Chapter 181

By the time I left Victor’s workshop, the village was already being incinerated.

Though it was a small village, the fact that they could erase their traces so quickly meant they had practiced this numerous times.

They must have periodically watched the mercenaries crossing the barrier and moved their residence whenever they judged their traces had been exposed.

Of course, their base of operations was always centered around the workshop where the Broom of Gluttony was kept.

As a side note, burning the entire village was not a significant burden.

This was Gangwon-do, a place where everything was generated by mana.

These ashes would soon sprout into new life once again.

"They could not have gone far. They likely intend to isolate the villagers from us," I said.

Bruno asked, "What do you plan to do now?"

"I was invited, so I must accept. Victor—the alchemist—acted only after knowing we had set foot in the workshop. He means to say there will be no negotiations until we find him ourselves. More importantly..."

I turned back to Hyeon Juhui.

"How did he know we were in the workshop?"

"...My brother cannot lie."

It was a plausible answer.

However, something felt strangely off.

"And why did he think we would help?"

"Th-that is..."

As expected, Hyeon Juhui hesitated.

Her act of running to us in the first place was illogical behavior.

Would a girl bound as a doll move freely alone while all the villagers set fire to their homes and left?

That was a ridiculous notion.

This was clearly Victor’s intention.

He intended for us to discover the burning village at the right moment and forced us to chase him by using Hyeon Jinseok as bait.

Hyeon Juhui’s voice trembled, her face pale with fear.

"I... I only did as I was told. Only then would my brother! My brother would not be punished...!"

It was a predictable outcome.

Pressuring Hyeon Juhui here would achieve nothing.

It would be like lecturing a preschooler who could not distinguish between good and evil about what they did wrong.

I resigned myself and spoke to Park Chaeshin.

"Senior, stay in the workshop with her and the boss’s corpse. Only Bruno and I will pursue them."

"I was going to say I would stay anyway. I wanted to look at the research results a bit more."

He was going to stay?

For someone who was not particularly passionate about alchemy, he was suddenly showing a lot of academic fervor.

I turned back to Hyeon Juhui.

"Now, why do you not tell us where the villagers headed? You must have been ordered by the alchemist to bring us to him."

"..."

***

A canyon in Gangwon-do.

The villagers had created a shelter here, following Victor.

This area had been used as a village in the past as well.

The reason was that the terrain was so rugged that monsters could not easily approach.

Furthermore, it served as an ambush point for uninvited guests who might intrude upon the village, just like now.

It was a desolate, dark, and gloomy rocky area where no light entered.

Victor the alchemist shouted to the villagers from the center of the canyon.

"When Ssaet Disease worsens to a severe stage, this is what happens! But do not worry. If it is me, I can weaken the symptoms to some extent."

Victor grabbed the hair of Hyeon Jinseok, who was lying tied up on the ground, and pulled his head up.

"Naughty children must be punished, right? Many people are suffering because of you."

"T-teacher..."

"There is no need to be afraid. This is all for you and your sister."

Victor’s treacherous face was visible only to Hyeon Jinseok.

No, perhaps it was a facial expression that was no different from usual.

A treacherous expression of using them, experimenting on them, and ruling them with sweet talk, just as he always did.

"Do I... really have Ssaet Disease?"

"Are you saying my diagnosis is wrong?"

"It is not that, but I felt perfectly fine until yesterday."

"That is just what you think. If you do not receive treatment like this, your illness will spread to your sister. Would you still be fine with that?"

"...!"

There was no opportunity for choice.

When Hyeon Jinseok reluctantly nodded, Victor took a suspicious pill out of his bag and shoved it into his mouth.

"It is better to swallow it all at once. That is the way to lessen the pain."

"..."

Gulp.

Before the will to swallow could form, instinctive submission came first.

Even Hyeon Jinseok, who was more unusual than the other dolls, was ultimately a good child who listened to his teacher.

"Ah! But did I mention this? Your treatment is not perfect. There is a very low probability that it might cause this phenomenon. But do not worry. This teacher is always on your side."

They were significant words.

However, Hyeon Jinseok could no longer understand Victor’s words.

His vision had already been dyed black, and all his senses had vanished as if they were paralyzed.

What is this feeling?

It was revolting.

He felt like he would vomit at any moment.

From a certain point, a pain as if his entire body were burning erupted, and soon, a world dyed red entered his eyes.

What on earth is happening to me!

He saw the villagers within the red-dyed world.

They were looking up at him.

They showed their fear-stricken faces and loathsome reactions without reservation.

What! Why are you looking at me like that!

When he consciously turned his head, he saw the alchemist wearing a treacherous grin.

Soon, the alchemist’s voice echoed deep inside his head.

—Oho, I did not expect this to be such a success.

What did you say?

—From now on, you will eliminate the intruders. Become my joy with that. Then, I shall quiet your pain.

They were incomprehensible words.

However, his body was already controlled, and he began to look around for a target.

Soon, a familiar figure entered his sight.

Ji Seokhyeon was looking down from a high point in the canyon.

He was saying something, but it did not reach Hyeon Jinseok’s ears.

Instead, anger welled up in his heart, just as the alchemist had said.

Eliminate... the intruders...

Hyeon Jinseok kicked off the ground with his enlarged body and leaped.

He reached the edge of the cliff in an instant, making the height of the tall canyon seem trivial, and swung his fist toward Ji Seokhyeon with that same momentum.

Intruder... kill...!

At the moment his thick, monster-like fist was about to strike the opponent’s face, he perceived an incongruous sight.

Specifically, the face of Ji Seokhyeon, who was smiling despite this urgent situation.

***

I let out a hollow laugh because it was so absurd.

A moment ago, I had arrived at the canyon, heard what Victor said, and watched the result, but I had reached only one conclusion.

"This is absolute bullshit."

"I agree with your words. To think it would lead to such a result."

Bruno gestured toward Hyeon Jinseok, who had transformed into a monster roughly three meters tall, and asked.

"Can you handle him?"

"I will have to face him to find out, but you can feel it too, can’t you? There is an enormous mana reaction occurring within him right now."

"...Yes, it must be resonating with the mana of the broom."

First of all, the research that Victor, the alchemist of Manyeong, had been conducting secretly in Gangwon-do was very similar to Camellia’s forced awakening.

The fact that the forced awakening issue had arisen earlier than the original story's development was likely due to Victor’s help as well.

Forced awakening basically involves injecting the mana of various monsters into a non-awakened person.

Therefore, as a side effect, the manas that fail to mix collide, causing the body to explode, or, in rare cases, the person transforms into a strange monster like a chimera.

The change that happened to Hyeon Jinseok now followed that same context.

The difference was that the source of his kinetic energy was the Broom of Gluttony.

Simply put, he had become a monster that freely emitted the mana of a magic tool.

Until now, he had been nothing more than a doll unable to manifest an ability, but due to Victor’s trickery, that limit had vanished.

"It seems we will have to split up and move."

"I assume you will be the one taking on that fellow?"

"That is my intention, but I did not expect you to say something so discouraging."

"A mafia member does not jump at an opponent they cannot win against. I can tell just by the scent of the mana. That fellow has surpassed the level of the top A-rank hunters in Seoul."

"That is very helpful to hear."

"Hmph, it is obvious the alchemist will head toward the workshop anyway."

"Of course. He lured us out here for that reason."

"My goal is to kill him. I shall see you alive, then."

"Sigh..."

With those words, Bruno moved toward a place where it would be easy to pursue.

Soon, Hyeon Jinseok also took on a complete physical form and discovered my location in an instant.

"Should I consider this as facing a materialized magic tool..."

A hollow laugh escaped me.

At the same time, the fellow leaped toward the cliff of the canyon.

It was a height impossible for a normal awakened person to jump to.

I swallowed my hollow laugh and gripped the Mist-Clearing Sword.

"Please do not die."

***

Returning to the workshop, Park Chaeshin rummaged through the table as if he were being chased.

Then, he found the documents he had been looking for. Hyeon Juhui, who had returned with him, watched him for a long while before speaking.

"What are you doing?"

"..."

"You should not peek at the teacher’s desk without permission..."

"...Hey."

"Yes?"

Park Chaeshin turned to look at her.

"There is something I want to ask. You and your brother, since when have you been living with the teacher?"

"That is... it has probably been about ten years."

"Is the starting point the Gangneung incident? That day when everything became a sea of fire."

"Yes."

"Is that so... So that was it."

Hyeon Juhui tilted her head.

"Why are you acting like that?"

"Ah, have you heard this saying? Knowledge is only valuable when shared."

"No?"

"I am sorry, but knowledge is overflowing in my head so much that it is pouring out like a waterfall."

"I do not understand what you mean..."

"It means I am in a state where I cannot bear it without talking out loud. So, what I am saying is, perhaps you and your brother are not actually siblings."

"...What?"

"According to your teacher’s records, all the villagers are the result of using corpses that were victims during the Gangneung incident. Furthermore, all the dolls had to be experimental subjects whose identities could not be confirmed. After all, a person with a known face would be dangerous to have active outside the barrier later, right?"

Hyeon Juhui only blinked as if she truly did not understand.

"Of course, there was exactly one exception. It was your brother. To be precise, he would be Hyeon Jinseok, the eldest grandson of Hyeon Jaejun, who was a prominent figure in Gangneung."

"?"

"Well, if you were able to understand in the first place, I would not even have brought it up to you."

If she could understand, knocking her unconscious even by using force would have come first.

After all, there was no way she would calmly accept the fact that all the villagers were dolls made solely for one person, Hyeon Jinseok.

"So, you are saying my brother is a great person?"

"...Let us just say so."

Since he inherited the blood of Hyun Yuyeol, the first alchemist, he had to be great.

I do not know how much of Victor’s research I should believe or not.

However, it was difficult to deny that all these experiments were research intended for the doll Hyeon Jinseok.

In the same context, Hyeon Juhui was a device to place a psychological bond on Hyeon Jinseok.

It was meant to restrain the curiosity of Hyeon Jinseok, who was a somewhat special doll, by planting the guilt that he must save his sister.

"Just how many times has this cycle repeated? Ah, that thing you call a goblin. How many times have you done it so far?"

"This is the first time."

"That means... you eventually had your memories erased at regular intervals."

Park Chaeshin showed a pitying face.

Erasing the dolls' memories.

That is, disconnecting them from the power source was, in nine cases out of ten, when Code Goblin was issued.

After concluding this incident, the dolls stored in this workshop would become new villagers, and some of the current villagers, including Hyeon Juhui, would harden in their place.

"If these records are true, that is."

After sufficiently organizing his thoughts, Park Chaeshin shifted his gaze toward the boss of Catalina.

Perhaps she was the person who had made a significant contribution until this happened.

"Jane Harris, the first doll according to the records."

She was special, unlike the other dolls.

She was not an extra made for Hyeon Jinseok, nor was she a doll moving outside the barrier to obtain information.

Of course, she did engage in grand activities as the boss of the Psychic Mafia, but in Park Chaeshin’s estimation, it was highly likely that these were activities she truly wanted.

That was because she was...

"My goodness, this is absolute bullshit, just as Seokhyeon said."

She was the biological daughter of the alchemist Victor Harris.