Chapter 303

‘doctor’

The unidentified being that Woo Jin-cheol mentioned approached Su-ho faster than expected.

As if Suho had been waiting for Russia to come.

“… … The 47th doll?”

As Suho’s eyes narrowed, the pink-haired woman bowed her head politely and said.

“Yes. I am the best toy that the doctor has completed after 46 experiments. The doctor sent me as a gift to show his favor to Seongsuho.”

“gift?”

What does this mean?

As Suho’s guard rose at those words, the woman ripped off her own arm without saying a word.

Knock knock.

… … ?!

Swoosh-

Before she could even be startled by the sudden action, the woman’s arm regenerated in an instant, with pink cells writhing.

The woman who had presented such an astonishing performance with such an indifferent expression introduced herself again indifferently.

“As you can see, I am the ultimate toy and slave who will fix itself no matter how much you break it. This is a message from the doctor, so please, Seongsuho, play with me as much as you want. You can use me for any purpose, whether it’s to relieve stress or for combat.”

“… … .”

When there was no answer from Suho, the woman tilted her head.

“Do you not like me? I was designed to be quite attractive, and people will not like me by human standards, but if there is anything you do not like, I will fix it.”

“… … .”

Suho frowned instead of answering, at the tone of voice that sounded like he was describing some kind of electronic product.

No, isn’t that too suspicious?

It’s also weird that a guy I don’t even know is offering to give me a gift out of the blue.

That gift is immediately the best toy and slave?

How many people would readily be grateful if you suddenly showed up and gave them such a gift?

To begin with, Suho simply felt uncomfortable and disgusted when he saw a being that was not even human but rather an artificial human.

I was genuinely curious.

Does this guy called ‘Doctor’ really think that his goodwill will be conveyed like this?

Don’t you know that this will only make you more alert?

‘… … Or is there some other purpose despite that?’

Moreover, Suho was more surprised by the woman’s action of cutting off her own arm without hesitation than by the fact that the woman’s arm had spontaneously reattached itself before his eyes.

Isn’t that inhumanity of treating oneself like a toy grotesque?

[Your Majesty.]

Berdou was also on high alert.

Ber muttered, glaring at the woman next to Suho.

[The energy of Itarim is thickly concentrated. As if… … .]

Glance.

Ber’s gaze turned to the sickle held in Hasul’s hand.

[I think I see a sickle made from that stone.]

The sickle of the harvest.

A weapon made by melting down a whole foreign stone.

Woo Jin-cheol said that he had received that scythe from the doctor before.

And then, from the unidentified ‘experimental subject’ that had formed out of a pink powder before my eyes, I could feel an energy almost identical to that of the scythe.

The implications were clear.

“You are my gift?”

“Yes. Please accept me.”

“Before I decide whether to accept or reject a gift, I need to know who sent it.”

Suho asked the woman with a stern expression.

“Is the ‘Doctor’ who created you an apostle of Itarim?”

“you’re right.”

Immediate answer.

Suho was momentarily speechless at the woman’s obedient nod.

I never thought it would happen, but it’s true.

“Why is the Apostle of Itarim showing me such kindness?”

“The Doctor would like to inform Seongsuho that his purpose is different from that of the other apostles.”

“The purpose is different?”

[Keeek! Your Majesty, don’t be fooled by such lies!]

“Of course, it is natural that you do not believe me. That is why the doctor is offering me as a gift first. It is an expression of pure goodwill, meaning that I have no intention of being hostile to Seongsuho.”

[Keeeek?!]

Ber was truly dumbfounded by the sight of the woman shamelessly responding without changing her expression at all.

For Ber, who had been at war with them for a long time, he could now see how ridiculous that statement was.

However, since the other person had attempted to talk first, Suho intended to use this opportunity to get a little more information.

“Then what is your purpose, Doctor? I thought that the Itarim Apostles had come to invade Earth?”

“Of course, your initial purpose was the same as that of the other apostles. However, it was not your own

will, but rather your obedience to the will of Itarim, who created you.”

I discovered one interesting thing.

The attitude of the woman who spoke about Itarim so calmly did not give off any of the respect or faith typical of foreign religions.

As if an atheist were talking about religion.

On the other hand, the woman showed absolute respect only when speaking of the ‘doctor’.

In a way, it was natural.

If the Doctor’s creator was Itarim, then it was the Doctor who created the woman.

“Doctor, you have a strong desire to explore. So, shortly after arriving on this planet, you looked around the planet’s natives and instead of invading, you began to study them.”

Pure curiosity.

If we were to take that suspicious woman at face value, this is what she ultimately said.

“At first I came here to invade, but now that I’m here, there are so many new things to see that I’m just looking around?”

“It’s more accurate to say research and analysis than observation, but in the end it’s similar.”

“So? Why is the Doctor trying to impress me? Is he asking me to be his Earth guide to the natives?”

“No. Rather, um… … .”

The woman took a moment to choose her words.

And I continued my explanation, choosing the most polite expression possible.

“The Doctor is very interested in this planet called Earth. Therefore, he no longer wishes to be an enemy of the Shadow Lord, and likewise, he wishes to have a cooperative relationship with Seongsuho, the Shadow Lord’s son.”

“cooperation?”

[Keeec?]

From Ber’s perspective, he was seriously worried about whether he should let Suho continue to hear such abominable words.

I don’t know if you know that feeling or not.

“especially….”

At this moment, the woman recalled the things the doctor had usually said.

-Isn’t that really interesting?

-Originally, all creatures were created to carry out the Creator’s will, but the creatures of this universe killed their Creator of their own free will.

-Would you like to try killing me too? I am your Creator.

-Why can’t you? You useless things. Don’t you have free will?

-You say I can’t do it either? Then I’ll try first.

“… … These days, the doctor is conducting research that defies the Creator’s commands of his own volition.”

Can this really be called research?

Free will.

The woman had no idea what the doctor really wanted or what he was going to do.

But it didn’t matter what he wanted.

I wasn’t even curious.

He simply follows the absolute orders of the doctor who created him.

“And there is a decisive reason why the doctor gave up the invasion.”

[Keeec?]

Ber tilted his head as the woman’s gaze suddenly turned to him.

And with the words that followed, Ber’s expression hardened at a frightening pace.

Very, very scary.

“After learning that the slaughterer of the battlefield, General Ber, had personally descended to this planet, the doctor’s heart became even stronger.”

[hmm.]

“I heard from the doctor that if General Ber wanted to, he could massacre all the apostles who arrived on this planet at once.”

[hmm.]

As the words continued, Ber simply crossed his arms and snorted with an arrogant and scary look in his eyes.

The words that had been dismissed as nonsense until just now are finally starting to make a little sense.

“But the reason you are just quietly watching the situation unfold is clearly because you want to train the

Shadow Lord’s son and deploy him as a new force for war.”

[That’s quite a lot. For an apostle of Itarim, he has quite deep insight.]

… … Nod.

What can I do?

All Suho could do here was nod his head with a serious expression.

Well, there was a bit of a misunderstanding involved, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Regardless of the minor details, isn’t it true that the prediction was fairly close to the correct answer?

“In that sense, I would like to ask for your cooperation with Seongsuho with good intentions.”

“Cooperation? What do you want?”

“The Doctor wants to study and analyze this planet thoroughly. Naturally, this will require considerable time. The problem is that the other Apostles are still destroying the planet you are studying in real time.”

“Wait a minute. You mean… …?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

As Suho’s eyes grew wider as he understood the logic of the words, the woman nodded.

“The doctor wishes that all the other apostles who interfere with his research will disappear. In the hands of Seongsuho.”

“… … !”

[… … !]

This time, even Ber couldn’t help but be surprised.

Of course I knew.

The Itarims temporarily united over a common enemy, Seong Jin-woo, but in the end, they were in a relationship of keeping each other in check.

A complete winner-take-all.

In the first place, they were invaders who came from across the walls of distant dimensions to monopolize the vast amount of mana remaining in this universe after losing its master.

But what about the apostles below them?

First of all, apostles who serve the same god will cooperate with each other even though their methods may be different.

However, the apostles who served completely different gods could openly check each other or fight behind the scenes.

To the point of asking for a murder so directly.

“So in the end, you need a proxy to fight for you. You yourself should hide in a safe place.”

[He seems like a very mean and cowardly guy.]

Ber pressured the woman with an overbearing expression that showed he was quite displeased.

[If you are going to make a request like this, it is not the custom on this planet to come to me in person, see my face, and bow down.]

“I hope you understand that. The doctor really hates going out of the lab.”

[That’s what they call a coward.]

“… … Rather than that, I think it would be more efficient for you to leave the work of going out and gathering information to us and save time so that you can focus solely on your research.”

“That’s what they call a cowardly homebody.”

“… … .”

Ber and Suho, who were sarcastic in turn, were a pretty good match for each other.

As a result, the woman who had always maintained a blank expression developed an expression for the first time.

Ignoring the woman’s slightly crooked snout, or rather, her mouth, Suho pointed to Hasul’s scythe and asked.

“Then I’ll ask while I’m at it. So, was this sickle also made by your doctor?”

“… … That’s right. Although it was a failure, it was told to humans for the purpose of keeping the Apostles of Paradise in check.”

“The apostle of paradise just watched that?”

“Yes. Aside from the strife between the apostles, on the surface, they were on the same side with a common enemy, so there was no reason for the other apostles to stop them from handing over or contaminating the stones to humans.”

“… … Am I contaminated?”

Hasul looked at the sickle she was holding with a disgusted expression.

But even so, there was something strange about the sight of him not letting go of the sickle of the harvest.

And the woman who heard Hasul’s words, Subject #47, stared intently into Hasul’s eyes and opened her mouth.

“That’s not contamination, that’s called ‘evolution,’ Subject 13.”

Suddenly.

At that strange gaze, Hasul’s expression froze on the spot.