episode_0126

41. There was a traitor here. (3)

” Hey! What are you talking about? ”

” Come closer and take a look. What is the shape of the area where the heart was? ”

” What? I just got stabbed in the back… Huh? What is this? Why is it so… so cleanly cut…? ”

Yeonseo came close to the body and examined the area where the heart was. Seeing that it was smoothly cut off, she continued to touch it as if she didn’t understand, then looked at me and asked.

I understood why she reacted that way, because at first I just thought she had been stabbed from behind and had a hole in her.

But when I looked at it directly, the area where the heart was… seemed to have been cut off smoothly, and the cut area was neatly covered with smooth crystal.

As if that part had been extracted.

” I don’t know why, but… instead of stabbing the area where the heart was from behind, it was wrapped in crystal, and the heart was placed in the crystal and smoothly taken out. ”

” It looks like you took out the heart, just like you said. It’s so smooth. And… you look pretty skilled. Like you’ve done it a few times… ”

When I told Yeonseo what I thought in response to her question, my sister checked the area again and it seemed like she realized that I was skilled at taking it out.

Certainly, if you can do it this cleanly… I think it’s a skill that you’ve acquired through a lot of trial and error.

The brothers looked quite serious, nodded to each other, and said they would explore the area a bit more to find the body before leaving.

Yeonseo was looking at the area next to me where my heart had been cut out and kept shouting the word ‘heart’.

Why on earth did you take the ‘heart’?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand it. It didn’t seem like crimes like organ trafficking would become rampant now.

Because there were people with some degree of healing ability, although not as many as me, the world didn’t need medical technology that much.

To be precise, it’s not that medical technology is not needed at all, but it’s just that the world is not one that requires technology to perform surgery.

Just use your healing ability. However, there are only a few people with such an ability, and most people only remember medicine or simple treatments.

Even if they were trafficking organs, why did they take only the heart and leave the other parts alone?

If organs are needed, there will be considerable demand for organs from other parts of the body as well.

While I was thinking for quite some time, Yeonseo shouted, “Ah!” and grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

” That’s it! That’s it!! ”

” Okay, calm down for a second! Stop shaking…! ”

*****

It was only after Yeonseo stopped shaking my shoulder that I was able to hear her story.

My head was shaking with many questions and hypotheses, so I felt quite dizzy. Yeonseo, who saw me like that, said a little sorry, took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.

The story that came out of her mouth was quite an interesting one.

Because it was a convincing story about ‘the heart disappearing’.

” Sister, is what Yeonseo said true? ”

” Hmm… That’s not wrong. It’s something that’s been on people’s lips ever since I gained the ability. ”

” Really? Yeonseo, I think what you’re saying makes a lot of sense. You’re saying that the ‘magic power’ needed to use abilities comes from the heart, right? ”

Yeonseo nodded in response to my words and began to explain her argument.

” That’s right. Especially for those of us who use magic like me, when we train ourselves to circulate magical energy, we feel that it starts from the heart.

So, there was a story that said to be careful when circulating magic power. If you do it wrong, your heart will go wrong. ”

” Then… I think I know why they were targeting the heart. Was the magic power contained in the heart their goal? Or… is there something in the heart that we don’t know about? ”

” Sorry, but that’s all I know. But I don’t think this story is unrelated. There’s no other reason to aim for the heart. ”

If that’s the reason for targeting the heart and not other parts, as Yeonseo said, then it makes sense.

But what does the criminal gain by doing so?

No matter how much I thought about it, no good reason came to mind. It’s just that the story about the heart that Yeonseo had mentioned kept bothering me.

While I was gathering my thoughts and wondering what the hidden reason might be, my brothers came back, bringing several corpses with them.

The two who were slowly putting the body down had quite complicated expressions on their faces. It was as if something they didn’t want had happened.

” You’ve come quite a bit… ”

Sister Jia looked at the corpses lying on the floor with a bitter expression on her face and started fiddling with her device to check who they were.

Was it because she felt guilty for sending them to the limbs? Tears began to well up in her eyes as she touched the device, and Ji-sung approached her.

” I should have been careful back then. So it’s not your fault. ”

” But… ”

My sister, who couldn’t hold back her tears and eventually started to cry, started to cry in Ji-seong’s arms, and I slowly walked over to her and stroked her back.

” We must… catch the person who did this. We must catch them… and make them pay. ”

” Yeah, ugh… ”

My sister’s crying showed no signs of stopping, so I went to the bodies to check them myself, and Hyunseok came over to me.

” Just like you said, there were a few corpses without hearts. ”

” Thank you, bro. Wasn’t it dangerous or something? ”

” Yeah, since my brother and I have the ability to control things from a distance, there was no need to touch it directly.

Oh, most of the bodies were lying under the wooden bridge or in the building across the street. Maybe there are more in the building across the street.

But… Mr. Doosik’s body hasn’t been found yet. ”

” Really? I see… First of all, I’m relieved that the old man’s body wasn’t found. But you said there were also corpses without hearts, right? ”

” Yeah, not much. At best… maybe three? ”

” Okay, I’ll check it out! ”

Under my brother’s guidance, I first examined the corpse without a heart.

Those corpses, like the ones I found first, had their hearts covered in crystals and appeared to have been pulled out smoothly.

There were quite a few corpses, but just as Hyun-seok said, there were only a few corpses without hearts.

‘What am I missing? Why are these corpses the only ones without hearts, while the others are left alone? Is there a rule?’

While I was thinking and examining the body, I was startled by a hand tapping my shoulder and turned around.

” Oh, sorry. I was thinking about it. ”

” It’s okay. Are you okay now, Unnie? ”

” Yeah, it’s a little better. Sorry. I should’ve checked first… ”

” No, Sister. Can you tell me some information about these people? ”

When I asked, pointing to the corpses without hearts, my sister held the device in her hand.

” Information? What are you talking about? ”

” Hmm… Tell me about these people’s ‘abilities’. Of course, it would be good if the people involved could also know. ”

” Ability… you know… let’s see for a second. So this, this, and this… Okay! I made this separately, so do you want to take a look? ”

” Yes, thank you, sis. ”

A corpse without a heart, through the device my sister gave me. Let’s take a look at the abilities that the people had. They were quite diverse and unique.

‘If the first person to discover it was a tree-related ability… others had abilities like ‘portal creation, copying, smoke transformation, and physical acceleration.’

These are not related abilities, but they are quite easy to apply if you have them.

” Hmm… Sister, I’m sorry to ask you this, but can I see information about other people’s abilities? ”

” Of course. You don’t have to be sorry, just tell me anytime. Okay, this is how it’ll be. ”

After my sister took the device back from me and fiddled with it a bit, she handed it back to me and asked:

” Looks like you figured something out? ”

” Yeah, if we just check this a bit more, I think we’ll get a clue. ”

Through the device, we were able to check the abilities of those whose hearts had not disappeared, and we were able to find out why some corpses had no hearts.

‘ All the corpses with hearts remaining… don’t have any special abilities. ‘

As the saying goes, the corpses with hearts remaining either had simple physical enhancement abilities like Uncle Dosik’s, or abilities that were more useful for exploring or storing items than fighting like Unnie Jia’s.

Of course, there were some special abilities among them, but compared to those who had lost their hearts, they weren’t that special.

” Phew, I get it. Why the heart disappeared…! ”

” Really?! ”

” Yeah! Before that, let’s send these people away first… and then I’ll tell you. ”

*****

We came out of the building, gathered some flammable wood, made a large pile, and laid the bodies we found neatly on top of it.

When I thought everything was ready, I made everyone step back, created a pure white flame, and cremated the body along with the piled up wood.

The smell of burning flesh tickles my nose.

People who have been talking and being with Ji-sung oppa and Ji-ah unnie until recently are starting to leave.

My brother and sister just watched with tears in their eyes.

Of course, it must be because memories with them came to mind.

My brother was estranged from others due to an accident, and my sister, while helping him, was carrying a lot on her own, so she may have regrets because she was unable to have a proper conversation with them.

I don’t know them. I’ve never talked to them or met them.

But those who were acquaintances of Ji-sung oppa and Ji-ah unnie. I just want to commemorate their souls.

There’s only one thing I can do for them… It’s to catch the culprit who drove them to their deaths and get their revenge. That’s all.

They were someone’s family, friend, or lover, and they turned into black ash and flew toward the sky.

I hope they can watch over their loved ones there and watch over our journey.