The World's Greatest is Dead Chapter 178

I left the banquet hall and headed for a sowhat secluded spot.

It was a dead end at the end of an alley, and judging by the stacked boxes, it looked like so kind of storage space.

“Did you sleep okay?”

Bang Seojin was sitting on top of the piled boxes, greeting .

She was a little taller than , and her legs looked even longer.

With the way she had them neatly crossed, it might’ve looked alluring—

‘...What a fucking joke.’

If we share the sa blood, it just looks like pure bullshit.

“What’s with that look? You got sothing you want to say to your older sister?”

She’s quick. Before she could catch that I was cursing her out with my eyes, I fixed my face and answered.

“Yes. I had sothing to say, so I ca to see you.”

I glanced at the emblem pinned to her chest.

Martial Alliance. And proof she was elite personnel from Main Alliance Headquarters.

Looking at it, I asked.

“...What’s going on?”

“What do you an?”

“Why are you wearing that?”

What did it an to be Main Alliance Headquarters personnel? It ant the Martial Alliance’s symbol—and its top-tier fighting force.

It wasn’t sothing even an Orthodox martial artist could just stroll into.

‘If we’re talking difficulty.’

It wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s almost on par with the Small Moon Unit.

‘...My older sister is Main Alliance Headquarters personnel?’

All I could feel was shock. What the hell happened over the past few years while she was gone?

When I asked because it made no sense—

“Haha.”

Bang Seojin burst out laughing.

“You’re one to talk.”

The mont she tossed that out with a slight eye-smile, my body stiffened a little.

She wasn’t wrong. Forget Bang Seojin—my situation is even harder to understand.

“My little brother. Guess your talent’s better than I thought. The Small Moon Unit at that age. Do you have any idea how shocked I was?”

“...Hahahaha.”

“And the Sword Saint’s successor? What happened while your older sister wasn’t ho?”

“...A lot happened. A decent amount.”

“Can I answer like that too?”

“If we’re calling it even, I’m fi—”

THUNK.

Sothing flew past my head. I glanced over—there was a tree branch stabbed into the floor.

What the hell.

“Still a little bastard with your jokes, huh?”

“...And you’re still rough.”

“Rough won are popular.”

“No. Pretty won are popular.”

“Then we’re good. I’m pretty.”

“...What do we do about that ego?”

I couldn’t deny it. Our blood runs strong—if you’re born with the Bang na, you at least have to be acknowledged as pretty or handso.

“Hm....”

Bang Seojin watched making an awkward face, and she didn’t wipe the smile off.

“If you don’t want to say, fine. Your older sister has a lot she can’t say either. And.”

THUD.

Bang Seojin hopped down lightly from where she’d been sitting up high.

“Honestly, you didn’t co here to ask about that.”

“Then what...?”

After landing, Bang Seojin walked toward slowly. Only when she ca right up to my face did she ask.

“How have you been?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been doing pretty well, in my own way. What about you?”

“...?”

If I say I’ve been doing well, that’s a stretch. I’ve been rolling through insanity day after day.

“...Moderately?”

But I can’t say I’ve been doing badly, either. So I tried to smooth it over.

“No one bullying you?”

“What am I, a kid?”

I have been bullied.

The problem is, it’s a ghost—and the strongest under heaven.

“If soone bullies you, tell . Your older sister’s pretty strong.”

“Ah... Yeah?”

Even if I told her, I know she couldn’t punish him.

If it wasn’t a ghost and it was a person, it’d be even more impossible.

“...So. What are you doing right now?”

Fine. We can’t talk about how we’ve lived.

Then what’s the situation now?

Why was she wearing that uniform, and what was she doing earlier?

At my question—

“Ah, that?”

Bang Seojin answered like it was nothing.

“I’m one of the strategist’s guards. I’m in the Guards.”

“Ah. So that’s wh—what? Guard?”

It took a beat for it to hit, and I widened my eyes.

A guard for Jegal Jin?

“Yeah. Why?”

“Not ‘why’—it’s shocking you got into the Guards.”

Even within Main Alliance Headquarters units, the Guards were a high position.

Because they protected important figures, I’d heard you had to be at least pinnacle.

“Mm.”

At my surprise, Bang Seojin said—

“I haven’t been in long. Sothing happened recently, so they’ve been pulling a lot of people.”

“Sothing?”

“Yeah. The Commander of the Guards died.”

“...What?”

What kind of insane news is that?

The Commander of the Guards died?

“I didn’t hear the details. They said he was a spy, or sothing.”

“...What the—”

A Commander of the Guards—soone handpicked even among Main Alliance Headquarters—was a spy?

“Can you even tell that?”

“So what. Just don’t say I went around telling people.”

“...Yes. Okay.”

“Anyway. So they rushed to reorganize and fill gaps, and I got lucky and got in.”

“...And then you beca the strategist’s guard right away?”

“Yeah. I heard the strategist picked himself?”

“...”

My head started to ache. Bang Seojin getting into Main Alliance Headquarters was already weird, but Jegal Jin personally picking her out of the Guards—

‘This.’

Is this because of too? No—more precisely—

‘Because of the Bang na.’

Did he choose her because she’s from the Bang Clan of Liaoning?

‘Of course, maybe not.’

I can’t read Jegal Jin’s mind. It was just a suspicion.

“Anyway. It’s nice seeing your face after so long. Are those people doing okay too?”

Those people.

It was obvious who she ant.

“They’re doing okay. Moderately.”

Father and my brother.

When I answered while thinking of them, Bang Seojin’s face twisted.

“That won’t do. If they’re doing okay.”

“...”

She looked deadly serious.

They’re family—aren’t you being too much? I could’ve said that, but my feelings weren’t any different.

“They need to crash and burn.”

“More than they already have?”

Feels like they punched through the floor and dropped underground a long ti ago. I don’t even know if there’s anywhere left to fall.

“My little brother should do it too—live moderately and leave. Ah. Did you already leave?”

“...”

If she ant “run away like ,” then I’d failed halfway and succeeded halfway.

“...I’ll try.”

“Yeah, yeah. And our master said he wants to see you once.”

“Master?”

Bang Seojin’s master?

No way she beca a martial artist with no master.

“Who is it?”

I asked because I wondered if it was soone I knew. Bang Seojin answered with a slightly reluctant face.

“Even if I tell you, you won’t know. Anyway, I’ll co see you later.”

“Th—”

I don’t even know who it is and she’s just going to show up? That reeks of trouble.

I was about to stall for ti by saying I needed to prepare myself, when—

FWEEEEEEET---!!!

A piercing sound rang out from far away.

“Oh. They’re calling . I’m going?”

“Wait. Older Sis—!”

Bang Seojin launched herself at the whistle. I felt it last ti too—she was fast as hell.

By the ti I turned around, she was already gone.

“Hah.”

Again—she says what she wants and disappears.

It was ridiculous.

“What the hell, seriously.”

So she just talked about herself and left.

Then and now, she was still a one-woman army.

*****

After that, I went out to the county seat.

Originally, I was going to leave with the group that was supposed to be waiting.

‘They ditched ...?’

There was no group waiting for .

They’d abandoned ages ago.

I figured they’d at least wait a little, but they just left without looking back.

I know exactly where they went, but thanks to them, I had to walk through the county seat alone.

“Ugh.”

There are so many people. Maybe it’s because it’s the center of Henan, but it also seed like news that the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was happening had drawn them in—crowds packed tight.

It was almost hard to even pass through.

I forced my way through and barely managed to move—

SWISH.

‘Huh?’

Soone brushed past .

With a crowd like this, people passing by isn’t strange.

But—

‘What is it?’

Their appearance was... off. A figure in a black rain cloak pulled down from head to toe.

I couldn’t see their face clearly, but when I caught a slight view of their jaw, I could tell it was pale—almost sickly white.

Even at a glance, it was unusual.

‘...What is that?’

It bothered .

I shot them a glance and looked away again.

Then—

[That’s....]

Yoo Cheongil spoke.

I couldn’t ask out loud, so I looked toward him. Yoo Cheongil was staring after them with a startled expression.

What?

I looked in the direction Yoo Cheongil was looking.

It was the person in the black rain cloak who’d passed .

They vanished into the crowd.

Only then did I ask quietly.

“...What is it?”

[....]

Yoo Cheongil didn’t answer.

“Old man?”

When I asked again, Yoo Cheongil—silent until then—spoke at last.

[It’s nothing. I saw wrong.]

Even as he said it, his gaze was still locked beyond the crowd.

What was that?

Curious, I tried to ask again, but—

[Let’s go.]

Yoo Cheongil didn’t give an answer in the end.

I don’t know who he mistook them for, but from his trembling eyes and the stiff expression he rarely showed, I could tell he’d thought of sothing that wasn’t good.

*****

A quiet room. Light poured in through the window fra, brightening the darkness, and silence pressed down beneath letters piled high.

Beyond the office that looked like a wreck, the desk was oddly spotless.

Two teacups were set in a line on top of it.

One of them floated in the air, then dropped with a small thud.

CLICK.

TRICKLE—.

The empty teacup filled with water.

While carefully pouring tea, the man in front asked the old man.

“How was it?”

Jegal Jin paused.

At that, the one pouring tea looked up at the other.

Jegal Jin looked at him.

“What was what?”

“Your impression. eting him.”

“You ask pointless things.”

Jegal Jin replied with irritation, but the other didn’t waver at all.

“Alliance Leader. I’m saying it again—this was pointless.”

The other was the Alliance Leader, Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong.

“What do I gain from seeing that miserable bastard’s child?”

“....”

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong only nodded silently. Even that attitude irritated Jegal Jin.

“Mind your own business in moderation.”

“....”

“And what about you? How was it, seeing him yourself? You were so curious you even used your strength.”

“....”

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong fell silent.

Jegal Jin knew that silence ant he was thinking, so he didn’t rush him.

He waited a beat.

Then—

“Not yet.”

A short answer.

Not yet.

Did that an it was too early to judge?

Or—

‘Does it an he isn’t worth judging yet?’

If it was the first, it was praise. If it was the second, it was aningless.

But Jegal Jin didn’t dig into it.

Because digging into that would be ridiculous.

‘Tch.’

Explaining the second preliminaries.

He only did it because Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong forced it, but what could be more absurd than that?

‘Pointless.’

Even though Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong knew his circumstances, that ddling irritated him.

He’d cut ties with that place long ago.

The last tie, too—his youngest daughter.

And that bastard—kneeling and begging—had been the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) final straw. He’d written a recomndation letter, and that had truly severed the last thread.

‘And now.’

To think he’d end up seeing him.

Jegal Jin’s impression of eting the Bang Clan’s blood—his youngest daughter’s child—was only one thing.

‘His eyes look like hers.’

Disgustingly, the boy resembled his daughter more than his father did.

He rembered the eyes that had looked at him in startled shock.

And seeing that, he understood.

‘He knows.’

What kind of relationship they had. That little brat seed to know.

That was why—

Even though it didn’t suit his age, he’d thrown a childish tantrum and vented.

“Hoo.”

He sighed and drank his tea.

“...Enough of that.”

He forced the topic away.

There was a reason they were facing each other right now in the first place.

“Let’s get to the point.”

“....”

At Jegal Jin’s words, Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong’s gaze changed.

“Alliance Leader. Information ca in.”

As Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong focused, eting Jegal Jin’s eyes—

“It looks like Heaven-Breaking Palace is scheming sothing. The target seems to be Henan, but... what matters more is this.”

Strength gathered in Jegal Jin’s eyes.

“It seems that thing is connected to the Demon Cult.”

CRASH—!

The instant the words fell, the teacup Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong was holding shattered into pieces.

Then—

“Ah!”

Jegal Jin shouted while staring at the ruined teacup.

“I told you to hold it gently! Didn’t I tell you to stop breaking my cups?!”

Jegal Jin snapped at Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong, furious.

“...Sorry.”

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong said awkwardly, then started cleaning up the broken teacup.