The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 8

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

Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Lee Ruin broached the subject carefully, as if testing the waters.
“Typically, a Top-ranking Intern receives a bonus prize of around fifty million won. But that’s nothing, really. What matters far more than the prize money is what kind of reward you actually get. For example, an intern who awakens a Physical-type Ability receives a weapon with enhanced attack power, while one who awakens an Elemental-type magic gets a Wand with high mana conductivity. That’s how it works.”
As Lee Ruin rattled off words like “bonus prize,” “Physical-type,” “enhanced attack weapon,” “elemental magic,” and “Wand,” she watched Han Eol’s face for the slightest flicker of reaction.
Han Eol showed little response to most of what she said.
‘So he’s not after money. But he doesn’t seem to be Physical-type either, nor an elemental mage.’
Then again, if Han Eol had been that type, he could never have subdued Seolrang without leaving a mark on its hide.
Lee Ruin approached the hospital bed and sat down directly beside Han Eol.
Han Eol flinched in surprise and shifted his hips to the side.
As an orphan, Han Eol had never been this close to another person—especially not to a woman.
When Lee Ruin’s blonde hair swayed softly beside him, a fresh, pleasant fragrance wafted into his nostrils, stirring his senses.
Han Eol tensed immediately.
‘Cute,’ Lee Ruin thought with an inward smile.
She leaned forward without pretense, closing the distance between them further. Her low, mellow voice tickled his ear.
“You need to hint to me what kind of reward you want when you receive the Top-ranking Intern commendation. Otherwise, you might end up with something completely useless—like an Enhanced Axe that weighs over one hundred kilograms, for instance.”
‘What?’
Han Eol was taken aback.
‘A heavy weapon over a hundred kilograms? I couldn’t even lift something like that. Getting that as a reward would be nothing but a headache.’
Lee Ruin met his gaze with a radiant smile.
Han Eol lowered his head slightly, thinking hard, then spoke.
“I would prefer something light that helps with defense. Or perhaps an Escape Scroll for emergency situations, or potions for when aid is needed. Those kinds of things would be helpful.”
Han Eol had been forthright about his preferences because he judged it would ultimately serve him better to be honest.
Moreover, he had noticed that Lee Ruin’s spiritual aura emanated a faint pastel tone, which caused him to open his heart a little toward her.
Pastel tones signified goodwill, after all.
Meanwhile, the moment Han Eol finished speaking, Lee Ruin’s mind whirled into overdrive.
‘He wants something light?’
That meant his physical strength and muscular power hadn’t grown dramatically even after awakening his Ability.
‘He wants defense and vitality enhancements?’
In other words, his Ability boasted exceptional offensive power but offered little help with defense and survival.
‘Is this boy perhaps a Wind-type specialist?’
A single possibility flashed through Lee Ruin’s mind.
If her guess was correct, Han Eol could very well trigger considerable ripple effects in the future. A strong exclamation mark appeared in Lee Ruin’s thoughts.
On the 102nd floor of the Seongsong Group Headquarters, situated along the Han River.
“You’re saying there’s a possibility that boy is Wind-type?”
Lee Myeong-woo, the Strategic Operations Director and a member of the group owner’s family, leaned against a rich dark wooden desk and murmured in a low, measured voice.
The deep furrows etched into his brow gave him a grave appearance.
Before Lee Myeong-woo stood Lee Jae-in, the Human Resources Director, in a rigid stance, eyes fixed on the director’s lips.
Tap-tap-tap.
Lee Myeong-woo drummed his fingertips against the desk.
Lee Jae-in pressed his lips together and remained silent.
After a moment, Lee Myeong-woo looked up and addressed Lee Jae-in.
“Are you certain it’s Wind-type?”
Lee Jae-in finally opened his mouth.
“It’s not yet confirmed, sir.”
“Hmph. You bring me a report without even verifying the facts?”
Lee Myeong-woo let out a hollow laugh.
Lee Jae-in felt the hair on his head stand on end.
“My apologies, Director. The young master completed his discharge procedures today, so we plan to measure his Ability Stats again tomorrow.”
Lee Jae-in hastened to explain.
He was right. At Seongsong Group, interns are assessed for their Ability Stats before being sent into Highland, and then re-measured after awakening to monitor how much their numbers have changed.
If Han Eol truly had awakened a Wind-type Ability, there was every reason to expect his speed and agility stats to surge dramatically.
Lee Jae-in had kept this very point in mind.
Lee Myeong-woo also found merit in his subordinate’s reasoning.
“True enough. Most Wind-type mages experience explosive growth in speed and agility the moment their Ability awakens. But the phenomenon evident on the corpse of this Seolrang doesn’t quite align with typical Wind-type patterns, does it?”
Lee Myeong-woo pointed out the discrepancy.
The majority of Wind-type mages had a signature technique: they slaughtered their enemies with magic like the Wind Cutter.
If Han Eol were that type of Awakened One, Seolrang’s hide should have been torn to shreds.
“You are quite right, sir.”
Lee Jae-in spread his fingers wide, gripped his glasses frame between his thumb and middle finger, and pushed them up while nodding in agreement with Lee Myeong-woo.
“I suspect you haven’t awakened a typical Wind-type ability, but rather the capacity to control air currents with remarkable precision.”
Lee Jae-in was describing a domain accessible only to an elite handful among wind-element mages.
Across every major city in the world, mages who possessed this specialized Awakened Ability could be counted on one hand—they were that rare.
Yet these few mages operated as assassins of truly terrifying capability, striking fear into the hearts of Midland’s inhabitants.
Because they could instantaneously compress and evaporate the air in a target’s nose, mouth, and lungs, causing death by asphyxiation in a single heartbeat.
No matter how expansive a person’s lung capacity, before a mage who could manipulate fine air currents, they were nothing but a mouse before a cat.
These assassins would strip away even the tiniest trace of air from their victim’s lungs, making raw lung capacity utterly meaningless.
Yet mages of this specialization, compared to conventional wind mages, excelled only in their fine-grained air control—the sheer force of their wind attacks was not particularly strong.
Therefore, their ability to increase running speed and agility by using wind to propel their backs was relatively limited.
Lee Jae-in was well aware of this.
“However, Director, according to reports from the Group’s External Information Division, there is data suggesting that even fine air current control alone can noticeably increase movement speed.”
“Hmm.”
Lee Myeong-woo folded his arms in silence.
Chapter 9
“Listen, Head of Personnel.”
After a pause, Lee Myeong-woo lifted his head and met Lee Jae-in’s eyes.
“Yes, Director.”
Lee Jae-in averted his gaze slightly.
Lee Myeong-woo’s deep voice pressed into Lee Jae-in’s ears.
“Your hypothesis does sound plausible. But here’s the thing… the Seongsong owner’s family has no one with a Wind-type Awakening.”
An awakened ability didn’t necessarily follow bloodline—Awakening itself was more like a random draw.
Fortune, not pedigree, mattered most.
Yet it was also true that sufficiently powerful bloodlines did exert some influence on their descendants’ awakenings.
Lee Myeong-woo was zeroing in on exactly that point.
Lee Jae-in stiffened.
‘What? Is the Director suggesting that the young master’s bloodline is… questionable?’
Lee Jae-in himself was the one who had brought Han Eol to Midland.
But what if he had brought the wrong person—someone unrelated to the Director’s blood?
‘That’s impossible.’
Lee Jae-in swallowed hard.
Then Lee Myeong-woo let out a low chuckle.
“You’re easy to startle.”
“I—I apologize.”
“No need to worry. I’ve heard your report well enough. Go on back to your duties.”
“Understood. I’ll take my leave.”
Lee Jae-in bowed deeply.
Lee Myeong-woo tossed one final remark toward the crown of Lee Jae-in’s neatly parted head.
“When the results come in tomorrow, notify me immediately.”
Upon hearing this, Lee Jae-in’s anxiety finally eased.
The fact that Lee Myeong-woo was taking such interest in Han Eol’s Ability Stats meant one thing: Han Eol was indeed his blood.
Lee Jae-in responded in a noticeably lighter tone.
“I will report the moment I have the results.”
“Good. And make sure security is airtight—nothing about that boy can leak out.”
“I will remember that.”
Lee Jae-in wiped the cold sweat from his temples with his palm as he left the director’s office.
Once the Head of Personnel had gone, Lee Myeong-woo approached the window and gazed down at the Han River.
Today, like every day, the Han River flowed serenely toward the west.
The waters that flowed through Seoul did not empty into the East Sea; instead, they circled back along the underside of Midland Seoul, which orbited Earth at an altitude of thirty-six thousand kilometers, and returned eastward, completing a full cycle around the Gangdong District.
No one could explain how such an abnormality was possible.
Lee Myeong-woo, of course, had no understanding of the circulation principle behind the Han River.
Truth be told, he didn’t care about it one bit.
“Hahaha! Ohohoho!”
As he gazed silently at the water, Lee Myeong-woo suddenly broke into hearty, resonant laughter.
‘A specialized Wind-type? No. It’s something else entirely. Ohohoho.’
The Awakened Ability that Lee Myeong-woo suspected Han Eol possessed was wholly unrelated to fine air current manipulation.
‘Mana Reversal!’
The moment this word formed in his mind, Lee Myeong-woo’s heart began to pound.
Why was Highland exploration so brutally difficult?
Because of the immensely powerful Magical Beasts that carried Mana Stones.
These Magical Beasts existed on an entirely different plane from ordinary ones.
They wielded the tremendous energy that Mana Stones emitted—Mana Force itself—and thus commanded destructive power rivaling the upper echelon Awakened Ones of Midland.
In fact, the Magical Beasts’ abilities were far more formidable than those of the top-ranking Awakened Ones. Their numbers were incomparably vast.
It was these Magical Beasts that turned humanity’s Highland expansion into an endless cycle of hardship and retreat.
But some fifty years ago, an anomaly occurred.
An Awakened One appeared in the world—a miracle worker who could reverse the Mana Force that served as the Magical Beasts’ source of power, slaying them instantly in a single stroke.
Her name was Lee Hyun.
She was the younger sister of Lee Cheol, the founder of Seongsong Group, and the paternal grandmother of Lee Kang-hyun, who now occupied the chairmanship of Seongsong Group.
Since Lee Myeong-woo was Lee Kang-hyun’s second son, Lee Hyun was his great-grandmother.
Though Lee Hyun had now departed from Seongsong Group and faded from public memory, there was a time when she alone bore roughly two-thirds of the company’s entire strength—an absolute authority.
During Lee Hyun’s active years, the Magical Beasts of Highland would flee in terror at the mere shadow of her passing.
With good reason: those Magical Beasts that fell under her hand would either die instantly from Mana Reversal or have their Mana Stones shattered, reducing them to the level of ordinary beasts.
Once Lee Hyun had cleared the stronger Magical Beasts, Seongsong Group would deploy secondary forces to consolidate control of the territory.
As a result, Seongsong Group swept forward without resistance, claiming the Mana Stone Mines, various rare material excavation sites, and Spirit Herb natural habitats.
Beyond that, Lee Hyun had also gathered an enormous quantity of Mana Stones for Seongsong Group.
That Midland Seoul could stand shoulder to shoulder with world-class metropolises like New York, Shanghai, and Osaka owed no small debt to Lee Hyun’s contributions.
Chapter 10
At that time, Seongsong Group had kept Lee Hyun’s existence thoroughly secret. They had maintained absolute silence regarding her Awakened Ability.
They feared that Awakened Ones from rival cities, wary of Midland Seoul’s power, might attempt to assassinate her.
In truth, Lee Hyun held absolute dominion over Magical Beasts dependent on Mana Force, yet she proved surprisingly vulnerable to human Awakened Ones unrelated to Mana.
Precisely for this reason, Lee Cheol kept his younger sister Lee Hyun hidden away—cherished like a jewel in his palm, treasured beyond measure.
But then Lee Hyun found herself growing disillusioned with the behavior of the owner family of Seongsong Group.
After that, she entered Highland and severed all ties with her family.
Following Lee Hyun’s disappearance, Seongsong Group’s growth trajectory visibly weakened, and it had not yet recovered its former glory.
Yet only an extreme few among the owner family knew these circumstances as secrets.
Even Lee Jae-in, Lee Myeong-woo’s right hand, had no inkling of Lee Hyun or her extraordinary Awakened Ability.
‘But Han Eol awakening the very same Awakened Ability as his great-grandmother—this is truly a momentous thing. Ahaha.’
Lee Myeong-woo clenched his fist, unable to contain the surge of emotion in his chest.
Then, a flicker of unease visited him.
‘What if that boy’s Awakened Ability becomes known to the outside world?’
The very thought was horrifying.
‘That cannot happen.’
Lee Myeong-woo shook his head firmly.
Long ago, Lee Cheol had fretted endlessly over protecting his younger sister Lee Hyun.
Now it seemed Lee Myeong-woo found himself wrestling with a similar dilemma.
Initially, Lee Myeong-woo had concealed Han Eol’s existence for political reasons, intending to reassign him to a desk position the moment his Awakening manifested, keeping him sheltered under his own umbrella until an opportune moment arrived.
His original plan was to transfer Han Eol to an internal desk position immediately upon Awakening, holding him secure until the right time presented itself.
‘But now circumstances have shifted. If I want to see that boy’s talents bloom brilliantly, I cannot confine him to a desk—I must send him into Highland instead.’
If Han Eol truly possessed Mana Reversal like Lee Hyun—
Then Highland, the realm of Magical Beasts, might prove safer for him than Midland Seoul, where Awakened Ones swarmed.
There was one more thing.
‘My position now is precarious. With so many of the clan desperate to neutralize me, keeping that boy under my protection could actually be more dangerous. That means I must send him to the Pioneer Battalion, but I need to find a way to shield him there. Hmm.’
Lee Myeong-woo bit his lip, troubled.
No clever solution presented itself immediately.
But solutions would emerge if he searched for them. Lee Myeong-woo tapped his knuckles against the wooden desk—a measured, rhythmic sound.
The morning of May 13th dawned. Han Eol was dragged to the Complex Center testing facility at six in the morning for his Ability Stat evaluation.
He sprinted at full speed while a heavy tire hung from his waist, traversing uneven terrain.
He deliberately opened wounds on his wrists and monitored the speed of his healing.
He engaged in one-on-one combat against a holographic Magical Beast.
Once Han Eol completed these three tests, seven in the morning had arrived. He descended to the company cafeteria for breakfast, then rested until eight.
Then, starting at nine in the morning, the next round of tests commenced.
Han Eol endured tennis balls hurtling chaotically from all directions, meeting each with his bare body.
Then he sprinted through walls of roaring flame.
He trembled violently, buried in a pit of ice.
When an instructor administered a neurotoxin injection, Han Eol had to traverse a single-log bridge back and forth in that state.
Han Eol passed through a poison gas-filled maze.
When strapped to an electric chair and forced to endure electrocution, curses spilled between his clenched teeth.
Moments later, the test results appeared on the monitor.
Han Eol (Employee ID: 330895)
Category
Previous Score
Current Score
Rate of Increase
Health / Stamina
3
6
+100%
Speed / Agility
4
8
+100%
Vitality
8
24
+200%
Attack Power
2
3
+50%
Defense
6
15
+150%
Fire Resistance
3
6
+100%
Cold Resistance
4
10
+150%
Poison Resistance
6
13
+150%
Lightning Resistance
3
6
+100%
Mental Fortitude
10
40
+300%
For example, Han Eol’s health and stamina stat had doubled compared to before he entered Highland. The increase rate was one hundred percent.
Of course, even so, Han Eol’s health and stamina was still just 6—barely one point higher than the average of five for an ordinary adult male.
Meanwhile, Han Eol’s speed and agility stat stood at 8, with an increase rate of one hundred percent.
Now Han Eol had agility in the upper range among adult men, but he was merely on the faster side of ordinary people. Compared to a Physical-type Awakened One, an agility stat of 8 was childish.
Han Eol’s attack power stat was even worse.
‘Only 3? Ugh.’
Han Eol splashed cold water on his face, frustrated.
The various resistance stats also fell short of his expectations.
Most of his resistances had grown by about one hundred percent, just barely reaching the highest tier among ordinary people.
Only his cold resistance had increased by one hundred and fifty percent.
‘Was it from fighting the Seolrang? Is that why my cold resistance shot up like that?’
It was entirely possible.
The Seolrang didn’t just breathe cold—their teeth were laced with poison.
Because of that exposure, Han Eol’s poison resistance had also climbed one hundred and seventeen percent, reaching 13.
‘At least defense and vitality are worth looking at.’
Han Eol’s defense had increased one hundred and fifty percent from before his Awakening, reaching 15.
He couldn’t compare himself to an Awakened One with good Physical stats, but at least he was grateful for that.
‘Vitality is even better than that.’
Before his Awakening, Han Eol’s Vitality was 8.
But now it had climbed to 24—a staggering 200 percent increase. Among his cohort of new hires, his Vitality ranked firmly in the upper tier.
Yet the most remarkable Ability Stat by far was his Mental Strength.
Even before his Awakening, Han Eol had possessed a Mental Strength of 10, placing him at the absolute pinnacle across all of humanity. After his Awakening, that figure had surged to an astonishing 40.
‘Is my Awakened Ability tied to the soul? Is that why my Mental Strength is so disproportionately high? Well, I’m not complaining.’
Han Eol felt reasonably satisfied.
The Second Highland Expedition
Chapter 1
‘What in the world is this?’
Lee Jae-in’s mind flooded with question marks.
Upon receiving Han Eol’s test results, Lee Jae-in couldn’t make sense of the situation and found himself fidgeting endlessly with his wire-rimmed glasses.
‘I thought Young Master had awakened a specialized Wind-type Awakened Ability. In that attribute, his Speed and Agility Stats should be considerably higher than this. Why on earth did these results come back?’
Lee Jae-in was someone who pursued perfection in everything.
For a man of such temperament, nothing caused greater stress than results that diverged from his predictive model.
And the greater source of stress was that he now had to report this finding verbally to Lee Myeong-woo, the Division Director.
Before knocking on the Director’s office door through the secretarial suite, Lee Jae-in steeled himself to receive a stern lecture from his superior about his failed prediction.
But to his surprise, Lee Myeong-woo seemed to be in excellent spirits.
‘Heh-heh. So that boy wasn’t a Wind-type mage after all. A master of Mana Force—one who wields Mana Reversal! He’s of the same Bloodline as Great-Aunt. Heh-heh-heh.’
Lee Myeong-woo’s mouth twitched with barely contained delight.
‘What’s gotten into him? Why is the Director acting like this?’
Lee Jae-in found himself blinking in confusion at the Director’s unexpected reaction.
At that same moment, Han Eol was finally shedding his intern designation and being appointed as a regular full-time employee of Seongsong Group.
Since Han Eol’s Awakening was now confirmed, there was no further reason for him to remain an intern. The Human Resources Department had completed all hiring procedures before his Ability Stat test results were even returned.
As a result, the employee number listed at the top of Han Eol’s test result sheet had changed.
That same afternoon, Han Eol was issued an official employee ID card, which also bore his newly assigned employee number.
During his internship, Han Eol’s number had been “I550895.”
The prefix “I” denoted intern.
Moreover, employee numbers beginning with the digit “5” were assigned only to non-regular staff—cleaning contractors, facilities and landscaping services, the company cafeteria, and administrative support positions.
Now, from Han Eol’s new number, both the letter “I” and the digit “5” had disappeared. In their place, “3”—which signified the regular full-time Awakened One employment classification—held the leading position.
‘Hehe.’
Han Eol broke into a broad grin.
He ran his fingers over the employee ID card with its blue background and white company logo, admiring the clean photograph, then wore it proudly around his neck.
Merely donning the ID card sent a surge of tension through his shoulders. His chest swelled with pride.
‘Ah, this feels good.’
Han Eol couldn’t help but let his eyes crinkle with satisfaction.
It didn’t take long for his euphoria over receiving the full-time employee ID to deflate.
One by one, vacant room indicators were lighting up throughout the dormitory as he watched.
The Seongsong Group Complex Center was constructed in a Π-shaped layout, with Levels B1 through 9F housing training facilities and analysis rooms, Level 10 serving as the company cafeteria, and Levels 11 through 40 functioning as dormitory space to accommodate the numerous interns.
Seongsong Group had hired approximately three thousand interns the previous year.
The dormitory was distributed across thirty floors.
With roughly a hundred people crammed onto each floor, the dormitory inevitably bustled with activity.
But now it had grown so vacant it felt desolate.
A substantial portion of Han Eol’s cohort who had lived here had either failed their Awakening and transformed into beasts, or been devoured by Magical Beasts.
Just two or three weeks ago, his cohort had numbered over three thousand. Now it had dwindled to 998.
If all 998 had remained in the dormitory, it might have felt less barren, but such was not the case.
Of the 998, only 311 Awakened Ones possessed high combat viability.
Seongsong Group had retained these 311 Awakened Ones at the Complex Center for future deployment in Highland pioneering operations, while reassigning the remaining 687 to divisions such as the Weapons Development Team or the New Energy Team.
‘Weapons Development Team? New Energy Team? What do people even do in those places? I’m not sure, but it seems like it’d be better than staying at the Complex Center.’
Owing to his newfound anxiety about safety, Han Eol found himself envying the 687 colleagues who had been transferred elsewhere.
But he would soon realize there was little reason to envy them after all.
Chapter 2
The next morning, orientation for the 311 new employees commenced at the Complex Center.
The instructor leading the first session held up two types of stones before the gathered new hires in the main hall.
“What’s the difference between a Mana Stone and a Mana Force Stone? That’s what we’re going to find out.”
The stone in the instructor’s right hand appeared transparent, like a crystal.
The one on the left was deep blue, emanating a subtle aura.
The instructor spoke first about the stone on the right.
“This is the Mana Stone that some of you retrieved from Highland recently. Simply put, you can think of this Mana Stone as an empty battery capable of storing energy.”
The instructor then held up the stone on the left.
“And this—brimming with blue radiance—is the Mana Force Stone. By way of analogy, you could say this is a battery fully charged with energy.”
The new employees absorbed the instructor’s explanation with focused concentration.
The instructor, turning to his attentive audience, laid bare the darker side of Seongsong Group.
“Why do you think Mana Stones are filled with energy? The answer lies with your cohort. Those of your classmates who failed to Awaken combat-type Abilities and lacked sufficient weapon-crafting skill—the ones assigned to the New Energy Team—what do you suppose they’re doing right now?”
“…….”
No one answered the instructor’s question.
The instructor bared his teeth in a white smile.
“Right now, those classmates are pouring their own energy into empty Mana Stone Mines, turning them into Mana Stones. In other words, a Mana Stone is nothing more than a Mana Stone Mine charged with human energy. Ahahaha.”
“Ugh.”
The new employees reeled from the shock.
‘Damn. What happens to the classmates assigned to the New Energy Team when they exhaust themselves filling empty Mana Stone Mines? Surely they aren’t just disposed of?’
That’s what they all thought.
Even Han Eol felt a pang in his chest.
‘This feels like dangerous information…….’
When the instructor spoke so openly, the atmosphere grew heavy instead. All three hundred and eleven new employees, Han Eol among them, fell silent. Yet part of them felt relief that they hadn’t been dragged off to the New Energy Team.
Though perhaps those three hundred and eleven new employees remaining in the combat division were even more pitiful than their classmates in the New Energy Team.
In three years’ time, how many of these three hundred and eleven new hires would still be alive?
The statistics were clear: roughly ninety percent of the three hundred and eleven would die. Only about thirty-one would survive in three years.
Of course, those thirty-one would live in splendor, receiving salaries and support incomparable to their fallen classmates.
The Puppet Master Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Juneau
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Corporation
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C Corporation – Dream Books
Address |
7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsaro-gil 114, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
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 the written permission of Samyang C&C Corporation – Dream Books.

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