Byeoncheonhoe (4)
Creak—
I opened the window and looked outside.
People moving busily now that morning had come.
Ordinary people living ordinary lives.
Perhaps because I frequently interacted with the outside through my 「Avatar」, at some point I stopped feeling fear toward the outside world.
Going out directly still carried psychological pressure, but I could now open the window and feel the outside breeze without a second thought.
I stared blankly outside like that and organized my thoughts.
-Subject Name: Heinz II
-Race: Vampire (True Blood)
-Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Persona」, 「Mirror-Clear Stillness」
-Individual Traits: 「Blood Clan (True Blood)」, 「Mixed-Blood Evolution」, 「Blood Mystery」, 「Refined Blood Essence」, 「Acceleration」, 「Hyper-Regeneration」, 「Insight」, 「Concealment」, 「Invisibility」
-Special Notes: Evolved repeatedly by collecting blood factors from multiple dimensions. As a predator, partially ignores hostile abilities of other vampires and exerts instinctive intimidation. Excessive energy recently absorbed has been stored in the Blood Essence (血精) formed within the body.
After the battle at the villa, Heinz had suffered from overeating for a while.
‘I drained all the executives and even the vampires standing guard, so in a way, it was only natural.’
Even if their level was low, they helped in collecting new blood factors, and it felt like a waste to throw them away, so I had forcefully consumed them all.
But no matter how few physical limitations one has, everything has its limits.
When I reached the point where I could no longer contain them and was nearing saturation, I used my strengthened blood control to gather and compress the overflowing blood factors into a single essence.
‘Most of them were from low-grade vampires that took up space with useless bulk, though.’
Since they had entered my body, evolution did occur under the influence of 「Mixed-Blood Evolution」, but their quality was so low that they were too ambiguous to use directly.
To Heinz, whose level had already risen to staggering heights, they were of little help, yet too good to discard—mere chicken ribs.
What made them usable was the newly obtained special skill, 「Refined Blood Essence」.
‘The problem, in the end, is the residual thoughts contained in the blood, right? Then the solution is simple. For me.’
Haven’t I already done it before?
When I received the baptism through Heinrich.
By linking the skills I possess with my blood control, I extract blood factors emptied of residual thoughts from Heinz II’s Blood Essence.
The skill and result obtained after such attempts was precisely, 「Refined Blood Essence」.
The refined essence of vampire evolution, containing no residual thoughts whatsoever.
If this 「Refined Blood Essence」 enters another vampire’s body, it will act as a catalyst that evolves their blood factors.
Since it is merely a catalyst, even a small amount should show definite effects.
Of course, the more it is administered, the greater the scope of change and the faster the mutation speed—but that goes without saying.
‘It’s not without side effects, though.’
Actually, if you think about it, it wasn’t even a side effect.
No matter how you put it, it was a procedure of ‘bestowing’ and ‘inheriting’ blood, so it was merely a very, very trivial matter of the inheritor becoming subordinate to the bestower.
To vampires, it was nothing at all!
‘Vampires are all used to it. Only the target has changed.’
They obtain definite power in exchange for loyalty.
For the hardliner remnants thrown into confusion by the executives’ empty seats, it wasn’t a bad deal either.
Weren’t they people who craved power so much they even thought of devouring their own kin?
I would embrace those who accepted it, and make those who resisted while clinging to the old system into raw material for consumed Blood Essence.
An ideal structure.
‘…Huh? Isn’t this exactly what those hardliner bastards were trying to do…? Hmm, no. I’m removing those who are trying to plunge society into chaos, after all.’
I was merely taking a tiny bit of profit in the process.
A perfectly sound plan no different from a bounty hunter’s.
My pointless giggling ceased as I closed the window, came back inside, and sat before the computer.
On the screen were internet search results about a certain incident.
-August 20XX, Seoul Station Terror Incident.
It was where he had lost his family.
His stupidly grinning lips stiffened, and the corners of his mouth slowly drooped.
His heart sank with a chill.
It was a chaotic era.
Superhumans who had gained power in the other world teemed everywhere, yet there were no monsters or Demon Kings on Earth worth their strength.
All that existed were other superhumans in the same situation.
But just because their situations were the same didn’t mean their values were, so conflicts broke out everywhere.
The only thing that could prove oneself there was power.
Greater strength was precisely the justice, the order, and the entirety of this world that could enforce one’s claims.
Countless sacrifices of innocents followed in that process, but those without power had no choice but to endure and bear it.
Just an accident. An unavoidable incident.
Because there was nothing they could do.
I had been no different.
Up until then.
Bam—!
A crack split the desk from a casually swung fist.
Having awakened 「Avatar」, I had pursued power blindly all this time.
Because I never wanted to feel the helplessness of being victimized by a lack of power again.
「Persona」 merely kept me from being devoured by my emotions; it didn’t erase them completely.
Those emotions had remained in my heart all along.
And so I had poured that accumulated strength, that aimless rage and resentment, into judging ‘villains’.
That incident had been an indiscriminate terror attack by an Awakened whose motives were unknown, and that terrorist had died in an explosion right before his eyes immediately afterward.
Therefore, even after gaining power, there had been nowhere to vent his anger and desire for revenge.
He had thought that the only thing he could do for now was beat down conspicuous villains.
“…That’s what I thought. But… there was one? The culprit?”
His stiffened expression relaxed, and the corners of his mouth softly curved upward again.
A vacant smile rose to his face once more.
Without realizing it, he kept laughing.
‘Ah, so that’s how it was.’
And he realized anew.
‘I’ve been broken for a very long time, haven’t I.’
Otherwise, laughter wouldn’t bubble up in a situation like this.
“Kuk… Keuheuheuh… Keukkeukkeueuk… Heuu….”
Laughter kept leaking out.
He laughed so hard that drool, not to mention tears and snot, threatened to stream down, yet he couldn’t stop laughing.
“Haa… haa….”
Refreshing.
After that bout of laughter, my mind was clearer than ever.
Now that I had a goal, an unprecedented motivation welled up.
“Wow~ so this is how it turns out? I knew it—good things happen when you do good deeds, right? I kept beating down bad guys, and look, the mastermind just popped right out in plain sight.”
I wiped away tears and pondered.
How I could make those bastards choke on their own medicine.
Haven’t I already done this several times?
I had quite a bit of experience now, so I felt I could do even better.
‘If they were the type to retreat this easily, they wouldn’t have caused that ruckus for so long. They’ve gone into hiding this time, but they’ll definitely stick their heads out again.’
I needed to be ready to grab them by the necks when that time came.
Ready to completely uproot even the backer behind their backers, just in case.
‘Besides, they seem to be operating worldwide. I don’t even know how much of a blow it was to stop their activities in Korea for now.’
Tap, tap, tap.
I sat with my legs crossed and tapped the desk with my fingers to organize my thoughts.
With matters having grown to this scale, there were definitely limits to individual power.
To oppose those who had already formed a massive force, I too needed the help of a force.
‘A force that continuously tracks them, gathers information, and can seize them by the ankles when the time comes.’
And the Blood Alliance could fulfill that role to some extent.
Going forward, if I supported them in various ways, expanded their power, subjugated other organizations under them, and increased their scale, they would be far more helpful.
Fortunately, I also had more than enough funds scraped together from the other world and criminal organizations.
‘They’re an underworld organization, so they should handle money laundering on their own. Come to think of it, it might not be bad to indirectly control those gold bullion traders through the Blood Alliance. They’re too lacking to take in directly under me, but they seem fairly competent as a subordinate organization.’
I glanced at the lottery tickets still stored in a corner of the room.
There was no rush, so I could use those later.
But as was the case in this fight, in the end, what mattered was the existence of a powerhouse with absolute strength.
‘Hans and Heinz… and Heinrich are steadily growing, too. But…’
It’s not enough.
This time, they collided with us completely unprepared, suffered heavy damage, and retreated, but next time was unpredictable.
They were already aware of Hans and Heinz, and from the information gathered so far, Byeoncheonhoe was no simple organization.
To handle their scope of activities while dealing with them decisively, many more strong individuals were needed.
Existences they couldn’t predict, ones that defied their expectations.
Even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.
But wasn’t I someone who could have ten bodies?
If bodies were insufficient, I just had to increase them.
‘For that, I need Karma. I don’t have the luxury of growing my unique skills leisurely. To build up Karma, I need influence over the other world.’
Then what about creating a major incident that would affect the other world?
For example…
“War… perhaps?”
I furrowed my brows for a moment after spitting out the word.
Could I really cross that line?
Was I prepared to abandon my humanity, blinded by my desires, and sacrifice innocents to pursue power?
I still didn’t know.
I knew very well it was a strange thing, but I didn’t particularly feel much anger or desire for revenge.
Rather, I felt more excitement and anticipation.
‘Hah… I’m not in my right mind either.’
An opponent against whom anything I did would be justified, and worthy of pouring out all the malice I possessed.
And yet one that wouldn’t break easily, requiring me to go all out to oppose them.
…With my current state of mind, war wasn’t exactly a welcome method.
‘Then, shelved for now. A way to impact the world on the level of war without the sacrifice of innocents.’
As if such a convenient method could exist…
“…There is?”
Right at that moment, very coincidentally, the perfect material was right in my grasp.
“Demon King and Hero.”
The evil Demon King who leads forces of malice and threatens the continent.
The righteous Hero who receives humanity’s support and opposes him.
A cliché among clichés.
I let out involuntary snickers.
‘Let’s say I set the general framework like that. I’ll need to think about the scenario, though. I’ll need detailed information, and keeping the balance in the middle seems important. Can I do it?’
The plan that immediately came to mind wasn’t all that grand.
If Hans leads an evil organization and strikes corrupt nobles, Heinrich executes them and becomes a hero.
Repeat that.
And if I gather all the evil organizations at the climax and annihilate them, wouldn’t that be a good thing from the continent’s perspective?
The thing to watch out for was that with such a large scale, if I started things sloppily, civilian casualties would inevitably be high.
Countless uncontrollable variables would arise.
But perhaps because it was much more toned down than the option of war, I didn’t feel as much repulsion as before.
Because the results could vary greatly depending on my efforts.
‘The moment I rationalize unavoidable sacrifices, I’ll become no different from them. I just have to try my best.’
There was always a way to find a method.
It wasn’t something to worry about right now.
As a long-term plan, it required a lot of preparation, and couldn’t be implemented immediately.
Hans was still far too lacking to start something against the continent.
To do that, finding the last remaining ‘Fragments of the Immortal King’ was the first priority.
‘Time is sufficient. Since Byeoncheonhoe suffered such heavy losses this time, they’ll lie low for at least a few years. The time difference with the other world is 10:1. It won’t be too late even if I proceed calmly.’
It was impossible to stop their overseas activities right away.
It would be better to reliably build up strength in the meantime.
“Hah….”
Without realizing it, laughter leaked out once more.
For some reason, I felt cheerful again.
“Yes… whatever your goals are, whatever you want. I shall stand in your way with everything I have.”
If you have any complaints, try and find me.
Even if I focus on Auterica for the time being, it will take a lot of time.
Hans needed to find the Fragments of the Immortal King while avoiding the Church’s gaze, and Heinrich needed to be recognized by the Church and rise to a high position.
‘I suppose Heinz will have to build an information organization to gather intel on the continent.’
And right then, I remembered some bastards perfectly suited for that role.
‘I’ll have to raise Halli during that time. Find a way to make her stronger as quickly as possible. If I use 「Adaptation」, isn’t there some way?’
There was no need to rush.
I just had to proceed step by step, handling things one at a time.
Like preparing a single play.
“The stage is Auterica, the lead is me. And the audience is the entire continent. The scale is rather grand.”
The release date is still undecided, but…
Well, it probably won’t take that long.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────