Chapter 204: it better be

The three curse mages on the upper deck of the crane didn’t try to jump down into the black water. Their skill lines were frozen into solid gray blocks by the mechanical click of the brass watch, leaving them with nothing but their bare hands. They stood on the wet iron grating, their fingers shaking as they dropped their useless bone rods onto the rusted plates below.

"Bring them down," Jun-ho said, his voice quiet against the cold salt wind.

Tae-woo stepped forward, his massive new Tier 4 frame making the wooden pier planks groan under his boots. He reached up, caught the lowest rung of the crane ladder with his large, grease-stained hand, and yanked the iron frame down until the bolts sheared cleanly out of the concrete foundation.

The three mages fell heavily onto the gravel, their wool coats covered in gray slush, their teeth clicking together from the cold static of the thirty-meter frost ring.

Jun-ho unzipped the canvas duffel bag slung over his shoulder, his bare left hand closing around the dark leather of The Monarch’s Ledger. He didn’t pull the book out into the drizzle, but his thoughts directed the Phase 3 framework straight toward the lead mage’s collarbone.

[The Monarch’s Ledger Interface Active.]

[Target: Sun God Main Office Encrypted Frequency.]

[Extracting Log Data from target’s memory lines...]

[Mana Cost: 200. Current Mana: 2000/4000.]

A click echoed through the mage’s mind, making his eyes roll back as the ledger rewrote his memory files. A long block of clean gray text box opened across Jun-ho’s sight, revealing the exact marine coordinates of the Ministry’s central storage facility on the northern island—the vault where the legacy families kept the high-tier cores hidden from the civil tax grids.

"The northern facility has two layers of reinforced stone doors," Jun-ho murmured, his face staying as flat as stone under his dark hood.

"They have thirty enforcers at the gate," the lead mage choked out, his face gray with terror as the cold from the Ashen Domain turned his lips blue. "And a Tier 5 Commander who handles a lightning catalyst. If you step onto that reef, the harbor defense grid will lock your hull from behind."

"The defense grid belongs to the ledger now," Jun-ho said flatly.

He turned his back on them, shifting his grip on the rough hemp wrap of The Ash Remnant as he walked back toward Old Man Hak’s wooden lugger. Tae-woo and the four elite front-line units followed right behind his shoulders, their heavy stone blocks of basin rock slung over their backs like massive dark shields.

The single-cylinder diesel engine let out a loud, dark puff of black smoke as the old captain slammed the gear handle forward, the boat sliding away from the broken black slipway and disappearing straight into the thick yellow fog of the outer channel.

Twenty minutes later, the open sea grew rough, the heavy waves hitting the oak hull with a low, deep roar that made the small cabin structure rattle. Inside the low, narrow crew hold beneath the deck hatch, the air was warm—thick with the smell of dry timber, hot copper oil from the engine line, and the rich, spicy scent of the ginger tea Eun-bi had brewed over the boiler pipes.

Jun-ho sat on the low wooden storage locker, his large rubber boots flat against the floorboards. He had unbuckled the Ashen Monarch Core Plate from his chest, setting the thick stone-gray slabs down against the wall. His plain gray shirt was damp from the salt spray, the thin cotton fabric clinging tightly to his shoulders and highlighting the dense, powerful muscles of his bare upper frame, which had grown hard and unyielding after his double level-up.

Eun-bi sat on the edge of the opposite canvas cot, her canvas bag unzipped between her knees. She had taken off her wet yellow rain jacket, throwing it over the engine hatch to dry. She was wearing only Gyeong-su’s old gray flannel shirt, but the loose fabric had pulled wide when she sat down, the top three buttons left undone because of the intense heat coming off the boiler line.

The thin gray light from the small porthole window cut a sharp lane through the dim cabin, catching the soft, smooth curve of her bare collarbone and the tight, firm line of her waist underneath the wet cloth. Her dark hair was half-dry now, falling down her bare neck in soft, messy strands that brushed softly against her skin every time the boat took a larger wave.

"The transponder is locked onto the Ministry’s private frequency," Eun-bi said, her voice dropping into a quiet, raspy register that was softer than he had ever heard it in the transit tunnels. She didn’t look at her clipboard; her sharp eyes were fixed entirely on his bare chest, her lips slightly parted as she breathed the warm, close air of the hold. "The naval patrol cutters down the coast just picked up the distress signal from the Sun King. They’re deploying two heavy search ships to block the mouth of the northern channel by midnight."

"The channel is wide," Jun-ho said, his voice low and steady in the small room.

He stood up from his locker, his head almost touching the low wooden beams of the ceiling. He took one step forward, his shadow falling completely over her cot as his knees brushed against the edge of her canvas mattress.

Eun-bi didn’t shift her weight back. She looked up at him through her wet bangs, a small, genuine flush creeping up her bare neck, turning her skin a soft, warm pink color under the yellow light of the oil lamp. Her fingers slowly released the grip they had kept on her trauma shears, her hands reaching out to catch the wet hem of his gray shirt, her grip tight but trembling slightly from the heat of the room.

"You’re a very dangerous guy to follow, Kang Jun-ho," she whispered, her breath warm and spicy against his bare skin as she pulled his torso down toward her shoulders.

Jun-ho didn’t pull away. He sat down right next to her thigh on the narrow canvas mattress, his large hand reaching out to catch her waist under the loose flannel fabric. Her skin was smooth, burning hot from the boiler line, her body firm and athletic as she leaned her entire weight flat against his chest, her dark hair brushing softly against his jawline with a silky friction that made the suppressed mana behind his ribs give a sudden, deep throb.

"The detail is unranked, Eun-bi," Jun-ho said, his voice dropping into a low, natural murmur against her ear. "But the room is safe."

"It better be," she muttered through her teeth, her lips pressing sharp against his shoulder as she pulled the dry flannel shirt completely off her arms, letting the thick blue light of the high-density stones inside her open bag cast long, liquid shadows across their bare skin while the old wooden lugger slid deeper into the dark gray mist of the open sea.