112 – Not a Witch, Just a Lunatic Woman #3
At the establishment ceremony of the extermination team, Baek Yeo-ul met the users of “Witch’s Herb,” Kang Naro and An Yu-ri.
Baek Yeo-ul met them at the special ward of the Superhuman Management Agency and received a “Seminar Invitation.”
“Aiona Aphraxis – Beyond the 21st Century to an Even Farther Future”
“Aiona Aphraxis? Not the ‘Witch’s Sect?’ Sounds like a strange name.”
When Baek Yeo-ul tilted her head at the unfamiliar name, Seugal remarked dryly, as if saying, “Don’t you even know this?”
“Would people not suspect if a religion openly called itself the ‘Witch’s Sect?’ It’s common for pseudo heretical religions to present themselves with plausible names on the surface.”
“Grgh, I know that much too!”
“Really?”
Seugal’s narrow eyes were open.
Soon, Baek Yeo-ul trembled and avoided eye contact.
“In fact, I don’t know!”
All Baek Yeo-ul knew was that participating in the seminar being held today and listening to the lecture was necessary to be inducted into the “Witch’s Sect.”
It looked like a lecture for spiritual training, but in reality, it was a covert act to propagate the “Witch’s Sect” religion.
On the other hand, Hanamjin was impressive.
Where did he get all this information from?
“He even escaped the Great Labyrinth on his own and didn’t even contact me!”
Baek Yeo-ul became slightly irritated with Hanamjin.
At the same time, she was curious about why Hanamjin was doing all this.
Here, ‘all this’ referred to plunging into danger like a moth into fire.
If he had miraculously survived the Great Labyrinth, it would have been good to rest for a few days.
But Hanamjin was restless, as if chased by something, and this made Baek Yeo-ul feel slightly worried.
Reading Baek Yeo-ul’s expression, Seugal turned away from the bus stop schedule and asked subtly.
“Are you thinking about Hanamjin?”
“Did you awaken to some kind of mind-reading ability? Stop reading my thoughts! It’s an invasion of privacy!”
Covering her head with both palms, Baek Yeo-ul looked funny, and Seugal chuckled.
“Mind-reading isn’t necessary. I already know that you like him. Let me tell you something: don’t like him. You don’t know what kind of person he is.”
“What? I know more about Hanamjin than you do!”
Baek Yeo-ul disliked Seugal acting as if she knew Hanamjin well, even though she had been kidnapped for a long time. When her face turned red, Yu Yeo-reum, who was pretending to yawn out of boredom, jumped into the conversation.
“Hanamjin is strange but a cool guy. He’s dumb but smart in his own way. I don’t know why he became so extreme, but he’s different from all the talkative guys.”
Jumping into danger with the readiness to sacrifice his life was pretty cool.
Even Yu Yeo-reum gave Hanamjin a high score.
Normally, Yu Yeo-reum would never compliment a man, but it was an exception.
‘This girl, something’s off with her.’
Seugal looked at such Yu Yeo-reum with a suspicious eye.
Since Seugal had been a kidnapping victim with Yu Yeo-reum, she knew Yu Yeo-reum better than Yu Yeo-reum herself in some ways. Seugal understood that Yu Yeo-reum was someone who absolutely wouldn’t talk about relationships, male or female.
Thus, they arrived at the gymnasium in City D.
There were many young women wearing masks.
Baek Yeo-ul, Seugal, and Yu Yeo-reum also wore masks over their faces.
‘It feels like a suspicious masked ball. They must have intentionally asked everyone to wear masks because it’s a shady place for shady activities. However, it’s good for us to hide our identities thanks to this.’
Seugal handed over the “Seminar Invitation” with a slightly romantic sentiment, and they were allowed to enter the gymnasium without any further inspections.
In a place with chairs lined up close to a hundred, young women occupied their seats.
As the empty seats filled, the atmosphere became noisy but was slowly settling down when a lecturer appeared, claiming to have studied at a prestigious foreign university.
“Your brains, living in the busy 21st century, are tired from encountering dopamine from smartphones from morning till night when you close your eyes. Isn’t there anyone here who doesn’t use Mytube or Star Bell?”
Yeah!
Active answers came from all over.
Smart Seugal quickly figured out that more than half of the nearly 100 women were hired as shills.
“The book co-published by the German academy and our organization, ‘Aiona Aphraxis,’ is called ‘Dopamine Intermittent Fasting.’ On page 15, it states the effect of dopamine on the Tsvingglrin effect—.”
“Where can I buy this book?”
Baek Yeo-ul showed interest in the dopamine diet.
It was human nature to crave peace after too many stimulating events. As Seugal elbowed Baek Yeo-ul in the ribs.
“Hey, did we come here to buy a book?”
“Huh! I didn’t mean to! Grrr, still, you didn’t need to elbow me!”
Grrrr-
At that moment, a strange sound was heard, and when Baek Yeo-ul turned her head, Yu Yeo-reum was half asleep with her eyes closed.
Perhaps she lost interest quickly due to the complicated stories and words.
To Seugal, this seminar was either real or fake, but its purpose was to create the illusion of ‘authority’ by stringing together impressive words.
It was all a scam.
Even though the lecture itself was a pretense, Seugal quickly realized this due to her skill in lies and pretense.
As one hour of boredom passed, the instructor got to the main point.
“So the herb we developed is this ‘Aphraxis.’ Its bright red flowers look just like roses. You can use it as an ornamental plant too, but drinking it as tea from dried leaves—.”
“It’s ‘Witch’s Herb’!”
Baek Yeo-ul recognized the flower the instructor pulled out.
The leaf that Kang Naro and An Yu-ri were addicted to.
“In addition to beauty enhancement, fatigue recovery, and improved concentration, if I list the effects, they seem endless. Especially for female awakened ones, the effects skyrocket! Now, we’ll distribute the samples.”
The event staff passed out small leaf samples, made as souvenirs in scent pouches.
Of course, Seugal, who knew how dangerous these plants were, did not even sniff them. But Baek Yeo-ul was different.
“Choke, choke! Gulp! Aaaah! Aah! Aaah! Explosion…!”
As soon as Baek Yeo-ul smelled it, she started convulsing.
Her pupils dilated sideways, making her eyes look crossed, which made her appear crazy.
“What’s happening to her!”
Seugal was genuinely confused, but the lecturer laughed, “hoho.”
“She seems to be an awakened one, judging by how well she’s responding. There weren’t many awakened ones who reacted so strongly, so it’s truly a blessing.”
When the lecture ended, Seugal pinched Baek Yeo-ul’s ribs.
“Are you crazy? How could you have smelled it even though you knew what it was!”
“I didn’t smell it!”
“What?”
“I was just pretending to be on drugs! You’ll see, it’s my plan! They’ll definitely bite the bait.”
“Plan? Bait?”
Seugal was speechless.
This unlucky plan of Baek Yeo-ul’s smelled bad.
“Already ended? I really had a good nap.”
Squeak!
At that moment, Yu Yeo-reum woke up from her sleep, shook her body, and stretched.
Both Baek Yeo-ul and Yu Yeo-reum were unreliable.
It was just the moment when Seugal reminded herself to stay more alert.
“To the awakened ones, we also provide special seedlings. Would you like to come to our office? There’s a place outside City D called Eden Farm, which you might have heard of.”
The instructor approached and spoke.
The bait thrown by Baek Yeo-ul had been bitten by someone from the Witch’s Sect just like a winter cod swallowing a fishing hook.
“Perhaps the ‘Witch’s Sect’ has approached those girls.”
Baek Yeo-ul, Seugal, and Yu Yeo-reum.
It wouldn’t be strange for these three women to be invited into the core of the “Witch’s Sect”.
After all, female Awakened Ones were exceptional talents in any era.
If we could discover how to enter the Great Labyrinth, that would be great.
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
So many unexpected things might happen that I can’t even imagine.
Because it’s a ‘men forbidden’ space.
But…
I trusted Baek Yeo-ul.
I’m not sure about Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum, but Baek Yeo-ul would surely handle it well.
That girl has unexpected grit and determination; to the extent that she could even call herself a ‘man.’
“And that’s why she’s problematic sometimes…”
But, that’s not what was important now.
“Chang-sik, are you alive?”
Choi Chang-sik.
As I went towards the container, the door swung open, and Chang-sik stumbled and panicked.
“Not, not strange behavior at all! Don’t misunderstand it!”
I already knew that Jin Eun-byul was tied up in the container.
A male student keeping a female student tied up isn’t exactly normal.
It’s understandable not to be surprised if you see a girl almost n*ked sitting on the bed when visiting such a place.
“Kyaa!”
Jin Eun-byul covered her chest with her hands.
I quickly understood the situation upon noticing the wet towel in the hand of Chang-sik, who had fallen to the floor.
“Are you, washing her? So this was bath time?”
“Heh.. Heh.. Yes, it’s summer after all. There’s no air conditioner in this container, so I have to wipe her back with a wet towel!”
“Pervert! Don’t look!”
Jin Eun-byul got mad, and I turned away my gaze slightly.
It’s a great disrespect, even to a male friend, to see his woman n*ked!
“So it’s summer.”
—Chirp chirp!
The cicadas were finally audible when I strained my ears.
Why do I feel like it’s winter no matter the season?
It feels like only ‘winter’ remains in my life, somehow.
“But, my friend, you’re really alive!”
Whether to hide the embarrassment of being caught while wiping down a high school girl or not, Chang-sik greeted me with overly excessive enthusiasm.
I was amazed that such a timid Chang-sik had become so close to high school girls that he even bathed them.
I haven’t yet bathed Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum!
It seemed Chang-sik had a far greater talent for ‘kidnapping high school girls’ and ‘perfectly educating them’ than I do!
This kid, how did he manage that?
How do you tame kidnapped high school girls into submission?
It’s so impressive…
“I wish I could rescue my friend myself, but I’m no help in battle… It’s a relief to see you’re safe!”
—Name: Choi Chang-sik
—Owns: 《Transformation Lv.3》 – Possesses colorful possibilities like a child’s dream. Can alter specific objects.
—Condition: 《Happiness》 – Happy that a friend thought to be dead is alive.
When I realized that Chang-sik’s happiness at seeing me was genuine, the fatigue dissipated somewhat.
I patted his shoulder.
“Take care of yourself. Your life is worth more than the life of a hundred guys like me.”
“You and Eun-byul are the only ones who speak to me like this.”
The awkward Choi Chang-sik scratched the back of his head.
Anyway, I didn’t come here just to greet Chang-sik.
I grabbed his shoulder and said.
“A picture is worth a thousand words. I’ll show you how important you’ll be. The person we’re meeting now is the king of ‘Survivalists’.”
“Survival what?”
Old Man Hugi.
In the current time before the world’s destruction, he probably still lives in the scrapyard on the outskirts of City D.
Though it’s a place filled with rusted and crumpled cars, no one knows there’s an amazing shelter built underground there. Carefully, he hid the construction of the shelter from everyone.
I know because I have knowledge from the future.
The best place to learn how to build a shelter that can survive destruction is undoubtedly from him.
Only, he’s as stingy as a master of martial arts, and he doesn’t teach anything for free.
But if Chang-sik is here, he’ll serve as valuable “bribe.”
“Then let’s go quickly…! Let’s do it!”
“Friend, where are we going? And who are these girls?”
—
