The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 323 Boss Quan (4) - Evil Spirit Extermination of the New Age A high-rise penthouse with a panoramic view of the wide river's night scenery. The front door quietly opened with the gentle mechanical sound of the fingerprint scanner. What greeted Qiana first as she stepped inside wasn't a human voice or warmth, but the artificial fragrance of expensive concentrated air freshener. The living room, spanning over 80 pyeong, contained the brilliant night view streaming through panoramic windows, but that light only made the silence inside the house more prominent. Qiana took off her shoes and stepped inside. On the floor was marble worth tens of millions of won. On the ceiling hung a crystal chandelier worth hundreds of millions. The velvet sofa placed in the center of the living room had never been sat on by the whole family together, maintaining its original stiff and unfamiliar texture from when it was delivered, and beyond it, the 12-person dining table in the dining room had rarely been filled by even 3 people, let alone 12. Instead of a common water purifier, after opening and drinking one of the premium brand water bottles filling the refrigerator, Qiana lay down carelessly on the sofa without even properly arranging her clothes. ...20 years ago, there was a couple who desperately wanted a child but struggled with the pain of infertility. A young man and woman who tried all kinds of medical treatments, and when that didn't work, clung to various pseudosciences, and when that still didn't work, openly delved into the occult. Because they were such a couple, Qiana's birth was a blessing itself to them. In fact, it had to be that way. The fragment of the Queen that was almost incapable of autonomous activity, that is, 'Qiana' who hadn't even properly formed self-consciousness yet, reacted very sensitively to her parents' wishes. Our precious baby. Be born healthy. Be born smart. Be born pretty. Be born kind. Young Qiana was healthy, smart, pretty, and kind. She didn't cry easily at night, didn't throw tantrums, didn't groan from illness, and didn't trouble the two with difficult questions. Exactly as the couple had wished. An ideal child. A perfect child. And the time it took for the family to fall apart after such a child was born: about 5 years. There wasn't any special reason, tragic event, or dramatic conflict. That might have been better instead. Just...The love between the couple cooled. Somehow the other person felt unattractive, somehow married life felt bland and dry, and although neither had done anything particularly wrong, somehow they were dissatisfied. The bond that was once tied together under the name of family had now degenerated into a show-window couple marked by each other's adultery and deception. The father, a director at a major corporation, became someone more familiar with hotel beds than home, and the mother wandered around overseas resorts with young models as if trying to compensate for her lost youth. To them, this house was nothing more than a taxidermied archive under the name of a normal family, maintained only out of concern for others' perceptions. Qiana suddenly turned her gaze to the side. The three people in the family photo in the center of the living room were smiling with the happiest expressions in the world. But Qiana knew. That right after that photo was taken, her parents' brightly smiling faces returned to cold expressionlessness. And that they exchanged a few business-like words with each other, then went straight back to their respective lovers. That the day after that photo was taken, 'Qiana' who accidentally got hit in the head by a soccer ball and recalled the anomaly's memories, accepted the anomaly's identity without any resistance. "It's a nice house because it's convenient. No interference with whatever you do, and they give you overflowing amounts of money. Very free." After muttering words to no one in particular, Qiana burst into a bitter laugh. Because she realized that even that 'freedom' had been taken away. "'Go tell your parents you got a job.' As if I'd actually tell my parents about this kind of slave contract." It was absurd that he sent her home for such a trivial reason, and it was also absurd that he left her unmonitored after sending her like that. What if Qiana took advantage of this gap to devour people and recover her strength? Or what if she sought safety by borrowing the power of public authority? Or what if she at least tried to run away? After all, the contract she and Quan signed was just a piece of paper. There's no magical binding force or anything like that, so if she was determined to break it, she could break it anytime. Yet Qiana couldn't easily come to a conclusion. The conversation she had with Quan before coming here kept circling in her head. Specifically, a certain 'phenomenon' that occurred during the conversation bothered her greatly. 「Killing a god. What god? The one those human bastards believe in?」 「No, the god I'm talking about is, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.」 「...What did you just say?」 「Hmm? I mean, it's ■■■■■■■, so let's ■■■■■■■ by ■■■■■■■.」 「.......」 「...Can you perhaps not hear me?」 She couldn't hear it. More precisely, she could hear the sound itself, but the moment she tried to understand it with her mind, it felt like it transformed into a meaningless array of information. It wasn't Quan's prank. It wasn't some sorcery, curse, or power derived from anomalies either. It was something more high-dimensional, a hopelessness as if the fundamental laws of the world itself had put up a wall. It was a very frightening sensation, and therefore Qiana felt humiliated. Afraid? That she, the Queen of anomalies, the Queen who should be the ruler of all fears, would feel 'fear' toward something else. Just having to pathetically beg for her life against humans was enough to make her furious and want to kick the blankets and scream at night, and now this again? 「Hmm. I was planning on sharing the goal if possible, but if not, then it can't be helped. I'll put it more simply. Help me with my work. Then I'll make you strong.」 Strength. Strong. Qiana put those words in her mouth and rolled them around with her tongue several times. "Not bad." *** "Oh, you seem to have a lot of money?" The next day, at the 5-story office building. Those were the first words Quan said to Qiana, who had appeared driving a flashy foreign car. Gone was the disheveled appearance she had shown in the alley last night, and Qiana, perfectly dressed in new clothes, answered indifferently. "Why. Are you going to steal my money and belongings now too? Should I hand over the car keys?" "What kind of trash do you take me for? Do I look like someone who robs his subordinates?" "You do look like someone who pointed a gun at others to make a slave contract." "Hmm, then shall we start work? New employee Miss Qiana. As the youngest, you should start from the field." Regardless of whether Qiana was dumbfounded by the topic shift that was not just blatant but violently abrupt, Quan nonchalantly tossed a manila envelope onto the mahogany desk. When Qiana checked its contents, there were yellowed newspaper clippings and several printed photographs. "Parim General Hospital. A place that closed 40 years ago, but accidents happen every time they try to demolish it. People see ghosts and suffer nightmares at night, or fall to their death after losing their footing, or workers suddenly disappear and are found in strange places—anyway, it seems to have become a troublesome burden that no one can touch, so I quickly acquired it. So what should our new employee do now?" "Eat popcorn while watching the boss who bought shitty land and a shitty building?" "I'll tell you the correct answer. Go to the hospital right now and clean up all the troublesome things. I was originally going to provide a car, but no matter how I look at it, your personal car seems better than the company car, so I'll just send you a driver and a few guys." "You're not even trying to hide that you're a black company anymore. No, you never hid it to begin with." Quan waved his hand dismissively as if he had said everything he needed to say, and as if that was a signal, three men who had been waiting in the corner of the office attached themselves to Qiana. On the way out of the office and down the stairs. Qiana asked one of the men. "But why don't you use the elevator here? Don't tell me you don't even have money to fix it if it's broken?" The man with a large X-shaped scar on his face, suddenly questioned, flinched for a moment, then answered. "No. It's just that the boss says walking up stairs is good for your body when possible, so everyone doesn't use it." "Isn't that workplace harassment?" "Everyone doesn't really complain. It's only 5 floors anyway. More importantly, aren't you the new employee? Why are you naturally speaking casually?" "If you can say you'd work at a job with no salary, no holidays, and no human rights while being perfectly polite to your seniors, then I'll speak formally to you too." "......" Having nothing particular to say, both the X-scarred man and the other subordinates shut their mouths. First floor parking garage. Qiana casually threw the keys between the three as if telling anyone to take them and got into the passenger seat, and the men whose eyes lit up at the obviously expensive foreign car had a brief battle of glances over who would take the wheel, with the X-scarred man who seemed most senior finally sitting in the driver's seat. After glancing at them getting excited like kids who received some big toy and staring blankly out the window for a while. Before long, the car had entered a quiet outskirt forest road where city noise couldn't be heard, and beyond the dense weeds, a massive concrete mass revealed itself. The outer walls that were once white had corroded to a dark, blackish color after decades of being soaked in mold and rust water, and the shattered windows gaped grotesquely like screaming mouths. The thick scent of death emanating from the entire building seemed to penetrate even inside the car. "...Tch. This is worse than expected." Since this was also their first time coming here directly, tension appeared on the faces of the men including the X-scarred man. "Hey, get the tools out." As soon as the X-scarred man finished speaking, the two men began arming themselves by taking out various equipment from the trunk. They attached talismans densely written with bizarre characters in red cinnabar to the inside of their coats, sprayed the contents of spray bottles labeled as holy water from various mountains onto knuckles and gloves, and even drew knives whose handles gave off a strong peach fragrance. The X-scarred man even drew a pistol from his chest, and the surface of the bullets in the magazine was suspiciously silver. Thinking that having no foundation reached the level of art at this point, Qiana let out a snicker. "Rookie. You take some too. Since the boss recruited you directly, you must have some kind of esper abilities, but still, having equipment is—" "Not necessary." "What? Wait! Hold on! You can't just recklessly go in like that!" The X-scarred man shouted in alarm from behind, but Qiana didn't even respond. Her gaze was already fixed on 'something' that was looking down at them resentfully from beyond the broken windows on the 4th floor of the hospital's main building. An evil spirit standing with a pale complexion, torn mouth corners, and eyes shining with hatred. If it were a human, their heart would have frozen from that gaze alone, but to Qiana it was merely laughable. Right after Qiana's lips curved slightly into an arc, her body that had seemed delicate until she got out of the passenger seat began explosive movement. Thud! With one leap she stepped on the roof of the first-floor lobby, and on the second leap she stepped on the protruding railing of the outer wall. Repeating this several times. Having climbed to the same height as the evil spirit on the 4th floor that had been looking down at her, Qiana threw her body directly toward the window. CRASH!! Sharp shattering sounds rang out as glass fragments scattered in all directions. The evil spirit showed a startled expression, but that was only momentary. The glass fragments couldn't harm the evil spirit's body at all and passed right through. No matter how high a human's athletic ability or how strong their physical power, it has no meaning to an evil spirit. In contrast, evil spirits can deceive human senses as much as they want, possess bodies to make them act strangely, and interfere with minds to drive them insane. Absolute inequality. A one-sidedly tilted playing field. "Hah, how annoying. These small fry won't even fill my stomach." As if simply ignoring that rule, Qiana's right hand grabbed the evil spirit's collar—no, its very throat. ...To high-ranking modern espers, this kind of 'evil spirit extermination' isn't considered particularly dangerous work. Because if you just concentrate spiritual power, you can exert physical force against spirit forms as much as you want. Pathetic possession and hallucinations can be easily repelled by concentrating some spiritual power in your body or head. Moreover, if it's Qiana whose very existence is an anomaly, it goes without saying. CRACK. Having simply broken the evil spirit's neck, Qiana absorbed the evil spirit's entire existence whole. All the various evil spirits in the abandoned hospital. Anomalies with diverse backgrounds who had caused harm to others to the point where those stories were now nothing more than single-line background text all trembled in unison. The evil spirit extermination of the new age had begun.