FLIA 140

“Aaagh! Help me! Go Jaewon! What are you doing right now!”

Go Jaewon clicked his tongue. If it were a monster, he would have killed it, but because it was a corrupted person, he couldn’t. No, to be exact, he could not kill it because there were too many cameras filming the place. One of the Special Suppression Unit members blocking the corrupted collapsed. Go Jaewon gritted his teeth and unleashed his ability at the one charging at him.

“Fuck, get lost!”

But for some reason, the moment his ability was released, the corrupted person turned into a civilian screaming. His hand holding the weapon froze.

“Aaagh! P-please spare me! Don’t attack me!”

Go Jaewon was embarrassed.

‘Just a moment ago it really was a corrupted charging at me!’

The civilian who had run to him for help cried and fled in the opposite direction. Yoon Seungryong immediately pulled him safely into Lee Chanha’s barrier.

Go Jaewon continued fighting the corrupted people, but because of what had happened, his mouvements were hesitant. The gap it caused made Park Seungmin feel constant danger to his life. Every time a corrupted came close, he rolled his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs, looking disgraceful.

The chaos settled only a few minutes later. It was thanks to Seo Yakrin and Ju Hoyoung suppressing all the corrupted in the small forest. Dozens of them fell to the ground, subdued by golden telekinesis and ice. The moment they had a little room to breathe, Park Seungmin and Kim Jongseok fled together with the Suppression Unit members.

The completely suppressed corrupted still writhed, their eyes wild with madness as they searched for a purifier. Lee Hyunmook and the other teammates quietly blocked their sight so they could not see Yohan.

Screaming people, crying people, people fainting… the place was in utter chaos, a complete mess. Yohan was desperate to immediately purify them, but before he could move, Yoon Seungryong put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. Then, as if what had just happened was nothing special, he spoke calmly.

“Looks like we can’t go eat at the buffet, right?”

Seo Yakrin smacked Yoon Seungryong’s back hard, and the [Rift Management Bureau Abyss Returnee Celebration Ceremony] came to an end.

***

[The Mystery of the Seowon Hotel Ceremony Incident]

First, watch this video.

https://metu.be/nEmoneMoyUGoomM

A streamer called Jiubau, who’s pretty famous, was live-streaming this ceremony.

At 25:21, look at the far left of the screen, back row. Don’t you see a strange person? A scar split in an X across their forehead, and their eyes were rolling side to side.

Viewers kept telling him to turn around, saying the person looked weird. But he didn’t notice at all.

Even though the figure was close by, he couldn’t recognize it. Instead, he got angry and said he’d ban anyone who joked about ghosts. Isn’t that creepy?

└On awakener communities they’re saying it’s an illusion ability.

└Yeah, there are monsters that emit hallucinogenic substances. Really rare, usually plant-like ones rooted in the ground.

└Shit, if corrupted people are walking around using hallucinations, doesn’t that mean one could be right next to me?

└That’s why body cams and CCTV are sold out everywhere right now.

[I’m the one you should protect! I’m a High-level Purifier!]

You bastards! Not there! It’s me, Park Seungmin!

Hahahaha hahaha

This is so pathetic.

This is supposed to be the proud High-level Purifier of Korea?

└Legendary embarrassment haha

└Meanwhile Lee Chanha ignored him and went straight to protect civilians

└Pure light

└Lightlightlight222222

└Light my ass. He’s pathetic, but honestly the first priority should be protecting a high-level purifier. If he dies, everyone else dies too.

└It’s true. Protecting the high-level purifier should have come first. The Taeyang Team mishandled this.

└ lol Newbies always say dumb shit like this. Even if he’s a healer, he’s still a high-level awakener. Look at Tyron. He’s a high-level healer but he can still take down a Class-4 monster alone. And was Park Seungmin even alone? Go Jaewon and the Suppression Unit were right there. Of course Taeyang Team had to protect civilians first.

└Exactly. And once you’re high-level , regeneration is insane. You don’t die easily from normal damage.

[Why the hell was PSM giving a speech there anyway?]

It was supposed to be a ceremony for Abyss Returnees? The real protagonist was sitting like a backdrop, and that KJS was the one talking? Then after him it was PSM again? Does that make sense?

└People say PSM throws his weight around a lot in Sunrise Guild.

└I don’t trust rumors.

└My friend’s in that guild. He said PSM reported him to HR for not bowing politely enough.

└I don’t know about that, but apparently he’s been filing lawsuits left and right these days.

└ I commented exactly five words on his interview, asking if he had an inferiority complex, and he sued me.

[Go Jaewon really attacked a civilian, right?]

“Are you in your right mind?”

“The victim said he only approached asking to be saved too.”

“But he told him to get lost and attacked.”

“If it hit properly he would have at least been half-paralyzed.”

└“Crazy bastard, how did he hide that personality in the past?”

└“Compared to the Taeyang Team, he looks so bad.”

└“When will they change the Sunrise Guild name, it’s not Sunrise anymore?”

└“They won’t change it because of the name value lol. With Lee Hyunmook gone, if they change it who will recognize them?”

└“Lee Hyunmook is gone, but they still have PSM.”

└“Protect me first! I’m a high-level purifier! You bastards! Not there, me! It’s me, Park Seungmin!”

[Forget the rest, I am just jealous of Yang Yohan]

“Lucky enough to be born with a golden spoon, attend the ceremony, and even enter the Taeyang Guild.”

“As soon as things got dangerous this time, Lee Chanha was the first to run off carrying him.”

“The Abyss ties are amazing.”

└“Lol honestly it is enviable? He probably even got carried around in the Abyss.”

└“Agreed, what could a low-level dealer in the Abyss even have done.”

[Did you guys just see the news?]

“They said the Taeyang Guild’s treatment custody facility for severe corrupted ones is completed?”

Yohan was amusing himself reading the internet reactions about the corrupted attack incident from a few days ago, and he asked.

“Is the treatment custody facility completed?”

“That already came out?”

Seo Yakrin, who was sprawled on the sofa, swinging her feet in walker shoes while watching a trash drama, asked in surprise.

“I heard it was almost finished… Anyway, reporters are quick.”

“Oh, a summons to the meeting room just came.”

The people loafing in the lounge got the summons, and the team members who had been idling all stood up.

Because of the Abyss returnee commemoration ceremony incident, the Rift Management Bureau got cursed out endlessly. Criticism about how they managed the event, why they didn’t know anything even as the corrupted approached that close, complaints about lax security, everything was piled on.

The Rift Management Bureau wasn’t the only one cursed. Go Jaewon and Park Seungmin’s responses were talked about too. Park Seungmin at least avoided some blame because he was a high-level purifier, but Go Jaewon, who attacked a civilian, became nearly a national traitor. He shut himself in, never appearing at any event, moving only between guild, home, and rift exploration.

Yohan thought those reactions were satisfying, but at the same time he felt worried. Unlike what the media said, the commemoration ceremony security and defenses were thorough. But that strict security was broken without resistance. The biggest problem was that no one knew where they appeared from or how they came. It wasn’t just because of the corrupted’s hallucination ability. Even the CCTV footage was unsatisfactory.

“Deputy Leader! They said the treatment custody facility is completed?”

As soon as they entered the meeting room, Yoon Seungryong asked. Lee Chanha, who was in discussion with Lee Hyunmook, nodded.

“Right. But I called you for something else too. Yohan-gun, sit here first.”

When everyone sat down, Lee Chanha took something out of his bag. It was made of glass and tightly sealed. Even before he took it out, Yohan, who felt a familiar unpleasant feeling, looked at the bag and frowned.

“This is a specimen from Hyunsan Hospital Research Center, could you take a look at it?”

At the ceremony that day, all the corrupted were taken into custody by the government. But Yoon Seungryong had quickly smuggled away a few and kept them in his “pocket.” From the weakest ones he sent some to Hyunsan Hospital Research Center, and the research results seemed to show something unusual.

“What is this…?”

What Lee Chanha took out was a nauseating creature that looked like a long roundworm. It lay still inside the container like it was dead, but when he shook the jar to provoke it, it stiffened and jabbed in all directions with its swollen end, which might have been its tail or head. Lee Hyunmook explained instead.

“This is one of the parasitic organisms found in the bodies of the corrupted who attacked the commemoration ceremony. When we removed this, the corrupted couldn’t use their hallucination ability.”

“Wait, every corrupted body had one of these?” Seo Yakrin asked in surprise. She understood exactly what Lee Hyunmook meant.

“Yes. Whatever it is, there’s some force implanting this in people’s bodies and spreading them to target purifiers. And most of the people implanted with these parasites were originally civilians.”

“If that guess is true, the situation is more serious than we thought.” Yoon Seungryong’s expression stiffened. Normal civilians don’t usually reach severe corruption unless they fight monsters directly. That meant the corruption route could be different.

Yohan stared at the parasite in the jar and asked.

“Can I try purifying this?”

“That’s exactly why I brought it, to ask that, Yohan-gun.”

Yohan tapped the jar that Lee Chanha held out with his finger. He only flicked it lightly with his index finger, but the inside of the jar lit up like a bulb had turned on. A moment later, only a few small scraps of the outer shell remained. That meant this parasitic creature itself was a highly dangerous corrupted organism. Purification deletes things that are clearly harmful to people. Almost every part of the insect was a toxic corrupted substance.