TRPM 107

chapter 107

All the animals that had been attacking humans due to the Paphnir controlled by Alex were knocked out, and then, with the death of Kim Baekrang, the mastermind behind the terror, this terror incident seemed to have finally concluded.

At least, on the surface.

[“The Artist’s identity is Han Geon-woo? Does that even make sense?”]
[“Baekrang must have been just talking nonsense as he died.”]

Kim Baekrang had anticipated the possibility of failing to escape during this terror incident, so from the moment he began clashing with the police, he was streaming real-time footage through a camera hidden in his clothing.

The police, suspecting that Kim Baekrang might be in contact with someone, were aware that he was broadcasting video.

However, since there was nothing particularly problematic about the combat footage spreading, they had left it be…

The problem was the words he spoke just before dying.

He said the Artist’s identity was Han Geon-woo.

[“But doesn’t that sound plausible? If Han Geon-woo really is the Artist, a lot of things make sense.”]
[“Even though it’s recent, if you look at old materials… back when the Artist first appeared in Yeouido, his face was clearly visible. Comparing that to Han Geon-woo now, there are quite a few similarities.”]

Most of the people who saw the footage dismissed Kim Baekrang’s words as nonsense, but some surprisingly argued that he might have been right, providing reasoning to support that view.

In particular, materials from the Yeouido incident showed Han Geon-woo before he used the recognition-disrupting artifact, making it relatively easy to compare faces.

[“Hey. So if we assume the Artist who appeared in Yeouido was Han Geon-woo, that would mean a first grader displayed that much power?”]
[“At the time of that incident, Han Geon-woo would have been at school, right? He was a student then.”]

However, such reasoning ironically strengthened the argument of those claiming Han Geon-woo couldn’t possibly be the Artist.

Of course, there were counterarguments suggesting it might have been a doppelgänger of Han Geon-woo, but if the Artist truly was operating as a doppelgänger, it would imply that Han Geon-woo’s real abilities were stronger than the Artist’s publicly known powers. Over time, the number of people who believed Han Geon-woo was the Artist dwindled.

It was simply an impossible scenario.

“(…)”

Yet, one woman who read all of the posts carefully—Oracle—could not dismiss the possibility that Han Geon-woo was indeed the Artist.

“(Baekrang faced the Artist directly and survived. So he would have had more material to judge the Artist than we ever could.)”

Perhaps there was something only visible to those who had seen the Artist in person.

The important point was that Kim Baekrang must have had a clear reason to believe the Artist was Han Geon-woo.

With that thought, Oracle began investigating Han Geon-woo’s life from birth to the present.

Of course, her organization in modern Korea couldn’t access as many records, but…

“(We were able to secure some materials from Sydney.)”
“(Sydney?)”
“(Yes, specifically….)”

It was regarding a terror incident we had carried out a few years ago, in which Han Geon-woo had been caught up.

“(The Sydney terror….)”

Oracle’s organization had staged a terror attack in Sydney years ago. Even though they knew it would fail, they went through with it…

“(Right. And at that time, Yeon Mi-rae was there, along with her disciples Lee Ha-eun and Han Geon-woo, who went to Sydney supposedly for training.)”

Oracle reviewed the materials and recalled past events. The records contained a rough account of Han Geon-woo’s actions during his visit to Sydney…

“(Hmm?)”

Oracle widened her eyes at part of what she saw.

“(Kidnapped by terrorists. And escaped on his own?)”
“(According to the records at the time, yes.)”

Preposterous.

Back then, Oracle’s terror organization had intended to kidnap people while committing the attack, but ultimately failed to abduct anyone. Their plans had been foiled by a certain noble…

“(… because of the noble hero we took out with missiles… it failed.)”
“(……)”

Oracle and the other terrorists recalled the conversation from that time.

[(They say everyone in the shelter was overcome by sleeping gas… but strangely, except for one person, nobody was actually kidnapped.)]
[(Ha…! Tsk…! I see. That was the goal.)]
[(The person killed by the missile… they knowingly sacrificed themselves.)]
[(They must have thought we might bomb Sydney with missiles if things went wrong, so they sacrificed themselves. Maybe they even foresaw such a future.)]

At the time, they believed a noble hero had sacrificed himself to stop their terror.

But… had he truly sacrificed himself?

“(…Impossible. As I said then, no one can deceive a Karma-sensing camera.)”
“(It literally can’t disappear unless you give up your life….)”

The shamans had said this. Oracle shook her head as she listened.

“(If Han Geon-woo is really the Artist… he must be using a doppelgänger. Even while he was in Sydney, the Artist continued to operate in Korea. And….)”

Operating a doppelgänger didn’t mean he only had one.

“(If Han Geon-woo sent a doppelgänger to the missile strike location… simply retrieving it could make it look like he had died.)”

In reality, Han Geon-woo had traversed space, but Oracle and her subordinates hadn’t considered this possibility. They assumed the Artist was only an Aura user.

Although they suspected that some of the Artist’s allies might be spacetime-based psychics like Oracle, they never imagined the Artist himself could manipulate spacetime.

Thus, no one present considered that Han Geon-woo could transcend space.

“(So if Han Geon-woo is the Artist, everything fits.)”

Of course, there were errors in their logic along the way, but in the end, Oracle concluded that Han Geon-woo was indeed the Artist.

“(…Wait. Does that mean we’ve been thwarted by that kid all this time?)”

A member of the organization exclaimed. If Han Geon-woo was the Artist, it meant the person who had been interfering with their terror activities was still just a child.

“(Exactly.)”
“(This is absurd….)”

It would have been understandable if Han Geon-woo were a spacetime psychic; age is meaningless to them. But he wasn’t.

“(…Is it possible that Han Geon-woo is a multi-ability user?)”

Thus, a member asked. Oracle’s team had glimpsed the future and knew that some individuals awakened multiple abilities simultaneously.

But…

“(No.)”

Oracle dismissed that possibility.

“(Even if he were a multi-ability user, it requires that the powers share the same medium—like Aura and magic, or psychic ability and spirit magic. But Aura comes from the heart, spacetime ability from the brain—they’re completely different.)”

Even if Aura master Han Geon-woo had awakened multiple abilities, he couldn’t use psychic powers, only magic.

“(…Haa….)”

Oracle sighed.

“(Still, if Han Geon-woo really is the Artist, that’s advantageous for us, right? He doesn’t know us, but we know him….)”
“(There’s no guarantee he doesn’t know us. He’s the Artist. He might know everything but just can’t attack due to the environment of our location.)”

No, that might only be a matter of time.

(…Even though we know the Artist’s identity, fighting him is still insane.)

Another issue was that while the Artist was in Korea, he had indirectly attacked their base—supposedly the safest place of all.

(The reason we’ve been able to move freely and conduct terror operations, and why low-level members could be used as expendable, is because the headquarters has always been safe.)

Even low-level members were aware, at least vaguely, of the headquarters’ location, and they realized it was safer than anywhere else.

So, they aspired to be officially affiliated with headquarters, and Oracle manipulated that desire by erasing their memory of it.

(This way, only the desire to belong remains, while the actual information is hidden.)

Until now, they could use those who wanted to join as expendables.

But what if they realized the base could be attacked?

The previous attack had been concealed by erasing the memories of personnel and hiding the casualties, but it would be harder to maintain secrecy in the future.

Oracle looked at her subordinates.

“(What about directly attacking Han Geon-woo? If we launch a missile….)”
“(We don’t have infinite missiles. And unlike in Australia, launching missiles in Seoul is difficult. First, moving them near Korea risks exposure, and firing one in the middle of Seoul has a high chance of interception.)”
“(Curses… wouldn’t work. A strong Aura master could easily repel them.)”
“(What about targeting people around him?)”

As soon as they discovered Han Geon-woo was the Artist, they began scheming how to kill him.

Oracle frowned at them.

“(I’ll say this because it seems many of you have foolish ideas: if anyone even attempts to target Han Geon-woo or those close to him, I will expel them from this base.)”
“(……)”
“(……)”

Although she said “expel,” it was essentially a death sentence.

Ironically, their base was safer than anywhere else in the world, but outside, even the strongest awakened ones would be in mortal danger.

Knowing this, the members remained silent. Oracle inwardly lamented their foolishness.

(They still don’t understand the Artist’s power… Well, they’ve probably completely forgotten that the Artist once attacked our base….)

It didn’t seem wise to erase memories that would disadvantage them recklessly.

Oracle thought so.