Strongest Superhuman System - Chapter 725

Chapter 725: Why Are You Doing This?
Seeing Japan enter the voting pool was a little strange, and this managed to give them a lot of popularity with the voters. Japan easily gained votes over the other Asian countries, and it was a landslide victory that led to them becoming the third host of the Superhuman Tournament.

This happened only two weeks ago, and it was only through sheer luck that Henry managed to catch wind of Mark’s desire to enter Japan. Hao was seen talking to the head of the Asian Superhuman Alliance branch about getting permission from the Japanese government to allow the Vanguard Guild to enter Japan, and one of Henry’s spies in the agency got that information to him. Henry set up a meeting with Hao, and through him, he got this meeting with Mark.

Henry watched Mark closely to see what sort of reaction Mark would have about this request. On the outside, Henry did not allow his emotions to show at all, but on the inside, Henry felt very tense. There was a lot riding on this for Henry and the Superhuman Alliance, and even if Mark didn’t like it, Henry needed him to accept this offer.

Mark sighed calmly as he turned to Luna and asked her opinion. Mark already knew that this was not a bad offer, but he felt like he needed an outside opinion before he finally made a decision.

“What do you think?”

Luna was leaning back in her seat as she thought about Henry’s offer, and she hummed curiously when Mark asked her opinion. Luna didn’t really have anything against joining the tournament. But the only issue that could come up for that was the restrictions that would be put on Mark as one of the competitors. Mark was going to have to follow the rules and go wherever they told him to go. If they needed Mark to go anywhere else while he was in Japan, then it could be an issue.

Luna said this to Mark calmly, and Mark nodded and turned back to Henry.

“Before I make a choice, I first need to know what you are getting out of this. You can’t expect me to believe you’re only doing this because you want the tournament to succeed. What’s in it for you?”

Henry grinned and scratched his chin gently before he sighed with a smile. It was a little troubling that Mark had so little faith in him, but it was honestly refreshing. At least with Mark, there was no bullshit. Mark wasn’t going to try to play the political game of silence and backstabbing with him. Mark was upfront, and anything that Henry was doing with Mark needed to be upfront as well for it to work.

Henry spoke up.

“Well, I’m a little disappointed that you think I wouldn’t be willing to go this far for the sake of our Alliance’s tournament. It’s a great tournament that’s planning to bring together the best of the entire world. Shouldn’t I do my best to make sure that it is as successful as possible? But I suppose that wouldn’t be enough for someone of your disposition.

“If there were anything in this for me, then I can only say it will be popularity. You see, there’s an election coming up soon. Very soon, actually. The Superhuman Alliance elects a general overseer once every three years, and it just so happens that the next election period falls around this time next year. There aren’t very many criteria that are needed for you to become a general overseer—at least, there aren’t many that you would be interested in. However, a Director’s performance over the last year in politics and the general well-being of the Alliance plays a major role in determining whether that Director can be elected as the general overseer.

“I’m not going to bullshit you, Mark. I want that position. I want it badly enough to do anything for it. So long as it falls under legality, of course. Your presence in the Superhuman Tournament will not only give me a much-needed boost in the race for General Overseer, but it will also put our branch of the Superhuman Alliance as well as your Vanguard Guild on the map. Right now, people’s opinion of your guild is a little gray. People believe you are doing good work, but there are many others who think you are nothing but money-grubbing businessmen who wish to wring the world dry of any resources you can find for your own benefit. And many of those who see you as greedy exist within the Superhuman Alliance. Doing this will allow you to change people’s opinions of you and give the Superhuman Alliance a new outlook on your guild and what it is you do.

“The benevolent leader of the Vanguard Guild went out of his way to participate in the guild’s tournament in order to bring in the much-needed traffic for us to make money. It’s a good headline, is it not?”

Mark fucking hated this bastard.

Mark’s eyes narrowed, and this thought crossed his mind as he saw the greedy smile on Henry’s face. Mark did not like Henry at all. But no matter how much Mark hated him, Mark couldn’t help but respect him. Henry was a businessman and a politician before anything else, and if it came down to manipulating people and making things turn in his favor, there was no one out there who could work the minds of the masses as well as this bastard.

In a way, it was a refreshing change from what Mark was used to. Salazar was the exact opposite of Henry. Salazar was very secretive, and he always seemed to hide things from everyone around him, but Henry did not do that. Henry told you things as they were, and it was up to you to decide whether you hated him or not. If nothing else, Mark could respect Henry’s openness.

Mark tapped his finger on the table for a few seconds while just staring at Henry as his mind raced, and Henry waited patiently for Mark to finish thinking about whatever it was he was thinking about.

Finally, after a few seconds, Mark nodded once and asked another question.

“How exactly does the Superhuman Alliance choose which superhumans can participate in this competition? I don’t think it’s something that just anyone would be able to get into as long as they are a superhuman.”

This time, it was Luna who said something she remembered hearing a while ago.

“Someone once told me that it was based on merit. Something like a leaderboard?”

Luna turned to Henry for confirmation of her theory, and Henry nodded while stapling his fingers together and leaning forward.

“Yes, Luna is absolutely right. The Superhuman Alliance had something similar to a leaderboard that ranks every Superhuman Alliance branch in the world based on their performance in the previous year. They take things like the number of anima subjugation missions that were completed, the danger level of the anima that were killed, and the popularity of the superhumans in that country when compared to the superhumans in other countries into account. All these are put together and the countries are graded on a point system which then gives them a ranking.”