Chapter 25: 25

Chapter 25: Question

It all happened so quickly.

Before the missile struck the banquet hall, Limon had grabbed President Han Jungkook and escaped, with vehement explosions chasing after the two.

If he was just a step slower, they would've been hit.

As the explosions stopped, Limon tossed Jungkook to the side — all the while spinning around on one foot, slicing and dicing his sword.

Flap— Flap— Flap—

A kaleidoscope of beautiful crystal butterflies shattered into shards, flowing through the air like flower petals.

His blade looked more vicious than ever.

Although, it was nothing compared to the ground, where the shards landed.

Crackle—!

Like the hands of King Midas, everything the butterfly fragments touched turned into crystal. 

The marble floors of the oval office turned into translucent crystal.

Fallen leaves carried there by the wind turned into small pieces of crystal.

And it would've turned Limon and Jungkook into crystals too.

Just like the story of King Midas, it was an utter nightmare.

Although seemingly beautiful, its true nature was a cruel fate that twisted the nature of all things.

What would it have been like to be touched by one of those butterflies?

It was an awful, unimaginable thought.

And yet, Limon did not take a single step back. His feet stood planted on the ground, shattering the butterflies one by one with his blade.

His movement was swift. To an outsider, it would've looked like all the butterflies that approached Limon merely crumpled to dust by themselves.

A battle between a tornado and a tsunami.

The tornado destroyed everything within its vicinity, while the accursed tsunami changed anything and everything it washed over into translucent rocks.

A whirlpool of a disaster that went beyond destroying an entire army.

But this exchange ended surprisingly fast.

No matter how many butterflies there were, they would be swept up by the tornado.

The tens of thousands of crystal butterflies could only disappear in a flash when thousands of them were getting shattered each second.

"Goddamnit. You're not supposed to disturb a dog while it's eating…"

Limon, who'd just hit the bullseye of a dart board tens of thousands of times consecutively, looked bored.

He looked up. 

Behind his back was Jungkook, rolling on the ground.

Standing idly behind Jungkook, was a man with slicked back hair and glasses.

"Really, a surprise attack? From a Monarch, no less." 

Limon's voice was sour.

"I did not expect you to have seen it that way. It was meant to be my way of greeting you."

"You almost killed a man with your greeting, jackass.

Contrary to his words, Limon stood calmly.

He knew that the man didn't have the means to ambush him.

It was simply a formality to get the President away from Limon.

The greeting was rather violent, but to be fair, the man did have justification for it.

After all, he was Lee Chun-gi, the Infinite Monarch.

One of the ten ruling over this Iron Age absolutely.

"Mr. Lee! You're finally here!"

"I see that you have been through quite some mishaps."

"Haha, there's no need to call it that. I simply endured knowing you would come to save me."

It seems getting thrown to the ground so suddenly had affected his senses. Jungkook was beaming at the Infinite Monarch, like his knight in shining armor had come to rescue him from the treacherous dragon.

On the other hand, Limon looked at Lee Chun-gi in disdain.

"Oi, Mr President. You do realize this dude just tried to kill us both, right?"

"Ha! That's absurd. Mr. Lee would never do such a thi—"

Scoffing, he turned to the Monarch. 

But instead of agreeing with him, Lee Chun-gi only looked down at him coldly.

"…Mr. Lee?"

'Why aren’t you disagreeing with him?' 

That's what his anxious eyes said. 

"It is much easier to face a hostage-taker without his hostage than one who uses them as their shield. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. President?"

"So you were trying to get rid of the hostage first? Even when he's the President?!"

"Presidents can always be re-elected. There are plenty who could take his place."

“Then why did you keep him alive?”

"I believe it was you who did."

"…!"

 

***

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Translator - woni

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***

 

Jungkook's face turned pale white upon the realization that Lee Chun-gi's solicitude was not the reason why he was able to escape the missile and butterflies.

What would have happened if Limon left him behind? WHat if he hadn't thrown him far away enough to escape the crystal butterflies?

He would've turned into what was left of the former President's ashes, or a statue of him.

"Mr. Lee… you—!"

"Pardon me. I am rather busy at the moment."

But before Jungkook could bawl at the fact he almost died, he shut his mouth.

He could feel eerie chills run down his spine the moment Lee Chun-gi glanced at him.

“Do you mind giving us a minute?”

It came out as a respectful request, but Jungkook knew — that was no request. 

It was a demand.

Lee Chun-gi's eyes were fixed on Limon. He displayed interest in Jungkook no longer.

Jungkook knew that if he refused, Lee Chun-gi would've found a way to get rid of him.

He could tell from the way Lee Chun-gi looked at him like he was an annoying, buzzing fly.

"…Th-then, I shall leave everything in your hands, sir."

Even while red from humiliation, Han Jungkook still turned around and ran for his life, disappearing like a bullet.

As expected of a high-level player.

Limon watched him frantically run off.

"Don't you think that was a bit too harsh? You were talking to the president of a nation."

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"You held him hostage, did you not?"

"Well, I'm a traitor. It's not like I would care about that kind of stuff."

“The same goes for me.”

Lee Chun-gi was calmly stating that nothing was going to change, whether or not Han Jungkook would bear a grudge from this ordeal. Limon nodded in response.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Han Jungkook was merely the president.

He was in no place to challenge the Infinite Monarch.

One word was all it took to change who the President was the following day.

But Limon, the one who summoned him to begin with, was not intimidated by his presence at all.

He simply adjusted his grasp on his sword and nonchalantly asked,

"There's not much to discuss, is there?"

"That would be a shame if it were true. There was quite a lot I wanted to ask you, Guardian of Humanity."

"Don't pull words out of your ass, jack. Such ass kissing is unflattering."

"No, I mean it."

Lee Chun-gi lightly shook his head at a chuckling Limon, and continued with a stern look on his face.

"More than anything, I would like to hear about the Black Dragon Princess."

"Hm? You're asking me?"

"There is no need to play dumb. I know you are in contact with her."

“Oh, really?” 

Getting caught lying, Limon replied bluntly.

"And why do you want to know about her so badly?"

"You have no need to know."

"Bitch, what? You just blabbered that you wanted me to talk about her."

“They are separate matters."

'Heh, would you look at that?'

Lee Chun-gi’s impenetrable, stern attitude piqued Limon’s interest.

Limon narrowed his eyes and smirked.

“Hey, how about this?”

"How about what?"

"Let's take turns asking each other one question. In return, I won't ask why you're going after the Black Dragon Princess."

“Are you serious?”

"Yep. There was something I wanted to check before settling the score."

Lee Chun-gi looked at the grinning Limon, silent.

But his response would not take long.

Not only did he stand to gain much more from this offer, his 「Lie Detection」 confirmed that Limon was being honest.

“Alright. Shoot first."

Limon put on a satisfactory smile as Lee Chun-gi gave him the opportunity to ask first.

“Okay, then…”

In an instant, an ice cold voice rang through the air.

Whoosh—

As if the smile on his face from moments before was never real, Limon looked directly at Lee Chun-gi with darkened eyes.

“Was it your decision to force Na-kyung to do those things?”

"Who is this Na-kyung you speak of?"

“You’ve never heard of her? She was my team member.”

“You know that I cannot know the name of every member on your team."

Limon briefly stared at Lee Chun-gi, discerning if he was being honest.

The black light that allowed him to see Constellations only showed one of Lee Chun-gi's eyes with a stained glass mirror for a pupil. Besides that, everything else about him seemed normal.

"Then allow me to change my question. Who was sent to get rid of me?"

“Chief Park.”

"And what's their full name?"

"Chief Park's full name, you say…"

Reaching into his breast pocket, Lee Chun-gi took out a stack of business cards. 

Shuffling through them, he picked one out.

“It says Park Hyun-gun here.”

“Alright, that’s all I need.”

Limon no longer had any doubt in Lee Chun-gi.

There was no way he would have known about Yoo Na-kyung when he didn't even know Limon only had one team member. 

And the business cards told him everything he needed to know.

Someone who wasn't even interested in the names of those close to him wouldn't have looked into Limon's background and used Na-kyung.

Lee Chun-gi was someone who would rather step forward to get rid of Limon himself, than meticulously scheme something so troublesome.

That was just the way of an Absolute Ruler.

"It seems to be my turn now."

"Yeah,  what do you wanna ask?”

“Where is the Black Dragon Princess right now?”

“I dunno."

"……"

Not expecting such an answer, Lee Chun-gi didn't know what to say. 

"Think. How the hell would I know where she is right now, when I've been here holding Jungkook hostage the entire time? Limon chuckled. "It's not like I put a tracker on her."

"Then, I too, will change my question. When was the last time you—"

“Yeah, no.”

"…Excuse me?"

No changing your question. 

The promise was to exchange one question each. 

It's not right to change your question multiple times back and forth, is it?

Was what Limon calmly pointed out, to which Lee Chun-gi refuted in a settled voice.

"But I answered your question after you changed it."

“Yeah, thanks for the gift.”

“Are you saying there's nothing in return?”

“It wouldn’t be a gift if you wanted something in return, right?"

"……Indeed."

Lee Chun-gi's eyes stared at Limon, who was laughing with that dumb face of his.

He nodded slowly.

Snap—!

And with a snap of his finger, dozens of fireballs were created in the air.

"Allow me to test if you can say the same after I tear all your limbs off."

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