The Truth Revealed by the Secretary
"I have sent all the assassins to Talia's laboratory. If you wish, we can begin the brainwashing immediately."
As Kang-rim opened his eyes, he realized he was in Artria's room. He also learned that his own chambers were so saturated with the scent of sleeping gas that he wouldn't be able to enter until it had fully dissipated.
"That fox bitch... Sua has also been sent to the lab. She was thrashing about, swearing she would kill you, Master, so I had no choice."
"Is that so? I thought she’d be sleeping soundly, having been hit with the sedative along with the others..."
"Even while unconscious, she tried to strangle you. She is truly a fox of remarkable tenacity."
Having been moved to Artria's room, Kang-rim slept soundly until the next morning's sunrise. During that time, he learned everything that had happened through Artria.
"In any case, that is how Sua was handled. Iris has arrested all the executives who participated in the rebellion. They are currently locked in the conference room."
"You tied them up just as I instructed, right?"
"Yes, I bound each and every one of them with the utmost care. Now, you may personally deliver their punishment, Master."
"Haha, they conspired with the Beastman Union to kill me, so they must certainly pay the price."
The rebel forces were in league with the Beastman Union. Kang-rim had discovered this fact while interrogating the key executives who led the uprising. This was the reason the Beastman Union's assassins had been able to infiltrate his ship without any interference.
Kang-rim had decided to use this to his advantage.
'Honestly, it was an impromptu plan, so I was a bit anxious, but since it worked out well, it doesn't matter.'
He let their plan proceed as scheduled. By doing so, he planted the illusion that everything was going according to their design.
And today, the day the plan was to be executed, he would round them all up.
He would capture every single assassin alive and arrest every executive involved in the rebellion.
He waited for the moment when their expectations of success were at their peak, so that the despair they felt when that success turned into a catastrophic failure would be absolute.
Now, he would drive a wedge into that despair.
He would ensure they understood, down to their very bones, that they could never rise again.
Just as he had done until now.
Since he was finally awake, Kang-rim intended to head straight to the conference room.
However, there was one thing he had to take care of first.
"More importantly, Artria. You haven't forgotten, have you?"
"Are you referring to the wager?"
"Exactly."
If his plan succeeded, she was to reveal everything she had been hiding. Conversely, if his plan failed, he would obey her every word for the rest of his life. Kang-rim had made such a bet, and Artria had accepted it.
And the winner of this bet was Kang-rim. Since his plan had succeeded, Artria now had to keep her promise.
"Tell me everything you've been hiding."
"Understood. Just a moment."
Artria rose from her seat. She took a book from her library and sat back down. She handed Kang-rim a book with a cover that looked as if the leather had been twisted tightly.
"I wrote this book."
"What is this?"
"It is a book containing the Soul Summoning Method."
"Soul Summoning Method?"
"Yes."
Artria explained in detail the purpose of the book she had brought.
"It is a magic that calls a soul living in another world into this one and forcibly anchors it here."
"A soul from another world? Wait, don't tell me... you knew my true identity?"
Kang-rim asked, hoping for an answer, and Artria nodded immediately.
"Yes, that is correct."
"The others made a fuss about how you had changed, Master, but I knew from the start. After all, I was the one who summoned you."
"..."
"You were dying, Master, and I had no choice but to use this book for your sake. If you died, we would all be ruined. We were branded as accomplices to a devil; do you think we could have survived?"
"..."
"That is why I used the book. Even if you were a person from another world, as long as you occupied the Master's body, you are the Master."
"I have a question."
He had never seen a book like this. It had never been mentioned in the original game, nor had it ever appeared in any illustrations. Artria had possessed such a book? How had she obtained it? And she had used it to summon him?
"Why me, of all people? There must have been others more capable than me."
And why had she brought him here? Kang-rim was deeply curious.
"Of course, I did not specifically target only you."
Artria continued her explanation.
"There must be an element of attraction between the body and the soul."
"An element of attraction?"
"Yes. Because what Grid desired and what you desired were in alignment, you were able to come to our world."
"..."
A prerequisite was that there had to be an element of attraction. If so, what was that element?
'It seems it can only be that...'
Kang-rim had wanted to commit the deeds he couldn't achieve in reality. He wanted to conquer this world, bed every woman, and reach a happy ending. He didn't want to meet a ruinous end like Grid. And Grid, while wanting to turn this world into a sea of fire, had never stopped wanting to bed women. Perhaps they were drawn together because their desire to bed women was identical?
'That doesn't seem to make sense...'
He was a guy who killed people when he was bored; did such a desire even exist? Kang-rim was skeptical.
"Do you perhaps miss it?" Artria asked. "Do you wish to return to the home where you were born?"
"No, I don't really have such feelings, but why do you ask?"
"Because there is no way to do so. You see..." Artria delivered a shocking truth. "You are already dead."
"Dead? Me?"
"Yes. This method can only summon the souls of the dead."
"Ha..."
It was a shocking fact, but Kang-rim wasn't particularly surprised. Instead, he muttered as if he had expected it.
"I thought I might have died from overwork, and it turns out it was true..."
Because of his damn boss, his workload had been immense. He couldn't even sleep while trying to process it all. Spending his nights awake processing paperwork was a daily routine. In such a state, wouldn't it have been stranger if he hadn't died? That was why Kang-rim could accept the truth so calmly.
"If you wish to return, I am truly sorry. I am sorry for dragging you here for no reason."
"What fault do you have that makes you apologize?"
When Artria showed guilt for dragging him into their affairs, Kang-rim showed that there was no need for it.
"On the contrary, I am only grateful. I was able to escape that tiresome life. I am very happy."
For Kang-rim, reality had been the worst.
"I no longer have to struggle under the mountain of debt left behind by those rotten parents."
His parents had treated Kang-rim merely as a tool for their own self-preservation. After they died, they left him in a position where he, their child, had to repay their massive debts. As a result, Kang-rim had no choice but to move into a tiny, cramped room. He had to sell the figures and plastic models he had collected as a hobby for pennies.
"And I don't have to look at the face of that damn boss."
His boss had treated him only as a machine for processing paperwork. He gave him nothing but work and provided no corresponding compensation. Far from praise, he insulted him behind his back, calling him ugly and dirty.
"And I don't have to see that junior, either."
There was a junior who was a year behind him, but that woman was no junior. She was a cunning fox in the guise of a junior. She never helped him at all and was a wretched woman who only took the side of his rotten boss.
"Since I don't have to see those bastards anymore, what could be better than this?"
Kang-rim had suffered so much being entangled with such assholes. He had felt it was so unjust that he couldn't do what he wanted in reality. Therefore, he had no intention of being angry at what Artria had done.
"Well, I never imagined I would be reborn in the body of a heinous villain, though."
"Is... that so? That is a relief."
"Hmm..."
Artria was relieved, but Kang-rim tilted his head.
'It feels like there's something else she's hiding...'
In fact, there was one question. She had summoned another soul to save her dying Master. If so, what had happened to the soul of the original body? Was it truly dead? Was it because it had died that he was able to take over Grid's body? If not...
'Let's think about this later.'
Let's not worry about useless things. What would change if he worried about something that hadn't even become a problem yet? If it happens, he would think about it then. Let's not pay attention to things that haven't happened.
For now, let's deal with the task at hand. Kang-rim decided on that course of action.
"You have nothing more to say, right?"
"Yes."
Artria answered immediately to Kang-rim's question.
"Anything you want to ask?"
"If I may be so bold..." Artria asked, just in case. "Will you avoid slaughter?"
"I can't avoid it entirely, but I will avoid it if possible."
Kang-rim answered immediately.
"I am different from Grid. I will go a different way. I won't be ruined by being obsessed with killing. If possible, I will keep them alive."
"..."
"I will keep them alive and break them. Now that I know that is possible, do you think I would hesitate?"
Grid was a guy who was crazy about slaughter, but he was not. Unlike the idiot who failed to conquer the world because he was obsessed with slaughter, he would go a different way. If possible, he would keep them alive and make them submit. He would create plenty of people who followed only him. If he did that, world conquest would be possible. Kang-rim was confident that if he didn't follow only the bad points of Grid, he could definitely do it. He was the worst villain, but he believed he could definitely create a way for that villain to survive.
"Well, I don't intend to keep the men alive, though. Anyway, I will go with my current policy. You will keep following me, right?"
"Of course."
Artria smiled fully, as if she had wanted to hear that answer.
"That is what I desire. How could I refuse?"
"Good, then shall we get up?"
Kang-rim raised his body.
"Let's go to the conference room. We have to give those who committed treason a taste of their own medicine."
"Understood."