NOVEL NEXT Chapter 217
Episode 217. The Heart of the Foundation (1)
I secured Thule Island with Cosmos. Honestly, I have no idea what the degraded version of the World Tree on Thule Island is, so I’ll leave it aside for now.
Nanami’s team was moving to capture Administrator Iris, but I’m not sure if they succeeded. There might have been casualties.
“Ms. Nanami. Are you there?”
[This is Nanami.]
“Respond, please.”
[Ah, ah. It’s hard to hear.]
I checked the communication equipment in the underground bunker on Thule Island. It seemed properly connected to Nanami’s side, though there was a lot of noise.
[This is Nanami. It seems like information exchange inside and outside the Ivory Tower isn’t going smoothly. I’ve just climbed up to the rooftop of the Ivory Tower, but I’m not sure if the communication will be clear.]
“I can hear you. Please report the operation status.”
[We’ve secured Administrator Iris. The combat assets from the Seoul Branch are currently occupying Iris’s Ivory Tower. What should we do now?]
“Any casualties?”
[None. Only four of us were deployed.]
I nodded.
“Good work. Can we move Administrator Iris to the Seoul Branch now? If not, I’ll head to the Ivory Tower myself.”
[We can move her to the Seoul Branch.]
“Good. I’ll head to the Seoul Branch with Cosmos as soon as possible.”
[Understood.]
“See you at the Seoul Branch.”
We’ve got our hands on the Foundation’s most powerful weapon.
It might be too dangerous, but honestly, what more can the Administrator Council do beyond what they’re already doing?
Will half the Administrators come after me to kill me? Will they nuke my facilities, send North Korean troops to Seoul, or deploy an aircraft carrier in the East Sea to capture me?
Go ahead and try. You’ve already failed. You’ve lost Iris to me. The Foundation Headquarters has no cards left to play.
The Administrator Council has effectively collapsed.
The Foundation isn’t completely non-functional, but in terms of resisting Dr. Kim, they’re in a situation where they can’t do anything anymore.
The most powerful Special Forces teams have been annihilated.
Numerous powerful combat assets and humanoid supernatural phenomena have been killed. Many facilities have been destroyed, occupied, or surrendered to Dr. Kim’s faction.
The Special Forces team leaders have ultimately refused to face Dr. Kim. By the way, the situation with the Royal Guard isn’t much different.
If they had gone to deal with another Administrator who voted to kill Dr. Kim, that would be one thing. But because they randomly kidnapped Administrator Iris…
The Chairman of the Administrator Council, Veritas, was tearing his hair out. These idiots. Iris, that damn woman, is the biggest problem.
No. Are you stupid?
I can at least understand the Administrators who wanted to kill Dr. Kim. It’s possible to dislike someone.
Veritas didn’t agree with that thought, but he could understand wanting to kill someone you don’t like. Isn’t that one of the Foundation’s ways? I can understand that much.
Iris.
You abstained from voting, yet you can see everything and predict the future. How did you get kidnapped? Is this part of Iris’s plan?
It didn’t seem like it.
Ugh, damn it. In the end, cleaning up this mess fell to Veritas again. I’m going to lose all my hair. Veritas sighed.
“Enigma.”
“Yes.”
“What do you think we should do?”
One of Veritas’s advisors, Enigma, clicked his tongue. As if he had nothing to say.
“What other solutions are there besides fighting? Either fight and win, or reconcile. Those are the only two options, no matter who the opponent is.”
“That’s true.”
Enigma wasn’t human.
Completely white skin, a round head, no nose, sharp teeth, and big eyes like a cat or gecko. Some people thought he looked cute because he didn’t look human at all.
“If you ask the Administrators who wanted to kill Dr. Kim, they’ll definitely say we should start a nuclear war. Melt down the humans and facilities supporting him, and vaporize entire cities along with them.”
“That’s likely.”
“Have you considered it?”
“Enigma. You know this. Cleaning up after a nuclear war isn’t impossible, but does it make sense to kill Dr. Kim that way now? Can we even kill him with a strategic nuclear bomb?”
“He might just revive, or not die at all. If he hides deep in a facility, even a nuclear warhead might not harm him. If he’s hiding with a Reality Anchoring Device or a Causality Distortion Device…”
“Right. It’s highly unlikely we can take out Dr. Kim with a nuclear explosion. More than that, if hostile groups unite over the world’s destruction and join hands with Dr. Kim to attack the Foundation Headquarters, the situation could get much worse.”
Enigma nodded.
“Let’s negotiate with Dr. Kim and get Iris back. Even if we try to kill Dr. Kim, there’s no Special Forces team willing to cooperate in his extermination in this situation, right?”
Enigma opened his mouth, and his pink tongue licked his own eyeball. Veritas, who had been sitting there absentmindedly, was startled.
“Ah. Can you not do that?”
“Ah, that. Sorry, but I don’t have eyelids, so I don’t have another way.”
Enigma looked at Veritas.
“Can we rescue Iris?”
“I don’t know. If we could’ve rescued her in this situation, she wouldn’t have been kidnapped in the first place…”
That was also true.
Enigma licked his other eye.
“This is a disaster. Administrator Iris shouldn’t be of any help to Dr. Kim. How do we even know what Dr. Kim is plotting now?”
I looked at Administrator Iris, confined in the highest-grade humanoid containment room. Iris seemed to be asleep. Is she in pain?
There’s plenty of reason for her to be in pain.
Thin silver chains bound her arms and legs, and a wooden plank made of mistletoe, silk, and magical barriers surrounded her prisoner uniform and room.
We were suppressing Iris’s power by every means possible. I’m not sure if we’re actually limiting her clairvoyance.
I woke up Administrator Iris.
“Administrator Iris.”
“You startled me.”
“It’s Dr. Kim.”
“Right.”
“First, I’m curious. How did Nanami’s team capture you? Can’t you see everything?”
“It’s a secret.”
I just stared at Iris. She must have some weakness. I was just curious about what weakness Nanami exploited.
“Alright, then.”
I’ll ask Nanami later. As long as the real Iris is captured here, the method of her kidnapping isn’t important.
I took out my notebook.
“Where is Facility No. 1?”
“Hmm… Why Facility No. 1?”
“I heard even the Administrators can’t mess with it. That’s why I’m looking for it.”
“It’s not a place you’d like. Have you thought about it properly? Do you know why no one in the Foundation can mess with Facility No. 1?”
“Why?”
Iris’s expressionless face turned into a somewhat hostile smirk.
“You’re thinking wrong, Dr. Kim. Facility No. 1 is a place where magic doesn’t work. A prison that neutralizes supernatural phenomena. You, me, all of us. It’s not a place you can just occupy by force.”
“Hmm.”
“Is that what you thought?”
“What?”
“After crushing the Administrator Council, you thought you’d aim for the heart of the Foundation and become king. But the adventure ends here. By now, Veritas is probably looking for a way to persuade you.”
So that’s how it is.
There’s a facility hidden even from the Administrators, or any supernatural phenomenon, or powerful magic. The higher-ups of the Administrators.
“As expected.”
“Really?”
“From the start. Why do you think we asked where Facility No. 1 is? We already have a rough idea, so we asked.”
“No, didn’t you hear? Near Facility No. 1, supernatural phenomena are extremely weakened, and magic can’t be used. You won’t be able to enter.”
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“Dr. Kim. I don’t know what you’re planning, but even if you take our place, you’ll make the same mistakes we did. You’ll realize the world we created is the best.”
Iris sighed.
“We’ll see.”
“Dr. Kim. You don’t believe me.”
“Yes, honestly, I’m not sure.”
“Since Acacia sent the Special Forces to kill you, North Korea has been in a civil war, large-scale protests and wars have returned to Europe, and entities outside the Foundation are causing chaos and problems all over the world.”
I glared at Iris.
“Is that my fault?”
“I can’t say it’s not your fault.”
“Did I start the war? What were you doing, seeing everything? You beings just sit around blaming others—”
I sighed. It’s pointless to get angry at Iris, who spends half her day sleeping anyway.
The important thing is to reclaim the Earth from these incompetent, evil, centuries-old boomers.
I will occupy Facility No. 1.