## Chapter 134 – Attraction (10)
“….”
“What’s wrong? Did he faint?”
Lim Chan-woo’s body was limp in the air, not even a finger twitching.
Just like ‘that man’ inside me said, there wasn’t anything particularly special about him.
The only thing that stood out was that he ate two fruits? That was kind of interesting.
‘Hey, old man?’ Are you listening inside me again? Answer me, how many more fruits are there?
‘…Oh dear, it seems things didn’t go as planned. We could have made a new friend.’
…I’m not in a good mood right now, so let’s talk about that later. Just answer my question.
How many fruits like the one I ate or the ones Lim Chan-woo ate are left?
If I find and eat other fruits, can I become stronger too?
‘Of course, it’s possible. There are seven fruits left, and they seem to be scattered all over the world.’
I see, so I have a task now. I’ll make some more ‘friends’ here with that device,
and since there might be more people like Lim Chan-woo and me who could get in my way, I need to gather all the fruits first and make them my power.
If I do that, no one will be able to bother me anymore. What do you think? Old man.
‘I’ve always said, you can do whatever you want. As long as you grant my wish.’
Your wish is just ‘finding friends’? I thought you were a sly old man, but you’re more innocent than I thought.
Come to think of it, the reason you told me to meet Lim Chan-woo was to find your ‘old friend.’
So? Was the person you’re looking for inside this man? Or is he a ‘fake’?
‘…Hmm, I still don’t know. So, please don’t kill him yet?
It’s possible that my friend is inside him, but I just haven’t found them yet.’
Do as you please, you saved me once, so I can grant you this much.
‘Thank you so much. But I think I need to rest for a bit.
I fought in such an excited state that I didn’t control my power well? My condition is a mess.’
…Don’t go looking around a woman’s body so carelessly.
‘I’m sorry.’
I converse with the deep voice of the middle-aged man echoing in my head.
When I first heard it, I thought I had gone crazy from eating a strange fruit,
but thanks to this man teaching me how to use the power, I was able to easily take over the lab.
The man, who introduced himself as the original owner of the power that pulled me out of hell, made me an offer.
He would give me the power as it was, if I would grant him one wish.
At first, I mistook this man for a demon and wondered if I had to give him my soul or something,
but the old man’s request was much simpler than I thought. ‘Help me find my old friend.’
There are ‘humans like me’ in the world, humans who received help from his ‘old friend,’
and his friend is asleep inside those humans, so he asked me to find them.
The first human I met after receiving the request was Lim Chan-woo, but… it seems he wasn’t the person the old man was looking for.
I could sometimes hear the old man’s sigh of disappointment, and I couldn’t help but sigh too.
Just like the old man is having a hard time finding his friend, I thought I would finally make a friend too.
It’s been almost years since I met a ‘friend like me’ again, and we became friends easily in middle school…
What’s the problem now that makes everyone hate me?
I turn to look at Lim Chan-woo, who is dangling in the air.
…I’ve forgotten all the ways to make friends here.
“Hey! Lim Chan-woo! Wake up!”
Among Lim Chan-woo’s group, blocked by the bio-weapons, a woman with fierce eyes shouts.
I stop walking and turn my head back to see them fighting desperately.
…To go this far to get Lim Chan-woo back, you’re the same as me, yet different.
You also used flower petals to forcibly steal their lives and make their hearts your own.
I’ve used flower petals too. Because I wanted to have friends.
I thought that those who became the same existence as me could understand me.
That was just my wishful thinking. They were just monsters.
But why do you have such ‘friends,’ Lim Chan-woo? You’re just a monster too.
“…I don’t know, I’m too tired of everything now.”
I point my hand towards them. I can feel the power gathering at the tip of my fingers.
‘…If you use your power with that force, our side will get caught up in it too. Are you sure?’
I don’t need anything, I just want them to die.
————————————————–
“…It’s smaller than I thought? Is this the right place?”
“It’s definitely here.”
The beach we finally arrived at, and the sea that touches the end of it.
The waves sent from the sea crash against the large building and break.
The familiar pressure I feel from this building that Chae-yoon and I are standing side by side looking at.
Chan-woo and ‘that bastard’ are definitely here.
“…Let’s go quickly.”
“Yes, I understand… Kyaaack?!”
“Hick!!”
I hurriedly ran to the front door of the building, put my hand on the glass door, and turned to look at Chae-yoon.
When I looked at Chae-yoon with a determined expression, she nodded with the same expression as me.
Okay, I’m ready. I’ll avoid fighting as much as possible and find Chan-woo quickly.
I check the plan in my head again and steel my resolve, then put strength into the hand holding the doorknob.
The moment I was about to push the door open and jump into the building,
Suddenly, something big flew in from beyond the door, from inside the lab, and destroyed the entrance itself.
Surprised by the sound of glass breaking and the huge roar of the concrete building’s inner wall collapsing,
Chae-yoon screamed and flipped over in surprise, and I screamed along with her, startled by her scream.
The cloud of dust that flew quickly between us and landed on the beach,
created a thick fog of sand and dust.
“…What is that?”
“…”
Chae-yoon and I carefully examine the object while holding onto the railing.
The silhouette finally begins to appear in the shaking sand.
I frown at the unfamiliar silhouette and look beyond the fog.
…It looks like two people? One is a man, and one is a woman… Ah!
I identify the owner of the slightly thicker silhouette and jump to my feet.
Then I jump over the railing, step on the sand, and run to grab the woman’s silhouette.
“W-wait! Stop! You’ll die if you do that!”
“…’Crush them’ was Chan-woo’s order. Step back.”
Min-jeong, who gently pushes me away with a stiff tone, adjusts her glasses,
and mercilessly punches the face of the man lying under her, turning it into a pulp.
The man already seems unconscious, and his face is already a mess.
“…I think that person is already dead.”
Chae-yoon, who identified the owner of the silhouette, also slowly approaches and watches this situation with a dumbfounded expression.
A woman in a suit and a half-naked man are fighting on the beach…
Even from my perspective as an old person, it’s absurd…
But now is not the time for this. I have to go to Chan-woo as soon as possible.
I reach out again and grab Min-jeong’s wrist as she tries to punch again.
“…Let go.”
“No, there’s no time for that now. Chan-woo is in danger.”
“….”
“You can’t connect with Chan-woo, right? We have to save him quickly.”
“…Come with me, I saw the entrance to the lab earlier.”
Min-jeong gets up after hearing that her master is in danger, without needing much persuasion.
She leaves the man, who is already half dead, as he is and jumps into the lab ahead of me.
Okay, if I go to where Chan-woo is and save him like this…
“…..”
“…Sister? What’s wrong? Follow me quickly… Sister?! Why are you crying all of a sudden?!”
The two people stop walking and turn to look at me. My feet won’t move.
Because of the familiar energy I feel not far from here.
“…It’s that man…”
“Yes?! Has that man completely come out already? Then quickly…!”
“No, I’m not talking about that bastard.”
I grab Chae-yoon, who misunderstood my story and was about to run.
Familiar energy, the warmth I’ve liked since long ago. ‘He’ is felt.
“…There’s nothing to worry about now.”
———————————————————————–
The warmth that embraces my body makes me feel good.
No matter how I turn my body, I feel comfortable everywhere.
Good feeling, happiness, comfort, stability, warmth.
A feeling that an indescribable power gently wraps around my body.
Slowly, slowly, I open my eyes.
“What is this.”
“…H-how… how….!”
The first sight I saw after opening my eyes was Rije sitting slumped on the floor.
She was shedding tears as if she had seen something scary,
grabbing her shoulders and trembling.
“Kuh-huh…!! D-don’t do it…! Don’t do this! This wasn’t… in the promise….!!”
Then, Rije, who seems to be talking to someone with a voice that trembles and gradually gets smaller.
…What the hell happened? I clearly remember being badly beaten by her and passing out…
I don’t have any memories after that. The only thing I remember is the warmth.
I spread out my hand with the hard foreign object I feel in my hand. A beautifully shining jewel.
It was held in my hand. This is…
“Hey… what happened to you?”
Seo-hee and Nabi run towards me. Behind them are the fallen bio-weapons.
“What are you talking about? You did it all, Oppa.”
…Me? I knocked all of these down? There’s no way.
But Seo-hee and Nabi are looking at me with serious expressions. I don’t think they’re playing a prank on me…
I can’t follow this situation with my head at all. I feel this way for the first time since the day I met Chae-yoon.
“…Really me?”
“…You suddenly blew that woman away, and these things fell down one by one.”
I don’t know what’s going on even after hearing that explanation.
I shrug my shoulders, look at them, and scratch my head.
“Ugh…! Uwaaaaa!! What, you…! Lapis?! Or Bill, is that you? I almost succeeded..! The army will be completed soon!!”
Rije, who staggers to her feet and looks at me with excited eyes, spits out a familiar name.
…No, it wasn’t Rije now. Something that took over her body is speaking through her mouth.
Rije, who grinds her teeth and shouts like a hunting dog about to pounce on its prey.
“…Who are you? Are you the guy who started the war?”
“Don’t play dumb! I couldn’t tear you guys apart myself, so I’ll settle it here!!”
After saying that, Rije grabs me with telekinesis with a familiar gesture.
It’s a much stronger force than before… but it doesn’t hurt.
It feels like I should be hit? The jewel shining in my fist. Is it thanks to this?
I hold out the jewel that seems to be absorbing the telekinesis.
Thanks to that, I was able to put my feet on the ground without difficulty.
“…Why! Why isn’t it working…! You’re not Lapis or Bill! Could it be…!”
Something cornered pours the power to the point where Rije’s arm will break on me.
I slowly move forward using the jewel in my hand as a shield.
“Don’t come!!”
“…..”
She shouts with a voice full of resentment. I feel a sense of pity.
It’s for him to end her, or rather, him inside her, quickly now.
I take a step, one step at a time, and finally stand in front of Rije, clenching the jewel in my hand,
I plunged my fist into her stomach. Her small body floated into the air.
“….Ah…”
I could feel something inside her body being sucked into the jewel.
Rije, who lost consciousness as it was, collapsed to the floor.
“…Is it over?”
“…Uh, I don’t know… I’m a little dazed too.”
I turn to look at Seo-hee, who cautiously asks me about the situation, and look down at the jewel in my hand.
The jewel, which has finished its work, starts to crack and break with a ‘crack’ sound.
Soon, the jewel, which has become small powder, disappears carried by the wind that blew from somewhere.
“…What the hell was that?”
“…Is everything over? It ended too quickly than I thought.”
Seo-hee and Nabi, who were not used to the situation that ended more blandly than expected, clicked their tongues.
They start to approach the bio-weapons lying in the hallway and clean up the mess.
I decided to leave the two alone for now, and I quietly look at Rije, who is lying down.
…Maybe the colleague of Lapis and Virgilargo inside her has disappeared.
Then there is no need to bother taking her power and making it mine.
Of course, it would be nice to have power, but it’s impossible right now.
It’s already putting a strain on my body to put two powers into my body,
I don’t need to see to know what will happen if I put in the third one.
“But it’s a waste to just leave her like this…”
It’s a waste to just leave her alone because it was a power that overwhelmed the power of the two people I had.
Also, if I leave her like this, she’s bound to do something ridiculous again…
I put my hand on my chin and think hard about how to deal with Rije.
…
…
…Come to think of it, I suddenly remembered what Rije said.
‘I wonder if I can put a man in the machine that old man made?’
‘Like that kid I saw earlier, you’ll also become my friend with an empty brain.’
“…When I think about it, I think you and I can become friends as you want.”
I grab the hair of Rije, who is lying unconscious, and touch her jade-like skin.
Of course, as you said, you will become a ‘friend with an empty brain.’
