Remnants (3)

"Ugh!"

Deep in the mountains, where no one comes, a man staggered and collapsed.

As he writhed in pain, gripping the grass tightly, the grass withered and shriveled as if its life force had been drained.

"Is it painful?"

"...!!"

At that moment, a familiar voice came from overhead.

When he hastily lifted his head, he saw a man with a cold, stern impression.

Sebin—that was probably the name he was called by.

Currently, he was the right hand of the one leading the demons.

"What... what on earth did you do to my body...?"

"I used a rather precious material, you know. You're lasting longer than expected. Most have broken down by this point."

Sebin looked at the gasping man, Shim Chun-hoo, with interest.

He hadn't really expected much from this human.

Up until now, there had even been A-rank awakened ones better than Shim Chun-hoo used for this 'experiment', but most had not survived even a single day.

But Shim Chun-hoo, not only had he awakened to the demons' abilities, but he had already survived for more than two weeks.

"There are no signs of your body collapsing. Could it be you've really adapted?"

"Krrk... argh!!"

Shim Chun-hoo wanted nothing more than to kill him right this instant at Sebin's mutterings.

After the failure on Jeju Island, he had thought the demons would kill him.

But not like this.

He had never imagined they'd use him like a lab rat.

"Why do you look so wronged? Didn't you want power—great strength? That must be why you cooperated with us in the first place, wasn't it?"

"... What are you talking about—"

"I told you, didn't I? What I implanted in your body was a precious artifact. And we're not the ones who made it."

Due to the pain, it was difficult for Shim Chun-hoo to properly understand Sebin's words.

But he managed to stagger to his feet.

His chest burned hot.

He wanted to kill anyone right now and be soaked in their blood.

"It was something made by a human. Of course, a human from another world, not this one..."

Sebin looked into Shim Chun-hoo's eyes, which were gradually being overtaken by madness.

As expected, it was not proper adaptation.

It was incomplete.

"What I implanted in your body is the remnant of a human hero. A human who fought in the Great War. Pulled from the body of a monster created solely to kill us."

Humans were the same, here or there.

Though possessing weaker bodies and strength than demons, they were beings who would go to any lengths to overcome that.

The one in front of him, Shim Chun-hoo, was such a human, and the remnant implanted into him was the same.

To surpass the demons, to make use of the hated blood of demons, to mix in the strengths of various monsters—a remnant created through such means.

"As far as I know, only one person has ever made it completely his own."

Sebin had seen the news a while ago, the broadcast that caused Shim Chun-hoo to go into hiding.

The clash with Lee Soo-ah, and with her was her manager, Park Jung-woo.

"Park Jung-woo."

"...!"

"You must know the name. You would have encountered him then."

Sebin slowly approached Shim Chun-hoo.

Shim Chun-hoo reflexively swung his hand at Sebin, but it did not leave even a scratch. The claws that had torn human bodies to shreds were useless against Sebin.

"Did you fight against him?"

"..."

"Did his hand, like yours, turn black?"

Shim Chun-hoo did not answer.

No, it was closer to being unable to answer. As he gazed at Sebin with shaken eyes, Sebin understood what Shim Chun-hoo wanted to say.

"So it was as I thought. Not just someone with the same name."

"... Who... is he? Isn't he just a manager? He doesn't seem to be an awakener... Just a regular person, right...?"

"Hmm, who knows."

Sebin chuckled and grabbed Shim Chun-hoo's wrist, which was digging at Sebin's chest.

"To be honest, I don't know either. I have no clue why someone from 300 years ago is here now. Most demons from that era are just howling in the Demon Realm, clutching the Demon King's corpse."

"... Demon King?"

"The thing is, Park Jung-woo might know how you can survive."

Grabbing his wrist and inspecting Shim Chun-hoo's body, Sebin realized this experiment had failed as well.

He had lasted relatively long, but Shim Chun-hoo didn't have much time left.

"How to survive..."

"You must know it as well. You can take part of the power of the beings you consume. For an ordinary human, the heart; for an awakener, the mana hall. By consuming those, you can extend your lifespan."

In short, Sebin was saying only one thing:

Go and find Park Jung-woo—and kill him.

"But Park Jung-woo doesn't have to do that. Even though he doesn't kill and eat other humans like you, he's still alive. So he must know something. If you kill him and eat his heart, you'll probably be less overtaken by that madness as well."

"... Is that so."

Muttering as such, Shim Chun-hoo walked away, staggering.

Sebin thought he would head straight to Park Jung-woo's location, but instead, he went in a completely different direction.

Somewhere a bit outside of Seoul.

A place where he could grow stronger by consuming other humans.

'Not a dumb guy, but what a waste.'

If only he hadn't caused such a ruckus, he could have been of use much longer.

He was more competent than even JM's Guildmaster or any of Javelin Guild's executives.

'That's why I tried transplanting it this time.'

And that judgment was not so bad after all.

In fact, though Shim Chun-hoo became terminal, he was the most successful so far.

The power held by Park Jung-woo, who led those who killed the Demon King.

If only he could completely uncover that power.

"... Anyway, I should move on from JM or Javelin, to somewhere else soon. If it's him, he's probably already on our trail."

Sebin wasn't about to touch him recklessly until perfectly ready.

Besides, this time, even S-rank awakened ones were sticking to his side.

"Well then, I'm counting on you, Shim Chun-hoo."

Murmuring the name of the one who had once been human and had now vanished, Sebin soon disappeared.

***

"... Oh my, you want me to help you look for someone?"

When I went to the Unique training hall, where Yeon-ji was practicing dark magic alone, she replied with a terribly tired-looking face.

"Why? Are you busy or something?"

"No... Haaa. I'm just realizing how popular I must be."

Looking at her with a puzzled expression at her incomprehensible words, Yeon-ji shook her head as if it was nothing special.

"So, who are you looking for that you came to me? Is it something to do with Upstream?"

"No, not Upstream. It's Javelin's vice-guildmaster, Shim Chun-hoo."

When I replied nonchalantly, Yeon-ji's eyes grew wide.

Then, looking around, she checked that no one else overheard us.

The training grounds, recently remodeled with her new wealth, were quite spacious, but it seemed she was still concerned since there were quite a few people around.

"Wow, you just say things like that out loud?"

"Why not?"

After all, since Soo-ah was already investigating the incident involving Shim Chun-hoo, me gathering information independently wasn't going to be a problem.

"But that's related to Lee Soo-ah, isn't it? Wouldn't it be better to do the looking together with her?"

"It's because this is something connected to those people."

"... Those people?"

Only then did Yeon-ji narrow her eyes.

She must have immediately understood who I meant by 'those people'.

The demons.

"That's quite an interesting thing to say. Fine, so how exactly do I help?"

"You saw on the news that Shim Chun-hoo went into hiding, right?"

"Of course."

"Shim Chun-hoo's body has their blood running through it."

I remembered the image of his blackened hand.

That's only possible if one possesses demon blood.

You could compare demon blood to magic power in humans.

In short, it's the source of strength.

That's why a demon's heart, which generates blood, contains such tremendous power.

Of course, it's not quite as great as a dragon heart... but it's next after that.

"But unlike magic power, the strength that flows from demon blood is hard to detect. Unless it's deliberately leaked. Plus, it dissipates quickly."

Unless a demon personally released their power, like when the Super Hunter K finals were held, even I would have trouble detecting it.

I'm familiar with searching for demonic traces, but even then, unlike demons, it's not so simple to find them.

Demons can sense others of their kind nearby by instinct, even without actively searching.

That must be true for half-demons like Yeon-ji as well.

"So... you want me to help you find Shim Chun-hoo."

"Right."

"Does Lee Soo-ah go with us, too?"

Yeon-ji clearly assumed Soo-ah would naturally come along.

That was only natural, since this was Soo-ah's first assignment after being made an ambassador for awakener crime prevention.

"No, it's just the two of us."

"Why? Wouldn't Soo-ah catching him be better for publicity and all?"

"She can't catch him. He's going to die."

But having faced him myself, I knew.

He didn't have much time left to live.

He probably attacked people and devoured their mana halls or human hearts instinctively in an attempt to extend his own life.

'So it's different from what was done to me?'

That question occurred to me, but for now, I just needed to catch him and ask.

"So you're saying... you don't want Lee Soo-ah involved in a killing."

"Something like that. But we're not really intending to kill him, either."

"Still... you sure are too much sometimes. Why do you always leave these difficult jobs to me?"

Yeon-ji sighed, looking annoyed.

I did feel a little sorry, since it was often this way with Yeon-ji.

It's not like I intended to keep putting her in life-or-death situations like this over and over.

But there was no one else I could ask.

And it wasn't just because there was a 'leash' on Yeon-ji.

"It's because you're strong."

"Pardon? There are plenty of people stronger than me, aren't there? There's Shin Ah-yeon, Lee Soo-ah..."

"I'm not talking about physical strength."

Sure, in terms of sheer talent, she couldn't compete with Ah-yeon or Soo-ah.

But Yeon-ji was different from those two.

She was tenacious, wouldn't give up, and was determined to reach her goals without fussing about the means.

So, though she had been broken before, she reflected on her past and was trying to start anew.

She was giving up everything she'd accomplished in her past.

That's not something an ordinary person could ever do.

"I mean strength of heart."

"..."

It wasn't that Ah-yeon or Soo-ah had weak mental strength.

If anything, both were strong in that regard.

But both were vulnerable to the misfortunes of others.

What if someone they couldn't save died?

Even Ah-yeon went into hiding three years ago because she couldn't save me.

So if Shim Chun-hoo died in front of Soo-ah, she, too, would clearly be deeply hurt.

Because then she would have failed to save the younger brother of Shim Hyuk-soo, someone she'd built a relationship with.

What would become of Soo-ah after that, I had no way of knowing.

"Sure, you're the best person to track down Shim Chun-hoo, but that's not the only reason."

"What a nice way you put it."

"I really mean it."

"... Hmph."

Muttering like that, Yeon-ji bit her lower lip for a moment, then finally opened her mouth.

"So where are we going?"

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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