< 122. Shock and Terror (20) >
***
There was a man who was called the worst terrorist in the history of the world.
His primary goal was to completely destroy the talent mining system that the committee had built. The attempt was covert and the process was ingenious. The Mint did not realize for a long time that they had been targeted, and only belatedly realized his presence.
The Commission determined that this was a clear act of terrorism and issued a universe-wide manhunt. This was the first time that the Commission had pursued a criminal directly, rather than leaving it up to the respective dimensional governments and law enforcement agencies.
There was a reason for that. It wasn’t announced to the public, but the high-ranking officials knew it. The ultimate goal of the terrorists targeting the mint was to turn everything back to nothing.
The arrest was a miracle. After capturing him, they were astonished at the terrorist’s strange abilities. There was a reason why he was able to escape for so long.
He had the ability to suppress and control the minds of other intelligent beings.
***
“Let’s just wipe out the soul!”
This was the Todds’ argument.
“Why not just throw him into the Abyss? I’m afraid of what might happen if I mess with the soul of someone like that.”
This was Cavite’s claim.
“No, what if we brainwash the cursed inhabitants of the Abyss and then break through the door here again? We have to find another way.”
Endellion, who opposed the previous two opinions, showed interest in the terrorist’s abilities. He was quite interested. It was a brainwashing ability more powerful than any other race they knew.
“Perhaps the author could be the key to the problem we have been struggling with.”
Endellion brought up a question that would be debated for a long time.
Can evil be cured?
“Mind manipulation means you can transform someone into another being. The author used his powers for evil, but if you change the direction, amazing things will happen.”
The committee planned to use this incident as an opportunity to extend their influence further on multiple levels. They wanted to exercise supreme jurisdiction over other worlds.
“Wouldn’t it be possible for the author’s power to change evil people into good people? If he could truly repent his sins, break away from his past, and do good deeds… what if he could cleanse and heal them into noble personalities? I mean, all the sinners in this universe. And further, all the intelligent beings who have the potential to sin in the future.”
It was a statement that could not be made without an absolute affirmation of the identity of the line.
Endellion had no doubt that what they, the committee, were doing was good.
A heated debate ensued, and eventually the ancient races agreed to place the terrorist’s personal safety under the care of Endellion.
***
The experiment was not easy.
Endelion calculated the physical distance that his brainwashing powers could reach. Then, assuming the worst case scenario, he confined the terrorist to an uninhabited planet and observed him from space orbit. As expected of Endelion, it was an excessive measure. At the same time, it was an expression of his strong will that he could not sacrifice even a single Endelion.
Cruel biological experiments continued.
His body was dismantled into molecules and reassembled. His mind could not escape their touch either.
After a long time.
They shared the results of their experiments with other ancient races.
“I have not been able to replicate his ability to perfectly control a sentient being as he did.”
But it wasn’t without any results.
“Instead, I figured out a way to completely seal the memories contained in the flesh and spirit of the sentient being.”
Amnesia was also a small branch of mind manipulation.
“And how to imprint limited suggestions.”
Endellion also tried using the stolen powers on the terrorists who had been the source of them.
“Surprisingly, I found that it worked for him. ···There is a downside to it, though, that it consumes a huge amount of talent.”
Again a long debate ensued between the ancient races.
The technology was certainly attractive, but its scope of application was limited. Also, unlike the original power holder, the talent was consumed in the process, so it could not be used against all intelligent beings in the dimension.
Endellion insisted.
“What if we used this technology to erase the terrorist’s memories, implant a warning, and then release them?”
Analysis of his memories revealed that he had a creator.
“He was designed to commit terrorism against us from the beginning. He was born with evil implanted in his mind, and he was made to do it… Should we see this as his fault? So we completely erase his mind and give him a chance. Instead, we order him to do good and subdue the minds of evildoers and rehabilitate them….”
Cavite’s remarks, which he denounced as “nonsense impossible without cutting the abdominal nerve cord,” were naturally met with fierce opposition.
“We don’t need anything else, let’s just erase the soul!”
“How about we erase your memories and make you a slave to the committee forever?”
In the end, a compromise plan was adopted.
“I am in favor of erasing memories and putting the committee in control.”
“Don’t ever make such ridiculous claims again, like letting him go free. His actions will be monitored.”
“But after enough time has passed, let us give him a chance to be free. After enough time has passed that we all deem it worthy.”
Thus, the first inmate directly managed by the committee was born.
The ancient race decided to erase his memories and use him as a mind-controlling weapon to carry out covert missions in the shadows.
“Don’t tools need names?”
The committee named the terrorist Asif.
The sinner who committed the greatest evil.
***
Time passed.
The series of events that followed left the committee baffled and once again shocked and horrified them.
“How does Endellion plan to handle this situation?”
“Didn’t you say that your memories were completely erased? And yet… look at this!”
Contrary to what Endellion claimed, Asif’s memories were not completely erased.
Even suggestions didn’t work perfectly.
As a result, Asif was plotting to replicate the events that led to his arrest, by pretending to be a loyal servant of the Commission, and by plotting another large-scale terrorist attack on the Mint.
The process was much more ingenious than before. He pretended to be on a mission and went around each dimension, sowing seeds for the future. The reason the committee, which had threatened to monitor him closely, did not notice was because even the watchers were mentally manipulated.
“Asif has been arrested!”
“There is evidence that he has made contact with several races in the past. The purpose is believed to be the same terrorist act as before.”
“What do you plan to do with the conspirators?”
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“If we commit massacres on the grounds that they are linked to Asif, it will be difficult to deal with the aftermath. We need to divide those races and relocate them to other dimensions to break their solidarity. And we need to provide replacement labor and additional compensation to keep the dragons satisfied. It’s not much different from what we’ve been doing so far.”
The Todds were furious.
“What did I say? I almost put all of us and our descendants in danger.”
In the end, Endellion and Cavite’s claims were not accepted this time, and Asif was subjected to soul erasure as Todd had repeatedly shouted.
What happened next is known throughout the entire dimension.
Instead of being destroyed, his soul was shattered into pieces, and as if trying to avoid the Council’s reach, it flew away from the center of the dimension… toward the world commonly called the Outskirts, spreading out like a meteor shower.
Endellion offered a huge bounty on the shard, and Cavite laughed at the action.
However, the series of experiments were not completely meaningless.
In retrospect, the committee gained a lot.
They decided to use their experience controlling Asif to implement a full-fledged prisoner system. They were going to erase the memories of criminals who were worth recycling and use them as the committee’s loyal servants.
The second criminal to be targeted, the one who would receive the identification number Asif-2, was already decided.
He was the creator of Asif.
***
Minjun ponders the knots of memories that are rushing in.
He understood a lot.
‘I see why they made me wander around the periphery.’
They seemed to suspect that the only being capable of finding fragments of Asif-1 was their creator, so they had him patrol the outskirts where the pieces were most likely scattered.
But there were some parts I couldn’t understand.
‘If Asif-1’s memories couldn’t be erased properly, how could my memories be erased for so long? For over 800 years.’
Minjun thought that the secret was probably in the moment he was arrested.
Many memories were coming back, but I couldn’t remember the moment when I was captured by the committee. Most of what was flowing into my head now was closer to Asif-1’s memories before it was shattered. Minjun had awakened memories that the fragments themselves could not awaken by resonating with the fragments.
‘And why am I Asif-666 and not Asif-2?’
What is the gap between 2 and 666?
It was almost a thousand years ago that Asif-1’s soul was erased and the prison system was established, and Minjun opened his eyes 800 years ago.
It is clear that something has happened in those 200 years.
In the meantime, was Minjun running away from the committee? Or…
‘It’s not clear.’
Minjun decided to stop guessing and do what he had to do.
Pfft!
A brilliant light blooms again within his body.
The actual talents that Minjun currently possesses are a little over 2 million. This is the sum of the talents he recovered from Ha Eun-seong and the talents that the Patriarch had eaten up while staying alive after his resurrection.
It was a huge sum of money, but Minjun was not satisfied. It was only natural. It was only a belated return of what was rightfully his.
He wants to use it for whatever purpose he wants.
Minjun weighs the weight of the egos that Blade and Frying Pan each possess. The time that the former spent awakened was much shorter than that of the latter.
Hurrr!
A talent bloomed like a flame from Minjun’s hand. The moment it wrapped around the blade, the spirit felt as if someone was calling it.
The fragments offered no resistance to it.
The soul fragment of the blade is separated from the sword. It is absorbed into Minjun’s body along the hand holding the handle, and eventually reaches the soul of the creator. It passes by and then reappears in the frying pan held in the other hand.
The frying pan accepted it willingly.
Clang!
With the fragments gone, the sword now looked like an ordinary longsword.
and.
=······!=
Frying Pan was unable to come to his senses due to the sudden storm of memories and egos that was rushing in. It was a lot to take in at once, even though it was only a few decades worth of Blade’s time on Earth.
The spirit that lived as an assassin, killing people and trying to save the world, has fused with a frying pan.
Minjun’s words were heard by him while he was intoxicated.
“If we can become more perfect like this, little by little, it will be enough. You and me.”
Minjun was able to see Asif-1’s old memories, which he was not even aware of in fragments, and formulate a plan for the future.
The sleeping compatriots. The time is coming when their sleep will become shallow. In preparation for that time, Asif-1 has left behind various arrangements, and the Elahu-Pragha cult is one of them.
They were preparing to awaken the primordial race as the prophet had said, by collecting talents.
But until now, Minjun had instinctively felt uneasy about the plan. Somehow, he felt like he shouldn’t carry it out as is.
Now I know why.
‘The plan was made based on the assumption that Asif-1 would still exist intact a thousand years from now.’
After enduring a thousand years of humiliation while pretending to be a slave and continuing to act like a prisoner… the plan was finally to be carried out when it reached the current time zone.
‘He must have thought to become a priest himself and wake us up. However, contrary to the church’s belief, the prophet will not return on that day. So the plan is doomed to failure. If things continue this way.’
Asif-1 is not perfect at this point.
The tool Minjun had created to awaken his people was still insufficient.
I think we need more fragments and more talents. A lot of them.
He spoke to his possessions.
“You can change your form, right?”
=······Did you know?”
To be precise, now I know.
The frying pan would gradually expand to fit the size of the ingredients as Cash used it, but it was hidden so that the user would not notice it. To reduce the sense of rejection.
“Try it.”
Before Minjun could make any real move, he had to take care of one ‘minor matter’ first.
He saw Asif-1’s old memories, as well as Blade’s memories that had passed through his soul, and he knew that there was one small incident left for him to intervene in.
The current form of the frying pan is not suitable for that.
He spat out a short word.
“knife.”
The creature responded. The frying pan shifted its body of dark iron, rippling and changing. The metal flowed like a liquid, reshaping itself in an instant. It left the handle intact, and changed its shape above the neck into the shape of a sharp longsword blade.
But Minjun wasn’t satisfied with that.
“Shorter.”
The frying pan shrank down as ordered. The next moment, Minjun had a black dagger in his hand. It was about the same size as the ceremonial dagger.
Minjun just stares into space.
Immediately after that.
Pot!
Minjun disappeared from that place.
***
Choi Pan-seok tried to calm down his trembling adopted daughter.
But the pale, frightened daughter couldn’t speak properly.
“Why on earth are you doing that, Seon-ah?!”
After a struggle that didn’t seem like a struggle at all, my daughter, who had barely managed to come to her senses, shouted.
It was a screaming voice.
“Run away!”
The tone was so desperate and urgent that it gave Choi Pan-seok goosebumps all over his body.
“Where? Why?!”
I couldn’t ignore the words of a person with the power of prophecy. What’s important is the direction and the reason.
Choi Seon-ah’s eyes were half-rolled open and she was shocked. It was a reaction I had never seen before. She felt a fear that made her body feel like it was going to crumble, wondering what on earth she had seen in her vision.
“Come… He’s coming… That guy is coming!”
That moment.
A voice was heard from a corner of the hospital room where there was no one but the woman.
“I see, it is indeed a desirable ability.”
Choi Pan-seok, who had been frozen like ice, slowly turned around. There was a man who shouldn’t be there.
“······!”
Cold sweat runs down my face. The door is definitely closed. There is no flash of magic and flash of light that accompanies the teleportation spell, and there is no response from the spatial interference artifacts placed by the immigration office throughout the hospital room.
The barriers and defense measures that the best of Korea’s best had created to prevent unexpected invasions. The agent who had nullified all of them at once was looking at him with a calm expression.
“Hello, Agent?”
The congressman tries to maintain a calm tone.
“What brings you here?”
Minjun spoke with a dull look in his eyes. He was holding a dagger in one hand.
“I have something to give you.”
< 122. Shock and Terror (20) > End
