NTN 171

Chapter 171

Morich had taken cover beneath a table, which let him clearly see the explosives strapped around Heo Yang-won’s waist. The moment he spotted them, he bolted out and ran toward the corner where Jo Gi-jeong was.

“Explosives! That man is wearing explosives!”

At Morich’s shout, the nobles began to murmur. The others had been standing farther away, and the tables had blocked their view, so they hadn’t been able to properly examine Heo Yang-won.

“What kind of explosives?”

“What did you say?”

“What on earth is going on?”

Worried voices followed one after another. If the situation hadn’t been under control, they would have immediately relied on their guards and fled the room without hesitation.

“Little Mushroom! Heo Yang-won is strapped with a Little Mushroom!”

Morich answered.

The explosive, produced by Orange Company, had the model number H404, but because of its terrifying power, it was nicknamed Little Mushroom.

“Damn it!”

Another Red River noble councilor, Francisco, cursed without realizing it.

If the Little Mushroom around Heo Yang-won’s waist were to explode, no one nearby would survive.

Amid the chaos, Jo Gi-jeong looked at Udik, Secretary Yoo, and an unfamiliar figure in a robe, and asked loudly,

“What’s going on? And—first, get rid of that explosive.”

His body trembled slightly from the shock.

“I will handle it.”

The machine monk Jeongnyeom, with the help of his chip, began carefully dismantling the explosives around Heo Yang-won’s waist using metal fingers capable of precise control.

He was deeply remorseful over his mistake, having overlooked the fact that danger often lurked in the most obvious place. Ever since arriving in Weed City as a bodyguard, he had equipped even modules he normally didn’t use, and had checked whether the nobles and guards attending the meeting were carrying explosives—yet he had been careless only toward his employer.

Udik also stepped back calmly and gave Jo Gi-jeong a brief explanation.

“A priest of the Anti-Intelligence Sect tried to attack Lord Heo earlier, but failed. However, his true aim wasn’t to kill Lord Heo from the start—it was to close the distance, make eye contact, and hypnotize him.

By placing him under hypnosis, he planned to carry out a suicide bombing here, where all the nobles were gathered, completely wiping out Weed City’s upper class.”

At this point, Udik was certain of his deduction. If the priest had only intended to kill Heo Yang-won, there would have been no need for such elaborate schemes and wasted effort.

His true objective had been far greater and deeper from the beginning: to eliminate all of Weed City’s great nobles at once.

However, approaching Heo Yang-won through ordinary means and secretly hypnotizing him had been impossible. That was because of the precognitive ability possessed by the machine monk Jeongnyeom, who stayed by his side at all times.

And attempting hypnosis while that immortal watched with eyes wide open was simply absurd. He would have been discovered at the attempt stage, and once exposed, escape would have been impossible.

Still, there was one mystery that remained unsolved.

To attend a meeting hosted by Heo Yang-won, everyone had to undergo strict body searches, and only small, concealed weapons were allowed. With so many restrictions, wiping out all the nobles of Weed City in one blow was nearly impossible.

Moreover, ample security measures had been installed here. And yet, the reason behind the priest’s enormous goal was something no one could yet fathom.

“Namu anuttara-samyak-sambodhi… I see…”

Jeongnyeom murmured a low chant. Only now did he understand where that ominous premonition had come from. Until now, he had only believed there would be a second assassination attempt.

“Incredible!”

Seong Geon-woo was not stingy with praise. If he hadn’t been facing off alone against more than a dozen guards with an Icemos pistol in hand, he might even have applauded.

Even without turning her head, Jang Mok-hwa could imagine the look of deep admiration on Seong Geon-woo’s face—admiration for the priest’s scheme.

Having finally grasped the truth of the situation, the nobles paid no attention to the strange man Udik had brought along who was expressing admiration, and instead let out collective sighs of relief.

Then, since they had already learned through their own information networks that this high-ranking hunter was in Weed City, they quickly turned and expressed their gratitude.

“Did you say your name was Udik? Thank you so much. Without you, we’d already be finished.”

“We’ll be sure to reward you once we return.”

“Damn it, I’ve lived through countless storms in my life, but today I nearly died without even knowing whose hands killed me. Udik, let’s get to know each other slowly. Once this is over, I’ll invite you to my estate.”

“As soon as order is restored, I’ll have those Anti-Intelligence Sect believers rounded up and burned alive in the central square!”

While they spoke, the machine monk Jeongnyeom finished separating the H494 explosives from Heo Yang-won. He didn’t forget to take the black remote control as well.

Ideally, he wanted to personally move this extremely dangerous item far away from the assembly hall, but after checking on Heo Yang-won, he abandoned the thought. A bodyguard could not be more than three meters away from their employer.

“Who will take this?”

An electronic synthesized voice came from Jeongnyeom as he held up the explosives.

Weed City was located on the outskirts of the monk state of Hwangwon. Because of that, the nobles—who knew at least a little about machine monks—could roughly guess Jeongnyeom’s identity.

Even so, no one was eager to step forward when faced with multiple bundles of explosives and a remote control. No noble seemed willing to throw away their dignity and take on the task personally.

Sending a guard would only weaken their defenses. Calling in the external escort troops would violate protocol and might trigger a dangerous chain reaction—it could look to others like an attempt to seize control of the place by force amid the chaos.

Besides, there was no guarantee that there weren’t other remotes linked to the explosives. What if the priest or his allies were hiding somewhere in Lord Heo’s estate, waiting for the right moment to press a button? Whoever accepted the explosives would likely be reduced to bone fragments.

Of course, everyone knew the dangerous items needed to be taken outside as quickly as possible. With no better option, they all turned to look at Udik, silently hoping he would deal with them.

But just before they could speak, someone stepped forward willingly.

“I’ll do it!”

The volunteer was Seong Geon-woo.

“Good!”

“Brave man!”

The nobles immediately voiced their approval, signaling their guards to lower their weapons aimed at Seong Geon-woo and Jang Mok-hwa.

Seong Geon-woo quickly walked over, took the items from Jeongnyeom with his left hand, and extended his right for a handshake.

Jeongnyeom was startled by the unexpected gesture, but he complied, clasping Seong Geon-woo’s hand with his metal-framed right hand.

“Master, I’ll sing you a song later. You’ll really like it.”

Seong Geon-woo said enthusiastically.

If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Jang Mok-hwa would have covered her face with her hands on the spot. Instead, she simply turned her head away for a moment.

Jeongnyeom was left speechless for a while. After a brief silence, Jo Gi-jeong broke it.

“Now we should wake the lord. There are details only he would know.”

Udik raised no objection and nodded to Jeongnyeom, who immediately grabbed Heo Yang-won’s shoulder and shook him.

Seong Geon-woo wanted to watch, but because he was holding something so dangerous, he was urged to leave quickly and had to inch his way toward the door.

A few seconds later, Heo Yang-won woke up. For a while, he looked dazed, then suddenly bent forward and hurriedly checked his waist.

“Lord Heo, you were under hypnosis cast by the priest,” Udik said.

Heo Yang-won’s expression shifted several times before he slumped back into his chair, looking utterly drained.

“I remember… When I was washing, I kept hearing whispers in my head telling me to blow them all away. After that, I went to the secret armory in the room and took out a bundle of explosives.”

Once the suicide bombing failed and the truth was uncovered, the hypnosis naturally lifted.

After hearing his story, Jo Gi-jeong gently scolded him.

“My lord, I’m not trying to nag, but you must be more careful in the future. Please reduce your visits to the hunters’ guild.”

Forcing himself to regain his composure, Heo Yang-won ignored the lecture and shouted viciously toward the guards outside the door.

“Inform Son Seong-bong! As soon as a team is organized, we counterattack. Drive the Wasteland Wanderers out of the city within an hour!”

Seeing that the lord was fully back to his senses, the nobles finally relaxed and returned to their seats, each offering their own opinions.

“Yes, those damn beasts have destroyed our city enough already. I just hope they didn’t ruin too many supplies.”

“Our food is something we worked hard to grow and harvest ourselves. We can’t hand it over to them so easily! We’ve already done enough by giving some of them a chance to become slaves.”

“Can’t they just stay quietly outside the city gates and wait for the First City’s slave-hunting squads?”

“Exactly. If they’d saved their food properly, they wouldn’t be starving. Who is there to blame?”

“I don’t think simply driving them out is enough. If we don’t teach them a brutal lesson, they’ll crawl back again!”

“Leaving them alive will only cause trouble. We should find a way to deal with them without wasting bullets.”

As opinions poured out chaotically, they once again targeted the postwar measures Heo Yang-won had mentioned earlier.

“My lord, you mustn’t be soft-hearted.”

“Even if we offer relief, we can’t do it for free. City residents also have property—land, shops, furniture. We can exchange those for food.”

“With so many dead, it’s not like food will be scarce, right?”

“We should have the bodies buried as quickly as possible. If disease spreads from rotting corpses, that’ll be another headache.”

“We can help for a while, but we can’t support them through the whole winter. We need a better solution. Or perhaps the lord could personally request food and supplies from First City?”

“If all else fails, we could accept new residents. Plenty of people would come.”

“In a world where food is more precious than people…”

“Gentlemen, gentlemen! Above all else, peace must come first.”

Amid the tangled voices, Heo Yang-won’s head began to throb again.

Bang!

At that moment, another gunshot rang out. The crystal chandelier that had already been damaged by Jang Mok-hwa’s earlier shot came crashing down onto the table.

The slow-speaking Morich once again slid under a table, while the overweight Jo Gi-jeong sprang up like a startled cat and dashed for a corner. He was so shocked this time that he even forgot to grab his eldest son.

As the nobles scattered, Udik vaulted onto the head of the table, dodging the falling chandelier, and looked toward the door together with Jeongnyeom.

There stood Seong Geon-woo, aiming an Icemos in one hand while holding multiple bundles of Little Mushroom explosives and the black remote in the other, pointing toward the table.

When he confirmed that all eyes in the room had turned toward him, he broke into a bright smile.

“If I press this button, will the explosives go boom?”

As he emphasized the word boom, every noble felt as if their heart might stop.

“Are you insane?”

Udik shouted in alarm.

Seong Geon-woo turned toward Udik with an even brighter smile.

“You’re only realizing that now?”

Beside him, Jang Mok-hwa let out a deep sigh, as if she’d given up entirely, then turned and aimed her gun at the guards behind them.