CH 336

What Hyde said was truly unexpected. Looking at the screen calmly, I asked.

“Forcibly working for the Prause cult and being released… do you mean they have been mental controlled?”

“That’s right. For some unknown reason, these are people who have been released from mental control and returned to their daily lives.”

“I never thought that would be possible.”

To be honest, it was hard to believe. Hyde raised his glasses and answered in a light voice.

“Well, I haven’t actually met them, so I can’t say with 100% certainty. But there’s a possibility. Let’s hear the basis for thinking so.”

Tap, Hyde tapped the keyboard and opened a large display of a man’s data. He was a 36-year-old man living in Incheon. He was a C-rank.

“Considering the size of the Prause Cult, there aren’t a few people who have been forcibly taken away with mental control ability, but it’s unlikely that all of them will be controlled.”

“That means he didn’t deliberately release the mental control…”

“Yes. He didn’t know they were released. Even if he is a C-rank that doesn’t help much… it was said. The person who was freed from mental control would have run away right away.”

“Can you hand this over now?”

“Are you going to check it out yourself?”

“Yes.”

Hyde, who rolled his eyes for a moment, nodded his head willingly.

“Good. Please check it out and let me know if my guess is correct. I’m also curious.”

“Of course.”

* * *

Hyde, who had taken a liking to Lee Joo-ha, moved to the meeting room with Roheon staff to sign a contract in earnest, and me, Kim Woo-jin, and Ha Tae-heon rode a car to meet the people Hyde said.

The first person to visit was a 36-year-old C-rank man living in Incheon whom Hyde had mentioned.

His name was Park Byeong-seok (박병석). He suddenly disappeared three months ago and lost contact for two months after that. As for the family relationship, there was only one biological mother living in the province, so he was no different from being alone.

Had he been under mental control for two months after being out of contact and had been active in the Prauss Cult? We would have to meet and ask for more details, but if this was true, we might be able to get some information about the Prause Cult that we hadn’t been able to find out yet.

The man’s house, which we arrived after driving Ha Tae-heon’s car for about an hour, was an old house. It was the address on the documents Hyde had given me.

“I don’t know if he will open the door.”

If a person who lived a normal life suddenly lived for two months while being controlled by someone, the trauma must have been quite severe.

Above all, since we were in the position of uninvited guests who came unexpectedly without prior notice, it was difficult to expect that the other party would welcome us.

I pressed the doorbell next to the old front door a couple of times, but there was no answer, so I had no choice but to knock on the door lightly. But it was still quiet.

‘I can feel the energy of the talented person inside…’

Was he hiding in the house and being silent even though he knew someone had come?

“Are you there?”

Since we were the same talented people, the landlord would feel our energy, so if we kept waiting, he had no choice but to answer. After a while, a rough voice came from inside.

“…who are you?”

“Are you Park Byeong-seok-ssi?”

“……”

When the name was mentioned, it became quiet again. When this happened, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t spend too much time here, so I’m sorry landlord, but I had to make a decision.

“I came from the district office. Please take a moment to verify your identity for mail delivery.”

When I spat out a lie without blinking an eye, Kim Woo-jin and Ha Tae-heon, who were standing on either side of me, turned their heads to me at the same time.

Perhaps they hadn’t thought of me using this method, Kim Woo-jin was a little taken aback and Ha Tae-heon looked dumbfounded.

Why. What. Then what should I do? If you wanted to meet the landlord and get information quickly, you had to lie. This is what we called a white lie. We didn’t have time to stand here waiting for hours.

“…just throw it in front of you and go.”

“Please understand that this mail requires identification. All you have to do is sign it.”

When I shamelessly asked for it again, the movement got closer. It seemed that he thought it would be better to receive the mail and send us quickly, which was what I was hoping for.

Click, squeak.

The door, which had been firmly locked, slowly opened. The face of a man with a messy beard appeared through the crack in the door that was a hand wide open.

The man whose eyes met mine was taken aback for a moment and then his complexion turned white. I slipped my arm to the startled man through the gap before closing the door and yanked it hard. Grak! The latch on the front door couldn’t stand the force and was ripped off completely then the door swung open.

“Uh, uaah…!”

When I forcibly opened the door with an A-rank grip and entered the house, the man terrified and stepped back. I’m sorry for scaring you like this.

“Hello, Park Byeong-seok-ssi.”

“Wh, what? What are you guys!”

“I came here for a while to ask you something.”

At the brief explanation, Park Byeong-seok’s eyes widened.

“I, I don’t know anything! Get out of here now, you crazies!”

At the same time as Park Byeong-seok shouted, water burst out of the kitchen faucet right in front of the front door. I found a stream of water flying at me like a snake and used the wind to block it.

“Please calm down.”

The expression of Park Byeong-seok, who felt that his ability wasn’t working, was filled with fear.

He must know that we were much stronger than him with the energy he could already feel, but how scared he was to attack us. That unusual behaviour meant that it was related with the Prause Cult.

At this point, I felt that if Park Byeong-seok’s fear was lowered a little, it would be a normal conversation. I said with a nice smile on my face.

“You misunderstand something, but we’re not the Prause Cult.”

“That… how can I believe you…”

“You have to believe us. Now, take a closer look at this person here.”

I grabbed Ha Tae-hun, who was watching from behind, by the shoulders and dragged him forward. Ha Tae-heon, who was standing there with a gloomy expression, raised one eyebrow at my action and looked down at Park Byeong-seok, who was sitting down.

Park Byeong-seok swallowed his saliva at the indifferent gaze and stepped back from us with his butt steps.

“Don’t be afraid, take a look. You have seen this face before, right? he was incredibly handsome. Right? Haven’t you seen him on the news?”

As I pretended to be a home shopping employee and worked hard to appeal Ha Tae-heon’s charm, but Ha Tae-heon, who had been listening silently, frowned slightly.

“…what are you doing?”

“Of course… we’re guaranteeing our identity.”

Since Kim Woo-jin and I weren’t famous, we had no choice but to present Ha Tae-heon, who was relatively more famous and often appeared on TV. As expected, Park Byeong-seok recognized Ha Tae-heon.

“Do, don’t tell me… Roheon Guild Deputy Master?”

“You’re right!”

As expected, he knew Ha Tae-heon. When I smiled broadly with a happy heart, Ha Tae-heon made a complicated and subtle face somewhere.

“We are from Roheon Guild. While chasing the traces of the Prause Cult, Park Byeong-seok-ssi, I received information that you were related to them, so I came to confirm the facts.”

“Roheon Guild… why are you chasing the Prause Cult?”

“You know the D45 Area Gate bombing, right? From then on, it was a very regrettable situation for the Prause Cult.”

Since the museum incident that happened a while ago had no direct connection to Roheon Guild, I brought up the most famous and understandable bombing incident.

Park Byeong-seok seemed to understand to some extent whether he had recalled the terror incident at the answer that came out without hesitation.

“How did you find out about me?”

“They said that you suddenly disappeared three months ago and lost contact with them for a while. It’s not easy for an ordinary person with ability and job to do that. We go directly to those who we suspect and talk to them. I’ve met several people besides you.”

In fact, it was personal information obtained illegally through Hyde, but we had already revealed that we belonged to Roheon Guild and since it was impossible to talk about illegal things to the person concerned, I covered it up appropriately.

“If you simply tell us what you know about the Prause Cult, we will quietly withdraw without causing further inconvenience. We also really want to capture the Praus Cult.”

Park Byeong-seok, who heard the explanation that followed, broke into a cold sweat and struggled, but after a while, he barely opened his mouth.

“To be honest… I don’t remember much either, so there’s nothing I can say…”

To summarize Park Byeong-seok’s story, it was like this.

After encountering someone wearing a mask three months ago, he began to be controlled all his actions and thoughts by others.

For two months, he was locked up in a strange building and did all sorts of chores, and recently his mental control was suddenly released and he barely escaped. He said he was traumatized after the incident and couldn’t even leave the house.

“The work is cut off… I can’t sleep unless I drink alcohol or take sleeping pills. My life is completely ruined.”

The experience of forcibly controlling and suppressing all his will by others gave Park Byeong-seok, who lived an ordinary life, a great fear. It would take a long time to get out of that trauma in the future.

I felt once again how dangerous Samael, who had SS-rank mental control ability, was.

“Did you just do chores? Did anything else happen? Even the smallest things are fine.”

It was said that the building where Park Byeong-seok used to do chores was now gone, so the only thing to hold on to was his unstable memory.

“Other things…”

Hearing the question, Park Byeong-seok wrapped his head with a pale face. He seemed to have a bad headache.

‘I thought it would be like this.’

It was a situation I had already experienced in America.

Producers who were abducted by Doctor and forcibly created the space had similar reactions to Park Byeong-seok. Li Wei also said that his memories during his mental being controlled were fuzzy and sparsely cut off.

That was the moment when I was about to give up with a sigh. Park Byeong-seok stuttered his words after a long thought.

“One thing… there’s one thing that bothers me.”

“What is that?”

“I was cleaning the hallways of the building… I’ve heard some of the building managers talking about it.”

After hesitating for a moment, Park Byeong-seok continued.

“We have to go in at all costs… he said, but I don’t know where they’re going to or what to do.”