Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 93
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Anyway, Kyung-wan’s impression after seeing the equipment was this.
“It feels kind of creepy.”
“That’s probably because it’s a prototype. Depending on who’s using it, the performance varies wildly. Of course, don’t worry about safety. Safety, at least, has been thoroughly verified.”
Just who had verified it, and how many of them?
That question, which suddenly came to mind, passed through no filter and came straight out of Kyung-wan’s mouth.
“How many people died during verification?”
“…No one died.”
“Then how many ended up crippled?”
“Shall we try getting in there?”
Whether she didn’t want to say, couldn’t say, or was just being mischievous, Kim Maria didn’t answer properly. Instead, she smiled at Kyung-wan and pointed at the ‘Clairvoyance’ device.
As Kyung-wan sat on the equipment, he asked,
“Why something like Clairvoyance? If it’s a superpower, wouldn’t you develop related weapons systems first?”
The field where technology is applied first is the military. Even when copper or iron was discovered, weapons were made before farming tools, and the internet and GPS were originally developed for military purposes as well.
While operating a computer off to the side, Maria replied,
“Modern times are all about information warfare. Information comes first. And think about it, how advantageous would it be if you could steal an enemy nation’s secrets and technological data?”
“The people getting robbed probably wouldn’t like that very much…”
Isn’t that basically the same as certain countries stealing other nations’ technology?
To Kyung-wan’s comment, Maria answered like this.
“The world is already quietly at war.”
Wooooong,
Electricity flowed into the equipment, producing a high-frequency hum caused by voltage running through the circuits.
“Relax your mind and heighten your senses. Even if an unfamiliar sensation comes in, don’t reject it, accept it.”
As Maria manipulated the computer, she relayed various precautions.
Since the device showed large individual differences, they first had to adjust it to suit Kyung-wan. That took more time than expected, so Kyung-wan ended up having lunch at the research facility. Not only that, he also had to answer various questions Maria threw at him along the way.
“We’re almost done now.”
“You said that just a moment ago.”
“This time it’s for real. The only thing left is the use of medication.”
“Medication?”
Kyung-wan echoed the word, thinking to himself. Did this woman realize the image of her as a crazy bitch was getting stronger by the minute?
“It’s like a kind of hypnotic inducer. Once it starts operating in earnest, the sense of alienness increases, and there’s a risk of synchronization breaking. This helps alleviate that alien feeling.”
So, a kind of psychoactive drug?
“Can we not use that?”
Kyung-wan said. Playing with a person’s mind using drugs was surprisingly easy if you knew the tricks. His reluctance was only natural.
Seeing his displeased reaction, Maria offered a compromise.
“Then let’s try without the drug first, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll use it.”
The fact that she didn’t say they wouldn’t use the drug at all just proved she was dangerous after all.
Still, Kyung-wan nodded for now. If it didn’t work, he could back out then. Surely they wouldn’t forcefully inject him with drugs. They’d have to be insane.
Soon, the Clairvoyance device began operating in earnest. The magnetic field emitted from the coils induced active currents in the brain and stimulated brainwaves.
This sensation reminded Kyung-wan of an old memory.
Which past life was it? Right, one from a world of advanced electronic civilization, where chips and nanowires were embedded in nearly everyone’s brain, and the mind could be directly connected to a world made of electronic information. It was a sensation he had often felt there.
Based on that experience, Kyung-wan accepted the alien sensation of synchronizing with the device.
Gradually, he felt his senses expanding. S-particles unraveled and began to spread widely.
Watching the monitor, Maria asked,
“How is it? Do you feel a new sensation? Other test subjects said it felt like astral projection, or like their eyes were moving around with wings of their own.”
Kyung-wan nodded in affirmation.
Satisfied, she showed him a photo of a woman on a tablet. A fairly pretty woman with long hair.
“This is Ms. Han Yeongmi. And these are samples of clothes and hair that retain her scent.”
Maria opened a sealed box and brought it right up to Kyung-wan’s nose. Hair was one thing, but underwear was really… was she trying to turn him into a pervert?
“Got it?”
“I got it, so could you please move that away?”
“…Interesting. Did you know the synchronization value didn’t drop at all when you answered just now?”
Judging by how she even checked reactions like that, it was questionable whether her real goal was finding the kidnapped woman, or experimenting on Kyung-wan.
“Enough already. Where do I start?”
“From here.”
Maria showed him a photo of the place where the kidnappers who abducted Han Yeongmi had disappeared the day before. Since they had fled into the mountains at night and scattered in all directions, tracking them wasn’t easy.
“What about the guys who got caught?”
“They won’t be much help. Most of them were hired hands. People who came in from China, Southeast Asia, and the like, hoping to make a big score using their superpowers.”
The chaos caused by superpower awakenings was still ongoing, and there was no shortage of bottom-feeders trying to make a quick fortune with their abilities.
Maria continued,
“Alright, concentrate. To track farther, you’ll need to increase the density, composition, and activation level of the S-particles.”
Kyung-wan focused as she instructed. The method the device used to stimulate specific neurons was likely a technique acquired empirically. Perhaps they used brain-activity data from someone with a Clairvoyance-like ability. It seemed to be technology derived from the idea that stimulating the brain in the same way might grant similar abilities.
Of course, the activation and use of S-particles was far more complex than that, making this closer to a lucky accident. Still, the fact that scientific technology could be applied to superpowers, previously reliant solely on individuals, was a major achievement.
The alien brainwaves from the device melted into Kyung-wan’s cognitive processes. On the device, this appeared as a high synchronization score.
He no longer saw the world with his eyes. Instead, his brain directly perceived interactions with the world through dispersed and activated S-particles.
The sheer volume of information was enough to burn out the brain in an instant, but it was filtered once through S-particles that exhibited specific patterns, and again by the brain itself, until only visual, olfactory, and auditory information was applied.
It was an overwhelming flood of sensations that could cause motion sickness or hallucinations if one wasn’t used to it, but Kyung-wan’s consciousness quickly adapted, moving through multiple locations as if he were a ghost.
His ego sank beneath the surface of the unconscious, leaving only a sense of purpose floating like a small buoy. His awareness moved to the site of last night’s clash, following the traces left by the intruders as they fled.
Though their traces had scattered in all directions from the forest entrance Maria showed him, the widely spread S-particles functioned like artificial olfactory cells, detecting Han Yeongmi’s scent and delivering it to Kyung-wan.
His consciousness moved in the direction where the scent grew stronger. He chased it over mountains and onto a road, where suddenly the scent vanished.
They must have traveled by vehicle.
At that point, Kyung-wan stopped using the device.
“What’s wrong? The sync rate dropped.”
“The trail was cut off in the middle.”
“Cut off?”
Kyung-wan explained that Han Yeongmi’s scent ended at a certain road. After checking the road, Kim Maria made several phone calls and then said to him,
“I’ve requested related data, so while we wait, let’s talk about the equipment.”
“You want me to just wait?”
“We need to pursue this as quickly as possible. This isn’t an ordinary kidnapping, it’s the theft of nationally important secrets. And besides, why sit around doing nothing? We should use the time efficiently.”
With that, she began asking Kyung-wan in detail about his experience using the Clairvoyance device.
Kyung-wan wore a bored expression but answered her questions faithfully. Whether the other person was bored, disliked it, or felt uncomfortable didn’t matter to the scientist in front of him, she was a mad-scientist-type egoist through and through.
About thirty minutes later, she received a call and showed Kyung-wan the location where a vehicle suspected to have been used by the kidnappers had been spotted.
Sighing inwardly, Kyung-wan activated the Clairvoyance device again. His mind flew far away, to a place several hours by car from the prison. It was the location of the CCTV that had last captured the vehicle.
Upon arrival, he sensed Han Yeongmi’s scent through the widely spread S-particles. As he followed it, he found the kidnapped woman at what looked like a prayer retreat center deep inside a valley.
But something was very strange.
“I found her.”
“Oh! Excellent! I thought it would take days.”
“But was this Han Yeongmi woman really kidnapped?”
“What do you mean?”
“The people who took her are worshipping her as a saint.”
At Kyung-wan’s words, Maria placed her index finger on her chin with an unreadable smile. It was a girlish gesture that didn’t quite suit her age, but with her still-retained beauty, it looked surprisingly natural.
She replied,
“Ms. Han Yeongmi was active as a saint in a cult called the Iul Church. The intruders from yesterday are probably superpowered members of that group.”
Having awakened healing abilities, Han Yeongmi played the role of a saint under her step-uncle, who was the church’s pastor. They sold something called Iul Nectar, and she ended up serving a three-year sentence for violating medical law, fraud, and embezzlement.
Hearing that explanation, Kyung-wan tilted his head.
“Weren’t you saying it was sabotage committed from overseas?”
Maria responded,
“We can’t rule out that possibility yet. Fanatics are very easy to use.”
Apparently, there was not only a friend shield in this world, but also a cult shield. After all, irrational zealots who couldn’t tell right from wrong were quite convenient pawns.
Kyung-wan nodded for now. It wasn’t his problem anyway, and it was already close to dinner time to press further.
“So my job’s done here, right?”
“That’s true, but don’t we still have something left to talk about?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
As Kyung-wan played dumb, Maria looked at him with an amused expression.
In the end, Kyung-wan agreed to her condition of grilled pork belly and experienced his first dinner at the research facility.
However, despite all that effort, Han Yeongmi didn’t return to the lab, and the next day, Kyung-wan had to receive another visit from Maria.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll need to use the Clairvoyance device again.”
“Again?”
“A major incident happened there yesterday.”
The location Kyung-wan identified was immediately reported to the authorities, and a special police unit was dispatched. Given that the culprits had assaulted a prison, it was only natural, but not only the special police unit was sent. Superpowered security personnel were also brought in from security companies, including Ilsung Security.
However, when the special police unit raided the church, the pastor, Han Yeongmi’s step-uncle, was found dead in a grotesque state, and there was no trace of Han Yeongmi.
“After detaining and interrogating all the church members, we learned that the pastor, Gong Jeongsik, had hired talent from places like Russia and Southeast Asia to retrieve the saint.”
“Then you’re saying they killed the cult leader and took the woman?”