< 121. Shock and Terror (19) >
Could it be?!
The frying pan, realizing the meaning of the action, exclaimed in shock.
=Agent! Wait a moment. Are you really planning to handle that directly?=
"Yeah."
=It's dangerous! If that sword is of a similar kind to mine…=
The frying pan tried to dissuade him.
Until recently, the frying pan had been able to control Min-jun's mind, even if only weakly. A sword with the ability to brainwash individuals would naturally be considered even more dangerous.
=What if you end up brainwashed! Like you keep forgetting me!=
But Min-jun felt a concept emerging in his mind. Something moved quietly, but heavily from within. It was neither certainty nor intuition, but something else entirely.
In an instant, an impulse of a different nature struck his temple.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
If this was indeed a fragment of Asif-1.
It must be submitted.
It must be submitted to the committee. Avoid unnecessary actions. Suppress impulsive behavior. Submit. Report. Report to the committee…
Crunch!
He spat out in a low voice mixed with a grating sound.
"...Shut up!"
The prohibitions that had been suppressing him, like chains binding his limbs, and his voice, which seemed to burst through his veins, subsided.
Bang!
A bright light burst from him. A very short flash. The police, who had been rigid as stones, now found themselves unable to control their breathing.
In that state, Min-jun grasped the sword's handle.
Vroom! Vroom!
'It's an opportunity!'
The sword was excited.
'I've got it!'
At the moment of contact.
Blade desperately attempted to brainwash Min-jun.
His plan was to bring the writer's mind under his control, then cut down the twenty-nine targeted congressmen and escape from here.
According to the prophecy, the writers were seeds that would wreak havoc on more than half of the country's population in the future, reducing them to poverty, and leading them to a futile death. They were also sponsors of future criminals who would inflict severe terror upon non-human races.
Whether their pride was of good or evil was not important. What mattered was the results of their actions. They would lead many people to unhappiness. Therefore, they had to be eliminated.
But.
'No response?!'
The agent's body remained immobile. The brainwashing wasn't working.
While Blade was panicking.
Min-jun's lips parted, and his voice emerged.
"...I see."
The frying pan felt both awkwardness and familiarity from hearing that. It was a sensation that touched both the surface and deeper parts of his mind.
The tone was different from the Min-jun he had known. Yet paradoxically, the frying pan felt as if it had known this unfamiliar person for a very long time.
And Blade.
=Who are you?=
The Ego Sword sensed the mind of Min-jun holding the handle.
A massive and grand mind.
And now, it was engulfed in an inexplicable sense of kinship, similar to what the frying pan was experiencing.
'Wait, kinship?'
It wasn't identical. But it was somewhat similar.
"······!"
Meanwhile, Min-jun focused on the sensations rising from within.
A heavy flow filled the empty spaces and burst with resonance. At the same time, memories that had been fragmented like dry branches sprouted new buds. The dust-covered strata of miracles wriggled and twisted, mixing the old with the new.
Unable to contain his anxiety, Blade asked.
=Why isn't it working? For you?=
And.
=Why do I feel this familiar emotion towards you?=
Min-jun looked at the two 'fragments' in his hands.
Until today, he had vaguely thought that when fragments met, they would naturally recognize each other and feel a sense of kinship. He hoped that this would lead to some unusual phenomenon and help him confirm the identity of the fragments.
So he had been carrying the candidate frying pan and searching for the other fragment.
In the end, the guess was wrong, but his actions proved correct.
The key was not whether the two fragments met each other. It was about who collected them and whose hands they ended up in.
He recalled a long-standing question.
Why did the committee place such a high bounty on the fragments of Asif-1?
How many fragments of such a dimension were scattered across the dimensions?
Would the committee pay the same bounty to every prisoner who found the fragments?
'All useless questions.'
Because he wouldn't be returning these to anyone.
Bang!
Once again, a beautiful light scattered. The sword and frying pan, which had not affected each other while merely closing the distance, were now resonating.
Min-jun was the medium.
The moment the fragments connected through Min-jun's body, they recognized each other.
He told the frying pan.
"You once left traces in my mind. Now they're all filled, but leaving even a trace for a moment was a mistake. You should never have been able to do that to me. I was born so that you couldn't. It was only because I forgot that fact that it was even momentarily possible."
Looking at them.
"It was a mistake. So now, none of you can leave fingerprints on my mind."
Min-jun explained why.
"Because I…"
The two fragments awaited the next words from the other, in a state of rigidity and quiet anticipation.
Gedwick, in tension, waited with dizzying concern for his superior's next words.
"...I understand, Gedwick. Permission granted."
"Thank you, Chairman."
Gedwick had come to report to the Great Commissioner of his own kind, the Kabite, and to seek approval. Fortunately, his proposal was accepted.
Having received permission, he confirmed.
"I will immediately prepare for a high-intensity tax investigation targeting Asif-666."
This decision would be specifically coordinated at the committee headquarters and then conveyed to the Tax Collection Command.
The Great Commissioner responded without answering directly, rustling the brown fur covering his body.
'Phew, it worked out well.'
Gedwick finally felt a slight release of tension. Standing before the Great Commissioner was always a nerve-wracking experience.
Especially when the opponent was one of those classified as the 'Awakened Ones.'
Those who had endured a deep and long slumber, begun by the resolve of their entire race in ancient times. Witnesses to history who had awakened after a long time.
After returning to the present, they became the roots of the committee and historical figures who established the method of talent mining. Gedwick was facing one of them.
"But."
Gedwick, who had been about to bow and leave, suddenly asked.
It was a question he had long been curious about.
"Perhaps about the other proposals I submitted…"
The commissioner made a gesture clearly indicating his intent.
It was a refusal, carrying the meaning of not bringing up the topic again.
"The proposal to summon Asif-666 as the central dimension? There are still Great Commissioners who strongly oppose that."
He was referring to Endellion.
"And as you know, while tax investigations might be an exception… matters related to 'relocation' require the resolution of the Great Commissioners."
The Kabite spoke cautiously, reflecting on what he had been considering.
"To be honest, there is a part I don't quite understand. May I ask?"
"Permission granted."
"Asif-666's severance pay exceeds 5 million Dalants."
"Precisely 5,124,990 Dalants."
Gedwick was surprised that his counterpart remembered the exact amount of the prisoner's severance pay down to the smallest unit.
This deepened his suspicion.
"Given the amount, it must have been for a serious crime, correct?"
The Great Commissioner urged him to continue with his silence.
"Even though it's just 800 years ago, all related records have been deleted, so I can't even guess what the crime was… but isn't it dangerous to keep such a person confined to the periphery? Even the labor reformation period is excessively long."
No one had ever performed labor for over 800 years under the same prisoner identification number, except for Asif-666.
Whether the original race was a short-lived or long-lived species.
"······."
The Great Commissioner, who had been observing the questioning mid-level officer carefully, said.
"I understand your concerns. It seems your worry has grown because you don't know what Asif-666's crime is."
The mid-level officer agreed.
Like many prisoners, much about Asif-666 remained shrouded in secrecy. But the extent of this secrecy was extreme.
The Great Commissioner asked.
"Who is the most heinous criminal you know of? Regardless of their current status."
It was a question anyone could answer.
"Asif-1, isn't it?"
"Correct. What were his crimes?"
"Terrorism."
The worst terrorist in the history experienced by the committee.
The perpetrator who left an immense impact of shock and terror in the minds of everyone who remembered him.
The first prisoner.
"So, what was Asif-1's target for his terrorism?"
"The Committee."
"Not an incorrect answer, but not a sufficient one."
"······?!"
The Great Commissioner corrected a common misconception.
"His target was 'everyone.'"
In the committee's official language, the term for 'everyone' could be interpreted in many ways. The range it referred to was, quite literally… too broad.
The Kabite asked in response.
"'Everyone' would mean all ancient races?"
There was an unmistakable tremor in his voice.
If this speculation was true, Asif-1 must have harbored an unimaginable delusion.
No matter how formidable or powerful a terrorist might be, such an ability could not be possessed. Unless they were close to being omnipotent…
Yet the following words from the Great Commissioner were enough to leave one fainting.
"No. Literally, 'everyone.'"
"······?!"
"Asif-1 aimed to return us all to nothingness."
"Great Commissioner, are you implying that what you referred to is… all living beings in the dimensional realms?"
"Don't limit your imagination to just living beings."
Gedwick felt the air he was breathing grow cold.
"That kind of terrorism is impossible!"
"I will defer evaluations of your sentiments, judgments, and limitations of imagination. In any case, Asif-1's target for terrorism was, quite literally, everything that exists in reality."
The Great Commissioner swallowed the next words.
Strictly speaking, everything Asif-1 falsely judged as a target for terrorism was indeed his target, but from Kabite's perspective, it would be nearly the same as substituting it for all beings in the dimensional realms.
"Even a criminal who devises and attempts such heinous crimes has their charges partially disclosed. But the charges of Asif-666 are thoroughly concealed. Why do you think that is?"
After some deliberation, the mid-level officer responded.
"Could it be because Asif-666 committed crimes even more heinous than Asif-1?"
"More heinous… that's a rather vague expression. The degree of malice is an important factor in determining severance pay, but it doesn't have a decisive impact on whether charges are disclosed or hidden."
The Great Commissioner gave his subordinate another chance.
"Think again. Why would they not disclose it? Focus on the essence of the question."
Gedwick quickly arrived at the answer.
"Is it because revealing the charges would bring about new dangers?"
"That's correct."
The Great Commissioner pondered for a moment and then said.
"People often misunderstand. Since prisoner numbers are assigned in the order of capture, it's easy to assume that Asif-1 is older than Asif-666. But that's not the case. Causality cannot be reversed."
"Causality…?"
"Since you'll soon be promoted to the level of Evanjules, let me reveal his secret to you now."
Gedwick felt his ears perk up.
The Great Commissioner had just declared that he would soon be promoted to the next level.
Once someone at that position makes a promise, it is not subject to repetition. Kabite felt his chest swell with emotion.
To him, the great and ancient kin spoke from the distant past.
"The crime of Asif-666 is…"
He revealed the secret in a calm tone.
"…creating the most notorious criminal in history."
Min-jun spoke to the two fragments he held.
The resonance seemed to fill the vast gap.
"Because I, you… 'you' created."
< 121. Shock and Terror (19) > End