The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 12
Chapter 3
Han Eol rested for a moment to recover his stamina. Then he sealed the Demon Beast’s corpse in a Space Compression Vacuum Pack and buried it underground.
Han Eol also shrunk the Disc the Demon Beast had ridden on using a vacuum pack and buried it alongside the corpse.
Finally, Han Eol buried a Demon Spirit Stone the size of two fists together with the creature’s remains.
Han Eol intended to bring only a single small Demon Spirit Stone he’d removed from the Demon Beast’s neck and the sharp, rigid spine the creature had fired back to Midland Seoul.
Truth be told, loot of this caliber meant even the 1st Division Commander couldn’t fault him.
‘I need to leave a marker now.’
Han Eol retrieved a metal chunk sealed in several layers from the inside of his backpack and separated it into two pieces.
The round Mother Metal served as the north pole when Guided Transmission sent Ability Users into Highland.
So if Han Eol buried the Mother Metal here, the next time he entered Highland, the probability of being transmitted near this location would skyrocket.
‘I’ll have to come back later and recover the Demon Beast’s corpse and the Disc.’
Han Eol decided to look forward to that future day.
His earlier sulk about never returning to Highland had already vanished without a trace.
Next, Han Eol carefully opened the watch’s crystal face and removed the watch hand.
This watch hand was a Child Metal designed to guide Ability Users of the Shinseong Group to 8th Continent Base Camp No. 1.
The watch hand interacted with the Mother Metal buried at 8th Continent Base Camp No. 1, drawing Ability Users to the vicinity.
‘Hmph. That Child Metal never got me to 8th Continent Base Camp No. 1 anyway. So I don’t need this garbage.’
Instead of discarding the watch hand issued by the 1st Division, Han Eol replaced it with a new Child Metal.
The Child Metal Han Eol installed was paired with the Mother Metal he’d just placed in the Barren Wasteland below.
When Han Eol reassembled the watch and fastened it to his wrist, the watch hand pointed precisely at the Mother Metal.
‘Excellent. This works beautifully.’
Han Eol nodded, then pressed three fingers into three grooves on the round Mother Metal.
Click!
Instantly a drill shot out from the Mother Metal’s underside, churning through the wasteland and burrowing downward.
The Mother Metal settled into the bedrock a hundred meters beneath the surface in a heartbeat.
When Han Eol smoothed over the hole with his palm, all trace of where the Mother Metal had burrowed vanished without a trace.
‘Good, that’s done. Next…’
Han Eol slashed the bottom of his backpack with the Ultra-Vibration Blade, then scattered some unimportant consumables across the wasteland.
‘This way I can excuse the Mother Metal’s disappearance.’
After fitting everything together meticulously, Han Eol returned to where he’d first been transmitted and settled beside the roiling blue mist.
‘If I leave too soon, it’ll raise suspicion. I’ll spend a little time here before heading back.’
Han Eol pulled a One-Touch Tent from his backpack.
At a tap from his finger, the single-person tent unfurled automatically. It was a flat shelter just large enough for one adult to barely stretch out and lie down.
Moreover, the tent was equipped with automatic camouflage, automatically shifting to match the color of the surrounding wasteland and blocking the distinctive human scent.
‘And it keeps out dust too. Even better.’
Han Eol crawled inside and lay still for a while.
Considerable time passed.
Han Eol folded the One-Touch Tent small, stuffed it back in his backpack, and began to prepare.
As he pulled out the sharp spine the Demon Beast had fired, his pupils trembled visibly.
‘I absolutely hate pain.’
Han Eol was a nervous sort. A man who couldn’t even watch his own blood being drawn was hardly equipped to wound himself deliberately.
‘But this is better than risking danger.’
Han Eol dragged the Demon Beast’s spine across his left forearm.
‘Ugh.’
His skin split open and blood spilled down in a steady stream.
Han Eol stabbed the Demon Beast’s spine into his thigh.
‘Argh. Damn it.’
It hurt like hell.
Han Eol wiped away the few tears that had welled up, then retrieved the Antidote Injection Kit and drove it deep into his ribs.
It was to prevent viral infection and poisoning from the Demon Beast’s spine.
‘Huff, huff. That should do it.’
After inflicting these wounds on himself, Han Eol slung the half-torn backpack onto his shoulder and leaped into the blue mist.
The nausea that invariably struck each time he traveled between Midland and Highland was still there.
‘Ugh.’
The familiar dizzying vertigo engulfed Han Eol.
“Emergency. We have an emergency.”
“What the hell is this? Where did he get wounded like that?”
“Commander, look at this instead.”
“What is it?”
“A triangular Demon Spirit Stone. I’ve never seen this shape before. And this sharp spine—I have no idea what material it’s made of.”
The chatter reverberated through Han Eol’s skull.
Almost none of it concerned his welfare.
‘Bastards.’
Han Eol lay on his back with his eyes clenched shut.
He’d managed to hold on in the Highland through sheer force of will, but the moment he’d returned to Midland Seoul, exhaustion crashed over him in a wave, leaving his entire body as limp as a water-logged sponge.
Shortly after, paramedics from Shinseong Group rushed to the Secret Platform under Han River and transported him to the hospital emergency room.
‘At least I’m alive.’
The wail of sirens filled his ears as the ambulance rushed forward, and Han Eol surrendered himself to sleep.
Chapter 4
Han Eol woke in the dead of night on May 22nd.
‘This hospital again.’
A private room at Gangbuk Shinseong General Hospital.
He caught sight of the IV needle in his forearm and the nutritional drips hanging like ornaments beside the bed, and let out a wry laugh.
Thanks to his high Vitality, the self-inflicted wounds had nearly healed. The puncture where the Demon Beast Spine had pierced him no longer ached.
Still, his heart hammered against his ribs.
‘Damn it. That’s the second time I nearly died.’
Two times now.
‘This can’t keep happening. I need a real plan.’
Han Eol was nothing if not pragmatic. He couldn’t afford to stumble back into the Highland unprepared a second time.
‘So what’s the actual problem?’
He began by cataloging the danger.
The answer was obvious.
Guided Transmission failures.
Oddly enough, Han Eol had a troubling pattern: every time his Guided Transmission failed, he landed in a hostile zone.
Yes, he’d only failed twice so far—but two attempts, two failures. For someone like him, that was far from ordinary.
Worse still, he didn’t know why the Guided Transmission was failing.
The truth was, humanity still hadn’t unraveled the exact mechanics of Guided Transmission. Without understanding the mechanism, analyzing failure was impossible.
‘Then is there any safety protocol for when Guided Transmission fails?’
This was the point Han Eol fixated on.
And the answer was just as clear.
Han Eol possessed a lethal Ability—one that could instantly annihilate even powerful Demon Beasts. That was his trump card.
‘The real problem is my Defense Power.’
Could he endure long enough to locate and extract the Demon Beast’s soul? To survive, he’d need to withstand at least one attack from his opponent.
But in his current state, that was far from guaranteed. His Defense Power and Vitality needed an immediate upgrade.
‘How can I boost those numbers?’
The first solution.
He could continue venturing into the Highland, growing stronger through repeated exposure.
Awakening didn’t lock an Ability User’s stats in place. After the initial Blooming, continued hunting allowed for further development.
‘But relying solely on that is suicide. I could die hunting just to survive.’
External support offered another path forward.
This was the second solution he’d been considering.
Take, for instance, the A-Grade Vest and Recovery Potions.
He owed his life twice over to equipment like that.
‘I need better armor and potions. But Shinseong isn’t going to shower supplies on some rookie like me, are they? So what else can I do?’
Times like these, Han Eol envied the owners’ families and executives who got unlimited corporate backing. And part of him couldn’t help wondering: ‘What if there’s something about my past I don’t know? What if some rich, successful parents suddenly showed up?’
But the fantasy dissolved as quickly as it had formed.
‘Right. Who’s going to help an orphan like me? I have to find my own way forward.’
Han Eol rubbed his heavy eyelids with the heel of his palm.
While Han Eol had just woken in the hospital, Lee Jae-in, head of the HR Team at Shinseong Group, was stepping into the 1st Division Building near Gangnam Station.
In the 1st Division Commander’s office, overlooking the glittering nightscape of Gangnam, Lee Jae-in habitually spread his fingers and adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses.
The 1st Division Commander regarded him with an expression of frank displeasure.
“Well, well. The headquarters big shot personally visits our humble 1st Division in the middle of the night. How terribly gracious. Though I have to ask—what brings you?”
There was a prickle of animosity in the Commander’s tone.
Lee Jae-in belonged to the Lee Myung-woo faction, known well enough within Shinseong Group.
The 1st Division Commander, by contrast, was a devoted subordinate of Lee Sung-woo, head of the Pioneer Division.
Since Lee Myung-woo and Lee Sung-woo harbored a quiet rivalry, their respective followers were not on the best terms.
Yet Lee Jae-in, unlike the Commander, took care not to show his distaste openly.
“Since you’re clearly busy, I’ll get straight to it. It’s about employee 330895, Han Eol…….”
“330895? Hmm. What about him?”
A flicker of discomfort crossed the 1st Division Commander’s face in that instant.
He recovered his composure quickly, but Lee Jae-in hadn’t missed that brief tell.
“Regardless of their assignment to the 1st Division, it’s problematic to handle personnel in violation of protocol.”
“Protocol violation? Ha. This is absurd. What protocol did the 1st Division violate? Listen here, HR Manager. Do you understand what overstepping authority means, or not?”
The 1st Division Commander stepped close and jabbed his index finger at Lee Jae-in’s chest.
Lee Jae-in raised both palms to show he wanted no trouble, then spoke with measured calm.
“If you check the regulations manual, you’ll find it. New employees are to be sent to the Highland only after completing sufficient training. That’s what it says.”
“What?”
The 1st Division Commander was flabbergasted.
Whether such language actually existed in the regulations manual, he didn’t know.
But it was unheard-of to thrust such stale, rigid procedure in a field operative’s face.
“Hey, HR Manager. This is blatant overstepping of authority. I’m just a grunt who’s rolled around in the field, so I’m not well-versed in manuals, but I know overstepping authority is a serious violation of company rules. How about I pay the Pioneer Division Commander a visit and bring this matter up with him? Hmm?”
The 1st Division Commander invoked the Pioneer Division Commander Lee Sung-woo.
Lee Jae-in countered immediately.
“Since you’re bringing the Pioneer Division Commander into this, I should mention something as well. Han Eol has been flagged as a person of interest with reports reaching the Strategic Planning Division Chief himself.”
“What, what?”
At the mention of Lee Myung-woo’s name, the 1st Division Commander’s pupils trembled.
Lee Myung-woo versus Lee Sung-woo.
Though they were said to be rivals, everyone knew Lee Myung-woo stood closer to the chairman’s seat.
Even setting that aside, the weight of Lee Myung-woo’s name bore down heavily on the 1st Division Commander.
“330895—that greenhorn has caught the Strategic Planning Division Chief’s attention?”
The 1st Division Commander wrung the words out.
Lee Jae-in clarified the misunderstanding.
“That’s not quite right. The Chief wouldn’t have time to concern himself with a mere new recruit.”
“Wait. You just said—”
“I never said the Chief had taken notice of Han Eol. It’s just that our HR Team became curious about this recruit, so we filed a report with the Strategic Planning Division Chief asking him to keep an eye on this new employee going forward.”
“That’s… well, let’s say that’s fine. But what basis do you have for saying I’ve been handling that greenhorn roughly? Why would I mistreat my own people who’ve come under my wing? It seems the HR Manager hasn’t checked the hospital records—the kid’s fine. Could be discharged tomorrow, even. Ha-ha-ha-ha.”
The 1st Division Commander shifted his tone.
Lee Jae-in pushed his glasses up with a short gesture.
“I checked the hospital records before coming here. For injuries to be that severe even after consuming an A-Grade Recovery Potion—that’s not what you’d call light handling.”
“That can’t be right. An A-Grade Recovery Potion? How did a greenhorn recruit even get something that rare?”
The 1st Division Commander was genuinely startled.
The Puppet Master Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Junon
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
Address |
7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsaro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260703071
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter(X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
[email protected]
The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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