Chapter 28
Chapter 28
“What the hell is that?!”
“A monster……?! No, why is something like this here……!”
“N-No! Spare me, my lord! P-Please! Aaaah?!”
The pens didn’t hold just monsters. The moment they tossed people into the enclosures confining the beasts, the starving creatures smashed their skulls without hesitation and lapped up the contents.
Slum dwellers, criminals. Or those without registered residency—the rootless. Such bottom-feeders were dragged here to serve as monster chow.
‘But that’s not all.’
I shifted my gaze elsewhere.
Pungyang Jo Clan scientists in white coats. They retrieved people mauled by monsters from the pens, meticulously documenting their conditions.
“How’s Sample 3?”
“Bumped contamination by thirty percent, but no generation.”
“So getting slimed by monster mucus doesn’t turn people into monsters…….”
“What now?”
“Samples 4 through 8—test them alive. Vary conditions, observe longer.”
Lined up on surgery tables: corpses riddled with monster tumors. They dissected them, ran every experiment imaginable.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh slipped out.
Jo Seong-hwan. This lunatic had turned the heart of Hanseong into a monster farm.
‘And the reason for this madness….’
No need to spell it out.
“Researching Monster Cores?”
“Right you are.”
Pleased by my unflappable reaction, perhaps. Jo Seong-hwan spoke slowly.
“Three hundred years since quelling Crown Prince Ichieon’s Rebellion and ushering in the yangban era. Our Pungyang Jo Clan tried to shatter the Andong Kim Clan’s grip on Joseon politics… but failed every time. The elite Aura Users they churned out generation after generation, the colossal power that built. No matter how much we poured into resources, we couldn’t match it.”
Same story this generation. Jo Seong-hwan pressed on after the opener.
“Kim Jung-heon’s the undisputed strongest Aura User in Joseon today, and his son Kim Hyun-woo’s a freak surpassing his old man’s aura output.”
“…….”
“A golden generation spitting out two absolutes back-to-back. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to topple them.”
Aura’s root: rifts. Closest to those rifts: monsters. So the Pungyang Jo Clan researched Monster Cores—the power organs birthed solely in monster flesh.
‘Monster Core.’
Monster heart, in plain terms. An unknown substance radiating aura independently. National top-secret: mandatory state reporting and storage, approved state-only research.
‘Can’t chase Andong Kim bloodlines, so they pivot to aura itself.’
Memories from my past life surfaced. Pungyang Jo dominated Joseon’s medicine. And energy sectors. This horror show? Likely ground zero for that tech.
‘Unauthorized experiments stacking medical data on monsters and their human feed.’
‘Farmed Monster Cores by the batch, churning out aura-user weapons galore….’
This blew past R&D into full-on war prep.
Jo Seong-hwan… no, the Pungyang Jo Clan. They were gearing up for civil war against Andong Kim.
“Our old man’s daily rant.”
Jo Seong-hwan launched in, aping his father with theatrical flair.
“Andong Kim Clan. They’ve hogged the yangban throne for centuries, monopolizing power. Keep going, the Gold Army and court’ll be their puppets—a nation in name only.”
“…….”
“Pungyang Jo must stop it. Joseon’s for the yangban, not Andong Kim!”
Grinning like a street performer channeling his dad, he turned to me.
“If word of this place leaked outside, what happens to me?”
“Punishment’s unavoidable.”
Even Sedao heirs have lines. This farm? Crossed them ages ago.
“But I dragged you—an outsider—here, showed you everything. Why?”
“Before it leaks, you can off someone like me easy…. Right?”
Take the gig, become accomplice. Or die here. Pungyang Jo muscle could bury me without a ripple.
His grin thickened.
“Half correct.”
Half? Honored.
“But it’s also… kinship, you might say.”
“Kinship?”
“Dug into your family tree. Especially your mother’s side.”
My smile cracked. Spotting it, as I glared, he sauntered closer with that signature sleaze.
Thank god I’d handed my weapon to the guard. Else I’d have pulped that smug face.
“Don’t you crave revenge? Rip the heir spot from Kim Hyun-woo’s grip, vindicate your dead mother’s name?”
“……!”
Eyes wide at his words.
Past life echo. His bait.
And I’d snapped it up.
‘What do I gotta do?’
Dog to Pungyang Jo. His backing swelled my clout.
Carved smuggling paths on command, iced press bloodhounds and rival spies.
Ran cleanup on their experiment scraps—no traces.
Side by side with Dokgo Seong, that human garbage.
“Well? Answer?”
No think time. Same fork as before.
But now? Different path open.
No family-validation obsession.
No bastard-fate resentment.
No Andong Kim delusion.
None of it.
One move left.
“I accept.”
Smash this monster hellhole. My hands.
-“Monster… lab?”
Best perk of the comms rig in my Chorang Ital: zero eavesdrop risk.
Middle-layer convenience store. Feeling Pungyang Jo watcher stares, I murmured to the device pocketed inside my coat.
“Aura Users can’t top Andong Kim, so they eye elsewhere. Explains Dokgo Seong and his sword gangs scaling human trafficking to empire size.”
-“Stirred a hornet’s nest, but torched a powder keg. How’d you crawl out?”
“Simple. Offered to dog for Pungyang Jo over Dokgo Seong.”
Bigwig meets left me ravenous. Yi Mae-tal’s tsk echoing, I scanned the instant-food racks.
“Hold Dokgo’s illegal smuggling lines, link with regional human wholesalers, flip ’em. Workpile incoming.”
-“Hold up. Real human trafficking play?”
Double-agent or not, that’s….
“Hell no. Absurd.”
Past life covered trash-rubbing quota. With Yu Sang-hyun rescued, revolution ties forged, immoral trafficking yields zilch.
“Smarter: feed this to Kim Hyun-woo. Andong Kim vs. Pungyang Jo clash cracks Sedao Clan fault lines.”
So saying, I snagged a ‘New Product’ from the shelf.
[Limited-Time Mala Rose Meat-Skewer Tanghulu]
Hit these stores, and Joseon’s food game hits rock bottom every time. Mala’s Chinese fire, fine. Rose? And Tanghulu? Sugared spiced meat? For real?
-“But you hit me up instead. Why?”
“Handing Kim Hyun-woo this? I get table scraps.”
Jo Seong-hwan—Pungyang Jo heir—farming monsters mid-Hanseong. Prime intel gift-wrapped boosts his clan perch only.
Gotta derail Pungyang plot, sure. But fattening Andong Kim? Nah.
“Your plan?”
“Bust it.”
“Bust? Pungyang Jo’s lab?”
Utter the words, risk your neck. Paid for the ‘new product’ at counter, nuked it in the microwave. Yi Mae-tal mulled, then:
-“Roger. Mobilizing crew. Risky, but breeding monsters downtown? Unforgivable….”
“Say what? You stay out.”
Sweet of the instant backup, but Hwae in this op? No-go.
Picture: Clan flashes secret lab, Hwae storms it after. Jo Seong-hwan’s first suspect?
Me.
Link me to Hwae?
Pungyang Jo’s small fry then. Court unleashes Gold Army on traitor abettor.
“My solo gig. Hwae can’t touch it—shouldn’t.”
-“Alone vs. Pungyang Jo?”
Yi Mae-tal piled on, exasperated.
“Hey, Kim Chang-un.”
“Here.”
Munched sugar-drenched meat skewer mid-bite, he pressed.
-“Don’t question your chops snatching Yu A-rin, saving General Yu Sang-hyun. Wouldn’t have slipped you this Chorang Ital otherwise.”
“Praise noted.”
-“But Sedao digs? Whole other beast.”
Spot on. Hundreds of Grade-2+ cyber guards, fortress-tight.
Drones, security bots, war machines… clan Aura Users topped by Jo Seong-hwan.
Gold Army ties? Extra manpower galore.
-“You and a few guards smashing that? No shot.”
“Yup. Doable? Hell no. But….”
My casual drawl threw him? Tracking watcher shadows, Yi Mae-tal hung silent for the kicker.
“What if not me—but the dozens of monsters inside the lab?”
-“What?”
His stunned echo hung brief.
“Op payout pending? You know.”
Money drop froze him. Cash talk always glitches him—funds tight.
Perfect. Cheerfully:
“Skip the cash. Fetch one item instead.”
-“Item?”
“Dokgo’s sword gangs slated cargo haul. Wa inbound next month—they tapped me to grab it.”
Cargo. Self-explanatory.
Lab entry, no court eyes, no scans.
“Slip a ‘weird item’ in that cargo?”
-“……Hold on—you can’t mean?!”
Lab freight. My ‘item.’
Clocking my scheme, Yi Mae-tal reeled.
“One monster. Breeding season, egg-packed.”
Vile sweet, vile taste. New product flop.
Shoved spent skewer in bin, drawled slow:
“Gonna crack a rift dead-center Hanseong.”