Chapter 163 – Episode 163: Using Myself as Bait to Catch Big Fish

The hypnotized squad leader reported the current state of Gangneung from one to ten.

“After the corps commander occupied Gangneung, Gangneung regained stability. And about two years ago, Daesung’s delegation came to Gangneung to meet the corps commander. The delegation of the Daeseong Guild preached the teachings of Lord Zhu to the commander of the corps, and after that, the leader of the corps actively accepted the teachings of Lord Zhu, and it became the representative religion of our Gangneung.”

The point was that after Daesung’s delegation came, the corps commander and other officials in Gangneung believed in the pseudo-religion, and they spread the pseudo-religion throughout Gangwon-do.
The predicted hypothesis was correct.
That this happened because the commander in charge of the 2nd Corps fell into religion.
General Matthew Yeol, who is worshiped as a hero in Gangwon-do, was the cause of the present-day Gangwon-do.

“Daesung’s envoys spread religion?”
“That’s right.”
“What is the name of your religion?”
“It is the Salvation Church. When everything is over, the Watcher said he would save us from suffering.”

The hypnotized squad leader replied with a blank face.

It is the salvation that such a monster gives.
I don’t want to receive
But I don’t know.
Common sense doesn’t work for those who are addicted to religion.

I saw a hypnotized squad leader.
He had a blank face, but he had firm faith in God.
It was fanaticism itself.

“Ask for a few more.”
“Tell me.”
“Currently, it is said that it is a special alert period. What is the reason? There was no sign of an increase in monsters in the vicinity.”
“That’s because an important guest has come to see the general in Gangneung right now.”
“An important guest?”
“Yes, Choi Woo-seok, the manager of the Daesung Guild, is in Gangneung.”
“Choi Woo-seok?”
“Yes.”

Of course, that name came out.
He is the grandson of Daesung’s chairman Choi Woo-sung, a managing director of Daesung, and a man who was engaged to Shin Seo-ah.
The image of Shin Seo-ah next to her at the courtroom was still vivid.

Is the man here?

‘How far does this pseudo-religion go?’

I didn’t think it was just a coincidence.
General Matthew Yeol fell into a pseudo-religion by Daesung’s delegation.
Choi Woo-seok came to find Matthew.
And the special alert period imposed on Gangneung.

“Is Choi Woo-suk a member of that religion too?”
“I don’t know that far. However, he was included in the first delegation that came.”
“… Ha, since when?”

Choi Woo-seok is the culprit behind the spread of this pseudo-religion in Gangneung?
I guess it’s more serious than I thought.
If so, does Chairman Daesung know about this fact?

‘Maybe it was what President Choi Woo-sung ordered.’

Numerous possibilities flashed through my mind.
But it wasn’t urgent right now.
The real reason you came here.

“Then, do you know that sacrifices are made to the Watchers?”
“I know. It’s getting saved. Because it makes you forget all the pain in the world. It is an honor for us.”
“Are there any conditions to become a target?”
“Only those who the Watcher wants can get a chance to be saved.”
“Then you know that humans who are sacrificed become monsters, right?”
“Yes. Poor people who received salvation, but did not seize the opportunity.”
“… Is there a way to make a person who has become a monster back to normal?”
“That…”

It was then.

“That, that… That, that, that, that? Whoops!”

His breathing became more and more difficult, his shoulders began to shake, and blisters formed all over his body.
The bubbling skin was distorted.

Just like Kang Kang-seong, who was a monster in the past.

“Cuck!”

Coughed up blood
The bleeding squad leader procrastinated in pain.

“This can’t be…”

Self-destruct.
Iza was not a monster.
If he was a monster, he should have released that eerie power peculiar to him.

At that moment, an eerie aura emanated from the squad leader’s body.
He was the energy I felt when I first met Chungha noona.
An unpleasant power that turns people inside out.

I stabbed my sword towards the center where that power surged.

Fu-wook!

As I stabbed it with my sword, the squad leader’s swollen body sank with the unpleasant sound of something exploding.

“Why is this with him? Aren’t you a monster?”

Clearly, I didn’t feel it until just a moment ago.
Even when I fought, even when I was hypnotized and blew up the church’s information, I couldn’t even detect the creepy Magi.

I tore off his clothes with my sword and looked inside.
A complex magic circle written in runes was drawn on the squad leader’s chest.
It was a magic formula I had seen before.

“Forbidden magic?”

A magic that makes people feel pain just thinking about forbidden phrases, and causes death to those who uttered them.
Usually, it was magic used by warlocks or secret societies to keep their secrets.
Since it is a magic with a high possibility of being misused, it was a magic that was globally banned.

The forbidden magic became a medium and triggered a self-destruct spell, just like the monster’s core burst.

A red core placed in the center of the magic circle.

I gnashed my teeth as I saw it broken by my sword and now unable to play its role.

“Ha, I didn’t think it would go so easily…”

At that time, the energy flowing from the squad leader’s corpse created an eye pattern.
It was the watcher’s pattern.
His eyes were clearly engraved as if he had done it himself.

“Let’s watch… Also you are right That would mean that this cult in Gangneung is one of the strongholds of those who made Cheongha-sister like that.”

Information about the opponent became clear.
It became clear what I had to do.

“Terrible bastard.”

It wasn’t enough to turn human beings sacrificed into monsters, and to make them into human weapons by forbidding church members to do so.
What does human life look like to you?
What the hell are those goddamn followers who believe in you thinking?

I thought of Shin Seo-ah, who seemed to be an important figure in the church that served such a watcher.

He said that he would accomplish great things by offering sacrifices to such a god.

A god like that will give you salvation?
What kind of future did you see?
I can’t understand at all

“It would be destruction, not salvation.”

One thing was certain.
That a being who abandoned his followers like a devoted partner could not be good.

“I don’t know what you’re doing…”

I just can’t let it go.

I clenched my fists and repeated.

Someday, I will meet Shin Seo-ah and beat her properly.

‘But right now, the priority is to find clues about what happened to Chung-ha.’

Let’s not forget why I came here.
He came to find the spell that turned Chungha sister into a monster and the spell that could cancel it.
As long as we know that the pseudo-church has a deep connection with the Watchers, there will surely be clues about it here.

There was no need to find a separate base.

‘There will be more information at Gangneung City Hall, which General Matheyeol is using as his headquarters.’

If you could afford it, it was necessary to make General Matthew Yeol back to normal.

‘If only I could make him sane…’

Maybe I could break the strong link with Daesung.
The problem is that the current situation was not comfortable for that.
This is in the middle of enemy territory.
It is to infiltrate the main base of the enemies who are vigilant enough to send troops separately to me.

‘I can’t tolerate even the slightest mistake.’

Failure is death.
I took a deep breath and made up my mind.

Then he erased the traces of the fight and disappeared into the darkness.
In order to infiltrate the enemy’s headquarters, City Hall.

***

“Sir, how are you? This is what Gangneung looks like. Don’t you feel the sadness of not being prepared to die against the monsters?”

Choi Woo-seok, executive director of Daesung, nodded his head as he looked at Matthew Yeol, the governor of Gangneung and commander of the 2nd corps, who smiled in front of him.

“Awesome. It’s very nice.”

Contrary to his compliments while drinking his tea, he sighed inwardly.

‘Why on earth do I have to come to a corner like this?’

It is none other than the managing director of Daesung.
He was the person who would become the next president and the person who would lead Daesung in the future.
He was so upset that he had to come to such a remote village.

‘Why did the president ask me to come here?’

I couldn’t understand.
It was true that the 2nd Corps and Hunters in Gangwon-do made a great achievement.
However, they were insignificant compared to those in Daeseong.
Their only competitive edge is their actual combat experience against monsters.
As a commercial officer, he was not where he was coming from.

‘I can not understand.’

Of course, Daesung and the 2nd Corps have maintained a honeymoon relationship for the past two years and have seen many benefits.
But that’s all about the right to subdue dungeons in Gangwon-do.
At most, it was nothing more than a means to give jobs to the satellite guilds, or to contain and get rid of annoying guilds.

In addition to going on a trip, I was going to bring Shin Seo-ah.
However, she rejected her own offer, saying that she would not have to go to Gangneung.
I can’t help it because the president told me to do something else.

‘I’m not in a good mood.’

How to say
Something dried up in her, she felt.

She often felt this way.
It was obviously an engagement arranged to take advantage of her reputation, but sometimes I wondered if she was taking advantage of him.

‘It’s useless.’

She was a woman without any proper abilities.
All she has is a beautiful face.
The shock of her first meeting was still in her heart.
She had a beautiful appearance, but the moment he saw that her actual abilities were not as strong as he expected, Woo-seok Choi realized.

Shin Seo-ah also knows that she is a person with a similar style to herself.
It is a case where she took advantage of and stepped on the people around her like herself.

With such sympathy, she proposed her betrothal to her.

‘Does he think of me as his chess piece?’

It can’t be.
Because she has a clear relationship with her and her own gab.
But why am I thinking like this?

“Sir? Manager.”

Choi Woo-seok was awakened from his thoughts by the voice of Matthew Yeol calling him right in front of him.

“What are you doing?”
“It’s nothing special, but I was telling you recently that we have a newly recruited special forces unit… You look a little tired.”
“Haha, no. I just have a lot to think about.”
“Would you like to take a look?”
“You mean the special forces of the 2nd Corps?”
“Yes, the manager will like it too.”

Choi Woo-seok looked at General Matthew Yeol for a moment.
A sinister inside was visible.
It looks like he wants to coax himself into making a deeper bond with Daesung.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll stop here for today. It’s because I’m tired.”
“Are you not interested?”
“No, but… I don’t think those special forces members would be stronger than Daesung’s agents.”
“Hmm, once you see it, you will change your mind. They are the ones the president wanted to nurture himself.”
“Chairman?”
“Yes.”

‘Write it.’

If it’s an order from the president, it can’t be helped.
He had no reason to refuse.

“Great. Let’s see for a second.”
Haha, you will like it. There is a secret training ground that nurtures them, so follow me.”

Director Choi Woo-seok headed to the secret training ground with General Mae-yeol.

And the place I went with General Matthew.

“Hey, how is this?”

Dozens of monsters lay dead on the floor.
General Matthew Yeol is horrified at the deaths of his men.
However, Choi Woo-seok was surprised in a different way.

“Monsters?”

Why are they dying here?
Why are they wearing the uniforms of the 2nd Corps?