Chapter 28

Chapter 28 — How to Get Rid of Resentment

“Ah! Damn it! Where the hell is that bastard?!”

A tidal wave of frustration crashed over me.

I had completely lost track of what to do next.

For now, I couldn't find Han Mandeok.

His phone was turned off, and the rented room he supposedly lived in near the Land of Zion was completely empty.

Since the place where the unidentified body had been found wasn't too far away, I decided to head there.

—Bzzzt... Inhwang, can you hear me?

Arang's voice came through.

I couldn't have been happier to hear her.

Arang. You know how much I like you, right?

I pulled out one of the lines I always used whenever I wanted to ask her for a favor.

—......

Arang didn't answer.

It seemed like she'd become much more cautious ever since meeting me.

—Has your constipation gotten better?

Judging by how she changed the subject, she'd realized that what I'd just said was a booby trap.

Yeah. But maybe fighting that Asaekgwi stressed me out too much. These dark circles around my eyes won't go away.

—Dark circles? Those disappear if you just get some rest, don't they? Ah! The monitor finally turned on... Pfft! Ahahaha! Wow~! Those really are some impressive dark circles.

This time, I had nothing to say.

—Ah, that's funny. All right, if you need something, tell me.

Well, at least my dark circles had put Arang in a good mood.

There's a doctor named Han Mandeok who does free medical work at a place called the Land of Zion. Check the Underworld Database and tell me if there's anything unusual about his previous life or his history in this world.

—I'm sorry, Inhwang. I can't use the Underworld Database right now.

What do you mean?

—Someone illegally hacked into Yeomra Kingdom's Underworld Database. Because of that, the whole database is a mess right now. It'll probably take several days to restore it to normal.

Something like that can happen in the Underworld too? This isn't even the living world.

I couldn't understand it.

The Underworld was a place where the dead from the living world were judged.

It was hard to believe that crimes could happen in a place like that.

—Every system in the Underworld can only be accessed by people whose spiritual power has been verified. We checked the final access logs and discovered that the administrator in charge, Minister of Internal Affairs Kangcheong, accessed the system.

Then Kangcheong must be the one who hacked it.

—That's right. We're looking for the Minister of Internal Affairs right now, but we can't find him anywhere. What's strange is that when we traced the information taken from the database, only the records of dead doctors and scientists had been stolen.

Arang's words gave me more than just an uncomfortable feeling.

It felt like someone was deliberately moving pieces according to some sort of plan.

Around the same time, information on the spirits of doctors and scientists disappeared from the Underworld Database.

And the man I was currently chasing, Han Mandeok, was a doctor.

Now he had disappeared without a trace.

Taking all of that into account...

It felt like everything was part of someone's carefully written scenario.

Do you need my help?

—No. I appreciate the offer, but not yet. Jeonghu from the Covert Chasa Unit is investigating it right now.

I see... By the way, when do you think I'll level up again?

After resolving the last incident and defeating a hybrid as powerful as that Asaekgwi, I thought I might have gained enough experience to level up.

—Not yet. The higher your level gets, the more than twice as difficult it becomes to advance another level. You still need more experience.

It was a little frustrating because I couldn't see how much experience I had or exactly when I would level up.

Still, I supposed I had no choice but to wait.

But why did you contact me this time? I don't think it was because of the Underworld Database hacking...

—Ah... The employees in the Security Control Room gave me a present, so I contacted you to test its performance.

A present? That's nice. But what kind of present requires you to communicate with me? Ah! Something like a hands-free headset?

—Hehehe. Correct. Every time I wanted to communicate with you, I had to come all the way to the Security Control Room. But now, with these remote earphones, I think we'll be able to talk no matter where I am.

As expected.

My brilliant mind hadn't rusted yet.

You must've been suffering so much that the employees decided to give you something like that. They're good people.

—Hearing that from the person responsible for making me suffer leaves me with nothing to say.

...You're not saying I'm the cause, are you?

—......

She said she had nothing to say, and then she actually stopped talking.

People often told me I was slow at picking up hints because my ears had a strange habit of hearing only the things I wanted to hear.

But after replaying Arang's words in my head...

I started getting a bad feeling.

Wait. You really meant me? I'm the cause?

—Pfft... Ahahaha! Inhwang, you're really such an amusing person. Even when I try to hate you, I just can't...

Arang seemed a little strange today.

Her mood kept going back and forth.

Still, I had begun to realize that Arang had become someone I couldn't do without.

If you've been having such a hard time because of me, then from now on, I'll listen carefully and do whatever you tell me.

If I was going to keep working together with Arang, I needed to respect her and be considerate of her.

—It's fine. I like you the way you are now, Inhwang.

Okay, got it. Then I'll keep making things difficult for you.

—......

Immediate action.

I'd just decided to respect and be considerate of Arang, and I immediately put that resolution into practice.

—Princess! Please calm down! It's still a prototype! You can't throw it—!!

A strange voice suddenly came through.

I could more or less imagine...

what was happening over there.

Bzzzzzt......

The communication cut off.

It seemed the hands-free device had broken.

Apparently, Arang's famous temper had activated.

Just then, I noticed a woman crouching beside the wall of the alley where the unidentified body had supposedly been discovered.

Her face was pale and gloomy.

Her unfocused eyes, completely devoid of life, stared only at the ground.

I walked over and sat beside her.

Even though I'd gotten quite close, the woman didn't seem to care.

“What are you doing here?”

By now, I didn't even need to activate my Spirit Eyes to know that she was a resentful spirit.

The woman glanced at me once, then lowered her eyes back to the ground.

“What are you looking at?”

I changed my question.

—The place... where I died......

Only then did the woman speak.

It seemed she already knew that she was dead.

“It hurt a lot, didn't it? You must've suffered terribly.”

More than ten surgical scars had been discovered on her body, along with a large amount of cortisol.

Because of that, I believed she'd been operated on while she was still conscious.

—I was scared... That man... when I was walking down the street... he drugged me... and kept operating on me... even though there was nothing wrong with me......

“I'll catch that bastard and make sure he pays for what he did.”

Is that really the only thing I can say to her...?

A dark, depressing rage rose from deep inside my chest.

If Han Mandeok had been standing in front of me right then, I would've wanted to beat him until the bones in my hands broke.

—That man... said he'd offer me... as food... He said he'd play with me first... then give me away as food......

The woman lifted her head and stared blankly into the air as she muttered.

“What do you mean?”

The unexpected mention of being offered as a sacrifice made me question her again.

—I... don't know... When I died trying to escape... that man got angry... and left......

“You don't know where he went?”

—I don't know......

The woman lowered her head again and stared at the ground.

“Have you ever heard of an Inhwang Chasa?”

—No... I haven't......

As expected.

Unless they were evil spirits, ordinary ghosts seemed to know nothing about Inhwang.

I felt sorry for her.

I wanted to help her somehow.

And at times like this, I figured it would be better to ask an expert for advice.

I opened my right palm.

The Supreme Spirit Command Token slowly floated above it.

Supreme Spirit Command Token. Summon Mancheon, the Prison Guard Chasa of Dosan Hell.

Pop!

Mancheon appeared with a burst of smoke.

“Huh?! Where am I? Oh my! Isn't that Inhwang?!”

Mancheon had been confused by the sudden summoning, but after looking around and noticing me, he immediately started with his usual Oh my!

I explained the entire situation to him.

“Hmm... So what you're saying is that you want to send this resentful young lady to the Underworld somehow, right?”

“Yeah. That's why I called you, Mancheon.”

Mancheon fell deep into thought.

Then he looked back and forth between the resentful spirit and me before finally speaking.

“I don't think there's another way around this. Taking someone to the Underworld while they're still carrying deep resentment is against the rules...”

“Don't you have another little ‘tip’ like last time?”

“Hmm... That's still not really allowed...”

Judging by his expression and tone...

he definitely knew something.

Which meant this bastard wanted something from me.

And that meant he was trying to negotiate.

“Fine. You win. What do you want?”

“Uhehehehe! As expected, Inhwang, you're quick on the uptake.”

Mancheon grinned from ear to ear.

“I get it, so tell me.”

“Ahem. First, I'll tell you the tip. After that, I'll tell you what favor I need.”

Oh?

He's talking like that without even knowing whether I'll agree to his request.

Something's suspicious...

I couldn't understand why Mancheon was acting like this.

The Mancheon I'd known before had been a bold, straightforward kind of guy.

He wasn't usually this petty.

What had gotten into him today?

“Fine. We'll do it that way.”

What happened later could be dealt with later.

For now, the smart move was to secure whatever information I could get first.

“Thank you, Inhwang.”

Once I agreed, Mancheon bowed politely.

“All right. Start talking.”

“Yes. First of all, if you want to send a resentful spirit to the Underworld, you have to get rid of its resentment.”

“Right.”

“There are two ways to get rid of resentment.”

“And what are they?”

“The first is to eliminate the source of that resentment. In other words, eliminate the offender... The downside is that it takes time.”

“You know, now that I think about it, you're surprisingly logical.”

“Uhehehehe. Thank you. Now, the second method is to forcibly erase the resentment. The advantage is that the problem can be solved immediately.”

“What's the downside?”

If he was explaining the pros and cons but deliberately leaving one side out...

then there had to be a problem.

“Uhehehehe. Sharp as always. Of course there's a downside. How could there not be? The downside is... we need to summon someone who has the ability to forcibly erase resentment.”

“You're incredibly logical today, Mancheon!”

I was genuinely impressed.

I had never realized Mancheon could talk this smoothly.

“So who is this person?”

At that question, Mancheon—who had been talking as smoothly as flowing water until now—suddenly began to hesitate.