You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 141
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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141
What appeared at the end of the shadow was a crude iron door.
It was an interrogation room that had been crafted with considerable effort to avoid the Cult Leader’s pursuit.
It was a space where Yamyeong had disguised the space itself using Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Land and Divine Artifact Power.
The Cult Leader’s fraudulent ability to establish tracking just by recalling a name could be completely blocked here.
When I turned the handle, with a creaking sound, a completely different scenery unfolded that was unimaginable for an interrogation room.
There were no walls or ceiling.
It wasn’t the concept of a room to begin with.
Endless grassland stretched out, and grass blades swayed like waves under the sunlight.
The moment I turned around and closed the door, the door disappeared without a trace.
As I said, it was a space made with great care.
Even if the Cult Leader arrived here,
it was structured so that he would be trapped again the moment he entered.
Walking toward the hill, there was a table placed under a tree.
Doctor was sitting in front of the table,
so I pulled out a chair and sat across from him.
I looked at him silently.
A strange tension flowed in the silence.
Normally I would have spoken first, but perhaps instinctively sensing that the atmosphere was unusual, he kept his mouth shut.
It was because he also knew that this peaceful-looking place was a location for interrogation.
Apart from that, it was also because of the aura I was giving off.
‘Tsk, killing intent keeps leaking out.’
It was true that I was heated up by Yamyeong’s injury, but it wasn’t to the extent that I couldn’t even control my killing intent.
Because I was confident that Yamyeong would recover.
If I had truly felt anger to the point of losing reason, Doctor wouldn’t be in an intact state right now.
I would have started with bone-crushing torture as soon as we met.
However, this was because I had unleashed Absolute Sorrow in the sparring with Park Ju-yong.
It was because I had used it too seriously to show Park Ju-yong.
But it wasn’t bad.
If an interrogation was going to follow anyway, shouldn’t there be this level of intimidation?
Doctor was trying to hide his nervous expression, but his fingertips were trembling slightly.
But it was insufficient to start the interrogation.
“I don’t like your eye level.”
Bang!
Simultaneously with my words, the table flew away.
Dominating Pressure from my toes crushed the space.
The overturned table cutting through the air scattered as if disappearing, and the chair Doctor had been sitting on crumbled as it was.
Doctor was slammed to the floor without even being able to scream.
Remaining in a kneeling position.
Instantly, the atmosphere of the interrogation room changed.
Looking down at him, I slowly opened my mouth.
“I don’t know your name, so I’ll just call you Doctor.”
Doctor urgently opened his mouth.
“I am—”
It seemed like he was trying to say his name, but that wasn’t important.
“There’s no need for useless words.”
I continued speaking deliberately, word by word.
“It’s very simple. I’ll ask questions and you’ll answer them.”
I briefly lowered my gaze to look at Doctor.
“Do you understand?”
Doctor swallowed and nodded his head.
“Good.”
I leaned back in my chair again.
“First, let me offer my sincere apologies.”
At my gesture, the waiting Goblins of the Sadangpae attached machines to the Doctor’s temples and chest.
It was a lie detector.
“Originally, I was planning to open your mind and examine only the truth and memories.”
I took a sip of the tea the Goblins had brought.
“But the Close Friend who handles that got injured, you see.”
I set the teacup down on the armrest and continued speaking.
“So please understand that we have no choice but to use rough methods.”
What was there to understand about an interrogation?
This was a polite threat.
My friend got hurt and I’m in a bad mood, so spill everything nicely.
Otherwise, you’ll suffer even greater pain.
Something along those lines…
When the Doctor didn’t answer, electric current flowed through his body.
“Urgh—!”
His body flinched.
“That’s what happens if you don’t answer.”
I added matter-of-factly.
“That was just a simple warning. I don’t know what will happen after this. However, if you only tell the truth, I’ll guarantee you’ll be treated properly as a prisoner.”
Then I casually let slip a quiet remark.
“After all, in this space, you can’t die even if you want to.”
The Doctor didn’t ask any more questions.
He sufficiently expressed his intention by nodding his head.
“Then let’s start right away.”
I looked down at him and threw out the first question.
“What is the Cult Leader’s purpose?”
The Doctor hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
“…To become a God again.”
The detector indicated truth.
It was an answer that made me want to laugh bitterly.
I had suspected as much since he started coveting Divine Power.
However, hearing it directly from the mouth of a high-ranking Cult official gave me a strange feeling.
I immediately continued with the next question.
“Why does he want to become a God?”
“To create a utopia.”
The detector indicated truth.
The Doctor looked at me to provide an explanation.
When I gave my permission, he began to elaborate with additional information.
The Cult Leader’s goal was to build a utopia where all humans would be happy.
An ideal world where humans would be liberated from suffering.
It was an absurd statement.
‘I knew he was crazy, but this is beyond the limits of crazy.’
Or perhaps—it might be for the classic brainwashing that pseudo-religions spout about doomsday or utopia.
But the Doctor’s eyes showed no wavering.
As if he were someone who had directly seen that ideal world.
Even the detector was pointing to truth, so I couldn’t determine whether this was real or a brainwashed truth.
However, as the Doctor’s explanation continued, the Cult’s actions up until now were starting to make sense.
A world where one sheds the shell of the flesh and feels spiritual happiness.
Magic Stone weapons, Liu Chen who proclaimed himself a new human, and the Doctor’s Chimera experiments.
They were all aimed at transcending the species called ‘humanity’.
But even if that succeeded, could that place truly be called a utopia?
No, whose utopia would that be?
An old movie flashed through my mind.
The Matrix.
A world without free will.
A virtual prison that makes you believe you’re free.
Living while deluding yourself into thinking you’re happy—
how is that different from being dominated as a battery?
Even in such a place, human emotions existed.
Chasing happiness in an illusion.
That wasn’t the utopia I wanted.
What was truly frightening was
that if the Cult Leader continued absorbing Divine Power, such a world could become reality.
‘Tsk, another reason to destroy the cult has emerged.’
I paused for a moment.
I organized my thoughts in my head.
Then I asked the final question.
An important question that would determine my future course of action…
“Is the Vatican part of the cult?”
The Doctor’s pupils trembled slightly.
“…No.”
The detector indicated truth.
“Then let me rephrase the question.”
I leaned forward slightly.
“Are there cult believers inside the Vatican?”
This time the answer came slightly delayed.
“…I don’t know the detailed circumstances. However, I do know that the cult has infiltrated quite high positions.”
The detector still pointed to truth.
I didn’t ask any more questions.
The Vatican was a massive force comparable to the Magic Tower.
It was the only group on Earth that dealt with Sacred Power.
I had somewhat guessed from the Sacred Power remaining in Yamyeong’s wounds.
And also from the message Yamyeong had delivered.
The message that Yamyeong tried to deliver before losing consciousness contained two pieces of information.
One address to an unknown location.
And…
A tilted cross drawn on a shield.
That was clearly a symbol of the Vatican.
‘I thought we had completely rooted out all cult forces within Korea…’
Aside from the difficulty of infiltration, there was no better mask for the cult than the Vatican.
The fact that it was a massive force was also problematic.
But the real problem was something else.
Friend-or-foe identification wasn’t complete.
The enemy was the cult, not the Vatican.
The problem was insufficient information about where the cult ended and where the Vatican began.
‘I need to gather more reliable information first.’
And this wasn’t something I could decide and finish on my own.
After thinking for a moment, I stood up from my chair.
“Today’s interrogation ends here.”
With those words, I immediately returned to the Guild Building.
When I passed through the corridor and opened the conference room door, guests who had arrived earlier were already waiting for me.
Kim Jin-woo and Park Ju-yong were waiting beside the empty chair.
And next to them were Zhang Qingye and Dolsoe.
It wasn’t just Ashin.
The Magic Tower Master and Former Magic Tower Master, and even the Association President.
The figures who dominated Korea’s Hunter Community had gathered in one place.
The interrogation wasn’t the end.
The real meeting would start from now on.
“So the bold guild that attacked Yamyeong is the Sacred Guild?”
First, let’s deal with the closest enemy.
***
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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