After Returning, My Abilities are Infinite - Chapter 26

The First Plague (5)

[‘Excellent insight’ is activated.]

Each of Seong Hyun-woo’s fine movements became more defined in my eyes.

It was an entirely different perspective from what others see. The trait allows me to dismantle and understand every little movement, every minor habit.

Judging from his breathing, the tension on his muscles, his fingers – I can predict the trajectory of his attack, and how much power will be onto it.

The synergy of Excellent Insight that supports my senses and the constantly growing physical abilities I receive from Link was truly an explosive combination.

Teeeng, tid-ding!

Metallic sounds echo within the room, although there was no visible attack.

Seong Hyun-woo’s kinetic powers have overwhelming strength and speed.

However…

If you are armed with a strong weapon, you didn’t know how to wield; it’s useless.

No matter how talented he is, he is still in the process of figuring out his abilities. It would take a while for him to master and maximize them.

Besides, his traits and skills are not limited to one or two.

Seong Hyun-woo’s abilities were not limited to reading memories and explosive kinetic energy.

His qualities and skills belong to a comprehensive gift set for a complete Esper.

There would be at least six abilities, and the theory was if he hadn’t been killed by the disaster he made, he would have been able to find out about them and utilize them better.

So, all we need to do is hold him down while we wait for Jin-woo’s poison to kick in.

“Huhup…!”

Pung!

Suddenly, I was pushed back and thrown on the ground. I rolled several times uncontrollably.

An intense shockwave exploded against my shield.

“Hoo… it’s difficult…”

I tried to put my hands on the ground to regain my balance.

I felt an intense numbness in my hands.

The shield that I was holding was gone.

It was smashed by the attack.

Fortunately, it was a weapon created by Nightmare, so it simply dissolved after taking damage.

If it was a normal metal shield, it would have exploded into shards and injured me.

“Well…”

He won’t give me a chance to create another weapon.

Seong Hyun-woo floated in the air, looking down at me.

“This is a little scary.”

He was angry. Very angry.

“Oh, ah ah ah ah!”

A cracked voice flows out of his lips.

As I looked at him, I kept my composure.

Because… there was someone on our side angrier than him.

“What are you doing, you bitch!”

Han Yeon-soo screamed as her shadow shook.

In response to her anger, a number of creatures in Queen’s Country moved.

“Oh ah ah ah!”

Weapons on the ground, filth, fragments of chains began floating in the air and rotated violently around Seong Hyun-woo as he stared at me with a murderous gaze.

However, before he could do anything –

“Quiet!” Yeon-soo yelled.

A huge hand, with each finger larger than a human body, grasped Hyun-woo’s frail form.

Then, spiders a few meters in size began crawling out of Yeon-soo’s shadow.

“Get him!… Ahhh!”

The spiders began binding Seong Hyun-woo’s body.

He struggled and tried to escape, but the spider webs were made of strong material incomparable to ordinary metal.

“Great,” I told Han Yeon-soo. “About 3- or 4-minutes left…”

Han Yeon-soo nodded as she watched Seong Hyun-woo hanging upside down from the ceiling, bound there by the spiders she called out.

The child’s eyes were looking focused, and he was drooling. It meant that the poison was spreading.

It’s easier than I thought.

Seong Hyun-woo, who did not know how to use his power, could not match Han Yeon-soo.

No, should I say that he couldn’t fight properly because of Lee Jin-woo’s First Strike?

Anyway, it was a good thing that the plan was followed without any variables.

But.

There was something I didn’t expect.

“AAAAH AAH AAAAH!”

The driving force of Seong Hyun-woo’s power is stress. Even if he didn’t know how to use his immense power, it was enough to simply unleash them when he was placed in a stressful situation, such as being bound helplessly.

“Oooh!” Yeon-soo screamed at me, “Get away!”

The webs that bound him were torn open.

Yoo Ji-yeon and Lee Jin-woo tried to help me by activating their skills and traits.

However, Seong Hyun-woo’s movement was twice as fast as their speed combined.

The boy’s body floated to me in an instant; the air around him is shining with mighty energy.

Of the characters I know, only one god could endure the upcoming blow at this close range.

There was no time to summon the god through Link.

The boy was right in front of me, his eyes searching through mine.

I kept my calm.

Seong Hyun-woo tilted his head out of curiosity as he stared at me, whose expression was not of someone facing death

“Ah…” he murmured thoughtfully as our gazes held.

[Talent’ Memory Recall (S) detected.]

[Seong Hyun-woo contacts Akashic Records.]

[The Akashic Records is being accessed by someone other than the user.]

The Traveler shook his head.

[Ignorant child. A person who can read memories trying to touch the Akashic Records is suicide.]

Soon, Seong Hyun-woo’s eyes began to shake violently.

“Huh… Heo… … .”

He descended to the floor and stumbled backward as if he was weakened.

His eyes looked like they have seen something that should not be seen.

[A random human can’t handle the history of the universe at once. Only the user could.]

Seong Hyun-woo convulsed as he fell to the ground.

I didn’t know if it was because of the poison, or if it was due to the Akashic Records as the Traveler said…

* * *

My body felt heavy. However, I feel the textures around me so vividly.

When I opened my eyes, I was lying on an immaculately white bed.

There were no chains constraining my body.

My joints hurt, but the constant pain from my wounds and bruises were gone.

As I lowered my head, I saw a tight bandage wrapped around my body.

A tube was also attached to my wrist.

Is this a dream?

Was that a dream?

I do not know.

As I looked at the futon and the bed, several scenes passed by before my eyes.

There was a doctor here, cleaning my wounds, wiping the pus out, and covering me with bandages.

Did my dream become a reality?

Then, I heard someone speak.

“Are you awake?”

A stranger came in. No, not a stranger…

It was a face I’ve seen somewhere.

But strangely, I could not read anything while looking at the man’s face.

What’s more, his appearance was constantly changing.

One moment, he is a knight in huge armor, the next moment, an archer wearing animal skin… a giant with a spear…

The man mysteriously changed forms every second.

“What’s with that expression?” the man asked. “The Traveler said that you can’t read my memories now. What are you looking at?”

His appearance stopped changing and settled into one form.

“Okay… Better think of what happened as a dream. It might be better to think that way and not remember anything.”

Strange…

He said I would not be able to read him, but…

I can see the memories clearly.

His parents died when he was a child—killed by monsters.

He entered the Academy but was discriminated against.

He became an analyst.

His first achievement was preventing what they called the First Disaster…

Huh?

The First Disaster looked very familiar.

It was like looking at a mirror.

I am the First Disaster.

I remembered what I did after I discovered my parents’ deaths.

However, my anger didn’t rise up violently as it did earlier.

It felt like my heart was empty.

At the scene, the man was as angry and sad as I was.

The man’s story flowed quickly and clearly.

Dealing with disasters, teaming up with other people called ‘Heroes’, defending humanity, protecting the world.

The solitary and desperate fight was as terrible. It was almost the same feeling I had when I was being abused and chained down for years.

The last moment was anti-climactic.

He died in vain.

But he didn’t bend even until the end.

“Rest some more. I’ll come back later.”

I woke myself up from watching his memories and raised my head.

I saw the man waving at me, but…

Half of the man was young, just a little older than me.

The other half was a middle-aged man with wrinkled skin and creases around his eyes, closer to his forties than his thirties.

Are they the same person?

“…”

I waited until the man left the room, then stared at the stand next to the bed.

Then, as I saw in the scenes, my fingers seemed to have intense energy.

This is a dream, right? Are Mom and Dad really… dead? I do not know…

The stand floated and spun in the air.

I don’t want to think about it. 

I don’t want to think about it.

* * *

[It seemed like he doesn’t remember most of what happened. However, the problem was that most of the power I felt earlier also disappeared.]

“Stress is his driving force. After the explosion, it’s going to fade little by little. Still, he had strong essence, so after a little time…”

Han Yeon-soo helped me get him hospitalized, despite her intention to kill him for trying to hurt me.

After all, her nature is good.

With this, I have teamed up with two of the five heroes, and rescued the First Disaster, preventing it from happening.

I do not know if he’s really going to be our ally, but I can be sure that he will never be an enemy of humanity.

As the Traveler said, there was no evil in the child’s eyes.

Even if he won’t fight with us, he wouldn’t go the wrong path.

Then, the rough work is over.

Until the second disaster, I can afford to relax a little.

The next disaster is much larger than the first one, but it would come in the far future.

I was confident I could handle it.

I have time to prepare.

***

[Hwayeon Choin Superman Academy Graduate Class]

[Jeong Si-woo]

My stint at the Academy is getting closer to its end.

“Oh, really…”

“Maybe the professors wanted him out quickly, so they promote him to the senior class, saying he was good…”

I pretend not to hear. People were sniping and spitting as I walked the hallways to the classroom.

“Junior, don’t think about getting special treatment here. No one respects you.”

I turned my head as the voice sounded familiar.

A man was looking at me with a smile.

Tuk-tuk!

He hit my back and stared at me with a threatening gaze.

This asshole.

I remembered who he is.

Kim Hyun-cheol’s older brother, Kim Hyun-tae.