It was because the world had become a place where anomalous ability users, the espers, ran rampant.
When monsters poured out during the first gate incident, people thought everything would be resolved when they saw individuals awakening anomalous abilities one after another—until side effects appeared in the espers who possessed those abilities.
The more they used their abilities, the more severe the intensity of the side effects became.
Eventually leading them to go wild, turning the surrounding area into a wasteland until their lives ended.
At the very least, they discovered that ‘haeseo,’ which was rarely found inside the gates, lowered an esper’s instability level, but that was all.
Seok Beomjun aimed for that gap.
Utilizing his extraordinary brain, he expanded the business he originally possessed exactly as it was.
Since he had an abundance of money anyway, he gathered haeseo indiscriminately.
Seok Beomjun easily obtained haeseo that even noble conglomerate families barely managed to get—through the underworld, of course.
Processing the haeseo brought in that way and mixing it with existing drugs at a certain ratio to create candies, they began to sell like wildfire.
The pill-form haeseo consumed by people of conglomerate families was precisely what was sold through Seok Beomjun’s organization.
Naturally, when a shady business did well, hyenas would gather in packs.
They tried to secretly lay their hands on Seok Beomjun’s business to get a taste of the money themselves.
Doing things like wining and dining a few organization members to smuggle drugs out the back.
The reason the boss, Seok Beomjun, attended a gang fight that wasn’t even up to his level was none other than because a large amount of candies had been stolen.
Because one of his goddamn organization members had fallen for sweet talk and handed the candies over to another organization.
“Let’s see the face of the bastard who committed such a cute stunt. Bring him.”
“That’s…”
“What. You’re not about to spout some bullshit that you still haven’t found him, are you?”
Oh Jongtae, Seok Beomjun’s right-hand man, hesitated uncharacteristically.
Even though he knew the thing his boss hated most was beating around the bush, he couldn’t bring out the answer easily.
Seeing that Seok Beomjun’s eyes were beginning to gleam even more fiercely, Oh Jongtae answered with a face that said ‘whatever happens, happens.’
“No. We found him immediately. We found him, but a slight problem arose…”
“So what is the problem, you bastard.”
“I am sorry, but could I explain while we move to the car?”
“Jongtae.”
“…Y-Yes!”
Seok Beomjun stared straight at Oh Jongtae while exuding a heavy sense of intimidation.
His dark eyes flashed intensely.
Enough to make the killing intent feel vivid.
Usually, cases where he called someone by omitting their title only happened when his boss’s mood was foul.
Tightly tense, Oh Jongtae swallowed his saliva hard.
“If you don’t want a hole in your head, let’s explain properly. Your mouth isn’t broken, is it, huh?”
“Understood!”
“So what is the problem?”
“We found the place where he was hiding, but while trying to catch him, the boys all got hurt. In the meantime, we ended up losing—urgh!”
Oh Jongtae couldn’t finish his words. It was because Seok Beomjun choked Oh Jongtae midway through.
Under the strong grip, Oh Jongtae’s face instantly turned bright red.
“S-Sorry, Boss, cough…!”
“These bastards are all crawling up to me lately, forgetting their place. Why is everyone doing their work so shittily these days? Is their brain filled with sewage?”
“Gasp, cough!”
Oh Jongtae, who possessed a fairly large frame, was lifted up very easily by Seok Beomjun’s hand.
His legs, suspended in mid-air, swung this way and that.
“Jongtae. I kept you by my side because you were the only one among the kids whose head functioned a bit. But what good is it if you pull a dumbass stunt like this, hm?”
It almost gave the illusion of a wild beast growling.
Oh Jongtae was utterly terrified by the savage aura Seok Beomjun exuded.
It wouldn’t be strange if his neck snapped right now.
Oh Jongtae was not unaware that his life was currently hanging by a thread.
“T-There is a reason. P-Please listen to the story just once! Please, Boss… cough, hack!”
When Oh Jongtae, turning pale, cried out urgently, Seok Beomjun hurled him onto the floor.
Because his airway suddenly opened up, Oh Jongtae coughed violently.
However, Seok Beomjun didn’t wait and pressed Oh Jongtae.
“Tell me right now what that goddamn reason is.”
“Y-Yes! Please look at this first.”
Oh Jongtae hurriedly pulled out a cell phone from his back pocket, tapped it a few times, and extended it to Seok Beomjun.
It was a video, but the image quality was poor, and the angle of the screen was crooked, showing signs that it had been recorded in a rush.
“What the hell is this that you’re telling me to look—what the fuck.”
Seok Beomjun cut himself off and frowned.
The organization member who had the audacity to smuggle out the drugs was practically flying around in the video.
And that too while releasing anomalous abilities non-stop to an unbelievable degree.
Of course, he wasn’t surprised that the organization member was an esper.
His profile was already fully grasped.
However, what surprised Seok Beomjun was that the guy was squandering his anomalous abilities as if he had lost his mind.
As if intending to self-destruct, he used his anomalous abilities like crazy while pouring attacks on the organization members.
But the strange thing was, even at a point where instability symptoms should clearly appear, the guy was more intact than expected.
Veins did not bulge over the surface of his skin, nor did his eyeballs turn bloodshot.
Not a single symptom of instability was visible in him.
And the more he used his anomalous abilities, madness lingered in the guy’s gaze.
[I, I was right! Even though I squander my abilities like this, I’m perfectly fine, hahaha! Praise the Leader, the Leader, you insects! Kuhahaha!]
He was even spouting crazy words, leaving Seok Beomjun unable to understand what kind of dog-shit situation this was.
[O Great God, grant me salvation! Guide me to heaven!]
[What the hell is that piece of shit barking about… aaaah!]
The video ended there.
The footage, lasting less than a minute, was entirely filled with things that could not be understood at all.
“Jongtae.”
“Yes.”
“This is so ridiculous my dick is about to fall off, so explain right now.”
“We looked into it urgently, and it turns out the guy who smuggled the drugs was deep into a cult. The words he’s shouting in that video also seem to refer to the leader of the religion he’s infatuated with.”
“Fuck, what…? A cult?”
Seok Beomjun wore an absurd expression at the word that popped out out of nowhere.
Oh Jongtae continued the explanation regardless.
“To begin with, the reason he sold the drugs to another organization was also to get money. He said something about needing a lot of money to receive another consecration from the leader, or whatever—anyway, he said stuff like that.”
Seok Beomjun didn’t say anything.
No, to be precise, he couldn’t.
It was because he was so dumbfounded it felt like he had been struck hard on the back of his head.
This was just nonsense from start to finish, to the point where he couldn’t even gauge where to begin nitpicking.
“No, fuck… what even.”
The only thing coming out was curses.
