TRPM 272

chapter 272

From four directions, the elite forces of four guilds began attacking the Awakener Supremacists.

“Ugh?!”
“W-wait…!”
“Argh…! My bones…! My bones…!”

The Awakener Supremacists couldn’t withstand the ambush.
Especially…

“What’s this black stuff?!”
“It’s a shadow, you idiot!”
“Since when do shadows have physical force?!”
“Don’t you know about the Shadow Sorcerer?! Move to where there aren’t any shadows, quick!”

The Shadow Sorcerer who had been arrested not long ago—after trying to cut a deal—was now actively fighting.
From the looks of it, she had joined the Night Eagle Guild.

The combination of shadow manipulation and mana-erasing abilities must be extremely useful for undercover investigations or surprise raids like this one.

A shadow that carries no detectable mana suddenly attacking—few could respond to that.
That’s why the Supremacists couldn’t properly counter her.
Some quick-thinking ones did try to run toward shadowless spaces, but those were wide-open areas. Naturally, they were left defenseless against attacks coming from all sides.

“Ghhkk…!”
“Let’s see….”

I knocked out a Supremacist close to me and surveyed the situation.

They had greater numbers, but since our side consisted only of elites, no one seemed to be injured.
Some tried to escape, but each one was swiftly suppressed. It didn’t look like this would take long to finish.

“At this rate, it’ll all be over within ten minutes.”
“Right.”

I answered Yeon Mirae and floored another Supremacist.

And then—

Click…!
“!”

That sound again.
It seemed drowned out by the sounds of battle, but I was certain I’d heard it: a camera shutter.

“……”

And once again, the one taking pictures was Ji Hyeong-man.

With one hand, he easily subdued a Supremacist, and with the other, he snapped a photo of me.

I didn’t want to suspect him… but this was already the second time.
On the bus earlier, it could have been someone else he was shooting. But now? No. This time, he had definitely taken a picture of me.

And yet, there’s no malice….

On the contrary, it felt almost like concern for me.

…Concern while secretly photographing me? What kind of twisted situation was this?
I’d have to talk with him later. For now, suppressing the Supremacists came first.

“P-please… spare me…!”
“I’m not killing you.”
“Where am I… I can’t see ahead….”
“Hey, these ones are neutralized. Tie them up, quick.”

Besides the Shadow Sorcerer, others were pulling their weight too—
namely, the guild leaders themselves.

Well, except for Iron Blood Guild, whose strongest wasn’t the guild master but Yeon Mirae. But let’s leave that as the only exception.

The guild masters might not have been on par with Mirae or me, but they were Aura Masters, Grand Mages, or equivalent psychics—more than enough to move fast and subdue the Supremacists.

Shin Chae-geon, the Aura Master, knocked them out with the back of his sword or his fists.
Song Eun-ji, the Grand Mage, used illusion spells to deceive Supremacists into capturing themselves.

And then—

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“You dare…! Do something…! Like this…!”

Yoo Won-hun, the Iron-bodied psychic, vented his fury by beating them down.

Since the Supremacists belonged to his own guild, Regiones, of course he felt betrayed.
And the fact that they’d had to rely on other guilds’ strength to deal with them—that shame must have stung.

So his fists carried that emotion, landing with excessive force. But as long as he didn’t kill anyone, there was no problem.

“Huff… Huff… Next one…!”
“They’re all caught, Guild Master.”
“Huh…?”

By the time Yoo Won-hun had swung enough, the situation was already over.
All Supremacists were captured or had surrendered.

At least the ones who surrendered probably did so quickly because they didn’t want to get punched by him.

“Tsk….”

He clicked his tongue, still not fully calmed. But he knew that using force after the battle was done would only cause trouble later, so he restrained himself.

Completely different from the man I saw last time.

The Regiones guild members could barely breathe under his killing aura.

When I last saw him here at the coast, he’d seemed like a friendly neighborhood uncle. But now, the menace rolling off him made it perfectly clear why he was Regiones’ Guild Master.

Maybe not anymore, but back in the day, he must’ve been terrifying.

Of course, only Regiones members feared him.
The other guild members kept calmly doing their jobs regardless.

“Prepare for transport! Don’t forget to cuff their powers!”
“Yes. Situation’s under control. Dispatch all waiting transport vehicles. The bus? Load them into the vans first, then send the bus after—no need to clog the road.”

All that remained was loading the captured Supremacists into the incoming vehicles.

“Ow, it hurts! Put it on gently!”
“Ha… are you kidding me? You’re not common criminals—you’re being treated as terrorists.”
“Uwaah?!”

I watched them being cuffed and figured I had nothing left to do.
Ji Hyeong-man also seemed free.

“Ji Hyeong-man.”
“Hm? Ah, Artist-nim.”
“Mind talking with me a bit?”

At my words, his face froze.
His eyes darted frantically, as if searching for what mistake had made me call him over.

Did he think his picture-taking hadn’t been noticed?

“Ji Hyeong-man.”
“…Yes.”
“Why did you take my picture?”

The moment I asked, his stiff expression relaxed into brightness.

…So there was a reason.

“Oh, that? It’s trending these days.”
“…Photos?”
“Specifically, photos staged to look like a man and woman are dating.”

Why on earth is that trending? I thought to myself.

“Haha… A famous shaman did an interview saying if such photos are uploaded online, the pictured couple has a higher chance of ending up together.”
“……”
“And if you want to be sure, you can even send the photo directly and request a charm.”

I frowned but didn’t deny it.

It was a kind of empathic sorcery.
A photo staged like a couple could serve as a medium for a spell, nudging the two toward actually dating.

Of course, it wouldn’t directly tamper with their hearts—it just created opportunities.

Still, if such a photo was uploaded online, at least one side must have some affection. That would increase the odds indeed.

And since he mentioned sending them in directly, the shaman must’ve been monetizing this fad.

“…So you were taking pictures of me and Yeon Mirae?”
“Yes. Our Iron Blood Guild supports her.”
“……”

But yesterday, the photo I Ha-eun showed me had others too—

Yeon Mirae, Sophia, Kang Ga-ram, Ryu Ah-young, Elena.

Mirae had just been confessed by Ji Hyeong-man.
Sophia—likely someone from her assassin upbringing had hired paparazzi to help her.
Kang Ga-ram—her family could easily afford it.
Ryu Ah-young—plenty of ability users around the world adored her enough to pay paparazzi.
Elena—maybe the British royal family helped, or Arthur himself.

Seriously… of those five, only Mirae actually has romantic feelings for me.

Others who did feel that way—like I Ha-eun or Chloe Greenwood—weren’t in any photos.

Ha-eun had no backing force, and Chloe wasn’t in Korea.

This is absurd.

So all my recent worries boiled down to this?

“What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing. I’ll head back to the bus first.”

I sighed and walked toward the bus.
Ji Hyeong-man must’ve sensed how tangled my thoughts were, because he didn’t stop me.

Photos are paintings that capture their subject exactly as they are.

Back when cameras first appeared, many believed that being photographed meant losing your soul—since an identical image of oneself appeared on paper.

Of course, hardly anyone believes such superstition now.

(Heh… but what matters is that people once did.)

The fact that many once believed photos could steal souls makes it a story.

And in this world, stories hold power.

If many believed it, then that belief could give rise to a camera that truly steals souls.

The Arch-Shaman had gathered countless photos to harness that power.
Photos of the Artist, Han Gun-woo.

(…But why collect romantic ones?)

The Oracle, watching, asked.

If he only needed Gun-woo’s photos, there were more efficient ways. Why specifically romance-like photos?

(No, don’t tell me. You’ll just say it’s another spell thing.)
(Heh…)

The Arch-Shaman chuckled, then explained:

(It’s harder to draw out a soul from a tense photo. Tension means awareness, after all. But in casual, daily photos, the subject is defenseless—easier to extract from.)
(…?)
(And at the Artist’s age, when is one most defenseless? When in love, of course. That’s why I arranged those romance-related interviews.)

The Oracle’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t expected him to reveal so much so easily.

(Thanks to that, we can now…)

He raised a camera—
the reward from the dungeon they’d conquered recently, where the only monster and boss had been a Jiangshi shaped like Han Gun-woo from before his regression.

Click…!

A flash burst.

“…!”

In the scattered photos on the ground, the many images of Gun-woo turned their heads, startled, to look this way.

(And thus, we’ve successfully summoned the Artist’s soul.)