"Are you the Queen Bee?"
Arsha smiled and nodded.
"Yes. I am the queen bee you were looking for."
"What's your relationship with Querehsha?"
She smiled at Suho's direct question.
"You know the Monarch well. Let's say it's just like how you are the Fang Monarch's descendant."
"…"
"Oh my, what's with that look on your face? You smell like an animal all over your body. Did you really think I wouldn't notice? I am not stupid."
"…?"
For a moment, Suho was at a loss for words at Arsha's meaningful gaze.
Swoosh.
Just in time, a divine wind swept through Suho's pure white hair.
[The King of Beasts, Fang Monarch, grabs his belly and thumps on the floor laughing at the Queen Bee.]
The real descendant of the Fang Monarch has now possessed Suho's body.
"By the way, it's a bit disappointing that the descendant of the Fang Monarch took away the worker bees I worked so hard for. Could it be the power of the Fang Monarch, the famous 'Contempt for the Weak'? Overpowering beasts weaker than himself? Right?"
"…"
No. It was all wrong.
None of them fit.
Why did she keep talking nonsense with that expression?
[The King of Beasts, Fang Monarch, grabs his stomach and thumps again.]
'Stop laughing. It was just a lack of information, she's probably not that stupid.'
Suho didn't know why but he felt embarrassed for her, so he made an excuse for Arsha instead.
[It is natural to misunderstand.]
Just in time, Beru delivered a message directly into Suho's head so Arsha couldn't hear it.
[As I said before, in order for a descendant of a monarch to exist, the monarch must die first to create that vacancy. But the victor of the war, the Shadow Monarch, is still alive…]
'That means no one will think of me as a descendant of the Shadow Monarch. It's actually like that.'
Although Beru had always called Suho Young Master, strictly speaking he is only the son of the Shadow Monarch and not the official successor.
In the first place, a descendant of the Shadow Monarch could not exist in the world.
Because Sung Jinwoo, the ruler of death, will never die.
The clear evidence of that was Suho's status window.
[Status Window]
Name: Sung Suho
Level: 28
Occupation: None
If Suho was the official successor, there was no way that the occupation column would remain blank.
There was more evidence.
Those shadow soldiers standing firmly behind Suho.
Since Suho was not a monarch, he could not command an entire army.
So at best, he could only release shadow soldiers for his daily tasks.
After a day, they would go back to nothing…
There was no need to explain those to Arsha.
It was normal to see her misleading herself.
'Let's see how it turns out.'
Suho asked Arsha a question instead of an answer.
"So you're saying you're a descendant of Querehsha?"
"Hmm. Well. In fact, all of us bugs are her descendants. Querehsha is one and a colony. She is the mother of all bugs ."
"If you turn your back, you will die."
[Actually, the words are being twisted, Young Master…]
Suho ignored Beru's whispers for a moment.
"Oh my goodness. So scary."
As Suho's sharp gaze, Arsha raised both hands in an exaggerated gesture of surrender.
Then an amazing sight unfolded.
Wiiiing-
Arsha's hands were split into numerous bees and scattered.
[How dare you…!]
Beru's hand, furious at the moment, quickly wafted through the air.
That caused several small bees to land on the table.
The remaining bees coalesced back to Arsha and turned into hands again.
Beru's eyes squinted.
[It's something that weak bugs often do to protect themselves.]
"Is that the basis of the struggle to survive?"
"Where's the main body?"
"Oh. You're not surprised at all."
Even in that situation, Suho remained calm.
He, too…
'I couldn't see the name tag from the beginning.'
Instead of the name Arsha, Suho saw something else.
There were name tags of the numerous [Contaminated Wasps] that have gathered around Arsha's body.
"Yes, that's right. I left for here right away. One of the worker bees I worked hard to raise rebelled against me and decided to move the hive."
"Worker? Could it be…"
"Correct. Vice President Lee Minseong, who is a hot issue these days."
Arsha answers with a small sigh.
Her gaze suddenly turned to the shadow lancers standing behind Suho.
"You know what? Those lancers were once human too. I fed royal jelly to the men who came to Earth and approached me with a dark heart, and they evolved into worker bees."
"Royal Jelly? What is that?"
"It is the power of the queen bee."
The queen bee Arsha had 'poison' that she had in her body since she was born.
A special poison named Royal Jelly.
The poison is sweet like honey, but the moment it enters the body of the host, it transforms the host into a loyal worker bee that only follows the queen bee.
"However, the conditions for making them worker bees are quite difficult."
"Condition?"
"Yes. Those who cannot withstand the toxicity of royal jelly die immediately, and those who have some degree of immunity rot alive."
Rot…
Is it like the arm of Gu Dongjae?
'I did a good job cutting it right away.'
Accordingly, catching just anyone and feeding them royal jelly did not mean that all of them would evolve into worker bees.
At first, Arsha also had to go through a lot of trial and error.
"So I set up a bar and kept feeding royal jelly to random people. Then, I just knew."
Those who meekly accepted the power of the queen bee and willingly gave up on humans to become worker bees.
They had one thing in common.
"Craving."
Arsha's eyes glimmered.
"People who have stronger desires than others give up being human very easily."
"…"
Every human being has desires.
However, the amount of the desire was different for each person, and the types were diverse.
Among them, especially those who have 'strong' desire.
i.e. Hunter.
"So, among the hunters, I found those who were not satisfied with their strength and wanted to become stronger somehow. Oh, they were easy to find. When I threw the bait, they came on their own."
Suho immediately realized what that method was.
"Stardust…"
"That's right. If you fed royal jelly to hunters who use stardust, the healthiest worker bees were born. Coincidentally, Vice President Lee Minseong also distributed stardust."
Looking back, Lee Minseong was a good worker for Arsha in many ways.
Even when he was human, he was very helpful, but in fact, the thing she looked forward to the most was when he became a real worker bee.
He was a person who aspired to become an S-Class, even though he had the strength of an A-Class.
"So I really put a lot of effort into raising him."
If he was unqualified, he would die, so he spent time and adapted to royal jelly little by little.
Like a vaccine.
A small amount of poison was fed daily.
"But I guess he ate too much. The vaccine was too strong. He ended up running away from me."
[He ran away?]
Beru was the first to react to those words.
A worker bee running away from the queen bee?
For an ant serving a great king, it was an act that could not be dared to imagine.
"Yes. He became a worker bee, but a kind worker bee that was born and refused to become a worker of the queen."
Arsha let out a deep sigh with a really embarrassed expression.
"Maybe he even wants to imitate me, so he started gathering his own legion. On the subject of failure."
"…!"
Legion.
Suho's expression stiffened at that familiar yet ominous word.
* * *
Outside Times Square …
Unusual signs were happening all over the city.
"Ugh…"
Did he drink too much?
Citizens whispered as they watched a passer-by clutching his throbbing head while staggering.
"Why is that person like that?"
"I don't know. He's a hunter, right? He's wearing armor."
"Hey, hey. Let's avoid getting involved in trouble for nothing."
Among the hunters, there were often such people.
Those who suddenly awakened as high-ranking hunters, became wealthy overnight, and lost control.
If civilian people were involved with them, their lives could be really in danger with no exaggeration.
People whispered and secretly began to distance themselves from the hunter.
Right then.
The hunter, who was walking in a strange posture, turned his head toward the people.
Chills.
"…!"
A rotting face like a corpse was exposed.
"I-It's…"
The complexion of the people who saw it quickly became pale.
Eventually, the hunter's mouth opened wide and he attacked the citizens.
"Geuuhuh-!"
"Kyaaaagh!"
"Monster-!"
Screams spread like flames at the sudden appearance of a humanoid monster.
But screams were coming from other alleys as well.
It wasn't just one guy.
* * *
The association has an emergency.
-Dozens of villains are attacking citizens! Let the attackers closest to the scene mobilize immediately!
Team leader Han Jaehyeok, who was tracking Lee Minseong, was given an order from the upper level.
"These crazy bastards! Why are there so many villains these days!"
Han Jaehyeok immediately dragged his men and moved directly to the place where the villains appeared.
"Ahhh..!"
The scene was a mess.
Bodies dying in a gruesome manner.
Villains stepping past them.
'No, they're not villains.'
Chills.
Arriving at the scene, Han Jaehyeok, who finally confirmed their appearance, got goosebumps.
Villain was a term referring to an awakened person who became a criminal.
But the moment he saw them, his instincts were giving him a strong warning.
"That" is not human.
Like Mist Burn, those who were once human but have turned into demonic beasts.
The association recently gave them a new name.
Mutant.
"Geuuhuh!"
Just in time, the mutants, rotting like corpses, discovered the association's hunters and started attacking them.
The battle started, and Han Jaehyuk hurriedly picked up his walkie-talkie and shouted while deploying his defense skills.
"Reporting! They're not villains, they're mutants! Conversation seems completely impossible, and we don't have enough power…!"
"Ahh!"
At the same time, an association hunter who was evacuating citizens was attacked and fell down.
Then, the mutants rushed towards him as he fell.
"Why are you so strong!"
Han Jaehyeok, who was radioing, witnessed the scene a step later and jumped in hastily.
Right then.
"Open fire."
Swoosh-!
A rain of arrows suddenly fell down from the sky.
"That's…!"
It was truly spectacular.
The pouring arrows evaded people and hit only the bodies of the mutants.
Surprised, Han Jaehyuk looked back.
There, the hunters of the famous Reaper Guild aim their bows at once.
"Lee Minseong isn't there, what kind of situation is this again?"
Lim Taegyu was standing in the middle of them with a stern expression.
He checked the appearances of the mutants one by one and then screamed.
"Why did our guild members end up like this here?!"
The mutants that appeared on the streets were all members of the Reaper Guild who had been kidnapped by Lee Minseong.