Ch.192Chapter 8. Ability User Maker (2)

Abilities are something one is born with.

But among those with abilities, could there be someone like this?

A being who knows all abilities.

A being who can use all abilities.

And a being who can bestow these abilities upon others.

A being who can grant abilities even to those born before the ’00s who aren’t ability users.

If such a being existed, people all over the world would want them.

Those without abilities would want to become ability users.

Those with abilities would want to become stronger ability users.

Those with power would want to monopolize abilities.

The girl realized.

How her ability appeared to others.

While others thought she was just an ordinary E-rank ability user and paid her no attention, the girl quickly became independent from the world by using the abilities she knew.

And she created The Syndicate, “Yimemangryang.”

Despite being only 7 years old, she devoured an entire group and through modest but expansive moves, she eventually swallowed America and the business world.

Her goal is world domination.

Her primary objective is to unify the world and make everyone an ability user.

Social chaos?

We’ll discuss that in detail later.

“The leader is one who bestows abilities. I am one who extinguishes abilities. And you are one who steals abilities.”

The final boss.

The true final boss (year-end crisis).

The protagonist.

“Perhaps in the whole world, besides you, me, and the leader, no one else can interfere with abilities themselves.”

“How interesting. Then why hasn’t The Syndicate identified me until now?”

“They couldn’t find you. They were looking, but never thought it would be you.”

America may be the leader’s main stage, but it was difficult to mobilize The Syndicate’s personnel based on uncertain information.

“If I didn’t exist, they would have kept searching for you. Where there’s a giver, there must be a taker.”

“Ah. Because of your existence, they didn’t need to find me?”

“Exactly.”

Stealing abilities.

Deleting abilities.

“In the end, the result of turning ability users into non-ability users is the same, and they decided there was no need to steal abilities when they couldn’t be recycled anyway.”

“Because the abilities are already tainted?”

“Wouldn’t new items be better than dirty used ones?”

I reviewed the recorded video on the tablet with Ymir.

[Name.]

[Park Eun-jung.]

Interrogation room.

Park Eun-jung, who had been hit on the head with the Goblin’s club, sat in the chair with textbook-perfect posture.

[Age.]

[21 years old.]

[How many people have you killed so far?]

[As an intelligence agent for the Hero Association, I’ve killed three people.]

[Boyfriend?]

[None.]

Like someone under a soul-controlling spell from a martial arts novel, or a job applicant sitting before a corporate interviewer, she answered every question straightforwardly.

[What did you think after awakening your ability?]

[I thought ability users were superior.]

[What about those who haven’t awakened abilities?]

[Whether before or after the Great Cataclysm, I thought those without abilities should be eliminated.]

“She was an ability supremacist.”

“There are plenty of people with that ideology, whether in Korea or elsewhere.”

[Where should abilities be used?]

[I thought they should be used to eliminate anything that gets in my way.]

[Why did you ally with Pandemonium and Wijungcheoksa?]

[Because I could become stronger. Even if it meant using demonic power.]

Park Eun-jung readily revealed everything in response to my questions.

Before losing her memory, or perhaps before her “personality was deleted,” Park Eun-jung was a typical ability supremacist with self-centered thinking who wanted to use her abilities for personal gain.

But now?

“The leader thinks like this.”

I pulled up the final video of my conversation with Park Eun-jung after her formal mental education was complete.

“Not all ability users need to become heroes. But if you’re born with an ability, you should at least have the mindset to work for society as much as a civil servant would.”

“Somehow comparing it to civil servants makes it feel strange.”

“Well, let me rephrase it then.”

Not all ability users can become superheroes.

However.

“I hope all ability users live with the mindset of firefighters or thoracic surgeons.”

Using my abilities where I’m needed, helping non-ability users, and living a life that contributes to society.

“It’s a kind of resocialization.”

“Manipulating people’s memories and forcibly changing them… ethically questionable, isn’t it?”

“I know. That’s why we’re a villain organization.”

Although we claim to realize social justice, we’re aware that our methods are extreme and unfair.

“But look at this.”

I pointed to the end of the final video.

[Park Eun-jung. What is your life goal from now on?]

[I…]

May 2nd.

Before appearing in front of others, the newly born “Neo Park Eun-jung” answered with machine-like posture.

* * *

“To contribute to the nation and humanity, and to realize universal social justice. That is the mindset I’ve rediscovered as an agent of the Hero Association.”

“……”

Hero Association President “Jung Ki-jo” felt like the Park Eun-jung before him was a completely different person.

“Ms. Eun-jung.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“You’re very different from before. You were completely flippant right up until your Sejong Island mission.”

“I’m reflecting on that.”

This wasn’t the kind of response she would have given.

She used to prop her legs on the table, sneering and showing irritation.

“Were you tortured or something?”

“Not at all. I simply regained awareness of the mindset a hero should have.”

“Did you attend some kind of green camp?”

“Green camp… I don’t know about the military, but perhaps it was something similar, or even more definitive than that.”

Park Eun-jung spoke without hesitation.

If she had been forcibly drugged, her speech would have been slurred.

But Park Eun-jung showed no such signs.

Rather, she was disconcertingly calm.

“Ms. Eun-jung. I’m sorry to say this after your return, but you’ll be sent to a research facility in Masan for about a month. They’ll check how they turned you and other agents into such good people.”

“Feel free to do so. If that can prove our ‘reformation.'”

“……”

Reformation.

Completely transforming into a new person?

“What, was the ‘evil’ in your heart forcibly purified?”

“Something like that, perhaps. If there’s room for rehabilitation, one should reflect and live a life of repentance, but if that’s not enough, intervention is necessary.”

“Are you admitting you were brainwashed into forcibly becoming a righteous person?”

“It wasn’t brainwashing. I simply gained enlightenment.”

Park Eun-jung placed her hand on her chest with a gentle expression.

“Like meeting a great being and awakening spirituality, I simply met someone who awakened in me what justice truly is.”

“Dark Charisma?”

“That’s what they call themselves, but to us, they are truly an ‘ally of justice.'”

“……”

The association president briefly covered his face with his hand.

“Alright. What justice did they speak of? That villains must be killed without exception?”

“To act according to society’s universal principles and notions, and according to one’s own beliefs.”

“Ms. Eun-jung, wasn’t your original belief, and I hate to say this, ability supremacy?”

“It was. …How shameful.”

Park Eun-jung lowered her head in apparent shame, her face reddening.

She fidgeted with her fingers and even pressed her legs together, seeming embarrassed and ashamed at having her “dark past” pointed out.

“I admit it. I was. But I realized that being born with an ability means I should use it not just for myself but for others as well.”

“So you were brainwashed?”

“If you call it brainwashing, then I’ll say I was brainwashed. The Park Eun-jung who was full of evil has disappeared, and I’ve become a Park Eun-jung who truly wishes to be an agent of the Hero Association and a hero.”

“Sigh.”

The association president couldn’t help but sigh.

“I’ve seen many heroes fall to villainy in my life, but how should I describe this? Justice corruption? Resocialization? Forced brainwashing? Did you swallow some magic powder? Or…”

Suddenly, the association president remembered a special effects cartoon he watched as a child.

“…Were you hit by something like a ‘fixer beam’?”

“Pardon? What’s that?”

“Or did you suffer a ‘mind crash’?”

“Excuse me?? Mr. President, is that some new ability I don’t know about?”

“…Is it too old-fashioned?”

The association president took a sip of coffee to moisten his throat, feeling somewhat bitter.

“Maybe I’m just getting old…”

It was black coffee, but somehow it tasted sweet.

“Fine. Ms. Eun-jung. I don’t know about this ‘ally of justice’ business, but congratulations on returning to the path of a hero. However.”

The association president displayed a photo.

“Is this really necessary?”

“Yes, it is.”

In the photo.

All the Hero Association agents, including Park Eun-jung, were striking similar poses.

“You’re not about to duel or something, what is this?”

“Duel…what?”

“…Sigh. You wouldn’t know, but there was such a thing…”

The association president was overwhelmed with indescribable emotions.

Others might call him old-fashioned, but while he felt nostalgia for the past, he didn’t want to see people in the present mimicking those behaviors.

“Anyway, so there was absolutely no torture. Is that right?”

“Yes. …However, if there was one thing.”

“What is it?”

The association president perked up his ears.

“What was the torture?”

“Three meals a day weren’t all Korean food; one meal included Western food.”

“……”

“For lunch, we had bread, soup, steak, roasted broccoli, and such. Not all three meals were Korean; Western food was mixed in.”

“Without kimchi?”

“They served kimchi along with pickles.”

“…Then that’s fine.”

Jung Ki-jo (40 years old, Hero Association President) gave up trying to understand.

“…It’s not like watching a washing machine spin, sigh.”