Letting out a few hollow laughs, Seok Beomjun gathered his senses and said.
“So where is this cult that the bastard is into?”
“Have you heard of Exalted?”
“Exalted?”
“Yes. It’s a newly emerged religion, but they say believers are flocking in like crazy lately. To the point where other cults are rising up in protest.”
“Why the hell are they making a fuss.”
“They say the leader there is practically no different from a god. No, saying he is a living god himself, the believers have all lost their minds and go around praising the leader like that. Saying he can eliminate the side effects of espers.”
“What a load of horse shit.”
Seok Beomjun did not hide his sneer.
Where could there be such a laughable story?
A mere piece-of-shit leader eliminating esper side effects?
When I, who possess haeseo to that extent, am carrying around a numerical value like this?
Seok Beomjun looked down at the watch-like device on his wrist, which was hidden by his sleeve.
「Measured Level: 83%」
That was right.
None other than Seok Beomjun was also an esper who had awakened anomalous abilities.
And an S-rank, the highest tier, at that.
He was also an unregistered, illegal esper who was not officially registered with the government.
The reason he displayed unbelievable grip strength in the fight just now was entirely because he was an esper.
Seok Beomjun was an S-rank esper specializing in physical reinforcement.
Basically, when one awakened as an esper, their physical body became stronger than ordinary people, but Seok Beomjun was on an entirely different dimension.
He was strong enough to lightly demolish high-rise buildings with his bare fists.
Furthermore, it was also possible to rip a house-sized monster apart with his bare hands in a single blow.
Seok Beomjun’s skin, which was tougher than steel, was difficult to pierce with anything.
No matter what weapon was used, it couldn’t inflict a single scratch.
To the extent that if a low-rank esper accidentally struck Seok Beomjun’s body, that esper’s fist would conversely be crushed.
The reason it didn’t show compared to other espers despite his instability level being considerably high was because Seok Beomjun was a physical reinforcement type.
Virtually all the side effects he could experience had already appeared.
It felt as though he was slowly reaching his limit.
Even now, hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and headaches kept rushing in.
A pain that felt like his eyeballs were about to pop out was a bonus.
Seok Beomjun was barely holding on using his extremely developed mental fortitude.
“Eliminating anomalous ability side effects? Where did this piece-of-shit bastard pop out from to run his mouth like this. Should I find him and snap his neck right off.”
Seok Beomjun muttered murderous words to himself.
Just thinking about it ticked him off, didn’t it?
Every single day was crappy because of the goddamn side effects, so hearing such an absurd story made rage surge even further.
“First, catch the bastard who smuggled the drugs again. Catch him today no matter what. Got it?”
“Understood.”
“No. I need to step in myself to crush him quickly. Find out where his trail cut off.”
“Yes.”
“And look into Exalted more. I need to see that piece-of-shit leader’s face myself too.”
“Understood.”
Grinding his teeth, Seok Beomjun turned around and climbed into the waiting car.
Oh Jongtae also slid into the adjacent seat while reading his mood.
The car carrying the murderous Seok Beomjun immediately exited the alleyway.
The trail was caught much faster than expected.
It was the direct result of Seok Beomjun stepping in himself.
He looked down quietly at the guy who was squirming under the weight of his subordinates while still spouting nonsense.
“Worship the Leader, worship our God! Only those who worship shall obtain the hand of salvation!”
Seeing a fanatic in the flesh like this left him speechless.
They said that once you fall deep into a cult, your screws loosen up like a bastard who got shot in the head, and the guy in front of him was the exact definition of that.
Seok Beomjun’s irritation flared up at having to witness such a dog-shit sight.
“The crazy bastard puts so much sincerity into his bullshit, fuck.”
“Quickly, I must receive the blessing from the Leader again, only then can I go to heaven… I have to! Let me go quickly. I have to go. I have to go to the Leader!”
It was impossible to keep tolerating him rambling incoherently.
Unable to hold back any longer, Seok Beomjun grabbed the guy’s head and slammed it straight into the floor.
‘Thud!’
“Aaargh!”
“Chirp, chirp, you sure have a lot to say. For a fucking cute bastard.”
‘Pound!’
“Did it feel good to pocket the drugs? Did it feel good to greedily take them, huh?”
“Urgh!”
‘Thud!’
“I’m asking if it felt good. Are your ears blocked?”
“Gasp, ugh…”
Seok Beomjun slammed his head into the floor several times until the guy grew quiet.
Before long, the floor was filled with a puddle of blood.
Only after the guy fell completely silent did he carelessly let go of the skull.
Brushing off the blood on his palm with a disgusted face, Seok Beomjun gestured with his eyes toward Oh Jongtae.
“Take this bastard and make him spit out everything.”
“Understood.”
“Don’t forget to find out about the cult, too. Got it?”
“Yes.”
At Oh Jongtae’s command, the organization members dragged away the man who had been beaten to a pulp.
As soon as the man disappeared, Seok Beomjun stretched his upper body.
It almost gave the illusion of a black panther stretching its limbs.
“There’s nothing wrong with the drugs, right?”
“Yes. The entire quantity that was stolen is safe.”
“The wives get anxious for no reason, so call them all and let them know there won’t be any disruptions in the supply.”
“Understood.”
“Then let’s go. Stepping out after a while is tiring, fuck.”
Seok Beomjun swept his hair back while checking the time.
It was absurd that he had already wasted over three hours because of a crazy bastard.
These days, Seok Beomjun rarely worked on the front lines unless it was a significant matter.
He merely performed final verifications on whether the supply of drugs was going well and handled payments; he had practically taken his hands off things recently.
It was by no means because his position was compromised.
He was simply being careful because his instability level was high.
Ordinarily, this was something impossible given his personality, but when a person’s life hangs in the balance, they end up doing things they never fancied. In a word, it was absolutely shittily annoying.
Heading back to the car, Seok Beomjun pulled out a candy from his pocket and crunched down hard on it.
He felt his level dip minutely.
It was a level that wouldn’t even register as a drop in the bucket, but if it weren’t for even this, he would have kicked the bucket and been on his way to the underworld long ago.
Looking at it this way, he wasn’t entirely out of luck.
Thinking to himself, Seok Beomjun buried his body deep into the seat.
He had used his anomalous ability only a tiny bit just a few hours ago, yet his headache had already worsened.
His head throbbed like crazy, and his vision repeatedly blurred into a white haze before returning.
Because Seok Beomjun’s expression was inherently foul, it didn’t show that he was suffering from side effects.
