Chapter 149
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 149: How to Get a License (4)
You think I'll move just because you told me to? While I was frozen in disbelief, Park Siwoo's sword flew at the attacker. The attacker immediately deflected the sword with a dagger. Chaeng—! As soon as he parried the sword, the attacker leaped up into a tree and began showering the inside of the cave with throwing knives and daggers. Chaeng, cha-chaeng, chaeng—! Most of them bounced off the shield, but they were gradually accumulating damage.
"Kang Nahyun, snipe him!"
At his words, I silently loaded my gun. I hadn't fully charged the Mana Bullet, but I filled it with enough power to at least injure a person. I looked around through the scope, but I couldn't see the attacker. It seemed he had an ability to hide his presence. However.
"If I just know the direction he's throwing from…" I can pinpoint the location! The throwing knives and daggers were flying from the trees. I quickly identified the direction and sniped all the suspicious locations. Tang— Tang— Tang—! The moment I sniped the last branch, I heard a person's scream. Success.
“Nice! Choi Sujeong, go get him!”
“Got it~”
But the thought that I had shot a person, not a monster, made me feel unhappy, even though I'd succeeded. The cold touch of the trigger stuck to my finger. Before long, Choi Sujeong brought the attacker, bound in wind. The attacker was bleeding, as if he'd been hit in the arm. Seeing the blood made my mood sink even further. But the attacker didn't even seem to resent me; he just glared at Na Yuhan and spat curses.
"Devil! Die! Devil!"
“...This wasn't your idea alone, was it? Who ordered you?”
“This was my decision! To execute the devil named you, who will bring ruin to this world!”
“...So who was it that made you decide that…”
But no matter how hard Na Yuhan tried to talk, the attacker just kept repeating ‘Devil!’ I tried to watch quietly, but there was no progress, so I finally stepped in.
"Um…."
“Ah, Savior-nim!”
“Could you please tell me who ordered this?”
At my cautious question, the attacker, as if he'd never refused, answered quickly like a meek lamb.
“Of course! The one who ordered me to annihilate the devil was the Bishop!”
“...Bishop? Who's that?”
“Th-even if it's you, Savior-nim, any more than this…. The Bishop's orders for secrecy…. I'm sorry.”
“...I see. Thank you.”
This damn cult.They even have a Bishop? I bet they have a Pope, too.But more importantly, why are these bastards so faithful?And why am I being called the Savior? I forced a smile and dealt with him.
"You're injured, so I'll call a helicopter."
"Ooh, merciful one…! So different from the devil...!"
No, I'm doing this to get rid of you. Before long, a helicopter arrived to retrieve him, as he was disqualified due to his injuries. We handed him over, as he wouldn't give any more information. He left, praising my mercy and cursing Na Yuhan to the very end.
“...I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Right?”
“I hope this is the end of it.”
“Tell me about it.”
Despite having said that to Na Yuhan, attackers continued to come until the next day. What they said was all the same.
“Die, Devil!”
“You must be erased from this world!”
They all seemed to be Tower God Cult members. Most of them tried to kill Na Yuhan, and they tried to keep me out of the crossfire.
"Die! Because of that robot you made, I…! I lost my dream!! To think you'd achieve my life's dream first!!"
"Like I care!?"
"It's because you have no perseverance!"
…There were some weirdos mixed in, but anyway, most of them were Tower God Cult members. I frowned, feeling strange. Why are they doing this?
“Why do they call Nahyun the Savior?”
“Because Savior-nim is the one who will save our future!”
“And why do you call me the Devil?”
“Because you are the incarnation of the devil who will bring ruin!”
“I'm seriously going crazy.”
Na Yuhan is bringing ruin! They're acting hostile, as if everything Na Yuhan is doing is a problem, or as if his very existence is the problem. And they're acting under the assumption that 'I' am the one who will stop that ruin. What on earth is this crazy belief based on? I need more information on the Tower God Cult. …And I happen to know someone who's infiltrating it. It seems I'll have to ask the Fox or Nika.
And on the evening of the second day, approaching night. The exam itself was easier than I'd worried. The island seemed to be rich in food that could be gathered. Well, that was…
"We can eat this, too~"
"Really?"
...only easy to get because of Choi Sujeong's knowledge. It seemed the island was designed to be easy if you had the relevant knowledge, but difficult if you had no background. Other than that, the monsters weren't high-grade. There were just a lot of them. The real problem was the ambushes. The Tower God Cult bastards were so disruptive it was as if they had applied for the license just to attack us. The attacks finally stopped as it got dark. Shin Baran shivered and shouted.
“...Those damn Tower God Cult nuts!!! So annoying!”
“Yeah. I really wish they'd die.”
Even Lee Hana, who was like a living Buddha, agreed with a dazed expression. Everyone was completely worn out from running around so much. I recalled the attacks we'd experienced so far.
'Die!'
Falling from the sky…
'Die!'
Popping up from the ground…
'Die!'
Even using clone jutsu…. They really used every method imaginable.
“Nyahahat, Junior, what kind of grudge did you buy?”
"I have no idea. …No, wait. Maybe I did? If it's that Na Yuhan…."
At Choi Sujeong's subtle question, Na Yuhan reached the point of seriously wondering if the Na Yuhan before his possession had done something. Na Yuri, seeing Na Yuhan looking bewildered with a tired face, sighed and added.
“Most of them were faces I didn't recognize. And there were 2nd and 3rd-year sunbaes mixed in. That trashy bastard in the past mostly picked on his peers or juniors who were weaker than him, so he wouldn't have had a reason to be on bad terms with sunbaes.”
“...You said that right in front of him…”
“She used to say it a lot.”
Na Yuri seemed to realize her slip at Min Jaeyun and Shin Baran's words but tried to act nonchalant.
“...Anyway. Then why?”
"I know, right."
“For now, we have no choice but to be thorough with our defenses.”
Park Siwoo said as he retrieved the fallen arrows. I helped him and added.
“After today, the exam will be over soon, so let's hang in there!”
The exam is for 3 days and 2 nights, and ends at 6 PM on the last day. During the day, at least everyone is awake, so if we can just get through tonight, we should be fine. Just then, Kang Yu's hand shot up.
“I have a good idea!”
“What is it?”
“We just ditch that hyung…”
“Kang Yu, no. It's a team exam.”
“Hmph.”
Kang Yu pouted, but I flicked his lips. No pouting. Anyway, after cleaning up, we, now completely worn out, had a late dinner. Maybe they don't even bother a dog when it's eating? Thankfully, there were no more attacks while we ate.
Tonight's first night watch was me and Park Yul-ah. Park Yul-ah was poking the campfire with a stick, and then, bored, she started talking to me.
“By the way, you know that invention I showed you before?”
“What invention?”
“C'mon, that one! The observational device!”
“The Cosmic Existence Observational Device?”
“Yes! I was able to observe something really strange with it.”
“Like what?”
“The generation of Gates! Amazing, right?”
I couldn't hide my surprised reaction. Seeing my wide eyes, Park Yul-ah smiled triumphantly.
“...The generation of Gates? How?”
At my question, Park Yul-ah seemed to organize her thoughts for a moment, then spoke.
“Umm, when you look at the sky with the observational device, you can see some kind of black stuff flowing into the Tower from all over, you see?”
“Yeah.”
Is that the Calamity... the greed... the Tiger bastard was talking about? Evidence that his words were true came from an unexpected place. I was flustered. But Park Yul-ah, as if determined to have her say, continued without resting.
“But, sometimes that black stuff flows out from around the Tower…? Um, how should I put it? It sticks to a part of the Tower and swells up like it's about to burst. And every time that happens, it seems like unusual situationGates appear in clusters near the danger zones.”
She got more excited as she spoke and started pounding the ground.
“And when I actually observed it, the more monsters that came out of the Gate, the more that swelling went down!”
“It went down?”
“Yes. So I thought, is it absorbing something and then discharging it?”
At the end of her speech, she crossed her arms and grinned.
“Well, it's just a guess for now! A delusion! More research is needed!”
“...I see.”
This was also similar to what the Tiger bastard said about the bursting dumpling. So it was real. At least, it wasn't a lie. Park Yul-ah, having blurted all that out, suddenly seemed to remember something, lost interest in me, and started muttering to herself.
“Wait, if artificial cores and monstercores have the same components, but monstercores contain substances harmful to the human body before being purified... is it because of that black stuff? If so, then that's the opposite of the Holy attribute… There are no Holy attributemonsters in the Tower… but among the other races—”
“Umm…”
That's a completely different topic.She's completely lost in her own world. In times like this, it's best to just leave her alone. I decided to leave Park Yul-ah to herself and thought about what she'd told me. That bastard, was he really only telling the truth? Just as I was thinking that, the bracelet vibrated weakly. A voice sounded in my head.
—Still in the middle of the exam?
Speak of the devil. It was a message from the Tiger bastard. He's so impatient. I gripped the bracelet and spoke with my thoughts. I couldn't speak out loud.
'What is it?'
—What else could it be, other than to persuade you?
'You still want to claim you're the good guys?'
—Yes. At least, compared to the Oracle.
At his indifferent answer, a fire suddenly lit inside me. He says it's the truth, but I can't trust this guy. Because he used my family. And…
'You guys, too…'You tried to kill people. I remembered the competition during the first semester. The terrible Gate that opened, the people who died so easily. The screams, the corpses, the blood. It was the scene I hated most.
'You tried to sacrifice people.'
—…That's right. I can't deny that.
'That's why I can't trust you.'
—…I see. I understand.
'If you have nothing else to say, get lost.'
—I'll contact you again tomorrow.
With those last words, I felt the connection break. But I couldn't calm down. …Everything was a mess. I suppressed a sigh and just stared blankly ahead. I was worried because it was the last night, but for some reason, it passed quietly without any more attacks.
On the third day, we spent the day with our remaining combat rations. Of course, we had to fight all day against monsters that someone seemed to have deliberately herded to our cave. …No matter how I think about it, it was the Tower God Cult bastards. Damned bastards. Finally, at 6 PM, a broadcast announcing the end of the exam rang out across the island.
—Announcing the passed teams! —Team 1, Team 3, Team 5…
Of course, we passed. We looked a little tired, but our faces were relaxed, and we high-fived each other. We could now enter the danger zones. And we could be a little freer from the Academy's restrictions.
“Well, let's go back.”
“Okay!”
We'd passed another hurdle. My mood, which had improved for the first time in a while, I was about to take a step out of the cave with a bright voice. At that moment.
“Long time no see.”
“Long time no see!”
An unwelcome voice was heard. The moment she heard it, Choi Sujeong's face hardened.