I held back so Leon would know the true fears of a dungeon, and to test him. However, now we needed to set up the stage for him. Yeonhee and I crushed the Canine Pawns, and almost a hundred corpses littered the boss room. The boss monster stood up then.
“There’s a protective barrier.”
Yeonhee was more focused on the protective barrier surrounding the monster rather than its strengthened appearance. (EN: Chapter 121)
“It’s at least 3000.”
We needed a higher Perception level to see the exact number. Anyway, the barrier was only a side issue, because when the boss monster became truly angry, its speed and power alone could kill experienced E class hunters.
The monster came rushing at us, and we went in as agreed. Not enough to kill, but we crippled it. Once we succeeded, I met Yeonhee’s eyes, and we both collapsed. As we were covered with blood from head to toe, Leon could not see our lack of wounds as he came near us.
“Is it over?”
“No…not yet. Go and finish it.”
The boss monster was about to stand up from where it had been thrown against the wall, and it screamed in anger. Leon went to Yeonhee to wake her up.
“Marie, wake up! It’s not over yet.”
“She’s done. You’re the only one who can fight.”
“Can you stand up?”
“Not a muscle. However, calm down. You can finish it.”
“…How?”
“Take Marie’s dagger.”
Leon did so and listened as his Night Eyes didn’t have enough range to see where the monster was. The screams came again.
“That’s the sound of the monster dying.”
“How can it be? I will help you stand up.”
“No, if you don’t finish that monster, everything will be over.”
Leon gulped.
“Do you think I can do it?”
“Marie and I nearly finished it. If you go all in, you can. The team’s survival, YOUR survival depends on you now, and we brought you here for this.”
The boss monster started to walk, and its steps were heavy and loud. Leon’s eyes widened as he called Yeonhee’s codename as he turned to her.
“…The monster will enter into your sight. You will know then.”
“What?”
“That you can do this.”
“You really can’t move?”
“I wish I could.”
“It’s coming nearer…What should I do?!”
“Wait. You will know what to do when it comes.”
Leon could see the boss monster with only one arm and a hunched, bleeding limping gait, with burning, livid eyes. The boss monster showed its teeth, and Leon should not be deceived by that. He could defeat the boss monster as it was near death despite its bravado.
Leon seemed to have made his decision as he grabbed the dagger and prepared to fight. I saw that his eyes met Yeonhee’s as she opened them slightly, and she seemed to cheer him on.
The boss monster shouted again, and I knew that it meant Leon should move aside so it could kill Yeonhee and me for maiming it.
Then, Yeonhee closed her eyes in pain, and that seemed to break Leon. He grabbed my collar and glared at my Escape Insignia. I heard his shout, louder than ever before, ring my ears.
“You said you could give me this…!”
I felt him press the dagger point on my neck, and that was when I decided the test was over. I knew when a person wanted to kill me. I moved at speeds faster than he could see, and yanked his dagger away from him. I stood up in revulsion.
“You will have to fight even if you don’t want to from now on.”
The test ended, and he failed.
**
Leon could not chase after us, as the maze was complicated, and he could run only at human speeds. While agents approached us when Yeonhee and I came up, they quietly looked away on seeing Yeonhee’s face.
Yeonhee burst into tears, and I had not seen her crying for a while. I opened my mouth as she looked at the dungeon entrance.
“We gave him a chance.”
“What if he comes back alive?”
“Do you want him to?”
Yeonhee shook her head, and we found his body after a few hours in the dungeon, when we re-entered to finish off the boss.
**
Leon had a chance to get out, as the boss monster needed only a few more hits until it died. Leon’s wounds would have healed after a few days, and his trait would have enabled him to get out of the dungeon without much difficulty. However, in the end, Leon surrendered to the dungeon. He surrendered to his fears. In the end, he surrendered his dignity, which allows someone to face themselves in front of a mirror.
My explanation did not console Yeonhee. She bitterly regretted that we had forced him to his death. I regretted that I had taken Yeonhee with me, as I had not realised how hard she would be affected.
“I will return his company to his family through appropriate methods.”
“Will they believe you?”
“I will set it up so he died in Africa.”
I could manage that by tweaking a few documents in the training centre.
“Also, we will not try to add new members for an indefinite period.”
If Leon could not manage the situation after eighteen months of military training, I did not know how many would die until I found a third member.
“Only you and I will do this from now on.”
“That’s better.”
“It’s going to be painful and difficult.”
“Better than someone else coming in. I’ll try to do multiple roles.”
**
Yeonhee said she wanted to mourn, and she attended Leon’s funeral anonymously. It was held with an empty casket. While she was away, I met Jonathan in New York. The Materials market, including oil, was showing signs, and the interest rate was at an all-time low. Therefore, the investors who realised that the dollar was falling, now gunned for the Materials market. They would earn a lot of profit.
“I did not bring you here to discuss the oil market, as that is going well. I wanted to talk about real estate. The attention is all on terrorism now, Sun.”
Jonathan handed me a list of banks and their details, and I knew that Jonathan realised that now was the time on his own.
“Merge them as much as you can.”
Jonathan nodded like he had guessed what I would do.
“Know that the Federal Reserve System and their lackeys in the White House will come to pick a fight.” I reminded him we had finally given them a reason to hate us.
“Right.”
The Federal Reserve System was ruled by financial groups like the Rothschild family. The truth was that the American government was borrowing money from them. That system ruled America now, and I knew how greedy they would be on the Day of Advent. I could not let the future be decided by them. Jonathan spoke up.
“First, Arab money is being pulled out, and second, we will go to court if necessary. We are not doing anything illegal.”
It was then Jonathan smiled for a moment.
“We will be enemies with the US government. However, the profit makes up for that.”
“About the products Brian was planning on, after we buy those banks.”
Jonathan quieted down and looked at me uneasily.
“There’s poison there.”
We were about to create the subprime crisis on our own.
“And?”
“I like it. If we don’t do this, other pigs will.”
Jonathan’s face brightened.
“Sun, you’re calling us pigs too?”
“It cannot be helped because of what we’re doing. If we want to really earn money, we give up our conscience and become pigs. I’m surprised that Brian thought of this plan.”
“He’s deeply invested in Wall Street.”
Jonathan looked out at the slowly recuperating streets as I opened my mouth.
“Jonathan, you will have to figure out your own motivation for making so much money.”
“How can I be compared to your greed?”
Jonathan only smiled as an answer and instead asked me a question.
“Why do you do this?”
“I do this…for my family.”
The beginning had been as simple as that.