< 123. Shock and Terror (21) >
The air froze. Choi Pan-seok's eyes were stained with confusion.
'What is happening?!'
This old orc was a seasoned congressman who had seen it all.
Yet, he couldn't completely hide his agitation. A man who should have been subdued by the Blade suddenly appeared, wielding an unfamiliar sword in an inexplicable manner.
The only thing that helped him suppress the tremor in his voice was his experience.
"What do you mean by 'give'...?"
Min-jun's gaze was sharp.
"Specifically, there's something that needs to be returned."
Though he spoke condescendingly, the orc didn't dare to argue or protest. In the midst of burning tension, he awaited the next words.
The dagger twitched slightly.
"You used me well. Is it worth living now?"
The last remark was directed at the daughter behind the congressman.
Choi Seon-a still trembled in what seemed like a seizure, unable to escape the influence of her precognition. The orc carefully moved her behind him, hiding her from the agent's view. He knew it was futile, but he felt he had to do something. His mind was in chaos.
'Could it be... the precognition was wrong?'
No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like brainwashing.
The quiet rage flickering in his eyes was undoubtedly the agent's own.
'The plan has been exposed.'
Veins constricted, and a chill pervaded his whole body. The orc abandoned any further excuses.
"My daughter knows nothing."
He slumped his shoulders and spoke with earnestness in his eyes.
"It's all my doing. Seon-a is not at fault."
As the congressman spoke, Min-jun thought.
Indeed, she had similarities to the prisoners. Criminals whose memories of their crimes had been completely erased.
However.
"Is that so?"
A voice dripping with cold.
"Does erasing memories erase the crime?"
Min-jun didn't think so.
He reflected on the original sin he had forgotten for 800 years. However, what Min-jun recognized was not the guilt the Committee had framed as the basis for punishment. He did not feel guilt about creating Asif-1.
The true sin he considered was leading his kin to become nothing more than livestock drained of their blood.
Whether intentional or not, the horrific result remained unchanged. Therefore, he was a sinner.
And now he was prepared to pay for his sins.
Min-jun took a step forward, and the orc, with a pale face, shouted with all his might.
"It had to be this way! To save my daughter!"
He pleaded desperately, appealing to his sense of justice.
But the response was disappointing. Min-jun's expression did not change. Unable to read any emotion from the opponent's face, the congressman's blood ran cold. He shouted intentionally, but it was quiet outside. The hospital room had been magically sealed, and he knew the lives of the father and daughter were at risk. He desperately racked his brain.
"I'm sorry for deceiving you! But if I told you honestly, my daughter's precognition said you wouldn't help her...!"
"There's one thing I can't endure."
The oppressive aura filled the room.
The orc felt his chest being crushed and his breath choking.
"I can't stand it when someone touches what's mine. Those who invade my territory and create chaos."
Now he understood why it was so unbearable and enraging.
It was because he had experienced losing everything before.
Voices echoed in his ears.
People are suffering. Let's give them freedom. Help them bloom their potential, escaping from the tyranny and dictatorship of those monsters who know only domination and exploitation. End the long winter and let the spring of freedom blossom.
Min-jun only wanted to awaken his kin a bit earlier. That wish had driven the situation to a catastrophe.
So tell me, where is the place you are asleep?
His kin had their most precious, their blood which was their source, stolen from them, and even now, it is being stolen.
That was Min-jun's original sin.
"But there's one more thing I can no longer tolerate."
Min-jun's voice cut sharply through the air.
"Those who try to collar me like a dog."
The orc tried to protest.
But the blade coming at his nape was faster.
"Gack!"
A concentrated killing intent.
Feeling the sensation of his throat being pierced, Choi Pan-seok screamed.
"...Gah!"
Yet, he did not die.
Drip.
Instead of piercing the jugular vein, the sword only slightly tore his skin. Blood flowed in a red streak. The orc was frozen, unable to even breathe.
At that moment.
Choi Pan-seok's vision blurred.
"······!"
Brainwashing.
This was originally how the Blade enthralled people.
As Choi Pan-seok lost consciousness, Min-jun felt it. The power of brainwashing embedded in the shadow monster by the Blade had vanished.
'I see.'
Min-jun organized the abilities of the fused fragments in his mind.
The Blade's brainwashing was limited to one person holding the hilt and one person injured by the sword. So, the moment he brainwashed Choi Pan-seok, the shadow monster returned to normal.
Comparing this with the Frying Pan's inherent abilities, the twenty-nine congressmen were still under his control. Although the conditions were complicated and the control was weaker compared to the sword, it could control more people.
And now, the Frying Pan had absorbed the Blade's abilities in addition to its own.
'With this, it should be useful for the time being.'
Thinking this, Min-jun examined Choi Pan-seok's memories. The creation conveyed the congressman's memories to him.
Within them, Min-jun saw a chain of recurring hatred.
-Seon-a! Snap out of it... Seon-a! Is anyone there, anyone?!
The orc wanted to exact revenge on the racial supremacists. His life had been a struggle against discrimination, and what happened to his daughter was decisive. Regardless of why he adopted her, his feelings for Choi Seon-a were genuine.
Thanks to the enhanced abilities of his daughter, two strategies were devised.
In the short term, it was to turn the representatives selected by the supremacists into puppets of the orc. Just imagining it was exhilarating. Manipulating the lawmakers sent by voters with racist ideologies to contaminate the National Assembly—how could one not be thrilled? Additionally, there was a plan to make them divulge everything they knew and eliminate all those behind the terrorism.
In the long term, the plan was for revenge through self-development rather than self-destructive revenge. It was revenge in the form of improving the lives of the kin they despised. Ultimately, it was to amass wealth to the extent that no one could ever disregard the orcs, balancing the power in their favor. Thus, a redevelopment bill was prepared as a stepping stone.
Min-jun saw the twisted enmity in his memories. He also confirmed the fact that he was used as a tool for revenge.
The agent withdrew the sword that had only lightly scratched him. His foster daughter's gaze followed it. She remained frozen like a wax figure, her eyes the only thing moving.
"You are a truly rare talent."
So much so that the Committee would envy him if they knew.
"I told you, I came here to give something."
Choi Seon-a couldn't comprehend Min-jun's words.
"······?!"
Contrary to what the Ego Sword had pondered, Min-jun did not feel confusion about the moral standards of good and evil.
His principles of action were much simpler.
To return the malice that father and daughter had tried to use him for.
"You will have to work for me from now on."
The reason he brainwashed the orc instead of Seon-a was that he knew her precognition efficiency would be reduced in her current state of lost reason.
"·····."
She had just witnessed a horrific future.
Choi Seon-a could simulate various scenarios. After losing her memories, the first future precognition she performed showed that no matter which path they took, the father and daughter ended up in a disastrous fate. Earlier, she had screamed to escape in a panic, but in reality, there was no exit. Any path led to ruin. A cruel future, so terrifying that just glimpsing it could drive one mad, unfolded before her.
Yet there was one way in which they could survive, though not without its own hardship.
That way was:
"Sh... She..."
She barely completed the sentence with trembling lips.
"I'll do everything you say."
Her brainwashed adoptive father was a hostage. With a single command, he would leap out of the building without hesitation. Choi Pan-seok's life depended on the agent.
Choi Seon-a realized she was caught in an inescapable trap. Moreover, the precognition she had used for Choi Pan-seok would now be used solely for the man before her.
Min-jun had plotted to make him his servant but, in turn, looked coldly at the father and daughter who had become his subordinates.
=Could you explain in a bit more detail? Among the things you said today... you mentioned that you created me?=
Given the numerous tasks at hand, it took more than half a day to wrap everything up.
Once home, the Frying Pan reverted to its original form without being commanded. Although it had absorbed the Blade's abilities and memories, the forefront was still the self of the Ego Frying Pan maintained for 800 years, and its identity remained close to that of a cooking tool.
Min-jun was similar. While he was regaining some of his memories, he was still himself. Only, the forgotten identity was gradually blending and dyeing him.
"So, here's the thing."
Min-jun explained what he had learned.
After the story concluded, the magical artifact seemed to be in shock, remaining unresponsive for a while.
Then, it began to emit mental waves again.
=···So, to summarize, I am a tool created by you to awaken our kin, is that right?=
Although some doubts were evident, the conclusion seemed to have been reached quickly.
=Presumably, by doing so, you aim to save everyone and lead them to true happiness? Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why I have such a sense of mission.=
While it seemed that the Kabait interpreted this as the world's destruction, Min-jun chose not to address that interpretation. After all, it was clearly a pretext to suppress and capture Asif-1. From the beginning, the beasts were filled with deceit. There was no need to attribute meaning to their sinister utterances.
While thinking this, the Frying Pan added a comment.
=Now that I think about it, it's strange that you hesitated to call me "brother." Could that be the reason?=
Although he had called every man "brother" and every woman "sister" regardless of age, Min-jun had never used those terms for the changed master, and he remembered that.
Well, it might just be a coincidence.
=In that case.=
Suddenly, the Frying Pan's mental wave carried a serious emotion.
=At this point, shouldn't we redefine the relationship between us?=
Min-jun's eyebrows twitched.
"What are you talking about?"
=I mean.=
After a brief silence, the Frying Pan struggled to articulate its meaning.
=···Dad?=
"······."
Feeling the air freeze, the Frying Pan decided to postpone redefining the relationship for now.
Still, not throwing the Frying Pan to the floor like he did during their first meeting was already a significant improvement in their relationship. Feeling both disappointment and joy at this fact, the Frying Pan asked a more important question.
=So, what are your plans for the future?=
"I need more talents and more fragments."
Ultimately, what he envisioned was to recreate the plan he had when he first created Asif-1. This was partly to awaken his kin and...
"I have something to return to the Committee."
Of course, he had no intention of promptly submitting the kin's blood or Asif-1's fragments.
Starting from today, Min-jun's goals had clearly changed.
=What is it?=
It would not be easy and would take a long time. The road ahead was long. But Min-jun was resolute in repaying what he had received from the ancient kin.
The primordial kin pledged to repay across an 800-year gap.
"Shock and Terror."
< 123. Shock and Terror (21) > End