I ran a hand through my hair. Because I had created those soul cores as part of my research into immortality, I had naturally assumed that the Truelight Sect was also pursuing immortality…
Got ahead of myself because I got worked up.
As a result, I’d just been treated as something even lower than a crackpot cult leader. Granted, the title “Destroyer of Worlds” was one given for harming humanity’s continued existence to a degree far worse than any cult leader ever could. Still, if I were to offer even a small defense, there was something a bit unfair about it.
“If he’s creating soul cores simply to use the power of the Hunters residing in them, that’s even more heinous.”
Theoretically, it wasn’t impossible. But since my goal had been my own immortality, I had never conducted these experiments on others.
“To complete a soul core, you’d need pain severe enough to kill someone.”
That made sense. Simply carrying something would allow mana to settle into it naturally to some extent, but transferring a soul into a soul core was a different matter entirely. Fundamentally, the most efficient way to separate a soul from the body was physical suffering.
I had experimented by inflicting pain on my own body, but if what Lee Arin said was true, then the Truelight Sect was creating soul cores using Hunters.
Ah. So that’s why they deliberately reduced Hunters to ‘water balloon’ states.
Thinking it through, a lot about the Truelight Sect’s actions suddenly made sense. According to Lee Arin, the sect deliberately pushed Hunters with high potential even harder. Lee Arin and Choi Miyeon were prime examples. Both were Hunters with innate talents so exceptional they possessed unique skills.
A “water balloon” state essentially meant that they had used their abilities in an unfinished body until its durability gave out. Forcing still-inexperienced Hunters that far showed clear intent.
At an age barely past twenty, recklessness was to be expected, especially when someone was praised as having great potential as a Hunter. With even a little encouragement from a religious group they treated as a mental anchor, overexertion would come easily.
Of course, I had also used excessive mana with an unfinished body… but in my case, my soul was already of a higher order thanks to memories from a past life, and I acted within limits I could handle.
If an ordinary Hunter had done the same, their vessel would have collapsed without a doubt. But what if this behavior was encouraged on a guild-wide level among novice Hunters?
Then it wouldn’t be strange for large numbers of “water balloon” Hunters to be produced.
And Hunters in that state, with their bodily vessels already compromised, would naturally provide an environment well-suited to forming soul cores if they were made to carry quartz. Their bodies, like chipped vessels, would be unable to contain the full power of the soul and would let it leak out. After that, once they died, all that remained was to collect the soul core they had been carrying.
One could almost admire the cleverness. Still, there was a problem.
“No matter how good quartz is at retaining mana, its durability is low, so it would only last at most a year… ah.”
Damn it.
Mid-sentence, I realized the implication.
Could the reason Lee Manbok took special leave every year on January 1 under the pretext of an event be…
Lee Arin met my gaze and nodded. “That’s right. Lee Manbok takes leave to obtain a new soul core. And then he presents a new miracle as part of the New Year’s event.”
"Wow."
The exclamation slipped out on its own. Even demons would be impressed by that level of depravity. To think that research I had once conducted for my personal immortality in a past life was being repurposed like this in another world. Even I, a former Demon Lord, hadn’t deliberately ruined the futures of promising talents just to squeeze a year’s worth of use out of them.
Was the true identity of the “Enemy of Humanity” really Cult Leader Lee Manbok?
With a sense of unease, I looked down at the bald statue in the central garden. No wonder I’d felt an inexplicable urge to smack that bald head—was it resentment from my past life?
Can’t blame her for wanting to kill him.
If a Hunter recognized in South Korea as having A-rank-level potential, a smooth and prosperous path would have awaited them.
“Then the reason Lee Manbok said he wanted to meet you this time, Lee Arin, is…”
“Yes. He was planning to drag me to the lab, kill me, and retrieve my soul core.”
Of course. Simply carrying it around wasn’t enough to complete a soul core. Magical processing was also required, and above all, pain truly bordering on death was necessary for the soul to detach from the body.
Or perhaps actual death was required.
“Knowing all this in such detail, why did you still stay here, Lee Arin? You could’ve taken this information and asked Yu Hanul for help long ago…”
“That kind of help is meaningless. What could Hunter Yu Hanul even do?”
It was hard to find a Hunter in South Korea with more influence than Yu Hanul, yet even that wasn’t enough for Lee Arin.
“Have you heard the saying, ‘No punishment for the powerful, punishment for the powerless’? Even when Lee Manbok goes to prison, he frequently visits hospitals under the excuse of age-related illness. He spends half the year in a private VIP room. Even if you tip this off to the media, they won’t write about it.”
"..."
“If Hunter Yu Hanul speaks up, the media might pay a bit more attention. We could gather victims and file lawsuits. But in the meantime, useless Hunters like me would be cast out of the Truelight Sect with no means of making a living, suffer through poverty, and once public interest fades, we’d lose the case. And even if we won, compensation would be another matter entirely, wouldn’t it?”
As if it were a thought she had repeated thousands, tens of thousands of times, Lee Arin recited the entire process mechanically.
“And even if I get revenge within the framework of social law like that, in the end, Lee Manbok will live a full, comfortable life and die peacefully.”
It was an undeniable truth. Human law rarely takes the side of the weak, and in Korean society especially, innocence has long since become nothing more than a commodity that can be bought with capital.
“So I have no choice but to take revenge with my own hands.”
Click. Lee Arin chambered the final round.
I stared straight at her. There was intense, blazing hatred and hostility.
The flow of mana is completely out of control.
Lee Arin herself didn’t seem to notice, but to my eyes, a violent vortex of mana was swirling around her, and that vortex of mana was being drawn into the soul core she carried.
Just as she said, her body was nearly at its limit, so the soul core was accumulating her mana at an astonishing rate. Because of that, the soul core she carried was genuinely approaching completion.
Through my Eye of Observation, which can distinguish the souls of others, the color of the soul core appeared vividly clear. Inside the quartz, a soul, murky yet intensely radiant, was burning fiercely.
I had devoted an extraordinarily long time to researching what makes up the human soul. Because of that, there was one question I had held for ages.
What is the human soul made of?
Magic is a miracle that defies even natural law, brought about purely by human desire. In this infinite world, the source of the power that allows a mere human to distort the absolute laws of reality—what, exactly, is the human soul made of? That was what I wanted to know most.
And even now, living a second life, I still hadn’t found the answer… but at least in this moment, I felt I understood what formed the core of the soul of the human called Lee Arin.
Hatred toward someone.
That is who Lee Arin is.
“…Not bad.”
I like it. Even with her body at its limit, she was forcing herself to endure through sheer hatred, all for the sake of revenge.
“Pardon?”
I’d planned to extract some information and slip away when the opportunity arose, but I’d changed my mind. I pulled the corner of my mouth up into a smile. “Alright. I’ll help you take revenge on Lee Manbok.”
The system reminds “Jeong Daon” of the quest “Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿”.
User “Jeong Daon” cannot engage in behavior that violates social standards.
The system sent me a warning message, but I brushed it off lightly.
Fine. All that means is that I shouldn’t engage in behavior that violates social norms, right? Besides, I needed to find out whether Lee Manbok really was the “Enemy of Humanity,” and if he was, I’d have to kill him anyway; two birds with one stone.
“You’re suddenly saying you’ll help me?” Lee Arin looked at me warily.
What, she’d just dumped the sect’s dirty secrets on me and backed me into a corner, but now that I was offering help, she reacted like that? Just moments ago, she’d been treating me like magical attack items.
“Didn’t you ask for help yourself earlier?”
“That was… I already had the assassination plan laid out. I brought you along because I was worried you might interfere if I left you alone. Like I said, it would’ve been enough if you just removed the shields—”
“Liar.”
Lee Arin’s eyebrow twitched, but she didn’t argue.
“If you truly didn’t need anyone else’s help, you wouldn’t have sent a tip to Yu Hanul. You said you’d get revenge on your own, but you sent it because you were hoping someone would help you in the end.”
“…That was like insurance. In case I died before finishing my revenge…”
“Why worry about what happens after you’re dead? Once you’re dead, you wouldn’t even know whether your revenge succeeded or failed. In the end, it’s because you’re still attached to life.”
“…Wow. You’ve got quite the personality, don’t you?” A hollow laugh slipped from Lee Arin’s mouth. She must have been thoroughly irritated, because even the polite speech she’d maintained until now disappeared. Hatred overflowing beyond what her body could handle bristled like sharp thorns. “So what? You want to say that without help, I’m just pathetic and can’t even pull off revenge?”
“An objective analysis of your situation is important. Honestly, you’re not confident you’ll succeed either.”
“...”
She had prepared quite thoroughly; that much was true. For a Hunter who could no longer practically use her abilities, she’d done everything she could. Firearms were weapons even ordinary people could use, and if she sniped from concealment, there was at least some chance. But that didn’t mean the odds were good.
Lee Manbok wasn’t a fool. Even if he came near that statue to meet Choi Miyeon instead of Lee Arin, he’d assume there was a high risk of being attacked. He would definitely bring Hunters as escorts, and firearms like these wouldn’t be nearly enough. Even if I removed his magical barriers, it would still fall short.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Lee Arin ground her teeth. “So what, you’re telling me to give up now? You don’t know a damn thing—”
“Who said anything about giving up? I said I’d help.” I held out my hand toward Lee Arin.
She instinctively flinched and stepped back, but it was a distance I could close with a single step forward.
“You said you’d do anything for revenge, didn’t you?”
The system reminds “Jeong Daon” of the quest “Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿”.
User “Jeong Daon” cannot engage in behavior that violates social standards.
What a ridiculous hive mind. How is extending a hand to help the socially weak considered behavior that violates social norms? In some worlds, all it took to kill a Demon Lord was a king’s command and the sword of a hero. But in modern-day Korea, neither the law nor a hero’s sword is enough to kill a cult leader.
In that case, doesn’t it mean a demon has to step in?
I smiled, eyes narrowing. “If you really can do anything, I’ll tell you how to truly succeed in your revenge.”