You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 77

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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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77

 

 

“Wake him up.”

 

A cold stream of water struck his face.

 

“Gah…!”

 

Doctor coughed and opened his eyes.

 

He was bound to a metal chair in his underwear.

 

His thick glasses had slipped halfway down his nose.

 

“What… what is the meaning of this!”

 

He shouted until his voice was hoarse, but no answer came.

 

Under the dim torchlight, two shadows overlapped.

 

One familiar person and… one creature that was hard to call human.

 

“Association President, how can you kidnap people like this!”

 

After confirming it was the Association President, Doctor raised his voice even higher.

 

The Association President that Doctor knew was a righteous hero.

 

Illegally kidnapping people like this didn’t suit him at all.

 

But that boldness crumbled with a single word from the strange creature beside him.

 

“I’ve lifted all the restrictions. You can do whatever you want.”

 

‘The restrictions have been lifted?’

 

What exactly was that short creature to so easily lift the cult’s restrictions?

 

It must be a lie.

If it were true…

Doctor’s mind quickly reached a conclusion.

 

“A retired hero has fallen. Aren’t you ashamed to make a contract with a demon?”

 

That creature must be Satan.

That was the only thing that could oppose the cult’s power.

 

“Are you done talking?”

 

The Association President adjusted his glasses with an expressionless face.

 

That blunt consideration sent chills down Doctor’s spine.

 

Doctor swallowed hard.

 

‘…Will I be able to endure it?’

 

In that brief moment, the emotion reflected in the Association President’s eyes was anger.

 

The Association President naturally picked up a pair of pliers from the table.

 

Seeing this, Doctor intuited his fate that was about to unfold and squeezed his eyes shut.

 

Then Yamyeong, who was beside him, spoke up.

 

“Association President, that type doesn’t open their mouth easily with simple pain.”

 

With those words, Yamyeong lightly snapped his fingers.

 

“It’s a search engine from our ancestors, passed down since the Joseon Dynasty.”

 

It was his unique ability, Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Land.

 

However, the space didn’t change like before.

 

Two things appeared.

 

A brazier full of charcoal with a red-hot triangular branding iron, and a bathtub filled with water.

 

“Have you heard of Sizzle and Bubble?”

 

***

 

“Nnnngh…!”

 

Searing pain penetrated Doctor’s thigh.

 

The sensation of his skin burning flooded over him.

 

But for some reason, when Yamyeong removed the branding iron, no trace remained.

 

This time water invaded Doctor’s mouth and nose.

 

The pressure of being unable to breathe and the terror of suffocation.

Water filled his lungs.

 

But this was the same as well.

 

The moment he emerged from the water, his breathing returned to normal.

 

His lung function was normal, and as if all the previous torture had been a dream, no physical pain remained.

 

“This way, there won’t be any aftereffects or traces of interrogation left behind.”

 

The Association President muttered in admiration.

 

‘No traces left behind…?’

 

Doctor’s eyes wavered.

 

Only then could Doctor realize how they had found him.

 

‘They interrogated Yoo Seong-ho.’

 

If it was Yoo Seong-ho, who lacked faith like himself, he would have opened his mouth the moment the branding iron touched him.

 

But since all these traces were that monster’s ability, it was natural that no traces remained on Yoo Seong-ho’s body.

 

‘These demons…’

 

Doctor’s insides boiled with rage.

 

Of course, in Yoo Seong-ho’s case, he had spilled all information just from Yamyeong’s questions without such torture.

 

If Doctor knew this fact, he would feel quite wronged, but it couldn’t be helped.

 

Yoo Seong-ho’s case was already in a state where his spirit was broken,

while Doctor had tightly shut the door of his heart with hostility from the start of the interrogation.

 

So it was necessary to break his spirit before the interrogation.

 

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

 

Once again, the branding iron seared Doctor’s thigh.

The scream he had been holding back burst out.

 

Although there was no harm to his body, Doctor’s spirit was gradually breaking.

 

The monster in front of him was interestingly searing his thigh, while the Association President beside it was making exclamations like “Hmm” and “Aha.”

 

But what bothered him most was the conversation between the two people behind them.

 

The two who had kidnapped him.

 

“You can control Ghost Stones like this too.”

 

“Sister, even so, isn’t it a bit much to have stone fragments embedded in the solar plexus like this?”

 

“If you sculpt well, even if not steel abs, abs as hard as stone seem possible, right?”

 

The man and woman manipulating the Ghost Stone embedded in Yoo Seong-ho’s solar plexus this way and that, as if finding it fascinating.

 

The two appeared to be researching how to safely remove the Ghost Stone from Yoo Seong-ho’s body,

but to Doctor, who was gripped by extreme terror from the aftermath of the interrogation, they looked like nothing but monsters wearing human masks.

 

“Yamyeong, it’s noisy, could you block the mouth a bit?”

 

“Ah, I was so focused that I disturbed my Lord’s ears.”

 

When Yamyeong snapped his fingers, a door appeared and separated the space.

 

But among all this chaotic situation, there was just one thing that was driving Doctor crazy.

 

‘What should I answer when they haven’t even asked me anything!’

 

It was truly maddening and infuriating.

 

“Now then, shall we have an intimate conversation again?”

 

Yamyeong’s figure slowly approaching was like a Grim Reaper.

 

***

 

“He must have been thoroughly brainwashed by the Cult, as he wouldn’t easily open his mouth.”

 

Yamyeong began his report in front of me.

 

“I didn’t expect to have to bring out Juri.”

 

I looked at Yamyeong with an incredulous expression.

 

The two clubs that had appeared when I called ‘Juri’ quickly flashed through my mind.

 

Doctor, who was faintly visible in the back, had a seizure every time Yamyeong spoke.

 

What a terrifying subordinate.

Even though the interrogation was over, he was still grinding the opponent’s mind…

 

Above all, until calling Juri, Yamyeong hadn’t asked Doctor any questions at all.

 

“Then I’ll begin briefing the information we discovered.”

 

When Yamyeong snapped his fingers, a screen appeared.

 

It was a possible production since we were still inside Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Land.

 

Yamyeong’s report contents were as follows.

 

First, Doctor was a believer of the Cult called an Evangelist.

 

All illegal procedures using ghost stones were overseen by the Doctor.

 

It was an advanced version of the sorcery that had once transformed a C-rank Gnugn into an S-rank boss.

 

The Doctor called this technique ‘Ghost Stone Weapon Implant Surgery.’

 

However, it didn’t seem like the stability had been fully secured yet.

 

‘Or perhaps they deliberately didn’t secure the stability.’

 

Without periodic adjustment treatments, they would go berserk like Yoo Seong-ho.

 

Well, implanting ghostly energy into a person – how could anyone stay sane?

 

Though I learned many things, I couldn’t identify the Cult Leader or the true nature of the core forces.

 

Even when Yamyeong rummaged through his subconscious, the parts about the cult were completely blank.

 

The strongholds the Doctor knew about also couldn’t serve as substantial clues.

 

In his mind, countless strongholds were interconnected like a spider web, but they were all in cell organization form.

 

It was a structure where each didn’t know the others, so even if you wiped out one stronghold, you’d only touch a small part underneath.

 

But even within that, I could extract meaningful information.

 

The cult’s followers regularly held worship services, and from those memories, I could confirm the location of the cult branch.

 

Perhaps his faith was truly deep, as memories of worship remained vividly in his mind.

 

‘What kind of worship for a pseudo-religion…’

 

And the most important information.

 

The fact that Liu Chen, the Korean branch leader, would attend the next regular worship service.

 

The cult executive Carmen had mentioned.

 

The mastermind who had attacked Park Ju-yong and Shin In-seon, and planned to eliminate the people around me one by one to force me into joining the cult.

 

If I caught him, I could gain quite a lot.

 

“Please gather trustworthy Association Hunters.”

 

“Do you have a plan?”

 

“What else would I do? We need to completely wipe out the bastards eating away at Korea from both inside and outside.”

 

This was the first and last opportunity to sweep away the cult in Korea all at once.

 

If we missed this chance, they would hide even deeper.

 

Even setting aside personal feelings, the cult was a serious threat.

 

You could tell just from the department store terrorist incident that happened this time.

 

There were a total of 12 Hunters who had undergone ghost stone weapon implant surgery.

 

If they all went berserk at once, it wouldn’t be easy to stop them like in Yoo Seong-ho’s case.

 

Above all, now that I knew the cult’s ultimate goal, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

 

‘If only it were just ordinary religious activities, how nice would that be.’

 

You know what I mean, don’t you.

The kind that reaches out to the marginalized.

Pure religious activities without pseudo-religious things like sexual scandals or financial extortion.

 

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have needed to struggle this much.

 

But the cult’s ultimate goal far surpassed such pseudo-religious activities.

 

That insane utopia I saw in the Doctor’s mind.

 

Unification of the world under faith.

 

‘To think there are still crazy dreamers who dream of world domination.’

 

I could only let out a hollow laugh at the cult’s incomprehensible goal.

 

Honestly, even though it was information obtained from the Doctor’s consciousness, it was hard to believe.

 

But what’s even more ridiculous is that I think the cult could actually do it.

 

The ultimate goal of ghost stone weapon implant surgery is to mass-produce A-rank Hunters.

 

If everything goes according to plan, all the cult’s followers would possess the power of A-rank Hunters.

 

It was an obvious fact that they would have stronger power than any nation.

 

So I need to deal with this cult leader before they unify the world.

 

“I’ll handle the inside. Just take care of the ones trying to escape outside.”

 

***

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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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