The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 47

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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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Chapter 47
Shin A-yeong, Lee Myeong-woo’s former fiancée, was a woman of fierce spirit and formidable presence.
Ju Yeon-hui, by contrast, was her complete opposite—gentle and soft-spoken.
Though he’d been forced into marriage because of Ju Hyeong-seon, Lee Myeong-woo privately acknowledged to himself: ‘Yeon-hui suits me far better than A-yeong ever did.’
He harbored no intention whatsoever of dismissing Ju Yeon-hui and reconciling with Shin A-yeong.
In truth, Lee Myeong-woo was consumed with fury over his former fiancée’s abandonment of their child on Old Earth.
Lee Gang-hyeon spoke.
“You intend to keep your wife as she is? Then what of this director’s child?”
“He shares my blood, so naturally I’ll register him in Yeon-hui’s and my household.”
At those words, a peculiar smile crossed Lee Gang-hyeon’s face.
“Heh-heh-heh. Has this director’s wife already learned of this fact?”
“That would be impossible, sir. You know your father-in-law’s temperament as well as I do. Had I broached this subject during his lifetime, my head would have been split open on the spot.”
“Ha-ha-ha. That’s true enough.”
Lee Gang-hyeon laughed heartily once more, then gave his son’s shoulder a firm pat.
“I’ll take my leave now. Handle the funeral arrangements yourself.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for taking the time despite your busy schedule.”
Lee Myeong-woo bowed to his father at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
Lee Gang-hyeon strode toward the memorial portrait of Ju Hyeong-seon, placed a single chrysanthemum beneath the photograph, and departed first.
The cold-hearted Lee Gang-hyeon never once looked upon his daughter-in-law Ju Yeon-hui’s face.
This had unfolded on October 29th at the grand mansion of Ju Hyeong-seon, nestled at the foot of Namsan in the heart of Midland Seoul.
It was the last day of October. Lee Jae-in, personnel director of Shinseong Group, flew to Midland Chiang Mai aboard an orbital vessel in search of Han-eol.
Officially, Han-eol had been classified as missing.
To secretly extract Han-eol, who belonged to Artemis’s 1st Unit, they had placed his name on the casualty roster of Highland Base Camp.
Consequently, Shinseong Group’s personnel department had moved to classify Han-eol as killed in action.
But the strategy director Lee Myeong-woo prevented that, and Lee Jae-in changed Han-eol’s status from deceased to missing instead.
Of course, few within Shinseong Group were aware of this minor change.
Even the Artemis Order knew nothing of the fact that Han-eol had been processed as missing rather than dead.
Yet now Lee Jae-in, who had handled Han-eol’s entire arrangement, appeared before him.
Han-eol wore a bitter smile.
“You knew everything all along, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. Why would I be unaware of your affairs?”
“Your affairs… meaning?”
Han-eol’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Lee Jae-in met his gaze directly, then spread his thumb and middle finger wide and pushed his glasses up with them.
Chapter 7
A moment later.
“Is it truly so? I’m the biological son of Lee Myeong-woo, the strategy director?”
Han-eol’s expression was as though he’d been struck in the back of the head with a hammer.
Lee Jae-in nodded emphatically.
“That’s correct. Would I fly all this distance to lie to you? I’ve already confirmed your date of birth, and last spring, the moment you arrived at Midland, I completed a paternity test on your behalf.”
“What…?”
“That’s not all. The R-shaped Pendant you’ve carried since birth—that too is evidence that you are the strategy director’s bloodline. You see, that pendant originally belonged to him.”
At those words, Han-eol flinched.
‘What…?’
Han-eol instinctively gripped the pendant at his neck.
He’d possessed this pendant since childhood.
Yet he was not its true owner.
In the orphanage where he’d spent his early years—before the one where he’d lived through his adolescence—he’d met an older boy who owned this R-shaped Pendant.
Whether by chance or fate, that older boy and Han-eol shared the same birthday, born in different years.
Both were born on April 28th.
But that boy had fallen gravely ill in childhood and eventually died.
It was then that Han-eol came into possession of this pendant.
‘So the older brother who died as a child was the biological son of this Director Lee Myeong-woo? This is dangerous.’
Han-eol found this situation deeply unsettling.
An orphan whose secret origins are revealed, suddenly becoming part of a major conglomerate’s owning family?
A story like this belonged in dramas—and would be enjoyable if it were real, but if false, it could very well cost him his life.
‘This won’t do. One greedy misstep and I’ll be jumping into a pit of fire carrying a bundle of kindling.’
Han-eol bit the inside of his cheek with his molars.
Then his thoughts veered elsewhere.
‘Wait. He said they ran a paternity test? That’s strange. I’m clearly a fake. So how did I pass the test?’
Han-eol’s pupils suddenly contracted sharply as doubt seized him.
‘Wait. Could it be that this personnel team leader manipulated the test results with some ulterior motive? Using me like a puppet to seize control of Shinseong Group?’
Han-eol grew suspicious of Lee Jae-in.
The circumstances left no other conclusion.
It was early morning the next day.
Splash!
After six hours of night flight from Chiang Mai, the Shinseong Group’s orbital vessel landed on the Han River with a surge of white spray.
Han-eol descended from the aircraft in a neat suit.
The navy-colored formal wear that Lee Jae-in had prepared in advance fit Han-eol’s frame perfectly.
A luxury sedan waited at the Han River pier.
“I will escort you to Subaekyeongwon.”
Han-eol questioned what Lee Jae-in had said.
“What is Subaekyeongwon?”
“Subaekyeongwon is where the Chairman resides. It is located in Hannam-dong, with a view overlooking the Han River.”
“I see.”
Han-eol tried his best to appear unfazed, but he could not prevent his palms from growing clammy.
‘This is snowballing.’
Han-eol had never anticipated that the true owner of the R-shaped Pendant would be a direct member of Shinseong Group.
Naturally, he had made no preparations whatsoever to become a stand-in for the real person who was supposedly dead.
‘I’ll definitely be exposed soon. My face is different from the Shinseong Group’s executive director, and so is my DNA—everyone will suspect something.’
At worst, mortal danger might descend upon Han-eol the moment he arrived at Subaekyeongwon.
‘In the worst case, should I take the Shinseong Group’s Chairman or the strategy director hostage?’
Han-eol even entertained such extreme thoughts.
Of course, he possessed top-tier Dragon Scales and the Quadruple Defense System, so he would not submit passively.
But Han-eol had never fought human ability users in earnest.
Thus, he could not guarantee his survival with certainty.
‘Damn it. The moment I arrive at Subaekyeongwon and sense anything amiss, I won’t hesitate—I’ll flip the table. I’ll seize hostages as the opportunity presents itself, then escape to the riverbed beneath the Han by whatever means necessary.’
Once he reached the Blue Mist, he would be safe. Once Han-eol crossed into Highland, Shinseong Group would no longer be able to pursue him.
Even if someone did track him, he had no cause for worry.
On Highland’s 5th Continent, there was the Spirit Clan to lean on.
‘Ugh. Damn it all.’
Han-eol sighed unexpectedly.
‘What kind of situation is this? I’m relying more on the Spirit Clan than on my own kind. And I find this place, Midland, more dangerous than Highland, where Demon Beasts and the Demon Race are swarming about.’
Seated in the rear of the luxury sedan, moving quietly thanks to its Mana Stone Engine, Han-eol bit his lip roughly.
Subaekyeongwon, Hannam-dong
Chapter 1
Subaekyeongwon was a world unto itself within Seoul.
Across the sprawling lawn stood three three-story traditional Korean houses, each crafted with meticulous care by a master carpenter, arranged diagonally in a herringbone pattern.
Between the houses, a stream wound its way through.
Beside the water, elegant pines and bonsai were arranged in harmonious balance.
The wind chimes hung from the pine branches produced a clear, crystalline sound whenever the breeze stirred.
In one corner of the garden, beneath a tile-topped wall, stood rows of large earthenware jars.
‘It’s rather impressive. But it cannot compare to the Spirit Clan’s gardens.’
Han-eol’s thoughts drifted suddenly to Highland’s 5th Continent.
The Colosseum-like structure built in the middle of that desolate desert was as magnificent and mysterious as if magic itself had been wrought upon it.
Within the sand-colored architecture dwelt lodgings prepared for twelve Celestial Beings, and the gardens attached to each residence were particularly striking.
Remarkably, the Spirit Clan had installed magical circles within the confined building to radically expand the internal space, and upon those circles they had placed sections of great nature itself—mountains, lakes, and all.
It was nothing short of a realm of celestial immortals drawn from fiction made manifest in reality.
‘I truly lost track of time there.’
Having experienced the Spirit Clan’s enormous scale and mysterious civilization, Han-eol found little to marvel at in the well-appointed Subaekyeongwon.
Lee Jae-in was slightly taken aback by that indifferent bearing.
‘Huh. That’s unexpected. A young master raised in an orphanage sees this landscape at Subaekyeongwon and is barely astonished?’
Han-eol was undoubtedly from an orphanage on Old Earth.
‘Even those born in Midland Seoul gape with wonder when they come to Subaekyeongwon, yet a young master raised only on Old Earth carries himself this way?’
Lee Jae-in’s head tilted in confusion again and again.
Han-eol had not always been like this.
If Lee Jae-in’s memory was accurate, when Han-eol first became an intern at Shinseong Group and set foot in Midland, he had carried himself with a certain provincial air.
But the Han-eol of now walked through Subaekyeongwon with the composure of someone who lived there.
‘Our young master Han-eol is truly unusual.’
While Lee Jae-in inwardly marveled, a guard at Subaekyeongwon led him and Han-eol to one of the three traditional houses.
A middle-aged woman in traditional Korean dress was waiting at the entrance of the building.
“Please come inside. The Chairman is waiting for you.”
At the woman’s words, Han-eol removed his shoes on the step and entered.
Lee Jae-in from Personnel and the security staff dared not follow, and remained waiting below the step.
The interior of the traditional house was quite elegant. The residence struck a perfect balance—neither excessively ornate nor austere—and it was a remarkable structure that harmonized the advantages of an old house with the conveniences of modern interior design.
The middle-aged woman led Han-eol past a corridor lined with latticed sliding doors covered in mulberry paper, bringing him to Lee Gang-hyeon’s office.
“Chairman, I’ve brought him.”
As the middle-aged woman announced this respectfully from outside the door, a gruff voice sounded from within.
“Show him in.”
At those words, the middle-aged woman turned to Han-eol.
“Please come in.”
“Yes.”
Han-eol stepped through the door the woman had opened for him.
The Chairman’s office, decorated with orchids and scholar’s stones, was larger than expected.
Before examining the office carefully, Han-eol first located Lee Gang-hyeon.
In the center of the office, before a wall hanging shaped like a blazing sun, stood a robust elderly man.
White hair and thick, white eyebrows.
An air of authority.
The elderly man dressed in a purple-tinted modified hanbok appeared to be Lee Gang-hyeon himself, the ruler of Midland Seoul and owner of the Shinseong Group.
That very Chairman Lee Gang-hyeon sat before a long desk of wood grain, his fingers interlaced, and gazed at Han-eol over his clasped hands.
Just to look at him was enough to be overwhelmed by the brilliance of Lee Gang-hyeon’s eyes.
From Lee Gang-hyeon’s back emanated an aura like that of a white tiger perched upon a rock, looking down upon all beasts.
Surely most people would find their knees weakening merely upon encountering Lee Gang-hyeon.
But Han-eol was not most people.
Han-eol had been seized by the collar by a fully-grown Giraffe on Highland 7th Continent.
At that time, the killing intent emanated by the three-eyed, eight-tailed female Giraffe far exceeded the threshold of what a human could endure.
Moreover, Han-eol had consecutively encountered Spirit Clan Celestial Beings and Dragon Clan leaders on Highland 5th Continent.
The aura they radiated was incomparably vast compared to a fully-grown Giraffe.
Thanks to these experiences, Han-eol was not the least bit intimidated by Lee Gang-hyeon’s presence.
Of course, Han-eol’s unusually strong Mental Strength score also played its part.
In any case, the man before him was the apex of the Shinseong Group and an elder.
“It’s an honor to meet you for the first time. I’m Han-eol.”
Han-eol bowed respectfully toward Lee Gang-hyeon.
Lee Gang-hyeon studied him intently without unclasp­ing his hands.
Lee Gang-hyeon’s first impression of Han-eol was: ‘Looks rather weak.’
He had felt this way even from the photograph, and Han-eol’s appearance in person did nothing to change Lee Gang-hyeon’s mind.
Slightly over one hundred seventy centimeters in height, with a round, gentle face.
‘Can this really be my blood? He doesn’t resemble me or his father one bit.’
Lee Gang-hyeon recalled his son’s former fiancée.
‘She had the bearing of a sharp blade. But this one doesn’t even take after his mother.’
Lee Gang-hyeon’s gaze drifted briefly downward to confirm the paper placed on his desk.
It was the result of a paternity test conducted using hair samples from Lee Gang-hyeon himself and Han-eol.
Probability of blood relation: 99.97%
Lee Gang-hyeon examined the content printed in bold lettering at the bottom of the test report once more, then furrowed his brow.
The Puppet Master Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Juno
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Inc.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Inc. – Dream Books
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G720:N+A063-20260703071
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blog.naver.com/dreambookss
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@dreambookss
Submission |
[email protected]
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — No part of this book may be used in any form or by any means without written permission from Dreambooks.

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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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