Ch.592Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (24)

In the world of supernatural abilities, the most dangerous enemies are those with what could be called “special-type” abilities.

“Look at this app. What do you think?”

“From now on, you will only think about Haeguneul. You will live faithfully as Haeguneul’s dog.”

“Now this body is mine!”

Hypnosis-type abilities, brainwashing-type abilities, possession-type abilities.

Just like in the original work, I’ve encountered all kinds of ability users.

And most of those with special-type abilities turned out to be villains.

They never use their abilities for good, just shameless people who only use them for personal gain.

The problem is that they’re “special-types.”

Basically, in ability battles, the key is how much influence you can exert over your opponent when you have more mana than them.

Special-types are a bit different.

What matters more for them is “ego stubbornness.”

To put it simply:

Think of it as if the entire universe grants your wish when you desperately desire something.

While the opponent’s mana matters, what’s more important is how forcefully you can impose your special ability on the target.

Therefore.

It’s important not to yield to the opponent’s desperate wishes and desires.

To avoid falling victim to someone trying to achieve something with their special ability, you must not succumb to their desires and abilities.

Or.

Reach a level where the opponent cannot violate you with their special ability.

That’s me.

“Huh, what…?”

Choi Ho-jung froze in his pose.

With both arms spread wide, he stared at me blankly.

“H-how is this… T-that’s impossible. There’s no way I could fail…!”

With Choi Ho-jung’s body.

He had ambitiously tried to use his ability to switch to the Goblin’s body, but his ability didn’t reach me.

“C-could it be my posture…? No, that’s impossible…! I definitely didn’t make a mistake! CHANGE—!”

Again, Choi Ho-jung uses his ability.

His simple yet high-dimensional special ability to swap bodies is trying to force a change upon me.

Just like when the TS demon shot a feminization beam that was turning my body into a woman’s, Choi Ho-jung’s powerful ego is now trying to steal my physical body by forcing a change.

However.

[It’s useless.]

It doesn’t work on me.

[You might be able to steal everyone else’s body in this world, but you can never steal mine alone.]

“W-what…!”

[That’s why I came. To face you.]

There’s no one else here.

There are no ability users near this battlefield—a suite room in a hotel in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

In case I might lose my body to Choi Ho-jung, or more precisely, to the S-class ability user “Body Changer” that Choi Ho-jung was controlling.

I could return to normal if he used that ability again, but who would want to lend their body to an old man like Choi Ho-jung even for a second?

“G-guh…! Then, something else…!”

[You can’t escape.]

“!!”

Choi Ho-jung tried to throw himself out of the hotel, but barriers were already deployed in all directions.

“This is… water…?”

[It’s a triple barrier prepared for you by the Syndicate. You can’t escape through normal means.]

Just beyond the hotel suite’s window is a magical barrier made of water.

Beyond the water, there’s an air layer as if there’s a thin glass plate in between, and beyond that, red flames are blazing fiercely, blocking any approach.

Taotie, Taowu, Qiongqi.

The magical barrier created by three S+ class ability users cannot be broken through even by an S-class user.

There’s only one way to pass through.

[Only I can escape this barrier from here.]

“G-guh…!”

Choi Ho-jung reaches toward the barrier but immediately pulls his hand back.

He realized it the moment he put his hand in:

He cannot cross the layers of magical power flowing in that barrier with his physical body, not even with an S-class ability user’s body.

“Y-you bastard…! A trap…!”

[Of course I’d set a trap to catch Haeguneul’s chairman. You switched bodies with your wife, then switched that body with a bodyguard you’ve been grooming for 20 years, and you try to escape by switching bodies with whoever you’re fighting.]

“G-guh…!”

[Well, well.]

Without a word, an ability brushes past.

[Now you’re trying to “change” without even saying anything. Calling out your technique name is a hero’s fundamental principle. Wasn’t that what you ordered directors to make heroes do when putting ads in Haeguneul? Yet here you are, trying to swap bodies without even calling out your technique.]

“What have you done?!”

Choi Ho-jung’s face contorts greatly.

“This is, absolute…!”

[Yes. That must be the secret to creating so many ‘Haeguneul Men’ until now.]

One question.

Among those who worked for Haeguneul, how many were actually the “original owners” of their bodies?

They call themselves the Choi family, but how many were born with the surname Choi?

Nobody knows.

Except for this man, Choi Ho-jung, and the person who switched bodies with him.

[One thing, you’re mistaken.]

“M-mistaken…?”

[Yes. You don’t understand what even the fake Goblin who blocked me at Haeguneul headquarters knew.]

I casually walked to the side and broke the neck of a premium liquor bottle from the suite’s minibar.

[The reason I’m not taking any action is because everything is already over.]

“W-what…?”

[You’re already dead. You just haven’t realized it yet.]

“!!”

Choi Ho-jung hurriedly examines his body.

It seems he immediately sensed his condition after I recited a line perfectly fitting his age and situation.

“W-what…! How did you do it?! I-I’m dead? No, that’s impossible! There’s no way I could be dead…! A-ah! Choi Ho-jung, you’re talking about the physical body!!”

Choi Ho-jung pointed at me and shouted.

“Of course the physical body is dead! That old body, I don’t care if it dies a hundred or thousand times! As long as I have this new body, with this ability I can switch to anyone! That’s the result of spending hundreds of trillions on ability research for 25 years!”

25 years.

As soon as abilities emerged during the Great Cataclysm, he must have immediately started researching ways to survive.

All of Haeguneul’s resources would have gone into that process, and quite a number of ability users must have been sacrificed.

And not just ability users.

Among his research subjects, there must have been demons captured using ability users’ powers.

[You conducted experiments overseas that you couldn’t do in Korea, right?]

“!!”

[You may have the face of Choi Ho-jung’s younger self, but you can’t hide the distinctive Hispanic scent.]

The owner of the body Choi Ho-jung inhabits is not Korean.

Though disguised as Korean with yellowish skin, he probably originally had white skin covered with blemishes.

[The Syndicate will find all Haeguneul branches overseas. The same goes for Korea; we will find and erase all traces of Haeguneul.]

“…….”

[You are the beginning, Choi Ho-jung.]

“Y-you may talk big, but….”

Choi Ho-jung clenched his fist and leaped from his spot.

“In my younger days, I was famous in Jongno—”

[Violence? How barbaric.]

CRASH!

Choi Ho-jung rolled across the floor as he was charging toward me.

“W-what…?!”

After rolling on the floor, he turned his head with an uncomprehending face.

“A g-ghost…?! H-how?!”

[Asking ‘how’ means you want me to reveal my weakness?]

Choi Ho-jung passed through me.

He went right through my body as if it were a hologram and rolled on the floor.

[I’m not leisurely enough to tell you such things, but I should explain so you won’t have regrets in the afterlife, as someone said.]

I poured liquor into a glass and set it down.

[It’s simple. Some people swap souls to change bodies, so naturally there must be beings who exist as souls.]

“W-what…?”

[Just because something has physical form doesn’t necessarily mean it’s alive.]

I offered the glass of liquor to Choi Ho-jung, then put my hands together in prayer.

[There’s nothing you can take from me. I don’t have a body right now in the first place.]

“W-what…!”

[Body change. A technique to swap bodies. But if there’s no body, there’s nothing to swap.]

There’s a simplest way to counter special-type abilities.

[Inhabiting someone else’s body. Interesting. But unfortunately, I’m not human—I’m a goblin.]

“Y-you, don’t tell me…!”

[If you want to steal a ghost’s body, go ahead and try. There’s nothing for you to take.]

If conditions are needed, just eliminate those conditions.

[Go ahead, try to change as much as you want. I’ll keep you company until you die.]

Clap.

[As much as I enjoy talking about abilities, I don’t particularly want to chat with an old man’s soul in an ability user’s body.]

As soon as I clapped my hands, the walls began to shake.

[There are no humans, no living beings here whose body you can swap with. There’s only a ghost goblin who’s come to the execution site in place of a busy grim reaper.]

Rumble.

The barrier spread beyond the glass wall begins to move.

CRASH!

As the glass shatters, the space begins to physically shrink.

[In this shrinking barrier, what shape will you be crushed into?]

“Y-you are—”

[Me? Of course.]

Smoothly.

I reached my hand directly into the barrier.

[A ghost passing through walls is common sense, right?]

Actually.

This is just a projection of myself.