Chapter 152: Lee Woo Soo

Saturday, Day 71:

Today was the last day of class, and tomorrow was departure day, so Zane was excited to catch a break and maybe spend the day in bed. On his way to class, he checked the students’ board as usual and saw that the Oracle had posted. The second and third official transcendent have appeared. The second position went to a witch in Scotland, and the third position went to a South African shaman. The article included a lot of information about them, but not as much as it did about Lee Woo Soo.

"I wonder if it’s because the Oracle doesn’t know much about them or that they didn’t place as much value on them as the first place," Zane thought. Regardless of the truth, he was still deeply weary; the idea that someone else already had his information was deeply unpleasant.

Per their agreement, he visited her in the afternoon, after the second practical class. Evelyn opened the door and led him directly into Keesha’s room.

"Why are you here?"

"Why wouldn’t I be here?" Myk asked, taking a bite of a Philly steak sandwich.

"Don’t you have Elite Class today?"

"I told you ours start an hour earlier than yours."

"That’s right," Zane said, nodding. The mage’s started at 9 PM, while the knight started at 8, but they both ended at 11, sometimes 11:30 PM.

"Oh, you’re here," Keesha said, walking out of the bathroom and shaking her hands. "Sit here."

A wooden stool stood next to her bed, in front of the nightstand, with a mirror and countless other hair products. Zane sat down, and Keesha began weaving her hand through his hair. "Do you know what you want to do?"

"I want to grow locks, but my hair is probably not long enough."

"You can try short twists or small box braids, but I don’t think those two would look good on you."

"What do you recommend?"

"Straight layered cornrows: I’ll add a fade on the side, a crispy line-up on the front, and you’ll look perfect."

"You can do line-ups and fades?"

"Since I was 14. My brothers were always fresh in school."

"Alright, then. I’ll trust you."

Keesha was quite professional, bringing all the products she needed for the job. And with a bit of mana channeling, the process was exceedingly swift. Once Zane’s hair was perfectly and evenly braided, she pulled out a hair razor to give him an even fade around the edges; then she lined up his hair and beard, making sure it looked sharp and neat. "Now, I feel bad for not paying you," Zane said after seeing the final product. Such high-end service would probably have cost him more than 300$.

"I’ll take the compliment," Keesha said, then turned to Myk. "How about it?"

"Me?"

"Your hair is a bit long and messy."

"But you’ve just finished all that work. Maybe you should rest a bit."

"Come on. I don’t have all day." Myk rushed to the chair.

"Do you have a broom? I’ll clean the floor," Zane said.

"Don’t worry about it." Keesha cast Weak Telekinesis, and all the hair floated in the air. Zane pulled out a grocery bag, and Keesha dumped the contents into it. By now, Zane had made it a habit not to leave his DNA behind. For some reason, the concept of a causality curse has lingered in his mind.

"What kind of haircut do you usually get?"

"I’m not really picky," Myk replied.

"No wonder you kept it that long. In that case, I’ll cut it short and give you a low taper fade. However, you should grow a beard like Zane. Well, maybe not as thick as his."

"You think so?" Myk asked while caressing his chin. "I’ve been thinking of changing things a bit."

Zane resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Myk never liked beards and thought they were itchy. However, as always, when in "love," he was a people pleaser. Two hours later, Zane and Myk left the woman’s dorm together, looking more handsome than ever. Zane still had the Elite Class, but he needed to see Professor Burbank about something, so he didn’t leave with the girls.

"Can you stop staring? It’s embarrassing."

Evelyn stopped biting her lower lip. "Can you blame me? He was already beautiful, but now I just want to do unspeakable things to him."

"Since you decided not to get involved, you should stick to it. Don’t make things weird."

"Fine, fine. What about you? How are things going with Myk?"

"It’s okay. Honestly, I’m not in the mood for much until things with Liam are resolved."

"Tomorrow is departure day, so Zane should be able to help."

"Hopefully."

After the Elite Class, Zane headed to his cousin’s dorm. Tomorrow was departure day, and the shamans returned early. It was late, but Zane still brought some snacks in case his cousin wanted to whet his appetite.

"Commander, do you know about the three official shamans?"

"I know a little about Lee Woo Soo, but I’m not familiar with the other two."

"Can you tell me about him?"

"Even before the tower, Lee Woo Soo was one of the most famous shamans in South Korea. He had a reputation for being open about his powers and for his dynamic pricing."

"Dynamic pricing?"

"He charged people for his services based on their income. In other words, rich people pay more."

"That’s kind of smart."

Ziyad shook his head. "Although it appears so, there is a major flaw. Wealthy individuals with money are more likely to know and believe in his powers than regular people."

Zane nodded. Normal people wouldn’t believe in mysterious powers and would typically think practitioners were scammers. Even someone like Zane, who was surrounded by it, never believed. "What kind of person would you say he is?"

"I don’t know him personally, so it’s hard to say," Ziyad replied. "But based on what I’ve gathered, he’s a complex man. He seems to love money and wealth, but at the same time, he’s also a vivid protestor against the Beast. He’s been fighting for years to prevent its power from spreading in Korea."

"Wait, the beast has its tentacles in Korea?"

"Of course. South Korea is one of the US’s greatest allies."

Zane frowned. "What about Israel and Japan?"

"Israel, yes, and it’s a heavy presence, but not Japan. They have their own national department for practitioners and have prevented the Beast’s tentacles from occupying their lands."

"NATO countries?"

"Yes, but on a small scale, and not all of them."

"What about Taiwan?" For years, the US has been using Taiwan to check and balance China.

"They used to, but about three years ago, China led an operation that removed the Beast’s influence...Cindy’s family participated and contributed immensely to its success."

"I see," Zane said, nodding calmly. "What about Vatican City?"

"Of course not. They would never allow the Beast to come close to them."

"No, that’s not what I mean. I want to know their situation. Do they have something similar to the Beast?"

"That’s a question with a complex answer," Ziyad replied. "From our records, we know the Catholic Chuck was the Beast before the Beast existed. They theorized the world and spread their faith everywhere, gathering faith to create more Saints. As such, for a long time, and maybe to this day, they’ve been the strongest spiritual faction.

"However, in more modern times, they’ve changed a lot. They’re no longer as aggressive and usually mediate conflicts that might escalate. In truth, the spiritual world has remained somewhat peaceful and isolated from the world because of them."

Zane nodded. The Catholic Church also acts as an intermediary for many geopolitical conflicts, so he wasn’t surprised they did the same for the spiritual world.

"As for the issue of the Beast? Well, we don’t know. Some of our records say they do have something similar; others say their version is already dead; and others imply the Vatican was the first to try to create such an abomination, but failed. The Americans used their research and succeeded. So, we don’t know if it exists or not."

"Hasn’t anyone tried to check?"

"Countless, but no one has discovered anything. As I said, for the past few hundred years, the Catholic Church has completely shifted the way they operate; they’ve also become more secretive."

"What about the Muslims?" Zane asked.

"No. They think the Beast is the highest form of blasphemy against Allah; they hate it even more than everybody else. Plus, they are more fragmented, less cohesive than Vatican City. They wouldn’t even succeed if they tried."

Zane sighed. "It seems the situation on the spiritual side of Earth is highly complex. More importantly, there seems to be some undercurrent happening."

"More than you can imagine."

Sunday, Day 72:

Zane wanted to cook something for himself, so he skipped breakfast. Then, as soon as departure time arrived, he headed to Lysana’s store to get his data and retrieve one of the two language potions. The teleportation light swallowed him, and Zane returned to Earth.

His first order of business was texting his friends and family, followed by sending the program he had promised Keesha. Without wasting a beat, Zane left his apartment and drove to the supermarket. One of the best breakfasts he ever had was in Indonesia: Bubur Ayam, a rice-and-chicken congee. By the time he returned home, Keesha’s boyfriend—Liam—had fallen for the bait.

Zane didn’t start immediately, since the latter couldn’t detect his action. Instead, Liam thought Keesha was pranking him by sending a link to a picture of a middle finger; he’d never thought his phone or other devices had been hacked. While eating his meal, Zane browsed the internet, and as expected, Lee Woo Soo was everywhere. Almost every country wrote about him, and the South Korean netizens were having a field day, celebrating one of their own having such an achievement.

Half an hour later, Zane finally began Keesha’s affairs. "She really has a type," he thought when he saw Liam’s appearance: tall, white, fit, and extremely handsome. Shaking his head, Zane kept working. As Keesha feared, Liam had kept a few backups in a private server, which Zane planned to delete. However, as soon as he accessed it, Zane stood up and cursed: "Disgusting beasts." In his life, he had never felt so much rage or desire to kill someone —- especially a stranger.

It took Zane nearly five minutes to calm down and get back to the screen. First, he removed Keesha’s photos, but that was only a minor thing. Next, he accessed Liam’s browsing history and soon found what he was looking for: a hidden chat with hundreds of people. He didn’t even spend a minute in the chat before the urge to kill and vomit returned. But he controlled himself and kept working. Over the next few hours, he found everyone’s identity in the chat, along with their address, workplace, and more. He put everything in a neat file, then anonymously sent it to the FBI.