Chapter 57…
The inside of the elevator was even whiter than it looked from the outside.
You could sense the owner’s obsessive cleanliness—dust, dirt, even a speck wouldn’t be tolerated here.
“Are you sure everything’s ready? We’re really doing this…?”
“How many times do I have to tell you.”
“Whew… may my gamble hit the jackpot…”
Ding–
Krader hesitated for a moment, but eventually tapped his card on the terminal.
A sound rang from the elevator, and the doors slid shut.
As expected, only authorized people can access this.
Either way, the pristine white interior had something uncanny about it.
There were no gaps—none at all.
Paradoxically, that made it feel even more unhinged.
The obsessive personality of the one who built this place could be felt in every inch.
“Oh, cool.”
Rebecca seemed to feel the same way.
“…You think it’s cool?”
“Yeah.”
“How are you the same before and after everything you’ve been through?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Just hurry and—”
“Ah! Wait!”
Rebecca slapped Krader’s hand away and pressed the single red floor button herself.
Krader stared at her, then muttered quietly.
“…Still a kid after all.”
“I’m not a kid. I’m Rebecca.”
“Ha. Right. Why am I even trying to talk to you.”
Krader let out a deep sigh and faced forward, but at the next sound calling him, he turned his head again.
It was almost reflexive.
“Hey, mister.”
“What.”
“When we catch Park Jong-hwan, let’s eat together.”
“Eat?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Krader fell silent at her brief words.
His eyes, looking down at her, trembled faintly.
Then he regained himself and spoke gruffly, pretending to be calm.
“…Hah? You think it’s that easy? If you knew how monstrous that bastard is, you’d wet your pants and panic—”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Rebecca cut him off and poked my waist.
I looked down at her.
She stared up at me with her small frame and said something totally matter-of-fact:
“You’re the bulgogi owner. Ah—no, now you’re the meat owner. You can buy meat. Right?”
She said it like asking “you can breathe, right?”—completely casual, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
So I told her the truth exactly as I simulated it—using the information Krader gave me and the weapons I had.
“Yes.”
At my reply, Rebecca turned confidently toward Krader.
Her expression made it look like—
…Is she bragging about me? No. No way…
I shook my head and looked forward again, though my ears stayed focused on their conversation.
It began with Krader’s tired sigh.
“God… you two are the same…”
“So?”
“W-What?!”
“Are you eating or not!”
“……”
Rebecca pressured him again, and Krader fell silent again.
But this time it didn’t last long.
His answer had been decided from the start—he’d simply hesitated to say it.
“…As long as it’s not your oatmeal porridge.”
“Oatmeal porridge?”
“Yeah.”
There were many layers of emotion in his voice.
But Rebecca, of course, had no clue.
“I don’t know that. I eat meat. Beef.”
“Beef?”
“Yeah. Meat owner buys. We eat together.”
“What?! Why would I buy it!”
It was instinctive—I reacted without even thinking, as if I’d been part of the conversation all along.
Instantly, the elevator fell silent.
“……”
“……”
“……pffft!”
Kim Pyeong-on’s laughter broke through the quiet.
Whack!
I smacked the back of his head cleanly.
“Aagh! Why me?!”
“Laugh again.”
“……”
Naturally, the elevator’s power balance shifted to 1 vs 3.
Me vs. Krader, Rebecca, and Kim Pyeong-on.
The three of them huddled in a corner, glaring at me and whispering among themselves.
Yeah, go ahead. Complain all you want.
I could guess: “petty this, petty that.”
But thanks to them, I had a moment to think.
I wasn’t sure how to use Krader as an infiltrator… but now I’ve got a method.
The place he needed to spy on was not the National Security Office where Park Jong-hwan—Malteon—is.
That place doesn’t need spying, and shouldn’t be spied on.
Time is too limited. We have to go and kill him, not waste hours sneaking around.
What he should infiltrate is—
Falspera Church.
That’s the place.
Sure, Krader was abandoned by them.
So returning is nearly impossible.
But he’s too valuable to give up on.
If there’s no method, I make one. That’s how I operate.
I thought I’d need time to figure it out, but—
I didn’t expect it to solve itself this easily.
A hunting dog proves its worth in only one way:
By bringing back valuable prey.
There is a way for Krader to return.
Let Krader deliver Malteon’s severed head to Falspera.
Malteon lived 30 years as a player in Korea.
Meaning he evaded Falspera for over 30 years since fleeing.
In the end, to solve everything, Park Jong-hwan—Malteon—must die.
For my revenge.
For Seo Winter’s family.
And for the chance to plant Krader as a spy.
Level-wise, he’s nearly twice my level… but I’m not just any Tamer.
I opened my status window for the first time in a while, confirming everything I’d worked for.
[Status Window]
Name: Kang Siwoo
Race: Human
Level: 51
Class: Tamer
Talents:
-
Empathy (C)
-
Beast’s □□(?)
-
Perishing Endurance (S)
-
Wax Seal Release (S)
-
Stage Director’s Gaze (D)
Skills:
-
Taming Lv.1 (E)
-
Blue Wolf’s Stride Lv.10 (C)
-
Nest Lv.1 (D)
-
Hundred-Beast Swordsmanship Lv.10 (A+)
-
Beast Resonance Lv.8 (B–)
Stats:
-
Strength: 61 (+6)
-
Agility: 91 (+9)
-
Stamina: 58 (+16)
-
Mana: 66 (+7)
-
Luck: 27 (+3)
At some point, I’d passed level 50.
And my stat total far exceeded what a 50-level player should have—excluding Luck, even.
About 340 total… equivalent to level 110.
With this, I can definitely face Malteon.
Plus—
I didn’t unlock the Mythic Relic [Halo of Scars] for nothing.
Its effect is monstrous—enough to make anyone who saw it gasp.
But what I valued the most was the charging condition.
— Charging Condition:
Consumes the physical wounds of subordinates as nourishment.
This finally allowed me to freely summon Seongsik, Gary, and even Freki—who’d just worked so hard.
Just as I organized my thoughts—
Ding–
A circle lit up on the floor display.
“We’re here. A few large labs ahead, and then Malteon’s study. Like I said, he’s currently—”
“Got it. Let’s move.”
I stepped out first.
Just as he’d said, a huge laboratory spread out before us.
And its horrors…
…were worse than anything described.
The cold lab waited for us like an open maw of silence.
This place was not made for humans.
“Uugh…”
The first to react, unsurprisingly, was the intuitive Kim Pyeong-on.
But even without his strange sixth sense, anyone could tell this place was horrific.
I heard it from Krader countless times but…
Hearing about something and experiencing it firsthand are worlds apart.
Among everything I’ve seen, this ranks on the worse end.
The first thing to hit was the stench.
A mix of metal and disinfectant—
But unlike a normal hospital smell.
This one was like disinfectant poured over a rotting corpse,
mixed with the warm vapor of decomposing flesh.
“Ew. I hate this smell.”
“Of course you do. We used to smell this before.”
“Huh? We?”
“Ah… forget it.”
Even if Krader was used to this, Rebecca also seemed oddly familiar with it.
Did remnants of the Heresy Cult linger in her subconscious?
I’ll examine that later.
I redirected my gaze.
The scene in front of me showed that the slaughter here happened not with screams, but with silence.
“……”
Blood splattered everywhere.
Scattered surgical tools and extracted organs.
And most striking of all—
Two bodies laid out on the operating table.
A mechanized rat, and an agent.
That must be what Krader mentioned…
I stepped closer.
Squelch— squelch—
Each step made a sticky noise on the viscous floor.
The subjects’ skulls were fully opened.
…Did this exist even before regression?
Some parts of the brain had been harvested.
Their brainwave patterns appeared on the monitors.
Clear evidence of the experiments done here.
“Experiments to manipulate will…”
I muttered, and Kim Pyeong-on swallowed.
“Are they… transplanting human brains into beasts to make them evolve?”
“No. The opposite.”
I checked an opened experiment log.
“Experiment Code: H-031
Subject A exposed to ‘Heart of Malice.’ Abnormal activation detected in right frontal lobe.”
“Experiment Code: H-032
Transplanted lower central frontal tissue into Subject B.
Result: Seizures immediately. Dead after 4 minutes.
Conclusion: Physical transplant impossible. Synchronization failure.”
“Experiment Code: H-033
Direct contact with a fragment of ‘Heart of Malice’…”
Tch. No wonder I didn’t feel it…
The déjà vu in the stairwell.
The agents who charged in ignoring their own deaths.
And the reason I couldn’t sense foreign energy.
All because of these experiments.
“This isn’t to control beasts. It’s to control humans.”
Using the Heart of Malice.
Krader’s explanation had been wrong.
Choi Jong-hwan—Malteon—
He wasn’t just insane.
He was malice itself.
I’d met people like this even before regression.
The Tower had many.
So I wasn’t as shocked as the trembling Kim Pyeong-on.
But it did make me realize this wouldn’t be easy.
Then Krader spoke quietly.
“Kang Siwoo, it’s good to observe, but…”
“I know. We can’t be late. I’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”
We passed several more horrifying labs.
Nobody spoke.
Not out of fear, but out of respect for the dead.
Finally—
“There.”
At the end of the frigid labs stood a door made of fine wood grain.
So out of place it felt like a portal to another dimension.
Click—
I turned the handle without hesitation.
The room inside was different.
Warm air greeted us.
A polished wooden table, neatly arranged bookshelves, spotless floor.
What a disgusting taste.
At the center, sitting calmly in a leather chair, was an elderly man in a suit with slicked-back hair.
Malteon…
The entire room looked like a perfectly composed painting.
Every element controlled, immaculate.
But—
Too bad I’m the kind of guy who messes up order when I see it…
I’m the type who fixes messy spaces and destroys tidy ones.
In short, I’m a chaotic bastard.
There was a reason they’d once called me a walking disaster.
I had the power to match my temperament.
Smirk.
I kicked the coat stand beside me.
It fell and rolled across the floor.
“……”
Only then did the old man quietly open his eyes.
Krader had described this state as:
A dormancy for recovery…
Specifically, rest to prepare for his final strike against the government.
His voice, irritated at the interruption:
“Krader, what is this? I don’t recall inviting guests…”
“Think harder. You should remember.”
But I answered instead of Krader.
Malteon frowned beneath his white eyebrows.
“A rude young man. Not using honorifics to your elders, I see.”
“Sorry, but I don’t use honorifics with corpses.”
No need for more words.
I clenched my fist, gathering my psychic energy.
