Ch.114114. Cyber Joseon

It was fortunate, if one could call it that, that Amon and the priest were able to be released quickly.

In military dictatorship Joseon, the police were good at showing up, not necessarily good at their jobs.

They responded promptly for performance metrics and control, but were far from being incorruptible.

“This feels unsettling…”

The two were released thanks to Vatican authority, diplomatic concerns, and a phone call from someone important.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, but Amon had to accept it.

“Anyway, the law is wrong.”

Though his words were somewhat rebellious, Amon rationally accepted the situation.

As they left the detention cell, Sonia handed them tofu she had acquired from somewhere.

“They say this is a tradition here?”

She smiled brightly as she handed over the tofu.

Amon ate it with nostalgia, while the priest consumed it thinking it was something like white pudding.

The result was…

“Blegh!”

“Pffft!”

It tasted unimaginably bad.

Amon vomited because it tasted nothing like what he expected,

while the priest spat it out due to the unfamiliar texture.

This was understandable, as Joseon’s tofu wasn’t made the way Amon thought.

More precisely, it couldn’t be.

The soybeans were genetically modified, and clean water was too expensive to use nigari, making it cost-ineffective.

Therefore, tofu had to be made by grinding genetically modified soybeans and adding special water instead of nigari.

“This is just white konjac…”

Amon grumbled while wiping his mouth.

Sonia fidgeted nervously at their dramatic reactions.

“S-sorry! I heard Joseon was known for its hand-made taste…”

“Did you buy it at a traditional market?”

“Yeah…”

“Sonia.”

“Huh?”

“There’s always a reason why things are cheap…”

The flavor Amon wanted could probably only be reproduced at century-old shops or factories supplying high-end restaurants.

That was the end of the tofu discussion.

Amon and the priest continued traveling around Seoul performing exorcisms.

Two days later.

They headed to a mental hospital for an exorcism ritual.

On their way, they spotted the delinquent boy who had taunted them.

The swelling had subsided somewhat, and the boy was heading to the hospital reception desk with a cross-shaped mark on his face.

While Amon tensed his mouth corners saying how small the world was, the priest seemed to have a different impression.

“That boy… surely he’s not coming to the hospital just for such a minor injury?”

At the priest’s question, Amon realized the cultural difference.

‘Come to think of it…’

In America, people don’t go to hospitals unless they’re shot.

By comparison, in Joseon, even a “mere” broken nose warranted a hospital visit.

The priest couldn’t hide his admiration at Amon’s explanation.

“What wonderful welfare this is!”

“I wonder…”

While Amon couldn’t deny envying Joseon’s medical costs, he couldn’t bring himself to say he envied the military dictatorship.

After all…

“There seems to be a reason why things are cheap.”

Through Amon’s special eyes, the hearts of all Joseon people’s souls were connected to the royal family through translucent threads.

Though he didn’t know what this meant,

“I don’t think I could go to a hospital here.”

Amon was certainly being diplomatic.

The priest nodded after hearing Amon’s explanation.

“I can guess what those threads are.”

“What are they?”

“Joseon people age unusually slowly. Of course, East Asians generally look younger, but the nobles and royal family age particularly slowly.”

“Ah.”

“The threads you mentioned must be related.”

“I’m sure they are.”

While they were conversing, the boy finished his registration and turned around.

When he saw Amon and the squinting priest, he was startled and began to run away.

Watching the boy’s retreating back, the priest offered a brief comment.

“Congratulations, Amon. It seems you’ve made quite an impression on the boy.”

“…”

Amon had nothing to say and made a sour expression.

After this brief encounter, the group headed to the psychiatric ward.

And there…

“Huh? Why are you here?”

“…”

They met the boy again.

Along with a woman in patient clothes.

***

Amon, the priest, and Sonia called the boy outside the hospital room.

Once might be coincidence, but twice was fate.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason—the subject of their exorcism was the woman the boy cherished so much.

Before they could begin the ritual, the boy frantically tried to stop them, and they sensed the need for conversation.

“Would you tell us who she is?”

“Get lost, you cult…”

When Amon wrapped a rosary around his hand with a gentle smile, the boy’s language became more respectful.

“…Please leave.”

“I can’t do that. The hospital sent us a cooperation request.”

Contrary to public perception, in this world, exorcist priests and psychiatrists don’t have a bad relationship.

In a world where Divine Power openly exists, there’s no reason to deny the existence of ghosts,

and above all, they don’t steal each other’s clients… or rather, patients.

In fact, doctors academically acknowledge the existence of ghost possession, and priests recognize the necessity of psychiatry.

‘Well, many ordinary people don’t believe it.’

Some ordinary people don’t believe in ghosts, and some don’t believe in mental illness.

Considering there are people who believe the Earth is flat, this wasn’t strange.

However, convincing them was exhausting.

Just like the boy before them.

“Where are ghosts? My sister just… had some bad luck!”

The boy refused to acknowledge his family member’s possession.

He actively claimed AI infection instead.

“The doctor will cure her! The success rate is 79 percent these days!”

He desperately clutched the doctor’s coat.

But the doctor guiding Amon gently shook his head.

“The screening tests confirmed possession. It’s not depression, schizophrenia, cyberpsycho, or AI infection.”

“That’s nonsense! There are no such things as ghosts! It’s all lies made up by people like you to make money! Don’t tell me they paid you too?”

The boy’s eyes turned vicious as his fists clenched,

and Amon approached to mediate.

At that moment.

“Aaaaargh!”

The sister suddenly screamed.

“Sis!!!”

The boy released the coat and rushed toward his sister.

Amon grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck to stop him.

“Calm down.”

“Let go, you crazy bastard!”

“You might never see your sister again if you keep this up.”

“That’s why I’m trying to go to her, you fucking asshole!”

The boy struggled in Amon’s grip.

Amon pushed aside the moderate shaking he felt in his hand and focused on the boy’s sister.

Activating his special eyes to examine her soul, he saw something foreign, similar to other possessed individuals.

However, this was the first such entity he’d seen since entering Joseon.

‘That’s…’

It was a sword.

A sword piercing through her from shoulder to right arm.

Of course, physically she looked fine, but that’s how her soul appeared.

And the sword was gradually moving toward her chest.

Amon recognized this phenomenon well.

“Father. It appears to be a possessed sword.”

“My goodness. That was a close call.”

The priest, who had been preparing for the exorcism, suddenly rushed out of the room.

The attending doctor didn’t understand the situation but retreated after sensing the urgency from the squinting priest’s actions.

Only the boy, wild-eyed, failed to read the atmosphere.

Amon questioned the agitated boy.

“Was your sister a swordswoman?”

His shoulders trembled.

That was the correct answer.

Amon wanted to hear the details, but first he needed to handle the emergency, so he threw the boy behind him.

While the boy rolled down the corridor outside the room, Amon approached the convulsing woman.

The woman was rolling her eyes and trembling.

And when Amon got close enough.

Slash.

“Tsk.”

She suddenly wielded a sword from nowhere and swung it.

But Amon wasn’t surprised.

Through his special eyes, it looked like the sword that had been piercing her right arm was emerging through her palm.

He twisted his body slightly to avoid the surprise attack, just as he had expected.

‘Are you Ulquiorra or something?’

Amon clicked his tongue at the possessed sword and grabbed her wrist.

“Hup!”

Amon threw the sword at the window, shattering it, then threw her out the window after it.

“Sis!!!!”

Leaving behind the boy desperately calling for his sister, Amon jumped out the window.

Amon landed silently on the ground with his dress shoes.

Following him, the woman landed beautifully, her black hair with blue-tinted ends fluttering.

Though she had been thrown out first, she touched the ground after Amon.

Tap.

Her bare feet made a small sound as they hit the ground.

‘As I thought…’

Hearing that sound, Amon was certain.

‘She must be an assassin or something similar.’

He had suspected since seeing her soles in the hospital room—she had undergone a procedure on her feet.

It was material designed to dampen impact and footsteps.

Though disguised as closely as possible to peach color, the unnaturally straight lines on her soles were enough to create dissonance.

‘She’s also had other procedures…’

Zing-

‘It seems.’

He could tell from the movement of her slightly dull right eye.

That was the end of his examination.

Amon held a scabbard instead of a sword.

“This is why I hate possessed swords.”

Amon grumbled.

Though he hadn’t often seen the priest’s exorcisms, possessed swords were common in America too.

A katana found in ruins, a longsword discovered in a dungeon, and so on.

Amon occasionally encountered cases of possession by cursed blades.

In such cases, normal exorcism rituals were impossible.

It was obvious that if you asked for a name and sprinkled salt, you’d get stabbed in response.

Moderate restraints were meaningless.

There were numerous cases where the sword cut through both restraints and people.

This made purifying possessed swords particularly tricky.

While Amon was thinking, the woman… or rather, the possessed sword, smiled ominously.

[You think you can do something to me with just a scabbard? Such confidence…]

“…Why now of all times?”

[What?]

“You were hiding well until now, so why suddenly come out?”

[Ah, that? Because two delicious souls came here.]

She(?) pointed with her sword at the window she had fallen from.

The boy could be seen looking down at her with worried eyes.

Sonia was also visible beside him.

[Now I’ll have something worth cutting.]

“I understand.”

[Really? Then as payment for my explanation, may I ask one favor?]

“No.”

[It’s okay. I think you’ll grant it even if you don’t want to.]

The possessed sword returned the blade to its scabbard.

Then, placing her hand on the handle, the sword twitched slightly for a moment.

Amon, standing far from the possessed sword, immediately swung his scabbard at empty air.

Clang!

Along with this, the sound of swords clashing rang out from the empty space.

After blocking the sword strike, Amon briefly examined the scabbard’s condition.

‘Not the best idea.’

Though he had reinforced it with Divine Power as much as possible, it still couldn’t overcome the scabbard’s limitations.

The scabbard broke after just one clash.

Amon tossed aside the broken scabbard and pulled out a new one from his two-dimensional pocket.

The possessed sword seemed intrigued by Amon’s actions and exclaimed in a somewhat excited voice.

[That was my request! Draw a real sword! But seeing this, it seems a scabbard is enough. Please don’t fall too easily?]

Once again, the possessed sword reached for the handle of the sheathed blade.

But before she could draw it, Amon suddenly appeared in front of her.

[When did you—?!]

While she was startled, Amon pressed down on her sword handle with one hand.

Blocking the sword that was about to be drawn, he struck her solar plexus with his palm.

[Kuhak!]

The possessed sword seemed to feel pain as her waist bent into a ‘ㄱ’ shape.

Even so, she attempted to draw the sword again.

But this time, Amon kicked the sword back into place and delivered a roundhouse kick to her solar plexus again.

[Kuhek! What if this woman dies from this?!]

The possessed sword cried out after taking two consecutive hits to the solar plexus.

But Amon paid no attention.

“If she’s innocent, she’ll live, won’t she?”

[…What?]

“Just kidding.”

It must have been an illusion that his words felt sincere for a moment.

While the possessed sword was thinking this, Amon suddenly began doing something unexpected.

“This is annoying, so let’s end it quickly.”

Four scabbards appeared from each of Amon’s sleeves.

Amon placed the scabbards between his fingers and made eye contact with the possessed sword.

The possessed sword was confused, not understanding his intention.

[Is this some new sword technique?]

“If I had to say, yes.”

Amon sneered at the possessed sword, who was keeping her distance out of caution.

‘I’m grateful.’

That she was keeping this distance.

Until now, Amon had been throwing daggers, but after the Vatican battle, his physical abilities seemed to have improved.

So now he had started throwing longswords instead of daggers.

‘Scabbards are a bit unreliable, but…’

He did have dwarf-made special longswords designed for both throwing and close combat.

But since he couldn’t use them now, he had to make do with scabbards.

‘I’ll manage with strength.’

If he threw all eight, at least one should hit.

With that thought, Amon threw the scabbards.

While the possessed sword was startled by the scabbards leaving Amon’s hand, one of them reached her forehead,

[Tep!]

The possessed sword fainted with an unidentifiable death cry.