Chapter 45
Chapter 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Creature?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Long time no see, Director Kang Geon-woo.”
“We’ve both been busy, so let’s leave it at that.”
“How have you been, Pang?”
“You seem to know me better than I know myself.”
“Hahahaha.”
Baron burst into hearty laughter at Geon-woo and Pang’s prickly responses, trying to ease the tension at the table.
“Cut the pointless pleasantries and take this first.”
Geon-woo held out a small case to Baron.
“What’s this? Hmm, a lens case?”
“Correct. It’s the case from corrective lenses. But now it holds something different.”
“Different lenses?”
“You’ll see once you put them on.”
Geon-woo urged Baron to try on the lenses he’d brought.
Baron stared at Geon-woo for a moment before reaching out, opening the case, and slipping on the lenses.
“Hmm. No foreign body sensation. But there seems to be something wrong with the lenses. Everything’s blurry.”
Baron glanced back and forth between Geon-woo and Pang as he spoke.
But that lasted only a moment.
“No, wait. It’s strangely only human shapes that are blurry.”
Baron quickly realized that among what he saw, only the outlines of Geon-woo and Pang were blurred.
“Those lenses let you see souls.”
“S-souls?”
“So if someone’s soul doesn’t match their body, it shows up right away.”
“You mean…”
“I caught a few possessed demons and checked. You can tell at a glance when a non-human soul overlaps a human body.”
“So we can suspect demon possession?”
“Of course, it’s not 100%. Sometimes humans have souls that don’t fit their bodies perfectly.”
“Hmm, in that case… it might raise doubts about its accuracy?”
Baron was thrilled to have a tool for detecting possessed demons.
But he frowned, imagining the conflicts that could arise if it wasn’t fully reliable.
“No. Even the most unique human souls rarely look like insects or amphibians. And even if they do, there’d be fewer than a dozen worldwide.”
“You’re saying possessed demon souls resemble insects or amphibians?”
“Something like that. They look similar to the demons’ original forms. Makes them easy to distinguish.”
“Really?”
“Pang and I captured a few and tested them. Then made the lenses and double-checked.”
“Yeah. The lenses haven’t been wrong once so far.”
Pang backed up Geon-woo’s words.
“How did you even make something like this? Our research team couldn’t despite all their efforts.”
Baron blinked at Geon-woo in astonishment.
“We got lucky.”
Geon-woo replied.
And it was true.
The core technology for these lenses came from the Yultren species.
Confirming demons hiding on Earth via possession wasn’t hard for Geon-woo.
He was skilled at distinguishing and sensing souls thanks to handling jiangshi spirits.
So spotting alien souls possessing human bodies right in front of him was simple.
The issue was verifying if those alien souls were demons.
Neuron Age protocols required aggressive methods—like threatening their life—to confirm.
Circumstantial evidence wasn’t enough; hard proof was needed.
But only Geon-woo could hunt possessed demons with exorcism arts.
So he’d devised a device or item to detect possession. Luckily, he had a lead.
The Yultren soul taxidermies.
A civilization that matched even trivial tools to souls surely had ways to detect possession.
He searched Yultren tech via Kamalro, the jiangshi spirit he’d made.
Kamalro wasn’t a technician, so that yielded nothing useful. But Geon-woo had several soul taxidermies snatched from demons in Easter eggs.
Fortune smiled: one held extensive Yultren technical knowledge.
The result was the lenses Baron now wore.
“Lucky, you say… What does that…”
“No need to explain the details. Anyway, the case has lens production instructions too. It’s on the data chip—use it as you see fit.”
“Production method? So we can mass-produce these?”
“If you have enough resources, maybe. But actual mass production will be tough. Each one takes ten soul stones.”
“Soul stones?”
“It detects souls. Weird to use soul stones for that?”
“No, that makes sense. If it uses soul stones…”
Baron drifted into thought, as if struck by a new insight.
Geon-woo snapped him out of it sternly.
“Why overthink? Just attach those lenses to CCTVs or whatever.”
“Pardon?”
“Same effect on camera lenses. Skip pointless research and focus on production and deployment.”
“Ah, right. Yeah, utilizing what we have is priority now. Thank you.”
Baron carefully examined the lens case.
He spotted a separate chip slot on the side.
“Anyway, now that we can detect possessed demons, we need to start full-scale purges.”
“But that could cause social unrest…”
“Director Baron, this isn’t the time to worry about chaos. The demons are already starting to rally.”
“Rally?”
“You may know demons form forces by subspecies. Dozens of such groups exist.”
“Is that so?”
“The possessions happening now aren’t random.”
“I know they can’t possess just anyone at will.”
“They can, but it requires preparing a target as a sacrifice and a special ritual. Reserved for rare cases.”
“Wait, so targeted possession is possible?”
Baron looked shocked, clearly unaware.
“Extremely, if they subdued me and used me as a sacrifice, they could shove a demon soul into my body.”
“Th-that…”
“Of course, whether that soul overpowers my mind is another matter.”
“But I heard failures lead to delirium or separation types.”
“Why? No one’s ever fully repelled a demon soul and kept full control?”
“Th-there is?”
“No confirmation, but surely some exist. If bodies can be fully taken, why not full defenses?”
“Ah, well…”
“Anyway, that’s all I can do.”
Geon-woo pointed to the lens case in Baron’s hand.
Then he stood abruptly.
No point sticking around for a meal.
Business done; time to go.
“Leaving?”
Pang asked, standing with Geon-woo.
“Why? Wanna eat here?”
“True, no reason to eat with that old guy.”
“Exactly…”
“But eating with you sounds fine.”
“What?”
“Come on, we’ve known each other a while. We could get closer. What, am I not appealing?”
Pang slyly hooked her arm through Geon-woo’s.
“Appealing? Guys like us…”
“We know each other’s lifestyles inside out—that’s why it works. No secrets.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Just… we’re stuck together anyway. Might as well try dating.”
“Forget it. Don’t you know what happens when senses dull for guys like us?”
“Hey, that’s not controllable. Honestly, I had my eye on you since our first Neuron Age contract.”
“What?”
“World’s top mercenary. Of course I was drawn.”
“Fine, I’ll accept the crush. But nothing more.”
“Tch, not so perfect after all? Where’d I fall short?”
“Hey, where do you see that?”
“Shut up and let’s eat. Been a while since I left the island.”
“You were out days ago.”
“That was work. This is free time.”
“I’m busy…”
“Not asking for days. Just a few hours. Come on!”
“…”
In the end, Geon-woo let Pang drag him by the wrist, feigning defeat.
Left alone, Baron blinked after the departing pair.
“They’re dating?”
* * *
“Wow, Geon-woo. Things are blowing up.”
“Yeah.”
The spirit in human form gaped at the wall screen.
Geon-woo, sitting beside, watched the news with a what-the-hell expression.
[Sydney Indiscriminate Massacre.]
Most channels broadcasted this.
It started with Neuron Age.
Using Geon-woo’s blueprints, they built devices to detect demon possessions.
Exactly as he’d said: implant the lenses into cameras.
Now, anyone on screen showed if possessed by a demon soul.
Distributed as D-Catchers, they revealed possessed demons to the world.
Just ten days after Geon-woo handed over the lenses and method.
But some Sydney demons panicked at exposure and went berserk.
Pure indiscriminate slaughter.
They’d been gathering subtly in Sydney’s east—then D-Catchers hit.
“How could over 5,000 possessed be in one spot?”
“They’re saying now: immigrated worldwide for various reasons months ago.”
“Over 100,000 casualties already?”
“Federation army, Neuron Age Guardians, some users are purging them. Should wrap up soon.”
“But dozens more groups worldwide, right?”
That wasn’t the only issue.
People were already saying they’d provoked the demons unnecessarily.
They’d lived peacefully among humans—exposing them caused this massacre.
“Wow, people actually say that?”
The spirit looked dumbfounded.
“Plenty of idiots out there. But it’s serious.”
“What?”
“Biggest problem: we can talk to these demons. Totally unlike Onvoroad.”
“True. System blocked communication there.”
“Yeah. But on Earth, possession lets them talk. Plus, some unpossessed humans sided with Sydney demons.”
“What? Pure humans, not possessed?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? What for?”
“World’s full of crazies. With 400 million Awakeners, some feel left out. Tell them demons offer power? Tons would bite.”
“And it’s already happening in Sydney?”
“Earth’s fight will be nothing like Onvoroad.”
Geon-woo’s face darkened watching the ongoing Sydney footage.
His worries came true days later with the demons’ official statement.
- We seek non-violence.
- We desire coexistence.
- We won’t attack first unless attacked.
- Attack us, and see another Sydney.
- We want non-interference.
“Hohoho. Insane. Their existence is an attack on humanity, and they say they won’t attack if we don’t?”
Pang, back on the island after ages, mocked the announcement.
“But it’s gaining traction—that’s the trap.”
“Crazy bastards.”
“We won’t fall for it anyway. We do what we want.”
“True.”
“So what’d you bring? You were busy investigating—must be something big.”
Pang had been off-island days.
She’d surely dug into this mess.
Her intel skills outstripped Geon-woo’s.
Even Neuron Age, pooling global might, hadn’t pierced her identity—proof of her concealment prowess.
If she returned, she had something good.
“Creatures.”
Pang said.
“Huh?”
“Only demon possessions exposed now. But demons’ main force is creatures. Evolved ones become demons.”
“Ah, right—that might be key. Creatures with physical forms over possessions.”
Geon-woo muttered, smacking his head in realization.