A Double Life

Ah…

So sweet. So delicious.

[Magic Power: 1369+1108]
[Essense: 114436/272567]
[Innate Vital Energy: 1000+878/1000]

Essense equivalent to about 42,000, and—

‘Wow! It’s so good! And there’s so much!’

‘Excellent. At this rate, it won’t be long before I regain my full power! Then, I can rise to the pinnacle of this world!’

Considering the 200 Innate Vital Energy I’d split between the two spirits, I had gained a total of about 600.

Tang Yiyan, oblivious to the fact that his Innate Vital Energy was being siphoned away, remained unaware to the very end as I drained him dry.

How many times had he climaxed?

The amount of semen he produced began to dwindle, and as his Innate Vital Energy was continuously drained, his life force started to flicker. He raised a fist, and I brought mine down on the heart of the man pinned beneath me.

And just like that, a lightning-infused strike ended his life.

The current that slammed into his heart spread throughout his body. When I felt the electrifying thrill travel up through our ‘connection,’ which was still intact, I felt a flicker of genuine pleasure.

Tang Yiyan probably had no idea what kind of attack had hit him—or if he had even been attacked at all.

He had been so utterly lost in the moment that his final expression wasn’t one of someone ambushed, but the face of a man who’d died from sheer, ecstatic overexertion.

His mouth hung open, drool trickling from the corner, and his glazed-over eyes were half-hidden by his eyelids. The sight was a ridiculous contrast to his brawny physique.

I watched the sun rise in the early dawn for a moment, then, for the dignity of the man who had given so generously to me, I closed his eyes before—

‘Leave it to me!’

—borrowing the spirit’s power to burn the body. It was a convenient way to destroy the evidence and hide the cause of death all at once. Come to think of it, I’d have to burn the headquarters chief later, too.

But I couldn’t cremate him completely. I had a use for him later.

‘Done! All taken care of!’

‘Excellent work! Then, perhaps you should rest—’

‘No. I told you I have someone to meet. I’ll explain the details once we’re inside the gate.’

*

Inside the neatly organized gate.

The victims, their hands and feet now free, were huddled together. The perpetrators were bound and thrown in a heap in a separate corner.

“Guild Master—”

“Yeah, yeah, save the greetings for later. Give me a second.”

First, I went into the headquarters chief’s bedroom and lightly charred the corpse, once again borrowing the spirit’s power. Had to be thorough with destroying the evidence.

Next, I found the woman who had been acting as my double, retrieved my clothes (giving her a set to wear, of course), and got everything in order.

Now, I had to carefully set the stage, using what ‘Narak’ knew and didn’t know, and what the ‘Expeditionary Force’ knew and didn’t know.

The intersection of those two groups was me. Lee Han-gyeol and Seo A-gyeol.

Of course, I didn’t think anyone would ever guess the connection between the two, but one careless move could expose everything.

The moment that happened, ruin would follow.

To escape that ruin, I had to meticulously craft this narrative with all my might.

Current ‘Expeditionary Force’ members:
Yang Geun-tae, Kim Ji-min, Choi Seong-hyun, Min Yu-in, Cheon Yu-hwa, Lee Seong-jun.

Of these, Yang Geun-tae was awake.
Kim Ji-min, Choi Seong-hyun, Cheon Yu-hwa, and Lee Seong-jun were unconscious. Kim Ji-min and Cheon Yu-hwa were also injured.

As for Min Yu-in, being a healer, she had been imprisoned alone deep within the headquarters, not in the main prison. I had ordered them to leave her there, so for now, the only person from the ‘Expeditionary Force’ I needed to worry about was Yang Geun-tae.

Current ‘Narak’ members:
Park Se-hyuk, Kim Hee-an, Bae Yeon-woo, Namgung Yoon, Yoo Chae-woon, Park Eun-su.

Annoyingly, they were all awake. The one saving grace was that they would obey my orders without question.

First, Park Eun-su would be sent back to ‘Blue Forest.’ He was tasked with bringing back personnel to manage the newly captured gate, so he was out for now.

Kim Hee-an was treating the victims. He was grumbling, but he was brewing simple potions.

Bae Yeon-woo was guarding Kim Hee-an. I also assigned Namgung Yoon to his side to manage the victims and perpetrators.

I added Yoo Chae-woon to this group to ensure my orders were relayed instantly.

Park Se-hyuk was to wait outside the gate—that is, the gate managed by the Korean side. I gave him a phone and put him in charge of communicating with Park Eun-su.

I established a chain of command: if Park Eun-su called, Park Se-hyuk would enter the gate and inform Yoo Chae-woon, who would then use telepathy to relay the message to me.

So, two members of ‘Narak’ were outside the gate, while the other four and everyone else were located in the ‘headquarters,’ the largest cavern in the cave system.

Therefore, I was the only one going to meet Yang Geun-tae, who was in the ‘prison’ in the adjacent cavern.

“Hooo…”

A sigh escaped me automatically.

This was exhausting.

I paused on my way.

What form should I take to meet Geun-tae?

Seo A-gyeol? Or Lee Han-gyeol?

Going as Seo A-gyeol, who could be considered a criminal, might be difficult. After all, she was the real power behind a black market organization and, more importantly, an unregistered Awakener herself.

But I couldn’t go as Lee Han-gyeol either.

The moment I appeared as Lee Han-gyeol, I would have to take responsibility.

It might sound strange, but it was only natural.

Because I was the team leader.

Even if it was a temporary, one-time team, I was still its leader.

That meant I had a duty to lead my team members and, above all, to protect them.

While I was roaming around freely, my team members were injured and unconscious, knocked out by some unknown sleeping gas.

To have known this and not rescued them would be grounds for disqualification as a team leader.

If I had been imprisoned like Geun-tae and genuinely didn’t know, that would be one thing. But to claim ignorance while moving about freely like this was absurd.

Besides, if I met Geun-tae as Lee Han-gyeol, I would have to rescue and treat the team members, and then remain as Lee Han-gyeol from that point on. But ‘Narak’ and Lee Han-gyeol had never met.

It was doubtful ‘Narak’ would follow my orders if I couldn’t transform into Seo A-gyeol.

Given the circumstances, it was more natural to say that Lee Han-gyeol, after freeing himself, passed the baton to Seo A-gyeol and left the gate to handle matters separately.

And that Seo A-gyeol, having received the baton, was the one who cleaned up Gate 271.

The connection between them? A personal acquaintance.

The story would be that Lee Han-gyeol had asked Seo A-gyeol for a favor.

For example, he had handed over the management rights of the gate to Seo A-gyeol on the condition that she safely rescue the human trafficking victims and ensure such activities never happened in this gate again.

Lee Han-gyeol, having gained his freedom, left the gate immediately to contact Seo A-gyeol, and was therefore unaware that his team members had been captured and injured.

For now, I would tell Yang Geun-tae only about the ‘secret pact between Lee Han-gyeol and Seo A-gyeol,’ leaving out the part about ‘Lee Han-gyeol not knowing his team was hurt.’

Of course, I would do this in the form of Seo A-gyeol.

“So that’s what happened… Are you sure all the trafficking victims are safe?”

Yang Geun-tae glared at me with an expression I’d never seen before. His tone and manner of speaking were also different.

“How many times do I have to say it? That guy, Lee Han-gyeol, was such a pain, going on and on about the victims. I heard he got himself thrown in prison trying to protect people in the first place.”

At my words, Yang Geun-tae fell into thought. A moment later, he spoke cautiously.

“But what are we going to do? Reinforcements will be here soon. It seems you’ve been tricked by Han-gyeol, but once the support our team requested arrives, the truth of this place will be revealed, and you won’t be able to gain effective control of this gate.”

Ah, so he didn’t know. That his entire team had been captured.

“…I’ll accommodate you as much as I can, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t give Han-gyeol a hard time for tricking you.”

Oh, now this is touching.

But he needed to know what he needed to know.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“…?”

“Those team members of yours… Lee Han-gyeol described them to me. Turns out, they’re imprisoned here too.”

“What?”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. It seems he just missed them. Releasing them now would only add to the confusion, so I’ve left them as they are for the time being. They’re not in good shape, but their lives aren’t in danger.”

“What did you say?”

“I think I’ve earned that much discretion, don’t you?”

Hearing that his team members were ‘not in good shape,’ Yang Geun-tae looked ready to charge out. I quickly lowered my voice.

“Honestly, it’s a tricky business. Rescuing that many trafficking victims without any loss of life. Fine, that much I can do. For the price of a gate… it’s a fair trade.”

Thankfully, Yang Geun-tae remained silent. He must have been relieved that his team’s lives weren’t in danger.

Since they were Awakeners, pouring healing potions down their throats would get them back on their feet one way or another.

Still, since I’d started with an excuse, I had to see it through—

“But to throw someone else’s team members into the mix? I’m not their leader. Is there any guarantee they wouldn’t have gotten in my or my subordinates’ way? If that had happened, things could have easily—”

“I understand. I have no objections on that point. However, I’d like to see my team.”

“Sorry, but things are a bit chaotic right now. I’m quite busy and have to leave soon. More importantly, he will be here shortly. …If you’re that worried, we have a healer on our side. I’ll have them take a look.”

“…Thank you. But we need to report the situation inside this gate to our superiors.”

“That’s Lee Han-gyeol’s job, not yours. And this gate… is the price he promised me. He’s probably racking his brain right now. The gate he promised me was one whose true nature no one knew.”

In fact, I was racking my brain quite hard right now.

“I hope you’ll get your stories straight when he arrives. I turned what could have been a bad ending into a happy one. Don’t you think I deserve to be paid for my trouble?”

“…Understood. I’ll talk to my team.”

“Good! You’re reasonable. I’ll be on my way then. It’s a mess right now, so just stay put. You’ll be able to come out when he gets here.”

“…Alright.”

*

“Narak, assemble.”

Now it was time to deceive Narak. I gathered everyone in the headquarters, except for Park Eun-su who had gone to Blue Forest.

“From now on, this place is ours.”

Light, short gasps of excitement rippled through the group. I silenced them with a wave of my hand.

“But the process will be… a bit of a hassle. You all know what this place was used for, right? That can’t get out, so things might get tough. First, we’ll send the victims through the Chinese gate. It looks like they all came from China. So for now—”

I announced what needed to be done. And then—

“And as some of you know, there’s a team that came from Korea with us. They’re Awakeners from another gate connected to Korea. I made a deal with their team leader to get this place.”

There was no particular reaction.

“I’m a bit busy, so I’ll be heading back to Korea through that other gate. Their team leader will come here in my place. If possible, listen to what he says. We’ve done them a big favor, so they’ll accommodate us as much as possible. It’s all been arranged, so don’t create any unnecessary conflict. Got it? If things get twisted, it’ll be a headache for everyone.”

A chorus of “Yes” and a few “Okays” answered me.

“Good! You’ve all worked hard, and you’ll have to work a little harder. I’m off!”

*

The next day.

I took the charred corpses of Wei Jin-tao and Tang Yiyan, presented them as the culprits in an ‘Awakener murder case,’ and concluded my report on the conquest of Gate 271 by stating there was nothing else to add.