Chapter 8
Letters shimmered on the pages of the mind map.
[Please designate a target.]
“Hayang.”
[The target is currently under the control of another entity.]
[If you proceed, the target’s psyche may collapse.]
The bright red text glowed threateningly as if issuing a warning, but Lee Cheoeum pressed on without hesitation.
“Leaving her alone would just get her killed by that same apostle anyway. Controlling her is better—and using the mind map is safer than doing it directly.”
Lee Cheoeum rarely used the mind map. Directly connecting thoughts was cumbersome and took a lot of time.
However, when inserting thoughts seamlessly, or when someone’s mind was in a precarious state like now, the mind map acted as a safeguard that minimized mental strain.
[Starting ‘Mind Map’.]
Swish.
A massive canvas visible only to Lee Cheoeum unfolded.
At its center were Hayang’s current thoughts:
[Kill all humans in sight.]
“…That’s intense.”
It was probably brainwashing, but he couldn’t help letting out a dry laugh.
From here on, he had to connect plausible ideas on this blank slate and change Hayang’s thoughts…
Every time he faced this vast expanse that required causality, Lee Cheoeum always wondered:
Does coherence in thought even truly exist?
[But killing people is not right.]
The hastily written words immediately burned away.
[Inappropriate flow.]
“So you think killing might be acceptable.”
He had just learned the moral standards of a stranger. This was the tricky part of the mind map—it wasn’t simple word association. He had to write thoughts that the person would realistically have.
[Killing people is boring.]
Thus, he needed to understand the target’s personality…
[Inappropriate flow.]
[The target is experiencing cognitive overload.]
“Ugh.”
How was he supposed to figure out the personality of someone he’d just met today?
He tried several more thought flows that might oppose killing, but all failed.
“Ughhh…”
Seeing Hayang’s gaze grow increasingly unfocused, Lee Cheoeum stopped and sank into thought.
I think I need to approach this differently.
A psychologist once said that human thoughts don’t line up logically like mathematical formulas, but instead flow irregularly like a stream of scattered images within minimal context.
That was the well-known “stream of consciousness.”
Based on his experience using the mind map, that idea held some truth. If he wrote overly logical cause-and-effect chains, they often didn’t work.
After all, who actually thinks in calculations in daily life? People see a cloud and think of cotton candy, then suddenly want to eat sugar candy from the nearby stall.
The key to the mind map was stitching together “keywords” likely to exist in the person’s subconscious.
Though Lee Cheoeum had just met Hayang, he already knew one keyword that must exist in her subconscious.
[But if your older brother is nearby, it might be dangerous.]
That keyword was “Hayang.”
[Flow is borderline inappropriate.]
[The target is experiencing cognitive overload.]
It worked.
Although the leap in context caused some cognitive strain as a side effect, it was acceptable.
[Current state: Anxiety]
“Ugh…”
Hayang, who had been stabbing her sword into the shoulder of an apostle blocking her path, grimaced in pain.
Lee Cheoeum continued writing.
[I want to see my brother.]
[Excessively inappropriate flow.]
[Severe cognitive overload on the target!]
“Aaaagh!”
Damn it. So they were just ordinary siblings.
Avoiding the now-rampaging Hayang, Lee Cheoeum moved deeper into hiding and resumed writing with his quill.
[That careless Hayang bastard—could he have gone off somewhere and cracked his head open and died?]
[Appropriate flow.]
[Wording does not match the target’s personality; effect is reduced.]
[Current state: Concern]
As expected.
The tone was slightly off, but the thought itself was plausible. That Hayang person seemed like someone others would treat as a fragile, sheltered individual.
Scratch, scratch.
Like a spider weaving a web, the mind map continued expanding.
Through Lee Cheoeum’s hand, Hayang’s mental state shifted from anxiety to hesitation, from hesitation to resolve. Through that entire process, a single will finally emerged.
[This is not the time for this.]
Thud.
Hayang stopped moving.
“What… what is it?”
“Hay…ang?”
The apostles facing her looked at each other in confusion.
Hayang’s eyes were still unfocused, but a completely different aura had begun to rise within her.
Now was the moment to seal it.
What should I overwrite with?
Lee Cheoeum rolled the quill between his fingers.
He didn’t heal minds. He overwrote them, suppressed them, and redirected them—an assortment of expedients.
He wasn’t dispelling the brainwashing of the Pride Judge. He was simply layering something stronger over it.
…This world was already diseased. The best he could do was wipe away the pus.
This feels most natural.
Lee Cheoeum wrote the final line.
[I must now find Hayang.]
“Yan… brother.”
[Appropriate flow.]
[Current state: Obsession]
Tap!
The moment he placed the final period, Hayang dashed out of the battlefield as if possessed.
She would frantically search for Hayang for a while, but she wouldn’t attack any apostles.
Done.
As Lee Cheoeum exhaled in relief and tossed his quill into the air—
Swish.
The Pride Judge’s wings slowly spread open.
Blink.
And its eyes opened.
A spined eye.
A massive, crimson eye…
[Its gaze rests upon those who revere it.]
“AAAAAAAH!!!”
“Ugh—gghk…!”
The apostles caught in that gaze convulsed all at once. A wave of incomprehensible terror swept across the battlefield.
Absolute mental domination, against which all resistance was meaningless.
[Status Effect – Overwhelming Reverence]
Immobilizes all life forms caught in its gaze with profound awe and fear.
Who could stand before the wrath of the one to be revered?
The overwhelming dominance reshaped the entire area as if everything before had been child’s play.
This was an S-rank mental calamity.
[‘Mental Resistance’ is strongly activated!]
Lee Cheoeum gasped, mouth open, breath escaping him.
A foreboding thought crossed his mind.
…This might be because of me.
Removing its strongest piece seemed to have triggered the next movement in this sequence.
Swish.
Worse still, the Pride Judge began to move.
Its rounded form turned, scanning the area like it was searching for the rat that caused the disturbance.
Lee Cheoeum immediately turned to flee at full speed—
Thud.
—but the massive eye was already fixed on him.
“Ah—”
As Lee Cheoeum let out a breath while watching the Pride Judge unfurl its wings toward him—
At that moment.
It was a scene that could only be described as a miracle.
—Whoooosh!
Stars began to fall from the daytime sky.
KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Meteor-like objects rained down upon the statues. The structures that even five or six apostles together couldn’t handle shattered helplessly.
“…Ahh!”
“It’s here!”
The apostles, cornered, erupted in relief and joy.
Lee Cheoeum looked up.
A man was walking through the air.
Defying gravity, his figure seemed detached from reality yet was strangely natural. His black garments spread like ink, staining the sky.
“Evacuate the injured.”
Lee Cheoeum instinctively knew.
The platinum-blond man—more perfectly aligned with conventional beauty than anyone he had ever seen—was the owner of the falling stars…
“From here on, I’ll take over.”
He was the branch leader of Burim, known as “Meteor Shower.”
But there was no time to admire him.
Tap!
Seizing the moment while attention was drawn to Meteor Shower, Lee Cheoeum fled.
“…Hah.”
He ran at full speed. When was the last time he had run until he was out of breath like this?
Finally escaping the center of the disturbance and reaching the rubble—
A voice, deep yet oddly boyish, pierced his ears:
“[Humans are so sorrowful.]”
What followed was something unbelievable.
Humans
are
so
sor—
row—
ful—
Words… were flickering in the air like flames, drifting like living fireflies.
A strange and mystical sight.
“…Huh.”
For a brief moment, Lee Cheoeum’s gaze was drawn to the trembling trajectories of “humans” and “so.”
“Aah.”
“….”
“[The flames are too red.]”
The period that slipped from the man’s lips became the ignition point.
Fwoooosh!
The red flames bursting from the words spread instantly in all directions.
And at the center of that path stood Lee Cheoeum.
He stared blankly at the approaching blaze.
“…This is insane…”
WHOOSH!
The inferno engulfed him.
And so, Lee Cheoeum died.
