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There were several private places for Lee Ho at the top of Cheon-Myeong’s building. He often used these for drawing, meditating, working, and so on.
He was in one of those places today, meditating. He was training himself. As he focused on meditating, a white aura covered his whole body.
Lee Hwan adored Lee Ho. When he realized that Lee Ho needed to utilize his life energy for his ability, he did not only give him an elixir, he also taught him a skill that was needed for recovering life energy.
Lee Ho slowly opened his eyes.
The skill Lee Hwan had taught him was observing nature’s power through his breaths. He needed to practice it some more to achieve maximum efficiency, but this was still good enough. With this, Lee Ho checked his status window.
[ Manifesting (?), Martial Arts of the Sky Demon (?) ]
All his unique skills, including manifesting, didn’t have a specific rank. It always appeared as a question mark.
The skill Lee Hwan had taught him was no different. It allowed one to collect nature’s power through the breath. With that, the power of nature would eventually flow inside one’s body and undergo a complicated process in order to make one stronger.
That was everything about this skill. It certainly was useful.
“I created this with Yeo-Hwa, but I think it suits you more. Use this skill before using yours, and remember to trust yourself.”
Lee Ho was grateful to his brother and to this woman named Yeo-Hwa.
When he thought about it, he recalled that Lee Hwan was called the Sky Demon in Valhalla. It was probably why the skill name was like that.
Lee Hwan never just gave anything to anyone. Instead, he would prefer to teach them so that they could do it by themselves.
However, Lee Ho didn’t want to rely on his brother. There was someone who was counting on him. As long as they were here, he wouldn’t bow or ask for help. That was his faith and the life he wanted.
His face was fully recovered, and his skin looked better than ever.
Soon, his smartwatch rang. It was Jong-Geun.
[ Master, everyone has arrived at the conference room. ]
Lee Ho then stood up.
All the unique skill holders and SS-rated Hunters were here. It was time to meet them.
***
The conference room was silent.
Someone barged in, but it was not Lee Ho. It was a man whose eyes were covered with a scarf. His name was Oda Takeshi, the Japanese unique skill holder. He was the heir of Oda Nobunaga, and his unique ability was super sensing.
Upon seeing him enter, a gigantic man laughed from the back as if he had just seen something absurd.
“Look at that cosplayer.”
Oda didn’t answer, staring instead at the gigantic man, Raul Albanes. After a moment, he went to his seat. He was a quiet man.
Raul laughed. All the guys here were funny, but especially the woman in the corner, Sophie Winsted.
“I heard that London was almost doomed. I’m surprised no one has evacuated.”
Sophie answered. “There was no need for that.”
“The Korean named Lee Hwan? Do you trust him?”
“He was more credible than you.”
Raul chuckled.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m a gentleman. Just look in the mirror and admit, you are pretty.”
“……”
“If I were you, I would become some actress or model.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“My offer still stands. If you have a problem, I can solve it for you. You know that I’m not the type of guy who wants money; I just want a night with you.”
Arrogant was the perfect adjective to describe him, but no one dared talk back to him.
Raul Albanes. He was the first SS-rated Hunter and had a power of about fifty million.
If Lee Hwan hadn’t returned, he would have been the strongest man in the world. Sophie didn’t say anything, raising her middle finger and pointing it at him instead.
“That was snippy.”
Raul chuckled and leaned back on his chair.
Suddenly, the door opened. It was the main character’s entrance. Lee Ho, the Manifester.
His face was looking better than the last time he saw him, Raul thought.
“It’s been a long time since we last saw each other,” Lee Ho said in greeting.
Everyone, including Raul, focused on him.
After a brief round of pleasantries, he brought up the main reason he invited them over, and his words were unexpected.
“Some of you are members of an anti-Hunter organization.”
Everyone frowned. Why was he talking about this topic? Weren’t they supposed to talk about Tiamat?
Ho ignored their confused reactions and continued.
“I don’t know if the leader is here or not, but I am certain that there are some people here that are members like Shao Wei.”
“……”
“Tell your leader to know his place.”
The conference room was dead silent.
Lee Ho never expressed his emotions; he was almost always smiling and confident. No one had ever seen him angry, except now.
“Becoming an emperor? Making a new world for the awakeners? We need to deal with the gates first. What they are thinking must be done after eliminating the gates. Mark my words, if the anti-Hunter organization is planning to do something, I’ll kill them all.”
Lee Ho didn’t need to hear their answers. He stood up.
“That’s it. Thanks for coming. You can stay and have a meal here.”
After a moment of silence, the sound of someone clapping echoed across the room. It was Raul Albanes, and he was grinning.
“It’s been a long while since I’ve seen you this angry.”
He then looked around and pointed at a man seated at the opposite side of the room.
“But I heard that the name of the organization is Tian Wei Tien. Isn’t that a Chinese name? Jin Yong over there is Chinese. Hey you! Are you a member of that organization?”
“…You damn musclehead. Are you out of your mind?”
Raul chuckled. “Based on his reaction, we can see that this man is one of the members. Artist! We got one!”
Jin Yong was almost as strong as Raul, with power amounting up to forty-one million.
Jin Yong stood up angrily, followed by Raul. They were ready to fight, but were stopped by the sound of someone forcefully slamming a desk. It was Sophie Winsted.
“People’s lives are at stake, stop fighting… Also, Mr. Lee…”
Lee Ho gestured for her to go on.
“Did you call us over just to warn us about that anti-Hunter organization?”
“Yes.”
“…I thought we were going to discuss the Tiamat gate.”
“That was my initial intention, but there’s no need for that.”
“…Huh?”
“All of you are veterans. I know that you guys can prepare by yourselves, and you have your own methods anyway.”
“…So what you are saying is that we won’t discuss it anymore?”
“We have a simple plan. Like we did in Demon King’s gate, we can just gather together and kill it.”
“….”
“Oh, I also need to mention that North Korea is now our territory. If you want to use the land there, you must pay a fee.”
It was shocking news. Everyone thought that lee Ho had truly changed a lot.
After a moment of stunned silence, Raul was the first one to speak.
“If you really are one of them, I’ll blow your head up.”
Jin Yong smirked and responded. “Even if you are not one of them, I’ll kill you one day.”
“You? Not in your life, idiot.”
Raul got out of his chair and approached Ho.
“Hey, artist. What’s with your attitude? Got dumped by a girl?”
Calling Lee Ho ‘Artist’ was Raul’s way of expressing his friendliness. Lee Ho sighed and replied.
“That’s not the issue. Don’t come any closer.”
“Are you doubting me as well?”
“You know it.”
Raul laughed as if he had just heard something absurd. “Well, that’s not nice of you. We saved each other at the gate. Remember?”
Lee Ho sighed.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing really specific.”
“Then go home. You should do some training.”
Raul blinked, astonished.
“You really have changed. But you know me, I’m not the type of guy who accepts orders from anyone.”
“So that means there’s a possibility that you are the leader of the anti-Hunter organization.”
“Nevermind…”
Raul sighed. Lee Ho stepped out and rode the elevator, with Raul following him.
“By the way, artist.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Your brother is a badass.”
“You saw the video?”
“I did. I wasn’t interested in seeing it, but the president showed it to me.”
Lee Ho didn’t reply. He was a grown man, not a child who wanted to boast about how powerful his brother is.
However, Raul’s next words made him stop in his tracks.
“I‘m interested in him. Can you set him up with me?”
“…I didn’t know you liked men.”
“Don’t you dare say that! I like women, especially women like Sophie. What I meant was for friendship.”
“…”
“I want to spar with him. I’ll go easy on him.”
That made Lee Ho laugh.
“You are going to go easy on my brother?”
Raul was surprised to see his reaction.
“‘My brother?’ Did I hear that correctly? I never expected a coldhearted person like you to say something like that. Does that mean it’s not a doppelganger this time?”
“Yes, he is real.”
It seemed unlikely, but Raul and Ho were friends. They had helped each other and still maintained their relationship.
“Hey, artist. I’m on your side, and I always have been.”
“……”
“You just made it awkward. Say something.”
Lee Ho continued to ignore him and thought of something else.
The anti-Hunter organization, Tian Wei Tien, was more dangerous than he had thought. At first, he thought he could take care of it on his own. He learned that this was not true in China.
Making a new world for awakeners? That thought was dangerous. And what was even more important is that the leader is still unidentified. He was still hiding. Even with their research team going full force, Ho still couldn’t find any trace of him.
That was a serious issue, much more dangerous than the gates. Internal enemies could cause more harm than external enemies.
With this, Lee Ho turned his head. Raul was smiling. As their eyes met, Raul spoke.
“If you want, I’ll kill that Jin Yong for you.”
“Are you sure that he is one of them?”
“Nope, but we’ll get a clue if we hunt him down.”
Raul was simple. He was the standard of the muscle-headed man. He was simple-minded, yet certain.
Ho knew that this man would never be the leader of an organization like that. He was more like a leader of muscle heads.
“Don’t say weird things.”
Raul chuckled. “I bet you are still suspecting me. Did Shao Wei have the tattoo as well?”
Group members all had a tattoo symbolizing their group. Shao Wei did indeed have that. As Lee Ho nodded, Raul spoke.
“Shall we go to the spa? You can check out my body, I’ll show you everything.”
“That’s growth.”
“But I know you’ll go.”
“…”
“See? I know that you don’t want to face me as an enemy. I feel the same way toward you, artist.”
That was correct. Ho didn’t say it out loud, but he didn’t want Raul to be one of them. Lee Ho didn’t want to kill him.
“I know what you’re thinking. You can kill me.”
“You learned how to read someone’s mind?”
“It’s simple. If you think I’m one of them, then let’s go to a spa.”
“…”
“I’m still waiting. Let’s go.”
With that, Lee Ho burst out laughing.
Raul was a better man than everyone thought. It was just that he was uncouth.
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