The meeting was over, but Junhyuk stayed back for a private meeting with Eunseo. Once she was alone with him, Eunseo grabbed his hands.

Eunseo usually didn’t express her emotions, so Junhyuk was a little surprised. She looked up at him and said, “I want to see your real face.”

Junhyuk removed his disguise, and Eunseo stared at him. Then, she hugged him tightly. He was a little surprised, but he hugged her back.

“Thanks for returning safely,” she said.

They separated, and Eunseo adjusted her gla.s.ses and clothes. After that, she stoically took a seat, but that’s when Junhyuk pulled her arm and hugged her pa.s.sionately.

“You’ve worked hard,” he said.

He had done his best, and Eunseo, as head of Guardians, had also done her best. She had mediated between and guided all of the delegates, which had to have not been an easy task. If she hadn’t been a novice, she probably would’ve fallen ill.

When Junhyuk hugged her tight, she fell safe and forgot about her troubles. The world was in danger. Even so, Eunseo had felt like he had forgotten about her. However, when he hugged her, she felt much better.

Junhyuk let her go and pulled the chair for her. Euns...o...b..wed to him and sat down. After that, Junhyuk took a seat at the opposite side of the table, facing her. Looking at him, she smiled.

“The capitals were destroyed. There is no trace of them, but more importantly, we’ve lost a number of experts and novices. The number of monsters was too high.”

Junhyuk remembered fighting a lot of monsters. He hadn’t prepared for that. He also used the Core Bombs, and those destroyed the monsters, but the collateral damage was too high.

“We have plans to rebuild the capitals, and we’ll make defense plans for each of them, but I’m not sure if we have the time for it.”

“It’ll take a while for it to start, and the waves won’t happen in those places.”

The waves appeared in populated areas. Because the capitals had been destroyed, there was no reason for them to trigger there.

“That’s good to hear. There are many people supporting the rebuilding efforts.”

“Good.”

The most wealthy families in the world were supporting the rebuilding efforts. The reason, of course, was that they had a lot to gain from rebuilding the world’s capitals.

“How long will it take to build the new facility at Guardians HQ?”

“A few days. We need to find builders, but once we get the right people on it, a start-of-the-art training facility can be finished quickly.”

“Sorry for making you work so much.”

“No. It’ll be quite easy.”

Eunseo had worked hard to save the world. Finding experts and champions and building a training facility should be easy for her in comparison. They talked for a while before Junhyuk got up from his seat.

“I hope to see you often from now on.”

“Me too,” Eunseo said and got up. “You must be tired from your travels. Go get some rest. By the way, where are you headed now?”

Junhyuk smiled at her and said, “I have to go see Elise first.”

“She’s doing research from her home nowadays. Our research team is apprenticing from her.”

“She’s a contractor now? Working offsite?”

“Yes.”

Junhyuk once again understood the depth of Elise’s power. She was instructing both Guardians’ research team and his own company’s research team. On top of that, she was working on her own projects.

“I’ll go see her.”

“OK.”

Junhyuk walked out and met with Sarang. The champions were talking to the delegates of their own countries, and those delegates wanted to meet and shake hands with her.

When Junhyuk entered the lobby, some people got up to greet him. Now, Junhyuk was the Dark Knight to the public, and he had been the one to destroy the dimensional tear in the US. He had also saved the world. Junhyuk held his own status, and other governments wanted to know about him.

One of the men who stood up walked up to him and gave him a business card.

“I’m Head Secretary Junghoon Kim from the Blue House. It’s an honor to shake your hand.”

Junhyuk shook hands with the head secretary, but prevented Junghoon from saying anything else.

“I have your card, so let’s talk later. I have a prior engagement.”

Junghoon smiled awkwardly while thinking that he had never been treated that poorly by anyone. At the same time, Junhyuk took Sarang and walked outside.

Following him, she asked, “Can we leave like this?”

“Sure. I’m going to see Elise.”

“Big Sis Elise?”

“That’s right.”

While they talked, Junhyuk took Sarang with him. He had no need to hide Sarang’s relationship with Elise now. It was public knowledge that Sarang was a hero and that Elise built equipment and was the one who had created the Core Bombs.

In the past, she had been known as Head of Research at Robotics and then as Head of Research at Guardians. Now, she was known as the woman who had created Core Bombs.

Both women were famous.

Junhyuk took Sarang to Elise’s, and when they got there, an iron soldier opened the gate and guided them inside.

Junhyuk inspected the iron soldier and laughed out loud.

“This iron soldier is not equipped with any weapons.”

Even without weapons, an iron soldier was very expensive. Although it worked as a butler for her, it also acted as Elise’s bodyguard.

Junhyuk looked around the house. He hadn’t noticed before, but security was very tight. When they met, Elise was wearing her goggles as she waved at him and Sarang.

“Welcome!”

Junhyuk inspected her lab. Elise could work from home thanks to the many iron soldiers guarding the house. They did not carry any weapons on them and they also helped Elise in her lab work. For Elise, the iron soldiers were better the human lab a.s.sistants.

When he saw her, Junhyuk asked, “Have you gotten any sleep today?”

“I’m fine. I won’t die from a couple of days without sleep.”

Elise was an expert, but he could see deep, dark circles beyond the gla.s.ses of her goggles. Junhyuk shook his head, but when Elise lifted her goggles, her eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g brightly.

“Bebe was telling the truth. Refurbished cores are more powerful.”

“Really?”

“Wait! Gongon?” Elise called out, and the monitors around the lab showed Gongon’s image on their screens. Junhyuk stared at them blankly, and Elise explained, “I was able to connect the communication orb to my computer. It wasn’t difficult.”

Junhyuk thought it must have been extremely difficult to do. He kept staring at her while Elise talked to Gongon.

“Gon, how are things on your side?”

“The refurbished core has unlimited potential. Right now, my Lord and the others are researching it. They are also researching the towers that house the cores. Their principles are unknown, so it’s very enticing work.”

“Group research?” Junhyuk asked, and Gongon smiled.

“There is deep interest in that research in my dimension.” Glancing at Elise, Gongon added, “The child, Elise, has talent in crafting magical objects.”

Junhyuk turned to her, and Elise smiled.

“Magic and magic research is fun!”

“How do you get the mana for it?”

“I have some mana trees planted in my garden, and I have this bracelet.”

Junhyuk smacked his lips. She was really doing magic research.

Sarang was curious about Elise’s research. She was still in communication with Vera and learning from her. Being a high-tier hero, Vera knew almost everything there was to know about magic.

Sarang and Elise talked about their common interest, magic, and Junhyuk shook his head. He turned to Gongon and asked, “Do you know how to refurbish a core?”

Junhyuk couldn’t afford the 200,000G cost. He had a lot of cores, so he needed to figure out the procedure.

Using his short claws, Gongon scratched his chin and said, “I need a core that hasn’t been refurbished and I won’t be able to succeed on my first try.”

“Can you try?”

“Give me two more cores next time, and I’ll work on it.”

“Sure!”

Junhyuk turned to Elise. She was still talking to Sarang, and when her eyes met his, she smiled.

“I have enough monster materials. By using the B-ranked monsters, I can make weapons for novices.”

Her crafting recipes required B-ranked monsters, but those weapons would really only serve the novices. Still, it would be a lot of help.

Once the waves started again, the heroes and champions would use the teleportation devices to crush the waves. However, experts and novices had to protect the areas affected by rogue monsters from the waves. For that reason, experts and novices would also need items.

“Who’s paying for the bodies?”

“The countries.”

“That’s nice.”

Elise held her chin and pondered seriously over something. She said, “I can make many things with the research teams from both Guardians and GST, but I have to craft the new items myself.”

“You’re working on magic training, equipment development and the core research?”

“Yes.”

“How can I help you?”

After thinking for a moment, Elise said, “Just like Gongon, I need two more cores to figure out how the refurbishment process works.”

Junhyuk pulled out the two cores and gave them to her. Elise took them and smiled at him.

Looking at her, he said, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“About what?”

Junhyuk had been thinking about something for a while, so he told Elise about it, “I need to spend some time here. Do you have a spare room?”