurgen responds, ‘Perhaps start with yourself.’” News related to Babel flooded news sites, particularly focused on the upcoming semester. But rather than the start of classes, it seemed people were more focused on the “announcement” set to come with it. A coalition of Perfect Ones, huh... The Emperor of Ascension of Babel, the Eternal Nocturne of the UD group, and the Pilgrim of the Pilgrimage Church had joined forces for the first time in decades to fend off the growing Demon Force. Considering that such an alliance was unheard of, and with the world already on edge because of the Dream Demon’s death, it was no wonder everyone focused on it. I would’ve thought it was completely unrelated to me before... The thought that she was involved with some of the Perfect Ones in the alliance gave Luize a strange feeling. Shaking it off, she swiped through her phone to see if there was anything else interesting. “Regarding the Noticeable Decline in Demon Crimes after the Fall of the Pleasure District: Have we officially cleaned them up or is it a calm before the storm?” “Experts Warn that the Ten Evils could be using the remaining Demonic Realms similarly to the Dream Demon hiding the Pleasure District in the Nightmare City.” The news articles were a mix of hopeful and pessimistic stories, but overall, things looked to be taking a positive turn. Thinking that people’s reactions were getting a little livelier, Luize’s scrolling finger suddenly stopped as a headline caught her eye. “...” She quickly sat up, glancing around to ensure no one was around, then laid back down and typed someone’s name into the search bar. When the page loaded, a flood of articles greeted her. And though none of them were front-page material, news about the person she searched appeared to pop up daily. A genius blacksmith, humanity’s hope, the next Perfect One... really? Luize snickered at the articles lavished with praises, but then one headline made her stop cold. “Is the next promising first-year student secretly a notorious womanizer?!” “...” The bold headline struck out to her immediately. The author didn’t state the person’s name, yet details made it obvious who the article was about. rmsqhsfhs: tsk tsk I can’t believe such a kid has that mindset. He’s why some people are considered hopeless from the start. gjdjscnd: A friend of mine at Babel says he’s with a different girl every day. it really is a bit off putting. └qkqpfWkd: what do you mean? He hangs out with both guys and girls. Do you not have any friends? lol └gjdjscnd: He does it with both guys and girls? Damn... └qpqkfWkd: lol? So he was a complete lunatic. gjwjq: A promising talent, my ass. Young heroes these days are so disappointing. . . . Commenters quickly seized on the gossip, disparaging the individual mentioned in the article. But despite the article's light tone, Luize's gaze narrowed as she read it. “Do they have a death wish or something...?” It wasn’t exactly slander; still, calling someone they never met a womanizer felt a bit over the line. It was something that would probably blow over eventually, but having it out there was infuriating, nonetheless. Annoyed, Luize copied the news link and sent it to a group chat labeled “Idiots.” Beep, beep! Just as she hit send, the front door opened and Se-Hoon walked into the living room. “I’m back... what are you doing?” Click, click! Seeing Luize furiously tapping on her phone, Se-Hoon gave her a curious look, having intuitively realized that she was desperately trying to hide something. And of course, Luize acted casually, responding, “Just playing a game.” “Really? I didn’t think you were into that stuff...” Shrugging, Se-Hoon went to the kitchen. Taking advantage of the moment, Luize quickly finished deleting her recent search history before sighing in relief. “Phew...” Though a part of her wondered if she was being overly cautious, she knew better than to let her guard down around Se-Hoon. After all, he was someone who, if he found the slightest opportunity, would mock her mercilessly. Confirming one last time that she erased all of the evidence, Luize finally set her phone down. And not a second later, Se-Hoon came back from the kitchen with an ice cream bar in hand. “Catch.” Catching the ice cream he tossed her, Luize looked at him in surprise. “What’s this for?” “It’s for all the work you put in. Have it as your reward.” “...How stingy.” Smiling, Luize unwrapped the ice cream while eyeing Se-Hoon, who had gone to sit down across from her. “So, what did they say to you?” “Well, what could they say when I told them, ‘He got in my way, so I killed him’? They just nodded in acknowledgment.” “Really?” Luize raised an eyebrow. When he’d rushed out after getting a call from Dawn, she’d expected there to be a problem. But apparently, nothing went too wrong. “Not sure what’s going through their heads, but they’ll stay quiet for now. I took down their leader, after all.” While Se-Hoon knew it was the Regions together who plotted the kidnapping, Se-Hoon had pinned it all on Left Arm alone, letting the rest go for now. And they knew that too, so they had no choice but to keep low, recognizing Se-Hoon was giving them a second chance. “What will you do about the others?” “We’ll have to wait for the right time. We could take them down now, but that’d make it difficult for us to meddle with Watchers.” Until he gained enough leverage within Watchers, he had to keep Dawn intact. For that end, Se-Hoon planned to monitor their actions while keeping them under control. “Also, I stopped the production of mana corrosion devices and scrapped all other ongoing projects. Dawn is no longer adding to their body count.” All of his calls were practically tearing down the organization, yet the Regions accepted them surprisingly well. After all, their sole purpose had been to find suitable hosts to resurrect the Seeker; with that achieved, their purpose was gone. “Hmm. Good to know.” Luize’s response was nonchalant, not even looking up as she ate her ice cream. She was so indifferent that Se-Hoon became confused. “That’s it?” “What? Should I cheer and clap or something?” “Well, not really...” Given her history with Dawn, he expected some kind of emotional reaction. Yet she was so detached. I guess Luize isn’t as entangled with them as the Blast Dog was. If it were the Blast Dog, who’d endured brutal human experiments in Dawn’s lab, she would have immediately gone out of control at any mention of Dawn. Guess that’s a relief. Remembering how serious the Blast Dog’s outbursts were, Se-Hoon naturally changed the subject. “Anyway, with Dawn basically taken care of... I have just one more thing to deal with later.” “Hm? What is it?” “There are two of the Seeker’s body parts left in their lab. I think I’ll have to go retrieve them.” Dawn possessed seven of the Seeker’s body parts. Out of the seven, the five Regions each had one implanted in them, while the remaining two were still stored in the lab, waiting for suitable hosts. “What are the last two?” “The heart and the tongue. Dawn originally planned to implant those in us.” “Ugh...” Luize grimaced at the mere thought of rogue body parts being implanted in her, making Se-Hoon chuckle. “I’ll handle that later, so you don’t need to worry about it. Anyway, the last thing I wanted to tell you is this.” Se-Hoon took a small catalog from his void pocket and placed it on the table. “What’s this?” “It’s the list of items stored in Watchers' shared warehouse. We’re given access to use anything we need if allowed.” Picking up the catalog, Luize flipped through it with her ice cream in her mouth. It contained everything from Legendary equipment that had vanished long ago to strange items she’d never heard of. Compared to what she originally thought, that it just held useless junk, the items were of much higher quality than she expected. “Most of them are stolen goods or forbidden items crafted in the underworld.” Some of them were items crafted using technologies that were later banned, which included those used for human experimentation. However, because Watchers didn’t let the law restrict them, they had a variety of prohibited objects stored. “...Wouldn't using some of these things be dangerous?” She was worried that using stolen goods could make them look like criminals, and forbidden items weren’t exactly things she should use freely in the first place. Noticing her apprehension, Se-Hoon spoke calmly. “Of course, I wouldn’t use them as-is. I’m going to reforge them.” Se-Hoon believed that leaving potentially valuable items in the warehouse just meant someone else might eventually use them to commit another crime. Therefore, it was for the better if he used some of them for his own benefit. “I see... then what’s your plan?” “Try to pick anything that interests you. I’ll use that as material when forging your weapon.” “Ah, oka... wait, did you just say my weapon?” Seeing the surprised look on Luize’s face, Se-Hoon raised an eyebrow at her. “You asked me to make one for you, remember? Did you forget already?” “Ah, now that you mention it, I remember me saying that, but...” She felt a bit embarrassed. It had been an offhand comment, one she never expected he would take seriously. Avoiding his eyes, she glanced down, but that just made Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes at her. “Then do you not need one? I guess I’ll just work on Sung-Ha’s first...” “Who said I don’t want it? Damn, you’re so impetuous.” Worried he might actually not make her one, Luize quickly held the catalog close to her chest. Then, after a moment of thought, she asked, “What are you planning to forge, anyway? Hati’s still usable, and you said staves and wands don’t really suit me.” Se-Hoon smirked. She still remembered that Incantation Magic had a unique activation structure that didn’t align well with staves or wands, which was what he’d told her when they’d first talked about forging equipment for her. “That would be true if it were ordinary equipment made by an ordinary blacksmith. But who am I?” Having worked alongside the Blast Dog, Se-Hoon had already come up with a solution. Luize squinted suspiciously at his confident expression. “...I hate how you’re always so full of yourself.” Shaking her head, she resumed reading through the catalog while Se-Hoon waited and ate his ice cream. Vrrr- Luize’s phone, which was on the table, vibrated slightly due to a new message appearing on the screen. Asshole: I took care of the news article you sent me just now. Soon enough, that newspaper itself will be gone... Smack! Before he could finish reading, Luize quickly covered the screen with her pale hand before looking at Se-Hoon. “...Did you see that?” “...A little?” Se-Hoon didn’t know what article they removed, but he had a good idea who “Asshole” was. So she keeps in touch with Amir, too. Perhaps the three of them had gotten closer thanks to the Three Dogs appearing in their dreams simultaneously. Curious, he watched Luize as she quietly put her phone in her pocket. “What kind of news got taken—” “I don’t know. I won’t tell you. So don’t ask.” Luize firmly ended Se-Hoon’s questioning, burying her face in the catalog to avoid further questions. At her stubbornness, all Se-Hoon could do was shake his head, amused. Alright, I guess she also has things she wants to keep to herself. He decided not to pry, letting her browse in peace while he mentally reviewed the events at the conference. The pressing issue... is probably Apostate. The discovery that the Pilgrim and Apostates both used the same type of divine mana was staggering. It seemed like a completely infeasible idea, but now that he had witnessed it himself, he needed to uncover the truth. Perhaps that secret also had something to do with the Pilgrim's death in his previous life. But I don’t have enough information to investigate.... And it's risky to rely solely on the Pilgrimage Church for this matter. The Church might even accuse him of heresy if he claimed Apostate used the same divine mana as the Pilgrim. Deciding to exercise caution with this delicate subject, he shifted his focus to another issue. Besides that, there is the Watchers’ plan as well... While he hadn’t yet discovered the specifics of the Watchers’ plans to eliminate the Perfect Ones, he’d identified who he should keep an eye on. The conference had given him enough hints to uncover some identities of the Watcher representatives. Not sure about Transcendence, but Offering is Caden, and Succession is Yuriel Oppenheimer and Inoue Ryuma. Given the established connections of the heads of the Seraphim Guild and the Inoue family to Succession, they were likely the representatives, and the movements and mana flow Se-Hoon had observed at the conference did line up with their abilities. I’m fairly certain about Yuriel, but Ryuma... It could also be Ren, imitating Ryuma. Either way, he was now confident the Inoue family led a Watchers subgroup, meaning he’d have to keep a close eye on them. For Exuviation... The Exuviation representative had remained quite unshaken throughout the conference. And while they also made it impossible to guess who they were based on their movements and mana flow, a single comment had given their identity away. “Besides that, there’s not much else. The Emperor of Ascension destroyed most of our research labs, so we don’t have any materials. The body parts of the Eternal Nocturne are... well, lost, too.” The person who had scattered the Eternal Nocturne’s body parts across the world, who had also gathered them back to use personally, was none other than Tuner. *** Inside a laboratory filled with dozens of incubation capsules, a large figure wearing a black fedora and robe circled the room endlessly. “Hmm...” His deep hum of contemplation echoed through the lab, together with the rhythm of his footsteps. And along in the lab with him was one of Puppeteer’s dolls, a braided woman, who was inspecting one of the capsules. “How much longer are you going to stay that way?” Forced to listen to the unending sound, she frowned. “Ah, sorry. I just had a lot to think about.” The woman’s expression tightened further at his sheepish response. “Whatever it is, just make sure you put on your mask. It’s nauseating to even look at you.” “How harsh of you...” Grumbling, Tuner pulled his beak-shaped mask from his robe and put it on as instructed. “So, what’s the current status?” “Same as before. With our current resources, this is as far as we can go.” “I figured.” For a moment, Tuner gazed thoughtfully at the fleshy mass inside the capsule the woman had been inspecting before speaking with finality. “Then let’s take a break for now.” “What?” “Wouldn’t it take a while to gather more materials anyway? Let’s all do what we want for a bit.” The woman cast a sharp look at the Tuner’s relaxed suggestion. I really cannot understand this guy. While she had long known that Tuner ran several organizations, it wasn’t until they started working together that she learned he was the leader of Exuviation. She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of being he was before becoming a demon, but she quickly set that thought aside. I guess it doesn’t really matter what his past identity was. It didn’t matter as long as she could use him and discard him after. Having settled her thoughts, she tossed the terminal device in her hand carelessly aside. “Call me when you have enough materials, then.” “Got it. Enjoy your break.” Watching her leave, Tuner waved her off. But just before leaving, she stopped and asked, “What do you plan to do?” “Hmm? Have I finally piqued your interest...?” But in response to his teasing, the woman just turned and walked off, causing Tuner to chuckle. “I’m just going to sit back and watch,” he muttered to himself. The woman glanced back. And upon seeing that she was listening again, Tuner finished his words. “The Emperor of Ascension is planning something big.”

Chapter 282

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