How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 105

Chapter 105

I am Baek Seol

It was a shocking declaration, but that was all. Baek Ryang had been an excellent liar and a sinister scher. There was no guarantee he didn’t have an ulterior motive. And—

“There’s no way such a major incident happened and you ca back without undergoing a thorough examination. Back then, nothing was found.”

“It seems my explanation caused so misunderstanding. Calling it a bomb was rely a taphor to aid understanding, not the truth. It doesn’t actually explode.”

“Then…?”

“It’s a dical patch, one that can artificially induce the heart’s activity.”

To be precise, it was a device that received electrical signals to close the heart’s valves, the pinnacle of bioengineering.

Thinner than a strand of hair and transparent, it could be inserted through a procedure closer to treatnt than surgery. Naturally, it left no wounds in the process. It was extrely difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

“The more detailed your explanation gets, the more suspicious it sounds.”

It was a perfectly reasonable rebuttal, but to Baek Ryang, it only sounded pitiful. A faint chuckle slipped out as a bonus.

“An ignorant beast fears a blade before a gun. Because through experience, it has learned that sharp and pointed things are dangerous.”

There were more than enough examples in nature to teach that lesson—thorny vines, hedgehogs, sharpened stones.

“But a gun, until it strikes you, you don’t realize it’s dangerous. Why? Because you don’t know it causes pain.”

Fwoong—

“Everything is to engrave fear. If you don’t know what lies within you, you won’t even be able to face it.”

“What does that…….”

Click.

Why couldn’t she take her eyes off the closed DuPont lighter? As if possessed by sothing, Baek Seol quietly stared at Baek Ryang’s hand.

Co to think of it, even though he wasn’t a smoker, he always carried a DuPont lighter. He kept it within reach at all tis. What did that imply?

At a certain premonition that flashed through her mind, Baek Seol hurriedly lunged at Baek Ryang.

One—

“As expected, once wisdom awakens, the response changes.”

As if he had been waiting, Baek Ryang shook Baek Seol off and widened the distance. And the mont his hand struck the flint,

“Ghk.”

The pain began. Feeling as though soone was gripping and squeezing her heart, Baek Seol collapsed on the spot.

Even as she scread as if to spit out her lungs and clawed at her chest until it seed it would tear apart, the sensation did not subside.

It was an extension of the seizures that had occurred intermittently. Yes, she knew this pain. She had already tasted it 20 years ago. To the point she didn’t want to rember it, to the point she buried it deep beyond her subconscious and turned away from it.

“I’ll praise you, for making resort to such petty ans.”

“W-why……?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’m a coward.”

Tears hung from her large, deer-like eyes, but Baek Ryang looked down at her indifferently.

“The path given to you has only two options. Either you fail to achieve anything and die floundering like this, or you promise complete obedience and bow your head for the rest of your life.”

It was a selfish forced choice, an unfair contract. Ordinarily, it should have been rejected outright, but Baek Seol had no right to speak now. The conclusion had already been decided. Since that day 20 years ago.

“This is the option I can give you, and the greatest rcy. You are not a beast but a human, so you know what you must choose, don’t you?”

Fwoong— As the DuPont lighter let out a cheerful sound, her heart convulsed. A body played at the will of another. After struggling for a long while, darkness fell over Baek Seol’s eyes.

***

Her eyes were swollen red, her snow-white hair drenched in sweat. Her face was unsightly and distorted, yet she had not lost her beauty. That appearance, maintaining its pure white to the very end, was worthy of the na Seol, but to Baek Ryang, it only looked ridiculous.

“Did she faint.”

After all, Baek Seol was the very definition of soone who appeared strong on the outside but soft within.

She would resist, despair, and then eventually break. Just as she always had.

One might call it the magnanimity of a victor to wait until she accepted it willingly, but the situation didn’t allow for it. If Baek Seok-do were to step in, the card he had painstakingly revealed might be rendered useless.

Since a dical patch had been used, there was nowhere to run. I’ll end it here. The mont Baek Ryang made that resolve, approached, and bent his knee to wake Baek Seol, sothing unexpected happened.

“Brother, that hurts.”

A coquettish tone. Soon, through her disheveled hair, a soft, almost dreamy expression peeked through. At her languid movent, as if she had just woken up, Baek Ryang flinched without realizing it.

It wasn’t the reaction of soone who had just been subjected to brutal torture.

“What?”

“I said it hurts…… you know!”

Baek Ryang reflexively grabbed the DuPont lighter, but faster than that thought could even form, Baek Seol surged up and closed the distance to the tip of his nose in an instant.

Like a spring.

Riding on an explosive force like a raging wave, what followed was a thrusting front kick.

Crunch—.

The pointed high heel dug deep into his solar plexus.

“Ugh.”

Baek Ryang was pushed back, retching. A monstrous leg strength that one couldn’t believe ca from such a slender body. It wasn’t sothing that could be explained with words like skill or effort.

The person had changed.

As if her head had been replaced.

Baek Ryang hurriedly struck the flint, but Baek Seol rely smiled wickedly in front of him.

“No matter what, not even applying randomization to a dical patch is a bit much, don’t you think? Ah, is that it? Kind of like a ga of twenty questions? Solve it and you’re free, sothing like that? Well, if you want to avoid detection in examination equipnt, a simple thod is best.”

It didn’t work.

Baek Ryang could easily guess that fact was connected to the nonsense Baek Seol was spouting. But Baek Seol shouldn’t have had any capability as a Tuner.

“Just what are you…….”

“You’re the one who called , brother. Nice to et you. Hmm, should I say it’s been 20 years?”

The Baek Seol who had given him deep despair hadn’t disappeared. She had rely been asleep for a long ti.

“A different personality?”

“What a rude thing to say. Either way, they’re both . Though I’m a bit more competent. Hmm, maybe cuter too?”

Baek Seol took a step forward at almost the sa ti Baek Ryang issued a command to the five android secretaries.

“Stop her!”

Due to the Artificial Intelligence Restriction Law, androids could not inflict any kind of harm on humans, but they could at least stand there and serve as shields.

A literal wall of machinery.

Inefficient as it was, it was an essential tool for Baek Ryang. However, his sense of relief didn’t last long. The androids seed to block Baek Seol’s path, but then split to the sides, maintaining formation.

“What cute children.”

At a single gesture from Baek Seol, one beca a seat, another a backrest. An instant later, a chair made of androids was ford. As if it were only natural, Baek Seol sat on it.

“What is this…….”

Even if the dical patch behaved that way because it was designed so, hijacking androids was on a completely different level. And she did it with nothing but her gaze.

“I can’t let you live.”

Preparing for the worst, Baek Ryang pulled out the pistol he had kept in his coat and pulled the trigger. The entire process took less than a millisecond.

But what entered his sight was not splattering blood, but fluttering hair. Yes, Baek Seol had even captured that mont and moved out of its range.

‘No…….’

She had already closed in under his chin.

Thud.

His vision flipped, and his knees hit the ground. Feeling the pressure at his waist, Baek Ryang clenched his teeth. His arm was twisted to a dangerous degree, as if it would snap with just a bit more force.

The one who had mounted his back was unmistakably—

“Baek Seol……! Why wake up only now and interfere? Did you show up at the end just to mock ? Or is this just a whim?”

As if denying the overturned reality, Baek Ryang shouted. In the reversed situation, the only thing he could do was spit out rage.

“I made a promise with my younger sibling.”

“Younger sibling?”

At this point, he hadn’t expected to hear such words, and a foolish response slipped out.

“Why? It’s cute, isn’t it? A younger sibling. Dangerous, sure, but I appreciated how she stepped up without hesitation. I even said I’d protect her, so if she gets beaten helplessly, it hurts my dignity as the older sister, you know?”

“For such a trivial reason……?”

“Brother, you should make a sacrifice. Considering everything you’ve done to , this once should be fine, right?”

Saying that, Baek Seol placed her hand on the back of Baek Ryang’s neck. That alone dismantled the security program embedded in his device. Passing through his ntal barrier without any sign whatsoever was pure terror. It went against the very structure of basic cybernetics.

“As expected, it’s being operated in a cellular structure. Let’s see. This one connects there, and that one connects here. It’s kind of like a tail-chasing ga, designing it is actually fun.”

And above all, what made him tremble was that absurd commands were being issued regardless of his will.

Until now, whenever he had the chance, Baek Ryang had cultivated private soldiers. As gangs, yakuza, mafia—changing their nas and origins.

He had created those organizations with the intention of reaping them one day, which was why he never revealed who their leader was.

But unfortunately, that hidden move now returned as a blade.

To Group A, an order to eliminate Group B. Group B to Group C, and Group C to Group A.

“Stop, stop, stop! Stop it! I’ll give you anything you want!”

Now he understood what Baek Seol ant by that tail-chasing ga. Fratricide. If Baek Ryang had built a pipeline between them, they could have verified the truth imdiately, but since they were unaware of each other’s existence, they only sent back responses saying they would carry out even the most absurd orders at once.

Being completely restrained by Baek Seol, he couldn’t even correct it.

The tower he had built was collapsing.

With a single touch.

An absurdity that couldn’t be explained by the word talent.

He had once heard rumors. That there existed a race possessing such extraordinary abilities they could be called supernatural powers. That the municipal governnt was tracking them.

Back then, Baek Ryang had dismissed it as nonsense.

But not anymore.

The day he abducted Baek Seol 20 years ago—15th month, 21 Sol.

Baek Seok-do hadn’t turned a blind eye to support him.

‘Was it to keep Seol’s existence from being discovered by the municipal governnt?’

The thought that he might have ignored even that attack for the sake of Baek Seol’s awakening sent chills down his spine.

“There are also slush funds in borrowed-na accounts. This… a donation relay sounds fun. People need heartwarming news in the winter, don’t they?”

Imdiately, massive sums were transferred to multiple places. That was the foundation of support Baek Ryang had built until now. And yet it vanished overnight. But the shock didn’t end there.

“Now then, shall we send so insults to your high-level connections? With a concept like you accidentally sent gossip about them to the wrong person.”

A perfect execution that didn’t leave even the slightest chance of recovery.

At the blatant act of cutting off his hands and feet, Baek Ryang’s face turned pale.

“If you don’t want to die, then at least pretend to be dead. I won’t ask which you’ll choose. Because you’re not a beast, but a human, brother.”

Unlike her friendly tone, the shadow cast over her eyes was chilling.

A gaze that looked not at family, but at livestock.

Yes, the restraint he had exercised all this ti hadn’t been wrong. If there was a mber of the Baek family who was the most twisted, then it was—

“Baek Seol……!”

“Yes. The younger sister you both love and hate the most, Baek Seol.”

Clap— With a neat motion, Baek Seol brought her hands together and applauded, smiling brightly.