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Bang Yoonseob couldn’t run away from someone’s gaze even while he was asleep.
What initially started as a feeling of discomfort grew into a huge fear, weighing on Bang Yoonseob greatly.
He trembled, doing his best not to make eye contact with the being that he feels to be gazing at him.
He heard a whisper, the voice of someone smiling.
[Until when can you feign ignorance?]
As soon as he heard the voice, Bang Yoonseob felt like ice water was poured directly on his brain, his blood felt like freezing.
With all his might, Bang Yoonseob pretended not to hear it.
The fruit of his training with Tak Geosan proved useful as he freely moved energy waves to cover his ears.
“Yoonseob-ah, you’re going to be late!”
“Ahk!”
Bang Yoonseob regained his senses from his mother’s scolding.
He looked around the room and found that his door was half-open.
Bang Yoonseob’s mother came in to wake him up once, but she seems to have given him more time to sleep when she saw that her son was sleeping deeply.
He had a very terrible and scary dream just before he woke up, but Bang Yoonseob couldn’t remember it well.
“You did well on the test, son, so I’ll feed you something delicious.”
He sat in front of the table and was welcomed by a bowl of boiled bulgogi with enoki mushrooms.
His father looked at the side dish bowl with regret as he pushed the egg rolls toward Bang Yoonseob.
Bang Yoonseob looked at the side dish with a stupid face.
He wanted to attend private education instead of Eungwang High, earning him scolds, but now they were being too friendly to him.
‘…I wouldn’t have made it to Eungwang High if they didn’t.’
Some kids study well on their own, but some kids were not.
Bang Yoonseob belonged to the latter, and his parents knew it well.
So when Bang Yoonseob’s energy waves awakened and he showed interest in Eungwang High, his parents helped him study.
Preparations for Eungwang High admission were so difficult, and there were many kids at Bang Yoonseob’s school who bullied him.
As a result of the stress that Bang Yoonseob accumulated, he often pathetically vented his anger on his parents.
He was still being pathetic.
“I don’t eat mushrooms.”
“Then pick out the meat and eat that.”
Saying that, Bang Yoonseob’s mother gave him more meat, and his father opted to eat the mushrooms.
Seeing his parents treat him kindly strangely made Bang Yoonseob feel worse.
He could act angry as he did when he was preparing for Eungwang High’s entrance exam, but now he just felt pitiful.
Bang Yoonseob’s parents have been kind to him for a long while now, but Bang Yoonseob cannot notice it.
“You must’ve had a hard time with your exams. You went to bed early but you got up late.”
“Should I call Professor Noh Youngmi that you can’t go to school? The exams are over anyway and tomorrow is the festival so I don’t think you’ll have a proper class.”
Bang Yoonseob’s mother wasn’t born with abilities, and his mother was a player although not very strong.
Bang Yoonseob’s parents didn’t know the situation properly.
He didn’t want to let them know since they couldn’t help him anyway.
Bang Yoonseob stuffed himself, trying to forget the odd feelings he felt in the morning.
Tomorrow was the festival, and everyone at Eungwang High was busy preparing for it, but Bang Yoonseob had something else he was worried about.
‘Am I getting weird because of that eye?’
Some time ago, Bang Yoonseob met a person who wore a robe with a pattern that he had never seen before.
When he was absent-minded with a cigarette that he couldn’t smoke, the man talked to him, saying that he’d give them strength.
Bang Yoonseob treated him as a part of a pseudo-religious group and told him to go off, but the man didn’t leave.
— I’ll instill in you the power of the man I serve. This authority is still only a seed, but it will sprout and give you strength by eating the feelings that you have.
The robed man held out a strange sphere.
It was a strange bead that seeped to be hardened into a sphere by flowing black ink on purple candle wax.
It looked like an eyeball at first glance.
Surprised, Bang Yoonseob tried to scream, but his voice strangely didn’t come out.
— It just so happens that he has two eyes left. I decided to use one as a nutrient for the seeds. A very powerful bond will be formed.
The purple eyeball was left by Avaritia’s Priest.
Invidius’ priest processed it and made seeds to be planted in a medium that would imbibe the genus.
The seed was about to be planted in Bang Yoonseob.
The Invidius’ priest tried to push the seed into Bang Yoonseob’s heart.
But it didn’t go the way he planned.
The bead pushed with energy waves repeatedly rolled out toward Bang Yoonseob’s heart.
— It works better if it’s planted in the heart, but it’s not working. Your mental state is disastrously low, so what else is there?
Eventually, Invidius’ priest planted the seed in Bang Yoonseob’s right hand.
Bang Yoonseob had to watch the sinister-colored sphere being sucked into his right hand.
— It’ll slow down, but your right hand’s output will be stronger.
Having planted the seed, the Invidius’ priest withdrew with satisfaction.
When Bang Yoonseob came back to his senses, he was alone again.
There was no trace in his right hand, and his memory was blurred.
Bang Yoonseob thought it was a daydream.
And as of that day, Bang Yoonseob continuously changed.
He became strong enough to shake off Mok Wooram who was chasing him as a part-time job.
‘That’s why I thought I got stronger with the spirit that the pseudo-taoist old man was talking about!’
However, the more he gained strength, the more unbearable the feeling of jealousy was.
His anger soars and his energy waves fluctuate in his right hand whenever he sees Joo Soohyuk smiling with their classmates.
‘I became strong! If I become strong enough to beat that bastard, I’m sure…’
Following Joo Soohyuk, Choi Younghee came to mind.
Bang Yoonseob smiled faintly as he ate the cookies that he bought.
The next moment, Joo Soohyuk joined Choi Younghee in his mind.
He looked through photos of Joo Soohyuk participating in youth sports competitions before, and it was easy to spot Choi Younghee in the pictures.
Choi Younghee, standing next to Joo Soohyuk, looked brighter and happier than when he met her a few days ago.
—…Did you get involved with a strange person?
Choi Younghee grabbed him and asked like that.
She looked like she was about to cry.
Bang Yoonseob was annoyed that day because he was compared to Joo Soohyuk.
He belatedly realized that he misunderstood something, but he couldn’t find the guts to apologize.
He knew that even if he tried, he would be swallowed up by jealousy and anger that suddenly rises whenever he sees her face.
Bang Yoonseob’s spoon stopped moving at some point.
His parents watched him anxiously, while Invidius’ priest looked satisfied.
“It’s going smoothly. It’ll be done on the 24th of December.”
In the darkness, the Invidius’ priest was laughing, a purple eyeball in his hand.
It was the other side paired with the eyeball planted in Bang Yoonseob’s hand.
The purple diagonals rising from the eyeball were strangely distorted, mixed with the priest’s energy waves.
It was evidence that the power eating Bang Yoonseob’s emotions was getting stronger.
‘I chose a guy with a weak mentality, but I was worried because he was resisting it a lot. But this is good enough.’
Invidius’ priest dug into Bang Yoonseob’s consciousness to destroy his mentality.
What he did was to instill fear in his unconscious mind just before he woke up, shaking his mind and further encouraging jealousy.
Digging into his dream would be the most effective, but unless he was an incubus, it was a big risk.
It is said that he was calm now, but he didn’t want to offend the god Insomnium.
‘Things would’ve been easier if it weren’t for Insomnium. If only I could plant the seed in his heart…’
The priest recalled how Bang Yoonseob’s heart rejected the seed.
It sometimes interfered with the seed as well.
Those crystals that protected Bang Yoonseob were shaped like snake scales.
***
At the Cheonik Mountain Trail.
Students were busy preparing for the festival, and the cold weather led students away from the trail.
“There’s no warm juice here.”
Sung Siwan held out a canned coffee from the vending machine.
He used to offer me coffee, but at some point, he began to offer me juice.
He remembers my drink preference well.
“Christmas eve is next week so I don’t have so much time. Sorry to interrupt you while you were talking to a friend.”
“It’s alright.”
Sung Siwan apologized again.
He shouldn’t be sorry considering that I owed him a lot this year.
“To start, I passed my grandfather’s test. Now It’s Idam’s turn.”
Sung Siwan overcame the mental attack.
Passing the test faster than I expected, he really was Sung Gukeon’s cousin and the grandson of the former head of the association.
If Sung Siwan took this much time though, would Gye Idam be able to pass the test before he graduates?
There’s no way that a person who lived his life cursing and bullying others would have a strong mind.
“Idam is taking a different test… and I don’t think he can do it alone.”
“A different test?”
“Yeah, Idam said this to Grandfather.”
Sung Siwan outlined what happened.
Gye Idam asked the former head to analyze his memory.
‘Looks like he’s found a way.’
Gye Idam said he couldn’t remember the hidden quest for Ahn Dain.
The first thing that came to mind was mental attack power.
Once someone goes under that attack, it can’t be easily removed.
It’s not that people can’t remember it.
Sometimes, all it takes is a single clue.
There are people in this world who can read memories.
‘It’s hard to read memories by attacking a player’s mind, but it would be easier if one’s energy waves are controlled.’
If someone suppressed their energy waves while their memories are being read, it might be easier.
Having himself defenseless against the powerful former head of the association, I’m sure even the slightest memories that he’s forgotten would come back to him.
There’s a great risk of mental damage, but it’s worth it if we’re trying to retrieve crucial information.
“My grandfather put out two conditions. Oh, for your information, Idam didn’t want to tell me so I asked Grandfather myself.”
In exchange for analyzing his memories, the former head of the association set out two conditions.
First was that they are to fight one-on-one physically.
Second was that Sung Siwan and I will accompany him.
‘…I don’t wanna go.’
Why do I have to go for that Gye Bastard?
But Ahn Dain’s hidden quest…
I could either go or not go, but I couldn’t just choose the latter.
I drank the can of coffee in one gulp, clenched my teeth, and answered.
“I’ll go.”
“That’s a relief…!”
Sung Siwan looked remarkably relieved.
I was upset, but I decided to be happy that Sung Siwan was happy and that I could help Ahn Dain with the information that we’ll get.
On my way to class, after Sung Siwan and I parted ways, I received two messages.
First was my student and sunbae, Yeom Junyeol.
Second was Moon Saeron.
When I was about to check the messages…
“Euishin-ah, choose between the castanet and the triangle!”
I opened our classroom’s door and I was made to select between two options.
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