So What? (4)

The shape of a human, forged from an abyss that seemed capable of absorbing even light.

Two curved forms, from which black mist poured out, stared straight at Kim Dojun as they spoke.

"I am a being born with infinite potential, unlike you petty humans."

"Unlike the tens and tens of millions of humans, I exist solely as 'me', an absolute existence."

"So, kneel before me. Worship me. Bow your head to me, who is different from you, a being with infinite possibilities."

"And offer yourself to me—offer me your potential."

The voice of the black something, resonating through the entire space as if it were speaking through everything, exerted such pressure that it seemed it could crush a person's mind by its presence alone.

"..."

Yet, Kim Dojun, who was facing this black being head-on, was clearly in a better state than even before the being introduced itself.

Around the time when the being of possibility tilted its head ever-so-slightly in curiosity,

Kim Dojun wore a clear smile.

Because the being before his eyes was the very boss he had originally known.

'The Being of Possibility.'

The ending of the Sorcery Killing Technique starts branching out in earnest after dealing with all the maglignant spirits, but there were also situations where it would suddenly jump to the ending immediately after that.

If the player failed to progress through certain key storylines, the story would seem to be going along fine—but then, suddenly, the ending would appear.

'Of course, those endings are bad endings.'

That was an ending Kim Dojun could never allow, not from his perspective.

'Every bad ending in the Sorcery Killing Technique was the destruction of the world. The very first phrase written was telling you to see the ending by stopping the destruction of the world.'

And the boss standing in front of Kim Dojun now—the 'Being of Possibility'—was not the main maglignant spirit, but was a boss that would immediately bring about a bad ending if not properly stopped.

Excluding the maglignant spirits, it functioned as the final stage boss of Part 1 in the Sorcery Killing Technique.

Despite the boss appearing at such an unexpected time, Kim Dojun grinned.

'Because I know the settings.'

The Being of Possibility, true to its words, had enough of a background that it could truly call itself a god.

Kim Dojun remembered playing the game and retrying more than thirty times because of this Being of Possibility.

Tap-!

Reaching that thought, Kim Dojun immediately materialized in front of the Being of Possibility.

"Oh, how impressive, primitive human, but I—"

The Being of Possibility started to speak, smiling as if impressed by Kim Dojun's actions.

But.

Crack—!

"Ah—?"

With a single punch from Kim Dojun, a massive hole bored through the being's heart.

"How... could this be?"

The Being of Possibility stared at its own heart as if unable to comprehend. Kim Dojun grinned broadly.

"That's because you only have the potential to exist right now, you moron."

The Being of Possibility was certainly strong.

After all, Kim Dojun had to retry thirty times, and the setting itself was extremely powerful.

At birth, the Being of Possibility possessed not only tremendous spiritual power but also the ability to wield as many as 22 types of defensive sorcery.

After that, as it confronted sorcerers who, not knowing better, came to deal with it, it would learn sorcery from the sorcerers in real time and become even stronger.

Simply put, it gets stronger as it fights others.

In actual gameplay, the player is given a 30-minute time limit.

If the 30-minute window passes, the Being of Possibility becomes overwhelmingly powerful, making it extremely troublesome to handle.

Which means—

'If you don't give it time to learn, you can kill it easily, right?'

Wham!

Kim Dojun's kick sent the Being of Possibility flying far, far away.

The being was hit directly, sent hurtling through the air, and embedded into the center of the wall.

"Kuhek—!"

With a pained groan erupting from its lips, it started to layer countless defensive sorcery around its body.

It hastily drew sorcery formations over its own body.

It pulled out a talisman made from a bodily substance as black as the abyss.

The now-multiplied six arms each formed a hand seal, activating defensive sorcery.

Yet still—

Ka-boom—!

Those desperate efforts—

Crash—!

Were utterly shattered by a single punch from Kim Dojun.

More than a dozen defensive sorceries crumbled like glass shards, and once more, Kim Dojun's fist struck the Being of Possibility.

"Gahk—!"

Reeling from the strike, it was battered again and again by Kim Dojun's successive follow-up blows.

Like that, with its body slammed madly against the wall, the Being of Possibility was relentlessly pounded.

"This can't be... I should have encompassed... all possibilities—"

Its entire body was punched full of gaping holes.

"—I should have been... an absolute existence...!"

It began to fade away, bit by bit.

"Am I... not a perfect being, after all...? Why is sorcery(呪術)... so meaningless...?"

Murmuring, the Being of Possibility watched as its form—wrought from a black abyss—slowly disappeared.

"Was sorcery(呪術)... not the crystallization for achieving... perfection?"

Bang!

But Kim Dojun, without a moment's hesitation, smashed the being's head in.

Crashshsh—!

As the Being of Possibility instantly scattered into grains of sand, disappearing completely,

"This is great."

Kim Dojun couldn't help but smile, nodding at the unexpected windfall.

####

After rescuing Han Soyeon, Kim Dojun began properly informing everyone, and setting the situation straight.

Along with the lowest basement of the Korean Sorcery Association being revealed for the first time to the world, the shadowy documents inside became a feast for the reporters, scattering in all directions.

The Mangchok brothers who came to kill Kim Dojun but ended up dead at the hands of the Sorcery Killer, and the Sorcery Killer who, until death, took a beating from Kim Dojun—

By the time Kim Dojun returned, their bodies had completely melted, emitting black smoke.

Meaning, they died without even leaving behind corpses.

Thanks to that, the only one actually arrested at the scene was Jin Tae-shik, who had been knocked out by Kim Dojun and left lying on the floor next to the dismembered corpse of a possessed entity.

Kim Dojun and Han Soyeon had to undergo investigation by the World Sorcery Association for about three days before they were allowed to leave.

Additionally, Han Soyeon would be put under the protection of the World Sorcery Association for about a month.

... Though in truth, it was closer to observation than protection.

The former Association President, deeming her dangerous, had cast complex covert sorcery to seal most of Han Soyeon's abilities for about a month.

In other words, Han Soyeon was no different from a regular person at that point.

Of course, even then—one could wonder who would risk targeting Han Soyeon now, but if the unexpected happened again, it would be a huge headache.

In this situation, the temporary supervisor from the World Sorcery Association sent for them happened to be a righteous, protagonist character Kim Dojun had encountered several times in the game. Kim Dojun took this opportunity to advise Han Soyeon to accept the protection obediently.

"Alright, if it's something you suggest, Dojun."

Han Soyeon agreed to Kim Dojun's words without a hint of refusal.

'... She seems a little different somehow.'

In the past, she would at least ponder any suggestion given, but ever since this incident, Han Soyeon was showing him unconditional acceptance.

'Well, I guess it's not a bad thing for someone to have a positive attitude toward me.'

But the reason this made Kim Dojun feel something was off—though not quite to the level of a problem—was

'It's just a bit too positive.'

A few days prior—specifically, while under Association investigation until past midnight—Kim Dojun had gotten a bit grumpy.

'Damn, this is annoying as hell.'

'Are you okay? Is it tough?'

'Of course it's tough.'

'I'll kill them all. Just wait.'

'Huh? What are you talking about?'

'You said you're having a hard time...? They're bothering you, aren't they? So shouldn't I just kill them all?'

'Wait, you can't even use sorcery right now.'

'I have a knife.'

'Where did you even get that...?'

'Picked it up from back there earlier. Anyway, if I just have this, I can kill them. Humans are unexpectedly fragile—they can't react if you stab a vital spot.'

'... Yeah, that's not really something I wanted to know.'

'Wait for me, I'll kill everyone who's bothering Dojun—'

Somewhat taken aback by Han Soyeon's attitude, Kim Dojun nonetheless found it easier to control her, since she followed his do-nots surprisingly well.

'No matter how terrible someone's personality, it seems a debt of gratitude is never forgotten.'

Thinking that, Kim Dojun shelved the topic of Han Soyeon and switched his thoughts to something else.

'Now, what's left is those guys...'

Before making what had happened publicly known, Kim Dojun had woken Jin Tae-shik to extract the whole story with a little bit of persuasion(?).

During the persuasion process, a few teeth had been knocked out, making Jin Tae-shik's speech slurred, but in the end, what Kim Dojun was able to learn could be divided into two things.

'What the Association President and Vice President intended by using Han Soyeon's talent was to bring about the descent of the Being of Possibility within her, erase its intellect with special sorcery, and then transplant it into their own bodies.'

'The Mangchok brothers and the Sorcery Killer who tried to kill me were indeed criminals—but they were also part of a group known as "the Prophets."'

Kim Dojun was more interested in the second revelation than the first.

'Who the hell are these guys?'

The Prophets.

Having not played the game for some time, some memories were dim, but he still remembered the name of the group that constantly annoyed the player.

Back in his dorm, even when he opened his pre-written setting notes, there was no information on the Prophets.

'Are they just some worthless group that doesn't appear in the Sorcery Killing Technique?'

That seemed the most logical conclusion, so Kim Dojun kept pondering the Prophets.

'Should I just hand this over to Dan to look into?'

He decided to put aside the issue of the Prophets, with the thought that if he couldn't reach an immediate conclusion, he might as well let Dan investigate and think more about it then.

'All right, let's move on from this case...'

Kim Dojun now recalled that the break period had just started.

The Sorcery Institute's break lasted 90 days.

During these 90 days, Kim Dojun's top priority was to help Shin Se-yeon kill her father.

Of course, beyond that, he also had to take down Twisted Evil in the Temple together with Dan to obtain a spiritual tool, hang out with Tiarang, and take care of several other tasks.

But even all that left 90 days feeling quite long.

'Well then, shall I go meet another one of my future boss friends?'

With that, Kim Dojun decided—it was time to meet yet another friend who would become a boss in the future.

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