TRPM 36

chapter 36

Fenrir—no, Sarang—carried out my command a little differently.

Instead of tearing into the criminals inside the building like I told him to, Sarang simply swallowed them whole.

I had ordered him to bite them to death, but he just gulped them down.

‘… Was it because he didn’t want his master to see blood?’

That wouldn’t have mattered since I had already cast a spell to blindfold myself from the gore.

Or so I thought…

“!”

Then I realized Ha-eun was staring straight at Sarang. That made me accept that Sarang’s choice was the right one.

It meant Ha-eun had pierced through the concealment spell I had cast on myself and was seeing Sarang directly.

If she had witnessed Sarang chewing the criminals apart, the shock might have been too great for her.

‘Well, Ha-eun is a genius at support magic. Since blindness spells count as a type of support spell, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to break through it.’

Even though I had taken extra care when weaving the spell, Ha-eun had still managed to see Sarang.

No doubt it had to do with the bond contract between her and Sarang.

‘Looks like her brainwashing has worn off too.’

The other kidnapped children were still sitting there blank-eyed, but Ha-eun alone seemed freed.

That must be thanks to her talent for support magic—and her contract with Sarang.

But Ha-eun seeing Sarang’s true form with her own eyes wasn’t exactly good news.

Until now, she thought he was just a pet-like familiar in the form of a normal puppy.

‘… At least she doesn’t seem scared…’

Ha-eun was surprised, sure, but not frightened.

Relieved, I stepped forward and revealed myself.

“Hello, little gir—”
“Gunwoo…?”
“……”

For a moment, I doubted whether I had come here in my true body instead of through a puppet. Did the puppet not have its mask artifact on?

But no, that wasn’t it.

Ha-eun had pierced through the artifact’s effect and recognized me.

Not my body—my puppet.

“Gunwoo! What’s wrong with Sarang? Is he sick?”
“Hmm… No, he’s not sick. But could you turn your head away for a moment?”
“Eh? Oh… okay…”

I breathed out in relief when Ha-eun obediently did as I asked.

Then I turned back to Sarang.

“… Grrr…”

Sarang had long since swallowed all the criminals inside. Now he was groaning as if in pain.

‘… Of course.’

Sarang might look like a wolf, but he isn’t really a wolf.

Familiars aren’t normal animals—they usually don’t even have organs like digestive systems inside them.

Small things like kibble at home could be broken down into mana that sustained his body, but swallowing something human-sized? That was bound to cause problems.

“Spit it out.”
“… Grrr…”
“Hurry up. You’ll really get sick like that.”

Not that a mana-formed being like Sarang could truly get sick, but I didn’t bother explaining.

At my command, Sarang coughed the swallowed criminals back out.

Thud.
“Ugh…”
“Cough! Cough!”

The criminals sprawled across the ground, looking exactly as they had when swallowed.

I picked the one who seemed the strongest—usually the leader in an organization is the strongest—and shook him awake.

“Hey.”
“Ugh… Who… are you…!”
“Doesn’t matter.”

I pressed my foot on his throat.

“Why did you kidnap the children? If you don’t answer properly, I’ll snap your neck right now.”
“… To offer them as sacrifices…”
“Sacrifices?”

Human sacrifice? That’s what he meant?

The Awakener System existed to ensure humanity’s survival.

Knowledge about sacrificing humans as offerings would never be provided.

But lunatics existed everywhere. Those who gained knowledge of magic or sorcery sometimes twisted it into grotesque rituals, human sacrifices.

And the reason was simple.

Because it was efficient.

‘So you kidnapped children in the name of “efficiency.”’

As someone well-versed in magic myself, I knew why the victims were children.

Because children are pure.

And the purer the offering, the more “valuable” the sacrifice.

Worse still, children offered as sacrifices never rested in peace even after death.

“You filthy scum…”
“I-It’s not human sacrifice! The Doctor just said he needed the cells of Awakened children…!”
“……”

So it wasn’t human sacrifice after all.

Still, needing the cells of children was hardly a decent motive.

“Normally, even we wouldn’t touch kids… but with all the other organizations being wiped out by that Iron-Blood Guild… we were desperate!”
“Save the excuses.”

I kicked his head.

Crack!

His head separated from his body.

Blood splattered everywhere.

“… Damn it.”

I hadn’t meant to. My anger boiled over and I killed him too brutally.

And with Ha-eun right behind me, too…

“… Well, too late now.”

I used Samadhi True Fire and incantation magic to erase the corpse and bloodstains.

Then I turned to the rest of the criminals, who were staring at me nervously.

“Where is this ‘Doctor’?”
“……”
“……”

They exchanged glances but stayed silent.

They knew that answering or not answering would both end badly.

“That’s fine. You don’t have to answer.”

Because I had other ways of extracting the information.

I gave Sarang a command instead.

“Sarang, take Ha-eun and the other kids outside.”
“Woof!”

The giant wolf barked in reply, then trotted over to Ha-eun and the children.

He gently lifted them and placed them on his back.

“W-whoa?!”

The other kids were still brainwashed and unconscious, so only Ha-eun yelped in surprise.

Still, she trusted Sarang not to harm her, so she clung to him.

She shouted at me as he carried them away.

“I don’t know what’s going on… but I’ll see you later, Gunwoo!”
“……”

Later… what was I supposed to tell her?

If she could even break free of brainwashing, my usual memory suggestions probably wouldn’t work anymore…

“… Gunwoo?”
“……”

Lost in thought, I barely noticed one of the criminals whisper my name.

“… So you heard my name?”
“Eek?!”

Bad luck for them.

I had planned to hand them to the police or the Iron-Blood Guild after extracting information.

But if they knew my identity, I couldn’t let them live.

“P-please spare—!”
“No.”

My foot crushed his body before he could finish.

“… Damn, I forgot again.”

I should have gotten the info about the Doctor first.

Shaking my head, I grabbed another criminal by the skull.

“Aaaghhh?!”
“Now… what kind of man is this Doctor?”

I rifled through his memories with my internal energy.

And found out.

‘… A Chimera.’

A monster stitched from multiple creatures, like in stories.

That was what the Doctor was trying to create.

A chimera that carried both human and monster genes.

Originally, he had intended to research slowly.

But with crime syndicates being crushed one after another, it had become difficult to secure quality genetic material.

He realized time was running out before he himself was caught.

So he paid high prices to the syndicates, ordering them to kidnap Awakened children.

And this group had kidnapped many at once so they could cash out big and flee abroad.

“Ugh…”
“……”

I finished pulling every last memory, then snuffed them all out.

“… First, let’s clean this up.”

With Samadhi True Fire, I erased all traces of what happened here.

Then I leapt through the shattered ceiling to the rooftop.

“Ah, Gunwoo!”

There was Ha-eun, smiling brightly despite the unconscious children around her.

… Right. There was still the problem of her recognizing me.

“Um… Ha-eun?”
“Yeah?”
“… Today, everything you saw here—it’s a secret, okay?”

For a moment I thought about weaving energy into my words to force compliance.

But guilt stopped me.

I decided to persuade her instead.

“Secret? Okay!”

She nodded without hesitation.

I blinked. That easy?

“Because it’s a promise with you, Gunwoo! I’ll definitely keep it!”
“……”

My conscience stung.

To think I had been planting suggestions into a child like her…

Even if they were meant to protect her.

“Hey, you know, I’ve never told anyone about those other things either—like what you said before. About the strange energy in my body that isn’t mana, or the knowledge I have that isn’t magic-related. I’ve kept that secret too! So I’ll keep this one, definitely!”
“……”

My eyes widened in shock.

[Ha-eun, that energy inside you isn’t strange. Understand?]
[And that knowledge you have that isn’t magic—it’s not strange either. But you must hide it from others. Got it?]
[It’s not strange, but you must keep it secret.]

That was the suggestion I had left her with, over and over.

And every time, I’d erased her memory afterward with Forgetfulness.

But now… she remembered.

‘… She definitely forgot at first. But at some point, she stopped forgetting…’

And yet she never questioned me.

She simply followed my words.

Because she trusted me.

“… Hah.”

I had always expected a day when my suggestions would stop working.

But not this soon.

“Ha-eun.”
“Mm?”
“… Thank you. For trusting me.”
“Eh…?”

I hugged her gently.

She looked puzzled, but I was serious.

“… Sarang.”
“Whine?”
“Return to your original form.”

At my words, Sarang shrank back to his puppy form.

I then lifted him and the children with telekinesis and lowered them safely to the ground.

“Wow…”
“Ha-eun.”
“Yeah?”
“The police will be here soon.”

The noise I’d caused collapsing the ceiling, plus the criminals’ screams, would have already drawn calls.

“When they arrive, just tell them, ‘The man from the news saved us.’ Got it?”
“Yup! Got it!”

With that, I turned to go finish the job.

To find the mastermind behind all this—the so-called Doctor.

“Oh, wait.”

Before leaving, I asked Ha-eun one last thing.

“Ha-eun, why did you even follow strangers here in the first place?”

If she was resistant enough to my suggestions, then there was no way she’d ever have fallen under the same brainwashing as the other kids.

“Huh? My friends said the teacher wanted to take us on a picnic, and I thought it was their teacher, so I just went along!”
“……”

I was going to have to sit her down and seriously explain someday why you should never follow strangers.