74.
For Bacardi, it was crazy and insane. However, there was not a single person on his side in this space now. Besides, now Leon, the Guardian Guild Leader, was involved. No matter how much he was called a mad boar, he could not move recklessly anymore.
“Just you wait and see. It won’t end like this next time.”
As Bacardi was dragged away, uttering villainous lines, Leon clicked his tongue as he looked at him. He worked so hard to be nominated for the president of the association, but eventually, ruined everything with his own hands.
Displeasure surged, but Leon did not forget what he had to do. He approached Hyeon-woo and lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. It was someone else’s fault.”
Hyeon-woo waved his hand and smiled, but Leon did not raise his head easily.
“You came here with difficulty, but you went through unpleasant things, didn’t you? I’m also responsible for that.”
The people around him admired Leon’s upright appearance.
“Yes, that’s right. As expected, Leon-nim from the Guardian Guild.”
Praises came out naturally. Although he already knew it, he was a man of great reputation. It meant that this kind of person secretly came and seduced him. That was how great the dragon’s value seemed to be.
“I don’t know if this will be a reward, but I’ll prepare a compensation plan. Take a look and choose the one you like. Or you can present it first. You can wait, so think slowly. Also, I’m sorry, but I want at least one person to stay as we need to testify on the victim’s side.”
Hyeon-woo was of course excluded, and the remaining were Seon-woo, Do-jin, and Ga-jun. However, Seon-woo and Do-jin were still competing on who would be Hyeon-woo’s ride, so Ga-jun stepped up, resigned in his battle with luck.
“I’ll stay.”
It seemed that if he held out even longer because he didn’t want to go, it would only lead to disgracing his country.
“Thank you.”
“No. Then, Ji Hyeon-woo, I’ll be back, so solve that first.”
Ga-jun pointed to the two stubborn men and left with Leon. That was how everything was resolved, but the surrounding spectators didn’t budge – there was another spectacle.
“Who will the tamer choose?”
“That’s right. Didn’t he look more confident?”
“But the left side isn’t easy either. There’s not that much difference. Anyways, isn’t the one on the left his real brother?”
“Brother? Oh my god. Is the younger brother trying to carry his older brother? Does such a sibling exist?”
The bystander exclaimed in amazement.
“My younger brother would kill me if I asked him to carry me!”
“I don’t think even I would want to carry a pig like you.”
“No, no! That’s how a brother should be is what I meant!”
Even in the midst of the commotion, Seon-woo calmly called for Hyeon-woo.
“Hyung. Hyeon-woo Hyung.”
As soon as he heard that voice, his body leaned towards Seon-woo. How could he turn away from such a cute little boy? Of course, he should definitely let him give him a piggyback ride. The shame was Hyeon-woo’s fault, but he was able to handle it well enough.
As soon as he felt Hyeon-woo’s body lean toward him, the corner of Seon-woo’s mouth went up.
‘It’s my win!’
He thought so and looked at Do-jin with a mocking face, but he was also a formidable person.
“Hyeon-woo.”
Do-jin, who started talking in a low voice, began to persuade Hyeon-woo.
“Ji Seon-woo fought just before. Wouldn’t he be tired?”
Seon-woo looked at Do-jin with a distorted expression. It was heartbreaking to see them fighting together and then trying to get their own way. He didn’t think he was such a great man at first, but he got more and more sly.
“I see.”
Hyeon-woo’s body, which was heading toward Seon-woo, returned to its original position.
“I’m fine. It didn’t take much effort.”
“No. Aren’t your legs shaking?”
Do-jin looked at his intact legs and made a look of concern. Then, hesitantly, Hyeon-woo’s body leaned toward Do-jin.
‘That sly fox bastard!’
His teeth started to grind automatically. To think that Do-jin was taking advantage of his brother’s worry about him. A thousand lights soared within. He wanted to get up right away and fight Do-jin, but he couldn’t. His Hyung was watching.
“Hyeon-woo-ya.”
“Hyung!”
The two earnestly called for Hyeon-woo. At this point, Hyeon-woo couldn’t hold out any longer. He began to feel threatened that he had to make a choice. Because the number of people around them was increasing.
Hyeon-woo took a deep breath and lightly tapped Seon-woo on the back.
“Hyung!”
The moment he liked it, wondering if he had chosen himself, Hyeon-woo, who had returned to the front, grabbed Seon-woo’s hand and raised him up. After that, he went to Do-jin and did the same.
“I can walk, so let’s just go.”
“But!”
“But.”
“If you keep doing this, I’ll go alone.”
That was Hyeon-woo’s conclusion. He wasn’t hurt in the first place, so he didn’t even need to be lifted up. Seeing Hyeon-woo like that, Seon-woo and Do-jin looked at each other. It was brief, but it wasn’t difficult to confirm each other’s intentions.
“Then we’ll take turns carrying you on our backs.”
“That would be great.”
Then, before Hyeon-woo could say anything, Seon-woo picked him up and carried him on his back.
“Seon-woo-ya!”
He was embarrassed and called out his name, but pretended not to hear and took a step forward. After that, Do-jin, a once-again small Kero, Spotty and Two-eyed followed closely.
‘I’m ashamed of this too!’
The two faithfully kept their word. They took turns walking with Hyeon-woo on their back until they returned to their lodgings. At least it was fine when he was carried by Seon-woo, but when he was carried by Do-jin, it was hard to hide his agitation.
Strangely, his heart kept beating, and his face was red as though in pain. All of that said only one thing, but Hyeon-woo, who had been living in the Demon Realm for a long time, couldn’t figure out what it was.
***
Bacardi has been stripped of his position as president of the association. For that reason, a new voting date was set, and the time spent in the United States was extended.
“This is all thanks to my flamboyant speech.”
Ga-jun, who came back belatedly, shrugged his shoulders.
“By the way, America isn’t as bad as I thought, is it? Shall I punish Bacardi properly? I wanted to, but he did it for me.”
“I think that’s great.”
“Right?”
Ga-jun answered Seon-woo’s words and quietly sat down on the sofa. Do-jin’s gaze touched him.
“What? Why? What?”
“Isn’t there a separate lodging?”
“Ah, it’s uncomfortable there, so I’m going to move here.”
Ga-jun turned his gaze and looked at Hyeon-woo. However, Hyeon-woo, who was dull in this respect, only made an expression asking why.
He seemed to be expecting something. Ga-jun sighed deeply and spoke to Seon-woo and Do-jin.
“Please cut me some slack. I did all this work for you.”
He had never lived with regrets anywhere, but that’s not the case here.
‘Like I would even regret anything.’
As a result of some rubbing, he was allowed to stay in the same hostel. He felt embarrassed that he had to ask permission for this, but what should he do? The law is far, and the fist is near.
“By the way – Leon. When I actually talked to him, he was really nice.”
“Isn’t that why you decided to pick him?”
Besides being an American ally, he himself stood up for justice. The pledges announced before the votes were not bad, and the character seemed to have improved. Russia’s Pedro was also a great person, but it didn’t seem like it would be easy to surpass Leon.
“That’s right.”
Ga-jun meekly agreed.
“What do you want for dinner? Shall we go out to eat? Shall we eat inside?”
“We don’t have plans to have dinner together.”
“Calm down!”
Seon-woo was dealing with Ga-jun, who was talking nonsense, when suddenly a loud sound came from somewhere.
Ppiiiik!
The four jumped to their feet at the familiar tone resonating through the city.
“A portal has opened.”
This sound urged citizens to evacuate when an unprepared portal opened.
“Is it Ouroboros?”
“It may be so.”
“Wow, that would be surprising if that were true. Opening a portal at the place where all the Awakened are gathered to vote for the president of the association?”
“Hasn’t it been like that before?”
When he pulled the curtains and looked out the window, the street was noisy.
“Are you going to intervene?”
“When a request for help comes in, we have to move.”
He wanted to run away right away, but this was a foreign country. First of all, he couldn’t move freely.
“For now, let’s wait.”
“Alright. Then let’s watch some TV.”
The moment the portal opened; all broadcasts changed to disaster broadcasts. So he turned it on to understand the situation, but something was strange.
The screen on which the news should be broadcasted turned black. A silver circle was drawn in the center of the black screen, and a snake’s head was in the center.
『Hello. This is Ouroboros.』
A cheerful voice that did not match the logo greeted them.
“It looks like the broadcast was hijacked?” Ga-jun smiled dejectedly.
Meanwhile, the cheerful voice continued to speak.
『This time, I’m making my debut through a broadcast instead of a newspaper. Before getting into the full story, I would like to explain the purpose of Ouroboros.』
The content was like this.
『The world has changed. Monsters appeared, and the Awakened appeared to stop them. They risked their lives to stop monsters and protect people. Was the return for their work reasonable?
I don’t think so. One might say, ‘If you are an Awakened person, you can earn a lot of money and hold power.’ But that’s just a small part of what an Awakened should have.』
So said the cheerful voice.
『Awakened people should have more.』
Support on Kofi:
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Davine, YaagRabRag
Davine: At least HW was smart about his choices. Though, SW and DJ are not cool for putting him on the spot like that.
HM: If you ask me personally, how I like this part, it feels a bit generic. I’m sorry.
YRR: If you ask me? Gross. Grown men fighting to give a piggy-back ride he didn’t need or want?
Please join the discord server. In case if we had to place all the posts into a password lock, you will get notified there and given extra details there. The updates will be activated only when we reach atleast 100 members(excluding the admins and me.) It's not much active currently.