66 – Damcheon (2)
The man ordered an additional cocktail from the bartender and put his hand on the counter.
She looked at me and started tapping her counter with her fingers.
“Um… well. Brave, let’s say you have a very precious and lovely lover.”
After saying that, the man started talking while stroking her chin.
“That woman is a perfect match for you, from her hobbies to her values. Her appearance is also to your liking. She is such a precious person that I think I would like to get married someday.”
What the hell are you talking about?
The man took a sip of her new cocktail in her hand, and she smiled very broadly.
“You are in such a situation now. But doesn’t she sometimes feel like this? The thought that I want to see someone who trusts and loves me so much get hurt because of me.”
“What?”
I couldn’t understand her man’s words.
A lover who matches your appearance, personality, hobbies, and values.
She is a precious person to the point of thinking about getting married.
Why do you want to see someone like that hurt?
“What?”
The man seemed more shocked than she thought that I did not understand her own meaning.
“It’s amazing. I thought she was an unusually nice person.”
The man fiddled with the cocktail glass and she continued talking.
“Everyone lives with momentary urges. Like when she sees an attractive woman she wants to spend the night with her, or when she sees delicious food she wants to go on a diet and binge eat. No, to put it more simply, there must be something like this.”
“Suppose someone painstakingly built a tower of cards. It is also a tower that reaches a whopping 5m. Don’t you suddenly feel that way? What would be the reaction of the opponent when the tower was knocked down at the moment it was completed? Have you ever thought about that?”
“… What do you want to say?”
“I want to hurt you. That urge is not so different from the momentary urges of s*x and appetite. But normal people have to be restrained. Whether it’s s*xual desire or appetite.”
I got the feeling that her man’s words were all different to the main point.
“If you hurt her, she might go away. That’s why people hold back even when they hear the urge of the moment. She wants to play a prank on her lover, but the prank makes her hesitate because she might hate me. Do you understand this much?”
“So?”
“By the way… I really miss that moment when she looks hurt and desperate because of me. Aren’t you curious about that expression that you would never see in your life?”
Why are you curious about that?
All I know is that he’s a complete madman.
“A person so precious and special may not appear in the future. She is a woman like this is my final destiny. So you should treat her more preciously and cherish her until the moment she dies. Even if you get angry sometimes, you have to be patient. She is that precious.”
The man smiled brightly after saying that.
“So, aren’t you curious?”
“Aren’t you curious about her expression that I won’t be able to see until I die?”
“Don’t you want to see that expression that you will never see in your lifetime even if you live relying on each other for 80 years?”
“The unknown moment we haven’t seen yet… Aren’t you curious?”
“I’m so curious about the expression on that moment that I won’t be able to see until I die.”
“Would you understand if I said that was my purpose, Brave?”
The man smiled so innocently that it reminded me of myself when I was young when I was happy to receive the first figure as a gift.
But the malice in those words was horrifying to the point of shuddering.
“Why, why… do that….”
She took a sip of the man’s cocktail, then ordered a new one, and she grinned.
“One day, a man possessed a special power. The man was very ordinary. He was moderately exemplary, moderately well-mannered, and moderately intolerant of injustice. But she was an ordinary guy who sometimes had impulsive thoughts.”
Is this her own story?
I listened to the man’s words.
“With that special power, the man was able to glimpse her future. The future was truly terrifying. Unlike this world, there are no monsters, but it was a society where conflicts continued for various reasons, such as race, gender, ideology, nation, property, and so on. Society was sick and the future was bleak. It was a society built on an unstable sandy beach that could collapse at any moment.”
“Just in time, the man had the power to change the future. So the man summoned her special presence.”
“An external enemy that is often dealt with in movies and novels, a monster you are familiar with.”
“And you?”
The man only smiled meaningfully.
“The structure of society has changed. After the appearance of the monster, it was impossible to build buildings higher than a certain level, and new towns were born in various places for fear of paralysis of administrative agencies. I mean worldwide. The centralization of the capital has been resolved, and real estate has been relatively stabilized. When the monster appeared, I was confused for a while, but what about it? Isn’t a new society built and running well?”
“Crazy….”
Even if a man can really see the future, he can’t justify a monster that kills tens or hundreds of thousands of people every year.
Mad.
The man was truly a madman.
“In the future I saw, more people die every year than monsters die. It was a very unstable society where the gap between the rich and the poor widened to the point where it could not be filled, and the resentment remained throughout society. If you compare people who commit suicide every year to people who starve to death, I’m sure we have a better society now.”
She was arguing that what she had done was a necessary evil.
I don’t know what kind of future her man saw, but she couldn’t bear to say that it was a necessary sacrifice.
“Then, why don’t we just keep making monsters appear? Why… Why are you making such a strange monster? Why did you approach Yongsu?”
“In any era, people adapt. Just like when monsters appeared, the profession of hero appeared. Sooner or later, the technology to prevent the appearance of monsters will come out. So shouldn’t I continue to take on new challenges?”
“… Why?”
“Why? Haven’t you heard everything? Because there has to be a monster.”
“….”
“Shouldn’t you rather thank me? You are here now because of the monster.”
23 Years old.
I don’t think I’m that old.
But I think I have met a lot of different people in my life.
Of course, there were many people who did not fit me.
But this man was the first person whose story didn’t fit together.
It seemed like they were talking to each other in the same language, but I couldn’t understand what the man was saying at all.
“You said you created this society because you hated that terrible future. So, with this, you have achieved your goal…. But why?”
The man stroked her chin once more and then she gave her a slight nod.
“Future poetry was not omnipotent. When I changed the future, it disappeared as if it had done its business. I just wanted to peek at the possibilities. If I still had that ability… I wouldn’t have done that.”
“What?”
“The source of supernatural power is a monster. All human beings have the potential to awaken to supernatural powers. It is unknown who will awaken to what ability, but there is a certain direction. Then, in what cases do you think you will awaken your psychic powers?”
“….”
“That is when there is a strong desire, life-threatening stress, or any other equivalent factor.”
Is that why you approached people like In-su and Yong-soo?
For that future poem?
It is unknown what kind of psychic power will be manifested, but there is a direction.
The reason Insu and Yongsu opened their eyes to the ability to strengthen their bodies was because they needed stronger power.
The reason why Flash obtained the lightning ability was because he wanted a flashy ability, unlike the acceleration ability that was evaluated as modest.
Then, if there is a being like this man who has a strong desire to change the future, a person who can obtain the future poem may appear.
And if you’re thinking of stealing psychic powers from that person….
For the first time, I was able to understand the true reason why the man was trying to throw this society into chaos.
It is extremely inefficient to stimulate people one by one in order to obtain future poetry.
In addition, the current society is gradually stabilizing with the technological power of black technology.
In the case of the United States, there is even news that even A-class monsters have been created by individuals to defeat them.
In the near future, there may be a weapon capable of eradicating even S-class monsters.
From noble mtl dot com
Then there will be no more people who yearn for supernatural powers.
Then what should I do?
… Greater social disruption is needed.
“Life is not a game. It means that if you choose A, you will never be able to see the future if you chose B. Still I… I want to see the unseen future.”
I couldn’t stand it any longer and got up from my seat and grabbed the man’s collar.
“You… You crazy bastard!”
No matter how much I heated up, the man just gave me a calm smile.
“I thought of you when you said Yongsu…. Aren’t you curious? Why didn’t I target your parents?”
It felt like her body stiffened as the worst thing I had ever thought of spits out of the man’s mouth.
The man untied my hand, brushed her breasts, and sat back down.
“Isn’t that boring then?”
“Then what about spring water? Why are you touching someone who used to live quietly?”
“Yong Sura… It was an unexpected result. I didn’t even expect it to end so blandly. To be honest, I was a bit embarrassed. Although there are often cases where the perception of the surroundings and the person’s personality are not in harmony.”
The man let out a dry laugh at what was so interesting.
“Yes, I managed to come this far, so I can tell you this much.”
She threw her dress coat over her arm, which the man had laid down beside her, and put her fedora on her head.
“You don’t know how things work in the world. So always have insurance in case of an emergency. Keep in mind Ah~ By the way, that recording will be useless.”
She laughed loudly when she knew the guy she knew I was recording.
“Because I can change my voice and appearance like this.”
After the man said that, she trudged out.
I looked at the man and then at the bartender.
The bartender just stood there wiping the cups as if nothing had happened.
Is this person also related to that man?
ㅡ There must be more important issues than that right now?
Grid, who had been quiet for fear of being caught by that man, warned me.
I paid for the cocktail and hurriedly left the bar, thinking about the meaning of Grid’s words.
“Ugh!”
A cold sweat began to flow.
I immediately called the author.
ㅡ Senior?
“Where are you now?!”
ㅡ Why is that? Are you a researcher?
“Can we just go to the place we went last time?”
ㅡ Why is that?
“I’ll go and tell you!”
It seems that the QR code the author sent me last time can still be used.
I hurried to the building where the elevator I rode the other day was located.
The word insurance was thrown by the man as if it were a hint.
That kept bothering me.
The place where Yongsu worked as a hero office is the office where a hero named Flash worked.
There are several criteria for heroes to select a hero office.
1. Famous place.
2. A place to build your career.
3. An easy place to get to and from work.
It is usually divided into these three criteria.
A famous place is, of course, to increase the exposure and receive more ransom.
The place where you can build your career is to grow faster by gaining know-how from heroes with similar superpowers.
This is the reason Eunseong, who works as a Silver Star, went to Flash’s office.
And the last commute is a problem that any office worker should think about.
It was only in this situation that I realized that Yong-soo had made a very strange choice.
Flash’s office has a good name, but it’s not a famous enough place to visit.
Yongsu’s psychic ability is not acceleration.
The last time I visited Yong-soo’s house, it was quite far from Flash’s hero office.
That means there were other external factors in the selection of Yongsu’s hero office.
Insurance.
Yes, insurance.
What if the insurance the guy was talking about meant flash?
Flash recently received equipment developed for lightning powers.
I felt that all of this was connected as one.
A cold sweat began to flow.
ㅡ Hurry up!
The normally cynical Grid also hurried his steps, as if he thought the situation was unusual.
I hope this is my misunderstanding.
I just hoped that.