Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Strongest Ally
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Cloud Chariot accelerated endlessly, instantly leaping over the reed field barrier that enveloped the Moss House.
A certain leap. As the vehicle momentarily lifted into the air, the surrounding scenery shifted entirely.
Having escaped the reed field barrier, the car plummeted into the middle of a forest in Suncheon City, South Jeolla Province, and Bongbong pressed on relentlessly.
As if it knew every inch of the local geography, it raced between trees, finding paths effortlessly.
"Whoa! It's gonna crash!"
Ignoring the Fixer's shout, it tore through the forest and charged headlong down a downhill slope.
Thus, Bongbong narrowly dodged trees and navigated the woods for a full 15 minutes before finally reaching the cliff.
Bongbong raced to the edge of the precipice and leaped once more. Space folded.
[Continuous spatial jumps are turning your stomach inside out.]
[Vitality decreases by 20.]
In an instant, the Cloud Chariot had relocated to the middle of a highway.
Other cars nearby, startled by the vehicle materializing out of thin air, blared their horns and swerved out of the way. The Fixer realized they were in Daejeon from the passing scenery and signs.
The trip from Suncheon City in South Jeolla to Daejeon had taken just over 15 minutes.
A distance that should normally take 2 hours and 30 minutes was shortened to a mere 15 by Bongbong, who overtook every vehicle on the highway and accelerated once more.
'Is this thing really just an alert-level anomaly?'
Even the Fixer hadn't anticipated this.
He had told it to go full speed ahead, but he never imagined it would fold space to travel.
'Use this chance to make contact...'
While Bongbong followed the road, the Fixer called Go Yu-rim and Jung Ha-yeon.
Fortunately, both picked up, and he warned them not to leave the office under any circumstances.
With the building's entry permissions reinforced, Jung Ha-yeon and Go Yu-rim would be safe for the time being.
The problem was Nam Yu-ha.
"H-Hubby! We're really gonna crash this time!"
Bongbong unleashed its absolute maximum speed at its master's call.
And after another 15 minutes of propulsion, it charged straight at a guardrail on a corner without turning.
Vrooom-!
Bongbong's anomaly activated once again.
The ability to fold space right before impact.
A technique it had mastered with its previous owner during the Cloud Chariot days.
As Bongbong smashed through the guardrail toward the ravine, the scenery shifted again.
Another successful leap, arriving at the destination shortly after.
The man standing in front of the charging Bongbong at full speed couldn't withstand it.
Bam-!
"You crazy bastard!"
Bongbong had hit a person.
The moment it reached the destination, it slammed into the man ahead at full force.
The victim flew over 5 meters, his body twisting grotesquely as he crashed onto the asphalt.
Bongbong, whether aware or not of striking a person, shut off its engine the instant it arrived, as if its role was complete.
The fuel gauge, always pinned at FULL, dropped to EMPTY after three consecutive spatial jumps. It had completely burned out.
Traversing a distance that would take 4 to 5 hours in just 30 minutes was enough to exhaust it.
The issue was that it had hit someone upon arrival.
"H-Hubby... what do we do now?"
"..."
"Do-hyun, don't worry. If we take him to the Backside World..."
"That'd be total evidence tampering. Everyone out. We have to save him before he dies."
Even the two anomalies were suffering cognitive dissonance in the current situation. Clutching his throbbing head, the Fixer pulled out a life-sharing IV drip and stepped out of the car.
If he used the life-sharing IV quickly while the patient was still breathing, he could save him. He had to somehow.
If this was an innocent civilian hit by the car, and the victim died because of it, the Fixer would be haunted by guilt for life.
Searching for Nam Yu-ha was urgent, but he couldn't just abandon this man.
"Hey! Don't die yet! Hang on a bit longer!"
The Fixer tried to connect the shared IV from his arm to the man's grotesquely twisted arm, crushed by the car.
Until he checked the fallen man's status window, that is.
Seeing the man's status window, the Fixer recalled what Yi Ha-il had told him that morning about the hostile forces targeting the Moss House.
Buddhist-affiliated hostile force: Bloodless Monk Corps.
Catholic-affiliated hostile force: Brotherhood of Vows.
And Protestant-affiliated hostile force: Human Front Radical Faction.
'They're a Protestant group that came in from America.'
'America?'
'Yes. There are extreme pure-bloodists there too. It originated there but got even worse after coming to Korea. These guys have no mercy.'
Human Front Radical Faction.
And the private army of their 'General Superintendent,' the Army of Purity.
They believed that mixing human blood with anything else was an affront to the authority and power of our great Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, they followed the path of eliminating all hybrids as the way to bring salvation and stability to the world.
Of course, that was just the public doctrine.
The Army of Purity mercilessly hunted hybrids regardless of age or gender, aiming to wipe out their seed entirely.
Moreover, members of the Army of Purity barely knew each other, coordinating via secure messengers to swarm locations and commit near-terrorist acts.
Humans hiding behind the group's power, brazenly unleashing personal desires and violence—a moral void.
That was the true nature of the Army of Purity.
"You bastard..."
The Fixer yanked out the IV from his arm.
Bongbong hadn't hit an innocent civilian.
It had precisely rammed the target that needed hitting.
The Fixer immediately grabbed the fallen man and dragged him into an alley.
No sign of Nam Yu-ha nearby. He needed to interrogate this guy.
"H-Hubby..?"
"Sowol. Keep anyone from coming near here. This isn't an innocent civilian."
The Fixer slammed the dragged man to the ground and stomped on his ankle.
"Gaaahhh-!"
"Stop pretending to be unconscious and get up."
"You psycho human, after hitting someone with a car and acting all high and mighty..."
Yi Mu-yeong, whose body had been grotesquely twisted from the Bongbong impact, quickly reverted to normal.
His broken arm realigned properly, and his torn abdomen healed in moments.
Soon, Yi Mu-yeong returned to his original state without a single wound.
It was like... a 'miracle from God.'
No matter how you looked at it, it wasn't a power humans possessed.
No healer, no matter how skilled, could mend such severe injuries this quickly.
The Fixer instinctively realized.
The enemies wielded 'miracles from God.' Or something extremely similar.
Either way, right now, he needed to interrogate Yi Mu-yeong to find Nam Yu-ha's location.
There was no way the guide had led him wrong, so Bongbong had brought him exactly where he needed to go.
He was just a little late.
Still, it had crashed into the fleeing clue and presented him right in front, so he had to interrogate thoroughly.
"What... you're... the Fixer? The human who deals with anomalies. Filthy trash playing with mongrel hybrids. Accept the sin of defiling human purity sweetly, Fixer. I'll make you regret associating with those hybrid bastards for life!?"
The Fixer silently grabbed Yi Mu-yeong's arm and twisted it until it snapped.
They knew who he was. They even knew about Nam Yu-ha.
No need for mercy. If they struck first, they bore the responsibility.
The Fixer opened his precept against killing.
Crack-!
Soon, a gruesome tearing sound erupted as bone and flesh separated from Yi Mu-yeong's arm.
"Where's Nam Yu-ha."
"Kuhuhu! You think this will! Break my purity! You anomaly-loving bastard can't- Aaaak!"
Without hesitation, the Fixer smashed his fist into Yi Mu-yeong's thigh, shattering the femur. He didn't stop, pulverizing it beyond regeneration.
Yi Mu-yeong writhed in agony, screaming, but refused to reveal Nam Yu-ha's location to the end.
Pain that could easily cause shock and blackout. Yet he flailed in torment without losing consciousness.
Unyielding spirit? No. The 'blessing' in his body prevented him from passing out.
"Fucking hell... where that bitch went... only the Lord knows... hahaha! The Army of Purity will destroy you and everything you hold dear... you filthy anomaly lover."
No reasoning with him.
Yi Mu-yeong already believed himself a messenger of God.
Human Front Radical Faction. Aka the militant pure-bloodists.
The most brutal enemies at the Moss House, the terror and nightmare of hybrid children.
As Yi Mu-yeong screamed that the Army of Purity wouldn't yield to pain, the Fixer methodically demolished his body in silence.
No human is immune to pain.
As the Fixer inflicted pure torment without questions, Yi Mu-yeong, realizing it wouldn't end, gradually descended into fear-induced madness and finally opened his mouth.
"Th-the General Superintendent...! He wants to meet you personally! He said he's curious what kind of man you are! Aaaah! Please stop! N-Nam Yu-ha is still alive! The General Superintendent said he'll kill her right in front of you! So she's safe for now!"
The Fixer learned that Nam Yu-ha was still alive.
But he never said where they took her. As if bound by a gag order preventing him from speaking.
Yi Mu-yeong's mouth merely flapped; he couldn't utter Nam Yu-ha's destination.
"I-I told you everything... everything I could say... fuck..."
Having spilled all he could say, Yi Mu-yeong gave up on life, and his head began to swell.
He planned to self-destruct, engulfing the area in an explosion to sow chaos.
Of course, the Fixer wouldn't just watch.
"You mad bastard...! Wh-what the...!"
Squelch.
An explosion would bring police, require contacting the department—complicating everything.
No time for delays. Before Yi Mu-yeong could blow himself up, the Fixer grabbed his head with both hands and crushed it first.
Yi Mu-yeong's suicide attempt failed amid horrific pain, the blast fizzling in the Fixer's grasp.
His hands were coated in the blood of a villain masquerading as clergy.
Those who deceived themselves in God's name and their followers committing evil.
They believed themselves righteous, calling the destruction of the Fixer and Moss House a holy crusade.
Yes, this was a crusade.
A crusade without light.
And crusades know no mercy.
The Fixer shook the blood from his hands and indifferently looked down at Yi Mu-yeong's headless corpse.
No status window readable. Yi Mu-yeong had died instantly from the head crush.
"Do-hyun... look here for a sec."
"Is that... a hole?"
"Yes... I just found it. This hole connects to the Backside World. It's a very thin layer. They must have taken Yu-ha unnie through here. We have to go through before it closes... If they erase traces in the deep Backside World, we'll never find her."
"And Hubby. I can really sense Yu-ha beyond this hole... If we hurry now, we can catch up."
The Fixer grasped the situation immediately upon seeing Eve forcibly holding open the hole on the verge of closing.
Nam Yu-ha had been ambushed by the Human Front Radical Faction on her way home from school. During that, Ha-yul's seal briefly loosened, but she hadn't fully shaken off the Army of Purity.
The enemies had timed their attack for when Ha-yul's seal reactivated, or they'd gained power enough to collapse the world's balance.
Either way, armed with immense blessings and graces of unknown origin, the Army of Purity had kidnapped Nam Yu-ha through this hole. The Fixer arrived a bit late, and Bongbong had rammed Yi Mu-yeong as he tried to escape through it last.
He had to cross while Eve kept the hole open. Then he could save Nam Yu-ha.
"Let's go."
Quickly assessing, the Fixer picked up Yi Mu-yeong's corpse and crossed the hole without delay.
He was going through to save Nam Yu-ha, but something nagged at him.
'They're luring me in. High chance it's a diversion.'
The Fixer thought.
Forcing Nam Yu-ha into the Backside World felt contrived somehow.
Like a ploy to make him spot the hole and jump in. Probably exactly that.
Using Nam Yu-ha as bait to completely isolate the Fixer from the Moss House.
If the Human Front Radical Faction was attacking so openly, it meant they intended to finish it today.
Which meant other groups would likely join in.
The reason for striking today: they'd acquired the means to utterly destroy the Moss House recently.
And without the Fixer, destroying it was entirely feasible.
He had lent Yi Ha-il the quest reward from capturing Darkness at Garam University last time, but he still felt uneasy.
'Even without me, I'll make sure no one dares touch the Moss House.'
The Fixer started scheming, quickly discerned the enemy's true intentions, and texted countermeasures to 'her'.
The best way to perfectly fulfill the commission to protect the Moss House.
He knew entering the hole was the pure-bloodists' trap, but to save Nam Yu-ha, he had to take the bait.
But he wouldn't go down easily.
He had called the strongest ally.
.
.
.
"Hm? Asking for direct help like this. Something big must be up."
"What's wrong, Mother? If texting is hard, just tell me. I'll reply to her for you."
"No, no. I'm used to texting now. It's fine. But that's not the issue... Mi-dam. Mind if I step out for a bit?"
"Going out? You mean... completely outside?"
"Yeah. There's a face I want to see after so long. I'd love to show off how well the cats you left with me are doing... Can't, right? Come on, Mi-dam~ Let me go~"
"....Haa. How can I say no when you whine like a kid every time... Do what you want, Mother. I'll escort you."
"Good. You're the only one I can count on. Love you."
"You always say that. But you dump all the troublesome stuff on me!"
The ageless divine mother laughed at the complaints of her divine daughter, who was over forty.
Soon, a mission was given to the three cat(?) creatures frolicking on the mountain.
The lingering mist began to stir slowly.