Chapter 928

EP.928 Part 2, Chapter 8, Section 13

“Hey, big bro, what was that Pointma talking about?”

Seok Harang’s face stiffened at what Phoenix said while she was playing the game.

I thought for a moment about how she had come across the original work and pointed to the facility of the Great Battle.

“It means exactly what it says. They were siphoning off New Seoul’s full strength and Light Blade Heo Yoon-hwan’s magic power.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, in 2025.”

The Korea of 2025 was a country surrounded by various problems.

S-Rank heroes never increased no matter how much time passed, the government was corrupt showing an extreme version of a villainous nation as seen in movies or comics, selfishness ran rampant among people, and the phrase “True-Hell-Joseon” was openly used.

“The Earth of 20 years ago still managed to get by somehow, right? But not the Earth of 25 years later.”

“What? Sun Icheol only ruled six more years?”

“That’s when things started to go further downhill.”

If it were just one local government repeatedly failing, you could simply replace the leader, but Korea in 2025 had become so corrupted that Sun Icheol’s position couldn’t be easily replaced.

The Han River, where miracles should have happened, was teeming with monsters, and attempts to rise as an export powerhouse were thwarted by blocked sea routes.

Power plants within Korea could no longer operate their generators, and nuclear power wasn’t utilized out of fear of a Pyongyang incident.

“Professor H came up with an incredibly innovative method. Converting magic power into electricity. Fortunately, it was solved quite easily. Using formulas and machines discovered solely by Professor H, magic power could be converted into electricity.”

“Hikari did?”

“Yeah. With Hikari’s machine, magic power could be converted into electricity. Though the efficiency was slightly poor.”

The amount of energy a single core could produce elsewhere dropped drastically when converted into electricity.

This caused plans to extract magic power from monster cores hunted down to become meaningless.

-Isn’t there any way to obtain magic power?

-Can we extract it from humans?

-Oh, yeah. Use the pine tree unit captured by the tattooist as human batteries. Keep them asleep in capsules so they don’t wake up and then extract magic power from them.

-Technically, isn’t that possible? Right?

“Sun Icheol’s idea was extremely inhumane. The notion of using villains and criminals for national development—real development, like electricity production—who would openly protest against such a concept? It was akin to endlessly extracting blood from someone who committed murder.”

“You’re insane. What were you planning to do if a monster suddenly appeared?”

“You mean Seok Harang? Or maybe they thought some miraculous situation would have the universe help them out. Someone said that wars wouldn’t happen in the 21st century, so defense budgets could be reduced, right? That setting was fully applied here.”

Since Light Blade rarely used magic power during regular times, let’s convert that unused magic power into electricity!

It was a crazy idea, but our poor Light Blade had no choice but to hand over his magic power under the guise of patriotism and threats.

In reality, he couldn’t leave because he was busy controlling the rampaging Rusalka, but the reason why Light Blade couldn’t leave New Seoul was due to this human power generator set up by Sun Icheol for some unknown reason.

“Wasn’t the Earth of 20 years ago less crazy than that?”

“He kept going on media manipulation and collusions until he hit his limit. Wounds fester and burst eventually, right? There wasn’t much difference in personality between Sun Icheol of 20 years and Sun Icheol of 25 years. Just the number of times incompetence was covered up by mass destruction differed somewhat.”

“Wow, seriously gives me chills.”

Seok Harang shivered at Sun Icheol’s actions.

As someone who had already been subjected to image-making as a hero dedicated to the nation by Sun Icheol himself—even if it was just in the game—she ground her teeth at the sight of a country internally collapsing like a terminal cancer patient in its fourth stage.

“So, the most representative person used as a power generator was my dad, right?”

“Yeah. Father-in-law… sir.”

Light Blade Heo Yoon-hwan.

There is only one man worthy of being called father-in-law in the year 20, but calling that man father-in-law feels… awkward.

“The biological father-in-law was slowly dying on the Earth of 25 years, you know that, right?”

“My dad, even if he might not act like an adult sometimes, even if he isn’t alive now, calling him biological father-in-law seems kind of weird, doesn’t it?”

“Sorry. I used the wrong term.”

“Just call him Light Blade, whatever makes you comfortable. Who cares if he acts like an old man?”

Seok Harang’s relentless dissing is scary.

It’s not just trash talk—it’s closer to real betrayal of filial duty, which makes it scarier.

But Light Blade deserves it after all.

Just like how Sun Icheol looks like he’s only 3cm tall wherever you look,

and Shin-ra is adorable, cute, lovely, and sexy no matter which world you see,

there is no world where Light Blade properly fulfills his role as a father.

“So, they took his magic power, saying they’d use it as patriotic electricity, right? Is that correct?”

“Correct. And because of that… a very critical situation arose.”

In the original game, this happens only when certain conditions are met.

And on the Earth of 20 years, something didn’t occur due to my, Phoenix’s actions.

“Mother-in-law, since I started moving on the Earth of 20 years from 00, I became Anastasha, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Originally, around the year 21, I was supposed to be killed by Penril. No one knew she was possessed by Rusalka, and Rusalka’s spirit, having lost its self-awareness, was only chasing traces of memories. Now, here’s the question: what was the closest trace near Moscow?”

“…Since Seoul is Sejong here, uh…”

Seok Harang’s face instantly turned pale.

“Dad?”

“Yeah. Since Sejong is closer to Moscow than Busan, Rusalka’s spirit possessed Light Blade. Already being used as a patriotic power generator, Light Blade became possessed by Rusalka’s spirit, causing his body to collapse…”

Here’s a truth known only to those in the know.

“When the contaminated spirit’s power went berserk in a male body, what do you think happened?”

“…Wouldn’t that give the officer murderous impulses? Like how the original Seok Harang became the Ice Witch who massacred millions in Busan.”

“Yeah. She becomes a witch. Light Blade also becomes a witch.”

“WHAT.”

Seok Harang wore a genuinely repulsed expression.

“In the game, Light Blade was gradually transforming into Rusalka in real-time.”

Watching himself turn into the woman he loved, he ultimately accepted her death and went mad, losing his grip on sanity momentarily.

And thus, he suddenly went berserk, leading to Seok Harang’s massacre in Busan.

“Mr. Heo Yun-hwan.”

In the original game, the blonde Rusalka occasionally seen at the Hero Association…

That was Light Blade afflicted with Rusalka syndrome and transformed into a TS character.

“Do you want to see a screenshot of your dad turning into Rusalka?”

“Did what?”

“Just kidding.”

I patted the trembling Seok Harang to calm her down.

“Don’t worry. If this facility breaks down, the transformation into Rusalka will stop for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“Simple logic. The magic power inside the body drains out, right? Then it naturally replenishes, but whose magic power will recharge?”

“Ahhh.”

The cycle repeats: clean water drains out and contaminated water fills back in.

This was one of the reasons behind Heo Yun-hwan’s rampage.

“Sun Icheol, total dumbass.”

“Of course. The most garbage-like existence in Korean history.”

One scary thing:

“Isn’t it really scary? The ingame Earth is a direct scan of the Earth from 20 years ago. So, Sun Icheol on the Earth of 20 years was also like that guy, right?”

“Is there no chance of reform?”

“There is a possibility.”

If his penis grows to 18 cm…

…No, if he gets a Cube.

“But there won’t be such a future anywhere.”

There is no future in any world where Sun Icheol obtains a Cube.

And the same applies to the game Shin-ra is currently playing.

* * *

<Ingame, descending basement stairs.>

“Are we really going down to meet that Professor guy?”

“Of course.”

We continued descending in research lab coats.

Inside, we had suits underneath, the front buttons of the coats were fastened, and we carried piles of papers resembling research reports.

“Good morning.”

“It’s not morning…”

“Whatever, it’ll be morning soon anyway.”

“That too. Hmm… Where to?”

“Lab 18.”

“Ugh, sounds awful. Hard work ahead.”

No one noticed us.

Whenever someone suspected us, I deflected their suspicions with appropriate lines, allowing us to easily descend underground via stairs and elevators.

‘Otherwise, we’d have to go through smelly vents.’

Lucky break.

Fortunately, he had already found the ‘non-vent route,’ which was lucky.

“You, senior.”

“What is it, Researcher Yuna?”

“Are we really going down this easily… Isn’t it too easy?”

“Yeah, it is.”

It’s as easy as choosing dialogue options from a walkthrough guide.

Moreover, the three I’m currently descending with are the starting set least likely to troll.

At least Nurri, who could potentially troll, is staying quiet, so there’s no reason to be tense.

“The CCTV might be watching us.”

“Don’t worry, Yuna. The person watching us through that CCTV probably sent a signal asking for help.”

I waved at the wall-mounted CCTV.

Sure enough, it nodded up and down.

“See?”

“Amazing… It’s hard to believe this place is actually such a facility.”

“That’s why.”

The Light Blade Power Plant.

This is an element that only someone who deeply delves into the original world would notice.

I only learned about it because I suspected it was related to me and investigated; otherwise, I would’ve just thought it was a research facility where Hikari and Cubes were obtained.

“We’re here. Now, we just need to ride this down.”

“This is an elevator going up?”

“It depends on how you press the button.”

I led the three inside.

“Now, we’ll implement a decoy operation. They haven’t realized we’ve infiltrated yet, but from now on, we need to divert their attention.”

“To where?”

“Upstairs.”

Time’s almost up.

“Troll, On.”

* * *

“Urgh, I’m stuffed.”

Kiwoo rubbed his belly and shivered.

His body smelled strongly of tteokbokki and fried food, and so did the management room.

“…Huh? What’s that?”

When he moved toward the window to open it, he noticed something flashing red in the darkness.

“…A truck?”

It was a massive truck, and Kiwoo tilted his head in confusion.

“Why is that…?”

Before he could fully process the strangeness and reach for his magical gear,

“Eh, whaaa?!”

□□□□□□□!!!

The truck began making loud noises as it charged toward the institute’s entrance.

Then,

BOOOOOM!!!

The truck smashed through the institute’s gates and stopped proudly in front of the building.

The figures stepping out—

“…What are those things?”

Click.

Masked intruders with animal-like faces emerged,

[Everyone, die meow!!]

Tuduuduudu!!

They held guns.

[I am Penril Mask!]

[I am Azidahaka Mask!]

[…Hydra Mask.]

[And I…]

[Taijek Mask.]

[[[[We are Villain Mint Corps!!]]]]