Boy Monster Chapter 6

The radio asked Eunho to maintain the resonance a little longer until the road CCTV could pinpoint the exact license plate number. Eunho retorted that there was no need, and immediately resonated with the taxi driver. Since their minds were connected, all he had to do was ask a single question to the driver’s subconscious.

「What’s the vehicle registration number…?」

「Seoul 32 Sa 0000.」

Having obtained the desired information, Eunho immediately ended the resonance. As soon as he opened his eyes, he gave instructions over the radio.

“Seoul 32 Sa 0000. Surround and apprehend the vehicle at the intersection entry point. I’ll dispatch an Earth Hwelju to prevent escape.”

—Yes, Captain Jae Eunho. Information confirmed. Dispatching vehicles now.

The Earth Hwelju connected to the radio prepared for their next task on their own. Dimensional manipulation was a fundamental ability of Earth Hweljus, and the one in charge of Bongeunsa Station was a first-grade, possessing the ability to teleport as well.

—I just have to go to the intersection first and stop that taxi from escaping, right?

“Right. But you’ve already used your abilities a lot, so if you teleport too, it might be hard to control. Wait.”

He was about to access the management app that monitored the resonance gauges of S.E.T.U. Hweljus and Yeonris in real time when the Earth Hwelju, showing off, stopped Eunho.

—Why bother checking, Captain? Don’t you know that Jungkyung and I don’t need to worry about things like that?

“Meaning you had diligent sex? Alright then. Deploy immediately.”

“Captain.”

Choi Jungkyung, interrupting the radio communication, quietly rebuked him.

“Our situation right now is being broadcast live to the NIS new recruit training lecture hall. Watch your language.”

“Why? Aren’t they all adults? Are there any new recruits who don’t know yet that Hweljus and Yeonris are connected through sex?”

“Just…!”

Jae Eunho scoffed at Choi Jungkyung’s nagging. The three men leisurely boarded the elevator. While transferring to the hotel elevator on the upper floor and going up to the rooftop, Deputy Director Oh Ji-geun of the NIS summarized the arrest situation.

The elevator arrived at the top floor. Jae Eunho checked the time on his phone and paced nervously next to the Doctor Helicopter. A few minutes after he had given the suspect’s location, the awaited contact arrived.

—Philippines drug trafficking organization executive, apprehended! We’ve got him!

“Understood.”

Jae Eunho faced Choi Jungkyung and Hyeon Jae-woong and breathed a sigh of relief, “Phew.” The large-scale arrest operation that had caused a commotion around Starfield had ended in success.

However, Jae Eunho still had one more thing to do.

Beep, beep, beep, another mission request arrived. It was a call ordering him to clean up today’s mess. The video of the Fire Hwelju’s rampage was spreading through social media.

—Captain Jae Eunho, immediately proceed to the Bukhansan Baegundae secret base and implement wide-range hallucinations.

“Yes, I’m going. Let’s go.”

—Captain Jae Eunho, proceed to the Bukhansan base immediately….

“I said I got it. If you keep nagging, I’ll report you to the Labor Standards Office for not giving me break time.”

The helicopter carrying the three members of the S.E.T.U. special forces team took off from the building rooftop. The helicopter, accelerating towards Bukhansan, soon disappeared from the police special forces’ sight.

The new trainees gathered in the NIS lecture hall were greatly relieved. As the tension eased, the lecture hall became noisy. Amidst reactions of wanting to go on missions with the S.E.T.U. Hweljus and fascination with their superpowers, this question popped up.

“What would it have been like if the Death Hwelju was still alive?”

“They would’ve killed them all without wasting time, right?”

“Right. Captain Jae Eunho would resonate and pick out the criminals one by one.”

“If killing them all became a problem, they could just revive them. Death Hwelju is truly god-tier.”

However, the Death Hwelju was killed by the Death Yeonri, Jae Eunho. Someone looking at their phone said worriedly,

“Is that wide-range hallucination thing really possible?”

Thanks to the government’s preemptive blocking, the media was quiet, but videos titled “Mysterious Fire at Starfield Mall During Drug Cartel Arrest” continued to be uploaded to social media in real time. The trainees looked out the window with worried faces. The white daytime moon shimmered between the high-rise buildings.

:･⚜️⊹.️

Unbeknownst to anyone on the ground, a wind began to rise. It was a swirling, small wind.

The vortex of air, which first began on the ground of Gwanghwamun Square, spread throughout Seoul at an invisible speed. Amidst the movement of air currents undetectable by humans, bird feathers and crumbled flower petals began to stir.

The animals knew. The birds in Tapgol Park and the ecological parks chirped. The fish in the aquarium stirred, swimming more vigorously in the water. Dogs being walked in the city barked at the empty air. The invisible wind spiraled upwards from the ground to the high sky, drawing a wide helix.

Butterflies flying among the flower petals spread their wings simultaneously. The butterflies raised their paired antennae. The direction in which hundreds of millions of butterflies raised their antennae was towards Bukhansan, which encompassed Gwanghwamun and the Blue House.

The butterflies flew, following the intangible wind that called to them. There was a certain pattern and direction to the procession of fluttering butterflies, but it couldn’t be captured by people’s narrow field of vision. If one looked at the entire landmass of Seoul, a single gigantic vortex was being drawn.

The wind blowing between the buildings grew stronger. Butterflies, bird feathers, and white plum blossom petals mixed in the swirling upward wind gradually covered the sky.

Monks sat in meditation in the secret base beneath the Baegundae rock of Bukhansan. The sounds of wooden fish and drums resonated rhythmically through the mountain. Jae Eunho stood at the mountain peak.

Looking around from the rock, he could see all of Seoul and the distant Gyeonggi Province. Beyond the horizon, the tip of the Korean Peninsula, Hallyeohaesang National Park, Haenam in Jeolla Province, Jeju Island, Japan below, China above and to the side… This height was sufficient.

The NIS control room beyond the communication line bustled with activity.

—Implementing wide-range hallucinations.

—Death Yeonri No. 38, Jae Eunho. Completely releasing circuit control.

—Starting electrical signal analysis, real-time brainwave monitoring.

—Death Yeonri No. 38, Jae Eunho. Circuit control completely released.

—Heart rate, blood pressure, rising. Cellular network 100% activated. Cerebrum, midbrain, hindbrain functions 100% activated. 120, 150, 300… Rapid.

—Brainwave measurement has exceeded the limit.

The brain activity suppressor, which had restricted his abilities, completely lifted its restrictions. Simultaneously with the release, various biological indicators soared beyond measurable limits, indicating that Jae Eunho was no longer in the human realm, but somewhere else, perhaps in the heavenly realm or the asura realm. Golden light danced in his wide-open eyes.

Jae Eunho clapped his hands together. The two strands of prayer beads swayed briefly. A powerful force emanated from where his hands were joined.

“All conditioned phenomena (一切有爲法).”

A massive wave spread out from his clasped hands. With the force that shook the mountain peak as a starting point, the world was divided in two. Time began anew from the point where his hands met, and space stopped within the wave.

“Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow (如夢幻泡影).”

The flow of wind and butterflies swirling strongly between buildings and people rose high into the sky. The higher the starting point of the vortex, the larger its scale became. The ground touched by the whirlwind now extended far beyond Gyeonggi Province and North Korean territory.

“Like dew or a flash of lightning (如露亦如電).”

The wavelength created by Jae Eunho extended endlessly, using the whirlwind as a support. Eunho closed his eyes. Within the wavelength he had created, the consciousnesses of countless people twinkled like constellations.

“Thus you should contemplate them (應作如是觀).”

Processions of butterflies flying towards the sky arose throughout the country. Their fluttering wings embroidered the cities. The police gathered in the subway stations and those watching from inside the secret base were lost in awe. Wind Hwelju Choi Jungkyung and Earth Hwelju Kang Seungji were also amazed once again. White flower petals endlessly circled Bukhansan. Jae Eunho’s hair fluttered like rapid waves.

“The conditioned is that which arises, abides, changes, and ceases. The unconditioned is that which does not arise, does not abide, does not change, and does not cease. (如此二法 謂有爲無爲 有爲者 若生若住若異若滅 無爲者不生不住不異不滅1)”

The drumbeats now raced towards a crescendo. While Jae Eunho repeatedly chanted the sutra, the swirling vortex of wind, lined with bird feathers, butterflies, and flower petals, endlessly circulated the atmosphere.

The flow Jae Eunho manipulated arose and ceased simultaneously, visible and invisible at once, so there were no ends or boundaries within the space-time of the wavelength, and thus it could continue infinitely.

The flow of wind and butterflies were everywhere in the world.

Hallucinations, fluttering like the wings of butterflies, covered everyone’s minds. People enveloped in the transparent wind all deleted the video themselves. The path of the wind spread like ripples, rooted in the uploaded video, so that it would become as if it never happened. It tracked down everyone who had viewed the video, even the social media companies that owned the servers, and erased all traces. Entering through eyes and fingertips, resonating with every corner of the world, leaving behind a brief sleep, an eternal butterfly dream within the clouds.

No one will know about the cloud of butterflies that covered the sky once this ritual is over.

Life is like a single strand of cloud arising and disappearing.

A monk from the Hoguk Temple, looking up at the sky, muttered.

While the wind that enveloped the world subsided, Jae Eunho still had his eyes closed. Beneath the scattered hair on his forehead, his long, dark eyelashes rested quietly. Jae Eunho, who had manipulated the minds of tens of millions of people and implanted the butterfly dream, was also within a brief hallucination.

Jae Eunho unclasped his hands and emerged from the wavelength. Slowly opening his eyes, he reported,

“Completed.”

As he withdrew his resonating ability, the pattern that illuminated the back of his hand also faded. The prayer beads, enveloped in a light beige aura and spinning on their own, settled quietly on his wrists. Eunho clutched his dizzy head and descended the rock. The drumming of the monks had also ended.

—Wide-range hallucination implementation complete.

—Completion confirmed. Checking vital signs. All normal.

—Death Yeonri No. 38, Jae Eunho. Controlling circuits.

—Controlling all circuits.

Except for a few high-ranking officials, people were completely unaware of the mystical scene that had just enveloped the world. They would simply think, ‘Was it 1 o’clock when I just checked the time? It’s already 1:30?’ and move on.

High-ranking government officials gathered at the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters watched Jae Eunho’s wide-range hallucination implementation from beginning to end. The man connected to the minds of millions, or perhaps tens of millions, felt like a being from another world in human form. A refined grace emanated from his calmly closed eyes throughout, and from the way he lit a cigarette with an unchanged, tranquil gaze even after the ritual.

It was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who broke the silence filled with faint admiration.

“I heard he’s General Im Geonhwi’s lover?”

Lieutenant General Im Geonhwi, the Army Chief of Staff, who was asked the question, smiled impassively.

1. The Collected Agama Sutras, Volume 12, Sutra 293