Chapter 22: Entwined Relationships (2)
“We’re screwed. Totally screwed.”
I wanted to think positively if I could, but this was beyond screwed—it was a complete disaster. If things had gone according to my original plan, I could’ve slipped away without drawing anyone’s attention.
But everything had gone to hell in spectacular fashion, and worst of all, Jeong Hosan had found out what I’d done. After scouring the internet, I pieced together the full story and could only smack my forehead in regret.
Investigating my disappearance led to all this.
Damn, if I’d known, I would’ve at least kept in touch regularly.
━So what now? They know it was all you.
Ray’s voice echoed in my mind, and I shrugged.
“One thing’s for sure. I can’t just keep lying here forever.”
━Says the guy who’s done nothing but lie there for the past three days.
“I told you I needed to stay quiet.”
━Sure, but your name didn’t even come up in the news. Do you really need to hide like this?
He’d started off knowing nothing about this world, but after picking up scraps of info from me, he knew quite a bit now. Still half-baked, though.
“Even if they’re not openly hunting me, the Red Dog Guild getting involved changes everything.”
My name hadn’t appeared in the news, but it was obvious. Kim Myeong-cheol from the Red Dog Guild was infamous for never compromising with criminals.
They might not blast my name publicly out of respect for Jeong Hosan, but it had definitely reached the Eachbeom Division teams.
The moment I was marked by the Awakener Crime Task Force, I couldn’t wander around showing my face anymore.
Especially if it got to Do Chae-hee, that crazy little Maltese terror... Ugh, just imagining it gave me chills.
━You can’t hole up in this inn forever. Even with that ridiculous mask.
I glanced at the mask on the table. The grinning face etched into it was something I’d bought the moment I entered the black market. An artifact with facial recognition disruption—it’d be with me from here on out.
━Why’d you have them engrave that stupid smiling mark on it?
“They say a smile brings good fortune.”
━Good fortune my ass.
“Well, the real reason? Aggro.”
━Aggro?
“Yeah. I needed a striking image that sticks in people’s minds the first time they see it. Like turning myself into a mascot.”
━Why bother?
“My cover’s blown anyway, so time to change tactics.”
I’d wanted to stay a shadowy black curtain villain, but that ship had sailed. Kang Ishin was exposed. I’d been imprinted on the minds of the people I least wanted to know—Seol Rokjin, the Red Dog Guild, the Eachbeom teams. Shaking them completely was next to impossible.
So what now?
I had to ensure no one ever connected me to Kang Ishin.
While creating a whole new persona. One that made it seem like some epic villain had emerged into the world.
━Do you really need to go that far?
“Yeah. Because I’m planning one massive con from here on out.”
They all knew my abilities, but no one knew I’d acquired artifacts and awakened new talents.
“Theoretically, I can wield mana from every attribute, right?”
━True. Your body’s laced with mana circuits for all of them.
“Imagine how that looks to everyone else.”
━Pretty damn impressive.
The output was pathetically low, sure, but if I hid that flaw, I could pass as the owner of a fraudulent talent never seen before in this world.
“And that fraud’s symbol? This grinning mask.”
━Heh.
Serving under Seol Rokjin had taught me how to look “impressive.” As the saying goes, even a dog in a schoolyard learns poetry after three years. What about me, enduring a decade at the side of the villain who wrecked this country?
“No one fears Kang Ishin, the disgrace of Babel Academy. But this mask? Different story. The things I’ll do wearing it won’t be the same.”
━That’s what you’ve been mulling over while lying there for three days?
“Yep.”
I shot up from the bed.
The mana stones and artifacts I’d sold totaled eight hundred million won. That was enough to do whatever I needed for a while.
With this money, I’d build my power.
━If you know your own strength is lacking, train!
“Training won’t fix this. My mana pool’s too damn small from the start. I tire out after a few attribute shots. Training’s pointless right now.”
Babel Academy had drilled that into me. You can’t beat innate talent.
━Do you have to be that negative?
“I tried everything. This is me saying it doesn’t work.”
I’d only beaten those guys before because they were low-grade weaklings.
“With this level of power, I can’t touch Seol Rokjin, let alone the small fry under him.”
But with money, anything was possible in this world. Raiding Seol Rokjin’s gate first thing had been for startup funds, hadn’t it?
Now I had the foundation. Time to lay the cornerstone.
━By the way, what happened in your past life to make you grind your teeth over that guy so much?
The sudden question made me blink.
“What, suddenly interested in me now?”
━Like it or not, we’re in the same boat, as you said.
“Fair enough.”
Was he getting attached or something?
━I didn’t ask because you seemed reluctant, but it’s been nagging at me.
For an artifact, he acted awfully human. Then again, with this level of cognition, what’s the difference? He was basically a companion for my plans ahead.
“You might’ve guessed, but I worked as a miner in one of those illegal gates too. Completely duped by that bastard Im Hyun-su.”
━For the money?
“Yeah, that and... I had a lot of grudges back then. A solid B-grade Awakener like me, scraping by on miner wages like a chump. So when I heard about big money, I jumped at it. I knew it was risky, but I thought, ‘I can handle it.’”
But that delusion shattered in under an hour. The moment I stepped into that illegal gate, the brutal atmosphere screamed I was fucked.
“You saw it—it’s hell. Literal hell. Guarded by inhuman scum who crush lives into the dirt. No proper sleep, no real meals. Couldn’t even leave the gate, so mana poisoning dropped people like flies. Most lasted a week, maybe ten days tops. I was just unlucky.”
I was a B-grade Awakener, after all. I figured I wouldn’t go down to mana poisoning.
━How long did you last?
“A month.”
That month was pure nightmare.
Watching the guy chatting beside me wither away to death—I was on the edge of insanity. I couldn’t just watch people die, so I lunged at the guards once. But I was already drained; no chance.
“Would’ve been better if I’d died then.”
━How’d you get out?
“They released me. Those bastards.”
I thought I was done for in there, but they let me go. Should’ve realized something was off right then.
But reason was shot; I didn’t notice a thing.
All that filled my head was exposing that hell to the world.
“The second I got out, I called the one person I trusted. Couldn’t count on the cops.”
Should’ve reported to the police instead.
━That trustworthy guy... don’t tell me...
Jeong Hosan. My one and only friend.
“They let me go to drag me before Seol Rokjin. The time they gave me? Just their amusement. They knew they could handle whatever I did. Turns out my surroundings were crawling with watchers.”
If they weren’t confident in controlling me no matter what, they wouldn’t have released me.
Seol Rokjin had a sick hobby. He could brainwash anyone at will, but he craved genuine despair. That’s why they let me go.
And just like he planned, I despaired.
The moment I saw Jeong Hosan dragged in front of me, I realized the horror of what I’d done.
“Half out of my mind, Seol Rokjin laid out his plan for me.”
His goal: brainwash me into a terrorist. Blow up with innocent civilians on a rush-hour bus. My role.
━Why go to those lengths?
“To make people hate Awakeners. The more they hate us, the higher his anti-Awakener popularity climbs.”
For that alone, he plotted a bus bombing during commute hours. What a fucking monster.
Why me? Simple.
“A B-grade talent who graduated from Babel Academy? Perfect headline. But Seol Rokjin overlooked one snag: his brainwashing didn’t work on me.”
Mental talent maybe? I had an S-grade passive mental skill: Unyielding Conviction (S). Never useful before. A gate-less Awakener like me rarely faced mental skills.
Thanks to it, I resisted Seol Rokjin’s brainwashing.
But unfortunately, there was another high-grade Awakener on site besides me.
“In normal circumstances, Jeong Hosan would’ve shrugged off the brainwashing. But Seol Rokjin took me hostage, and that idiot just... let it happen.”
━Your friend...
“Went down in history as the terrorist behind massive casualties.”
My friend’s name was slandered even in death. Jeong Hosan’s life plummeted into the abyss right then.
He’d become a hunter to save others, joined Red Dog Guild for a second chance—and it all got flushed down the toilet.
“So for his sake, it’s better if I’m the villain. The more he hates and suspects me, the less likely he is to die for me.”
Ray fell silent for a long time after my words.
Finally, in a trembling voice:
━That guy... you said he was your boss? You became a subordinate to the man who did that to your friend?
“Yes.”
I gave a bitter smile.
“In my past life, I was trash so worthless ‘trash’ was too kind.”