Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 71
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Anyway, Kyung-wan, feeling it in his bones that the nation’s superpowered criminal detention facility plan was running smoothly, sank into meditation. There was still some time before sleep.
And then...
[Hello. Nice to meet you for the first time.]
Out of nowhere, an unfamiliar voice echoed inside his head.
With a tone that made it hard to tell whether it belonged to a man or a woman, Kyung-wan at first wondered if this body he had possessed had some undiagnosed brain disorder or mental illness he hadn’t known about until now.
But perhaps because this wasn’t the other party’s first time, they calmly explained the situation.
[I’m transmitting my thoughts to you via telepathy, so please don’t panic.]
Ah, so a telepath. Kyung-wan immediately accepted it and focused his mind on the voice.
[So what do you want?]
[Wow! That’s impressive. You’re the first person ever to connect to the channel and respond right away… Are you a superpowered individual too, by any chance?]
[Not sure… I’m kind of on the fence.]
If infinite reincarnation counted as a superpower, then maybe it was?
[Anyway, what do you want?]
[You’re rather impatient.]
[I’m Korean. Fast, fast is the default.]
He just wanted to get this annoying business over with quickly.
At that, the mysterious voice fell silent for a moment, then got to the point.
[We’ve been taking a deep interest in you for quite some time.]
[So?]
[After observing you, we’d like you to join us.]
[Who the hell are you?]
[That we cannot reveal yet. If you join us, we will tell you.]
[Whatever. Why me, specifically?]
[We judged that your ideology and actions make you well suited to join us.]
[My abilities too?]
[Of course. Your ability to discern whether a speaker is being sincere was also taken fully into account.]
[But ideology and actions? I get that you can look into what I’ve done, but you know what I’m thinking too?]
[Resisting injustice and the absurdities of society.]
[Oh~.]
[We value people like that,]
[You’ve got it completely wrong.]
[What?]
The mysterious voice cut itself off at Kyung-wan’s rebuttal and asked back.
Kyung-wan spoke honestly.
[Honestly, I don’t really think about anything. All that talk about social injustice and ideology is a headache. I just live however I feel like. I don’t even know what I’m thinking most of the time, so it’d be a problem if you misunderstand me as someone with some lofty sense of mission or firm convictions.]
[...]
In the silence of the unknown telepath, a fair amount of confusion could be felt. Probably something like, “Huh? This isn’t how it’s supposed to go?”
Once they seemed to have sorted out their thoughts, the voice spoke again.
[But you do get angry at injustice, don’t you? You wouldn’t be able to do those things if you weren’t angry.]
[It’s kind of similar.]
Disgust and anger have a blurry boundary, after all.
At Kyung-wan’s words, the voice grew more assertive.
[That means you have a heart that can’t tolerate injustice. That alone is enough for you to join us. We all came together because of that same feeling.]
Injustice… What even was injustice? Kyung-wan knew countless perspectives that tried to draw that vague line clearly, but he had no intention of debating it with this mysterious voice.
And his answer was already decided.
[Sorry, but I don’t feel like joining you. At least not for now.]
[Why? Is it because you’re locked up in prison?]
[I just told you. I live however I feel like.]
On a whim, he’d castrated gang-rapist bastards. On a whim, he’d crippled punk thugs. On a whim, he’d stabbed a sashimi knife into a lawmaker’s lower back. On a whim, he’d beaten the hell out of a neighboring country’s cops.
Kyung-wan knew his own capabilities well. If he endured a bit more, prepared a bit more, lived a bit more fiercely and diligently, he had the ability and experience to enjoy a far richer life in far better circumstances than now.
But he didn’t want to. Why?
Because his attitude toward life was in a precarious state.
The “better circumstances” mentioned earlier inevitably required compromise with society, or the world. If he had even a shred of worldly greed left, he would have done so gladly.
But he was an infinite reincarnator. He knew all too well where the diminishing returns of material satisfaction lay, and knowing that well enough made it so tedious he could predict it just by imagining it.
That was why he could draw a line for himself about where to be satisfied. That was also why he could be content with prison life like this.
But that line was closely tied to the internal compromises he experienced.
Those internal compromises were the result of interactions between truly complex desires and values. For example, it could be described as the conflict and negotiation between thoughts like “Fuck this shit, I want to smash everything!” and “But I still have to keep the line of being human.”
This was a universal inner conflict that everyone experienced, but unlike ordinary people whose choices were limited by their environment, for Kyung-wan, who reincarnated endlessly across countless and varied environments, the outcome of this inner conflict was a truly crucial issue. It was tied to his very sense of self.
How should one live?
Each person’s answer to that question became their values, which were essentially their identity. In other words, the collapse of one’s values meant the collapse of one’s identity.
That was why the self inevitably had to be accompanied by the word “world” between the lines. Without the backdrop of a “world,” there was no subject to whom the question “How should one live?” could even be posed. Ultimately, without an external world, there was no self.
That might be why Kyung-wan really was living exactly as he said, however he felt. Because he hadn’t yet decided how to coexist with the “world.” The endless, dust-choked world of mortal life filled him with fear about making that decision.
He continued.
[I’m not the kind of person who holds onto some belief, plans for the future, and lives diligently and earnestly like you people.]
The qualifier he’d added, “at least for now”, was something only someone like him could add. Who knew? One day, on a whim, he might suddenly find himself a member of the suspicious group that this strange telepath belonged to.
At Kyung-wan’s words, the unfamiliar voice asked again.
[But we do share the trait of not being able to tolerate injustice, don’t we?]
[Hey, even couples who married because they loved each other end up noticing things that get on their nerves, and then divorce under the label of “personality differences.” You really think people thrown together by something this flimsy are going to get along just fine? In the end, group or organizational life is maintained by rules and regulations. And what did I just say about how I live?]
Even married couples who love each other eventually establish rules they need to keep between themselves, either implicitly or through discussion. How much more so for groups or organizations made up of many people?
Any group or organization that wants to maintain its form inevitably establishes customs or rules and demands that its members comply with them. That was organizational life, social life.
But that kind of life didn’t suit Kyung-wan at all, someone who lived however he felt like.
[I see. But as you put it, when you “feel like it,” couldn’t you join us then?]
As the voice, now having some understanding of Kyung-wan, said that, Kyung-wan nodded.
[If I feel like it.]
[Good. For now, it’s enough that someone as capable as you doesn’t feel hostile toward us.]
There was a clear intent that they would eventually recruit him for sure, but Kyung-wan was indifferent.
[I’m not a superpowered individual.]
At that, the voice thought this.
‘You connect to a telepath’s channel like this and still say you’re not superpowered?’
Still, to build some goodwill for future recruitment, they went along with it.
[… Even if you aren’t superpowered, considering the bold execution and meticulous planning you’ve demonstrated, you’re no different from one.]
The voice lavishly praised Kyung-wan. Thinking of the capabilities he’d shown during the attack on the National Assembly, it wasn’t an exaggeration.
But Kyung-wan was starting to find this conversation tiresome and exhausting.
[Enough with the flattery. You done talking? I’m going to sleep now.]
At the implication that they should get lost if they were finished, the voice fell silent again, then began as if confessing.
[Before we close the channel like this, may I expand the connection with you a bit more?]
[What do you mean?]
[This current connection is very superficial. It only reads the surface of your consciousness. But if we expand the channel a bit more, I can also read your inner psyche.]
[You want to check if I’m lying, or whether I’m a threat to you?]
[That’s part of it, but it’s also for trust. This expanded channel isn’t one-sided.]
Meaning, to the extent that the other could read him, he could also read the other.
At that, Kyung-wan found it interesting and commented.
[Sounds dangerous.]
[It’s fine. I’ve done this with many people already, and there have been no problems so far.]
The confident tone showed considerable faith in their own ability. But inwardly, Kyung-wan clicked his tongue.
[That’s not what I meant. Well, you’ll find out if you try. But be ready to shut down that channel or whatever at any time.]
[We always have safety measures in place.]
[What do I need to do?]
[When the channel expands, you may feel as if your senses are expanding. There’s no need to panic. Just don’t strongly reject it.]
[Got it. Then start right away.]
Kyung-wan didn’t want to waste his sleeping time.
At his abrupt permission, the mysterious voice immediately announced the start.
[Then, we begin.]
Just as the voice said, it felt like his senses were expanding. Similar to the sensation during meditation, but with a difference: meditation felt like “seeing broadly,” whereas this channel expanding felt more like “seeing far.”
Through those expanded senses, a sense of foreignness emerged. Something that couldn’t be touched, but was clearly not his own, reached out toward his mind as if extending a hand, and made contact.
And then…
[Aaaargh! Ugh, bleegh!]
With pain and retch-inducing disgust left behind, the channel snapped shut in a hurry.
Kyung-wan clicked his tongue as if he’d expected this.
“Tut. I told you it was dangerous…”
Whether it was mental connection or mind-sharing, the very act of taking in an infinite reincarnator’s memories without proper control was dangerous in itself.
Just how dangerous?
In one past life, a great sapient being, a dragon, had developed severe autism. A lich, an undead lord who commanded ten million undead soldiers and scourged a continent for a thousand years, had cast a turn-undead spell on himself and turned to ash along with his legion. A superintelligent AI that managed humanity’s expansion across the entire galaxy had gone berserk, sparking an unexpected interstellar war.
Of course, those incidents had happened because someone tried to forcibly seize an infinite reincarnator’s soul or mind and control it at will. Just lightly “licking” it like this wouldn’t be fatal, though it would still be shocking. The human mind was fragile, but it wasn’t incapable of recovery.
Still, bitter gourd is bitter even if you just lick it, and shit is still shit even if you just lick it. In other words, tasting alone was more than enough to know it was bitter and filthy.
Figuring that the voice, having tasted enough bitterness and filth, wouldn’t be coming back, Kyung-wan laid out his bedding, thinking it was time to get ready for sleep, only to face an unexpected situation.
[D–You… What in the world are you?]