## C389
"Can you save me?"
The moment those words left the mouth of the Chief of Staff, Kang Geun-mok, an unusual gleam flashed in Alberu and Rosalyn's eyes.
‘There's something.’
‘…He has something more important than the lab in his hands now.’
Alberu felt a hunch that Kang Geun-mok knew something fundamental that was needed to face the Hunters, beyond the third world or the ‘Raising My Precious Absolute God’ game.
"..."
But he remained silent.
He didn’t make any move.
Because,
"What about?"
Cale Henituse didn’t miss opportunities like this.
"What do you want me to save you from?"
Cale had already withdrawn his Dominating Aura and was now staring intently at Kang Geun-mok.
Kang Geun-mok took a deep breath.
"..."
He regretted for a moment what he had said. But the moment he saw Cale’s eyes, he spoke again.
He couldn’t ignore the eyes that shone like the only light amidst the terrible illusion.
"When I was a child."
Kang Geun-mok dug up the terrible memory.
"Ah, a moment."
He pulled out his phone.
"Hm?"
Rosalyn’s eyebrows rose slightly, and her eyes became piercing, right at that moment.
"If I don’t call, Honorary President Han Taek-su’s side will send people here."
Kang Geun-mok showed the screen of his phone to Cale.
<It seems I will be about 10 minutes late.>
Cale’s eyes fell on Kang Geun-mok after seeing the message.
"It’s a message I sent to one of the secretaries at the President’s mansion."
And then, he added with a sigh.
“It’s sincere when I say I want you to save me.”
Cale nodded his head.
There was no need to suspect that Kang Geun-mok was doing anything foolish here.
-If it doesn’t work, we’ll run away.
With a mage like Rosalyn and Alberu present, Cale was confident that they could escape without any problems even if Han Taek-su himself didn’t show up, and even more so if they took Kang Geun-mok with them as a hostage.
"Continue."
Cale wanted to continue the conversation, and Kang Geun-mok spoke again.
He had gained ten more minutes, but the story was long, so he had to hurry.
"When I was a child, I went to a festival organized by the Han family to work."
A festival?
Doubt reflected in Rosalyn’s eyes.
"!"
On the contrary, an unusual gleam flashed in Cale’s eyes.
His mouth opened.
"You mean the festival organized by the Transparent Blood Family?"
"How...?!"
Kang Geun-mok looked at Cale with surprise.
With Cale’s apparent age, it was impossible for him to know about that festival.
But Cale knew a festival that sounded familiar.
‘I think it’s that festival.’
Or rather, he had heard about it.
‘Central Plains.’
Blood Demon.
When he went to the Central Plains to face the Blue Blood Family.
Cale had faced the Elder Baek who created Jiangshis.
That guy told Cale the moment he saw him.
‘I will make you a God.’
Cale’s vessel had already formed a world, and that was the vessel of a God.
It was this Elder who first told Cale that his vessel had already formed a world and that it was the vessel of a god.
Just as the Hunters wanted to make their heir an absolute god, the Elder revealed that Cale possessed the vessel of a god.
‘I must say that I can see what's inside humans. I can see their limits.’
The Elder had special eyes.
He said he could see the ‘essence’.
‘Anyway, I was very young when I participated in a festival organized by the Transparent Blood Family.’
And he had mentioned that festival.
Cale reviewed one by one the ‘records’ engraved in his mind.
‘In that place, I saw the king’s heir from afar.’
The Elder saw the king’s heir at the festival, the one who was destined to become the Absolute God.
And he saw what was inside him.
"Did you see the king’s heir at the festival?"
Cale asked.
"Ah."
Kang Geun-mok let out a sigh.
He clenched his fists tightly.
"You also saw the king’s heir?!"
If so!
Kang Geun Mok thought that then Cale would know why he was so scared.
"No."
Cale shook his head.
"I only heard that the king’s heir appeared at that festival. I never saw him."
At that firm tone, Kang Geun-mok’s fists loosened, but he could still speak more calmly.
Because his opponent had said he knew about the king’s heir.
Since he knew about that terrible thing, shouldn’t he speak up too?
"At that time, I went to the Han Family’s festival to work part-time. Of course, as an outsider like me, I only took care of the festival preparation and work on the periphery, so I couldn’t know much about the festival."
Yes, that’s how it should be…
"I was going to the food warehouse to collect the materials."
The food warehouse. It was a little far from the Han Family’s mansion.
Of course, there were also some people working there. And because it was the festival, there were more people working there than usual.
Most were from the Han Family, and some were temporary workers hired from outside.
"But there was a child there."
A child.
Cale knew immediately that that child was the king’s heir, the one who wanted to become the Absolute God.
"And what?"
At Cale’s murmur, Kang Geun-mok opened his mouth.
His hands began to tremble more and more.
"He said he was hungry."
A child saying he was hungry in front of the food warehouse.
"The people who were in front of the food warehouse told the child, whose face was covered with a hood, to go to the dining room instead of here, and the child simply said he was hungry."
Kang Geun-mok saw all of that.
And he couldn’t move.
He felt that he shouldn’t approach the child.
"The moment I saw the child’s back, I felt an inexplicable sense of unease. I didn’t go to the warehouse, but hid to the side."
He felt that he had to do it.
"And I saw it."
Kang Geun-mok’s voice began to tremble.
He couldn’t stand the trembling of his hands and grabbed them against his pants.
"The child took off the hood, that… that thing… that thing…"
That terrible beast…
"C, he captured the… people and ate… them."
And he looked at Cale.
"How?"
Kang Geun-mok wasn’t surprised by his own words, but the moment he saw Cale’s calmness, the trembling of his body disappeared without realizing it.
No, his eyes weren’t just calm. Kang Geun-mok saw the flame within them, and without realizing it, his voice grew louder.
"He didn’t eat the bodies of the people! That guy…"
Kang Geun-mok realized that his voice had become louder.
He also realized that cold sweat was running down his body again.
He calmed down. Like Cale, who was in front of him.
"The moment he reached out, everyone who was working at the warehouse suddenly knelt before him."
It was a truly strange scene.
The person who had kindly shown him the location of the dining room to the child.
The person who had peeked their head out to see what was happening.
The part-time employees who were just standing there.
They all knelt down.
"Their eyes were empty."
And then, the child said.
“‘Let’s make this dinner time, okay?’ he said.”
A hell.
It was such a strange scene that it wasn’t even right to call it hell.
"Do you know what the seven emotions are?"
"Yes, I know."
Five desires and seven emotions.
"Joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hate, desire."
Seven emotions.
"I saw those seven emotions in all the people who were there."
They suddenly rejoiced. They suddenly became sad. They suddenly became angry.
They all acted with empty eyes, doing all that…
"In the end, they all collapsed like puppets with their strings cut."
They died.
"Their bodies… died."
That wasn’t anything.
"And then, something came out of those bodies. I thought it was their souls."
A memory that wasn’t forgotten even after 50 years.
A terrible moment that visited him whenever he slept.
"Suddenly, the child smiled and pointed at each soul."
Kang Geun-mok raised his hand and began to point at the air, as if he were recreating that moment.
One.
"You’re suited to be sad."
Another. And another.
"You’re suited to be happy. You’re suited to be angry."
After pointing at them all.
"Those souls changed to the emotions the child had assigned to them. And the child slowly opened his mouth and ate the souls one by one."
As if he were eating something very sweet and delicious.
The child, with an innocent face, continued to eat one after another.
“Every time he devoured one, I saw a vision.”
And Kang Geunmok saw that every time.
“Actually, I can’t say if it was an illusion or something real.”
But Kang Geun-mok had the inexplicable certainty that they weren’t illusions.
"The moment the soul assigned to anger, the soul that only had the face of anger left, was devoured by him. Under the child’s feet, his shadow grew, and the abyss of those who were angry was seen."
That was…
"That was truly hell. They were all angry. They only had angry faces, but they were clearly begging to be saved, they were resigned, they were screaming, they were despairing."
No sound was heard.
Only angry faces.
Kang Geun-mok clearly felt the emotions of those souls.
Clearly, what was inside that abyss was despair.
"Sadness, joy, hate. I saw how those souls fell into their respective hells. And all those hells were… simply despair."
Even the abyss filled with souls who only smiled.
Only the silent and invisible cry of despair of the souls remained.
"The seven pits were contained in the child’s shadow. There were many souls inside those pits. In fact, I couldn’t even count them."
Kang Geun-mok’s voice sped up.
He let out the words as if he were out of breath.
"Simply… simply I felt it. Each of those pits was like a world. Yes."
What he saw that day, for the first time in 50 years.
"Each of them felt like a world."
A world of despair filled with a single emotion.
"The child had those seven worlds in his shadow, under his feet."
And he smiled.
That appearance was like…
"Like a god of hell who was alone, stepping on hell."
Uhm.
Rosalyn let out a sound.
It was different from the enemies she had faced so far. It was definitely different.
Kang Geun-mok’s shoulders slumped.
"And at that moment, someone grabbed my shoulder."
Cale’s mouth opened.
"Was it Honorary President Han Taek-su?"
"Yes. He told me."
Han Taek-su, with a young face, smiled and said.
"You have a good nose."
There wasn’t much more to say after that.
“I fainted after all that, and when I woke up, I couldn’t see the child or anything related to that incident anymore. Then I started serving President Han Taek-su.”
Puf.
Kang Geun-mok let out a laugh.
"The President told me that if I betrayed him, he would make me his food."
Food.
It meant that he would become the food of that child.
"I’m not afraid of dying. But I don’t want to fall into that hell and not be able to die completely, living like that, like that…"
Kang Geun-mok looked into the void with an empty expression.
"...It was truly terrible."
The emotion contained in those words was too clear.
"It was more terrible than the many terrible things I saw while serving President Han Taek-su."
Cale, who was looking at Kang Geun-mok, who had that clear emotion, remembered a record.
"...Each pit is like a world…"
The Elder of the Blood Cult had said.
‘It was filled with countless cries of despair and ecstasy, joy and sorrow, good and evil. It wasn’t something a human could bear.’
‘The world that contained the king’s heir was terrible. It wasn’t beautiful at all. It was terrifying.’
With those things inside, the king’s heir, that guy, said he was hungry and that it was dinner time, right?
Cale felt that the essence of the guy he ultimately had to defeat was becoming more and more visible.
At that moment, Kang Geun-mok spoke again.
"I know."
He knew well about Han Taek-su.
"In the end, my end will be that hell. The President won’t give me a peaceful death."
The President was a terrible monster.
"Please, save me."
The corner of Kang Geun-mok’s lips curled upwards.
He was trembling.
"Knowing the identity of Honorary President Han Taek-su means you also know what I’ve done, right? I’m not asking for forgiveness or salvation."
Cale’s expression became strange.
In fact, he suspected that the things Kang Geun-mok had done so far, whether it was blackmail or anything else, were quite bad.
“Just… please give me a peaceful death.”
Kang Geun-mok’s face looked like he was about to cry.
"I don’t want to fall into that hell."
50 years trapped under the power of Han Taek-su, living in fear, and still not completely evil.
‘It’s not like that.’
Perhaps because he was someone like that, he showed a truly weak side.
And Cale had something to ask Kang Geun-mok.
Something he had been wondering for a while.
But…
"What do you trust in?"
What do you trust in to ask me to save you?
"What are you basing this on to ask me to save you?"
How can you be so sure?
Cale asked, and Kang Geun-mok answered without hesitation.
"Eyes."
Cale met Kang Geun-mok’s eyes that were looking at him.
There was certainty in them.
"I saw your eyes. In the illusion of hell, the nightmare that had always haunted me, I saw something different for the first time. It was your eyes."
And that’s how I was able to get out of the nightmare.
How could he get out of that nightmare that he couldn’t escape with any method?
Kang Geun-mok was very curious.
"What kind of power is that?"
What kind of power is that strong and bright force?
What kind of force is that that makes me afraid, but also lifts me up?
It seemed to be the opposite force to that demon.
"..."
And Cale was silent for a moment.
‘That power?’
I only…
-I didn’t create any eyes.
I only used the Dominating Aura.
When the Dominating Aura, the owner of that power, looked confused, the thief, the Sound of the Wind, who had been silent, spoke calmly.
-Cale. Doesn’t the God of Chaos also show his eyes when he uses his power?
"!"
Cale’s eyes widened.
-Eh?
The Dominating Aura paused for a moment.
-Oh.
Suddenly, he let out a sigh of astonishment with a rather interesting voice. Because of that, Cale felt a strange sense of unease.
He remembered the eyes that appeared when the God of Chaos used his power.
‘This… seems like it’s becoming similar to the God of Chaos’s power.’
It can’t be, right?
Come on.
Surely not.
It would be… very unpleasant.
No, right?
“Who knows.”
Cale opened his mouth after a long time.
"Could it be that what you saw was an illusion? I don’t have that kind of power."
An ironic smile appeared on Kang Geun-mok’s face as he shook his head.
"Okay, let’s say that’s the case."
What?
Why is he reacting like that?
Cale turned his head, puzzled, and…
"…"
"…"
He could see Rosalyn and Alberu looking at him with strange expressions.
Reflexively, Cale spoke.
"What? What’s wrong?"
And then he added:
"I didn’t do anything!"
No one listened to his voice full of injustice.
Well, they did hear it, but they didn’t believe him.
"How far are you going to go?"
Rosalyn spoke in an enigmatic tone.
"This is insane."
Alberu just shook his head.
"No, seriously!"
Cale was frustrated.
-Jeje…
Meanwhile, the Dominating Aura let out a strange laugh over and over again.
