Riser

34-19

Added 2025-07-06 01:00:16 +0000 UTC

Chapter 19

[Breaking News! Cult Leader Lee Jinwoo Refuses Peaceful Surrender to the Association!]

[Lee Jinwoo: “I exist to save this world”]

[Villain Lee Jinwoo: 13 Facts You Didn’t Know]

[Is Lee Jinwoo the Second JMS? Let’s Look Back at the JMS Scandal That Shook the Country!]

Static crackle

“Yes, Director.”

The Association Director famous for the saying, “All paperwork goes through me” is the de facto ruler of the Korean branch of the Association.

The most widely accepted rumor is that he’s an agent dispatched by the “World Government,” but his superpower, real name, and strength remain unknown.

He’s a veiled figure who’s never officially appeared in public.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“…You flatter me.”

Bow

Cyborg bowed to empty air, as if the Director were physically present. He stayed bowed for a long time.

“Let’s move on.”

“Yes.”

As you wish.

‘I can’t just sit by.’

A more aggressive expansion is needed than ever before, to keep the Ja-Ae Cult from being wiped out in Korea.

Right now, if the government really put its weight behind it, the Ja-Ae Cult could be swept away like fallen leaves.

The media calls us villains, says we’re dangerous, but as a group, we can’t stand up to the state.

‘Let’s go with the cancer cell strategy.’

Cancer cell strategy!

Cancer cells parasitize healthy cells and multiply their own kind.

To remove them completely, you have to cut away the surrounding healthy cells too.

That’s why it’s crucial to catch cancer early before it spreads, when side effects and aftereffects are minimal.

If you don’t respond early, the cancer spreads uncontrollably, and removing it might mean losing your life along with it.

The Ja-Ae Cult needs to infiltrate so deeply that killing it would kill Korea itself.

‘The real rulers of this country are the social elite.’

On the surface, Korea claims to be a democracy, and it looks like the country moves according to the people’s will.

But in reality, the elite guide the people to move as they wish, using media and mass communication like gaslighting.

Citizens think they’re making independent decisions, but in truth, the elite manipulate them through the press and media.

‘Just look at how the news is plastered with stories about me.’

They hide their own faults by creating an “enemy.” They turn public attention to the enemy to conceal themselves.

How do I know this so well?

‘Because I was born the son of a conglomerate chairman.’

My name might be erased from the family register now, but I still remember the education I received.

Young master! If you want to inherit MM Corporation someday…

Young master, don’t consider those people your equals…

‘I learned everything from politics onward.’

Of course, after my trait awakened, all that stopped…

‘Target the social elite.’

How?

‘Humans are slaves to dopamine.’

We act to get dopamine, and we crave it. It’s an unavoidable physiological phenomenon driven by hormones.

‘The richer you are, the more perverted you become.’

Why? Because you’ve already experienced everything money can buy.

Ordinary pleasures don’t excite you anymore.

Ordinary people, with less, can find happiness in small things, but the rich, having everything, feel nothing from small gains.

It’s not a personal failing, but a human trait.

‘And everyone has a drive to reproduce.’

Men want to leave as many descendants as possible. Women want to receive the seed of the strongest men.

This isn’t logic, but instinct.

You can suppress instinct, but never fully control it.

‘The longer you suppress a desire, the stronger the pleasure when it’s finally released.’

Like the difference between ejaculating every day and doing it after abstaining for a long time.

Back to the point

This country is ruled by the social elite.

So, if I can win over the powerful to the Ja-Ae Cult, the country is mine.

‘But it must be done as discreetly as possible.’

If you throw a frog into boiling water, it jumps out.

But if you put it in cold water and slowly heat it, it stays until it’s cooked.

‘It’s easier to target female officials, but that creates a “brand.”’

Therefore, I must target male officials first.

‘I have just the right person for this.’

Pyeon Minhee.

A woman who joined the Ja-Ae Cult recently. She looked so unfeminine I briefly suspected she was a man, but after being sprayed, she regained her true form. Biologically, she was indeed a woman.

She was just an ordinary person, but after meeting me, she awakened a new trait.

[Lv.2 – Those connected to the mud gain additional traits.]

Her awakened trait was [Fairy Tale Prince]. She must have desperately wished for a “prince.”

‘I thought, as a feminist, she’d hate men…’

But that was in the past. After my salvation, she became a crazy man-lover, a slut who never has a dry day between her legs.

I guess all that pent-up desire exploded as a side effect.

‘No, not a side effect an awakening.’

Anyway, the [Fairy Tale Prince] trait lets her appear as the ideal man in the eyes of her target. The downside is it doesn’t work on those stronger than her, and it’s not a combat trait, so it doesn’t make her personally stronger.

So it only works on ordinary people without powers.

For the record, photos and videos still show her real appearance.

‘But there are plenty of powerful people without superpowers.’

Of course, the less powerful they are, the less influence they have. Superpowered people tend to be smarter and physically superior, so they dominate.

Some mock them, saying they only got into politics through “normal person quotas.”

‘Use Pyeon Minhee to target them first.’

How many people could resist their perfect ideal?

While Lee Jinwoo was plotting how to conquer Korea, at the Association…

“…Understood.”

“Don’t worry, just go… We can handle ‘Lee Jinwoo’ ourselves.”

“.......”

A sudden summons from the “World Government,” specifically requesting Sword Saint.

No one was worried about her. She’s Korea’s top superpowered individual, and even compared to the world’s best, she’s not outclassed.

“China’s Sao and Japan’s Takeda were summoned too!”

“Heh heh… What on earth is going on…”

China’s Sao. Among hundreds of millions of Chinese superpowered people, he stands out with overwhelming strength China’s S-class.

His trait is [Qi], letting him control energies like those in martial arts novels.

Fitting for the home of martial arts, his trait is very “Chinese.”

Japan’s Takeda. As a boy, he dreamed of being a “munchkin” protagonist from novels.

By luck, he awakened the trait [I Died and Came Back from Another World, but Kept My Powers]. When asked if he really went to another world, he stays silent.

His maturity, unusual for his age, has led the public to believe he really did.

Despite the lighthearted name, his power is “munchkin”-level. Takeda’s blood contains “mana,” a substance not found on Earth, and he seems able to turn air into mana.

His “magic” once stopped a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Japan power on par with a natural disaster.

Since then, Takeda serves as a human earthquake regulator in Japan.

‘Why are they calling us?’

Everyone the World Government summoned was a top-tier superpowered person in their country.

Not just one hand, but a handful of people each the best in their nation.

‘…I’m uneasy.’

She remembered how she’d felt on days when something bad happened.

The day she was badly beaten by a classmate.

The day her father said, “Transfer schools.”

Lena, you did your best. No one in the world will blame you…

But…!

Lena!