Long Live the Queen (4)
After finishing the walk with Selene and returning to the lodging, the emotion on Mirien's face was nothing but displeasure. The moment she saw me, Mirien furrowed her brows and twisted the corner of her mouth.
“Actor.”
“What.”
“I want to stay by your side too.”
“I never told you not to.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about that bitch flirting with you earlier.”
Mirien pointed her finger. The only person who fit the description of “that bitch” was Selene, and coincidentally, Selene had no tail.
“Hmm… Mirien, what do you mean?”
“I want to be closer to you than that bitch. Allow it. Actor, you like me more than some cold, barren woman like her, right?”
“…”
As expected of a disaster renowned for tracking magic, Mirien seemed to have overheard every word of the conversation Selene and I had while strolling through Busan. Karne, who was wearing a peculiar smile beside us, had likely done the same. I sighed, pushed Selene back, and spoke.
“Mirien, let’s talk about that later. We have plenty of time anyway. What’s urgent right now is the matter of Asteria’s crown fragments.”
Even Mirien couldn’t defy my will. She buried her mouth against her knees and whined.
“At least promise me one thing. You’ll go on a date with me too.”
“I already told you it wasn’t a date.”
I denied it while glancing at Selene’s expression. For some reason, she wore a triumphant smile, which seemed to irritate Mirien even more. Crackle. Mirien’s hair stood on end as static sparked, but that was all. She whipped her head away and fell silent. Letting out a sigh of relief, I turned my gaze to Karne.
“Anyway, Mother, did you gather any information?”
“Yes. I managed to extract some from a few collaborators I encountered in the city.”
“Collaborators?”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Just out of curiosity, were these collaborators human?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
“Uh… Did they cooperate of their own free will?”
There was no way an Awakened would willingly cooperate with a 5-star disaster. Yet in response to my question, Karne simply brought her index finger to her lips and smiled sweetly.
“I didn’t use violence. Of course, those children won’t remember anything.”
The gesture reminded me of a corporate executive.
She brainwashed them.
Should I be grateful it wasn’t torture? Either way, it was outside my jurisdiction. Telling her not to use extreme methods wouldn’t change anything.
“So, Mother. What did you learn about Shin Do-hee?”
“Ah, that was quite fascinating.”
“Fascinating?”
“Shin Do-hee… It wasn’t the crown fragment that turned her into a tyrant. She was already cruel by nature.”
“…Excuse me?”
I frowned at the unexpected answer. Seeing my reaction, Karne’s lips curled in amusement.
“The queen of this city once belonged to a cult that worshipped a false god.”
“A cult that worshipped a false god?”
I mulled over the phrase. Karne had a habit of twisting her words, so I had to pay close attention. Soon, I understood her meaning.
“A pseudo-religion?”
At that moment, Shin Do-hee’s madness, cruelty, and the environment that fostered them began to make sense.
Compiling the information Karne had given me afterward, it went like this. Shin Do-hee had grown up under parents who were cult leaders. As was typical of such groups, their religion blindly worshipped apocalyptic prophecies, and their daughter Shin Do-hee had been raised steeped in that faith. If that were all, one might have seen her as nothing more than an unfortunate child raised under the leader of a foolish cult. But ironically, the very apocalypse the doomsayers had always screamed about actually arrived.
[Disasters of Disaster Order are coming for you.]
Yes. Because of me.
[Defeat the disasters, subjugate them, and become the Absolute Ruler who dominates the world.]
Reality had become the game Disaster Order, and every system in the world had lost its meaning from that point onward. The first Rift Eruption that followed unleashed countless disasters, and many people died. It was also the reason religious circles worldwide, including South Korea’s, had been in an uproar. Pseudo-religious leaders who had predicted the end times suddenly became superstars. Of course, none of them had ever dreamed the apocalypse would actually happen, so most met an ending where their bodies were torn apart by disasters. Shin Do-hee’s father was no exception. During the first eruption, he was reportedly seized by the fern-like hands of 1-star imps and turned into living string cheese. Thus, the religious group Shin Do-hee belonged to collapsed, and the world entered the era of the Awakened. The problem, however, was that she was not an unfortunate but kind girl raised under a false father—she was a psychopath lacking humanity.
“They say she stopped at nothing.”
Shin Do-hee chose to become an Awakened without hesitation and rose to the position of clan leader in Busan, unleashing her cruelty without restraint. The methods were as brutal as they sounded. She would join parties using her beauty, then strike from behind when they least expected it. There were also cases where she promised a night to the leader of an Awakened group only to strangle him in bed. Han Tae-geon, who had tried to kill me during the second eruption, was a more meticulous and thorough version of Shin Do-hee. In this way, she seized control of Busan by any means necessary. Blood tells, as they say. She inherited her father’s talent and excelled at gathering followers. Once she became Busan’s ruler overnight, she collected disasters through her followers. From the moment she succeeded in synthesizing a 4-star disaster, she began attacking and annexing nearby small cities, which was also when conflicts with the Daejeon Clan began.
“This is troublesome.”
After hearing everything, I sighed. Unlike Yu Junseo, whose frontal assault power was exceptional, or Jeon Tae-min, who had the personality of a street thug, or the ambiguously righteous Leihu, Busan’s queen Shin Do-hee was a one-hundred-percent certified lunatic. Her execution ceremonies and the corpses displayed in the streets were likely rooted in the environment she grew up in. There was a high chance they carried some religious significance as well.
“…It’s because a madwoman was given an environment where she could wield power like a madwoman.”
“A truly clear interpretation, My Lord. I am moved by your insight.”
Ignoring Selene’s flattery, I organized my thoughts. In the end, Shin Do-hee’s problem wasn’t the crown fragment—it stemmed from the fact that she herself was a sociopath.
Should I let her live?
I pondered. If I wanted, killing her would be trivial. I had a specialist in assassination. No matter how powerful a 4-star named disaster Shin Do-hee possessed, Karne could kill her without a trace if she so much as lifted a finger. The issue was what came after. Was there anyone in Busan who could replace her? Anyone capable of independently defending against the sixth eruption?
“There isn’t.”
She had already executed every Awakened who opposed her. The Awakened who had appeared at the execution ceremony looked far from reliable. They had already grown accustomed to Shin Do-hee’s rule. Besides, no matter how much of a tyrant she was, Shin Do-hee’s power had contributed significantly to Busan’s ability to fend off rifts with relative ease.
“Hmm…”
In the end, the most ideal method was the same as with the Daejeon Clan—somehow win Shin Do-hee over, control her according to my will, and make her offer up the crown fragment herself. But how was I supposed to win over that fanatic? There was only one method that came to mind.
“Mirien, about brainwashing magic…”
“It’s a concentration spell. It can’t be used together with other magic.”
“Right.”
That was also why I had gone to the trouble of locking Investigator Jo Geon-uk in the tower. If that was the case, I needed to come up with another plan. I thought hard.
“Ah.”
Then I came up with a clever idea. Shin Do-hee had a weakness too. Having grown up under a cult leader, she possessed a near-fanatical faith in religion. And I could use that.
“There’s one way.”
It was thanks to the story I had heard from Selene just earlier. A divine revelation.
“Mother, could you search Shin Do-hee’s residence?”
“That’s simple. So, what should I bring back?”
After a moment of thought, I answered.
“Hmm… A gospel, perhaps?”
“What is that for?”
Karne asked. I spoke like a certain someone.
“Mother, I intend to become the god of a new world.”
“Ooh! Ascension!”
Mirien cheered, while Karne and Selene tilted their heads slightly. It seemed none of them had taken my words as a joke. But considering what I was about to do, it wasn’t far from the truth.
“Mirien, can you pull off an illusion?”
“What kind of illusion? Something like a hallucination spell isn’t hard.”
“Reproduce my appearance from your memories. That’s right—the form of Actor from when he was a god.”
Only then did Mirien seem to realize what I was planning.
“Hehe. I knew it. I really do like Actor.”
She said it with a bright smile.
The building where Shin Do-hee resided offered two distinct views. First, an empty beach stretching along the South Sea. And second—
“Hmm-hmm.”
Busan Clan leader Shin Do-hee hummed as she looked at the corpses she had displayed on the streets. They were the culmination of her faith, built through months of repeated executions. Just as her father had said, they were both offerings and messages. A sacred sign and warning to the unbelievers around her. Thus, the kingdom of the empress and pope, Shin Do-hee, would gradually expand its sanctuary. Indeed, the world was simpler than it was complex, and even simpler for the Awakened. This transformation of the world, which almost seemed kind at first glance, pleased Shin Do-hee immensely. The apocalypse that had come was not destruction. Just as her father had said, it was a new beginning.
“Hmm. Should I let that Seoul guy know too?”
Shin Do-hee muttered to herself as she took her father’s old gospel from the drawer. The leather cover was stained with old blood and worn smooth from handling. She ran her hand over it.
“Soon, everyone will understand.”
Just like the unbelievers of this city, if everyone witnessed the truth with their own eyes, they would kneel. Even those who had resisted at first had eventually accepted it. It was the instinct of all creatures to crave salvation in despair. Shin Do-hee intended to turn Busan into a holy land, and she believed it would happen. She smiled as she stroked the hardcover of the gospel.
“Should I cover it with human skin while I’m at it?”
That was when something changed before Shin Do-hee. A woman with an expressionless face and black wings spread wide. Small whirlwinds raged around her.
“…Huh?”
How had she gotten in, and who was she? Shin Do-hee hurriedly tried to summon her disaster, but her thoughts soon came to a halt. The reason was simple. She had seen the masked man walking out from behind those wings.
“…”
The man looked down at Shin Do-hee from behind his mask. The moment their eyes met, she felt a tingling sensation throughout her body. It was as if she had received a mystical revelation. Like a divine messenger surrounded by a halo, the man conveyed his will not with words but with a gesture. A neutral voice echoed in Shin Do-hee’s mind.
[One who serves the will of God.]
Shin Do-hee’s heart pounded violently. The masked man walked forward, crossing through the air. Footprints remained beneath his feet, as if the very order of the world had submitted. Shin Do-hee swallowed. An ecstatic energy that made every nerve in her body stand on end. It was overwhelmingly intense. An aura unlike anything she had ever encountered. Not even her father had possessed such presence. That meant…
“Rapture? A messenger of God?”
Ecstasy spread across Shin Do-hee’s face. She failed to realize that the divine being before her was the result of a meticulously crafted script.