Chapter 34: The Devil's Seed (2)
Sejong Island was divided into various districts.
As the island itself was a city, it had administrative districts. Fortunately for me, these administrative districts followed something similar to international standards.
They didn’t divide the administrative districts by names of historical figures such as Jang Yeongsil-ro, Hwang Hee-dong, or Kim Jong-seo-gu.
[Korean pronunciation is so hard! Please make the road names something foreigners could pronounce easily!]
[Well, if that’s the case, we can’t help it. Let’s use native Korean words that are easy to pronounce. For starters, this place is called Naro-dong.]
[I’m deeply moved by your magnanimous decision, Minister.]
[Oh, this guy…?]
It was divided into areas using native Korean words that foreigners could pronounce easily, similar to typhoon naming conventions.
This place was ‘Eden-gu’.
As a district with the native Korean meaning of ‘kind, good,’ it was an area where traditional culture and modern sensibilities blended well, reminiscent of Jeonju’s Hanok Village.
Although the exterior maintained a traditional appearance, the interior structures were all modern, western-style, or modernist.
‘It’s a perfect place to visit for a date.’
Regrettably, the seed of a demon was being produced here at the moment.
Given the position of the moon, it was around 1 a.m.
Most people were fast asleep at this time of night, except for those who were still doing something late at night.
With most buildings having turned off their lights and being enveloped in the stillness of the night, I landed on top of a suspiciously quiet building.
‘Brewer does have some abilities.’
The exterior of the building, which I had already understood through documents, matched exactly with the place I was looking at from atop its tiled roof.
Chun-Chu-Gak (春秋閣).
Whether they named the building in Chinese characters to maintain tradition in this fervently nationalistic world or to emphasize the Korean language in a Chinese-character culture zone by placing a signboard in Hangul, either way…
It was ironic to manufacture Western-style demon seeds in such a place.
‘Being so brazenly located in the middle of the street. They must be quite confident they won’t be discovered.’
Typically, secret research facilities were built in places far from public attention. However, this evil organization built its building brazenly in a place where many people lived.
Although they could be called an evil organization, they were not the Determined.
The Determined did not make things like demon seeds. They wished for individual ability users to become stronger through personal growth and development without external factors.
In other words, an organization that made demon seeds was a purely villainous group, fundamentally different from the Determined.
They were enemies that could be more decisively ‘executed’ without hesitation than when dealing with enemies like Red Scarves or runaway demons.
‘Shall I turn into a ghost and enter?’
I lightly tapped my shoulder with the Goblin bat.
In an instant, the world was dyed monochrome, and I entered the roof of Chun-Chu-Gak as if floating in the sky as a ghost at my will.
‘As expected.’
Electrical signals could be detected throughout the building.
It was not just electric wires being laid out, but from the construction of the building, wires were densely distributed, stretched out like a spider’s web.
‘Terrible, just terrible.’
What if someone drilled a small hole into the building?
The electric wire would immediately be cut, and a signal would be sent down.
And if you forcibly opened a locked window and entered, you would be caught immediately.
But there was something they had overlooked.
They could detect intruders through electric wiring and signals.
‘But if it’s not mana wiring, they won’t notice this.’
They couldn’t stop the sudden appearance of a Goblin.
‘Just like a fairy tale.’
I raised my hand to the roof and raised the bat to the roof.
‘You can pass through.’
Like the wind seeping in, like the heat penetrating the building, my body slowly permeated through the roof and entered.
Swoosh.
‘Huff.’
Quite a lot of mana was drained passing through the roof of the building, but I couldn’t casually deactivate my spirit form yet.
‘There’s no one in the building.’
The ones who should be here weren’t.
No one was in the bedrooms, and no one was sleeping on the living room couch.
Of course.
When I swept through the building’s electrical wiring, a separate entrance led to the basement.
According to Brewer’s investigation-
Squeak.
A door opened.
I froze against the wall and held my breath, observing the condition of the man who opened the door and came out.
“Yawn.”
He was not an ability user.
How did I know? One could tell just by looking at their face and apparent age.
‘If that face is under 25, it’s insane.’
To anyone, he would look to be in his 30s or close to his 40s.
Unless he was an entity that ages himself with his superpower, this man in the white gown was definitely a researcher in this facility.
“Yawn.”
The man took out something from the fridge.
And then I could certainly tell he was a villain.
‘Is he really taking out an Asahi from there?’
He took an Asahi beer from the fridge in Sejong Island’s Chun-Chu-Gak?
I didn’t particularly have any resentment towards that country, but it was clear that his identity was suspicious.
“Yawn.”
The man, with a can of beer, was about to leave the kitchen again, and I slipped out of the door before he could close it.
Going through each wall costs a proportionate loss of mana.
It was best to conserve it when you could.
Pop.
With the sound of a can lid popping open, the man headed towards what appeared to be an ordinary bedroom wardrobe.
Moreover, it was not just any wardrobe, it was a ‘mother-of-pearl wardrobe’.
He opened the door of the glittering white mother-of-pearl wardrobe, something hard to find even if you visited a rural grandmother’s house now.
‘As expected.’
The man nonchalantly opened the wardrobe door and went in.
Before he closed the door, I confirmed there was another space behind the wardrobe and immediately followed him.
“Ugh.”
The man shivered.
I didn’t physically touch him, but it’s likely his spine felt cold due to the mana mass behind him.
Squeak.
As soon as he entered the wardrobe, the man fumbled around in the dark with his Taegeuk Watch.
Whoosh.
It was an elevator.
“Yawn.”
With bated breath, I closely watched the man operate the elevator, and it went down quite deep.
Thud, thud.
10m? 20m?
As soon as the elevator, which descended to an indistinctly deep level, stopped, the man, who had been in a languid expression, changed his face and opened the door.
‘Wow.’
A research facility where the only color was stark white.
I fell back from the man and scanned the vicinity in case there were any ability users around in preparation for any unexpected situations.
‘None.’
There were no ability users here.
And there were no devices that could detect mana.
Not yet.
‘This place is a typical research facility, but it’s so clean it gives me chills.’
Rather than a facility researching the seeds of demons, it felt more like I’d entered a semiconductor research facility.
I almost felt like if I materialized, they would say, ‘Shake off the dust before you come in!’ instead of ‘Who’s there?’
I wished that was the case.
‘Tsk.’
Just as I thought, when I went a little further inside, the situation was horrifying.
[Aaaaaah!!]
A space dyed entirely in white.
In the middle of a space as wide as a school gymnasium, a ‘demon’ tied to a pillar screamed and writhed in pain.
It was a succubus.
[Since the team leader has arrived, we will start again. Attempt 3412 of ‘extraction’.]
Squeak.
The sound of the microphone echoed in the room, and all sorts of machines were moving toward the succubus.
The succubus was writhing with all its might, but I intuitively realized that the rope-like thing restraining the succubus was a restraint made by superpowers.
Whether they were heroes or villains, it’s natural for those with stronger superpowers and higher mana to win.
No!!
The screams reverberated.
As the mechanical arm approached the succubus, it started to rotate as if to dig something out like a drill.
Could it be…
The seed of a demon was-
“If the extraction fails again this time, will our budget be cut?”
“I don’t know. They might even order the closure of the facility.”
The researchers nonchalantly gulped down canned beer and yawned amidst the screams.
“Senior, why are you drinking Asahi again? Nakdong River beer is so delicious.”
“I prefer foreign beer to domestic.”
“Then even if you’re drinking, why drink the Japanese one, not the European one?”
“It’s just a matter of personal preference.”
They even laughed as they engaged in trivial conversation.
“What are you going to do when this research ends?”
“Huh?”
“You should have something else to do when this project ends, right? Hey, do you want to do a project with me?”
“Senior…”
On the surface, it seemed like they were sharing some touching stories.
But the reality was entirely different.
Aaaaah!!!
As they watched the mechanical drill burrow into the succubus’s abdomen, their conversation contained no emotion or excitement.
“Did I mention it? When this project ends, I have something very important to say to you.”
After draining his beer, the man took something out of his lab coat pocket.
“Here.”
“…Is it okay to propose in this way here?”
“I feel like I can’t do it if not now.”
In the distance.
The mechanical drill was about to enter the lower abdomen.
The screams were enough to shake the glass walls, but the researchers were unfazed.
‘Well done.’
It was time to show what villainous behavior is.
“Kim Joo-im, will you-”
Boom!!
After revealing myself by materializing, I kicked the man’s side.
Crash!!
As the glass window shattered, the man flew into the void, and I kicked up the ring case that had fallen to the floor.
[It’s really disgusting that even beings like you get married and have children.]
“Ah, ah….”
[From now on.]
I clenched my baseball bat.
[I will execute all the corrupt.]
Even if they were human.
Visit freewe𝑏nov(e)l.𝗰𝐨𝐦 for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience