Lukas looked down at Otsuru for a while before speaking slowly.
“Na Jong-cheol had always been an inflexible child.”
“…huh? Ah. Yes. I see.”
Otsuru raised his head.
Lukas fell silent for a moment before continuing.
“And Lee Jong-hak hates me.”
Otsuru felt like he couldn’t keep up with the conversation. He really wanted to say that there wasn’t much time, but he showed superhuman patience as he nodded.
“However, he’s not someone who would ignore someone simply because of a momentary emotion. He’s a foolishly upright guy, after all.”
“…”
Otsuru’s face became filled with frustration.
Lukas looked him in the eyes as he spoke.
“What I’m trying to say is that Lee Jong-hak would never have told you where I was.”
“What are you trying to say…?”
“Enough with the terrible acting, Otsuru. There is something I want to ask you. Is Na Jong-cheol still alive?”
“…”
At that moment, Otsuru’s face became expressionless. The change was so sudden that someone who saw him might have felt they were looking at a different person altogether.
“Hoo.”
Then he took a deep breath and let the air slowly out his mouth.
“I see. It seems there was still some information we should have extracted.”
Now that he no longer had to pretend, Otsuru finally felt like he was wearing his own clothes. He looked at Lukas with an interested look in his eyes.
“Haha. More than that… I can’t believe you said my acting was awkward. This was the first time in my life that I’ve heard those words.”
He was speaking frankly.
Otsuru was well aware that his acting skills were in no way clumsy. His profession often required him to perform espionage or information gathering, and when he performed those tasks, he inevitably had to hide his identity and blend into crowds.
He’d even entered and studied in a women’s university without anyone realising.
He was surprised, but Otsuru was still relaxed.
“I know that you’re strong. Nodiesop already told us to be careful. So you must be strong enough that even a hunter would be in danger.”
“Your attitude is quite proud despite knowing that.”
“Kuku.”
There was a confident smile on Otsuru’s lips.
“The control room is already under our control. By now, the control of the portal should also be in our hands.”
Lukas paused at that.
“What about the people there?”
“Their resistance was too much. We couldn’t restrain them. We didn’t have the time.”
“Some of them should have been civilians.”
“So what? Should we not touch them? I guess you wouldn’t know, but everyone in this base is already prepared to die.”
Right. They were all prepared.
Prepared to die at the hands of Demons. Not by their own kind.
This man knew Lukas’ power. He didn’t know how strong he was, but he knew that he was at least stronger than him.
Nevertheless, his attitude remained relaxed. He was confident as though he was protected by some kind of absolute field.
But no matter how hard Lukas pondered, he couldn’t think of a reason for that.
So he decided to check for himself.
Crack!
“…?!”
Otsuru’s neck was sucked to Lukas’ hand. It all happened in a flash.
“This… what…?!”
In the instant it happened, Otsuru reacted. When he felt the unknown power, he used five different evasion techniques that could be used in an instant.
Two of them were absolute survival methods that had saved Otsuru numerous times in the past.
But none of them worked.
By the time he came to his senses, his throat was already being held tightly in Lukas’ hand.
“As… I… expected.”
“Ku-, kuh. No matter what, you wouldn’t kill a human… right?”
“Did Nodiesop tell you that?”
“Of… course.”
“…”
Lukas loosened his grip.
Otsuru, who fell to the ground, looked up at Lukas as he coughed. He looked distressed, but in his eyes was a hint of elation as if he had expected such an outcome.
“You talk like you know me well.”
“Of course! Because he said it himself!”
Nodiesop.
It had only been less than a month since Nodiesop had arrived, and yet, he was already being worshipped fanatically.
Of course, it wasn’t like Lukas couldn’t understand. The charisma of an Absolute could be likened to a curse or brainwashing.
Otsuru was a famous Titled Hunter and one of the most powerful humans. But that was all.
What one needed to resist the temptation of an Absolute wasn’t a strong body but a strong mind.
If someone was able to distinguish right from wrong despite being overwhelmed by fear, then Nodiesop’s influence as an Absolute would be limited.
This meant people like Na Jong-cheol. And all of them probably had bad endings.
Most of the East Asian hunters, including Otsuru, would regard everything Nodiesop said as the absolute truth.
Even if they were told that family members were Demons, they would smile as they choked their children to death.
The reason was simple.
“You were rotten from the start.”
“What?”
“A man like you didn’t need to be instigated by Nodiesop. I guess this is close to your true self. Don’t you feel happy now? You can finally show the self you’ve been hiding all this while.”
Therefore, he would be able to kill even those who should be protected.
There were people like this.
Those who caused Lukas to feel deep skepticism.
He knew that humans were a chaotic race. He also knew that good and evil coexisted within every human. Some more than others.
But apart from that fact, it wasn’t a good thing for Lukas to dwell on this ugliness.
Gurgle…
If he was exposed to too much malice, then the darkness hidden deep in his heart would begin to surface. It would make him look back on the path that he’d walked so far. It would make him wonder if it was the right path.
Of course, he wouldn’t be shaken. His belief wasn’t so easily shaken.
However, the situation itself would cause Lukas’ mood to drop. His mood would be the exact opposite of when he taught Min Ha-rin and Leo.
“Huhaha! You know me well, too!”
Otsuru laughed without understanding the situation.
Lukas looked at him while thinking.
‘What a disgusting creature.’
Squelch.
“…huh?”
Otsuru blinked dumbly as his brain took a while to register the terrible pain that came from his shoulder. It felt like it was on fire.
“Kuk…!”
There was a hole in his shoulder.
When and how?
Otsuru stumbled without understanding anything.
Lukas approached him as he groaned in pain.
“I can’t kill humans? Did Nodiesop say that? Does he think he has the right to determine my actions?”
Curiosity became displeasure, and displeasure became anger.
My head felt like it was on fire.
Dozens of voices rang out in Lukas’ head.
The ego which was the Absolute, the part of him, which had been the most wary since he left the coils of mortality, was constantly whispering to him.
This voice was subtly making suggestions.
Talking about how he should follow the rules, which would mean he would stop suffering from such situations.
He knew how intense that temptation was.
“U-, urk…”
Otsuru, who took a step back, could not maintain his balance and fell on his butt.
Paak!
Lukas kicked him in the chin.
Otsuru fell backwards with a short cry. Then Lukas gently stepped on his injured shoulder.
“Kuaak!”
Even his scream was disgusting.
If Nodiesop’s goal this time was to piss Lukas off, then he’d succeeded. Regardless of whether this fact was good for him or not.
“You guys seem to have misunderstood something. And among them, you misunderstood the most important thing by far.”
“Kuh…! Motherf**ker…! I’m going to kill you…!”
Lukas didn’t respond. Instead, he simply stepped a little harder on Otsuru’s shoulder.
Naturally, there was another loud scream. Otsuru grabbed Lukas’ leg with his other arm, but Lukas didn’t seem to care as he continuously applied pressure.
“Your biggest mistake was that you still thought of yourself as a human.”
(TL: Omg. officially my favorite chapter so far… Lukas is actually kicking ass… FINALLY! Even if it was only a weak human, it’s better than nothing.)