Visit (1)
The Crime Investigation Division of the Ability Management Bureau, the national agency that oversaw ability-related crimes in Korea.
“...Wow, this is nasty.”
An Seongjin, the black mage who had been called in for consultation as usual, clicked his tongue without realizing it.
Then he removed his hand from the forehead of the man lying on the bed, eyes unfocused and drool spilling from his mouth, and shook his head.
“At this point, recovery is out of the question. It’s been wrecked as thoroughly as if dozens of nuclear bombs had gone off in there. He’s basically no different from someone in a vegetative state... It’s actually amazing that the brain damage isn’t as severe as I expected.”
“His original condition was worse than this. We only called in a priest to treat him on the off chance it might help. Well, as you can see, the results were nowhere near enough.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
At his calm reply, Park Hancheol, team leader of the Crime Investigation Division, let out a short sigh and roughly rubbed the back of his head.
It was such an unusual case that he had summoned An Seongjin, a black mage, just in case, but it seemed this attempt had also been a bust.
Whether he knew how Park Hancheol felt or not, An Seongjin simply continued as if it were no big deal.
“There’s only one thing I can tell you. This absolutely can’t be fixed. The very foundation has been cleanly vaporized, so what exactly is there to fix? It’d be easier to create a new ego and turn this human into a biological golem.”
“...You do realize that’s nonsense, right?”
“Come on, of course I’m joking. I don’t even have the materials needed for the procedure in the first place.”
Seeing him shrug while making a joke perfectly befitting a black mage, Park Hancheol furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue.
Among users of dark mana, he was a rare one with a sound mind, so they were even close in private, but at times like this, wasn’t he no different from a black mage through and through?
‘The funny thing is, that bastard is considered one of the better ones even among returnees as a whole.’
As the team leader of the Crime Investigation Division, he had faced countless villains up until now, and he knew that fact very well.
It was true that most users of dark mana were risk factors, but that did not mean every criminal was a user of dark mana.
No, even without committing crimes, not a few returnees who had survived extreme environments and come back possessed ways of thinking that deviated from Earth’s common sense.
The experiences and realizations they had accumulated little by little while overcoming adversity had changed their very outlook on life from the ground up.
Just as people who had already achieved great success in society tended to believe that their way of life was the absolute truth.
‘If it’s merely a sense of elitism, that’s still on the better side. But if they go beyond that and start doing whatever they please just because they have power...’
The society humanity had developed and maintained until now could collapse in an instant.
Wasn’t that man lying over there proof of it?
“So why did this guy end up like this? Judging from the fact that he’s here instead of in a hospital, I doubt he’s just an ordinary victim.”
“...They say he was an attempted rapist targeting a minor. According to the victim’s testimony, he suddenly went berserk and then vanished somewhere in an instant. We recovered him after finding him sprawled out a short distance from the scene.”
“Ha! Serves him right. Isn’t this karma? Do we really need to fix him?”
An Seongjin grimaced and glared at the man lying on the bed.
All the while, he kept rubbing the hand that had touched the man’s forehead against his pants, as if he had touched something filthy.
“Whether we fix him or not isn’t the important part. The problem is the very fact that an Awakened with this kind of ability has appeared.”
Mental-type ability users were persons of interest who were managed at the highest level wherever they went.
Not only were they subject to many restrictions when leaving the country, but they had to live with all sorts of interference even in daily life.
It was only natural, since the easiest and fastest way to collapse a social system was terrorism using mental-type abilities.
‘The first thing the World Returnee Association did when it established Guardian was to gather mental-type ability users and set up a defense system. If not for that, the world would already be more than enough of a mess.’
From petty misdemeanors to nuclear war that could engulf the entire world.
Because of that, mental-type ability users had to be persuaded somehow, and if that was impossible, they had no choice but to be eliminated. So it was not strange for the Crime Investigation Division to react this sensitively.
Well, he had heard that they were treated accordingly in return.
“You noticed too, didn’t you? What level this human was at.”
“Hmm, well...”
On top of that, if the target was a powerful ability user capable of reducing even a master-class powerhouse to a cripple, there was no room for choice.
Given the nature of mental-type abilities, which could be blocked without much difficulty by someone of the same level, the opponent had to be considered to be at a higher realm than this man no matter what.
‘Judging by that destructive power... they might even be transcendent-class.’
In order to prepare for a worst-case scenario, they had to gather information by any means necessary.
To obtain even the smallest clue about their identity.
“Well, if that’s the case, I guess it can’t be helped. Sorry I couldn’t be of any help. But wouldn’t it be better to consult another mental-type ability user rather than me?”
“...Several from that side have already come by. They said every connection had been severed, and even all the traces had been blown away, so there was nothing they could do. Still, I thought a black mage might have some sort of method, so I called you...”
Park Hancheol looked at him with a contemplative gaze.
Feeling an inexplicable sense of foreboding from that, An Seongjin slowly began to back away, but before he could get more than a few steps away, an arm seized his own and stopped him in place.
“As it happens, before you arrived, one more guy was brought in with the same symptoms. Since you’re already here, I’d like you to take a look at him too.”
“No, we already have a conclusion, so why do I have to...”
“This time, it’s a completely raw sample from before treatment. Even so, aren’t you the ace with a top-class case clearance rate in this field? The higher-ups are hounding me so badly I can’t even go home. Do me this favor.”
When he put it that way, An Seongjin had no choice but to nod reluctantly.
After all, it wasn’t as if he had only received the team leader’s help once or twice.
‘Ah, I don’t even need to be desperate for performance bonuses anymore. Did I work too hard for nothing?’
As expected, capable people were never left alone by those around them.
An Seongjin smacked his lips as he recalled the “support funds” he had received from Hahoetal through an extremely legal channel.
With that, he had purchased the building where his parents’ shop was located and had also been investing enthusiastically in asset management...
‘No, wait.’
An Seongjin, who had been following Park Hancheol to another hospital room, suddenly froze.
For a moment, he felt a sense of déjà vu about the current situation.
‘...Come to think of it, the time I encountered Hahoetal in the mental world had exactly this setup too.’
After pondering briefly, he let out a small sigh and started walking again.
Unlike back then, the current him had a reliable backer.
‘I’m under Hahoetal now. I’ve built up quite a few merits in the meantime, so if a problem arises, he’ll help me.’
No matter how incredible that mental-type ability user was, surely they would not be on Hahoetal’s level.
As a black mage walking the same path, and having already met him in person, An Seongjin knew very well just how terrifying Hahoetal was.
‘That person is no longer human. He is inevitable death itself.’
But whether fortunately or unfortunately.
Contrary to his worries, the same thing did not happen again.
Of course, the fact that they were unable to obtain any particular clues was the same.
Just like the criminal they had investigated earlier, the mental world had been completely devastated, so no traces whatsoever could be found.
“Ah, this is dead in the water.”
The team leader, who had been groaning with his brow furrowed, suddenly raised his head.
As if an absurdly brilliant idea had just occurred to him.
“Come to think of it, there’s the Saint of Another World! That white knight, Heinrich or whatever his name is. Isn’t he still active in our country?”
“Ah, that guy?”
An Seongjin also knew well about Heinrich, the Saint of Another World.
No, unless someone was severely cut off from society, it would be difficult to find anyone who did not know about him.
Especially here in Korea, of all places.
“But wouldn’t that be difficult?”
“No, there’s a possibility. I heard he often goes around doing volunteer work and performs all kinds of miracles, even curing people with incurable diseases.”
If it was someone with such abilities, he might be able to restore their condition.
He had also heard that recently, he had been exchanging various forms of communication with the government, and if they emphasized that, in order to preserve “order,” they needed to obtain clues about a mental-type ability user...
“No, that’s not what I mean. Do you really not know?”
“...Know what?”
Even so, asking such a great being for this kind of favor could not possibly be easy.
Even with help from the higher-ups, there would be more than one or two things to prepare.
Park Hancheol, whose mind was already racing over what he needed to do first to make this happen, was only displeased by An Seongjin’s needless interruption.
As expected, he should just send him back quickly—
“That guy went to America.”
“Huh?”
But at the other man’s next words, he had no choice but to stand rooted in place and blink blankly.
“Huh? You really didn’t know? I saw it on the news on my way here.”
He had no idea.
He had been busy running around because of the sudden appearance of the “Mind Breaker.”
And after Heinrich, the Saint of Another World, had begun operating openly in the light, he had also fallen somewhat outside Park Hancheol’s area of responsibility, so his interest had drifted away.
“...Why did he go to America? When is he coming back?”
“Who knows? How would I know when I’m not the person himself? He’s not even from our country in the first place. Well, according to the news...”
He had reflexively asked, but in truth, that was not important.
The problem was that the best method he had finally thought of had fallen apart before it could even begin.
Letting out a deep sigh, he let An Seongjin’s answer flow past his ears and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I think it said he was visiting Pantheon’s main headquarters?”
***
Kiyuuung—
San Francisco International Airport in California, on the western coast of the United States.
“The car is over there. Please come this way, Brother.”
Leaving behind the airport where noisy sounds continued to echo, Heinrich followed the sturdy priest in his forties and got into the vehicle that had been prepared in advance.
“To think we can finally escort Brother Heinrich. I truly cannot express how deeply moved I am.”
“I believe I made you wait far too long. I am in a situation where it is difficult for me to focus on only one matter at once, you see.”
“Haha! Not at all. I fully understand your circumstances, Brother. You must have much to do over there as well, and the time difference between dimensions cannot be helped.”
The middle-aged man with brown hair and a neatly trimmed short beard, Priest Jason, the representative of the investigation team dispatched from Pantheon’s main headquarters in the United States, laughed heartily and waved his hand.
In any case, since the most important thing to him was his life of faith, he had taken a rather relaxed attitude toward the mission.
While in Korea, he had also interacted with other priests and spent quite a satisfying time there.
As Heinrich exchanged various words with Priest Jason, he looked out beyond the car window.
American soil, which differed from Korea in many ways.
It was a place he had already visited once when dealing with the Scribe, but now that he was visiting officially like this, he could not help but feel something new.
‘I’ve finally come here. I kept putting it off, making excuses about having too much work.’
There was no other reason he had come here.
As he collected and organized information about the Lord of the Beoncheon Society, he had suddenly realized that he had been overlooking one important fact.
‘He is a being who not only possesses divinity, but also has his own holy power... a being closer to a true god than anyone else.’
The Beoncheon Society’s covert schemes were still continuing day after day.
His capable subordinates were somehow responding to them, but since the time they had accumulated and the scale of the foundation they had built were different, it was true that it was somewhat burdensome.
Even so, the reason they were able to hold out like this was because the other side was also wary of dragging their plots into the open.
‘And that is likely a restriction that stems entirely from the Lord of the Beoncheon Society.’
He had made many efforts to gather information until now.
However, he still remained ignorant of the things he considered truly important.
Why mystery did not arise naturally on Earth.
Why the Akashic System had made such an Earth into a hub connecting many worlds.
And why the Lord of the Beoncheon Society was trying to make a new mystery sprout on Earth while destroying other dimensions.
Heinrich, who had been looking outside, quietly closed his eyes.
The information he had gathered about the Lord of the Beoncheon Society began to mingle in his head, and his thoughts sank deeply.
‘He cannot influence the world as he pleases.’
That was the same not only on Earth, but in other dimensions as well.
Even though he possessed the power to collapse an entire world like Koshiyas, he had not used that power from the start.
No, he had been unable to.
‘If the Lord of the Beoncheon Society had been able to use his full power from the very beginning, we would not have been able to defeat him in Auterica.’
And that was the same for the Ganghwan Realm, for Dibore, and even for Koshiyas, which had eventually been destroyed.
Had it not basically taken decades or more for a single world to perish?
From a theological perspective, it was not that strange.
After all, beings called gods were usually somewhat removed from mortals and bound by rules of their own.
‘I need to learn more about beings called gods. Not only the faiths of Auterica, which is practically my home ground, but also the religions of other dimensions.’
Which dimension he had obtained his power from, where the source of that power originated, how he had become an angel and even come to possess his own holy power.
And what relationship existed between the Akashic System and the gods.
The place he had chosen to investigate that was precisely here.
“We’ve arrived, Brother Heinrich.”
A place where the faiths of most worlds connected to Earth had gathered in one place—the trans-dimensional hub of religion.
“That is the Pantheon, the main headquarters of the Pantheon.”
The saint of Auterica and angel of the Lord God set foot in Pantheon, the otherworldly religious alliance.