Chapter 225: Influence
Min-hyuk, a man in his twenties with neatly trimd hair and a cream colored suit that looked far too expensive for a eting in this sort of place, looked between Lee Lim and the others and blurted exasperatedly, "I think I can already tell what the bad news is. But anyway, lead with that."
A lady with red hair tied in a ponytail nodded in agreent as she leaned her chin on the back of her hand. "Yeah. Everyone knows that it’s better to get the bad news out of the way first. It makes the good news actually feel like a relief."
Lee Lim stared at her briefly, then gave a slow nod. "Alright."
He leaned back in his chair, and after a mont, he added, "The bad news is that those otherbastards have succeeded in destroying the red bridge."
Min-hyuk imdiately let out a frustrated breath. "I knew it. I knew those bastards would succeed. I just... my gut feeling was telling
they would."
"Ah... that ans we’ll have to fight them now." A stately man in his thirties, wearing a white newsboy cap and a long coat that matched it, spoke up. His hands were folded with his eyes closed and it was hard to tell whether he was disappointed, annoyed, or happy.
"Tsk. What a pain." The red haired ponytail lady rolled her eyes and slumped further into her chair.
But then Lee Lim tapped his finger twice on the tabletop to regain their attention. "That’s not all, actually."
The others kept quiet, then after a tense pause, Lee Lim continued, "I do not know how it was possible, but those otherworlders have managed to get those tallic sons of bitches into working with them."
"What?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
Three of the lords blurted out at the sa ti while the rest sat in stunned silence.
Even Dae-hyun, the stately man in the white newsboy cap, had opened his eyes.
Lee Lim chuckled. "Unbelievable, right?"
"What the actual fuck?" A nerdy business man in a black outfit blurted in disbelief. He adjusted his square rimd glasses and pushed them up his nose. "Do they have soone among them with the power to mind control monsters or what?"
"Like a puppeteer?" Hana suggested, her eyes darting between Lee Lim and the businessman.
Eun-ji shook her head. "No. Those clankers have an immunity to magic, so that’s not possible."
"Or what if they have a necromancer who just brought back a few that were dead and is controlling their bodies like zombies?" Ji-hoon asked naively.
So-young, the red-haired lady, sighed loudly. "Shut up, kid. Didn’t you hear what she just said? Dead or alive, magic can’t work on their bodies."
Ji-hoon made an o shape with his lips and bobbed his head back and forth in a mock gesture of understanding.
Just then, a flamboyant, androgynous man in a vibrant silk suit seated on the far end of the table spoke up, gesturing with a ring-covered hand. "Regardless of how they did it, the result is the sa. The hollow ones are actually challenging our authority." He addressed the question to Lee Lim with a dramatic tilt of his head and playful pout. "Can’t you just fry their little brains or sothing? You can do that, right, darling?"
Lee Lim stared at him for a hot second, then he eventually exhaled a heavy, weary breath. "Causality won’t let
act so freely. Maybe if they were to attack us directly, or be within my line of sight, then it would be possible, but I can’t do anything to them remotely."
Actually, doing sothing like that remotely was possible, but the chance of causal backlash was extrely high. At the mont, Lee Lim was already suffering the effect of the backlash from changing the location of the blue bridge. He wasn’t in a position where he could risk using his authority in that manner again. Also, considering the number of the hollow ones, he might straight up die from abusing it like that.
He sighed. "So... everyone, get ready to fight the hollow ones as well."
"Well, that sounds like fun." A burly man with a scar across his cheek muttered as he slumped back into his chair, tracing the patterns on the ceiling with his eyes.
Hana looked at the table for a bit, before finally piping up. "What about the good news?"
Lee Lim smiled.
He didn’t reply imdiately and everyone stared at him in anticipation. Eventually, he spoke. "Well, the good news is that we have succeeded in getting rid of one of the antagonists."
"Really?! Damn, what a relief." So-young exhaled as she felt tension finally leave her shoulders.
Sang-hoon, the burly man with a scar, began to let out a low, rumbling laugh.
As for the rest of the lords, the sense of ease was visible on their faces.
However, while the others were celebrating, Seo-yeon looked away from the others to hide her face, adjusted her glasses, and let out a small knowing smile.
At that mont, Dae-hyun in the newsboy cap asked, "By the way... which of the antagonists was killed?"
Eun-ji turned to him. She had a blindfold over her eyes, yet it seed that she was able to see him perfectly.
In place of Lee Lim, she answered after a few seconds, "The one who appeared recently. Apparently, he was a young boy nad Cedric Martini."
"Mmm..." Dae-hyun pursed his lips and nodded a few tis in quiet satisfaction.
"So..." Min-hyuk scratched the back of his neck, "all that’s left now is for us to make sure we kill the blonde dude you described for us, which is the other antagonist." His eyes seed to go unfocused for a mont before returning to Eun-ji. "I just had a thought. Since you can see this... antagonist, why not just use one of your long range skills to do the job. Like your Queen of Dreams, for instance. Why do we still have to deal with all this manual labor?"
Eun-ji stared at him for a mont, then tilted her head and eventually sighed.
"While it is not as complicated as Cedric’s, this Leon still has a protective ability. You see, while I could not even see Cedric or rember what he looked like, I can see Leon. However, the mont my intentions for him beco hostile, so kind of protective ability makes
forget my intent to kill him."
"So both of them have protection against remote and taphysical attacks?"
Min-hyuk clicked his tongue and slumped back in his chair, looking completely defeated.
It was then that Lee Lim leaned forward, the movent drawing every eye in the room. Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds before he finally spoke.
"Anyway, our primary goal was to eliminate the antagonists before they could spread their influence across the world and take root in the hearts of people. Unlike Cedric, who was mostly a ghost, Leon is already well known and highly influential. We have to ensure he is dealt with, no matter what it takes."
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