The Lesser Evil Hero (2)

"Ugh!"

I crushed my palms against my eyes and tried to ride the pain down. The moment the Eye of Truth unleashed its authority, a brutal pressure slammed into my skull and a headache detonated behind my temples. Not enough practice. That had to be it.

"What's the matter?"

"I got a headache the second I stepped in front of the scanner."

"That happens more often than you'd think. There's an enormous tangle of energies packed inside that machine, and the odds that some of them are natural opposites are pretty high. Even I'm feeling something unpleasant and something comfortable at the same time right now."

I shuffled toward the scanner in a clumsy, unsteady stagger, playing the part of a man who could barely walk. Then, while no one was looking, I quietly opened the valve the Eye of Truth had marked.

"Ah—what's that?"

At my words, every head turned upward. Something was descending from the far sky, riding a bank of clouds down toward us.

"That's Kim Do-jung. One of the Twelve Heavens, and the number two hero in the rankings. The Ten-Star Mage."

So that was the hero who'd been scheduled to arrive yesterday. Rank 2, though. That was a serious heavyweight.

While everyone craned their necks to gawk at Kim Do-jung's entrance, I used the distraction to tamper with a few more devices the Eye of Truth had highlighted.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah—got dizzy. Just sitting down for a second."

"We should wrap this up quickly. Your rejection response is this severe? Will the scan even be possible?"

If I backed out now, they'd just drag me back for another attempt later. Better to get it over with here.

"Yeah. I think it'll be fine."

Fortunately, I'd already messed with the power scanner. From what the Eye of Truth showed me, the machine was so complex and precise that nobody but a trained specialist could lay a finger on it. Park Seon-ah wasn't that specialist. She wouldn't be able to fix a thing.

"Well met, my hometown friend."

The Ten-Star Mage Kim Do-jung walked toward us. A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long white beard, a sharply cut face, and a gait that radiated aristocratic refinement. He looked like he'd stepped straight out of a fantasy novel as some grand archmage.

I took his hand and shook it.

Click.

The instant I took his hand, information on him unspooled across my vision in a rushing scroll.

"Hoh."

Kim Do-jung looked at me and made a sound of genuine admiration. His eyes were burning, bright as if someone had lit a fire behind them.

An SS-rank power that could crush an S-rank one. And I was level 3.

"Hmph. The Divine Physician power, is it. Fine medical skill is all well and good. But it is hardly the makings of a protagonist. A power that merely supports others from the rear. Even at its peak, the very bottom of the Twelve Heavens… and a low-tier candidate at that. Tsk!"

He clicked his tongue, the picture of disappointment. I glanced at the psychological state the Eye of Truth had laid out for me.

"And here I thought a rare medicinal ingredient had arrived."

"Pardon?"

"Pay it no mind…. A fine power you have. Perhaps because it is the power to save lives."

So he saved his master's life as well.

Kim Do-jung's eyes narrowed to slits as the thought crossed his mind.

Fuck. I almost died. Almost got turned into medicine and eaten alive.

I smiled, cold sweat sliding down my back.

"Shall we examine your power now?"

Park Seon-ah took my arm and walked me over to the machine. It had a steel chamber built into it, just large enough for one person. I stepped into an interior a little over a hundred square feet and attached the various instruments to my body.

"It's completely harmless, so there's no need to worry."

"Right. How does the examination work, exactly?"

"This machine will identify the type and rank of your power. The Ten-Star Mage Kim Do-jung already told us yours is Divine Physician, so we don't strictly need to run the scan—but just in case."

"R-right."

I was sweating again. There was no way that machine was still working properly… was there? If it was, I was as good as dead. Korea's Rank 2 hero would try to swallow me as medicine.

"It will read your aura."

"Aura?"

"Yes. People who have awakened a power have their auras classified into ten ranks. The color of the aura tells you their level."

"Will I be able to see it?"

"Here."

Park Seon-ah held out a booklet that laid out the aura ranks.

The lowest rank was Colorless Aura, nothing more than a faint shimmer of energy. After that it climbed through yellow, green, violet, red, blue, black, white, and silver, all the way up to gold.

"The color of the aura, along with its size and brightness, tells you the rank of a person's power. If you work yourself to the bone, you might raise it one or two ranks in a lifetime—but the truth is that power is ninety percent innate. Unlike magic or martial arts, it barely grows at all."

Behind us, the Grand Archmage Kim Do-jung was watching.

"Work yourself to death and you will raise it one rank in a lifetime. Those who climb two ranks appear once or twice a century, if that. That is why the power you are born with matters. It is an absolute force, incomparable to mere magic or martial arts."

Hmph. So this world sorted people by the power they were born with.

And my aura? Gold, obviously. No need to even look.

I opened my status window.

A soft rustle, and new information slid onto the window.

Damn it!

If this got out, I was going straight into Kim Do-jung's stomach.

Hiss.

She stepped out of the chamber and the steel door slammed shut.

"Hey! Why are you closing it?!"

"We need to get the scan done. Let's finish quickly and go grab a meal. Today's schedule ends with this, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so how about a drink as well? You haven't had a drink since coming here, have you, Seonghun?"

"No."

"I've been taking a certain medicine of late. I shall have to decline the drinks."

At Kim Do-jung's words, a full-body shiver raced up my spine. I didn't need the Eye of Truth to know what that medicine was made of.

Still. I'd sabotaged the machine. Either it would spit out garbage, or it wouldn't work at all.

"Hah. I can do this."

The lights inside the power scanner's chamber went out with a dull clack. Through the reinforced glass, I could see the people standing outside.

Beep—! Whirrrrrr!

The Euclidean Extrasensory Power Scanner spun up. Lights of every color I couldn't name bloomed through the chamber and poured over my body.

Something like smoke boiled out of the walls and began to examine me, probing along my skin.

Kzzzt! Psssh! Psssh!

Then the machine started making sounds no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠machine should make.

The smoke pouring from the machine looked almost like a spirit, straining and writhing as it tried to force its way into my body.

Fweee…

The power scanner died.

"Huh? Why is it doing this?"

Outside, Park Seon-ah hammered at the machine's monitor, her face twisting.

"Did the machine break? This thing is incredibly expensive."

She checked the scanner over from every angle, but unless you'd received specialized training, there was nothing you could do with a power scanner.

That was when he spoke.

"Allow me to take a look."

Kim Do-jung turned his attention to the power scanner. His eyes flooded with gold. He was reading the machine with the Sage's Eye.

"Hmph. A simple matter."

He was going to fix it.

Damn it. Isn't there another way? Eye of Truth! Can't you crush the Sage's Eye like you did before?

Damn it. I was going to die like this.

I pulled up my skills and looked at Eloquent Lie. An E-rank skill. It deceived people.

Spend S-Points. Raise the skill rank to S. Make it a skill that can deceive anything.

Of course they were.

Every point I'd scraped together since yesterday—fucking myself half to death, breaking achievements—amounted to a handful of dust. I had to win this with 105.

"Ah!"

A thought hit me. Maybe this was the fated moment that would teach me how an Absolute's authority was actually supposed to be used.

"Restrictions and conditions. That's the real point."

I opened the skill window.

I propose a change to Eloquent Lie. Usable only once every ten years. In exchange, the effect is absolute.

Add a restriction. The effect lasts only five minutes.

Add another restriction. Limit the deception to human-race beings occupying the same space. Change the success rate from 100 percent to 98 percent.

That's it!

The real point was the word absolute. To certain beings, modifiers like "unconditionally" and "absolute" were staggering conditions in their own right. But I wasn't trying to tell some colossal lie to some colossal existence. Guaranteeing even a tiny thing at one hundred percent required an enormous constraint. Just swapping out words like "absolute" and "100 percent" for something more realistic slashed the S-Point cost to a fraction.

"It's fixed!"

Kim Do-jung's voice rang out from beyond the glass.

"Wow! As expected of the Grand Archmage with the Sage's Eye."

"Hahaha. With my Sage's Eye, this much is elementary."

I let a contemptuous little smile curl across my face.

An S-rank skill, and he's showing off in front of an Absolute? Who does this geezer think he is?

Kim Do-jung caught my look and his face soured, as if something about it sat wrong with him. Probably because it had been a long time since he'd felt it—the sensation of someone looking down on him.

I turned to Park Seon-ah, thoroughly satisfied.

"Let's start the examination."

My voice rang through the chamber, brimming with confidence.