Happy Living! Wow! It's Purple!
Namgung Hyeong and the orthodox squad had been dispatched to this planet on a secret mission.
Among them, Hyukryeon Wiseol handled strategy and administrative work.
Ever since arriving in the city, he had been gathering information without pause. He accessed the municipal databases and launched a full-spectrum investigation from there—internet traffic, CCTV feeds, government agency records, everything. The entire city now lay under his watch. Backed by the planetary government's cooperation through sheer administrative leverage, he was slowly completing a net of information that blanketed the place.
He monitored the local power brokers. What communications they made. Whom they contacted. What relationships they maintained.
He investigated Morlaren Canyon—the treasure hunters stirring up the gorge, the analysis reports from every kind of specialist.
Investigate. Surveil. Infer. It was what he did best. Seated at a desk, he looked out over the whole city.
He also had help. A high-performance administrative AI he had brought from the Hyukryeon main house assisted him. Namgung Hyeong and Karina contributed to the information gathering as well. And Tang Bernoulli of the Sichuan Tang Clan, true to his family name, was personally infiltrating places left and right, continuing his espionage work on foot.
Then one day a certain group appeared on his surveillance radar.
A cult.
People in purple robes.
Followers of Jami Star Herneesh.
Hyukryeon Wiseol found their movements suspicious. They had clearly worked hard to erase their tracks—but it was meaningless. Traces did not vanish just because someone tried. There were plenty of ways to dig them out in this world.
He added the cultists to the list of priority surveillance targets.
In a peaceful inn.
"Gong Ryun. What exactly am I looking at right now?"
Un-rang asked in open astonishment.
"Ah, this? I bought some new clothes. The color's really nice, isn't it?"
Gong Ryun was wearing the new outfit—a purple shirt and a purple jumper.
Un-rang was appalled.
"What is this!! Gong Ryun bought clothes!! Of his own free will!!!"
"Hey, I know how to buy clothes too."
"Until now you only ever bought any when I nagged you into it!!! A man who never buys anything unless he absolutely needs it—how could this happen!"
"Lately purple fabric's been calling to me. Don't know why."
"Good heavens… buying clothes because they're pretty… I never thought I'd see the day Gong Ryun consumed for preference instead of necessity…"
"Come to think of it, it might have been a little impulse buy…? While I was at it I color-matched the protective suit and the hat in purple too. Total overspending."
"Khuh…! Gong Ryun saying the words 'impulse buy' and 'overspending'…! At last I feel a touch of human warmth from you…"
"Human warmth is going a bit far…"
Gong Ryun drained his grape juice in one go, looking baffled.
"It's a good thing, Gong Ryun. While we're at it, let me recommend a few shopping apps. There are plenty of excellent brands…"
And so the day ended with a heated discussion between him and Un-rang on the profundities of the fashion world and the pleasures of consumption, right through the meal.
After eating and returning home, Gong Ryun sat quietly and thought. Come to think of it, when had he started liking purple?
He traced back through his memories. It seemed to have hit him hard a few days after he reached the Profound Realm. Yes—that was it. The day he'd come back from the Morlaren Canyon driving gig, wandering the streets looking for dinner, he'd seen a purple jacket displayed in a clothing-store window. That was the start.
…
Could the cultists have somehow influenced him?
…
……
Hmm. Maybe so.
Probably the purple robes the cultists wore had just looked really cool. That luminous purple, the smooth slender texture—it had basically been a delicious after-meal prayer.
Gong Ryun decided not to worry about it.
He'd just sprawl out and sleep.
It was the fourth day of tentacle brainwashing.
Brainwashing day five.
He went to the canyon again.
It was a magnificent vista that let you feel the grandeur of Morlaren's nature. This time they went deeper, toward rugged terrain where the cliffs ran twice the average depth.
The killing intent felt heavier.
Moles attacked in packs. They were so vicious he thought for a moment he was looking at space locusts.
They had no choice but to park the car on a little safe hill that jutted out.
Lunch was sandwiches; because they contained seafood rare on this planet, they were a real delicacy.
And after eating the sandwiches, he
did it.
On the way back the sunset was beautiful.
The leader guy said that somewhere in the galaxy there were stars where purple sunsets fell. If you went there, he claimed, you felt eternal happiness and gained distant glory.
It sounded a bit cultish, so the mood went flat.
This guy was fine overall, but every so often he said weird things.
Earlier, too, he'd muttered something about brainwashing and tentacles. Gong Ryun didn't really know what those words meant, but anyway—today had been another happy day.
Brainwashing day six.
He gave Medilla a present.
It was a purple bath bomb shaped like a round ball.
Medilla leaped up crying, "Disciple!! What in the world is this fluffy little gift supposed to be!!"
She literally leaped into the air. Lightened by her light-body arts, she shot up with a whoosh and drifted back down like a feather.
Seeing her so happy, he thought: presents really are wonderful. He should have bought more of them for people more often. The teaching that "cherishing those around you and giving freely is the true value of life" really did seem right. He'd heard it somewhere—couldn't remember where, but it was good. Later he'd hand out gifts to the rest of his acquaintances too.
When Medilla asked, "Kshishi! For what reason has our disciple brought such a cute gift?" he told her that while walking past a beauty shop he'd seen the bath bombs in the window, thought they were incredibly pretty, and somehow impulse-bought about ten of them.
Medilla narrowed her eyes and muttered something unintelligible like, "Hmm… could it be a side effect of the sculpting method…? Impossible…? I haven't even taught him an internal art yet, and I certainly haven't taught him Nine-Yin White-Bone Claw…?"
He really had bought them because the bath bombs were pretty.
Purple round ball-shaped bath bombs. They even had glitter inside, just like twinkling stars in the night sky. Something about the purple, the roundness, made his heart feel soft and squishy and slippery and melty.
Anyway.
It probably wasn't a big deal.
Having come this far, Gong Ryun decided to buy a few more. He'd share them with everyone.
And so another day passed.
Brainwashing day eight.
A Morlaren exploration day.
When he arrived at the meeting place in the morning, the cultists were sitting in a circle holding a heated discussion.
"So is this hypothesis actually plausible?"
"If it's true we might have to rewrite the history books. There's no way a rural planet like this would hold such a massive opportunity…"
"It's a hypothesis that borders on the impossible. No matter how long the person who proposed it researched—they aren't even a formal researcher, are they?"
"That's exactly why it might be credible. Because they weren't formal, no one's influence could reach them."
"Even if the odds are low, trying it once isn't bad. This is no time for us to be picky about hot water or cold."
When he walked over and asked what was going on, they explained that an utterly absurd hypothesis about an opportunity inside the canyon had appeared.
"Today we'll be circulating through several parts of the canyon. It'll be rather busy."
And so he spent another hardworking day.
Lunch was a cheese-potato yakisoba sandwich. Stuffing noodles into bread—Gong Ryun wondered what kind of idea that had even come from.
And after eating the sandwich,
…
Brainwashing day eleven.
He tried giving a bath bomb to Brigit.
She blinked for a long time as if she had never expected it. Then she charged at him yelling, "You little shit!!!!! Get over here!!!!!" so he tried to dodge.
But she was using light-body arts to close the distance, so there was no chance; his head simply ended up buried in her chest.
To her interrogation—"Whoo-hyo!! Why would you give a present like this!!!"—he answered, "Isn't it common sense to bestow happiness and wealth on those close to you?" She was startled. The bright smile she'd been wearing a moment earlier vanished; she stared at him as if she'd seen a ghost.
"You're not a space locust in disguise, are you?" she said, and started yanking on his cheeks.
Only after his cheeks had been smoothly stretched about twenty times was the suspicion cleared.
Once the misunderstanding was resolved, he asked her, "By the way, Brigit, do you have a religion?" When she said she didn't believe in any particular one, he felt oddly relieved. He wasn't sure why, but maybe it was because Brigit's faith still looked like a pure, clean blank canvas, and that somehow made him proud of her.
Brainwashing day twelve.
"Impossible… really… this… I thought of course it would be common-sense impossible…"
The leader guy's shocked voice echoed faintly through Morlaren Canyon.
This was the central section of Morlaren Canyon—the deepest cliffs. Getting here had taken so long they had planned it as an overnight trip. They would camp here one night and leave. Night had already fallen, so they were sitting around a campfire.
"Could that hypothesis…? If so… if this is real… what kind of absurd opportunity is this… then we should investigate Morlaren Lake as well…"
The leader paced around, too agitated even to eat.
The barbecue had just finished cooking perfectly, too.
There was a feast of food. Sausages, red-ox short ribs, roasted ostrich foreleg… and plenty of bread to go with it.
On the recommendation of the conch-shell manager—"Try wrapping the barbecue in flower buns"—he gave it a shot. The so-called barbecue flower-bun sandwich. It was tear-inducingly delicious.
After finishing all of that he planned to eat s'mores as well.
And after that he would do the dessert after-meal prayer.
…?
Anyway, that was how it went.
At this point he started to wonder whether the food itself wasn't the opportunity.
Brainwashing day fourteen.
He gave a bath bomb to Loro.
For some reason Loro looked extremely flustered. Probably because it was the sort of thing one guy didn't usually give another guy.
But then the little punk asked if there was Sangongdok inside it.
When Gong Ryun said there wasn't, Loro looked deeply disappointed.
What the hell.
Brainwashing day seventeen.
"Everyone. Let us pray."
The leader knelt and prayed.
The other believers prayed together.
"O Jami Star Herneesh, who sparkles with mystery and life. We are moved by Your grace."
"We are moved."
"You have guided us to this 'opportunity'; thus we shall duly offer it unto You. Wait for us. With this 'opportunity' the galaxy shall tremble. Upon the trembling galaxy, lead Your body forth and stride, and enjoy Your majesty."
"Enjoy Your majesty."
It was a truly beautiful moment.
Apparently these people had finally unraveled the mystery of the opportunity inside the canyon. They didn't seem to have actually obtained it yet, but they at least seemed to know where it was.
Of course Gong Ryun had neither interest nor knowledge about any of that and understood nothing, yet the fact that things were going well for them made him automatically excited.
The leader came over and laid a friendly hand on Gong Ryun's shoulder.
"Ahh… Driver… we did it… of course it isn't one hundred percent certain yet… we'll need various official verifications… and to actually make use of it ourselves will still require enormous effort and time… but even reaching this point is a great achievement for our order…!"
"Congratulations, Leader!"
Gong Ryun answered brightly.
"Now we must contact the order and summon people in droves… probably every believer in the nearby star systems will assemble…!"
"You'll make lots of friends! Let's all get together and throw a sandwich party!"
"We shall! Hahaha! Driver! Your merit in this is enormous too! It's all fate! I will absolutely report your contributions! Hahaha!"
"I don't know what it is but it's really exciting!"
"We are all family now! Come to think of it, Driver, you said you needed an internal art. To commemorate this auspicious day, I shall help you!"
"Oh! Really?!"
"Normally we only teach it to formal members, but Driver, your official entry into the order is already a sure thing, so teaching you a little early is no problem! It's an internal art from the galaxy's top dantian specialists! It'll suit you perfectly!"
"What kind of internal art is it?"
"You know absorption arts, yes? The kind that seize another person's internal energy. Have you heard of the Great Star-Absorbing Technique? It's like that, hahaha! I shall teach you our order's secret art—the Jamiheupgong!"
"Wow! I'm so excited!"
The other believers clapped.
It truly was a magnificent day.
It felt as though Herneesh's violet grace was settling over the whole world.
"Hahaha!! Everyone!! We have much to do now! We must offer this 'opportunity' to Lord Herneesh!"
"Exactly so, Leader!"
"At last Jami Star Herneesh shall take that great step!! Let blessing be upon this galaxy!!"
"Woooow!"
"Sandwich party!!!"
Cheers and praise.
And then…
"That's enough of your bullshit, cult."
And the orthodox squad appeared.
With cold, hard eyes they looked down on the cultists from above the canyon.
The blades in their hands flashed with a blue, murderous light.