Riser
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34-47
🕑 Added 2025-07-26 23:17:06 +0000 UTCChapter 47
“Everything’s going smoothly.”
After the Seoul mayor incident, the Ja-Ae Cult aggressively expanded its influence. Starting with Gyeonggi Province, then Chungcheong, Gyeongsang, Jeolla, Jeju... there was no region untouched by the cult.
Everyone had secrets they wanted to hide, and for the Ja-Ae Cult, uncovering those secrets was easy. It might look villainous to exploit weaknesses, but... they didn’t care.
Are you the governor?
...Who are you?
See this?
...!!
Most had taken bribes or engaged in sexual favors, and some were even involved in the coin-gate scandal. They’d set up scam coin companies with gangsters to steal people’s money, making sure to create escape routes and cover their tracks, which made their crimes even worse.
If things got risky, they’d try to cut ties and act like victims in public. So Jinwoo personally “rehabilitated” them.
Spare me...
Hey, stay still!
Wham
‘I don’t like using violence... but there’s no time.’
This was a different approach from what Jinwoo had used before.
What triggered this change?
It happened just a day ago.
One ordinary afternoon.
Jinwoo was leisurely playing a trendy new open-world RPG, jokingly called “Kimchi Pizza Sweet and Sour Pork” because it combined elements of all the most famous games.
“Haha, you’re mine now!”
He’d just tamed a super rare monster.
“Let’s check its stats...”
As he was enjoying his downtime, something unusual happened and he reacted instantly.
Flash
“...?!”
‘Did the building just shake?’
“Ji-young, was that an earthquake?”
“Huh?”
“I think the building shook...”
“...I’ll check.”
...Thinking back, was it really a shake? It felt less like a physical tremor and more like his brain was rattled. It was a queasy, hard-to-endure sensation.
“There’s nothing wrong with the building.”
“....”
‘Maybe I’m just tired...’
He’d been gaming all night and probably overdid it. He should get some sun and go outside, but even with a new body, old habits die hard after 20 years.
But his instincts warned him not to ignore the sensation. Something that could threaten his life was approaching.
‘Who could it be?’
Was it a signal that the world’s strongest were coming for his head?
‘I need to prepare.’
He was already spreading his influence fast at least 10,000 new cultists a day. The Ja-Ae Cult was nearing one million members.
But his instincts told him that wasn’t nearly enough. He felt he needed to “devour” all of Korea.
And Jinwoo was someone who trusted his instincts.
‘If possible,’
He planned to take over Korea as quickly as possible, turning the country into a Ja-Ae Cult theocracy.
‘That would give me at least 20 million women as my power base.’
He didn’t think for long he acted fast.
“Prepare for a full-scale offensive.”
“...A full-scale offensive?”
“Yes. We take over Korea within a week.”
“...Yes!”
Instead of going back to his game, Jinwoo launched an aggressive expansion campaign.
Back to the present
“I-I was wrong...!”
“Wrong, huh?”
“Y-yes!!”
“Then you need to be punished, right?”
“...What?”
Wham!
The man Jinwoo was beating up was a typical small business owner, guilty of wage theft, verbal and physical abuse of workers, and various other crimes or so it seemed. In reality, he was a political fixer who did dirty work for bribes and kept records of everyone’s crimes as insurance.
Jinwoo wanted to use him to find the hidden high-ranking officials.
“Spill it.”
“...Spill what?!”
“Still won’t talk? You’re tough.”
Wham! Whack!
Was he really not talking because he thought Jinwoo didn’t know, or was there something even bigger at stake?
“Aaaargh!”
He didn’t say a word, even after being beaten black and blue. He really didn’t seem to know.
...At least, to an ordinary person.
“...Park Shin, that’s your real name, right? Your specialty is [Puppetry].”
“?!”
“Drop the act. I know everything.”
[Company President, Kim Chan-woo]
The nameplate in his office read Kim Chan-woo.
But Jinwoo called him Park Shin a name that made the man’s eyes change as soon as he heard it.
He seemed like a different person.
“...How did you know?”
Park Shin stood up, dusting himself off.
“I have my ways.”
Indeed, this was the villain [Puppeteer], who had supplied the dolls to the Seoul mayor’s mansion and had connections to other politicians and elites.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Jinwoo. Your growth is honestly terrifying.”
“...Three times.”
“What?”
“The number of times you ignored me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I offered you goodwill. But you rejected it, so don’t blame me.”
“...You call this goodwill after beating me up!”
Thud
The Puppeteer collapsed, knocked out by Jinwoo’s energy.
“...As expected.”
Jinwoo could read the minds of those weaker than himself. With over a million followers, he couldn’t remember whose trait it was, but everyone has the desire to know others’ thoughts. This was the trait of someone with a particularly strong desire for that. It only worked on the weak and only if they were unconscious.
There was no one stronger than Jinwoo in Korea now, and for the strong, knocking out the weak was easy.
“Trying to flee Korea on a private jet...”
Why was Jinwoo rounding up the elites?
A country can’t run by itself. Even with his clone technique, Jinwoo’s clones could never surpass the original, and they were busy expanding the cult, not running the state.
He couldn’t leave those positions empty. He didn’t want to see his homeland turn into an apocalypse. He’d wanted to run away when bullied, but it was still his home.
For his homeland, he could put up with this hassle.
“Now that I know the purpose... finding them will be even easier.”
Trying to escape Korea by private jet?
“[Clairvoyance]”
If he’d been somewhere before, he could see it in real time.
“x10”
Invisible eyes appeared over Korea, focusing on the airport.
This would have been impossible for Jinwoo before, but now, with over a million cultists, it was doable.
Jinwoo – 25 years old
Trait – [Treasure Buried in Mud] – Master
Treasure Buried in Mud – Details:
You lived for years in the mud, but found treasure there.
Lv.0 – Become mud.
Lv.1 – Obtain mud-exclusive weapons. (Unlocked)
Lv.2 – Those connected to the mud gain additional traits. (Unlocked)
Lv.3 – Use the traits of those connected to the mud. (Unlocked)
Lv.4 – Acquire the potential of those connected to the mud. (Unlocked)
What changed was the “Master” label and a new ability unlocked. There was no Lv.5, so the trait’s growth seemed to end here.
But as the final unlock, it was an incredibly overpowered skill.
At first, he didn’t get it what did it mean to “acquire potential”? But after using his followers’ traits, he understood.
To acquire potential meant to temporarily manifest the highest possible achievement that person could reach.
The clairvoyance just now was the level Ju Hee-kyung could reach if she trained endlessly a level where she could use a trait multiple times at once for exponentially greater results.
But the drawbacks were harsh: it could only be used once per day, and since he “took” the follower’s potential, that follower would be stuck at their current level forever.
“...Found them.”
‘Ju Hee-kyung... I won’t forget your sacrifice.’
He would make the villains who stole Hee-kyung’s potential pay.
“Gasp! Huff!”
Vroooom
The plane took off.
“...What kind of madman is out there...”
A balding, overweight man in a suit wiped his sweat.
“Seriously. We almost got caught...”
“Haha... even villains have their uses.”
“Hahahaha!”
The people dining on the plane were Korea’s top elites.
They’d fled in a hurry after seeing Jinwoo’s rampage.
All the governors had been caught, and they’d lost some ministers and CEOs along the way.
“Whew now I can finally live quietly with my stashed money...”
“Haha, it’s earlier than planned, but... what can you do.”
They chatted as if leaving Korea was a done deal.
[We have arrived.]
“Oh... already? Judging by the distance... Japan?”
“Japan... not bad. I want to eat sushi again. Hehehe.”
But as soon as they got off the plane, they were stunned.
Because it was the same place they’d taken off from to escape Korea.
“C-captain! What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
“...Haha, did you really think you could leave?”
“...What?”
Riiip
The captain’s face peeled off. The middle-aged man was actually a Ja-Ae Cult follower with dark skin.
“Until Jinwoo-nim gives permission, none of you can leave Korea. No one.”
“....”
They were speechless at the shocking sight.
