< 121. Shock and Terror (19) >
***
no way?!
Frying Pan, who realized the meaning of that action, said in horror.
=Agent! Wait a minute. Are you really planning on holding that in your hands?=
“uh.”
=It’s dangerous! If that sword is similar to mine···.=
The frying pan dissuaded him.
Until recently, Frying Pan himself had been able to control Minjun’s mind, albeit weakly. Black, whose ability to brainwash a single entity was superior to his own, was naturally considered more dangerous.
=What if I get brainwashed! Just like you kept forgetting about me!=
But Minjun felt a certain concept taking shape in his head. Something was moving quietly but heavily inside him. It was something different from certainty or premonition.
In that moment, a completely different impulse struck his temple.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
If this is indeed a fragment of Asif-1.
Must be submitted.
Must be submitted to the committee. No useless things. Impulsive actions must be restrained. Must be submitted. Report. Report. To the committee···.
Ugh!
He spat it out in a low voice mixed with a hissing sound.
“···shut up!”
The forbidden words that had been suppressing his limbs as if they were tying him down, and the voices that seemed to burst every vein in his body, were reduced.
Pfft!
A bright light burst out from him. A very short flash. The police saw it too, and they, who were already frozen like stone, could no longer even breathe properly.
In that state, Minjun held the handle of the sword.
Woof! Woof!
‘This is an opportunity!’
Black was excited.
‘Got it!’
The moment our bodies touched.
Blade desperately tried to brainwash Minjun.
He planned to take control of the author’s mind, kill the twenty-nine members of the National Assembly, and escape from this place.
According to the words of the precognitive, the authors were the seeds that would lead to the miserable destruction of more than half of the human population in this country in the future, turning them into poor people and leading them to a meaningless death. They were also the backers who would support future criminals who would inflict cruel terror on non-human races.
It doesn’t matter whether the pride they hold in their hearts is good or evil. What matters is the results of their actions. They will lead many people to misery. So they must be killed.
however.
‘No response?!’
The agent’s body didn’t move at all. The brainwashing wasn’t working.
While Blade was confused.
Minjun’s lips opened and his voice flowed out.
“···I see.”
Frying Pan, hearing that, felt awkward and familiar at the same time. It was a sensation that touched both the surface and the deeper parts of his mind.
The tone of voice was different from the Minjun he had known until now. But, ironically, Frypan had the thought that he had known the stranger for a very long time.
And the blade.
=You··· are?=
Ego Sword felt Minjun’s spirit holding the handle.
A huge, great spirit.
And now I was overcome with an inexplicable sense of kinship that the frying pan felt.
‘Wait, a sense of kinship?’
It’s not exactly the same, but it’s similar in some way.
“······!”
Meanwhile, Minjun focused on the sensation rising inside him.
A heavy flow filled the empty space and burst into resonance. Meanwhile, like sprouts sprouting from dry branches, it connected fragmented memories. The dusty miraculous sedimentary layer writhe and twist, mixing old and new.
Blade asked, unable to contain his impatience.
=Why doesn’t it work for you?=
and.
=Why do I feel this familiar feeling towards you?=
Minjun looked at the two ‘shards’ in his hands.
Until today, he had vaguely thought that if the pieces met, they would naturally recognize each other and feel a sense of kinship. As a result, he expected that a peculiar phenomenon that was difficult to predict would occur, and through that, he would be able to confirm the identity of the fragments.
So I took the frying pan, the candidate, and went looking for what I thought were other fragments.
As it turned out, his guess was wrong, but his actions were right.
The point was not that the two fragments met, but that they were collected by someone, and in whose hands they were assembled.
He recalls a long-standing question.
Why did the committee offer such a high bounty on fragments of Asif-1?
How many of those fragments were scattered throughout the entire dimension?
Will the committee pay the same bounty to all prisoners, no matter how many pieces they find?
‘They were all useless questions.’
He will not return these to anyone.
Pfft!
Once again, the beautiful light scattered. The sword and the frying pan, which had not been able to affect each other until they simply closed the distance, were now resonating.
The one who became the medium was Minjun.
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The moment they were connected through Minjun’s body, the fragments recognized each other.
He said to the frying pan.
“You once left footprints in my mind. Now they’ve all been filled in, but leaving traces even for a moment was wrong. You guys… can’t do that to me. I was born incapable of doing that. Even I forgot that fact, so I was able to do it, even if only for a moment, in a limited way.”
Looking at them.
“It was wrong. So now none of you can leave your fingerprints on my mind.”
Minjun explains the reason.
“Because I···.”
The two fragments waited in stiffness, with quiet anticipation, for the other to speak next.
***
Gedwick waited nervously, with dizzying apprehension, for his superior’s next words.
“···Understood, Gedwick. I permit it.”
“Thank you, Chairman.”
Gedwick had just stopped by to report the matter to the Kavites and ask for their approval. Fortunately, his suggestion was accepted.
After receiving permission, he spoke as if confirming.
“We will immediately prepare for a high-intensity tax investigation targeting Asif-666.”
This decision will be coordinated specifically at the Commission headquarters and then forwarded to the Tax Collection Command.
Instead of answering, the deputy rustles the brown fur covering his body.
‘Phew, that worked out well.’
Only then did Gedwick feel a little less nervous. Standing before the Grand Committee was always a nerve-wracking experience.
Moreover, the opponents are those classified as ‘those who have awakened again’.
Those who endured a deep and long sleep that began with the determination of all races in ancient times. Living witnesses of history who have awakened again after a long time.
After returning to the modern era, Gedwick had one of the historical figures who became the roots of the committee and established the mining method of Talant before his eyes.
“however.”
As he was about to step back after giving an example, Gedwick suddenly asked.
It was a question he had been wondering for a long time.
“Any other agenda items I may have raised···.”
The committee member made his intention clear through gestures.
It was meant to be a refusal, and to never bring up the subject again.
“The suggestion to summon Asif-666 to the central dimension? There are still some members of the council who are strongly opposed to that.”
I’m talking about Endellion.
“And as you know, if it’s a tax audit… anything related to ‘relocation’ requires a resolution from the committee members.”
Cavite carefully recites what he had been thinking about.
“Honestly, there’s something I don’t quite understand. Can I ask you something?”
“I permit it.”
“Asif-666’s retirement pay is over 5 million talents.”
“5,124,990 talents, to be exact.”
Gedwick was surprised that his opponent remembered the prisoner’s retirement pay in minute detail.
So the suspicions deepened even more.
“The larger the amount, the more dangerous the crime must have been.”
The deputy urges the next words in silence.
“It was only 800 years ago, but all related records have been deleted, so I can’t even guess what the crime was… But isn’t it dangerous to let someone like that continue to wander the outskirts? Even the period of reeducation through labor is too long.”
No one has ever served under the same prisoner identification number for more than 800 years.
Except for Asif-666, regardless of whether the original race was short-lived or long-lived.
“······.”
The deputy chairman, who was looking closely at the middle manager expressing doubt, said.
“I understand your concerns. Your concerns are probably heightened by the fact that you don’t know what Asif-666 is accused of.”
The mid-level executives agreed.
As with many prisoners, much of the information about Asif-666 is shrouded in secrecy. But it is so extreme.
The delegate asks.
“Who is the most vicious criminal you know? Alive or dead?”
It was a question anyone could answer.
“Isn’t it Asif-1?”
“That’s right. What was his crime?”
“It was a terrorist attack.”
The worst terrorist the committee has ever encountered in its history.
The person who left a tremendous shock and fear in the minds of all who remember him.
The first inmate.
“Then what was the target of Asif-1’s terrorist attack?”
“This is a committee.”
“It’s not a wrong answer, but it’s not a sufficient answer either.”
“······?!”
The delegate corrected a fact that many people were mistaken about.
“His target was ‘everyone.’”
The word ‘all’ in the official language of the committee can be interpreted in many ways, because the scope it refers to is literally… so wide.
Cavite asks back.
“If you say all of us, then you mean all the ancient races?”
There was an unmistakable trepidation in those words.
If this conjecture is true, Asif-1 was harboring a ridiculous delusion.
No matter how great and powerful a terrorist is, he cannot have such an ability. Unless he is literally close to omnipotent…
But the deputy’s next words were enough to make one faint.
“No. Literally, ‘everyone.’”
“······?!”
“Asif-1 tried to turn us all back to nothing.”
“Your Majesty, are you referring to all living beings in the dimension?”
“Don’t limit your imagination to living things.”
Gedwick felt the air he breathed turn cold.
“Such terrorism is impossible!”
“I’ll put off your impressions, judgments, and the limits of your imagination. In any case, the target of Asif-1’s terror was literally everything that exists in reality.”
The delegate swallows his next words.
Strictly speaking, everything that Asif-1 judged to be false was a target of terrorism, but from the perspective of Kabite, it wouldn’t be much different if it were replaced with all beings in the entire dimension.
“The criminals who planned and attempted to commit such heinous crimes have their crimes revealed to the public, albeit to a limited extent. However, Asif-666’s crimes have been thoroughly concealed. What do you think is the reason for this?”
The mid-level manager responds after much thought.
“Could it be that he committed a more heinous crime than Asif-1?”
“More vicious… The expression is too vague. Judging the degree of evil is an important factor in determining the retirement allowance, but it does not have a decisive influence on whether to disclose or hide the crime.”
The deputy gives his subordinate another chance.
“Okay, let’s think about it again. Why not make it public? Let’s focus on the essence of the question.”
Gedwick soon came up with an answer.
“Is it because the moment that crime becomes known to others, it could bring about new dangers?”
“That’s correct.”
The delegate thought for a moment and then said:
“People often make this mistake. The inmates are numbered in the order of their arrest. So when comparing Asif-1 and Asif-666, it’s easy to mistake the former for the older one. But that’s not true. Causality can’t be reversed.”
“What is causality···?”
“You will soon be promoted to Evanjul anyway, so I will tell you his secret this time.”
Gedwick felt his ears perk up.
The deputy just announced that he would soon be promoted to the next level.
There is no way that it will happen again since the being who has ascended to that position has made a promise. Kabite felt his heart pounding.
Towards him, a great compatriot who had existed since time immemorial spoke.
“The sin of Asif-666 is···.”
He confesses his secrets in a calm tone.
“You created the worst criminal in history.”
***
Minjun spoke to the two fragments in his hands.
It was a sound that seemed to fill a distant gap.
“Because I created you… ‘you’.”
< 121. Shock and Terror (19) > End
