Chapter 521

Why is Lucas an evil person?

Why does Lucas become Huele’s target?

The reason is simple.

It’s because the life that this man named Lucas has ruined is far too many.

“If someone attaches a good modifier to themselves, their essence is often the opposite.”

This is what happens because humans are social animals.

They wear masks, package themselves, and employ insidious means to don a ‘likable’ shell to blend into society. The more these people are aware of their inner danger and filth, the more they hide it inside, donning a ‘safe’ facade to gain favor among others. And like wolves in sheep’s clothing, they wait for the right moment to pick off their prey one by one, filling their bellies—this is their hunting method and their way of survival.

Lucas was the same.

He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and a snake dressed in a suit.

People described him as not a bad person. Not an evil person, rather, a suspicious one. A traitor, a hero… among other evaluations.

They assessed him in various ways.

This was due to the fact that people possess multiple facets…

At the same time, it was the result of his efforts to show multiple facets.

But one thing was for certain—he was not a hero.

Those who succeeded by receiving Lucas’s help from Wall Street regarded him as a ‘hero’ and felt familiarity or respect for him. They spoke of him as someone different from the other wolves of Wall Street, someone they could trust.

But there was something they did not know.

The very Lucas they termed a hero was one of the main figures who caused the suffering of American people during the subprime mortgage crisis.

Subprime Mortgage Crisis.

An event that sent a colossal shockwave across the world.

A monumental catastrophe that etched into people’s minds the lesson that extreme moral hazard could trigger a financial crisis of such grand proportions.

Lucas was right at the center, pocketing a tremendous fortune.

No, he didn’t just pocket money. He actively bundled and packaged bonds, selling them everywhere. Moreover, he cunningly stoked people’s desires, leading them into a frenzy, and later even facilitated loans in the name of pet dogs. He made banks conduct sloppy loan assessments, inflated their expectations about the dollars they could earn, and kept them from waking up from their soaring profits.

Thus, Lucas amassed an extraordinary amount of dollars.

The money he earned was so vast that it could raise doubts about whether it could even be expressed as ‘dollars.’

Nevertheless, the reason he was not identified as the perpetrator of the subprime mortgage crisis was simply that he stayed under the radar. He avoided direct dealings with individuals or small groups to prevent incurring personal grudges. During lobbying, he tried to avoid being in the spotlight as much as possible, and when he had to be involved, he did so in a way that made it hard to trace his existence. When he needed to assert his presence, he used subtle hints but left no evidence of having stepped into the limelight.

Yet, he did not neglect gathering information and fled when things became risky. He sensed the upcoming Great Depression and profited once again.

And with a tiny fraction of the profits he gained, he would use them while saying it was a ‘gift for America,’ further polishing his image. Moreover, the amount and timing were so exquisite that they neither stirred controversy nor were completely forgotten, subtly lingering in people’s memories.

Such machinations proved successful.

While a few wolves of Wall Street fell to gunfire, he remained unscathed.

Thus, Lucas, the main figure behind the subprime mortgage crisis—bringing pain not only to America but to the entire world—avoided paying any price for his sins. He even earned the evaluation of being ‘someone with a semblance of conscience among the wolves of Wall Street.’

Peel back the layers, and you find a well-fed wolf lurking beneath…

Moreover, this was not the end.

Lucas was at the center when the dot-com bubble burst.

He was deeply involved when the 21st-century version of the tulip bubble, known as the Ultimate Flower bubble, blew up.

In times when banks were collapsing and promising companies were being torn apart and sold off, while huge private funds were shaking nations.

All of it.

All of it, Lucas was involved.

At the center.

Sometimes from the outside.

Occasionally from afar.

And all the while, he acts as if he had no role in any of it.

He truly resembles a demon in human form.

A figure who lives donning the name of an angel and its nickname while committing horrendous acts unseen.

That is why Lucas was an evil person and deserving of reaping the harvest from Huele.

‘Greed.’

Furthermore, what makes it even worse is that Lucas isn’t committing evil deeds for some grand purpose.

He is solely obsessed with money.

Money.

Dollars.

Bills with the value of gold!

Just items that are merely numbers, mere pieces of paper!

He moves solely to increase it.

Trampling over people, making blood tears flow from their eyes, smelling the scent of their decomposing corpses as if it were some delicious perfume for humanity.

He only, earn money.

Questions about what he would do with the money he earned are meaningless.

Earning money is both the goal and conclusion!

Some aim to earn money to make the nation prosperous, others pledge to gain power, and some aspire to create a corporate nation—

Yet Lucas only seeks to increase those numbers.

This sight resembles watching a foolish beast stuff itself with food until its stomach bursts.

Naturally, this is a visage deserving of Huele’s visitation.

To act without restraint or purpose is to be the most caution-worthy being, an evil person ripe for harvesting by Huele.

It embodies a pestilence—a walking corpse, a Pestilence God, causing harm to humanity simply by existing.

But the future has changed.

The one who should be harvested was alive and well here.

This reminds us that while the variables of life and death can seem insignificant, they are indeed the most monumental lessons.

“It can be that while someone sees the same thing and believes it must be harvested, others may simply pass by it as everyday scenery.”

Jinseong faintly realized the cause of the butterfly effect, resolving his curiosity. He also learned that the individual who commissioned him belonged to the class of evil beings and that his commission was helping an evil person.

Yes.

He figured it out.

And—

That was where it ended.

Did he realize Lucas was an evil person?

So what changes because of that?

Lucas is Lucas, and Jinseong is Jinseong.

As long as Lucas does not meddle in Jinseong’s affairs, he remains a thorough other.

Unless he harms the Lee Clan or his old companions, or meddles with Korea and Japan, which have earnestly established peace, he had no particular reason to confront Lucas.

Lucas is not an evil person?

Is it a problem to be commissioned by an evil person?

That’s not the case.

Before his rewind, he was a mercenary.

And for mercenaries—being commissioned by evil people is standard, and it’s common to participate in wicked deeds themselves.

Thus, the fact that the employer is an evil person would not spark any discomfort or unease.

Moreover, consider the content of the request.

Isn’t it calm and peaceful?

It doesn’t incite evil, commit evil, or stain hands with malice.

Just utterly mundane requests.

So.

He can simply do it.

Furthermore, even if it wasn’t an ordinary request, he had to do it.

Because he had a contract.

Given that he had a contract, he had an obligation to do everything in his power to fulfill it.

This was the principle of mercenaries, a tenet that allowed the existence of mercenaries in this world.

And that tenet had been ingrained in his spirit for a long time.

Therefore, he must uphold the contract—

And he carried it out.

*

Tablet of Almadel, Tablet of Almadel.

The Tablet of Almadel made from pure beeswax.

Mystical symbols, arcane crests, beautiful pentacles.

Inscriptions engraved with pure gold.

Three names: HELL, HELION, ADONAIJ.

Lit the candles set at each corner.

I pray to the angels of the directions.

Angel, come here.