Past Life Returner

Chapter 261

The name ‘Odin’ was synonymous with fear. The rumor had originated from the South, but people there were too scared to even mention him. However, there was a similar figure in Korean society. A man whose legend was long and actually existed in reality, but he wasn’t supposed to be talked about openly. This old man, who was forbidden territory, was called the President of Finance.

His authority was absolute. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office treated politicians like stray cats and usually called their names with disrespect, but they rarely mentioned Park Choong-Sik’s real name. Although the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office existed to handle corruption cases that couldn’t be resolved at the District Prosecutors' level, the big incidents were usually buried into oblivion as they shouldn’t have involved the President of Finance in any case.

To be more specific, the Supreme Office acted like the royal bodyguards of Park Choong-Sik and the Jeonil Group. Was it just them? No. The Public Security Department, whose primary duty was to maintain public well-being and safety, was also like that. Therefore, they were often criticized and people called them the ‘Jeonil Security Department,’ meaning that they were built to protect Jeonil Group’s security.

However, the high-positioned prosecutors of the Public Security Department didn’t mind being called that way because they were somehow related to the group. The Supreme Office also failed to avoid such criticism for investigating forces against the Jeonil Group and Park Choong-Sik. Ji-Ae was actually a member of the Supreme Office.

She was commissioned in the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office in 2007, promoted to the Public Security Department in 2008, moved to the Supreme Office with another dramatic promotion in 2010, joined the faction of Park Woo-Cheol, the son of the President of Finance, who served as the head of Supreme Office in 2015, and then she helped to revive the temporarily abolished office. In 2016, she was appointed as the leader of Central Investigation Department I as Park Woo-Cheol had become the head of the prosecution’s organization. Despite her gender, she had gone through an elite course at an incredible speed.

Ji-Ae always had a question in the back of her mind. The prosecution’s personnel changes didn’t depend on the individual's ability. No matter how much sense of justice they had, those who saw Park Choong-Sik and the Jeonil Group as a tumor in Korean society ended up deployed to rural areas before quitting their jobs. The important positions with powers were always occupied by those related to the Jeonil Group. Among them, those directly linked to the President of Finance were on the fast track. All they did was serve as a shield for Park Choong-Sik and the Jeonil Group. Their abilities were evaluated by how solid their shields were.

The capabilities demanded by the prosecution leaders were clearly different from her expectation, and Ji-Ae wasn’t far behind in that respect. However, the strangely fast promotion and the kind of authority she received were usually only given to Park Choong-Sik’s family, like Park Woo-Cheol. Although her uncle was an executive in the group, this was weird!

On top of that, she also led an operation to erase the conflict between the Korea President and Park Choong-Sik at a time when the former regime turned into an impeachment crisis. It had happened a year before the Day of Advent. Of course, she was doing so under the direction of Park Woo-Cheol, but she was the only outsider as she worked with his family. Until then, she wondered if Park Choong-Sik was considering her as a possible daughter-in-law.

However, that didn’t make sense because all of his daughters-in-law were from conglomerate families. These were women who were thought of as ‘naive’ in this world, and they weren’t interested in their husband’s work. Basically, they were different from Ji-Ae. Therefore, unless Park Choong-Sik or Park Woo-Cheol told her directly, she would never be able to figure out why they treated her like they had blood ties.

But! She now finally felt like she was putting pieces of the puzzle together. Everything made sense if Odin… was Seon-Hu…

***

“I’d like to thank you first. Thanks to you, I was able to come this far. I don’t know how to pay you back, but thank you,” she said while looking at the ring on her finger. It was an A-class ring that I must have given her when I handed the survival bag to the people in my district before.

I responded, “No need to pay me back. I’m just glad that I got to see you again.”

We moved into a decent building, which wasn’t covered in monster corpses. Ji-Ae was quickly scanning around to find a place to retreat from. Even though we had a lot of time until the night raids started, she reacted as if this was an embedded habit of hers.

“Can I see your status window?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

[You have perfectly seen through the subject. (Skill, Night Eye)]

[Name: Kim Ji-Ae

Level: 242 (Platinum)

Guild: Revolucion (12)

Corps: Huangchen

Attack Squad: Lau Yong

Health: 300

Strength: 310 (+10)

Agility: 320 (+20)

Sense: 310

XP: 1934 / 10618

Attack Power: 62

Physical Defense: 9000 / 9000

Magic Defense: 5000 / 5000

Trait (2), Skill (4), Insignia (2), Item (8)]

…

[Hermes’ Ring (Item) Item Class: A

Item Level: 431

Effect: Agility +20, Strength +10, Increases Agility by 100 when used.

Physical Defense: 7000 / 7000

Magic Defense: 3000 / 3000

Duration: 1 hour

Cooldown Time: 7 days]

Considering the item that she had, her growth rate was slow.

“So, what’s your impression?” she asked.

I responded, “What do you think?”

She smiled bitterly. “Probably bad.”

“How have you been?”

Ji-Ae replied, “I greatly benefited from the ring until Act One, Stage Two, but things changed as I entered the Final Stage of Act One. I needed to abandon my group.”

“Why?”

Ji-Ae explained, “At that time, rumors about the Ilsung Guild came into my group day by day. It was similar to what the merchants from the former Sky Guild said. It seemed only a matter of time before the Ilsung Guild took control of the whole northern region, and that’s what actually ended up happening.”

She paused before continuing, “I thought that the person who used ‘Ilsung’ to name their guild must be a senior executive from the Ilsung Group. I wasn’t on good terms with the Ilsung Group. Did you know that I was in the Supreme Office?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

She sighed. “I made a lot of enemies while I was there.”

I already knew it, and it wasn’t just her. High-ranked prosecutors who claimed to be loyal to the President of Finance and the Jeonil Group had many enemies to bite.

“Domestic conglomerates. Especially the Ilsung Group. They called themselves a global company, but they were satisfied to just stay in Korea. You must know already. They were the ones who secretly bribed the protestors who planned to start Jeonil Gate, but on the surface they flattered the President of Finance. They always used their brains in an attempt to figure out how to get out of Jeonil’s influence.”

Therefore, one of the core responsibilities of the Supreme Office was the so-called ‘taming the conglomerates.’ The old founder of Ilsung and the former female president had all been thrown into the fire of impeachment. Ji-Ae was at the center of the Supreme Office, so she must have thought that people from the Ilsung Group would kill her on the stage.

She continued, “I’ve been avoiding them. I even changed my status and name, trying to stay away from the guild leaders’ sights… I’ve been living in the midst of the Chinese Awakened since Act Two began as they are generous to people like me.”

“But how did you find me?” I asked.

Ji-Ae replied, “I met a guy. You know how people recognize one’s kind, so we noticed that we were both fugitives. The more we talked, the more we could see each other trying to hide something.”

She continued, “Seon-Hu, do you know Ji-Hoon? He said he was your classmate.”

As soon as I expanded my Sense, I felt another guy from the distance.

***

Please… ah it should work.

Ji-Hoon was nervous. Although he had been successful as an Awakened in the past, he currently had no place to go. He had repeatedly warned the captains of the former Sky Guild that there would be nothing good about provoking Odin, but they completely ignored him. The consequence of that folly? They all died.

Ji-Hoon didn’t mind the dead captains that much, but he thought that Lee Tae-Han, the CEO of the Ilsung Group, should have treated him better. Thanks to his constant warnings, Lee Tae-Han must not have provoked Odin, which was probably why the other man was able to take over the entire Sky Guild while staying alive. However, instead of returning the favor, Lee Tae-Han had tried to kill him instead. He had removed everyone related to Odin after investigating his background as if he had gotten more scared of him.

That son of a bitch.

Lee Tae-Han was a motherfucker, but he was also a very powerful asshole. The problem was that Ji-Hoon was likely to end up being killed by either Lee Tae-Han or Odin. Fortunately, he had been able to stay alive as he had joined the Chinese Awakened at the end of Act One. Although he couldn’t communicate well with them, his life wasn’t too bad.

Nonetheless, it was only a matter of time. The reality was that one day either Lee Tae-Han or Odin would discover him and cut his throat.

Then, he met her in the Chinese group. She was pretty, but on top of that, she was clever while interacting with the Chinese.

Ji-Hoon had never imagined that Ji-Ae would be his lifeline. The puzzle pieces were put together as he exchanged information with her. He had heard from the elite Awakened about how much power the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office held and exactly who controlled him. That was why he asked Ji-Ae about one thing he learned from his middle school teacher before she was killed.

“You probably already know about him. His name is Na Jeon-Il, the President of Jeonil Bank.”

“Yeah… What about him?” she asked warily.

Ji-Hoon became excited at this point. “Do you know him well? How much?”

“Why?”

“If you are close to him, we can survive!”

“Umm… Keep talking.”

“Only you should know about this, okay? Just you.”

“I have no one to talk to anyway.”

“But still… please confirm. Can you prove that you are close to him?” he asked again.

“To you?”

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be me as long as you can prove it to Odin.”

“President Na and Odin are close?” Ji-Ae asked.

“Not just close. Odin is… President Na’s son.”

“Are you sure? How did you know that?”

“I graduated from the same middle school as Odin. Could you please go and tell Odin about how helpful I will be, noona? It’s all up to you now. Our lives are in your hands.”

He could tell that Ji-Ae was confident that she had a close connection to Odin. Therefore, this had to work. Otherwise, both of their necks would get snapped. Not only would Ji-Ae get killed, but Ji-Hoon’s only way to survive would also disappear.

Ji-Hoon was waiting for Ji-Ae to come back while looking at Odin’s city with extreme anxiety.

Swoosh-

Suddenly, he heard a cold voice behind him. “You are still alive.”

Ji-Hoon could never forget this voice, which had a power that could cover the entire world with darkness in an instant. In fact, Ji-Hoon felt completely helpless and freaked out to the point where he almost blacked out. It was a fear that even froze his soul. When he came to his senses, he realized that he was lying on the floor, trembling. He must have collapsed due to the creepy gaze from the back, or his survival instinct must have made him do so like a reflex.

Therefore, there was only one thing he could say, “O… Odin… Please… Please spare me.”