The Truth Revealed (4)
The Truth Revealed (4)
A forest of skyscrapers soaring high into the sky.
On the top floor of the tallest building there, a man was looking down at the city with a wine glass in hand.
"What do you think, Secretary Kim... Don't even the cars look like ants from here?"
"Is that so."
At her tone, completely devoid of any empathy, the man chuckled and set his glass down.
"So, what happened regarding Baek Cheolsu?"
"He is currently engaged in combat with our personnel."
"It's still not over...? These idiots."
Secretary Kim looked at the young man before her. He was the youngest son of the Heavenly Dragon Group.
The Heavenly Dragon Group, built from wealth accumulated by dragons over hundreds of years.
Heavenly Dragon—it had penetrated deep into society. Thousands of people were working under the Heavenly Dragon Group.
The youngest son of such a Heavenly Dragon Group, and despite inheriting the blood of a dragon, he was the laziest and weakest of them all.
Cheon Yeonwoo.
He was already famous among the dragons as a discarded child.
'Serving as a secretary to a guy like this... My luck is really shit.'
Capturing a first-rate shaman and presenting them to the family was, after all, just so he could gain recognition.
He was a man devoid of any intention to make an effort himself, filled only with the desire to get a free ride by using his status.
'To think it's this man managing all those shamans.'
Most of the shamans in Seoul had already become dragon worshippers.
Just by swallowing a dragon's blood, their occult abilities increased several-fold, and even their lifespan lengthened.
'There wouldn't be any shaman who dislikes that.'
The problem is learned as time passes. Slowly, a part of their body transforms into an ambiguous state somewhere between a dragon and a reptile.
Though it could usually be hidden with spiritual power, during combat situations, it inevitably got revealed.
Most shamans lived by utilizing that in combat.
Of course, Secretary Kim herself was no exception.
"Secretary Kim, let's send a Youth Dragon-level."
"A Youth Dragon-level...?"
"Yeah, wouldn't it be better to finish this quickly?"
Dragons were divided into several tiers.
Imugi, Youth Dragon, Adult Dragon, Ancient Dragon.
Up to the final tier, Heavenly Dragon.
If one reached Heavenly Dragon, one could ascend to the heavens and become part of the sky.
"Most at the Youth Dragon-level are half-breeds."
Half-dragon humans born from breeding between dragons and non-dragon humans.
Most of them, no matter how much they train, stop growing at the Adult Dragon-level.
It also meant they could not create a Yeouiju.
"It doesn't matter if they aren't purebloods, right?"
Cheon Yeonwoo said with a sickening smile.
Indeed, dragons seek stimulation.
Even if they were half-dragons rather than humans, to dragons, their lives were merely a form of entertainment.
"If so, I shall send him then."
"Ah~ That half-baked loser?"
To the man who had just reached the Youth Dragon-level and was waiting for a mission.
"Yes~ Here is your bungeoppang."
"Thank you."
A man stuffing a hot red bean bungeoppang into his mouth while holding a bag of freshly made bungeoppang in his arms.
His phone rang.
Tiring—!
Checking the text message content, a smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
"Ha, finally got a mission."
The half-dragon Woo Taesik makes his move.
Confirming his mission, he headed somewhere with brisk steps.
The place his feet arrived at was a secluded alleyway.
Walking in a hurry, Woo Taesik bumped shoulders with a giant walking from the opposite direction.
"Aish... What the hell."
The giant glared at the man.
Woo Taesik let out a sigh and said,
"I'm in a hurry, but..."
Before the giant could even react, Woo Taesik's hand grabbed him by the throat.
"Keuk... Kkeo-eok..."
"Conveniently, I was just needing a sacrifice."
"S-Suffocating...!"
Udeudeok!
Along with the sound of a neck snapping, Woo Taesik pulled the soul right out of the giant's body. The bag of piping hot bungeoppang dropped to the ground.
"With this much, I'll arrive in ten seconds."
Holding the soul in his hand, he stepped forward.
That alone changed the surrounding scenery.
"Kieeeek..."
Every time he took a step, black ash trickled out from the soul's body.
Chukjibeop.
The dragon art of folding the earth to travel long distances in a single breath unfolded above his grasp.
By the time he reached halfway up a certain mountain, the soul had already vanished.
A woman wearing a red mask entered Woo Taesik's field of vision.
"To think they couldn't even catch such a lowly creature."
As he drew closer, a sudden chill ran down his spine from an unpleasant sensation.
'That thing must be killed.'
He clenched his hand toward Red Mask, who possessed massive spiritual power.
Red Mask, who was killing another rogue shaman, whipped her head around and glared at Woo Taesik.
Goosebumps broke out all over Woo Taesik's body.
'She felt this?'
Soon—
Red Mask's head exploded.
Peogeok.
Blood sprayed out in all directions.
Woo Taesik looked at the corpses sliced and shredded everywhere.
'Even so, the shamans belonging to Heavenly Dragon Enterprise were defeated?'
Didn't they say they were capturing just one 1st-grade shaman?
Where did the 1st-grade shaman go, leaving this anomaly behind? It differed from what he received in the text. The text stated that the 1st-grade shaman had sustained heavy injuries.
"W-Woo Taesik-nim?"
"What the hell happened here? You ignorant fools."
"We were pursuing Baek Cheolsu. But that woman appeared and out of nowhere..."
"Haa... This is totally messed up—"
Before Woo Taesik could finish his sentence, a spine-chilling presence caught his senses.
Red Mask's body, whose head had blown off, was slowly rising up.
"Hah..."
Her head was reconstructing itself. Blood splattered everywhere flew into the air, and pieces of flesh knit back together.
"A mere lowly creature..."
"Am I... pretty?"
Red Mask revealed her face as she pulled off her mask. The corners of her mouth were ripped grotesquely wide.
"Filthy and hideous. So die."
"Too mean..."
Her glaring eyes widened as her fingernails extended long and sharp.
Once again, Woo Taesik's hand aimed for her head.
Peogeok.
Red Mask's head explodes.
"I'll crush your body so you can never regenerate again!!"
That was, until the headless torso charged right at him.
Pook.
Her nails pierced straight through Woo Taesik's abdomen.
"Keo-eok..."
"Ah... I love that pain-filled expression..."
The mouth of Red Mask, regenerated at some point, spoke.
"Even without... eyes... can you see...?"
"I'm not human in the first place. You shouldn't trust what your eyes can see."
Severing her own nails embedded in his abdomen, her hand grabbed Woo Taesik by the mouth.
"I'll make you look just like me...!!"
"Kaaaaakh!!"
Jwaaaaaak!!
Along with the sound of the corners of his mouth ripping open, laughter echoed.
"Kyahahahahahah!!"
Watching that scene unfold in real-time from a distance, Baek Cheolsu couldn't close his mouth.
Because it was such a shocking sight.
"Juddak... My eyes aren't playing tricks on me, right?"
-Spiritual Master: That's right... That guy is a half-dragon.
"Does that mean... Red Mask caught even a half-dragon...?"
Because dragons were arrogant, they almost never made a move themselves. The ones hunting 1st-grade shamans were half-dragons and rogue shamans.
Even if they were half-dragons, a dragon was still a dragon.
They used unknown powers to overwhelm and kill shamans.
Facing invisible power alongside rogue shamans was practically death for a shaman.
Red Mask had completely flipped such an unfair fight.
-Monk No. 24: Amitabha... Red Mask was already an anomaly that required several Special-grade shamans to subdue... But for some reason, she seems to have grown even stronger.
-Gumi Miho: Does that mean the boss controlled by Newbie can even be raised?
-Monk No. 24: It might not be that simple, but that seems to be correct.
-Talisman-selling Girl: No, wait;; He keeps doing things we can't even predict.... Instead of 'wow', all I can gasp is 'heck'.
-Occult Newbie: Woah... Did I really almost die back in that alleyway?
At Newbie's reaction, only now realizing how precarious the situation was when he met Red Mask, Baek Cheolsu burst into laughter.
"This crazy bastard... Really has no fear at all."
[ But Cheolsu-a. Shouldn't we start running away soon? There are only three left now. ]
"Guess I should."
At Myoryeong's words, he pushed himself up. While massaging his stiff lower back, Baek Cheolsu looked at the empty Curse-Dispel Potion.
'Seriously... To think I would actually survive.'
His abdomen, which had been punctured and rotting away, had cleanly returned to normal. This was all thanks to Occult Newbie.
Ah, Bupali crafted it, so Bupali helped too.
Almost forgot.
'Occult Newbie, if I meet this fellow in the Spiritual World, I'm seriously giving him a hundred kisses.'
With those thoughts, Baek Cheolsu walked into the forest.
And then—
A chat popped up on his stream.
-Spiritual Master: If things are like this, it can't be helped. I'll modify one of the rules. It seems I... need to meet Newbie in person.
-Occult Newbie: Huh? You're coming to meet me?
At Juddak's remark, the gallery exploded.