Chapter 326: Political Maneuvering (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 326: Political Maneuvering (5)
When I see a woman I’ve already had sex with, the pleasure from that time naturally comes to mind and tempts me.
Should I go with her today?
And when a woman I haven't yet gotten my hands on passes by, the unknown tempts me.
What would it feel like to have sex with her?
Feeling these impulses that would strike without regard for time or place, I grasped the severity of the situation.
“This is completely insane, isn’t it?”
My mind is tempted dozens of times a day.
How about this one? How about that one?
It’s even cunning.
This is something you couldn't even dream of before, right?
It's something you can only do now.
So let's just do it!
Think about it after you've done it.
It's faster to ask for forgiveness than permission.
“……”
It blocks any deep thought and makes my actions precede my thoughts.
While everyone is training together, if Shin Yu-jeong’s ass looks tempting, my hand naturally reaches out.
Before I know it, I’m grabbing her ass.
“Heehee… you pervert.”
“Uh, um.”
Despite her ass being suddenly grabbed, she’s smiling as if she enjoys it.
Right.
That reaction is also a problem.
She’s supposed to show she dislikes it so I can realize, ‘Ah, she doesn’t like this,’ and learn some self-control.
But since she just accepts whatever I do as if she likes it, isn't that why I've become like this?!
“Ah.”
No.
That’s not it.
I shouldn’t blame others.
The guys who blame their own problems on others are the worst kind of people.
“Hoo…”
I took a breath, trying to calm my racing heart, and continued my thoughts.
One thing is certain: there’s a problem with me.
And the source of the problem is, nine times out of ten, this bracelet on my wrist.
To be precise, it’s the Karma (業) that has steadily accumulated in the two beads hanging from it.
I suspect it’s interfering with my mind.
“That’s what they said.”
They told me to accumulate Karma.
They said that whether it was good karma or bad karma, accumulating it would become a great source of power for me.
Karma is ultimately a byproduct born from the consequences of my choices.
To think this byproduct makes me stronger.
When you think about it, isn't it a little suspicious?
Humans are beings who always stand at a crossroads of choice and face the consequences.
You can get stronger just by steadily accumulating the results of your choices?
“…It’s not impossible, but.”
It’s not entirely impossible.
I mean… there are those who are called saints for consistently performing good deeds, and there are those who are pointed at as villains of the age for consistently committing crimes.
Of course, in those examples, it’s just a matter of titles, but if the System is added to the mix, who knows.
I might really gain new traits or massive stats as a result of the accumulated Karma.
Fixated on that, I remembered something I had overlooked.
“I wasn’t considering the side effects.”
It was none other than the side effects.
In the process of obtaining outstanding traits and massive rewards, I hadn’t considered the losses and side effects at all.
No.
“Or maybe it was trying to keep me from thinking about it.”
I lift the bracelet and examine the beads hanging from it.
A pure white energy flickers in one, and a black energy flickers in the other.
The white side is good karma, the black side is bad karma.
The levels in the beads are roughly similar, but if you look closely, the black side is higher.
I’ve been trying to keep them roughly even because accumulating only bad karma felt unsettling, but not once since I started has the good karma surpassed the bad.
It can’t be helped.
Unlike good karma, which has limited opportunities to accumulate, I could stack up bad karma every single day.
Today Shin Yu-jeong, tomorrow Jeong-hee, the day after tomorrow Im Na-eun…
Having sex with a different woman every day like this always accumulated bad karma.
It’s as if it’s saying, ‘Mating with multiple women at once is a bad thing!’
You ask if I should just end things now if I don’t want to accumulate bad karma?
“…As if that would happen.”
Is there a reason for the proverb, “If a monk gets a taste of meat, not even a bedbug will be left in the temple”?
I have no intention of ever letting go of what’s already in my grasp.
If this bracelet tries to force me to…
“I’ll just smash it to pieces.”
I’ll just destroy this bracelet.
I won’t compromise my way of life for anything.
Because I’ve decided to live this new life that way.
“Well… that probably won’t happen for now.”
The situation is quite serious, but it’s not the absolute worst.
When I was unaware, I fell for it helplessly, but now I recognize the problem I’m facing.
I can sufficiently control the impulses that come in such a situation.
All that’s left is to find a solution to the problem and eliminate it before the impulses get stronger…
“Do I really have to destroy the bracelet?”
Or maybe the impulses will weaken if I increase the amount of good karma to surpass the bad karma.
Lost in all sorts of worries, I arrived in front of the house before I knew it.
After parking the car in front of the building, I was blankly walking up the stairs.
Click.
“Do-jin, you’re home?”
Jeong-hee opened the door as if she’d been waiting, diverting my attention.
Her face unusually red today, she whispers to me.
“I heard Yu-jeong is coming home late today… It’s been a while, so this ajumma and you should have dinner together. And while we’re at it, eat something else, too…♥”
I think about it calmly.
The conclusion comes quickly.
“…I’ll wash up and be right down.”
I’m certain that this desire to hold her right now is not some mere impulse.
* * *
He’d hit an unexpected snag.
Because of it, Joo Kyung-tae was wrestling with deep anguish day after day.
“Kkeung… what am I to do?”
The defensive magic circles installed on the church building had all disappeared because of the wicked Kim Do-jin.
As a result, the church was starkly exposed to unseen dangers.
Thanks to that, even the daily mass had been suspended.
This was because a law enacted several years ago completely banned events with large gatherings in buildings without defensive magic circles.
To solve the problem, they needed to reinstall the defensive magic circles on the building’s exterior walls.
But the Magic Tower was refusing.
Because of the Tower Lord’s order forbidding any future dealings with the Purity Cult!
And it was highly likely that Kim Do-jin’s influence was at play for Han Ju-hee, the Tower Lord and an S-rank Hunter, to take such aggressive measures against the Purity Cult, with whom she had no prior acquaintance.
That’s why it was so painful.
“Damn it… To think their relationship was close enough for her to make a move over a personal matter like this.”
He knew that Do-jin had some connection with Han Ju-hee.
But who could have imagined it was deep enough to move the entire Magic Tower for a personal affair?
Among Joo Kyung-tae’s connections were many rich people and powerful figures in high government positions.
However, all of them paled before the name Han Ju-hee.
To deal with her, you’d probably need at least someone on the level of the national Hunter, Son Si-woo, or the President.
Just because the path was blocked didn’t mean he had been sitting on his hands.
He had tried time and again to meet Han Ju-hee and break through this frustrating situation, but…
-I’m sorry. The Tower Lord is currently away.
The only thing he got back was news of her absence.
After hearing the same words repeated for days, Joo Kyung-tae had fallen into a state of half-resignation.
“…Is there no other choice but to use a private company?”
Installing defensive magic circles wasn’t a service unique to the Magic Tower.
If necessary, it was perfectly possible to hire a private company to do it.
However, there was a huge gap in terms of efficiency.
The price was several times more expensive, but the performance of the magic circles was inferior to the Magic Tower’s.
For that reason, he had tried his best to resolve things with the Magic Tower.
“It can’t be helped.”
Now, even that had reached its limit.
He, too, was a man who had always lived with respect.
His pride wouldn’t allow him to bow his head any further.
“Kuk…!”
The moment he was about to pick up the phone, holding back tears at the thought of the chunk of money he was about to lose…
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone knocked on his office door.
A voice followed.
“Priest, you have a visitor.”
“…A visitor?”
He briefly recalled his schedule for the day.
Was there a visitor scheduled to come at this time?
The apprentice priest’s excited voice was heard once more.
“Hunter Kim Do-jin is here. He said he absolutely must see you, Priest…”
“Wha-what…!”
At the name Kim Do-jin, Joo Kyung-tae shot up from his seat.
Reaching the door with furious steps, he violently threw it open.
“P-Priest…?”
The apprentice priest was startled by his rough behavior, the likes of which he had never seen before.
Behind him, that damn face could be seen.
“Kim Do-jin…!”
The enemy who had given him an indelible humiliation—no, who was still giving it to him in real time.
He wanted to run over and grab him by the collar right then and there, but the presence of the apprentice priest stopped him.
He suppressed his anger with effort and asked.
“What brings you here?”
“I have something urgent to discuss with you, Priest.”
Kim Do-jin replied with a slick smile.
“A discussion…”
A cynical smile formed on Joo Kyung-tae’s lips.
Hadn’t their discussion ended at their first meeting?
And now he wanted to talk again, after he couldn’t overcome his anger and did something so ridiculous.
How truly laughable.
Hiding such feelings, he stepped aside from where he stood blocking the way.
“Shall we go inside and talk for now?”
Joo Kyung-tae greeted Kim Do-jin with a benevolent smile, contrary to his inner thoughts.
He was curious about the intentions of his visitor, who had come all this way, so he couldn’t just tell him to leave.
“Of course.”
He stepped inside with a brief reply.
After sending the apprentice priest away, Joo Kyung-tae followed him in and sat across from Kim Do-jin.
The two men looked relaxed at first glance.
However, both of them held an unsolved dilemma in their hearts.
One, the installation of the defensive magic circles.
The other, the abolition of the Purity Vow.
The one who spoke first was none other than Kim Do-jin.
“You’re having trouble with the defensive magic circle installation, aren’t you?”
“…Yes, thanks to someone, I’ve been having quite the headache.”
A subtly shown hostility.
Normally, Do-jin would have shown a mocking smile, but not now.
The reason he came was not to worsen their relationship, but to improve it.
“Let’s be honest with each other.”
Through their few conversations, Kim Do-jin had gotten a grasp of the man named Joo Kyung-tae.
A moderately faithful and moderately corrupt person.
In other words, he wasn’t an opponent with whom compromise was impossible.
“We both know it, don’t we? That we can gain a lot if we just put our pride aside a little.”
“…And so?”
Joo Kyung-tae showed a hint of interest.
Kim Do-jin continued speaking to him.
“Just give me a little hint on how to break Elena’s vow.”
It was a proposal he had flatly rejected when they first met.
“…Then what can you give me, Hunter Kim Do-jin?”
But now, many things were different from back then.
The most dramatic change among them was the status Kim Do-jin held in Joo Kyung-tae’s mind.
His connection with Han Ju-hee, deep enough to move the entire Magic Tower.
His boldness in not shying away from any means to get what he wanted.
These factors, which made him judge that it was better to have him as an ally than an enemy, had dramatically raised his value.
Kim Do-jin, noticing his change of heart, answered curtly.
“Why, of course… trust.”
The first step toward a friendly relationship where they could walk in step with each other.
At this suggestion, Joo Kyung-tae smiled with a rather satisfied expression.
Seeing that, Kim Do-jin also smiled along.
I’ve finally found a point of compromise.
Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief…
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”
“…What.”
He was rejected.