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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Fenrir, that is, Sarang, had carried out my order a little differently than I intended.
Sarang had swallowed a few of the criminals who were in the building.
I had told Sarang to kill them by biting them, but Sarang just swallowed them whole instead.
‘…Was it because it didn’t want its master to see blood?’
That shouldn’t have mattered since I had covered the children’s eyes with magic.
I had thought that, but….
“!”
Upon realizing that Lee Ha-eun was looking straight at Sarang, I acknowledged that its action had been the right one.
Because this meant that Lee Ha-eun saw Sarang through the eye-covering magic I had cast.
If she had seen the scene of Sarang chewing up the criminals in that situation, she would have been greatly shocked.
‘Well, since Lee Ha-eun is a genius of support magic, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her to see through the blindness magic, which is classified as support magic.’
Even though I had put some effort into casting the blindness magic, Lee Ha-eun had still seen through it and looked at Sarang.
The problem was probably that the familiar Sarang and Lee Ha-eun were connected by a contract.
‘From the looks of it, she seems to have broken free of the brainwashing as well.’
Seeing as the other children who had been kidnapped with Lee Ha-eun were still staring blankly into the air, it seemed that the only one who broke free of the brainwashing was Lee Ha-eun.
This too must have been because of Lee Ha-eun’s talent in support magic and her contract with Sarang.
In any case, it wasn’t a very good thing that Lee Ha-eun had seen through my magic and looked directly at Sarang.
Because up until now, she had only seen Sarang in its puppy form.
‘…Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to be scared….’
Lee Ha-eun showed a slightly surprised expression at Sarang’s current appearance, but that was it. She didn’t show any signs of fearing Sarang.
Thinking that it was a relief, I slightly stood in front of her and revealed myself.
“Hello, little la—.”
“Geon-woo…?”
“……”
For a moment, I wondered if I had come here with my main body instead of the doll, and then I checked if the doll wasn’t wearing the mask artifact.
But that wasn’t the case.
Lee Ha-eun had seen through the effect of my mask artifact and had recognized me.
And that was by looking at the doll, and not my main body.
“Geon-woo! What’s wrong with Sarang? Is it sick somewhere?”
“Uhm… It’s not sick. More importantly, could you turn your head for a bit?”
“Huh? Okay. I got it….”
I was breaking out in a cold sweat inwardly, but I was relieved to see Lee Ha-eun listening to my words properly.
And I turned my head and looked at Sarang.
“…Grrrr….”
Sarang had already swallowed all of the criminals inside the building long ago, and it was, for some reason, currently in pain.
‘…Well, of course.’
Although Sarang’s appearance was close to a wolf, it wasn’t actually a wolf.
In the first place, familiars, which weren’t ordinary animals, generally didn’t have the essential organs of animals, like a digestive system, inside them.
Small things like the feed they ate at home could be broken down by the mana that made up their bodies, but if they swallowed something as big as a human, they were bound to have problems.
“Spit it out.”
“…Grrrr….”
“Hurry. You’ll really get sick if you keep this up.”
There was no way that Sarang, which was made of mana, would really get sick, but I had no intention of explaining that slowly right now, so I said that.
Then, Sarang spat out the criminals it had swallowed.
Tuk.
“Uuuh….”
“Cough…! Cough…!”
The people Sarang had swallowed were sprawled out on the floor in the very same state they had been in when they were swallowed.
I touched the one among them who looked the strongest and woke him up.
Because in criminal organizations, the stronger ones often had higher ranks.
“Hey.”
“Keuk… You are… Who…?!”
“You don’t need to know that.”
I placed my foot on the guy’s neck and then asked him.
“Why did you kidnap the children? If you don’t answer properly, I’ll break your neck.”
“…To offer them up as a sacrifice….”
“A sacrifice?”
When talking about a sacrifice, it was common to prepare a separate sacrificial tool or vessel and offer it up, but to say that they had tried to offer up the kidnapped children as a sacrifice….
“…You were trying to perform a human sacrifice, is that it…?”
The purpose of the Awakener System was the survival of humanity.
Therefore, it did not provide knowledge that was harmful to humanity such as offering up humans as a sacrifice.
But there were crazy people everywhere, and those who had obtained knowledge related to magic or spells would often modify it to create new ones for human sacrifice.
The reason they performed human sacrifice was simple.
Because it was efficient….
‘And under the name of that efficiency, you kidnapped children….’
Since I also had some expertise in magic and spells, I could understand the reason why the targets of the kidnapping this time were children.
Because children were pure.
The purer the sacrifice, the better.
…And children who were offered up as a sacrifice couldn’t rest in peace even after death.
“You trash….”
“I-it’s not a human sacrifice…! It’s just that the Doctor said that he needed the cells of Awakener children…!”
“……”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a human sacrifice.
Even so, from the point where he said that he needed the children’s cells, it was hard to see it as a proper purpose.
“Normally, even we wouldn’t have touched children, but… well… lately, other organizations are all being shattered by those guys called Cheol-hyeol… so… we were also in a hurry!”
“Don’t make excuses.”
I said that and kicked the guy’s head.
Pow!
Then, the guy’s head and body separated.
Tududuk….
“Ah….”
I made a mistake.
I had been so angry that I had killed the guy cruelly without realizing it.
And with Lee Ha-eun behind me….
“Haaa… It can’t be helped.”
After erasing all of the dead guy’s corpse and bloodstains with Samadhi True Fire and word-command magic, I asked the criminals who were watching me.
“Where is that person called the ‘Doctor’?”
“……”
“……”
At my question, the criminals who were watching me were silent.
They must have known that whether they answered me or not, they wouldn’t see a good end.
“Well, you don’t have to answer.”
Because I have a way to forcibly extract the information, even if these guys don’t answer.
I said that and then said to Sarang.
“Sarang, you take Ha-eun and her friends outside.”
“Woof!”
…The giant wolf responded to my words with a dog’s bark and then headed to where Lee Ha-eun and the children were.
And it bit the children gently and put them on its back.
“Uwaaah?!”
Since the other children had not yet woken up from their brainwashed state, the only one surprised by Sarang’s action was Lee Ha-eun.
Although she was flustered by Sarang’s action, she still entrusted her body to it because she believed that Sarang wouldn’t harm her.
And then she shouted to me.
“I don’t know what this is, but… see you later when it’s all over, Geon-woo!”
“……”
What should I say to Lee Ha-eun later…?
Seeing as she had even broken the brainwashing, it seemed that the suggestions I made to her would, for the most part, not work anymore….
“…Geon-woo?”
“……”
As I was thinking that, a criminal carelessly muttered my name.
“…You heard my name, didn’t you…?”
“Hiiik?!”
You guys are also unlucky.
Originally, I was thinking of just extracting the information and then calling the police or the Cheol-hyeol guild, but at this rate, I have to kill all of you to hide my identity.
“S-save…!”
“No.”
My foot crushed the screaming criminal.
“Ah, my bad.”
I should have killed him after extracting the information about the Doctor from his head, but I forgot again.
I thought that as I brought my hand to another criminal’s head.
“…Gyaaaaaah?!”
“Now then, so what kind of human is that person called the Doctor?”
I rummaged through the memories of the guy who was screaming as he was directly exposed to my internal energy.
And I was able to find out why this person called the Doctor had them kidnap children.
‘…A Chimera.’
A monster made up of several creatures, which often appeared in creative works.
The person called the Doctor was trying to create one.
And it was….
‘A Chimera with both human and monster genes….’
Originally, it seemed that he had intended to take his time and research, but thanks to the recent cleanup of criminal organizations, not only had there been a hitch in securing good quality genes, but he had also thought that he himself could be caught over time, so he had paid a high price to the criminals he had been dealing with and had asked them to kidnap an Awakener child.
The reason these guys had kidnapped many children all at once was that they had intended to score big and then flee to a foreign country….
“Guuuh….”
“……”
I silently ended the lives of the guys whose memories I had completely extracted.
“…First, let’s clean this place up.”
Judging that I had no more business here, I erased all traces of what had happened here.
Because with just Samadhi True Fire, most traces could be erased.
And then I headed to the roof of the building through the broken ceiling.
“Ah, Geon-woo!”
There, Lee Ha-eun, who was with the children who hadn’t regained their senses yet, saw me coming up through the hole in the ceiling, and smiled brightly at me.
…Come to think of it, there was still the problem of Lee Ha-eun recognizing me.
What should I say here…?
“Um… Ha-eun?”
“Yeah?”
“…What happened here today is a secret. Got it?”
…I had thought about speaking with internal energy, but I decided not to.
Because for some reason, I felt a bit guilty for deceiving her.
So instead, I decided to persuade her.
For that reason, I was choosing my words carefully to persuade her, but….
“A secret? Okay! I got it!”
Lee Ha-eun just lightly nodded her head.
At her action, I was the one who was flustered.
No, that easily?
“It’s a promise with Geon-woo, so I’ll definitely keep it!”
“……”
My conscience is pricking me….
To think I had put a suggestion on a child like this….
Of course, that suggestion was for Lee Ha-eun’s sake, but….
As I was thinking that….
“You know, I haven’t told anyone about the knowledge that’s not magic and the power within me that’s not mana, just as I’ve promised with Geon-woo since way back, okay? So I’ll definitely keep this a secret too!”
“……”
At Lee Ha-eun’s words, I was dumbfounded and horrified.
[Ha-eun, the other energy in your body that isn’t mana isn’t strange. Got it?]
[And the other knowledge among your knowledge that isn’t about magic isn’t strange either. Got it?]
[And even though that energy and knowledge aren’t strange, you have to hide them from other people. Got it?]
…In the meantime, I had periodically left such a suggestion on Lee Ha-eun.
[Forget.]
And I had always erased that memory right after.
But she remembered the content of the suggestion I had left?
‘…At first, the memory was definitely erased. But….’
It meant that from a certain point on, the memory hadn’t been erased.
And yet, Lee Ha-eun didn’t find my words strange.
And yet, Lee Ha-eun had faithfully carried out my suggestion.
Just because she trusted me.
“…Ha.”
I had expected that a moment would come when my suggestion wouldn’t work on Lee Ha-eun anymore.
But to think that it stopped working from so early on.
“Ha-eun.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. For trusting me.”
“Huh…?”
I said that and hugged Lee Ha-eun.
At my action, Lee Ha-eun showed a puzzled expression, but I was serious.
“…Sarang.”
“Kyiing?”
“Return to your original form.”
At my words, Sarang, which had been in its Fenrir form, returned to its original size, and I lifted it and the children with telekinesis and lowered them to the ground floor of the building we were in.
“Wow….”
“Ha-eun.”
“Yeah?”
“The police officers will be here soon.”
I had created a loud noise by collapsing the ceiling, and the criminals inside had screamed, so a report must have already been made.
“Then you just have to say to the officers ‘The mister I saw on the news saved us.’ Got it?”
“Okay. I got it!”
I said that and then, I prepared to completely finish this incident… that is, to go to the place where the culprit of this incident, the person called the ‘Doctor,’ was.
“Ah, right.”
However, feeling that something was strange, I asked Lee Ha-eun one question before I left.
“Ha-eun, why did you follow the strangers all the way here?”
Ha-eun, who was at a level where my suggestion doesn’t work anymore, shouldn’t have been caught by the brainwashing that the children were currently under.
“Huh? My friends said that we should go on a picnic with the teacher, so I thought they were my friends’ class teacher and came along?”
“……”
It seems that I’ll have to properly educate her later to not follow strangers carelessly.
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T/N – Lol, Ha-eun is so innocent at the end. She needs to get taught about stranger danger. Still, so the MC’s brainwashing hasn’t been effective for quite a while now, but she kept doing what the MC asked her to do because she trusted him? What a sweet child.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
