The College Girl - 1
Ten years ago.
After anomalies first revealed themselves to the world, a small number of people awakened to special powers, commonly referred to as "Abilities."
Through these special powers and unique tools known as "Items," humanity was able to escape the threat of the anomalies.
The Awakened Association is an organization so vital that calling it the "last bastion of humanity" is no exaggeration. If the Awakened Association collapses, humanity collapses. This is not an exaggeration or a metaphor; it is a literal fact.
The work of the Awakened Association can be broadly categorized into three areas:
First, managing ability users.
Second, managing items.
Third, resolving anomalies.
Setting aside the second and third points, the first one requires a bit of nuance. The Awakened Association is not an organization that manages only "Awakened"; it manages all "Ability Users," including the Awakened.
The number of "Ability Users" who are not "Awakened" is roughly around one thousand. It’s not a large number, but it’s not small, either.
Until a few years ago, these ability users caused countless incidents and accidents.
There were cases where a non-combat ability user, suffering from "protagonist syndrome" or "hero syndrome," would wander into an anomaly zone on their own and die a dog's death. There were also lunatics who used their powers for criminal activities.
As these incidents continued, the Awakened Association eventually had no choice but to draw its sword.
They passed a bill stating, [All ability users in the Republic of Korea must be subject to the management and surveillance of the Awakened Association], thereby imposing mandatory compliance on all ability users.
Well, it’s not as if the Awakened Association oppressed ability users mindlessly like some evil corporate state from a dystopian novel.
The Association proposed a clever integration strategy in the form of "employment." They began to manage and monitor ability users in a very ideal way by hiring every single one of them as staff.
Furthermore, being an employee of the Association didn't necessarily mean one had to be an "Awakened." Just because you’ve awakened an ability doesn't mean everyone can become an Awakened. After all, not every ability in the world is specialized for resolving anomalies.
A prime example of this is Kim Junghwan.
Kim Junghwan, who can discern the truth and lies in what a target says, is treated as a key figure even within the Awakened Association. However, since his ability is unrelated to combat, he could never become an Awakened, even if he wanted to.
Therefore, most people who have awakened their abilities are currently working at the Association, employed as ordinary office workers or in specialized roles like Kim Junghwan, where they can fully utilize their unique talents.
Now then.
It goes without saying, but the security level of the Awakened Association’s main building is at a level where my explaining it until I’m blue in the face would be pointless.
Top-tier modern scientific technology.
Various security-related items that are constantly active.
Around one thousand ability users and Awakened residing within the main building.
With this level of force, they could stop not just an anomaly, but the grandfather of all anomalies with a single click.
…Or so I thought.
But when a Fervent Follower, who is practically the grandfather of all anomalies, appeared, they bypassed the Association’s security like it was a joke.
If the security system within the Association had been functioning properly, Park Donghyun, Kim Junghwan, and everyone else would have noticed long ago that the "College Girl" was a strange entity.
It seems there is a significant difference between the mental attacks of an anomaly and those of a Fervent Follower.
I don’t just mean the difference in power or range; there is something fundamentally different about them.
For example:
Let’s assume that the world suddenly went crazy and a "bratty" anomaly appeared right in the middle of the Association’s main building, making everyone within a 2-kilometer radius go insane.
While it would cause devastating damage, they would eventually be able to stop it. Why? Because everyone would be aware that "an anomaly has appeared and is launching a mental attack."
However, with the "College Girl’s" mental attack, everyone except for Yoo Iseul and me is completely unaware of it.
No matter how logically I explained that "the College Girl is a crazy bitch and we need to beat her up right now," the result was the same.
It’s not about whether a Fervent Follower’s mental attack is stronger or weaker than an anomaly’s.
It’s that they don’t even recognize the existence of a "mental attack" in the first place.
It’s a good thing Yoo Iseul is here; if she weren’t, then…
…Ugh.
I don’t even want to think about it.
Yoo Iseul and I headed toward the College Girl’s villa, the site where the human sacrifices were being performed. I already knew the location of the villa from Park Donghyun.
…Thinking about it again, it’s absurd.
The location of the villa, the root of the incident, had already been identified, so why did the Association decide to "just watch" without taking any action?
I suppose that College Girl must have used her mental attack to twist people’s cognitive abilities.
We are currently moving on our own, not with the support of the Awakened Association. Therefore, we couldn’t use the "Hotline," the road traffic system exclusively for the Awakened, so we were delayed a bit by traffic.
Yoo Iseul took her hands off the steering wheel and said with a bored expression:
"Hey. I’m saying this again: we could be seriously screwed."
"I know."
From an external perspective, Yoo Iseul and I are practically about to commit a crime. In the minds of the people at the Awakened Association, that "College Girl" is someone who needs to be protected. Yet, Yoo Iseul and I are planning to beat her to death.
I’m not joking; if things go wrong, Yoo Iseul and I could be branded as murderers trying to kill an innocent college student.
"But if we just beat that College Girl to death, everything will return to normal, right? I mean, Ahn Suhee regained her sanity after that Nameless guy kicked the bucket."
When I said that, Yoo Iseul looked back at me with a slightly surprised expression.
"That’s true, but what’s gotten into you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Usually, you’d be whining and complaining about everything. Why are you so proactive today?"
"Because I’m anxious."
"What are you anxious about?"
"I’m anxious that there’s another Fervent Follower besides me who has taken on a human form."
"Why, is that not allowed?"
"Probably."
I had thought that only one Fervent Follower could exist per species. I don’t have clear evidence, but for some reason, I have a conviction that it should be that way.
In that sense, this Fervent Follower known as the "College Girl" is something alien. She feels different from any other Fervent Follower I’ve met so far. In a bad way.
For starters, it’s strange that a Fervent Follower, who is nothing more than a lackey of a "Great One," has created a religion that worships herself as a god. This is blasphemy.
Of course, it’s possible that the ignorant humans decided to worship the Fervent Follower as a god on their own, regardless of the College Girl’s intentions, but…
Even so, that College Girl was at the scene of the human sacrifice, and she just stood there watching as people treated a Fervent Follower as a god.
A Fervent Follower is not a god. This is a fact that every Fervent Follower knows.
Anum-Jihad, a Fervent Follower of the Distorted Constellation, also found it extremely unpleasant when planetary inhabitants worshipped him as a god. Naturally, he would find it unpleasant. Since he is also nothing more than a Fervent Follower serving a Great One called the "Distorted Constellation," he would never dare to call himself a god.
It’s the same for me. If the believers watching my stream type in the chat, "Lee Jia is a god and invincible!", I ban them without hesitation. It’s one of the few forbidden words in my stream, which otherwise aims for a fairly free atmosphere.
However, that crazy bitch, the "College Girl," didn’t take any action even after seeing her followers treat her as a god.
…Why is she still safe?
I don’t know which Great One she is a Fervent Follower of, but it wouldn’t be strange if she had already paid the price for her blasphemy to her Great One and had her existence erased.
Well.
I’ll probably find out the exact reason once I meet her in person.
As our destination drew near, I said to Yoo Iseul:
"Unnie, you remember what I said earlier, right?"
"What? That you said your seatbelt was uncomfortable because of your tits? Of course I remember."
"W-when did I ever say something like that!"
"You did."
"…"
Did I?
I feel like I might have said that subconsciously. But honestly, wearing a seatbelt really is uncomfortable. I possess a body that won’t die even in a major accident, so I can’t help but wonder if I really need to wear a seatbelt.
Anyway, that’s not important.
"Not that. I meant, if things get desperate, pray to the Shining Stars…"
"Pray to the Shining Stars? No, I don’t remember that."
"…Unnie."
"That person is your god, not mine. I’m a skeptical atheist. I do think those 'Great Ones' actually exist in the world, but I don’t know if they’re beings that are helpful to me. So I won’t do it. Don’t force your religion on me, you bitch."
"…"
She’s a stubborn person, as always. Well, Yoo Iseul would be able to handle things on her own even without the help of the Shining Stars. I should just worry about my own safety.
Before long, we arrived at our destination.
The "villa," our destination, was located in the mountains of a quiet countryside. Unless you were forcing your way there using a navigation system, it was in a location that couldn’t be spotted by people even if they tried.
The moment I got out of the car and faced the villa, I realized at once what this villa truly was.
Seeing it for the second time, I knew.
This villa is.
"…A Sanctum."
"What?"
A Sanctum.
The unique domain of a Fervent Follower.
"It’s an anomaly."