Chapter 129

Tang!

A few seconds later, the lid sprang open.

A ridiculous-looking clown burst out of the box—and the instant Mr. Heo saw it, he crumpled to the floor.

He had fainted so completely that not even the brainwashing skill could rouse him. At the sight, Su Yehwi whipped around and shouted toward the direction the box had come from.

“Who are you?!”

A voice answered from outside.

“...You managed to withstand an enhanced [Surprise Box!]? Not bad.”

“......”

“And why are there so few guards here? Did you think having more people around would make you easier to track?”

The iron door swung wide open.

A blond man stepped inside. His features were sharp and cold, giving him the look of a viper. There was something unmistakably familiar about his face.

“Kim Kiryeo.”

Su Yehwi recognized him almost immediately.

This was the man who had repeatedly interfered with the Rakshasa Temple’s plans. In other words, he was the rank fraud who had frightened Pyo Nagil so badly...!

‘Incredible.’

His ability to conceal himself was astonishing. Even Su Yehwi, whose senses were exceptionally keen, had failed to detect his approach.

‘No wonder Pyo Nagil mistook him for an F-Class. No—his presence is so faint that it’s almost nonexistent, like some insect crawling beside the road!’

Anyone capable of concealing his magical power so completely could not possibly be ordinary.

Su Yehwi regarded him warily.

“What brings you all the way here?”

The blond man bent down, retrieved the red box from the floor, and answered.

“That’s... what I’d like to know.”

It was hardly a satisfactory response.

“Your name was Yehwi, wasn’t it? Su Yehwi. Let me ask you something. What exactly are you trying to accomplish by running a temple like this?”

“What?”

“I could understand if you were doing it for money. But what you and your followers are doing amounts to terrorism.”

“......”

“Why are you so determined to slaughter your own people?”

Kim Kiryeo idly turned the recovered box over in his hands as he spoke.

The leader of the Rakshasa Temple answered with solemn authority.

“...Let us simply say that I did what had to be done.”

Su Yehwi genuinely believed himself to be a messianic figure.

“I have the right to stand above others. If I did not, the heavens would never have granted me such tremendous power.”

“......”

“The power to alter the thoughts of others... Is that not the will of the world itself, commanding me to guide the fallen back onto the proper path?”

“......”

“And so I must fulfill my duty before those fools destroy this fertile land.”

It was all the will of God.

Kiryeo listened in silence as Su Yehwi proclaimed his convictions. Then he slowly shook his head.

“Mm. I understand. You can stop now. I shouldn’t have bothered trying to reason with a madman.”

Su Yehwi merely regarded him with pity.

‘How could an ordinary criminal, one incapable of receiving revelation, ever understand? People like him would point accusing fingers even at Yahweh’s Ark...’

Their perspectives were fundamentally different. Meaningful conversation between them was impossible.

“Kim Kiryeo. Since you have come all this way, I will personally grant you one final sermon.”

Su Yehwi lowered his voice, speaking almost tenderly, as though he sincerely wished to help Kiryeo understand.

“Ha.”

The blond S-rank immediately burst out laughing.

It was a peculiar laugh. His expression remained rigid, and only his mouth opened.

“The right to stand above others... Well, there was a time when I thought the same way.”

Rustle.

Kiryeo clasped his hands behind his back. His voice grew calm, as if he were recalling something from the distant past.

“Yes. To a certain extent, I understand your reasoning, Su Yehwi.”

“What?”

“I am the most superior being in this world, and all lesser creatures should naturally submit to my rule. There was indeed a time when I believed that.”

“......”

“When you possess power, it becomes very easy to look down on everyone around you.”

Yet the longer he spoke, the stranger his words became.

“...But do you know what happened to me in the end?”

The snake-eyed man stared vacantly into the distance.

Seconds passed, but he offered no conclusion to his story. Even so, his intention was obvious. Kim Kiryeo was invoking his own past to mock and reject the cult leader’s beliefs.

“You certainly know how to spout nonsense.”

“Yehwi, I’m being serious. Take it from someone who’s lived through it—if you keep going down this path, you’ll end up in very serious trouble. Truly.”

Su Yehwi decided it was time for the arrogant hunter to experience his power firsthand.

In truth, his ability had been active from the moment Kiryeo entered the warehouse.

[Brainwashing].

The effects of the skill grew exponentially the longer its target remained exposed. The shorter the distance between Su Yehwi and his victim, the more powerful it became.

‘This should be enough.’

He drove a command deep into the hunter’s mind.

‘Lower yourself before the apostle of the Rakshasa Temple.’

It was not a suggestion, but an order imposed through [Brainwashing].

“......”

And yet, strangely, nothing happened.

The blond man remained standing with his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat. The difference in height between them was considerable, and with Kiryeo standing perfectly upright, it almost seemed as though he were gazing down at Su Yehwi in open contempt.

‘What is this?’

Unable to believe what he was seeing, Su Yehwi poured even more magical power into the skill.

He had never once considered the possibility that [Brainwashing] might fail.

After all, he was a chosen servant of God.

More precisely, he stood on the same level as that man...

“Are you wondering why your skill isn’t working even though we’re both S-ranks?”

“!!”

Kiryeo, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.

“You...”

According to the testimony Su Yehwi had heard, the ruler of the Rakshasa Temple possessed magical power far beyond the limits of an A-rank.

In other words, contrary to what the public believed, the true hidden S-rank had been here all along.

Su Yehwi was, in fact, Korea’s real fourth S-rank.

But did it even matter anymore which of them was genuine?

S-rank or not, the blond hunter standing before him appeared completely immune to all mental status effects.

“By the way, you’ve accumulated quite a collection of cores back there. Were you planning to use them to seize control of the country someday? Turn the entire population into puppets? Something along those lines?”

It was a hopeless difference in compatibility.

Kiryeo continued speaking at his leisure, casually guessing why Su Yehwi had been stockpiling sources of magical energy.

“But I doubt it’ll be that easy. As you can see, there will always be irregularities like me.”

“Is this your awakening ability, Kim Kiryeo?”

“Believe whatever you like.”

Even now, Su Yehwi continued trying to force his way into Kiryeo’s mind.

But the man would not so much as lower his head. His complete indifference made a mockery of every effort Su Yehwi made.

‘Impossible.’

How could this be happening?

Su Yehwi possessed an accurate understanding of his own strength. With his immense reserves of magical power, he had been certain he could bring even another S-rank to their knees.

At least, that was the conclusion all his research had led him to.

So how had such an impossible variable appeared?

‘What in the world is this man?’

Su Yehwi glared at the S-rank in disbelief.

‘Why do you keep appearing to obstruct me?’

All he received in return was Kiryeo’s cold, unwavering gaze.

With [Brainwashing] rendered useless, Su Yehwi could no longer conceal his bewilderment.

Could he not simply use another method if his primary skill failed?

In reality, such an approach was nearly worthless in a battle against a high-ranking awakened one. It was a persistent limitation shared by awakened beings on Earth. Magic of other attributes, acquired through skill stones, was generally far less efficient than an awakened one’s innate ability.

‘I only learned [Water Ball] to conceal my identity. There’s no way a skill that weak could defeat an S-rank...!’

A secondary skill capable of producing C-rank firepower at best could never replace his main ability.

From Su Yehwi’s perspective, the failure of [Brainwashing] left him in an utterly hopeless position.

‘W-wait.’

But after thinking about it, something did not seem right.

The hunter had clearly resisted his brainwashing, yet he had made no attempt to attack.

“Perhaps...”

Su Yehwi hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking:

“Is there something you want from me?”

Kim Kiryeo had come all this way, only to stand there talking.

Did that mean he wanted to negotiate?

“Is it money? Or perhaps these cores...?”

Su Yehwi attempted to avert a battle by tempting the S-rank with wealth and resources.

But his efforts were pointless.

Kiryeo was an F-rank awakener whose combat ability was no greater than that of the dead rats scattered across the floor. There was no possibility that he had come here intending to fight Su Yehwi himself.

“Cores? Well...”

Kiryeo slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone.

“I already have enough money for the time being. And I’ve already obtained what I actually came for.”

“You obtained it?”

“Su Yehwi, you erected a barrier around this place that thoroughly blocks tracking skills. But shouldn’t you have been more careful about concealing your physical location?”

Kiryeo held the phone directly in front of him.

A map of the surrounding area was displayed on its screen.

In other words—

“GPS.”

Kiryeo was showing him a location-tracking application.

“Earth already has a perfectly good method of tracking people.”

At that very moment, an unnatural current of magical energy surged beyond the factory’s high windows.

The overwhelming pressure rolled toward them like an enormous cloud of smoke, flooding the building with unstoppable force.

Could it be...?

‘The magical power of a high-ranking awakened one!’

Boom!

The instant Su Yehwi sensed it, every window shattered.

Someone shot through the broken panes and flew violently into the building.

Thud. Thud.

Amid the storm of falling glass, a striking woman leaped down from the back of a massive white bird.

Her curly hair was dyed its characteristic shade of magenta. Brushing a fragment of debris from her beautiful cheek, the awakened woman greeted him in a mild, almost pleasant voice.

“Oh my.”

The guild leader of the Korean Magic Tower.