Chapter 7
As soon as the covenant was formed, Lee Cheom moved toward the backflow zone. A branch member stepped in front of him with a wary gaze.
“Who are you? Backflow resolution is currently in progress, so entry is restricted to authorized personnel…”
With his face hidden behind a heavily tinted visor, making him look even more suspicious, Lee Cheom tilted his chin toward Hayan.
“Confirm with her.”
Hayan quickly explained.
“He’s someone permitted by the branch leader.”
Yes—she had borrowed her superior’s name. If not now, when would she use it?
“I-I see.”
The branch member stepped aside in an instant, and Lee Cheom passed beyond the barricade.
Hayan stared blankly at his swaying ponytail, then couldn’t help but ask,
“Why… are you helping me?”
Just for a thesis interview?
Even Hayan knew, and so did Lee Cheom, that this made no sense. Compared to the risks he was taking, the condition was absurdly light.
I dragged you into danger not out of trust or expectation, but out of desperation.
How can you hesitate so little…?
Swoosh.
Lee Cheom turned his head.
‘Actually, it’s for the counseling log.’
Since he couldn’t say that, he understood how insane he must look in Hayan’s eyes.
A college student going against an S-rank backflow just for a thesis interview? That alone would make him a subject of investigation.
He had no obligation to clear up her misunderstanding…
…but Lee Cheom still blurted out impulsively,
“One person is more valuable than the world.”
Finishing that dry murmur, he ran toward the backflow.
In a world where the Ten Plagues from Exodus were reenacted, the fifth great calamity was “plague.”
People had expected a physical disease—something like the Black Death that once struck terror across Europe, or smallpox, once even regarded as the disease of a god of plagues. Since the first through fourth plagues had all manifested physically as blood, frogs, lice, and flies, such reasoning seemed valid.
However, on June 6, 2019—
On that day of calamity, “plague” appeared in a form no one had ever seen before.
[Trial, “Grave of One Hundred Eighty-Five Thousand,” is backflowing.]
[You have entered the backflow!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Status ailment “The End of Pride” has been activated.]
[Status Ailment – The End of Pride]
Self-esteem turns into fear.
To love oneself is to not know oneself.
This is lifted when the backflow is resolved or when you move beyond a certain distance.
It was a mental-type calamity.
Starting from the fifth plague, mental-type calamities began to appear, and in a short time they rose to become the greatest threat to apostles.
Physical attacks can be avoided or countered.
But how does one defend against an attack on the mind?
Can you armor the brain with steel? Can you wield a sword with the heart?
Is there a barrier for trauma, an exit for nightmares?
In a generation where everyone lived with unseen ailments and no one had never lost someone close, fragile minds had become humanity’s fatal vulnerability.
[Huangnansae of Ganabi is still unconscious…]
[Korean apostle society declining… is this sustainable?]
[Ganabi side repeatedly responds, “We are doing everything possible for recovery”…]
Now, with one of Korea’s four S-rank apostles in a coma due to a mental calamity, such threats were regarded as the ultimate among calamities…
Yet, as the saying goes, even if the sky falls, there is still a way out.
[“Spirit of Resistance” has activated.]
[Spirit of Resistance]
Do not fear.
+
[“Spirit of Resistance” breaks “The End of Pride.”]
There are indeed ways to defend the mind.
Lee Cheom possessed the ability to resist mental attacks.
With his mind unchanged, he surveyed the backflow.
“Ugh… aah…”
“D-Don’t retreat! Fight back!”
The scene was, quite literally, chaos.
Apostles were gripped by fear, thrown into panic. Their trembling hands made the weapons they held useless.
In contrast to the blood- and dust-covered ground, the sky was radiant with brilliance.
Vrrrr—
Hundreds of statues floated in the air. Their marble-white surfaces reflected the midday sun beautifully.
Advancing in formation, they resembled priests in a sacred procession or an army marching for a holy war, inspiring awe…
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
“Aaaagh!”
…but since they were unleashing arrows indiscriminately at the apostles, there was nothing admirable about it.
‘As expected, they prioritize those who attack them.’
Lee Cheom would only be targeted after all the apostles here were dead. The problem was that even without being targeted, the risk of being struck by stray arrows or trampled in the chaos remained high…
‘A large crowd can also be an advantage.’
Using the apostles fighting the calamity as shields, Lee Cheom advanced slowly.
He moved through sparsely populated areas. Whenever arrows rained down, he slipped beneath the defensive barriers raised by nearby apostles.
At last, he reached the origin of the backflow.
[You have entered the domain of the leader!]
Red warning papers floated near his face like seizure notices.
…Rustle.
Feeling a suffocating pressure across his body, Lee Cheom popped a piece of candy into his mouth.
A mass covered in dozens of layers of wings floated in the air, wrapped in a golden aura.
[Encounter with the leader, “Judge of Pride.”]
[Judge of Pride]
An emissary of God who struck down 185,000 to judge the proud reaper.
As long as even a trace of pride exists in one’s heart, one cannot escape its grasp.
+
…That was the leader of this backflow.
There are two ways to resolve a trial:
Kill the leader, or fulfill the resolution condition.
Usually, both work, so one can choose the easier option. But sometimes only one path exists.
Either the resolution condition requires the leader’s death, or the leader is an entity that cannot be killed.
Lee Cheom instinctively realized this was the latter.
‘How are you supposed to kill that?’
It was beyond human capability.
Srrr…
Dozens of wings covering the Judge of Pride’s body slowly opened at an angle.
An incomprehensible form—something that should not be understood.
It opened something that could only be described in human terms as a “mouth.”
Aaaah—!
[“Judge of Pride” activates “Awe.”]
A faint cry, like that of a newborn, thundered through his brain like a storm.
“Guh… aaah!”
Those exposed to the strange wave collapsed like fallen leaves.
Their eyes rolled back, blood poured from their noses, and grotesque groans escaped their mouths—the fate of those who confronted something beyond comprehension.
Sssshhk!
Half of those who collapsed were pierced by arrows fired by the statues…
Whoosh.
“Aaaah…”
The remaining half were sucked into the Judge’s mouth.
The mouth closed, and the tips of its white wings trembled.
RUMBLE—
Before long, the mouth opened again, and apostles poured out.
“Damn it! They’re attacking!”
With blank, unhinged eyes, they began slaughtering their own comrades.
Among them, Lee Cheom spotted a figure at the very front.
“….”
Ash-gray hair, gentle features resembling Hayan’s… but her strikes were anything but gentle.
“H-Hayang, why…!”
“Snap out of it!”
Hayang—Hayan’s younger sister.
‘This is dangerous.’
Lee Cheom slipped behind nearby ruins and gestured into the air.
Rustle—
<Mind Map>
A page of the Tole-dot stopped at a certain point.
If counseling logs were like quests and counseling effects like rewards, then this was a skill.
[Mind Map]
Leading thoughts along chains to entirely different conclusions.
+
The ability to guide another person’s thoughts along a plausible path toward a different outcome.
Using this, Lee Cheom intended to break the brainwashing placed on Hayang.
