Chapter 81: Goodbye, first to be eliminated (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
There was urgent news regarding Keira popping up on his phone.
[Shocking video report: Mind-Controlling African children with an artifact? Successive testimonies.]
[Ghanian President Samuel, “Modern-day slavery, disappointed in US. Removing Ghana from Pandora.”]
[Black Extremist Group, “We can see the US's true mindset through this.”]
The articles popping up were related to the Ghanian tomb that Ju-Heon had looted. That was the tomb where Ju-Heon had taken Xu Fu's artifact and Shennong's artifact.
The news about how a General of the US TSOF had controlled black African children for her benefit was spreading internationally.
Of course, while most of the children were Black based on the nature of where they were, but they had not all been Black.
However, all of the broadcasts were very biased.
That wasn’t the only thing.
[The US's Lieutenant General Keira has been determined to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping and forced labor of these Ghanian children.]
[The US's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has scheduled an urgent press conference to state the following: “We have no relations to her whatsoever.”]
General Keira was being named the prime suspect in this matter. It was to the point that the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Pentagon which should have close relationships with her were conducting urgent press conferences.
Her actions were enough to fill the front page and it was even more of an issue because of the recent artifact and tomb related terrorist incident.
Furthermore, she was controlling humans!
It wouldn't be weird for World War III to start if something like that was truly possible in the modern world.
It didn't help that it had to do with the sensitive topic of racism.
[“Nobody wants someone who oppresses Black people as a General.” A movement to fire Lieutenant General Keira is under way.]
[A Black organization and the KKK have clashed. Thousands were injured due to artifacts being used. The entire US is tense right now.]
If the articles popping up in Korea were like this, it wouldn’t be wrong to say it was quite chaotic throughout the world.
That was why the US's decision was simple.
[US, President James has an emergency meeting with his Chief executives.]
[The Pentagon claims, “We will not summon Keira Clark as we cannot bring someone who controls humans near us.”]
[Will Keira Clark’s expulsion be determined?]
Ju-Heon laughed after seeing what came next. Someone was calling Ju-Heon.
There was no need to question who was calling.
[Seo Ju-Heon! Is this your doing?!]
She must have seen the news as Keira’s breathing was heavy as he listened to her on speakerphone. It seemed that she decided the only person who could have done this was Ju-Heon who had destroyed her tomb.
However, Ju-Heon calmly laughed at Keira who was huffing.
“Oh, Miss General who may be expelled in the near future. How does it feel to have become a celebrity?”
[You bastard, what the hell did you do?!]
“What did I do? I just let the world know about what you were doing. What’s wrong?”
That was true.
Ju-Heon had formulated this plan after seeing the African children being forced to work in the tomb.
It was his plan to demote Keira to a spot where she did not have any influence in society!
‘General-nim. It’s your fault for neglecting that tomb because it was already conquered.’
Of course, he doubted anybody else could run around as they pleased in there as he had done.
Anyway, he was able to use modern items in that tomb so Ju-Heon had taken a video on his phone and sent it to Edward.
‘Edward has ties to the major media networks.’
He had to use a lot of money for this but that much didn't matter.
A magnificent issue had been created using Ju-Heon’s video, the testimonies from the surviving children, the US soldiers’ weapons and the confessions from the subdued mercenaries.
There was no way the media would pass up on something that would be a hot topic like this. The issue was now too big for the government to protect her simply because she had a Divine-Grade artifact.
That was why Ju-Heon started to laugh.
‘Idiot. Why would you foolishly touch on the sore subject of racism that is like a ticking time bomb in the US?’
That was why Ju-Heon had focused on that aspect and Keira was grinding her teeth.
‘F*ck!’
Of course, she could feel that this was unfair. She knew that people could go into the tomb, but the Pentagon was playing dumb even though she had done it for the benefit of the US.
But there was a critical component that put her in this position.
[Did you send Old man Edward on purpose?]
“Did you only realize that now?”
That critical component was Edward. Ju-Heon had given Edward Mary Antoinette’s artifact so that he could be certain that they could send Keira off.
It was the artifact that could create malicious rumors and give it wings to spread far and wide as long as the target was in front of the person.
Old man Edward had gone to look for Keira saying that he was tired of running and wanted to sell her information about Ju-Heon before suddenly disappearing as soon as he used the artifact.
In the end, the artifact’s effects along with Ju-Heon's masterpiece put quite the attention on Keira. Keira who had now become a celebrity started to shout.
[Don’t think you won. You really think I would be destroyed by something like this?!]
“But it doesn’t seem like you'll be able to stand it much longer. Life is like that, you can lose everything because of something trivial. That’s why you shouldn’t have done something the media would love.”
The Monarch of War Keira had taken artifacts from Africans and Asians alike in the past in the name of war of the races after all.
“Whether it is now or later, you were fated to be punished for your actions.”
However, Keira started to shout in anger at Ju-Heon’s shameless comments.
[Shut up! Don’t forget that the Holten couple are in my hands! Bring the Herb of Eternal Youth over right now! Then I will forgive you about this!]
Ju-Heon started to laugh.
This woman seemed to be planning on taking the Herb of Eternal Youth to the US to avoid being expelled. Her thought process was commendable, however...
“Get lost. I have no reason to listen to you.”
[What did you say? I do not lie. I will kill the Holten couple right now if you don’t do as I say.]
It was quite the threat.
However, Ju-Heon was smiling for some reason.
“Okay then. I don't care whether you kill them or not.”
[I'm really going to kill them! Did you hear me? Take the Holten couple out of the painting and kill them!]
Irene was seriously shocked at what she heard but Ju-Heon held her hand and told her it was okay.
He was right.
[T, the Holten couple are not here! They are not within the painting we kidnapped them in!]
[What?!]
They became flustered while Ju-Heon leisurely laughed.
"Aigoo, the couple isn’t there? I guess you can’t kill them then?”
[Seo Ju-Heon! Is this your doing too, you bastard?!]
“Yes. I won't tell you how I did it though. It’s business secrets.”
He heard Keira starting to swear but Ju-Heon didn't care and hung up.
Click.
An anxious Irene urgently grabbed Ju-Heon as soon as the call ended.
“What’s going on? What about my father and mother?!”
“It’s nothing much. Those idiots just wasted their time.”
George Holten took a deep breath and started to speak.
“I definitely saw my mother and father being sucked into their painting. Who the hell were they then...?!”
Ju-Heon chuckled.
‘Who were they you ask?’
"What? Copies?!”
“You hid my real parents in advance?”
George Holten shouted in the limousine that was driving through New York City.
He had been close to death but swallowed the extremely bitter Herb of Eternal Youth to narrowly escape death.
Both George Holten and Irene were gasping in shock.
“Then you are saying I was nursing fakes this whole time?! And this scammer was the one who created the fakes of my parents?!”
George Holten’s eyes were open wide as he glared at Yoo Jaeha.
Yoo Jaeha who had happily sold him a counterfeit painting in the past flinched but Ju-Heon nonchalantly smiled.
“Yes. Why don't you praise him? My little subordinate here can create counterfeits of anything by using an artifact. Art, artifacts, items, anything with a material form can be copied. It’s probably too much to copy something that is alive, but it's no big deal to make a copy that pretends to be human. Just consider it as creating a protein doll that is extremely similar to the real thing. It’s good enough to even trick artifacts.”
That was the case.
Ju-Heon had worried that someone might aim for the Holten couple.
‘Why?’
It was because he could not get the fact that Keira had Irene’s weakness in the past out of his mind. Keira had the personality to kidnap the couple to use Irene for her benefit if things went awry.
That was why Ju-Heon had given Yoo Jaeha an order before they left for Africa for the what ifs. The fakes lasted a long time since he did not create fake artifacts this time.
“Now then, his copying skill is what kept your parents safe, so let’s stop being petty and don’t be angry that he sold you a fake painting. You'll forgive him, right?”
“Ugh!”
Yoo Jaeha seemed to be full of admiration at this and whispered to Ju-Heon.
“Captain-nim, don't you think I’d be great at scamming if I scammed people with fake artifacts? Then I can swipe those artifacts for you too, no?”
Ju-Heon chuckled at Jaeha who was starting to open his eyes as the < Monarch of Fraud >. Of course, Ju-Heon would welcome his subordinate growing to a Monarch-grade user.
“Anyway, your real parents are safe in a penthouse I bought in New York. We put them there before we left for Africa.”
George Holten's jaw dropped after hearing that statement.
“How the hell did you take the two of them out of the house...!”
“Getting out of a house like that is nothing when I've even escaped from a burning hotel in Macao.”
It was at that moment.
As they were moving in a limousine to heal the Holten couple...
An urgent message popped up.
[A suspicious painting is threatening you.]
Ju-Heon who realized something at the same time urgently shouted.
"Stop the car now!”
The car came to a sudden stop at his shouting and Ju-Heon told people to quickly jump out.
“Hurry up and get out of the car!”
Yoo Jaeha kicked the shocked people out of the car even though he didn’t know what was going on because Ju-Heon had never been wrong yet.
The moment they jumped out of the car...
The large limousine was surprisingly sucked away.
It was sucked toward the roof of a five-story building.
Keira and the TSOF who were holding a large canvas painting were standing there. The car had been sucked into that canvas.
George Holten recognized the painting right away.
"That’s the painting my parents were sucked into!”
Yoo Jaeha, who saw the canvas, became shocked.
“Huh? Over there? That’s Van Gogh's famous < Tree Roots > isn't it? I heard that went missing in a museum a few months ago...!”
Ju-Heon smirked.
It was obvious. It was a case of a real item turning into an artifact similar to his Code of Hammurabi.
The woman who brought that painting was grinding her teeth.
“Now that things are like this, I'm going to capture all of you with this to prove my innocence.”
Ju-Heon scoffed as if she was ridiculous.
“Innocence my ass. What bullshit is this when all of it was true? Please get out of the way because we are busy.”
“Shut the hell up!”
Keira tried to activate Van Gogh's painting again. However, it was at that moment.
Bang!
“!”
There was a loud bang and the canvas had split in two as if telling her to get lost. A shocked Keira looked at the artifact while Ju-Heon turned his head.
He saw Irene who was extremely angry.
[The artifact of destitution is responding to the change in the user’s emotion.]
[The artifact is going berserk.]
[The artifact of destitution is trying to destroy the artifact of war.]
Irene started to grind her teeth confirming the message. She had clearly recognized Keira as the enemy.
It would be weird if she did not hate Keira.
She had aimed for Irene’s parents, harmed her brother, and was now attacking Ju-Heon and them.
“You're going to have to meet your end here.”
Ju-Heon laughed as he watched her.
“Hey General, it looks like there's a new person to take you on in my place.”
“What?!”
Keira tried to pursue Ju-Heon but she was stopped by Irene’s power while her subordinates coughed up blood and fainted.
Ju-Heon did not miss that opening and summoned the rope to tie George Holten.
“Mmmph! What is this, untie me! Let me go!”
“Shut up and you come with me.”
“Hey!”
George Holten was being messed with by the rope as he was dragged. The rope just seemed to like Ju-Heon as it was saying, ‘master, where do you need me to go? Where should I go?’ As it followed behind him. It seemed excited that its master might praise it this time.
On the other hand, Keira who was being stopped by Irene was grinding her teeth as she shouted.
“Seo Ju-Heon! Get your ass here right now!”
“I'm a busy man. I understand how you feel but stop looking for me, you obsessed woman.”
“Hey!”
They quickly started to move.
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