CH 170

“A-ack! Argh!!”

He woke up screaming in pain. Yongno’s body was drenched in sweat. His hands and feet were trembling and his mind was foggy.

“Ha, ha… ha, ha… ha, ha…!”

He knelt down onto his knees and groaned. Yongno remembered. His memories were coming back. The researchers continued to experiment on him after that initial test. For hours and sometimes tens of hours, his whole body was inflicted with pain, as if was being torn to pieces.

Yongno realized why Kang Sang sealed his memory; it was because his mind and heart had been thoroughly ravaged and broken. He was an abnormal human being, nevertheless he could not stand the constant suffering.

Pain made everything fair. A noble being and great talent were of no use in the face of suffering. A great deal of suffering destroys a person’s mind and crushes one’s pride.

“Ugh… ack…!”

Yongno became feverish. Though he was recollecting past experiences, he couldn’t help but break out into a sweat. The fear and pain he felt at that time was engraved deep in his bones.

“Right. It was from then on.”

Kang Sang erased his memories, but Kang Sang couldn’t erase the scars that resided deep in Yongno’s heart. Because of this, Yongno had gone through many personality changes.

Beep.

/[I am your~]/

When Yongno turned on the TV after picking up a remote control that was rolling around, he saw a singer singing on a colorful stage. Yongno raised the volume and wept incessantly. He wasn’t sad. It wasn’t a sad memory in the first place; he was in pain. He felt as though he’d collapse just by recalling his past memories.

“You assholes.”

The next thing that popped into his mind after the initial feeling of suffering was hate. He remembered his searing anger towards those who had caused him so much pain, so when he recalled them, he naturally understood why eunhye was seeking revenge on them on his behalf.

“… this idiot.”

Yongno was now beginning to understand Eunhye’s behavior, which he had never been able to understand. Her ambiguous, detached attitude, facial expressions, and even why she decided to head to the United States.

“Will I be able to stop her if I try?”

Moreover, the sensitive reaction of a Korean secret organization to her actions abroad meant that she had done something big. Perhaps the situation was no longer resolvable through words.

“At the end of the day, I have to do something.”

Yongno had changed. He clearly viewed things differently from before, when he ran away from everything. But even so, he couldn’t go back to being a clear and strong spirit as he was as a child. The pain inflicted on him at the Institute had broken his psyche and left permanent scars that could not be healed, even to this day. He might have been able to maintain a strong front before he regained his memory, that is, just an hour or two ago, but once he regained his memory, he didn’t know when the coward within him would reappear.

“I need to do something.”

He gritted his teeth. Just the thought of fighting them made his body tremble. His reasonable, logic side was suppressing his fear, but he knew that he was already awash in terror. The overwhelming sense of terror was enough to make him think that it would be better to erase his memories, but no matter how much he wanted to take that route, he couldn’t erase his memories at will.

/[The next act is the rising star, Leaf.]

[She had gone through some hardship recently, but it seems she’s pulling through with flying colors.]/

Yongno, hearing a familiar name coming from the television, turned his attention towards it. On the television screen, he saw Leaf, who was wearing a cute getup that was made from pink and blue fabric.

/I dreamed often, when it was hard and difficult

I wished to become a star in the sky

I hid in the darkness to escape the pain and suffering

I dreamed such worthless things/

Leaf sang quietly on a dark stage, but she sang with such emotion, as if she was about to cry. In fact, she too had grown up in a relatively unhappy environment. Though it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if she became crooked and downtrodden, it was surprising that Leaf had retained such a bright personality. However, Yongno, who perceived her spiritual powers through Enhanced Eyesight, knew the truth. It was not that she had an innate bright personality, but that she was actively overcoming her suffering with her strong heart and mindset.

/I can’t believe it. To such a worthless and thoughtless being

If I had another chance

Will I be able to rise up? Even someone as small as me

Can become a shining star atop the ground/

Thousands of spectators held their breath as the song spread out from the singer under the spotlight. Unlike her usual professional repertoire of cute songs, she currently carried a different atmosphere. The presence of her worries, hard work, and strength combined into one and emanated its effects on her surroundings.

/[Wow~!]/

There was thunderous applause. Some of the audience members were even weeping. The song she sang, ‘Star on Earth’ was a song that Yongno gave her as a gift. He didn’t expect that she’d use the song on the exact day he gave it to her.

“Is she a star?”

Suddenly, Yongno felt envious of her. It was impossible for him to be loved by everyone in such a shining, public place. He despised most others…

“No!”

Yongno shouted aloud and violently shook his head. However, the skinny man’s words continued to torment him.

“What do you mean ‘human’? Hey, Younghyun, consider the genetic evolution and changes that made the first human from monkeys. Based on that premise, would you categorize that initial being as a human or monkey?”

The truth was that Yongno never liked other people. He was different from everyone. No other human was able to perceive the world in the same way that he could. People were foolish, greedy, and often all too disgusting.

“I’m…”

Yongno buried himself on the sofa with undried tears still wetting his eyes. The day was getting dark.

*** Revulsion ***

Ting!

When the work was finally finished, a huge magic circle began to spin while whirring a resonance sound. Now all that was left was to wait. A sigh escaped from Merlin’s mouth when he realized that the production would take 5 days, based on DIO time, to complete.

“That was harder than I initially thought.”

For a while, Merlin devoted himself solely to the production of his flying shuttle. It was not an easy task for him as he had set his goal a little high.

“Oh, I want to be surprised, but even I don’t know what you’ve created.”

“It’s a bit much, huh?”

After seeing Ellen’s bewilderment, Merlin changed his gear and put on his mage robe. Since the New Continent event was wrapping up, many users would probably mobilize toward the New Continent as soon as the event ended. Now that he had regained his cool reasoning faculties, he realized why the developers created the New Continent.

‘A great battle.’

When the golden dragon appeared and commanded war, the monsters of the New Continent began to hate users and entered into a state of endless fighting amongst themselves. The difference between the monsters on Dynamic Island and monsters of the New Continent were that the New Continent monsters were organized by factions and created military units rather than fight in species-specific units.

“I’ll be taking off.”

“Okay, you’ll be able to pick up your shuttle when its production finishes.”

“Alright, bye.”

Saying goodbye to Ellen, Merlin left the Exchange Center. Merlin then checked the time.

“Okay, it’s the last fishing event. This time around, the scope of the hunting area is much wider, so it’ll be difficult to catch all the gem fish, but if I focus on one place, I’ll be able to neatly round up…”

“That won’t be happening.”

“…!”

Merlin was startled by the sudden, unknown voice that rang in his mind, so he tried to turn his body, but his surroundings changed before he could do anything. He suddenly realized that he was moving into an unknown space.

“I even posted a public notice, but it doesn’t seem you paid any attention to its content. Well, you probably decided on your actions even with the warning in mind.”

The speaker, a silver-haired middle-aged man, was the man who first introduced Merlin to DIO. He was DIO’s main operator. Merlin realized that he still didn’t know this middle-aged man’s name.

“It’s been… it’s been a while. What shall I call you?”

“Tan.”

As Tan stated his name, he made a beckoning motion with his hands and made two black chairs appear. Soon, a table and two steaming black tea cups appeared atop the table.

“Hmm. Were you watching me?”

“I tend to care a little more about beings I have an interest in.”

The man laughed and sipped on his tea. Merlin felt uncomfortable. Compared to the earlier days, when the energy exuded by the man was generally serene, the man’s current exuding energy was quite suppressive and heavy. His overall temperament also seemed more violent.

“Hmm. If it so happens that I ignore the notice and participate in the event, what would happen?”

“I would probably get a little mad.”

The moment Tan said this, an eerie sensation swept over Merlin. Surprised, Merlin raised a mind barrier, but his defenses failed; the gap in their abilities was too wide.

“Ack! What are you…!”

“I know what you’re thinking, Merlin. No, Yoon Yongno. To be honest, I know that until now, you've been managed in a way by the developers to make it seem like we’re pushovers.”

Tan laughed. He looked at Merlin as if he was looking at a cute creature.

“It’s not because I don’t know anything that I’m just silently watching you build a powerful flying shuttle. I’m allowing you to build it because we need it too.”

“Hmm. It seems you’ve changed a lot.”

“That’s a line that better describes you. I haven’t changed. However, I’m now in a situation where I can do what I want.”

Saying that, Tan got up from his seat. Feeling the sensation of being suffocated by Tan’s huge burning aura, Merlin desperately asked, “W-what… has changed?”

“The ownership of DIO will soon change hands.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“It will be time to use you soon, so make sure to improve your skills. To be honest, I was most worried about you, but I’m glad you met the requirements.”

Saying so, Tan disappeared. Merlin soon realized that he was back at Starting. Still overwhelmed by Tan’s intense momentum and aura, Merlin broke out into a cold sweat.

“Not good. Seems as though something big will happen soon.”

And, as Merlin expected, the situation rapidly changed.