WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 77
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-Sluuurp.
“...”
Blackflame had arrived to kidnap Kang Jin-ho, only to find Kang Jin-ho himself leisurely drinking tea.
Most villains would have panicked and lost their heads in a situation like this.
“So you knew after all.”
Without showing the slightest sign of surprise, Blackflame naturally sat in the chair across from Kang Jin-ho. Black flames rolled over their entire body, yet none spread to the table or chairs.
“...”
Control at its absolute limit. Only those who had honed their superpowers to the utmost extreme could pull off such a feat.
Innate talent, the insight to use that talent, persistence, and resolve. Simply by sitting in a chair without setting it ablaze, Blackflame demonstrated why they had become a 1-rank villain.
“But this is unexpected. There isn't a trap.”
Still seated, Blackflame looked around the house.
“I came expecting at least five S-rank heroes. But I can't sense a single one.”
“You seem confident you could handle five.”
“I wouldn't lose in a short fight. That would be enough to kidnap someone like you.”
The flames covering Blackflame's body flickered faintly. Their face was hidden by the fire, but they seemed to have laughed.
“So, why did you send that woman away? You must've known I was behind it.”
“I'm enough on my own.”
“Oh?”
Blackflame picked up the cup on the table. The black flames rippled once, and the glass cup instantly melted, spreading in a long streak across the tabletop.
“Now, shall we have a serious conversation?”
Blackflame's voice dropped into a growl.
“I've confirmed there is no trap. There aren't any superpower reactions within a kilometer of this house. No one from the Association, no traces of that woman. Nothing.”
“...”
“In other words, when it comes to force inside this house, I hold an absolute advantage. No matter how famous you are or how clever you may be. If I want to kill you, you die.”
The melted glass was slowly hardening on the table.
“But you couldn't possibly not know that.”
Blackflame tilted their head slightly to the left.
“There must be a reason you're acting so confident. What exactly are you relying on?”
“...”
-Sluuurp.
Kang Jin-ho took another sip of tea instead of answering.
“Fine. I didn't come here to threaten you. Well, I could threaten you. I could burn this house down right now and drag you away. But that would be inefficient for both of us, wouldn't it?”
“Then?”
“I want your cooperation.”
Blackflame crossed their arms.
“I need your ability. I'll pay you well. You already have more than enough money and fame, but I can offer things people on the right side of the law can't.”
People, illegal drugs, revenge against enemies... Just as Blackflame was about to list what they could offer...
“What exactly do you need help with?”
“Do you know about my ability? I can send objects surrounded by my flames beyond space...”
“Ah, so you're researching spatial travel.”
“...You already knew.”
Kang Jin-ho had merely been fishing to see which research project Blackflame was pursuing in HiCiSi. But Blackflame took it as proof that Kang Jin-ho had already seen through the research.
“As expected.”
Blackflame became certain.
This was the man. This man could see what others couldn't.
Blackflame's laboratory was hidden deep underground. Those who worked there were kept under strict surveillance, and their memories of it were erased before they left. Even Blackflame's closest subordinates did not know the details of the research, yet Kang Jin-ho did. That alone proved his ability.
If Blackflame could gain Kang Jin-ho's cooperation, the research would make tremendous progress and break through the wall that had blocked it for years.
Just as Blackflame resolved to obtain Kang Jin-ho at any cost...
“However.”
Remembering the information he had seen in HiCiSi, Kang Jin-ho interlaced his fingers and covered his mouth.
What he was about to say was something he had never told anyone.
“Are you sure you need my help?”
“...What do you mean?”
Blackflame's flames creased with irritation at Kang Jin-ho's unexpected words.
“I mean exactly that. You want me because you have a problem. You can't tell where an object you send beyond space will arrive, correct? You need eyes that can read the coordinates.”
“That is correct.”
“Then let me ask the opposite question. If you know the coordinates, what will you do next?”
“I intend to cross over myself. I will secure safe arrival coordinates and seize what lies beyond.”
“What do you intend to seize over there?”
“...”
Blackflame fell silent for a moment, then laughed quietly.
“A new world. A place beyond this suffocating city. A place I can do as I please. A place where I don't have to worry myself sick over monsters like you. If it's a place like that, I can...”
“Become a god?”
“That word is a little grandiose. But something close to it.”
“I see.”
Kang Jin-ho nodded, then carefully chose his words.
There should be no surveillance around them. Blackflame had scanned the area, so there should be no one listening.
Normally, he would never reveal information this dangerous. But without Eun-yeong, he had no choice if he wanted to deal with Blackflame.
“Then let me tell you one thing.”
“...?”
“I'm not from this world.”
Blackflame's flames faltered.
“What nonsense...”
“I mean it literally. I'm not from this world. One day, I opened my eyes and found myself here.”
Kang Jin-ho continued calmly. It was neither a lie nor an act. He was simply telling the truth.
He had been considering whether to tell Eun-yeong, but things had turned out this way.
“...Your eyes are too serious for this to be a lie.”
“Because I have no reason to lie.”
“...”
“And one more thing.”
Kang Jin-ho paused, looked straight at Blackflame, and spoke.
“I didn't come here because I wanted to.”
“...”
“Coming here was not my choice. Someone, or something, sent me here. To this exact city, in this exact era.”
Kang Jin-ho lightly tapped the hardened lump of glass on the table.
“You've spent more than ten years researching how to send a few test subjects somewhere you don't even know. Yet someone can already choose a person and send them to an exact destination.”
“...That isn't important.”
Blackflame retorted as if grinding the words between their teeth.
“The fact that there is a pioneer means the path I'm taking isn't wrong. Someone has already succeeded, so I can do it too. It only gives me one more reason to devote myself to this research.”
“Well... let's say you succeed in your research and cross over. What then?”
“What do you mean?”
“Speaking as someone who came from another world... you won't be able to use your powers there.”
“...?”
“You'll become an ordinary person. Would you still go?”
When superpowered people used their abilities, they consumed ether.
Then how was that ether replenished? Was it naturally produced inside their bodies?
No.
They slowly absorbed the ether floating in the air, replenishing what they had used.
There was a reason superpowered people, and villains in particular, fought so desperately to remain in Light City. Nowhere else had an ether concentration as rich as this city, and nowhere else allowed them to use their powers so freely.
But what if Blackflame ended up in the modern world?
They would reign supreme until all the ether in their body was used up. But after that? Once every last bit of ether was gone?
They would be nothing more than an ordinary person with a slightly tougher body.
“Thinking you can rule another world through strength just because you go there is a delusion. Wake up.”
That was what Kang Jin-ho meant.
You can't use superpowers over there. The idea of becoming a god is an illusion. So give up on it.
“...That can't be.”
But Blackflame interpreted the words, “You won't be able to use your powers,” differently.
Blackflame had never imagined a world without ether. Even outside Light City, there was at least a trace amount of ether. It would take time, but there was no situation where someone could never use their powers again.
Therefore, Blackflame understood Kang Jin-ho's words as, “In another world, someone like you is nothing.”
And this was Kang Jin-ho saying it.
That man had grown powerful enough to shake this city within a year. That man was declaring that Blackflame would not be enough. He had even said that he himself had been cast out into another dimension.
“...”
Blackflame looked down at their hand. Black flames flickered over it, hiding the skin beneath.
Blackflame had devoted their entire life to strengthening those flames. They slept less, cast people aside, and stained their hands with blood. With the power gained that way, Blackflame rose to 1-rank and became confident that few people in this city could stand in their way.
Yet power at this level was ordinary over there.
“...Then.”
Blackflame muttered.
“What was I trying to go to another world for?”
This city was suffocating. The Association hunted Blackflame, heroes watched them warily, and they had to be mindful of monstrous powerhouses. Blackflame hated this city, yet could not leave it if they wanted to use their abilities freely.
But even if Blackflame left this city, there were supposedly people stronger than them everywhere. A 1-rank villain in Light City might be at the bottom in another world.
“...Haha.”
Blackflame laughed. It sounded less like laughter and more like air leaking from a balloon.
“Half my life... was meaningless.”
The goal Blackflame had devoted their life to had been pointless.
Could there be anything more draining?
“Where are you going?”
“...I don't know. I don't even know what I should do anymore.”
With slumped shoulders, Blackflame vanished beyond space.
After that day, Blackflame never appeared in Light City again.
“He drove off a 1-rank villain with nothing but his tongue?”
“Does that even make sense?”
Kang Jin-ho became a legend.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading.
Footnotes:
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