Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 542

Following Keegan’s words, the other staff members jumped to their feet.

‘Administrator!!’

‘Communicating directly with the Tri-Heads [The three leaders of the Cartel] about this matter could be extremely dangerous…!!’

‘You all haven’t fully come to your senses yet. Do you think we’re in a position to be picky right now?’

Keegan’s cold gaze swept across the employees inside the conference room in an instant.

‘Who will suffer the most significant damage if this matter fails?’

Silence fell.

‘If we fail to resolve this situation and time drags on, all of us here will be directly exposed to the mana particle radiation.’

‘……’

‘Forget about the relationship between the light and the dark, or overstepping authority. Are you willing to give up your lives just because you’re afraid of disciplinary action from above?’

Only then did the staff members’ expressions change as they realized what Keegan Grimes was talking about.

This was practically the last chance for the Central Council to intervene and resolve this situation.

They understood that if the team of Saint-level transcendents, including Kyulbaek, failed to find a solution, the higher-ups had no intention of taking action.

No matter what, they had to stop the radiation exposure here and solve the problem of the restricted area.

The old fogeys of the Central Council would rather bury the problem of the restricted area along with the lives of the citizens than reveal it.

Keegan had already fully understood this fact even before this operation began.

Only then did the staff members begin to offer their opinions one by one.

‘We know the contact information for the Cartel’s liaison.’

‘It seems that the field agents have become acquainted with them to facilitate the cleanup process in the 30s zone.’

‘It seems to have been handled tacitly at a level beyond the reach of the law.’

Amidst the staff members quickly exchanging opinions, Keegan tapped the table.

‘The problem is how to directly contact the board of directors.’

‘Simply making contact won’t be enough. At the very least, we need to reach the secretary’s office to get information.’

‘They won’t be easy to meet. The moment they know it’s a call from the administrator, they might be wary of political maneuvering.’

‘It will be difficult if we don’t reveal what’s happening inside the restricted area. But I want to minimize sharing classified information…’

The best solution would be to directly inform the chairman of the Cartel about this fact and receive advice.

However, it has already been several years since Oliviera Ron Maze officially stopped her activities and went into seclusion.

There were only rumors that she had been operating behind the scenes at the time of the death of Madrich Onion, the former Chief Justice.

It was nearly impossible to bring out the reclusive chairman with just a call from the administrator.

Keegan, who had been lost in thought, raised his hand.

‘Connect me with the liaison. I’ll talk directly.’

‘……Understood.’

Trrr-trrr-

The moment he realized the other party had answered, Keegan immediately opened his mouth.

‘Unofficial line. I have something to say about the Cartel’s external advisor.’

-……

‘It’s about Kyunroe’s safety. This is an urgent matter, so could you please call the secretary’s office right away?’

There was no answer for a long time.

But the line was not cut off, and in the quiet silence that continued.

Finally, the sound of someone switching the line echoed.

In the brief moment when Keegan quietly took a breath, a cold voice echoed from the other side of the line.

-I hope you know that this kind of contact does not help the relationship between the city government and the headquarters. First-Class Administrator Grimes.

‘……’

Keegan felt a chill run down his spine and his face hardened.

Even though he hadn’t introduced himself at all, the other party already knew who he was.

-The headquarters is strictly managing those who impersonate the external advisor. We are overlooking this matter as a warning because we acknowledge the hard work of the administrator who manages that unnecessarily large dam.

‘……Thank you for your consideration, President Virgil O’Reiden.’

Keegan replied in a subdued voice.

‘But I hope you know that there is not a single lie in what I said. That’s how urgent the situation is right now.’

In the end, the administrator’s gamble to directly call the Cartel’s board of directors was successful.

The right-hand man of the chairman, who is by far the leader among the four board members.

The CEO who oversees the Cartel’s countless businesses, and the entrepreneur who is responsible for all those achievements and controls the capital of the underworld.

As a result of recklessly using Lenox’s name to emphasize the urgency, President O’Reiden himself had answered their call.

-What do you mean by saying you have something to say about the external advisor’s safety?

The vampire’s cold voice echoed softly through the line.

-As you know, there are rumors about the external advisor’s poor health. Do you know that the problem the administrator mentioned is a sensitive topic for the headquarters as well?

‘Of course.’

Keegan swallowed hard and replied.

He had been fearless even against level 8 monsters and level 7 completers, but it was completely different when dealing with the Cartel.

All four of Keegan’s teammates were relatively moderate in nature.

However, the Cartel was just a company in form, and it was a real threat that could take action at any time if things went wrong.

If Keegan failed to convince them of the reason why he used Lenox’s name here, he would pay the price in some way.

‘I won’t make it long. I’ll send you a video taken by Kyunroe himself in Zone 25 through the line.’

-……Zone 25?

Virgil also seemed to sense something, and after asking once, he checked the video sent through the line and immediately hung up.

Beep, beep……

At the same time, this time the Cartel made a security call in reverse.

The moment Keegan started receiving the call, Virgil’s face immediately appeared on the conference room screen.

Virgil, sitting in the middle of a vast office, had an unmistakable smile on his face.

-I see. I was wondering what you wanted to say, but it’s such a nostalgic face……

‘……’

Virgil, looking at Keegan with his vampire’s characteristic red eyes, spoke leisurely.

-You made a wise decision, Administrator Grimes. Did you try to make contact to request additional information from us as soon as you checked the video? You’re very different from the city government administrators I know.

Virgil’s voice seemed to thin out for a moment.

-It’s like your life is on the line in this matter.

‘Gasp…!’

Some of the staff members couldn’t help but gasp.

However, Keegan did not try to deny the fact.

He was a man who had survived on the front lines of the underworld for over decades and had reached his current position.

It would be strange if his senses were not sharp to the point of being miraculous.

It was not surprising that he had pieced together a series of circumstances just by looking at Keegan’s call and the situation.

‘I want to receive the testimonies of those who were at the scene as quickly as possible. Can you call the Cartel’s executives who were in Zone 25?’

-What’s the price?

‘After the matter inside the restricted area is successfully concluded, I will hand over the progress and related information.’

-You’re saying dangerous things. Do you know how reckless it is to promise that fact in the name of the administrator?

At Keegan’s silence, Virgil’s laughter grew louder.

-No, I misspoke. If things don’t succeed, you won’t be able to keep your promise anyway.

‘……’

-Okay. But you don’t have to go far. There weren’t many of our forces who participated in the operation at the time anyway.

Virgil tapped the desk as he pondered the memories of the time.

-It was before the long civil war was resolved. They said there was something urgent to take care of near the power plant before the conclusion.

‘Do you know what kind of operation was going on in the restricted area at the time?’

-I don’t know the specifics. I just remember that it was large enough to evacuate all the civilians living nearby.

Virgil replied.

-I think they were moving to keep the research they had to do inside the power plant a secret……

‘……’

As soon as he heard those words, Keegan bit his lip.

It was as if he had confirmed directly from Virgil that the transcendents of the past, who were out of sync with the timeline of decades ago, were by no means their allies.

Virgil chuckled as he looked at Keegan.

-I can roughly guess what you’re thinking. It’s a much more interesting secret than I thought. I see. The radiation exposure that occasionally leaked from beyond Zone 25 was also ultimately……

Even if the information inside the restricted area was hidden, those with excellent insight would find fragments of the truth with just a few clues and traces.

As he watched Virgil instantly piece together the hidden secrets of Zone 25 from the results, Keegan asked again.

‘Can I speak directly to the chairman about this matter?’

-……

‘I apologize for being presumptuous, but it’s something that the chairman himself might be directly involved in. If we can get in touch, there is important information that he will surely remember…!’

-Ah, he’s just arrived.

‘Yes?’

-He’s not usually one to check his messages, but he wouldn’t be able to ignore a matter of this magnitude.

Virgil said, shaking the phone he was holding in his hand.

-He contacted me as soon as he saw the video. He sent a reply.

The moment Virgil turned on the messenger and checked Oliviera’s reply, his face changed strangely.

-……Hmm?

‘Wh, what……’

Virgil’s reaction was so bizarre that even the staff members watching him couldn’t even breathe and became tense.

-No, the chairman… hmm.

Virgil, who was stroking his chin with a troubled expression, blurted out.

-He says he’s going to the Kurvas Dam right now.

‘……’

Only a cold silence flowed quietly in the conference room.

Virgil got up with a wry smile.

-We’ll prepare the protocol on our side. Please cooperate.

* * *

‘They’re isolating the area near the power plant and patrolling all around?’

‘That’s right.’

McQueen answered without hesitation.

‘Kaise himself said it was necessary, so we’re allocating extra power to this area.’

‘……’

‘The work will be finished and we’ll return within three days. The war is busy, so we don’t have time to invest for long.’

McQueen’s words that they were isolating the particle power plant and completely blocking access to outsiders.

To enter the power plant head-on, they would have to fight the transcendents of the past directly.

Parden McQueen, Oliviera, Kaise, and other transcendents of the past who had rushed over with support from decades ago.

They hadn’t confirmed all the other forces yet, but if those three were like this, what would the others be like?

‘There’s so much I want to confirm…… I don’t have much time.’

Is the McQueen who is alive now the real McQueen of the past, or just an illusion left in this area?

In fact, Lenox had already concluded that the former possibility was unlikely.

If he had really traveled to the past, it would mean that he had been subjected to a forced time regression that was unrelated to Lenox’s will.

Considering Lenox’s target designation resistance ability, this was practically impossible.

It was something that could not be considered without a miracle of an ascendant or an outer god level, and if such a miracle was lurking in the area, there was no way Lenox would not have noticed it.

‘But it’s hard to think of it as just an illusion.’

This McQueen is having a normal conversation with Lenox, thinking, and making his own decisions about actions that did not exist in the past.

In addition, the main force flowing from his body is very similar to what Lenox remembered.

It’s not just a matter of separating the timeline and putting it far away.

A miracle that cannot be understood unless a specific point in time is fixed and this moment is ‘fixed’ and inserted into the timeline of the world as a whole.

If this was a byproduct of the Black Consumer Project that Kaise had tampered with, Lenox had to confirm it here.

‘We’re here. The particle power plant is over there.’

Unlike the outskirts of the restricted area, which were close to ruins, a magnificent new structure with no dust in sight.

Beyond the huge wall that seemed to be made by pouring concrete as a whole, thick chimneys and vents with huge diameters can be seen.

The particle power plant that constantly emits smoke and overlaps faint mana waves.

Even though he was just checking its appearance beyond the thick wall, Lenox could sense the incredibly powerful energy source emanating from within.

Also, the fact that all the phenomena occurring in this restricted area were related to that power plant.

McQueen, who was standing in front of the power plant, turned to look at Lenox and pointed to the bridge leading to the power plant, towards Lenox.

‘Lead the way.’

‘……Are you having second thoughts about trusting me now?’

‘I have to be careful before meeting the chairman.’

McQueen said, not letting his guard down.

‘I guided you because you had a business card with a signature, but I don’t trust you.’

‘……’

‘An excessively dangerous mana… It belongs to someone who has killed countless people. In the first place, I don’t know if a mage like you can sincerely trust and follow someone.’

‘Trust and follow……’

What could be more ironic than hearing those words directly from McQueen himself, who betrayed Oliviera and ended his life?

‘What are you laughing at?’

McQueen’s reaction, not hiding his discomfort.

It was a slightly different attitude from the McQueen of his lifetime, who Lenox remembered as being somewhat detached except for his obsession with his own time.

Over the decades, this defrocked monk must have had several opportunities to change his values in life.

‘If you think so, wouldn’t it be solved if you just killed me with your liberation technique?’

‘……’

‘I know that you have pioneered the landscape of your mind using the main gate. If it’s the scenery of the high mountains that contains your heart, it’s easy to get rid of me-‘

‘Stop.’

At this time, Parden McQueen was in a period where he denied his own mind and did not even like the fact that the scenery of his self-resonance field pointed to the high mountains of his monkhood.

He could express his displeasure at Lenox’s words mentioning his territory, but it would not be easy to suspect and drive Lenox further, who even knew such information.

Lenox accurately targeted the gap between that psychological discomfort and hesitation, and it worked well on McQueen himself.

McQueen, unable to hold back, slammed the staff he was holding down hard at Lenox’s feet.

‘Let’s go in. As you said, I’ll solve the matter of guiding the facility and reorganizing the command system after meeting the chairman.’

‘……’

‘It’s so inconvenient that communication doesn’t work near the Ramahal area. I wonder if it will get better after Kaise’s research is finished, sigh……’

There was still a chance to kill McQueen and enter alone.

However, Lenox obediently calmed his mana, leaned on his staff, and followed McQueen’s words, crossing the bridge into the power plant.

The huge power plant was filled with only empty, desolate fields and facilities without a single person.

They had evacuated not only the civilians living near the area, but also the employees and officials who managed the power plant.

What kind of research was Kaise conducting here that he kept people so far away and left only transcendents above the Saint-level to guard the area?

From the current perspective, it was like using powerful individuals who could shake the power structure of the underworld as mere guards.

Lenox, who was newly aware of the time gap, was about to move towards the gate leading into the power plant when.

[Parden McQueen.]

A voice calling McQueen was heard from high above in the sky.

[Outsiders are prohibited from entering. Didn’t you hear Kaise’s words?]

A voice with no highs and lows, flat and monotonous.

However, as soon as McQueen heard the voice, he shook his head.

‘He’s a person from the headquarters. He said he was ordered to be incorporated into this operation, so I’m on my way to confirm the truth.’

[Then it would be better to handle it outside the power plant.]

The voice replied.

The voice that quietly mixed in with the wind felt like a ghost.

[Didn’t Kaise ask you to strictly prohibit entry? Are you planning to disobey the order?]

‘I just need to ask the chairman directly. At least, it’s certain that I heard it directly from him.’

McQueen asked back with a blank face.

‘Or would you like to go inside the power plant yourself and tell him this fact? If so, I’ll wait here.’

‘……’

There was no answer.

Instead, it felt like the gaze that had been looking down at them from far away in the sky disappeared.

Lenox immediately turned his gaze to McQueen and asked.

‘Who is it?’

‘One of Kaise’s confidants.’

McQueen frowned and replied.

‘He’s famous for always taking his confidants with him as his personal guard. They’re all annoying guys with picky and irritating abilities.’

‘……’

‘I hate to admit it, but their performance in the civil war is so amazing that they even have a separate name. I’m sure that name was probably……’

McQueen, who had been lost in thought, said as if he had remembered.

‘It was Deadrise.’

‘……What?’

Lenox, who did not expect to hear that name here, turned his head at that moment.

Whoosh!!

A gray flash bisected the atmosphere at the speed of sound and fell from the ground.

Something that had fallen vertically from the sky in the blink of an eye spread its massive body wide open in front of the two and stopped.

Whoosh!!

Ironclad wings spread out on both sides.

The sight of countless firearms hanging inside the massive wings, which were several meters long, was clearly visible to Lenox.

A man with two wings boasting overwhelming artificial beauty on his back, instantly slowed down and landed on the ground.

His dull gray eyes were looking at Lenox with a cold gaze.

‘……’

The Tri-Heads of the Cartel.

A private military company that Kaise’s confidants had betrayed him and established.

Was that name originally the name of Kaise’s personal guard?

Ironically, Lenox had encountered the very person, one of Kaise’s confidants, here.

Perhaps one of the culprits who might betray Kaise in the future and leave him.