Chapter 30
Chapter 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Chain Murders (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
《Chain Murders》 - (1)
01.
"Ah..."
A world where everything was still peaceful.
On the paradise island of Hawaii, a boy gazed up at the night sky. The showering stars and moon brightly illuminated the earth below.
The boy reached out his hand, yearning to grasp them, but he couldn't. He wanted to cup the starlight in his palm, to run across the vast meadow under the moonlight, but he couldn't.
The boy was different from others.
He couldn't touch things on his own, nor could he run. His daily life always required someone else's help, and even eating a single meal was beyond his own strength.
He had no choice but to turn a blind eye to others' injustices, and the gazes of contempt mixed with pity he felt while walking outside tore at his heart.
The only place where he could live a normal life like everyone else was in virtual reality. But pressing the logout button would plunge him back into a hellish reality.
The boy wanted to be ordinary.
He wanted to eat a meal by himself.
He wanted to walk.
He wanted to swim across that vast ocean.
Using his own arms and legs, he longed to freely swim in that blue sea right before his eyes, yet forever out of reach.
He wanted to greet the fish and marvel at the beautiful underwater scenery.
So today, once again, the boy sat on the pier overlooking the sea, praying earnestly toward the sky.
Please grant him the chance to move forward freely.
Please grant him the chance to do things on his own.
Please make his heartfelt wish come true.
"..."
And the next day, when the world twisted...
The boy finally achieved the dream he had so desperately longed for.
Even if countless things about him had changed, as long as he could swim in that vast ocean, it didn't matter.
The boy smiled.
02.
The November stage boss, 'Nevakal,' was a colossal sea monster that looked like a fusion of a leviathan and a kraken.
A head like a crocodile's, with double jaws boasting thousands of razor-sharp fangs. An overwhelming size that dominated the viewer, and sticky tentacles that ensnared everything in their path.
When asked to name the most monstrous stage boss, Nevakal—the tyrant of the seas—was always ranked in the top tiers.
Moreover, the 'Deep Abyss' it guarded was an ocean-themed stage, forcing players attempting to conquer it into underwater combat.
Capturing that horrific beast amid crashing storms and lightning over the sea was no easy task. That was why Nevakal, despite lacking exceptional skills or passives, was always rated as one of the highest difficulty bosses to clear.
"..."
...And now, that very Nevakal had finally appeared in the real world. It was said to have revealed its majestic form for the first time in the central Pacific between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, bringing a storm in its wake.
Wondering where and how such a sea monster would emerge, it appeared exactly as in the game—rising from the ocean.
If it had surfaced on land, it might have died naturally, so in a way, Nevakal was fortunate.
"Nevakal..."
The post spreading the news of Nevakal's appearance included just one attached photo. It was so shocking and dynamic that it could have been mistaken for an in-game illustration.
...Amid raging storm winds, Nevakal coiled around a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The beast was in the midst of splitting the massive ship in two, roaring toward the heavens.
Nevakal had first appeared at dawn yesterday, ambushed by a U.S. Navy patrol that struck first.
Though the Navy was fighting valiantly, a stage boss was still a stage boss. Its hide was so thick that gunfire barely scratched it, and whenever it seemed about to take real damage, it fled into the ocean depths, making it incredibly difficult to engage.
Players had been hastily dispatched from the mainland, but reality wasn't like the game where monsters stayed fixed in place.
From Nevakal's perspective, it could simply dive into the sea whenever the odds turned against it, making capture seem nearly impossible.
If no clear countermeasures were devised soon, control of the seas would be lost to it.
"Hm..."
Meanwhile, reading about Nevakal, I tilted my head. Various questions and curiosities swirled through my mind.
...The community post claimed Nevakal had preemptively attacked the U.S. Navy. Official news articles would provide more details, but regardless, the fact that it was battling humans remained unchanged.
If it was originally a human like me who had transformed into a stage boss, why on earth was it baring its teeth at humanity?
Did it harbor grand ambitions to conquer Earth's five oceans?
Or was its original self just a vicious bastard?
Maybe there were unavoidable circumstances?
Or perhaps Nevakal wasn't a transformed human at all?
Was I truly the only one who had become a stage boss?
"I want to... talk to it."
I wanted to converse with it. Trap it in ice, beat it until it submitted, drag it to the table—anything to sit down and have a proper chat.
Why it attacked humans. Whether it was truly a human transformed like me. What dreams it held, and what actions it planned next.
I had so many questions.
"Should I go to Hawaii...?"
I furrowed my brow, sitting cross-legged, seriously debating whether to fly to Hawaii right now.
The problem was transportation. Selverion clearly lacked any reliable means of travel, so I had no idea how to even get there.
...If I revealed myself and threatened SPR, they might cough up a plane ticket.
"Ugh..."
I clutched my head in thought. But even if I made it to Hawaii somehow, there was no guarantee Nevakal would still be there fighting the U.S.
Unlike in the game, where it was confined to the 'Deep Abyss' stage, it was utterly free now.
There was a high chance I'd waste time and come up empty-handed. Blindly heading to Hawaii involved too many considerations and risks.
Still, letting a stage boss slip away like this felt regrettable, so I wondered if cooperating with the U.S. to hunt it down was the way to go.
My head was starting to ache from all angles.
...And that's when it happened.
—Selverioooon niiim!!
"Huh...?"
A familiar, cheerful voice from outside the window—one that seemed utterly devoid of thought or worry. Followed by a familiar crashing impact I'd heard once before.
KABOOM!!
"This is..."
Guessing who had come to our neighborhood, I flung open the window and rushed outside. It didn't take long before I saw the exact same scene from a few days ago.
"Ow ow..."
A blonde woman sitting on the stone pavement, rubbing her forehead after apparently crashing into something,
"...Pirate ship."
And behind her, a massive pirate ship that had smashed into the wall and run aground.
"Kim Arin..."
It was Kim Arin, Pirate World rank 1. The fanatic Selverion fan who had vanished somewhere four days ago with cryptic words, now reappearing in the exact same manner as her first arrival.
"Hehe, long time no see..."
"..."
Spotting me rushing to the scene, Kim Arin grinned vacantly. I shook my head at her.
"...The wall."
"Pardon...?"
"Fix the wall."
"Ah, got it..."
Forgivable once, but not twice. Having demolished someone's wall again, I ordered her to restore the red-brick barrier to its original state.
"I'll fix it myself. Sorry..."
Had she expected a warm greeting? Instead of a smile, my unexpected scolding made her nod dejectedly.
"Long time no see. Where've you been?"
Only after hearing her response did I properly ask after her well-being. She'd claimed to be my lifelong fanatic, vowing to stick by my side, yet she'd promptly left for somewhere, leaving me puzzled.
She'd insisted multiple times that it was just a short trip for our 'grand plan' together—not betrayal or anything suspicious. So what exactly had she been up to?
I was a bit curious about that 'grand plan' and what she'd done for four days to prepare for it.
"Oh, uh, I was looking into stuff for creating a guild..."
"Creating a guild...?"
I frowned as Kim Arin stood up, spouting something completely unexpected.
Creating a guild?
With me?
Surely the 'grand plan' wasn't just making a guild together...?
"W-Well, kinda, but that's not the point right now!!"
"Huh...?"
But before I could press her on the guild details, the top pirate waved her hands frantically, cutting me off.
She then shouted at me with urgent intensity, her face like a scholar who'd uncovered a groundbreaking theory.
"...Serial murders have happened, Selverion-nim."
"Serial murders?"
"Yes. In an apartment complex in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul—a declared safe zone—four people have died, one each day over the past four days."
Kim Arin made a huge fuss as she informed me of the serial killings.
"Hmm..."
But my reaction was lukewarm.
It was intriguing that murders had occurred inside an apartment complex fully secured by players and the national army—not some lawless outer zone—but that was about it.
There were always scumbags who took advantage of chaos. Just recently, two had infiltrated our neighborhood, claiming one victim.
Three victims already was tragic, but with players skilled in search and tracking—like Scientists and Thieves—the culprit would be caught soon enough.
Kim Arin surely knew that, so her panic made me tilt my head.
"The suspected culprit... is a bit dangerous."
"Dangerous...?"
...But her next words were more than enough to make me understand her agitation.
"......October stage boss 'Feroln.'"
For a moment, seriousness gleamed in Kim Arin's eyes.
"That Sad Clown has been identified as the prime suspect."