Chapter 142 – Chapter 142
What? Is the president missing?
A thousand thoughts passed before my eyes in a short time.
When I narrowed my eyebrows and didn’t get an answer, the man opened his mouth again.
“We ask for your cooperation. Transcendence Master…”
He leaned 90 degrees towards me.
“Hmm…”
Can I completely erase the hypothesis that the people who attacked us in the dungeon and the government had something to do with it?
I heard from the old wizard and his younger brother that he would criticize the governments of each country and overturn the game.
Still, there was nothing wrong with being careful, so I still had a hypothesis in a corner of my head that it might have something to do with the government.
I answered the man bluntly.
“When did that happen?”
“About two days have passed.”
“Why did you come to find me?
“…Park Yu-ri hasn’t returned yet.”
“Hmm? Could it be that you took a vacation and went on an overseas trip at this timing? I heard that two days have passed?”
“It’s not like that… You entered the gate through the Cheonji subway and still…”
“Ah, haven’t you come out of there yet? It looks quite spacious there…”
When I responded like it was someone else’s business, the man’s expression became more and more distorted.
Her face seemed to tell her to do it in moderation because she was busy at 1:00.
I let out a deep sigh.
“Haa… What are you telling me to do when you see that someone is missing?
“As I said earlier, this is confidential. Very few people are aware of this at the moment. We are running out of time. Please cooperate.”
The president is missing
Even I, who is not familiar with politics, feel that this is not normal.
Moreover, it is very irritating that the timing is exactly the same as when we were attacked.
Is it right to think that they are related?
“Tell me specifically. So what do you want from me? I’m not an expert in finding people.”
First of all, you need to accurately understand the requirements of the other side.
It is dangerous to be sure that this is not a trap.
“… I said earlier that it was a disappearance, but in fact, our security team and the inside of the Presidential Secretariat judge that there is a high probability of kidnapping. The person who was in the official residence suddenly disappeared without leaving any trace… That’s for sure. Awakening Now, we are judging that it might involve a person with great talent.”
“Were there any signs of an attack?”
“No. There was no trace.”
“Does that make sense?”
“So we thought that the Awoken… Maybe the transcendental ones were involved…”
Clearly, it would take some special skills to undertake such a daring task in a location littered with security cameras and bodyguards.
It should be 100% certain that there were no traces left.
If that man’s words were true without exception, it must have been the work of a transcendentalist.
Transcendent…
Are you doing some kind of transcendental bargain sale?
At some point, only one person comes to mind in my head.
He’s the guy he is.
“The enemy seems to be strong, so please see me and deal with him instead, right?”
“Yes. We will direct you directly to the situation room that we have prepared in secret.”
“Can you suddenly find a nobleman who has been missing for two days, just because I’m going?”
“…I can’t tell you in detail, but we’re not as incompetent as the Transcendental One thinks.”
“Is it so?”
Aren’t the bodyguards already incompetent from the point they can’t figure out the president’s location?
Well, if the transcendent is the opponent… If that’s not one or two, then there’s no way.
“Okay. We’ll cooperate.”
“Thank you. Guidance immediately…”
“For a moment!”
“…!?”
“There are conditions. You’re not saying that I’m asking you to volunteer now for free, right?”
“…?”
“It’s about doing something that might take some time. Do you know how much money I earn per day after entering a dungeon?”
“…If you return safely, you will definitely repay me enough. And right now, the country is in a state of great crisis and emergency, so…”
“That’s right, if the president disappears, isn’t there a prime minister? If it’s the president, you just have to slowly appoint a new one.
“Whoa, what do you want? If the financial damage caused to the Transcendental One’s company comes back from the President…”
“This person is talking strangely once. Do you know that I am asking for a few pennies of money?
“Well, then what the hell…”
“Information. Please give me all the information that you make while tracking the President’s whereabouts. Not a single thing is missing.”
“That’s beyond my jurisdiction…”
“Who has that power now? The Chief of Staff to the President? The Prime Minister?”
“…”
“What are you doing? Call me right away. My terms are like this.”
The hesitant man eventually called me as I told him to.
He is still glaring at me with a serious expression while holding his smartphone to his ear.
When I try to enter the gate without saying anything, they rush to catch me.
“Uh, where…”
“My comrades are still waiting inside the dungeon. Don’t worry. My mouth is heavy.”
The man who had been looking at me blankly without saying anything now started talking to the secretary’s office to see if he had been contacted.
Leaving him behind, I stepped back into the gate.
I tried to use the government to gather information about the unknowns who were targeting me, but it seems that things will be easier than I thought.
The president was well coaxed into trying to use public servants, whether they were the NIS, the police, or the military, as information collection tools.
I thought it would be quite a headache, sorry to the president, but are you lucky?
But.
I’m in a position to receive a lot of tax benefits, but I still have to bring it back alive.
It will be more useful in many ways if you have grace like that.
***
A little while ago, the equipment trailer I was riding entered Seoul.
Suits and other mana coating equipment were rented for 10 days in preparation for long-term expeditions, so there was still room for them.
As it is, I plan to move to the place guided by the government with everyone.
A situation where you don’t know what risks your employees might be in while I’m gone.
I wanted to keep it safe near me.
Because the enemies have multiple Transcendentalists.
As a bonus, it was a little embarrassing to have to take prisoners and equipment company employees, but I couldn’t help it.
Following the presidential bodyguard’s car, they arrived at an old warehouse on the outskirts of Seoul.
I searched internet articles on my smartphone throughout the trip, but I couldn’t find a single article about the kidnapping or disappearance of the president.
It’s only been two days, so the information was clearly under control.
But this was my mistake.
“I couldn’t believe it… These criminals…”
Most of the people I met upon arriving at the warehouse were presidential bodyguards or people from the ruling party.
There were only a few people whose faces I knew.
A few members of the National Assembly who are familiar from TV or Internet articles.
And I could see Na Hyun-hee, the normal transcendentalist, only when I was in Jeju Island.
Her husband remained in Jeju Island, and it seemed that only she came up in a hurry.
“These guys were the culprits! Crazy guys who are blinded by power to do something like this.”
Among them, a man chewing his thumb nail while looking at his smartphone with a shit-chewed expression.
Seo Tae-soo, a member of the National Assembly, was one of the candidates for the next presidency on the side of the government and the ruling party.
I was very curious about what he was looking at, so I dared to approach him and spit out a question.
Have you already found the culprit?
“Hello.”
“Huh? Ah… Who is this… That…”
Seo Tae-soo, a member of the National Assembly, rolled his eyes at me.
I know my face, but I couldn’t pinpoint who it was.
Then a man who appeared to be an aide approached and tipped him off.
The middle-aged man, who had barely realized who I was, looked at me with a strangely repulsive, disgusting expression and continued.
“Yes. I heard that. Transcendentalist Kang Jeong-hyeok. Nice to meet you. Can I know that you are here with us? Haha.”
Pretending to be friendly while spewing dirty saliva in all directions… It was a typical member of the National Assembly embedded in my head.
When did you say you saw it?
Ignoring all his unpleasant words and actions, I intend to ask questions.
“You made a statement a while ago as if you had identified the culprit, so I came blindly to your first meeting in a hurry. Since this is the situation, can I know what you were looking at?”
An agreement has been reached with the government that it is okay to receive all information as a condition of cooperation in finding the president.
Since it had just been agreed upon, there was no need to worry that Seo Tae-soo was unaware of it.
It’s because it was too easy to get drunk.
“It’s not difficult. Let’s see.”
On the screen of Seo Tae-soo’s smartphone, a person I knew well was talking in front of reporters.
Video.
It was probably like a press conference being held in real time.
I was suddenly furious.
Seo Tae-soo was beside him, talking nonstop.
“It’s him. He kidnapped the president.”
I couldn’t hear what the press conference was about.
However, it was easy to infer the contents through the subtitles floating at the bottom of the screen.
Everyone nearby who was listening to Seo Tae-soo’s remarks hurriedly opened their smartphones and started searching for articles.
[Urgent press conference: National Assembly member Na Il-pyo. Allegations that the president was kidnapped.]
“How strict we are in controlling information, knowing this must be proof that he is the culprit!”
Na Il-pyo, who asked me to come under him.
He boasted that he was aiming for the next presidency, but his standing was poor even within the opposition party.
He was the one whose name was not even included in recent opinion polls, as the opposition party’s preference survey for the next presidential candidate did not show even a 1 percent approval rating.
I asked Seo Tae-soo and the people around me.
“Isn’t Congressman Na Il-pyo the culprit? Doesn’t that person have the power to do so? Didn’t the information simply leak out?”
“There’s no way that would happen… Security is tight…”
“Yes. It is top-secret information that only a few people, including me, know in our party! Na Il-pyo must be the culprit. That human is the 4th line only in the capital area. It must have been. He went around bragging that he was aiming for the presidency without even knowing it. Did you think that I would have an accident like this someday?”
If you get caught, you’re the president and you’re a nabal, and you committed a crime that could rot for the rest of your life in a cell?
The old man who was frightened by my threats and trembled on the sofa?
He certainly seemed greedy, but I didn’t quite understand.
Even if the president disappears, the role of the prime minister is to temporarily run state affairs.
Even if he holds an early presidential election, his approval rating is in a poor situation.
Why would you bother doing something like this?
Let’s assume that the guy named him approached the next presidential candidates in order to make the next president a person who suits his taste.
But that’s right, why the Nile Table?
No matter how much I think about it, it just doesn’t make sense in my head.
While I was seriously rolling my head, discussions began with several people, including members of the National Assembly, around me.
“Can’t I refute something right now? It’s true that the president disappeared. What are we going to do now? Who would believe that Na Il-pyo was the culprit? There’s no proof. I can’t say the president is fine…”
“Let’s announce that this has happened right now. Isn’t the prime minister also from our party? Our party has an advantage even if it goes to the acting authority system. Even if an early presidential election is held, there is nothing to lose? Wouldn’t it be advantageous for us if we shared the votes?”
“That’s true… But if the president stays kidnapped like this, it will have a bad effect on our party…”
In their minds, the question of whether the president was alive or dead had already been put in the background.
I quietly left and left the warehouse.
All I wanted to do was smoke a cigarette.
“Whoa… How is the country going to be like this in the future?”
And could he really have anything to do with the kidnapping of the president?
Various thoughts ran through my head.
