The Temptation of Power
Waiting area.
Wonhui trailed after him like a literal tail, scampering along and watching with bright eyes as Han Yujin prepared. In truth, there wasn’t much to prepare, so it was over in moments. Yet the moment he approached the door, Wonhui’s expression turned visibly disappointed. She seemed to have grown quite fond of this space where the two of them could be alone.
His heart softened for no good reason, so instead of touching the door right away, he spent a little time chatting idly with her. He hadn’t expected to end up killing time in the waiting area like this.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Wonhui looked perfectly satisfied after only a few minutes of conversation.
That only made him feel more concerned, but since they didn’t have to talk only here, he figured he could simply look after her more in the future.
After securely fixing the gate to Icapa Pangea and stepping through without issue.
He watched the door vanish behind him, then leisurely scanned his surroundings. Beneath a gloomy sky stretched a desolate-looking forest, and he stood on a path paved with bluish-gray stone slabs that cut through it.
After waiting a short while, he sensed a presence flying toward him. The other party seemed to detect Han Yujin’s aura as well; they paused briefly before approaching directly.
The figure who landed at an appropriate distance looked exactly as he remembered. A harsh, cruel face. Reddish-brown eyes that occasionally flickered with the illusion of repulsive insects. A black robe embroidered with threads of gold here and there.
“Who the hell are y—”
The moment the middle-aged man tried to ask about Han Yujin’s identity.
The presence of a Wonyoung Jin-in spread outward and froze him in place. The shock was so great that his pupils dilated wide, his mouth fell open, and all color drained from his face.
Han Yujin gave the man—who had once taught him the lesson of abandoning all hope by delivering the most horrific death imaginable—a fresh once-over, then smiled and asked,
It was a rather abrupt question, yet precisely because of that, it somehow sounded profound and tempting.
The middle-aged man remained rigid for a moment longer, eyes darting as he thought rapidly, before straightening his posture. In an exceedingly polite tone, he asked back,
“May I ask who you are, sir?”
“Just answer my question. Do you desire power?”
Han Yujin asked casually while stroking Mu-yong inside his robe. The middle-aged man glanced briefly at her before lowering his gaze to the ground, hesitating to answer.
About ten seconds later.
“I do.”
He answered, still polite, yet making no effort to hide the faint greed in his voice.
“Who wouldn’t?”
“…Haha. Exactly. Who wouldn’t want power?”
Han Yujin laughed as if he had expected nothing less, then suddenly wiped all expression from his face.
“However, you must not hope for a lucky break.”
“…Pardon?”
The moment the middle-aged man asked back, sensing something ominous.
The halo of the Six Paths of Reincarnation rose behind Han Yujin, casting him in backlighting. Within the dark silhouette, only a pair of eyes—shimmering with golden and violet light in perfect circulation—stood out clearly, overwhelming the opponent.
The world of loathing, the landscape of Gi-chung-do, merged with the Dream Illusion Mind Snatching Art and began seizing the middle-aged man’s mind, torturing him.
“Huuuuurk…!”
He staggered backward and collapsed, letting out a stifled scream.
At the same time, his body began to writhe violently. It crumbled into a swarm of bright red insects, only to clump back together, then the insects started attacking and devouring one another.
“Die slowly. To think you can engage in autophagy without even practicing intermittent fasting—how wonderful. In my homeland, that’s a health regimen that even won a Nobel Prize.”
Han Yujin looked down at the middle-aged man, who continued to thrash about while emitting suppressed screams, his face clearly twisted in extreme agony and terror, and smiled crookedly.
During his previous visit, he had used various spells in the name of revenge and fought with considerable satisfaction. Now the man had been reduced to nothing more than a trivial insect that could be crushed the instant he felt like it.
Leaving the dying middle-aged man behind, he headed toward the palace he remembered.
Using the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art, he arrived in no time. Even upon seeing the massive palace’s main gate, he didn’t stop. He simply swung the Destruction Great Tree and smashed it to pieces.
The gate protected by a magic circle barrier has been obliterated.
With a thunderous roar, the gate—protected by a magic circle barrier—shattered and flew apart. He charged inside without hesitation, sweeping his surroundings with the upgraded Yin-Yang True Dragon Eye.
As the demon worshipers began to swarm toward him, he summoned the Monghyeon-gyeong above his head and smiled once more.
There was no need to deal with the small fry one by one.
Feeling a sudden surge of excitement, Han Yujin enlarged Mu-yong, climbed onto her back, and simply sat there wrapped only in the halo of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, doing nothing else.
Jjik! Jjijik—!
Now large enough to carry a person, Mu-yong darted through the enormous, labyrinthine interior of the palace with glee, like a hamster exploring a new maze.
Any enemies they encountered couldn’t even shout a warning, let alone attack. They simply collapsed and died like puppets with their strings cut. Their bodies and souls remained intact, yet their minds were torn apart and shattered by a storm of every conceivable emotion.
The Six Paths of Reincarnation was truly special even among divine mental techniques. It lacked no aspect compared to other types of mental arts, yet it was incredibly convenient when dealing with large numbers of weaklings like this.
Within the Monghyeon-gyeong floating above Han Yujin’s head, the scenes of the six realms circulated together, amplifying the effect.
Because of that, enemies of the same rank as the middle-aged man he had killed earlier—including the bald insect-tattooed bishop and the two archbishops with what looked like antennae or horns—were swept up and killed the instant they approached.
It was truly a hollow death, no different from that of mere fodder.
They could wield power at the decisive stage, but when compared to true decisive-stage inquisitors, they fell short in many ways. With such insignificant skill, it was only natural they could not possibly resist the mental technique of a Wonyoung Jin-in.
And so.
Riding atop an exhilarated Mu-yong, Han Yujin arrived at that hall. It was in front of a door made from a fusion of wood and metal, protected by an unusually sturdy magic circle barrier.
Boom—!
With a single strike from the Destruction Great Tree, the door exploded into splinters. The sight revealed inside was still as eerie as ever.
Several faint blood-colored pits were arranged at regular intervals, encircling a circular dais in the center like multiple layers. Atop the dais, a gigantic mummified human corpse held up a pendant emitting a dark golden light with both hands.
The moment the pendant entered his vision, he felt a strange impulse accompanied by a whispering temptation, as if someone were seducing him.
Of course, compared to when he had first seen it, enduring the sensation was far easier now.
He shrank Mu-yong back to her original size, held her in his arms, and approached. He picked up the pendant directly. Even while examining it closely with his refined senses, he felt almost no sense of danger.
He was now a true Jin-in. No matter how remarkable the object, as long as it wasn’t a celestial-grade artifact, this level of contact was perfectly safe.
Thanks to that, he was able to discern quite a lot while studying its structure.
‘So this is how they corrupt it.’
Among the knowledge he had gained from the demonic Nascent Soul inquisitor he met during his adventures in the Galactic Empire, there had been several similar techniques based on the same principle.
Moreover, intricate restrictions had been placed on this pendant. There was no need to speculate—it was clearly a seal imposed by the Icapa cult forces here so they could make practical use of it.
Unlike before, he no longer rejected black magic out of hand. He studied its structure diligently.
Now that he possessed enlightenment regarding yin-yang harmony, he knew well that even if he never used such wicked techniques himself, simply understanding them would broaden the scope of his thinking and could later serve as material for further enlightenment.
How long had he been waiting like that?
He sensed someone approaching at high speed and landing outside the hall.
When he naturally turned his head, the ‘archbishop’ from his memories came into view.
A beautiful woman with hair that appeared silver yet shimmered with a faint violet depending on the angle. It was hard to believe she was an existence that even her fellow demon worshipers feared.
“Who the hell are you? Have you gone mad and come here to die?”
She spat out vicious words that clashed with her beautiful voice and stopped near the entrance of the hall.
She was indeed at the Nascent Soul level. In the mage-style ranking system, she would be called an Adeptus Exemptus.
“Put that down. It’s not something a worm like you can toy with.”
The archbishop growled, radiating the sinister and dangerous aura typical of demon worshipers. At the same time, countless writhing insects flickered across her eyes.
The sensation was completely different from that of the middle-aged man who had only been a bishop. The moment he witnessed it, an overwhelming pressure washed over him, as if he had glimpsed a vast and horrific world where tides of every kind of insect surged forward.
Of course, Han Yujin remained completely unaffected and asked calmly,
“I have a question. That large orb over there—the one wrapped in deep violet radiance.”
The archbishop’s eyes narrowed, her aura growing even sharper.
“Is it something like a clone of the demon Icapa?”
“You dare utter His true name without fear? Are you not afraid of being cursed?”
Right then.
Tap—
A single paper card appeared from nowhere and fell to the floor in front of the archbishop.
The archbishop eyed the card with caution, then suddenly stepped back in shock. Han Yujin let out a low chuckle.
“That is what you call a curse. If you think you can handle it, go ahead and pick it up and unfold it.”
“You bastard…”
The archbishop suddenly sensed something and whipped her gaze toward Han Yujin’s shadow. Her complexion paled slightly.
“Just what the hell… are you carrying around…?”
After asking that, she seemed to realize something and looked at him again.
“A necromancer?”
“No, I’m a repairer.”
At that, the archbishop took another step back and clamped her mouth shut.
“…That pendant is an important holy relic of our order. Even if you possess all sorts of flying skills, you must have already realized you cannot possibly handle it, yes? Put it down obediently. In exchange, let us make a deal.”
Her form of address had upgraded from ‘you bastard’ to ‘you.’ Han Yujin couldn’t help but laugh again.
Just how fearsome was the reputation of a repairer that it could make even an Adeptus Exemptus-level demon-worshiping archbishop yield?
At this point, wouldn’t it be more accurate to call it notoriety rather than reputation?
‘Seniors, just what exactly have you all been doing out there?’
After briefly pondering the unknown number of senior repairers, he refocused his attention on the archbishop.
“What kind of deal?”
“Anything will do. If you want magical materials created through sacrificial rituals, we can trade especially well. We even possess adamant.”
As she spoke, she glanced twice at Han Yujin’s shadow.
“Adamant…?”
He recalled seeing it in the information repository of the Galactic Empire. It was the precious metal of demons, an item that could almost never be obtained without going through demon worshipers.
It was a metal that could grow by absorbing the blood, souls, and emotions of living beings, much like a monster from nightmares.
It sometimes harmed its owner and could grow in unwanted directions, among other troublesome traits. Yet it was a useful and precious material that more than compensated for such risks.
‘As an upgrade material for the Blood Spirit Red Flower Wine Bottle… could there be anything more suitable?’
Thinking that, he asked,
“You really have it? Where?”
“We certainly do, so do not worry. Will you trade?”
“Ah, so you’re saying it’s somewhere around here.”
“You’re not thinking of robbing us, are you? It would be troublesome if you mistakenly believe I am yielding because I fear you.”
As she spoke, the archbishop suddenly pulled out an object. It resembled an hourglass, decorated with green jewels. It was extremely beautiful yet emanated an inexplicable sense of danger.
“If you truly wish to die, go ahead and rampage as you please. If you don’t want to take unnecessary risks, let us trade peacefully.”
Even though she must have vaguely noticed Wonhui’s presence, her attitude was utterly confident.
‘This won’t be easy.’
If this were a real life-or-death situation, he might have considered backing off and trading. After all, he had plenty of materials and items worth trading.
However.
Unfortunately for the other party, he was the ultimate con artist—one who would suffer no loss even if he died.
Especially against demon worshipers, whom he felt no moral obligation to treat fairly.
“I don’t know what it is, but that hourglass looks tempting too.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the front face of the Monghyeon-gyeong floating above his head reflected the archbishop, then instantly flipped to its reverse side, flashing with violet light.
At the same instant, countless strands of hair shot out from his shadow at terrifying speed, engulfing her.