CH 167

<Joshua: This year’s Bilderberg conference has been canceled without further progress.>

<Seon-Hu: How about Cassandra?>

<Joshua: We have increased the number of bodyguards, and they are on the way to the mansion with her. I’ll tell Michael to follow in the back.>

<Seon-Hu: That’s unnecessary.>

<Joshua: There’s something else to report. I had no choice but to tell Gillian your name.>

Joshua explained how it happened, and he seemed to have discovered that the Gillian Group, Jessica’s Telestar Investment, and Gold and Silver Investment were also in my hands. I expected this as Joshua and Gillian had met each other in the club meeting and had spent days together, so I didn’t need to punish or eliminate them.

<Joshua: Okay, Master. Then, I’ll prepare for the next dungeon attack.>

<Seon-Hu: Sounds good. I’ll drop by as soon as things are sorted out.>

How would Joshua take the System’s statement that I’m a ‘threat to everyone?’

I had been bothered by this thought all along. However, he returned to his spot without mentioning the assassination quest.

At the same time, Colton was reading a magazine from his first-class seat on the plane. The article described the European economic crisis that had spread from France in-depth. Although his family was collapsing day by day, how his sister became violent to the point where she abused the man from the Rothschild family was more important to him. Then, he met my eyes and used his eyes to ask me from afar.

Do you really have to remove her? She won’t get worse from this. 

However, passengers who recognized Colton approached him, and our eye contact became blocked. Some of them were Korean politicians, but most of them were French officials related to Colton’s job as the plane was heading to Paris.

All of them were serious, and a meeting to establish urgent measures was held in the first class. Since they didn’t know what had triggered the economic crisis, their conversation was only based on their assumptions.

Meanwhile, another group was forming on the other side under the Korean Director Cho Dae-Hwan. Although he wasn’t as powerful as Park Choong-Sik, he was still one of the Jeon-il Group’s strong figures. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was heading to France with us. He was going to establish a European subsidiary of the Jeon-il Group, which would absorb the Goldstein family’s core businesses. He was sitting across from me. When the plane took off and all the passengers remained in their seats, he spoke to me. “Hello.”

Of course, we had never met before.

“The mood here isn’t nice, right?” He asked while studying me closely. He must have thought it would be worth talking to me based on the magazines I was reading and my attire.

“Are you working in the financial sector?”

He was asking because he thought anyone in this field would certainly know about him.

“Yes,” I replied.

I opened my wallet and gave him one of the fake business cards with the Jonathan Investment and Finance Group's name on it. It was a simple and lightweight card with the group logo, my alias and my email address, but the look in Cho Dae-Hwan’s eyes changed. He looked at the card for a few minutes as he had originally thought I was likely a son of a conglomerate family in Korea.

“You are working in an amazing company. I’m Cho Dae-Hwan from the Jeon-il Group.”

“Of course, I know you. I’m honored to take the same flight with you, Director.”

Then, we had a conversation about idle topics. We talked about Kim Cheong-Soo, the chief financial officer of Jonathan Group, and the European financial crisis. He handed over his business card as he was satisfied with my replies during our discussion.

“Call me sometime,” he said.

He wanted to set up an interview with me, and I felt his pride in Jeon-il Group as he made such an offer to the manager of Jonathan Group. Throughout the entire flight, ambition shone in his eyes, and a smile appeared and disappeared multiple times from the corner of his lips. It seemed like he had been chosen to be the chairman of the European subsidiary. Also, he seemed to be aware that he had been promoted, not demoted.

However, he didn’t know the exact behind story of his promotion. The moment he realized he was leading a corporation that sucked up the Goldstein family’s core businesses, he would dream of becoming the second President of Finance.

Cho Dae-Hwan soon fell asleep, and he was smiling even in his dreams.

***

On the night I arrived in France, I noticed that Cassandra’s location had remained the same as before. There were no other Awakened approaching me. They must have been living their lives without caring that they had received an S-class or an assassination quest.

I parked over in the distance and walked to the destination. The Goldstein’s mansion was heavily guarded as Cassandra knew that the ending of this story, her death, was nearing. She had even placed French police officers around the estate because she thought armed bodyguards with guns were not enough.

The police cars flickered with blue and red lights as if they were warning the possible intruder not to approach them. A policeman said through the radio, “This is code 3-9-1. Clear.”

<Okay, 3-9-1.>

After the report, the policeman shrugged. “Isn’t this mansion dope? I would love nothing more than to stay there for one day.”

His co-worker replied, “What kind of stupid idiot is trying to attack the Goldsteins?”

“The head of Goldstein must be delusional. The more you have, the more stressed you are. Being a bourgeois must be tiring. I’m a poor little guy, so I have nothing to worry about. Haha.”

“I hope it ends with this delusion of hers. If something actually happens, so many people would get fired.”

The two policemen were looking around in the darkness, but they didn’t see me even though I was right in front of them. Other than their nonsense conversation, the courtyard of the mansion was breathtakingly quiet. However, the inside of the house was filled with boiling emotions like a blast furnace.

“Once we step back, we can jump further. That’s what I believe. I’m not going to just sit around and watch the Goldsteins collapse. In order to do so, we should admit the current situation…”

Colton was the one talking. He was expressing his opinions regarding the funds they had received from Jeon-il Group, but Cassandra wasn’t there. That was all I could find out using the tracking map window, so I went to every floor looking for her. I then arrived at the staircase full of bodyguards. They hadn’t locked the doors to allow security guards outside to come in and help them in urgent situations. Therefore, it was easy for me to enter each room.

Srrrr-

A haggard woman was deep in thought while biting her nails. It was Cassandra.

***

Cassandra came to her senses and rolled her eyes first. She was far up in the mountain where no one could help her. She didn’t scream after seeing me, but instead covered her face with one hand. Then, she started trembling while staring at me through her fingers, and blood came out from her lips as she bit into them. However, her eyes were still bright as she was calculating how to murder me.

Shiiiing!

A huge blade grew out in my hand, and her fingers finally twitched before fully covering her eyes. Thus, Cassandra was waiting for her death while covering her eyes with one hand.

A few seconds later, she asked impatiently, “What are you waiting for?”

I remained silent.

“Don’t tell me you don’t have the guts to kill a woman.” She smiled faintly, but it soon disappeared helplessly. “Say something!”

Then, a flashlight shone upon us, and Colton emerged from the bottom of the slope. He looked exhausted. He paused when he saw the huge sword in my hand and his sister lying below it, but soon dragged himself again. He was carrying a backpack that almost eclipsed him in size. A loud and heavy sound echoed as he dropped it in front of her. He said wearily, “This is all I can do for you.”

The only reason why I gave her a chance was because of her brother Colton, who had sacrificed the Goldsteins to me.

Kugugugung.

The tremor began as soon as I opened the dungeon. When the frightening blue light lit up the dark, it naturally drew their attention. Judging from Cassandra’s expression, I could tell that she had never experienced a dungeon.

“This dungeon is the lowest-class possible. Yes. Surprisingly, I’m giving you a chance to save yourself,” I said as I wrapped an arm around Cassandra’s waist. Then, I threw her struggling body and the backpack into the dungeon. She was making a ruckus behind the blue barrier, but her voice didn’t reach us. Colton turned his back toward her and quickly widened the distance between them as if he couldn’t bear to see her suffering. When I didn’t respond, she stood and carried the backpack. She was on the verge of upgrading her Strength to E-class as she easily lifted the heavy backpack. I could tell that the light in her eyes wasn't from a lingering grudge. Instead, they glowed with the same ambition that Cho Dae-Hwan had in his eyes during the earlier flight.

She walked down the stairs without hesitation. I heard Colton’s voice from the back, “If Cassandra manages to survive, do you promise that you are not going to harm her?”

I didn’t take my eyes off of the dungeon as I replied, “Of course.”

However, I knew she would never survive because it was a D-class dungeon, unlike what I had described to them.

A few minutes later, the blue light disappeared when a notification message that said that the quest had been canceled appeared in front of me. The dungeon sank underground. I shook my head at Colton, who looked at me with a puzzled expression. Then, he said in agony, “I’ll tell the Rothschilds that the Goldsteins will take care of the situation ourselves. I hope they will be appeased by that, but if they don’t…”

“Provoking Goldstein means provoking me,” I interrupted.

“Yes. Are you going to return alone?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Colton left helplessly down the slope. There was nothing much I wanted from him. Loyalty? He complained about how he would prove his loyalty, saying he wouldn’t be able to handle being under my thumb, but I didn’t care about it that much. His primary role was handing over Goldstein’s core businesses to me in all their splendor. After that, I would be satisfied if he voted in favor of us during the Bilderberg Club conference.

Well, if he hadn’t learned anything from the change of family head and the loss of his family’s core businesses, the Goldstein name would be lost forever to history…

On our way back to the car, I saw the lights of police cars on the distant roads. They drove urgently as they were wandering around the mountain and recklessly driving through the city. The world would soon become noisy once news about the disappearance of the Goldstein Group female chairman from her home spread.

Then, I received a text message from Woo Yeon-Hee.

「The number of gangs approaching us is increasing day by day.」