Chapter 409

In truth, from an alien’s perspective, this particular planet could be rather cruel toward those who were less than perfect.

In India, for example, tactile paving for the visually impaired was sometimes removed because it was considered unsightly. Even if someone with impaired mobility managed to obtain an electric wheelchair, there were still very few places where they could actually use it.

Of course, no matter how unkind this world might be, it was still better than Alphauri.

At least it was far better than those marine creatures who used to kill newborn mages born with congenital disabilities that prevented them from wielding magic.

In any case, on this particular planet, contempt for the weak had only grown harsher after the Dungeon Shock.

Patients suffered several times more than ordinary people whenever evacuations became necessary. And with humanity already overwhelmed by countless other problems, there was little room left to devote additional effort to protecting the sick and vulnerable.

“This isn’t a problem that can be solved just by blindly pouring in more tax money...”

Thud.

The blond-haired man lay sprawled on the floor somewhere, taking a moment to organize his thoughts.

First of all, the person named Jinhee—though the name itself was rather common—possessed one particularly remarkable trait.

“Her resistance to mental attacks is extremely low.”

To put it into perspective, she was like a naive neighbor who never bothered locking the front door.

Moreover, despite having a strong memory, her thoughts were not particularly complex, making it very easy to rummage through her mind.

“Let’s start with the most recent memories and work backward.”

A few minutes later.

“And then arrange everything in chronological order.”

The information the Archmage obtained through sorcery could be summarized as follows.

Just as he had expected upon casting the spell, Choi Jinhee truly was someone whose intelligence fell somewhat below average.

Her condition had been officially recognized by the authorities, but it was not severe enough to qualify as a serious disability.

In other words, with proper training, she was considered fully capable of participating in society.

The state therefore classified her as part of the potentially productive population.

And because of that, the Choi sisters received very little assistance.

“It isn’t all that different from the childhood Kim Giryeo went through.”

If her life were simply listed out as a series of events, there would seem to be nothing particularly remarkable about it.

But once he entered the person’s memories himself and began drawing them out one by one, as though dipping litmus paper into water, his impression changed in many ways.

“Oh, how can a child smile so brightly? She’s absolutely adorable.”

Her parents’ hands caressed her face, which was still covered in the fine, peach-like fuzz of childhood.

For an instant, he felt those rough yet gentle hands himself—

And then similar memories began surfacing one after another from the Awakener’s mind.

“Oh, she should have been tested much earlier. Why did you only bring her in now?”

The first thing that caught his attention was a pair of brightly colored enamel shoes, the sort usually worn only by children.

When the little girl began nervously turning her head from side to side, the adults around her soon showed signs of discomfort.

The circumstances made it clear.

Hunter Jinhee’s parents had remained unaware of their child’s condition for quite a long time.

More precisely, they simply had not paid enough attention to their daughter’s health problems.

But that did not mean they had no affection for their family.

‘...’

Simply put, ordinary people were often so busy struggling to make ends meet that things could easily turn out this way.

“Honestly, I’m sick of worrying about money. I really wish we could stop talking about it someday.”

Choi Jinhee had always smiled brightly and was optimistic by nature, but even she had endured many hardships because of her family’s poverty.

In particular, the moment when she had been forced to prove her own inadequacy to the state had remained carved into her very being as a painful memory.

Her parents had stood beside her and repeatedly pressured her with words such as,

“You’re not normally like this, are you?”

“Why are you acting normal only now? If you behave like that during the evaluation, we won’t receive any support.”

When someone standing beside you keeps calling you stupid, naturally, it becomes difficult to feel good about yourself.

You get angry.

Your heart pounds.

Then, once you lie down at night, the thought suddenly crosses your mind.

‘Am I really that stupid?’

It was the memory of someone blaming herself.

“It isn’t a kind of pain I’ve experienced personally.”

The Alphauri-style [Memory Search] spell was so advanced that its precision became a problem in itself.

“Still, it’s not something I can’t understand.”

Sounds, smells, scenery—

Fragments of everything the corpse had experienced while alive flowed intact into the mage.

He fell silent for a moment.

“Hmm.”

The one small consolation was that this Choi Hunter had not lived a life filled entirely with sorrow...

“The structure itself is simple. But this head... it’s cluttered with far too many useless thoughts.”

I love my sister.

My sister really is the best family I have!

With thoughts like these constantly filling Jinhee’s heart, it was difficult to judge lightly what the woman standing at the funeral hall had truly felt about her younger sister.

As it turned out, this B-rank younger sister had caused her older sister quite a bit of trouble over the years, whether she realized it or not.

***

As the mage flipped through the memories fragment by fragment, he soon reached scenes from Jinhee’s early twenties.

Many portions could be skipped.

The important point was simple.

The relationship between the Choi sisters had never been particularly bad.

“She’s your younger sister. You’re the older one, Jina, so you need to take good care of her.”

Although it was limited to one or two subjects, Choi Jin was intelligent enough to frequently rank first in her entire school in those particular fields.

And while examining the corpse’s memories, the mage discovered something unexpected.

The future bearer of the [Dragon’s Heart], Choi Jin, had actually cherished her younger sister deeply.

By nature, she °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was highly suspicious and found it difficult to trust others.

Living every day while constantly keeping her guard up was exhausting.

So when she happened to have such a good family, that family meant everything to her.

“Wow, Jinhee. You really are terrible at lying.”

Choi Jin regarded her younger sister’s honesty as an extraordinary virtue.

Moreover, because they were connected by blood, she felt as though she had gained a companion who would never betray her, even if the entire world split in two.

For that alone, she had even felt grateful to her parents for giving her a sister.

“When we’re gone, it’ll be up to you to take care of your sister. So keep your head straight and make sure you get yourself a job.”

“Of course.”

“Forget everything else. Just make sure you find stable employment!”

Constantly being told that she would have to take responsibility for someone else was somewhat burdensome.

“Okay. Stop nagging me.”

Still, it was fine.

“But why do Mom and Dad only ever worry about money? Jinhee’s more than capable of getting a job later. Just last year, she worked hard by herself and even earned a certification.”

Two sisters born one after the other in the provinces grew up with a relatively close relationship.

In fact, even as they reached adulthood, they fought less often than many other siblings.

Then, by the time the older sister reached her mid-twenties, the family even had the occasion to celebrate the birth of an evolved human...

But—

“Yes? What did you say?”

“It’s an awakening. Whoa! Your younger sister is B-rank too. That’s incredible!”

A problem arose.

“X is done...?”

“X is done?”

“No, no, no. Wait. Don’t repeat what I just said. That’s a bad word, so you’re not supposed to use it carelessly.”

“But if it’s a bad word, why did you say it, Unnie?”

What should have been something worth celebrating instantly turned into a disaster.

Someone who already struggled to distinguish clearly between what she was and was not allowed to do had awakened.

Jinhee had always loved people, and during her school years, she had frequently played pranks on others as though they were dolls.

Yet now someone with those traits had become a B-rank Awakener capable of snapping human bones like twigs.

And on top of that, she had become a mutant capable of draining other people’s blood?

“Wow, this is such a headache...”

Judging by the expression preserved in the deceased’s memory, Choi Jin must have become firmly convinced that day that a troublesome future awaited them.

And in reality, that was exactly what happened.

Her younger sister’s unwanted transformation-type ability and monstrous strength caused repeated incidents whenever she carelessly touched other people.

If that had been all, perhaps things still could have been managed.

But one day, Jinhee abruptly grabbed another professional from the hunting industry and immediately triggered a major incident.

“Ah, Kang Changho, you piece of sh*t! If I’d known you were going to do this to me, I never would’ve bothered apologizing when my sister bit you at the entrance to that first dungeon!”

“Unnie, did you know? They say you’re not supposed to use the word ‘sh*t’ carelessly. I heard it somewhere.”

“Oh my, Jinhee!”

For reference, this happened long after Jinhee had already accumulated considerable experience in the industry.

It was a difficult situation.

And yet, strangely enough, the younger sister’s assault record was still lower than that S-rank Hunter’s...

Which was almost funny.

Property damage occurred from the moment she awakened.

Day after day, ordinary citizens suffered because of Jinhee’s actions.

After experiencing all of this, Choi Jin began monitoring her younger sister closely.

But no one could control another person’s life perfectly.

Then one day, a flood of documents began arriving in their mailbox.

Lawsuits.

Lawsuits.

And more lawsuits.

Not long after the sisters awakened, even their parents—who had already been older when they had children—passed away.

Only one person remained to take responsibility for everything.

“Ha...”

As major incidents continued occurring one after another, the once-strong bond between the sisters gradually began to crack.

“Unnie. What are you doing? Resting? Sleeping?”

And then the situation deteriorated in the blink of an eye.

Controlling her younger sister had already become difficult, but everything truly began on one Wednesday when Choi Jin failed to keep an eye on her.

More precisely, it was one of the rare days when her younger sister went out alone to the local community center to replace a broken fluorescent light.

Astonishingly, that single ordinary weekday became the starting point for everything that followed.

“What’s that you’re holding? Did something else already arrive in the mailbox?”

How could anyone possibly have predicted that her younger sister, Choi Jinhee, would be led away by a complete stranger, made to sign some kind of “fraudulent contract,” and then return home?

***

A woman in her twenties who had once become famous as one of the first-generation Awakened.

However, as information about Awakened Hunters spread online, relatively vulnerable individuals with poor judgment unexpectedly began attracting the attention of certain organizations.

A for-profit Gate-related company called [Faith].

It was an unusual business hastily established by members of organized crime who had made money through illegal online gambling and needed a way to launder their profits.

“W-what... What kind of contract is this...?”

Moreover, in the era of the Dungeon Shock, awakening itself was literally money.

An entrepreneur belonging to the so-called “vandals” caught the scent of the profits that would soon flow through the Hunter industry.

He first summoned the younger sister, who had many vulnerabilities, and forced her into an outrageously unfair [Knight’s Oath].

Then, after successfully ensnaring Jinhee, he immediately used her as leverage to threaten the older sister as well.

“From now on, your sister can die at my command whenever I want. Do you understand?”

If Choi Jin had ignored that threat at the time, perhaps she could at least have prevented Ahn Yoonseung from being harmed.

But in reality, she had very little choice.

In the modern world, where family structures were shifting away from nuclear families toward single-person households, she had already had very little contact with other people even before awakening because of her family’s financial circumstances.

Especially since her parents had often borrowed money.

In fact, she had only begun keeping in regular contact with Ahn Yoonseung after she started working seriously in the hunting industry.

So—

“...”

There was still one thing in this world that money could not easily buy.

The trust and support of beloved family.

And because Choi Jin understood the value of those blood ties, she could not bring herself to abandon the only family member she had left.

So she reluctantly accepted the unfair contract.

In an instant, it was as though she had become a modern-day slave.

“Jinie Noona, by the way, when are you going to get that scar on your chin removed?”

“I’m not getting it removed.”

“Ah, come on. You make plenty of money. Just buy a potion and go to the hospital for surgery.”

“It’s too much trouble. Forget it.”

Working hard enough to rank among the A-ranks, yet living a life in which she could not even freely buy herself a single outfit—

That was the reality created by the [Knight’s Oath].

That was the way of life imposed on her by [Faith], the company that had established twenty-one separate rules to control the sisters.

However, a scam this specific would have been difficult to reproduce elsewhere, and both Choi sisters were B-rank or higher.

Naturally, the people behind it could not have predicted how everything would ultimately collapse.

Still, around a week ago, tensions had risen sharply.

In a modern world where superpowers, magical hammers, and countless other impossible things genuinely existed, why push such valuable people all the way to their breaking point?

“Honestly... even so, this month I still earned almost as much as someone working at a major corporation.”

If they pushed too hard, the golden goose they had worked so hard to capture might break.

With that calculation in mind, the [Faith] Guild did not drive the Awakened sisters completely to their limits.

And Choi Jin had already recognized that pattern perfectly.

“Anyway, as long as I can make enough to live, that’s fine.”

Thus, the one-sided parasitic relationship somehow managed to continue.

Of course, even months later, regret would still surface from time to time.

‘If only I hadn’t left my family alone that Wednesday...’

“Hey, Jinhee. This is all my fault. So really, don’t blame yourself too much.”

For a while, the two sisters managed to live reasonably well.

So why had such chaos suddenly erupted?

Even the bereaved family had overheard the conversation mentioned earlier.

From the perspective of this transformation-type Awakener, Choi Jin had gone through a breakup with her romantic partner.

***

“No, wait a minute.”

A relationship.

To be precise, an ordinary office worker had confessed his feelings to Choi Jin after being drawn to her responsible personality, strong work ethic, and the way she cared for her younger sister.

Choi Jin accepted his confession.

The two dated for approximately four months.

“Is this really why my acquaintance died? It’s something any young person could easily go through, isn’t it?”

The man, who had been deeply immersed in the corpse’s memories, returned to the present.

He glanced at the cement-gray scenery around him and continued thinking.

A breakup with a romantic partner.

At first glance, as he had just thought, it might have seemed like an ordinary event.

But once he dug a little deeper into the memories of the B-rank Hunter, the reason that seemingly commonplace event had become a trigger soon became apparent.

Choi Jin’s younger sister was not particularly good at thinking through complicated matters.

But that did not mean she was completely oblivious.

And because of that, she had blamed herself for her older sister’s breakup.

“So the younger sister must have overheard someone saying that Choi Jin couldn’t get married because she was too busy taking care of her.”

Moreover, it was difficult to place all the blame for this chain of misunderstandings on Jinhee alone.

“To be precise, this child happened to overhear a scheme being discussed in the director’s office of the [Faith] Guild.”

The [Faith] Guild must have realized that if their golden goose ever married, the slave contract would gradually come to light through her spouse.

So as soon as the company executives learned that Choi Jin was romantically involved with someone, they apparently began discussing ways to break the couple apart.

“But do we even need to worry about this? Sure, they’re dating, but honestly, who would actually think about marrying her?”

“Hey, still.”

“But she’s got Choi Jinhee attached to her.”

During her lifetime, the younger sister had carried various feelings of inferiority.

And then someone already vulnerable to depression overheard that conversation.

That was when those greedy bastards convinced her that revealing the existence of the life-threatening [Knight’s Oath] was a viable option if she wanted to prevent her family from suffering any further.

“Feeling guilty about her older sister’s breakup, she exposed the slave contract... but she didn’t report it to the police.”

The owner of the Sambagean eyes stared into empty space.

“Because of the oath she had already signed, opening her mouth meant instant death. And apparently, asking the police for help over the phone without even showing her face didn’t seem like a particularly trustworthy option to this Awakener.”

The chain of events itself was understandable.

“So she sent an SOS to the only person outside the company whose face she actually knew... More precisely, she left Ahn Yoonseung a message asking him to save her sister, and then she died right there.”

For now, they had roughly reconstructed what the deceased woman in her twenties had been thinking during her final days.

As the price for obtaining such an enormous amount of information, blood was now trickling from the mage’s nostrils.

And yet, even in the middle of that exhausting situation, the Alphauri lying on the floor suddenly had another thought.

“Why didn’t Ahn Yoonseung ask for help sooner?”

A relative had collapsed right in front of him, and chaos had erupted.

He could simply have summoned an SS-rank or some other top-tier powerhouse first.

But despite his frustration, the Archmage decided there was no need to search through more memories just to find out why that had not been Ahn Yoonseung’s first priority.

The reason was simpler than expected.

“That damned intelligence.”

He had already inferred the answer.

“Yeah. This isn’t their fault...”

In the end, it was all his own fault for leaving the Earthlings with that sense of trust.

After all, it was precisely because he had praised the deceased for being independent and capable of handling her own affairs that this entire situation had erupted.

Lying on the cold floor, the Archmage clasped both hands over his chest.

And in that position, he allowed himself, for a brief moment, to arrive at a certain conviction.