The Cult of Function (2)
The interrogation room inside a dimly lit government building.
Under weak lighting, two people sat confined in the sealed room.
The cult leader and the sniper who had staged the assassination.
It reminded one of the interrogation rooms seen so often in movies.
A room where the outside was invisible from within, as if black film had been applied to the windows.
The Function Cult leader looked surprisingly older than expected—mid-forties to early fifties.
The Function Cult leader, appearing to be in his forties, and his accomplice, the assassin.
Whatever had happened during their arrest, both looked quite haggard, with injuries scattered across their bodies.
Bandages wrapped various parts of them, and their lips, eyes, and faces were split in places.
“We’ve finished the basic interrogation.”
“……Surely they didn’t end up like this during the questioning?”
“Of course not. It was an unavoidable measure to subdue them during the pursuit.”
“These people are Korean citizens too. Is this acceptable?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? We didn’t use violence. They tripped and fell on their own while we were catching them.”
“Right. Of course.”
Team Leader Kang spoke as if he had already become a National Intelligence Service agent rather than a Player Management Agency official.
Team Leader Kang Jinsu had grasped their intentions.
Exactly as Choi Junseok had figured.
They planned to fake a suicide and use mythology to turn the followers into fanatics.
At the same time, it would make the leader himself appear even more transcendent.
What greater miracle of transcendence could there be than dying and coming back to life?
They had only been pretending to be dead, lying limp, when the prepared followers tried to carry his body away—only to run into agents in black suits.
“This is the mask used to stage the death. And this is the one he usually wore.”
“Why does it look so creepy, like it was roughly carved from wood?”
It was a crude mask, as if someone had grabbed a random rectangular piece of wood and simply poked holes for the nose and eyes.
“Doesn’t that just mean the cult started with no real foundation?”
“……”
Choi Junseok felt strangely as though he was being insulted somewhere.
Team Leader Kang gave him a look asking why he had bothered bringing these two in, but Choi Junseok’s intention soon became clear.
The Function Cult. In a good way, weren’t they just fans of Function?
There was no need to disband them. They didn’t seem to have committed any crimes yet.
In that case…… why not steer the organization in a better direction?
Maintain the fanbase and expand it.
At the same time, build public goodwill toward Function through good deeds.
Like a volunteer group, for example.
“Before you go in, it would be best if you could slow down your Magic Tower climbs a little today.”
“Why?”
“We’re concerned that if the followers develop strange beliefs because the Function Cult leader is still alive, it might slow down the normalization process.”
“……I’ll consider it.”
Since Choi Junseok had no reason to reveal that he was the real Function, he nodded while looking down at the cult leader.
“There’s only one way for you to walk out of here alive.”
“……?”
“You’ll have to change the name of the Function Cult. From today onward, you’re the Inja… Function Volunteer Corps.”
“……Excuse me?”
“Do I look like I’m negotiating with you?”
The cult leader shook his head.
His frightened expression was genuine.
“It’s nothing for the Player Management Agency to make someone disappear. We’ve already identified every single one of your movements, your family, even your cousins. If you want to live, retire quietly. We’ve already chosen your successor.”
Team Leader Kang Jinsu quickly added,
“The Function Cult is now the Function Volunteer Corps. Any objections? You’ve just been appointed as the volunteer corps leader by the former cult leader.”
“…N-none, sir.”
“Good. Let’s work hard.”
If there were people willing to do good deeds in Function’s name, it could only help.
‘Who knows? This might even become the foundation for creating a guild or a business.’
As Choi Junseok left the room, he nodded once at Kang Jinsu.
As if asking him to handle the rest.
Kang Jinsu grinned and sat down leisurely in front of the two men.
“I won’t waste words. North Korean agents were brought in here recently too. None of them walked out alive. The world never even knew they went missing. But they weren’t Korean citizens—you are.”
It was an overt threat, blunt enough to make one wonder if it was even allowed.
Choi Junseok figured Kang would handle it well enough and returned to the Player Residential Village.
He used a spatial movement item and slipped into his room from an empty spot, vanishing without a trace.
─┼
“Did everything go smoothly?”
Lee Nayeon asked, lounging casually on the sofa.
She hadn’t seemed worried in the slightest.
“Surprisingly, it was resolved very quickly.”
“But your voice sounds a little uncertain.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of a problem. They asked me for a favor. The Player Management Agency wants me to hold off on record-breaking climbs until they finish dealing with everything.”
The atmosphere inside the Function Cult was probably shifting rapidly.
While the followers were in chaos over the cult leader’s death, his inner circle was quietly spreading rumors of his resurrection.
If Function suddenly started climbing the Magic Tower right now?
If the supposedly assassinated cult leader appeared climbing the tower at record speed in front of people whose logic and reason had already stopped working?
They might start believing the cult leader was still alive after all.
It would only interfere with steering the organization’s direction.
The priority was rooting out all the cult leader’s inner circle from within the cult. It was easy to understand why they needed time.
Climbing today probably wouldn’t cause any major issues, but he didn’t particularly want to encourage those cultists’ strange beliefs over a matter of days either.
“This is inconvenient.”
The floor he needed to challenge was the 23rd.
The difficulty itself wasn’t the issue, of course.
What concerned him was being unable to do an optimized climb.
Fortunately, according to the Player Management Agency’s information, there were no floors in the 20s that offered hidden rewards for being the first solo record breaker.
However, he would miss out on the reward given for clearing five floors in record time.
More critically, if he didn’t break the record, the Magic Tower High-Pass Ticket’s effect wouldn’t activate.
That meant he would have to climb at a normal pace of one floor per day.
While that was everyday life for everyone else, Choi Junseok’s brain, now used to climbing two floors at a time with the high-pass, refused to accept it.
“I’ve decided. I’ll still break the record on the 23rd today, but… I’ll wait until evening.”
“Oh! Then can I go for a walk with Kkamdori?”
“……No.”
‘As if.’
A living, moving dragon.
“Uh…… Now that I think about it, this is the Player Residential Village. Maybe people won’t find it strange?”
Lee Nayeon, who had maintained a blank expression the whole time, suddenly turned to Choi Junseok and narrowed her eyes as if asking if he was serious.
“Anyone who sees it will definitely find it strange.”
“Why? If you go to the cafeteria, there are plenty of posers walking around openly carrying weapons.”
“That’s probably because subspace backpacks are expensive. They’re also wearing gear for climbing. More importantly…… have you ever seen a player walking around with a black baby dragon?”
He had seen players walking pets like cats or dogs.
“A black baby dragon…… I haven’t.”
“Exactly. If you don’t want to draw unnecessary attention, it would be better to skip the walk……”
When Song Hana hugged Kkamdori and gave her a tearful look,
Lee Nayeon quickly turned her gaze away.
“W-why are you looking at me? What am I supposed to do about it?”
“I already finished my protective talisman homework……”
“I’ll let you walk him in the Magic Tower later.”
“Eeeeh…… No! It’s an undead floor!”
“……Or how about Haetaesik’s room?”
“Hmph. Fine, I guess I have no choice. I’ll just lie down and rest with Kkamdori.”
Song Hana hugged Kkamdori and darted into her room.
The whole time she was being carried away, Kkamdori simply blinked his large eyes with his tongue hanging out, tilting his head in confusion.
Lee Nayeon changed the subject by flipping through the TV channels.
As expected, it was a news channel running a special report on the Function Cult leader assassination incident.
— Yes, I’m currently at the scene of the Function Cult leader shooting in front of Suseo Magic Tower. The Function Cult followers still haven’t left and are wailing loudly while waiting for Function’s return.
— If Function is truly dead, wouldn’t that be a serious social problem?
— It’s practically impossible to believe the Function Cult leader was actually Function. Given that he deliberately emphasized anonymity and hid his appearance from the public, this incident appears to be nothing more than the work of an impersonator……
The news was, fortunately, maintaining a rational tone.
However, opinions seemed divided within the player community about whether Function had actually been assassinated.
Player Inside, the players’ community forum.
As expected, sarcastic posts were flooding in.
That was how outsiders viewed the Function Cult.
But the followers were sincere.
There seemed to be Function Cult members mixed in among the players too.
A similar scene was unfolding in front of Suseo Magic Tower.
“He will return! He will return!”
“Save us!”
“The Function Cult Leader promised us! He said he would return twelve hours after his death!”
It was the cult leader’s inner circle at work.
Whenever such words spread, the person who had spoken them would strangely disappear from the procession of followers.
The Player Management Agency and the National Intelligence Service were weeding out the inner circle.
They were also actively extracting the list of associates from the cult leader himself.
“People are this sad just because Function died?”
Feeling strangely emotional, Choi Junseok wiped his nose.
Lee Nayeon gave him a pitying look.
“Would people cry if I died too?”
“Would they? You’d probably die inside a Magic Tower without anyone knowing.”
The moment the thought that she really had no warm side crossed his mind,
Lee Nayeon muttered in a small voice, as if passing by,
“But…… I might shed a few tears for you.”
While Choi Junseok blinked quietly, wondering how to interpret that,
ring—
A message from Team Leader Kang arrived.
— It was a surprisingly ordinary group. You can enter the Magic Tower now.
— Is that okay?
— You can take your time, but there’s no reason you can’t go. You can look forward to it. When Function reveals himself, they’ll boost your reputation quite a bit.
Given how confidently he spoke, it seemed the Player Management Agency was planning to allocate a budget and run it as a separate Function operation agency.
The scale was getting bigger, but.
All of this was just the backlash from climbing the Magic Tower and giving people hope.
“Shall we enter the Magic Tower then?”
Lee Nayeon nodded with a strangely sulky expression.
“Entering the 23rd floor.”
At the same time, Choi Junseok turned into a beam of light and disappeared.