Ch.1515. Punk City and the Boy and Girl

After the incident with Jimmy, Amon couldn’t sleep for days due to an unsettling feeling.

Major events are always preceded by small signs.

Having experienced a “light path ending” after ignoring the warning sign of a headache in his previous life, Amon wasn’t about to dismiss small signs in this life.

‘This is a quest precursor.’

A graduate threatening someone’s life with a gun wasn’t a major event.

It was merely a precursor—a sign that would eventually return as something bigger.

The scenario Amon could imagine was Jimmy going insane, leading a gang to attack the orphanage.

Because of this, Amon couldn’t help but lie awake in bed, maintaining his vigilance.

‘Damn it. Is sleep impossible tonight too?’

Amon got up from bed, scratching his head vigorously.

Then, careful not to wake his roommate, he rose from the bed and sat at his desk.

He turned on the laptop on his desk and searched for information about his future career path.

This had become his routine whenever sleep eluded him these past few days.

Until now, he had been searching for information about the mercenary association and the history and incidents of the Vatican.

Tonight was Higgjen Group’s turn.

‘<History of Higgjen Group…>’

Amon carefully typed, searching for the history of Higgjen Group.

‘Founded 38 years ago…’

Based on the third installment, it was 11 years after the true ending.

After the true ending, many megacorporations collapsed and rookies emerged—Higgjen seemed to be one of those surviving rookies.

‘Main business is distribution. They’ve expanded worldwide under the name Higgjen Mart.’

While not the largest distributor in America, it was still a significant retail franchise chain.

When Amon heard that Higgjen stood shoulder to shoulder with other megacorporations through distribution alone, his first thought was skepticism.

‘What kind of magic trick did they pull?’

A megacorp, or Megacorp, wasn’t just a title given to mediocre large companies with money.

It was a designation reserved for irreplaceable companies that even nations couldn’t touch—entities that reigned above the law.

The businesses that megacorps typically handled included military industries that could devour public authority, food-related industries directly linked to survival, or media conglomerates that could manipulate governments at will.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with such companies through distribution meant that Higgjen Group had something special that others couldn’t replace.

That special something wasn’t hard to find.

It was prominently displayed on their homepage.

<Higgjen Mart has everything except what doesn’t exist! If you can’t find what you’re looking for? Ask an employee! We’ll bring it to you within 2 hours!>

<Our factory operating 24 hours a day in the basement of the mart will instantly make whatever you want!>

They would even manufacture items within 2 hours to fill missing inventory.

Literally a discount mart that had everything except what didn’t exist.

They even had pharmacies and gun shops, making it a place where you could truly find anything.

At first glance, it seemed like the ultimate in service industry excellence.

But behind this overwhelming service lurked darkness.

‘Wow, no unions and no industrial accident compensation?’

That’s what was written in the wiki document summarizing information about Higgjen Group.

Higgjen Group had no unions.

The equivalent of Korea’s four major insurances didn’t apply either.

Where was the constitution?

Megacorps typically reign above the constitution.

‘Cyberpunk indeed.’

Only in such a world could these acts be committed so nonchalantly.

Anyway, this was Higgjen Group’s weapon.

An overwhelming range of items achieved through the exploitation of cheap labor.

In other words, their identity as a comprehensive mart that had everything except what didn’t exist was their weapon.

But seeing this raised a new question.

‘Why would they want me and Sonia in a place like this?’

Would there be a need for Divine Power in the distribution industry?

Even if there was, would there be a reason to want it this badly?

With these questions in mind, Amon typed two keywords into the search bar.

<Higgjen Group>. And <Mystic Power>

After pressing enter with these two words, Amon got the results he expected.

From the top of the search results and continuing down, articles about Higgjen Group and Mystic Power were listed.

<Higgjen Group and the Curse of Mystic Power>

He read through the most well-organized article among them.

And when he scrolled to the end of that article, Amon couldn’t close his mouth.

‘Every Mystic Power holder who has joined Higgjen Group since its founding has died… I see.’

The story went roughly like this:

The first Mystic Power holder joined Higgjen Group but died during a night shift.

As he was dying, he cursed Higgjen Group, and since then, every Mystic Power holder who joined the company died before completing one year of service.

Since this was a world where ghosts truly existed, people believed that a curse had attached itself to the name of Higgjen Group.

Some claimed it was sabotage by other megacorps, while others suggested it was noise marketing by Higgjen Group itself.

The Mystic Power drought at Higgjen Group was so severe that all sorts of conspiracy theories emerged with just a little searching.

But Amon didn’t view this ghost story simplistically.

‘There’s no smoke without fire.’

If it had been happening consistently since the company’s founding, there must be something to it.

Perhaps the truth was mixed in among the far-fetched conspiracy theories.

Amon quickly moved his fingers.

Like a spy in a movie uncovering corporate secrets, he overworked the search engine to gather information.

However, there wasn’t much yield.

No matter how much he searched, it was just a typical black corporation in a cyberpunk world.

Workers died daily, and police investigating the corporation died too.

Just an ordinary megacorp.

He couldn’t get information related to Mystic Power from here.

Finally, as Amon was about to end his information gathering while rubbing his tired eyes,

A category in the corner of the homepage caught his attention.

Executives.

Amon checked the executives as if entranced.

He examined them one by one from the chairman to the executives, slowly scrolling down.

‘Chairman, don’t know who. Vice Chairman, don’t know who.’

The scrolling that continued stopped somewhere in the middle.

‘Higgjen Group, Battery Division President. Victor N.N.?’

The moment he confirmed that name, a chill ran down Amon’s spine.

At first, he didn’t recognize it immediately, but after repeating it several times due to a sense of déjà vu, he remembered where he had heard it.

‘Why is that madman…’

Victor was the doctor who had put into practice the crazy idea of transferring his consciousness to a robot in an Easter egg.

It was just an Easter egg, so the results weren’t shown, but Amon never dreamed he would see that man here.

‘Chance of a namesake?’

None.

Victor N.N.

How many eccentrics in the world would go around with such a peculiar name officially?

Besides, Amon wasn’t someone who believed in coincidences.

He wasn’t foolish enough to take lightly a dangerous figure who appeared in such a serious situation.

Above all, connecting Victor to the curse of Mystic Power holders explained everything.

Amon knew that Victor’s ultimate goal wasn’t merely transferring the brain to a machine.

That was just a method to overcome the limits of lifespan; the real goal was elsewhere:

<Project Artificial Saint – Divine Power Granting Technology>

His ultimate goal was technology to artificially create Divine Power holders.

A technology that could elevate one to the top tier among megacorps if successful.

The problem was the process.

‘Compression of Divine Power holders…’

His proposed method was to concentrate the Divine Power of multiple holders into one vessel to create an artificial child of god.

You know, like the holy son or holy daughter mentioned in the Bible.

By concentrating Divine Power into one person to transform them into such a being, and then, just as the holy daughter in the Bible transformed the 12 disciples into apostles, artificially produce Divine Power holders.

The only problem was that in the compression process, the vessel’s holder loses their humanity, and those who have their Divine Power taken also lose their lives.

As his thoughts reached this point, all the scattered fragments of truth came together.

‘Crazy…’

Sleep fled completely.

Knowing the truth, there was no option to go to that company.

Amon immediately erased the corporation from his career candidates.

‘This isn’t enough.’

He also erased mercenary from his options.

Orphaned mercenaries without connections were easy targets for corporate kidnapping.

In the end, there was only one choice.

‘Damn… the Vatican…’

It wasn’t particularly welcome.

To Amon, who believed that the corruption of those who serve God was the greatest insult to God, the Vatican was a city of sin.

However, realistically, it was the only option.

‘Lord, forgive my cowardice.’

Amon finished his prayer and organized his thoughts.

‘I’ll tell the priest tomorrow morning.’

Though he didn’t know his identity, the priest teaching Amon and Sonia seemed to be a figure of some significance in the Vatican.

If he showed his intention to convert to the Vatican, it seemed sufficient to protect them from the clutches of the corporation.

The next day, after Amon had set his strategy within his capabilities…

“What? You want to go on a field trip?”

Sonia bringing this up the very next day after Amon had decided to be wary of Higgjen Group was enough to perplex him.

“Alone?”

“Yes. I was invited alone initially, but if I ask, don’t you think we could go together?”

Amon was confused.

Why?

There were two Divine Power holders, so why invite only Sonia?

What was Higgjen Group thinking?

But that wasn’t important right now.

What was important was that Sonia was in danger.

‘Should I tell Sonia the truth?’

The thought crossed his mind momentarily, but he shook his head and dismissed it.

There were too many ears listening and eyes watching.

If by any chance Amon were to reveal Higgjen Group’s secret, it wouldn’t be surprising if a missile landed on the orphanage.

Their secret, which was as good as a state secret to them, held that much value.

Amon’s first step was persuasion.

“You know that several Divine Power holders have disappeared at Higgjen Group, right?”

“Really? I didn’t know that…”

Sonia was also taken aback.

Amon first asked how things had come to this.

“How did this suddenly happen?”

“It came by email yesterday. I thought you had received it too…”

“You should have researched what kind of company you were planning to visit.”

“I’m sorry…”

Sonia lowered her head.

She looked up at Amon with pitiful eyes like an abandoned cat, directing her crown toward him.

“What should I do…? I already said I would go..”

“Let’s cancel it.”

“Okay…”

Sonia headed toward the computer with slumped shoulders.

Somehow it felt like he had scolded her, which made Amon uncomfortable too.

‘Anyway, Higgjen is the problem.’

His life had become troublesome because of one group.

‘… If I were in Boradori state, I could have done something.’

At least as Boradori, he had the specs to take on a megacorp if he twisted his entire body.

In comparison, Amon’s current specs were barely enough to handle one crazy gorilla.

The difference was stark.

Of course, there was no such thing as transformation in reality, so the current Amon was utterly powerless.

‘I need power.’

Amon looked worriedly at the back of Sonia’s head, feeling helpless.

*

Meanwhile, Sonia was dejectedly canceling the field trip.

‘I was looking forward to it…’

Experiencing something new is always exciting. But more than that, she had been looking forward to going with Amon.

She had purely anticipated a new experience with Amon.

But under no circumstances could excitement be exchanged for safety.

She pressed down her feelings of regret and sent the cancellation email.

‘Heeeng…’

She left her room with slumped shoulders.

In front of her, Amon abruptly presented some tickets.

“Ta-da.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

“Blue Moon Resort reservation tickets.”

“Suddenly? No, before that, why?”

“We should make memories together before graduating. The priest just gave them to me and said we should go.”

Hearing this, Sonia’s expression brightened.

“Just the two of us?”

Amon nodded.

Resort, just the two of them, and adults.

Combining these three words, Sonia’s face turned as red as a radish.

The sisters and nuns who were listening nearby also let out shrill screams and hit the shoulders of those next to them.

The Mother Superior, who happened to be passing by, nodded with a gentle smile and murmured.

“Hoho. Youth indeed.”

***

That afternoon, a manager from Higgjen Group received a call.

[Yes. I’m sorry. Something suddenly came up…]

“It’s fine. Please let us know whenever you have time in the future. We’ll come to pick you up.”

The manager responded to Sonia with a kind and gentle voice.

After a few more apologies from Sonia, the call ended.

Beep beep-

After placing the phone back on the receiver, the manager seemed to be pondering something.

After a moment.

He picked up the receiver again.

“Hello? Put me through to Special Operations. Yes, it’s me. I was wondering if you could send me a report on those Vatican religious folks? I’m asking on behalf of the President.”

The manager’s glasses gleamed ominously under the light.