Chapter 129. The Mother of Brainwashing I Love (2)
Pa-pang!
Just a few seconds later, the item box opened.
What jumped out was a clown with a comical face, causing Officer He to suddenly collapse.
Can you believe it? A complete fainting that even the brainwashing skill couldn’t achieve.
Seeing this, Su Ye-hwi shouted loudly towards the direction the box had rolled in from.
“Who the hell are you?!”
Then came the first words from outside.
“……It’s a [Surprise Box!] that I reinforced, and you’re holding out against it?”
“…….”
“And why are there so few guards around? Are you worried it would be easier to track if there were more people?”
Then the iron door swung wide open, and someone stepped inside.
A blond man with a sharp appearance, very recognizable.
“Kim Gi-ryeo.”
It didn’t take long for her to recognize him.
He was the one who had thwarted the Nachalsawon’s plans at every turn.
In other words, he was the grade forger who had terrified Pyo Na-gil…!
‘Impressive.’
The actual Kim Gi-ryeo had an astonishing level of disguise ability.
So much so that even she, with her sensitive senses, hadn’t detected his approach at all.
‘Pyo Na-gil must have mistaken him for an F-Class. No, he really felt less present than an insect on the sidewalk!’
If he could hide his magic to such an extent, he surely wasn’t just an ordinary person.
Su Ye-hwi asked in a wary tone.
“What is your purpose in coming here?”
The blond man picked up the red box on the ground and replied.
“Purpose? That’s what I want to know.”
It hardly seemed like a good answer.
“Didn’t you say your name was Ye-hwi? Su Ye-hwi, let me ask you just one thing. What’s the intent behind operating such a cult?”
“What?”
“If it were for money, I could understand. But using believers for acts that ultimately amount to terrorism?”
“….”
“Why are you so desperate to kill your own people?”
Kim Gi-ryeo fiddled with the retrieved box and continued his monologue, to which the ruler of the Nachalsawon responded grandly.
“……I did what I had to do.”
Su Ye-hwi genuinely believed she was a messianic figure.
“I have the right to stand above others. Otherwise, the heavenly deity wouldn’t have granted me such power.”
“….”
“The ability to change others’ thoughts… Isn’t this the world’s way of asking me to guide the fallen beings to the right mindset?”
“….”
“So I must fulfill my duty. Before those idiots ruin the fertile land.”
It’s all the will of the gods!
Gi-ryeo silently observed Su Ye-hwi as she spoke like this, then shook his head.
“Alright, I got it. You don’t have to explain anymore. I accidentally talked to a crazy person.”
But Su Ye-hwi gazed at his attitude with pity.
‘Well, how could a petty criminal understand anything? Those types would point fingers even after seeing Yahweh’s ark…’
They were looking at things from completely different perspectives, making conversation impossible.
“Kim Gi-ryeo. Still, considering the sincerity of coming this far, I will personally give my final sermon.”
At that moment, Su Ye-hwi began to speak softly, as if she wanted to somehow make Gi-ryeo understand.
Using the [Brainwashing] skill to make others move according to her will.
She intended to correct the chaotic behaviors of humanity with this ability…….
“Ha-ha.”
The blond S-Class burst into laughter upon hearing this.
It was a rather peculiar form of laughter, a stiff expression with just a mouth opening.
“The right to stand above others… Well, I once had a similar thought.”
Swish.
With his hands behind his back, Gi-ryeo spoke in a calm tone, as if reminiscing.
“Yeah. I understand your perspective to some extent, Su Ye-hwi.”
“Uh?”
“I used to think that in this world, I was the best, and the others, the lesser beings, should be subjugated. I did go through a phase like that.”
“….”
“When you have power, it’s natural to look down on others.”
However, oddly enough, the more he continued, the stranger his demeanor became.
“…But do you know what ultimately happened to me?”
Afterward, the man with the snake eyes simply stared into space blankly. He never explained the story that followed.
But it was clear he was mocking her.
Kim Gi-ryeo seemed to use his past as an example to deny the cult’s ideologies.
“You’ve got a sharp tongue, just as you look.”
“Ye-hwi. Listen seriously. As a life senior, I’m telling you, living like that will lead to big trouble. Really.”
Su Ye-hwi decided to show this cocky hunter what her power was.
No, in fact, her ability had already been activated the moment he entered the warehouse.
[Brainwashing].
This skill’s power grew exponentially the longer one was exposed to it.
And the closer they were to each other.
‘That should be enough now.’
Su Ye-hwi strongly implanted the thought that ‘one should kneel before the apostle of the Nachalsawon’ into the mind of the hunter before her.
It was a forceful order through brainwashing.
“…….”
But funny enough?
Even after using the skill, there was no reaction at all.
The blond man stood straight, hands in his coat pockets.
The height difference between them was quite significant, making it feel as if the poised Kim Gi-ryeo was looking down on her with disdain.
‘What is this?’
Su Ye-hwi couldn’t believe the scene and poured more magic power into it.
She never calculated that the [Brainwashing] wouldn’t work.
Because she was a chosen vessel of the gods.
More precisely, in this regard, she was like that man…
“Curious why the skill isn’t working even though we’re both S-Class?”
“!!”
At that moment.
Gi-ryeo, who had been silent up until now, broke the silence.
“You bastard…….”
According to someone’s remark, in fact, the master of the Nachalsawon was an individual whose magic capacity far exceeded that of an A-Class.
In other words, contrary to what was known, the true hidden S-Class was here. Su Ye-hwi was the real fourth S-Class of Korea!
But was there any meaning now in figuring out who was the real deal?
Whether it was S-Class or not, the blond hunter could completely ignore any mental state abnormalities.
“By the way, you’ve piled up quite a few cores behind you. Were you planning to use those to conquer the country later? Turning every citizen into puppets? That sort of thing?”
An irreversibly advantageous matchup.
Gi-ryeo leisurely continued his thoughts, guessing the reason why Su Ye-hwi was gathering that magical energy.
“But you know, that won’t be easy. As you can see, someone like me is bound to show up once in a while.”
“Is this your Awakening ability, Kim Gi-ryeo?”
“Think whatever you want.”
Even at this moment, Su Ye-hwi continued to attempt brainwashing, but the man didn’t even flinch, as if mocking the sorceress’s efforts.
‘This can’t be happening.’
How on earth is this possible?
Su Ye-hwi was an awakened one who had a good grasp of her own capabilities.
And with the overflowing magic power she possessed, she was confident she could make anyone kneel, even an S-Class.
At least that’s how it had been in all her research so far.
But to think such a variable would occur now.
‘What the hell is he?’
Su Ye-hwi glared at the S-Class with an expression of disbelief.
‘What is he that keeps hindering me at every turn?’
But all she received in return was the cold gaze of her opponent.
As the brainwashing failed, Su Ye-hwi couldn’t hide her confusion.
Isn’t it possible to switch to other means if her main skill didn’t work?
In fact, such attempts were largely futile against higher-ranking awakened ones.
This was a chronic problem among the Earth-awakened.
Magic spells learned through skill stones generally had far less efficiency than the natural abilities of awakened ones.
‘The only other skill I have is the [Water Ball] for disguise. There’s no way I can win against an S-Class with such weak skill…!’
It was impossible to substitute her main power with a supplementary technique capable of producing no more than C-Class power.
For Su Ye-hwi, the failure of brainwashing was inherently a despairing issue.
‘Wait a minute.’
However…….
Thinking about it, something felt off.
This hunter had clearly blocked her brainwashing, but he wasn’t rushing in first.
“Is it possible……?”
Su Ye-hwi hesitated for a moment and cautiously asked.
“Do you want something from me?”
Considering he was being so still after coming this far, could it be that Kim Gi-ryeo desired a conversation?
“Like money or perhaps these cores…?”
Su Ye-hwi attempted to buy time to avoid combat by bribing the S-Class.
But it was all in vain.
Kim Gi-ryeo was, despite appearances, an F-Class awakened whose combat strength was roughly on par with a mouse lying on the ground.
There was no way someone like that would have come here to fight.
“Cores? I don’t know.”
Rummage.
Gi-ryeo pulled out his phone from his pocket. Then he said,
“Money is, for now, okay. What I actually wanted, I already obtained.”
“Obtained?”
“Su Ye-hwi, you’ve got a very thorough barrier blocking tracking skills here. Shouldn’t you have been more cautious if you intended to hide your own body?”
Then what came into Su Ye-hwi’s view was the clear image of Kim Gi-ryeo’s phone screen.
What was displayed was, without a doubt, a map of the vicinity.
In brief.
“GPS.”
He was showing the location-tracking app installed on his phone.
“There’s already a good tracking method on Earth.”
And at that moment.
Ddududdud! Suddenly, a strange flow of magic appeared from the high factory windows.
The sensation of an immense mass of smoke rushing in was unmistakable.
‘Is that the magic of a high-ranking awakened one!’
Quang jang chang!
As she noticed the anomaly, all the windows shattered, and someone came crashing through the wrecked glass.
Thud, thud.
Through the shards of glass.
A vividly memorable woman leapt off the back of a massive white bird.
The awakened one with curly hair dyed crimson gracefully brushed off the fragments falling on her delicate cheeks and greeted.
“Oh my.”
The Guild Master of the Korean Magic Tower.
“Am I late?”
Seo Esther popping up was a surprise!
‘Oh no! Why isn’t he attacking right away? So his goal was to buy time too!’
Su Ye-hwi finally realized why Kim Gi-ryeo had been so active in conversation.
The man wasn’t here to fight; he had been using her as a marker to send GPS information to Esther from the start.
‘Two S-Class awakened ones. No matter how I look at it, facing them both at once is impossible.’
Swish.
In an instant, Su Ye-hwi made a quick decision to act.
After retrieving the cores into her item box.
She brought out another tool from that item box.
‘If I can utilize my advanced equipment, I can at least flee…!’
It took only four seconds to return the core, which was maintaining the barrier, back into the storage box and take out a mobility item.
Whoosh.
Su Ye-hwi spread a black cloth she was holding on the ground.
[Blanket of the Underworld]
[Grade: Unique]
[Description: Like the hand of Hades reaching out to Demeter, touching its darkness draws one to a distant place in an instant.]
[Additional Description: High-speed movement to the last position where the blanket was spread.]
As if it could easily swallow a person, a thick shadow rose up from the ground.
“Ugh?!”
But Kim Gi-ryeo didn’t let this slip by.
From the beginning, Gi-ryeo had faced the danger head-on to prevent such occurrences.
Just as Su Ye-hwi was about to use her equipment.
He hurled something hidden in his grasp toward the shadow.
It looked like a bumpy red orb, resembling a seed of a plant.
[Collapse Particle-α]
This was an item that had been misused by the Nachalsawon to close gates.
[Description: Upon attaching, destroys one type of the corresponding tool.]
Moreover, its original role was as a magic tool to destroy the opponent’s equipment.
Zheuk!
As a few collapse particles stuck, the shadow on the ground was torn apart.
“You satanic devil!”
In an instant, a blanket worth tens of billions was destroyed. How could she not curse?
Su Ye-hwi cursed as she looked at her broken equipment.
But the perpetrator who had cost her so much simply continued to speak calmly.
“I figured I wouldn’t be able to pry into any of your research? I’ve already figured out how the Nachalsawon closed their gates.”
“……!”
“So I took the liberty of hoarding some before the distribution ban, thinking you might utilize the magical pathways when fleeing.”
Clink, clink.
Kim Gi-ryeo spread open his hand to reveal the items he’d hidden in his pocket.
In his palm were more than six red orbs.
This was the biggest difference between the past and the present.
Unlike the time when he had been helplessly abducted by the Nachalsawon, Kim Gi-ryeo now had a whole different level of resources.
“By the way, these collapse particles are worth quite a lot, huh? I found out they discontinued the gate they come from a long time ago.”
He looked at the magic tool in his hand.
At the same time, thick veins began to bulge on his neck.
“Because of that, the success from attacking Mermaid’s Cove ended up as a total loss…”
Crack!
He glared down at the brainwashing sorceress with his sharp azure-colored eyes.
Despite being an awakened one who felt no ounce of magic from her.
“Hey, Su Ye-hwi. Is that coat you’re wearing an item too?”
The apostle of the Nachalsawon flinched slightly under the overwhelming pressure exuded by that man.
