Chapter 72

What to do…

I’ve got some ingredients someone brought over, and I need to cook a meal.

The problem? I don’t know how to make this stuff edible.

Wait, can I even cook?

Well… most of what I *do* know about cooking comes from memories of another world.

The biggest issue is that the four men living here have never actually cooked for themselves before. They’ve got no idea what these ingredients are even *for.*

“Do you know how to cook rice?”

As evening approached, an elderly woman who claimed to be a maid casually tossed over the ingredients to a young girl.

She shook her head side to side. Her face, hands, and feet were swollen like she had some kind of illness. It made her look like a bear’s paw. This sort of sickness is pretty common in this world.

Even if someone has special powers, they don’t always get distributed evenly. That was true in the world where the Faded Man lived, and it’s still true in this more advanced one.

Or rather…

Am I supposed to take care of this kid too?

This shack on the verge of collapse, these random food supplies dumped here, and now this sickly child supposedly under my care.

I can already sense the malevolent intent of the Heavenly Horse.

So, assuming that’s settled… what am I supposed to do with this kid? Maybe just steal her warmth?

If she became a monster, sure, she’d be cold, but at least she wouldn’t suffer anymore, right? Wait, is that even right?

I could turn her into a Harvester, but in this situation, doing so would only prolong her suffering.

What am I even supposed to do with her?!

While I’m lost in thought, the tiny child starts fumbling around with the ingredients. Her swollen hands move awkwardly, her fingers barely working as she tries to handle them.

I decide to let her try on her own.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow the Heavenly Horse will change his mind and come after my head.

Hey, kid! Don’t grab the knife like that!

Ugh, she’s gonna fall…

I snatch the knife away from her. Look, those sad puppy eyes aren’t gonna work—this isn’t allowed, period.

All the kitchen-related memories tell me the same thing: first, slap her across the face hard, then teach her not to mess with knives recklessly.

But… I mean, I get it, but does it really need to go that far with a kid like this?

That method’s only for kids who actually have parents to raise them properly. A kid like this? She’ll understand if I just explain things calmly. Plus, she’ll need to learn how to use a knife eventually.

Whether it’s for cooking or stabbing people.

In this world, survival skills might come in handy later.

Or should I just turn her into a Harvester instead? At least give her a proper human life?

Maybe I should fix her appearance and create a child capable of producing lots of Harvesters.

Hmm…

The Faded Man’s memories are surprisingly quiet right now. Usually, they’d flare up like neon signs, but not this time.

Looking through the memories of the four Harvesters, I can figure out what these ingredients are for, so I guess I should cook something edible.

Except… there’s no fire.

Not only is there no tool to start a fire in the kitchen, there’s not even any wood or fuel lying around.

So I kinda warp reality a bit, find a pot, fill it with water, and heat it up. But when I discover it’s all rusted, I toss it outside and conjure up a new one.

Might as well grab some tableware while I’m at it.

*Kadeuk.*

Looks like making all this stuff caused some cracks in the kitchen. What a fragile world.

But they’re slowly shrinking, so by tomorrow they’ll probably heal up.

Cooking done.

Even though it turned out like dog food, I still set the table and brought it to the room. The room’s colder, so we’ve all gathered back in the kitchen since there’s still some residual heat from the fire.

Let’s feed the kid first and think about the rest later.

When I tried a spoonful, it wasn’t dog food—it was more like lumpy dog porridge.

Failed at water control. Hopefully future-me will do better.

Sitting randomly in the kitchen, I eat alongside the kid.

“What’s your name?”

In response to my question, the child mutters something incomprehensible. Can’t hear her clearly. Looks like her vocal cords are fine, but maybe her throat muscles are messed up?

Judging from her mouth movements, she can talk—she just can’t right now.

Her body emits faint glimmers of light here and there. Parasites, huh.

But I can’t just steal her warmth like I did before. If I do, the parasites inside her will turn her into a monster and tear her apart trying to escape.

Would it be better to just let her die? Or should I turn her into a Harvester?

I ponder this while the kid sits there with her mouth full of sticky gruel.

***

Dawn.

It’s freezing because there’s a river nearby. Since there’s a rotting blanket in the room, I just left it there and put the kid to sleep next to the kitchen fire.

Something weird must be keeping the fire burning because there’s nothing left to burn, yet it won’t go out. Is this some kind of dangerous atomic energy or something? Nah, if it was radiation, we’d both be dead already.

Anyway, I don’t care, but this kid’s still human.

Oh, speaking of which, something interesting is happening.

Gapjae, now reinstated as a law enforcer, is currently on guard duty. Of course, “guard duty” means he gets to sit comfortably in a much nicer place than the shack I’m staying in.

The actual guarding is being done by people lower in rank than him.

Anyway, someone important showed up in front of Gapjae.

She’s the daughter of the previous sect leader. A super famous person that all four Harvesters know about. Apparently, she left the Heavenly Horse Sect for a while but has now returned. For some reason, she quietly persuades Gapjae to let her enter without drawing attention.

The Harvesters all think the current Heavenly Horse treats her well, but apparently, their relationship isn’t so great.

She explicitly asked that news of her return not reach the Heavenly Horse.

Gapjae nodded in agreement. After all, he knows the rumor that the disappearance of the previous Heavenly Horse was orchestrated by the current one. And including Gapjae, three out of the four Harvesters think highly of the previous Heavenly Horse.

Actually, all four of them.

Yeah.

Jeonyang also thinks positively of the previous Heavenly Horse.

Though honestly, I doubt he was really such a good guy.

Why?

Because how could someone who invented a system that implants insects into human bodies be considered good? This isn’t even the current Heavenly Horse’s creation—it goes way back to the predecessor or even earlier.

Anyway, Gapjae silently allowed the daughter of the former sect leader to pass and then sat back down at his post, giggling to himself.

He must have some sort of plan brewing, huh? Unfortunately, once someone becomes a Harvester, their thoughts are only visible in real-time unless they say them aloud or write them down.

Sure, I *could* read his mind, but decoding the countless neural firings in his brain sounds like a nightmare.

Nope, can’t do it.

So I just watch him giggle to himself.

Eunchun and Byeonil are asleep, and Jeonyang is practicing the Heavenly Horse Technique at the same spot he was yesterday afternoon.

The sight of the Heavenly Horse sitting cross-legged like some girly schoolgirl in front of Jeonyang’s training room cracks me up. Such a contrast from when he was threatening me earlier.

Is this some kind of gender identity crisis? Not sure.

Honestly, I don’t really care about the Heavenly Horse.

What *does* interest me is the group of shamans who summoned me.

A summoning method completely unrelated to Yaseul’s style.

It’d be great if I could access their memories somehow…

To do that, do I need to expand the number of Harvesters enough to reach the shaman group?

The Heavenly Horse Sect reveres power above all else.

Which means they’d likely do anything to gain strength.

If they find out Harvesters grant immense power, there’ll be plenty of volunteers. Given the nature of the Heavenly Horse Sect, it’s highly probable they have shamans among their ranks.

So I’ve decided to let it be known that I’m here.

The two guys who dropped off food will spread the word about me.

Why? Because they’re exactly the type of people who talk freely without needing to be silenced. They’ll gossip to anyone.

On the flip side, if someone important-looking had brought me here, the Heavenly Horse might treat me as a VIP. Fortunately, I’m basically being ignored.

And while I’m at it, I’ve taken a petty little revenge too.

Heh.

That’s good. I was getting worried that the Heavenly Horse was watching me too closely, but this setup gives me a lot more freedom to act.

Ah, thinking about revenge reminded me… who was the person carrying one of Choseol’s eyeballs that time? The one I destroyed because it could be broken.

Before regenerating her body, she was practically a living corpse. She grew up that way—sensory deprivation, constant hallucinations induced by drugs, and her bodily functions reduced to the bare minimum.

She probably wouldn’t survive until adulthood.

Which means she was intended to be used before reaching adulthood.

Human sacrifice?

But after reviewing the memories of the four Harvesters, there’s no evidence of human sacrifice in the Heavenly Horse Sect. Moreover, Choseol’s identity remains a mystery.

The memories start forming a vague outline around age three, but by then, Choseol was already being raised as an experiment. Strangely, there’s no sign of anyone similar to her in the surrounding area.

If they had a specific purpose for her, wouldn’t they have created more like her? Yet searching through Choseol’s memories reveals no one else in the same situation.

Also, her training began before Jeongha ascended to become the Heavenly Horse.

The Heavenly Horse Sect resembles the Demon Sect from the Faded Man’s memories, but something far darker lurks beneath its surface.

The shaman group operating almost independently from the Heavenly Horse Sect.

The mysterious entity that possessed one of Choseol’s eyeballs.

The excessively large architecture built atop karst terrain.

The relationship between the previous sect leader and the current one.

There are many secrets.

Which means I need to work hard to create an automatic harvesting system so I don’t end up like last time.

I’ll do my best!

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