Persuasion

A heavy silence hung in the conference room located on the top floor of the Korean Contractors Association headquarters.

“…This is driving me crazy. How exactly does this thing work?”

The silence that seemed like it would last forever was suddenly broken.

Kasim, who had been staring intently at the blueprints and magic circles displayed on the tablet, muttered while pulling at his hair.

Sophia, who was typing on her keyboard in front of him, spoke without even glancing his way.

“I saw it working with my own eyes.”

“Could you have seen wrong? Maybe mistook it for spatial transfer…”

“Do I look like an idiot who can’t tell the difference between Spirit Particle Transfer and spatial transfer?”

“Ahem.”

After clearing his throat loudly, Kasim turned his gaze back to the tablet but couldn’t last long before groaning and pulling at his hair again.

When he first received Sophia’s message, he wondered if his ears had gone bad or if something was wrong with her head.

Mass producing the goggles?

Wasn’t that too absurd?

Kasim thought Sophia was just playing a prank out of boredom.

However, that thought vanished without a trace the moment he saw the email Sophia sent.

An array of magic circles and formulas so advanced that even he had trouble grasping them at a glance.

When Kasim vaguely imagined what would happen when they all combined and activated together, he immediately came to Korea and had been analyzing the materials received from Sophia without rest until now.

“…No matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand. How is this even possible?”

“You still don’t understand?”

“I understand everything, okay? …Except for one thing.”

The functions of the magic circles and patterns, their synergy effects, the principles of the goggles.

He understood everything except for one crucial part that made the goggles work.

‘It must be related to karma.’

A power that only transcendents could understand and handle.

Unless he suddenly gained enlightenment or a Divine Fragment fell from the sky to make him a transcendent, he would never understand how this pattern worked or what effects it had no matter how long he stared at it.

After staring at the screen for a while, Kasim turned to look out the window.

The massive floating fortress in Seoul’s airspace.

Though he wanted to fly there right away to meet Yuseong, he had no choice but to hold back.

‘Don’t come near.’

Though he didn’t know exactly what had happened, currently Alice was guarding the floating fortress with fire in her eyes.

She would attack anyone who approached, no exceptions, even Sophia who was closest to Yuseong besides himself.

Kasim, who had initially approached lightly thinking how strong could a mere android be, was reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye and returned dejectedly.

And now it had been 3 days waiting for contact with Yuseong.

His patience was starting to run out.

“We can’t just keep waiting. If we all work together…”

“Work together to do what?”

Just as Kasim opened his mouth unable to wait any longer, a familiar voice rang out from the corner of the conference room.

The users were startled and tried to react, but the intruder’s movements were faster.

“Stop right there. Don’t move a finger.”

“Han Yuseong…”

Woong.

The blood-red energy pressed against his neck.

Though his racial traits meant he wouldn’t die even if his neck was cut, Kasim was overwhelmed by the coldness in Yuseong’s voice and quietly closed his mouth while looking around.

He wasn’t the only one subdued.

Sophia in front was frozen in place by Yuseong’s killing intent, while Kang Changseok and Olga a bit further away were restrained by the android named Alice.

“I’d like to hear the rest of what you were about to say just now. Work together to do what?”

“…I was going to say let’s all work together to go persuade that child over there.”

“…”

“…It’s true.”

After a moment passed, Yuseong removed his hand from Kasim’s neck, and Alice also released Kang Changseok and Olga and stepped back.

In the slowed time of activated Asura Perception Way, Yuseong stared intently at the users.

‘One disgrace is enough.’

A faint pain rose in his chest.

24 hours wandering between life and death.

If he had been even a little late drinking the elixir, if his mental strength had been even slightly weaker, he wouldn’t be standing here right now.

Only after confirming that no one moved while he casually showed an opening did Yuseong deactivate Asura Perception Way.

Of course, Alice still hadn’t lowered her guard.

If anything seemed off, Alice would unleash her killing techniques without hesitation.

“…Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“Because I didn’t know who was friend or foe.”

“I even warned you to run away, you still couldn’t trust me?”

“After nearly dying from being attacked by a user, how could I trust that none of you here were allied with Changwei?”

“Hmm.”

Yuseong coldly replied while looking at Kang Changseok who let out a groan.

He appeared before them after 3 days only because Kang Changseok had given him that warning.

If he had experienced the same thing without any information, he would have stayed hidden without showing himself for months, maybe even years.

“What exactly happened while I was gone?”

“…Changwei made and started executing a plan to gather only humans worth saving to build a new country.”

“Which users agreed to join Changwei?”

“Three – Bruce, Isaac, and Ryuhei. The four here are those who rejected or postponed the offer.”

“Can you prove that?”

“Should I make a mana oath?”

After this brief exchange and confirming that Kang Changseok’s answers matched the information he had gathered while monitoring and investigating them for the past two days, Yuseong slightly loosened his tension.

Sophia who couldn’t contact Changwei being in the dimensional gap, Kang Changseok who warned him to run away as soon as the phone connected, Kasim who showed great interest in the goggles’ blueprint, and Olga who stayed quiet without doing anything suspicious.

He judged these four could be trusted for now.

As the taut atmosphere relaxed somewhat, this time Kang Changseok asked a question.

“Han Yuseong, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“A few days ago, Bruce came to me and said something meaningful. He said that you were actually a servant of the Outer Gods, and he saw a future where you summoned an Outer God to Earth.”

“Do you believe that?”

“With about 90% certainty. That proud Bruce wouldn’t join hands with Changwei for no reason.”

Kang Changseok swallowed dryly, remembering the killing intent Bruce had emitted when he tried to persuade him that he must have misunderstood something.

“And the 10%?”

“Well, there’s always that tiny chance. Plus, I didn’t like Changwei’s plan anyway.”

Bruce can see the future, but that future isn’t set in stone.

Just as Bruce foresaw the monster invasion and reduced casualties by preparing for it, just as Yuseong crushed Carlos’s plot after foreseeing Japan’s future, the future can be changed.

Bruce, having witnessed such a horrific future, didn’t even consider the possibility of it changing, but Kang Changseok who only heard about it secondhand decided to listen to Yuseong’s story before making a judgment.

“So… I’d like to hear what you think about what Kang Changseok said.”

Though his voice trembled, Kang Changseok’s eyes stared straight at him.

‘What should I do.’

Originally he had planned to persuade them by mixing some excuses and lies since the content was too shocking, but it didn’t seem like that would work in this atmosphere.

If these people felt his words were illogical or unconvincing, they would immediately side with Changwei.

A plan far more attractive than Changwei’s.

And he needed to convince them that he wouldn’t destroy humanity in the future.

Yuseong decided to reveal all the plans he had been thinking about right here.

“Bruce’s words are partly right and partly wrong. First, I’m not a servant of the Outer Gods. When I was still inexperienced shortly after becoming a user, I saw an Outer God’s form and heard its voice while doing a quest, so its thoughts entered my mind. Though I was somewhat influenced, I could maintain my sanity thanks to the system’s protection.”

“What about summoning an Outer God?”

“I did see such a future through Universal Vision. But that’s a future that can be changed.”

The moment he heard the future could be changed, Kang Changseok’s eyebrows twitched.

Yuseong didn’t miss that opening and continued speaking.

“You probably heard from Sophia that I found a way to mass produce the goggles?”

The air in the conference room grew heavy.

Mass producing the goggles.

The decisive reason why the users in this room didn’t join Changwei and waited for him for 3 days.

The moment the goggles were mentioned, Kasim who had been silent opened his mouth.

“Can you really mass produce the goggles?”

“I reverse engineered Carlos’s goggles. You saw the blueprints, right?”

“Karma is essential to the goggles. But you don’t look like a transcendent at all.”

“Even without being a transcendent, I obtained a skill that can handle karma.”

“Such a skill doesn’t exist.”

“Why do you think it doesn’t exist? Have you forgotten how many dimensions there are, how many diverse skills exist within them? Can you be certain there’s no skill that handles karma among them?”

“That’s…”

“I can prove it right here. Should I show you Alice performing Spirit Particle Transfer? Or should I make a goggle with the same functions as the existing ones right here? I can make one in 5 minutes.”

Kasim was about to tell him to try making one, but closed his mouth upon seeing Yuseong’s confident face.

Logically thinking, he wouldn’t tell such an obvious lie that would be exposed in just 5 minutes.

At that moment, Kang Changseok opened his mouth instead of the shocked Kasim.

“So how can you change the future where you summon an Outer God?”

“It’s simple. The reason I summon an Outer God in the future is because the thoughts in my head corrupt my mind and drive me insane. Then all we need to do is prevent the Outer God’s thoughts from affecting my mind, right?”

“You think that’s as easy as you make it sound? Due to my profession, I know quite a bit about this – resisting mental corruption from the start and restoring a mind that’s already started being corrupted are completely different matters. And we’re not talking about evil spirits but an Outer God. Once an Outer God’s thoughts take root in your mind, driving them out is impossible unless you’re a transcendent.”

“You know your stuff.”

Yuseong was grinning from ear to ear.

Kang Changseok was about to ask what was so funny but realized something and opened his mouth.

“There are three ways to become a transcendent. First, gaining enlightenment and awakening. Second, absorbing a Divine Fragment. And finally third, performing a special ritual.”

Yuseong folded his fingers one by one then waggled his remaining index finger as he said.

“I have a ritual that can make one a transcendent.”