Chapter 115. The Meaning of the Morning Star (1)
The moment Kang Yujin saw Ha Mina, he moved without hesitation.
He didn’t care that she was supposedly a special-type Contractor with no combat ability.
He intended to move at full strength and restrain her immediately.
But his hand cut through empty air.
When he turned his head, Ha Mina had somehow moved about five meters away from where she had been standing.
“There is no need to do anything meaningless, Kang Yujin.”
“What did you do?”
“I’ll explain simply. The version of me you are currently seeing is an illusion.”
“So your real body isn’t here?”
“You may understand it that way.”
Kang Yujin didn’t respond.
He pulled Durandal from his inventory and immediately swung it.
The result was the same.
Ha Mina reappeared a short distance away, completely unharmed.
Even Durandal, a Holy Sword, doesn’t affect it...
Kang Yujin returned Durandal to his inventory and glared at her.
“Why did you appear?”
“Didn’t we make a promise?”
“A promise?”
“Yes. I promised that once you became strong enough to defeat Lord Phenex, I would tell you why we kidnapped you and subjected you to human experimentation.”
Ha Mina’s voice remained perfectly calm.
“I merely came to keep that promise. Please do not misunderstand.”
“You don’t have any other reason for being here?”
“None in particular, Kang Yujin.”
"..."
It was difficult to tell what she was really thinking.
Had she truly come simply to keep her promise?
“Fine.”
Kang Yujin kept watch on his surroundings as he spoke.
“Then tell me.”
“Yes.”
Ha Mina gave a small nod.
“Do you remember Bishop Baek Yunho?”
“Of course I do. He was the bastard who imprisoned me and ran all kinds of experiments on me.”
“The truth is, he knew almost nothing about the overall plan.”
“What?”
“Of course, Bishop Baek Yunho was the one who carried out the actual work. He personally devised and handled all of the practical procedures.”
Ha Mina pointed at herself.
“But the overall direction came entirely from my instructions. Naturally, Bishop Baek Yunho never realized that.”
"..."
Then...
was this woman truly the source of everything?
“I was not acting under orders from Pandemonium either. I remained in contact with them and exchanged opinions, but ultimately, I carried out everything according to my own will.”
“So all of it happened because of you?”
“That is correct.”
“Fine. Then why did you do it?”
Ha Mina answered without the slightest change in expression.
“To explain that... I believe I first need to tell you about the past.”
“The past?”
“This happened about nine years ago.”
Ha Mina continued in an even voice.
“There was once a girl whose parents were murdered by rioters during a time of chaos.”
"..."
“The rioters captured the girl and dragged her into a secluded underground room. Imagining what would happen to her, she screamed and cried in terror. The rioters began beating her violently because she would not stop screaming.”
As she spoke, Ha Mina slowly rolled up her sleeve.
There it was.
The same horrific scar Kang Yujin had briefly seen when he carried Daji, disguised as Ha Mina, while escaping.
“You may have heard this from Daji, but the reason my health has always been poor is because of the beating I suffered that day.”
"..."
“There is no need to look so grave, Kang Yujin. Something good happened afterward.”
“Something good?”
“Yes. Just before the worst could happen to me, a black shadow appeared underground.”
A black shadow.
What exactly had that been?
“He judged those who had kidnapped me.”
“You mean he killed them?”
“Yes. Then He looked down at me and said, ‘Your spiritual aptitude was exceptional enough to call me forth.’”
“Spiritual aptitude...”
“He disappeared from before me shortly afterward, but from that day onward, I was able to hear His voice. That voice became guidance more precious to me than anything else.”
Kang Yujin had heard of something like this before.
People like Joo Minha or Ha Mina, who went around claiming they had received revelations from divine beings, were sometimes said to suffer from ‘Joan of Arc Syndrome.’
Most cases were delusion or fraud.
But in Ha Mina’s case, it had been real.
The only difference was...
the being who had given her those revelations was not what most people would consider a benevolent god.
“I believed He would bring a new order to this world.”
“Then...”
“Yes. The Church of the Morning Star was an organization created for Him, so that He could reign as the ruler of the new world.”
The chaos would soon end.
A new world would soon arrive.
The Church of the Morning Star had expanded its influence while preaching those words.
Kang Yujin had thought it might simply be a story fabricated to gather followers.
But judging from Ha Mina’s explanation, apparently it had not been fabricated at all.
Then...
who exactly was the being Ha Mina worshiped as Him?
“Belial.”
I met Belial again in the seaside cave where we had spoken before.
“Kang Yujin defeated Phenex.”
“Already? That was quick.”
Belial smiled in satisfaction.
“Did Kang Yujin and his companions escape safely?”
“They should still be on their way out. If nothing goes wrong, they’ll probably cross the border before morning.”
“I see. That is fortunate.”
Belial let out a breath that sounded genuinely relieved.
“For a while, we should be safe. The Demon God Assembly had been planning its future strategy under the assumption that the renewed invasion would begin from the Far East. Now that Phenex has fallen, they will have no choice but to reconsider everything from the beginning.”
“So Pandemonium won’t be taking military action for a while?”
“Yes. The Demon God Assembly takes much longer to make decisions than you might think, so we should have some breathing room.”
“That’s good.”
“Yes, indeed.”
Belial wore a perfectly innocent smile despite having set up his own ally, Phenex, to die.
“Belial.”
“What is it, Mr. Kim Nameless?”
Belial called me by my alias with a smile.
“You’ve always disliked war.”
“To be precise, I dislike difficult and exhausting wars.”
“And you earn enormous profits through trade with humans. That’s why you joined hands with us to prevent a full-scale war.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
That was also the reason Ma Taesu had given Kang Yujin, Joo Minha, and Number 49.
Belial was that kind of being.
Someone capable of betraying another Demon God of Pandemonium and siding with humans.
“You betrayed Phenex, but you didn’t betray Pandemonium itself. Right?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Belial nodded without hesitation.
“I consider myself something of a patriot. I have absolutely no intention of betraying Pandemonium.”
"..."
“Of course, there may be a slight difference between the Pandemonium I envision... and the Pandemonium envisioned by the other demons.”
“If the others learn what you did, they’ll accuse you of betraying Pandemonium.”
“If that happens, I shall proudly step forward and argue the legitimacy of my actions. Misunderstandings should be resolved through conversation.”
Belial was a demon skilled in rhetoric and agitation.
Justifying his own behavior probably wouldn’t be difficult for him.
“In any case, thank you for worrying about me, Mr. Kim Nameless.”
Belial smiled and extended his hand.
“I believe this matter ended successfully because you handled things well in the middle as the representative of the ‘Nameless King.’ I hope we can continue maintaining a good relationship.”
"..."
“Mr. Kim Nameless?”
When I didn’t take his hand, Belial looked puzzled.
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“Hmm. What would that be? If it is something I can answer, I shall.”
“It’s about Pandemonium.”
“Pandemonium?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded, then turned my gaze away from Belial.
Looking at the waves crashing against the shore, I spoke again.
“Recently, I had reason to talk about a war from history.”
“A historical war?”
“Yeah. A war that happened on this land roughly four hundred years ago. Invaders crossed the sea from Japan and turned the entire country into a battlefield.”
As I remembered how I had used that war to threaten Hector, I continued.
“That long war suddenly ended one day. Do you know why?”
“Hmm. Did they sign a peace treaty?”
