Chapter 42
Scammer (3)
The Demon Brain, Wi Seorak, had survived countless crises throughout his life.
The greatest among them had been the oppression of those in power.
With his extraordinary intellect, Wi Seorak was a threat to them.
A mere commoner like Wi Seorak being vastly superior to the proud scions of prestigious families?
That was something they could never tolerate.
So whenever they found an opportunity, they kicked away the ladder beneath him.
But Wi Seorak had clawed his way upward through sheer spite and grit.
He had never needed a ladder in the first place.
By this point, one might have expected them to acknowledge him.
Unfortunately, Wi Seorak had terrible luck with people.
All that came back to him was even more vicious oppression.
And through that process, bitterness took root inside him.
Carrying that bitterness with him, he entered the Demonic Cult and used his exceptional mind to rise all the way to the position of Demon Brain.
“Why are you acting like that? Do you perhaps use the Gallery as well?”
“That is…”
And today, Wi Seorak found himself facing yet another crisis of a lifetime.
It was an order from the Heavenly Demon, the one who stood above all men and beneath only the heavens.
Wi Seorak’s mind spun furiously as he processed the Heavenly Demon’s command.
And after all that frantic calculation, he arrived at a single conclusion.
‘I’m fucked.’
He was seriously screwed.
For an utterly ridiculous reason, he had come face-to-face with the greatest crisis of his life.
Since Wi Seorak himself was an avid Gallery user, he understood the current situation perfectly well.
The inner core listed on the auction house had supposedly been fake.
And the incident involved Wild Grylls, the man who had recently caused one uproar after another.
‘Wild Grylls. She must have stepped in to help him.’
Yu Sowol had obviously summoned him because she wanted to help Wild Grylls.
That much, Wi Seorak could have predicted.
But ordering him to log into the Gallery was completely outside his expectations.
Wi Seorak rapidly worked his mind and opened his mouth.
If even a single second of silence passed, Yu Sowol might grow suspicious.
“Heavenly One, by the Gallery… do you mean the Continental Integrated Gallery?”
“That is correct.”
“As this is Heaven’s command, I shall obey. However, with my foolish mind, I find it difficult to grasp the situation. Please enlighten me as to your reason.”
Even as he stalled for time, Wi Seorak’s brain never stopped turning.
If he obeyed the order, logged into the Gallery, and uploaded a verification post…
All the posts he had written insulting Yu Sowol would be exposed.
What made matters worse was that he hadn’t been using a semi-anonymous nickname.
He had been using a fully registered account.
‘Damn it. I only made a registered account because I needed one, and now it’s come back to bite me like this…’
Why had Wi Seorak used a registered account?
For trading and the auction house.
The Demonic Cult was located in a fairly remote region.
As a result, maintaining a stable supply chain was critically important.
In the old days, the place had been practically abandoned, and quite a few people had gone hungry.
Things had improved considerably only after Wi Seorak restructured everything and Yu Sowol began venturing into the martial world.
‘I need to resolve this without getting caught.’
At the time, he had created the account out of necessity and hadn’t thought much of it.
But who could have predicted that Yu Sowol would one day bluntly tell him, “Reveal your username”?
It had been Wi Seorak’s mistake not to anticipate just how different her way of thinking was from everyone else’s.
‘Will Heaven respect my privacy?’
The Heavenly Demon, Yu Sowol, had a domineering and overbearing personality.
She was the type who did whatever she wanted without caring what others thought.
And because she possessed the overwhelming strength to back up that attitude, the demonic practitioners revered her.
‘She has to. Otherwise, I’m dead.’
On the other hand, the Heavenly Demon on the Gallery was subtly different.
Her characteristic arrogance and self-centered nature were still there, but she had a certain humanity to her.
One only had to look at how endlessly accommodating she was toward Grylls to see that.
Wi Seorak desperately prayed that some of that consideration would extend to him as well.
Otherwise, he was going to die.
Socially.
And physically.
“A reason… Must this Lady explain even that much to you?”
“…”
“Or is there some truth you desperately need to keep hidden from me on the Gallery?”
“I do not use the Gallery, Heavenly One.”
“You lie without so much as wetting your lips.”
Fuck.
Wi Seorak cursed internally.
He had spoken while doing his best to keep his voice from trembling, but she had seen through him anyway.
Still, he had no choice but to lie.
Only by doing so could he hope for Yu Sowol’s “understanding.”
If Yu Sowol had been a completely unrestrained tyrant, his head would have been flying through the air already.
Fortunately, she was not a tyrant.
At the very least, she knew how to respect those beneath her.
Otherwise, she would have ordered them long ago to force their way into the Forest of Four Seasons.
Of course, asking for understanding after lying to her was already unreasonable.
But if he wanted to grasp even the tiniest possibility of survival, he had no other choice.
The moment he logged into the Gallery, his physical death was practically guaranteed.
This was a gamble with his life as the stake.
“I shall believe your lie. However, from now on, it would be wise to speak the truth.”
“I shall keep that in mind.”
“Good. You asked for the reason earlier, did you not? I shall tell you everything.”
Thank goodness.
Seriously, thank goodness.
Wi Seorak inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
His life-or-death gamble had ended successfully.
That did not mean the crisis itself was over, however.
“This Lady’s benefactor is currently being falsely accused. Lend me the wisdom needed to resolve the situation.”
“All of this humble one’s wisdom belongs to Heaven. Simply give the command.”
“The situation is as follows…”
Yu Sowol’s explanation was concise yet packed with all the important details.
Of course, Wi Seorak had already pieced together the entire situation, so he was mostly pretending to listen.
Countless hypotheses had already formed in his mind.
Testing and eliminating them one by one would not be difficult.
“Do you understand?”
“I understand. To think there is someone who not only doubts Heaven’s discernment but even dares to spread falsehoods. Such a person deserves divine punishment.”
Yu Sowol narrowed her eyes at Wi Seorak.
Her gaze seemed to say:
You, of all people, have the right to say that after lying to me just now?
Wi Seorak, who had his waist bowed, couldn’t see her expression.
But he could read the atmosphere well enough.
His conscience wasn’t merely pricking him.
It felt as though someone were repeatedly stabbing it with a dagger.
He did his best to ignore it.
If a single lie was enough to save his life, then it was an absurdly cheap price.
“May I offer my opinion?”
“Speak.”
“First, we cannot rule out the possibility that the inner core purchased at auction truly has no effect whatsoever and is merely an ordinary bead. The one given to this humble servant was certainly genuine, but there is no absolute guarantee that the other one was an inner core as well.”
“Hmm.”
Yu Sowol nodded.
In truth, that point had been bothering her too.
It was also why she had let Wi Seorak’s lie slide.
This was not a problem that could be solved through simple assumptions alone.
Yu Sowol had originally planned to first confirm whether Wi Seorak knew about the Gallery, then borrow his wisdom.
It was only because of her characteristically overbearing way of speaking that she had ordered him to reveal his username first, though Yu Sowol herself failed to realize that.
‘Looks like he has something to hide.’
In any case, Yu Sowol understood him.
The Gallery was the perfect piece of culture for venting desire and stress.
He had probably done plenty of things there that he would be ashamed to show others.
Every Gallery user was like that.
It was perfectly understandable.
“Then is there no solution?”
“The other side has latched onto uncertainty, so we should make clever use of that same uncertainty. It is ultimately a matter of credibility.”
“I would say my benefactor has greater credibility.”
“This is not something to take lightly. Gallery users are like jackals. Once they find prey, they tear into it without caring about what came before or after.”
“Jackals…”
Yu Sowol nodded at the comparison.
Whenever something entertaining happened, Gallery users swarmed toward it like madmen.
Whether it was actually true or false didn’t matter.
They simply bit and tore at it because it was entertaining.
Conversely, if they could secure enough credibility, that entire pack of jackals could be turned into allies.
“The one who framed your benefactor likely has only one objective. To force him into an amicable settlement.”
“An amicable settlement?”
“If he were suspended from the Gallery, his life itself could be placed in danger. That is what the culprit is exploiting.”
“So he is playing games with another person’s life.”
Yu Sowol looked openly displeased.
If she had her way, she would track down the bastard’s location and beat him into the ground.
But location tracking was a privilege available only to the Moderator.
She doubted the Moderator would grant her that authority.
Especially not in a situation like this.
“Is there a way to resolve it?”
“There is a simple and easy method.”
“And what would that be?”
“Heaven should make an appearance in the Gallery.”
The phrase make an appearance in the Gallery sounded ridiculous, but his point was simple.
She should verify her identity on the Gallery.
In other words, she should prove that she really was the Heavenly Demon.
The registered user who had spent all this time posting nonsense—and who had now become a Sub-Moderator—should prove that she was actually the Heavenly Demon in real life.
“You refused this Lady’s command, yet you dare recommend that this Lady do the same thing. What a contradiction.”
“My apologies, Heavenly One.”
“Speak your true feelings without a single lie. Do you have no intention of verifying your own identity?”
“I would rather hang myself.”
“Hmm.”
So he hated the idea that much.
Yu Sowol nodded.
She had no desire to lose a talent as capable as Wi Seorak for such an absurd reason.
“Besides, even if I verified my identity, it would likely mean little. They could simply claim that we coordinated our stories in advance.”
“I see.”
“As for Heaven, perhaps—”
“Denied.”
The answer came from Yu Sowol without the slightest hesitation.
A flat refusal.
Wi Seorak found her reaction puzzling, but he did not dare ask why.
‘Is she embarrassed?’
That possibility seemed quite plausible.
After all, he knew all about the Gallery activities of the Sub-Moderator known as Heavenly Demon.
Perhaps that was also why she had been so lenient about his lie.
Empathy was the beginning of understanding.
‘Maybe if she reveals her identity, there would be no point in using the Gallery anymore?’
But Wi Seorak’s guess was completely wrong.
Was Yu Sowol refusing to reveal her identity because she was embarrassed?
Absolutely not.
‘How could I possibly give up a place where I can act purely on instinct without any formality or dignity whatsoever?’
If anything, Yu Sowol was completely unashamed.
Her manner of speaking and behavior barely changed between reality and the Gallery.
What she treasured was the joy of existing as a single human being, free from the mold of the Heavenly Demon.
Yu Sowol liked that life immensely.
That was precisely why she was reluctant to reveal her identity.
If she had to live as the Heavenly Demon even inside the Gallery, it would become monotonous to the point of boredom.
‘There would also be those who approach me only because of this Lady’s prestige.’
Kindness directed not toward a human being, but toward the Heavenly Demon.
That would be no different from reality.
If that happened, she would quit the Gallery immediately.
Therefore, Yu Sowol could never give up her anonymity.
Anonymity was normally used as a shield.
For her, however, it was a means of revealing her true self.
‘Though my benefactor doesn’t seem to care who this Lady is anyway.’
That was also one of the reasons she liked Grylls.
His consideration and respect were filled with pure goodwill.
And courtesy.
It was a warmth Yu Sowol had never experienced throughout her entire life.
That was why she wanted to help him.
“If there is no other choice, this Lady can stake her name upon it. However, I question whether the matter is truly worth that much.”
“Your words are most wise.”
So even the Heavenly Demon was human after all.
She knew how to feel embarrassment.
While Wi Seorak continued along with his not-quite-correct misunderstanding, Yu Sowol opened her elegant lips.
“Is there another method?”
“There is. We simply need to redirect the pack of jackals toward the one who lied. And since your benefactor has already built up credibility, it should be relatively easy.”
“Then explain—wait a moment.”
With those words, Yu Sowol stared into empty space.
Wi Seorak glanced at her behavior and immediately entered the Gallery himself.
Something had definitely happened there.
She wouldn’t have reacted like that otherwise.
‘Nothing special happened, though?’
The Gallery looked no different.
It was still filled with posts insulting Grylls.
There were occasionally people defending him, but they were only a small minority.
The posts had practically become spam at this point, enough that even the Moderator had issued a warning.
“Demon Brain.”
“Yes, Heavenly One.”
“This Lady’s benefactor says he has obtained another inner core.”
“What?”
Wi Seorak’s head snapped upward.
His widened eyes clearly revealed how startled he was.
But who was Wi Seorak?
He quickly regained his composure and set his mind racing.
A moment later, having reached a conclusion, he offered Yu Sowol a suggestion.
“Heavenly One. I have thought of a good plan.”
“Speak.”
“Is there perhaps someone on the Gallery who possesses credibility and skill, while also having no major flaws in their personality?”
“Hmm…”
At that question, Yu Sowol tapped a finger against her cheek before suddenly frowning.
She looked displeased just imagining the person.
Given her appearance, even that expression was beautiful.
“There is. Why do you ask?”
“Because we will need that person’s help. Though I cannot say whether they will actually agree to assist us.”
“They will.”
Yu Sowol answered with certainty.
“This Lady guarantees it.”
“Understood. Then…”
Wi Seorak bowed even more deeply before making his proposal.
“Please persuade your benefactor to give the newly discovered inner core to that person as an assistant.”