novelraw Chapter 43 : Heaven, Earth, and Man (1)
Chapter 43 : Heaven, Earth, and Man (1)
Chapter 43: Heaven, Earth, and Man (1)
“Wooooaaaaaaaah—!”
A cheer like a raging inferno. Lee Taebaek’s group barely managed to leave the children behind and enter the second-floor inner chamber.
With soundproof walls on all sides, the noise died down, but the heat of faith could still be felt even here. A crucible of faith existed beyond the door.
For reference, this cozy-looking inner chamber was a space created by remodeling the inner rooms of the Stiletto Club.
That’s right. The very same adjoining rooms where Baron Marlow had been sucking face and rolling around with his boyfriends had been knocked through into one.
Considering that, in name, this inner chamber was now Lee Taebaek’s exclusive space, it felt odd. The intent was suspicious.
‘They said the construction was carried out under the lead of Jin Sobang from Buntaju District 31.’
No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like Jin Sobang had done this unknowingly. I’d have to squeeze him for more a few times using this as leverage. If he tried to strong-arm me, I was thinking of bringing Jin Sobang here, to the Baekbaek Order First Branch, and treating him similarly to Baron Marlow.
“Hey, damn it. Lee Taebaek, what kind of mass brainwashing did you pull on the kids?”
Tang Ji-hye had been leaning against the door in a hunched posture, then slowly straightened her upper body. She spoke with a face that looked like it had aged five years in just five minutes.
“You said you were a Siesta Enforcer Hound. Don’t tell me you turned the kids into that using the same method you got brainwashed with back then? Wow, you bastard, that’s a seriously vile taste—.”
“Shut up. Please.”
Lee Taebaek cut her off in one stroke. At that, Ban, who had been about to act out, made his eyelashes tremble.
“……If you’re a Siesta Enforcer Hound…… a MegaCorp assassin…… then could it be that Investigator Gaepa is……?”
At the shocked reaction, Tang Ji-hye jerked her chin as if to say, “See?” Her eyes seemed to be saying something like, “So you hid your past and deceived the kids, right?”
Lee Taebaek decided. This wouldn’t do. Putting everything else aside, he’d have to hit that one first. Violence carried out in a forbidden zone would make for an even more meaningful memory.
‘The late Baron Marlow would be pleased.’
However, Ban’s next words completely missed the mark of his expectations. Ban muttered lowly.
“A-amazing…….”
His eyes sparkled with reverence. Then, without even breathing, he started pouring out words.
“A miserable yet story-filled past and overcoming it wasn’t enough, you even told others not to become like you and founded a relief organization……. A hero—no, a narrative like a scene torn straight out of myth……. Is he a god? Is he light? Ah, oh Investigator Gaepa, how far am I supposed to worship you…….”
Orange irises trembled with fear.
“Wh-what is this.”
“Baekbaekbaekuiui Gameungameung.”
“Ban, stop it and move aside now.”
Whether she heard or not, Go-eun spoke with an indifferent expression. She was from the Demonic Cult to begin with, and after coming and going here for three days, she’d gotten used to it.
“Go calm the kids down somehow. Within the Baekbaek Order, you’re the next in rank after Lee Taebaek.”
“Baekbaek.”
“……Yeah.”
And so, only Lee Taebaek, Go-eun, and Tang Ji-hye were left in the room. There were no more obstacles.
Thud.
Lee Taebaek took an appropriate spot and sat down cross-legged. Go-eun claimed the space behind his back and spoke.
“You know that during qi regulation and meditation, you enter a suspended state—in other words, a pseudo-sleep state, right?”
“It’ll feel similar to being paralyzed by sleep, I guess.”
“I’ve never had sleep paralysis, so I don’t know, but sure, think of it in whatever way is easiest for you. Just so you know, during qi regulation and meditation, you can’t change positions. If you need to go to the bathroom, it’s better to go now.”
Lee Taebaek shook his head.
“Let me ask just one thing. If it were just qi regulation and meditation, it doesn’t seem like you’d go out of your way to guide me. Is there another reason?”
“Mm.”
Go-eun hesitated. After a brief consideration, she let out a sigh and confessed.
“I wasn’t planning to hide it anyway, so I’ll tell you while I’m at it. When the Supreme Commander sent you to me, there was one thing he asked.”
“A request?”
“It was closer to a proposal than a request. Anyway, to get to the point, the gist was, ‘Can you teach Lee Taebaek magic?’”
As she spoke, Go-eun placed her hand on Lee Taebaek’s back. Then she closed her eyes and opened them again.
From her cheekbones to her forehead. Bloodshot veins rose in her eyes, and their color shifted. It was the activation of Magic Eyes.
“I put off answering, saying, ‘I’ll think about it after seeing your condition.’ I told you before. In the past, the Supreme Commander sent several guys over, calling them external agents.”
The moment Go-eun’s palm touched his back, Lee Taebaek’s back muscles twitched involuntarily.
Ssssss—
A chill stabbed down his spine. It didn’t stop there, tracing along his spine as if tickling his sides.
‘Urgh.’
It felt as if an invisible hand had tightly grabbed the flesh beneath his belly. He didn’t want to make weak noises, but it hurt like hell.
“But every single one of them lacked aptitude. The Supreme Commander probably selected them carefully in his own way, but they didn’t meet my standards. And that’s understandable, since I was a cult leader in the Demonic Cult.”
“A cult leader, then……?”
“That’s right. I was in a role where I taught the believers—also known as magicians.”
Just before entering qi regulation and meditation, Go-eun let out a snort of laughter.
“What. Are you surprised because the person you lost to turned out to be a bigger deal than you thought?”
“……Lost to……? You were so obviously holding back that the one doing the beating felt embarrassed.”
Puhat—her laughter grew louder.
Tang Ji-hye, who had been leaning crookedly against the door, frowned. With her eyes opened like that while laughing, she looked like a demon incarnate.
‘She’s gotten better since moving to Lake City, but still.’
The rift between the orthodox path and the Demonic Cult was quite deep. Of course, Go-eun and Tang Ji-hye weren’t on particularly bad terms. They were in fairly similar situations, after all.
“I lowered the output of my power, but I never went easy on you.”
“What are you talking about.”
Lee Taebaek closed his eyes and chewed it over. His earlobe tickled at the wizard’s whisper.
“The reason I lowered the output was because I was worried my nest would go up in flames completely. Even if you died, Lee Taebaek, the Supreme Commander agreed not to hold anyone responsible.”
Fuck, do I get no say in this.
“I’ve gone on too long, but while only so-so guys kept coming in, you showed up at just the right time. You caught my eye, that’s what it means. So, while you’re doing your first qi regulation and meditation, I’m planning to intervene and help you learn internal energy and magic at the same time.”
“Then why is Tang Ji-hye standing over there like that?”
Lee Taebaek gestured with his head while keeping his eyes closed. Tang Ji-hye exaggeratedly clicked her tongue.
“Wow, you really are completely illiterate. If you’re going to do qi regulation and meditation, someone obviously has to stand guard as a protector.”
“I know that. I’m asking why you’re the one standing guard for me.”
“Hey—!”
“The young lady of the Tang Clan feels indebted to you. People of the Tang Clan can’t handle themselves around someone they owe. That kind of obsession runs in the family. Now, that’s enough. Let’s start right away.”
“Fine.”
Lee Taebaek overlapped the edges of his hands and brought them toward his navel. Go-eun’s internal energy surged into his back.
His breathing slowed.
His five senses dulled.
His consciousness sank.
Into the depths of the unconscious.
Little by little…… little by little.
[You have entered your first qi regulation and meditation of your life.]
[Bullet Time is activated to multiply the effect.]
[Time Limit: ●●●●●●●●◐]
[The EXP x3 Event has begun!]
Ding—
[Upon leveling up at the Save Point, Stiletto Club, an additional event is guaranteed!]
〉〉 Auto Save…….
〉〉 Applying patch.
If I had to sum up qi regulation and meditation in one sentence, what would it be?
Borrowing the grammar of martial world practitioners who value bravado and empty flair, it would be the contemplation of intent.
In our terms, it’s looking into one’s own mind. Simply put, meditation.
However, the level of concentration had to surpass that of an ordinary human and reach the realm of the superhuman.
If everyone could just sit cross-legged and build internal energy, then any dog or cow would be walking on air and aerial vehicles would’ve been rendered obsolete.
What I’m trying to say is this.
You have to push the quality of meditation to the extreme. Until you can feel the supernatural energy called internal energy with your skin.
‘More.’
The flow of blood traveled back and forth through my veins. Amazing. The veins looked like tunnels. As I concentrated further, I could even see the grime caked in the corners.
That was ‘turbidity’. Because it was turbid, the already narrow blood vessels had become even narrower.
I slowly inhaled. At the moment the volume of my expanded lungs pushed against my ribs, I expelled my breath in one go.
‘Shwaaaaaaah!’
My basic internal energy, the internal energy of the Tang Clan absorbed from Tang Ji-hye, and the vital energy of Go-eun acting as a guide—namely, true qi.
A wave of blood carrying all three forces swept away the residue. The rusty water dissolved straight into the blood.
‘Refreshing.’
So this is what it feels like when turbidity gets washed away.
As I felt that fullness, my field of vision suddenly got sucked into a point. Startled, I rubbed my inner eyes and opened them again.
I wondered what that crimson pellet that looked like an apple was—and it turned out to be a red blood cell!
Good heavens. Even if you magnified it with a microscope that embodied all of Lake City’s technological prowess, it wouldn’t be this clear.
This wondrous phenomenon meant that my consciousness had drawn closer to the unconscious. I smiled.
Let’s shove my mind even further down.
I’d seen a video like this before. A video where Earth, the world we live in, became a ping-pong ball next to Jupiter, and a speck of dust beside the Sun.
Right now, I was the opposite.
The red blood cell that had only been apple-sized grew larger. It lost its spherical form and blocked me like a wall. Then, soon after, my vision blacked out.
I reached a level where I couldn’t distinguish colors because no light entered. Even so, gravity was still dragging my body downward.
Is this not the end of the descent? Am I even doing qi regulation and meditation? At the start, I could at least faintly hear Tang Ji-hye’s grumbling.
After that, sound grew distant, as if the surrounding air had softly crushed it. At that moment, I pulled a little trick.
[Buffing the Operator’s mental stat.]
That alone wouldn’t make it a trick. To test my limits, I pulled out a ‘constraint’.
[Nerfing all stats except Mental Strength.]
Ding.
[The Operator’s Life stat is nerfed.]
Ding.
[The Operator’s Strength stat is nerfed.]
Ding.
[The Operator’s Agility stat is nerfed.]
Ding.
[The Operator’s Mana stat is nerfed.]
Ding.
[The Operator’s Faith stat is nerfed.]
.
.
.
[The Operator’s Mental Strength is amplified 120-fold.]
It was while she was standing guard.
“Insane…….”
Tang Ji-hye quickly peeled her back away from the wall. Her gaze stabbed out the window.
There were signs of rain. Nothing unusual. As the name suggested, Lake City was a city of water. The stench of dampness was sickening.
However.
“What is wrong with those clouds.”
Threadlike clouds twisted like ropes connected the ground and the sky. Dragon clouds. Abnormal weather was abnormal weather. The problem was the timing.
Tang Ji-hye hurriedly tried to look at Lee Taebaek. At that moment, a thunderclap struck. Kwa-rururung!
Backlighting cast shadows, making the figure hard to see. Even so, his presence wasn’t something a mere bolt of lightning could erase.
Tang Ji-hye suddenly recalled a certain folktale. One where an Imugi attained enlightenment and ascended as a dragon.
“Python…….”
The revolver caught the light and flashed.