“Ah, are you perhaps thinking that because your mental strength is strong, psychic abilities won’t work well on you?”
“…!”
However, K accurately saw through Raon’s thoughts.
Tension flared up once again.
It seemed he wasn’t relying solely on just his psychic ability.
“Do you know what this is?”
“I do not.”
Raon frowned, looking at the object K pulled out.
The jet-black object looked like a round orb.
Looking at it, I felt a sensation of nausea.
Raon scrunched up his face even more and covered his mouth with his hand.
“This is an item that affects not only Espers but also Guides, who are ability users.”
“Ugh.”
“It’s made from dungeon byproducts… oh dear.”
K laughed gleefully as he watched the staggering Raon.
He seemed delighted with how effective the item was.
“It seems Team Leader Raon’s mental strength is better than expected. I didn’t think he’d show such a negative reaction.”
“What on earth is this… ugh.”
“Simply put, it’s an item that breaks down the mental barriers that ability users have built up high. It’s fatal to people like Team Leader Raon.”
“Damn it.”
That damned former government, that damned Hanmyung.
There was nothing they did that was helpful to me.
Raon grit his teeth and backed away, but in the end, a cold wall only stopped Raon’s movement.
Raon leaned against the wall, taking ragged breaths.
“Actually, my psychic ability is so excellent that I have even messed with the minds of other psychic Espers.”
“Kugh.”
“So, I’m extremely excited. How long will Team Leader Raon be able to hold out?”
If K hadn’t been wearing a mask, Raon might have seen his flushed face, but I couldn’t.
But what K’s face looked like was not Raon’s concern.
I didn’t have the composure to observe such a thing.
My head was spinning, and I felt like vomiting.
Raon clenched his teeth as the world spun before his eyes.
It seemed true that the stronger a person’s mental strength, the more affected they were by the item.
“Haha.”
“Don’t… touch me.”
K slowly approached and reached out his hand toward Raon.
Raon resisted one last time, hearing the laughter full of anticipation.
But K, who was still an Esper even if he was a psychic, neutralized that resistance too easily.
“Go ahead and struggle all you want.”
“Ugh!”
K whispered lowly and began to use his ability.
At that moment, Raon felt a sensation as if his brain were melting.
His brain was being completely scrambled, like kneading flour dough.
“Aargh!”
It was a terrible feeling.
Someone was messing with Raon’s mind against his will.
But there was no way to stop it.
The first thing K touched was Raon’s memories.
His intention was to demolish everything that had made up the personalities of Min Raon and Han Raon up until now.
K’s plan was then to build a new castle there, piece by piece, to his own liking.
‘This will be quite easy,’ he thought.
Perhaps because he had put so much effort into acquiring the item, thinking it wouldn’t be easy to brainwash a person chosen by the System, it seemed it wouldn’t be as difficult as he thought.
K smiled even more deeply with the joy of his long-desired prey falling into his hands right before his eyes.
K let out a cold smile behind the mask and messed up Raon’s mind even more chaotically.
‘It would be better to leave some of Min Raon’s memories intact.’
It would be easier to handle if he remained with his self before possession.
And Raon’s memories, being those of a possessor who had even regressed, were more complex and vast than others, making it difficult to touch the very depths.
Therefore, it would be best to focus on erasing and changing the memories after the possession to make him obedient to his words.
K formed Raon’s memories like dominoes, taking out, adding, and sometimes overlaying them with different memories one by one.
‘Just a little more now…’
He was manipulating the memories smoothly like that.
K decided to dismantle Raon’s goals to make him a puppet.
However, to do that, he had to touch the deeper parts of his inner self.
Although Raon’s mental strength was weakened more than usual due to the item, he was a person who had lived wearing a more robust mental defense shield than others.
Therefore, there was no choice but to peel back those layers to inevitably turn him into a blank slate.
But at that moment, something pushed back K’s power.
“Ugh.”
“K-nim?”
When K, who was using his ability on Raon, staggered, the named members nearby approached him, looking confused.
K, who barely managed to steady himself, shook his head at them.
“It’s nothing.”
K gritted his teeth.
Something had definitely pushed him back.
Yet, Han Raon had already completely lost the will to resist.
[Don’t touch him.]
That clear message was ingrained in his mind.
K wore a nervous smile due to the unpleasant feeling.
How dare the System struggle when it has so little power left to affect this world?
In any case, K couldn’t retreat now.
He continued to rummage through Raon’s mind regardless.
Rumble, rumble.
However, K was focused on using his ability and couldn’t survey his surroundings.
Outside had become dark at some point, and the same was true inside the container warehouse.
Something darker than pitch black surrounded the area where darkness had settled.
The warehouse inside began to vibrate with that tremor.
“What’s that noise?”
A, a Named member who realized it belatedly, looked around, puzzled.
But the surroundings became quiet again, as if the vibration he felt earlier was just his imagination.
Had he become sensitive while checking on K’s safety?
A ultimately dismissed it as nothing and turned his head back.
He saw the figure of Raon, who had lost consciousness and collapsed.
It was at that moment.
Whoosh!
“Wha- what is it?”
The place had suddenly changed from a dusty warehouse to a different space.
The Named members who realized this looked around in confusion.
“Damn it, what the hell is this!”
“Hello, was that funny tiger mask you, A?”
“What?”
“And you, M?”
“Why is my ability…”
Someone appeared out of the darkness.
It was a man with hair as black as the darkness.
However, his impression felt strangely vague.
He smiled faintly at A and M.
“Nice to meet you, I’m so happy to finally meet you like this.”
“You bastard, who are you!”
“Why are you angry? I just used your trick against you.”
“What?”
Jeongwon, the Intelligence Department Team Leader, looked at the Named members with enjoyment.
They probably didn’t expect to fall for their own trick.
They wouldn’t have known what the ability of the Intelligence Department Team Leader was.
Jeongwon’s ability was, so to speak, spatial isolation.
He couldn’t create new space, but he could change an isolated space into a completely different place.
Spatial isolation was especially easy when it was dark.
Furthermore, because the Named members had planted a barrier that weakens abilities around the warehouse, by isolating the space, the Named members could also be affected by it.
“Damn it, my ability!”
“Warp doesn’t work!”
In particular, he could tie down M, who had the warp ability.
Jeongwon glared at M, who always slipped away like an eel, and smiled viciously.
“Well then, let’s play until the outside is sorted out.”
“You, you son of a bitch!”
The enraged A rushed toward Jeongwon.
But Jeongwon, easily evading A’s attack, whose power was weakened by the ability suppressor, thought of Raon.
The one who set up the plan and contacted Raon first was himself.
Raon, not knowing Jeongwon’s ability, was confused by his words but accepted.
Siwoo, his pair Esper, was against Raon being the bait until the very end, but eventually, there was no other way.
‘I hope nothing major happens outside.’
Capturing two Named members was already a great achievement.
Now, the key was whether Yoon Siwoo could save Raon and capture the rest of the Named members.
Since M was here, they wouldn’t be able to escape.
But somehow, I felt uneasy.
Had my instincts become better after working as the Intelligence Department Team Leader for a long time?
A strange feeling arose when I recalled the face of the chilling S-class Esper.
When Jeongwon finally finished the spatial isolation, he stared blankly, mouth agape, at the scene revealed before his eyes.
Raon felt as if he were submerged in deep water.
The lukewarm water, neither cold nor hot, gave Raon a sense of stability.
Raon also just wanted to keep sinking into it.
‘It feels like something happened…’
Although it was quiet now, the memory of having suffered pain just a moment ago vaguely came to mind.
But what did that matter?
Now, it was only peaceful.
Yes, there was no need to think about anything.
If I just remained submerged in this soft water, nothing would ever happen.
Raon thought that, smiled contentedly, and continued to sink into the deep water.
“Ugh?”
A sudden current greatly shook my body.
Raon frowned.
Annoyance arose at the disturbance of the peaceful time.
“Who on earth…”
As I forced my eyes open and mumbled discontentedly, the memories from before somehow began to float up one by one in my mind.
Raon covered his head with his hands, which were throbbing with pain as if they were about to break.
Then, someone’s voice was heard in my head.
