Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Kakrita Valley (5)
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“Possessed but failed, you say?”
“It takes time to possess a healthy person to begin with. It takes even longer for a ghost that’s possessed something else, like that bat, to switch over. We killed it before it could possess him, so he should be fine.”
Suhyun grabbed Kim Chang-sik by the head and tilted it down. The back of his neck was swollen black and blue.
“Failed possessions are close to poison. Look here. People who’ve been possessed always have a mark like this somewhere on their body.”
“Ooh…….”
“Um, could you heal him first…….”
“Even if it’s the ghost itself possessing a corpse?”
“Yeah. The point of first contact discolors. You can usually spot a proper possession by their behavior. They almost always slip up. Awkward movements or failing to answer questions. But sometimes you get a smart one. Those ones are good at faking it, which is a headache. That’s when you check for this. A full possession discolors a wider area.”
Suddenly turned into a teaching aid, Kim Chang-sik let out a sigh. The moment he let his guard down, a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck.
“Ughhh!”
“I’ve got healing, so it’s easy for me, but if I’m not around, act fast. Wash the wound with salt and water, then treat it like any normal injury.”
“C-couldn’t you just heal it……?”
“I said it’s like poison. Healing’s great for wounds, but it doesn’t fully remove toxins that’ve already set in. You want the external wound to close up and then deal with side effects?”
Hearing that sent chills down his spine. Kim Chang-sik shut his mouth obediently. The pain was bad, but thinking of worse side effects made it bearable.
“Done. Looks like the area’s clear enough. Let’s head to the campsite.”
“There’s a campsite?”
The team members asked, puzzled. To them, this cave was nowhere they could let their guard down. Their usual precautions against monsters didn’t work here at all, so they couldn’t relax even while resting.
“If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t have come in. This isn’t a place you clear in a day.”
The team members followed Suhyun with admiring looks. The campsite he was heading for resembled a natural rock salt layer—a spot in the cave where ghost monsters rarely approached. It wasn’t perfect, but if you entered without being pursued, you could avoid detection.
“?”
When Suhyun stopped in front of a cave wall, the team members panicked. It was rare to see him, who always acted with total confidence like he knew everything, freeze with a strange expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“No…… this is odd. There should be a passage here.”
Past the lakeside path lay a narrow tunnel leading to an empty clearing. Round, with distance from the walls, and thanks to the rock salt layer, ghost monsters couldn’t approach properly.
But now, that tunnel was blocked by a wall.
‘Time difference?’
It didn’t make sense. How much earlier had they arrived for a wall to appear where there hadn’t been one? There weren’t even monsters around strong enough to alter the cave structure.
“Maybe the info’s off? No intel’s perfect…….”
Some thought the information Suhyun had gathered might have errors and voiced it. But Suhyun wasn’t acting on hearsay. Everything was based on his direct experience. It couldn’t be wrong.
“The color’s different.”
“Pardon?”
“Look at this. It’s a different shade from the surrounding cave walls.”
“…!”
Park Su-yong inwardly stuck out his tongue. They were moving with lights on, but it wasn’t broad daylight. And the color difference between the walls wasn’t that stark. To notice it right away……
“The color is different, sure…… but what does that mean? A monster?”
“No monsters here make walls. Looks like another superpower user passed through.”
“?!”
Excluding other possibilities, that was the most likely. It wasn’t impossible to reach here. A group of decently skilled superpower users who didn’t run could probably push through.
“So there might be survivors nearby?”
“Doubt it. Even if another superpower user made this wall, fighting continuously inside this cave would mean they’re dead or possessed by now.”
The team members swallowed hard at Suhyun’s cold words. Regardless, Suhyun moved to break the wall. Survivors or not didn’t matter. What mattered now was a rest spot.
Eyes around were a nuisance in times like this. With watchers nearby, telekinesis was out.
‘Damn. Annoying.’
“You’re going to break the wall?”
“Got a better idea?”
“If it’s breaking, I can do it.”
“?”
Noticing Suhyun’s puzzlement, Kim Chang-sik explained.
“Seong-jae’s ex-combat engineer. You can trust him with explosives.”
“Oh, right?”
Suhyun realized he’d been too focused on their superpowers. They weren’t superpower users, but they were ex-military. Each had their own specialties, naturally.
‘Bad habit creeping in.’
Before, most team members had been superpower users, so he’d fixated there. He couldn’t just see them as gun-toting fighters. Jo Seung-hyun had brought them for good reason.
“This is small enough to handle with my usual kit. Should I blow it?”
“Go ahead. Permission granted.”
As he spoke, Suhyun activated Far Sight magic. No need inside the cave until now, but this was a good spot for it. Another superpower user building a wall here meant things had deviated from the norm. Better check just in case.
“?!”
“Installed it right, but everyone fall back anyway. You too, Team Leader.”
Once everyone retreated, Jeong Seong-jae detonated the explosives on the wall. His precise setup directed the blast solely at the wall, shattering it cleanly.
“Nice work.”
“Haha, thanks.”
“Still got it, huh?”
“Shut it, punk.”
Jeong Seong-jae shot back at Kim Dong-wook but couldn’t hide his pleased expression. The team members working here all felt guilty about riding Suhyun’s coattails. Coming to work and depending on one person was embarrassing.
Getting a chance to show their skills made them happy. At least they were earning their keep.
“Everyone, fall back.”
“?”
“There’s people inside.”
“!”
The team reacted instantly to Suhyun’s words. They now had a sense of how dangerous this place was. If someone appeared inside, odds were higher it was a possessed corpse than a real person.
“Should we shoot?”
“No. Feels like real people.”
“What?! How?!”
“Might’ve held out due to the area’s properties…… Keep your guards up.”
There were four inside: one dwarf male, two human males, one human female—an odd mix. But they had something in common. They were all lying still, unmoving.
“They’re dead? Or playing dead and will attack when we get close…….”
“What is this, a horror flick?”
“Some ghosts do use that tactic, but not these.”
Suhyun knew the clearing’s effects. Ghost monsters wouldn’t linger here long.
“Just exhaustion. Come on in.”
The team followed Suhyun cautiously into the clearing. It was just as he said—a perfect campsite. Spaced from the walls, easy to defend, and hard for ghosts to approach.
Suhyun had no qualms, but the team eyed the newcomers suspiciously. Not one lowered their gun; all kept aimed.
‘Did I train them too well?’
He was the one who’d told them to stay cautious, so no complaints now.
“Exhaustion, exhaustion, exhaustion, and failed possession. Get some nutrients from the supplies. Wake ’em and ask questions.”
One human male had a black mark on his arm. Looked like he’d killed the enemy before full possession, but the poison remained.
“Been bitten a while, huh. It’s almost rotted.”
“Cut it off?”
“With healing, just excise it…….”
“Hu, huh?!”
“!”
The lying man apparently woke to the voices. Spotting the team, he freaked and gritted his teeth. Seeing light gather in the air, Suhyun clicked his tongue.
“Sleep.”
Crack!
As expected, most here were superpower users. He could guess their thinking. Waking exhausted to people-looking things? Assume possessed. Their haggard looks showed they’d suffered plenty.
“I-is it okay to hit that hard?”
“If he dies, that’s his fate. You wanna take his superpower blast instead?”
Suhyun calmly flipped the unconscious man prone—to prevent instant superpower use if he woke. Then treated the possession wound with salt and water.
“This one’s done. Kim Chang-sik, watch him. If he wakes confused and tries a superpower, smack him. Any others stirring?”
“This dwarf’s coming to.”
“Perfect.”
The dwarf revived first after nutrients. He groaned faintly, sitting up. Seeing Suhyun’s fist clenched, the dwarf panicked.
“W-what?”
“Oh, sorry. Was gonna deck you if you tried a superpower. With it now?”
“Y-yes.”
“You’re probably confused, so we’ll introduce first. We’re Uncle Jo Company. Hired to explore Kakrita Valley, found you while scouting the cave. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Then who are you? Can you explain?”
“I can. Well…… I’m not originally with these people. I was hired for this job.”
“?”
Suhyun looked intrigued at the unexpected answer. Merc companies with other races weren’t rare. Higher superpower rates made it natural. But hired for this job?
“Hired for this? What’s that mean?”
“Our clan has ancestral maps of this area…… They checked it and made me an offer.”
Reaching here proved their skill. Must be a solid merc company, with an offer too good to refuse.
“Maps, huh. Interesting. How’d you have them?”
“Heard our ancestors mined around here…… Not sure details.”
“!”
Suhyun whistled low. He’d only guessed the area’s backstory, never gotten real info. Now an actual related other-race.
“Fascinating. Keep going. What’d you know before entering?”
If they’d known salt worked, no need for this ordeal. Suhyun was curious. The dwarf spilled what he knew: rough cave map, safe zones, and a spirit-possessed weapon at the end.
‘Artifact.’
Other races had varied terms for artifacts. Suhyun clocked it instantly.
‘Got the info, tempted by the artifact, and came in? Superpower users really got no fear.’
Skilled ones tended to overtrust their powers. Arrogance that they could kill monsters anywhere or at least escape.
“Oh, almost forgot to ask the company name. What’s yours?”
“Blue Bear.”
“Anyone know it?”
Suhyun turned to the team. Lee So-hee furrowed her brow slightly.
“American merc company, probably.”