ALL NOVEL Chapter 243
Chapter 243: Copycat (2)
The man who miraculously survived the fake Yoon Do-ha expressed his gratitude.
A sense of relief wrapped around him, just barely clinging to life.
However, that relief did not last long.
“Ugh!”
The man, tears brimming in his eyes, gazed at the deceased members of his party.
Yoo Ji-han handed him a handkerchief.
“Are they family?”
“…They’re my relatives.”
“My condolences.”
“Thank you.”
Just empty words of comfort.
Yet the man felt grateful for that alone.
After all, they were the ones who saved his life.
Clapping his hand lightly on the man’s shoulder as if to comfort him, Yoo Ji-han pointed to the figure he had momentarily thought was Yoon Do-ha.
“Do you know who that person is?”
“I don’t. I saw him for the first time today.”
“Why did he attack you?”
“I don’t know that either….”
He explained that the fake Yoon Do-ha appeared out of nowhere and attacked his party.
The ground shook as a cart was flipped over, and the people inside were dragged out one by one and killed.
It was like being struck by lightning from a clear sky.
Furthermore, no matter what he said, there were no answers, which left him frustrated.
“We came from Leron.”
“Ah….”
“What’s the situation like in Maz?”
It was presumed that a civil war had broken out among the rulers in Maz.
Seeing the appearance of someone wearing Yoon Do-ha’s guise, he was sure that the person was involved in the civil strife in some way.
“Excuse me, a civil war?”
“…?”
However, the answer he received from the man was slightly different from what Yoo Ji-han had expected.
“Isn’t a war going on in Maz?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Then has some other incident occurred?”
“Not really….”
“……There’s nothing happening?”
With his mouth shut, Yoo Ji-han looked up at the sky over Maz once more.
It wasn’t that a civil war had broken out, nor was there any major incident occurring.
‘Then what is that?’
The Thread of Truth tangled like a poorly spun spider web.
He had not witnessed anything like that even when he first arrived in Kallem or faced chaos in Kabuum.
The conditions under which the Thread of Truth became visible to him were still uncertain, but it often appeared when a specific magic was cast, or when someone was connected to the web behind it.
This meant that such phenomena did not occur without reason.
“What are we going to do about this person?”
Lee Mi-a was gripping the fainted man’s nape.
Leaving the Magic Discoloration Syndrome patient on the street would most likely lead to his death.
“We need to take him. But Si-hu.”
“Yes.”
“Check if he has any remaining magic power.”
As long as sampling was in place, there were no secrets that someone with magic power could hide.
*
Yoo Ji-han’s party carried the fainted fake Yoon Do-ha on Chilla’s back and moved forward.
The sole survivor and the deceased members of his party were taken care of by the heroes.
“Let’s see….”
Kim Si-hu thoroughly examined the fake Yoon Do-ha’s body, checking for any lingering magic.
If he could extract even a handful of magic, Yoo Ji-han would be able to read his memories.
“Are we there yet?”
“Just a moment….”
Min Yu-ri waited with a complex expression for Kim Si-hu’s work to finish.
The man currently fainted was the second Magic Discoloration Syndrome patient she encountered in Kallem.
‘How on earth did you manage to move?’
Why did he possess Yoon Do-ha’s magic?
How could he, a patient, move his body?
She was astonished to find that a disease similar to one on Earth was widely spread in this other world, while the fact that a person in a state not different from her brother had momentarily moved steadily unsettled her.
“Oh! Got it!”
“Chilla? Is it over?”
Maintaining extreme focus to the point of sweating, Kim Si-hu succeeded in extracting magic from the fainted man’s body.
The magician from Watanabe’s party, investigating the man alongside Kim Si-hu, couldn’t believe what he saw.
“What on earth did you just do?”
What is Magic Discoloration Syndrome?
It was a disease where, even with just a small amount of magic touching the body, the individual would turn as black as coal.
Because of such a trait, it was safe to say that it was very difficult for a patient’s body to possess any magic.
If magic were to remain in the body, the entire body would turn black.
Yet Kim Si-hu had extracted magic from the body of such a patient.
“I used the skin’s pores as passageways to slowly extract the magic spread throughout the body.”
“That sounds easier said than done….”
“You can think of it like making drip coffee!”
“Drip coffee?”
The magician, realizing that Kim Si-hu’s work required highly advanced magic control, clicked his tongue.
If they could use magic as easily as he spoke,
all wizards in the world would have become grand wizards by now.
“However, some of Yoon Do-ha’s magic got mixed in. It’s impossible to filter the magic right here.”
“Just hand it over.”
Yoo Ji-han received the magic stone from Kim Si-hu.
Indeed, the magic stone contained a mix of Yoon Do-ha’s magic and that of an unknown figure.
—Oh!
A Sylph charged toward the magic stone.
As the green sphere absorbed the magic stone, Yoo Ji-han’s vision went dark.
Before long, what unfolded before him was a small movie theater.
Yoo Ji-han gazed at the film flying around in the sky and said, “Is that all you have?”
—That’s all there is?
“……Is this your best shot?”
—Hey! I really did my best!
A movie theater where one could peek into someone else’s memories.
However, there was only one film in this theater.
It was a stark contrast to the myriad of films that had flown around in the theater created from Kazimir’s memories.
—No matter how young, there’s no way a human would have this few memories!
“Could it be because of the mix of Yoon Do-ha’s magic?”
—Ugh, my pride!
Even the Sylph couldn’t hide its doubts about the outcome.
Ultimately, Yoo Ji-han selected the lone film.
Szzzzzz…
A scene saturated with disturbing noise like a broken video.
Even when Yoo Ji-han rubbed his eyes, the noise didn’t vanish.
‘There he is.’
At that moment, the figure of the fainted man appeared before him.
Unlike now, when he was suffering from Magic Discoloration Syndrome, he was moving around perfectly well.
However, his situation did not look good.
—What are you going to do with me?
He was being cornered by a group of people in a dead-end alley with nowhere to run.
In his desperate situation, he wielded a broomstick in a futile struggle.
—If you cooperate willingly, I would have offered enough money to live off of for the rest of your life!
—What’s the use of money after I’m dead!
—……Did information leak?
—You’re quicker than I expected.
Pak! Pak! Pak!
Men held down the fiercely resisting man.
At that moment, Yoo Ji-han pierced through the irritating noise and witnessed the scene with his own eyes.
‘Why are those guys here?’
On the first night Kallem Expeditionary Force arrived in Kallem,
the heroes who had escaped during camping were holding down the man’s body.
As Yoo Ji-han struggled to make sense of the situation,
someone grasped his head, squeezing it against the ground.
—Gwaah!
The man’s consciousness cut off at that scene.
However, the memory shown to Yoo Ji-han continued without interruption.
—From now on, you will forget all about your previous life and be reborn as a great being.
The figure that knocked the man out grabbed a small brush with its foot.
A royal crest from the Leron royal family was drawn on the soles of his feet after the brush fell.
—What’s the result?
—Tsk! This is a failure too.
—Hah….
—I just wasted precious time for nothing.
Those evaluated the man as a failure and grumbled.
The ones who cast him to the ground like a rag were muttering quietly.
—Finding a suitable body isn’t easy.
—To obtain something that can change the world and be unable to use it!
—It’s better to conduct more experiments using chaos…
—We could try experimenting with the ones captured yesterday…
Listening to their incomprehensible conversation, Yoo Ji-han’s vision gradually faded.
When he regained consciousness again, he was cradled in Chilla’s arms.
“……Yu-ri.”
“Oh, you’re awake?”
“What was the name of the former royal mage of Leron who approached Alo?”
“Desa.”
“Desa.”
Yoo Ji-han’s eyes sank low.
The one who created the fake Yoon Do-ha was that guy.
*
Yang Ji-cheol tightly grasped his mobile phone and spoke in a cold tone.
“So, you’re telling me that you sent criminals to recruit heroes for our venture into this other world?”
—…….
“Moreover, you packaged the worst criminals deemed beyond rehabilitation in fake identities and tossed them to Korea?”
—I’m truly sorry. I have no choice but to follow orders from above…
“What the hell, are you messing with me right now? Do you even realize what you’ve done?!”
Yang Ji-cheol shouted into the phone with fiery anger.
The Hero Department had believed they were selecting only the finest heroes from various countries to send to the other world.
Yet it turned out that some of the heroes recommended by certain countries were actually former criminals who had committed crimes in the past, revealed through the Hero Department’s relentless pursuit.
Cack!
The Hero Department Minister, Jo Du-jin, ground his teeth audibly upon receiving that report.
From the bulging veins in his fists and forehead, one could guess how furious he was.
His secretary swallowed hard and spoke.
“Minister, please calm down.”
“This is not a situation where I can calm down.”
“…….”
“With my bulging eyes wide open, do you dare to deceive the Hero Department?”
The light in Jo Du-jin’s eyes sparkled.
Even though he was sitting in a wheelchair, the aura he emitted was no different from that of his active years.
After a moment of deep thought with a tense expression, he spoke to his secretary.
“Contact Gilbert immediately.”
“Huh! Are you serious?”
“He’ll connect the call immediately if I say it’s for me.”
Upon hearing the name Gilbert, the secretary was stunned.
He was America’s Rank 1 Hero and a politician active around New York.
One of the 100 most influential figures in the world.
He shared a deep connection with the young Jo Du-jin from his past.
“They will definitely pay for fooling us.”
Jo Du-jin intended to punish those who deceived the Hero Department by utilizing all his connections.
And around the same time,
Yoo Ji-han’s aunt, Han Seo-in, was waiting for someone in a café.
Ding!
As the bell hanging at the café entrance rang,
the person she had been waiting for appeared at the table.
Han Seo-in stood up and said, “This way.”
“Oh, hello!”
“I ordered coffee in advance.”
“Thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”
The two sat across from each other in a two-seater.
For a moment, an awkward atmosphere flowed between them.
Taking a sip of coffee, Han Seo-in opened her mouth first.
“Thank you for coming out today.”
“Not at all.”
“It must not have been easy to bring up your brother’s story….”
The man forced a bitter smile.
He was the younger brother of a friend who frequently exchanged letters with Yoo Ji-han’s father.
“However, I’m in the same boat as you, Seo-in.”
Han Seo-in and he shared the common point of losing their brothers on the same day.
Thus, there was less discomfort in discussing the tale of her missing brother.
“Before we dive into the story, I want to tell you something first.”
“What is it?”
“The truth is… I’m not blood-related to my brother.”
“……!”
The man, who was a half-brother of the missing elder brother, met Han Seo-in’s wide-open eyes.