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[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter 139: Monarch (2)
Kwon Hanul released his grip from Kwon Chan-seong’s head. As his hand dropped, Kwon Chan-seong’s body swayed slightly.
“Ugh…”
A strange sound escaped from Kwon Chan-seong’s slightly parted lips—something the usual him would never have uttered.
“Uuugh...”
His eyes were completely unfocused, and the muscles in his face had all gone slack.
The Hunter Kwon Chan-seong, representative of the Hyukcheon bloodline, was no longer present in this room.
Only the man—Kwon Chan-seong—remained.
<The Authority of ‘Sacred Beast Bloodline’ is released.>
<Partial Manifestation has been undone.>
The wings that had floated behind Kwon Hanul disappeared. His eyes also returned to their normal color. Kwon Hanul collapsed onto the ground.
“Feels like I’m gonna die…”
The backlash from using the Partial Manifestation hit him. His magic was completely depleted, and his bloodline abilities were sealed. For the time being, Kwon Hanul was no different from an ordinary human.
As he sat there catching his breath, footsteps approached.
He turned his gaze and saw Kwon Jiseok.
“…So hyung lost.”
Kwon Jiseok walked up to Kwon Chan-seong and spoke to him.
“Hyung.”
“…Huh?”
Kwon Chan-seong slowly turned to look at him. At that, Kwon Jiseok’s face stiffened.
“His mind has been destroyed.”
Kwon Hanul spoke to him.
“He’ll never return to how he was.”
He had poured all of the Partial Manifestation’s power into it—cracking, tearing, and completely erasing Kwon Chan-seong’s consciousness.
“…Why didn’t you just kill him?”
It wasn’t an accusation—just a genuine question.
“Because I wanted to punish him with something worse than death.”
Kwon Hanul, as a person, had built up quite a bit of resentment over time.
“And killing him right in front of you… That just felt too cruel. He’s your family, after all.”
From a family’s perspective, staying alive was better than dying.
“Though I’m not sure how you feel about that.”
Kwon Hanul had thought it through in his own way, but he knew it might be taken differently by Kwon Jiseok.
Destroying someone’s mind could be more horrifying than killing them, depending on how you look at it.
“…Hyung tried to kill you. So no matter what you did to him, he has no right to complain.”
Truth be told, Kwon Jiseok and Kwon Chan-seong had never been particularly close as brothers. More rivals than siblings.
Compared to Kwon Chan-seong, Kwon Jiseok lacked in too many areas. Watching his older brother succeed in ways he never could, Jiseok had harbored all sorts of dark feelings.
“But it’s strange… seeing him alive like this… makes me feel relieved, oddly enough.”
Still, they were brothers. That truth hit Jiseok just now.
“…Thanks.”
He spoke briefly.
And then—
The Blaga clan’s people began to gather around Kwon Hanul.
At the front were Catalina Blaga and the clan’s elders.
“Little Dragon.”
Catalina Blaga addressed Kwon Hanul.
He swallowed nervously. Right now, he couldn’t use any of his bloodline powers. If Catalina Blaga harbored any ill will, things could turn very bad.
“I’ll ask later how you managed to use Vassal Bloodline—especially the Founder’s power.”
“Later?”
“We’ve got more pressing matters right now.”
Catalina Blaga knelt on one knee, hand to her chest, and bowed her head.
The rest of the bloodline followed suit. Not a single Blaga stood with their head higher than Kwon Hanul’s.
“Lord Kwon Hanul.”
Catalina’s tone had changed. The playful arrogance in her voice had vanished.
“To the new Trueblood, we offer everything we have.”
The entire Blaga clan had sworn allegiance to Kwon Hanul.
With Kwon Chan-seong’s defeat, the battle was over.
Most of the Black Aura Unit surrendered voluntarily. Those who resisted were subdued by Catalina and the elders.
And with that, a short period of peace settled in.
* * *
“Now I need an excuse,” Kwon Hanul murmured from his hospital bed. At that, Catalina Blaga perked up beside him.
“Excuse for what, all of a sudden?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on, tell me. I might be able to help.”
She pressed him persistently, her excitement almost puppy-like now that they had something to talk about.
“I have no idea how to explain what happened to Kwon Chan-seong and the Black Aura Unit.”
Naturally, based on what people knew of Kwon Hanul’s power, there was no way he could have defeated Kwon Chan-seong.
Explaining it would mean revealing the truth about his bloodline, and Kwon Hanul wasn’t willing to do that.
“And I have to think about how to keep the Blaga clan going, too.”
Given that Catalina had basically kidnapped him, letting the clan fall would be poetic justice.
But now that the Blaga clan had submitted completely to him, they were his faction—he couldn’t just abandon them.
“You don’t need to worry about our clan.”
Catalina offered him a peeled apple. It was poorly cut—uneven and jagged—but sincere.
“We’re planning to go into hiding.”
Kwon Hanul looked at her in shock.
“Hide?”
“We’ve been marked by the Hyukcheon family. We can’t stay here. We’ll go into hiding for now, then relocate once we find a new base.”
“Relocating an entire clan… that’s not easy.”
“It’s not as hard as you think. We store all our critical items in subspace. We already have fallback locations prepared.”
Catalina made it sound routine—as if they’d done it multiple times before.
“So all you need to worry about is hiding your secret. That way, we can use this incident to take down Vice-Chairman Kwon Hyuk.”
Even by Hyukcheon standards, Kwon Hyuk and Kwon Chan-seong had gone too far in their internal power games.
“Kwon Chan-seong’s a major figure. It’s hard to come up with the right explanation…”
“Then can I offer a suggestion?”
Catalina’s eyes sparkled. Kwon Hanul nodded for her to go on.
“We just say that I kidnapped and tried to control you.”
“That’s not even a lie.”
He pointed out, but she ignored it.
“Kwon Chan-seong took advantage of the situation, brought the Black Aura Unit, and tried to kill you. But he lost to me and the elders instead.”
“In that scenario, I’d still be your prisoner.”
“Just wait—listen. During the fight, even we took heavy damage and collapsed. That caused chaos among the lower bloodlines, and…”
Kwon Hanul started paying closer attention to her words.
“Fortunately, Kwon Jiseok was present. He took command and ordered the Black Aura Unit to retreat with you in tow.”
Jiseok, being a direct heir of Hyukcheon and Kwon Chan-seong’s brother, had the authority to issue such an order.
“But they were ordered to kill you.”
“They were too shocked by Chan-seong becoming a vegetable. In that confusion, Jiseok gave the retreat order.”
“Still… you really think they’d all play along?”
“Why not? This is the Blaga estate,” Catalina said confidently. “Of course, we can’t control elite hunters like them. But with the elders’ help, we can distort their memories.”
Plus, with morale crushed by Chan-seong’s loss, now was the perfect time to invoke Vassal Bloodline.
It was a convincing plan—but one thing bothered Kwon Hanul.
“Not sure if Jiseok will go along with this.”
“We can just use Vassal Bloodline on him too—”
“That’s not right.”
Hanul cut her off. Jiseok had betrayed his own brother and risked his life to save Hanul.
To manipulate him with Vassal Bloodline would be unforgivable.
Still, scrapping Catalina’s plan felt like a waste.
“I’ll go talk to him.”
He stood up from the bed. Though his body was still weak, he could walk.
“Where are you going?”
“To see Jiseok.”
As he left the room, he muttered, “If I explain things properly, maybe he’ll agree.”
* * *
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
Jiseok agreed the moment he heard the plan.
Hanul looked skeptical.
“Really? Just like that?”
“To be honest, I don’t love the idea of you scrambling my brain with Vassal Bloodline…”
Jiseok scratched his head.
“But if word gets out, I’m dead. Father’s going to kill me.”
He’d ruined Kwon Hyuk’s plans and turned Chan-seong into a shell of a man. Even as his son, Jiseok wouldn’t be spared.
“And I’m a terrible liar. But if you change my memories, that solves everything, right?”
Hanul looked at him silently. Jiseok, irritated, snapped, “What’s with that look?”
“I’m just surprised you’re helping me this much.”
“What? Surprised? I help you and you act like I’m a freak?”
He cursed. But this was the Jiseok Hanul was familiar with.
“…I hate how my hyung and father do things. It’s not what Hyukcheon should be.”
Jiseok sighed.
“But I don’t have the power or guts to stop them. So this is my way of pushing back. Also…”
He trailed off, then waved his hand dismissively.
“Whatever. You get the idea.”
“Let’s do it.”
“Oh, and don’t erase everything, or I’ll kill you. You will restore my memories later.”
“That’s easy.”
Hanul stepped aside. Catalina stepped forward.
“Wait, you’re starting already?”
“No time to waste.”
Someone like Kwon Hyuk would already be calculating how long a report should take.
Delaying would only raise suspicion.
“You need to call your father right now.”
“Hey—come on, don’t rush me—”
“Don’t worry. The Blaga clan will handle the details. I’ll be going now.”
“Going where?”
Hanul pointed to the sky.
“To the Sky Arena.”
* * *
Not many days remained.
Suddenly, Kwon Hyuk’s phone rang.
He checked the caller: Kwon Jiseok, his son.
“What is it?”
Jiseok’s voice came through the phone.
“Hm… mm…”
Kwon Hyuk occasionally responded—but far too curtly for the gravity of what he was hearing.
“I see. Got it.”
He put down the phone and touched his lips in thought.
“So the plan failed.”
But calling it a “failure” barely scratched the surface.
Kwon Chan-seong had turned into a mindless fool after his battle with Catalina Blaga. The Black Aura Unit had taken heavy losses and retreated.
“Seems like everyone who gets involved with that boy, Kwon Hanul, ends up ruined.”
Just then—
“You done?” A low voice asked.
Kwon Hyuk turned. Smiling, he responded, “Yes, Father.”
At the center of the room sat a table.
Seated there was Chairman Kwon Seonwoo of the Hyukcheon family.
“Then explain yourself.”
“You’re being harsh. You already know everything, and now you want an explanation?”
“Are you saying what I know is the whole truth?”
Without hesitation, Kwon Hyuk nodded.
“Yes. I ordered Kwon Hanul’s death.”
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[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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