< 97. A Quarrel Between a Couple Ends in Beheading (4) >
The moment Min-jun opened the basement door, he was greeted by an awkward sight.
An alien priest sat on the cold floor, cross-legged in what resembled a meditation pose. Perhaps he was praying. This was a fairly common scene.
However, was there ever a priest who prayed while keeping a TV on?
And why, of all things, was it an orc mating show? Notorious for its violence and lewdness.
'What is this? Extreme training?'
It seemed as though the priest was undergoing mental training to overcome any temptation or distraction, much like archers training in a stadium full of cheering spectators.
Judge Yumtus appeared to be in a trance, completely unaware of Min-jun's arrival. Min-jun checked to see if he might be in an out-of-body state, but fortunately, his soul was still in his body.
Snap!
When Min-jun snapped his fingers, the air density shifted. It wasn't just a sound; the focus was naturally broken as Yumtus opened his eyes. Spotting Min-jun, he panicked and bowed deeply.
Min-jun pointed at the screen and asked.
"Does that (training) help?"
=Yes! Of course. I don't understand the language, but everyone is so dedicated. Watching them brings back old memories. I unconsciously began praying out of a sense of pride. I thought I should return to my original intentions.=
It was both a non-sequitur and an unusual confession.
On the screen, a group of men were fighting over a single beautiful orc. Oh, and one of the warriors who had just smashed a marble table seemed to be a woman.
Did he live like this back then?
'He's not an ordinary person.'
Min-jun decided he no longer wanted to know anything more.
Leaving Yumtus's past buried, Min-jun conveyed his purpose for coming down.
The high priest of Elahu-Praga wields the power of nightmares. The ability to go to where the Primordial Race sleeps and both extract talents and taint their dreams horrifically. Min-jun requested this power be used on him here and now, attempting a form of sleep hypnosis.
=Of course, it's possible.=
"Then let's begin."
Since Yumtus wasn't in a state of divine power overload like the Archbishop, it seemed better to try it while asleep.
Min-jun ignited a fire and disinfected the slime bed that Ha-eun-seong used. While staying here, he had been closely integrated with it, as evidenced by the clear scale marks. Once prepared, he lay down.
=Then, let's begin.=
The moment light emanated from the judge's hand, Min-jun plunged himself into the abyss of sleep.
"Hey, I'm back."
"Did you come? Sit down and wait a moment. I'm almost done."
A few days after returning to Germany, Ha-eun-seong received an invitation from Cassie. It was a suggestion for lunch or a simple meal, an offer he couldn't refuse. He had been suffering from withdrawal symptoms after his time abroad.
Smelling the aroma filling the kitchen, Ha-eun-seong felt happy. Cassie was cooking with the blessings of humanity, just as expected.
"What are all those piles of paper at the entrance?"
He pointed at the stacks of unopened envelopes.
The homeowner frowned and replied.
"I'm going to throw them all away. They're overseas mail, and it's too much trouble to return them."
The visit to the sea dragon's lair in Germany had led to unexpected consequences. Since then, the dragon's followers, the Daphin tribe, had begun sending letters non-stop, despite not knowing how they got the address. Cassie had been driven to the brink of madness by the endless influx of mail.
The contents were almost identical, ending with phrases like "I want to be your keeper." Cassie was horrified to discover on Wikipedia that this was a proposal phrase.
Listening to her lament, Ha-eun-seong was also taken aback. 'I mean... it's one thing to be interested, but is it really... possible?' He didn't voice his doubts out loud, fearing Cassie might get angry.
"Alright, it's ready."
The first plate was a tenderloin dish flavored with mandarin sauce. Taking a bite, Ha-eun-seong forgot all the worries that had been troubling his mind recently.
Cassie, who had raised his happiness level significantly, didn't sit next to him. Instead, she went back to the stove and began frying a large grouper she had prepared earlier. She didn't eat fish herself but had prepared it solely for the guest. The sizzling sound of the oil was music to the ears. It seemed like the theme for today was Chinese cuisine.
'Wow, that whole fish is going in there.'
As he watched the cooking, Ha-eun-seong suddenly wondered.
'Was the frying pan always that big?'
At that moment, Cassie said something while facing away, and the thought was immediately erased from his mind.
"Can I ask you something? About Germany."
Today, Ha-eun-seong was the only guest. Another person who could have answered was holed up at home and didn't come out. It seemed he had completely forgotten to seal the frying pan, but Cassie was making good use of it, though concern remained.
"What exactly happened while I was underwater in Bremenhaven?"
Cassie had indicated that the goal of the mission was to secure Johaim's safety, but the priest didn't accompany them on the return journey. Yet, the mission wasn't considered a failure.
Ha-eun-seong had asked Min-jun but was told he would explain later. Ha-eun-seong, whose mood was complicated by thoughts of murderers, also avoided bringing it up.
"Oh, well…"
Ha-eun-seong wasn't sure how to explain what he had seen and heard there. He knew it was not something he should discuss. Min-jun had emphasized secrecy.
Honestly, he didn't fully understand the conversations between the priests and Min-jun. However, he clearly recognized the term "Committee." It was an organization that was hard to ignore, even if one had no interest in the outside world.
Thus, he was puzzled. Wasn't that person supposed to be an agent hired by Korea? Yet, why were there rumors of him working for aliens?
Ha-eun-seong's astonishment didn't end there. The judges, who had been fiercely fighting moments ago, suddenly started worshiping Min-jun as if he were a god.
'I thought he wasn't an ordinary person, but...'
Now that he thought about it, he knew nothing about Min-jun's background.
And that made him even more uneasy.
Not only was he connected to the alien alliance, but he also had the terrifying ability to turn hostile priests into worshipers in no time—while treating him like a slave in reality.
Ha-eun-seong responded to a question with another question.
"Isn't it true that you... have quite a bit of wealth?"
Cassie avoided giving a direct answer.
"Why do you ask?"
"Is it possible that the secret is in doing various jobs in addition to being a contract agent? Like having a side job or two."
For instance, working for the Committee as a client, he thought but kept it to himself.
Moreover, the attitude of treating people like natural slaves in the 21st century civilization was also odd. Declaring someone as personal property seemed like the behavior of someone who had repeated the same thing over many years.
But even in modern Korea, such pre-modern actions were...
"Are you perhaps involved in some side business like slave trading?"
"Oh, Min-jun hates that kind of thing."
"...That's strange."
In reality, Ha-eun-seong would never know that Cassie was involved in livestock farming rather than slave trading, even if he lived and died.
Ha-eun-seong, having dodged the topic, was eventually pressured by Cassie and ended up sharing a somewhat altered version of the story.
"So… in the end, the priest Min-jun was targeting died at the scene, right? And they couldn't even find the Archbishop's body?"
Min-jun had instructed Cassie to only share information that was already known to the public. He warned her that knowing too much could put her in danger, though he wasn't clear on where that danger originated from.
As Cassie pondered the story, she tilted her head.
"That's a bit strange. Are you telling me that such a high-ranking priest died just from having his arm severed? From blood loss?"
According to her understanding, even if regeneration or reattachment was impossible, the wound should have healed immediately.
At that moment:
=He probably lost his faith.=
The frying pan Cassie was holding interrupted the conversation.
"What do you mean by that?"
Realizing Cassie had begun conversing with the blessings of humanity, Ha-eun-seong refocused on the food, thinking that the government should distribute such treasures to every household.
=I don't know what happened in Germany, but it seems his faith in a divine being was shaken or became unstable. It's a sad situation. There are many cases of priests losing their divine power because of this.=
Cassie looked surprised.
"Really? Even though he didn't convert or insult the deity… just changing his thoughts could make him lose his power?"
=That's the peculiarity of divine power. It's also evidence that the power isn't a blessing from a god. Scholars who think this way believe that the secret of divine power lies in the brain, not in a deity. In other words, they believe that thought determines the power, meaning the brain determines it.=
"You mentioned something similar before, didn't you?"
=Yes. You remember how religious thoughts are linked to brain areas that govern pleasure responses? The theory from that school of thought suggests that the emotions triggered at that time affect divine power. If you're interested in this topic, I recommend a book. It's called 'Faith and Divinity: A Neurological Perspective on Supernatural Abilities' by Nyorush Omara, a theologian and biologist from Dimension #91-565. The content is quite thorough, but I'm not sure if it's been translated into Earth languages. Anyway, their argument is that the moment one loses faith, a corresponding counteraction occurs in the brain, leading to the loss of divine power.=
Cassie tilted her head.
"But a person doesn't think religious thoughts 24 hours a day. You don't lose supernatural abilities just because you're not thinking about a deity."
=What they focus on is not when you're not thinking about a deity, but the brain activity that occurs the moment you stop believing in the deity. As a side note, I remember an interesting part from that book. In human terms, when they experience disbelief, both sides of the anterior insula in the brain are activated. This process is very similar to the reactions triggered by certain specific emotions.=
"What emotion is that?"
The frying pan responded in a brief word.
=Disgust.=
"So… this pitiful woman killed Gwak Do-chul and then collapsed right after? That's the story?"
"Yes, that's right."
The lieutenant who rushed to the scene let out a deep sigh of disbelief. Park Jeong-pal faced him with a calm expression.
About fifteen minutes earlier, orc detectives and vigilantes who had witnessed the protection target's murder attempted to subdue the perpetrator with gunfire.
But it wasn't necessary.
The wife who had brutally killed her husband descended to the ground in a graceful pose, as if from a painting. Right after that:
Screeeeam!
A piercing scream followed, and then a metallic clanging sound.
The woman dropped the sword on the ground. Seeing the pool of blood and her husband's corpse, she screamed madly as if she had gone insane. It was a bizarre scene of someone in terror, even after committing the act.
Thud!
Like a marionette with its strings cut, the woman collapsed. As Jeong-pal hurried over to handcuff her, he witnessed an even more bizarre situation.
"Her arm and leg bones were completely shattered.
"I heard that part."
"The exposed skin turned purple and was severely swollen. It looked like internal bleeding."
Jeong-pal pointed out one more detail.
"But the movements before she collapsed were not something an ordinary person could display. Even without the sword, it was more than what I've seen from any weapon master…"
The lieutenant chuckled. According to the records, she wasn't even a supernatural being, but someone with a weak constitution who frequented the hospital. The lieutenant sneered, pointing out this fact.
"You know, if you're going to exaggerate to cover up your failures, you need to do it just right to make it believable."
Gwak Do-chul died while under Jeong-pal's protection. The implication was that Jeong-pal might be inflating the situation to avoid blame for work errors.
Since the black box and CCTV footage would reveal the truth anyway, it was unnecessary to stir up emotions with such claims. It seemed like a clear attempt to provoke more issues, a blatant attempt to escalate things.
However, Jeong-pal refused to fall for the ploy. If he joined in the muck of such trash, he would only end up dirtied himself. Avoiding the mess was the best course of action.
As he thought this, he remained silent.
Whoooom!
The suspect was transported to the hospital under police surveillance, but the most crucial evidence was still discarded.
The fallen sword emitted a sound.
Whoooom! Whoooom!
Of course, a perfectly intact sword wouldn't resonate on its own.
That's an Ego Sword.
"When is the agent supposed to arrive?"
Neatly slicing through a person's neck is a more difficult task than it seems. Whether the movements were as precise as Jeong-pal described was uncertain, but it was still unusual for an ordinary woman to accomplish such a feat.
Because of this, they refrained from handling the sword themselves. There might be a curse associated with it. For example, a curse that drives the wielder into madness and self-destruction.
So, they were waiting for the police department's contracted agent to arrive.
"Sir, the agent has just arrived."
Finally, a wizard who showed up at the scene examined the sword and said:
"… What? You called me out in the middle of the night for this? I thought there was an urgent situation with people dying. What a waste of my time."
He grumbled while affirming:
"It looks like it's not even a sealed soul or a cheap artificial intelligence insert. It's a low-grade item. It's showing no response to ghost detection magic."
"So, no curses or anything?"
"None at all. No curses. Not even basic auxiliary magic on it."
The lieutenant nodded.
"So, that sword isn't the reason the woman went mad."
The forensic team then approached to collect evidence. The lieutenant diverted his gaze to the journalists competing outside the police line. He frowned.
"Good grief, it's like a pack of dogs crowding in."
It was not unusual for gunshots and screams to echo in residential areas at night. However, the number of people gathered was excessive. It was clear that information had leaked, likely about a famous celebrity being killed.
With the scandal already on the verge of igniting, and now this incident happening, the media must have been in a frenzy.
The lieutenant sneered at Jeong-pal.
"Pray that woman was cursed beyond measure. To cover up the blunder of having a famous actress's head severed right in front of her eyes. The media will catch a whiff of it. They'll tear it apart and make it a complete mess."
The lieutenant, who was an orc and disapproved of Jeong-pal's uncooperative attitude, found his behavior unsatisfactory. Jeong-pal decided to respond with silence instead of confrontation. The superior tried to retort, but—
Thunk!
"… Huh?"
The lieutenant could no longer speak. The murmuring beyond the police line came to a halt.
All eyes were on the wizard examining the Ego Sword. The wizard looked down with a vacant expression.
A sharp blade had pierced through his abdomen.
Sizzle!
It seemed as though even the defensive amulet hidden in his clothing had been pierced. Sparks flew around the blade, and pale flames scattered. The wizard, with his eyes wide open, stared at it before eventually collapsing, bleeding.
"Ugh… Aaaah!"
A scream briefly pierced the crowd of journalists, but it was soon drowned out by the sound of flashing cameras. Each person captured the recent events clearly with their cameras and eyes.
"C-Crazy… Get that bastard!"
The forensic investigator who drew the sword with a clean motion smirked faintly.
< 97. Couples' Spats Are Like Beheading with a Sword (4) > End