15 – Breaking the Company (1)
Yeo-ul stood still, watching Le-yun get further away. Did she know that her older brother, whom she was desperately searching for, was right beside her but she passed by without seeing him?
As Le-yun disappeared into the distance, Yeo-ul finally revealed her presence to the world.
The pain gradually subsided as her younger sister disappeared from sight.
He, placing his hand on his chest, now harbored strong doubts.
Why did I act this way?
As if avoiding Le-yun.
Avoiding, yes.
That sudden thought triggered even greater doubts.
Am I avoiding people?
It was a very unfamiliar experience.
In the past few years, he had never avoided people, trials, fate, or anything else.
Avoiding something meant having emotions towards that subject, such as shame, fear, shyness, oppression, or guilt.
Or maybe when encountering an overwhelmingly strong enemy, one might choose to avoid them knowing that they cannot defeat them at the present moment.
However, after stripping away his emotions and gaining overwhelming strength, he no longer had emotions towards anyone and no longer needed to avoid anything.
But now?
Why was his body, as if it had become a coward, instinctively hiding from Le-yun? Yeo-ul simply could not understand.
Clearly, it was his own body.
From head to toe, a physical form that he could manipulate however he wanted, yet it was not moving according to his will.
After returning home.
He sat on the couch, contemplating for a long time, but ultimately came to no conclusion.
He was still too far away from realizing what his heart held, what was growing inside it.
* * *
Normally, the house would be bustling from early morning due to So-yeong’s preparations for work.
But strangely, today it was eerily quiet, as silent as a mouse.
The reason was that the weekend had finally arrived.
So-yeong, who woke up early every day and commuted to work for an hour on public transportation, could relax without worrying about alarms on the weekend.
While So-yeong was blissfully trapped in a sweet, deep sleep that she could finally enjoy.
Yeo-ul in the next room was already awake.
As the sunlight streamed into the room, she sat up, mechanically tidied up the bedding, and then looked out the window.
This series of events was a new routine that emerged when she returned to Earth and started living at Soyoung’s house.
Looking at the sky transitioning from dawn to morning, closer to a dusky blue than a bright sky blue.
Yeoul was lost in thought.
It wasn’t her sister’s problem that she couldn’t come to a conclusion no matter how much she thought about it, it was about Soyoung’s company.
She had thought about going back again.
That determination was not because of the slander the employees there spat at Soyoung. He was someone who was far from caring about such slander.
It wasn’t because the company was illegally making money. It didn’t cause any harm to him even if they did.
The reason was simply that the company had a foul smell.
Unpleasant memories that he had experienced in this world.
A nauseating smell similar to one of those memories.
When he stood still and turned around before leaving the company.
He saw it.
The ‘humans’ who were slandering, each one of them wearing a different race with a gloomy expression on their arm.
When his hand reached the bodies of these different races, touching and caressing them, regardless of their gender.
And when he saw the rigid faces of these different races trying to accept it nonchalantly.
And decisively.
The hand that shook hands with the president, the paper clenched in it.
The phone number written with the heartwrenching words that they needed people to contact.
A strange sense of unease was felt there.
In all of those things─
He could only recall memories of the past.
Imprinted in his mind like a brand,
The things that were trivial, he didn’t remember at all, and one of those remained as a trauma.
Of course, there was a very high possibility that it was nothing important.
A completely different social atmosphere.
The Republic of Korea, which maintained a considerable level of public safety, and the kingdom that was about to be destroyed due to war.
Other backgrounds were the same, but then and now, it was literally a different dimension, a different world.
However, that didn’t mean there was no reason to confirm it.
Discovering the foul part of that company wasn’t even worth mentioning as a challenging task for him.
To alleviate the discomfort of his memories, which he couldn’t forget, and the emotions that stemmed from there, it was worth investing some time.
On this weekend when Soyoung wasn’t going to work, it could be considered an opportune time.
Finishing her thoughts, Yeoul moved her body.
Her cross-shaped earring turned black and clenched in Yeoul’s hand.
He swung it in the air.
Silently, space was drawn.
As the thread came off, it split immediately.
A torn space, with a crack that appeared. Beyond that, there was a rarely visited alley.
Yeoul entered inside.
In an instant, Yeoul was able to move from Soyoung’s house to the alley near the company.
Yeoul, who tore through dimensions, had no emotions.
While briefly looking around, he slowly walked into the company.
* * *
And a few hours later.
Yeoul emerged from the company.
Fresh red blood was dripping from his cross-shaped earring.
Shortly after he came out, sharp screams could be heard from within the company.
He expressionlessly looked at the paper in his hand, the address written on it.
* * *
Turning back time, a few hours earlier, at the company.
Ding—a sound, and the elevator arrived.
After confirming that there was no one inside, the employees engaged in low-level conversations as they entered the elevator.
Through them, Yeoul, who had severed their presence, walked out.
Even as he passed by in front of them, they acted as if they hadn’t seen anything. They perceived Yeoul as if he were originally part of the background.
As the elevator went down, Yeoul walked into the office without hesitation.
There was no security measure within the office that could deceive Yeoul, who deceived the world.
Despite it being the weekend, there were a few employees working in the office.
They were each sorting documents, having phone conversations, or receiving reprimands from their superiors, seemingly going about their ordinary tasks.
Yeoul slowly walked around the office, gathering information.
What documents were being sorted? Who were they having phone conversations with? Why were they being reprimanded?
Following his principles, in a very peaceful manner.
He tended to choose the calmest option when taking action.
Of course, it was obvious that things became easier when using force to solve them. For him, who had been above human for a long time, finding something impossible was almost impossible.
Whatever it was, it would end if he used his sword.
How simple, convenient, and beautiful it was.
However, there was a reason he didn’t act that way.
If he abused his power even for things that could be resolved peacefully, and repeated it, only bloodshed would await at the end of that path.
Power, the stronger it was, the more carefully it needed to be handled. And Yeoul knew that very well through experience.
He never wanted to destroy his surroundings, civilization, society, and people’s daily lives. Especially because he had the power to do so.
It could be seen as being too conceited.
It could be looked down upon.
It could be ignored.
If he had used his power, there would have been times when he would have suffered the consequences.
So what should he do?
Even the fateful misfortune that came without warning, Yeoul had the power to twist it.
He was strong, others were weak, and he was a person who knew how to show mercy to the weak.
From Noble mtl dot com
Of course, there were exceptions.
Only if he didn’t cross the line he had set.
The monster that appeared before Yeoul died because it had crossed the line.
And he hadn’t crossed the line yet, so he used peaceful methods.
But then Yeoul realized one thing while obtaining information through peaceful means.
He had crossed the line here, at this company.
And he did it in the way he despised the most.
* * *
The CEO of the company where Soyoung works, Jo Kisuk.
A company that was only authorized for hunting. However, he was able to increase profits in various ways by using various fraudulent methods.
A middleman company based on paper contracts.
Reprocessing and reselling of masuk.
And one business that even employees were not aware of…
He thought of himself as a very capable person.
And it was actually true. The immense company that was supporting him was proving him right.
How could he openly hang his badge in the middle of the city and engage in activities such as buying and reselling illegal jade seals?
How could he immediately transfer such a large amount of money to Yeo-ul from this small company?
All of this was thanks to the protection of the company.
Ki-seok and his company laundered the company’s funds, while the company protected Ki-seok, forming a mutually beneficial relationship.
And under the company’s protection, he was committing a great sin driven by his insatiable desires.
It was none other than human trafficking.
Huh