The Man with Hypnotic Powers Doesn't Hold Back the Second Time Around-Chapter 147

The final stage of gathering information to track down Paimon.

Using the Necromancer and Complete Hypnosis to resurrect Colonel Seo.

If it failed, Korea could turn into a zombie haven, but...

I wasn’t worried at all.

I had boosted my stats quite a lot, after all.

Controlling the Necromancer, restoring Colonel Seo’s soul—

I was confident I could handle it all.

"It’s been a while, Major Kang. Or rather...."

"......?"

‘What the... Why did he revive on his own?’

I hadn’t expected the target to revive on his own.

Standing over the grave, a man dusted off the soil and rose.

Judging by his familiar appearance and the colonel’s insignia, it didn’t seem like the wrong person had been revived.

I could call the mission a success.

"This actually worked...."

"I knew my disciple was incredible, but bringing someone back from the dead? Unbelievable."

"Colonel...!!!"

The others were in awe.

Kong and my mentor were speechless, and General Kang looked ready to cry.

-Quizzical.

"Who’s that guy?"

"He looks familiar... Did I see him passing by at the Joint Chiefs?"

Haru and Winterer had "who’s that?" expressions, but regardless.

For a moment, I was surprised, and my eyes turned golden.

I needed to check his condition.

-Staring.

‘His soul is intact?’

The results were clear.

Colonel Seo’s soul was entirely whole.

It was hard to believe this was someone who had died decades ago and was just resurrected.

‘But I haven’t even touched his soul yet. How is he speaking?’

...The problem was, his soul wasn’t supposed to be intact.

Blood Ghouls created by Necromancers were usually empty shells.

They weren’t supposed to remember anything, let alone talk—groaning and moaning would be the norm.

I was planning to restore his memories, but...

Here he was, talking perfectly fine, memories seemingly intact.

What was going on?

-Ding.

[Your unique skill, "Master of the Dead," reacts to the target's "???"!]

[Blood Ghoul creation is modified.]

[■■ descends.]

'...Is it you again?'

An alert popped up, as if to explain my confusion.

Apparently, due to "???", the Blood Ghoul had transformed...

But it didn’t show what had emerged.

A more useless alert was hard to imagine.

‘Seriously, I need to kiss my mentor soon. This is so aggravating....’

-Pats.

[Complete Hypnosis beams innocently at ■■.]

["Hey there, little minion of Mom!" it says, addressing it casually....]

"Ahem. And you, Yujin."

"......!!!?"

I only had a moment to fume over the unhelpful system alert.

My eyes widened in shock.

Colonel Seo had called my name.

...A recently resurrected person, a man who had died 22 years ago, just called my name?

I was only twenty years old.

"How do you even know my name!?"

"Y-Yes, and how did you know I’d been promoted to General?"

Major Kang and I spoke simultaneously, asking how he knew.

And Colonel Seo’s answer?

"I’d like to tell you, but it would violate the laws of ‘reason.’"

"......? Why would it be against reason? Can’t you just tell us?"

"I can’t. If I did, it would shatter both my soul and yours."

He refused, citing some grand reason.

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He said we’d all die, so he couldn’t reveal it.

My brow furrowed.

It sounded almost like a threat.

"Is that supposed to be a threat...?"

[——It’s the same reason Yujin cannot speak of his regression.]

"......!!!!?"

My brows shot up and my eyes widened in astonishment.

My secret, the one nobody could have guessed—my regression—had almost been revealed for the first time.

-Can’t speak of it. Or rather, I could tell, but doing so would tear my soul apart....

‘So that’s what the Transcendent Sister was talking about?’

One more thing came to mind.

The Transcendent I met in the S-Class Gate.

When I’d probed her, she’d warned me.

That if she told me, my soul would be torn apart.

Until now, I’d thought it was a side effect of resisting hypnosis...

[Colonel, are you under hypnosis, by any chance?]

[Ha! Someone as lowly as me could never receive such an honor.]

[An honor...? Then why can’t you speak?]

[Because of the laws of reason. The order of this universe. Even gods cannot break this restriction.]

I asked, and a somewhat mystical answer came back.

Something about the "laws of reason."

[The laws of reason? What does that mean?]

[Every effect must have a cause. If there’s a result, there must be a cause for it.]

The friendly voice continued resonating in my mind.

[However, certain powerful beings create results without any cause.]

[If they wish, the sun could spin backward, gravity could reverse...]

[They could even rewind time itself.]

"......."

I listened intently, realizing I couldn’t afford to miss a word of this explanation.

[But once such beings start distorting the natural order, there’s no end to it.]

[Thus, the "laws of reason" exist.]

[A force that excludes results without causes. A rule that forbids actions against causality, an absolute restriction even gods cannot ignore.]

[That is the law of reason.]

‘So basically, it’s like a rule against using cheats.’

I grasped a vague understanding of what "the laws of reason" were.

Just as there were laws like gravity in this world, even absolute beings had certain rules.

They could break them, but the penalties would be severe.

‘I get it, but... how does this relate to the restriction on speaking about regression?’

The regression-induced hypnosis that forbids me from speaking about it...

It seems to be a way to prevent me from violating the laws of reason.

But why would saying I’d regressed bring about such a punishment?

I stared forward, my eyes filled with curiosity.

Colonel Seo, my "One-shot Instructor" in this cryptic second life.

I wanted to learn from him.

[But what does this have to do with me?]

"...It seems that’s all I can share. I’m afraid I’m reaching my limit."

"Oh."

Sadly, additional instruction wasn’t possible.

His complexion had visibly worsened in real-time.

It seemed he had pushed himself to teach me this much.

"I’m sorry. I took up too much of your time."

"It’s alright. Oh, this is a memory I’ve stored via telepathy."

-Swish.

"I kept some memories from my researcher days. Review them when you’re free."

Colonel Seo then slowly began moving.

First, he handed me a small pebble containing fragments of his soul.

"Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to say my final goodbyes to Major Kang."

"......Yes."

"Thank you."

Then he approached General Kang.

Without regard for his gradually disintegrating body, turning back into soil bit by bit.

"Colonel... I, uh...."

"I never blamed you, not even once, so please stop visiting my grave. Why waste perfectly good drinks on the ground where I can’t even enjoy them?"

"......."

"If you must, play some lively music instead. Pop songs."

"...Pfft. You’re still the same as ever."

"Indeed. Now, time is short, so be off. My proud comrade, Lieutenant General Kang Joo-duk."

-Crack.

"Honor."

Even General Kang’s expression softened, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Well, this was none of my business.

The only thing I cared about was my daughters.

"Girls? Come over for a moment...."

[Please don’t.]

[...Excuse me?]

I was stopped as I called my daughters.

Colonel Seo gave me a firm look.

[Those children probably don’t want to remember any of this. Please don’t stir up old wounds for my sake.]

[But... aren’t you resentful? Colonel, Winterer—]

[I hold no resentment. If anything, I feel remorse.]

-Thud. Crumble.

As he said this, he sat down on the ground...

Or rather, he was forced to sit.

His legs had half turned to soil, making it impossible to stand.

[In their memories, what kind of person am I?]

[A good person, of course.]

[That’s how you see it. But to them, I was always a figure of fear.]

[...]

[The most horrifying part is that I knew this and continued anyway. I was aware it was monstrous, but I did it for the sake of promotion.]

Regret filled his expression.

His voice, echoing in my mind, was tinged with remorse.

[If only I’d acted as soon as I learned about those experiments, things might have been different.]

[As a soldier, you couldn’t...]

[A soldier can refuse certain orders. The fact that I didn’t was due to my ambition for promotion.]

[...]

[In the end, I failed to abandon anything. Neither my conscience as a human nor my honor as a soldier.]

With regret, his body crumbled away like sand.

Only his upper body remained.

His head turned slowly toward me.

"There will come a time when Yujin must abandon something too. Between something precious and dazzling happiness. You’ll have to choose one."

-He smiled.

"When that time comes, don’t be foolish like me. Don’t let greed cloud your judgment. Follow your heart, not your

mind."

"......."

For some reason, his words about abandoning something resonated deeply.

I simply nodded in silence.

An acknowledgment that I understood his message.

-Nod.

"I’m at peace...."

Colonel Seo gave a final nod and lowered his head, as if he no longer had the strength to lift it.

With a glance at each other, General Kang and I saluted him...

'We should at least bid him farewell properly....'

-Suddenly.

"Wait! You, you’re the one from the lab back then... why are you suddenly doing this!?"

"...Winterer?"

The atmosphere was interrupted by Winterer, my eldest daughter, rushing over.

Apparently, from her distant view, she hadn’t noticed Colonel Seo returning to the soil.

"Dad, what’s going on with him? I was going to thank him for the Choco Pies he gave me back then."

"What!? What do you mean...."

"He used to leave Choco Pies in front of me. But after a year or so, he just disappeared."

"......."

"But now he’s turning to dirt... huh? Nothing’s left?"

It was too late.

All that remained of him was a small mound of earth.

My daughter’s chance to thank him had slipped away.

-He smiled.

‘Truly a great man, right to the end, Colonel Seo.’

It didn’t really matter.

Though they hadn’t said goodbye, there had been just enough time to leave a message.

"He asked me to pass this on to you, Winterer."

"Huh? What did he say?"

"He said, ‘It was just something I happened to drop, so no need to thank me.’"

"...Tch. What a jerk. Still insufferable right to the end."

Hearing his words, my daughter let out a small smile.

"So what kind of person was he?"

"Him? He was a kind person. He’d sneak snacks to us when no one was looking. Things went much faster with him around in the lab."

"I see."

"In fact, when he was there, there was no torture, so it was pretty bearable...."

It was the story of a man trapped in a tragedy.

A tragedy that had concluded 22 years ago but finally reached its true end now.

* * *

A short while later.

"Why are you wrapped up in all those towels?"

"I-In Vietnam, this is how we wash up! Even among friends."

"Don’t tell me...?"

"G-Gah!? You saw!?"

Despite 15 years since my regression, it seemed the story was taking a new turn.