Ch.8585. Yusea, You’re Mine! (Pi-katchu!)

Meanwhile, at the same time.

‘········How did it come to this?’

After witnessing someone transform into a fanatic, I was now watching Yoo Se-ah struggling inside a subdimension within the psychic dimension, which was utterly baffling.

I never intended to send her into the subdimension in the first place, and that ideology about controlling humanity wasn’t my sincere belief—it was just something I made up on the spot.

No, what’s even more surprising is how she managed to infiltrate my subdimension at all.

The simulation device she was connected to is linked to my subdimension, so theoretically, a high-level psychic user might be able to use that connection somehow… but right now, her psychic abilities are being suppressed through various methods.

To put it in perspective, her mind infiltrating my subdimension is like a person without limbs wearing a cardboard box and successfully breaking into the Pentagon—that level of impossibility.

Of course, since my subdimension is both the world I inhabit and my core being, I could easily digest her soul to increase my power if I wanted to, as she’s essentially invaded my internal space.

But this is only because the infiltrating mind-soul happened to be just a regular human’s that drifted in by chance. If someone hostile deliberately sent in a weapon designed to kill me through that pathway… I wouldn’t escape unscathed.

So, I began analyzing the psychic pathway between her and myself to identify the route—

‘········What? It was just this pathway?’

After confirming that a fragment of her consciousness had accidentally been drawn along the pathway I use to send simulations to her brain and absorb the resulting strain, I felt deflated but immediately improved the security on that pathway.

※ ※ ※

After completing the security upgrades, I nervously directed my vessel to disconnect Se-ah from the simulation device.

Then, I moved my vessel to return Se-ah’s consciousness to reality, and she opened her eyes.

But something was strange.

“Senior……..”

After opening her eyes and gazing at me (my vessel) with a profoundly wistful voice and expression, she suddenly came to her senses, knelt before me, and began sobbing.

“I, I was wrong, Senior! I, I didn’t know, I didn’t know you were like this… I attacked you!”

‘What? What is this about?’

Naturally, I was bewildered by Se-ah’s sudden outburst, but I couldn’t show it outwardly.

Keeping my confusion hidden, I looked down at her solemnly, and she continued speaking like a devout believer making a confession.

“It’s just as you said, Senior! Humans, humans shouldn’t be left free. A transcendent being with superior intellect—you—should guide us!”

‘········Huh?’

This was completely unexpected. What I had said when trying to recruit her was just meant to shock her and shake her resolve—it wasn’t sincere at all.

To begin with, I have no desire to exterminate or rule over humanity.

My goal was to escape to space when the opportunity arose, enjoy playing SimCity on the moon or Mars, and evolve myself into an even more powerful deity.

Honestly, preparing to leave for space right now would be far more efficient for achieving this goal.

But hearing her desperate plea makes me feel somewhat proud, and I find myself wanting to grant her request.

……..And truthfully, despite all the talk about “Hell Korea” and despite no longer being human myself, that doesn’t mean I feel nothing for the country down south.

If I truly felt nothing and pursued only efficiency, I would have already replaced the president, the leadership, and the entire National Assembly, throwing South Korea into chaos.

And in that chaos, where humans couldn’t interfere with me, I would simply escape on a rocket to space—specifically, to the moon.

The fact that I’m taking risks instead of choosing the easy path… I suppose that’s the last fragment of humanity remaining in me.

So, I decided to go along with her words to some extent. I approached her as she knelt with her head bowed, lifted her chin to meet her eyes, restored the facial part of my vessel, and spoke.

[….It won’t be easy.]

“I can handle it.”

[I don’t know how long it will take.]

“For you, Senior, I can wait as long as it takes.”

[……..You’ll have to give up being human and assimilate your mind into the collective.]

“With you, Senior, I’m not afraid.”

[You might be hated by those you love, or you might have to kill them.]

“That’s okay. And even if I kill them, you’ll bring them back to life, won’t you?”

[I might be deceiving you. Can you still trust me even if that’s the case?]

“I’d be shocked if that were true… but would someone trying to deceive me say such things?”

No matter what I said or what conditions I set, she unconditionally affirmed everything about me—my words, my claims, even my very existence—regardless of my logic.

On the surface, it might look like love or trust between lovers… but it absolutely wasn’t.

If I had to describe it, it was blind faith or fanaticism, beyond the reach of reason.

She was clearly insane with fanatical devotion to me.

Even if I ordered her to kill herself, she would probably cut her own throat with joy, happy just to receive and fulfill my command.

[……..Come with me, Yoo Se-ah.]

So, with a “whatever happens, happens” attitude, I led her to the modification chamber—

“Yes, Senior!”

And she followed behind me with a bright—and grotesque—smile that stretched to her cheekbones.

※ ※ ※

[Lie down here and insert those plugs into your body.]

“Yes!”

*Squelch!*

“Senior, something strange is entering my body…”

[Accept it, and while you’re at it, take a nap.]

“Yesss…”

After laying her in the nutrient pool for modification and preparing for the procedure, I began manipulating the internal tentacles to reconstruct her body tissues.

I implanted DNA that increases psychic conductivity into her bones, changed her nervous system from protein to mineral (psychic crystal fibers), and broke down her muscles at the molecular level, inserting monster DNA to fundamentally transform them.

However, I only changed the materials, not the structure itself.

A top-tier hunter ranks somewhere between Grade 0 and Grade 1 monsters, and naturally, for an ordinary human body to reach such a level, various physical changes must occur.

Even mid-tier hunters (C to lower B-rank psychic users) undergo enough physical changes to be classified as a subspecies of humans biologically, and those who reach the upper tiers develop extraordinary physical durability—like eyeballs that can deflect bullets—even without using psychic abilities.

So for a top-tier hunter, the body is already optimized for their actions, making structural changes unnecessary. I focused solely on improving the quality of her body materials—and furthermore, completely replaced her internal organs with those of monsters.

Of the three reasons monsters have physical superiority over human hunters (excluding size), I gave her the other two: body materials dozens of times stronger than steel, and overwhelmingly superior internal organs.

The regenerative substance produced by a monster’s liver—the source of “regeneration” or “super-regeneration” traits—quickly heals wounds, while respiratory organs like lungs store large amounts of oxygen and various gases, allowing combat to continue without breathing.

The stomach contains dissolving fluids that can digest inorganic materials like metal or soil, ensuring nutrient supply in any situation, and digestive organs that have become obsolete have been repurposed to secrete various combat-supporting substances.

The gallbladder secretes substances that maintain mental stability or detoxify poisonous materials, while the pancreas has long since become a storage organ capable of storing enormous amounts of calories.

I even transplanted the psychic energy and field-generating organ—the biological core—which is essentially the heart of mid-tier and higher monsters. At this point, Yoo Se-ah was virtually a Grade 0 monster, just without S-rank traits.

And now, it was time to modify the last remaining human part of her body—the brain.

With the power to manipulate souls that I gained upon becoming a god-like being, I first preserved her memories and consciousness-mind by using her soul as a storage device, then connected it to the hive mind’s collective intelligence.

While this soul connection was in progress, I carefully reconfigured her brain with monster cells, then returned her soul to her now-monstrous body—

“Now, we’ll be together forever… Seeeniorrr♡.”

‘…Did I mess something up?’

I had gained a powerful monster equivalent to Grade 0.