By Zephyria “Hng, hng.”
A click sound made Park Seung-min jump and look around. His eyes were bloodshot, to the point of being entirely red and veined. It was an aftereffect of being kidnapped recently. His body reacted sensitively to even the slightest noise, making it impossible to sleep properly. Perhaps because he was a Purifier, even sedatives didn’t work well.
“Fuck, fuck, hic, fuck, this is fucked up….”
Park Seung-min nervously tore at his hair. The recent ceremony celebrating the return of Abyss survivors felt like a nightmare. It was terrible how the Corrupted suddenly appeared and swarmed only him, and how he was cursed for being pathetic when he cried for help.
But there was something truly terrible.
After the ceremony attack, fearing another appearance and attack by Corrupted, Park Seung-min requested thorough security from the Rift Management Agency. With Special Suppression Unit members protecting him in layers, he could finally feel some relief. But for some reason, that strict guard was breached helplessly.
Kidnapped by foreign mercenaries in the dead of night, Park Seung-min had to endure a time of terrible pain. Perhaps because they were wary of him being a High-level Awakener, he was bound so tightly that blood barely circulated and left in a trunk for hours. The pain was so immense that when he was finally freed, he couldn’t even move properly.
‘Isn’t this too pathetic?’
‘As long as they kept me alive, that’s all that matters. He’s a High-level Awakener, after all. He won’t die just from being tied up for a bit, right?’
Unintelligible foreign languages buzzed overhead. Park Seung-min was dragged away like a dog. He didn’t even know where he was being taken. When he was dragged to a place, there was a monster. A person so corrupted it was hard to call them human, writhing while bound in chains.
Soon, a person with their face covered approached. They had an earpiece in, constantly speaking with someone unknown.
‘My employer wishes for the Awakener Park Seung-min to purify this individual. If you perform the purification, wealth and honor will follow.’
Someone’s proxy translated in broken Korean. Park Seung-min swallowed dryly. The monster currently bound in chains was more severely corrupted than Jeong Si-young. There was no way he, who couldn’t even properly purify Jeong Si-young’s arm, could purify this person.
“I, I can’t! I can’t do it!”
But they seemed to interpret his words as useless resistance. Unrelenting torture followed. Water, fire, and electricity…. As an Awakener, he had regenerative abilities, so they showed no mercy. When Park Seung-min was worn down by the torture, they would call a healer to treat him. There was no rest. Not a single moment of sleep.
The level of torture gradually increased. In his delirious state, Park Seung-min tried to heal the other person with whatever purification power he could scrape together from the very bottom. But no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible. This was something he couldn’t do. His purification power was far too insufficient. More than anyone, Park Seung-min himself wanted to purify that monster the most….
After several days of torture, he was finally rescued by the Special Suppression Unit. The perpetrators were a foreign magnate. Their child, who had been active as an Awakener, had become severely corrupted, and they desperately searched for a way to return them to normal. Hearing rumors of a High-rank Purifier emerging in Korea, they committed this act.
The saying that torture destroys the soul was not without reason. The past few days had been a chillingly horrific experience. Park Seung-min, buried under his blankets and sobbing, rubbed his molars with his tongue. These teeth were not his original ones. They were implants, placed after some of his teeth disappeared during the torture.
“Why, why isn’t my purification power recovering….”
Park Seung-min muttered with despair. One of the things that caused him the most pain during the torture was that his purification power had hit rock bottom and refused to recover. The omnipotence and immense purification power he felt when he first Awakened were nowhere to be found; only an amount that could barely fill the bottom remained, compared to back then. And it wouldn’t recover beyond that.
As if this was his capacity from the very beginning.
“No, I, I’m a High-level Awakener. I am a High-level Awakener….”
Sobbing, Park Seung-min checked the online public opinion. News of the kidnapping of a High-level Awakener was widely reported and known to the entire nation. People were furious that such a precious High-rank Purifier had been kidnapped and couldn’t be found for days. They were shouting for Park Seung-min to be given the best security. Seeing that, Park Seung-min gathered his resolve.
A massive amount of taxpayer money had been spent to rescue him this time. That sum was proof of his worth. He was someone irreplaceable.
Thus, after barely managing to console himself, Park Seung-min went to work at the Sunrise Guild. He hoped to purify guild members with the little purification power he had recovered and receive their thanks.
“Purifier Park Seung-min! Are you feeling alright?”
“Can’t you tell I’m not alright?!”
Park Seung-min snapped at the secretary who spoke to him warmly. And he cursed and took his anger out on her all the way to the guild. Upon arriving at the Sunrise Guild, the atmosphere was a bit different from usual.
‘…As expected, now that I was gone, everyone must have realized my importance even more, right?’
Thinking that, his spirits, which had sunk to the bottom, felt a little better. Park Seung-min, who walked in confidently with his head held high, soon realized he had made a significant mistake.
The guild members were in a very cheerful mood, surrounding someone. Their voices were soft, and their demeanor was friendly. It seemed everyone had been living it up while he was kidnapped and tortured. Suddenly feeling irritated, Park Seung-min pushed through the guild members and approached. Seeing a new face he had never seen at the guild before, he asked in a sharp voice,
“Who let you in here so carelessly? This isn’t a place anyone can just enter! Aren’t you all following the rules?!”
He glared at the guild members who had let in an outsider, but no one agreed with him; they just stared. The unfamiliar outsider scanned Park Seung-min up and down with curious eyes. A complex expression flickered across the other person’s face, but they quickly hid it with a smile and greeted him cheerfully.
“Hello, Purifier Park Seung-min. I’m Kim Da-eun, who just Awakened as a Low-rank Purifier the day before yesterday! Please take care of me.”
At the other person’s greeting, Park Seung-min was so stunned he was speechless for a moment.
That’s right. If a High-level Awakener appears, it’s natural for Intermediate or Low-rank Awakeners to emerge as well. But why was he so shocked? He tried to maintain his composure and asked,
“…A Purifier? You?”
“Yes! I just finished my contract with the government yesterday and was dispatched to the Sunrise Guild.”
Even though the other person spoke to him rudely with informal speech, Kim Da-eun bowed politely once more.
Actually, she had wanted to go to the Sun Guild, but by chance, the entire Team Sun had left for the island where the Treatment and Custody Center was located. While she was contemplating this, the government offered her a contract first. The terms were quite good, so she readily accepted and was immediately dispatched to the Sunrise Guild.
She had expected her position wouldn’t be very good since Purifier Park Seung-min was already established there, but surprisingly, the guild members welcomed Kim Da-eun warmly. Despite having a High-rank Purifier, the number of mildly corrupted individuals was quite high, which puzzled her, but she found her work life very comfortable as long as she purified diligently….
Meanwhile, Park Seung-min, who had been kidnapped, returned.
‘This is a bit strange?’
Kim Da-eun felt a peculiar impression from him. For some reason, his rank felt lower than hers. Perhaps it was because he was a High-level Awakener and his ability control was good…? There was no way he wasn’t a High-level Awakener, so Kim Da-eun just thought that.
Since Kim Da-eun joined, Park Seung-min noticed the Sunrise Guild members’ attitude towards him changing rapidly. Unlike Park Seung-min, who had performed perfunctory purifications that barely made a difference, acting as if he was bestowing a favor, Kim Da-eun was diligent. If someone asked for help, she would immediately rush over and purify to the best of her ability, so naturally, she was compared to others.
Under the guise of mentoring, Park Seung-min followed Kim Da-eun around, his expression gradually hardening. He had intended to find fault and harass her, but for some reason, Kim Da-eun’s purification power felt superior to his. It had to be a mistake. How could a mere Low-rank Purifier have better purification power than him…?
Anxious, Park Seung-min grabbed a guild member who had just finished a Rift exploration and emerged clean from the guild’s corruption removal room, and blurted out,
“…Do you want me to purify you?”
Contrary to his expectation that the guild member would gratefully accept his purification, the guild member immediately refused.
“No, it’s fine. Purifier Kim Da-eun did a great job. She does it right away whenever I ask, which is wonderful.”
As he said that, he brushed past Park Seung-min with a gaze that seemed to mock him. Park Seung-min clenched his fists. He intended to go to Go Jae-won immediately to protest the fact that a Purifier had been brought in without consulting him. However, Go Jae-won was drunk and on drugs, just giggling. He hesitated, thinking of purifying him to bring him to his senses.
‘My purification power is still at rock bottom.’
It was too precious to waste on someone who would just become incoherent again. In the end, he hounded his secretary and returned to his residence. Lost in thought, he didn’t even realize he was gnawing on his fingernails.
‘If a Low-rank Awakener is like that, then an Intermediate Awakener must be much stronger….’
He was sure others would feel that an Intermediate Awakener was stronger when compared to his current self. Park Seung-min flinched. His fingernail had torn, and blood was flowing.
“What the hell is wrong…!”
Why wasn’t his purification power, as a High-level Awakener, recovering? The agonizing question, asked dozens, hundreds of times, resurfaced. Park Seung-min kept thinking of the overflowing power he had on his first day of Awakening. It must be because he was tortured that it wasn’t recovering? It was because his condition wasn’t good…. While thinking something was wrong with his body, he couldn’t bring himself to get a proper examination.
He kept telling himself it was just a temporary issue. As his phone vibrated with a zzzzing*, Park Seung-min checked it, his eyes gleaming. Receiving the call, a certain person suddenly came to mind. At this moment, he wanted to relieve his extreme stress by talking to anyone.