Gong No-sa Is Coming [4]

"Hoo!"

Lee Ha-ram — self-proclaimed head disciple of Master Kim.

Unless something unusual came up, his daily routine revolved around two things: his broadcasts, and the sorcery training he was learning from Master Kim.

'And until just recently, people were actually enjoying this whole atmosphere.'

Every new anomaly case meant more demand for psychics, after all. But that only held up to a point — once things crossed a certain threshold, the psychics themselves had begun to howl.

One post in particular had jumped out at him. The moment he saw his master's name in the title, Lee Ha-ram had been drawn in like iron to a magnet.

"You little bastards?"

Not that Master Kim would want people brawling over him like this.

'They're just jealous because he's doing better than they are.'

"Hmph!"

Ha-ram blew the filthy mood away with one sharp exhale — and another post caught his eye.

Which meant, of course, that a flame war was already raging in the comments.

'Well then. Let's see what all the fuss is about.'

'...So there are people like this out there, too.'

Lee Ha-ram had become Master Kim's disciple out of a craving for something special. But for some people in this world, that specialness was less a gift than a burden.

And so, watching an unexpectedly heartwarming relay of well-wishes pass between psychics, Ha-ram found himself thinking:

'Life must be a real grind for psychics too...'

In the beginning, everyone had welcomed the rising anomaly count as a windfall of work. But once it crossed a certain line, it had come to threaten not just their livelihoods but their everyday lives and what little rest they got. The answer the psychics had arrived at was the Inner Space — and the ones who could actually pull it off were a handful of elites and no one else. In fact, there had even been posts from certain psychic organizations dangling Inner Spaces as bait to reel people in.

'Huh. Wouldn't a rental business built on Inner Spaces be an absolute goldmine?'

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Ha-ram shook his head side to side. It was his own idea, yes — and far too idiotic to deserve it.

Then.

Vrrrrrrrm.

Like master, like disciple.

Using [AZOTH] to purify the external energy, I had created a colossal Inner Space rivaling the entire area of Seoul.

My first thought upon making it had been, 'No, shit — how exactly am I supposed to use this?' For personal use, the range was far too wide. Too wide by an absurd margin.

But that lasted only a moment. Instead of complaining, I set my mind to realistic applications — and the very first thing that came to me was a rental business. Inner Space sorcery was notoriously difficult and abysmally inefficient, which meant there were bound to be people who wanted it.

'To lease the thing out, first I need to partition the space.'

Leases were one thing, but my original purpose — a private space of my own — deserved respect too. After several attempts, I succeeded in dividing the Inner Space up like the units of an apartment building.

"Easier than I expected."

The Inner Space I'd generated took the form of a mirror image of real-world Seoul. Its interior was simply so vast that it had naturally shaped itself into a faithful copy of the city above. But the separately partitioned spaces, by contrast, could be reshaped however I pleased.

"Now this is fun."

Whatever the case, the practical applications looked excellent. I could give the members of the Anomaly Extermination Squad their own private workshops and rooms, or convert sections into sorcery training grounds. 'Space was already getting tight for putting those kids through their paces.'

Yu Min-seo was the worst offender. As the star pupil of the Extermination Squad, the sheer scale of the power she handled had reached the point where training within the bounds of Seoul was nearly impossible. And beyond that, the uses were practically endless.

Then, when Ha-ram heard my plan...

What on earth is this kid going on about now?

It was an incomprehensible remark, but it was a positive one, so we agreed to meet in person the next day to talk it over.

"Um... isn't that title a little strange? And shouldn't it be a bit more attention-grabbing, above all?"

"It's fine. This is more trustworthy than piling on flowery language."

I gave a firm nod to the anxious tremor in Ha-ram's voice.

"Is this your dojo, Yi-yeon?"

While Ha-ram and I talked, Yoon Soo-ah — who had tagged along — looked around the hideout [recently acquired in full; entirely my property now].

"Well, nothing quite as grand as a dojo."

"Just as I thought! Knew you'd say that!"

Real psychics knew the word Inner Space — and so they understood exactly what I intended.

Question marks flooded the thread from every anonymous psychic who passed through. And that was only the beginning.

The reaction exceeded anything I'd imagined — even Ha-ram was stunned.

"You're selling Inner Spaces?"

Yoon Soo-ah, who had been touring the hideout and only now caught on to what we were doing, was just as aghast.

"What, is the Bureau going to regulate this too?"

"That's not it, it's just... $7,500 for 360 square feet..."

"Is that expensive?"

"It's far too cheap! You're outright collapsing the market rate. The psychics who make their living in this business aren't going to sit still..."

According to Yoon Soo-ah, even an Inner Space smaller than a studio apartment started at several hundred thousand dollars — and maintenance came out of the owner's own pocket. In other words, an Inner Space priced at $7,500 a unit, with a location of the buyer's choosing and zero upkeep, was as good as free.

"Well, that works out nicely."

This bargain-basement pricing was, in fact, a deliberate strategy of mine to win the hearts of Deva's rank and file.

'With the coming confrontation against Cosmos, securing the goodwill of Deva's people is essential.'

The Paranormal Administration Bureau, Jeongmyeonggyo, and Cosmos — the three great powers currently carving up South Korea between them. But judged purely on the number of psychics who belonged to them outright, all three fell short of Deva. That was how unimaginably vast Deva was, and how deep its roots ran.

Baek Gong-ju had chosen to back me, but setting that aside, if I wanted to survive the arena of this colossal organization, I needed a faction of my own as well. Until now I'd believed the Anomaly Extermination Squad was enough, but the scale of the fight had grown — it was time to change my thinking.

And the surest way to build a faction was to absorb one that already existed.

Which meant...

'I'm going to devour Deva.'

Well, making money was a side benefit of the whole enterprise...

"...That's an absolutely staggering take for a 'side benefit.'"

I engraved the Narrative of Gold.

Days passed — days spent using the psychic power I'd gained to engrave the domain the size of Seoul [which was even now, bit by bit, still growing].

And then the fated day arrived.

The South Korean government had announced its position: for the first time in human history, it would publicly proclaim and formally acknowledge the existence of the mysterious and the anomalous.