Chapter 15 Part 4: Request – Rescue

“Okay. I have a rough idea of how to do it. I need you to help me?”

“…Me?”

“Yeah. I need your help.”

A gathering of people who hate returnees. Samhwa Sect.

I don’t know why, but those guys kidnapped a person named Yoo Jin.

I could have eliminated all those guys and brought the target, but if I did, things would get too big, so I wanted to handle it quietly somehow.

Without killing anyone, neatly bring only the target.

To do that, I needed Haran’s help.

“I got a good idea. Here, take this.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a small transmitter. It’s linked to my optic nerve… It’s complicated to explain, but it’s easier to think that I can see the surroundings through it.”

Haran, who was rolling the transmitter in her palm as if she was amazed, had an expression that seemed subtly pleased.

Does she think she’s been recognized because I said I needed her help?

She had an expression that was half expectation and half nervousness, not knowing what kind of help I needed.

“What should I do with this?”

“You’re going to infiltrate and be my eyes.”

“…Yes?”

However, her expression changed in an instant.

From expectation and tension, to shock and embarrassment.

“Ah, ah, no. That’s, I… I’ve never infiltrated anything…?”

“Don’t worry too much. There’s a way. It’s enough if you just catch their eye.”

‘…?’

Haran used the term ‘cult’ towards the guys called Samhwa.

That means they have some degree of religious color.

Those guys have a strong tendency to hate returnees.

Then, it was very easy for me and Haran to enter the church that those guys were using as a base.

“Those guys… um, what should I call this. Returnees who aren’t human? They hate that, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, if you’re assaulting me, it’ll be solved on its own.”

“…Yes?”

Inside an old church in the city center, a middle-aged man’s voice echoed.

Was he trying to spread their ideology? The man, who put strength in his neck to the point where his blood vessels were visible, was spewing out words as if his words were the truth.

“Only, only pure humans! Are worthy of living in this world!”

“That’s right!”

“God said to love your neighbor… But they are different! Those who are not human cannot be called neighbors!”

“That’s right!”

“Someday, everyone will know. The fact that people should live with people! The fact that they cannot live with monsters! They are not people! They are monsters!”

“That’s right!”

“So until that time comes, let’s all pray. Let’s act! Until we eliminate them all!”

“Until we eliminate them all.”

However, it wasn’t a sermon that would come out of a church.

Instead of telling everyone to embrace each other, discriminatory words, insulting remarks, and words that affirm violence poured out of the pastor’s mouth.

But the believers who listened to the story did not deny the story at all.

Rather, they nodded their heads as if the story was right and showed an enthusiastic reaction.

“…!…?!”

“!?!!”

A church where everyone gathered their hands and prayed as they usually did after the sermon.

Their prayers were instantly broken by the commotion outside the church.

The pastor of the Samhwa, whose prayers were disturbed, opened his mouth as if he was uncomfortable.

“It’s noisy outside.”

“Did those guys from human rights groups come again…?”

“…It’s better to get rid of them right away.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“How can they not know that those who are not human naturally do not have human rights…”

The faces of the believers were distorted like demons at the fact that their prayer time was disturbed.

How dare they disturb the prayer, they deserve to die. Their expressions seemed to say that.

“What the heck are you doing here! Go back right now! This is not your protest site…”

“Aaaack! Ack!”

“E, eit! You useless returnee can! Di, die! Eit!”

“?”

However, a scene that was quite different from what they thought was unfolding outside the door.

A woman was beating another woman.

“Pastor, this is…”

“Die! You dirty can! Eit, eit!”

“Kyaak! Save me!”

“You like you, no. Girls like you shouldn’t be alive! Heo, heo..”

Although it was a clumsy gesture, the woman who was beating was mercilessly striking the woman with a baseball bat.

And, the woman who is being attacked by her is…

Her right arm was torn off.

“…Machine?”

Someone’s murmur echoed in the church.

Yes, the body of the woman who is being beaten now was a machine.

The cross-section of the torn arm only showed densely connected machines as if reminiscent of muscles.

People who saw the scene where blood that should have flowed if it were a person didn’t flow intuitively realized it.

She’s a returnee. An ordinary person couldn’t have that kind of body.

“Haa, haa…. Huh? Wh, who are you?”

“We are people called Samhwa.”

“Samhwa?”

“That’s right. I went out to see what was going on because of the commotion… I never thought I would meet such a benefactor.”

The believers changed their expressions in an instant, as if it was a lie that they were staring at the person outside the door as if they were going to kill her until just now.

From uninvited guest to benefactor.

It didn’t take much time for them to change their evaluation of the woman in front of them.

“You hate returnees.”

“We, well…. It’s disgusting that something that’s not a person is pretending to be a person, right?”

“That’s right! That’s right! That’s right, and of course!”

The pastor, who heard her words, jumped out in an instant, grabbed her hand, and started to get excited.

“People should be like people! It’s impossible for those monster-like guys to pretend to be people!”

“Oh, um…. Th, that’s right?”

‘It’s really amazing! To think that a monster that looks exactly like a person was around here…! How did you find out?!”

“Oh, by chance…?”

“I’m sorry to say this, but would you be able to share a story with us? We want to hear your story.”

“…Yes.”

No one cared about the woman whose arm was torn off and rolling around.

They were just looking at the benefactor in front of them with envious eyes.

Like looking at trash or stones rolling around on the street, the woman who was lightly ignored started to get up only when they closed the door of the church tightly.

“Tuh. Ah, sh…. I got dust in my mouth. It’s stuffy.”

I told her to hit me sincerely, but was it because the blow was weaker than I thought and I twisted my body on purpose?

I kept coughing because of the stuffy feeling I felt because of the dust that entered my mouth.

Then, I picked up the right arm that was scattered on the street and roughly fitted it together.

“Tsk…. I’ll have to clean the dust next time.”

I’m sure there won’t be any performance problems even if a little dust gets in, but I couldn’t hide the찝찝함 every time something like this happened. (This word doesn’t have an exact translation in English, but it means a feeling of unease, discomfort, or something being not quite right.)

Should I say that I don’t like it even though there’s no problem with the performance?

Even though there’s nothing wrong with the performance, I felt like my arm was stiff.

“Okay, then….”

I closed my eyes and started to open my third eye.

…I can’t get used to this feeling.

What the heck is the third eye? No, I know.

It was a strange feeling that I couldn’t explain in words. I’ve used it several times, but I still can’t get used to it.

As I shuddered at the bizarre sensation, the scenery that the transmitter, which was nestled in Haran’s chest and peeking out, was seeing began to come into view at a glance.

“Huum….”

…It’s suspicious.

As soon as I saw the inside, that thought came to my mind.

I expected that they had religious colors because they used the church as a base, and I was convinced when I saw them actually holding such a gathering.

But why is there someone on the 2nd floor terrace?

It should be a very important event for them.

The person on the terrace was firmly guarding the place as if he was on guard.

The strange thing is that he’s not guarding the outside.

If he was guarding the outside, he couldn’t have been watching Haran like that.

They were guarding the inside, not the outside.

“This is going to be more interesting than I thought….”

At first, I thought it was an ordinary discrimination group.

Then, I thought it was a cult that gathered people who were obsessed with revenge.

But, seeing that there was something different from what I thought, I started to get interested.

What are these guys hiding? Why did they bother to kidnap Haran’s acquaintance?

I became curious about that.

“I should move too.”

Entrusting my body to the grappling hook, which felt a little stiff, I flew towards the 2nd floor terrace.

Then, I instantly ambushed the guard who was still guarding the believers and strangled his neck.

“Keo, keoheok…!”

“Just sleep for a while, friend. Don’t worry. You won’t die.”

The guard, who was struggling because he couldn’t breathe, seemed to want to say something, but he couldn’t do anything because his trachea was blocked and he fainted.

Good.

I took off his clothes and started to change into them.

To infiltrate this church.