Return of the Apex Predator

Chapter 07 – Heart of Eclipse (3)

Taking over the Daedong Faction wasn’t all that difficult.

Dozens of gangsters were sprawled across the lobby, their bodies torn apart. The damage had been caused while they fought just two monsters that appeared in the basement.

Choo Sang-wook, Jeong Yangdeuk, Lee Heesu, and others relayed the situation in the basement to everyone. They gathered all the gangsters capable of fighting and assembled them in the lobby.

There was no need to explain how those who had been trembling outside the staircase leading to the parking lot, gripping their weapons, reacted to the return of Bastille and Leonhart.

In the face of survival, pride didn’t stand a chance. Without a word, the Daedong Faction swore loyalty to Leonhart and Bastille.

“You’re safe!” Choo Sang-wook said as he stepped forward to greet the two.

Leonhart smiled.

“Were you hoping I’d die?”

“How could that be?”

“If we were gone, you’d be the leader of this faction, wouldn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t dare…”

“At least you know your place. We’ve mostly cleaned up the basement. No one’s foolish enough to wander down there and become a snack for the monsters, right?”

At those words, Choo Sang-wook shook his head vigorously.

“Good. There are things we need to discuss, so bring the faction’s leaders to the meeting room. Make sure the passage to the basement is tightly sealed with something like an iron door.”

“Yes!”

Bastille and Leonhart headed to the meeting room first.

Once inside, Leonhart turned to Bastille and said, “There’s a lot we need to decide, starting with the name of this group. We can’t keep calling it the Daedong Faction, can we?”

Bastille nodded.

“A name, huh…”

“The organization’s form, the title of the leader, the structure… We can’t settle on any of it hastily.”

Bastille replied, “I’ll leave it all to you. I don’t know much about that kind of thing… And you should be the leader.”

Leonhart seemed to think for a moment, then nodded without hesitation.

“Alright. I suppose I’m more accustomed to dealing with people.”

“I’m not just saying this to flatter you; I fully agree. I’m busy enough just keeping myself together.”

“Because of Spirit Binding, right?”

Bastille nodded.

“That’s right.”

“As for the name… It would be best to borrow the format of a knightly order, don’t you think? Even if our methods are rough, our goal is still to protect this world.”

“Why waste time? We should just summon Revenheim’s knight order directly.”

Leonhart snapped his fingers.

“Exactly. The answer is simple. Xerio. We’ll take the name of the Golden Lion Knights as it is. The Knight Commander, the Vice Commander, the Chief Mage and their mage corps, the intelligence unit, the scouting unit, the inspection team, and Divisions 1 through 4. I suddenly feel like my mind is clear.”

Leonhart beamed at Bastille.

“I’ll count on you, Vice Commander.”

“As you wish.”

“We’ll leave the Chief Mage position vacant for now, but we should assign that brat, Choo Sang-wook, to the mage corps.”

“Once we’ve set up the framework, we can fill the positions slowly.”

“I agree. The first task is to organize the intelligence unit and track down Awakened individuals.”

Bastille nodded silently.

By the time their conversation reached this point, the leaders of the Daedong Faction began to file into the meeting room one by one.

Bastille looked at Leonhart standing at the head of the podium and had a sudden thought.

*I’m envious.*

There were those who were born with a gift. Even without formal training in oratory, every word Leonhart spoke carried a natural charisma. He could easily captivate others, making them dream like visionaries.

Right now, he was speaking to everyone about the changing world.

“You’ve done all sorts of dirty work in the shadows of this world up until now. I won’t deny that. No light exists without its shadow. I’m not here to preach about some saint’s teachings that tell you to stop committing crimes. But I command you: step into the light.”

The gangsters already knew what had happened in the basement of the Daedong Faction’s headquarters. To some extent, they had already accepted that they were now under Leonhart and Bastille.

However, not everyone was willing to surrender completely to Leonhart’s authority.

Especially Lee Minseong, a martial artist from the Seomun Faction, one of the four factions under the Daedong banner. Since childhood, he had followed the former head of the Daedong Faction, fighting for life and death at his side. Now, at the age of forty, he still maintained such rigorous self-discipline that there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him.

He stood up and approached Leonhart.

“I get that the world is changing, and that monsters are eating humans. But why are people like you, who have nothing to do with the Daedong Faction, trying to take the lead here, just because you have some supernatural powers? If you want to fight monsters, go form your own group. But swallowing up an organization that someone else built with their sweat and blood? Isn’t that going too far?”

Choo Sang-wook erupted in anger.

“Wasn’t that settled yesterday? The organization is mine to inherit. Are you defying that decision?”

“What else could we do? When someone crushes your heart in an instant, you have no choice but to bow. Sure, I didn’t mind when Choo here was just collecting tribute and staying on top, but this is completely different. Now you want us to fight these so-called monsters, risking the lives of our brothers? What happens if they all die? The entire organization will be uprooted.”

Lee Minseong then turned back to Leonhart and spoke again.

“There’s the military for dealing with monsters or whatever. We pay our taxes, don’t we? Why should we risk our lives playing vigilante? Why should we be the ones to do it? My only wish is to continue making money and ensuring our boys live comfortably.”

Leonhart glanced at the four leaders one by one.

Though they didn’t speak up like Lee Minseong, they were likely thinking along the same lines.

Leonhart turned his gaze toward the window. It was just past noon, and the blinding sunlight streamed down onto the streets.

Slowly, he began to speak.

“At first, they’ll stay underground. Mines, underground water reserves, morgues, subways, basements of buildings, bunkers, and even the depths of dark forests where the sunlight doesn’t reach. But they’ll slowly expand their territory. The heart of Eclipse is like a fungus spore; it hides in the heart of other living things and can spread far and wide, regardless of the environment. And when it encounters darkness, it awakens again, building its nest. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“So, you’re saying…”

“There’s no such thing as a safe place. First, they’ll take over the underground, and then, they’ll claim the sky. They’ll create a corrupted fog that will block out the sun. How many years do you think it will take for them to reach the surface? Ten thousand? A thousand? No, ten years is enough. Before you die, this entire world will become their lair.”

“But…”

“A vigilante group? Who’s protecting whom? That’s pure arrogance. I’m offering you the power to protect yourselves. In return, you will work for me. You will help me paint a larger picture, so that more people can rally under my banner and prepare for the world to come. Your role is limited to that. If you can’t accept even that, the only path left for you is death.”

Lee Minseong stared straight into Leonhart’s eyes.

Leonhart smiled.

“Come under the banner of the Golden Lion. Whatever you were before, in the next world, you will be knights revered by the people. Today’s meeting is your last chance.”

“You’re insane…”

Lee Minseong muttered, attempting to dismiss Leonhart’s words.

However, Leonhart’s eyes didn’t waver in the slightest. His gentle smile remained undiminished.

At that moment, Jeong Yangdeuk spoke up. He was one of the leaders who had personally witnessed the monsters in the basement, and he had already made up his mind to sincerely follow Leonhart and Bastille.

“I’m not sure how much I can do, but the Silver Ring Faction will carry out whatever orders you give.”

“Welcome under the banner of the Golden Lion.”

“Yes.”

Following that, Jo Byeongguk and Lee Seongho, leaders of the remaining two factions, also pledged their loyalty. Lastly, Lee Minseong addressed Leonhart.

“I’m not planning to have the Seomun Faction oppose you alone, but if you throw my men to the monsters as food, I swear I’ll stake my life to rise up against you. Just keep that in mind.”

Leonhart nodded firmly and replied, “A banner can only stand among comrades. For now, follow me, and let’s carry this banner into the future together.”

“Fine. For now, I’ll have to trust you.”

—

Leonhart quickly began organizing the situation.

As a former commander who had governed a legion, his leadership was filled with natural charisma.

His insight into human nature, in particular, was so exceptional that it almost felt like a supernatural ability.

After just a few brief conversations with some probing questions, he had a clear understanding of the person he was speaking with. It took him only half a day to assign hundreds of gangsters to appropriate positions and even appoint temporary managers for each department.

The Daedong Faction’s president’s office had now been renamed as the headquarters of the Golden Lion Knights.

As the wind still blew through the desolate room, Leonhart stretched out in his chair.

“Ugh, this is exhausting.”

“I wasn’t much help,” Bastille said.

“It’s fine. On the contrary, I can’t assess magical potential, so I’ve been relying entirely on you for that.”

There were Awakened individuals among the gangsters, although they hadn’t realized it themselves.

A few of them had the ability to sense the elemental energies of nature and could understand the relationship between the flow of those energies and their own internal power.

Of course, they couldn’t use magic right away, but they were definitely worth teaching.

“At least the effort was worth it, wasn’t it?” Leonhart said with a smile as he propped his feet up on the desk.

“Imagine how long it would have taken to build an organization like this from the ground up. Not months, but years.”

Bastille stood by the window, gazing out at the city as the sun set. Slowly, he spoke.

“It bothers me that talent is concentrated in just one area.”

“Well, they’re gangsters. You can’t expect to find honor students here. At least we’ve got a few accountants and lawyers hanging around…”

“They’re not the trustworthy types.”

“Exactly. We need more young, sharp minds.”

Leonhart chuckled and added, “But we’ll manage somehow. Oh, I need to call my evening part-timer. If the shop’s still wrecked, I should tell her not to come in.”

“That girl from yesterday?”

“Yeah, Dahye. She seems to think what happened last night was either a movie shoot or some hidden camera prank. It’s hard to believe people were killed and dumped into the sewers, and even harder to believe they all turned to dust in an instant. Oh, by the way, was that some kind of corpse disposal magic?”

“Once organic material loses its life energy, it can’t maintain its form.”

“Convenient, not having to worry about burying the bodies. If we’d buried them improperly, they might’ve turned into the Evils of Eclipse and attacked humans again.”

Bastille gave a bitter smile.

“Burial was a luxury… where we came from.”

“Not out of respect for the dead, but out of fear of zombies, we burned the corpses. People were terrified that the bodies might come back to life and attack them. They couldn’t take their eyes off the dead until they were reduced to ashes and ground into powder. Even when I was a child, there were still proper funerals. But later on, the entire funeral process was about preventing zombification.”

“And even that… After the southern wall was breached, we couldn’t manage it anymore. We set fire to tens of thousands of corpses, and for three days and nights, the stench of burning flesh didn’t disappear from the city.”

“You were the one who gave them their final rites, weren’t you?”

“That was my duty.”

Leonhart ran his hands over his face.

He couldn’t decide whether he should mourn for the dead or feel pity for Bastille, who had been forced to handle so many bodies.

Leonhart spoke.

“If the same thing happens here, we’ll be setting fire to millions of corpses.”

It was a future he didn’t even want to imagine.

Bastille looked up at the sky. A half-moon was already hanging high.

The moon and constellations here were different from those in Revenheim. Familiar yet long-forgotten, the night sky made Bastille sigh.