Chapter 51
Part 50
So that's why they used the Emperor Guild to target Woojin.
The key to dimensional travel was the ability to distort space.
After reviewing all the data he had brought back from the abandoned warehouse near Jejin Station, Yugeon had a fairly good idea of why Genocide's experiments had kept failing.
The device they had created could forcibly disrupt the boundary between dimensions, but it couldn't maintain a stable connection to the desired coordinates.
Woojin, however, was an Awakener who could perceive, distort, and fold spatial coordinates themselves.
There was a strong possibility that the Emperor Guild had intended to damage Woojin's brain and turn him into a puppet for reasons beyond simply obtaining a powerful Awakener.
Yugeon looked back at the laptop.
If I expose all of this properly...
How would Genocide react?
He was already looking forward to finding out.
The next day.
Click.
Yugeon was going through the data from the abandoned warehouse near Jejin Station once again.
As mentioned earlier, there had been only one successful result among the hundreds of dimensional transfer experiments.
Eilen.
They were on the right track.
The device Genocide had created could disrupt the boundary between dimensions.
The problem came afterward.
Disrupting the boundary and connecting a passage to a specific destination were two entirely different things.
If the coordinates were even slightly inaccurate, parts of the subject's body would disappear.
In severe cases, the subject would be thrown into an entirely different space.
Spatial distortion.
The key to traveling between dimensions was surprisingly simple.
All that was needed was an item imbued with spatial distortion that could release that power outward.
It sounded simple once you knew the answer, but it wasn't something anyone would easily figure out beforehand.
The moment someone left the Tower, humans would normally return to Earth, while members of other races would return to their respective worlds.
However, things would be different if someone distorted space at that precise moment and altered the exit's coordinates.
It wasn't a matter of breaking the Tower's rules.
It was simply a matter of slightly changing the direction those rules pointed toward.
That would make it possible to travel to the worlds inhabited by other races.
The problem is that there are hardly any Awakeners capable of distorting space.
Even among those who possessed spatial abilities, most could only fold space over short distances or redirect incoming attacks.
Individuals capable of interfering with the boundary between dimensions were exceedingly rare.
Genocide hadn't managed to find such a person, so they had tried to force a connection between dimensions using machinery alone.
Naturally, their experiments had continued to fail.
The only reason they had finally succeeded was that they had obtained an item capable of generating a particularly powerful spatial distortion.
Yugeon's gaze shifted toward one side of the living room.
Woojin was sitting on the sofa, reading a book.
And then they must have discovered Woojin.
Now he finally understood why the Emperor Guild had wanted Woojin so desperately.
The order had probably come from Genocide.
Just then...
"Hyung."
Woojin had closed his book and approached Yugeon.
"Can I take a look at that?"
"Go ahead."
Yugeon turned the laptop toward him.
Woojin spent a long time examining the formulas for the dimensional transfer device displayed on the screen.
His fingers moved through the air.
It was a habit he had developed from calculating invisible coordinates.
"Something's strange."
"What is it?"
"There's more than enough power to disrupt space, but the method they're using to stabilize the coordinates is incredibly crude. Even if the subject reaches the destination, there's no way to know which parts of their body might be severed."
"And that's exactly what happened."
"..."
Woojin's expression stiffened.
When Yugeon showed him several photographs taken at the abandoned warehouse near Jejin Station, Woojin bit his lip.
"Then the reason the Emperor Guild targeted me was..."
"Probably because of this."
"Why would they need me?"
"They were probably planning to turn you into a puppet and continuously exploit your spatial distortion ability."
Yugeon pointed toward the device's blueprint on one side of the screen.
"To cross dimensions, simply maintaining a spatial distortion isn't enough. You also need an object capable of releasing that power outward."
"So you mean storing spatial distortion inside an item."
"Exactly."
If they could create such an item, they would be able to momentarily distort the coordinates of the Tower's exit.
And in the future, an item with precisely that capability would be created, making travel between different races possible.
"Do you think I could make something like that?"
"You can."
"You sound pretty certain."
"Because I know you're capable of it."
Woojin looked a little puzzled, but he didn't ask any further questions.
Yugeon smiled faintly and took the laptop back.
Suddenly, he remembered a spatial distortion item he had possessed before his regression.
Back then, he hadn't cared who had made it.
The world had been in such a terrible state that simply surviving had been difficult enough.
Was that something Woojin created too?
Now that he thought about it, the possibility seemed quite high.
Yugeon chuckled and closed the laptop.
"Woojin."
"Yes?"
"Keep your schedule clear tomorrow."
"Why?"
"We're holding a press conference."
"All of a sudden?"
"Yeah."
Tap.
Yugeon placed a USB drive containing the data from the abandoned warehouse near Jejin Station on the table.
"I'm going to expose all of this."
Woojin's eyes widened.
The following afternoon.
The main conference hall of the Korean Awakener Association.
Seunggil, who had been watching the preparations from beside the stage, approached Yugeon one last time.
"Mr. Yugeon, are you really going to reveal everything?"
