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Chiral (5)

Kang Shin-hyuk, having entered the dining hall, felt surprised – not because the queen of England was waiting there, nor was it because the royal family (ten in number) was around here. It was that he had heard her reign was about 45 years, and this year she had already turned 72… Yet, the British queen appeared to be only in her early fifties. Thinking about it, Karen had explained that since the start of the superhuman era, the British royal family had attracted superhumans to their bloodline. It was only natural for a queen with the blood of superhumans to look that much younger.

“Good to see you, Death Puppeteer. I’m Catherine; please call me Cathy.”

That’s too unreasonable, and don’t call me that, Kang Shin-hyuk answered only in his head.

“I am Kang Shin-hyuk. So… Your Majesty?”

“Cathy.”

“Ah, um…”

Kang Shin-hyuk glanced at Eleanor sitting beside him to see if he could really call the queen by name. However, Eleanor was very tense, her gaze locked on the plate in front of her, and she was holding onto his arm tightly under the table. It wasn’t scary anymore; she was probably suppressing the endless emotions springing up from being at this table.

“Whoo…”

As he thought he heard the sound of laughter, he turned his head to see the queen laughing as she watched the two. He knew what the misunderstanding was, but the queen seemed to view her relationship with Kang Shin-hyuk positively. But the things that they had done so far against Eleanor were strange.

“This is Prince Bill.”

“William.”

The prince was also very polite, and Kang Shin-hyuk reaffirmed his own greeting. Honestly, he was treated with courtesy from even the oddest of the Hero Universe, so it didn’t feel particularly special to be treated that way by Earth’s leaders. It was a strange feeling meeting them in person, but looking at them, he automatically thought, ‘Oh, they’re not that great.’

“I heard you helped our Guardians a lot in Africa. I want to express my gratitude.”

“Ah, yes. They also worked hard.”

That one looked like he was in his early 40s, but Eleanor had told them in advance that his actual age was around 50. Kang Shin-hyuk greeted him and looked to the next one, but the seat next to him was empty.

“?”

“Olivia couldn’t come because she’s laid up in bed right now.”

Even though Olivia was a woman, the reason she had a strong voice here was not only because she was a high ranker who gained strength at a young age, but because she was also the eldest daughter of the prince. So, Kang Shin-hyuk was convinced that the seat next to the prince was left deliberately vacant.

“If you have time, see her later…”

“I will leave it up to you. I’m Wilford.”

The moment Prince William made that suggestion, there was a man who cut him off and shoved his hand over the table, his grey eyes focused on Kang Shin-hyuk. It was Wilford blah blah blah Redlake (all those royal family members had similar middle names, but Kang Shin-hyuk was annoyed, so he decided to remember only the first and last bits). The biggest reason why the royal family invited him was this man.

“Oh, the one who ran away and left the superhumans behind?”

Kang Shin-hyuk decided to try him a bit. He deliberately made a provocative remark and ignored the handshake. However, Wilford chuckled, his expression unchanging as he smiled.

“Running away, that’s a misunderstanding. I was fighting in a different place than Olivia from the start. Everyone who fought under her would know that.”

Did he think that would work, knowing that Kang Shin-hyuk was active in Africa? The moment he said that Kang Shin-hyuk secretly glanced around. The queen and prince and the other members of the royal family didn’t respond very much to it. The prince felt especially strange. The others might not know, but the prince was Olivia’s father.

“Ho, did you? It’s different from what I’ve heard.”

“Haha, it must be a misunderstanding. The situation was very urgent at that time, was it not?”

“That’s true, haha.”

At the time, all those fighting under Princess Olivia were cursing this child. Nevertheless, the fact he was so bold meant he had bought or killed them all off. But if he had killed them, he would’ve already been caught. And, it made no sense that he could buy off that many people. If so…

‘The last option is… Something like brainwashing.’

He hadn’t heard of any brainwashing abilities. However, among monsters, there were rare entities capable of it. It was still only speculation, so it was impossible to conclude immediately, but…

‘Looking at the queen and the prince, it makes me even more suspicious…’

Even though he was the strongest member of the royal family (excluding Olivia and Eleanor), he had too much power. And, the surprising thing was that he held his hand out despite Kang Shin-hyuk ignoring his request for a handshake.

‘This much… He’s like a golf pro.’

With a firm will to shake hands even if it killed him, Kang Shin-hyuk gently removed Eleanor’s from his arm and shook Wilford’s hand.

“I’ll leave it up to you. Maybe there’ll be a lot to see in the future.”

“Yes, well, thank you.”

Kang Shin-hyuk could clearly feel the secret and disgusting energy emanating from Wilford alongside his voice. That’s right; it was easy to tell what he was planning when he acted so obsessed with shaking hands.

‘Well, it’s easy enough to deal with it with light mastery. I don’t even need to use spiritual power.’

Perhaps because he had acquired spiritual power first, Kang Shin-hyuk had more abilities related to the mind than the body. Not only his light mastery, which could erase negative energy but even now, his God Wind, which had evolved from wind mastery, had an excellent ability to interfere with external energy. Even if his enemy had the abilities of Janus, it would be impossible to harm Kang Shin-hyuk with mental abilities. There was especially no way an idiot that imitated a monster’s ability could affect his mind.

‘But it’s no fun to erase it right away. Let’s see it first.’

The funny thing was that the moment they shook hands, his expression said, ‘As planned!’ It was amusing enough to try this kind of trick against the world’s No. 1, but he wasn’t even afraid of revealing it on his face.

“Brother, I would like to greet the Puppeteer.”

“Ah, yes. This is my brother.”

“Well, yes. I’ll leave it up to you.”

Surprisingly, however, none of the attendants or other royal family members paid attention to it. It meant that everyone was brainwashed. Of course, they couldn’t touch Kang Shin-hyuk’s personnel, but they hadn’t been worried about it in the first place.

‘What should I do then?’

Kang Shin-hyuk shook hands with the royals, in turn, exploring them secretly with his spiritual power and seeing magi wriggling like a worm inside them.

‘Shall I kill it?’

-Please be patient, master.

‘Don’t act like you’ve been waiting for this!’

-The administrator always wants to consider how you feel. 1,000,000HP bonus!

Kang Shin-hyuk ignored the administrator and continued to think. It was likely that the brainwashing would be automatically released if the caster was killed. So just taking care of Wilford might be enough, but the issue was if he were really in control. Besides, even if it did work, he would’ve just slain a member of the royal member in the middle of the palace. But, ultimately, Eleanor would be sad at the loss of a family member, so he didn’t take that method.

‘Yeah, it won’t work. If Jormungand is connected… Well, Jormungand has to be involved, given that magi. But did he really think this would work? Jormungand… No, Janus should know that brainwashing me with this wouldn’t work.’

Then was Wilford testing him with this? It was possible, but there was also a high likelihood this guy was being used without even knowing it. Kang Shin-hyuk organized his thoughts and raised his head as Wilford spoke up again.

“Can you please give me a moment after dinner? I have something important to discuss.”

“Is it about the World Prize?”

“Haha, of course not. Considering the World Prize, that’s just the level of a toy compared to the artifacts excavated from the dungeon. I couldn’t have invited the world’s No. 1 superhuman to talk about such trivial things.”

That meant the British royal family didn’t think anything about the fact that he was participating in the World Prize. They had only used it as bait to bring him to England. During his conservation with Wilford (Eleanor’s grip on his hand grew over the night), the food came in earnest. Fortunately, there were no sardine pies.

“Ouch.”

Eleanor pinched his hand.

“Just ignore it again.”

“How did you know?”

“What do you mean?! I know everything!”

Inevitably, Lee Na-hee, who couldn’t sit next to Kang Shin-hyuk, saw the two whispering and went at her, while the queen and royal family only laughed. It was so creepy that they couldn’t even recognize Eleanor right before them. Perhaps the situation was more serious than he had originally thought. But, right then and there, he tasted something far more terrifying than brainwashing.

‘Yes, this tastes…’

The dishes placed in front of him one after another were incredible. Whoever the hell said British cuisine was bad surely had never been treated by the royal family!