By Zephyria “Aaaargh! Save me! Go Jae-won! What are you doing!”
Go Jae-won clicked his tongue. If it were a monster, he would have killed it cleanly, but since it was a Corrupted, he couldn’t. No, to be precise, he couldn’t kill it because there were too many cameras filming this spot. A member of the Special Suppression Unit who had been blocking the Corrupted fell. Gritting his teeth, Go Jae-won unleashed his ability towards the Corrupted charging at him.
“Shit, get lost!”
But for some reason, the moment his ability poured out, the Corrupted turned into a screaming civilian. The hands that had been menacingly brandishing weapons faltered.
“Aaaargh! S-save me! Please don’t attack me!”
A sense of helplessness flickered across Go Jae-won’s flustered face.
‘It was definitely a Corrupted charging at me just moments ago!’
The civilian who had run over seeking help fled in the opposite direction, crying. Yoon Seung-ryong immediately secured him safely and put him inside Lee Chan-ha’s barrier.
Gritting his teeth, Go Jae-won continued to deal with the Corrupted, but his movements were hesitant due to what had just happened. The opening created by this hesitation made Park Seung-min constantly feel threatened for his life. Every time a Corrupted approached, he would roll his eyes back and yell at the top of his lungs, a truly pathetic sight.
The commotion subsided a few minutes later. This was thanks to Seo Yakrin and Joo Ho-young, who had subdued all the Corrupted in the small forest. Dozens of Corrupted, subdued by golden psychokinesis and ice, fell to the ground one after another. As soon as they had a moment to breathe, Park Seung-min and Kim Jong-seok, along with the Special Suppression Unit members, hastily evacuated.
The completely subdued Corrupted, though still wriggling, stared around with eyes crazed by madness, searching for Purifiers. Lee Hyun-muk and the other team members subtly blocked their view so Yohan wouldn’t be seen by the Corrupted.
People screaming, people crying, people fainting…. The scene was chaotic, a complete mess. Yohan, anxious to purify the Corrupted but unable to, had Yoon Seung-ryong place an arm on his shoulder and sigh. Then, as if what had just happened was no big deal, he said nonchalantly,
“We probably can’t make it to the buffet, huh?”
Seo Yakrin hit Yoon Seung-ryong hard on the back as the [Rift Management Agency Abyss Survivor Return Celebration Ceremony] came to an end.
[Mystery of the Seowon Hotel Commemorative Ceremony Incident]
First, watch this video.
https:https://metu.be/nEmoneMoyUGoomM
A pretty famous streamer named Jiubawoo was live-streaming this commemorative ceremony.
At 25:21, on the far left, do you see that strange person in the back row? They have an X-shaped scar split across their forehead, and their eyes are looking in opposite directions.
Viewers kept saying that person was strange and to turn around quickly, but
they had no idea.
They couldn’t recognize them even though they were right nearby.
They even got angry, saying they’d ban people for playing ghost pranks, which is truly chilling, isn’t it?
└ In Awakened communities, they call that a hallucination ability.
└ Yeah, there are monsters that emit hallucination substances. But they’re really rare, and usually, it’s plant-like monsters rooted to the ground that use them.
└ Damn, if Corrupted are using hallucinations, that means they could be right next to me.
└ That’s why bodycams and CCTV are sold out on every site right now.
[Protect me first! I’m a High-rank Purifier!]
You guys! That’s not the place! It’s me, Park Seung-min!
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
This is seriously hilarious.
Is this the proud High-rank Purifier of South Korea?
└ Legendary embarrassment ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Lee Chan-ha, who prioritizes protecting civilians without even acknowledging him.
└ The true light.
└ Light light light 222222
└ You guys like light, but honestly, it’s right to protect the High-rank Purifier first. If he dies, we all die.
└ It’s correct to protect the High-rank Purifier first. Team Sun made the wrong move.
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ You guys just don’t get it. Even if he’s a Healer, he’s a High-level Awakener. Look at Tyrone. He’s a High-level Healer but takes down a Level 4 monster alone. And was Park Seung-min alone? Go Jae-won and the Special Unit were nearby. Team Sun naturally had to protect civilians first.
└ That’s right. And High-levels usually have incredible regeneration, so they don’t die from ordinary incidents.
[Why was B.S.M. even giving a speech in the first place?]
It was a ceremony to celebrate the returnees from the Abyss, wasn’t it?
They sat the main characters like a backdrop while G.J.S. just blabbered on.
And then B.S.M. was next?
Is this right?
└ I hear B.S.M. is quite the bully at H.D. Guild.
└ I don’t believe rumors.
└ My friend works at that guild, and they said B.S.M. went to HR to complain because someone didn’t greet them respectfully.
└ I don’t know about bullying, but I heard they’re suing people left and right these days.
└ ㅋㅋ I commented “Are you jealous?” on a B.S.M. interview, and I got sued. Exactly five characters.
[Go attacked a civilian, right?]
Are they out of their minds?
The victim said they only approached asking for help.
He attacked them while telling them to get lost.
If they had been hit properly, they would have been at least half-paralyzed.
└ Crazy bastard. How did he hide that personality back then?
└ Such a contrast to the Big Yang Team.
└ When is Sunrise Guild changing its name? It’s not Sunrise anymore, is it?
└ They’re not changing it because of the name recognition. ㅋㅋ Now that Lee Hyun-muk is gone, who would recognize them with a different name?
└ Lee Hyun-muk is gone, but B.S.M. is still here.
└ Protect me first! I’m Park Hwasa! It’s Jeong Seung-min!
[I don’t care about anything else, I’m just jealous of Yang Yohan]
He was lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family, attend the commemorative ceremony, and join the Sun Guild. The moment things got dangerous this time, Lee Chan-ha was the first to whisk him away.
His connection to the Abyss is truly something.
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Honestly, I’m jealous. He probably got carried around in the Abyss too.
└ Agreed. What kind of achievements could a low-grade Dealer make in the Abyss?
[Did you guys see the news that just broke?]
The Sun Guild’s Treatment and Custody Center for Severely Corrupted has been completed, they say?
Yohan, who had been amusingly watching the internet reactions to the Corrupted attack a few days prior, blurted out the question before he knew it.
“The Treatment and Custody Center is completed?”
“That’s already out?”
Seo Yakrin, lounging comfortably on the sofa with his feet in work boots tapping, asked in surprise.
“I heard it was almost complete…. Anyway, the reporters are fast.”
“Ah, I just got called to a meeting.”
As the summons came for those lounging in the break room, the team members who had been idly chatting got up from their seats.
The Rift Management Agency had been heavily criticized following the Abyss returnee commemorative ceremony incident. They were blamed for how the event was managed, questioned about why they didn’t know anything until the Corrupted approached so closely, and criticized for lax security.
The Rift Management Agency wasn’t the only one taking flak. Go Jae-won and Park Seung-min’s responses also became a topic of discussion. Park Seung-min received less criticism, being a High-rank Purifier, but Go Jae-won, who had attacked a civilian, was practically treated as a national traitor. He remained hidden, not participating in any events, only moving between his guild, home, and Rift exploration.
Yohan found these reactions quite satisfying, yet he also felt a sense of unease. Contrary to the media’s criticism, the security and safety measures for the ceremony had been thorough. Yet, that stringent security had been breached helplessly. Most importantly, the biggest problem was that they didn’t know where or through what route they had appeared. It wasn’t just because of the Corrupted’s hallucination abilities. Even the CCTV footage was inconclusive.
“Vice-leader! Is it true the Treatment and Custody Center is completed?”
As soon as he entered the conference room, Yoon Seung-ryong blurted out. Lee Chan-ha, who had been in deep discussion with Lee Hyun-muk, nodded.
“Yes. But we were called here to discuss other matters. Yohan-gun, please have a seat for now.”
As everyone took their seats, Lee Chan-ha took something out of his bag. It was made of glass and tightly sealed. Before he even took it out, Yohan, who had been looking at his bag after feeling a familiar sense of discomfort, scowled.
“This is a sample from the Hyunsan Hospital research lab. Could you take a look at it?”
The Corrupted from the ceremony that day had all been taken into government custody. However, Yoon Seung-ryong had quickly smuggled out and kept a few Corrupted in his ‘pocket.’ After researching some of the weakest among them, entrusted to the Hyunsan Hospital research lab, a peculiarity seemed to have emerged.
“What is this…?”
What Lee Chan-ha took out was a disgusting creature resembling a long roundworm. It lay motionlessly in the container as if dead, but when stimulated by shaking the bottle, it stiffened and began to jab in all directions with its swollen tail or head, whichever it was. Lee Hyun-muk explained instead.
“This is one of the parasitic organisms found in the bodies of the Corrupted who attacked during the ceremony. After removing this, the Corrupted were unable to use their hallucination abilities.”
“Wait, there was something like this in every Corrupted’s body?”
Seo Yakrin asked in surprise, immediately understanding Lee Hyun-muk’s implication.
“Yes. We don’t know what it is, but it means there’s some mastermind implanting this into people’s bodies and spreading them to target Purifiers. Most importantly, the people implanted with these parasites were mostly civilians originally.”
“If that speculation is true, the situation is more serious than we thought.”
Yoon Seung-ryong’s face contorted in a grim expression. Ordinary civilians, unlike Awakened who primarily deal with monsters, don’t usually suffer severe Corruption. This could mean the Corruption route was different from usual. Yohan, staring at the parasite in the container, asked,
“Can I try purifying this?”
“We brought it precisely to ask you to do that, Yohan-gun.”
Yohan touched the container Lee Chan-ha held out with his finger. With just a light tap of his index finger, the inside of the container lit up as if a light bulb had been switched on. A moment later, all that remained in the container were small fragments of an outer shell. This meant that the parasitic organism itself was an extremely dangerous Corrupted life form. Purification removes things that are clearly harmful to humans. Almost every part of the worm was like a potent poison, a contaminant.